Happy Independence Day!

In a new post at the Castalia House blog, Scott Cole asks me some questions about my exciting new gardening thriller:

Scott Cole: I noticed that turnips are Jack Broccoli’s favorite vegetable. I was looking through our last conversation and your Youtube page but they don’t feature. Why does Jack like turnips so much?

David The Good: I didn’t want Jack to be a Mary Sue character. Sure, he’s an obsessive gardener who is attractive to women, fit, good-looking, and above average in his intelligence, just like me – but he differs in one very important regard. Turnips. If he were a Mary Sue, he would prefer growing pumpkins rather than turnips.

Also, without those turnips in his garden, Jack would not have the help of the mysterious Brown Wizard who seems to live in his head. Growing an ancient Finnish heirloom variety has made Jack “The Caretaker,” and attracted the help of this strange and ancient creature – but I can’t give away too much for now.

SC: So pumpkins are your favorite vegetables to grow?

DtG: Yeah. I love pumpkins because they seem almost dangerous in their growth. There’s this terrifying anarchy to them. The vines can easily fill a yard and threaten to overgrow your home – and then they produce pumpkins, and boom – they die back. Just at the point where you think they’re going to eat your entire neighborhood, they give up. I like the feeling of losing control. It’s not like carrots, which are boring and just stay put. Or onions. Or, dare I say, turnips. No, you plant pumpkins and they might end up with a hundred feet of vines. That’s exciting.

SC: What’s with Ocean Octaves!?

DtG: Even good people like Jack have character flaws.

Scott enjoyed the book and it was good talking with him. Read the rest of the interview here and get Jack Broccoli here.