Eight Questions for Ben Hatke
What’s your favorite book?
It’s so hard to pick a favorite because you love different books for different reasons! I love Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book because when I read it I am inspired and I want to work hard to create a story so beautiful and well-crafted (and because I love those goblins). On the other hand there is an obscure book by C.S. Lewis called The Discarded Image, a collection of his lectures on Medieval thought, which completely changed the way I looked at history. I have dozens of favorites but it’s hard to tell which would stand triumphant in a battle royal. It’s the same with friends.
If you were shipwrecked on a desert island, what one piece of media would you take with you? If it isn’t your favorite book, explain how you came to this peculiar decision.
Am I allowed to choose “sketchbook”? If not then I would choose an album of pictures of my family. With that I could sit on a hill overlooking the sea and look through all the pictures and a single tear would trail down my dirty cheek and it would all be very dramatic. Then I would become suddenly full of resolve! I would have a “furrowed brow” and I would work like mad to finish the airplane I made out of bamboo and coconuts.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
I’m usually a vanilla boy. Because it’s reliable and because you almost always go out for ice cream with a group. You can rely on other people to get the exotic flavors and you can usually talk your way into a taste. You say “Is that Elderberry and Maple Syrup? Man, I almost got that! Do you mind if I...? (lick). Oh that’s good! I totally made the wrong choice.” Then you look wistfully at your vanilla (and a single tear trails down your dirty cheek) and move on to the next person.
How are you planning to survive the zombie apocalypse?
You see, I have these schematics for an airplane made out of bamboo and coconuts... I’m flying back to my island. I was happy there.
What’s your favorite word?
I don’t think I have a favorite. A Wise Old Master once told me that “murmuring” was the most poetic word in the English language. “Capricious” and “snack” also good ones.
Black or white? Cats or dogs? Apples or oranges? Robots or vampires?
Rootbeer! Cats! Apples! Robots! Bamboo! Coconuts!
What’s the worst fortune cookie advice you ever got? Did you take it?
I ate the cookie. I ate the cookie....
