Question: Once when I was about 20, still a student, I came across a small book shop, I found there "the panic hand" and "black cocktail". I hadn't heard about you before ( it was nine years ago I guess, Poland). After reading them I thought: wow somebody dreams the same dreams,and then describes them as if taken directly from my head. Then I felt terrible. I realized that other people could read your books too. I was jealous. So jealous. I promised myself to buy your books all in original versions. I'm selfish. I don't like lending your books :-) "The Marriage of the sticks" is my favourite. " Oko Dnia" made me believe in other people. - Ada

It's both delightful and a little shocking to me how many people both read my daily blog on the website and then write to tell their reactions to the separate entries there. For you English readers, we have decided to publish a large chunk of the blog as a book. It will have the same title as in Polish-- EYE OF THE DAY. Mobius New Media will again be doing the publishing. We will keep you posted on the book's availability. Most likely it will, like THE HEIDELBERG CYLINDER, be issued as a limited edition, but it'll be a beautiful book physically, I'm sure.

º

question: Greetings. I picked up a copy of Land of Laughs based on its recommendation by Evans in The 100 Best Horror Books. I became entranced and read it at work breaks as well as at home. I found myself particularly intrigued by the sporadic quotes from France's works. They possess a haunting quality that reminded me of snatches from songs heard in dreams. I recall ones I've heard myself, such as "there's a burning in my business section," and "the poem remains coptic." Did they arise from any particular source, or simply in the course of composing the novel? I just got a lovely 1st of The Panic Hand, and hope to get to that soon. Thanks for the great writing. Yrs, Ralph

For years people have asked 1.are the books of Marshall France real (or available) 2. If not,why don't I write them? My answer has always stayed the same: no. It was very difficult to create the few France passages in TLOL because the whole time I was doing them, I knew they had to be especially good or the reader would think "These passages are lousy. Marshall France couldn't have been special, judging by these stinkers." I don't really remember where the specific ideas came from for those passages, but these many years later I do remember that writing only the passages from the France books were the most difficult part of writing TLOL.

question: Allo! Jonathan, you're still my favourite writer, but recently I've found interesting Haruki Murakami. I'm sure that you know his work. How do you feel about him? After "Dance,Dance, Dance" I gave him up for a long time (btw,I had read before few of his books and they produced a great impession on me-"Dance, dance, dance" has bored me so much, oh my god it has almost killed me), but I tried once again with "Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world". What a great book! I was very tired after a long day of working yesterday, my head was very heavy, but I couldn't resist this book. In sum, what is your opinion Jonathan? -Ola

People often say Murakami's and my work are very similar. I can sort of understand why they say that, sort of not. As is so often the case with writers who are prolific, I like some of his stuff and not others. HARD BOILED WONDERLAND was the first book of his that I read and I loved it. NORWEGIAN WOOD came next and I loved that too. Since then, not much.

question: Hi..I'm from little country Poland, tiny town near Warsaw...and your book are available even there!I won't forget what I felt during reading Land of laughs...and what I feel everytime I read it.Fear, excitement,I think of what will be next...Your every book is full of fantasy,emotions, it brings me to the other world- world of imagination.Such world is often better than world we live in... Thank you for all these emotions. -Gosia

As I once said long ago, the greatest compliment is to hear that someone riding a bus and reading my book misses their stop because they are so involved in the story. That's the magic of books and if I have created that magic for you, Gosia, then I am one happy man.

Question: Dear mr Carroll, my name is Agnieszka and already for a couple of years i have been a great fan of Yours- as an author and your books.Thanks to You I discovered a magical world just right here,around me. Your books are very interesting, and definitely different to all i´ve read before (which makes it more valuable). I would be very grateful to You for an autograph. -Agnieszka

Thank you for your words. Send your full name and mailing address to the following email address and I'll send you an autograph.

Question: My name's Luiza and I'm from Poland and I have a great request to you. This year I'm having my final exams at high school and my subject for Polish concerns your books. And my problem is that I can't find any popular books about you and your work :( Maybe you could advise me or recommend some books to me ??

The only book I know of that is a very serious, very academic book IN GERMAN that came out some years ago about all of my books. I do know that there have been a number of thesis written about them, some of them in German. I'd advise you to do a Google or Yahoo search of them in your language. Also check with the peson who runs the jc website in Poland-- maybe they can help. www.jonathancarroll.pl

question: The first time i met Neil Gaiman (i told you about this at the time), i asked him if he'd seen your work, as i thought he'd like it. Well, when he came through Denver again, touring "Anansi Boys", we got to talk a bit more and i asked if he was familiar with the work of Emma Bull, as I thought he'd really like her superb book "Bonedance". Again he laughed, agreeing that he liked it so well he'd blurbed it.Since I'd not yet heard of him when i first got Bonedance, i'd not noticed the blurb and i'd never looked at them again after reading it intially.I bet he's also familiar with Tim Powers (as i seem to think you are, "The Stress Of Her Regard" and "Dinner At Deviant's Palace", wow) and China Mieville, so i've given up trying to offer him books and will stick to music in future. But not Tori... Oh, by the way, i found out that the one other person besides Neil who knew of you is my best friend's husband. He wants you to get over Frannie and get back to Big Top, but i know that we don't decide what to write, what to write decides to find us. The offer of coffee in Denver still stands... namaste and aloha, Jade p.s. I've fallen into the habit of giving The Land Of Laughs to writers of my acquaintance. Such a vivid demonstration of the power of words...

Neil Gaiman is handsome, kind, a veritable polymath, generous to a fault, and deserves every bit of fame and success he has gotten. I hate his guts, the bastard.

question: Somehow this particular video was inspired by your 'White Apples'. Seems disassociated, I know... but it is not. Thank you... and I do mean it. Please be. -Nazas

And thank you. "White Apples" transformed into a You Tube'r-- that is a very cool thing.

question: What is your favorite Leonard Cohen song. -Luis

"A Thousand Kisses Deep." I even put it at the end of WHITE APPLES as a small tip of the hat to Mr. Cohen.

question: 20 years or so ago I received a letter from a friend in Calcutta telling me that she had discovered my favorite writer and that I had to go find Sleeping in Flame - no matter what it took. That same week, another friend called to tell me she'd found my favorite book and that I should immediately find a copy of Land of Laughs. Intrigued, I walked across the street to my favorite book seller and asked if they had ever heard of Jonathan Carroll. I got a funny look - and a gesture towards the display in the front of the store - which I had walked right past. Every Jonathan Carroll book was there. I'm not so obtuse as to pass on such not-so-subtle signs.

Today, 20 years later, I started my New Year with Glass Soup. I stayed in bed most of the day falling into worlds that feel so familiar I wonder if we share the same dreams. -Suki

A nice story, Suki, thank you for sharing it with me. There's nothing more wonderful than discovering a writer or artist who shows you new things about the world you know that instantly enlarges that familiar place. Whether it is new images or sounds or colors, that expansion of our every day is one of the great gifts anyone-- friend or stranger-- can give. It also makes me happy to know that someone is sitting by a window in Calcutta reading SLEEPING IN FLAME. How far that story journeyed from a small desk in wintry Vienna...

question: Hi Mr Carroll, i've followed a link from neil gaiman's blog to yours, and am ashamed to say i've never read any of your books. i like the way you write though, and was wondering if there was a specific book of your's that you would recommend to start with? -ciela

Readers tell me that they often give SLEEPING IN FLAME or THE LAND OF LAUGHS to someone they want to start reading my books.

question: Dear Jonathan, I know you get a lot of messages like that but there is such a great need in me to tell you how grateful i am for what you helped me to achieve with your books. I read many of your books when i was a teenager, I loved them but somehow forgot of them for many years. A few months ago i came across the land of laughs at amazon and bought it straight away. Since then i bought most of them and re read them. I do not know what kind of a special power you have, but it feels like you have a knack of changing the world into a better place.Your books made me see my life not for what it is but for it could be if i tried hard enough. Thank you ever so much, Jonathan. Now a question: I am Polish but live in UK at the moment , and would like to purchase some of your books in english, however amazon doesn't seem to have all of them in stock. What is the best way to buy your books? -Aska

Thank you for your letter and good words. I always suggest people go to www.abebooks.com and type in my name where it asks for the author. They have just about everything I've ever written there and depending on what edition you want and price you're willing to pay, you'll find what you want.

question: Hey Jonathan, i will be so happy if you sent me an autograph. pat

Send your full name and mailing address to me in care of this email address and I'll send one on. jscarroll@hotmail.com

question: Blog 1.6. as i understand it, if somebody's dying, his body starts shutting off all processes that's not needed anymore, including the whole digestion system. since sugar is the only thing that can be directly be taken up in the bloodstream while it is still in your mouth, it makes sense that people that are dying start craving sweets. the healthy food that this person has to eat will just sit in his digestive system, and make his final days more uncomfortable. if there's one thing our bodies know how to do on its own, its dying. the rules have changed for this person, and the best thing you can do is give him what he wants. i'm sorry if it is somebody close to you, mr carrol, its never easy to be there while somebody is leaving you... -ciela

You know, the scientific answer makes sense, but when you're dealing with a person's (or an animal's-- read my blog about Jack the dog and the Christmas trees) last days, it just seems right no matter what to give a dying soul whatever it is that still brings them even an inch of joy. If they want cookies because THEY want cookies or simply because their body wants the sugar in them, I'm a firm believer in wheelbarrows full of cookies.

question: Hi Jonathan.. You seems to be one who answers questions in a nice way. I just had my heart broken by the girl that I broke the heart too. How do you refer to heartbreak (if we must call it that) without excluding the one's who are actually in it?

The usual reply is that "It'll go over, it'll pass, before you know it it's gone." But that's an answer that only the ones who are actually through with the sadness can agree with. And that's why it's such an easy answer to the question. But how do you respond, taking their situation seriously, to the ones who are in great pain because of some others actions, or oneselves actions towards another? -Johannes

Tough question. I think heartbreak is a kind of small death. Life happens to be full of different kinds of small deaths all along the way right up till the last, big one. No one is good at digesting death of any kind, so the only way to try is to be clear about it-- find out what this particular death really is to us, and not just a vague purple cloud of sadness, longing and loss floating around in our brains.My suggestion to you while you're going through this rough time is to write about it. Buy a notebook and a brand new pen, so that the work will be a special important event, and not just some kind of homework. Write with that pen only in that book. The pen and the book have a special job to do and need to be treated specially. Sit down and in there very seriously write everything you feel, don't feel, want to feel, hope to feel etcetera about this subject. I have always found, and not just because I'm a writer by profession, that writing about something important either clarifies the matter for me or frequently takes some of its psychic weight off my shoulders. Divide a page in half, for example, and on one half write why you're glad the relationship is finished (if you're glad at all). On the other side of the page write why you miss it. Just this exercise alone will bring things into clearer focus and perhaps give you some needed insight into how you really feel about the person, the small death, and where your heart really is at the moment. You can't have the person anymore, but you still have your feelings about them and your relationship. The best thing you can do is work toward finding real clarity about both of them and where they are in your universe right this minute.

question: jonathan carroll you are amazing. ive never read anything better than your work. i love reading your blog, and since i've started, i've really begun to notice the small but pleasant things in my daily life. thank you. it's made me a happier person. -kasia

Big smile in Vienna, Kasia. Can you see it from where you are?

question: have you read The garden of the stubborn cats by Italo Calvino? What's your opinion the character has?what do you think about the character speech?- sebas

Sebas,
As an old school teacher, your question has the pungent aroma of an essay question you've been asked to write for class and you're asking me to help you do it. As the wise Mr. Neil Gaiman says, I won't do your homework for you.

Hello, my name is Dasha. I live in Russia in Moscow. I much love your creative activity. In our country, regrettably, publishing whole ten your books: The land of laughs, Wedding stick, After silence, Sleeping in flame, Wooden sea, Voice of our shadow, A child across the sky, Outside the dog museum, Bones of the moon, Kissing the beehive. Want beside you to ask, didn't enter to you offers on publishing the rest books?

