Amanda Hocking

My good friend/platonic lifemate/assistant Eric and I were talking the other day. He’s obsessed with Rosie O’Donnell, and she has a feature on her blog called “Ask Ro.” Ever since I’ve had a blog, Eric has been suggesting that I have an “Ask Mandy” feature. (That last part makes more sense when you know that he and Barry Manilow call me “Mandy.”)

Anyway, I have new book coming out next week. (A fun fairytale called Virtue. For more info on it, click: here.) So I thought now would be a good time to try out the “Ask Amanda” thing. Or “Ask Mandy,” if you prefer. I’ve never much cared what people call me. I’m not like Bradley Cooper and insist you call me “Bradley” even though I’m an adult male.

Here’s how the “Ask Amanda” thing will work:

In the comments section of this very blog, you write a question. If it’s profane or illegible, I won’t answer it. If it asks for a spoiler (i.e. how will the last My Blood Approves book end?), then I won’t answer it. Otherwise pretty much everything is fair game.

You have until Thursday, May 26th at midnight (central time) to ask a question. Then on Friday, Eric and I will go through the questions and pick some to answer. We’ll just pick them based on whatever strikes our fancy. (Note: Eric’s fancy will probably have a larger pull than my fancy, since he’s very excited about this).

Then sometime either on Friday or Saturday, Eric and I will make a video blog (a vlog, if you will) with the answers to the questions. Why a video? I don’t know. It’s something that Rosie used to do, and apparently, it’s important to the whole “Ask Ro” theme.

I’m not sure how many questions we’ll answer (and Eric will be helping answer, so feel free to direct questions to him). I guess it depends on how many questions you ask and how long it takes me to answer. We’ll probably spend about 5 or 10 minutes answering them, because any longer than that feels like something I would fast forward through.

So there you have it. Ask away!

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo”
• Arcade Fire – “We Used to Wait”
• The Beatles – “Eleanor Rigby”
• Elliott Smith – “Miss Misery”
• Vampire Weekend – “Giving Up the Gun”
• The Beatles – “Can’t Buy Me Love”
• Black Mountain – “Hair Song”
• Rogue Wave – “Lake Michigan” 
• Hugo – “99 Problems”
• Foster the People – “Pumped Up Kicks”
• The Beatles – “Baby, You’re a Rich Man”
• Ida Maria – “Bad Karma”
• The Beatles – “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me”
• The Raconteurs – “Salute Your Solution”
• Mumford & Sons – “The Cave”
• Ra Ra Riot – “Can You Tell”
• Led Zepplin – “When the Levee Breaks”
• Pete Torn – “Lose You”
• Amos the Transparent – “Greater Than Consequence”
• Nirvana – “Marigold”
• The Raconteurs – “Carolina Dreams”
• The Civil Wars – “Barton Hallow”
• Peter Gabriel – “My Body is a Cage”
• The Black Keys – “Howlin For You”
• Band of Skulls – “Fires”

I just realized that I never blogged about the interview I had on Better TV. But I’m doing it now. Back in February, Rhiannon Ally with the syndicated show Better came and did a piece on me. She was incredibly nice (as was her camera man), and I thought it turned out really great.

Also, I need to give a shout out to Kyle who runs the Coffee House on Main where we filmed this. (He’s also on the beginning of the video explaining what a Monkey Mocha is). He was incredibly gracious letting us film there, and he’s let me do about a hundred interviews there. He’s a super nice guy, and he makes the greatest iced latte in the history of iced lattes. So if you’re ever in Austin, MN go to the Coffee House on Main, order a iced latte with raspberry syrup, and give Kyle a really big tip. You won’t regret it.

Here’s the video for Better TV:

And I just found about this – http://heathersauction.blogspot.com. There’s a ton of cool stuff to bid on – from getting business cards made to a book autographed by Kristen Chenowith. All the proceeds go to help Heather, who’s been sick for sometime. I urge you to check it out.

In fun news, Black Lab – the band behind the beautiful music in the trailer for Letters to Elise – is currently having a contest to make a video for the new single “This Ship Goes Down Deep” (awesome song, by the way). If you’d like to enter, check out their site for details: here.

Tomorrow, I’m meeting with people from St. Martin’s Press, and we’re going to be talking about things in regards to my books. I’m pretty excited. If I learn anything fun that you guys will enjoy hearing, I’ll definitely pass it along. I do think I get to see some ideas for covers for the Trylle Trilogy for when St. Martin’s releases it next year, but I can’t really share that with you. At least not yet.

Oh, and thanks for all the Figaro and Delaney love on the blog yesterday. They appreciated it, even if they are fish and don’t understand human emotions. Or English.

I’m ending with this song, which is my new favorite thing. I dare you to listen to it and not get it stuck in your head.

As you may have heard (or most likely, as you have not heard), my fish – Bruce & Wayne – died. I’m not entirely sure why they died, but Bruce had gotten black marks on his fins, so I think it may have been some kind of ick or fungus or something like that.

