About the Author
Geoff Rodkey is the Emmy-nominated writer of such hit films as Daddy Day Care, RV, and the Disney Channel's Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas.
He grew up in Freeport, Illinois and began his writing career on his high school newspaper. While in college, Geoff was an editor of both the Harvard Lampoon and the Let's Go travel guide series. His early writing credits include the educational video game Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the non-educational MTV series Beavis and Butt-head, and Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect.
Geoff's debut novel, Deadweather and Sunrise, is the first book in the middle grade adventure trilogy The Chronicles of Egg. The final volumes in the series, New Lands and Blue Sea Burning, will be published by Putnam in 2013 and 2014. Geoff currently lives in New York City with his wife and three sons. They do not have any pets, mostly because the whole experience with the goldfish was just too upsetting.
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Have a question for the author? Email him at geoff@geoffrodkey.com
Author Website: www.geoffrodkey.com
Questions & Answers
If you shipwrecked on Deadweather or Sunrise, where would you set up camp?
It’s inadvisable to camp on Deadweather. Fever bugs are everywhere, and if you try to sleep on the ground, they will eat through your clothes, burrow under your skin, and lay eggs in your subcutaneous tissue, which is even more painful than it sounds.
The only way to avoid the fever bugs is to sleep indoors, but that would likely mean finding a room in Port Scratch—and strangers who fall asleep in the Scratch tend not to wake up, at least not in any condition that they’d want to find themselves.
So if you’re shipwrecked on Deadweather and absolutely have to camp somewhere, I suppose the least bad option would be to build a raft and sleep a few hundred yards offshore.
I wouldn’t camp on Sunrise, either, because there are MUCH better options. The rooms at the Peacock Inn are exquisite—the sheets are Mandar linen, the mattresses are absolutely top-notch, and depending on your mood, you can choose either a mountain or a harbor view. And their rates are surprisingly reasonable, especially in the off-season. (Little-known fact: the Peacock was the first hotel in history to put little chocolates on the pillows at night.)
If there’s a tourist boat in and the Peacock is full, there’s a woman on Comfort Street who runs a bed and breakfast. The rooms are spare but tidy, and she’s an excellent cook. Her husband drinks and is fond of ranting about politics, but if you avoid the parlor after 9pm, you won’t even know he’s there.
If you could give Egg one piece of advice, what would you say to him?
Run faster.
What is your favorite ugly fruit recipe?
It’s best when sectioned, sprinkled with crushed mint, and placed on a bed of whipped cream. As with any ugly fruit recipe, the important thing is to use enough mint and cream that you can’t taste the fruit.
If I am scared of pirates should I read this book?
No.
Actually, yes.
Perhaps I should elaborate.
In the first place, everyone on earth should read this book, because it is JUST THAT GOOD.
And if you are scared of pirates, that is as it should be; because pirates are vile, treacherous, and deadly, and only a fool would not be scared of them.
So if you are scared of pirates and read this book, your opinion will be validated. And as anyone who watches political news on a cable channel which panders to their biases can tell you*, having your opinions validated gives you a nice warm feeling in your stomach.
But the people who REALLY need to read this book are people who AREN’T scared of pirates. Because those people have been lulled into a false sense of security by too many pirate-themed toddler birthday parties and/or Johnny Depp movies, and desperately need a wake-up call lest they encounter an actual pirate and, for want of sufficient caution, find themselves having their entrails removed in exotic and painful ways.
(*This is not a value judgement. All of us, regardless of how pure and right-minded we believe we are, are biased in one way or another. And no matter what specific bias you hold, somewhere out there is a cable news channel eager to pander to it.)
Have you ever met a pirate?
I’m not sure. Since piracy is both illegal and socially unacceptable, actual pirates tend not to advertise their affiliation.
There was a guy I went to college with who I suspected of piracy, but according to the class reunion report, he works in finance now. I suppose it’s possible he pirated for a few years right out of school, then went back for his MBA—most pirate careers are over by age 30, owing to both the high mortality rate and the occasional massive, never-have-to-work-again treasure find.
Is there any romance in this book?
Some, but not the icky kind.
What about Vampires?
There are no vampires in this book. Nor are there any werewolves, wizards, gods, demi-gods, dragons, monsters, zombies, aliens, robots, cyborgs, secret agents, superheroes, criminal masterminds, talking animals, or magical flying nannies.
There are, in short, no gimmicks of any kind.
Except the pirates.
But there aren’t even as many of those as you might think.