To tell you the truth, I don't remember which of my books the Russian publisher has bought. Happily, they are selling extremely well there so I assume they will all be published sooner or later. If I were you, I would write an email directly to my Russian publisher and ask them what their publication schedule is.

question: Hi, a friend of mine showed me your books 2 years ago. From that moment I'm telling everybody to read at least one of your books... just to check it out. It's a kind of magic in your books, that helped me to understand one thing: not everything in life is so obvious as we think it is. Thanks for that. And one question: is there any translation of your books into Lithuanian? I'm studying this language and it would be nice to read your books and study a bit :) greetings Martyna

No books in Lithuanian yet although many of them are in Russian now. I'm glad that my stories have stamped your mental passport with the odd and colorful visa stamps of new places. That's the best thing a book can do-- show you other worlds that make your own life that much bigger and more interesting.

question: I downloaded first chapter of "The Ghost in Love" from your Polish website. I feel this excitement like a child before opening a Christmas gift , Thank You for this 'before' feeling . And paradoxically thanks for this

e- mail - the possibility to write to you. Best wishes from Poland, Urszula

I hope you like that "present" from me after you have read it. There's nothing worse than opening a brightly wrapped Christmas present and finding inside it a pair of orange socks or an ugly bow tie you would never even think of wearing...

question: There are many little rewards to working in a used bookstore. One of them is the privilege of being surrounded by old books, to learn about them and from them. When people sell their books back to us, you often find personal inscriptions inside. Some are lengthy and heartfelt. Reading them, you imagine the giver had hoped the recipient would cherish it forever, and yet here it is, in the hands of a stranger, the book and its sentiment discarded, for whatever reason. This inscription was written on the half title page of a trade paperback copy of "Sleeping In Flame" -

"For illustrating the kind of lover I want to be, I give you this book. My dreams lie within. Always remember that the answers come with questions, so trust, and ask. At least with someone else's imagination we have the opportunity in this life or the next, to love again. To the only girl I want to steal horses with, enjoy. Still burning, and breathing you,"

Thought you might find this interesting...
Michael Hockinson Powell's Books on Hawthorne Portland, Oregon

I love this story, Michael. I'm going to post it on my daily blog so other people can (hopefully) share the same giant smile about it that I have right now. It's the best kind of unexpected Christmas present and I thank you for sending it.

question: hello Jonathan!:D i would love to thank u for your amazing books... everytime i feel bad, feel like i`m going down, i take one of your books ;] and guess what? it`s such a pleasure to read it!:D you`re books are just full of original ideas and there`s absolutely nothing that can compare with them:D

yeah...so i love it:)

and..i would like to wish u a very merry christmas! and a happy new year! AGNIESZKA

It's a pleasure to hear that my books lift your spirits when you need it most, Agniezska. Let's hope we all have the kind of Christmas and new year that when we look back on them, they will make us shake our heads in wonder at how special they were.

question: Not a question, just a heartfelt thank you for the many hours of entertainment and ponderings you have given me over the years. I am planning to re-read a selection (choosing is part of the pleasure) of your work over the Christmas holidays. Again thank you. ps Would anyone choose to go back and stay within a moment, even an ecstatically happy one? Isn't part of the ecstacy knowing that it won't last? Karen

I thought about that Karen, but life is so unpredictable and not very nice too much of the time. Having a perfect moment or afternoon forever might be worth the risk. My students used to say they didn't want to go to heaven after they died because they'd grow bored there with all that perfection. I said if things really are perfect then you don't get bored because that's a contradiction in terms. If I went back and lived one of my perfect afternoons forever, hypothetically I would be so full of happiness that I wouldn't think about it ending or anything else but how great it was.Happiness is an end unto itself. A delicious meal doesn't become more delicious when you see you are coming to the end of it.

question: Hello Mr Carroll, I can't live without Your books. :) They mean a lot to me. Sometimes your books show me the way in my life. My question is: Could You send me something little, like an autograph or a piece of reader from your private life? I'll be so glad. Best wishes from Poland. Natalie

I'll be happy to give you an autograph. Send an email with your full name and address to me here and I'll put one in the mail. jscarroll@hotmail.com

question: Wow. One after another. Amazing stories, unforgettable characters. W find that our characters are poeple we would like to pretend to be for a while, but then take on different qualities. After we've given them life, they end up teaching us new things and we even pick up some of their habits. Does a doctor actually have to diagnose us as schitzo or can we make that call ourselves, provided we've read up on the material? - Karl

I don't know about you, Karl, but there are times when I have been pretty schizophrenic (or at least my behavior has), but that doesn't mean I am permanently. If they were to judge us crazy because of our weird little heres and theres, I think there would be a lot more people in insane asylums. I think it's best to leave the deciding to the doctors and leave the opinion making to us.

question: Dziêkujê! Twoje ksi'¿ki s' super. Jest to coœ dla czego warto ¿yæ. W"aœnie jestem w trakcie czytania Twojego bloga "Oko dnia". Bardzo mi siê podoba ten punkt widzenia œwiata. Czasem ¿a"ujê, ¿e i ja tak nie potrafiê spojrzeæ na œwiat, lecz zaraz siê nad tym zastanawiam i myœlê, ¿e to mo¿e i lepiej, bo te ksi'¿ki ju¿ nie by"by takie fascynuj'ce. Jeszcze raz dziêkujê.

Bardzo bym prosi"a o autograf. Bêdê wdziêczna.

Now for those who doesn't understand my language:
Thank You! Your books are great. This is that thing for which is worth living. Now i'm reading your new book-blog "Eye of the Day." I really like your point of view, how you look on the world. Sometimes I regret that I can't see that world like you, but after a while i know that is better, because if i could do it, your books wouldn't be so fascinating. One more time: thank You a lot! Could you send me an autograph? I will be really grateful. And when You will be again in Poland? And in which cities? Maybe in Lodz? Last question: which city in Poland (without Krakow) You like the most and why? - your faithful Paulina

Send your full name and mailing address to me in care of jscarroll@hotmail.com and I'll send you an autograph. I don't know when I'll be in Poland again, Paulina. I go now and then as a private citizen but I don't even know when that will be because I am trying to finish this new book and it is moving a lot slower than I would like.

What Polish towns do I like besides Krakow? Szezcin, Zielona Gora, Poznan, Wroclaw.

question: A year ago this month, "Outside the Dog Museum" was finally reissued in the U.S. by Orb/Tom Doherty. As a bookseller, this was the one title I wanted most of your works to return to print. My shelf talker concludes with the line, "Pick one up now before I put it in your hand." If I could just get them to read "Museum", I knew they'd be hooked. One year later, Powell's on Hawthorne in Portland, Oregon has sold 104 copies. Just thought you'd like to know. -Michael Hockinson

I *would* like to know, Michael, and thank you so much for hand selling my work. I think that's really how most books catch on. Much more so than a big stack up front at Barnes and Noble. A passionate reader whose taste is trusted says you've *got* to read this because it'll sharpen your life. Whenever people whose taste I trust say that to me, I read their suggestions immediately. I remember when you and I met in your wonderful store in Portland. You were kind and gracious then and obviously that has continued.Thank you again.

question: I have no question.I wish You only true love.We met in Kalisz one day,You told me about hard work for true love.Thank You for that.Everything is,to we want it must be.I like Very much -OKO DNIA.I finded in this book pieces of my live... Ilona

Thank you, Ilona. Writing the blog most days is a pleasure for me. Writing short, intense pieces like that is like a runner sprinting a hundred meters:
he runs as hard as he can but then it is over for the day. Writing a novel is a marathon. Writing "Eye of the Day" was hundreds of small sprints.

question: Carissimo Jonathan..i am an italian assistant director and when your first book was translated into the italian language i'm falling in love with your fantastic world! My only dream now is make a movie from one of your magical novels..for me it's a sort of drug..translate your words in a series of images..i will in my future..i will! Grazie grazie grazie..thank you thank you thank you for your dreams! - MASSIMO (ROMA - ITALY)

Ah Massimo, I wish you luck with your project. Make a film of one of my books and I will have another excuse to come to Italy and hang around, one of my greatest pleasures in life.

question: I'm italian.I was at the book festival of Turin. Thank you for being my angel minor. (and sorry for my english) -Greta

You are welcome. That trip to Turin was crazy but fun mostly. I'll be in Milan on the 30th of May for their "La Biblioteca in Giardino" Festival so if you're near, come by and say hello.

question: No question-I just wanted to share something with you that I wrote in my own blog not too long ago. And also, an experience that happened recently, that I feel I should thank you for. First, my blog entry: Saturday, December 24, 2005

Thanks Again Jonathan Carroll...... Current mood: pensive

Yes, tonight I am pimping my favorite writer. You wouldn't think that someone who never met you could tell you what's going on in your life, but he manages to do it to me every time. I absolutely adore this man's books. Almost obsessively. So much I want to crawl inside of them and live.

I don't know how to even begin describing one of his books to someone who has never read them before. They're an undiscovered country-you can't nail them down to definition. But he uses words like throwing knives-his images come flashing toward you like quicksilver, and lodge right in the center of you. He is so vivid and so concise and so perfect when it comes to describing people and making their motivations absolutely clear. The people he writes are more real than some of the people I know. A word I see very often used to describe his writing is "hypnotic". And it is. His books are absolutely enthralling.

And more than once, I've read something he's written and it suddenly turns the lights on with a situation that's had me fumbling around in a thousand years's dark. There was a time after my Nana's death that I read a book of his, and what it revealed to me probably saved me from falling into a depression I might not have gotten out of. I can't talk about that tonight-I rarely ever talk about the specifics of how she died at all. But I did write to him and tell him about it on his website and he was absolutely gracious and kind in his response.

Tonight, he did it for me again. I'm re-reading a book of his that is one of my favorites. I bought two copies of it to give to two different people this Christmas, and another one for myself because my original got lost. I love it, so I started re reading it a couple of days ago.

I came across two passages. One of which I can't believe I forgot, because it resonated so much with me. And when I read it today, I remembered having the exact same reaction when I read it the first time. So it's kind of a gift that the passage had slipped my mind, because I got to re-experience it completely. That doesn't happen very often.

The second one wasn't anything I'd noticed the first time I read it, because at the time it wasn't significant to me. But today, it crashed right into me like a battering ram because it so completely applied to a situation I experienced recently with someone that left me pretty devastated. Mainly because I couldn't understand their reaction. I was standing too close to the situation to see it clearly-like one of those magic eye posters that you have to step back from and look sideways at to see what's really there. Reading this passage flipped my perspective inside out, and I was able to finally understand something about this person that I'd missed before, and I was also able to forgive them for some of the hurt they'd caused me.

In the book, two characters are talking about a mutual friend of theirs.
***
"There must be a lot of women in this town furious at Nicholas. He has a bad habit of making women fall in love with them and then forgetting about them."

"Does that bother you?"

"When I loved him romantically it tore my heart out. Now it just makes me sad for him. He wants too much for people to love him."

"What's wrong with that? I want people to love me too."

She reached across the table and touched my hand. "That's not the same and you know it. We're always trying to fit some name to our lonely. Winning people's love is Nicholas's. And that's okay, but not if you toss it aside once you've won it."

"What do you mean, 'fit a name to our lonely'?"

"Everyone says 'I'm not as happy as I'd like because of this reason, or that. If I can beat it, I'll be content.' Nicholas doesn't think he's loved enough. So that's his goal: get interesting people to love him, and he believes he won't feel so scared or alone when he goes to bed at night and looks into the dark. Then he wins their love, but it's never enough. Not ever. It confuses him, but he still thinks it's the right way, so he keeps doing it."
***

Just that quickly, everything became clear to me about this situation in my own life. That's exactly what this person did. Does, really. "It's not your nature you just keep what you need..." And you got some pieces of me. But you didn't know what to do with them once you had them, did you?

