Interview with Mick Foley
October, 2009
Mick Foley
SS: How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
MF: Apparently conventional and uninteresting, actually an unfathomable conundrum
SS: What is your motto or maxim?
MF: Life is absurd – but divinely absurd.
SS: How would you describe perfect happiness?
MF: Aperitif time on Saturday evening, warm eyes meeting over cold wine.
SS: What’s your greatest fear?
MF: Going gaga
SS: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
MF: Just where I am
SS: With whom in history do you most identify?
MF: The canny Roman poet Horace
SS: Which living person do you most admire?
MF: I don't believe in hero worship
SS: What are your most overused words or phrases?
MF: Idiot, absurd, exquisite, sublime
SS: What do you regret most?
MF: Wasting time on regret
SS: If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
MF: Playing piano. To get at the thing with your bare hands!
SS: What is your greatest achievement?
MF: Remaining in love with a woman for forty years
SS: What’s your greatest flaw?
MF: Contempt
SS: What’s your best quality?
MF: Not for me to say or even think about
SS: If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
MF: To wish to be someone else is a terrible modern form of despair.
SS: What trait is most noticeable about you?
MF: Only others can see us from the outside.
SS: Who is your favorite fictional hero?
MF: Anthony in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra
SS: Who is your favorite fictional villain?
MF: Falstaff - appalling in every way but impossible to hate
SS: If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
MF: Shakespeare. I would like to look him in the eye and say, 'You're a cunning one, aren't you? You're one cunning boy.'
SS: What is your biggest pet peeve?
MF: Music in bookshops
SS: What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
MF: The dangerous contact sport, reading
SS: What’s your fantasy profession?
MF: Detective
SS: What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
MF: Generosity, humility, humour
SS: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
MF: Homemade chicken soup with vegetables and barley.
SS: What are your 5 favorite songs?
MF: E Lucevan le Stelle (Puccini), Summertime (Gershwin), The ballad of John and Yoko (Beatles), Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads), Dance Me To The End Of Love (Leonard Cohen)
SS: Who are your favorite authors?
MF: Shakespeare, George Eliot, Robert Browning, Flaubert, Proust, James Joyce
SS: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
MF: Anthony and Cleopatra, Middlemarch, L'Education Sentimentale, A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, Ulysses
SS: Is there a book you love to reread?
MF: Ulysses
SS: Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
MF: Forget about recognition, read, read, read and write, write, write.
SS: What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
MF: How can you be so candid?
SS: What is your birthdate?
MF: 10/24
SS: What were your previous occupations?
MF: Barman, schoolteacher, lecturer
SS: What was/is your favorite job?
MF: Teaching mathematics
SS: Where did you go to high school and/or college?
MF: Derry and Belfast, Northern Ireland
SS: Name of your favorite composer or music artist?
MF: Schubert in classical music, Thelonious Monk in jazz
SS: What is your favorite movie?
MF: Dr Strangelove
SS: What is your favorite television show?
MF: The Proust of cop shows, The Wire
Get more on Mick Foley at SimonandSchuster.com
Mick Foley
Quick Start
SS: How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
MF: Apparently conventional and uninteresting, actually an unfathomable conundrum
SS: What is your motto or maxim?
MF: Life is absurd – but divinely absurd.
What Readers want to know...
SS: How would you describe perfect happiness?
MF: Aperitif time on Saturday evening, warm eyes meeting over cold wine.
SS: What’s your greatest fear?
MF: Going gaga
SS: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
MF: Just where I am
SS: With whom in history do you most identify?
MF: The canny Roman poet Horace
SS: Which living person do you most admire?
MF: I don't believe in hero worship
SS: What are your most overused words or phrases?
MF: Idiot, absurd, exquisite, sublime
SS: What do you regret most?
MF: Wasting time on regret
SS: If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
MF: Playing piano. To get at the thing with your bare hands!
SS: What is your greatest achievement?
MF: Remaining in love with a woman for forty years
SS: What’s your greatest flaw?
MF: Contempt
SS: What’s your best quality?
MF: Not for me to say or even think about
SS: If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
MF: To wish to be someone else is a terrible modern form of despair.
SS: What trait is most noticeable about you?
MF: Only others can see us from the outside.
SS: Who is your favorite fictional hero?
MF: Anthony in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra
SS: Who is your favorite fictional villain?
MF: Falstaff - appalling in every way but impossible to hate
SS: If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
MF: Shakespeare. I would like to look him in the eye and say, 'You're a cunning one, aren't you? You're one cunning boy.'
SS: What is your biggest pet peeve?
MF: Music in bookshops
SS: What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
MF: The dangerous contact sport, reading
SS: What’s your fantasy profession?
MF: Detective
SS: What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
MF: Generosity, humility, humour
SS: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
MF: Homemade chicken soup with vegetables and barley.
SS: What are your 5 favorite songs?
MF: E Lucevan le Stelle (Puccini), Summertime (Gershwin), The ballad of John and Yoko (Beatles), Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads), Dance Me To The End Of Love (Leonard Cohen)
Questions About Books and Writing
SS: Who are your favorite authors?
MF: Shakespeare, George Eliot, Robert Browning, Flaubert, Proust, James Joyce
SS: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
MF: Anthony and Cleopatra, Middlemarch, L'Education Sentimentale, A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, Ulysses
SS: Is there a book you love to reread?
MF: Ulysses
SS: Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
MF: Forget about recognition, read, read, read and write, write, write.
SS: What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
MF: How can you be so candid?
General Questions
SS: What is your birthdate?
MF: 10/24
SS: What were your previous occupations?
MF: Barman, schoolteacher, lecturer
SS: What was/is your favorite job?
MF: Teaching mathematics
SS: Where did you go to high school and/or college?
MF: Derry and Belfast, Northern Ireland
SS: Name of your favorite composer or music artist?
MF: Schubert in classical music, Thelonious Monk in jazz
SS: What is your favorite movie?
MF: Dr Strangelove
SS: What is your favorite television show?
MF: The Proust of cop shows, The Wire
Get more on Mick Foley at SimonandSchuster.com
