Featured Interview With Brooke Jones
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Born and raised in and around Manhattan, author, Los Angeles and San Francisco Radio Personality and Political Satirist, Brooke Jones, never liked cold, wet, snowy weather so, at the age of 18, she left New York and moved to…Chicago, where she quickly discovered that NY’s version of cold, wet, snowy weather was downright tropical when compared to what life along the banks of Lake Michigan had to offer in December, or January, or February! (and if that sentence were any longer, it would be on Death Row!)
In the early Summer of 1973, while Richard Nixon and his BFFs were being publicly autopsied for all the world to see (“Must Watch TV”, to be sure!), Ms. Jones went about as far west as the continental US would allow, settling in San Francisco…and a good time was had by all!…until…she died! You can read all about it in her Memoir “WHY ARE THERE MONKEYS? (and other questions for God)”.
After returning to the “Land Of The Living”, Jones migrated south to Los Angeles, where she continued the Radio career she had begun in SF, and started her career as a Political Satirist. Her morning radio show, “Brooke Jones & The Morning Muse” — “Political Satire For The Deeply Twisted” — became a hit! Newspapers wrote about her. Columnists quoted here. Johnny Carson invited her to be a guest of The Tonight Show! (and that’s a story unto itself…but it will have to be told at another time).
After a long and thoroughly annoying battle with Breast Cancer — a battle that cost Jones what she shamelessly refers to as her “Bodacious TaTa’s” (had you known them, you would have called them that yourself!) — she is now Cancer-free (boobless, but Cancer-free).
These days, Jones resides in the Hinterlands of the Pacific Northwest, along with a menagerie of lovely creatures of both the 2-legged and 4-legged persuasion. When she isn’t working on her next book, she’s designing deeply twisted cards for her company, “CardBard Greetings” (available online at THE CARD OUTLET — zazzle.com/thecardoutlet); writing articles for her Blog, “What If?” (whatif.blog); or creating Memes for Camp Meme-A-Day (Facebook.com/@CampMemeaDay), she’s giving interviews about her bizarre Near-Death Experience and the Memoir it inspired, “WHY ARE THERE MONKEYS? (and other questions for God)”.
If you’re interested in learning more about Brooke Jones, the self-proclaimed “Gypsy Crone Queen of Snarklandia”, you’re invited to visit her website, www.WrittenByBrookeJones.com where you’ll find a short video (“HerStory”) about her career in radio; a brief Video/Audio sample of her book; her book’s Trailer, and a few other amusing items. If what you find there doesn’t cause you to run SCREAMING into the night, the author invites you to contact her, via the Contact Form on her website.
Jones donates a portion of EVERY sale (of her CardBard Greeting Cards and her Memoir) to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I began reading at the tender of age 3, and my writing career began shortly thereafter.
During the first week of 5th grade, my class was given an assignment: Choose one author and read everything that author ever wrote. In the final weeks of 5th grade, we received one more assignment: Rewrite the Nursery Rhyme of your choice in the style of the author you chose to read at the beginning of the school year.
I was, what — 10 years old? — and I had chosen to spend 5th grade reading everything ever written by…Edgar Allen Poe. (yes, I was a strange child!) So…I chose to rewrite “Hickory, Dickory, Dock”, in the style of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall Of The House Of Usher”! Okay, yes, I was a very strange child, but I’m not, anymore! No, I’m not, for I am now a very strange adult!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
When I’m not writing, I am a voracious reader. While undergoing Chemotherapy, (for 18 months! Yikes!) I read a minimum of 3 books a week. (Hey, when going through the kind of Chemo they put me through, my daily activities were rather limited — I was either sticking my head in the toilet or in a book. I much preferred the book!)
While I prefer Biographies, History or Historical Novels, I love authors who use language in a way that makes me jealous of their skills, or who can tell a story in a way that makes me unable to stop reading it. You want a few examples? Okay, here are a few: Mark Twain, Sir Terry Prachet, Steven Paul Levia, Tom Robbins, Ray Bradbury, Terrence Newman and Roland Merullo.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“WHY ARE THERE MONKEYS? (and other questions for God)” is the absolutely TRUE, profoundly INSPIRATIONAL, laugh-out-loud FUNNY story of my Near-Death Question and Answer Session with God — and I know it really happened because I was given PROOF that no one could deny! If you think a conversation with God couldn’t possibly be FUNNY, you’re in for a BIG surprise!
The feedback from readers has been AMAZING, and the reviews have been great (the author said, humbly). Here’s just one example: The U.S. Review of Books called it: “HYSTERICALLY WITTY…NOT TO BE MISSED!” (and who am I to disagree?)
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