But that's okay, because the explanation makes sense with everything I know of him. I didn't want to think that he was just manipulative, or playing games, or that he'd never cared anything about me as a person. And it didn't fit with what I knew of him, although that's certainly what the end result looked and felt like. Now I realize the name of his lonely. Forgiving him isn't so hard.

The other passage is one I positively love. It makes me breathless. And it sums up perfectly what I'm looking for-what I want the man I love to be.
***

"Do you know the German phrase 'You can steal horses with him'? It means a person you can both make love with all night, passionately, then wake up the next morning and be completely silly. And he never makes you embarrassed or self-conscious about anything you do......I've always loved that phrase, 'You can steal horses with him'. Do you think it's possible to find someone like that?"
***
Yes yes yes. I want someone I can steal horses with. Someone who will run with me to beat the devil himself, laugh when we feel his breath on our necks, and look at me with my hair streaming behind me and high color in my cheeks and love me more than he's ever loved anyone in his life. I want someone I can fall into body and soul, someone I can make love with till we both think we're drowing but we want nothing more than one more breath of each other. Someone as passionate, and as consumed as I am. Because when I'm in love I'm in a tempest. I can't ever manage to do it halfway. And I don't want to. But I also want someone I can roll down a hill and laugh till I'm in tears with-someone I can be myself with, no matter what kind of enigma or mess I happen to be that day. Someone whose eyes I never have to be afraid to look into, for fear of what might be reflected back. I want to see those horses, jump on their backs, and ride-and not have it matter where we're going- just that we're together, and riding like hell into the wind.

Well, recently I met someone who,in a relatively short period of time, has become very important to me. He's reading my copy of "Sleeping In Flame" right now. It's not often you find someone who you can connect with on a level deeper than bones, deeper than soul, and when you do, it's really amazing. We liked each other immediately, but the thing that really opened our hearts to one another is that passage in my blog, where I wrote about stealing horses. What you said resonated with both of us,in a very deep and profound way. And what I said resonated with him-straight to the soul. As of right now, I don't know what will happen with the two of us-we're taking things slow, and going to enjoy every moment of what's to come. But I think....and I hope, we might end up stealing horses together. :) But wherever this road leads us, we've already shared something pretty amazing-and I thank you for those words, and what they allowed us to see and share in each other. Much Love- Jena

It's always amazing when my books or words become part of the permanent collection of a reader's being. We all have our permanent collections-- the stuff, the ingredients that have made up the recipe of who we are. When I hear that my books are part of someone's recipe I'm both delighted and gee whiz-humbled. It is what every writer wants to hear-- that via your words and stories you have become very intimate with a stranger you will most likely never meet. And in that I suppose is the alchemy of art. Thank you for your kind words. I wish you years of kisses and stealing horses with your new guy. PS Someone I loved very much taught me that phrase-- stealing horses-- in German years and years ago. I have never forgotten it, and when I was writing SLEEPING IN FLAME I knew it had to go in there because it was the first love story I had ever really written and I wanted it to be part of that.

question: What taste are You? - Aleksandra Dabek

Ask the people who have tasted me.

question: White Apples shocked me, really great, one of best books I've never read. Glass Soup has continued this charming sensation. In the Italian edition, page 347, the 14th footnote is:
"He's speaking about Coco, White Apples protagonist, first novel of the trilogy of which Glass Soup is part." It's true? I have to wait for the third chapter of the story?? If it is, it will be a anxious waiting!

CIAO e GRAZIE, Gianluca

Gianluca, I don't know if there will be a trilogy. So far there is WHITE APPLES and GLASS SOUP. But right now I am writing a novel with entirely different characters and which is a world away from the last two. When I finished Glass Soup I felt tired of these people and their situation. I thought it best to give all of us a rest for a year or two and then decide whether I wanted to go back and try to write a third book. If it happens, it will of course be Anjo's story, but whether or not it will get written is still undecided.

I am an 18-year-old burgeoning writer who has drawn much inspiration from your work. I have literally just finished reading "Outside the Dog Museum" for the first time. It is the first of your works I have read (I own others, although that is not meant as a slight against you), and it is just about perfect. I have but three questions: 1) Did Claire and Harry get back together after the end of the book? 2) I'm really worried about them, so could you write a sequel, please? Hell, you've got enough material what with Iraq 2: I realize I'm raining on your wonderful ending's parade, but at the very least, write an epilogue. I really am worried. 3) Was Venasque real, or just another guy Harry created to help him towards the goal of finishing the Tower? -Wright S. Johnson

I'm glad you liked my book and that it mattered to you. But you're not allowed to ask a writer what happens after a book ends because that's for you to decide since the story is now yours as much as it is mine. I'll tell you this though-- in one of the novels that come after DOG MUSEUM (I think it is FROM THE TEETH OF ANGELS), there is one sentence about Harry and Claire that describes their later fate together. You'll have to go looking for it though because I wrote that one sentence a long time ago.

Venasque was based in part on a Sufi holy man I met decades ago. The thing that was most memorable about him was how relaxed and kind he was. He put on no airs and when you were with him, he made you laugh a lot. I have never forgotten that and when I created Venasque, I tried to invent a character like him.

question: My dear jonathan, i am reading your book Zuppa di Vetro in Italian...thanks a lot..i am completely falling in love with every single thought apri le braccia se vuoi essere abbracciato.. wonderful.. Roberta

Ah Roberta, just reading those Italian words on the page makes me smile. What more beautiful language in the world is there than yours? Lucky, lucky you that it lives in you all the time.

question: How odd...I'm reading the book Rereadings by Anne Fadiman. As I read last night I wanted to ask you what you thought of re-reading books. Then this morning I checked your blog and noticed you absolutely don't want to go there. I agree. It's risky business. Occasionally I want to take a peek though...who was the person who read Thomas Hardy novels one after another? Will Collette still speak to me as she once did? I haven't done it yet. But I still wonder what I'd find. -Kit

You know Kit, maybe you'll have better luck than I did revisiting old friends on the page. My experience has been semi-disastrous there. Generally speaking, when I re-read a book I once loved or see a film that really mattered once upon a time, I'm either disappointed or baffled about why I liked it so much back then. As I said in the blog, it's like contacting old girlfriends. The idea might be zippy, but as soon as you're there you wish more often than not you hadn't made that phone call in the first place. Maybe because it's me today making the call and not someone I once was who had such different views, hopes and perceptions.

question: Mr. Carroll, Having just finished Glass Soup (and having finished mourning the end of it) I began to wonder whether you have, or fantasize about, a relationship akin that that of Vincent and Isabelle... the kind that seems to transcend the ties of everyday reality? Would you say they are they soul-mates? Do you believe in such things? If so, does meeting such a person make a magic that is bigger than everyday reality, in your opinion? Are Vincent and Isabelle's abilities a sort of extension of how people who are truly in each other's pockets can finish each other's sentences? -Scott

I believe relationships like this can be found, Scott, but they are rare. How often do you meet a person you really get along with, and I don't mean just someone you like to chat with. How often do you two see the colors of life in similar ways. Want what they want, genuinely hope for many of the same things, etcetera? Not often, but I have seen and experienced some of these wonders myself. I have, honest, and it gives me perpetual hope that it is out there for other people. They just have to be persistent, patient, and honest with their desires. PS Vincent and Isabelle are based in large part on two people I know, if that gives you further hope.

First of all sorry for my bad english, cause I am not native speaker - I'm from Russia and only 16 years old. Thank you for your brilliant novels! In Russia there are not very many of your books and it is very hard to find them, but I try my best :))I should like to stress that your best novel (of course in my opinion) - is The Bones of the Moon! It's unforgettable! Please, try to write in the same style and make such an remarkable endings/ And now my question: I want to be a good writer, a make up some novels, but I have a great problem- I can't correct them/ All I write is very tiny and don't cheked, because I feel sorry for every word I write. Please help me! Give an advise or something like that! Irvin Markoni

The only advice I can give you about writing is this: think of it as a great meal. Everything on the table in front of you looks delicious. But you know that if you stuff yourself on too much of just one or two of the delicacies, you won't have enough space in your stomach for the other wonders on the table. So taste this and that and move on. Choose one situation that's interesting to you and write about it. Not more. Put people you'd like to know in that situation. Maybe just two people in your first attempt, but be sure to make them interesting and completely realized. Now what happens to them? You liked BONES OF THE MOON so I'll tell you how it began. I loved the first sentence. It was strange and mysterious and scary. After I had written it I thought, Who said this? Is it a man or a woman? What do they do for a living? What kind of life do they have? Are they married or single? Why did they say this sentence and what does it mean? As I went along, I answered those questions one by one, having fun doing it, and X pages later I was finished.

question: Not a question . . . I just wanted to wish you a very happy birthday. I also wanted to thank you for being born; for providing the world with so many wonderful books; for introducing me to so many amazing characters and for taking me to so many fantastic places. Here's to many more birthdays and many more amazing books. -Julio

The tall blond man in Vienna bows deeply to you, Julio. Thank you for that.

question: I just wanted to say that there ARE so many strange things in this world. I live in Russia - Moscow - and three years ago I lost my husband. He was only 32 and I was only 28. When people ask me what was so special about him (a stupid question but it used to make me think about reasons), I didn't know what to say except may be one very simple thing: that I loved him. Now I would like to take one step back. People here read different books but there are always certain trends - like Paolo Coelho or some other respectable authors. I remember when all my friends read P. Coelho and when we had some party they could only discuss his books. It was really boring. One day I decided to go to the bookshop and buy something I had never heard of, some book by an author unknown to me, a book that will just attract my eyes, you know. The book's name was "The Marriage of Sticks". I opened to a page at the very beginning and the first thing I saw was (sorry for my interpretation of it, it was in Russian) - Everybody knows when his life has actually started. It is not the moment of birth, it not about our parents. It is the moment that we can mark and say this is the beginning of MY life. SO I want to thank you for helping me find the obvious and simple answer to the question about my husband - my life started when I first met him. And thank you very much for your books and your characters. I refused to drive a car so that I could have another 40 minutes for reading on my way to the office and back.

Thank you and warmest wishes from Moscow. Ekaterina

People have had very different reactions to that book, Ekaterina. Some love THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS, some really hate it. But of all the nice things anyone has ever said about it, what you say here is the nicest. And I am very grateful to you for telling me. I am sorry for your loss. Your husband must have been very special to have won your love so completely.

question: come mai non compaiono nella bibliografia "mele bianche" e "zuppa di vetro"?spero che l'italiano non sia un problema!

comunquei miei vivissimi complimenti!Giancarlo

Giancarlo-- you'll have to write this in English because my Italian doesn't exist.

question: I have already written one very short and bad-composed letter to you, which you didn't answered, so I decided to try again.

If it interesting to know, I really LOVE your gorgeous novels! My favorite is 'The Bones of the Moon' - it's brilliant! I had bought this book two years ago as a gift for my acquaintance, but decided to read it before presenting. I didn't loved the beginning, but when I read the last page!.. O-o-oh! I have no words but EXCELLENT and SHOCKING. Then I bought ''The Land of Laughs" - and the reaction was the same.

I find your style slightly strange, with pieces of surrealistic reality and they are like spices which you use while writing. It's interesting because I don't know many writers who do this in the same way and so good as you do.

In books ''Kissing the Beehive'' and THE WOODEN SEA you have used a few RUSSIAN PROVERBS. I don't know where did you find them out but WE DON'T USE THEM!!! Maybe you made them up? If you did, it wasn't bad.

Many writers, writing in English think about Russia like as if it was crazy country with all people DRINKING VODKA, which very nervous and unequal, of course, it takes place but it's not the MAIN CHARACTERISTIC for Russian people. The MAIN - Is that we have strange opinion on everything in our life. We are not vandals or kind of manslaughters as some can thing. When you will write ANY SENTENCE about Russians, please check the information carefully. So if you will have some questions - you can ask me (sorry for my youths maximalism - I'm 16 years old

It's a pity that in Russia there is not a lot of your books and many of them are not translated yet such as your last novels - ''White Apples'' and ''Glass Soup'' but I'm waiting for them!

