Recently I’ve posted my thoughts on A.S. Peterson’s The Fiddler’s Gun (click link for review) . I’ve been raving about this book to friends and family every day since I finished it and encouraging people to head over to The Rabbit Room to purchase a copy of their own. (And you should bookmark The Rabbit Room anyway because it’s a great place.)
After posting up my review I connected with A.S. (Pete) Peterson on twitter and he kindly offered to send a book my way for a giveaway and answer a few questions I put together for him.
Lydia:
First of all.. I’d like to start by asking a question that I debate on a daily basis with my nephew. If you had to choose one side to be on.. which would it be? Pirate or Ninja?
Pete:
Since pirates are actually nasty criminals, I’d probably side with the ninjas in the real world. But in all honesty, pirates seem to be much more fun. I mean who wants to hang around the ninjas in their off time? Are they gardening? Meditating? Catching flies with chopsticks? No thanks. I’ll take the pirate’s leisure any day of the week.
I should mention that I nearly had it both ways. The first draft of The Fiddler’s Gun featured a sailor named Haji who was a dishonored samurai on the run. Sadly, he didn’t make the cut.
Lydia:
You mentioned on Sheila’s website at One Person’s Journey through a World of Books that you made a treasure map and the name of Phineas Button was used there. Did you have a favorite pirate name you ever used as a kid?
Pete:
The only pirate memories I have from childhood relate to our family eating at Long John Silver’s. They used to give out pirate masks and I remember trying to collect them all: Bluebeard, Long John Silver, Barbarosa, Billy Bones, I don’t know how many there were.
Lydia:
Bart was one of my favorite characters in the book. What was the inspiration behind making him a play an instrument? And how did you decide on the fiddle as being the right one?
Pete:
Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Lestat” is one of my favorite books and there’s a fantastic scene in it where Lestat’s childhood friend Nicholas, who is a violinist, is wracked by despair and playing wildly. Rice’s descriptions of his playing and the emotional weight of it were incredibly moving to me. I think my use of the fiddle as a dramatic tool owes a lot to her influence. If you watch a person play a violin, it’s a very passionate and sometimes intimate thing. In The Fiddler’s Gun, Fin is a fiery and passionate woman and both the fiddle and the gun are ways in which she expresses that.
Lydia:
I’m excited to hear that The Fiddler’s Green is in the works and am very much looking forward to its release. As an author, what did you find was the biggest challenge in writing and/or publishing The Fiddler’s Gun?
Pete:
I think the biggest challenge in writing it was just finishing, getting to the end. It’s very easy for me to begin things that I’m excited about, and it’s also easy to write those final dramatic scenes. But when you’re lost in the middle, that’s the tough part.
I’m currently slogging through some of that middle territory in Fiddler’s Green and I’ve noticed that it really causes me to pay attention to the step by step craft of writing. I find that often when I’ve spent all day trying to squeeze out 1500 words that don’t come easy, I’ll go back and read over it the day after and find that it’s actually quite good. The reason is that I worked and struggled over every single word that day. By comparison, on days when it all comes easy and I’m swept along by an emotional scene, I usually discover upon re-reading that it’s full of badly written junk that has to be cut away.
Lydia:
One of my favorite questions to ask other authors and readers is this: If you could read any book for the first time again, which book would it be?
Pete:
I’d have to say The Lord of the Rings. I’d give just about anything to un-see the movies, un-read the books, and go back to the day as a child that I first discovered Middle Earth. I think Tolkien was my realization of what a truly beautiful thing language is. There’s little else like it in the English language. I’ve been reading Paradise Lost lately and it’s been a real eye opener, certainly one of Tolkien’s literary forebears. There’s a lot of Tolkien in the language and imagery and when I’m reading some passages I feel like my eyes and my mind are widening and stretching further open with every word on the page. It’s truly a level of amazing that only one or two writers in a century ever ascends to. The 17th century gave us Milton; the 20th century gave us Tolkien.
A huge thank you to Pete Peterson for taking the time to answer my questions! The Fiddler’s Gun is available to purchase for eReaders and also you can visit The Rabbit Room via this link to pick it up!
Now.. the giveaway. Pete was awesome enough to ship over a signed copy of The Fiddler’s Gun. It’s a gorgeous book to look at and an even better one to read! The rules for entering this giveaway are simple and require just a little imagination on your part.
1. You must leave your Email address in your comment.
2. You must answer the first question Pete answered in this post: Pirate or Ninja.. and why?
This giveaway will end on April 30, 2010. International entries welcome.
I’d prefer to be a ninja! Why you ask? Because you can learn a ton of skills and use them for good or E-vil! Fighting skills, hiding skills, and sometimes even gliding skills. Haha. I would choose that over just being drunk and stealing treasure. Although you do get to travel a-lot! (superboy723@hotmail.com)
Hm, I would have to say pirate. Because, what fun would it really be to be a ninja. Wearing black and sneaking around everywhere? No thanks. I’ll take the adventure of a voyage on the high seas with me jolly crew over the ninja life any day. (aeputney@liberty.edu)
I would have to say Pirate- the swinging sword doesn’t interest me much, but the swaying sea does!! Life with the sea close by would be a draw- perhaps I would act like Knut, and thereby not as much of the action would be expected of me- more time to look yonder and gaze at the beauty of it!
Definitely a pirate! The ruffled shirts, parrots, high seas hijinks!!! Who can resist!
Great interview – love the Anne Rice inspiration!
christinezeg(at)gmail(dot)com
I’m all for the ninjas. Because they’re sneaky and easy to miss and all that.
Pirate all the way! As a lover of all things literary how can I not appreciate the joy of pirate linguistics.
