I am pleased to be taking part in the Flidderbugs tour a book I own and look forward to reading. Thanks to Jonathan for being on. Keep in mind people that one lucky commenter tour wide will win a $25 amazon gift card. Check out all the blogs in the tour and increase your chances.
Please tell us about yourself –
I was born on the planet Krupthrup in the year 56723. I’m eight foot tall with four legs, eight arms (5 right, 3 left) and an extra kneecap.
Well maybe not exactly, but sometimes I do let me imagination run away with me I guess that’s one of the most important thing about me – I love making things up. And I think that I’m quite good at it as well. Most of the time anyway. I suspect most of you saw through that alien thing pretty quickly.
What else would you like to know? I live in Melbourne, Australia, which they keep telling us is the most livable city in the world. Besides writing, I also love music and enjoy playing guitar. As a guitarist, I’m an excellent writer.
Is writing a new passion? –
Definitely not. It’s something I always enjoyed and was (I hope) quite good at. After school, it did go on the back-burner as I got on with the serious business of trying to establish a career. Then, as I turned out to be quite bad at establishing a career, it began to seep back into my life. I’ve been at it now for over fifteen years but the rise of indie publishing in the last year has definitely given me a major boost.
Your writing doesn’t fit into a box, I like that what about being different from the norm appeals to you? –
I don’t know if there’s anything particularly that appeals to me about it. It’s more that I’m not sure I have a choice. I write the stories that come to me – they turn out as they turn out. I don’t deliberately try to make them different from the norm. They just seem to end up that way. Having said that, I do have a somewhat stubborn streak that forces me to not go with the flow. Put me in a room full of bankers and economists and I’ll become a raging communist. Put me in with a bunch of union reps and I’ll become an unapologetic capitalist. But in both cases, I’ll do it quietly because I’m actually quite shy.
What is your writing space and routine like?-
My writing space is a great big mess. It’s the study in our house. It’s also the spare room where all our junk ends up, so it’s a bit of an obstacle course actually getting to the computer.
My routine is about as neat as the study. It’s really about scrapping for time whenever I can make it, especially as I work full time and have a young family.
What are you reading now?-
This post – to check there are no mitsakes. Apart from that, I’m actually between books. Over the last week, I’ve been reading kid’s books by a rather good Australian writer called Morris Gleitzman
Favorite authors and books? –
I think that question is partly answered by the next – huge Douglas Adams fan. Other than that, I like authors who go against the trends, whether literary or popular. I’ve recently read and enjoyed books by people like Franz Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. As for more popular stuff, Neil Gaiman and Diana Wynne Jones are two favourites.
I see on your blog that you like the Hitch-Hikers Guide, a fellow frood 
if you could go bouncing around the galaxy who would you go with?-
To be honest, I’m not sure how keen I am to go bouncing around the galaxy. I’m definitely a two-feet-on-the-ground sort of person. And I suspect I’d probably get terribly space sick as well. So I suppose I’d have to choose someone who would be fairly patient, willing to hold my hand when I got nervous, and preferably someone with a bit of medical training as well. If any froods out there fit the bill, please let me know.
What kind of reader would Flidderbugs appeal to?
I really hope Flidderbugs will appeal to a broad audience. It’s about talking bugs, so hopefully that will be fun for kids. But it also has elements of humour and satire that I think a lot of adults would appreciate. I really wrote it for myself, and I have a strong streak of both the kid and the adult inside me. I think there are a lot of people like that.
Can you tell us more about it? -
I call it a satire or a fable – maybe it’s a strange kind of mixture of both – a sable or fatire? It’s about a group of insects, the Flidderbugs, who spend a lot of time arguing about things that are really not important at all (ie how many points there are on a leaf) while completely losing sight of things that are actually very important.
The central character, Kriffle, is the one who is on a mission to make the Flidderbugs come to their senses before it’s too late.
Jonathan Gould is a Melbourne-based writer and doodler.
He calls his stories “dag-lit” because they’re the sort of stories that don’t easily fit into the standard genres. Some might think of them as comic fantasies, or modern fairytales for the young and the young-at-heart.
Over the years, his writing has been compared to Douglas Adams, Monty Python, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, the Goons, Dr Seuss and even Enid Blyton (in a good way).
We wouldn’t want any ‘mitsakes’ now would we? I have to say I rather like the idea of a Planet Krupthrup.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Hi Mary,
I’m always extra careful not to make mitsakes. Did you know it’s a capital offense on the planet Krupthrup? That’s why I had to get away.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
Thank you very much for hosting Jonathan today!
