Speaker 1:
0:00
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it Gaming. Wait for it Anime.
Speaker 2:
0:08
PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 1:
0:11
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 3:
0:14
Yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast. I'm your co-host, phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 2:
0:40
And I'm your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and for this edition of Creator Spotlight, we are very excited to bring on a guest that we met here in Jacksonville recently at Collective Con and have sparked an interest into his book, which, phil, if you know anything about me, I can't even read. So the fact that I started reading this should say a lot, and I think it's going to be a great episode yeah, super exciting.
Speaker 3:
1:07
We we linked up with our guest, like you said, over collective con weekend a couple different times and, uh, he also met some of our other friends we've had on the show. So it's all just kind of comes together when we talk about all this networking that we get to do whenever we do these conventions and building these relationships, which is really what it is all about, and we are so excited to talk about his project and his book here today. So let's bring in our guests. Nicholas Keating-Casabarro. Nick, good to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time, and how are you doing here tonight?
Speaker 1:
1:39
I'm doing fantastic. It's great to be here with you guys.
Speaker 3:
1:43
Broke out the scotch for us as well. We were talking a little bit before you got on, eric, so you know only celebratory occasions here when you talk about throwing something back in your 30s. I was telling Nick I had a rough night back in December and it's been a little iffy for me when it comes to it. A little touching, you know. Yeah, so we appreciate that. But, eric, we didn't. We didn't bring anything. I got some water, although I wish I would have known I would have brought like an aviary orchard.
Speaker 2:
2:09
Yeah, no, we would have. We would have gone to the peak.
Speaker 3:
2:11
It would have been great.
Speaker 2:
2:12
So, no for sure, and, nick, again glad to have you different for our series, but not really, because this is Creator Spotlight, where we spotlight other creative, like-minded individuals, and between sci-fi and everything, I've seen a lot of your social media presence and seeing how you talk about your creative process. This was just a match made in heaven. So I kind of want to jump right into it and have you introduce not only yourself and your experience as an author how that became the thing that you do now but also the book itself and and kind of start off there with Vidalirum- yeah, absolutely well.
Speaker 1:
3:00
Thanks again for having me on, guys. It was. It was fantastic to meet you at Collective Con. It's great to be here with you tonight To kind of answer your question and tell you a little bit about Vidularium Vidularium is a budding sci-fi franchise that I started about three and a half years ago.
Speaker 1:
3:19
It includes a book series, of which I have seven books approved by my publisher, an accompanying audio book series and action series, film, video games down the line, even board games, everything. Even if I have to create all of that sort of content myself, this is a series that I basically plan to bring to full fruition. So Videlarium follows humanity after we become multi-planetary, all thanks to a new element that's discovered, which in the book in that universe they call Videlarium. And the story itself follows a roughneck freelancer about 700 years in the future, after we've colonized seven different human planets. And the freelancer, he's kind of a mercenary type. He is doing odd jobs for local gangs. When you first meet him as an adult, he's kind of a lost soul, he's a drunk, he's basically spending money on booze and whores, just floating through life, and what ends up happening is the certain circumstances basically embroil him in a massive conspiracy that has the authoritarian government of his planet hunting him. So essentially he has to gang up with a kind of a motley crew of allies to be able to survive the ordeal. And that's just book one. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 1:
5:06
For book one, we explore all different types of. I mean, we explore conspiracy, the ramifications of all reaching power, we explore a lot of different philosophical kind of I guess themes and you get a little bit of everything with this. You get your mystery, you get action Obviously it's a sci-fi you get your advanced civilization conversation, you get moments of comedy, you get a little bit of romance. I certainly put the as I'm sure you guys have noticed by now. I put the protagonist through a lot. I had to give him a little something. So there's a love interest, there's conspiracy, there's political intrigue, because you get to see what's happening in the background, with all the political turmoil that's brewing, which actually is one of the things that causes the conundrum that the protagonist is in. So you get a lot out of this book. And, like I said, this is just the very tip of the iceberg. Right now I've got all seven books planned out. That could end up turning into more than seven books, depending upon how I decide to write the middle segment of the book, because I plan to. Basically the first two books are going to be on a planetary scale, so it's going to be following his goings on on planet Dior, and then the second segment is going to be on a galactic scale where you're following their journeys to all of the different colonized planets and then in the third segment, then we're going to start getting weird. So, yeah, it's been a very interesting ride so far.
Speaker 1:
6:50
I started, like I said, three and a half years ago. I wrote the majority, like the vast majority, of this book at 36,000 feet. All of this started when I was working in medical devices. The job that I had basically had me on a plane three to five days a week and essentially I had all this plane time. I had nothing really else better to do. I had beaten Netflix. At this point I'm downloading episodes to shows I don't even want to watch. I said I'm wasting my time. Like what am I doing? So I had had a few ideas that I had built up from.
Speaker 1:
7:34
Some of them were ideas that I've had since I was like in high school and just didn't know what I could possibly do with them, didn't think I even really had it in me to become an author. I'd always put like people who did like creative things like that for a living, almost kind of on a pedestal, like an unreachable pedestal, like oh, that's they, they have something special, they, they're geniuses. That's how they got to that point. There's, which you know, given, I'm sure, a good amount of them. Yes, but I just I had never imagined that as something that I could do myself. Sorry, that's my, uh, my just under two year old in the background. Uh, I think she's getting bath time right now. I think that should be over relatively soon. But I'd always kind of put that on a pedestal. But I had had all these ideas. I kind of gathered them up into a little bit of a history and I said, all right, well, let me see what I can do with this.
Speaker 1:
8:28
So I got on a long flight. I was going from Miami to Hawaii for a big burn conference that I went to every year. It's the Boswick Burn Conference. It's a gathering of traumatic burn surgeons, which was my specialty in medical device. Gathering of traumatic burn surgeons, which was my specialty in medical device. Great, great convention, great people really dealing with some very, very tough situations that patients are going through. You don't want to get traumatically burned. I've been in the OR countless times with some very, very severely injured patients and these guys and girls, they saved lives. So I was flying to this convention and I got off the plane after I had started writing and I was on chapter four and I was like holy shit.
Speaker 2:
9:19
It just came out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:
9:21
It just poured out of me and I was like, well, I got to plan this out. So I started planning in an Excel document. I was like, all right, well, what are the themes I want to talk about? Just so I can have my ideas straight and make sure I have kind of like an anchor to refer to as I'm writing this, and that every question that I answered brought up five more questions that I was like, well, if I'm going to write this out, I want to be able to see it. I've always been a very visual person, so that definitely helps Making sure that I can see what I'm writing in my head answering all these questions. And once again, that brought up more questions.
Speaker 1:
10:04
And suddenly I was designing all the planets. How many moons do they have? What type of planet is it? What's the government structure? What are the people like there? What language do they speak? What's the flora and fauna look like on the planet where this is taking place? What are the factions? Who are we dealing with? Who are the players in this kind of multi-narrative story that I'm telling the players in this kind of multi-narrative story that I'm telling what does religion look like 700 years from now?
Speaker 1:
10:29
I had to create a religion and write out the religious tenets of that religion and incorporate that into the story. And suddenly I had this tab that was, excuse me, an Excel document that was like 40 tabs long just spelling out everything from the technology to the characters, their backstory, and I had a perfect storyboard to work with. And so I just kept writing from there and I kind of stayed vigilant about it. Anytime I was on a plane I was like that's my writing time. I do nothing else but write. Even when I'm dead tired, I'm going to write, and so that's where I wrote. Basically this entire book Ended up getting connected with a publisher through a family friend who basically said, like, look, I'll introduce you to these people, you give them your pitch and if they like it, they'll take you on. If they don't like it, then you got more work to do. Well, they ended up liking it, especially after I broke out the 40 tab Excel document and I was like look what I got planned. I was, I was very, very excited. I wish I had videotaped that to see, like, just so I could revisit it and see like the excitement. And see like the excitement. I was like forcing on this this poor girl who was listening to me, this poor woman as I was like explaining, I talked for like 30 minutes straight and you know, here we are today and now I've I've since, like I said, I've created an offshoot comic that follows right now the same narrative of the book, but it only follows the protagonist right now.
Speaker 1:
12:06
But I've been consulting with my illustrator and my colorist and we, basically I created a canon where I'm going to follow the main character through his story arc. I'm going to have a whole before the book time when he's an adult kind of a time period that I don't really get into, where I go into just his exploit as a freelancer, basically, like I said, doing jobs for gangs and just random citizens that have a job for him. He's a very skilled person, especially in the ways of violence, although he seems to have a surprisingly sound moral compass which makes him, at least in my opinion, a likable protagonist. I have plans for other characters' story arcs that I'll follow through, only following those characters, which will allow me to build on their character a bit more. And then I have, like I said, that one comic that I think I gave to both of you guys.
Speaker 1:
13:10
That's just one chapter from the book. And the book is what? 31 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue. And so I've got more content than I know what to do with and not enough hours in the day to be able to do what I want to do with, and not enough hours in the day to be able to do what I want to do with this story. And I actually just reached out to the folks at UCF to try and partner with some students there to get a short animated film created where I can bring one of the chapters truly bring one of the chapters to life, and I already have a full plan of what I plan to do with that. So we're moving fast.
