Five on Friday - GREGG HURWITZ

I have been so excited for this Five on Friday to come. It is my goal for the whole world to know this exceptionally talented writer. I wish I could personally introduce him to you all.

I've told this story before, so please forgive me if you've already heard it. I love my library, but I can't really go very often to just browse. It's nothing to do with the time factor, it's the fact that I end up finding about 15 books I want to read and I never have enough time in the borrowing period to finish reading all of them. It's like a mean tease. Right? So what I do is request what I want online and then go in and pick it up from the front desk. I was doing that one afternoon after work and there was a long line of people. So, me being the ADD individual that I am, I'm fidgeting in line, looking all over the place and behind me is the shelf of new releases. I try NOT to look at the shelf because of the aforementioned reason, but there's this book just begging for my attention. I mean THE CRIME WRITER in big letters down the spine was screaming at me to pull it out. The rest, as they say, is history...

I've been extremely fortunate in that I have been able to meet Gregg Hurwitz in person. And I'm sure those of you who have met your heroes have been secretly a tad bit scared that they won't live up to your expectations. Ever meet one of them and he/she was a real jerk? That didn't happen with Gregg. Not at all. He's funny and generous and kind...and he's a born story teller. He has so many talents and gifts, but he was meant to be a story teller. He can take the most trivial, mundane situation and turn it into an exciting caper or a side-splitting comedy of errors or a heart-wrenching drama...most of the time it's a combination of everything. And he can do it in 140 characters or less. Have you ever seen his tweets? Then you know what I'm talking about!

I think I got a little off course here, so let me veer back. There isn't a lot in the realm of writing that Gregg hasn't done: he's written novels, comics, screenplays, etc. And I'll be damned if he doesn't do it all in spectacular fashion. Gregg tends to live in spectacular fashion, too, and I think you're going to enjoy these responses:

1. The TV show I absolutely can’t miss is The Walking Dead. Because nothing says entertainment like brain-eating zombies. I love the way the show depicts how the horrific situation works on characters and their relationships. Plus, I watch with Christopher Rice and I like how he screams a lot with abject terror.

2. If I could sit next to anyone (not related to me) on a cross-country flight, it would be Sergey Bubka, the great Soviet pole vaulter. He was my hero growing up. Whereas normal kids had up posters of Jordan in their bedrooms, I had one of Bubka.

3. Happiness is: Dog at my feet, midway through a great novel, the smell of my wife’s cooking wafting upstairs with the kids’ laughter, stack of comics bedside, and a full season of Friday Night Lights in the Netflix queue.

4. The fictional character that most reflects my personality is Animal from the Muppets.

5. The #1 item on my bucket list right now is Trapeze lessons (seriously—I’ve prepaid but haven’t gotten there).

See? Spectacular. I mentioned that THE CRIME WRITER started me on the road to the Gregg Hurwitz fan club. Last year I was completely convinced that he had hit the epitome of his talent. YOU'RE NEXT knocked my socks off. I now know not to underestimate this guy. THE SURVIVOR comes out on Tuesday; reading it I realized Gregg Hurwitz has only just begun. 

I hope that if you have not already done so, you'll check out his work. Be sure to let me know what you think! If you're already a Hurwitz fan, I can assure you, you won't be disappointed in him with THE SURVIVOR. Be sure to check out Gregg's website, his Facebook page and his Twitter feed. Gregg tolerated my unending questions in this interview. And despite my atrocious video skills here, Gregg had some very insightful responses to my questions. If you get a chance to see him, please go say "hi." Be sure to say "hi" from me. I was trying to figure out how to justify a trip to Hawaii when he tours there this year. Yeah, that's not happening, though.

Happy Friday, everyone! And Happy Reading!