Alfred DeStefano
Food of the Gods?October 19, 2025
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
In the late 1980s, my mother attempted to rush me out of a library, an action she knew to be an impossibility, but anyway… I took the usual thirty minutes at that point to prepare to leave by hiding. A mass market paperback spinner blocked my mother’s view, containing the usual fare from Asimov and Bradbury and Heinlein.
But there was a different book staring back at me this time. More properly, it was an enwired & space-age avocado.
Many decades later, I have consumed that fare, its sequel, and your many other books more times than I can count. Which is a terrible thing, in fact, since I’m a high school math teacher, and ought to be capable of such things by now.
At any rate, today I decided to write this small note of vast appreciation to you, and perhaps find out if it’s just my computer or there might actually be something wrong with the “get autographed copies” and “send books for review” part of your website, since I’d like to do that as well. If it’s just my computer, I apologize for the inconvenience. I guess I’ll figure it out at some point.
Wishing you all good things,
Alfred (“An Anthropoid Bloboform In Spirit”)
Daniel replies:
I congratulate you on having a mother who took you to the library. "Get autographed copies?" "Send books for review?" No. It could be "Get books autographed," which you do by you acquiring a book, or maybe you have one, then following the instructions somewhere on this website, (neatly packaged, correct return postage on enclosed return mailer, and understood that any deviation and you may never see your book again). "Send books for review?" No. Absolutely no. I never understood why people want autographed books. It lowers the value. There is no telling whether the distinguished author actually signed--in my case all the autographs are the work of Wally Wanamopo, my loyal secretary of so many years. Including packaging, postage and time spent, the reader would save enough by not seeking an autograph to buy another book, second-hand, possibly by a better author, or maybe a medium-size Dairy Queen, pineapple-butterscotch flavor.
