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What happens when the darkness you experience becomes the monsters you create?
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For horror author and indie comic creator Danny Sankezi, storytelling began as an escape and eventually became a way to transform fear into something extraordinary.
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And here's an interesting twist.
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Danny says her family tree connects her to literary legends, including Edgar Allan Poe.
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Tonight, we explore the darkness behind her vampire graphic novel, Blood of the Forsaken.
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Danny, welcome to the Mirror Room.
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Hi Danny, welcome to the Mirror Room.
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Are you ready to face your reflection tonight?
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Ready as I'll ever be.
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I hope so.
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I do have some interesting questions for you.
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But before we begin, let me remind our house guests about the mirror room.
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The mirror room isn't about jump scares, it's about reflection.
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It's where we step back from the finish work and explore the experiences, fears, inspirations, and defining moments that shape the person behind the stories.
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So, Danny, my first question to you is that you told me when you were growing up, books gave you enormous worlds to disappear into when your own world could sometimes feel very small.
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Do you remember when reading stopped being just an escape for you and you realized that you could build a world yourself?
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I do.
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I was around 11 years old, and I started carrying around this very small spiral Lisa Frank notebook with me.
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I had discovered comic books while growing up in Shriner's Hospital for Children, and they gave me that escape to escape my reality.
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And I would, you know, draw those characters and, you know, make my own little fan stories of Gambit and Rogue and Wonder Woman.
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And eventually I started creating my own.
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And around the time I was 11 years old, I had completely branched off into my own original stories, completely separate from anything I had ever read before.
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And it was that first story, that first little notebook, that I realized that I not necessarily that I have, oh, look, I have this ability, but that there's something I can do that I could learn to do it, that I wanted.
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I wanted to learn to do it.
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And the first one that I did write was a horror story.
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And it was about the daughter of the devil.
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Very interesting take.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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And can you tell us a little bit about that story?
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I didn't get very, I didn't get very far in it.
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I, you know, those those first stories were just basically experimentation.
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Just to see, you know, kind of dipping my toes in, testing the boundaries of my creativity, what I was into, who I was as as a writer.
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And that one, it was not so much as an origin story as she already existed in this world, and she was out to conquer it.
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Wow.
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And she didn't exactly have a very original name, Divial Spawn.
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That's a that's a very, very cool name.
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Divial Spawn.
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I love it.
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Did you find yourself because you're in the children's hospital and you're going through treatment and everything else?
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And then it turns out that helped you start at writing horror stories.
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So I couldn't, I can't imagine, but being in a hospital can be very isolating.
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Did you find that writing horror was even more isolating when you told people what you were writing?
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Or was it just a comfort to you at the time?
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And you at the time at such a young age, you didn't care what people think, and it just helped you get through a lot of things.
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I don't really, I don't really recall ever really telling anyone that I was writing horror.
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I don't think I did back then.
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It but it was something for myself.
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It was fun.
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It was an outlet.
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It was very fulfilling.
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It I think it did give me kind of a sense of peace, definitely an outlet.
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Uh, aside from the massive amounts of, we'll say, surgical trauma that I was going through, because there was a lot of orthopedic experimental surgery that I went through back in the 80s and 90s, I I had a rather difficult childhood, as, you know, on top of that.
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So, you know, I I would hazard to say there was, you know, a lot of frustration and anger and, you know, unresolved emotional stuff going on.
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So being able to write horror or explore writing horror on my own was a a release, a way to let a lot of that go in a healthy way without, you know, letting that build up and, you know, doing something unhealthy.
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Right.
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And that's and that's very comforting to
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hear that, you know, you transition it into a very creative outlet.
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So you spent part of your childhood going through surgeries and medical treatment, and you became an amputee, right, as a teenager.
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So when you create monsters, and when you create monsters now, has living in a body that other people may have perceived as different affected the way you create monsters in your work?
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That is a really good question.
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And thank you.
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Absolutely.
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The mirror room loves to ask provoking questions.
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And I no one has ever asked me that before.
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And I'm glad you did, because no one's ever asked me that before.
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Because absolutely, I do believe that my perspective will say, and that my dealing with chronic pain and dealing with, you know, I'll say for many years, many years, not just in my my youth, but I felt like I was born in the wrong body.
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And I know a lot of people who are not disabled can relate to that.