I know that you must be very popular writer and many people could become happier if they had a CHANCE to talk with you or get your authograph, but how it could be that you have a special section called ''Collaborate'' on your site - how do you manage with such a great number of letters which are written to you? Do you have a special sistem of reading them, and how much letters you read or answer? What I must do to have my strange bad-written short ugly letter written by you? I'll try to do my best

And I have LAST QUESTION: I don't think that yo will appear in Russia in further years, so how can I get your authograph? I'd liked to to have in very much (of course, if it possible).

Sorry for my English.

Sincerely yours,
Vlad, Russia. Saint-Petersburg.

The Russian proverbs I used in my novels came from a book published in the US called THE RUSSIANS SAID IT FIRST edited by Simeon Aller, so they really do exist, perhaps just not in your part of Russia. If you'd like an autograph, send your full name and mailing address to me at jscarroll@hotmail.com and I'll send one to you.

I just wanted to say that I can't believe no-one has made any of your wonderful novels into movies yet.
(Hope I don't offend anyone here, but) I am not a fan of Harry Potter, and your books are SO much better. -Brad.

It'll happen sooner or later. But remember, most movies suck so even when it does happen, the chances of it being a good movie are pretty slim. Maybe in the long run it's a blessing in disguise. Once in a while I read who has been cast in the movie version of a book I read and loved and invariably I put my head in my hands, muttering noooooo.

question: Dear Jonathan Carroll, At the beginning, I would like to put only one question: How did you compose the concept/noun "pemmagast? Kindly yours,
Christoph

To tell you the truth I don't remember. Funny, impossible words like that come to me now and then. I almost always just write them down in a notebook and forget about them. Later when I need a weird nonexistent word in a book I'm writing, I look at those notebooks and find things like "pemmagast." When my son was an infant he said something about "Pinsleepe." I liked the word/name so much that I hurried into my work room and wrote it down. Some years later I needed a name for a very enigmatic character and there she was-- Pinsleepe.

I'm a long-time admirer of your work and have often recommended your books to readers in the bookstores I've worked in and I used White Apples as one of the books in my article on 6 books you should have read for the first issue of the new FPI magazine.

I see the sequel to White Apples is out and checked with m contact at Macmillan here in the UK to see when it was coming out here but was very disappointed to hear they weren't publishing a UK edition. Do you know if it is likely to be published by anyone else in Britain? Joe, Edinburgh

Not so far. My books don't sell well in England and publishers are wary of publishing them there. Different countries have very different reactions to the books. In some places they sell extremely well whereas in others like England, not so.

Mr. Carroll you are so hard core. I am a huge fan of your books. I live in Birmingham, Alabama. I let my aunt read one of your books a couple months ago and now she's as nuts about them as I am. Your popularity spreads like wild fire when I let people read your work. Everyone that I've met who has read one of your books has loved it and thinks you're great. For some reason though I have a little trouble finding your books in stores and you don't seem to be as popular as you should be. Secondly, I may sound stupid asking this, but have you ever done or thought of doing a movie. I think that would be awesome!

You can find almost all of my books at either eBay auctions if you keep a watch on them or from www.abebooks.com As to movie stuff, have a look at the answer to one of the questions above. PS Thank you for spreading the word.

question: I really enjoy your stories because you are one of those rare writers who combines a good story with some wonderful insights on life. Your books can be re-read with pleasure because they are not simply the unfolding of a clever plot. Do you ever think plot is sometimes overemphasized and may not be the most important element in telling a story? John Thompson

CS Lewis once said he wrote the kind of books that he would like to read. Although it sounds vaguely vain, I think he was very right about that. I love stories with a plot that freeze me in place and characters that interest me or who I care deeply about. That's what I try to write in my own books. Sometimes readers complain that my characters are not likeable or conflicted but be that as it may, if they still manage to hold you and make you want to keep turning the pages, then I feel I've succeeded. As far as plot is concerned, I'm a plot guy from beginning to end. If you've read my books you know the plots can be nuts at times, but still there has to be some rising action, some kind of denouement, and then a conclusion, although that conclusion may leave you hanging at the end (another thing some people don't like in my books). But as I've said so often, life rarely "concludes" or ties itself up in convenient knots, so why should fiction?

question: I don't have a question for you, but wanted to say that I am reading your book Kissing the Beehive and Veronica tells Sam, "You write the kind of books I would, if I could write. I understand them." That is exactly the way I feel about your books. When I read that I was . . . well surpised maybe, because I have actually told people that same thing. haley gonzales

Then I feel I've succeeded, Haley. If I've written the kind of book you would then I think okay, Carroll, you're on the right track because it means we're speaking some kind of universal language.

question: Hi, I've read one of your novels, After Silence, and loved it, and just discovered your weblog, which looks like a wonderful read too. I was wondering if you had plans to re-instate your RSS feed? -John Smang

You'll have to direct that question to my web God, Joe del Tufo who handles all matters electronic,etcetera.

John- RSS feed is up at http://www.jonathancarroll.com/blog1/index.xml

question: Hello! I started to read your blog after a recommendation from a new friend and I found your entry from 10/21 about being loved simply incredibly true and moving. Was it something you wrote? You mentioned it was an excerpt from a letter. Can you let whoever wrote it know that I said thank you! Its good to hear something that's in your head and heart written by someone else, knowing that others feel the same way. But, of course, can express it in a much better way then you can. -colleen

I wish I had written that, Colleen, but it really was an excerpt from a letter about a very close friend. They read these letters too so I'm sure sooner or later they will read your thanks and it will make them smile big time.

Will Glass Soup be available in eBook form soon?I have a physical disability that precludes me from reading paper books, which leaves me quite out of luck with Glass Soup. I've purchased and loved all your books that are available in eBook format. White Apples in particular has had huge impact on my own writing. So, if I could obtain Glass Soup in any kind of digital format sooner rather than later, I'd be most pleased. :-)

Here's a link about me which should better explain my need for digital text:
http://www.assistiveware.com/michael.php

I once paid an author directly for a pdf copy of one of his books and would gladly do so with you for Glass Soup. I assure you, any file would never be shared with anybody.

Best Regards,
Mike Phillips

Send me your email address and I'll send you the book that way.

question: can you tell me the name of the literary agent who represents jonathan carroll? thank you lucy atlas.

Richard Parks rp@richardparksagency.com

I don't know if this is unusual but I actually haven't read any of your books...yet. But I came to your blog via a dear friend with whom I exchange cool stuff we find or think of or ponder on.

I liked the entry in your blog about the woman seduced by the poems written (unbeknownest to her) by Pablo Neruda. I think I would have been seduced too if I were to receive such poems. When I first read them I wanted to have someone write like that for me. But who knows...perhaps that is a fire to hot to sit in front of for long periods of time. I think I would have forgiven the deceit if he had truly felt the emotions behind those words and just didn't have the skill to write them himself. But if he just recognized the words were an easy way to a woman's heart...that I couldn't forgive.- Kit

Well, it turns out the guy was a sneaky rat and she found that out soon enough, partly because she confronted him with her new Neruda-knowledge. If you love someone or want them badly, they'll still be impressed, touched or, if you're really lucky, want you too if you send them beautiful lines thought up by someone else. Just telling your special someone that those lines made you think of them is enough. Give credit where it's due, and still you'll be loved for the thought, believe me.

question: I hear that in Poland most of Your readers are young women- and I'm one of them. From the moment I started reading Your books I was curious how You can write stories with many fantasy elements but at the same time with much useful advice for real life??? -Joanna-PL

If you look closely enough, life is full of strange things going on all the time. I just turn the volume up on that strange, as if it were a radio. I love to play with the idea of extraordinary things happening to ordinary people and seeing what their reaction is to them. I think it tells us a lot about how we react, or how we should react, to things in our every day.

I've always had a close relationship with my dad, but over the past few years our interests seemed to have taken different paths. During a recent visit he was looking for something to read, so I gave him my copy of After Silence. Two days later he was asking for more. I gave him White Apples (which happens to be the book that introduced me to your world) and now he is completely addicted. I have since sent him copies of all your books, and as soon as he finishes one, he calls to discuss it with me. Thank you.

Our best discussions have come from Outside the Dog Museum (his favorite) and Sleeping in Flame (mine). We're both uncontrollably eager for Glass Soup. I just wanted to let you know that you've made a true difference in my life and I will always appreciate that. Your writing means more to me than any other author's and has taught me to view life with special eyes.

If at all possible, I would love to hang an autograph beside my prized signed copy of The Heidelberg Cylinder. Thanks so much for everything, especially the books! -Damien Thorpe

What a great story, Damien. I'm so glad my books give you and your Dad common ground. I'd be delighted to send you an autograph. Just send me your name and mailing address at jscarroll@hotmail.com and I'll shoot one right out.

question: As has often happened in the last 13 years since picking up your Land of Laughs I find myself very anxiously awaiting your new book. Oddly enough this time, I find I'm haunted by a short story I read years ago in which a man going blind fills a roll of film and when the pictures are developed they're not of what he took, but rather the places his soul was trying on before he lost his sight. I know it was one of your stories, and I would LOVE to be able to find a copy. Any suggestions?

Also, thank you once again for all your works, I haven't always liked every book, but they have certainly made me think about the world a little differently. I'm hoping you'll find your way back to Boston with Glass Soup, as I've been wanting to ask you to sign my copy of Bones for years.- Beth

The story you're looking for is called "A Wheel in the Desert, the Moon on Some Swings" It was in the collection THE PANIC HAND that was published by St. Martin's Press about ten years ago. You can usually find a copy for sale at ebay or www.abebooks.com in all price ranges.

question: I hate dogs. I'm genuinely very fearful of them. Don't mind them so much in the pages of your books. I reckon you're the man to tell me how to overcome my fear and hatred of them. Please do. -simon

Well you know, if you hate them, you hate them. As my beloved pal R says, you can only overcome something when you really want to overcome it. I.E. the overcome capacity is always in you, you just have to want to turn that switch on. And maybe it's just not that necessary for you to do that with those four legged beasts. And to be really honest, there are quite a few dogs I hate too. Boy, could I tell you stories....

As you can see I used a name of one of your creatures in my e-mail address. I hope you don't mind. Your books were always very important to me and I spent a lot of money buying them (all my pocket money while I was in high school). I have all your titles that were published in Poland and I got your autograph in my favourite book of yours (Bones of the Moon) when you were in ToruÃ’.Once again I would like to thank you for what you gave me with your novels (I did that once - in ToruÃ’). From some time I have one question to ask- don't you think that your latest books go too far? After reading Glass Soup I thought that your characters were much less credible than characters from earlier books and the stories are much larger-than-life (all your books were like that but now I think it has gone too far). I was under the impression that you copy your own ideas and mix them to get something new but it comes to something not really fresh - like you didn't have any new ideas. Sorry if I'm too virulent, I didn't have this on mind. Thank you in advance for answering. -Kate

No, Kate, I don't mix new and old ideas to come up with new stuff for each book. I don't like to eat leftovers and I don't write them either. An idea starts to itch at the back of my mind and the only way to scratch it is to write a book about that idea. The idea behind WHITE APPLES was originally this: what if we suddenly realized we had already died and been brought back to life (for some reason). Yet we didn't remember anything about the experience. And for God's sake, why would we be brought back at all? If you can find that same idea in any of my earlier books, I'll take you out to dinner. PS As I've always said, if you don't like a book don't read it. Put it down and read something else. It's just silly to waste your time eating something that makes you frown. Unless you're a masochist. Are you a masochist, Kate?

question: Hello, Mr. Carroll. Just wanted to drop you a quick note to say you are a genuinely gifted writer who appears to be getting even better with every subsequent novel. I discovered your work two summers ago, and have really been on a kick lately reading the remainder. 'White Apples' has already made my all-time Top 10 reading list, and I can't wait to read 'Glass Soup' when it comes out, as well. Thanks for penning such thought-provoking and entertaining stories. They are truly unique. Take care... Ed Dobbins

And thanks for writing, Ed. As you can see from the previous letter, not all people are fans of WHITE APPLES, but then again, all people don't have the same exquisite taste as you ;)

Mr. Carroll, I am a later-than-middle-aged returnee to college in architecture. It has to do with a dream deferred, etc. but what it has turned into is the most thorough understanding of who I am, have always been, and am yet capable of. It's been a trip. One of the hardest things for me to have to forego - and there is a great deal that I must surrender in order to get all of my schoolwork done - is the marrrow-deep pleasure of reading. When I do get a chance to read, on school break or for a short time during the summer right before class begins again, I read your work. It is my reward for staying the course (literally). The Question: Do you think there's a point at which it is simply too late for someone to devote themselves to writing for publication? (I apologize for my poor manners in addressing a question to you that is solely about me. You, as a writer, seem to me, as a reader, to live deeply in both your writing and your life and that is the place from which I would most respect hearing an answer.) -Lynne

No, I don't think there's a cut off point to try and get published, any more than I think there's a point to stop painting with the hope of an eventual gallery show, performance, whatever. The key to all art is loving the process. If you love to park your behind in a seat day after day, month after month and just do the work because it's so much damned fun, then there is never a time limit. However if you've set some kind of mental egg timer and believe that when the sand runs out of it that you must be published or else, then you're in trouble. Not that many people get published, but a hell of a lot of people can have a wonderful time trying to get there.

