Today we’re talking with Texas author Brian Yansky, who will be on our “Guys Write Great Stuff” panel. We’re excited to have a chance to speak with him and share his answers to a few of our questions with you before you get to meet him next week!
TEEN BOOK CON: So in your latest book, Alien Invasions and Other Inconveniences, Jesse and the other surviving humans have telepathic abilities. How would you feel about having that ability? Would you rather have another superpower?
Brian Yansky: I would hate to be telepathic. I would hate to hear everyone’s secrets so directly. Also, I imagine the constant drone of small thoughts, the internal version of small talk that we all have (the “what to eat for lunch?” and “I need to cut my toenails” type of thoughts) would drive me insane. So, no, please, no telepathic ability. Super strength would be nice or maybe the ability to transport myself from one place to another. Yeah, special super transport powers, please.
TBC: As a guy yourself, do you have any ideas to help get teen guys excited about reading?
BY: Don’t try to force them to read books they SHOULD read. Give them anything that keeps their attention, even if it’s not that great. They’ll most likely find their way to better books. Reading is a habit. If you get a teen guy in the habit of reading, then he’ll keep reading. Ideally you find the right book for the right guy, a book that shows him how exciting reading can be, that opens up that new world to him. But the guy has to be ready for that book, so first things first: get him reading.
TBC: What are your top three "Books to have if stranded on a desert island"?
BY: WONDER BOYS by Michael Chabon (It’s a funny, funny novel and if I’m stranded on a desert island I think I’ll need some laughs). THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE (I’ll want something that I can read again and again and still get something new out of). I get one more, right? I’m tempted to write that I would want a HOW TO SURVIVE ON A DESERT ISLAND book but I never read those how-tos so it would probably sit around the hut unopened. There are so many books that I love. Phillip Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS TRILOGY or Kurt Vonnegut’s SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE would probably be my third choice, but really I need more books. Look, I don’t want to be difficult about this but three isn’t enough. You’re going to strand me on a desert island where I’ll probably be eating lizard and rattlesnake. I’ll be surviving tropical storms and a blistering hot sun and living in a hut with a dirt floor and without running water. I think you could at least allow be twenty or thirty books.
TBC: Do you have any upcoming book projects you can tell us about?
BY: I have a sequel to ALIEN INVASION & OTHER INCONVENIENCES, which I hope, will come out next year.
TBC: Then surely more laughs and alien hijinks are on the way! Looking forward to it. Well, Brian, thanks so much for sharing some of your thoughts with us today. We’re looking forward to hearing more from you at TeenBookCon!
Brian Yansky is the author of My Road Trip to the Pretty Girl Capital of the World, Wonders of the World, and Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences. Find him on Facebook.
Brian will be speaking on the Guys Write Great Stuff panel with Brent Crawford, Blake Nelson, and R. A. Nelson.
See you on April 9th!
No comments:
Post a Comment