Mad Cows, Oprah and LIBBA BRAY

Oprah Winfrey: Alright we return with Libba Bray the Author of the new novel “Going Bovine”, no for those of you who have read any of Libba’s previous novels you will notice that there is a complete turnaround in her writing. Not only is this book based in the current times, but it is also written about someone that has a very strange Disease, isn’t that right Libba?
Libba BRAY: yes. He is a cow… well not a cow, like in the British sense of the word, he isn’t fat or ugly, he is just you know crazy, he has mad cow disease.
Big O: So the protagonist of your book, Going Bovine, Cameron Smith has the Human version of Mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, and that is the main conflict in your book Libba?
Libba: Well no, really the main conflict is the scientist that Cameron is trying to stop because a fairy he saw told him he would not die in a couple of weeks and be cured of mad cow disease if he stopped the scientist from destroying the world.
Big O: Now what would the readers need to know, how do you think Cameron’s story relates to them , and the world in general?
Libba: Well Cameron is 16, and most of my readers are of that persuasion also, and the book is written as if it is what is going on in his head. Now since he’s sixteen his head is a crazy mess, so the novel is obviously quite like that and makes no sense at all, except when it does make sense.
Big O: Some people say that you wrote your own version of Catcher in the Rye, that this book is how you see the growth from adolescence into adulthood for teenagers now a days.
Libba: Basically Cameron is going through a quite regular change into adulthood from the insane adolescent years, except he is also dying in a couple weeks, saving the world, and the whole time is having hallucinations and falling farther and farther in to the world of dementia. So, yeah, this is what I feel most teenagers have to put up with, plus he speaks in that weird teenager speak with all the slang thrown in, so it makes even less sense then it would if he spoke normal human speech.
Big O: So this book is set through the eyes and thoughts of Cameron, is that right? And Cameron does he speak just in his thoughts or to the readers.
Libba: Yea I’m pretty big on breaking bounds of reality so Cameron speaks in his thoughts and he talks directly to the reader and to others in the book, he’s not afraid to break the rules of being in a books you know.
Big O: So this is a book very different from the norm, how to you prepare for such a feat Libba?
Libba: Oh had to spend some time with the future of the world, learn their ways and the speech of the next generation, and of course, since Cameron is becoming a mad cow I had to spend some time among their people also.
Big O: Yes I believe we have a video of that, can we pull up a video please?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KloEAoKvBqA