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But I definitely felt like I was born in the wrong body.
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I was born in this broken body because it's not just the amputation that I deal with.
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My skeleton is like five sizes too small and fragile and all this other stuff.
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So there's there's that layer to it, and there's the constant pain, and then there's phantom pains, which come in many different shapes and sizes and flavors, and that gives me this very I don't want to keep saying unique perspective, but I see things creatively, I'll say.
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Like when you are in that head space between consciousness and you know, you're falling, you're drifting off to sleep, and you're aware of what's going on, but you're not fully controlling it.
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Your mind is just kind of drifting, you're starting to dream, things are getting weird, you know, but you're allowing it to happen.
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That's when I start to see things rather, rather creatively.
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And I feel like that is where my subconscious translates the things that I'm experiencing into these very wild creative ideas like monsters or like monster hunters or just abstract uh things, you know, odd connections.
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We have a story that comes out down the road where a character's phantom pains become a a sort of superpower.
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It has a purpose.
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It's something that becomes useful.
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But I I've I like the idea.
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And I a writer's a writer's most formidable weapon is their lived experience.
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That is that is your your tool that allows you to write with empathy and reach readers from all over, and not just reach these other readers, but uh you can help other readers who in no way have ever ever experienced what you have or what this person has.
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Right.
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You can somewhat educate them, or they can experience it through this character by writing with empathy.
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So that lived experience helps do that.
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And with mine and connecting it with these crazy monsters and these wild stories I tell, in some ways, people don't realize that's what's happening.
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They are learning about these things through this strange, empathetic connection.
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I don't know if that made any sense whatsoever.
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No, it did.
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It did make sense.
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And it's a very creative way to create your monsters, uh, shall I say?
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And that reminds me like your vampire.
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So they aren't seductive, glamorous vampires that we see in the movies and things like that.
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They're physically monstrous.
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So was there something you wanted to reclaim or maybe reject about what the vampire has become in popular culture?
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Yes.
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I am a huge fan of Anne Rice.
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I always have been, um, since I was probably far too young to read Anne Rice.
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I will blame my mother for that one.
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Um or thank her.
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Or what?
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Did she not encourage you to read it?
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Or no, she did, but I was way too young to be reading that.
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But I also I'd had my my first amputation at 14.
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I had just started high school.
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And listen, this is I had there was no internet.
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Like that was not common in households in 1994, but we had an extensive library, especially an extensive horror library.
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And I was a very big fan of vampires, thanks to Mr.
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Christopher Pike.
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Yes.
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And uh love him.
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The last vampire series is dope.
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So he started reading the Interview with the Vampire books, and I tore through Interview the Vampire in day one, like devoured it and moved on to the next.
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What I understood at a very young age that I feel a lot of people have misinterpreted To this day, is it is not about romance at all.
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Anne
Rice's vampires are about us.
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They are about the shadow self.
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They're about the darker side, they are a mirror darkly related to the human psyche and you know, your the the darker impulses and urges of of humanity.
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And uh from that moment on, I you know, I've I've always been that type of person that when I fall in love with something, I have to know everything about it.
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And I started researching vampire mythology, vampire lore, and lo and behold, that is exactly what vampire mythology is.
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Wow.
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It is something that ex that was used to explain the darker side of the human psyche, and of course, weird stuff that happened to human corpses after they started to decompose.
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Right.
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So that is something I've always loved about it, that okay, this is fascinating.
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This is this is something I I can really, really sink my teeth into, pun intended.
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But it it really got glomed onto in the wrong way.
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And, you know, like, oh, but this is why I like bad boys.
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I'm like, no, this is why you shouldn't like bad boys, ding dong.
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Like that's right, opposite direction.
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And then Twilight came out, and first of all, the writing is just terrible.
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You hear me, lady, Stephanie Meyer?
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The writing is awful.
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And it's just come on, sparkly, twinkly vampires who just go to high school perpetually.
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Yeah, I I love the Twilight uh movies.
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I just didn't get the whole sparkly in Seattle thing.
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Uh yeah, I didn't get that, but yeah, yeah.
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My my youngest daughter, who's 18, you know, if you're gonna rebel in this household, that's probably the way to go.
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Is she left Twilight?
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She's been to Forks.
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You know, she's the location.
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You know, she's been there.
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She brought Twilight paraphernalia into my home.