I love bull terriers, they are my favorite breed and it's great that you incorporate them in your work as much as you do. I am also a huge fan of Rafal Olbinski and appreciate his art for your covers. I noticed that the cover for glass soup has a great dane (right now I have a black and white great dane named Dexter). Why the switch?- Lisa-Marie

Nyah Nyah-- you have to read GLASS SOUP to see. PS The Great Dane's name is Luba and she's not your typical Carroll dog.

question: How do you row a boat across a wooden sea? -Lorraine Beggs

With a good pair of hands and a heart that's willing to find the right kind of paddle.

Hi, Jonathan! I really enjoy your books, it's hard to explain in words how they influence my life. The last I read was The Marriage of Stick. Now I gave it to my best friend, she's enjoying it too. The feeling of Miranda and Hugh are very familiar to me and that's why I want to read it one more time. Unfortunately, here in Ukraine I can't read your books in original language, and publishers translate them very slow. We don't have White Apples yet :-(( And not all previous books have already been printed. You've changed my life.

Thank you for this! I'd me very grateful If you send me your autograph! Thank you! Alexandra

Hi alexandra. I'll be happy to send you an autograph, but please send me your full name and address in english because what you've written here was cyrillic and it doesn't translate on my computer. Send your info to; jscarroll@hotmail.com

question: I think it's very interesting, the thing you brought up about losing that special childhood object...mine was a little wind up teddy bear that my grandmother used to play when she was putting me to sleep for naps when I was about 3 or 4 years old. For years I would always pick the bear up and play the song whenever I visited her house, and instantly be transported back to those afternoons as a young girl. I think my grandmother must have had no idea how much it meant to me, because she had company visiting who had a 5 yr. old daughter who liked the bear, and she gave it to her! When I found out, I was devastated. Then, about a year later, I received a package in the mail from my grandma with the bear inside and a red ribbon tied around the neck. Sometimes I wonder if the other little girl might have fallen in love with it as well, and is consequently traumatized by her loss, but I generally shrug that though off.

There's a nice line in an old larry mcmurtry novel spoken by a character who runs a rare book store. "certain books belong to certain people and no one else should own them." sounds to me like that was the same situation with that teddy bear and your grandmother eventually realized it.

question: Mr Carroll, Well, I've wanted to write to you for a while, but could never narrow down the numerous questions I've wanted to ask you. I won't get into any deep, philosophical questions (at least not today), but instead I will ask you something that was inspired by my recent reading. I've been on quite a Shirley Jackson kick, of late. I had read several of her short stories before, of course, but recently I picked up a copy of "We Have Always Lived In The Castle" and I loved it so much that it inspired me to read quite a bit of her other work (and also to recommend it to a friend, who also loved it, which is a great feeling). I was quite impressed with "The Bird's Nest" but more so her short stories. Many of her stories seem to remind me of your work, which brings me to my question.

Are you a fan of Ms. Jackson? And how much of an influence has she had on your work? The story "The Tooth," especially, gave me a feeling of "this reminds me of a Jonathan Carroll story." Thank you for your time. And thank you for your books. They have meant a lot to me. -David

Shirley jackson is a terrific writer and i'm flattered that you think of my work when you read hers'.i read a lot of her stories when i was younger and as i remember, "we have always lived in the castle." but nothing else for a long time. I also remember reading an interesting biography of her life. She was married to a.j. liebling, the great food and boxing writer for the new yorker magazine. A strange and wonderful combination they must have been. She with her spooks, he with his croissants and frog's legs.

question: Hi Mr. Carroll. In the Chapter Old Vertue of " The wooden sea" you wrote " He asked where we went when we died. Bangladesh, if we're bad, I said."...Why? Sajjad Hosen

Because mccabe is a smartass and that's a smartass comment.

There are few authors whose new work I look forward to with that special excitement and delight reserved usually by children for Christmas. Along with Saul Bellow, James Ellroy, and Italo Calvino you are another of those for me. Saul is recently gone although his output had slowed over recent years anyway. Who if anyone gives you the same anticipatory delight upon the discovery of a new work by them? Who is Christmas?

That's a lovely thing to hear, jay. I tip my hat to you for the compliment. Whose work do i look forward to with the excitement of a child? James salter, robertson davies before he sailed to that big library in the sky, neil gaiman now that he's writing novels, thomas moran, george pelecanos are the ones who come to mind.

My name is Emilia. I'm a fifth year student of English Philology at the University of------. I specialize in American Literature. I'm writing my MA Thesis under the supervision of Prof. Agnieszka Salska. The topic is: Between Instinct and Phantasy: Dogs as Heroes in the XXth century American Prose. I decided to write also about dogs in some of Your works, namely The Land of Laughs, My Zoondel and Friend's Best Man. The problem is I need texts in original in order to include quotations. I got an original version of The Land of Laughs here in Poland, but getting the two short stories here appears simply impossible. I've got The Panic Hand (and many other of your works :)!!!) in Polish versions and I've been reading them for well over ten years. I know these stories almost by heart and since an original The Panic Hand offered by online bookstores is really very expensive, I'm afraid I cannot afford it. That's why I was wondering if You could be so kind and lend me some English texts of these two stories? It could be even some electronic version, if such exists. I would be very grateful. I know I'm asking for a HUGE favor, and I'll understand if You find helping me too bothering. But if You found it possible to lend me a hand, I would be really, really delighted and very grateful. Best wishes from Emilia!

Send me your name and address in poland and i'll send you a copy of the story collection in english.

No questions, just gratitude. I'm a writer from Manila and I just wanted to thank you for, well, having written the books that you've written. Over the years, they've filled me with delight, sadness, wonder, dread, longing, and something like awe; they've served as little worlds for me to visit, that provide both an escape from, and a paradoxical enhancement of, the actual world I have to return to.

(Thank goodness for Neil Gaiman and our local British Council, as well; I first learned about your work when Gaiman recommended it in an issue of Sandman, and a quick ransack of the BC turned up a copy of Sleeping in Flame -- hunting down your books since then has been an adventure without danger, but not without its own definite thrills). I love all your books, but, if you'll excuse the cliche, I harbor a special place for From the Teeth of Angels, Sleeping in Flame, and Bones of the Moon in my heart. Enjoyed White Apples a great deal, and am very much looking forward to Glass Soup.

On a final, sappier note, I've been with the same wonderful woman for almost four years now, and I recall that the very first book I ever lent her was From the Teeth of Angels. I like to think it helped convince her that getting together with me wasn't such a bad idea. Once again, thank you, Mr. Carroll. -Luis

It's interesting that you gave your lady 'angels' as a first book. Often i hear men try to sway women with a copy of 'sleeping in flame.' that makes a kind of sense to me because it has a relatively happy ending and is at heart a love story. But 'angels' is a dark one and sad too. I'll tell you a secret-- look hard in 'glass soup' and you'll see someone there from 'angels.' thank you too for your kind words.

Still not a question, but neither was my last post here. Just wanted to drop you a line and say I cannot wait for "Glass Soup". I fell back into "Sleeping in Flame" recently and I have to say, your writing is just a hypnotic on re-read as it is the first time through. I think my friends and family are starting to learn that when they find me, nose buried in one of your books, there is nothing to be done but leave me alone to finish. I won't be good for anything until I do.

Since last I wrote, I have been doing a lot more writing myself and now I have a new level to enjoy about your work as I notice more of the mechanics of the way words fit together and how a story becomes much more than the words on the page. It is somewhat satisfying to be able to describe, coherently and to other people, something I always loved about your work. You have a gift like no one else I have ever read for making a simple, everyday event like drinking coffee or taking a walk richly infused so that in observing one scene, the reader understands the dynamic and feeling between your characters. The Devil ís in the details they say but in your writing, I'd would say that heaven and all the magic of life is there too.

Also, I am really enjoying your blog feature and many thanks to your website admin for making an RSS feed of it. As more of my friends move to different time zones and continents, I find myself living more and more on Live Journal to keep up with them. And now I have your thoughts and quotes nestled in among updates of new jobs, new places, new loves, and a new babies. It's a lovely way to start the day. For all you do and all your work has set into motion in me, Thank you again. ~Andrea Balboa

One of the things i've learned by keeping the blog over the last year is how little we watch life pass us by from day to day. since i'm on blog-watch at all times now, it keeps me on my toes, attention-wise. as a result, i am seeing more than i think i have in years. that's both good and bad because once again i realize how sad the world and life often is, but the beauty shines through too, thank god.

Jonathan, I love your books and cant wait for new one to come out. I really appreciate your reading list. I just finished the book by Dan Chaon and loved it. Mike

You should read everything by Chaon. I guarantee you he'll be a star before he's done. He really is that good.

I'm planning on going to Vienna for a short visit in a few months.Don't worry, I'm not a stalker!!!Just wondering if theres any places of interest you could recommend.You seem to speak highly of Vienna, and is often mentioned in your books.You're one of my favourite authors, ever since I read "A Child Across The Sky".I'm not going to say it "changed my life!", but I did read it several times, and plan to read it several more.Cheers -Elaine

As i've often said here before to people who are planning to visit vienna and like my books, look at the articles already posted here on the site about vienna. Lots of tips and secrets in them about good places to visit or hang out.

Dear Mr Carroll, this is going to be both a HUGE-THANK-YOU-FOR-WHAT-YOU-DO note and some kind of a personal question. Well, I am into painting and drawing and I need to confess that Your novels (esp. Land of Laughs, Child Across the Sky & Kissing the Beehive) have been an inspiration for several years now! Because I'm neither a writer (even this note is somehow silly- too short, too simple, just too ! but it's a bit paralysing - writing to a Man whose works made such an IMPACT on you... Anyway (sorry for being so chaotic - this is me ;) I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LOOK AT MY ILLUSTRATIONS TO YOUR LAND OF LAUGHS? IT WOULD BE AN HONOUR... You probably can't remember me - I met You at the meeting in Wroclaw (Breslau) this year and told you about my idea for making a small expose of my/Your Land of

Laughs... I also had two of my books signed by You and since then I've read them twice (both). Hmmm...guess I'm off the track with the main point ;) - Please, agree and I will send you my "artworks" :)

I know this may sound extremely silly, but... supposing you liked any of them - is it possible I got Your signature on it? I will send it to You : ) Thank You for helping me turn the chaos of ideas into something MORE... where would we be without Your stories...? >^..^< chat noir >^..^daria

I'll be happy to look at your illustrations. Send them to me in care of the snail mail address on the main page of this site and eventually they will reach me.

