Members of the Raising A Reader MA staff secretly love reading the Proust Questionnaire in the back of Vanity Fair. We decided to share our own version of this personality test with thriller writer Daniel Palmer (Delirious, Stolen) and the other VIP Authors attending our 2013 Dinner with an Author fundraising event at the Hampshire House.
What is your favorite book? The one book I reread with regularity is On Writing by Stephen King. Is it my favorite? Well, I never start a new novel without first perusing those pages. It’s a fantastic primer for how to do this craft right. I also like Lord of Flies (and I don’t detest reality TV), Phantom Tollbooth (still a kid at heart) and 1984 because I really do think they’re watching.
Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? I’d say Hazel from Watership Down is the man, only he’s a bunny. But he’s a darn fine bunny.
Who is your favorite real life hero or heroine? Let’s give a shout out to Nikola Tesla. He invented the alternating current for goodness sake! Without him my iPhone would constantly be out of battery. Tesla is the greatest geek who ever lived. No disrespect to Bill or Steve.
If you could have dinner with one author, living or dead, who would it be? I’d like to dine with Stephen King, but fear I’d sit across from him and say something witty like, “Do you remember when you wrote The Stand? That was awesome.”
If you could choose one place to live for the rest of your life, where would it be? I would like to live in a permanent state of bliss.
What is your motto? Why not me?
What talent would you most like to have? I can strum the guitar just fine, but what I’d really like to do is shred. You know, pyrotechnics going off in the background kind of shredding.
What was your proudest moment? My family. #chokesup
What do you think is the most overrated virtue? Sufferance as defined: “Absence of objection rather than genuine approval”. Seems a bit wishy-washy to me.
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Talk more with Daniel Palmer and all of our VIP Authors at Raising A Reader MA’s Dinner with an Author on Wednesday, April 3 at the Hampshire House. Tickets are $250 and available by calling 617.292.BOOK (2665).