Ben Rosenbaum asks the following questions, pursuant to the interview meme discussed here:

1. What is the best thing about having the name "Ben"?

2. What is your plan for fleeing your current life, if you suddenly learned you were pursued by mobsters, the government, evil conspiracies, etc.?

3. What's the best book I may not have heard of?

4. What is the best story you've abandoned?

5. How's Clarion?

To spread the virus, post a comment requesting questions. In any case, here are my answers:

1.A certain quiet but heart-warming certainty of my innate superiority to all non-Ben's.

2.I will retreat to an alternate historical timeline. Based on my readings of historical texts on the topic (“The Man in the High Castle”), I believe this feat can be accomplished by losing myself in contemplation of the Taoist properties of a particularly finely crafted piece of jewelry. Once I am in the other world, of course, I will have to flee to the central Rocky Mountain region, as the only part of the historical United States safe from both German and Japanese control.

3.The best book you've never heard of is a long, untitled scroll written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred to test the ink in the pen he would ultimately use to write the Necronomicon. The scroll contained heart-wrenching and bittersweet poetry, as well as an accurate prediction of every historical development in between the Crusades and the Red Sox victory in the 2004 World Series. The reason you've never heard of it was destroyed centuries ago and all physical evidence of its existence has been eradicated. I am only aware of its existence by means of a personal intuition.

4.The best story I've ever abandoned was called, “The Modern Era: A Jazzpunk Morality Play in Three Acts.” Its central conceit was the underground use of futuristic alien technology in Chicago speak-easies during prohibition.

If that doesn't sound promising, you should see the worst stories I've ever abadoned.

5.Clarion is ocassionally exhausting, frequently exhilerating and more or less constantly entertaining. Nothing quite compares to living with with sixteen very smart and very funny characters who share your interests....or to having your stuff gang-critiqued by them. I could happily do this for years, never mind six weeks.