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So she's a blasphemer.
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Um that's so do you so do you believe in um going back to myth the mythology of vampires and everything?
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Um, there are conspiracy theories out there that uh there are vampires, actual vampires walking among us, and we don't know it.
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Do you actually have you ever heard of that?
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And do you believe in that?
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And if so, was there anything, was there, would there be any superpower you would take from a vampire?
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For me, it would be to live forever.
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I would love that.
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Cause I could.
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Um, yeah.
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I'd I'd love to, you gotta be careful with that wish, because in Greek mythology, you know, she asks Zeus, please let my lover live forever.
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He's like, okay.
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And he does, but she forgets to ask for eternal youth.
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Okay, good point.
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I forgot about that.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And she ends up having to turn him into a cricket.
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Yeah.
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So I would love to be young and hot forever and not have to have my skeleton.
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Like, can I have all my bits and bobs?
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Because I would hate to have to keep getting prosthetics every three years for eternity.
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Like, no, thanks.
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That would not be enjoyable.
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Right.
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Um, but I my husband would have something to say about like real vampires out there.
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He's he's probably more the one to talk about that.
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He'd probably be like, probably, like, there's probably something.
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I'm more of the mind where it's like, I think there's more of like energy vampires because I have met some energy vampires out there where I'm like, five minutes.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I remember one particular incident on my 40th birthday where I was like, okay, we have to go.
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Like I was so tired.
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Um, but I mean, but then again, yeah, their greatest trick, the devil's greatest trick, is convincing us that don't exist.
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So yeah, you never know.
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There are more things in heaven and earth ratio than that which is dreamt of in your philosophy.
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Yeah.
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So I don't, I I I think it's very dangerous to to claim one way or the other, you know, I know this or I that.
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Yeah.
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I'm I'd be pleasantly surprised to discover something new.
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Yeah.
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You know, that it means there's still some magic in the world.
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Yeah, I would too.
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But if it is a vampire, I don't know if I want to meet him or her.
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So I would it would be very unpredictable.
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Yeah, that that is very true.
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And especially if, you know, they're how I think they should be and how they are like actual monsters, like they lure you in looking like humans, and then all of a sudden all their flesh rips off in giant nasty chunks, and they turn into a cross between, you know, a Buffy the Vampire slayer, vampire sloth, or Nosferatu.
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Or Nosferatu.
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So what fascinating so I guess a good point, but what fascinates me about Blood of the Forsaken is that Emma, so she's desperate to escape home while Jimmy is desperate to return to it.
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They're moving in opposite directions towards the same place.
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What does home, and I put that in quotes, mean to you when you're writing horror?
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Is it sanctuary or is it believing that we're safe there?
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Part of what makes it so frightening?
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Both.
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Both.
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It's it's supposed to be your sanctuary.
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That is the place you want to go to whenever you feel threatened or uncomfortable or awkward.
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You know, you've ever you've had that feeling where you're you're somewhere else and you're like, I just want to go home.
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Yeah.
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I just want to go home.
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Even when you're home and something's going wrong, and you think to yourself, I just want to go home.
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And what you're thinking, what you're actually feeling is a return to a simpler time, a more safe time in your life when you know someone else cared for you and such things like bills, you know, um groceries, so yeah, groceries, children, all those things.
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Yeah.
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But when that bubble, when when that castle, that fortress of sanctity is broken, when it is shattered and corrupted, that is the ultimate violation.
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Then then where do you go?
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Yeah.
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What is safe?
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What is your sanctuary then?
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Where do you go for shelter when the one place you have uh used for shelter that has been your shelter your whole life is no more?
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It it has been corrupted by the scariest thing you have ever seen in your life.
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Then what?
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What do you do?
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What can you do?
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I think that's the question.
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What can you do?
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Wow.
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Wow.
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So go moving on to the fictional world you created in 2006, stepped away from writing while raising four children, and now you've come back to it 20 years later.
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When you return, did it feel like coming home to something you had left behind?
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Or did you discover that the person who originally created that world wasn't there anymore?
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And that's like you're really good at this.
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Um it did feel like coming home, but also that the person that originally who who had originally created this had grown quite a bit.
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I did not have an editor with the first novel.
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And I joke around, but somewhat serious that that that first publisher I had, I I feel like was possibly a front for a money laundering scheme or something because it was a terrible experience, and they basically published my first draft.