But I will not be detered on my quest to have pets that are fish that don’t die. So I went out and got all new stuff – new rocks, new tank, the works. My other tank was a hand-me-down from my mom, and I’m not sure if there was some kind of bacteria in there. To be safe, I thought I should start from scratch.

I also got lots of fish medicine, so if the fish do get sick, I’m on top of it. And I got a goldfish owner’s manual. I set up the tank the yesterday, because it told me I should let the tank sit for 24-hours before adding fish.

Today I got my new fish. One is a calico goldfish, and the other is a fantail goldfish. They are pretty, and they will live forever.

Here is a short film I made about them:

Also, I made a trailer for Virtue the other day. If you haven’t seen it, here it is: watch.

And I want to thank Daniel Arenson for his guest post last week and everybody for chiming in. Dragons are fun. Especially Falcor.

My good friend Daniel Arenson just released a new book called Blood of Requiem (Requiem Fire, Book 1), which is available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Not only does it have a ridiculously awesome cover, it’s about dragons. For those of you in the know, I secretly love dragons (and a dragon makes a special appearance in my soon-to-be-released novel Virtue). It’s in celebration of all things fire-breathing and bad-ass that Daniel came up with this fantastic guest blog.

Who is the Greatest Dragon?

Fantasy is full of these scaly, fire-breathing beasts. They are arguably the genre’s most emblematic creature. But who is the greatest among them, the toughest and baddest?

Here I rank the world’s top ten dragons from film, literature, and legend. (To be fair, I won’t rank the dragons of my own creation – those who inhabit my novel Blood of Requiem – though they are pretty tough.)

Who wins the coveted number one slot? Read on to find out!

Ten: Norbert

Hagrid’s little dragon is just too cute to rank any higher. She does bite Ron Weasley’s finger, which makes her somewhat tough, so she still gets a mention on the list. Hopefully Norbert (AKA Norberta) is still living happily in Romania.

Nine: Saphira

This dragon from Eragon is like a loyal dog, or maybe a younger sister. Friendly, cute, and nice to have around. But not very threatening.

Eight: Pete’s Dragon

At first glance, he’s a harmless cartoon. He’s goofy. He has purple hair. And he stars in a children’s movie. How tough could he be? Well, tougher than he seems. He managed to fight off Pete’s mean hillbilly relatives. He flew through a storm to kindle a lighthouse. And he became a hero to countless kids. You wouldn’t want to mess with Pete’s dragon.

Seven: Smrgol

Smrgol, from the animated film Flight of Dragons, is an even tougher cartoon dragon. He’s old, battle-hardened, and wise. He also befriends a human named Peter – only this Pete is trapped in another dragon’s body. Smrgol ends his life in an epic battle, managing to defeat the evil Ogre of Gormley Keep. Smrgol was definitely a tough, noble dragon.

Six: Daenerys’s dragons

At this point in A Song of Ice and Fire (book five is not yet released), Daenerys’s dragons are still small. But they show potential for growing big. Very big. Maybe even big enough to win the coveted Iron Throne. Right now, they’re only ranked sixth, but they have potential for rising higher in the list in years to come.

Five: Trogdor

He burninates the countryside. He’s made of an S and a different S. He’s hilarious to those who know him, utterly perplexing to those who don’t. Maybe it’s all those thatch roofs he burned. Maybe it’s his beefy arm. Whatever the reason, he makes the Top Five for toughest dragons.

Four: Smaug

Perhaps the world’s most famous dragon, Smaug influenced countless dragons who followed. He sits on a mountain of jewels and gold. He terrorizes hobbits and dwarves. He stars in a fantasy novel that changed the world. He’s one mean dragon.

Three: Takhisis

Takhisis has enchanted and terrified a generation of fantasy geeks. In her human form, she’s a beautiful temptress. In her dragon form, she has five heads. She’s also a goddess, powerful enough to torture Raistlin himself. Smaug might be tough, but Takhisis could probably kill him without breaking a sweat.

Two: St. George’s Dragon

Painted, sculptured, illustrated — St. George’s dragon has inspired artists and storytellers for centuries. He is the ultimate dragon of legend. He’s the granddaddy of all dragons. If even Shakespeare wrote about him, you know he’s tough.

One: Falcor

Falcor, the luckdragon from The Neverending Story, inspired a generation. Countless children in the 1980s gawked at this pink, doglike creature and dreamed of riding him. True, Falcor sometimes seemed more canine than dragonish. And true, despite his wisdom and pacifism, he’s kind of a jerk at the end when he chases those kids into a garbage bin. But Falcor was more than just a dragon. In many ways, he defined a decade. Because the 1980s were like Falcor–they were pink, they were fluffy, and they were a flying doglike luckdragon. There’s no denying it. For all his fluffiness, Falcor is a cultural icon, and he tops the list for greatest dragon.

For more information about Daniel Arenson, his dragon epic Blood of Requiem, any of his other fabulous fantasy novels, or writing tips, check out his website at:  www.danielarenson.com