Carla Speed McNeil

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Hey, everybody, Welcome back time for word Balloon. The comple
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Conversation Show. John Stuntriss with you. Carla Speed McNeil back
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on word Balloon. It's been a while. I think the
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last time I talked to her, she announced a campy
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we're doing the series No Mercy. She's got a brand
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new book though, that she is doing through her Patreon page,
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a web comic that eventually will be a graphic novel.
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Good news, A good chuck of the story is there
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up for free so you can test it out if
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you want. Go to patreon dot com slash Carlos Speed
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McNeil and you can check out the story. We go
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into detail on that, but we also talk about Finder
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and the way I discovered Carla's work was when she
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was working with Greg Rucca on Queen and Country. And
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you know, she described the new story as a combination
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of Little House on the Prairie meets the Twilight Zone
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meets Star Trek. Guess what I included and guess what
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we ended up talking about along with her new book.
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Carla Speed Nick will talking now on word Balloon.
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word Balloon listeners. Patreon dot com slash word Balloon. I'm
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so gay to welcome back Carlo Speed McNeil to word Balloon.
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It's been a minute, but great to see you, buddy.
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Yeah, great to see you too.
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You got a new epic fantasy starting to go underway
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from a webcomic standpoint, Tell me about it.
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I do just trying to drag myself back up onto
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my feet. The only thing that I had that I
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could kind of, you know, the only glove I could
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kind of stick my hand back into was my Patreon,
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which is not the ideal webcomic platform, but it's what
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I had. So I'm nearly eighty pages into this, you know,
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one of a bunch of eggs that have been trying
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to hatch out of my skull since COVID, and this
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one is called Settlers of the Storm Worlds, and the
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easiest way for me to describe it is it's kind
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of a big chunk of Twilight Zone, a healthy helping
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of little House on the Prairie, and eventually it will
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get into Star Trek territory.
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Well, you had my attention when you said that, obviously,
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but all those things I love. Is this gonna be
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like Finder, where we're not only you know, a bunch
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of different arcs, of little separate stories. I mean, obviously
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you've got it's a kind of a Swiss family Robinson.
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It almost seems like from the beginning of of what
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you sent me, Well, what I've.
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Got in mind right now is one story that has
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a beginning, a middle, and an end, a big a
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couple of big chunks of it. I don't know what
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they are, but nevertheless I trust that they will unfold
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as I get closer to them, like a flower in
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an old Star Trek story, because every single time you
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found a flower on an alien planet, it exploded and
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did something to you. Exploding flowers. Man. But yeah, I
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have X. I have all the faith in the world
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that you know that it's gonna take me down some
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pretty interesting, you know, rabbit holes. It already has a
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whole bunch that I didn't expect.
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There's also kind of a Harry Potter vibe, but certainly
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to the beginning of this story talk to me absolutely well.
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I have plenty of recommendations of books and comics for
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people who are you know, struggling with their you know,
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with their with their love for Harry Potter, because I
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am certainly one of those. And you know, it seemed
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like after Lovecraft Country, it just seemed like it was
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all right, that is a thing. You can just reinvent
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the thing that you love and you know, take from
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it the things that you enjoyed, and just chop up
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that carcass and make something new out of it before
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it gets to rotten, you know, and you know, cook
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up something good, and so that is there is a
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great deal of that in there. But you know, not
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only that, you know, I mean, I've how many times
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have I watched Kiki's Delivery Service? Uh? And how many
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times have I read, you know, any number of other things.
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Diana Wynn Jones is brilliant and she you know, she's
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a much better writer, to be honest, and she's got
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an awful She's got a slew of books. She's probably
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best known for Howl's Moving Castle, but she's just got
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a ton of other books that are well worth reading,
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lots of fun.
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Now.
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Minovic is a prose writer also, and uh she has
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been reinventing fairy tales in a really dynamic and exciting
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modern way. But she also she also knows her mythology,
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she really does. You know. She's got a trio of
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books called The Skolomance, which is all about this absolutely
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horrible magic school where once you go in, you are
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in peril for your life at all times until you graduate.
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And graduation is the most dangerous time because there are
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monsters everywhere, and you know, and there are no friendly,
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affable teachers. There aren't even any mean teachers. You know,
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all of these assignments just seem to come out of
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the air, and there are monsters everywhere, and you have
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to be super strategic just to survive to graduation. And
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once you get out, you're a full fledged you know
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which wizard whatever they want to call themselves, and you're,
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you know, pretty hard to kill at that point because
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you've spent four years being terrorized by monsters. Effectively just
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great books. The finale of the third book kicks like
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a mule, and you know, they're so good, why should
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we waste our time grinding our teeth over you know,
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certain people when there are better books out there. And
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then there's me na, because that's what you're trying to do,
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trying to make a you know, a book that I
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can put, you know, the things that I love into.
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And I think that's right. No, honestly, I love the
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I mean, it's step on you, but I love that
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you're recommending all these other people as well, but not
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I want to get back to you. And and this
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book tell me about the characters.
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Well, it's a family, like you say, kind of a
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Swiss family Robinson thing. This is a magic family that
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are you know, setting off into the dangerous nowhere and
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essentially a thatched roof wooden RV which is powered. It
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has these sort of you know, oompah brass band horn
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engines because that's the way things work. That's the great
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thing about doing a fantasy. You know, you can just
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swing wide and do whatever kind of crazy thing you
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want and just say that's just what's normal for them,
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and people go okay, you know, because that's just what's normal.
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The Star Trek thing is going to be fun because
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they are traveling in this little wooden wagon through a
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reality storm, a massive, massive hurricane, at the center of which,
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in the eye of which is a portal, and you know,
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they're trying to get to a Star Trek type world.
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And the dad of this family is so excited because
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he loves rockets. He does not understand rockets at all,
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but in his world he's a propulsion engineer. You know,
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he makes the brass band instruments that serve as people's transportation,
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and he is so excited about going to a world
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where rockets exist. And the poor thing he has no
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idea that when he gets there that all of his knowledge,
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all of his advanced degrees and experience are going to
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be worthless. Since this is a Star Trek world. They're
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going to be very nice about it. You know, there's like, sir, it's.
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Kind of like an honish family, like suddenly deciding to
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embrace the modern technology.
