Das Solabar-Forum

Fortunately they didn't send me to Korea; they sent me to Germany, and with two years of college German I got along fairly well.

I still get up at two o'clock in the morning and go to work like I'm supposed to do! It makes Leigh a bit grumpy but I think she understands. I thank God I have someone who is so supportive, and recognizes the fact that I've made a fair living at this so it's worthwhile. She allows me my little peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. She keeps me productive and gives me enormous amounts of input. I'd be hopelessly incompetent in producing a female character without her assistance. I'm sorry, but no man understands how a woman's mind works. I've got a female parakeet and I can't even understand how her mind works, for crying out loud.

BookpgKrew:

Which character in your books do you most closely identify with? Same question for Leigh.
DEddings97:

Leigh is Polgara. Maybe I am Belgarath; Silk is my favorite. If I wrote myself into a corner he would get me out.

"I'll turn 75 in July this year, so I won't attempt any multi-book stories. "One book" is the rule now. When I was writing "The Redemption of Althalus" I had a large note pinned to the wall above my desk that said "ONE BOOK!!" Althalus proved to me that I can tell a story in a single book."

"Occasionally I get unwelcome attention too, of course. I received some really strange correspondence from an absolute, total nut. This guy was a former Scientologist. He'd been expelled from the Church of Scientology, if you can believe that, largely because he was convinced L. Ron Hubbard was not really dead but being held prisoner by the hierarchy of the Church. And he was writing letters to everybody. I know he sent some to [comedian] George Burns. As a matter of fact they weren't so much letters as packets costing about five dollars each to send through the mail, because they were as big as dictionaries. The import of this mass of material was, 'Let's rescue L. Ron Hubbard.'

"What he wrote made me a little bit nervous. This is when Ronald Reagan was President, and although I had no particular brief for Reagan I don't approve of assassination as a means of political change. And there seemed to be a slightly threatening overtone in these missives. So I called the FBI, and they in turn put me in touch with the secret service. I read them the letter, they checked and said, 'Yeah, we have a file on him. But don't worry, he's harmless.'

"This man identified himself as 'the Son of God.' You'll be happy to know that the Redeemer is alive and well, as far as I know, and living in Scotsdale, Arizona. I got him off my back by something that probably sent him straight to the funny farm. Since he identified himself as the son of God I wrote to him under the letterhead 'From the desk of the Lord God Almighty to His Son.' The letter said, 'Your mother and I are a little concerned about your behaviour. You shouldn't reveal your identity. Remember what happened last time.' I didn't hear from him for about ten years after that. Then a couple of years ago he started writing again and I sent him another one. I haven't heard anything since. It was a rotten thing to do but I didn't need aggravation from this wacko."

Lars-Erik Franson
I don't really have any power to affect such things but:

Reasons why David Eddings should get a posthumous nobel prize for literature:

Mike Garbett
because he took a lonely 15 year old with not many friends or self confidence who hated reading, and led him into an world where even the lowliest scullion boy could become a King. Eddings taught that 15 year old morals and values without the boy even knowing it (until much later). And just as importantly, he gave the kid a place he could escape to when things were not going so well at home. That 15 year old is 45 now (Gods I don't feel that old) and I can say with 100% confidence, that I if I hadn't of discovered Eddings (in the discount rack at Walden Books at the former Cloverleaf Mall) I wouldn't be here today. I'm not deadly serious often, but I am this time.