Simple You Tell Me today.
Which writer would you most like to meet?
Let’s go with one dead and one living.
For me:
Dead – F. Scott Fitzgerald. He’d know the trendy spot to hang out and we’d have a great time until he stuck me with the bill at the end of the night. (Kidding! I would have insisted on paying. My imagination is quite thorough.)
Living – J.K. Rowling. SO MANY QUESTIONS.
How about you?
Terry Towery says
Hmmm. Difficult choices.
Dead: Updike (sigh), or Faulkner.
Alive: Stephen King.
Crystal says
Dead: I couldn't even begin to choose.
Alive: At the moment, Suzanne Collins- simply because I have a bone to pick with her. (NOT because of how Mockingjay went, I haven't even read it yet.)
Setting that aside however, I really don't know. It would be nice to just sit and -talk- to any of my favorite authors, and not necessarily about the trade.
ilana says
Shakespeare (we'd talk about Macbeth) & Stephen King (we'd talk about It)
Marsha Sigman says
Dead: Jane Austen (because I have a feeling she had a great sense of humor and geez…the guts it took to write what she did back then).
Living: Stephen King. There is no other answer and no explanation needed. He is the King.
Marilyn Peake says
Iliadfan said:
"Carl Sagan – his brilliance made my throat hurt, he was so awesome."
I loved Carl Sagan’s COSMOS TV series, and bought his book related to the show. I was so sorry when he died recently. There’s another astrophysicist who reminds me of him: brilliant, into popularizing astrophysics, and comfortable with using modern technology to communicate his ideas. He’s Michio Kaku. Have you heard of him? Here’s his website, if you’re interested: Dr. Michio Kaku’s website.
Dara says
Not living: Charlotte Bronte or Jane Austen.
Living: J.K. Rowling. Definitely.
Mariam Maarouf says
Dead: Agatha Christie – for obvious reasons; she was a GENIUS.
Alive: Khaled Husseini – I want to know more about HIS life.
Whirlochre says
David Stravrapenski.
As far as I know, he doesn't exist, and even if he does, he probably doesn't write.
I can't afford cryogenesis, so most liking to meet David Stravrapenski is my next best bet for making it to 100+.
That said, I wouldn't say no to ten minutes with Will Cuppy.
Hank Rickenbacher says
Dead: Roberto Bolano
Alive: Thomas Pynchon
Ocean Archer says
Peter the Apostle
Janet Evanovich
Joe G says
Loads. I'd love to pick J. K. Rowling's brain and go through her notes with her. I'm not sure I'd make very good casual company though. There would be that element of being starstruck.
I'd love to party with Brett Easton Ellis, or go to a movie with Michael Chabon. I'd love to read comic books with Neil Gaiman. As far as dead authors go, I'll always regret that I never got to shake Kurt Vonnegut's hand.
Fawn Neun says
Dead – Dorothy Parker
Live – Woody Allen
I actually saw him once and was too gobsmacked to breathe.
Kasey says
Deadsville – Hemingway. We'd go out for a few drinks, and we'd talk each other off of our respective cliffs…
Pulling lungfuls – already met Cleave and Danielewski, so those are crossed off. Met Palahniuk, Cullen, Clevenger. Check. So I'd have to say, and I can guarantee that no one will pick this one: Mark Richard. Anyone who can write "The Ice at the Bottom of the World" can without question fill a lunch hour with much more than the smell of fried potatoes.
Stephanie Barr says
Absolutely floored at having to choose a single dead author.
E. A. Poe, Georgette Heyer, Robert Heinlein, and maybe a dozen more.
Living: Nora Roberts. She has a fantastic skill with characterization that awes me and dozens of books with the same lot that each come across fresh. I would so love to pick her marvelous brain.
Stephanie Barr says
And, yeah, I've a dozen contenders for the living category, but I have to give the edge to the woman who created Roarke.
Joann Swanson says
Still breathing: Palahniuk. Recently dead: Salinger.
Douglas Morrison says
Patrick O'Brien and Harlon Coben
nicolemarieschreiber says
So many choices! I would like to have a tea party with Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, Beatrix Potter, and Louisa May Alcott all in attendence. And if living people could be invited, I would invite JK Rowling to it. Meeting Shakespeare would be awe-inspiring as well.
Taryn Tyler says
Living –it used to be Lloyd Alexander but then he died so Ursula LeGuin (though Terry Pratchet comes in a close second)
Dead –C.S. Lewis.
swampfox says
Dead – Robert E. Howard
Alive – Ray Bradbury
Karen Peterson says
Dead: Jane Austen
Living: JK Rowling
I'm such a cliché.
