Stuff
James Marcus Bach: A Self Portrait
James Marcus Bach Revealed
About James Marcus Bach
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. I fight bullies. I question boundaries. Eight words? Nine!!
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Testers Light The Way
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. Perfect happiness means knowing that what I am now, where I am and what I'm doing now, and what I'm about to do, are all as they should be, and furthermore that the people I love also love me. I have felt that way a few times in my life.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. Not being able to protect the people I love.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. With a survey team on the nearest Earth-like planet, or else wandering on the campus of MIT. One of those. Assuming I can teleport back home at will...
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Lawrence of Arabia. He was an intellectual and a warrior, both.
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Among people outside my family, that would be Adam Savage, host of Mythbusters
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. Cool!
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. I regret not quitting school at an earlier age.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. The ability to see in total darkness, breathe water, and tolerate the crushing pressures at the bottom of the sea.
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. I hope never to know that in my lifetime.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Complete lack of self-discipline
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. I fight bullies and protect the weak. (Unless the weak are doing the bullying, in which case they're going down)
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. Tom Bombadil
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. I talk a lot.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Cyrano De Bergerac, swordsman and poet
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Javert, in Les Miserables, because he was ethical
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. Winston Churchill "Mr. Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, you're going to regret building battleships that depend on fuel oil from the Middle East. Also, can I talk to you about something we in the future call 'global warming'?"
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. The loss of gender identity in our society
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Speaking to a crowd
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Senior federal UFO field investigator
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Empathy, Courage, Wit
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Spaghetti
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. I don't listen to music very much
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Richard Bach, Anne McCaffery, Robin Hobb, Brandon Sadnerson, George R. R. Martin, Tolkein, Ayn Rand
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. The Lord of the Rings, The White Dragon, The War for the Lot, Master and Commander (the whole series), Atlas Shrugged
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. Lord of the Rings
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Read "Writer Ferrets: Chasing the Muse"
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. "Did that really happen?"
- Q. How did you come to write Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar?
- A. My father asked me to write a book about school right after I dropped out of school, in 1982. He renewed his request every year or so, since that time. I tried to write it, several times, but what finally made it click is getting 26 years of additional experience learning and living. I had to develop my system of self-education, and test it, before I could feel good talking about it in a book.
