Kimberly Pauley

Book Launch Party: Day 14: Dan Ehrenhaft

All About Dan
My guest today is the very funny Dan Ehrenhaft who can write like both a boy *and* a girl. He’s also written under the name Daniel Parker and even Erin Haft. Besides being an author, he’s also a musician. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and the obligatory psychotic cat (and dog).

You can learn more about Dan at his official website.

Dan’s Latest
The After Life…Nineteen-year-old Will Shepherd has never met his father, even though they live on opposite ends of Manhattan. Suddenly, within twenty-four hours, Will meets his father and his two half siblings, Kyle and Liz, and then his father dies out of the blue.

A clause in the will requires Will to drive back to New York from the funeral in Florida with self-absorbed Kyle and gorgeous, vulnerable Liz, leading to a road trip filled with tensions, escalating risks, and deep revelations.

In the tradition of Brett Easton Ellis and Hunter S. Thompson, Daniel Ehrenhaft crafts a novel of excess, a coming-of-age story with grit and edge that ultimately offers redemption to three characters in desperate need.

The Q&A

Here’s my question for Dan…

Music seems to definitely be at least your second love (and maybe even your first—not, of course, counting your wife…we’re just talking “things” here). If you could be any musician from any time period, who would you want to be?

And his answer…

Wow…tough question, and frighteningly like my daydreams. :-)  I suppose if I had my wish, I would like to have been a session musician in England during the years 1965 to 1971.  That way, I wouldn’t actually be any of my heroes—Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Lennon & McCartney, Keith Richards, I could go on for hours—but I’d be paid to hang out and play with all of them.  Plus, late ’60s London, at least judging from the Austin Powers movies, seems like a very groovy scene.  

And Dan’s question for me…

As far as I can tell, you’ve read—and reviewed—more YA books than anyone on the planet.  Where do you find the time?  Do you sleep standing up?  Actually, that’s not my question.  My REAL question is:  Who is your favorite YA character ever, and why?

And my answer…

That’s a toughie too…I’ve got a lot of characters that I really, really love. Like the real Mary Poppins (The P. L. Travers version, not the Disneyfied one). And Tiffany Aching from The Wee Free Men. And Coraline from the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman. If I went back in time to when I was a kid and counted up the characters I loved from books that I read over and over and over again, I’d have to include Jo March from Little Women, Pippy Longstocking, and Jane Eyre (though I don’t know that I like Jane all that much any more…a particular college professor ruined her for me).

Though..do any of those count? Technically, those are all probably middle grade reads…hmmm. I like Odd Thomas a lot, but those are technically adult books by Dean Koontz…Um…how about Lirael from the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix? That’s pretty firmly YA. And she’s a great character, resolute when she has to be, brave even when she doesn’t want to be…and I love her name. I even used it as my character name when I played online MMORPGs (yeah, I used to play those sometimes…had to stop some years ago though, couldn’t get any writing done!).

The Giveaway

This one is going to be a surprise prize (try saying that 3 times fast)! To win, visit Dan’s website and e-mail me at kim @ kimberlypauley.com with the subject line “Tell It To Dan” and tell me…why did Dan get fired from a cheese shop? (Hint: Check out the FAQs). Please enter by Sept. 15th!

Just a few more days before the grand prize contest (though remember, every daily entry gives you an entry for the grand prize too!). Can you believe Sucks to Be Me has been out for two weeks now?? Yesterday I saw it on an endcap in a Barnes & Noble! Woot! (an endcap is the bit at the end, facing the walkway…it’s a good place to be, face out and on the end where people can see it!). They had a “Vampire Romance” display.