Authors Pick Five: J. Scott Savage

Awhile back, I had an idea. I thought it would be cool to have a standard question to ask whenever I did a blog tour and/or author interview. Granted, I don't do very many of these, not like some of you do anyway, but still I thought it would be fun to have a particular question I'd ask every time I did.

That's when my Authors Pick Five idea was born, and so I went ahead and asked the question to the first two authors ( Paul Harris and Cathy Holton) with their blog tour interviews this past summer.

So I thought, why not make it retroactive and go back and ask this same question to authors I've highlighted or interviewed in the past?

It was then that I got timid and nervous, wondering if it was stupid, and stressing about "bugging" them, but then I thought there was nothing to lose really. I mean, if they were too crazy busy, they'd just ignore it and no problem with that. So, after thinking about it for these past couple of months, I finally sent the email.

Within literally minutes, I heard back from three of them! Wow! So now I'm all excited to press onward with my idea and branch out and not be shy and ask even more authors this question:

"What are the five most important or influential books to you?"

J. Scott Savage was the first to send me his answers. (He's the one, you may remember, that signed and gave my son the uncorrected proof of his next book, during our blogger/author picnic a few weeks ago.Yeah, we think he's pretty cool.)

The five books he picked (with his explanations included) are:

A Wrinkle in Time—as a younger reader, this was my first real introduction to Sci-Fi/Fantasy. It was a book that had both adventure and a thought-provoking message—to me at least.

The Outsiders—This was my adolescent book. SE Hinton became one of my instant favorite authors. It may have been my first really edgy book. Not so edgy now, but at the time, it felt that way.

Enders Game—I must have read this at least twenty times and it still holds up. Great, great fiction.

Grapes of Wrath—I know a lot of people hate this book, and I understand why. It is slow. It is painful. It does not have a happy ending. But I remember reading this book and having no idea the country I lived in could have really had this happen. It felt like I was reading about some third world country. It also made me realize that good, hardworking people could end up out on the streets through no fault of their own.

Fahrenheit 451—I remember being shocked and fascinated by this book at the same time. Scared the crap out of me to think of books being outlawed since they were my best friends for much of my childhood.

J.Scott Savage is the author of Farworld: Water Keep, which begins the adventures of Kyja and Marcus as they go on a quest to save their worlds. Book Two of their adventure, Farworld: Land Keep comes out in just a couple of weeks! Both these books are illustrated by Brandon Dorman of Fablehaven fame. Beautiful stuff.

He also writes a wonderful blog where much of his time is spent giving detailed advice to aspiring writers. You can tell he loves the business and is totally enthusiastic about being part of it.

Here in my original interview, which also includes my review of Water Keep, you can learn lots more about him!

Truly, if YA fantasy is your thing (or your kid's) you need to read his stuff!