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Oh no, they have a reason. The mother, who is
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rarely seen in this in the story because she is
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hidden in a little room in this wagon because she
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is deathly ill, is basically the magical equivalent of Mary Curie,
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and her work has poisoned her. And wow, the people
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at home basically can do nothing more for her. So
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knowing as the people in this magic world do that
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there are other worlds with other rules, knowing as they
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do that there is at least one world where they
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seem to be able to cure anything with a little
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box that goes, we we we we we we Let's
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go there, Let's go there. You know, it's it's it's
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a desperate move really, you know, like the people who
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got into covered wagons and you know, died by the
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thousands on the way out to what they hoped was
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going to be a better life. You know, it's extremely
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dangerous what they are doing.
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Interesting.
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I like it, that's what they're trying to do to
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save her.
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No, that's cool, that's really really cool. So how has
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those spons been on your on your Patreon? What kind
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of feedback?
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Slow but steady, And I've got my Uh, I've got
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my regulars who you know, are are lovably obsessed and
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that makes me happy. I need to get the word out. Uh,
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but I I have faith that this is a story
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that people will be able to get into. And uh,
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you know, I've spent years trying to learn a clean
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line style that was you know, simple and succinct and open,
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and I gave up and just started putting little lines
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all over everything again.
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And now I'm happy so well, I mean, no loos
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gorgeous truly, the settings and the characters as always, so
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that's cool. But I you know, all right, so like,
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are you giving them a page a day, a page
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a week? How are you putting this out? Yeah? Talk
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to me.
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Three a week, three a week, okay, I'm It's easier
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for me to pump out three every Tuesday morning at
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ten am than to try to do a page every
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other day. Maybe that's the ADHD thing, but it's easier
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for me to just kind of burn ahead and do
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a chunk. And it seems to be working pretty well. Also,
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given that the pacing of the story seems to fit
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comfortably with three page chunks, you know, I can have
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a little bit of build up and then a payoff
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in three pages, whereas when you publish one page at
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a time, you know, you either have to go la
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la la, this is how it's going to read in
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the book. Just follow with me, you know, or you
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have to try and give them a bang and a
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climax at the end of every page, which has always
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been really hard for me. Some people do it beautifully,
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but it doesn't work real well for me. The three
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page thing is working great though.
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Cool. What's what's the admission to get access to the Patreon?
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Well, I'm a big believer in the free model, you know,
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That's what it was when I first got started. Vast
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majority of the pages of this story are free for
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anybody to read. But if you want to, you know,
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if you want to read the current three pages of
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any given week, you know those, throw me a couple
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of books. Please. I know we're all broken, terrified, but
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you know, if you can do it. If you can't,
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don't worry about it. Just read the free stuff and
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wait a week. It will all come to you.
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Oh wow, Okay, and what's the what's the Patreon address?
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It's just my name, I believe, but yeah.
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Patreon dot com, Carlos slash Carlos Speed McNeil.
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Yeah, let me do a little chick Yeah, yeah, real quick,
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I don't remember.
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I wait a minute, but I didn't know I was
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gonna sell hold out a second.
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Yeah, it's just Patreon dot com slash c slash Carlos
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Speed McNeil.
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All right, there you go. Everybody's simple enough, and I'll
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certainly put it in the uh in the text when
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when we post the h the podcast on the audio
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and the video. Uh. And again, settlers of the storm worlds, worlds,
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thank you.
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All right, there's a lot of these things up in Louisiana.
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I lived through my share of hurricanes. They're a very
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strange experience and it's very you know, you don't have
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to get too deep into the OZ books to feel
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like a hurricane is just a different place and weird
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things happen when they are around, you know. I.
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I just I told you, I uh. I just spoke
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to Alex Decampy and she mentioned, you guys have something
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brewing in addition to this story, am I right?
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Yeah, we've got this absolutely adorable kids book. Oh door,
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there goes my brain.
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No worries going on.
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Raccoons.
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Raccoons, that's the name of the raccoons.
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Oh my god, Alex is gonna hit me with her shoe.
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She's a raccoon crime squad, that's what it's.
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Raccoon crime squad.
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Interesting, Okay, basic idea is it's this little family of
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raccoons living in a little chunk of woods, you know,
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just just one of those little suburban slices in southern Florida,
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and all the other animals you know, are kind of
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you know, cramped in the way animals get when you know,
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when the suburbs come to meet them. And so raccoons
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being what they are, they got the bad reputation for
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tormenting the humans and making problems. So when the bulldozers
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show up to tear down their little chunk of toy woods,
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all the other animals blame the raccoons, and so you know,
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they have to they have to clear their names. And
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you know, I mean everything Alex does, you know, is
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turbo charged and takes off at a gallop and is
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funny and heartfelt and you know, my chance to to
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get my seventies Disney Milt call thing on and design
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all of these you know, cute but dorky animals. You know. Yeah,
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we're having a ball with that one.
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So it's kind of like a rescuers kind of vibe
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as far as you.
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Say, yeah, kind of, you know, because it's it's a
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little you know, maybe a little like a little Walt
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Kelly ish a little bone. But but these are you know,
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animals that talk but mostly do animal things rather than
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being animals that are people like in.
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Cook okay, okay, cute very much, not.
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To say that one of them won't, you know, have
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a do rag tied around the back of her head
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and be carrying a basket. So because why not.
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The Uh well, I I really loved your last collaboration.
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I think it was your last with Alex No Mercy.
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No Mercy. Oh yeah yeah, and.
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Even Alex was saying, oh, you know, we should get
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back to that great story. Well, and honestly you'll forgive me,
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but you know, I'm so glad you're You've been talking
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about Star Trek. You said you're just getting into new
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Star Trek again. Did you watch Academy, the latest show.
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I did. I like it. Every show is a civil
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war with the fans, and I understand people are passionate
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people love I get that, but wows us holy cow.
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No, I understand. Well, I gotta be honest. I am
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critical of it, and the reason why I bring it
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up is and I'm.
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Not saying it's perfect. I actually like New Worlds a
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lot better.
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Well, we can talk about that as well, but No
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Mercy specifically, because in No Mercy you and Alex have
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this group of kids that suddenly hit this terrible traumatic
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thing mm hm, and they're dealing with it, and then
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the trauma, the way the trauma is impacting them. He
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is very complex. I find an oversimplification in Starfleet Academy
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and that it's just trauma. And I'm like, yeah, that's
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and and and shame. Honestly, sorry Carla, but shame on them,
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because I think it's a really great opportunity to really
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get into, especially when you're doing a teen drama. Okay, fine,
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give us the teen drama and give us drama.