Speaker 1:
13:50
It's been a lot of fun. It's probably the most fun I've had with anything that I've ever done in my life. If there's one thing that does not feel like work, it just feels like something I have to do and I love doing this is it, and that's why I say like it's something. I'm hanging my hat on this, because I've never felt more fulfillment aside from family and things like that but more fulfillment in doing something that I love than doing this. Plus, I've been a sci-fi fan since I was a kid, so to be able to bring you know just a bona fide sci-fi story to life, it's the fucking best man. It's just awesome.
Speaker 2:
14:36
I love that. Yeah, and Nick, we could absolutely feel that passion and all of that when we met you, which is why we're so excited to have you on, and, phil, I know you feel the same.
Speaker 3:
14:48
Yeah, you can really see that excitement and that passion come through when we meet you at the booth and you're telling people what the story is about. And I remember one thing you told that story about how you wrote most of it while you were in the air and we had made a comment. We were like, oh so you were, you know, as close to space that you possibly could have been in order to write this story, which I thought was just so very fitting. And you know, in my opinion you know, and I think a lot of people will share this too is I believe that writing is really the most intimate form of storytelling. You kind of went through your creative process here with us just a moment ago. As far as being an author and writing and going down the path you are now, is that something you always knew you wanted to do before you were in your professional career that you just talked to us about?
Speaker 1:
15:35
Not at all. It was probably the last thing I thought I would ever do, which is strange when you look at. You know, when I was in high school, the only college level course I ever took as a senior was a creative writing class. I did enjoy it but, once again, I had always kind of put famous writers you know successful writers on this pedestal, like you know. That's all they. They just they had something. It was something special and I couldn't really put my finger on it, something intangible that they had fulfillment or you know what have you. And part of that was probably just immaturity at the time. I just didn't know, I was young, and part of that was I was kind of already in, I was kind of already on a track to, you know, follow a specific career. I actually went to school to be a physical therapist. I went to school up north in Boston, at Northeastern, and I was in physical therapy school to get my doctorate in physical therapy. And I just realized one day, like this isn't what I want to do, like this is not making me happy, this is not what's exciting me, because get, I get super, super into things when I'm, when I'm interested in something, I will immerse myself completely unprompted. No one needs to tell me to do it, I don't need to, you know, harp on myself to get it done, I just do. I want to, like, I fiend for it, I need it almost, whereas if I'm not in my heart's, not in it, I just, you know, when I was in school, I was basically the guy who was, you know, showing up once every three classes and then showing up on test day getting my B minus and then, you know, walking out and see you later and a lot of people I'm sure were not too big of fans of me for that who are, you know, studying hard and trying to, you know, make this their career, because that's I mean, it is they're. I don't want to say I was being disrespectful, but it can certainly be looked at as like disrespectful for people who want to like make that their career. And I just wasn't feeling it. I just didn't know it at the time. But I ended up graduating early. So before I got my doctorate, much to my uh, my parents' chagrin and I ended up going into medical device sales because I still I had like there was an interest in the sciences, like I liked the medical sciences and it's something I certainly took into the book as well.
Speaker 1:
18:26
The book is a hundred percent medically accurate and it's not just from my background. My wife is a surgeon as well and, you know, anytime I was coming across something a little, you know, getting into the weeds with something, I could always bounce things off her. You know, hey, like what, what, what happens if, what would what if this happened to someone? Like how would that be treated? Or what would have to happen? You know, she's just a wealth of information, she's badass and she's my toughest beta reader, hands down my toughest beta reader. If anyone's going to tell me that there's a part of the book that is absolute shit, it is her and she is not going to be polite about it. So I'm lucky to have her because you know, the people who are toughest on you are the ones who are going to push you to be great. So to be able to have that in my corner and have her in my corner, I'm very grateful, very lucky in that respect, and I kind of went off on a tangent there. I forgot what the original question was no.
Speaker 3:
19:27
no, you answered it, it was. You know? Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer? Did you know? How did you find yourself on this path so?
Speaker 1:
19:34
yeah and yeah, I guess. Short answer now.
Speaker 3:
19:40
Let's circle back. No, yeah, no.
Speaker 3:
19:43
I think, a lot of people can relate to that story too, because so many of us and Eric and I can relate to this because we, you know, we still have our day jobs and still work very hard on this and we just go through the motions nine to five and then we really put our foot on the gas. When we do stuff like this, we're at the conventions, you know it's like a switch flips, you know. So I can certainly understand that. As far as when you're doing something that I was a C's get degrees kind of guy, you know, like I knew I could, I could get through and get by. But I'm like you and Eric is the same way. When we're really passionate about something, that's when we can, that's when the results show. You know, and Eric, I think you know you can just look at, kind of what we built and that kind of speaks for itself.
Speaker 1:
20:28
Isn't that kind of funny how you can always seem to find a second wind when it's something where you know there there's passion present?
Speaker 3:
20:37
Yeah, I'll be exhausted at work and then get home and be like, all right, I'm ready to go Like, let's, let's do this. You wouldn't know, this is not the person that they get during the day. So yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
20:57
That is, uh, that is valid and uh, you know, nick, again, that's definitely one part of the equation is the real world experience that you bring. Uh, you know from the medical field, you brought it into the book. The passion that you have for something you love, you bring, you know, from the medical field, you brought it into the book. The passion that you have for something you love, you bring into the book. Obviously there's such a big science fiction portion of it. It's a sci-fi story. I'm very curious where your passions have stemmed from within sci-fi, because that is such a big part of it. And whenever I see a sci-fi story, homages Maybe isn't always the right word, but there are absolutely, you would say, tropes and homages that are present In sci-fi stories and that's part of the game, Part of the name of the game, right? So I'm curious what stories moved you when you were younger, even to now, and stories moved you when you were younger, even to now, and what kind of influences have there been into this particular series that you're making?
Speaker 1:
21:51
Yeah, absolutely so. When I was a kid, the first sci-fi that I was ever really introduced to was Star Wars, and it was my father who introduced it to me when I was probably I don't even remember how old I was, I was probably like 10. I mean, who knows, we had a trilogy on VHS, like the original trilogy, that's what? Episodes four through six. Yeah, episodes four through six on VHS. I remember watching those over and over again.
Speaker 1:
22:28
We know whether he was there or whether, you know, it was just me, and so that was always something that was kind of like a bonding point between me and my dad, which I always liked, and even now, like when he'll come over, like he'll come over with my mom, you know, to visit my daughter Sloane, and, um, you know, once she's asleep and once my wife and my mom go to sleep, you know he'll come up and he'll be like, yeah, let's watch something, let's, let's see what's new out there and we'll throw on like a sci-fi flick and see what's, you know what's what's new, and so that I definitely had that.
Speaker 1:
23:04
You know I've always had that to bond over with him. So that's kind of where it started from. There it kind of stemmed into. You know, I he gave me the Dune book. The first one was the one that he had and then I ended up buying the subsequent ones myself way down the line. But I mean, let me see if I I got I mean this. It is like it is one of the old versions of Dune, like it's and you get like this has been well flipped through a couple of different times. It's it's old, it's basically falling apart. I don't know I'm gonna have to like frame this or something, but Dune was always a big, a big influence for me.
Speaker 1:
23:47
I loved Frank Herbert's work and he actually writes in the omniscient perspective, which is something that I also took on. I took on that omniscient perspective because I enjoyed, I like the ability of being able to tell the reader everything that's going on in the room, whether it's the perspective of one character or perspective of another character in the same room what's going on in their heads, what's happening in the background. I feel like I mean, with any type of narration that you take on, there are going to be strengths and weaknesses or pitfalls, whatever. But in this book, and when you guys finally get to the epilogue, I think you'll understand why I chose that perspective, because I actually did it for a specific reason. So when you get to the book, you really find out what that reason is, why you can see everything that's going on in this story and, um, that was really fun for me. Uh, some other things that I've always. I I've been a big fan of isaac asimov, as his short stories are. There's no comparison. I think he was one of the best out there. He was really great at just taking a single concept and fleshing that out in 10 to 15 pages and showing either the ramifications, the pitfall of a certain technology, the what could potentially come of this particular concept if it goes off the rails.
Speaker 1:
25:29
I love the idea of sci-fi as almost like an exploration of ways that humanity can fuck it all up, because it's great for that. It's a way for us to explore, well, what happens if we do go this route. How can we screw it up if this is something we, you know, decide to put all our eggs in this basket. You know what happens. Let's flesh that out, you know, 100 years down the road and see what happens. And see what happens. I think it actually helps us to identify some potential pitfalls for ourselves. You know, as humanity, as we continue to progress in this ever-advancing technological world, and I think there's value to it, which is why I think it's kind of a shame to see, especially in like the academic realm, that they've kind of eschewed it.
Speaker 1:
26:28
Like I went to a big convention called the AWP convention, which is very it's academic, and there were a lot of writers there, a lot of memoirs, a lot of this voice, that voice, and that's all good and fine. But there was one sci-fi book there in the whole place and I ended up talking to the guy I won't say his name, but we kind of bonded because he was a sci-fi fan. He was like, yeah, we only got one here. It's the only sci-fi book I found at a 200 plus booth convention and I was like, oh my God, like this is crazy. And so he actually gave me. He said, come back, if no one's bought this book by the end of the uh, the convention, I'll give it to you. So I went back at the end and no one had gotten it.