Hi Mr. Jc... i won't say that your work is great because it is more than that.I hope you won't mind if i told you that early this year, i went into a bookstore although i never thought of buying any book because i'm tired of the same stories people write. I hurried to the novels section and dig and dig and dig 'til i came up with the "Land of Laughs" i want to put it down however i couldn’t. Then the sales lady ask me if i was having trouble browsing their stock because I was there for so long. She looked at your book and stare as if its a 20K gold bracelet with emeralds... i was feeling she might grab it and keep it for herself. Actually she didnt and the good news was that i told her i want to take it right away. As soon as I got to my apartment I started reading... It was almost nine when i noticed that almost 5 hours had passed since i began! Well thats it, i'm interested not in books generally but the Mr. JC who made me insane even for a moment i held that book... can we be friends Mr. JC? Hope to hear from you soon In the "Land of Laughs" i'll wait

There really is something magical about picking up a book and to your very great surprise, falling so deeply into it that nothing can get you out of there. Not hunger, sleep, not even emmanuele beart. Few things in life have that kind of pull on us and i'm always so thrilled when it happens to me. To hear that it happened to you with one of my stories is great news.

I recently read your Letter from Vienna. Do the answers you select to these answers mean something about you as a person? Where could I find out? My new friend and I recently shared our answers in order to get to know each other better. We are intrigued. CJ

If you mean the list 'getting to know you' i came up with the idea for that list a few years ago and with several people chipping in their ideas, compiled a list of perhaps 150 questions. We all talked about it and whittled it down to the 99 you have. I think hearing the answers to those questions from someone you're romantically interested in tells you a lot about them and can save you the cost of several drinks because by the time you meet up, you'll already know lots about them and that means you can get to the interesting talk, not just the blah blah 'what's your favorite color?" questions.

The first JC book I read was Sleeping in Flames and thus began an incredible journey into your world. I am currently studing for a Teacher Certification in Yoga and the course required that I read the Baghavad Gita and The Sutras. Your books all contain the quiet beauty and spiritualism that I found in both the Gita and the Sutras. Is any of your reading time spent on books of this sort and, if so, can you share? - Barbara

At one time I read a lot in that field but not so much any more. In recent years when the spirit starts whistling for me to come, I usually read poetry more than anything else simply because these days it grabs hold more, if you know what I mean. Who do I read? Rilke always, Rumi, Yeats, Mary Oliver, Charles Simic, Neruda, Szymborska. You can take any or all of them with you to the desert island and you'll be happy.

question: Hello! I'm Krystal and I'm doing a research paper on yourself and i was just wondering what is ur main topic you write about, and have you had any influences throughout your life even now, that gives you ideas to write about. If you could please email as soon as possible, or whenever you have time, is fine. Thank you! ~Krystal Schwartz

What is the main topic I write about? Funny dogs, marvelous women in all shapes and sizes, the search for the perfect cup of coffee, whether God remembers my name when I knock on his door (which is frequently), who I will be sitting next to at the mosaic dinner party. My influences are Ray Harryhausen, Pablo Neruda, Federico Fellini, my son Ryder when he's not a pain in the ass, and Vienna when it's not grumpy

Do you know if any of your books will be published in Brazil and when? I'll be very glad with your answer. Marlon C'mara

No, as far as I know there has been no interest from Brazilian publishers.

question: Can you help me understand more about the Marriage of Sticks? I am a little freaked out about it...a literary compliment I hope...Could you tell me the sources of your inspiration for this fiction; is that what you would call it - susan

I remember when writing THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS that I was thinking a lot about what makes good or bad people. And I don't mean the extremes either-- Christ or Hitler. I mean everyday good or bad/ you and me. Some of the criticism that has been levelled at that book has centered around the charge that Miranda's an okay person-- why do such bad things happen to her? She doesn't deserve such treatment.Why is she so plagued? And the answer to that is most of us are neither capable of nor promulgators of big bad stuff. But in a lifetime we do create and accumulate a lot of small bad stuff. It's like ear wax-- when it gets to be too much, your ears become stopped up. In Miranda's case, when she is confronted with all of the small bad things she has done in this life and past ones, she realizes that altogether, she is in many ways a bad person and must atone for some of these sins or else she'll just go on ad infinitum messing up other people, situations and herself. She doesn't want that. So she makes a decision in this life to stop that and the end of the book deals with that issue.

Sorry to cluster two e-mails so close, but I thought you might get a kick out of this: I work in a Catholic high school, and for one day - today - your website was banned by our Orwellian server because it was deemed "General Pornography". Heh. Be well- David Tedeschi, Spring Lake, NJ

General Pornography-- didn't he comand a regiment in the "Desert Storm" campaign? I have never thought of the blog as poronography but it's nice to know that someone or some computer program has a perverse enough mind to plop it into that category. Gives the thing more character and diversity, you know?

I've been reading with great pleasure your blog section, particularly those pertaining to your observations of everyday life in Vienna. With that in mind, to the extent that you care to generalize:

1) How would you describe the Viennese and Austrians, say in comparison with the Germans? (My impression is that they're not a very happy people!)

The Austrians and Viennese are very different types. From what exposure I've had to people from outside Vienna, the Austrians as a whole are good natured, kind, and sybaritic. In contrast, the Viennese are generally ill-tempered, nosey, and quick to take offense. I have often said that I love living in Vienna but I don't like living among the Viennese. Which obviously has not endeared me to the citizens of this fair city.

2) Is/are there a certain trait/s you've noticed that is/are more or less peculiar to the Viennese and no one else?

The Viennese are very quick to tell you when you are doing something wrong or breaking a rule. I have never encountered it to the degree that it exists in this city.

3) Does JC the writer like/enjoy Vienna more than JC the day-to-day ordinary guy?

No, it's 50-50.

Alex

question: I don't know how to say this really, but you have changed my life.I mean it might sound ridiculous to you, but I don't know were I would be without your books. Every one of them has captured my heart and soul and I just feel like FINALLY! someone understands me! I have always wanted to be a writer and you have inspired me to write about the impossible. I just want to thank you for everything you are and for things that I can't even put into words.p.s. I bought a book on e-bay called The Heidelberg Cylinder signed by you and Dave McKean and it came with a certificate of authenticity, the book says it is one of one thousand copies. My question is this, I have never been able to verify that it is a real book written and signed by you. Could you please end my search is this your book??? - Jessica Dawson

The "Cylinder" is indeed mine and McKean's. But if you hate it, blame me and not Dave. He just did the brilliant cover but I wrote the tripe inside.

question: how do i find like games when u lok at the dot and something comes up!!!!!!!!!!1 -heather.lemmo

How do I understand what you are talking about?

question: As a bookseller (and longtime fan), I am anxiously awaiting the publication of "Glass Soup." In the meantime, my customers are content to once again be offered the chance to discover "Outside the Dog Museum" which I have always considered one of your best works. It is the one I will now hand sell to anyone to introduce them to your world. Two questions, if I may. How do you feel about advance readers of your forthcoming novel selling on eBay, potentially for much more than the cover price? Second, if someone offered you the chance to see the Beatles live from any period during their career, which show would you attend? - Mike Hockinson

Beatles? That's easy-- around the time they released REVOLVER. What a record. Book collectors have to make their $$ too so I don't mind it when someone is asking a crazy price for something of mine. It just surprises me that another person is willing to pay that price. The thing that does annoy me is when I do a signing, someone comes up with 30 copies of the book and says they are for "his friends" but he doesn't want them personalized-- just a signature, please. Does he really think I'm THAT dumb? And the (often) crowning blow is after you've signed his thirty, he hands you fifty postcards from the publisher advertising the book and asks you to sign them too. These, he tells you,are for different "libraries in his area" that would like autographs too. Here's a tip, dealers: Just say you're a dealer and we writers like you more for your honesty. We'll sign so many books and then that's it. Telling us lies about who they're for won't get you more signatures. On the contrary, it will make the writer not want to sign anything for you.

question: I love Your books!!! I don't read very much, because of lack of time, but if i want to readsomething good i always take some of Your's book. I wonder if You could send your autograph for me. the adress:
PIASTOWSKA 163A/16 80-358 GDANSK POLAND , Emila

It's on the way.

question: Mr Carroll. I'm a Pole but must confess to hardly know you. All I know is that you're an American writer & incredibly popular in my home country. I love reading but haven't come across J.C's books yet - still interested in classics:) But what I want to say is that I'm impressed. The webpage is awesome. I just scanned the Archive and some of the blog notes and they made me put the site into my favourites. It's so unusual for a famous person to communicate with the fans in such a way. I'm amazed and probably one day (now being far far from home) I'll take up reading your works. I'm curious about your Reading List but I can't find it:( Greetings from Finland. Kasia

I suppose it's selling out to the Machine, but I have to say www.amazon.com or www.bn.com are the best friends any reader living outside the US or UK who is in search of books in English could have. They're reasonably priced and they arrive quickly. If English bookstores in Finland are anything like most European countries, it takes forever for your order to arrive. Not so with Amazon and they've been life savers for me more than once.

Dear Mr. Carroll, thank you very much for your visit to Poznan; I really enjoyed each minute of it. That was the real beginning of the spring :-) ps. I hope the flower survived somehow. :-) Agata

All flowers that are given as presents survive, Agata-- for a while in the hand and afterwards in the head and heart.

question: Do you read a lot, Mr.Carroll? I guess you do. If so, are you not afraid of a situation that you unconsciously 'borrow' a scene or a motive from a book you read some time ago? (I hope you find my question intelligent enough to send me the answer ;)) ma"gosia

No, the only borrowing I ever do is from the way certain writers form their sentences. If I read a favorite writer like James Salter or Stanley Elkin, who are among other things beautiful wordsmiths, I know it makes me think harder about the way I phrase my own sentences. Now and then the way they do it has a real effect on the way I write mine. But plots or themes... I've never consciously snitched anything from anyone else. Although I must say there have been times when I sure as hell wish I wrote that book or even that sentence.

question: Would you like to see one of your novels as a film? If so, which one would it be?- Amy Waddell

Outside the Dog Museum, From the Teeth of Angels, Voice of Our Shadow-- not necessarily in that order.

question: Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I notice that several of your characters use fountain pens. Do you, and if so do you have any favorites? -Matt Kimmel

You can ask me about fountain pens all day, Matt. I have loved and used them for years. In the past all kinds and brands, but now only Parker 51. I have found it has the truest line for me of any pen I have ever used. They were made in the millions and sold all over the world for years so they're not hard to find in 2nd hand stores or flea markets. If you like fountain pens and have never used one of these, keep an eye out. They're a worthwhile investment.

It all started with your books, lending them to a friend who is married. Reading the books she soon discovered what passion meant, love. And realized that she did not love the one who she married.But with me she felt a passion, a love. I felt the same for her really, that's why you let someone into your world. By showing her a favorite author, you are showing her a piece of what makes you, you.The affair, if that's what you want to call it was innocent, we simply held hands late into the night, talked of nothing and enjoyed non-awkward silences. She could not keep it up and told her husband everything, what there was to tell. He did not believe that we could not have done more than we had. Confronting me, I let him know that's all there had been. He decided that he wanted to beat me up, and I let him. I wear my bruises like a modern day scarlet letter, why hide them. I have lost a friend, and the books I lent her. He let me know I was not going to get them back. But that was ok in a way because she has them now, some level of passion she can enjoy by opening them and enjoying them. Random quote from her :"I am not sure if I am falling in love with you or these books you let me borrow." Anyway, this was in no way a question, just a random true life story from a fan. Thank you for your words.

The bruised and battered Dan Tree

The bruised and battered tree. A strong and sad story, Dan. It's amazing that you were gallant and honorable in the situation. Not many people would have been. I don't know if that means you walk away from this wounded situation more or less satisfied. But to be chivalrous in this day and age is a singular and, no matter what anyone says, admirable thing. If you were here I'd buy you a coffee.

