Evie T

Klugarsh Mind Control

July 16, 2020

Hi Mr. Pinkwater,

My dad and I are rereading Alan Mendelsohn to bring us some happiness during the pandemic. I just wanted to ask you, how did you come up with the details of how mind control would work?

Also, did you ever have a friend that inspired the character of Alan?

I love how you make us ‘see’ the story, not just hear it. I hope you and your family are safe and well.

Evie T.
Age 12
Rhinebeck, NY

I knew Kevin Klugarsch, inventor of Klugarsch Mind Control, and as a matter of fact I purchased all rights to the method. I am planning to create a Klugarsch Kit, with printed certificate for when you have finished learning mind control and are a qualified mind control expert, CDs, the patented mind-control meter, and an instructional comic  book. Look for it in your local drugstore.

I did have a friend who inspired the character of Alan Mendelsohn. Let me see, what was his name? I have it! It was Alan something. Something, something, something...um...Mendelsohn!

Thanks for the compliment. If I am a good writer it is because I was a good reader. What is a good reader? Well, you for example.

I know Rhinebeck well. It is a nice town.

The Wisdoms

Map of The Pinkwater Universe

July 16, 2020

Daniel,

My whole family are huge fans – probably because The Last Guru wormed into my brain into the 80’s and never left – so I have been introducing Pinkwater brain worms to my own boys – 8 and 12 – who LOVE your work.

We’ve noticed certain characters and storylines span from book to book – obviously with the books like the Snarkout Boys, but less obviously how Big Audrey – the Cat-Whiskered Girl – is introduced in The Neddiad then goes on to her own title. Are there any other books that are interrelated but aren’t so obvious by the title?

Or, does there exist a map of The Pinkwater Universe? In my imagination it would be magic and would look a little like a combination of the map from Time Bandits and a corn muffin, but it could be as simple as a list of grouped interrelated characters and books.

Thanks so much for all of your books! Wonderful!

The Wisdoms of Pennsylvania

I'm starting to get tired of explaining to people that I have no idea what I'm doing, in writing and in ordinary life. It so happens that human evolution has progressed beyond the point at which there may have been other deranged authors, some of whom, presumably, who knew how to write. Nowadays, if your taste runs a certain way...I won't characterize, not wishing to insult you...you're stuck with me, and for the better educated, that other writer, I forget the name. In reply to your question, I don't put those characters in the books, they just show up. Clever of you to notice.

[Webmaster's note -- you might want to check out the Hoboken Chicken Emergencyclopedia, which is somewhat akin to what you're looking for but sorely out of date!]

Charles May

SOBAOD Continuity Question

July 14, 2020

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I am currently reading your novel, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, with my 10 year old son.  He is autistic and we read together every night before bed to help him strengthen his verbal skills.  He reads to me and I help him if he has trouble vocalizing.  This book has been a great deal of fun  I usually read a few chapters ahead to check for names or words my son may find difficult.  Last night we read chapter 11 in which the boys meet Rat and her Uncle Flipping while attending the first night of the James Dean festival in which “every night the Snark theater was showing a James Dean film along with something else”.

In chapter 16 you have Winston and Walter going to the Snark the very next day to meet Rat and search for Uncle Flipping.  You state that the boys saw “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” and “Gaslight”.  Nether of these movies are James Dean films and would not be part of the James Dean festival.  Ordinarily I would not care about such a continuity error; however my son, like many people on the autism spectrum, tend to get fixated on thing rather easily.  Do you have an explanation you would like me to tell my son or do you mind if I do with the everyone makes mistakes stand by?

For the record he is very much enjoying the novel.

Hope all is well with you.

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond (if you chose so to do).

Sincerely,

Charles H. May

Chicago, IL

 

It's quite simple. James Dean, before becoming a famous actor had a small uncredited part as an extra in Gidget Goes Hawaiian. Practically no one knows this, but the person who schedules the films for the Snark Theater has an encyclopedic knowledge of film lore, and thus included the film just to enjoy partially informed people such as yourself saying, "But why is this movie in the middle of a James Dean festival?" whereupon the scheduler, who is also the owner of the theater, and the brother of the owner of the popcorn company that supplies the lobby snack bar, can explain that Dean appears for a total of 15 seconds in the movie.

Fabius

A questions needs a title? come on… Don’t have one anyhow. Question or title.

July 14, 2020

Hey Congratulations! How amazing.  We have both come a long way… and still doing it.

Love you bro. Think about you often. Stay on top of it.  Jill too.  May be in touch… if the rain stops and the creek don’t run dry, and I could use more salami.

I am pretty sure this is from my fake brother and TV character Fabius Otto. Or was that me? Well, this post couldn't be from me or I'd remember writing it. Hey, Fabe! What do you hear from Charlie Horseback?

St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church

Permission to use in worship

July 11, 2020

Hello,

I’m communicating to you on behalf of the ministry team at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver, Canada. Our children and family minister is wanting to use “The Big Orange Splot” during an online worship service that is live streamed then uploaded onto youtube. Due to these interesting times of COVID, we have had to get creative in how we worship and create community, so we are hoping we can share your lovely story to do exactly that.

blessings to you.