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It was that's not right.
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It was and House Guests were talking and House Guests were talking about one foot in darkness.
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One foot in darkness.
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Yeah.
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Even the just the the titling experience, the original title was Forsaken.
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And they went back and forth with me on it forever and a day.
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And it was just it was awful.
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It was awful.
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And I really I really wanted to revisit it.
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It was always meant to be a graphic novel, but I didn't know how.
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The internet back then not being what it is today.
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:04.240
Yeah.
00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:13.119
And I was not exactly in an environment or a relationship that fostered me exploring or learning new things.
00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:15.119
So I did what I could do.
00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:18.480
It was very isolating.
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.880
And at that time, I was a mother of, I'm sorry.
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:23.119
Okay.
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:24.720
A mother of of three.
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:26.559
And I was very young.
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:29.599
And I I did my best.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:33.759
I had this thought in my head.
00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:35.680
And I sat down.
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:37.920
And when I did, it all fell out.
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:41.039
And I tried to publish it.
00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.440
And lo and behold, someone picked it up.
00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:44.799
They were like, yeah, we want to publish it.
00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:46.079
I was like, great.
00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:51.680
You know, like, woo-hoo! And then I had a terrible experience.
00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:58.240
Later, my marriage dissolved, which was a good thing.
00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:04.960
It was the best thing, safety-wise, health-wise for everyone involved.
00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:08.640
And I had to raise my children.
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:11.359
I was a single mother of four.
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:12.000
Wow.
00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:14.960
And they became the priority.
00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:16.400
Obviously.
00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:16.960
Yeah.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:32.640
So there was no room energy-wise, you know, creativity-wise, anywhere for for me to focus on writing or, you know, adapting or anything.
00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:34.640
So I raised my children.
00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:41.519
And then several years ago, I ran into the boy I had a crush on all through school.
00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:43.039
And I'm not sure.
00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:45.200
Wow, weird how the universe works.
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:45.680
Wow.
00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:47.279
But you were free of that energy.
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:50.079
You were free of that energy that was holding you back.
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:59.920
He actually encouraged me to not only start my YouTube channel, but to start writing again.
00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:11.119
And like six and six years into YouTube, I happened upon the right people and asked the right questions.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:15.039
I met my editor, Carol Brown, my best friend, my twin.
00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:24.160
And she told me that she felt like for someone who claimed they had no idea what they were doing, I was off to a hell of a good start.
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:29.039
And within a week, we had my finalized script.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.079
And a week after that, she was like, I think I have the right artist for you.
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.000
He was my artist for my comics.
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:36.720
Here he is.
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:38.400
Here's Evan Scale.
00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:41.359
And the rest was history.
00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:55.200
Like she was everything I needed for this book to become what it is because this the little seed that One Foot in Darkness was in 2006.
00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:04.640
Whatever that person was who wrote that became the forest that is Blood of the Forsaken.
00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:07.119
Blood of the Forsaken is 42 pages.
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:15.759
And it is adapted from two pages of the first chapter of One Foot in Darkness.
00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.720
Like it just exploded.
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:19.279
Wow.
00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:20.880
Your story is very inspiring.
00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:25.359
It's just like all the stars, I would say the horror stars aligned.
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:30.559
They really, you know, the right people came to you at the right time.
00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:35.599
And you know, you live through experiences where fear and survival were fictional.
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:44.400
So when you're writing horror now, where is the line between fear that entertains you and fear that feels too real to put on the page?
00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:54.480
I don't know if I've ever thought of that because for me, I definitely write what scares me.
00:25:55.253 --> 00:25:58.614
I want I want the fear to feel real.
00:25:58.773 --> 00:26:01.759
I want you to care A characters.
00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.279
I want you to care about Emma.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.119
I want you to care about Jimmy.
00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:14.079
I don't want you to read this and think to yourself, well, they wouldn't do that.
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:15.920
Like that's that's stupid.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:37.440
But you know, I want it to be, I mean, uh aside from the fact that these are monstrous vampires who burn up in the light of day, um the the fear, the emotion, the human interaction to be as realistic as as possible.
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:49.920
So when it comes to fear that you can't put on the page, I don't think there is a human emotion that you cannot put on the page.
00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:55.839
Because isn't that what we go to books and comics for?
