Shari Mullulane has a delightful blog named — Old Bat’s Belfry — which offers “Fantasy Book Reviews, News and Author Interviews.”
A few year’s back (May 28, 2009 for the obsessives among us) she ran an interview with me in her ‘Wacky Interview Series’. which she describes thusly:
“In case you missed the first interviews in this series, here is the deal…I read a lot of author interviews and they are good, informative, and interesting but rarely tell me all that much about an author’s personality. I often find myself thinking, ‘Well that’s all good and everything but I want to know more about the real live person behind the book!’
“So, I decided to conduct a fun interview; something that will give my readers a good laugh and be fun for the authors. You will not find serious questions covering books, publishing, writing or future plans. Instead you will get a chance to see how they react to a bunch of crazy questions and scenarios.
“This time around I asked Alma Alexander, author of the Worldweaver Series (which I reviewed and loved) if she would consent to do one of these. She said it sounded like fun! So, I sent her the 10 wacky questions, plus the 2 bonus substitutes…So here for your reading pleasure is a look inside of the mind of Alma Alexander…”
1) Which magical power would you like to have and why?
The power to grant wishes. No, I don’t want to be a genie and be summoned into servitude by someone rubbing a silly old lamp – I’m me, and I meet some other human being, and that other human being has a dream which they know can never come true. Oh, how I’d love to be able to wave a wand and fix that! The catch is, *I* get to pick which dreams get made to come true. No three wishes stuff. The wishee may never know what really happened.
2) What would you do if you had a time machine?
Go back in time and spend just one more day with my grandparents – my grandfather, the poet, who taught me to love language, and my grandmother, who taught me about the power of unconditional love. They’ve both been gone for two decades or more, and I still miss them fiercely.
3) What was your funniest/most interesting encounter with a fan?
I don’t know if I would call them FANS, exactly, but I had a clutch of teenage boys, armed with serious note-taking equipment, file purposefully into a reading of “The Secrets of Jin Shei” which was (a) an “adult” book, not YA in any way shape or form and (b) very much not a teenage boy book. I wondered what they were doing there. About two minutes into my reading, the lot of them got up and fled for their lives, from all the girl-cooties that were obviously flooding their sub-conscious. I don’t know what they expected to find – possibly “jin shei” sounded like some weird new form of martial arts and they were expecting a demonstration on the spot…
4) If you had a chance to spend some time with one mythical being, what would it be and why?
If I could be quite, QUITE certain that I wouldn’t be barbeque, I’d love to go for a dragon-back ride. I’m a little like Tolkien, when he said that when he was young he ‘desired dragons with a profound desire’. One does rather hope that they WERE real once upon a time.
5) If aliens landed in your backyard, what is the first thing you would ask them?
“What KEPT you? I’ve been waiting for you all my life…”
6) What quirky habit do you have that often gets you teased by your peers or family?
I am a coffee addict. People who know me well ALWAYS make allowances for coffee stops, no matter what other plans are afoot. If I’m cranky, my husband wants to know if I’ve had a coffee fix recently – and if I growl that I have not, makes immediate contingency plans for it.
7) What did you want to be when you grew up?
Me. {g}
And always, always, always… a writer.
8) If you could be reincarnated as an animal, what would you be and why?
A cat, owned by someone like me. Why? Do you KNOW how spoiled my cats are…?
9.) My readers want to know what you had for breakfast. Not sure why exactly…
Oatmeal. With raisins. And brown sugar.
10) Why in the world did you consent to doing this wacky interview? I mean there is not one question here about your books, your writing or your future plans!
Because sometimes the past is the past and the future is unknown and right now is all you get, and it’s a gift. That’s why they call it the present. Occasionally I need to be reminded of that…
Bonus Questions!
11) Who is your favorite comedian or cartoon character and why?
Not too long ago, on a business trip that involved getting to the airport from my hotel at oh-dark-hundred, I was up early finishing last minute packing… and watching the cartoon channel. I had honestly FORGOTTEN how much fun Tom and Jerry were. I almost missed my plane.
12) How would you describe your sense of humor?
I’m a punaholic. I love word-play. I love love love clever stuff. Slapstick, not so much (although good farce may apply). Some things that have tickled my funny bone: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Three Men In A Boat, certain episodes of MASH, Danny Kaye’s “The Court Jester” and “Walter Mitty” (oh, heck, as far as the latter goes, ANY Thurber…) The Once and Future King.
Draw your own conclusions.
Old Bat’s Belfry site here
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