All the class websites have a FAQ section. I seldom look at these because I don’t have any questions and/or suspect the page will be a marketing ploy. So this post is for the bold, those willing to go where no one has gone before.

• Since you write magical realism, do you really believe in magic?
• Yes. In fact, I think that magic is often more true than realism.
• Did you always want to be a writer?
• Goodness no. I wanted to be a locomotive engineer, a national parks ranger, or a Jungian psychologist. However, I was tricked by the dark side into taking radio-TV writing and production, and journalism courses during the days when a liberal arts education could supposedly get you a job anywhere. It couldn’t.
• Is it true that you went into the gigolo business?
• On the advice of my attorney, I cannot answer that question other than to say “what do you think?”
• If you had a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, what would you choose?
• The sea, always. I grew up on the Florida coast, so water is nearly sacred to me. I’ve crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by ship and am happy to say neither voyage was made on a so-called cruise ship, a ship that seems more like a floating Disney World than a way of experiencing the sea.
• I read somewhere that you were brought up by alligators in the Everglades.
• That was wishful thinking that might not have been true.
• You were born in California, right?
• In Berkeley, the center of rebellion against the establishment. However, my Facebook page says I’m from Florida partly because I am and partly because I think California has become everything we fought against at Berkeley. I left my heart in San Francisco, but I’m not going back for it.
• Who are your favorite authors?
• James Joyce, Michael Shaara, and Pat Conroy. Yes, I know they don’t exactly have a lot in common. Well, other than me.
• Where do you stand politically?
• My attorney, John Beresford Tipton, doesn’t want me to answer that question because such answers often lead to name-calling and threats rather than dialogue. I will say this: we have way too much government.
• How in the hell do you work on such a cluttered desk?
• Creativity comes from chaos. Actually, I think it’s important to create chaos rather than order.
• Are you really a Scot?
• According to my genealogy, very much so. But no, I wasn’t born there, not in this lifetime. I do favor all things Scottish over anything English. Queen Elizabeth I kidnapped and murdered our queen, Mary Queen of Scots, so I have little positive to say about England and its monarchy.  Plus, the English can’t cook.
• Are you a dog person or a cat person?
• A cat person. It’s my wife’s fault. We’ve probably “adopted” a hundred cats since we got married. Okay, maybe ten cats.
• Are you happen being a writer?
• Yes and no. Unless you’re James Patterson, it’s more of a hobby than a profession.

–Malcolm