Speaker 1:
27:17
Surprise, and uh, he was like here, you just take it. And I was like, oh hell, yeah, man, thank you. So we've been keeping in touch sporadically. He's a good guy, but it's just. It's sad because, like I said, there is a lot of value to be had in the exploration of If we go down this. It's all about humanity's place in the ever evolving technological sphere. It's how do we adapt, how do we evolve with it to ensure that we remain you know that we remain a constant, and I think there's a lot of value in it, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
28:02
And I think there's a lot of value in it. Absolutely, and I think you know it's telling that sci-fi, even after all these years, is still so relevant in pop culture because it talks about everything. I mean we're dealing with AI now. We're dealing with the same maybe not the same, but similar political structures as we always have. It continues to grow and get molded and form. So there's so many things, phil, that are relevant, not only in the genre, but in this book as well, and I kind of started to figure that out very early on in my reading.
Speaker 3:
28:37
Yeah, and even though, nick, you just said, you know you're not trying to simplify it in terms of sci-fi and those story elements, but the two things that came to mind immediately uh, the shirt I'm wearing today horizon, zero dawn, talking about how humanity fucked things up. That's one of the main, the main sources of storyline and horizon. And then we talked about it at collective con in mass effect. When you talk about the political intrigue and everything that goes on in that game, yes, there are a lot of really crazy action sequences In Mass Effect, but it all comes back to Somebody wanting more power Than they should have or something along those lines. And those are, even if they are things that pop up quite a bit. If they're done correctly, we'll be there. So if those things are done the right way, if they're done correctly, we'll be there, you know. So if those things are done the right way and they're intriguing, then sign us up all the time.
Speaker 3:
29:31
I'd like to know, because I didn't stand up. I still do stand up from time to time, but I did stand up for a little bit over 10 years, consistently, and I was always worried about accidentally coming up with a joke or a premise that had already been done, and I imagine that when writing a novel, that challenge is even greater. So we just talked about inspirations. How do you draw balance from inspiration from other works while also ensuring that your story that you're trying to tell stays original?
Speaker 1:
29:56
That is a very good question, and so I try and I'll be honest. My exploration of current sci-fi has actually been a little, I don't want to say lacking, but I've almost hesitated to try and dive into other people's current sci-fi works because I almost don't want to bias myself or begin to. You know Stephen King. He has a book called On Writing, which is basically like his memoir, where he talks about how he got into writing his story. You know just his whole story throughout his writing career. And he said you know, I read this book and for a while I wrote like this author. And then I read that book and for a while I wrote like this author. And then I read that book and for a while I wrote like that author.
Speaker 1:
30:46
And then suddenly you find your place and I almost tried to refrain from taking on other people's voices by focusing solely on my work and pulling inspiration from different parts. I mean you can pull inspiration from just about anywhere. If you know what to look for, if you can break down a simple event that happens in your day to day, if you can break it down and look at the different elements that were involved in that and what happened, you get into an argument with someone at a, a coffee shop, like it doesn't matter, like you can find inspiration literally anywhere. And yeah, I, as far as sci-fi works that I pull inspiration from, I try and pull from the classics, because I feel like anyone who is writing today is probably all, probably also has their roots in the classics of sci-fi and so they're gonna write, you know they're, they're gonna expound upon sci-fi from their perspective of that, whereas I'm gonna expound upon it from my perspective, and that's kind of the way that I like to treat it for now. As, as far as it's funny, you mentioned Mass Effect earlier and I'm a huge, huge game fan. Mass Effect I loved, I absolutely loved. Funny enough, one of the first sci-fi games I really got into was XCOM back in the day and XCOM 2 uh, all of those.
Speaker 1:
32:26
And then my father played a game and he used to my father was not the most tech savvy, so, like when he would play video games, there was a. There was an old space game and I don't know maybe you guys are familiar with this it was a pc game called freelancer and it's uh, and it was a sci-fi game where basically it's an RPG where you follow this guy who's doing freelance work Interesting, funny. We could. We could probably draw a little inspiration from that as far as to what ends up turning into my book. But he, you know, you're flying spacecraft from one galaxy to another galaxy and you're doing work for all these different factions.
Speaker 1:
33:13
And you know my father, he could never find the right, you know, hand positioning to hit all the buttons when he was flying planes. So I used to be sitting there watching him play and I would hit the F button to fire a missile or the Z button to produce the nanobots to heal your ship or whatever. So I got into it and then eventually I played it myself when I was old enough. But I pull a lot of inspiration from video games that I played.
Speaker 3:
33:46
Love, love, love, love sci-fi video games, anything you could throw at me yeah, I haven't played this myself, but I do recognize this loading screen because I believe people have brought it up on, like some youtube channels that I watch, in terms of games that they they played before. So, yeah, I've never played this myself, but yeah, like you said, the Mass Effect series is so outstanding. And again, I think we I don't remember if we, you know we talked about it a little bit while we were at Collective. But when you talk about the importance of storytelling, how did Mass Effect end? Right, that's one of those things where people bring up all the time it's. It's structured so well from beginning, all the way up until that part, and then, you know, the mass effect series is where it is now.
Speaker 3:
34:30
But I totally understand that as far as wanting to try and stay away from a lot of uh, the the newer stuff to make sure it doesn't influence you too much, I did that with stand-up comedy as well. I would try not to. I'd find that if I watched a comic too much, I would then start imitating their mannerisms, their way of writing, their way of delivering jokes, and that's something I had to step away from. So I totally understand that, eric. We're the same way with other podcasts. We try not to listen to too many other pop culture shows because we just want to make sure that we stay true to the sound and the vision that we want to deliver.
Speaker 2:
35:02
Yeah, that's exactly what we are striving for and, you know, the word I try to use is inspiration.
Speaker 2:
35:10
I do get inspiration sometimes from other content creators or other podcasters, but I don't want that to be taken indirectly as trying to.
Speaker 2:
35:20
You know, take that work and make it my own, and that's such a hard thing. Being in any creative process, but especially your line of work, I could only imagine that that is always front of mind. I would like to pivot a little bit because I, you know, as we get ready to talk maybe a little bit more about the book here in a moment, I noticed as I was reading, as I was preparing some time to read the book, setting aside time to actually read it, which in itself is a challenge these days, you know, especially for me. Phil is more of the avid book reader than I am, so I had to slot some time up and I'm a big Spotify guy. So I'm just kind of looking around and I noticed that you had a playlist of like, almost like over 250 songs, and you know, you, of the vibes of what you're building and the world itself, or during the creative process, like, does music inspire you or influence you in any way when it comes to those things.
Speaker 1:
36:40
Massively and I actually I'm so glad you brought that up because that's something I feel like I neglect to say in a lot of like these type of forums, which usually it's just, you know, I could talk for hours on end on this stuff because, you know, the sources of my inspiration are just, they're plentiful, so but, but that is a huge one. So thank you for bringing that up. But, yeah, no, music is huge and I'm I'm a I'm a huge metal head and you know, back in the day I was a big raver too. I used to go to all the different like electric, daisy, carnival, ultra music festival. I had a big group of friends in college and we used to go to these gigantic raids and just, well, I mean we get a little fucking crazy. If I'm being real with you.
Speaker 1:
37:31
But putting my interpretation of it, as the modern day unfolds and you know, as we see new things emerge in technology and try and extrapolate and expound upon that and push that out, I wanted to put my own spin on it and so, as I'm sure you can tell, I mean right after chapter one, I mean you can tell like the story is dark. There's some heartbreaking moments, there are some malevolent characters in this book, for sure, and I have always found metal to be like an awesome outlet for getting my own anger out. You know, whether that's at the gym or just on a the gym or just if I'm sitting on the plane, and that playlist that you listen to is literally that is actually a derivative of a much larger, about 650 song playlist that is also on Spotify. It's called Raw Vidularium. I think the one you were listening to is the one I had in my link. It's Vidularium Descent into the Void.
Speaker 2:
38:45
Descent into the Void, yeah.
Speaker 1:
38:47
Yeah, raw Vidularium is even bigger and it's basically the playlist that I would put on and just listen to it until it turned to white noise and that's what I would write to. Because what I found was that, you know, people think like, well, how the hell would you listen or would you be able to write when you're listening to like that much noise, but after a while it's kind of the feeling that you're left with that remains and everything else turns to white noise and I can just tune out and type and I can think more clearly than than ever. So that was huge. I wanted to have some of those elements basically come through in the book as I was writing it. I wanted it to have that dark feel, I wanted it to be heavy and I wanted, uh, you know, cyberpunk in general, which I mean my book would definitely fall under.
