Tess Felter
Post #3783 – 20140805
August 5, 2014
Hello! I'm a big fan of Daniel Pinkwater, especially The Neddiad and The Yggesey, and
I thought you'd be able to help me with something.
I'm participating in GISHWHES this year,
(If you are puzzled, look here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GISHWHES)
it's a sort of scavenger hunt,and one of my responsibilities is to complete this challenge:
"Get a previously published Sci-Fi author to write an original story (140 words max) about Misha Collins, the Queen of England and an Elopus"
(misha collins as in the actor from the popular television show "Supernatural")
(an elopus is an elephant/octopus creature)
if you could help me out with this and email me back a story, I'd be eternally grateful!
Thank you!
–Tess
Daniel replies:
Nope. Sorry. Not my thing. Why don't you ask Harlan Ellison?
Sabrina
Post #3778 – 20140801
August 1, 2014
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I somehow magically acquired your book, The Big Orange Splot, when I was a student teacher. It has a strange and wonderful power over children, even saving me when I was working as a substitute teacher several times and the kids were getting twitchy.
My own child is now delighted with it, at the age of 5, and wants us to protest to our HOA so that we can paint our home to look different than all the others on our street.
Thank you for a lovely and meaningful book, for young and old.
Daniel replies:
In addition to magically acquiring my books, you can check them out of the library, buy them in bookshops, and download them as ebooks. Magic is nice too. Thanks for the kind words.
Luigi Attardi
Post #3763 – 20140722
July 22, 2014
Dear Mr Pinkwater,
I greatly appreciate Radio Mozart, and the sad fact of its unmerited money problems, as well as the importance of your Whole person, not least as a famous author, to the undertaking. I therefore feel compelled to tell you that I think the frequency of the related messages which you intersperse with the delightful music is way too great, at least these days. I think I remember a less obsessive itiretaion of these important aspects in broadcast days past. In any case, with gratitude and all best regards,
Luigi Attardi
Daniel replies:
Signor Attardi --
I fully agree with you. However I am only an announcer on the station, and not involved with technical matters and policy. Comments about the programming should be addressed to Radio Mozart, not to me. However, I can tell you this--Radio Mozart is brought to you via a carrier that runs commercial announcements. If you were listening in the USA you would hear loud commercials, disruptive, and totally unsuited to the music. I am guessing it's possible that the too frequent announcements, many in my voice, are a means of filling holes in the feed where the advertisements are meant to air in other countries. I too remember when it was truly all Mozart all the time, and have to remind myself that the ads for me, and too much Pinkwater for you, are the price we have to pay for Nicolas Goyet's superb choices of music...for the present. I look forward to a day when perhaps the station can be funded directly by the listeners with nothing extraneous.
Thank you for listening, and your kind remarks.
celia
Post #3762 – 20140719
July 19, 2014
Please persuade a publisher to reprint Wuggie Norple. My someday grandbabies will need their own copies, and I can't afford to pay Amazon $70 for each one.
Daniel replies:
Interesting to think that you think I can persuade publishers, which are corporations, which as you know are people, to do anything. However, anything is possible. Meanwhile, if you scrounge around, looking on Ebay for example, you may find a copy for less than $70.
Jordan Kleber
Post #3764 – 20140719
July 19, 2014
Dear Mr. Pinkwater, I am a native New Yorker who has been living in Portugal since 2001 and in Lisbon since 2005. Given your lamentations upon the state of the art in New York which I heard on NPR back ’97, I don’t expect you’ll be surprised to hear that bagels are not available here. I hope to remedy that by opening Levi’s New York Style Bagels, named after my grandson. As part of my research, would it be possible for me to get copies of the transcripts of your ’90s NPR bagel reports? Thank you for your consideration. Jordan Kleber
Daniel replies:
Actual bagels are extinct because there are no more bagel-makers with arms like gorillas, and it has been shown that machines can only make bageloid simulations. It's remotely possible you could retrain Portuguese fishermen used to hauling nets, but I think your prospects are dim.
Kevin
Post #3761 – 20140717
July 17, 2014
Absurdity also is of clay and waffles made. And so, apparently, can be a prelude to Les Preludes of Franz Liszt (or the Hungarian Rhapsodies on harmonica in this case). For which I can only say thank you.
And for those confused by this comment, please check out the Pinkwater Podcast from July 6, 2014.
Daniel replies:
That's wattles. Waffles are prohibited in building codes of most U.S. states.
Robin Bjork
Post #3755 – 20140716
July 16, 2014
Thank you so much for your reply. I am sorry to hear about NPR not continuing your readings…I just thought I wasn't listening at the right time.
I sent a suggestion to my friend Gay that she have her publisher send you a copy of The Elephant Letters. Hope they follow through.
