Nathan Bransford - The Forums

MaryLA wrote:Eight authors at the table! Some posters here are very brave.

Brave is one on one with Harlan Ellison. ;)

That is funny! Like being stuck in an elevator with JM Coetzee in a misanthropic mood.

Ooh, this could be fun!

I have a huge list but given no other choice I would invite David Eddings, Anne Bishop, Anne McCaffrey, Romeo Dallaire, John Grisham and Stephen King and I would ask them to give me the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything.

If I could only choose one author then it would be Romeo Dallaire. He may have only written one book to his name (Shake Hands with the Devil) but that man is the person that we all wish we could be. He also holds the honour of taking part in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic opening ceremony.

Hands down, Dean Koontz. As for what I'd ask him, I don't have any burning questions. From his writing and from his many first person perspectives at the end of some of his books, as well as interviews... he seems like a very interesting guy who is incredibly intelligent, kind, witty, and sincere.

No one tbh, they say you should never meet your heroes and I think for JK and Meyer I have such high expectations that I could only be dissapointed, if I ever did get to meet them I would be too star struck to be speak anyways!

C.S. Lewis for sure. I haven't yet read everything he's written, but based on the Narnia series and Mere Christianity, I could listen and talk to him for hours. Not sure what specific thing I would ask. It would depend where the conversation were leading. Probably wouldn't have time for eating during dinner though...

George Bernard Shaw and John Kennedy Toole

Without question, I would have dinner with C. S. Lewis. It may be even more enjoyable (though it's hard to imagine) than the teas I had with his former friend and secretary and posthumous editor and biographer, Walter Hooper (See my blog posts: "Tea with Walter Hooper," http://wp.me/pAuSA-9; "A Second Tea with Walter Hooper," http://wp.me/pAuSA-g; and "Dinner at the Kilns," http://wp.me/pAuSA-j).

Since we're not constrained by the living, I'd go with Apollonius Rhodius. Oh, and a really good interpreter.

hmm...Do poets count?
I would ask...
Percy Shelley
Mary Shelley
Emily Dickinson
I would ask them...
Mr. Shelley: "How do you think of ideas?"
Mrs. Shelley: "How do you describe a monster's appearance and personality without making the book overly grotesque? How do you tell of horrors without being too dramatic but instead being more subtle?"
Miss Dickinson: "How did you tell of hope and of sorrow, all within one poem?"

Mr. Shelley would argue at great lengths on woman's rights, slavery, poetry, aganist his plate. Miss Dickinson would enter, covered in a black dress, hat, and veil, and would immediately disappear upstairs. I would have to send her food up in her basket. After dinner, Mrs. Shelley would entertain us all by telling us scary stories around the fireplace. After they all left, Mr. Shelley (who had drunk too much whiskey during dinner, I'm afraid) would have imaginary arguments with his plate. He had lost, and was sulking in the back room with a bottle. At home, Mrs. Shelley would ask me where Mr. Shelley was, as he had disappeared during the night. I would say that he was still sulking, and after being shaken out of his stupor, he would go home. After that, the eager children waiting for Miss Dickinson's daily gingerbread would come to my door, asking where Miss Dickinson was, and I would have to say that she had fallen asleep upstairs.

Sherrilyn Kenyon

"Could you please tell me in great detail how you handle public speaking so well?"

R.A. Salvatore. For one, he is by far my favorite author. I just cannot get enough of his books. But also, I have yet to find an author who can create such compelling characters and tell a story better than he can. I've caught him breaking several "rules" that are taught to aspiring authors but I don't care when I'm reading about Drizzt and company running through the Spine of the World.

I have to say, I am a lucky duck. I've had the privilege of dining with the brilliant Dennis McKiernan and it was one of the most enlightening times of my life. Although I bumbled like an idiot through most of the dinner and competely botched my novel pitch I learned a lot and he was very generous. I still squee when I think of that night.

I'd really enjoy listening to Jane Austen and Ayn Rand talk to each other about romantic relationships in fiction, but Milton and CS Lewis discussing the nature of evil would be another good pairing. Mark Twain and Charles Dickens would be good chatting buddies, too, but I doubt they'd disagree very much. It might be fun to ask Frank Baum what he might think of Gregory Magruire's "Wicked."

I think I'd have dinner with Shakespeare. These are the questions I'd ask him. Did he really write his plays or did someone else write them? Why did he choose such a nasty quote for his tombstone (didn't sound like him at all)? Why did he leave his wife the "second best bed"? I would record our conversation and write a bestselling tell-all biography.

I would chose Paul (from the Bible)..

I would have to ask why he didn't consult a contract lawyer, especially for global distribution reciprocals.

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On a side note: When Jesus returns and when he writes a new-new testament will there be a copyright infringement problem?