Speaker 1:
39:41
William Gibson is the guy who created, you know, the concept of cyberpunk in his book, neuromancer, and you know the subsequent books in that series and it's a dark, dingy future. I mean it is just. It's not necessarily the beautiful utopia that you think of when you think of like, oh, the world's getting better with each year. Well, it's, it's no, it's like it's. It's. I think his quote from the book is the future's here. It's just not evenly dispersed and that was something I definitely wanted to um bring into my own writing. So if you see, like Phil, I think you're probably already there. Eric, I don't know if you're there yet, it won't be too much of a spoiler.
Speaker 1:
40:31
But there's a part of the city, the mega city that they're in, called the grind, which is basically the ring around all of the city states, where the majority of the citizens live and it's just, it's not the best living conditions. It's, you know, there's a lot of technology, but it's not a clean place, it's smoggy, it's gross, there's a lot of crime, it's kind of a free-for-all, and that's kind of what I wanted to bring. And one of the ways I did that was, you know, through the music that I wrote bring. And one of the ways I did that was, you know, through the music that I wrote for, I mean, I'd say one of the most influential bands that I listened to. That really helped me kind of think about especially the themes that I talk about in the book, is Parkway Drive, which you guys know. Parkway Drive, right.
Speaker 2:
41:20
Yeah, I've, I've heard a couple of songs, but the first thing I noticed when I went to the playlist, especially the raw playlist just now very present- they are very present metalcore, like anything that can get, especially the metal that you know can kind of transition into.
Speaker 1:
41:49
It's got kind of that futuristic sound to it. I love it, I absolutely love it. One of the things I want to do in, I'd say, like the next year or so, is get to like one of the big metal festivals, like a Warped Tour, like one of the big ones, like that. Yeah. I've been a fan, fan, my whole life.
Speaker 3:
42:04
I don't know what kind of music you guys are into.
Speaker 1:
42:06
But and then obviously, with the future, I had a lot of like dark electronic in there as well, a lot of just kind of the wit. I scour Spotify for just the weirdest sounding songs I could possibly find. At times I was like what is the best representation of a dystopian future? Just to get my mind in that frame as I was writing it, and yeah, that was a huge inspiration, I'd say. The only other thing that I really don't talk about a whole lot, which I probably should talk about more, is Phil you've. You've seen one of the the dream sequences in this in the book, right?
Speaker 3:
42:45
yep, though. Uh, yeah, the, I believe probably the first one, I assume yeah so I I've got I've got some pretty fucked up dreams.
Speaker 1:
42:56
I experience sleep paralysis on like a fairly regular basis, basically where you think you're woken up, you're not entirely woken up, you can't move, but basically you can't move anything except your eyes, and almost always and without fail. For some reason and this is something that they've documented with other people who experience sleep paralysis it seems to be like a recurring factor. Is you always see some kind of dark figure, either like standing in the corner of the room or moving around at the foot of your bed. When it happens to me, so like, I always see a dark figure at the foot of my bed and then I recognize what's happening. But even though I recognize what's happening, there is like a, this sense of pure terror that is like screaming down my spine, like I can't like because I can't move, I can't do anything. Even when I know what it is is.
Speaker 1:
43:54
The best thing I can do is get my eyes shut. But when I get my eyes shut, I almost feel like I hear something whispering in my ear every single time, without fail. It's the creepiest fucking thing in the world and I don't know how to make it stop, but it's, it's, it's just I don't know. I just figured I'd use it, so I've embraced it and I've started using it in the writing, and so every dream sequence that you go through in this book series will be a derivative or will be based on some kind of dream that I've had, because it never starts where you just open your eyes. You're always having a dream first, and then you open your eyes and uh, yeah, that's a pretty consistent feeling for everybody.
Speaker 3:
44:43
For a lot of people that go through sleep paralysis as well, uh is the feeling of, of course you're not able to move, but you can only move your eyes. Then the figure sometimes it varies. I do, I'm very much into the paranormal and things like that. So have you tried, and if you know, if this is something you know, a technique that you know you're not into, but you're not you're not defending me whatsoever but a friend of mine who went through, who was going through some sleep paralysis, she did sage her room and that seemed to work. So not sure if you've ever tried that.
Speaker 1:
45:20
But, you know, just throwing some of those other things out there that I've heard people try. Uh no, you know it's funny, my wife used to sage the house every time we, uh, we went into a new house and and, uh, I I gotta say that certainly didn't help. And yeah, I'll also say this results may vary. Results may vary. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:
45:35
I almost don't want it to go away because, like I said, I get so much good material from this, as crazy as that sounds like, I get so many good ideas, like the second. It happens like I wake up from it and, you know, once my heart stops beating, I just go right to my phone and I start writing down everything, like I type it in. That's it I've. I've gotten some of my best ideas for how to either fix plot holes or how to make a story go in a much more interesting direction or, um, a good idea for you know what to do with a certain character, from just being like right on the cusp of sleep, and then I'll just pop up off my bed like a fucking vampire and I'm like I just got to write it down.
Speaker 3:
46:27
Sounds like oh yeah sorry. Oh no, I was going to say it sounds like you've got maybe like a little bit of a ghost writer, right, Right guys.
Speaker 2:
46:37
Is that a thing with novels or just music? I?
Speaker 1:
46:42
didn't like that very much. I mean, who knows what it is really? To be honest, I mean, that's just, it's funny. You know there's a lot of, and I've seen some podcasts where some people come on and they're trying to talk about, you know, the paranormal as something that should be studied more. I think you should study everything. I mean, let's figure it all out, why not? But they're starting to call it parascience rather than the paranormal, to to basically try and legitimize it and find different ways to measure some of these different things.
Speaker 2:
47:20
I think that's super interesting and hell man.
Speaker 1:
47:24
I think if there's any strange phenomenon that you know isn't well explained, let's figure it out. I mean, who knows what we're going to come to the realization of? You know, with some kind of real research into it, what this is. I can't. I can only speculate. I don't, you know, I don't have enough degrees, but I do know that it's fairly consistent. Do know that it's it's fairly consistent. What I have found that I think is really interesting is that if I'm starting to slack off on the writing a little bit or I'm starting to get sidetracked, they seem to come back with a vengeance.
Speaker 3:
48:08
I think it's you dreams do you think it's you from another reality? Who knows who's to say? It's funny. Like you talk about parascience, we're also seeing that kind of with cryptozoology as well, because that's always tied to Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster. And, like you said, there is value in researching that because we find new organisms in the Amazon every week. Who's to say there can't be something weird in the state of Washington in the woods? You know what I mean, so I understand where a portion of it has obviously become. You know a little bit of a joke but, like you said, there's value in research and that stuff.
Speaker 1:
48:52
No, I agree, I mean with anything right.
Speaker 3:
48:54
You want to make sure that you leave no stone unturned, Eric knows I can talk about paranormal and the cryptozoology, so Eric needs to step in here.
Speaker 2:
49:06
Where you at, Eric. But you know, as we wrapped up the conversation, from my last question, Phil.
Speaker 2:
49:14
I don't know if there's anything specific to the book you maybe want to ask, but I'll definitely follow up and say that a lot of this is making sense because, like, you've got these things that are going on from. You know the traumatic things you're going through in your field of work at that time, the unique situation of being up in the air and writing this story and then you're talking about. Sometimes when you're sleeping you're going through absolute terror but you're turning that into like a superpower and I think that's really really cool. When it comes to the creative process, in addition to what you were mentioning about the music, I know for me, I just don't like drowning in the silence. So if I don't have music playing, I feel lost, and that's in a drive, on the, in the car that's here sitting in my office.
Speaker 2:
50:02
It doesn't matter if I could always have headphones on, I probably would, and I know that a lot of rock music, but metal specifically, was my thing in high school, like Slipknot, system of a Down Disturbed. These are all bands that got me through a lot of mentally hard times. So, again, a lot of that just kind of are showing us the building blocks of how you became the author that you are and I just think that's really, really cool and I'm really cool to. It's really cool to unlock those things through this dialogue. And, phil, again, when we talk about the book specifically and really the first couple chapters, none of this is surprising now that we hear it. It just really puts a lot of things into context.
Speaker 3:
50:47
Yeah for sure. And also, can we say Metalheads some of the coolest people that you will ever meet, even if you don't necessarily listen to the music. It's a very, very welcoming community, so I very much love that. I want to ask, as we transition to talking about Vidularium and as we talked about before we started I'm about to. I think I'm a little bit into Chapter 7. Eric is a little bit behind me, but I have been very much enjoying it.
Speaker 3:
51:10
I want to tell the story to the audience as well that I told you guys before we got going. There was probably a moment because I've been listening at work and I think there was like, hopefully I don't listen to this, they won't listen to this. It's like a 20, 25 minute span where, like, I hadn't done any work because I was so just enthralled with what was happening in the, in the book and I was like, oh shit, I gotta let me lock in and do some work as well. So I very much been enjoying listening to it. I do want to make sure we shout out Michael Neeb, who is the narrator for the audio book. He was excellent. I want to ask about Roman. You know you alluded to it earlier. You know he's a deep. He has a deeply tragic backstory that unfolds very early on in the story. I want to know, in your words, what you think sets him apart from other protagonists and also also again, like we talked about inspirations, any other fictional characters that influenced his creation absolutely.
Speaker 1:
52:03
Just before I get into the answer to your question, eric, I know the sleep token is pretty deep into that list, so I knew you were a metalhead right away and I'm like just getting into sleep token in like the last year or two.
