Virginia Smith
Post #1256 – 20010106January 6, 2001
Mr. P.,
Do you visit schools?
Daniel replies:
You mean in the daytime, when there are people in them?
Talk to DP Forum
Steve
Post #1254 – 20010106January 6, 2001
its great to see that you have all this time to respond to your readers requests. not many authors have this much time nor manage their time so well. what is your secret. not that i hope to write one day, but i may become an astronaut
Daniel replies:
I never go out.
Morgan
Post #1253 – 20010103January 3, 2001
Dear Daniel Pinkwater,
I really like your book, Lizard Music. The reason I like it is that it is so fiction, but non-fiction. And I also really like it because there is a lot of adventure and I really like adventure. I have read it 4 and 1/2 times. I am age 6.
From,
Morgan
Daniel replies:
I have the best readers of any author anywhere. It is an honor to have the readers I have. Look at Morgan, other writers, and bow to me.
Ed Weiss
Post #1251 – 20010101January 1, 2001
Daniel,
What’s your take on animal telepathy? Have you ever had any telepathic experiences with your various animal companions (e.g. they know when you or Jill are coming home, know when you or Jill will be calling)? Are animals smarter than us, or do they just know what to listen for?
Happy New Year.
Daniel replies:
I am pretty sure that animal mentation goes beyond anything people commonly believe. I am still trying to overcome basic prejudices...like everybody else, I'm capable of interpreting stuff according to what I was taught, while something contradictory is happening right in front of me. Far beyond knowing when we're coming home, I have had ample evidence that animals know what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, understand quite a lot of what I'm saying, and can both predict and cause what I am going to do next. I have a whole book about this in mind, so I'll just add this: In the past 4 years I've come to believe that instinct takes in much more specific things than I formerly thought. It's less, ""I have a vague incomprehensible prompting to engage in certain behaviors, and I don't know why,"" and more, ""Oh look! That Inuit in the TV program has caught a seal. It's a female, and one of those speckled ones--the very best eating! Hey, Daniel and Jill, are you paying attention? That's the kind to get when you go to the supermarket. Hey! Are you listening?""
Jill Lightner
Post #1252 – 20010101January 1, 2001
your books make my face hurt in a good way. although your books may raise larger questions at a future date, i must know this first– what’s up with you and chickens?
Daniel replies:
Do you mean that your facial pain might increase, and it will be the fault of my books, or that your face is apt to grow larger in the future? In any case, you may not sue me. Chickens are a literary device. They might just as well be pickles.
Bud, the Typing Wonderdog
Post #1249 – 20001223December 23, 2000
Thank you, mr. pinkwater for reading on the radio today from Wolf Christmas. I brought tears to my eyes! Now I can see where some, or maybe all of my feelings are coming from. In a couple of days, I will be the happy uncle to 5 of my granddaughters, just like the uncle in your story. Right now, I’m out of sorts for having to get my hair done, but I should be OK by then.
Are there any other animals out there in cyberspace who have learned to use the computer? I am a white, fluffy dog and weigh 10 pounds. There must be others out there who can punch this thing. Maybe we could get together
Hoping to hear from you: Bud. (And I’ll be listening for you, too, Mr. Pinkwater. Thx)
Daniel replies:
I will not be afraid. I will not be afraid. I have been a professional writer for more than 30 years. I have been charged by a rhino and attacked by a cobra. I will not be afraid.
Steve K.
Post #1250 – 20001223December 23, 2000
will “fat men from space” still be dedicated to me “the biggest baby born in budapest”, when it is reissued
Daniel replies:
I regret, bigger babies have been since born in Budapest, as you yourself know. Records are made to be broken...so, I'm afraid...no. Of course, if you can generate 100 or more emails and/or letters to Aladdin Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, pointing out the need for a new edition, I'm sure something can be worked out.
Eva Sari Schweber
Post #1045 – 20001222December 22, 2000
I have spent years writing this letter over and over in my head. Every Saturday morning I listen to Scott Simon with great anticipation hoping that he will announce you and you will read a story together. Actually, I always listen to Scott Simon with great anticipation because I have a monster aural crush on him, but that is another story.
The reason that I never wrote this letter to you is because I assumed you were overwhelmed with fan letters, and this would be another one, electronically tossed aside–or worse, screened by a staff member. But the day has come for me to take the plunge, write the letter and hope it gets through.
I can’t remember a time when your books were not part of my library. My earliest memory is reading “The Bear’s Picture” over and over again. Unfortunately my copy was lost to the ravages of time (or my baby brother, I forget which). In college I found others of my kind as we threw parties based on themes from “Lizard Music” and the Snark Out books. In fact, the informal name of my consulting business is Fifth and Snark Productions.
