CHRISTMAS ADVENT SPECTACULAR #19: Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan - INTERVIEW + GIVEAWAY

Don't get caught by Kurt Dinan

GENRE: YA Contemporary

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Max Cobb is sick of being “Just Max”—the kind of guy whose resume boasts a measly 2.5 GPA and a deep love of heist films. So when an invitation appears in his locker to join the anonymous, untraceable, epic prank-pulling Chaos Club, Max jumps at the opportunity.

Except that the invite is really a setup, and Max, plus the four other misfits who received similar invitations, are apprehended by school security for defacing the water tower. Max has finally had enough. It’s time for payback. Time to unmask Chaos. Let the prank war begin.

INTERVIEW WITH KURT DINAN

1) What's the biggest prank you have pulled?

My college, Ohio University, used to have an annual event called Spring Fest that was canceled due to years of poor attendance.  We decided to "revive" the festival by printing flyers for Spring Fest that said the B-52's, they of "Love Shack" fame and at the time a hugely popular band, would be performing.  The flyers looked awesome, and our plan would have worked perfectly if we hadn't made one mistake when putting them up all over campus--we did it late at night.  On the list of suspicious behaviors to a cop, students skulking around in the dark, putting up flyers on light posts, building windows and doors, and on statues is probably pretty much near the top.  So we got busted, and told we had to go take down all of the flyers we put up, otherwise we would be charged with some sort of ticky-tack "crime."  We thought we took all of them down, and that our prank had failed, but two weeks later while standing in line for Jay Leno tickets (yet another hugely popular performer at the time), a spokesperson for the campus entertainment committee came out and made an announcement that, "No, the B-52's are not performing here.  Someone put those flyers up as a bad joke."  There were groans throughout the crowd.  Vindication!

2) The cover for Don't get caught is fabulous. Do you think covers are important or should you never judge a book by its cover?

Yeah, I love my cover, too!  I'm so glad other people are excited about it, as well, because I think covers are incredibly important.  I can't speak for anyone else, and maybe this is shallow of me, but I tend to grab books with covers that jump out at me, or with titles that interest me.  It's the first impression you have of the book, so I think it's vital.  The crew in charge of designing my cover and the pages of the book did an amazing job.

3) Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I didn't come into writing until my early 30's when I took a class as part of my Masters' degree.  People were writing a lot of very personal, very revealing narratives, and I'm pretty boring, so I didn't have anything interesting in my life to write about.   Instead, I decided to write a short story--a Stephen King knock-off that was terrible in retrospect--and the process awakened something in me. I fell in with a good crowd of writers after that, other short story writers, who motivated me to continue.

4) Why did you chose to write a YA novel?

Having taught in a public high school for over twenty years I think I understand teenagers pretty well.  And even though I'm...errrr, older...I still remember my teenage self pretty well, too.  Put those two things together, and it's just sort of a natural fit.  But more importantly, as an English teacher, I want all teenagers reading more.  The most common complaint I hear from my students on why they don't read is because it's: A. boring, and B. too time consuming.  So I decided to write a book that reads super fast, and where a lot of things happen, specifically to give those students something they'll look forward to reading.  :)

5) What books are on your Christmas wishlist for this year?

Oh man, okay: Andrew Smith's Stand Off, Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Overture; Josh Lieb's Ratscalibur; and anything by Sarah Vowell, but I probably want those on audio.  Actually, the Lawson book on audio, too.  Both are such great readers.

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