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:00.960
Is is that experience to experience those emotions.
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:09.359
And I I also feel that in the last 15 to 20 years, we've taken a lot of that away.
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:17.279
We've taken a lot of the actual human emotion out of our entertainment.
00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:24.880
We have watered it down, we have scheduled things, we have to routine.
00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:28.160
You know, it's routine, it's an algorithm.
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:37.759
Well, we've got this focus group together, we've got this team that has decided this is what's trending right now.
00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:45.920
So we've got this checklist, and you need to put everything that's in this checklist, in this book, or in this TV show.
00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:49.440
People sense that, they pick up on that.
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:56.160
They don't want checklists, they don't want algorithms, they want a real story.
00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:02.640
Yeah, they want something that comes from human creativity, from human heart.
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:04.160
That's what they want.
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:09.759
And in order to deliver that, you need to be real with them.
00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:12.400
You need to be your authentic self.
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:12.960
Yeah.
00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:14.960
You you need to deliver that.
00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:30.960
So when I'm writing, especially action and you know, fear, which according to Caro and a couple of others, that seems to be my forte, which big shock to me.
00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:39.200
Um I've never once thought, okay, there's there's a line here.
00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.680
I can't be too scary.
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:49.279
No, I want to like startle, or you know, actually, yeah.
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.519
I want to achieve something that Christopher Pike did to me when I was 14 years old in The Last Vampire.
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:10.079
There was this scene where Yakasha like kicks in someone's skull in a bathroom with like brains splattering all over tile.
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:16.000
And it all of a sudden, I realized that I was doing this.
00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:20.559
I had dropped the book and I was covering my own eyes.
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.400
I said out loud to myself, you are reading.
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:25.680
You are reading.
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:27.759
That's when you know the author got you.
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:29.599
That's when you know exactly.
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:35.279
So every time I write, that's that's what I'm going for.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.960
Like when I'm writing those scenes, that's what I need to achieve.
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:45.039
And you don't get there with telling yourself, okay, there's a line.
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:47.039
No, you don't cross it.
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:48.559
No, you don't.
00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:51.200
And so interesting, you brought up Christopher Pike.
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:55.759
I mean, I remember reading Christopher Pike when I was younger a long time ago.
00:29:55.920 --> 00:30:00.640
And like, what other books did you read, if you can remember, from different authors?
00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:02.960
I know there was like the Goosebumps series, R.
00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:03.200
L.
00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:03.839
Stein.
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.440
I still have some of those copies.
00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:07.839
Anything that can, you know, you remember?
00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:10.160
I was a very mature reader.
00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:15.039
Like I'm I matured very quickly, and that is my mother's fault.
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:16.400
That's right, Anne Rice.
00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:17.039
Yep.
00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:17.680
Mm-hmm.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.440
Um, my little brother read Goosebumps.
00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:25.519
Uh he was, he was just avid.
00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:27.440
I read, I read J.R.R.
00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:28.160
Tolkien.
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:29.200
Oh, wow.
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:30.240
Lord of the Rings.
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:31.759
I read Oh yeah.
00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:33.119
I read Anne Rice.
00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:34.720
I read Stephen King.
00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:40.240
Um, I read, Why can't I spit it out?
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:45.759
Uh this Jonathan Lewis uh Jonathan Livingston Siegel.
00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:46.559
Yeah.
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:49.279
Yeah, why can't I say the name?
00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:50.480
But yeah, I read that.
00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.039
I read a lot of classics.
00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:59.440
I read Jane Austen, which come to find out, and Emily Dickinson, which I'm related to both of them, like the freaking figure.
00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:00.880
And Edgar Allan Poe.
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:01.599
All three of them.
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:04.559
Share this story.
00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:07.839
How are you related to all three, especially Edgar
Allan Poe?
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:08.319
I'm curious.
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:09.119
The Ravens.
00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:24.400
This family, the Williams family, this huge Williams family, they are like dating back to the founding of the country, and they're related to a bunch of US presidents.
00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:24.960
Okay.
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:32.480
And somehow distantly, albeit obviously, because it's been hundreds of years.
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:32.799
Yeah.
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:35.920
That's how I'm related to these people.
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:40.640
Was it like a ancestry.com test?
00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:43.599
Or that's amazing.
00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:44.799
Edgar Allen Burns.