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I do agree. I do agree. You know, for some reason,
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Star Trek has always been allergic to being you know,
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Archie in space. And I don't know why, because even
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in the olden days of Next Generation, I never understood
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why Wesley was all by himself. Why aren't there like
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a mob of kids underfoot at all times on a
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ship that size. Why aren't there like, you know, the
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star Scouts or something like that. I think Heinlein had
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some stuff like that, or maybe they were just playing
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old boy scouts who happened to be you know, on
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ships and stuff like that. But you know that that
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just makes sense to me, you know, I yeah, I'm
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not saying I don't have my criticisms. I don't care
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about the villain. I don't care about you know, mister
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trauma boy. You know, I want to get back to
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the weirdos. I like all the odd ball characters, you know.
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I like the the the barefoot captain, you know. I
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like the klingon that wants to be a medical student.
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You know. I like all of these you know, unusual
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little weirdos. I wish they'd push it a little further,
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you know. I want to see a Horda, you know,
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go by in the background with the pile of biology
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books and it's on its back, you know. I want
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to see a little orange brain, you know, on a
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scooter in a jar go spy you know, well do.
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Bet betting quotlets on the next you know thing.
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I'm say, right, why not? You know, because it wants
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to be an you know, it wants to be an accountant,
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and it's an actuarial or something like that, you know,
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I mean, that's those those are the things that always
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charmed the daylights out of me in Trek. You know,
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just okay, we think we know something about this type
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of person, and now they're completely weird. All right, cool,
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I'm good.
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No, I'm with you on that. I I they it's
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weird some of their character choices. I'm fine with a
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gay Klingon, but I think you would still be in
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a growing well again, they blew up Kronos, and I
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don't know if this kid's have been nomadic his entire
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life and only literally had his nuclear family to deal with.
355
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But I just feel he could be while still wanting
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to be a medicine guy. Like the fact that he
357
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was bullied. I'm like, Okay, that doesn't I would think
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Klingons from day one in the crib are fighting with
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another baby, and that they would be too, you know.
360
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So it's the same ticket.
361
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You know.
362
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Ever since you know, the animated series, I've never understood
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why Vulcan children would be bullies, you know. I mean,
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Vulcans have a very uneasy relationship with their very strong emotions.
365
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We know this, That's just who they are.
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You know.
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They're a little bit hypocritical in that regard, you know,
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because they say that they love logic above all, and
369
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they are clearly highly motivated by their emotions. But that's okay,
370
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that's what makes them compelling. Absolute bit on a pot
371
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full of boiling intensity and what makes them so fun?
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And I think New Trek misses that, especially with Ethan
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Pec's portrayal of Spock, because it's like, no, that's the point.
374
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They do have emotions, but they're constantly suppressing them, and
375
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I don't like horny Spock. I gotta be.
376
00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:38.680
Next. You're going to tell me that you didn't like,
377
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you know, Kling on show tunes.
378
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I hated it, Oh, I hated it.
379
00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:47.880
I do say, I do think that it needed to
380
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be handled with a real delicate balance of seriousness and stupidity.
381
00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:54.480
You know.
382
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:57.599
But I remember, you know, when I was I mean,
383
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I was born in nineteen sixty nine. You know, I
384
00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:04.240
was watching the endless reruns of the seventies, you know,
385
00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:07.319
and I was watching them as a very young kid,
386
00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:10.519
not understanding half of it, but just being all into this.
387
00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:12.799
But I was watching it with both hands and a
388
00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:15.759
pillow stuffed into my mouth because I could not stop
389
00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:21.599
giggling in horrified fascination at just about everything. I mean,
390
00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:25.400
it was electric to me as a child. And you
391
00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:29.200
know it's gonna have false steps and you know, bad things.
392
00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:33.079
I mean, God, let's not even talk about that last
393
00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.240
episode of Original Trek, because I don't know, some people
394
00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:40.079
disagree as to whether or not is the absolute worst,
395
00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:43.319
But I didn't even remember. That's the only one I
396
00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:48.039
didn't remember seeing on TV. Really, you know, I was
397
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:50.720
doing my rewatch a couple of months ago, La La
398
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:53.920
La revisiting, you know, feels like a family reunion, you know,
399
00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:56.440
real cookout kind of a feeling, and then that one
400
00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:05.519
comes up and I'm like, huh what and it just
401
00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:06.519
kept going being.
402
00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.200
What, Yeah, it's not good, and then that.
403
00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:15.079
Ghastly ending like wow, yeah, okay, all right.
404
00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:18.640
Yeah it is not a it's certainly not an episode
405
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:23.240
for any any reasonable woman, let alone reasonable person, And
406
00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.359
yeah it doesn't age well at all. Man, all right,
407
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:30.079
that should be in a which is turn about Intruder
408
00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:34.400
or what was the that early Next Generation episode?
409
00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:35.440
Oh god, that one.
410
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:39.079
Yeah, forgive me everybody, the black episode. I can't remember
411
00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:43.039
the name of the episode, but yeah.
412
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.200
Either because I'm dumb, but.
413
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.640
Uh yeah, that's those are rough Man.
414
00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:49.839
And the things that we did not know at the
415
00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:54.200
time back in the in the in the nineties, the
416
00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:58.160
things that we know now about what was it one
417
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:03.000
of the original writers that was brought along to Next Gen.
418
00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:08.599
He was the reason that Gates McFadden, you know, was
419
00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:11.319
was sent packing for a while. You know, he basically
420
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:15.400
said her or me, and I was like, wow, and
421
00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:17.079
and they chose you? Did they?
422
00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.279
I thought it was I thought it was Roddenberry's Well,
423
00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:23.720
actually no, I thought the the showrunner I thought was
424
00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:26.839
the problem. And I can't remember his name, but he
425
00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.039
was in the second season and he was a guy
426
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.359
that really had never done sci fi and certainly was
427
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:33.119
new to Star Trek.
428
00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:36.599
But was were you thinking of Roddenberry's lawyer that guy?
429
00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.799
Well, no, there, yeah, Leonard Mason was the lawyer. But no,
430
00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:42.160
there was this show runner. He's in that Chaos on
431
00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:44.720
the Bridge documentary. Have you seen that documentary.
432
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.519
I've seen pieces of it, not the whole thing, I mean.
433
00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:49.920
But yeah, he was the guy that was like, well,
434
00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:52.319
you know, all the Roddenberry Barry's ideas or he called
435
00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:54.920
him wacky Noodle and uh and they may have been,
436
00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:58.720
but I was it was it Dave Gerald. It wasn't
437
00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.839
the Triple guy. Dave Jerald couldnt been, Okay, And I
438
00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:04.680
love that guy. I think he's I think he's amazing. Yes,
439
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.079
but yeah, I know it did suck about Gates McFadden absolutely,
440
00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:12.759
and poor Diana Molder like comes in this thing innocently
441
00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:15.920
just as an actor, and yeah, you know faces that
442
00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:19.079
whole company. I'm sure you know we're not happier here
443
00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:21.039
a period and yeah.
