Daniel Wallace
Daniel Wallace is author of five novels, including Big Fish (1998), Ray in Reverse (2000), The Watermelon King (2003), Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician (2007), and most recently The Kings and Queens of Roam (2013).
He has written one book for children, Elynora, and in 2008 it was published in Italy, with illustrations by Daniela Tordi. O Great Rosenfeld!, the only book both written and illustrated by the author, has been released in France and Korea and is forthcoming in Italy, but there are not, at this writing, any plans for an American edition.
His work has been published in over two dozen languages, and his stories, novels and non-fiction essays are taught in high schools and colleges throughout this country. His illustrations have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Italian Vanity Fair, and many other magazines and books, including Pep Talks, Warnings, and Screeds: Indispensible Wisdom and Cautionary Advice for Writers, by George Singleton, and Adventures in Pen Land: One Writer's Journey from Inklings to Ink, by Marianne Gingher. Big Fish was made into a motion picture of the same name by Tim Burton in 2003, a film in which the author plays the part of a professor at Auburn University.
He is in fact the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English, and director of the Creative Writing Program, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his alma mater (Class of '08). He lives with his wife, Laura Kellison Wallace, in Chapel Hill. More information about him, his writing, and his illustrations can be found at www.danielwallace.org and www.ogreatrosenfeld.org.
“Mine was a crazy dream- but what dream isn't crazy? Can a dream be a dream and be sensible? No. A sensible dream is a plan. Men like us dream, and our dreams come true because we believe in ourselves.”
“They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that’s true. What they don’t tell you is that when it starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up.”
“You’re not necessarily supposed to believe it…You’re just supposed to believe in it.”
“In the land of the dying, sentences go unfinished, you know how they're going to end.”
“This is what is meant by last words: they are keys to unlock the afterlife. They're not last words but passwords, and as soon as they're spoken you can go.”
“There are those rare people who function like human magnets, who are individually so attractive – or repellent, depending on the situation – that a considerable amount more seems to happen to them, and likewise, their presence in a certain place makes more seem to happen around them. They’re magical people. They have special power.”
“The ending is always a surprise.”
“It would be better for us to have some doubts in an honest pursuit of truth, than it would be for us to be certain about something that was not true. ”
“People were so cheap there... they ate beans to save on bubble bath.”
“Remembering a man's stories makes him immortal.”
“Dreams are what keep a man going.”
“When a man's stories are remembered, then he is immortal.”