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| Photo Credit: Kurt Brownell Photography |
Miranda Reads: This year will be your fifth time coming to
TBF. What brings you back to TBF
Charles Benoit: TBF is THE coolest teen book festival in the
world, filled with rabid fans, amazing authors and volunteers who make authors
feel like rock stars back when it was a big deal to be a rock star. TBF has
more fun crammed into one day than many week-long book events I've attended. So
it's less 'what brings me back' as it is 'try to keep me away'!
MR: Are you working on a new book? If so, can you tell us a
little bit about it?
CB: Just today I penned the last line in what (I hope) is
the latest "last draft." We’ll see what my editor has to say about
that. The working title is SNOW JOB, it's set in the last weeks of 1977 and
it's my first first-person novel. Nick’s a (failing) high school senior who
tries to turn his life around by following a list of four ideals that he’s sure
will make him a better man. But Nick’s life gets a lot more complicated when he
makes a (drunken) bet he can’t cover and is bailed out by a guy he helped send
to jail. Then there’s the mysterious girl he’s falling for, the one who works
for a coked-out drug dealer, the same dealer who wants Nick to work for him.
The story’s got sex, violence, lies, betrayal, strained friendships,
indifferent parents and just a tiny flicker of hope—so something for the whole
family!
MR: In Cold Calls, the characters get blackmailed into
bullying classmates. Were you ever blackmailed in high school?
CB: Not in the sense that I use in COLD CALLS, but I often
did things I knew were wrong because I feared the social blackmailing that
would come if I didn’t. Not just parents-say-it’s-wrong stuff that everybody
does, but illegal and dangerous and totally stupid things that any idiot would
be smart enough not to do. But I did them, and then had to deal with the
numerous times after when someone would say, “Do this new thing or I tell about
the time you [fill in the blank].” It’s an awful feeling knowing that someone
else controls your life.
MR: Let's pretend you're performing in your high school
talent show. What's your talent?
CB: Since my only talent in high school was doing the very
least possible to earn a C, I’m going to go back in time with a current talent
and wow the heck out of everyone by playing One Step Beyond on my tenor sax.
MR: Which author are you most looking forward to meeting at the 10th Annual Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival?
CB: Don’t try to fool me with your trick questions, Miranda! You know I’m excited to see them all. I’m pumped that my pal April Henry will be making her first TBF appearance, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with Terry Truman again (the man knows how to tell a hilarious story), and I want to track down G. Neri to tell him how much I loved SURF MULES.
Thank you so much Charles! SNOW JOB sounds interesting and we're all excited to get our hands on it!
To learn more about Charles Benoit's books, check out his website. Follow him on Twitter and like his Facebook page.
That's it for today. Come back to the blog for more book reviews, author interviews and more!
Miranda
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