444
00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:23.359
Right it's like okay here I am then.
445
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:25.880
Harsh, harsh. But you know, so did you finish the
446
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:27.440
season of Academy and everything?
447
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.079
I have not? So I'm not all the way through it.
448
00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:35.480
You know, I've got my my other obsessions to feed.
449
00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:37.599
What else are you watching? Reading?
450
00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:43.680
Oh? You would ask that I was up quite a
451
00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:51.880
lot last night. I am. I am reading The Prairie Fires,
452
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:57.799
which is a Pulitzer Prize winning a biography of Laura
453
00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:04.680
Ingles Wilder. Oh wow, it is wild wild. You know,
454
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:09.400
her parents, almost our parents had a golden opportunity to
455
00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:11.960
get out of debt for the millionth time. All they
456
00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:16.160
had to do was essentially sell her Jesus. They had
457
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:19.079
medical debt for you know, the birth of a baby,
458
00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.680
and they couldn't pay. And they were, you know, they
459
00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:25.240
were perpetually, you know, something always happening, you know, pick
460
00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:29.839
your thing, prairie fire, locust disease, you know, crop failures
461
00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:34.400
of every type of description, and uh and they owed
462
00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:38.200
some massive debt to a doctor, and the doctor's wife
463
00:25:38.279 --> 00:25:42.039
is just kind of like, you know, my daughters are grown,
464
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:48.799
I need a kid. I'll take that one. And you
465
00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.079
know their their response is not recorded, but obviously they
466
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:58.839
didn't do that. I was like wow, and uh yeah,
467
00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.920
I mean I was out on the prairie.
468
00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:03.920
Well at least she got it all out in her stories.
469
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:06.960
But now keep going, this is great some things. You know.
470
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:10.599
She always said I have told the truth, but I
471
00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:14.839
have not told the whole truth, and boy, she did not.
472
00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:15.960
Interesting.
473
00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:19.799
You know, these all of these things are being reconstructed,
474
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:23.319
you know, in proper historian fashion, from other people's letters,
475
00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:29.119
her sisters, you know, other family members, town records, censuses,
476
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.400
all this other kind of thing. But you know, we
477
00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:35.240
all know that Star Trek was originally conceived as a
478
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:39.920
Western in space wagon trained to the stars. That's why
479
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:43.640
the whole little house thing blends so neatly, I think
480
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:47.759
with what I have in mind to do, because you know,
481
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:54.000
this is just planet side stuff essentially, and you know
482
00:26:54.119 --> 00:27:01.160
it all of the social things. I mean, we we
483
00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:05.279
mythologized the West, we mythologized the frontier, It really was
484
00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:09.640
such a such a tiny short time period of chaos,
485
00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:15.759
and you know, government lying to everybody, and venture capital
486
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:20.400
companies and the railroads and everything just lying to everyone,
487
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:25.000
sending people off to land that people who knew their stuff,
488
00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:29.920
knew couldn't be farmed, knew that most of them would
489
00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:33.920
not be able to succeed, you know, as farmers on
490
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:39.359
that land. You know, these are things that Trek never
491
00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:42.920
dealt with, you know, because it was supposed to be
492
00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:48.920
a better worlds to be, you know, a world in
493
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:54.200
which your government is not going to deliberately lie to
494
00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:58.279
you for political gain. You know, that's not supposed to
495
00:27:58.359 --> 00:28:01.799
happen in Trek, And and I can understand if it
496
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:06.519
does happen in more recent stories why old line fans
497
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:09.920
would feel kind of betrayed and modern fans would be
498
00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:11.759
more like, well, you know, that's what the world look
499
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.440
like maybe, but that's not what Track's supposed to be.
500
00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:18.880
Well, but also it's okay because it started. And again
501
00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:21.400
I don't want to I'm not gonna spoil, but there
502
00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:25.640
is obviously with Starfleet Academy and everything that they've done
503
00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:29.359
in this new era since Discovery made the time jump,
504
00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:33.079
that yes, we had the burn. Now I didn't like
505
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:36.759
the reason behind the burn, but it is a story opportunity. Fine,
506
00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:39.279
of all, right, now the galaxy has kind of collapse,
507
00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:43.200
how does the Federation regroup whatever? And I can also
508
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:48.079
appreciate other worlds not being served by the Federation or
509
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:52.880
looking at the Federation with a critical eye. Oh oh god,
510
00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:58.119
great idea, but they don't exploit it fully enough. And
511
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:01.759
they expect us to just understand Dan that there might
512
00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:04.480
be this other feeling and it's like, no, that's where
513
00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.960
story is. And you can even have these new academy kids.
514
00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:11.519
Caleb is a guy that is coming into this like, hey,
515
00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:14.880
you're a bunch of colonialiusts and imperialists. I don't buy
516
00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:17.839
your shit. My mother doesn't buy your shit. I'm not walking.
517
00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:23.960
But it's but they again, they have, they have, they
518
00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:26.880
have kind of and again it kind of comes through
519
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:29.039
in the finale to a degree, but I think it's
520
00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:32.400
an oversimplification and it's like, no, these ideas of other
521
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:35.960
planets going like like Betaz, for example, was a great
522
00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.000
idea to be like, hey, we're not coming right back. Fine,
523
00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:41.559
you got to show us that you give a shit
524
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:44.400
about us, But there should be more planets like that,
525
00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:49.519
and even just tiny little moments of on whatever their
526
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:53.160
galactic news is of well, the federations, you know, do
527
00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:56.039
a CNN and have somebody from the Federation and then
528
00:29:56.119 --> 00:29:58.720
have somebody from another point of viewing going, yeah, that's cute.
529
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:02.160
We've all learned those histories. The reality of today is
530
00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:03.200
you're not doing.
531
00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:03.799
Not how things go.
532
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.359
Yeah, and again that would be intriguing. And I say
533
00:30:06.359 --> 00:30:08.480
that as an old star Trek fan, I.
534
00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:11.079
Don't disagree with you at all. I don't I do
535
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:16.200
not actually understand why a school chancellor is handling such sensitive,
536
00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:22.279
you know, ambassadorial responsibilities to begin ye, just because her
537
00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:24.839
species is so long lived and has such a unique
538
00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:29.359
position in history. I mean, yeah, okay, but still she's
539
00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:34.519
a school chancellor. I agree, you know, I I there
540
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:37.880
are a lot of things that here's my thing. I
541
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:42.559
believe strongly in the power of imperfect stories as inspiration
542
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.319
for people to, you know, to get involved. You know,
543
00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:48.799
one of my favorite science fiction authors on Earth that
544
00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:51.240
no one seems to know about but me, is a
545
00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:55.039
woman named John Sloansuski, and she is that I'll spell
546
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:59.119
it for you, s l O n c z E w.