00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:46.480
That's super weird.
00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:48.000
That's amazing.
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:48.640
Wow.
00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:53.119
So, so Danny, before I let you leave the mirror room, there's one final door.
00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:58.240
You've written a story about monsters entering the place where a family is supposed to feel safest.
00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:09.279
Imagine you go home tonight, even though you're home now, but just imagine you go home tonight, you're in the mirror room, you open your front door, and immediately know that something inside isn't right.
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:14.000
Nothing looks different, nothing has moved, but something is there.
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:17.440
Do you go inside or do you close the door?
00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:19.759
See, writer.
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:21.279
That would depend.
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:25.119
Is do I have kids inside?
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:26.559
Is my husband inside?
00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:27.599
Do I have pets inside?
00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:28.319
Because that will be.
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:31.920
Yeah, then I go inside.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:32.480
Okay.
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:33.440
I go inside.
00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:34.480
I gotta go get them.
00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:50.480
But chances are I'm going to have something with me that would help defend against whatever is in there because it's legal in the state that I live.
00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:58.160
So I have something to to defend against, you know, an intruder to protect my family.
00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:04.640
But I am I am very spicy and aggressive.
00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:08.880
And I did oh, I have so many funny stories.
00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:12.160
I did box and take aikido.
00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:15.519
I mean, it was like million, million, bajillion years ago.
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:15.920
Wow.
00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:17.039
But it'll come to you.
00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:19.519
House guests don't ever mess with Danny.
00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:20.160
Ever.
00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:32.640
When it comes to when it comes to my brood, my loved ones, I will if I'll probably go down, but I will take you with me.
00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:33.119
Awesome.
00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:33.519
Okay.
00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:34.240
I will defend it.
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:35.119
Oh, it should be.
00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:35.759
So yeah.
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:39.680
But if they're not home, if no one else is home, I will shut the door and leave.
00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:40.319
You should.
00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:51.759
And so you'll wait till they come home to go in together, or oh, if I would wait for my husband, and he would insist that I not go inside.
00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:56.640
But I probably would if he's no, we do this together.
00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:59.599
I want you know, I want to kill monsters.
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:00.319
Like, why not?
00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:01.839
Oh, that's great.
00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:11.760
So what I asked all my guests before they leave the podcast, uh, the mirror room, I should say, what since this is the Looks Creepy Cool podcast, what is the creepiest thing that's ever happened to you?
00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:14.880
And what is the coolest thing that's ever happened to you?
00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:16.800
Either order's fine.
00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:18.559
I saw Bigfoot.
00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:19.440
What?
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:20.639
Yeah.
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:22.079
I was eight years old.
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:23.039
What do you mean?
00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:23.920
Tell the story.
00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:24.880
You saw Bigfoot.
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:26.159
I mean, I saw Bigfoot.
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:27.360
I was eight years old.
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:29.119
I live in Southeast Missouri.
00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:31.119
I've grown up in Southeast Missouri.
00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:32.719
I was eight years old.
00:34:33.039 --> 00:34:37.760
I was living in the middle of the woods.
00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:41.440
And I meet, listen, I'm a ridge, I'm an inner city kid originally.
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:43.199
I am from Ferguson.
00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:50.239
My crazy mama moved us to the middle of nowhere.
00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:50.800
Wow.
00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:53.440
Like nowhere in the middle of the woods.
00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:59.679
And I'm on this swing, and I smelled something weird.
00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:07.920
Like it smelled like you had left a wet towel or more like a dirty dish rag out for a month.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:09.280
Oh, that stinks.
00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:09.679
Okay.
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:10.800
Musty.
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:11.280
Yeah.
00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:17.199
And you just had that feeling that someone's watching you.
00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:24.880
And just cold chills all the way down my spine.
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:27.199
All the hair stood up.
00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:28.880
Like I I can almost feel it now.
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:29.679
And this was at night.
00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:30.559
All the hair stood up.
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:31.360
This was at night.
00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:31.679
No.
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:32.719
Oh, during the day.
00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:34.159
This was during the
day.
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:34.639
Okay.
00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:37.039
I was right on the edge of the tree line.
00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:39.840
Uh, we lived right on the edge of a sinkhole, too.
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.679
So it was just like in an A-frame.
00:35:44.159 --> 00:35:55.679
And uh I just very slowly, slowly I turned and looked behind me and black fur.
