Interviews are funny things. Yesterday morning, in the hotel library, waiting for my room to be ready, I listened to the singer from the Cardigans, Nina, being interviewed at the chair next to mine. She was a nice Swedish lady. Some people wanted to talk about the music, and she did okay on those interviews.
Some were less prepared.
Like the Australian celebrity journalist with his appalling list of questions.
"So -- what DON'T your fans know about you?"
“Well, my private life. But it is private.”
“Come on love. Give us something. A secret. Something nobody knows. Come on.”
"...Er... I have a wart between my toes...?"
"Can't you get it frozen off?"
"Well, nobody can see it. It's between my toes."
"Do you have to wear larger shoes then?"
"No." (Embarrassed pause.) “I wear pointy shoes.”
“That wasn’t much of a secret really, was it.” The lady from the Cardigans shrugged apologetically. The reporter looked down at his list of questions... “So what’s the craziest thing a fan’s ever done?”
“They are very nice.”
“Crazy. Come on, one of your fans must be a little bit crazy...”
And so on, and on, and on.
At least most of my interviewers know who I am. (Except for the radio interviewer today. But then, it’s always a pleasant surprise when radio interviewers have read anything. I knew one who admitted to putting slips of paper into a book when the author was coming to the interview – three slips, one near the beginning, one in the middle, one near the end. It made it look as if he’d not only read the book, but he’d found important things he wanted to talk about. I doubt a single author was fooled.)
Today was interviews, launch party, dinner, and back to hotel by 12:30 am.... tomorrow, a signing at Forbidden Planet in Oxford Street. Starts at 1:00pm...
Labels: American Gods Blog, Best Of, interviews, UNCUT