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We guess we should learn this Google thing all the reporters are using for research, since we were practically schooled by today's interview. Editor deluxe John Morgan sets us straight on agents' proper percentage, how deep the geekdom of comics go, and that there is no exit to the labyrinth that is the publishing houses and their imprints. All this and a sentimental shout-out to his #1 love after the jump.

Age: 27. Location: Manhattan. Occupation: Book Editor.

1. Agents. Can't live with them, can't pocket their 10% for yourself. You must receive your own set of submissions, so how hard would it be to "disintermediate" these money-suckers right out of the equation?

Agents charge 15% these days, bucko. At first it was easy for me to hate them and blame them for all my problems, but now I consider them invaluable. They do a lot of the depressing, demoralizing work of weeding out terrible submissions for me. Also, while I hate the phrase "they keep me honest" because it underlines the truth that at heart we're all greedy liars, they're fighting for authors keeps me from feeling like I'm taking advantage of anyone.

2. Seeing how you're a fan of comic books, are you as disgusted as I am about how reverentially they are being treated these days? I thought this stuff was for us cast-offs, left-outs, and forgotten-for-goods.

The "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "Punisher" movie adaptations didn't seem particularly reverential to me. I think most people are still unafraid to use comics as toilet paper, and the comic industry isn't doing much to show them other uses for its product. Do you know that DC has brought back Krypto the Super-Dog? In one of their most high-profile offerings lately, "Batman: Hush" by Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb, Krypto plays an important role. This is a dog who flies and wears a cape. Only the geekiest of geeky fanboys will thrill to the part where Krypto swoops in to save Batman's ass. Most good comics, like "X-Statix" and "Stray Bullets," are still poorly selling and poorly sold, and McSweeney's deification of Chris Ware isn't going to change that. I'm only a little ashamed to say that I love it when fanboys actually get into positions of power and make movies like "Hellboy" and "Spider-Man 2"; if that brings about some insincere and fleeting praise of comics from highbrow media outlets, I'm OK with that.

3. Having never seen "The Amazing Race" I can only imagine it consists of paranormal psychics chasing The Amazing Randy through the back halls of third-rate Atlantic City casinos. How close am I, and if I'm off, what's the appeal with the show, because I doubt it's as good as the show I am imagining?

I'm an obsessive person, which enables me to read and line-edit the same book three times. I frequently become obsessed with reality TV shows of questionable quality for a season or so, and "The Amazing Race" has taken the spot in my schedule previously reserved for "Celebrity Mole: Hawaii" and "Newlyweds." But this one has real quality! Teams of two people who often secretly hate each other go to beautifully photographed places and then argue about which one of them has to eat bugs. I can't help but love it. Although I'm not familiar with the work of The Amazing Randy, so maybe your show would be even better.

4. Please humor me and rename the big three publishing houses something that helps me differentiate them from each other. No matter how long I study these dang family trees, I can never remember which patriarch owns which house.

If I could keep track of which publisher owns which imprint, I'd be running this industry. Renaming all the little bits of the hydra-like publishing monoliths so they follow some kind of pattern would be more helpful, and I'll happily do that for you when I have nothing more interesting going on for three days in a row. Penguin Group imprints are supposedly all named after birds, which has resulted in one of our science fiction lines being named "Roc" after the imaginary monster avians from Sinbad and our new edgy young adult imprint being called "Razorbill." But we also have new imprints like "Chamberlain Brothers" and "Gotham Books," so I don't know what to tell you.

5. When done correctly, science fiction writing can be some of the most out-there, avant-garde and exciting writing there is. Or at least I'm told that. Since you're an expert on the subject of sci-fi and all things fictional, what are your thoughts on newspapers' recent spate of questionable fact-checking?

If you're referencing all the recent apologizing and hand-wringing from the New York Times, Washington Post, etc., about how they reprinted Bush's lies about weapons of mass destruction without critically examining them, the parallels to "1984" have been so obvious for so long they've become cliches. Newspapers seem to be increasingly obsolete in the face of the internet, which is something the science fiction of my youth has prepped me for. It's also prepped me for what I'm now sure is my eventual fate: becoming a corporate drone who lives and sleeps under constant surveillance from villainous computer programs while eating pellet food and using talking toilets that are smarter and more interesting than I am.

Top 5: Instead of naming my actual top 5, which are goofy, sentimental things that tell no one anything new, like that my number #1 is my boyfried Dan and my #2 is my iBook, here are the top 5 things I wish everyone else liked as much as I do:

1. Slate. It's my favorite magazine and is often very well-written, with blissfully short articles and political views so in line with my own that I now happily think whatever its editors tell me to.
2. City of Heroes. The only point my boyfriend has ever scored in our Mac vs. PC debate, this game lets me pretend to be a superhero and socialize with other people all over the globe who are pretending to be superheroes, thereby removing any reason to leave our apartment.
3. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. Still a great book, and also still in print.
4. Castle in the Sky, by Hayao Miyazaki. Just as good as Princess Monoke, and more accessible.
5. Plastic Man by Kyle Baker. Wonderfully ridiculous. And, of course, selling poorly.

Andrew Krucoff and Chris Gage conduct a daily interview for Gawker.