Speaker 2:
52:17
But yeah, take me back to Eden is like a fantastic listen. I mean you, you talk about just wanting to dive in and just kill the noise everywhere else. I mean, that'll do it.
Speaker 1:
52:28
Yeah and um, system of a down was the first album that I ever bought with my own money. It was the aerials. My favorite line from that song is swimming through the void. We hear the word, we lose ourself, but we find it all. How fucking deep is that shit?
Speaker 3:
52:48
The Serb was the first concert Eric and I ever went to together. It was my first concert ever, but it was the first concert he and I went to together System of a Down, though.
Speaker 2:
52:59
System of a Down and Slipknot are like the two bands I never saw live that I just kick myself every day Because the music can get really deep. People think they're just shouting or being silly or goofy. It's so much more than that.
Speaker 1:
53:13
No, it is so much more than that. There are some heavy themes that you know these artists tackle in their songs and if there's any, it's funny. You know they may scream them, but some of the lyrics are more poetic than any of the music that's in popular, the popular sphere now today. I mean it's, some of the stuff in popular music is garbage in my opinion, but you know that stuff is. It's heavy, it's deep. But to go back to your, your question, phil, I'm sorry I had to address that.
Speaker 3:
53:42
No, no, you're good.
Speaker 1:
53:46
So so your question was what kind of how Roman was formulated.
Speaker 3:
53:50
Yeah, so you know in your eyes what kind of sets him apart from other protagonists. And also, were there any fictional characters that also influenced you in creating him?
Speaker 1:
54:00
As far as what sets him apart from other protagonists. I feel like I mean this. You're following in Vidularium, the series itself, because right now book one is the only one that's available. Book two is about, I'd say about halfway done. I actually just finished another chapter yesterday, hoping to have that out by the end of next year. Over the course of his entire story arc, throughout the seven book series, you're basically watching the origin story of a future mythological hero unfold, basically the person who becomes the most important person in future history, and why and how that happens. So it's not just some ruffian who you know catches a win and goes off on some high-flying adventure. It's so much more than an adventure. So much more than an adventure.
Speaker 1:
55:00
In this book I plan to obviously I'm not a physicist, right, I'm not. I do do my research and I've made sure to try and to appease the real hard sci-fi fans, try to create both relatable and true to I guess at least have its foundations in current physics theories A story that I can expound upon and basically bring through to a future that's 700 years from now. But I'm basically going to try and find the crux at which religion, the Big Bang Theory what else Multiverse and simulation theory all meet, and that's not an easy feat when you're trying to plan from the beginning. But I already know how the entire series ends. I know definitively there are certain major events that are basically hardwired into the story. How we get there. I like to keep it a little bit more fluid. I like to keep the story true to the characters. So I keep a lot of it fluid and open for changes, open for interpretation, open for something works better. Oh, this character wouldn't really do that. In this scenario he would do this. Well, where's that going to take me? Where I could still get to the major event. And that's the way that I kind of write. I like to ensure that I have definitive endpoints, definitive major events, but what can happen from chapter to chapter? That changes constantly. I've gone back, you know, when I was writing the first book, I went back multiple times and changed different events to basically foster what I felt would work much better as the story was progressing later on in the book to basically make it all line up. Like I said, there's a bunch of times where I've basically woken up and had to write something down or jumped out of the shower naked and ran over, you know, trying not to slip on the bathroom floor to write something down on my phone because I just had an epiphany oh, this is perfect, that's. I need to write this down so I don't forget it.
Speaker 1:
57:38
Some of the themes of, like I said, like the authoritarian government powers just the ramifications of absolute power or people who are following ego in the pursuit of power, and that requires, like I said, a pretty gruesome backstory, which is why the main character, roman, has such a tough upbringing, and that's definitely something that I think sets him apart in some ways, because it's certainly not, that's definitely a trope.
Speaker 1:
58:11
The idea of absolute power is a trope. The idea of someone who grew up without his parents is is a trope. That's been used before, but in the way that it happens for him and how he basically copes with it and the path that his life takes him on I mean, he ends up joining a gang at like, basically like age 16, and that kind of morphs him into this person like that, like I described earlier, which is someone who's got a talent for violence, someone who is talented in general and definitely intelligent, but doesn't seem to have a purpose in life, and it leaves him kind of floating, like he's just kind of floating through life when you meet him as an adult and you find out why you know, as the story progresses, you hear more about some of his characters from his past you hear more about, you know why he went this path and how he got there.
Speaker 1:
59:18
But I wanted to make sure that I made it feel real, which is why the story is so violent and so, in a way, heartbreaking, but also uplifting a bit in terms of what he ends up making of himself, and you'll find more and more of that as you see his character build throughout the book, because he has leadership qualities that he's basically put on the back burner. He has intelligence, which basically he's been drowning out in liquor for as long as he can remember. He has values that he was raised with by his parents when they were, you know, still around, and I wanted to really bring that to life and show what such a hard knock upbringing can create as far as just a human being.
Speaker 3:
1:00:18
Yeah, and you, you, you talk about how some of those abilities that he has are a little bit on hold later on as we get further in. But you see them early on, when there's a little bit of a time jump about a year time jump and his leadership is on display right then. And there I'll just say this selfishly, I'm not, I'm not gonna spoil anything for people here um, so I'll just say, from the moment where he loses a very important item early on and then gets that item back, I would love to see what happens in that year span. I was like man, what, what went on in that location? So selfishly, I just wanted, I just want to let you know.
Speaker 1:
1:00:55
I want to know what happened there and, and maybe that's something I can include in the uh, um, in the canon of the, the comic book. Yeah, as I, as I begin to bring those to life, I did try and, you know, leave some some footnotes as to what happened when uh, because I know exactly the chapter you're talking about I I kind of explained that when he's, you know, looking at the guy and saying like, look, do you see what you did to him? You see what you did it? Yep, you know what I'm talking about. I I don't want to get too much deeper because I don't want to give away any spoilers, but yeah, it's a rough upbringing with very it's a lockdown kind of scenario, but with little oversight compared to what's required, for sure.
Speaker 3:
1:01:52
And I knew that this was going to be a character that we were drawn to very early on. These are the type of characters you know when we're talking about these backstories and complicated characters that are not just cut and dry. It's a type of character we talk to a lot of voice actors about when we're doing conventions, and Roman certainly has all the makings for somebody that I know we're really going to enjoy.
Speaker 2:
1:02:13
Yeah, and he's got a great, great first name. You know we love us our tribal chief.
Speaker 2:
1:02:21
So it's a great. It's a great name, it's a powerful name and it's a it's a powerful character. And I want to know, nick, you know, before we transition into maybe some pop culture talk, uh, and kind of get a little bit more casual, I definitely would love to know, for those that are possibly interested in reading this, I'd love to know your perspective on introducing the audience in those first couple chapters to this entire world. I mean, when you're building something this vast I mean you just mentioned already that you're in the middle of book two We've got at least book seven planned Like this is such a massive undertaking I would love to know what is your approach been when it comes to the beginning of this book and how you wanted the audience to be let in. You also mentioned the particular type of perspective, the omission perspective as well, and keeping that in mind, so what was your approach and what is your approach to getting new audiences into this story Again very early on into the book?
Speaker 1:
1:03:38
basically getting people invested in the idea of this is just the very beginning and I don't plan on slowing down anytime soon. Like I said, this is book one of seven the comic book I've. I already have the next five issues of the comic book in production. Number two should be out this month. I just sent the illustrator the script for issue number three and he was like over the moon with the direction that I went with it and he's like I can't wait to do this. This is going to be awesome. So he's really pumped about that. I don't plan on stopping at just books, audio books and comic books. Like I said, I want to turn this into an animated series at some point, probably relatively soon. I want to start. I've already begun making introductions or making inroads into the film and video game industry. One of the characters I can't remember. Did I give you guys the cover of the book that I gave you? Did it have? It was just a blue cover with the guy looking toward the mountain.
Speaker 2:
1:04:45
Yeah, roman looking towards the mountain. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1:
1:04:47
So on the, on the limited edition cover and you can see this on my website there's there's a character. He's got a bald head and he's wearing a giant suit of armor. You probably saw him on my, on the backdrop that I had in the uh, in the at my booth at collective con. That character his name is General Dark Ferris Benson and he is actually modeled after. He is a spitting image actually of stunt actor Levon Panic, who is a very good friend of mine. He allowed me to use his likeness for that character. He just said, hey, when you turn this into a movie, you better cast me as him. And I said you got it, stay in shape. But so, and you know, he's beginning to spread the word as well. You know everyone is, I've got a good network. I feel like I've never I don't think I've ever used my professional or my personal network this much for anything in my entire life and um, and it's because, like I said, there's there's actual passion behind it and I and really enjoy it.
