Bob Mayer and Jennifer Crusie are the authors of Don't Look Down
(St. Martin's, $24.95, 0312348126), which is being published this
coming Tuesday. Here the pair respond to a series of questions we
occasionally ask people in the business:On nightstand now:
Bob: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian James. But I'm feeling better now. Really.
Jenny: Why We Love by Helen Fisher (the great mystery of the moment for me) and Bride's Companion by Susannah Marriott (because the book we're writing now has a wedding in it).
Favorite book when you were a child:
Bob: The Lord of the Rings.
Jenny: Green As Spring by Rosalys Haskell Hall. Hall probably had more influence on my voice than anyone else because I read her book so much. It just felt right to me.
Top five authors:
Bob: J.R.R. Tolkien. Larry McMurtry. Richard Russo. Michael Connolly. And that genius Jennifer Crusie. Because I'm not dumb.
Jenny: Margery Allingham, Michael Gilbert, Carl Hiaasen, Terry Pratchett. And that master of the adventure novel, Bob Mayer. Because I'm not dumb, either.
Book you've "faked" reading:
Bob: Ulysses. And badly. I never picked it up.
Jenny: Moby Dick. I have a master's in 19th century American lit so I tried to read it three times. The fish parts always put me to sleep.
Book you are an "evangelist" for:
Bob: April 3. Don't Look Down. Because I ain't stupid.
Jenny: Don't Look Down. Trust me, I'm telling EVERYBODY about it.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Bob: Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Jenny: The Art of the Motorcycle edited by Thomas Krens. And I bought Expecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt for the title.
Book that changed your life:
Bob: First Blood by David Morrell. Well, I went there and did that.
Jenny: The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I've lived on the water ever since. When the time comes, I'm gonna be ready.
Favorite line from a book:
Bob: "The cold passed reluctantly from the earth and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills resting."--The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Jenny: "Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."--Terry Pratchett in Reaper Man
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Bob: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
Jenny: Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Or maybe Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. Or Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett. Choices, too many choices.