(and I’ll admit – I’m addicted to the online game Puzzle Pirates, so I’m a bit biased… Haha)
Oh, Ninja for sure! (Have you SEEN how HOT ninjas usually are as opposed to the definite hotness but totally filthiness of Jack Sparrow. I prefer clean.)
That was a fantastic interview. Oh, and please don’t include my name in the giveaway. As you know, I purchased my own copy of the book already. (haven’t really read it yet. need to get to it!)
Pirate or Ninja? I had to actually research this because the only reference I had for a ninja had to do with turtles. Why would anyone want to be a mutant, let alone a turtle? (Although, pulling myself into a shell when I want to be alone can’t be a bad thing!)
So, I still have to go with pirate. There is a romance to pirates. Support for this? Dread Pirate Roberts. A thrill when you think of a good sword fight. A longing when you think of a ship on the sea (blue waters, blue sky – no perfect storms). And even music! (Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!)
Really, what does a Ninja have? espionage, secrecy, no one knows. . .the Shadow. . .
At least the pirates are honest about who they are and no apologies.
l.goebel@comcast.net
hard to choose between the two but I think I would go for Ninja….for the stealth.
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
Fun interview! I think I’d want to be a pirate. They were a bit nasty (thieves aren’t usually very nice) but they also got to explore the world. That would be an interesting life to lead, even if the law was breathing down your neck. The open sea, the exotic destinations… And ’tis fun t’ talk like a gentleman o’ fortune.
srfbluemama[at]gmail[dot]com
I’d spend the first half of my life salty. Swashbuckling with a bottle of rum. After that takes it’s toll on body and soul, I’d spend my latter days quietly contemplative; dressed all in black, gardening and meditating, ala A.S. Peterson’s version of a ninja. ; )
Pirate!!! Pirates are way more creative in a way, not as precise
Pirates are just more romanticized than ninjas! Thanks so much for the contest!
Thank you for the interesting interview and for making this awesome contest international!^O^
Ninja or Pirate? Pirate, of course! Arr! Love the sea and I’m obsessed with treasure hunt!
Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Arr!
Giada M
fabgiada @ gmail.com
Definitely pirate! Who wouldn’t want to live a swashbuckling life? Pirates get to sword fight, live on the sea, pillage and plunder, and all the other good things a pirate does! Definitely more exciting than a ninja
Well, that depends. You are more likely to win with the ninjas, I think, but the Pirates would probably be more fun. On a scale of just shear awesomeness though, I think that I have to go with ninjas.
Thanks for the give away!
Well I’d rather be a ninja, since they *can* be on the right side of the law, while pirates really can’t be… but in reality I’d probably be a pirate. The life would be WAY more fun, and I am NOT fit enough to be a ninja! I think I’d probably die in ninja-training. My heart/body could never keep up with that. But I reckon I could lift a cutlass and swill some beer/ale/whatever back as a pirate.
I would choose ninjas by far. First, they’re really fast so can escape quickly from enemies. They’re also cleaner than pirates who smell bad. They are good with weapons. They have cool weapons like ninja stars. But you might get a bit sweaty in your ninja outfit.
Allison
hyperallison@gmail.com
I would choose ninjas by far. First, they’re really fast so can escape quickly from enemies. They’re also cleaner than pirates who smell bad. They are good with weapons. They have cool weapons like ninja stars. But you might get a bit sweaty in your ninja outfit.XD
Allison
hyperallison@gmail.com
Fantastic interview Lydia and Pete! I dont need to be entered as I have this wonderful book – but I wanted to comment on the interview and The Rabbit room which is so worthy of checking out!
And…. yes, I want to answer the question. Pirate. Hands down. They have fun songs and they dance. I dont think Ninja’s do either.
Definitely pirate, for this sole reason: eyepatches. ‘Nuff said.
Ninja, because they have mad skills.
Thanks for sharing this interview and for the giveaway. I think I have to go with Ninja. It is true that a pirate’s life sounds fun. And it is excellent how ninja’s can move so gracefully and silently.
But I choose Ninja because Ninjas are often shown as fighting on the side of right and good over evil.
darlingtrk@juno.com
Totally unrelated comment but we are judging partners in the debut book battle so I just thought I’d say hi!
If you’re not familiar with the McNinja family, then you cannot know the awesomeness that is ninjas in everyday life.
Ninja. Most definitely.
I would seek the life of a ninja. One who fights for the honor of maiden and country. The life of a ninja seems to be a disciplined life focused on others. The life of a pirate seems to be one of lust, looting, and selfishness. I choose a life focused on others….though national talk like a pirate day is wicked fun.
zac.cooper@gmail.com
I’m definitely going with Ninja…my chances of sea sickness are very high and how cool would it be to be able to be so stealthy! But I do agree with the about Zac…National talk like a pirate day is pure awesomeness!
This was a fantastic interview and I’ve loved your review of it. Plus, all the chatter you’ve been making about it is making me very anxious to read it. Thank you to both you and “Peter” for the chance to win the book!
the1stdaughter at gmail dot com
I say Pirate. I like the ocean. I’d like to be on the ocean regularly. But the criminal lifestyle certainly isn’t my bag…nevertheless, yeah, pirate.
cozyswifeATgmailDOTcom
I would definetly have to say a pirate the just seem more exciting. Plus the have buried treasure.
I would choose pirate, because I still think fondly of the fictional pirate characters from my childhood, such as Captain Hook and the Pirates of the Carribbean ride at Disneyland.
Please enter me in this giveaway!
familyhistree at yahoo dot com
Sarah E
Pirate– why? because I have always had a sort of fascination with them. I would love to sail the seas and see all the places they saw.
Pirates! They are so much cooler.
juliecookies(at)gmail.com