A Drift of Quills for October 2016

It’s October. The leaves are falling, the air is turning cooler by the day, and it is time for we Quills to post for the month. This time around, we’ve decided that we’d each choose a single author with whom we’d like to sit down to have lunch—and why.

P. S. Broaddus (aka Parker), author of A Hero's Curse, you're up first! 

During a recent interview, I mentioned my favorite storytellers, and I even had to decide which author I’d want as company in a submarine.

This go around, it’s lunch with an author from the past. Over hamburgers we’d talk about habits and describe growing up. We’d finish off with a milkshake and chat about what informed their writing.

It’s a heavy decision, obviously. I mean, you have to agree on where to eat. My pick may surprise you, but I think you’ll follow my reasoning . . .

Read more here.

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Next up, is Robin Lythgoe, author of As the Crow Flies. What do you think, Robin?

Choosing a single author to sit down and have a chat with is as bad as choosing your favorite book! Or color! Or child! There is a spectacular list to choose from, and stalking up and down between my bookshelves left me dizzy with indecision. 

If I were to choose someone from the past, what kind of language and societal hurdles would we face when we tried to communicate? That’d be a whole conversation right there, but let’s assume we’ve been endowed with translation devices so we’ll both be on the same page (pun alert!). In that case…

Read more here.

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Is it my turn now? Is it really my turn now? Yes! So . . . here goes!

This might be the most difficult question presented yet! There are so many logistics to consider. If I choose someone no longer living, just how would the two of us arrange this lunch? Where would we meet? On this side of the divide? Or the other? (Oh, imagine!) If I choose someone whose native language is neither English nor Sarcasm (which is to say, not one I speak), how will we understand one another? Use some instant translation program? (Oh, I can see the problems arising from that already!)
 
Even assuming all the “how and where” details can be arranged, I have to consider whether I’d rather have lunch with a famous historical figure/politician who also happened to have a gift for words (Abraham Lincoln? Ronald Reagan? (Whatever your politics, you cannot read or hear him without recognizing his gift for communicating!)), or if I’d like to have a few laughs (Mark Twain?), or if I might like to discuss how that author’s writings fit into the then-current social order (Victor Hugo?), or if I’d like to get a close-up look at a place that has long intrigued me (Fyodor Dostoyevsky? Leo Tolstoy? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?)

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In the end, I’ve decided to go with Charles Dickens because—well, because he’s both serious and funny, and because his stories touched on social issues that he exercised considerable influence over, ultimately leading to societal changes on both sides of the big pond.

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I can see it now. Charles and I would sit at a table laden with roast goose, gravy, plum pudding (what is that, anyway?), and Gin Punch—or perhaps, a Smoking Bishop (“Say, what?” you ask? I confess, I have no idea.), and we’d delve into the issues. 

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In the end, I suspect I’d find myself saying: “Please, sir, I want some more.”​


How about you? With whom would you choose to lunch?

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