Very best, Robin
Daniel replies:
Of course, readings, and interview/booktalks continue on the Bob Edwards Show on SiriusXM satellite radio, and Bob Edwards Weekend on 300 or so public radio stations. I think the programs can be accessed on the web as well--if you go to the Bob Edwards Show site, there should be a link. It's a good show, and the people are very nice to work with.
Daniel replies:
I was interested! Just imagine, someone can write a column like that, and get paid and everything!
bh in bethesda
Post #3748 – 20140702
July 2, 2014
Hi Mr. Pinkwater,
Thanks so much for reading Alan Mendelsohn, it's one of my favorite books from when I was a kid, and I dare say, perhaps one of your best (though I am loathe to play favorites!) My one complaint about many of your books though, is that they end far too quickly. I certainly wish all your books just had so many more chapters to savor, before they came to a close. Do you happen to have unpublished chapters of your books (that somehow didn't make it through the final editing process) hanging around in your files? If so, would you consider publishing them, or posting them somewhere? They could be like some of those "alternate endings" or "bonus features" that are found on many DVDs of movies these days, no? Anyhow, thanks much for your many memorable books, and have a great day!
Daniel replies:
Editing process? Final editing process? These terms are unfamiliar to me.
Gibson Christopher
Post #3743 – 20140627
June 27, 2014
Dear Mr. Pinkwater, please tell me the end of one of your stories, or tell me where I may find it in a written version somewhere. In 1995, I had a job that involved me inspecting homes for the City of Cudahy, WI. All day long, I had appointments every 15 minutes and I passed the time between appointments listening to NPR. On one occasion, I listened to a very engaging story about your wife and the attraction she holds for all things canine. I can't remember if the story involved a wolf or a domestic canis, but I was very much enamored of the story. Sadly, I was unable to have a "driveway moment" because the homeowner at the next appointment was standing on the stoop of her home waiting for/watching me. Lo, these many years later, I still wonder how that story ended.
Daniel replies:
It could have been any if a number of stories about how attractive my wife is to all sorts of animals including human. Somewhere on this website a collection of dog stories is being offered, (proceeds to an animal rescue organization)--you might want to give that a try.
Giovanni Di Meo
Post #3742 – 20140620
June 20, 2014
Dear Daniel!
Thanks for this wonderful Radio and your sweet voice. I immediately full in love with it!
Daniel replies:
I am so glad you like it. Your thanks should go to your fellow European, Nicolas Goyet--I am just a voice. The music is good too!
F. Abagnale
Post #3737 – 20140613
June 13, 2014
What was the first movie you saw in a theater? What year was it?
Daniel replies:
Up in Arms, starring Danny Kaye, 1944. So, I was about 3 1/2 years old. When I saw the film again as an adult, I remembered images from the time I saw it as a child. This was Kaye's first starring role, and launched his film career. I thought he was funny. I still think so, but the film isn't so good. The Court Jester, which he made in 1956 is much better.
Robin Bjork
Post #3735 – 20140609
June 9, 2014
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I greatly enjoy your NPR commentaries about children%u2019s books.
My friend, Dr. Dr. Gay Bradshaw (www.kerulos.org/), recently published a beautiful children%u2019s book (also for adults), The Elephant Letters. It is about 2 cousin elephants with the same birthdays%u2026one who gets captured and taken to a zoo and the other who remains free on the African Savanna. They exchange letters as they grow to adulthood, telling their happy and sad stories from each perspective. It is based in fact and fantasy and tells a tale for the ages of this magnificent intelligent animal society. From the forward by Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick (Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/html/about_daphne_sheldrick.html) and beautiful watercolors contrasting a rich African Savanna to a lonely gray zoo life, I get goose bumps thinking about it and have tears running down my face each time I have read it.
It is an important book, educating and giving children a meaningful way to contribute to saving elephants. I hope you will check it out and positively review it on NPR!
www.createspace.com/4548489
Sincerely, Robin Bjork (57 years old without children)
Daniel replies:
It sounds like a very nice book indeed. NPR stopped using my book talks two or three years ago. They never said why, or anything about it. I sometimes talk about books these days on the Bob Edwards Show on SiriusXM satellite radio, and Bob Edwards Weekend on some hundreds of public radio stations. The way it usually works is for the publishers to send me a copy, (they have my address), and if something looks likely, I propose it.
bh in bethesda
Post #3734 – 20140605
June 5, 2014
Hi Mr. Pinkwater and Mr. Webmaster – I love love love the readings, especially the current series of Alan Mendelsohn. And I like that you guys have decided to involve the listeners in the audios, though I must say that while it's novel to hear others reading the book, I like hearing Mr. Pinkwater himself the best.
Cheers!
Daniel replies:
My older sister used to read to me every night--she kept it up well after I was perfectly able to read myself, and in fact until she got married and moved out. Also other family members would read to one another, and kids in the neighborhood would read to one another. I liked hearing the listeners read my stuff, and I hope we will do it again. Cheers back at you!