Speaker 1:
1:05:54
But as far as getting people on board for the first book, it's really just about setting the scene. What are you going to experience when you get into this? Well, a little bit of everything. I, you know. I I give you little snippets of every different part of these characters lives. It is is multi-narrative, so you follow characters from all different walks of life, so there are multiple characters that you may be able to, I guess, feel connected with. You follow the freelancer, you follow Roman. You follow the antagonist, who's a politician. You get to see all the political turmoil that's brewing. You follow an intergalactic pop star. She's touring from planet to planet and you get introduced to some pretty seedy elements of the underworld. You follow a militia leader, as he's basically leading a militia. You follow all sorts of different people and all of their storylines intertwine into one. It's like if you took Game of Thrones, cyberpunk and the Witcher series and you mash them all together, you'd have Videlarium. And, by the way, sci-fi isn't the only thing that I draw inspiration from either.
Speaker 2:
1:07:23
I mean one of my.
Speaker 1:
1:07:25
There are certain things that I've always enjoyed throughout my life. For instance, did you guys ever watch the show Entourage? It was a classic show.
Speaker 2:
1:07:34
I never got into it.
Speaker 3:
1:07:35
No, I didn't, but a friend of ours was very much into it, but I never watched it.
Speaker 2:
1:07:39
You know what that was, though that was more because entourage was like a big hbo show right, yes, yeah, that was phil. I don't think we could afford hbo at that time, yeah that might have been it.
Speaker 3:
1:07:49
Yeah, before it was a streaming service.
Speaker 2:
1:07:51
We all have the sopranos on our list of uh, we do a series called late to the party where we catch up on pop culture stuff we missed. So Entourage the Sopranos, there's a couple of those big hitter HBO shows that we missed out on.
Speaker 1:
1:08:06
Dude Sopranos was fantastic too. My parents had an HBO subscription and Entourage was one of the first shows that me, my brother and my father all watched together, and that was that was a great. I loved the idea of a group of guys who were friends, getting together and just going through it on their voyage to reaching the top and the heartbreaks, the losses, as well as the wins everything everything that they experienced together. And that is something that I feel like, as, as you begin to progress through the book, you'll see small hints of things like that in there. You know, I say Game of Thrones because it is written multi-narrative, so you do get a full.
Speaker 1:
1:08:58
There's more than one character that you get to follow to really give you not just the accessing character building but to give you a full scope of the world building that went into creating this, because you get to see it from different perspectives of this city, which has everything from those at know, those at the tippity tuck, to those who are just kind of slogging away in the grind and, like I said, there's an element of kind of a dream team that ends up meeting haphazardly to get through this ordeal that you will get to follow intimately, and I think there's a lot of, there's a, there's a lot that people can relate to that, because everyone's got their close crew Right and this is your meeting. Basically romance, um as he tries to figure out what's happening to him, yeah, and I think the the thing that really figure out what's happening to him.
Speaker 2:
1:09:57
Yeah, and I think the the thing that really stood out to me too, like in addition to what you just said about, like all of those different elements of Game of Thrones, cyberpunk. It was funny you mentioned the Witcher Cause. I was watching one of your clips where you said, like Henry Cavill would be your guy for Roman, which I thought, phil, I thought that was really cool. We're a big fan of his and those are all such pop culture relevant things, which, again, sci-fi really is. So there's just so many parallels that you can make that make the story relatable and also, I think, something that people can easily dive into. And as somebody, again, who does not normally read, I can definitely say starting this book was not a chore and that's a great thing for somebody who doesn't read a book. Phil, again, you've been raving about it, so I love to hear that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:
1:10:51
Yeah, and, like we also talked about, once again to shout out just the narration by Michael. That's so important when it comes to an audiobook. You know, I know I'm not alone where you can lose people if the narration is not good. So that's great that you also mentioned earlier on that you want to make sure that he continues.
Speaker 1:
1:11:13
you know, as far as continuing to narrate the books for you going forward as well, yeah, and I want to give a shout out to Michael Neve as well, because he is just a phenomenal talent. I mean, the dude has a movie trailer voice when he needs it and he does unique voices for each individual character without making it too cartoony each individual character without making it too cartoony which I feel like can happen at times when certain voice actors try and do multiple different characters he does it in a very cinematic way. I feel like he adds voice modulation. He went back in post-production and he added music and sound effects and tones. When it gets suspenseful, I mean it's, it is a production and he did a phenomenal job. So hats off to him. It's literally like you're listening to a movie. So I'm glad you're enjoying that, because we put a lot of hours into that, me and him especially him and I thank him dearly for that, and I will definitely be contracting him for his services again once book two is ready and book three through seven after that.
Speaker 1:
1:12:24
And then there was something else that you mentioned I wanted to bring up. Oh, as far as you said I know you said like starting it wasn't a chore wasn't a chore I've been like overjoyed with, you know, to see the reviews that have come in online, whether it's on Goodreads or on Amazon or on Audible, everyone seems to be saying that this is it's a fast read, even though it's not a short book, which? So? So for those of you out there who are kind of like worried, like oh well, this is a long book, it seems to read very fast from the feedback that you know folks, reviewers have been basically been giving. As far as their feedback, and you know what's also been surprising, I've seen a lot of females who have also said like I've enjoyed, enjoyed this, like I don't even like sci-fi. I did a um, a Goodreads giveaway where I gave away like a hundred plus eBooks on Goodreads, and a number of the reviewers were female and they were like I don't even like sci-fi and I love this and that.
Speaker 1:
1:13:35
To me, that was very, very comforting to hear, because one of the things I've tried to do when I made this, I wanted to make sure that it was relevant to the hard sci-fi crew, the real sci-fi fans, which is why I go in depth in the explanations behind some of the technologies and how we got here and the history behind things. But the story itself is very character focused. It's a very human story, which I was hoping would be very appealing to a much larger audience and, based on the reviews that have come back, I mean that seems to be what people are saying. So that is very comforting, very nice to hear.
Speaker 1:
1:14:24
I couldn't be happier with, you know, the response that it's gotten online, and I'm eternally grateful for that. I really am, because you put your heart and soul into something, and especially something that's as much of an investment as what I'm putting in this for seven books at least. It's nice to hear that I'm at least on the right track and I'm not trying to toot my own horn either. I'm just really grateful for the feedback that I've gotten online.
Speaker 2:
1:14:59
Yeah, yeah. And I definitely got to say, Nick, like it's one thing to get the book right, To get the book from you You're a cool guy, it would have been a real bummer to have you on and it suck. You know what I mean. So so we took it, we took a chance. But I will tell you this there was something about the presentation, again your particular vibe, and you gave us a thick boy. So Phil's doing the audiobook. I might have to go that route too, because I think I might be dyslexic. I'm not 100% sure, but I might have a reading disorder.
Speaker 3:
1:15:36
No, Eric is used to reading right to left for manga.
Speaker 2:
1:15:40
Oh yeah, manga panels, yes, totally.
Speaker 3:
1:15:42
So I think you need to give him a version of the book that's right to left and he'll get through it in a day, it'll be done.
Speaker 2:
1:15:48
No, I will tell you, I messed up reading the comic because I was like none of this is making sense. That was on me. The comic, for for sure, I had to read a second time. But reading up until chapter two, like, the reason I said it wasn't a chore, is because, again, book reading not normally my thing, and then on top of that, like it is.
Speaker 2:
1:16:08
That's why I asked you like what your approach was early on, because it is overwhelming at first and like the prologue, as any book would be, let alone a book creating a new world in sci-fi. But then, by the time I get to chapter two, I'm like, oh okay, I'm in it, I'm in it, I'm learning, I'm figuring it out, and it just felt very seamless and I thought that was really, really interesting. But, yeah, no, very glad that I'm having a positive experience, phil, you're having a positive experience. And again, it's one of those things where, uh, it's the least we could do, uh, to try to shout out the book and get new audience members into it, because our audience is very pop culture based. But, like, we're not a book podcast, right? So I think we can speak to those people who are also timid about jumping into something like this and have them give it a shot, because I think going out of your comfort zone on this, phil, uh, you. So far for us it's been a win.
Speaker 3:
1:17:09
Yeah, to speak on what you were talking about, nick, as far as you've been getting a lot of great feedback from uh, from women who've been reading it. Good storytelling transcends. Good storytelling does not have a gender. Whoever enjoys it, as long as they identify it as a good story, then they will read it. I will say also for those of you that don't normally, or if you do, listen to audiobooks, in the last two days between Monday and today we're recording this on a Tuesday like I said, I've gotten to chapter seven and still also been listening to other stuff that I listen to at work. Eric is a music guy. When he's on downtime, I'm a podcast guy, so I listen to a lot of podcasts outside of the realm of pop culture. So it is definitely, like Eric said, definitely not a chore to get through and we're very much enjoying it on both ends. That's so true, eric, because, like you said, man, it would have been a bummer if we didn't have anything.
Speaker 2:
1:18:06
Man, I had those fingers crossed when I flipped the page.
Speaker 3:
1:18:10
And that's never happened with any of our guests. To be clear, anybody who's watching or listening.
Speaker 2:
1:18:16
I know, nick, nick, you were saying you weren't feeling great. Uh, I would have. I would have messaged you and been like we're actually terminally we're actually not good at all. We can't have you on. Oh, really quick. This is a good sign.
Speaker 3:
1:18:27
I didn't want to say, uh, like you promised your friend, that role, you know, in the live action film we also discuss. You know, I just started my voice acting journey, so if that animated story comes up, keep me in mind please. Hey, all right.
