Margo
Post #2571 – 20091219
December 19, 2009
Hi again! Do you still write books for kids? I really think you should write a new Snarkout Boys book. And have you ever had blue garlic?
~Margo
.P.S. I hate Grape-Nuts- but Kevin Shapiro is the best mustache-trimmer and garbageman of all time.
P.P. S. I’m still looking for Johnathon Quicksilver.
P. P. P. S. Now I want a corn muffin.
Daniel replies:
Of course I have had blue garlic, also red and purple. I still write books, and some kids read them. I would like to write a new Snarkout Boys book--thanks for the idea.
Fiske Miles
Post #2570 – 20091217
December 17, 2009
Daniel:
I hit some midtown KC bookstores on a Pinkwater quest last weekend and immediately hit paydirt at the Westport Half-Price — 5 Novels with a Forward by Jules Feiffer.
I am generally opposed to compilation reprints (all my Pinkwater novels to date have been first editions). So I left the book and wandered down the street (and over a few blocks) to Prospero’s Books on 39th Street — a really cool bookstore. The store made international news a while back when they started burning books they couldn’t even give away to protest people choosing not to read. They didn’t have any Pinkwaters (something of a dent in their coolness factor) but then I can’t imagine anyone selling or trading their DP books. I’m not giving up any of mine!
One of the habitues turned out to be a major DP fan and started raving about Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars and Slaves of Spiegel. He argued it might be years before I come across first editions of these and convinced me to go back to Half-Price for 5 Novels. So I did. Thank goodness it was still there!
I’m reading the Snark Out Boys and the Avocado of Death now. Just finished Looking for Bobowicz a few evenings ago. I enjoyed the Neddiad, but liked Bobowicz better. Haven’t read Yggyssey yet.
Fiske in KC
Daniel replies:
It took me years and years to persuade a publisher, and then another, to bring out those paperback omnibuses. As you see, they have their uses. My name is really Pinkwater, and I think this would be a better world if everyone had a ridiculous name.
Margo
Post #2569 – 20091213
December 13, 2009
Hello there.
I am 13 years old, and I really love your books. I especially like Borgel, Young Adult Novel, Lizard Music, and the Snarkout Kids books. I was wondering-what are borgelnuskies? And why are you obsessed with chickens? Is Hogboro based on Hoboken? And do you really believe that time is a bagel?
I sincerely appreciate your randomness,
Margo
Daniel replies:
Hello back --
Borgelnuskies are sooo good. It's a shame you can hardly find them nowadays. I am not obsessed with chickens--I just appreciate them is all. Hogboro is sort of a combination of Chicago, Hoboken, and maybe Cleveland. As to time being like a bagel, who am I to argue with Einstein and Copernicus who thought so? I'm glad you like my stuff--please read more! (Oh, and you don't have to call me Your Randomness. Titles are so old-fashioned. )
Tim
Post #2567 – 20091212
December 12, 2009
In the late 1970’s, I was a cab driver in New York City. On Friday night at midnight a guy on WBIA would read from a Science Fiction book of yours that had a drink called “Pheligics” sp in it. All the time he was reading it the music from Lawrence of Arabia was playing in the background. This went on for weeks,if not months. The only other radio show that the fares asked “What the hell are you listening to?” was Joe Frank on Sunday evening on WNYC. Both you and Joe made many a memorable night for me and I thank you for it, pre posthumously. Your way out west amigo who also lived in Rhinebeck for a while- Tim the Taximan
Daniel replies:
That was the great classical music DJ, Bill Watson, who along with Jean Shepherd, made radio works of genius in New York city for so many years. The classical station he worked for belonged to one William F. Buckley, who ultimately did the conservative/capitalist thing and sold his radio station to an outfit that intended to make it yet another rock outlet, thus putting Watson, who shared Buckley's values and philosophy, out of a job. He worked briefly at WQXR, the one remaining classical station in New York, but couldn't adjust to the playlists and potted-palm formality there. At last he was taken in by non-commercial free-speech left-wing WBAI, which is where he did that reading of Alan Mendelsohn the Boy from Mars.