Of course, you may use it. I don't suppose I need to stipulate that you may not charge to view, sell copies, or otherwise profit from use of the material. I am pleased that you want to use a story of mine in a worship service, of all things, but I hold the opinion that the author of a piece is often the last one to have an idea what it may mean, so I am sure your interpretation is the right one.

Sawyer Harrington-Verb

Can I set your story to music?

July 6, 2020

Hello,

My name Is Sawyer Harrington-Verb, and I am a young composer who recently graduated from the Hartt School in West Hartford this past spring. I am currently planning what kinds of projects I want to pursue during the summer, and me and several vocalist friends discussed doing a short-form opera recording project possibly based on a children’s story.

I was thinking back to stories that might be appropriate, and I immediately thought of your story “The Hare and the Pineapple”. I was actually one of the students who took the New York State test that the story was included in. I think it would be a wonderful short opera and absolutely wonderful to write and record both because of the personal connection I have with this story and its lighthearted and witty nature. I don’t intend to treat the opera as a parody of the story itself but as a genuine retelling of a truly funny story that has managed to stick with me throughout my life.

I’d love to hear back from you, and if you would be able to grant me permission to set your story and your words to music, I would be deeply appreciative!

Thank you and sincerely,

Sawyer Harrington-Verb

www.sawyerharrington-verb.com/

 

 

Sure, go ahead, only you are not allowed to sell copies, charge for admission, or profit in any way from the work, without first making formal arrangements with my representative.

Victor J. Ortiz

Questions from a Student Writing a Flattering Paper on You

June 26, 2020

Hello Mr. Pinkwater! I’m a student of Old and Rare Poulty Books writing a paper where I revisit a novel that influenced me as a kid. I, of course, picked Lizard Music.

If you don’t mind, here are a few questions that would help me out:

Following the references to M.C. Escher and Rene Daumal, was L.M. written with traditional surrealistic intent? (As far as surrealism can be traditional)

If so, what is your interpretation of the absurd, the nonsensical, the surreal, and how that fits with L.M.?

What are your thoughts on searching for meaning in texts, particularly in your texts? Following that line of thought, who could best interpret the text, the intended younger audience, or the adult who re-discovers it years later?

Thank you!

-Victor

 

**In general, when writing novels, I insert references to whatever I happen to be thinking about, read at bedtime the night before, or possibly had for breakfast. This is just an exercise to keep the covers of the finished book apart, it has no particular meaning. I don't remember at all, but possibly I had read an article about surrealism, or maybe was thinking about my youth in Chicago, where everyone is a surrealist.**
If so, what is your interpretation of the absurd, the nonsensical, the surreal, and how that fits with L.M.?

**I do not interpret, I just write stuff down. I might have written that I tell a story, but as a discerning reader you will have noticed there is practically no story or plot in books of mine.**
What are your thoughts on searching for meaning in texts, particularly in your texts? Following that line of thought, who could best interpret the text, the intended younger audience, or the adult who re-discovers it years later?

**You can anticipate what I'm going to reply, can't you? Searching for meaning in texts, particularly texts that are not effectively labeled, "Contains Meaning, Search Here," and most particularly texts of mine, is apt to give rise to inventions arising in the searcher's mind. Better to write one's own text to begin with.**
Thank you!

**Thank YOU!**

Mrs. Galt

Explanation

June 20, 2020

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I believe some explanation is in order. You seemed concerned the last time you answered your questions that I would want to murder newspaper columnists working in South America. This is not the case. I’m fine with columnists as long as they aren’t flamboyant about it. What I’m not fine with is Comminists.

When I was young, I went on a trip to Peru, presumably as an exchange student helping with the avocado harvest. However, I was really sent by the CIA on a mission to assassinate those who they feared were planning a Comminist uprising to take over Peru and possibly Bolivia. This is where I met my future husband, Theobald.

Unfortunately, it turned out the CIA goofed, and the uprising occurred in Cuba instead. But what did I care? I was young and in love.

You have, however, still left the question of whether my boy Walter is palling about with zombies. This is an issue near and dear to my heart. You see, zombies are formed from otherwise sane citizens eating Japanese or Canadian tuna, which allows them to be controlled by the Comminists. Hopefully this is not the case.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Galt.

Oh! I am so sorry! It's old age, and failing eyesight. So, I misread your post, and thought you were referring to columnists, when it was obviously commentators. I used to be a commentator myself, although I always thought I was an uncommon tator. Your old-fashioned preoccupation with assassination and government-sponsored evil-doings is charming and does you credit. I hear Walter is operating a popular bagel stand in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, entirely on the up-and-up and not a front for anything in an area where zombies are uncommon.

Hungry

Russ and Daughters? :)

June 17, 2020

I seem to recall you mentioning Russ and Daughters. What did you like to order there?

Your seeming recollection must be about someone else. I have seen, and probably been inside Russ and Daughters once or twice, and I suppose I may have ordered lox or whatever it was they sold, but I didn't spend tons of time on the lower east side, and practically none after the mid-60s. There was a quite good bagel works and next to it an appetizing store, as such places dealing in smoked fish and the like were called, in Great Neck where my wife's parents lived, and we had many Sunday brunches.

