Hey guys, the new book is YOU HAVE TO FUCKING EAT. You can order it here:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Have-F-g-Eat/dp/1617753785/ref=zg_bs_books_65

I also write novels and screenplays, although they don't sell as well as my obscene fake children's literature.

https://twitter.com/reddit_AMA/status/535192753291153408

Comments: 807 • Responses: 53  • Date: 

DinosaurBlingBling2079 karma

Why didn't you say "ASK ME FUCKING ANYTHING!" or "ASK THE FUCK AWAY!" when you posted this????

Adam_Mansbach2450 karma

I absolutely regret not doing that.

DinosaurBlingBling510 karma

Haha, there's always the "regret nullification", errrr, "EDIT" button.

Adam_Mansbach1038 karma

Nah, I'll just give you credit for thinking of it, and keep it moving.

Urytion990 karma

I thought it might make you happy to know that I chose Go The Fuck To Sleep for my senior year English text analysis.

Can you tell us what you're working on now?

Adam_Mansbach1052 karma

And you got away with that shit? Amazing.

Working on a couple of screenplays, one for director Vikram Ghandi, and a couple of middle grades series, one cowritten with Alan Zweibel and the other cowritten with Craig Robinson. And a sequel to THE DEAD RUN will be out early next year.

Urytion733 karma

Hell yeah I got away with it. Two pages of ranting about juxtaposition and evocative imagery. 98% mark.

Adam_Mansbach767 karma

As someone who once successfully claimed that his cameo in "Back to School" constituted a "major work" of Kurt Vonnegut, I respect that.

KimberlyInOhio650 karma

Go the Fuck to Sleep was just fucking beautiful. It was so prettily illustrated and I thought it was fantastic, even before Samuel L Jackson read it. What made you think of it?

Adam_Mansbach979 karma

My daughter was two, and it was really my attempt to honestly render a parent's inner monologue and mash it up with a traditional bedtime book.

No_More_Names584 karma

How did you feel about Samuel L Jackson reading Go the fuck to Sleep?

Adam_Mansbach1393 karma

It's his best work since Pulp Fiction.

TTDTK537 karma

How do you feel about Levar Burton reading your book?

Adam_Mansbach691 karma

I feel incredibly enthusiastic. I grew up on Reading Rainbow.

Doctor-Propane378 karma

When you grill, do you use propane or do you prefer charcoal?

Adam_Mansbach716 karma

That seems like a loaded question, Doctor Propane.

onioning363 karma

It's a trick question. The correct answer is "real fucking wood."

Adam_Mansbach596 karma

backs away slowly

Frajer342 karma

Were you surprised when your book went viral?

Adam_Mansbach590 karma

I've never been more surprised in my life.

Loud_Snort333 karma

I actually used to read Go the Fuck to Sleep to my now three year old when he was smaller and couldn't talk. It put him to sleep many nights. So thank you for that.

Now for a question, how's it going?

Adam_Mansbach250 karma

Haha. I'm good, thanks.

nomadbishop231 karma

Was it difficult to get such famous actors to voice the audio-books, or were they generally excited to do it?

Adam_Mansbach360 karma

They were! We have a great audio publisher, audible.com, but luckily the books seem to be attractive vehicles for heavy hitters like Sam Jackson and Bryan Cranston - which is thrilling for me.

motown_missile207 karma

Any thoughts about writing about potty training? Then not only could you use "fuck" in the title, but also "shit" and "piss". Maybe something like *Shit in the fucking potty" or something?

Adam_Mansbach407 karma

Respectfully, I'll pass.

TheMidstOfThis190 karma

What are some of your favorite words to abuse?

Adam_Mansbach499 karma

Well, I'd like to think that I'm a fairly eloquent user of profanity, but i wouldn't say I abuse it. I do tend to say "word" a little more than is probably necessary, because I'm an 80s hip hop dude.

ravyrn167 karma

Can you write me a haiku for my cake day?

Adam_Mansbach458 karma

happy cake day, dude

you have chosen to spend it

wisely, with some guy

ravyrn75 karma

Beautiful!

Adam_Mansbach123 karma

Had to edit it - there were six in the last line. Now it works.

aidanrt165 karma

Hi Adam, big fan of your outside the box approach!

Did you get many complaints about Go The Fuck To Sleep? And if so, were there any particularly emphatic complaints?

Adam_Mansbach496 karma

Thanks! We got some, but generally they were pretty silly - "I'd never read this book to a child!" Yeah, no shit. What blend of literacy and illiteracy would that take, given that it says "fuck" on the cover and "you probably should not read this to a child on the back?

