Interview with AS King - BLOG TOUR!

Ding dong. Pizza delivery. I've got one mushroom, green pepper and ham here for Jen Blom…

What? Pizza Delivery? In the middle of the night in Germany? Is A.S. King off her meds? (Official Rules here, if you're the curious type.) Full disclosure: Two weeks ago, my book Please Ignore Vera Dietz came out. It's a pretty exciting time, but more exciting when you can traipse around to your friends' blogs and deliver some [imaginary] pizza and answer some questions.


JKB: Were you as mocked and made fun of when you were younger as I was?

ASK: I was very weird. Very weird. That's what all those yearbook inscriptions say. "To a very weird girl I met…." Or "To a weird girl in my homeroom…" So yeah. I was mocked. I had very strong tastes in music in Jr. High school thanks to my influential older sisters, so while most people my age were bouncing around to 80s synthesizers or that awful frizzy-haired pseudo-heavy-metal, I was digging Black Flag and Iggy Pop and classic David Bowie and Elvis Costello and wishing I was Chrissie Hynde circa 1978. Though I smoked (boo! Do not smoke!) and listened to Black Sabbath, the other girls who smoked and loved Ozzy wanted to beat me up because I was weird and liked "punk rock."
I wore weird shoes. I had freakishly large feet, so this was just a side-effect of being me. And I had really really really bad haircuts.
All mock-worthy.


JKB: Can you recommend an awesome pub in Ireland? Someday I'd love to go and I don't know any!



ASK: One of my favorite pubs in Ireland is a place called Andrew Ryan's pub in Kilkenny City. The trad music sessions there on a Thursday night are unbelievable. Completely lift you out of it! And the craic is mighty. (Translation: It's a lot of fun.) A quieter time would be had in Dublin at a place called Byrnes in Stillorgan. Sit by the fire and have a good chat.
BUT my all time favorite pub? You have to take a boat to see. It's called The Jolly Roger and there's a mural my father-in-law on the side of it. If ever you are in County Cork, do take the ferry from Baltimore to Sherkin Island and have a pint at the Jolly for me. Many a night and day and night and day was spent in that place. Ask around for Norman. Kiss him for me. Tell him I sent you.

JKB: How close to your high school is Vera's? Did you find yourself thinking about those days and did you have fun, back in the day?



ASK: Please Ignore Vera Dietz is set in a fictional town that is really similar to my hometown. So, my high school and Vera's high school are probably the same high school, in many ways. Except my high school has been modernized and looks nothing like it did when I went there.



I had fun when I was a teenager. I wore hats. A lot. I wish I could still wear hats, but I can't get away with it now. (Picture to the left was taken by Mr. King the summer we met, when I was 17. That's a sailor hat. I was also quite fond of the beige old man fishing hat.) Looking back, I'm thrilled I was myself, and did what made me happy. It didn't always make me popular, but it made me me, and I'm okay with that. I had most fun at work or playing basketball or doing things with my friends. I wasn't much of a student, so the school part wasn't really something I like to look back on all that much. That said, I had some awesome teachers, so it wasn't all bad.

Jen! Thank you so much for having me around to you blog! Before I go, I hope you don't mind if I tell your readers what the book is about!



PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ
is a Junior Library Guild selection for Fall 2010


18-year-old Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie. And over the years she's kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything. So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone. Will she emerge and clear his name? Does she even want to?

"Brilliant. Funny. Really special." --Ellen Hopkins, author of NYT bestselling Crank, Glass and Tricks


Anyone reading this who might live close to Exton Square Mall in Exton, PA, I will be there on the 30th from 1-3pm signing copies of Vera and being weird. Do stop by!

November Pizza Delivery Stops on my blog!