547
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.519
S I. And she is that rare beast, a science
548
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:07.640
fiction writer with actual science chops. She's a biology professor
549
00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:12.160
at Kenyan University, and her first book, A Door into Ocean,
550
00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:19.400
is a point by point hate thick for done. She's
551
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:25.160
so hated dune that she just made everything the opposite.
552
00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.519
Instead of a desert planet, you've got a planet with
553
00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:31.960
no dry land whatsoever. It's all ocean. You've got you know,
554
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:36.319
the native folks, you live on these floating raft trees,
555
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:40.680
and you know, the biology is really fascinating, and she
556
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:44.599
writes a good story. She's written, you know, like six
557
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:48.799
or seven novels, each of which has there's a shared world,
558
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.279
but there are rarely shared characters, if that makes sense.
559
00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:56.160
So you start with this one world Shoa, the ocean planet,
560
00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:58.839
and you get to know all of these people right
561
00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:04.000
before another world invades them and colonizes them essentially and
562
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.759
messes everything up. And then the next book on is
563
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:12.000
you know, one hundred years into the future, so you
564
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:16.200
know things are different, but the cultures are consistent. You
565
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:18.799
just don't get the same characters over and over and
566
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.599
on and on. That way, she layers new worlds and
567
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:25.440
new cultures on top of what she's already established. I
568
00:32:25.480 --> 00:32:29.559
think she's brilliant, cool, but it is hate vic there.
569
00:32:29.559 --> 00:32:31.920
It was, at least the first one was. And so
570
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:35.480
you know, the imperfections of a story. You know, if
571
00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:37.680
I want perfection, I'm going to read Ursula Kail again.
572
00:32:37.799 --> 00:32:42.359
You know, absolutely yes, and I'm.
573
00:32:42.200 --> 00:32:46.480
Willing to accept perfection. But sometimes I'm more motivated by
574
00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:48.119
stuff that kind of makes me go, you know what
575
00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:52.240
if I did that, I was, I'll do it like this. Yeah,
576
00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:54.279
you're okay.
577
00:32:54.400 --> 00:32:54.640
You know.
578
00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:59.119
The best realization of we who walk Away from all
579
00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:04.279
malass was that episode of a Strange New World where
580
00:33:04.279 --> 00:33:08.000
they were going with that and I fell out and
581
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:11.079
they didn't. They didn't pull pull back at the end
582
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:13.359
on that one either, Oh my no, they didn't. Well,
583
00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:15.680
this one never lets us off the hook, and they
584
00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:17.039
didn't either, not with that one.
585
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:22.319
Agreed and again Legwyn is amazing. Two things. One would
586
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:24.680
have been nice for our special thanks to Ursula Legwinn
587
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:27.920
kind of in that same way that in that first
588
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.319
original series Gorn episode, I believe it was Ted Sturgeon
589
00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:34.000
that they give the props to and it's like, yeah,
590
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:36.359
you know, we took this idea from X so that
591
00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:39.079
pissed me out also, by the way, uh and it
592
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:42.400
really this bothers me about the current regime because it
593
00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:46.079
is a regime at Star Trek. You see, Fontana really
594
00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:49.759
gave the backstory of Number One in one of the
595
00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:53.640
novels that she wrote, and they totally lifted that. That's fine,
596
00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:56.920
they are absolutely in every right to do that. But
597
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.480
when they say, oh, we really honor the tradition and
598
00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:02.839
really respect everybody in Star Trek, hey man, she is
599
00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:06.440
literally the first lady of Star Trek and deserves all
600
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:11.559
the props for everything she created Spocking, Spock's backstory in Yesteryear,
601
00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:13.679
the animated series. You know all this, I mean, yeah,
602
00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:16.239
you're nodding along, and I because right now it's that camera.
603
00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:19.079
Whoever speaking gets the camera, So I appreciate you nodding
604
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:22.280
along and agreeing. But that's the thing, man, I just that.
605
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:26.800
And also, unfortunately, that episode to me is an exception
606
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:30.119
of the three seasons we've gotten Austrange Wars. There's a
607
00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:33.519
lot of mediocre, and there was a lot of mediocre
608
00:34:33.719 --> 00:34:36.159
in the old shows as well, but they had more
609
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:40.519
canvas to get away with. All Right, that episode wasn't great.
610
00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:42.880
It'll be better out of the twenty six we're getting
611
00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.679
a year. These guys got ten episodes, And on the
612
00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:48.280
one end, I respect the fact that's a challenge. On
613
00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:50.639
the other hand, you have to meet that challenge, and
614
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:53.440
I do think there's a Star Trek formula that you
615
00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:57.559
can follow get your new fresh ideas in without deviating,
616
00:34:57.719 --> 00:35:00.960
but also be smarter. I look forward to you watching
617
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:05.199
the last couple episodes of Academy, because again, I think
618
00:35:05.239 --> 00:35:10.519
in general, there's just this oversimplification of everything, character, plot,
619
00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:14.480
et cetera. That I expect more and if they have
620
00:35:14.679 --> 00:35:17.639
interesting ideas, but it's like, just go with this, just
621
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:19.159
go with you know what we're trying to say. No,
622
00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:20.840
we really don't. And I think they could do a
623
00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:24.000
better job planning seeds along the way. But that's me.
624
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:27.599
Yeah, yeah, you know, I like, I say, I'm with
625
00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.199
you on that, you know. And I you know, I
626
00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:33.559
was an old school Trek fan, old school next Gen fan,
627
00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:35.639
and then I fell off the map. So I am
628
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.360
missing a lot of things, man, a lot of things
629
00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:40.760
that I have not seen in spite of the fact
630
00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:43.320
that I could not have loved it more when I
631
00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:43.920
was a kid.
