Anniversary Trivia #2

This is a clue from the author:

Q:  You live in the northwest, where there are volcanoes.  Which one's your favorite?

A:  Mt. Rainier!  It towers over the whole Seattle area and I've grown up seeing it in the distance.  It's dormant right now, but I like to think it would have to come out of retirement and take up volcanoing again if, like, aliens came and it had to defend the planet.

A perfect balance of snark, sincerity, and your typical adolescent male stupidity; (redacted) will charm you into falling for his screwed-up ways. I took a kind of perverse pleasure in liking an irreverent character so much: it's not every author who can make readers like an obnoxious, mouthy, and crass protagonist! -- Steph Su