Today, Alex Latimer joins Ian Eagleton in the Reading Realm to chat about his hilarious new book, TONY REX’S SEVEN STOMPS TO SUCCESS…
Before we settle down in The Reading Realm for a chat, what’s your drink and snack of choice?
It’d be a cup of tea and some biscuits, the ones with nougat in them are very good.
Tell us about your book in three sentences and then three words!
Tony Rex is a life coach.
Tony wants you to be the best version of yourself that you can be.
(Tony also happens to be a very hungry T-Rex.)
Three words? You are nutritious!
If one of your characters could come to dinner, who would you invite and what would you cook them? What do you think you’d talk about?
Well, it’d have to be Tony Rex. I’d cook him a really large pot of vegetable soup and we’d chat about any goals I might have for my future. Then, at some point, I’d sneak off to the bathroom, climb out the window and never return.
What’s the funniest word you know that always makes you laugh?
Smorgasbord! It means a large mix of things to choose from and comes from Swedish, where it literally means a variety of foods served as a buffet. I think Tony Rex would like that word too, the world is his smorgasbord.
What’s the silliest or strangest thing you’ve ever researched for a story?
If a goose could bake a loaf of bread for itself, what sort of grains would it use instead of flour? Because, as we all know, wheat is bad for geese.
Do your characters ever surprise you?
Yes! Sometimes I’ll write a story and then not look at it for a few weeks, and then when I re-read it I will often laugh at my own jokes. I think that’s probably a good thing.
If your writing desk could speak, what would it say about you?
Tidy me more than once every six months!
Did you like reading when you were a child? If so, what?
Yes. I liked picture books, the pictures especially. But I really only started to love reading when I was about eleven and I read ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. It made me want to write books.
What’s your favourite book that isn’t yours?
Probably ‘The Skull’ by Jon Klassen. It’s not really as scary as it sounds, but it is a little scary. And it’s beautifully told and illustrated.
What book do you wish you could read for the first time again?
‘Into the Bewilderness’ by Gus Gordon.
What’s the funniest thing a child has said to you?
Because I live in South Africa, I do sometimes get questions about the wildlife here.
PS. I do not ride an elephant to work.
If you weren’t an author, what would you be?
As a kid I wanted to be an archeologist, but that was only because I didn’t know the difference between palaeontology and archeology. (Palaeontologists study ancient animals and plants, while archeologists study human history and culture.)
What BAD advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?
Write something and send it off, or hand it in, straight away without ever reading or editing it.
SPEED ROUND:
Cake or biscuits? Cake.
Dinosaurs or unicorns? DINOSAURS!
Pirates or astronauts? Astronauts.
Museums or theme parks? Museum!
Cats or dogs? Dogs.
Summer or winter? SUMMER!
Aliens or robots? Aliens.
THANK YOU Alex for joining us in The Reading Realm today!