Some_Annoying_Prick182 karma

You'd be surprised. Enter; anyone who let's television raise their children.

Adam_Mansbach164 karma

Noooooo doubt.

WickedPissahKid155 karma

Do you have anymore books like Go The Fuck To Sleep and You Have To Fucking Eat in the works?

Adam_Mansbach292 karma

Not yet, but we'll see what shenanigans my daughter gets up to in the next few years. I kinda gotta follow her lead.

WickedPissahKid383 karma

Maybe Do Your Fucking Homework?

Adam_Mansbach338 karma

Definite possibility.

GidoStoop110 karma

Do you see using words like fuck in the title of your books as a trademark for you as a writer? And have you gotten many reactions of people who are shocked by your titles?

Adam_Mansbach179 karma

For my obscene fake childrens' books, yes; that's sort of the calling card and also a reflection of the commitment to a no-holds-barred honesty. But titles are important in general, and even my literary titles tend to be fairly provocative.

Yeah, there's been some shock, but most of it is accompanied by laughter. Not all, but most.

tutordesk107 karma

Why are crossbows so cool?

Adam_Mansbach389 karma

Because Chewbacca had one.

blurker82 karma

Did you ever find yourself hearing Samuel Jackson's voice while you were writing the second book? Or to put it another way, did the celebrity involvement in the reading of first book in any way influence the way you wrote or heard the voice of the second book?

Adam_Mansbach94 karma

Interesting question. No, not really - I pretty much just wanted to do justice to the topic and get the tone right. I didn't think about voices for the audiobook until it was finished and I had some distance from it. At which point, Cranston came immediately to mind.

Starknessmonster77 karma

What do you like most about reddit?

Adam_Mansbach180 karma

I like your username most about reddit.

dagaboy66 karma

What is the most embarrassing thing you know about Joe Schloss?

Adam_Mansbach173 karma

That he was born Yosef Schlossberger and Anglicized his name in order to sound less Jewish. Unfortunately, he failed to take it far enough.

Seshiro8664 karma

If you could have one person, famous or otherwise, be the narrator of your life story, who would you choose?

Adam_Mansbach133 karma

I'm partial to Bruce Willis, since I've already burned through Cranston and Jackson on these last two books. He's the voice of my inner monologue, I'm pretty sure.

optkk62 karma

Hi Adam. My wife and I both love Go The Fuck to Sleep and You Have to Fucking Eat.

I'm a stepfather to my wife's kids, as such I missed a lot of the experiences that you talk about in the books, so I find it beneficial to have your books as a doorway to moments in my wife and kids lives. Thank you.

How do you think your daughter will react when she understands that you've written books about your experiences with her? At what age do you plan on talking to her about the books (if she doesn't already know)?

Adam_Mansbach258 karma

Thanks! My daughter is aware of them - she watches the illustrations comes in, and she's pictured on the cover of the new book. She's also aware that the language in them isn't appropriate for her to use, that it's an adult joke even if it looks like a book for kids. In a nutshell, she's way more mature than I am.

ktdow201551 karma

Hi, Adam! What inspired you to write this? It's a hilarious book, I really love it

Adam_Mansbach209 karma

Thanks! My daughter was the inspiration. Big time. Boy, was she inspiring.

that_guy_00742 karma

Hi Adam,

First, I'd like to say thank you for being a great role model and basketball player (I was one of the kids you played with in your recent article about writing Go The Fuck to Sleep)

I'd also like to ask what's next for your writing. I've read your poetry collection and your novels, so I'd love to know what your working on or thinking about.

Finally, what are you listening to currently?

Adam_Mansbach54 karma

Haha. Nice! I assume you're in the NBA now. I'm working on a sequel to the thriller I published last year - it's called THE DEVIL'S BAG MAN. I also have a coulple of screenplays in the works, one for director Vikram Ghandi and the other an adaptation of the children's book THE PUSHCART WAR. And I'm doing 2 middle grades series, one with Craig Robinson and the other with Alan Zweibel.

And I'm listening to Your Old Droog. Heavy.

Cunt_God_JesusNipple33 karma

Well what the fuck should I eat? What's your favourite dinner?

Adam_Mansbach53 karma

I'm partial to a nice eggplant parmigiana.

thesoylentmajority31 karma

How much rage went in to your first book?

Adam_Mansbach106 karma

A pretty decent amount. It took my daughter upwards of 2 hours to fall asleep. You lie there and your night vanishes and you love your kid to death but you're like REALLY? REALLY? I NEED TO TALK TO ANOTHER ADULT!

sam_svo29 karma

How does writing a parody children's book compare to more serious work? Do things like writer's block and frustration still apply?

