I’m blaming Ian for this one, too…

1.  I was born on Friday the 13th, and 13 has always been my lucky number.

2.  My favorite book of all time is Lightning by Dean Koontz, and thanks to three wonderful friends I own an autographed first edition hard cover.

3.  As a kid, my favorite books were The Three Investigators mystery series.  I still have them, and there will always be a place reserved for them on my book shelf.

4.  I was born in the Year of the Tiger.

5.  I love instant messaging but hate talking on the phone.

6.  I became a vegetarian the week before Thanksgiving, 2000.  Of all the food I gave up, the things I miss most are salmon sandwiches with pickle and mayo, and those shitty little hamburgers from McDonalds.

7.  My favorite food is homemade macaroni and cheese.  My favorite thing to drink is a coke float.  And my favorite dessert is Berries on a Cloud.

8.  Over the years I’ve had dogs, cats, a horse, a rabbit, and a snake as pets.

9.  I can juggle.  Sort of.

10.  When I was little, I got my two front baby teeth knocked out on a kid’s head.

11.  I have never seen E.T.

12.  Yellow is not my favorite color, but I drive a yellow car, and if I had the option I probably always would.

13.  When I was a kid, more than anything I wanted to be a jockey when I grew up.  And then I grew up.  By the time I hit 5’8″ and my horse started to look like he had an extra set of legs growing out of his stomach, I figured I was probably a shade too tall.

14.  I find clowns to be extremely creepy.

15.  I like to sing in the car.  Loudly.  And off key.

16.  Some of my favorite authors, in no particular order, are Stephen King, Rob Thurman, Christopher Moore, Kat Richardson, Tamara Siler Jones, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

17.  I have a blue belt in Kempo.

18.  My “comfort” movies are Scream and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.  If I want to play on the computer and need background noise, or just want to veg out, those are the ones I throw in the DVD player.

19.  I love cheesy jokes.  The worse they are, the more I like them.

20.  When I was a kid I collected Transformers.  I still have the original Optimus Prime.

21.  If I get a song stuck in my head I have to listen to it on repeat, sometimes for days, until it goes away.

22.  I love photography but don’t do it nearly enough.

23.  I got the highest mark in my Critical Writing about Poetry class at U of T.

24.  One of my biggest pet peeves is people who walk into the middle of a conversation, and instead of listening for a minute to figure out what’s going on, immediately interrupt to ask what you’re talking about, or try to change the subject.

25.  I’m much more inclined to stay up all night than I am to get up early.

I’ve been reading a discussion that’s been going on over the last few days in my friend’s journal.  I’m not going to name the friend, or link to the journal, because it’s an absolute minefield of a topic and I don’t want to get into it here.  But it has got me thinking about something else along a similar line.

When I read, I like to read stories about people who are courageous and smart and funny, who have short-comings and inner demons, who solve mysteries and do brave things and keep going even when it looks like everything is lost.  (Those are the kinds of stories that I try to write, too.)  I do not like to read stories about people who get up on their soap-box and sermonize at the other characters, and by extension, the reader.  I do not want to read expo dumps meant to further someone’s pet cause.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely believe in a person’s right to their own beliefs, and the right to try to persuade others to their way of thinking.  But I also believe there is a time and a place for it.  When I read fiction I do not want to be educated, I want to be entertained.  If I want to learn something I’ll go check out the non-fiction section of the book store – that’s what it’s there for, after all.

Now I know that characters, just like real people, need to have their own beliefs.  And, also just like real people, not all of those beliefs will be the same.  It would make for a pretty boring story if everyone agreed with everyone else all of the time.  In the story that I’m working on right now I have a character who’s a priest and a character who is technically an atheist, although he believes in other things.  Both are very firm in their convictions and they butt heads a lot, which I think is great, because it adds tension to the story.  But there’s a big difference between a character who has his own beliefs and a character who has the author’s beliefs, and, it seems to me, it’s pretty easy to tell which is which.  I find the latter extremely off-putting, and actually, even a little bit insulting.  I mean, it ‘s bad enough to have someone thumping on you in person where you can tell them to take a hike, but it’s another entirely to get into what looks like a good book, only to find out that you paid for the privilege.

But maybe this is all just me.  I’ve read enough of these kinds of stories to know that a good number of people like writing them.  Is there anyone out there who likes reading them?  As readers, do you think it’s okay for an author to use their writing to support a cause?  As writers, do you bring an agenda to your stories?  I know that this could be a bit of a touchy subject, but I really am curious to hear what you think, so if you’re willing to discuss it here, by all means, hit me with your best shot.