Byron Go
Post #2566 – 20091212
December 12, 2009
Captain,
It’s been close to 20 years since a friend introduced me to your books through Lizard Music. Today I visited the P-Zone for the first time in a couple of years, and found the audio version. It’s a rainy lazy Saturday afternoon here in Southern California, and I’m listening to one of my favorite books – read by you! I just wanted to say thank you to you and Ed for making this available.
Looking forward to the next book.
Daniel replies:
Feels pretty good, getting a message like that.
Harrison
Post #2568 – 20091212
December 12, 2009
several months ago, I asked you to come to my school. you said you would not because schools are dirty and germy. My school has moved and now the school is very clean and germ free. TO prove it, If you come when you walk in I will give you a big bottle of hand sanitizer.
Scencierly Harrison
Daniel replies:
Dirty and germy is only part of it. But I have to ask, how big a bottle of hand sanitizer?
Fiske Miles
Post #2564 – 20091209
December 9, 2009
Daniel:
The first Pinkwater book added to our home library was Attila the Pun. I’m not sure when that happened. Years ago. In the interim, The Worms of Kukumlima, Looking for Bobowicz, Tne Neddiad, and The YggYsseY have found their way into our bookcases. I am on a quest for the Snarkout Boys. All of these have come from bookstores in and around Kansas City.
Since the possibilities for bagging more Pinkwater books are numerous, I have added a Daniel Pinkwater Book Collection list to my blog, The Life Less Hectic, across from our Backyard Bird List. (No 266 pound chickens yet.) I don’t suppose a Pinkwater Widget is in the works???
Fiske
PS: Would love to know where to obtain a bottle of Dr. Pedwee’s Grape Soda.
PSS: So sorry to here about Lulu. My wife and I lost a special dog, Samba, to bone cancer in the summer of 2008. We miss him every day. A yellow Labrador named Basie joined our family this year. The happiest dog we have ever had. For some reason, he likes to sleep upside down with his paws sticking up in the air. There’s a picture of this on The Life Less Hectic.
PSSS: I used to have you confused with Daniel Shore on NPR. I figured out the mistake, but somehow still hear his voice when I’m reading your books… 🙂
Daniel replies:
The Snarkout Boys can be found in one of the paperback omnibuses, 5 NOVELS, or 4 FANTASTIC NOVELS. And you may be able to find in some NPR archive a recording from the good old days of a radio dramatization of BLUE MOOSE in which Daniel Schorr plays the moose!
Andrew Dietz
Post #2565 – 20091209
December 9, 2009
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your wonderful writing and this incredibly enjoyable podcast. It is one of those things that makes life worth living. What a joy!
I don’t need a book published, nor reviewed on NPR, nor do I need an autograph or anything else from you…not even a response to these comments…except your continued generation and presentation of your brilliant work.
Thanks again,
Andrew
Daniel replies:
Notwithstanding that we very much enjoy doing the writing and producing the podcast, these things become meaningless without readers and listeners. And the quality of mind of the folks who enjoy the work prompts us to strive to improve. And that is a part of what makes life worth living, for this scrivener, and I am assuming for the genius webmaster/producer.
Jennifer P
Post #2563 – 20091205
December 5, 2009
Just wanted you to know I bought a copy of Lizard Music to give to my son’s 3rd grade teacher. She never heard of you and I’d love it if I could share that wonderful book with more people! I’ve read it over and over and never tire of it.
Thanks SO much for your books!
Jennifer P
Daniel replies:
My books are nothing until someone reads them. So, thank YOU.
Ben
Post #2562 – 20091203
December 3, 2009
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I grew up in Rhinebeck, and picked up a copy of “The Snarkout Boys & The Avocado of Death” at the local bookstore (back then there was only one) when I was around 10. I proceeded to read it regularly for ages (and was happy to discover more of your work along the way). A couple of Christmases ago, I gave a copy of your anthology to my little sister (15 years my junior). She loved every word, and Mom reported nonstop giggles for quite some time afterwards.