Hello J.C!! I was wondering if you still live in the old Wien apartment? The last time I was in Vienna i went to Cafe Ritter where, if you remember, you gave me some good advice. I still live in Germany, Munich.To keep it sweet and short(as you taught me in Creative writing), would be great to hear from you. Bis bald Imelda

Imelda-- get in touch when you're in Wien again. We'll fill in all the gaps the years have made.

Two people meet- they talk, talk, laugh, look into each other's eyes where they(or one of them?) find calmness. Then comes the moment when they find out what they want from each other. There's a little misunderstanding. Their roads go away in two different directions. Should they forget about that meeting? There was something in their eyes... something magic.... -OLA

Never forget magic, Ola. Always pursue it as hard as you can, no matter what the cost. Hold it tight when you have it or welcome and embrace it when it's offered to you because it is perhaps the rarest thing of all. But magic usually comes to the courageous person in life, the one who is willing to take chances, to take that great (and sometimes dangerous)leap of faith. You should pursue it with all your heart.

I've already asked Joe the webmaestro this a few times, but have received no response. (I'm sure he's rather busy!).

I have over fifty web pages syndicated to my homepage, but yours is the only one that fails to update (and it's one of my favorites). I've re-entered the data several times, but your site always tells me that the last post was in December!

Any chance of a fix on this? is there something obvious I', missing (other than just clicking on the link each day, which of course is a minor sacrifice).

looking forward to the new book,
Mark in Los Angeles

Can't help you with this one, Mark. Computers(and just about anything to do with them besides email and Microsoft Word) scare the bejeesus out of me. That's why Joe the WebGod is the one to talk to about this one. Keep hounding him.

Make sure you are using http://www.jonathancarroll.com/index.xml as the RSS source, you should see all of the recent (May 2005) updates with the correct dates. Email me if this does not work.

My name is Piotr Haase. I am 30 years old. I live in a litle village in Poland, together with my wife Kate and two sons Albert and Adrian. I have beenyour fan since many years. I really admire you and I think you are very good in that what you do. I was wondering if you could send me your autograph. I would be grateful. Thank you in advance. Yours sincerely, Piotr Haase MY ADRESS:
PIOTR HAASE STOJESZYN I nr 12

23- 310 MODLIBORZYCE POLAND

As soon as I finish answering these questions, Piotr, I'll send you one.

In regards to the question about "Friend's Best Man"-didn't that also appear in one of the volumes of "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror" edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling? I was positive that's where I first read it.

I'm eagerly awaiting "Glass Soup"-I loved "White Apples"-I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I wrote to you about it here-the thing that resonated with me the most about it was that the heroes were flawed and imperfect, but they still found love. Because that's life-love blesses who it will, whether we deserve it or not. And thank God for that. :)

Your books never fail to catch my heart. Thanks for the magic, and for blessing those who aren't perfect with it. Love- Jena

Yes, "Friend's" was in the Datlow anthology long ago and far away. I'm glad you liked the lovers in WHITE APPLES (and soon to be GLASS SOUP) for their flaws,as well as graces. A goodly number of people who read the book disliked it and them a lot.Their general consensus was why would *anyone* fall in love with these people-- they each have so much wrong with them. And of course my answer to that is-- don't we all?

i love dancing to your rhythm. i feel so buoyant and refreshed. i am grateful to have discovered your novels and i'm grateful for a life filled with so many dreams...hey, where's your recommended reading list? thanks for doin' your thing! love, melissa

Your wish is my command, floating Melissa. Just today I updated the reading list so have a look.

I just listened to a snippet of your interview over on Bill Thompson's site. You stated you only need a good title and/or a starter sentence to get you going on a story. I have that in common with you and, though I'm not as well published (or known) as you are, I have lists of titles or starts to pieces in my files. Some are not as inspirational as I first thought on the second read, months or years later. Do you go through that same process? Of course, you KNOW IT when something smacks you just right, I think you'll agree.

Best, Chase (the guy who linked to your openers in his workshop, "Portent." You also may recall that I have friends in the art business in Vienna. I will be back someday and would relish buying you a cup of coffee at that "morning" cafe.) -Chase Jackson

I think most writers fill notebooks with one liners, beginnings, and titles. Some of us end up using them, others do it just to keep their brain muscles in shape. I'm all for the practice, no matter what your reasons. If nothing else, looking back over them is a nice sniff of the aroma of your past (where was I when I wrote that line?) and that is almost always a welcome thing.

Hi Mr.Carroll, nice to write to you... I'm a 20-year-old university student and what I would like to ask you is: what kind or genre of music do you listen to? I guess it's something like Pink Floyd or something Psychedelic...just like your writings! Thanks for writing these fabulous novels...Nico

No, most of the music I listen to recently is quieter, although that may just be a stage. I love the cd RONROCO by Santaolalla, the new Bruce Springsteen, The Blue Nile, Keith Jarrett's THE KOLN CONCERTS, Leonard Cohen-- things in that direction. Joe del Tufo, bless his polymath heart, keeps me in tunes of all sorts. No one knows music better than Joe or is more generous sharing what he likes.

I am a bookseller at the American Book Center in Amsterdam, and I really enjoyed most of your books. One of my colleagues introduced me to them, and we make a point of having them in stock all the time, and recommend them to our customers. It works -they usually come back for more. Any chance of you coming to Amsterdam soon? - Wieke de Neef

I love Amsterdam. I love Holland in general. I once had a Dutch girlfriend who lived in the town Van Gogh came from, Nuenen? It's one of the few countries I'd like to live in if given the chance. What I need now is a Dutch publisher so as to have an excuse to go up there regularly. That's your assignment, Wieke, and if you make it happen I'll come to your store and sign every book you've got-- mine and anyone else you'd like. PS Cees Nooteboom's RITUALS is one of my favorite novels ever.

question: This is not much of a question, more of a comment and a hey, how ya doing. Just read your blog about reading negative reviews of your work. I can't even comprehend someone not just loving what and how you write. When I realize that I am getting close to people in my life and want them to really know me better, I will buy them three of your books (I used to loan out my own copies, but then would never have them for myself). I feel like if they read something that I truly love, then they will really see me.Of course this is usually a huge disappointment as I will check with them and they haven't even opened one yet. Well, I finally have a convert, strangely enough someone on the fringes of my life. My boss's sister. I gave my boss (and close friend) Sleeping in Flame and Bones of the Moon for Christmas. She didn't read them but her sister picked them up and loved them, I have now broken my own rule and loaned her Land of Laughs, Panic Hand and Wooden Sea! Just to feed her and have someone to talk to about your work. Thanks for the blog, it's nice to hear your voice every day, oh and write faster. I feel like those children just dying for the next Harry Potter. Paula Whigham

Your letter made me smile, Paula, because I do the same thing with people I want to know better and vice versa. The books you love really are a reflection of who you are down deep in the secret corners. When you magically find someone who feels the same passion and connections to a book that you did, it's like you can move forward together two or three giant steps without having to say a word about it simply because of that book.

question: Mr. Carroll, I recently read your piece "Bum" which appeared at the end of Filter Magazine's March '05 issue. Just curious to see if you (personally) harbor a tune you consider to be "yours." Understand that if I was posed with this question, I would have a difficult time coming up with a single response...various moments in life resonate with the echoes of various tunes. Merely curious if a specific song inspired you to write "Bum." Many thanks. -Greta VanBrackle

You're right-- different songs clonk around in my head like a marble in a clothes dryer at different times or situations. Recurring ones are "The Chapel of Love" by the Dixie Cups, "Sally Go Round the Roses," and lots of The Beatles songs because they were the soundtrack of my generation.

question: Dear Mr Carroll:) What is the most ridiculous, illogical, spontaneous thing you have ever done in your life? -Ada

If I told you that (or admitted to it) all Hell would break loose on more than one front. You've got to keep some things secret, you know?

question: I'm new to your books, so far having only read White Apples. I loved that one so much I have searched the local book shops and now have The Wooden Sea on order. I have also seriously complained to the owner of the shop because your books are not readily available. I've really enjoyed your website and came across a paragraph stating that you have written a short story called Friends Best Man. I'm sure that I had that story in an anthology and that it was about a man who saved his dog from a train accident but was injured himself, earning himself a place of safety later on when animals finally took over the world. I have searched the house for that book, with no success, and think it must be another book borrowed by someone and never returned. Can you please put my mind at rest by telling me if that story is the one you wrote and, if so, which anthology I might have read it in so that I can track it down again. Thank you. By the way, any plans to tour England? -Jody Richardson

You're right. "Friend's Best Man" is mine. I wrote it years ago and it is included in the collection THE PANIC HAND which you can find pretty easily either at eBay.com if you put my name or the book title into the search blank, or at www.abebooks.com No English book tour plans as yet but we'll keep you posted.

question: greetings from Poland (aren't you bored with us ;-)! I'd like to recommend you a book by Carolyn Parkhurst. I suppose tj t its English title will be something like "Dogs from Babel Tower". It's really amazing and I hope you will enjoy it! -Paula

Several people recommended that to me, Paula, but I must say I didn't like the book and stopped reading it about halfway through. I thought it was manipulative, obvious (I skipped to the end before stopping and yup-- I guessed the mystery after about twenty pages) and the part about torturing the dogs very badly written and way overdone.

question: here`s again the girl who missed the bus-stop:I wasn`t clear last time I wrote.I saw you literally sitting it the middle of the main market square in Cracow at the small table signing your books.there was an impressing line of i must say mostly women.I had to stop to admire from a distance and remember that scene.amazing-- you looked completely relaxed apparently enjoying the moment despite of a random location.

yesterday i found in "The Bones of The Moon" your words:
"Years ago,an interviewer asked me what was the nicest thing about being a writer.Without thinking,I said:Knowing someone in Cracow, Poland is sitting on a bus going home after a long day, reading one of my novels.And if I`m lucky, they`ll be so absorbed that they miss their stop." when it happened to me i got shivers and heard your giggle behind me but back then in 1996 wanted so much to tell you that IT HAD HAPPENED TO ME!so you can only imagine how thrilled I was to read your little comment on it.it was one of those many little miracles my life is surprisingly full of:)

It also proves that if we genuinly want to communicate with someone the whole world orchestrates all the circumstances so it may happen.

Sorry for me being too talkative.

