The Liebster Blog Award

I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by Christina from Ensconced in YA.  I'm going to try and not screw this up too much.
Ensconced in YA

The Rules (as I understand them):

1.  Never talk about Liebster Blog Award (scratch that, wrong rule list)
2.  Post 11 facts about yourself.
3.  Answer the 11 questions that the bloggers give you.
4.  Tag 11 other bloggers that have under 200 followers.
5.  Tell these bloggers that you tagged them.

11 Facts About Myself

1.    I am a YA author who has written two books, The Buried Covenant and The Intern’s Tale.

2.    I am the husband of one, father of two, and whatever you call being the manservant of two dogs.

3.    I’ve owned five Ford Mustangs in a row, all different colors.

4.    I co-owned a teacher supply and toy store with my wife for five years.

5.    I forcefully borrowed (permanently) a frog made out of shells from a kid when I was about seven (this is turning into confessional).

6.    I buy dying plants on clearance at Lowes and nurse them back to health, so yeah, I’m kind of a hero.

7.    My third book is about sexting and I’m not sure my wife is up to the research that’s going to have to go into that.

8.    I’ve never chewed gum.

9.    I fell down running really fast as a kid and now I don’t run that hard anymore.

10.  I forgot that running lesson once as a teen and fell down with a girl on my back.  Sufficiently emotionally scarred, now I really don’t do that.

11.  I consider eleven item lists to be one item too long.

Ensconced in YA Questions:

1.  What is your favorite movie?  I signed something when I was four that requires me to always answer “Star Wars”.  It hooked me young and made a huge impression on me.  If I could get around the contract (close your ears, George), I think The Dark Knight is just about the most perfect movie made. 

2.  What is your favorite genre within YA?  I’ll throw dystopian out there.  It’s a good format for asking big questions.  You can also have elements of the other genres tucked into a good dystopian.

3.  Do you have any dogs?  What kinds?  Two dogs.  One is a dachshund.  The other one is result of a love orgy between a dachshund, a chihuahua, and maybe a terrier.  Whatever you want, he’s got it.

4.  What book are you currently reading?   I’m stuck under the shadow of the Lonely Mountain with thirteen worthless dwarfs and one overly accommodating Hobbit. 

5.  What is your current obsession?  I’m really excited about the new Spider-man movie coming out.  I’m as giddy as a school boy (what, school boys can’t get excited about stuff?)

6.  What is your favorite food?  I’m always up for Mexican, but you can actually lure me into a blacked-out van with sweet potato casserole.  I didn’t discover it until I was an adult and I’m making up for lost time!

7.  Who is your favorite Harry Potter Character?  I’ll go with Dumbledore.  I love it when characters have more information than the readers do.  I thought Dumbledore always played it so cool.  He also got to go to work in a robe.

8.  If you could have a superpower what would it be and why?  I want all of Spider-man’s powers.  How’s that for greedy?  I’ve already done all the heavy lifting of imagining I was Spider-man as a kid.  Just give me the powers, I’ll figure out the web-shooters and the costume on my own.  I’m ready!
9.  Who wins: Twilight vs. Hunger Games?  I imagine this would be a pretty dull fight, two stacks of books just sitting in a field, people waiting for something to happen.

10.   What do you like the most about blogging?  So far, I’m really entertained when I start a blog entry thinking it will be about one thing and then it totally goes another way.  I usually learn a lesson about myself from writing my own blog posts.

11.  Who is your favorite evil character?  The Wicked Witch of the West.  She struck fear into my heart at an impressionable age, so she gets the top billing.  “A little fire, scarecrow?”  What was she thinking?  He was made of straw!

Blogs I have tagged:

Bookerella Reviews
Now Is Gone
Mallory Heart Reviews
Wrathsqueen's Books
Sated Faery
Tsk, Tsk, What to Read?
Oh, For the Love of Books
Spirit of Books
Teeny Reader
Bound to Astound
Tracy Rozzlynn's Blog

Questions for the Tagged Blogs:

11 Questions

1.  What was the first book that made a lasting impression on you?

2.  What was the most recent book that made a lasting impression on you?

3.  Have you ever slammed a book closed and thrown it across the room like in The Never Ending Story?

4.  Do you think trees are secretly behind the growing popularity of e-books?

5.  What’s in my pocket?

6.  What author do you suspect is in the business just for the groupies?

7.  If Edward were tragically the Creature from the Black Lagoon instead of a vampire, do you think Jacob would have had a shot?

8.  Are you past the point of having to look words up in the dictionary when you’re reading a book?

9.  Why do bookmarks have tassels on them? 

10.  I have a really mean looking cat with your address here who wants to know “Are you a cat or dog person?”  Answer carefully.

11.  What’s your favorite time of day for curling up with a good book?

I really enjoyed participating in this little contest.  Hope my tagged blogsters get in on the fun!