I’m now 30, living in New Orleans, and have recently installed a 12′ x 12′ movie screen in my studio. Friends are invited over for regular screenings of oddities and requests, and I can’t help but think of these events as “Snarkout nights.” It’s never going to be a fulltime theatre, but public latenight emporium of the unusual is certainly the longterm goal.
In retrospect, I think many of the other real-life adventures I’ve embarked upon in my adult life have been inspired in part by the spirit I first encountered in Walter, Winston, Rat and the rest of the crew… so I just wanted to say thanks for creating such witty, strange, and lasting stories.
As a new-New Orleanean, I also appreciate that the anti-spam captcha immediately below this form reads “po boi.”
Cheers,
-BEN
Daniel replies:
I may not be the greatest writer, (or possibly I am--it's not for me to know), but without question I have the greatest readers of anybody since the Marquis de Sade. What fun!
MICHAEL STRAUSS (Mrs.)
Post #2561 – 20091130
November 30, 2009
HI DANIEL,
THIS 69 YEAR OLD KID ENJOYED READING YOUR BLOG AND ALL THE RELATED SITES, TOOK TWO DAYS.
SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT LULU, SHE MISSES YOU AND MRS. PINKWATER.
LOVE HEARING YOU ON SCOTT SIMON’S SHOW, I HEAR YOUR VOICE WHEN I READ YOUR STUFF. DO YOU HAVE THAT FACILITY TOO. IT’S WONDEROUS!
SOMEWHERE I READ THAT TYPING IN CAPS MEANS YOU ARE YELLING, IN MY CASE IT MEANS THAT I CAN EASILY READ WHAT T’M TYPING.
STAY HEALTHY AND FUNNY,
REGARDS, MICHAEL STRAUSS (Mrs.)
No my parents choose all our names before we were birthed and I would have been John Robert Bruce etc.
Daniel replies:
We should really give you a prize for reading everything on the site.
Nancy and Karen
Post #2560 – 20091124
November 24, 2009
Hello Mr. Pinkwater!
We’re Nancy & Karen, and fans of the HOBOKEN CHICKEN EMERGENCY! We run a multimedia book blog – www.kidsmomo.com – dedicated to introducing kids to great books and series. We recently posted a reenactment of a scene from the Hoboken Chicken Emergency, and hopefully we did it justice!
www.kidsmomo.com/2009/lets-talk-turkey-wait-whats-with-the-chicken/
🙂 Thanks for all your great words!
Nancy & Karen
Daniel replies:
It is brilliant! Brava! Everybody should look.
Jaya lazo
Post #2559 – 20091123
November 23, 2009
I am an epic fan, your books fill me with joy
and make me wish I was as spontaneus as you!
There is only one dinamic question I have. If it was possible to know everthing there was to know would you want to know everthing?
It may seem weird to ask but I’ve alreaty asked
everyone I know and they just don’t seem able to hear the question!! Sorry I’m an artist not a spellar ,Best wishes Jaya:)
Daniel replies:
I used to know everything, but I forgot a lot.
Paul R
Post #2554 – 20091117
November 17, 2009
Dear Daniel Pinkwater.
You write good books. I really like Mush the Dog from Outer Space.
It’s funny, has good details, and good pictures. Thank you for writing such fun ,detailed books.
Daniel replies:
Thank you for reading--the book is not finished until somebody reads it.
lourdes valdez
Post #2557 – 20091117
November 17, 2009
Dear Daniel Pinkwater,
I love your books. They are very funny. How did you come up with the names? My favorite book is Ducks. We saw the movie The Hoboken Chicken Emergency. It’s also a good book. Thank you for reading this letter.
Daniel replies:
Names, same as everything else. People have names. I look for good ones, and sometimes I fool around with them a bit.