Madison Trevino

A first edition Lizard Music?!

June 13, 2020

Hello!

So when I was in middle school I read Lizard Music probably around 100 times. It was my absolute favourite book of all time. Recently, I remember the book and have been on the hunt for a first edition copy of it. The one with a pink cover and the lizards stacked on top of each other. I cannot seem to find a copy anywhere. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

Madison

Oh, there are copies around. You'll come across one at just the perfect time.

G. Lucertia

Zombie Possibilities

June 13, 2020

Dear Daniel,

I remembered some rumors that a third Snarkout book entitled I Snarked With A Zombie had been written, but, like so many other works of genius, not published. What would this book have entailed? Would Scott Feldman have been this titular zombie after establishing himself as a somewhat skeevy Zeppo to Rat’s Groucho, Winston’s Harpo, and Walter’s Chico? What befell poor Uncle Flipping?

Another query related to Baconburg Horror: Did Walter’s mother go to Peru not to pick avocados, but to kill some South American Comminists?

Why would anyone, even a fictional character, want to kill South American columnists? 

Patrick Clark

Cigars and Beer… oh my.

June 10, 2020

Hi Mr Pinkwater,

I have been a huge fan of your books since my first purchase of The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death at Hodge Podge books on Lark St in Albany in the 1980s.

Of course, as a kid, I found the scenes of cigar smoking and beer drinking to be delightful and funny. These days, however, it occurs to be that “helicopter parents” might see such scenes in a very different light.

So, my question(s): Have you found that your 70s/ 80s books have been interpreted differently by parents of millennials or so-called Gen-Z-ers? Have you gotten any pushback over Leonard and Alan’s smoking, or Walter, Winston and Rat’s underage drinking?

Thanks so much for your nerd-affirming books!!

-Patrick

 

I have never gotten pushback of any kind, and if I did I would pay no attention to it. Of more interest to me are places like Hodge Podge Books on Lark Street in Albany, which I visited a number pf times, and it's affable proprietor, Frank Hodge. At the time I thought how pleasant it must have been to have been a kid customer, which appears to have been your experience. 

makayla morgan

Question not really a question

June 5, 2020

I recently (2 months ago) acquired Lizard Music again.

My first and only previous copy was in 1983.

I can not put into words how this story made absolute complete sense to me when I was younger.

I am now close to fifty years, and after reading this again since 1983, it makes even more sense.

You are truly an imaginarion….I’m sure you know what I mean.

Thank you Mr. Pinkwater for writing, this is truly my favorite YA book ever.

I hope you are well and safe.

Kindest regards,

Makayla

 

Lizard Music was my favorite YA book ever too...anyway among ones I had written. It remained in first place while I wrote 98 more books of various lengths. At times it got on my nerves that I didn't seem able to write one quite as good as practically my first. Then I wrote The Neddiad, which I think stands comparison with Lizard Music. I mention this in case you might like to try it. It was nice of you to take the time to tell me you liked my first long piece of fiction, and I can take complete pleasure in hearing this, because I now believe I have written at least one other book that hits the mark.

David Gallahan

Bushman Lives?

June 5, 2020

Your books and the work of your neighbors up river (ZBS foundation, also
connected to NPR back in the day) were the core of our family
mythology when I was raising my children (1980s and 90s) and your
growing collection of books remain sources of inspiration and
delight. For Adventures of a Cat Whiskered Girl and Bushman
Lives! I discovered your online serial pre-release which were an added treat. But then came the devastating
news that the publisher wouldn’t do the sequel. That book really
demands a sequel more than any of the others: so many balls are in
the air!

Iwas just getting ready to ask for any information on where in your
mind this was all leading. Now, on this forum, I read that you are thinking of
working on that sequel and that has totally made my day!

Yes please, please do. I’m also really looking forward to Adventures
of a Dwergish Girl.

With
deepest gratitude and lots of respect.

David

Sequels, prequels, metaquels, sometimes the author, like certain readers, feels like finding out what his/her characters are doing now, or what they were doing before they appeared in the book in which we met them. Sometimes it's a commercial attempt. I came into writing as a profession at the best possible time, before the stupid corporations took over most of the publishing houses, and I had fun and got used to making a reasonable living. Now I am getting used to being paid the exact prices I got when I first started out 50 years ago, so books may be appearing. I always try to write them so they can be enjoyed by a reader who has not seen the other related ones.

Kathleen Swift

The Big Orange Splot

May 31, 2020

Hello:  I am writing on behalf of First Unitarian
Universalist Church of San Diego where I serve as Director of Family
Ministries. Like most churches, we are holding services online via
live-stream.  Would you give permission
for us to read “The Big Orange Splot” in an upcoming service?  If yes, please reply to this email—and
thanks.  I hope you and your family are
safe and healthy.

Yes, sure, of course, as long as you do not make copies for sale, sell tickets, profit in any way, and all that usual stuff. I'd like you to consider another picture book of mine, Devil in the Drain, for another service. I have the feeling your church may not give the Devil a sufficient chance to participate. Be fair.