don't judge an author by his covers

This is me (behind the paper), my co-worker Ginger (left), and author Richard Peck. Why do I so often look slightly sedated in photos? I don't know. But that's beside the point. Richard Peck writes mostly American historical fiction for the 4-8th grade set, which is not my favorite genre, but the writing is so good that I read and enjoy them anyway. Earlier this week, he visited my library. He's an engaging speaker, and I'm glad I got the chance to meet him.

He touched on a few topics, like writing, the subjects of his books, etc., but there was a refrain that ran throughout his talk. Mr. Peck's mission is to bad-mouth his publisher's art department up one side of the country and down the other.

See that look on his face? That's the way he feels about at least 9 out of 10 of his covers. It was pretty funny, if a bit obsessive. The man never gets the covers he asks for, and the books are less appealing as a result. Which is probably true. They're not bad covers, just very sedate. By his telling, the art department ladies have it in for him and give him the exact covers he asks them not to do. For The Teacher's Funeral, for example, he asked for a fist fight, and they gave him a photo of a one-room schoolhouse.

The international examples got truly bizarre. His most famous character is Grandma Dowdel in A Long Way from Chicago, a cantankerous and independent woman living on a farm in Illinois. Yes, she has a shotgun, and yes, she is extremely wary of unexpected visitors who may be salesmen, but it's all very funny. In Japan, the cover for the book looks more like a deleted scene from Deliverance. I couldn't find a close-up graphic, but squint sideways at the above photo and you might get the idea.

Once you leave out the cover ranting, there were only about 20 minutes left of presentation (okay, maybe 30), but it was good. He's a big supporter of libraries and all the research you can do there. One of his most memorable statements for me was (and I paraphrase): people say you should write what you know; forget that. No one wants to hear about what you know. Write about what you can find out.
I like that. I can find out quite a bit.

Please Don't Drool on the Authors

M.T. Anderson is one of my favorite authors. Notice I'm not prefacing that with "for teens"; he's just one of my favorites, period. Wait, make that my very favorite living author. As evidenced by all the 'o's I use when I talk or write about his books, as in: "I looooove M.T. Anderson." Well, I may add a few more 'o's yet, because I just got back from a discussion panel featuring him, Pete Hautman (who I also really like) and Alison McGhee, who I wasn't really familiar with before. They all did an engaging and thoughtful job discussing their views on teen literature in general, on writing it, reading it, and debating whether "albino squirrel" is a brilliant plot idea or just a noun.

I've never met a famous actor, but I think my reaction would be similar. Is it a sign of my unfettered bookworminess that I get all fangirl when my favorite author is in the room? That's okay. I can live with the geeky adoring fan stigma as long as it comes with a photo:

What a good sport he is. You think the National Book Award winner on the adult side of the aisle is so personable and wears such unflinchingly green sweaters? Well, I don't know. Maybe. I've never met him. But go buy M.T. Anderson's books anway. Feed. Thirsty. Whales on Stilts. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party. Any and/or all of them. This isn't just Anderson solidarity talking. The man is a genius.

Ffun with Fforde

I'm going to branch out and talk about an adult author today. Crazy, I know! Of course, his recent books are about nursery rhymes and fairy tales, but give me a break. I can't go cold turkey off the young stuff.

I went to see Jasper Fforde speak at a local Barnes & Noble a few nights ago. He's the author of the Thursday Next books (The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, and so on), and most recently the Nursery Crime series. The first Nursery Crime is The Big Over Easy, in which Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and Mary Mary investigate the death of Humpty Dumpty. The second book is The Fourth Bear. Just bought it, haven't read it yet, but the story has something to do with the rights of anthropomorphized bears and the lucrative but illicit ursine porridge trafficking industry, among other things.

Mr. Fforde is a very entertaining speaker as well as a very clever author, and it's well worth the excursion if he's appearing in your area. The Thursday Next books are literary crack for English majors (and lots of others) the same way Harry Potter is for kids (and lots of others). JFf's websites are also nicely done and good for a bit of daft fun, you might say. If you were British. Here's the Nursery Crime Division site, with links to the others. I couldn't decide who to buy his book for, so he signed it like this:

Fantastic.

Most exciting news of the evening: his next book will be the fifth installment of Thursday Next. His publisher shot down Apocalypse Next as a title, but I'm sure he'll think of something equally clever and punny.

I even got an awesome Ginja Assassin postcard w/ signing.

My only disappointment: the new Porridge t-shirt was not available for purchase.

Oh well, that's what the internet is for, I suppose.