632
00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:49.599
Jeezus, because truly DS nine did, and Voyager too. And
633
00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:51.880
that's the thing, because I'm like, I'm cool with the
634
00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:55.079
fact that women are stronger in New Trek, but they
635
00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:58.119
I think at the expense of men. Frankly and I
636
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.559
and I and and really I I think I'm my
637
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:04.000
politics are in the right place and my heart's in
638
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:06.639
the right place. But it's like, especially at this school,
639
00:36:06.679 --> 00:36:08.679
it's like, could we have had a couple more like
640
00:36:08.760 --> 00:36:11.920
a couple of male teachers. That War college guy, Oh
641
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.440
my god, my god, what a caricature. And I don't Frankly,
642
00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:19.119
I don't believe him to be a Masters strategist if anything,
643
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:23.159
and especially to show the disparity of both ideas, but
644
00:36:23.199 --> 00:36:26.559
even physically, have a John Wayne kind of alpha male
645
00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:28.880
be in charge of the and have to deal with
646
00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:31.760
four foot tall Holly Hunter and her getting in a
647
00:36:31.800 --> 00:36:33.719
physical going yeah, I don't tell you this, big guy,
648
00:36:33.719 --> 00:36:35.719
but you're wrong in this case. And that would have
649
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:41.440
been interesting and also might represent a better believable to me,
650
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:45.159
you know, war college of Yeah, guess what we're all
651
00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:48.239
about strategy and stuff. We don't have time to be
652
00:36:48.360 --> 00:36:50.840
nice lady, you know that kind of thing. But also
653
00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:52.920
really getting back to the old stuff that you missed,
654
00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:57.320
d States nine and Voyager, Strong Women. I love talking
655
00:36:57.320 --> 00:37:00.760
to Nana Visitor and Terry Ferrell. I've had the pleasure
656
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:03.800
of talking to them on my show and they're really
657
00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:06.559
like they get it and thank god the writers got it.
658
00:37:06.679 --> 00:37:09.840
And Voyager too, you had Kate Mulgar was amazing as
659
00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:12.440
the Captain. But yeah, and strong Men as well. I mean,
660
00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:14.960
there was a balance and I feel like there's a
661
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:17.760
disparity in New Track, and I think an over correction
662
00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:20.079
of well, the men have had their time. Now it's
663
00:37:20.119 --> 00:37:23.679
our turn, and it's like okay. But you know, again,
664
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:28.199
I'm somebody that's okay about having a balance, but you're
665
00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:31.119
really you know, you're abandoning your old school fans that
666
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:34.320
are like, hey, where are Captain Kirks? Mmm?
667
00:37:35.320 --> 00:37:37.559
Yeah, I mean there does need to be room for,
668
00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:41.719
you know, for for all of the tropes. I think,
669
00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:45.880
you know, I agree.
670
00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:47.159
And again, I mean, you know, if you disagreed, that'd
671
00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:48.280
be cool too, But you know.
672
00:37:48.360 --> 00:37:54.719
Well, it's here's my thing. Balance in a story is
673
00:37:55.800 --> 00:38:01.079
a complicated thing, you know, making sure like writing a
674
00:38:01.239 --> 00:38:05.599
really big D and D campaign or a really big
675
00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:08.760
game scenario. You know, my kid's a gamer, I am not,
676
00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:14.440
and just trying to make sure that, you know, the
677
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:19.519
story wants to tell itself in a game scenario, so
678
00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:22.000
you have to kind of make sure people go down
679
00:38:22.039 --> 00:38:24.719
the right pipes at the right time, they don't just
680
00:38:24.760 --> 00:38:27.440
get killed in the wrong place, you know, or kill
681
00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:30.199
off somebody important to the story later on. You know,
682
00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:36.199
this is all a planning thing that, it seems is
683
00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:42.719
kind of you know, neglected. I'm coming to Trek with
684
00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:47.320
that old you know, serial state of mind going on,
685
00:38:47.800 --> 00:38:51.400
where you know, somebody falls passionately in love and finds,
686
00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:53.800
you know, the great love of their life, and then
687
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.199
book they're gone. You never see them again, you know,
688
00:38:56.679 --> 00:38:58.800
not even the background. They don't even come back as
689
00:38:58.840 --> 00:39:02.960
a recurring character episodes later. No, no, you know, each
690
00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:05.039
of these pieces needs to be as round as a
691
00:39:05.079 --> 00:39:08.280
marble and fit in this you know machine any to
692
00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:10.440
any way we want. You know, there can be no
693
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:14.400
protrusions to you know, require us to show these episodes
694
00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:18.400
in any given order. You know that all changed so
695
00:39:18.599 --> 00:39:21.199
long ago for so many you know Trek fans that
696
00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:22.840
I'm sure they're all going to be going, what the
697
00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:25.320
hell are you talking about? You know, it's always oh wait, no,
698
00:39:25.400 --> 00:39:29.239
it hasn't always been that way. Absolutely, and so I
699
00:39:29.320 --> 00:39:33.480
am maybe not as focused on the big picture as
700
00:39:33.960 --> 00:39:37.599
as y'all who have been in it all along, you know,
701
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:41.719
are naturally are. You're looking for the big arc to
702
00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:45.719
make sense too. You know, my other great love is
703
00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:51.280
the Twilight Zone, which never had any pretension of the anthology.
704
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:55.320
They're all individual stories, all the short, all little episodes
705
00:39:55.880 --> 00:39:59.280
with recurring themes rather than recurring characters.
706
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:02.239
Carla, would you ever want to do? You know? Id
707
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:05.079
W has the license right now. God, we should. We
708
00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:06.920
got to get you in touch with them. Seriously, you'd
709
00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:09.559
be amazing to do a Twilight Zone. I'm not kidding.
710
00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:11.760
Yeah, I didn't even thought about it, have you.
711
00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:13.800
I don't know if you've seen it, because really they've
712
00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:17.320
gone to kind of all creators. James Stoked in an
713
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:20.559
amazing episode and Tom Sioli episode, do you know what
714
00:40:20.639 --> 00:40:23.440
I'm saying? Issues, but they're good and again you get
715
00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:25.440
you get the sensibilities for that. I bet you do
716
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:27.079
a hell of a twilight Zone.
717
00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:30.039
Maybe maybe, Yeah, I mean right now, I'm putting it
718
00:40:30.039 --> 00:40:34.119
all into this story. You know, this family goes through
719
00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:37.239
this hurricane and everything on the other side. You know,
720
00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:41.159
how many times do you go into the desert in
721
00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:44.400
a Twilight Zone story and it's kind of soft around
722
00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:47.519
the edges, and you know you're in a weird place
723
00:40:47.559 --> 00:40:50.880
where weird things happen. You know, we we we critters.
724
00:40:50.880 --> 00:40:55.320
We don't like desert, and we don't like flat, open planes,
725
00:40:55.400 --> 00:40:58.280
and we don't like deep woods. We want these sort
726
00:40:58.280 --> 00:41:01.719
of speckled trees here, trees there. I think the big
727
00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:05.800
brains call it mosaic forest. That's where we're from, and
728
00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:09.320
that's what we want. We want shade but not shadow.