Thanks for letting me
This sounds like a great book that my niece would love! Ahem! After I read it, of course! HA! Love the name….Fliddlerbugs. Jonathan sounds like a really fun guy to interview! Thanks so much! I enjoyed reading it!
Kimberly F recently posted..GIVEAWAY WITH KRAFTY MAX – IT’S HER 3-YEAR/5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
Thanks Kimberly – hope you both enjoy it. I am a fun guy to interview -but believe me, you don’t want to live with me.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
Hi Jess,
Thanks so much for having me here.
This is the end of the third week of my tour – I can’t believe it’s gone so quick. Wanted to offer a big thank-you to the Goddess Fish people who organised it and my friend Donna Brown who made it possible – check out her terrific book of short stories, Double-take Tales – http://www.amazon.com/Double-take-Tales-ebook/dp/B006HTHAW4/
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
It’s great to have you on. Total pleasure and yes thanks Donna
I absolutely love the sound of your stories. I am getting them for gifts to the kids in my family.
Hi Momjane,
It’s great that you’ve been following right from the beginning.
Hope to see you next week too.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
I love the interview. I will definitely check out the book for my daughter to to read since he loves butterflies and crawling creatures.
Hi Rose,
Thanks for the comment. Hope you’re daughter likes insects that are creepy, crawly and very silly.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
I’m definitely pondering the whole 5 right arms and 3 left. Would we feel unbalanced? We’d certainly be able to button our shirts faster. Would lefties be at an even BIGGER disadvantage because they only had 3 hands? So much to think about, so little time.
Hi Catherine,
I’m unbalanced at the best of times. And I’m a lefty, so maybe having fewer left arms is actually in my favour.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
Hi Jonathan, I’ve missed lots of your tour dates, but I hope life will allow me to be with you for the last week coming up. I think I’ve asked this question early in the tour, but I don’t know if you saw it and I didn’t go back to check. Anyway, here it is again: If you books were to be made into movies, do you think they would do better as all animation or a combination of animation/live action similar to ‘Who Killed Roger Rabbit’?
Hi Karen,
Nice to see you made it today. Sorry if I missed your question.
I’m actually a bit iffy about my books being made into movies – I have a few issues with how a lot of books are adapted for the screen.
Having said that, If I had to choose (and lets face it, the royalties would be nice) I think I’d go with a real classical style animation, rather than the current computer-style that’s in at the moment.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
lol, he sounds like he has a good sense of humor. Like the title Flidderbugs. Makes me just want to shout and say “aw, flidderbugs!”
Jessica Rabbit recently posted..Love That Line (1)
Hi Jessica,
Funny seeing you here after the previous comment namedropped Roger Rabbit – were your (bunny) ears burning?
Maybe we can make #awflidderbugs a trending hashtag on twitter.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
I am going to a horrible person and admit since they looked like kid books I never gave them any attention Johnathon, however after reading this I realize I just judged a book by it’s cover and bad bad Kriss! I have a copy so I must read now! AWESOME interview Jess! oh and by the way.. I sleep with my towel!
Kriss Morton-Weekley recently posted..The New & Dark Techno Crime Thriller GENERATION – An Interview with author Michael Knight
Hey Kriss,
You’re definitely not horrible.
That’s the difficulty I’ve always had – right from the start when I was trying to flog them to publishers. It’s hard to know how best to categorise them – which is why I invented the genre of dag-lit.
Look after that towel – never know when you might need it.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
Its always a lot of fun to read Jonathan’s interviews. They are sure to make me laugh and think.
Ritesh Kala recently posted..A HUGE shoutout to my wonderful supporters!
Hey Ritesh,
Yay – I recognised you this time.
I’m glad my interviews don’t make you barf and stink. That would be bad.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
Doodling and Flidderbugs’s cover ,will make great Tee shirt’s . No buttons to worry about.
Hey Deb,
What a great idea – wanna be my marketing manager?
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
I wasn’t able to get in on this tour but I’ve been tweeting it!
Good luck!
alchemyofscrawl recently posted..Yoga Friday
Hi Coral,
Great to see you here and thanks for the support.
Jonathan Gould recently posted..Doodling/Flidderbugs Virtual Book Tour – Week 3
I loved this little tale. It was short and sweet and I think it would appeal to all ages. I loved the characters, I could see the bugs in my head and I personified them!
All in all a great little story that I heartily recommend.
Sara recently posted..WoW Gold Guide