But alas, that is all silly fan stuff. The most important piece of information that I wanted to impart to you is that I have you to thank for making the process of buying my first home a bearable proposition. I have kept a copy of “The Big Orange Splot” with me through college, graduate school and now, life. As I was looking around and realtors and lenders were quoting me numbers and statistics, I just kept telling them that I was looking for a house that was me, and that I was it, and that it needed to be a place where I liked to be and it looked like all my dreams. In fact, my realtor was so impressed with decision-making tool that she bought a case of the books to give away to future clients. Ok, ok, I know this sounds like an informercial–but in a day and age where publishers are putting together “based on the themes of Dr. Suess,” us children book fans need someone who takes children seriously. There are so few children’s authors whose books are worth keeping around, especially in a house where the youngest child is 29.
So should you ever feel beaten down by the powers that be, or have a horrible case of writers block, keep in mind that there are freaky fans like myself out here in the world. Readers who appreciate the gifts you have given us, and the occasional wake up stories read by two of my favorite guys in the world.
Thank you.
-Eva Schweber
Daniel replies:
What can I say? Except--tell this stuff to your local public radio station, and add that they should carry Chinwag Theater, (which doesn't have Scott Simon...yet, but he might make a guest appearance some day). The vicissitudes of trying to do art of a sort in a completely profit-oriented culture do not get me down, but every day the pressure has to be renewed, as the people who own the means of communcication have their memories and consciences wiped each night.
Thanks for chiming in. As you'll notice by reading up and down this forum, many people don't hesitate in the least.
MTPletsch
Post #1248 – 20001221December 21, 2000
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I have long been a fan of your wonderful books. I started reading them when I was in the second grade. Lately, I’ve been reading some books by Kurt Vonnegut. I realize that his books are definitely geared toward adults rather than children, but I was wondering whether or not you were influenced by his works. I am currently reading Cat’s Cradle, and I found that the whole atmosphere is very similar to many of your books (like Yobgorgle or Lizard Music, two of my favorites). It had the same kind of bizarre, warped sense of humor that I like (although it was slightly older humor). Maybe you have no idea what I am talking about. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how much I love your books and style of writing.
P.S. Have you ever thought of doing a sequel to Fat Men from Space? It was the first of your books that I read. But it doesn’t seem to get much attention. I wonder why….
Daniel replies:
I admire Kurt Vonnegut and once met him, which was a big honor. (Check the picture gallery on this site for a photo of that occasion). Fat Men from Space is a highly popular book--probably the most read of all I have written. It's currently out of print, I believe, but I have been trying to persuade Simon and Schuster to bring out a refurbished and newly illustrated, (by Jill), edition. Trying for a year now. They need time to think about things.
Steve K
Post #1247 – 20001220December 20, 2000
please let me know the issues of Help” magazine that you were featured in.
Daniel replies:
All I remember is they were in 1965. Two issues. It would take me a month to locate my copies.
Noah Glaser
Post #1246 – 20001219December 19, 2000
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I am a fifth grader in Ann Arbor Michigan and a big fan of yours. I loved “The H.C.E.” and “The S.B. and the A. of D.” My teacher hyperventilated over my book reports and awarded them two stars each (that^s an A+). They have very colorful and exquisite covers. Would you like to see them?
Noah
Fifth-grader Extraordinaire
Daniel replies:
Nah, hang onto them. I am content that you are another genius reader of my stuff. I am quietly proud.
Lauren
Post #1245 – 20001217December 17, 2000
Hi.
Will you ever write another snarkout boys or alan mendelsohn book? they’re my favorites, mainly because they were in the book Five Novels and that was the first book I read by you where I actually knew it was you as the author. (mush, dog from space, or whatever the title is, came first.)
Lauren
ps.Did I get the mush thing title right? I have a bad memory about that kind of stuff.
Daniel replies:
Sequel coming to ""Mush, a Dog from Space,"" and this time you know. I was going to write a sequel to the Snarkout Boys. I still might. Anything can happen.
Steve K.
Post #1244 – 20001216December 16, 2000
will there ever be another book in the “magic moscow” series.
my favorite next to java jack and the orange splot.
Daniel replies:
I plan to continue the Magic Moscow series at some point. It will be about a middle-aged guy in Hoboken who becomes a fat crime-fighting superhero at night after closing his store. It should be noted that although I am credited as co-author, I was more of an editor extraordinary in the making of Java Jack, and have no idea what it's supposed to be about.
Jack
Post #1243 – 20001212December 12, 2000
D. Manus–Please release on tape the readings of “slaves” that you did on WUOM, asides and all. I listened to them in my car (not to worry,I’m a safe, if agressive, driver) and would like my wife, an unrelenting english teacher, to acousticate them also. Info, please. And you sound like only 259 lbs on the radio. “The truth is out there”.
Daniel replies:
Tape releases yet! Well, maybe later on. Right now it's all I can do to do all I can.
Andrew
Post #1242 – 20001211December 11, 2000
Mr. pinkwater,
My name is Andrew. Your book “The Big Orange Splot” has been one of my favorite stories since I was a kid. It made me the insane Plumbean that I am today. If more people had read that book, we would have less problems in the world.
thanx!! a fan for life,
Andrew
Daniel replies:
What can I say? When you're right, you're right.