Author Interview: Chuck Sambuchino

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Find out more about this humorous book or visit any major bookstore to get a copy.

They are here: Little wizened old men who for some inexplainable reason are considered quaint, charming and even cute. My sister has seven INSIDE the house. Is there something more sinister behind this jolly exterior? One of the few brave enough to make an open stand against them, Chuck has written a book to help those of us who may be suffering feelings of inadequacy because we have not fallen under their spell. Read the short interview below with Chuck, and learn more about his crusade against gnomes.

1. Tell us a little about your book.
   
   It’s a humor book called HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK and it will save your life—period. Do I even need to go on? OK, I’ll go on. This book teaches people how to assess, protect and defend against attacks from your average vicious garden gnome (gnomus hortus).


2. Is the subject a hobby or a profession?
   
   Hobby. My full-time job is editing an annual book called the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS (guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog) and helping writers get published. (The new updated 2011 edition of GLA came out in August 2010.) When I have time, I write on the side, and this book is one such project that was fortunate enough to come to life.


3. How did the idea for this book come about?
   
   I was thinking about a movie called THE FULL MONTY (great movie, by the way), and thought about a garden gnome in the movie. Then I started to think about how much I disliked and even feared them, and the words started pouring out onto a page. At some point, it just became a parody of a survival book, and then a lot of material just seemed to flow.


4. Where did your humorous inspiration come from?
   
   The book is a tongue-in-cheek parody, so the goal was always just to take it into ridiculous places. The laughs come from treating something so ridiculous with absolute seriousness. For example, in the book, I give 7 places you can send your garden gnome where it will never return to kill you, and one such suggestion is outer space on a space shuttle.


5. Did you have to learn new things or to relearn things you thought you already knew?
   
   As with any project, it all came down to research. I basically had to research tons of information on general survival skills, then translate it to this ridiculous arena of gnome attacks.


6. How did you prevent your book from spiraling away from its topic?
   
   It did go out on tangents here and there, but my editor was responsible for reining me in. Plus, I didn’t have too much time to waste because of several recent gnome attacks, which I had to fend off with a snow shovel and sledgehammer.


7. What did you have to sacrifice to be where you are?
   
   Good question! I had to sacrifice TV, more than anything. I don’t have cable and don’t want it, because the second I sit down in front of a big high-definition flat screen TV with infinite channels, the only thing I want to do is absolutely nothing. When there’s no TV, I have lots of time to write!


8. Did the process change you, and in what way?
   
   I won’t be completely through the process for several more months, but I am seeing things I’ve never seen before—like how foreign rights are sold, the value of relationships in terms of promotion, how publicity works, and more. I’ve also researched dozens of suspected and confirmed gnome attacks, and all this scary knowledge has opened my eyes to the madness of gnomes. Protect yourself at all costs.


9. If you were given the chance to relive the process, what would you do differently?
   
   Probably nothing, because this whole process has flown by and I haven’t had much time to regret or rethink anything, at this point. The entire process from when I first spoke with my editor to publication was about 10 months, which, in terms of book production, is absolute lightning.


10. Who do you recommend to read this book?
    
    Anybody who wants to stay alive! More specifically than that, I’d say people who have a like or love of gardening have responded very well, and people who like humor books have responded very well, too.

About the Author: