Salamander
Fire Walking

1. If a fairy came to you and said she could either change three factors about you or about your environment (but no mixing and matching), what would you ask her to do?

I'd ask her to make me smarter, more self-assured, and more independent. If I had those three things I wouldn't need to worry about my environment.

2. If you could speak to the you of 20 years ago, what advice would you give her about her life?

I'd tell me that it's OK to assert yourself. I'd tell me that it's OK to like yourself, that you aren't acting prideful just because you happen to think that you are doing well at something. And I'd tell me that I really don't need all those clothes and stuff from high school, and that if I think it's hard to throw that stuff away now, wait for twenty-five years and THEN try to part with it.

3. Let's relocate you to anywhere in the world you want, provided you also go back at least 50 years in time. Where and when are you moving?

United States, 1954. Let's find ourselves a nice little suburban town, outside the city limits, but within an easy drive to the city (a nice place to visit, but who wants to live there). Equal rights for women is starting to get itself established (thanks to WWII). The post-War boom has the economy looking very nice, thank-you. I still have all the amenities that I've come to love – running water, electricity, modern grocery stores. Television is just coming into it's own, the big band sound hasn't quite died out yet, and the movie industry is putting out some nice stuff.

Of course, the downside is that liver transplantation hasn't been invented yet, but since the first liver transplant won't be done for another twenty years, there's nothing to be done about that.

4. The big G has invited you to explain to Professor Tolkien the impact his writing has had on the world. What are you going to tell him?

*gulp* You must be joking. I doubt seriously I could have said three words to JRRT without stammering and making a complete fool of myself. Even if I had months to prepare and could use notecards, there's no way I could do this one justice.

Well, in my opinion, his biggest impact was to turn fantasy fiction into a respected niche of literature. Until the advent of the LotR trilogy, fantasy books weren't particularly popular nor particularly well respected. After its publication, though, LotR became a template that countless authors have used to create their own fantasy worlds.

Tolkien set the standard by which other fantasy fiction would be judged. LotR's is more than just the sum of the books. An entire history to Middle Earth was created, much of which is only alluded to in LotR's briefly, and much more of which is never mentioned in the books at all. New languages and script were created. Detailed maps of Middle Earth were made. Very few fantasy books have ever had the depth of historical background created for them, and even those that have done so (Dune, Earthsea, Amber and Chaos) pale in comparison to the universe created for the Lord of the Rings.

This impact has extended well beyond writing. Games, movies, television series, the plastic arts, and even music has been influenced and inspired by Tolkien's work. It was voted the "best book of all time" in Britain, which says more than I ever could about the impact this story had on people personally, and which I would say is the most important impact of all.

If someone were marketing a magazine exclusively to the Sals of the world, what five articles will be featured on the cover and what's the cover illustration? Bonus: what's it called?

I have a feeling this one won't have a very wide distribution.

Your Skin and You - Six things you can do to reduce really, really big scars.
Eating Healthy - Why eating an entire box of ginger snaps is not generally considered to be a good idea.
How Many is Too Many? The modern guide to scheduling nine different medications a day.
Dancing the green apple two-step - Ten ways to make a graceful exit from any situation rapidly
You are More than Your Disease - How to get people to stop introducing you as "the one who got the transplant"

We'll call the magazine "Regeneration: Pre- and Post- transplant living"