I love your titles and subtitles! I invent sometimes Carroll`s like titles but never heard better and more intriguing ones than those you wrote.no flatter!

the beauty spy:Edyta M(Cracovian by origin)i guess you do more for Cracow than any travelogue -Edyta

I don't remember that day, Edyta, but any time I am surrounded by both Cracow and women readers I am a happy man. As I mentioned, I'll be there in June for some literary festival. I forget the name of it but I think it happens on the first weekend in June.

question: Warmest greetings from snowy Poland, Jonathan :) Hope this message finds you in good health.I wanted to ask you an urgent question: are you coming to Bydgoszcz in late March ? We have been saving up some money to meet you there and one of my friends told me recently that you won't be there.... We live just by the Baltic Sea and we dread to think that the nearest city to meet you in will be Poznan ... I tried to search the net, but there's no information about the cities, so I decided to ask a reliable source ;) I hope you'll give me some good news, Jonathan. Anyway, if we miss you in Poland, we will surely find you in Vienna this summer, and that's a vision that keeps me on the go these days. Best wishes for you, hope to hear from you soon. - Jazzy

No Bydgoszcz. I'm afraid you'll have to come to Poznan this time. My schedule is posted in brief here on the title page and in detail at the Polish website www.jonathancarroll.mikser.net

question: Hi Mr. Carroll, I come from Poland and live in Germany. I already read all your books in Polish and all I could get in German. My favourite is "From the Teeth of Angels." How it is possible to be a man and write about how a woman is being in love with a man so great? It's amazing!!! Mr.Carroll I love all your books!And want to THANK U FOR changing my life! I have one question, could I may be get an autograph from u? I cant put in words how happy I would be!!!! I wish u all the best and stay healthy, take care and I'm waiting for your new book! Alles Liebe! -Ihre Sylwia

I'll be happy to send you an autograph, Sylwia. Just send your full name and address to me at the following email address and I'll shoot one right out to you: jscarroll@hotmail.com

question: Uhm, I don't know how to start. I hope that You'll understand what I'm going to write, cause my English isn't very good though. But... A few years ago I have read your book "The Land Of Laughs". It was my first book of yours that I read. And... It's trivial, but I find in it something special, even magical. Something just for me. Other your books that I was reading lend me to the inner world. Now I have all your bibliography that was published in Poland. What can I say more? Thank You for all of your books. For your great imagination. For inspiration, and all of this feelings bound to your books. You're great. -Aleksandra Lendzian

When anyone sits down and spends time writing a letter like yours Aleksandra then it means the world to the writer. All books are a conversation between the present and the absent. You reading it now, me writing it a quarter of a century ago. The fact that a book I wrote 25 years ago still talks to you and ends up meaning a lot to you is probably the only immortality I will ever have and that is a wonderful thing to know. Thank you for your letter.

question: I apologize if you have already answered this question. When I clicked on"Read Q&As in the Archive Section" I got nothing but a screen with sillouettes of a man's body. My daughter recently discovered your books and now we are both hooked on them. The first book we read was "Land of Laughs" and we are having a friendly disagreement about the ending. I think the man who is with the protaganist at the end is his father, but my daughter thinks it is Marshall France, whom he has brought back to life with his writing. Can you tell us the truth, or maybe it is a third possibility. I would also like to know why I can't get into the archives to read the questions and answers. Thanks a lot. I returned all my other books to the library and now can read only your books! -Joan Gross

Despite what they say or think, writers really aren't the final judge of what is in their books. I always think when I finish a book and send it off to be published that I immediately go from the creator to only another reader of that book and my opinion about it or something in it counts no more or less than yours. I always thought at the end of LAUGHS that the other person with Thomas in Switzerland was his father. Remember he has brought France back to Galen and that is probably where that old sorcerer wants to remain. But who knows-- ask your daughter why she thinks it is France in Zermatt and maybe her argument is better than mine. Ergo she's right and we're wrong. I'll ask Joe del Tufo to check out the glitch with the Q &A archive.

question: I still believe "O.T.D.M" would make a fantastic film. Any thoughts in that direction? -- The girl with big boots. -Amy

I once had a long meeting with a producer who liked OUTSIDE THE DOG MUSEUM but said because it took place in three locations, it would be very expensive to shoot. I suggested then that he cut the Saru section and have those events happen in either Los Angeles or Austria. I think if you did that you'd save oodles of money and still retain what you need to keep the story in the corral.

We walked below angels and realized we shared a birthday. Do you remember? - Amy Waddell

Of course I remember,Amy. And you wrote a screenplay about mermaids and you wore big boots with your long blond hair. Maybe when you're in town again we can talk on a more level playing ground this time.

It may have been wishful thinking on my behalf, but I will be in Italy in Sept, and I'm sure i read somewhere that you were attending a literary festival there at the same time? Please tell me I wasn't dreaming!! - Kelly

Kelly, you're a year too late. I was in Italy at the Mantova literary festival last August. It was both a wonderful festival and a town all the world should rush to see as soon as they can. Truly magical. I cannot wait to go back but this time as a tourist. The only travelling I'll be doing this spring is to Poland at the end of March for a week and at the beginning of June to Cracow.

I am an german/american living in Hamburg. I've been reading your books for over 15 years now and have read most of them a few times. Meeting you in vienna in ¥95 was a great pleasure and meant a great deal to me. I just wanted to thank you for all the hours of deep pleasure an new views to life you gave me. Here my question: From the teeth of angels" seemed to me, that it finished before it is finished. :-) As if a chapter is missing... Was that an intention or did the editor messed something up?

To me the last pages, talking to death, gave me great hope while I was suffering from Hepatitis C I had to confront it with strong medicine. I will always be grateful for this Book you wrote. Mike

No Mike, the ending is at I intended it to be. Not to give anything away to those who haven't read the book, but there really is no way to properly end that story (imho) other than to say the only way to face death is as described at the end of the book. Whether the characters live or die afterwards is less important than how they live the rest of the days they have left until their final moment comes. I'm glad that my book helped you through a bad time. One of the most touching results of FROM THE TEETH OF ANGELS is the many people who have written in to say that it helped them too when they were going through the horror of a loved one's death or the recent loss of someone who mattered. I can't tell you how much that means to me.

Hi!I'm a big fan of you and yours books of course.Thank You for openening a new world in my life-called reading.A few years ago I read Land of Laughs and it was really amazing. I've read all yours books twice but they're still surprising me.Can you give me some clue how to write.I've got some idea but I don't know how to unroll it.I'II hope we'll meet in Warsaw soon.P.S.Sorry for my mistakes, best wishes, do zobaczenia!!! - Ania

People ask that question often Ania, but there is no answer to the secret to writing. The only thing I can say is no one on earth sees the world the way you do. The challenge of writing is to try and convey through words your singular vision to those who don't have your "eyes." If you have fun doing it-- like eating, or jogging or laughing with your friends, then it will be a joy to even attempt, much less succeed at. If writing is an ordeal that makes you suffer, then it will be very hard to accomplish. Life is so much easier and usually succesful when we like what we're doing, you know?

I want to start by saying that I read in a interview with you that a book you like should make you wonder - How did that writer get in my head? I guess that's the way you make me feel. I also love your books for making me get to know myself and for gving me so much more knowledge about life.

I also would like to tell you that in the same inteview saw that you didnt like John Irving and Paul Auster. That's really strange because my favourite authors are them, besides you (I also like Joyce Carol Oates and Norman Mailer). I thought that was quite strange because I like you and their writings so much and I find that you in some ways have the same lovely imagination and a lot of other things in common even if there are things that differ as well.

Another thing I would like to tell you is that I just love your reading list. I think that's a brilliant idea. When I don't know what to read next I look at your list. I've liked most of your suggestions even if some of them were not really to my taste. Anyway thank you for giving me so many wonderful new experiences to add in the form of the books you recommended. I guess that I would have missed a lot of fantastic writers (and I guess I still do) if it wasn't for you.

This isn't really questions and my real question is if you have any plans on visiting Sweden? If not, where could I go to see you lecture or something like that (telling people about your writing)? Are you planning any visit to London, because I guess I could go there if I knew I could hear you talk about litterature. Another question is if you have read Edward Abbeys - A fool progress? If you have, did you like it? If you haven¥t I strongly recommend you to do that.

That will be all for now. Thank you for all of you books. They all gave me something new to add and they all helped me continue forward on this strange road called life. Lots of love -Mikaela

I'm glad you like the reading list, Mikaela. Some people have grumbled that the books there were not to their taste, but reading lists are always subjective. What I like you might not and vice versa. The thing I always used to tell my students was give a book, any book, fifty pages. The fifty page test. If after 50 you still don't like it, put it down and pick up something else. That's the delightful thing-- there is always so much else out there to read and so little time... The only public stuff I'll be doing this spring is in Poland. We'll post my schedule there as soon as it is definite. I know Abbey's work, having read some of it in college. The title you suggest I don't know but I will check it out.

Dear Mr Carroll, I've been a great fan of your work for nearly ten years now. I discovered "The Land of Laughs" by accident - just bought it because of the cover that showed a mischievously smiling dog, that I liked very much. After having read your book, I was completely "angefixt" as we say in "NeuDeutsch". For Christmas, I gave "The Land..." to my elder brother and since then you have the two of us in your fanclub. Two questions: does happy hill in vienna really exist? And: Are you planning to visit Germany in the near future or are you going to do a public reading in Vienna? Thanx a lot, warmest regards from ute, 35, cologne/germany -Ute Symanski

The Happy Hill does indeed exist, Ute. On the title page of this website is a series of photos of places I mention in Vienna. One of them is a view of the city from the Happy Hill. Take a look. Germany is not on the schedule any time soon but I may do a reading in Vienna some time in the fall when GLASS SOUP is released in the US

I'd never heard of you until I came across a link in Neil Gaiman's blog. Now I've heard of you, and have been reading your blog, and know with complete certainty that I must get my hands on your books or die trying :-) I'm tickled at the way your non-english readers apologise for their "bad english" - their "bad english" is absolutely delightful. They need not apologise - They are articulate and achieve the goal of communication in a quirky and unexpected way, which is magical. I was about to ask whether you'd ever been to South Africa when I came across that same question, posted by Maria. You mention that your plane had been diverted to Johannesburg. That must have been an extra-celestial intervention, especially since you got to witness one of Jo'burgs most thrilling things - our spectacular storms. Thanks for writing one of the very few blogs I've ever come across that I'd actually visit again, let alone become a regular reader of. I'm off to find your books now... Audrey, Johannesburg

The blog has surprised all of us with its popularity, Audrey. Joe del Tufo told me that traffic on the site is up something like 30 percent since it started. I'm delighted because many of the entries are quotes or other peoples' ideas that are so good or surprising that as soon as I read or hear them, I'm dying to share them with whoever will listen.

Man. About a hundred years ago (1977, probably) when I was a student at the AIS in Vienna, you lent me a book and never I returned it; probably something about psychotherapy or something, it slips my mind. I'm going to be in Vienna in mid-May this year. Do you want it back? How you doing, anyway? Mark Jung

Ah Mark, no wonder you've been hiding all these years. My Tae Kwon Do partner long ago and far away. I'll be in town in May. Get in touch and we'll tawk.

Well, a few years ago i read an interview with you where you were asked what success means for you; what your definition of success is. You said something like:to know that in Cracow, POland someone is missing her/his bus-stop while reading your book...Believe it or not right after i read it i realized i had just missed my stop... Then I later saw you sitting at a small wooden table in the middle of the Main Market Square and it was such an eerie and sweet picture... for me vienna is a city of very tall people in luxurious fur-coats... just wanted to share that with you cause you are definitely adding beauty and joy to this world,thank you,thanks for all the warm words about Cracow,I'm going to get your autograph in april,while you are in Warsaw where I live now -Edyta M

There are few things I like more in the world than to sit in Market Square in Cracow on a sunny day at a café table, watching the world go by. How lucky you are to come from there. Vienna is tall people and fur coats? To me, Cracow is beautiful women and Dr. Caligari shadows everywhere, even when the sun is shining. I'll be going to Cracow in early June for a festival there and I am really looking forward to it.

No question, just a nod of appreciation...I haven't visited the site in a while and was very pleased to see all the entries you've made recently. I was particularly struck by the quote by Will Eno, and the chinese proverb which happened to be entered on my birthday-cute coincidence. Anyways, I met you in Austin, TX at your booksigning a few years ago, and I didn't say much but tell you how to spell my name. However, I truly wanted to gush and tell you what a difference your writing has made in my life. I hate to sound trite, but it's just comforting to know I'm not alone in observing and appreciating all the little amazing miracles the universe puts out there that go unnoticed everyday. I feel like my life is testing me lately, and I'm realizing I've grown because I'm being so effortlessly strong and brave through it all. I'm past being shy and reserved now. I think struggles are a blessing sometimes, because they leave clarity in their wake. I guess I really don't have a point here...all I really wanted to say is what I've already said-thank you. -Adrienne

What's that old saying, Adrienne about the lesson is always there, it just needs us to catch up to it sometimes? Maybe that's what has happened to you of late. If so, how nice to meet a part of yourself that is bigger and stronger than you ever conceived. I envy you.

Dear Mr Carroll, please excuse my spelling. It's such a crime isn't it? Seem to have hit a nerve. Sorry not to be as gushing as everyone else. Anyway my concerns were only just a thought, nothing else. No need to go on about me dying at midnight... Ooh! It's 11:58! Better do somet