Raymond Chandler

Who is your favorite dead writer?

If you could ask him or her one question, what would it be?

Okay, I admit it! I still laugh at The Beverly Hillbillies. Not Gilligan’s Island or The Brady Bunch. The Clampetts.

So go on, what’s a show you enjoy though you don’t exactly go around bragging about it?

Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in Tea for Two (1950)

I wish I could sing like Gordon MacRae.

I wish I could dance like Gene Kelly.

I wish I could dunk like Zion Williamson.

What do you wish?

JSB’s Whipped Coffee

This shutdown has me exploring my culinary side. For example, I recently discovered “whipped coffee.” (Talk about a money saver over those fancy frappy things at the coffee house!)

Do you have a favorite recipe you’d like to share with an amateur, housebound chef?

What is your snack of choice while writing?

If calories did not count (or mount), what would it be?

We’re long into the age of social media. What do you love/hate about it?

She sat up slowly, looked in turn at each of us, and her dark eyes were like twin entrances to two deep caves. Nothing lived in those caves. Maybe something had, once upon a time. There were piles of picked bones back in there, some scribbling on the walls, and some gray ash where the fires had been. (Darker Than Amber by John D. MacDonald)

Share one of your favorite examples of description from a novel.

“My religion would be a gentle faith that believed in the sacredness of leisure. Napping as a form of prayer.” — Garrison Keillor

What do you like to do in your leisure time?

“In both life and football, failure is inevitable. You dont always win. You can, however, learn from that failure, pick yourself up with great enthusiasm, and place yourself in the arena again. And that’s right where you will find me. Because I know I still have more to prove.” — Tom Brady

Applies to writers, too?

Former site of Barnes & Noble, Woodland Hills, CA

Barnes & Noble stores continue to close, while independent bookstores appear to be making a comeback.

What’s the bookstore situation where you live?