Paulina and Amanda
Post #709 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Daniel Pinkwater,
We are proud to pronouce that we are reading one of your books (5 novels ) just one novel he (SNARK OUT BOYS AND THE AVOCADO OF DEATH ) We just started the book yesterday and we are really enjoying it. We are looking forward to reading some of the other novels and books you have written. Sorry Reading Class is OVER got to go. (write back soon)
C-YA LATER
Sincerly,
your favorite readers,
Paulina AND Amanda
BYE BYE
Daniel replies:
How come you're writing during reading class?
Isaac Hoffer
Post #679 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Dear Mr. Pinkwater:
Your books have inspired me to be a better person, taught me that my adolescent cynicism was merely a chemical reaction and that life was really something to be enjoyed, and helped me enjoy my already expading girth. I am renowned in my neighbourhood as a large and vicious teenager, but, immediately after reading the Afterlife Diet, I distributed loose change and hotdogs among the poor and joined an impromptu urban quartet in a rendition of Paul Simon’s “Crazy Love.” Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Daniel replies:
How can you not love a large and vicious teenager?
Holly K. Hein
Post #491 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I thought you might like to know that your name is a verb now, as in
“Honey, do you want some of this avocado?”
“Did you Pinkwater it?”
“Yes.”
“Hand it over.”
I have loved your work since 1981, when I was in sixth grade. Thank you, sir.
Daniel replies:
Holly K. Hein -- Does Pinkwatering an avocado mean putting it between two slices of whole grain bread with peanut butter, a slice of raw onion, and lots of hot sauce?
Art Thieme
Post #511 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
M…. Dan, Howdy! This is Art Thieme, New to computer but it’s great trying to say HOWDY this way. Hope ya get it. First time I tried I disabled my computer for 3 days; clicked send in wrong place. Since school I’ve been a folksinger and now am disabled. Can’t pick now;MS> Had an NPR radio show in thr’80s. Was fun some ways; others not. So, if it wasn’t for time we’d have to do everything all at once! For sure, best regards, Art Thieme
Daniel, Howdy! A cement mason friend of mine was tired of kids writing their names in the wet cement. He chased ’em arount the block six times. Came back wheezin’ & puffin’. I told him, “I thought you liked kids!” His answer: “In the abstract, yes. In the concrete, NO!” All the best in ’98, Art Thieme
P.S.–I sang for kids for 22 years through Urban Gateways in Chicago.
Daniel replies:
Hey, Art! I hear you from time to time on Wanda Fisher's weekly folk program out of WAMC in Albany, NY.
Did you know Mike Sideman in Chicago? He's from the neighborhood.
Marcus Harwell
Post #584 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Mr. Pinkwater,
I had no choice. I had to write and tell you what a terrific time I’ve had with your work over the years. Were I to ignore this opportunity to convey my fond good wishes (the electronic equivalent of a smile and a “thumbs up”), my conscience would smack me right in the frontal lobe.
_Alan Mendelsohn_ is my favorite. When I found, to my amazement, that my partner hadn’t even HEARD of it, I stopped what I was doing, yanked the book off the shelf, and subjected him to a forced reading. After all, the book helped shape (warp, some say) my already lopsided view of the world and its otherworldly denizens. It wouldn’t have been the same kidhood without it, and I might have grown up to be an accountant (urk!) or a senator (gack!), instead of the goofy artist I became.
Yours, with much affection,
Marcus Harwell
Daniel replies:
Hey! Now you can _give_ your partner a copy of Alan Mendelsohn, along with 4 other nifty books....arrgh. I am starting to nauseate myself plugging that book. Just everybody please buy a copy, so the publisher will agree to doing another collection. I will quit mentioning it now.
Jake, Age 13
Post #722 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
My name is Jake. I go to J.L. Stanford Middle School. I just read your book, Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars. I liked the book, it was funny. I have some questions and I hope you have the answers.
1. Who are the Waka-Wakians? And where did you get the inspiration for those guys?
2. What gave you the idea of writing this story?
3. Was Alan Mendelsohn really a Martian?
4. What does Rolzup look like?
5. Were you the inspiration for the way William Lloyd Floyd looked?
Thank you,
Jake, Age 13
Daniel replies:
Here are some answers.
1. I know, but I'm not saying.
2. A real-life incident.
3. Was he?
4. Very nice-looking.
5. No, someone else.
Thanks for being a thoughtful reader.
David Klein
Post #498 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
The E-mail joke concerning the talking frog mentioned in your last commentary had made the rounds in similar form for at least 2 years. The geeky/nerdie types (among which I am numbered) find it endearing – a reinforcement of the odd ball loner techie image we claim as our birthright (even if we don’t match the mold).
One of the people to whom I forwarded the joke some years ago found it less than humorous as she thought the joke was a drawn from life image of her son.
Just thought I’d pass that along.
Daniel replies:
Her son carried a frog around with him, and talked to it?
Tom Johnson
Post #516 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Dear Daniel,
As a fan of NPR I heard you give an interview to Scott Simon, and to my amazement, another author I’m fond of, namely Harlan Ellison, popped up. Or was it the other way around? At any rate, since I am also a fan of the television show Babylon 5, and Harlan Ellison is a consultant to the show, I thought you might ask to appear as an alien on the show. Ask Harlan, maybe he could arrange a cameo. It would be a hoot, and show support for the only intelligent science fiction show on television. Besides, you could really impress people by being an alien on TV, especially kids.
