Interview at The Nebula Awards Site
Posted on March 18, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 7 Comments
Athena and I are both off to the dentist this morning — yes, all father-daughter outings should be so much unalloyed fun — so until I return, here, have an interview of me at the Nebula Awards site, in which I discuss The God Engines and Zoe’s Tale, my Nebula and Norton-nominated works, and also my SFWA presidential candidacy and what it’s like to be a creative consultant for TV. The Nebula Awards site will soon feature interviews with additional nominees from this year, all of whom are fascinating people you want to know more about, so consider bookmarking the site for later visits.
Have fun at the dentist’s office. My son and I are doing a similar outing next Monday. Does your dentist try to sell you stuff like electric toothbrushes and mouthwash? Mine has gotten very commercial over the past few years.
Thanks for doing that interview and linking to it. Don’t worry about “putting that image into [my] head.” I can’t picture it no matter how hard I try. Must be one of those Lovecraftian things.
If you’re getting fillings, the fun may indeed be alloyed.
I always make them turn off the commercials and tell them that as I am paying for my visit, I find it insulting to be marketed to in that fashion. I also hate it when the hygienists make comments in a tone you would expect from a ‘disappointed’ schoolmarm… or ask you if you know how to floss, even though they have asked you the same question on your last 10 visits and you said yes.
My hygienist is about half my age, so she knows better than to take that tone with me. My dentist on the other hand is built like a wrestler so he can use pretty much any tone he wants.
Routine checkups for both of you, or something more serious for either or both of you?
There must be something in the water – probably flouride. I started my week with a visit to the dentist. Clean teeth and a clean bill of health – woot!
He is a gem and a god among tooth care professionals; he is fantastic with nervous patients and thinks guilt and up-selling are, like fear of pain, a cause of dental health problems, in that they make someone less likely to return to him.
When multinationals give him products tooth-care products to on-sell, he either puts them in a bowl on his PAs counter, or makes up little showbags for us, complete with toys; this time, I got a rather nice pen.
We do the father/daughter dentist outings too.
I chose the dentist that I use because I don’t get nagged about brushing/flossing more often.