Knock knock knock. Pizza delivery. I’ve got a pepperoni, mushroom and extra cheese here for the awesome Story Siren...
Last month, my book Please Ignore Vera Dietz came out and I've been delivering cyber pizza all over the blogosphere ever since. You are my second-to-last stop! It's been really cool to stop in and chat to people like you, Kristi, because I owe so much to the blogging community. So thank you for all your support and thank you for making an order for this blog tour! Now...on with the show
photo: Matt Smith
TSS: What is the story behind the Pagoda? Did you base it on an actual place?
ASK: I actually did grow up in a Pennsylvania town that is overlooked by a large Shogun Dynasty style pagoda that glows red at night. But the town in the book, Mt. Pitts, is fictional, and I didn't grow up that close to the pagoda (I don't really think anyone can...most of the road up there is city or privately owned) so that part of the setting is completely from my head. But yes, the pagoda's hinted-to history from the book is pretty much true.
The pagoda was built on a mountain that had been defaced by a large quarry operation in the early 20th century and it has a bizarre history of never quite becoming what it was meant to be. Only two years after construction was completed in 1908 (and the liquor license for the planned-luxury hotel was denied) it was sold for the sum of one dollar to the city of Reading, Pa. Throughout the years that followed, it faced near-destruction during the Second World War for being Japanese, and it did survive a fire in the late 1960s. It's now a great tourist attraction and is a really beautiful place to hang out. I hadn't been there since I moved back to America six years ago until only a few weeks ago. (Yes, I wrote the book and the pagoda without once visiting the pagoda...and it's only 20 minutes away from where I live, really.) Here are two pictures from that trip.
TSS: Time for an embarrassing picture with an explanation.
ASK: Nearly every single one of you November deliveries ordered mushrooms! Holy cow. So here we go: Last embarrassing picture with an explanation! Let me see if I can dig out something from the old days...
Oh Yeah! Score! How about some bad dresses?
How can I explain these pictures? We all had bad dresses in the early 70s. (And judging form the picture on the left, I also had an "I am my own hairdresser" moment.) I'm unsure, but I think both dresses were handmade by my mother who is still a great seamstress. You might also note the sisters standing next to me are wearing the same dresses...or something similar in different colors. I am guessing dresses like these are the reason I am a lover of jeans, t-shirts and combat boots. No offense, Mom.
TSS: Would you share an old poem?
ASK: This is from around 1998 or 1999. Probably inspired by Walt Whitman judging from content and that first line and exclamation point! It's not great, but it's mine and I have to say, I am still watching my feet kick up brown earth.
Running
Envy not the high-minded lest you become as shallow!
With their knowledge they choose only to flaunt
and not to humble to the natural way of things
where no man is a god and no man truly knows.
Instead turn your mind to the world around you.
Hear it, smell it, trust it the way a dog trusts its nose.
Study it until your eyes grow tired.
Until you dream it while sleeping.
Waste no time competing with competitors here.
In the underworld, the Olympics of dead men are run.
Marathons of the well-read, the well-paid, the winners
can sit for as long as they like in caverns of old books.
Let your own dreams be free of ribbons or trophies.
Fear not losing and you shall not lose. Run in a race
only against yourself and win every time by finishing.
Watch your own feet as they kick up God’s brown earth.
TSS: Did you have a tree house like the one Charlie & Vera built?
ASK: I did not have a cool tree house like that. I had the one Vera imagined: a few pieces of wood nailed to a sturdy branch, a ladder, a rope and a great imagination. I grew up surrounded by a cornfield, not a forest, so my most common hangout was in the corn.
BONUS FOR YOU!
Your topping combination means we'll giveaway signed copy of
PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ.
All entrants have to do is leave a comment here on your blog fill out the entry form here, to say they're entering.
We'd love if they'd spread the word, too!
Giveaway ends Nov 17th 11:59pm ET
I'd usually tell you a bit about PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ but since you've reviewed it, I say we link right back to that right about here. (Kristi's review) You do a far better job of explaining my books than I do.
Thank you so much for ordering a pizza on the Pizza Delivery Blog Tour, Kristi!
Next AND FINAL stop: Forever Young Adult on November 16th