729
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.679
Oh yeah. And so this place where they end up
730
00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:18.400
is just this empty wasteland, you know, with no sky,
731
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:22.079
no stars, no clouds, no sun, no moon, no nothing. Uh.
732
00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:25.199
And it's easy to imagine that if you were stuck
733
00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:26.679
in a place like that for too long, that you
734
00:41:26.719 --> 00:41:30.320
would lose your ev loved mind crazy. And that's where
735
00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:36.719
I'm gonna have all of my weird just what stuff happen,
736
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:40.239
because it's a place that is unpredictable by nature. But
737
00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:42.599
there are natives, there are people who come from there,
738
00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:45.440
and you know they're gonna be fun getting to them.
739
00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:48.559
And the family. They kind of are armed with magic.
740
00:41:48.760 --> 00:41:50.519
I suppose to a degree sort.
741
00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:57.400
Of basically there is I guess it's close to it.
742
00:41:57.400 --> 00:42:00.320
It's easiest to describe it as a game star ale
743
00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:08.239
mana approach to magic. They are experiencing a power blackout.
744
00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:12.039
They're not in a place where the energy that they're
745
00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:18.239
used to flows very well, you know, So basically, you know,
746
00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:20.800
like anybody who's ever sat through a massive storm. In
747
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:24.119
the aftermath, you've got your wind up radio and your
748
00:42:24.239 --> 00:42:27.440
you know, your your hurricane lamp, and you know, you're
749
00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:29.800
you know, maybe you've got a generator, maybe you don't,
750
00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:31.960
but you're just trying to get all your food cooked
751
00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:35.559
before it goes bad. They're just trying to make things
752
00:42:35.639 --> 00:42:39.960
work because they're stuck out there. They had an accident,
753
00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:43.119
you know, traveling through the hurricane, and they lost the
754
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:46.159
rest of their convoy essentially, so they're just out there
755
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:49.239
on their own, and the kids are on their own
756
00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:53.039
trying to, you know, amuse themselves the way kids do.
757
00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:58.199
You know, This is where the ADHD thing kind of
758
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:00.400
ties in a little bit, because it got one kid
759
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:03.880
who is frozen, who is stuck in the mud, who
760
00:43:03.880 --> 00:43:06.400
gets stuck in the mud, even if it's something he
761
00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:09.440
wants to do. He digs his heels in. And the
762
00:43:09.480 --> 00:43:12.159
other kid that can't sit still, you know who is
763
00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:16.519
always going to be the one to dive headfirst into whatever.
764
00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:18.880
You know, She's going to be the one that comes
765
00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:22.480
home with the exploding flowers. I guarantee you. You know, Oh,
766
00:43:22.519 --> 00:43:24.800
they're so pretty before they blow up in your face
767
00:43:24.920 --> 00:43:28.880
and make you deathly ill. You know, that's the kind
768
00:43:28.920 --> 00:43:32.639
of kid she is. And so you know this this
769
00:43:33.079 --> 00:43:36.320
second part. The first part is all you know, a
770
00:43:36.360 --> 00:43:40.639
weird little witch town into the storm set up, and
771
00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:45.920
the second part is all Twilight Zone time where everything
772
00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:49.960
is as weird as I know how to make it.
773
00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:52.360
And then the third part will be a traveling circus.
774
00:43:53.239 --> 00:43:57.480
Interesting I have to ask regarding your kid being a
775
00:43:57.519 --> 00:43:59.639
gamer and stuff and you being a writer where you
776
00:43:59.639 --> 00:44:02.000
help in set up the world and everything that the
777
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:04.800
kid wanted to do for role playing games.
778
00:44:05.519 --> 00:44:08.559
We were talking about all kind of story things this morning.
779
00:44:09.239 --> 00:44:13.360
There's something about springtime that makes me itchy and restless.
780
00:44:14.119 --> 00:44:16.320
It seems to be the flip side of the way
781
00:44:16.360 --> 00:44:18.280
some people get in the winter when it's dark and
782
00:44:18.360 --> 00:44:21.360
cold and gloomy, and they get depressed. Yeah, you know,
783
00:44:21.400 --> 00:44:26.079
I'm just kind of like got to get out, and
784
00:44:26.239 --> 00:44:28.519
so we were just kind of like, you know, talking
785
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:32.480
too fast and vacuuming the living room and making fried
786
00:44:32.559 --> 00:44:35.800
rice all at the same time, and you know, discussing
787
00:44:35.840 --> 00:44:39.360
all kinds of story things. I am sure that our
788
00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:43.559
conversation would have made zero sense to anybody else listening.
789
00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:45.840
But you know, like I say, we both are kind
790
00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:47.840
of eat up with the add.
791
00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:51.559
All right, I got greatest tits questions for you.
792
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:52.280
Okay.
793
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:54.559
My first awareness of you was the Queen and Country
794
00:44:54.679 --> 00:44:56.119
arc you did with Greg Rucca.
795
00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:56.599
Yeah.
796
00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:59.039
I love that, seriously, I really did. I love that
797
00:44:59.119 --> 00:45:01.760
and everything. So I don't know if that's ever anything
798
00:45:01.800 --> 00:45:04.119
you guys would ever want to not the Queen of Country,
799
00:45:04.320 --> 00:45:06.239
but to get back in any sort of collaboration.
800
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:09.559
I don't know. I certainly had a great deal of
801
00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:12.400
fun doing that. And Rucca said, you know what, I
802
00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:15.920
loved working with you because you like drawing guys in
803
00:45:16.039 --> 00:45:18.519
bad suits and terrible lighting, yelling at each other for
804
00:45:18.599 --> 00:45:21.079
page after page after page. And a lot of the
805
00:45:21.119 --> 00:45:24.400
other artists, God bless them all, but they're just kind
806
00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:26.440
of like, you know what, Give me an exploding helicopter,
807
00:45:26.519 --> 00:45:30.360
give me a car crash, please, let me conversation thing besides,
808
00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:32.840
have two guys, you know, yelling at each other, you know,
809
00:45:32.960 --> 00:45:35.800
and I'm just going I could do people yelling at
810
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:37.119
each other for a really long time.
811
00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:40.599
Did you ever watch the Sandbaggers? His inspiration?
812
00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:43.880
It's the funny thing. That was the really funny part,
813
00:45:43.960 --> 00:45:47.760
you know. So I'm I've got a little pile of
814
00:45:47.800 --> 00:45:50.639
materials that they sent me to see if I wanted
815
00:45:50.639 --> 00:45:52.719
to do this thing, and I'm just kind of picking
816
00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:54.920
through it, going, huh. I had never heard of this.
