SDQ Interview with Erik P. Kraft.

Erik P. Kraft's books are, as they say, made of awesome.  His Lenny and Mel books are hilarious.  I've read and re-read them many times, and even though they're geared at 7-10 year olds, they make me laugh out loud every time.  (That says a lot about a couple of things...  But let's just ignore my maturity level and just focus on how super-fun the books are, okay?)

Miracle Wimp, his first teen novel, came out this summer.  I went gaga for it.  The first time I read it (back in July), I blazed straight through.  Since then, I've picked it up over and over again, to read a couple of chapters or to just look at the pictures.  (Because Erik's drawings?  Again, made of awesome.  I mean, just look at the gnome who welcomes you to his website.  Now go and play.  Way fun.)

But really, if you're a regular here, you've heard me say all of this before.  What you really want is the man himself, right? 

Here's my big Miracle Wimp question: Was any of it autobiographical?

There's a lot of it that is, but I had to change most of it to make it fit the story.  I really did have friends named Adam and Steve in high school, but the Adam and Steve in the book are composites of a lot of my friends.  (What's weird is that they both live in Anchorage, AK now. Apparently they couldn't get far enough away from our hometown. Adam said it was very weird to be so far away and to run into a close friend from high school).  We really did "yo" people's houses, and I did yell "dicknose!" at Steve's house once (or maybe more than once).  I did used to be a janitor at a health club.  I took wood shop, but it was in junior high. I wanted to work in stuff about getting my license, so I had to set the story in high school.  So that changed a lot right there.  So a lot of the things may have happened, but not necessarily at the time or to the people they do in the book.

And now for the standard prompts:

Books Currently Reading:

I just finished Pigeons by Andrew D. Blechman.  It was very interesting to see how these birds used to be prized by royalty (and in some cases still are) but only fairly recently have been pegged as flying rats (and according to the book, pigeon crap is probably safer for you disease-wise than cat crap, it's just that pigeons flock in huge groups, so there's always tons of it, therefore seems grodier). Now I'm reading The Great New England Sea Serpent by J.P O'Neill.  I read a lot of non-fiction. These are the first two books in a long while that haven't been some sort of music biographies.

Music Currently in Rotation:

Roscoe Holcomb, The Louvin Brothers, Mississippi John Hurt, Buck Owens, Hank Williams, anything old-timey that I haven't heard before.  I am on a big old timey kick these days, but only because I find so much music being made currently to be unbearably derivative, and celebrated for being so.  I'd rather listen to the bands that are getting ripped off than the ones watering down their sounds, so I've just tried to go as far off the beaten path as I can for a little while.

Last Movie Viewed:

Hercules Against the Moon Men (Mystery Science Theater 3000 edition).  It's no Mitchell, I'll say that much.

Pet Peeves:

Not sure I can narrow this down to one thing. It might be a shorter list to list things I like. If I had to go with one thing that gets me daily, it's people who shove their way onto the subway before anyone has even had a chance to get off, followed closely by people who cut their nails on the subway. I pretty much hate the subway altogether, but it beats driving, which I hate even more.

Current Obsessions:

I am pretty obsessive by nature, but the focus changes constantly.  Obviously old timey country music is up there, as are biographies about musicians (and they don't even have to be ones I like, but it helps).  I'm mildly obsessed with both pygmy and fainting goats.  I often don't even know when I'm being obsessive.  It's pretty obvious to whoever's around, though.

Guilty Pleasures:

I generally don't feel guilty about the stuff I like, no matter how cheesy it may be (see: ABBA, Barry Manilow, Project Runway). I figure if I like something, it has some merit, and if people think it's stupid, they can get bent.

Irrational Fear:

Tapeworms

Favorite Piece of Trivia:

If you have a tapeworm, the only way to get rid of it is to kill the head. Kind of like Medusa, but in your innards.

So there you have it.  It isn't just his books that are made of awesome -- Mr. Erik P. Kraft HIMSELF is made of awesome.  (I'm planning on working "get bent" back into my vocabulary.)

Today's other Winter Blast Blog Tour links are:

Lisa Ann Sandell at Chasing Ray
Perry Moore at Interactive Reader
Christopher Barzak at Shaken & Stirred
Autumn Cornwell at The Ya Ya Yas
Jon Scieszka at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Gabrielle Zevin at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Judy Blume at Not Your Mother's Book Club
Clare Dunkle at Miss Erin

Comments

[TadMack]

Dude, I even can stand Barry Manilow, but the picture? Bringing on MY irrational fears... eew.
And HEEE! Fainting goats! It really is hard not to be obsessed with them...

Thanks for the interview -- there are SO MANY books I want to read, and I'm always so happy to see really funny guy books.

[Lauren]

Fainting goats are made of awesome.

[Brian F.]

And Mitchell is no Manos.