00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:56.400
Oh my god.
00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:07.840
Looked like a big, dirty, shaggy Chewbacca needed a haircut with yellow eyes just standing there staring at me.
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:12.559
Like I'd say, yeah, but I'm not good with distance.
00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:16.320
I want to say a hundred feet away.
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:17.280
I think.
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:20.239
Like I'm like again, I'm bad at judging distance.
00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:23.199
It could have been, it could have been closer, it could have been farther.
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:28.960
But I could see like eyes, and he was definitely black fur.
00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:31.440
And I just froze.
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:34.480
I wet myself because it was standing.
00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:36.000
It was like fully standing.
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:42.480
It was standing, staring at me, and I just froze.
00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:46.320
I could not move because disabled child.
00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:50.960
At that time, my legs had a limb difference.
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:57.679
My right leg was seven inches shorter than my left, so there was no running away.
00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:01.199
So just froze in terror.
00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:07.760
And it just kind of looked at me very curious.
00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:15.679
That one's kind of broken, but you know, I don't think that one's gonna hurt me kind of thing.
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:17.679
Like that up ain't right.
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:27.039
And just very slowly disappeared into the woods, like it backed into the woods.
00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:45.280
And I don't know how long I I sat there frozen just before I finally got up and ran or like scooted into the house to tell my mom who yelled at me for you know wetting my pants.
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:47.760
And then she's only wearing your pants.
00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:48.320
Oh my gosh.
00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:52.559
She's oh and then told me I'd saw a bear.
00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:57.280
Listen, I've lived in Missouri the majority of my life.
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:01.519
I've never seen a bear the whole time I've been in Missouri.
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:07.119
I've never seen a bear in live action my whole life, but I've seen Bigfoot.
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:12.719
And I just kept telling her, said, Listen, I have seen Star Wars 375 bajillion times.
00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:14.960
I know what Chewbacca looks like.
00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:17.920
That thing looked like Chewbacca.
00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:18.400
Wow.
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:18.960
Okay.
00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:19.679
But meaner.
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:21.599
And Chewbacca doesn't look like a bear.
00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:22.239
Right.
00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:23.920
So that was the creepiest thing.
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:25.199
Whoa.
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:25.679
Wow.
00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:27.760
Danny saw Bigfoot.
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:28.239
Wow.
00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:29.599
I totally did.
00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:30.559
I totally did.
00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:37.039
There's nothing anyone can ever tell me in my life that I did not see Bigfoot because I most definitely did.
00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:37.840
Wow.
00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:40.239
That I'm speechless.
00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:41.920
I've heard a lot of crazy stories.
00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:45.840
I just feel like, wow, that is just really crazy.
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:48.639
And what's the coolest thing that's ever happened to you?
00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:50.400
My first convention.
00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:51.920
What was that?
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:54.960
It was actually this year in March.
00:38:55.679 --> 00:38:56.159
Thanks.
00:38:56.320 --> 00:38:59.840
I went to a Megacon in Orlando.
00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:00.239
Yeah.
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:08.880
And my best friend and editor got me an exhibitor badge for Ripaverse Comics.
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:13.679
And I got to work the booth and be a part of the team.
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:19.199
And I got to meet William Shatner and he told me I was beautiful.
00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:24.800
And then I got to meet uh Jonathan Frakes, you know, number one.
00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:25.199
Yeah.
00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:29.599
From and I've I've had the biggest crush on him since I was seven.
00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:36.480
So I got to meet him and he called me gorgeous and he flirted with me and put his arm around me and I got my picture taken with him.
00:39:36.719 --> 00:39:37.360
That's awesome.
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:38.960
And got his autograph.
00:39:39.039 --> 00:39:40.719
Like it was just super cool.
00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:51.840
I got to meet a bunch of people that inspired me to do YouTube and I got to work alongside them and continue a relationship with them.
00:39:52.079 --> 00:40:00.320
And now when there's a convention that Ripiverse goes to, I kind of do the video stuff and continue that relationship.
00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:02.320
So that was the coolest day ever.
00:40:02.480 --> 00:40:04.320
I was there for two days straight.
00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:06.719
It was just like, this is the coolest day of my life.
00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:08.960
Like I was just running around with like perma smile.
00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:11.920
Like I am a massive, massive nerd.