817
00:45:55.840 --> 00:46:00.360
And my husband, who does not read fiction. He's a
818
00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:04.519
computer programmer, and you know, he got big thick tones
819
00:46:04.519 --> 00:46:06.920
of O'Reilly, how to do this and that and whatever,
820
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:09.679
a wall of those things. But that's his idea of
821
00:46:09.760 --> 00:46:12.480
light reading, you know. And I had just come to
822
00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:17.599
accept the fact that this foundation of books read and
823
00:46:17.880 --> 00:46:20.719
you know, TV shows, scene and stuff like that. You know,
824
00:46:20.760 --> 00:46:23.960
we just didn't have in common and it was okay,
825
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:27.000
but you know, I just couldn't count on him having
826
00:46:27.039 --> 00:46:28.880
read the same things and seen the same things that
827
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:29.320
I had.
828
00:46:29.519 --> 00:46:29.719
You know.
829
00:46:29.800 --> 00:46:31.960
So he comes behind me, you know, to get a
830
00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:34.320
sandwich or whatever, looks over my shoulder and says, oh yeah,
831
00:46:34.599 --> 00:46:39.719
Sandbagger's best damn britt spy TV show ever made. I'm like, okay,
832
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:46.480
I'm in. We're doing this, this obscure show that no
833
00:46:46.519 --> 00:46:50.679
one's ever heard of, and he knows, like, okay, all right,
834
00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:53.079
I gotta do this. And it was a blast. I
835
00:46:53.159 --> 00:46:56.639
really loved it. You can count on Rucca for knowing
836
00:46:56.760 --> 00:47:02.440
his spy stories and his intrigue always, and uh, you know,
837
00:47:03.360 --> 00:47:06.719
and and that was that was really fun. The tone
838
00:47:06.719 --> 00:47:09.519
of it was fun because it was taking its tone
839
00:47:09.599 --> 00:47:14.400
from sand Baggers, and Sandbaggers is just a really fascinating thing.
840
00:47:15.280 --> 00:47:19.280
So yeah, yeah, I mean, I'd be gaming for it.
841
00:47:19.639 --> 00:47:22.079
You can write me more stories of people yelling at
842
00:47:22.119 --> 00:47:22.480
each other.
843
00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:24.440
There you go. I know, I wish you'd get back
844
00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:26.679
to it. He's I mean, he's world building with Lazarus,
845
00:47:26.719 --> 00:47:30.000
the thing he's doing, Mike Lark and yeah, but no,
846
00:47:30.119 --> 00:47:32.119
it's great. And no, I so agree with you on
847
00:47:32.199 --> 00:47:34.840
Sandbaggers and your husband. It was you know, it's that
848
00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:38.719
John lecare for people who don't know. And it's so accessible.
849
00:47:39.119 --> 00:47:43.199
It's not like all the free streamers. Isn't like subscribe
850
00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:45.559
or anything. You go to Toby and watch it in
851
00:47:45.639 --> 00:47:48.960
it and and well Amazon as commercials, but if you
852
00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:51.840
have prime, uh you know, but it's good. It's an
853
00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:53.880
amazing show and only three seasons.
854
00:47:54.159 --> 00:47:57.880
Yeah yeah, yeah, and then the creator just disappeared into
855
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:01.159
the ether or something like that, was lost and never found,
856
00:48:01.599 --> 00:48:05.840
which is just you know, he went to Russia. Wasn't
857
00:48:05.840 --> 00:48:07.800
that in a story? People would go, you know what,
858
00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:09.719
maybe we should workshop that a little bit.
859
00:48:11.239 --> 00:48:13.239
I think he maybe he's one of his you know,
860
00:48:13.360 --> 00:48:16.559
later Cambridge spies, like the old Ken Philby and all
861
00:48:16.559 --> 00:48:19.039
those guys that were or Kim Philby. I forget his name,
862
00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:21.880
but yeah, man, maybe that's the thing. Maybe he went back,
863
00:48:21.920 --> 00:48:23.400
you know, who knows. And I love that, you know,
864
00:48:23.679 --> 00:48:26.280
ruck even had his brother like come to his house
865
00:48:26.280 --> 00:48:29.400
and hang out with him and stuff. Right, No, it's
866
00:48:29.440 --> 00:48:30.079
a great story.
867
00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:33.599
I mean, backstory. It's very Elvis is not dead, he
868
00:48:33.719 --> 00:48:34.960
just went home kind of thing.
869
00:48:35.599 --> 00:48:39.119
You don't know. Yeah, man, it's crazy, yeah, killing me. Well,
870
00:48:39.159 --> 00:48:41.360
I'm excited for you, buddy, and honestly, I'm happy to
871
00:48:41.400 --> 00:48:44.079
help get the word out on this so people can
872
00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:47.559
go to patreon dot com slash Carlo Speed McNeil and
873
00:48:47.880 --> 00:48:50.880
read the free version and you're only a few weeks behind.
874
00:48:51.199 --> 00:48:54.639
But plenty of story there for people to explore.
875
00:48:55.039 --> 00:48:59.119
For late first chapter, most of the second chapter. You know,
876
00:48:59.719 --> 00:49:02.199
I think there's plenty for you to find out whether
877
00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:03.000
or not it's for you.
878
00:49:03.800 --> 00:49:06.360
Fair enough, fair enough, great catching up man, I'm sorry
879
00:49:06.400 --> 00:49:07.239
it's been so long.
880
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:10.280
Yeah yeah, well, you know, better late than never.
881
00:49:13.079 --> 00:49:15.039
And that'll do it for this edition of word Balloon.
882
00:49:15.079 --> 00:49:17.920
Thanks so much for listening. Questions or comments about the
883
00:49:17.960 --> 00:49:21.760
show reach me via email shown atwordballoon dot com. If
884
00:49:21.800 --> 00:49:25.679
you didn't know, we are also a YouTube video interview show.
885
00:49:25.960 --> 00:49:29.360
If you go to word Balloon's YouTube page just word
886
00:49:29.360 --> 00:49:32.679
balloon one word. You'll find it there. I know it's confusing,
887
00:49:32.719 --> 00:49:35.079
it's two words otherwise when you look for it on
888
00:49:35.320 --> 00:49:39.719
the podcast platforms. But as always, really appreciate your time
889
00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:43.559
and attention. Word Balloon is a copyright feature of Shaky Productions.
890
00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:46.519
Copyright twenty twenty six, All rights reserve.