Adam_Mansbach41 karma

No, because they're written in quick bursts - an hour each for GTFTS and YHTFE, roughly. There's editing afterward, of course, but it's not the same long haul that a novel is, nor the same level complexity or character development.

whiskyirish28 karma

Do you think there's a lot of kids out there trying to use GTFTS for BOOK IT? I'd like to think there are. Personal pan pizzas for all!

Adam_Mansbach32 karma

That is a terrifying and yet hilarious thought.

cooldudeman00725 karma

Have you ever actually read the book to your daughter in an attempt to get her to fall asleep?

Adam_Mansbach112 karma

Not in an attempt to get her to fall asleep, but in an attempt to convey to her why we live in a house rather than a discarded refrigerator carton.

Onlysilverworks19 karma

I bought this for my niece's 2nd birthday, here's a picture of my grandfather reading it intently! Her parents were impressed by how accurately it captured her age! Did the book mirror your experiences of having a child?

http://imgur.com/GQ0aS3N

It got many laughs from the family, thank you!

Adam_Mansbach20 karma

That is awesome.

Adam_Mansbach22 karma

And yes, it certainly does. That's my personal interior monologue.. except more rhymey.

SmittyKY18 karma

Was your book widely accepted or did it take some convincing to get people to think it was a good idea? Thanks for doing this AMA!

Adam_Mansbach34 karma

When it was published, it was widely accepted. Convincing a publisher to take a chance on it was harder, because nothing like it had ever been done, so there was no way to gauge whether anyone but us would find it funny. Luckily, it turned out to be a pretty universal sentiment.

egadz616 karma

How much did the sheer genius of Evan B influence you as a kid and how has it impacted your every day life?

Adam_Mansbach35 karma

I have a shrine to him in my massive wine cellar, right next to the blue Mad Dog 20/20.

leftybanks16 karma

Least favorite "classic" hip-hop album? (Besides the Cypress Hill album of course.)

Adam_Mansbach45 karma

I fux with the first Cypress LP. Hmm. As a grown man who isn't a misgynist, I have no use for Efil4zaggin these days.

bozobozo13 karma

What is your favorite dinosaur?

Also, thanks for making these books! Go the Fuck to sleep was great! Giant pangolins of Madagascar!

Adam_Mansbach54 karma

I tend to favor Megalodon, a prehistorical shark the size of a school bus who some people believe is still alive and prowling the ocean's extreme depths.

FactimusMaximus11 karma

Love both the books. Got plans for a third, if so what subject do you plan on covering?

Adam_Mansbach17 karma

It depends what kind of shit my kid gets into in the next few years. She's six now, so we'll see what the future holds...

shouldbeworking2311 karma

How did you feel when Sam Jackson read your book out loud?

Adam_Mansbach33 karma

I was astounded. It was about 20 minutes before we did a launch event at the Ny Public Library - where I heard Werner Herzog's version for the first time. All in all, a pretty great hour.

ColoradoScoop10 karma

Aside from these books, which of your works are you most proud of?

Adam_Mansbach16 karma

I'm really proud of my novels, especially THE END OF THE JEWS, which is about several generations of a Jewish family of artists, and RAGE IS BACK, which is kind of a magic realist graffiti revenge novel.

Oh, and my daughter. I'm really proud of her.

Tmaffa9 karma

What is your favorite soup?

Adam_Mansbach38 karma

It's hard to beat a really good French Onion. Or a really good matzo ball.

Kathy_with_a_K9 karma

Will there be a sequel to DEAD RUN?

Adam_Mansbach17 karma

Yes! I just finished it. It's called THE DEVIL'S BAG MAN and it will be out early(ish) next year.

[deleted]1 karma

[deleted]

Adam_Mansbach2 karma

I have no idea what that is. How about real gold?

Bigstink4200 karma

[deleted]

Adam_Mansbach7 karma

No, but I'll buy you a can of Old Gold Malt Liquor, if they still make it.

Bigstink4201 karma

Dude why not?

Adam_Mansbach4 karma

because I don't really know what that means, for starters.

Bigstink4201 karma

Well thanks for nothing Mr. Hollywood.

Adam_Mansbach7 karma

Have your people call my people.

Bigstink4204 karma

Let's do brunch K?

Adam_Mansbach7 karma

I'm only eating things that don't cast a shadow these days.

Bigstink4203 karma

A level V vegan I should have known. Only Richard Gere is known to have reached such a state.

Adam_Mansbach4 karma

He's sitting on my couch right now!