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:19.519
I love anything comic book related, superhero, sci-fi fantasy, you name it.
00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:22.320
Like that, I am all about it.
00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:27.599
And that was the first time in my entire life that I got to do anything like that.
00:40:27.840 --> 00:40:37.440
So it was just an
incredibly thoughtful thing that she did for me, that the whole Ripiverse team did for me that her husband did.
00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:40.400
And I will never forget it.
00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:41.920
Wow, that's awesome.
00:40:42.079 --> 00:40:49.039
Well, before we leave, before I let you leave, actually, uh, where can people uh find Blood of the Forsaken?
00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:50.800
What's your next project coming up?
00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:52.639
How can they get in touch with you?
00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:53.760
Uh let us know.
00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:59.039
Uh, you can find Blood of the Forsaken right now on fundmycomic.com.
00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:00.400
Just type it in.
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:08.639
I it used to be called Veiled Legacy, but marketing was like, it's not connecting to vampires.
00:41:08.800 --> 00:41:10.159
We have to pivot.
00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:19.280
So the link still says fundmycomic.com slash campaign slash 952 slash veiled legacy.
00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:25.920
The good news is we are still keeping the name Veiled Legacy for the connected universe.
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:28.719
So it's still connected in a way.
00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:35.519
But it's available for pre-order right now, and there's four different tiers that come with its own rewards.
00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:43.039
And if you even just like back the comic for a dollar, your name goes in the back of the comic.
00:41:43.280 --> 00:41:44.159
That's awesome.
00:41:44.800 --> 00:41:47.039
For uh, you know, a special thank you page.
00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:56.239
So basically, you go into an heirloom that will become, you know, something that gets handed down in my family forever.
00:41:56.639 --> 00:41:58.400
Yes, and other families too.
00:41:58.639 --> 00:41:58.960
Yes.
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:00.480
I freaking hope so.
00:42:01.119 --> 00:42:06.800
But it each each tier of rewards is stackable.
00:42:07.199 --> 00:42:11.760
So if you choose to get the digital copy, your name still goes to the back of the book.
00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:19.679
Or if you choose to get the physical copy at$25, you also get a digital copy plus your name in the back of the book, and so on and so forth.
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:21.199
That's a great one.
00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:22.960
I I like to think so.
00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:23.280
Yeah.
00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:29.519
And there's also, you know, a custom personalized autographed copy of the book.
00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:32.800
So you can get that over at fundmycomic.com.
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:36.320
And I do post updates and fun stuff on there too.
00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:46.880
The next project, because this is going to be a 10-book arc, and I do see two more series coming out.
00:42:47.519 --> 00:43:04.960
But the next project that we are currently working on, aside from all of that, there is a huge crossover event with over 50 other indie comic creators happening right now called Crisis on Independent Earths.
00:43:05.599 --> 00:43:06.719
And I am one of them.
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:11.280
And these characters from Blood of the Forsaken are showing up in it.
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:15.519
Plus, two new characters will be introduced as well.
00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:25.519
And if you go over to fundmycomic.com to our page, you will see some of those pages as well.
00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:48.000
And I am currently in the process of probably my 10th rewrite because that's who I am as a person on uh what's known as the last dance of the Hesperides, which is a series of prequel novels or novellas which will be published.
00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:56.480
That's it, which are being published on Amazon Kindle, and they will be available in physical and digital copy.
00:43:56.880 --> 00:44:04.559
And those are taking place in ancient Greece, 2500 years before Blood of the Forsaken.
00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:05.119
Oh wow.
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:20.639
And they are about the first vampire, the first vampire hunter, and the brotherhood of Abraxis, who is kind of like what would be my telamasca or my my watchers.
00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:27.519
So I'm very excited about the novellas, and I can't wait to release those too.
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:31.519
Yeah, and you have to come back into the mirror room if you're not too scared to come back.
00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:32.719
I'd love to have you back.
00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:36.880
So and I'll put all of that in the show notes here, guys.
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:40.559
And Danny, I want to thank you so much for entering the mirror room.
00:44:41.039 --> 00:44:42.480
You can exit now.
00:44:42.639 --> 00:44:47.039
And to all my house guests, another reflection awaits.
00:44:47.199 --> 00:44:50.559
Till then, take care and have a great night.
00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:58.239
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