1. What is your mutant power (that which you do better than most)? Do you have a mutant code name? If I have a mutant power, it has so far remained so shrouded in mystery that even I am unaware of it. I don’t know about the wilds of Texas, but around here gamma radiation, cosmic rays, and unsanctioned government research are difficult to come by, and they don’t hand out code names to just anybody. Although retractable claws would be pretty cool.

2. Do you think time travel is technically feasible? What do you make of paradox? “Technically feasible” is an odd way of phrasing it. I don’t know enough science to argue for or against any of the possibilities — I think Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time and a few chapters of Kip Thorne’s Black Holes and Time Warps are the only two texts I’ve ever actually read that touch upon the subject — but I also don’t expect to try building a time machine any time soon. My recent brush with visitors from the future notwithstanding. I’m much more interested in time travel as a story device: not so much “how can it be made to happen?” as “if it were made to happen, how would that change us?”

As far as paradox goes, the way I see it, there are essentially three distinct possibilities: a) the universe abhors paradox and therefore does not allow time travel to occur (an idea which Hawking seems to espouse in his book); b) the universe is pretty much okay with paradox and perhaps even needs it in order to thrive (an idea I recall first discovering in the short-lived DC/Helix comic book Time Breakers); or c) the universe abhors paradox but allows time travel to occur (an idea I tried to explore, I think unsuccessfully, in this short story a few years ago). Option A renders the whole argument moot; Option B allows for a lot of playful and convoluted weirdness wherein pretty much anything can happen; and Option C, if taken to its logical conclusion, seems to suggest a universe wherein choice and chance and change don’t enter into the equation. A universe in which, for example, you couldn’t go back and prevent the Kennedy assassination because, simply by attempting it, you were ensuring that you’d always gone back in time, had always been there the first time around, had failed to prevent it then and would forever continue to do so. As I wrote in my notes to my story, “Perhaps the Universe does abhor paradox, though, but not time travel; everything is merely a loop, another cycle, reiteration. Possibility is gone. Time travel does not necessarily indicate paradox, I have tried to argue, although we might actually prefer if it did.”

But, as far as “technically feasible” goes, I haven’t got a clue.

3. Describe your favorite Monty Python sketch. What makes it your favorite? That is an exceptionally difficult question. I don’t think I have a single favorite. There are definitely sketches of which I’m more fond than others (I’ve discussed before, at some length, my fondness for the Pepperpots), but it’s all but impossible to choose one in particular. That being said, I do think the “Fish-Slapping Dance” is perhaps their most brilliant bit of physical comedy. As Michael Palin has said, “If all the work I’d ever done was going to be destroyed…I’d rather save the ‘Fish Slapping Dance’.” It’s just so silly and simple, and it makes me happy every time I see it. And I think it’s much better seen (mpg) than described.

4. When you picture yourself thriving, successful, and happy, what job do you have? I am a writer. Most don’t thrive, succeed, or attain happiness. But it’s the only job I’ve ever wanted. If I could do it well enough to make a modest living at it, I’d be happy.

5. Other than in posts about your search referrals, have you ever mentioned Steve Guttenberg on your blog? A quick check with Blogger’s search engine confirms that no, I never have. There are, however, other sections of my website, which the casual reader may be forgiven for missing, since they are rarely, if ever, updated. In particular, my caption gallery is to blame for this one. It contains at least two Guttenberg references: one by someone called saint_marie here and my own “Returning Steve Guttenberg to the wild” here. (I’m not sure where the latter image comes from — maybe Seaquest DSV or some lame Sci-Fi original — but the former is one of many screengrabs from the first season of Farscape, which are always strange to see again, now that I’m become such a big fan of the series and can actually put them in context.)