TheReadingCat asked Scott Hawkins:

So let's get the fangirling out of the way first: I have never read something quite like this before, I am amazed at the sheer creativity. It was a joy, I really really loved it!! Now, my question is, if by some twist of fate Father would have taken you under his (probably raven-black) wing and, recognizing your literary genius, offered you the choice to actually pick your catalogue, which one would you want to learn?

Scott Hawkins Hey Jen,

Thanks, glad you liked it! As far as "which catalog"--that's a toughie. Honestly, none of them sound like a lot of fun. Definitely not Margaret or David's.

My first thought is Michael's catalog--animals and whatnot. The reasoning here is that I like hanging out with my dogs, so I could see extending that to tigers and forest beasts--prowling through the plains of wherever, communing with nature, learning the secret lore of the wild et. cetera. But as I was typing this it occurred to me that the dogs and I don't do a whole lot of actual nature. We mostly just watch Game of Thrones and/or Breaking Bad. So I'm not sure how well this would work out in practice.

side note-- I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS TRUE: my black lab is absolutely into that movie Frozen. I rented it thinking it was a non-singing Pixar movie like The Incredibles or something. I hate musicals, but she was enthralled. She loves it so much we bought a copy. She will sit there for HOURS watching it, and I mean really watching it--staring at the TV, ears perk up when that "do you want to build a snowman" song comes on, the whole nine yards. No idea what goes through that dog's head.

Anyway, back to the actual question: I think that on second thought I'd probably go with Richard's catalog. He didn't get much page time, but he was the librarian in charge of building stuff. That's kind of in line with my own interests. The flip side is that Father would have me flayed if I turned in buggy code, or soldered a leaky pipe, but at least the work would be fun.

Scott

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