The Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe: Mark Frost

Welcome back to The Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe, a recurring series here on Tor.com featuring some of our favorite science fiction and fantasy authors, artists, and others!

Today we’re joined by Mark Frost, author of YA series The Paladin Prophecy. Alliance, the second book in the series, is available now from Random House! Mark studied directing and playwriting at Carnegie Mellon University before partnering with David Lynch to create and executive-produce the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks. He cowrote the screenplays for the films Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous books, including The List of Seven, The Second Objective, The Greatest Game Ever Played, and The Match.

Join us as we cover subjects ranging from the Beatles to the Bard, and more!

Please relate one fact about yourself that has never appeared anywhere else in print or on the Internet.

I do impressions, including an excellent Marlon Brando, a decent Jack Nicholson, and once while on vacation in Hawaii I turned into a surprisingly convincing Robert Mitchum for an entire evening.

If you could choose your own personal theme music/song to play every time you enter a room, what would you pick?

“Here Comes the Sun.” Because, honestly, aside from vampires and some teenagers, who isn’t happy to see the sun?

Bad news: You’re about to be marooned alone on a desert island—name the five things you would bring along.

My Kindle, with every book ever written on it. My iPod, with every song ever recorded on it. A fully stocked refrigerator with an ice maker. A two-way shortwave radio, so I can call for help (you didn’t stipulate how LONG I had to be marooned). And enough solar cells to power all of the above indefinitely. Maybe that’s cheating.

What D&D character alignment best describes you first thing in the morning?

Lawful Good, because I always do my work, first thing, every morning, without fail, rain or sun, in sickness and in health. Because idle hands, etc, and the early bird and so on, and that’s just how the old school rolls.

If you could find one previously undiscovered book by a non-living author, who would it be? Why?

A play by Shakespeare. Because, let’s face it, Shakespeare did more to teach us about being human than any author who ever lived. And that’s ultimately our job, as writers; to help us discover who we are. So, who knows, as a public service alone, another play by Shakespeare might just increase our self-knowledge to critical mass and pull us back from the brink.