Anonymous says
Truthfully…I wouldn't want to meet any writer alive or dead , but instead be able to observe the 'process' from a safe distance ! I'd love to see Norman Mailer & Roald Dahl throwing typewriter's and snapping pencils .
Anonymous says
And yes….I do realise both have sadly passed .
Beth S. says
Living: John Green
He is so funny and incredibly awesome
Dead: J.D. Salinger – just because everyone wanted to meet him but no one ever got to.
T. Anne says
Stephen King and the apostle Paul who penned a majority of the New Testament. I've got lots of questions.
Amy says
Dead: Madeleine L'engle. I have questions on where she came up with her scifi ideas.
Living: Melissa Marr. I'd love to talk fae and tattoos with that woman.
Alysha Glasser says
Dead – Robert Jordan 🙂 He is my all-time favorite author
Alive – Richelle Mead. She is working on three different series simultaneously. I would like to know how she does it!
Ariel Swan says
I'm late on this comment run – but I want to meet Nick Sparks – because I want to know how he – handsome, young, etc. – can write chick lit so prolifically – is it a big family of sisters or what.
Otherwise – Alice Hoffman – the woman who started me writing my novel.
RSA Online says
Dead: Edmund Spenser. Ask him where he was planning on going with "The Faerie Queen".
Alive: Stephanie Meyer. I have one question for her … "HOW COULD YOU?! English literature didn't deserve that! Take it back"
Lisa says
Dead – Kurt Vonnegut
Alive – Philip Roth
Suddenly, I feel very sexist.
Anonymous says
The one burning question I would have for Rowling is 'how did she develop the seven books?'
I can't believe she planned the complete 7 from the beginning, yet there are so many things that seem to integrate from books 1 to 7.
Emily Anderson says
Crazy, I picked before I read the end of your post and those were the exact two authors that came to mind.
Dick Hannah says
Living . . . Vernor Vinge . . . his books consist of ideas that are wholly unknown to me. I'm betting an hour or two with him would open up even more unknowns.
Dead. . . and I just missed him . . . Dick Francis. Just to talk to him about racing, maybe have a pint.
Dick Hannah (www.puborperish.blogspot.com)
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
Dead – David Foster Wallace
Alive – Ann Patchett (though McEwan or Javier Marias would be great, too. Cormac would just ignore me.
greatreader says
Dead – Agatha Christie
Alive – Jacqueline Winspear
Cherise says
Dead – Oh, can I only pick one? C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens…
Living – Peter S. Beagle
lahn says
Dead — Isak Dinesen, because of her amazing life and her ability to spin a tale
Alive — Toni Morrison. I'd just sit and listen.
I also like the suggestions of Dante and Terry Pratchett — and Jane Austen.
Great question!
K. M. Walton says
Dead: J.D. Salinger
Living: Harper Lee (but I better hurry up…she's elderly now) or Jandy Nelson
Aimee says
I have three dead authors I'd like to meet: Joseph Conrad, Ayn Rand, and David Foster Wallace. Alive? I'm not sure… Probably Stephen King.
Aimee says
Make that four. Kerouac!
Heidi says
Living: Oh, if I met Ken Follett, I would thank him in person for Pillars of the Earth.
Deceased: I'd love to visit with Beatrix Potter at her quaint cottage-estate, and I think Erma Bombeck would just be fun to hang out with.
J. T. Shea says
Dead, C. S. Lewis. Live, Ray Bradbury. Looks like I'd have to wait in line for both!
Anonymous says
Dead: Douglas Adams
Alive: Joss Whedon (cheating, but you didn't specify what kind of writer)
Bethany Mattingly says
Dead: J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis
Alive: J.K. Rowling
Colleen says
Living: Stephen King. I think he'd be a riot. Dead: Rudyard Kipling.
katdish says
Dead: Kahlil Gibran
Living: Steven Pressfield
Laurie Boris says
Dead: Dorothy Parker or Oscar Wilde
Alive: TC Boyle
Anonymous says
Charles Dickens. I would want to know what his life was really like, and if he knew what a lasting legacy he was leaving for the world. I suspect he wouldn't.
Dan Brown. I imagine he would be quite fascinating, and maybe a little distracted. But not boring.
Terry P. Rizzuti says
Dead: William Faulkner
Alive: Cormac McCarthy
Sharon K. Mayhew says
Living: You for sure!
Dead: Beatrice Potter