Speaker 1:
1:18:41
I got you Top of mind right here. Awesome Top of mind. Yeah, that would have been rough if you guys had me on and you were like so tell me about your shitty book.
Speaker 3:
1:18:55
Let's talk about so, dude, let's talk about it. So, dude, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:
1:19:01
Well, I couldn't be happier that you guys are enjoying it. I mean, this is for the fans. I mean, that's what it's all about. I mean, if you can create something that's enjoyable, that's likable, that's relatable, can create something that's enjoyable, that's likable, that's relatable. I mean, I know the fandom community, just this whole anime, sci-fi community they can be rough if you create something that they are not a fan of and that's respectable. You know, if you hold people to a high standard, you typically get high caliber products and you know I was hoping that my product was going to be well received and so far it has been, and the editorial reviewers have also been extremely kind.
Speaker 1:
1:19:57
It has been, and the editorial reviewers have also been extremely kind. I yeah, I don't, I don't want to, I won't get too deep into that, but I Kirkus gave me a very solid review, literary Titan, reader's Favorite, the book Commentary, a few others. I mean it's it's, it's been, it's been a hell of a ride getting to this point. So I'm trying to balance, like enjoying that with also knuckling down and being like, ok, we're not even fucking near done yet. Like, you got to, you got to get, you got to get through Stick the landing Now, yeah, exactly, you gotta get through. Uh, stick the landing now. Yeah, exactly, it's.
Speaker 1:
1:20:38
And you know it's funny, it's uh, I promise the community right now, here and now, I will not pull a george rr martin and take 20 years to basically tell you I may not even finish the series. I will finish this series but I do see I will say this, you know, in props to him it does get harder to write these as you continue on, especially when you've built such a massive world, when you've built so many intricate storylines that you need to I literally intricate storylines that you need to I. Literally, when I'm writing now, I have the first book open in a PDF next to book two, so that when I come across something that I'm like, oh wait, was that scar on the left side of his shoulder or the right side of his shoulder, like I need to go back through book one to double check, trying to keep all of these things in line.
Speaker 3:
1:21:36
It's an undertaking, and so I have a great amount of respect for those who have been able to create long running series, because it's not easy and it becomes not necessarily harder to write but more arduous as you go along as you go along, yeah, and I think another one of the reasons why the feedback and also the interactions you know, when you go to conventions, when we're talking about that community you know he's talking about anime and sci-fi specifically, just the nerd community in general they can seek out a fraud.
Speaker 3:
1:22:10
They can sense out when somebody is not genuine about what they're doing or they're not actually passionate about what it is, they're not actually passionate about what that is they're presenting. They can sniff that out. We can all sniff that out when it comes to specific projects and you know we'll come across how many conventions that we've been to where it seems like, whether it be vendor, artist, even some, sometimes an author, and it sounds like it's like a what's like an auctioneer talking to us, right, and we're just walking by that person, we're not gonna talk to them yeah, yeah, I think, uh, one of the worst pitches I got was nice beard, and then he presented a book.
Speaker 2:
1:22:52
Uh, it was a very religious book, so I should give you an idea of what I walked right by. Thanks, buddy.
Speaker 3:
1:23:01
I think I just got. Can you read one time which? The answer is no?
Speaker 2:
1:23:08
But, nick, we got a couple of games to wrap up the episode. But before we do that, I know just some quick pop culture talk and I know we dived a little bit about it into it a little bit earlier. You mentioned that you've read Dune, but you haven't been jumping into recent sci-fi stuff. I'm just curious have you watched either of the recent Dune movies and if so, I'd love to hear your opinion about him as a sci-fi kind of guy.
Speaker 1:
1:23:35
Okay, I'd love to hear your opinion about him as a sci-fi kind of guy. Okay, so, so when? When I say I haven't been diving into the recent sci-fi stuff, I meant more literary stuff. As far as the the cinematic stuff, absolutely I go nuts, I, I, I stay up to date just because I enjoy it. I'm a movie buff, so I 100% have seen both Dunes. I love what Dennis Villanova has done. I really think he brought it to life. I don't know if you guys did you ever watch like that campy old school, like 80s version of Dune that?
Speaker 2:
1:24:11
came out? No, all we know is there's a pop.
Speaker 1:
1:24:14
Oh dude, it's fucking hilarious. But I mean props to them. They were trying to work with what they had back in the day. As far as like CGI and all that stuff, I loved the Dunes. I love the new Dunes.
Speaker 1:
1:24:29
I will say this I'm somewhat biased because I was such a Dune fan because of the books prior to like the real, the new movies coming out, and so I love them. I thought just their portrayal of like the sandworms and riding the sandworms, that was friggin awesome. Their use of the, the water of life, the, the blue liquid that they drank and that he drinks, that was super interesting. The way that he depicted that in the movies and what they were going through, which is a little bit more focused on the, the Bene Gesserit order, which it's it's an interesting take on the series and it's been fun, but like their way of diving into what happens when you take that elixir very, very interesting. So I love it.
Speaker 1:
1:25:35
I've wanted to see Paul write a fucking sandworm for since I was a teenager, so to be able to see that, you know, on the big screen. I saw both of them in theaters and on, you know, on HBO after that, but why? What do you guys think about it. No, it's all good. Yeah, yeah, we um we, so I clarify I did not like dune part one.
Speaker 2:
1:26:06
When I saw it in theaters, I and I don't know that didn't like is the word. I was just a little let down. I was like, oh okay, this is cool. So I wasn't even part two wasn't even on my radar, and my wife and my son wanted to watch it. Uh, they were interested, or my wife was interested. So we tagged along and I walked out of it, blown away. Blown away to the point where I had to tell everyone hey, I think I might like the first one more now, after walking out of part two, and we actually uh, this is how Phil watched it we did an all day dune watch party, so I had people come over to watch dune part one. I did re, re, uh, watch it. And then I understood I'm like, okay, this movie, this movie slaps. And then we watched dune part two in theaters and it was such an amazing experience and I walked out the second time being like, yeah, this is a, this is a five out of five film and it's, uh, it's one of my favorite films of all time.
Speaker 1:
1:27:06
Honestly, I, I love that movie so much it was incredibly well done, I think in my opinion and and um, I love. I also personally loved all the memes that came out after its release. Especially Doom Part 2. With the memes that were like Paul does anything, or like Paul Atreides farts. And then it's what's his name? It's the Lisa Nogai. It's so good.
Speaker 2:
1:27:36
And he was fantastic. Lisa Nagy yes, so good, and he was fantastic in it too. Javier Bardem he was so good. A phenomenal actor, absolutely phenomenal. The cast was extraordinary, the direction was extraordinary. The fact that he didn't get Best Director a nomination at the Oscars was actually a crime.
Speaker 3:
1:27:55
Oh, that's insanity, yeah, insanity Dune in general, that's going to be a $4 billion franchise, or is so, I don't know he didn't get nominated either time for part one or part two, I believe.
Speaker 2:
1:28:08
So it's again. I don't understand. Maybe he has to wait for Messiah? I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3:
1:28:14
Dune in general. He's waiting for the Lisa Nott guy.
Speaker 2:
1:28:16
Yeah that's right, that's it yeah.
Speaker 3:
1:28:18
Dune in general was kind of like just the forgotten child during the Oscar season. It seems like both the first time around and this time around, which is pretty crazy. I always have to ask this question, eric knows, whenever we have Star Wars fans on, because I always like to hear what your opinion is on the current state of the franchise. This is coming from somebody whose favorite Star Wars movie is Rogue One, so I want to know, like what do you think about where we're at now? You know, do you have any Skywalker fatigue? Do you still keep up with the TV shows? Where's your fandom at for Star Wars now, in 2025? I'm at for Star Wars now in 2025.
Speaker 1:
1:28:56
So I I've seen all except the final episode of the film. I just haven't had the time yet and I and I and that is shameful, I know I need to go ahead and get on that, but you don't actually respectfully, you don't have to.
Speaker 2:
1:29:16
You could just. You could just stay in the realm, in the reality of oh, the last jedi was kind of cool, I guess, and then just just just end it.
Speaker 1:
1:29:25
It's okay look here, here's what I'll say. I I think, uh man, I don't want, I want, I don't want to go trashing anyone, but I feel like since Disney took over it's just been a different feel, and part of me recognizes that a lot of it is nostalgic too. I told you earlier, like literally one of the first sci-fi bonding moments I had with my father was like watching the original trilogy on VHS with him.
Speaker 1:
1:30:05
And then, you know, the prequels came out and not terrible, I will say like, given the state of their you knowgi and the different effects they had and things like that, I felt like they, they did what they could and I felt I, I felt okay, like I felt relatively comfortable with the storyline. There are some awkward points and some weird you know parts that I feel like could have been either elaborated on more or done a little better, but even still I was okay with it. Rogue One I'll say it was enjoyable, I enjoyed the experience and then I just I need to finish the series is what I need to do to be able to give you a real feel of it. But some of the other stuff that's come out, I just I don't know. I feel like maybe that's what comes with a ginormous corporation taking on the concept of like fighting the power will turn into. Maybe that's it, maybe putting them in charge wasn't the best idea.
