Rick Kleffel is a book reviewer and broadcaster for National Public Radio, whose work has been heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and other nationally syndicated programs.  He’s written for The San Francisco Chronicle and the British Publication Interzone.  His weekly hour-long radio show of author interviews from NPR affiliate KUSP is called The Agony Column.  Below, Kleffel told us a bit more about himself before taking the stage to interview Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Saturday?

A. At my desk, working on my website in my room surrounded by books.

Q. What do you do to clear your mind?

A. I watch the stupidest TV show I can find, maybe “River Monsters,” or I take my dog down to the beach.

Q. What is the last thing that inspired you?

A. The last book I’ve read, always. In this case it’s Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Prince of Mist. It’s inspired me to think of the great ghost stories I’ve read throughout the years and how they’re always stories within stories.

Q. What music have you listened to today?

A. None, actually, though had I listened to music it would have been Hans-Joachim Roedelius.

Q. What do you wake up to in the mornings?

A. Darkness. I wake up between 3 and 3:30 a.m.

Q. When do you feel most creative?

A. Somewhere in between reading, writing, running — it happens between things, when I’m transitioning from one state to another.

Q. What is your favorite word?

A. Peculiar.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A. A writer.

Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?

A. Home.

Q. What is your most prized material possession?

A. A limited edition of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, which was the book that led me down the garden path of doing what I do today.

Q. What is the last habit you tried to kick?

A. Starting questions with um.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. The food I buy. I buy it fresh every day and I’ll take four hours to make dinner.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?

A. Stanis?aw Lem, a Polish science fiction writer. He was a fascinating man who wrote wonderful things and had a fantastic view of the world. I’d really like to pry his mind and talk about how he came to these conclusions.

To read about Kleffel’s interview with Zafon, click here.

*Photo by Aaron Salcido.