Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Amy Lignor is talking about the book Opry: A Semi-Musical Tale of Honky Tonk Lifestyle, by Simon Plaster.

NOTE: Because Simon Plaster is again under a gag order related to ongoing marital litigation, legal counsel advises that he speak as an anonymous third person.

FQ: Not only is this a great mystery but, as with all your books, your wit keeps a reader both engrossed and having a great deal of fun all at the same time. Does satire come easy to you? Is this a gift - the ability to laugh without coming off as cynical - or is this a learned skill? If so...how the heck do you learn it?

Answer: Plaster has not learned anything about anything since kindergarten, as can be seen by his current studies in wood, in particular his carvings of apples that are usually mistook for radishes.

FQ: What brought you into the writing world?

Answer: With a knife he received on his sixteenth birthday, Simon began carving his name and/or initials on household furniture, tree trunks, a friend's foot, etcetera. At the state reformatory only chalk was allowed, but he carried on with his writing, and later found a pencil in a garbage can.

FQ: I would have to assume you are a country music fan, because you make sure to never "put down," so to speak, the country music and/or honky-tonk lifestyle. If so, do you have a favorite country music star? If there was one you could sit down and speak with, past or present, who would that be and why?

Answer: They're all great, but if he had to pick one, it would be Waylon Jennings, who was a good ol' boy from West Texas and had some lively times, along with John Anderson, Roger Miller, Conway Twitty, George Jones, John Conley and a bunch of others.

FQ: The inspiration for all your plots and characters must come from somewhere. Do you take snippets from the surrounding world or are they really just "out of the blue" thoughts?

Answer: Out of red wine "sippers" would be more like it. Heh, heh.

FQ: Is there a particular genre you would like to write in that you haven't yet explored?

Answer: Plaster would like to explore writing his full name in snow, but the opportunity hardly ever arises in his part of the country, and when it does the wind is usually fierce and cold enough to cause frostbite.

FQ: When it comes to events or even blogs/letters from fans, is there a fan moment that perhaps sticks in your mind that you care to share with readers out there?

Answer: Plaster doesn't have a mailbox, but a moment that sticks in his craw was sight of his soon to be third ex-wife fanning flames in a fireplace kindled by a woodcarving-in-progress of one of his first ex-wive's boobs, that actually did resemble a radish.

FQ: Is Honky Tonk based on a real bar or perhaps a conglomerate of several you have visited? For those of us from other parts of the country, would you share a bit about how these clubs in/around OKC are distinct?

Answer: Most such bars in OKC don't open 'til after dark, so like Maestro Kornhoffer in the book, Plaster has never been inside a honky tonk. He just wanted to make the point that country music is a lot like highbrow opera from overseas, though unlike Kornhoffer, he has never actually seen or heard any longhair music show.

FQ: What comes next? Is there a new mystery headed our way?

Answer: Simon is just now finishing up a new one, titled SPOTS: A Tale of Misfame and Misfortune that is sure to have readers scratching their heads more than usual.

To learn more about Opry: A Semi-Musical Tale of Honky Tonk Lifestyle please read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.