[Darren]

Originally I was going to title this something like "Swindled and schooled while on the run with the rocking juvie three" to cover what I had read in the most recent batch. But looking over notes that I made a long time ago, I'm having a hard time deciphering what I meant when I wrote them. So I figured I'd just update how far away I am from having a full collection.

The Children's Hospital had their annual book sale here recently and it was quite a madhouse. Many tables full of a variety of books in all sorts of genres and, while I was looking them over, they even had a Gordon Korman section! I managed to find two that I needed on my list. While purchasing them, the lady there had asked me if I read your works and she really enjoyed your writing. Would have talked longer but didn't want to hold up the line.

Some notes/questions:
Born To Rock - Probably the most "adult" of your books that I've read, perhaps on par with the Son Of The Mob series. Really liked it. Also enjoyed The Pretzel showing up in there. Does this mean most of your books/characters inhabit the same universe, with the possibility of crossovers in the future? Could Bugs Potter have sat in on a show with King Maggot?
Loved the nod to Adams with the line of "life, universe and tater tots".

On The Run - Fun series. The capitalization of Dumpster kept pulling me out of my absorption into the book though. I would think a term that was ubiquitous, even if a trademark, would be lowercase, like kleenex.

Swindle - Another fun series. Hey, finally a character with my name! Oh, and he turns out to possibly be the biggest butthole character you've created. Oh well. At least you're putting Snoop out on my birthday as a consolation prize.
Interesting that one of the books in the series had a counselor named Cyrus as I believe that's at least the third counselor you've had in a book whose name began with a "C". There was Chip and another I can't recall right now.
Also you used the term "squints" for scientists in one of the books. Where did you get that from? The only other time I've heard that term was in the TV show "Bones".

Along with Schooled and Juvie Three (both excellent), I'd read all of these at least once before. They were all still an enjoyable distraction and great mood elevators. Most of the ones coming up will be brand new to me.

Some miscellaneous thoughts:
You mentioned your dislike of the fantasy genre in another post. Have to agree with you on that one.
Plotting books: I think your advice to young authors is great in this regard. Probably would have helped me when I was young and writing fiction. However, there are some that don't do this who have been quite successful: Stephen King, Margaret Atwood and Mark Twain as some examples.
Finally, a belated RIP to Tom Robbins. I put him up there with Vonnegut and Adams.

Off to pick my nose...

[J.R. (Or, my new pseudo, William Penn)]

Quick intervene here, I've heard "Squints" many times. It's not exactly a common word, but in a Scientists' case it fits well.

Thanks, Darren,

Delighted to find you're still at it! What's more, you're finding fans for me, plus putting me in the same sentence as Stephen King, Mark Twain, and (not so much) Margaret Atwood! 

Just got a note from a fan who spent the last few months reading his way thrugh Adams and Vonnegut on my say-so. And I'm reading THE SIRENS OF TITAN again because it's the most amazing piece of writing in the world. So I'm glad some of my stuff is still measuring up to your standards.

And a shout-out to J.R., alias William Penn, who happens to be that fan and knows about scientists who squint into their microscopes.

                                                   Best,                                                               ---Gord---

[Darren]

I've still got a ways to go to finish reading your works, Gord, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Reading the Nose Pickers series for the first time, and even though it's near the lower spectrum of the age range for your books I am having a blast reading them.

Once I'm caught up, I have a couple of Grisham to catch up on, then finishing my re-reading of Adams. After that, there's a world of possibilities. Vonnegut, of course. Or a couple that have done books for both younger and older readers like Kotzwinkle and Zindel.

Have you read Tom Robbins, Gord? I really enjoy the way he crafted some of his sentences. When I was in high school, my English teacher gave me "Jitterbug Perfume" to read. A few years ago I gave that same book to my son as one of his Christmas presents.

Tangent: A semi truck crashed through the front door of my office yesterday. One of the only times in life that I was glad I wasn't absorbed with a book.

Will give Tom Robbins a look. Promise.

Need more details on semi-truck! Everything OK? Especially you?                                              Gord

[Darren]

Everyone was ok. Our building is right on the corner of two streets, for mental image purposes.

I was at a middle desk in our office area, which is up front of the building. I heard something as I was working on the computer and looked over at our security camera monitor, which was sitting on my desk to my left. I could see a semi (without a trailer), bouncing down the street headed right towards us. I moved over to the left, though I think I would have been mostly ok where I already was, and it came crashing through the front door. Thankfully there were no customers or other employees in that area at the time. My guess is the driver had a heart attack and lost control. I don't know how fast it was going at the time. But even at a slower speed, weighing so much, it imparted a lot of energy in the crash. Simple physics, with mass x acceleration = force.

I ended up trapped in there with no way out as the truck came to a stop sealing off the front door and the door from the office to the back of the shop. The fire crew pulled the driver out and I couldn't really see what was happening there, nor did I really want to. Eventually they were able to smash out the rest of the glass from one of the front windows and helped me out. I got to wear a fireman's helmet for the first time since I was a kid, so there's that.

Since I pretty much saw it coming the whole way, my only moments of concern were for how bad a crash it was going to be and, when I was trapped, that the truck wasn't going to burst into flame or a broken gas line wasn't going to erupt. Also I lost my pen, so that sucked.

Ouch!                                                                                                                                       -G-

[J.R.]

"Life, Universe, and Tater Tots" is a great line. That'd probably be one of my favorite parts of The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy with the ridiculous super-computers. Both books, at one time or another, managed to create this feeling of my view being inflated by a single sentence. Like, I understood the whole point, and both left me feeling humans were utterly worthless.

 

And yes, I do know about scientist who squint into microscopes. Very useful knowledge!

 

htiw snaeb!

J.R.