Daniel replies:
Harlan Ellison? Harlan Ellison? Who is that? Are you sure it was a segment on NPR in which I was heard? Maybe he was being interviewed by Daniel Schorr. Harlan? Ellison? It's familiar, but I can't place it. You don't mean Ralph Ellison, who wrote The Invisible Man, do you? No, not that Invisible Man, the other one--the greatest American novel since Moby Dick. But you wrote Harlan...I'm stumped.
Hal
Post #479 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
DMP,
You know what you should get them to do? You should get them to release an anthology of your short fiction. By “short fiction” I mean, of course, your picture books–anything shorter than, say “The Magic Goose.” You could probably fit all of them in one volume if you just put the text in with no pictures. Purists might complain that the esthetic experience of reading your work will be tainted by taking away the art, but I’ve read two of your books this way (“Wempires” in Omni and “Devil in the Drain” in Marvin Kaye’s _Devils and Demons_ anthology) and can personally testify that they are still dang good reads, pictures or no pictures. Plus, picture books cost a lot and the old ones are hard to find. The world needs a handy one-volume collection of Pinkwater short stories, perhaps bound in rhinoceros hide with gilded page edges, but also released as a mass market paperback so I could buy one. (I thought _5 Novels_ was a great idea, and I hope it miraculously becomes a best seller so you can release a companion volume containing _Yobgorgle_, _Lizard Music_ and the underappreciated _Worms of Kukumlima_.)
On a completely unrelated note: I am moving to Hoboken in a few days and wondered if you could tell me all the cool places to go in Hoboken. By “cool” I mean places where I won’t get beaten up.
Daniel replies:
Hal -- You can have no idea how discouraging getting ""them"" to do anything is. It took me years to get a publisher, any publisher, to do an anthology. ""5 Novels,"" appears to be selling somewhat, even with the accursed and feeble backing of Farrar Straus and Giroux. I have another collection proposed elsewhere. They've been thinking it over for the past three or four months. No sign of an actual thought having taken shape, nor do I expect on any time soon. This is how it goes.
I would say that you are likely to be beaten up anywhere in Hoboken. That's part of its charm.
Young Dave Wooten
Post #657 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
At some point in my life, dear Danny, I was reading a funny children’s book I had picked out of the heaps at the bookstore. I had a funny feeling. It didn’t lessen. I had read this Before. And suddenly, in a flash, I remembered a librarian pointing me to Daniel Manus Pinkwater’s Lizard Music (as she was at a loss for finding other books I hadn’t read.. “well, as a last straw..”) The rest is hazy, but I’ve been reading all of your books again and I finally came across Wingman which nearly brought tears to my eyes as I was so familiar with it and had cared for it so much, and even remembered caring for it but hadn’t known which book it was. It’s not that I’m older than twenty-three, or anything, but thanks.
Daniel replies:
Gosh. How moving. There are times when I think I must be some good writer. Then there are the other 23 hours and 59 minutes. But I'm glad the books meant something to you.
Chris Cummins
Post #523 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
I just wanted to thank you for the great books. “Fat Men From Space” was my favorite book growing up, and still remains on my shelf alongside of other great works.
I am a film student, and I believe that it would make a fantastic film. Has their ever been plans to adapt it to a film?
Thanks again!
Chris Cummins
Daniel replies:
Fun to speculate about what other great works FMFS is nestled up against. Plans for films are for others to plan, not me. Just send my agent a large check, and plan all you want. You can send a smaller check, and plan for a year. Or you can order plans directly from Popular Mechanics, at a considerable saving.
Fred Robey
Post #486 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Dear Captin,
The more of your books I hunt down and read the more I enjoy them. I also found your audio tapes in the libary, they were great. I would like to say thanks for your contribution to the litary arts. It is fun to read Chicago days and Hoboken nights and then wander around Chicago and find the places you wrote about.
Please keep up the good work.
Your Fan,
Fred.
Daniel replies:
Fred Robey -- What? There are really places in Chicago like ones I wrote about? Dang!
Fred Robey
Post #627 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
Dear Captin Pinkwater,
I enjoy your books A loT!!!!! Also I am not writing you to yell about how you beat up on fat Jew’s. I am writing to say that you are a great writer. That it is all for now. I am in awe that I found this site!!!!
Ps. I have heard of chicken man from some of the old timers that work the cta!
Daniel replies:
Fred Robey -- Now _there's_ a post! Thanks for your abject praise. Notwithstanding, this baseless accusation that I beat up fat Jews is likely to haunt me. I offer this challenge: Let any fat, or even slightly overweight Jew who can claim I have beaten him, or her, up come forward. I am prepared to refute any such claim, and produce as witnesses satisfied Jews, and adherents of other faiths, to whom I have offered ice cream, matzoh brei, hot dogs and other good things.
[Ed.-- You can bet your kishka on this one, folks.]
Adam Matz
Post #576 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
I don’t have much to say other than if I have kids I am going to force feed them Pinkwater books until they are old enough to live on their own. You are a wonderful author and I wish you the best in everything you do. (interesting note – my nickname is also “The Chicken Man” like Mr. Kanemoto, alas it is just because of my pitifully skinny legs)
Daniel replies:
Force feed them? I don't like the sound of that. Decent parents try to protect their children from trash such as I write, and give them lots of Disney, so they can grow up to be fine Americans.
John
Post #684 – 19970101
January 1, 1997
what do you recommend for depression, mr. pinkwater? It’s been a long day. still love you tho.
john
Daniel replies:
For depression I suggest a milkshake made with yoghurt, honey and fresh fruit, and maybe some St.John's wort.
