M.T. Anderson: Hi, my name is M. T. Anderson. Why do I go by M. T.? The answer is really that I decided when I was 24 or 25 and I was about to have my first book published that I really, really wanted to be able to disavow my work at any time. Really if I worked at a party and someone said, "Is this your book," I wanted to be able to say, "No. No, I have no idea. It must be a different Anderson." As a result, even though I usually go by my middle name, which is Toben, I decided to go by M. T. Anderson. Also, because my first book was the vampire novel called Thirsty. I like the fact that it was Thirsty by M. T.