Speaker 2:
1:31:28
They're literally just doing.
Speaker 1:
1:31:29
If the Empire won Somehow, it's kind of and I don't know, I don't know, that could be a me thing. Wow, it's kind of I don't and I don't know and I don't know, maybe and maybe that's and that could be a, that could be a me thing. That could be like uh, oh, that's in the back of my head, so that's biasing my experience, but I know that there have been some other fans and some other people out there who have not been particularly pleased with with the uh, with the outcome. But I mean, despite that, I mean it's still getting a lot of views. I'm sure I mean it's Disney, they've got more reach than fucking anyone.
Speaker 3:
1:32:07
I just watched a hour-long YouTube recap of the most recent trilogy, just kind of going back and again eric revisiting the force awakens, and how much potential we had. We had three really great three, the potential for three really great protagonists and over the course of the next two movies you like see them on screen together for like a half hour maybe, and and that's when they're like, strongest is when they're together. They have excellent chemistry. You can tell they actually like each other too, like in real life, and it's a it's a crime it's a bummer actual.
Speaker 2:
1:32:48
It's an actual crime against humanity, because I I had to tell, uh, my brother, who didn't really believe it, I think, I think I am firmly on the train that the Force Awakens is my favorite and I understand that that's not a popular opinion, nor right Like I can objectively say it's not.
Speaker 1:
1:33:06
But when I watched it the magic I felt.
Speaker 2:
1:33:09
Disney did do it. They did accomplish it with the Force Awakens for me, Finn Poe Rey, and then of course, you have adam driver as kylo ren, like it was all amazing. And then the last jedi happened and I just really it just comes down to the fact that they didn't have a direction, they didn't have a consistent director, who was the director from the second he like was so determined to just undo everything that was done.
Speaker 2:
1:33:37
Yeah, like he did everything JJ Abrams did. Then they brought back JJ for the final movie and somehow Palpatine returned. So you know, it's just, it is what it is. But I will say that overall, outside of the first season of the Mandalorian and for me, the Force Awakens a lot of people feel exactly the way that you do, nick, and when Phil asked that question, all I hear is when did your love for Star Wars die?
Speaker 2:
1:34:04
That's all I hear when he asked that question, because everybody is right there in your boat, even though you haven't consumed as much of the new Star Wars content. It's the same narrative right now, it's just it's very much a dead franchise for the OG fans, though, again, it is still very popular in pop culture and just in general.
Speaker 1:
1:34:27
Right, and I will say I did enjoy the Mandalorian, I did enjoy that. So that was I mean. You can't go wrong with Pedro Pascal. Put that dude in anything he crushes.
Speaker 3:
1:34:38
Mandalorian movie coming out next year Mandalorian and Groot. Yeah, there you go, I'll be there, yeah, I'll watch it.
Speaker 1:
1:34:49
You've successfully given me homework. I'll be watching the episodes I've missed since I don't know, since I've been so bogged down recently with trying to get this thing across the finish line and directing the next episodes of the comic and everything else I just I need to catch up, yeah.
Speaker 2:
1:35:08
I'm sure that's a whole thing in itself. So it's cool to see that you're still catching up with a lot of those like recent things going on and you're not missing out on them, which is nice. So if you're missing star Wars, star Wars is not the hot sci-fi thing anymore, which is is unfortunate. It's almost kind of crazy to say, but it just isn't.
Speaker 1:
1:35:27
Well, what else? What else have you guys seen that you guys have like, really liked, like?
Speaker 3:
1:35:32
recently, recently? What did we watch last year?
Speaker 2:
1:35:35
That was really good, there was a lot last year, right? Yeah, I'm trying to see.
Speaker 3:
1:35:39
There's this narrative out there. You know people are like, well, we want to go to the movies and nothing's coming out. But stuff's coming out, you just got to look for it. And also, people aren't necessarily empowered to go to the movies because that movie will be on streaming within the next month or so.
Speaker 1:
1:35:56
Mickey 17,. Right, mickey movies, because that movie will be on streaming within like the next month or so. Mickey 17 mickey 17 is one that just came out bong joon-ho, one that we we enjoyed.
Speaker 3:
1:36:03
Um, that one's definitely sci-fi, did we watch? Uh, I'm looking through this list here, uh for well for me.
Speaker 2:
1:36:08
So I saw alien romulus in theaters and I very much enjoyed it. I'm not I was never an alien guy but, but I had watched the original Alien and I've seen Alien vs Predator for some reason, but Alien Romulus was a really nice surprise. I think that was probably one of the best sci-fi movies that I had seen last year and, yeah, probably one of the best or one of the biggest that I had seen. That stood out to me.
Speaker 3:
1:36:38
I would say category would you put. It's what's inside air, because it's not necessarily sci-fi, but it does have like sci-fi elements. But it's also more of a thriller, um, and that's one of my favorite movies from last year, but it's not science fiction science fiction yeah, it's not sci-fi in the sense of valerian, but it is sci-fi, um, and that one's on Netflix and that's one of my favorite movies from last year.
Speaker 2:
1:36:58
You know what, Nick? This will be a good question for you, because this is going to actually fall into our game a little bit. How would you define sci-fi when people say science fiction like, how would you if you were to summarize it, what is sci-fi to you If somebody was to say I like sci-fi? What is your brain calculate and process?
Speaker 1:
1:37:24
that as being like.
Speaker 2:
1:37:25
As far as the medium, I would say I would boil it down some people will say like, oh, if it's not in space, it's not sci-fi, right? Or if right, yeah, yeah and I disagree with that.
Speaker 1:
1:37:35
I, I would say I disagree with that. I'd say science fiction is a depiction of the future and its ramifications, whatever that may be, and I and that could be, and you know what's weird is you know that doesn't necessarily have to be our future. You could, I mean I've, I've, I mean, what was it? I'm trying to think of something to explain that Even the Terminator took place in like the 80s, but it followed, like, what would happen if this particular, in this particular timeline you know we're all playing to the apes If, in this particular timeline, you know, the technology for AI went in this direction, what would happen? And then you know they get into the time travel thing. I mean, it's just, it's depiction of humanity's evolution in an ever-evolving technological world and the ramifications of such a world. And that leaves sci-fi open for a much larger, much more broad interpretation, which you know, I think is the right way to look at it. I mean, did you guys ever watch Black Mirror or anything like that?
Speaker 3:
1:39:00
Yeah, I haven't watched it in a while, but I've watched the first couple seasons, yeah.
Speaker 1:
1:39:07
Yeah, so I liked those. For a while, every big streaming service was trying to put out something similar to that, like Netflix had Black Mirror, amazon Prime had Philip K Dick's I Dream of Electric Sheep, and then Netflix came out with Love, death and Robots and a few of those other ones, and they were all anthologies so it wasn't in any necessary order or anything like that, but they were separate stories, each an episode dedicated to a specific thing. I remember I can't remember. I think it was either black mirror or I dream of electric sheep, but there was one where it was just where social media became so absolutely crazy that your like social credit score was based on your social media.
Speaker 3:
1:39:57
That was the one with bryce dallas howard, I believe yes, yes and that was that was dystopian, and it's a fact.
Speaker 1:
1:40:05
I mean, anywhere where you're exploring a dystopia is could probably fall under sci-fi in some form or fashion, as long as you're not talking about a dystopia in like medieval times. Yeah right, yeah, I mean, it's what? What is it they say? Every utopia is really a dystopia.
Speaker 2:
1:40:26
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1:
1:40:27
There's always a dark underbelly to perfection it's, it's, it's it, just it doesn't exist. You know, humans are such an imperfect species and we have flaws and those flaws are ingrained in our being and we can either learn to evolve with them or we can perish. And I think if you're exploring anything in that realm, it could be considered sci-fi. So I love all that stuff, I love any type of philosophical exploration and I always find that and you'll certainly find this as a theme in my book in vidalarium is like balance is. It is the ultimate savior of sorts, it is what ensures that we maintain along along whatever path it is that we are following. You know, because we we can't tell the future, we can only try and predict it, we can foresee it the best we can, but, um, as far as, yeah, I don't quite know where I'm going with this.
Speaker 2:
1:41:40
No, that was good.
Speaker 1:
1:41:41
Balance is definitely a huge aspect which you'll notice in my book and I actually one of the Phil. Have you come across the sacred order yet? I?
Speaker 3:
1:41:52
don't believe so. Of equilibrium no, I don't believe so.
Speaker 1:
1:41:56
Okay, well, basically it is when I told you I had to create a religion for the centuries out future. It's called the Sacred Order of Equilibrium and it's all about the concept of, basically, cosmic balance, and that is a huge theme, probably one of the major crux type themes of the book that I bring into or I deliver to the reader through the book. And don't worry, I'm not trying to get you to join my cult or anything, I just want you to enjoy the fucking book we're like I'm in. But that, I think, is part of the answer and it comes down to finding the balance between us and whatever it is that we're dealing with.
Speaker 2:
1:42:51
Yeah, no, that's great and I think that helps because so I'm looking at Letter film, looking at letterboxes, science fiction films. So before we get into our first game, which will be the debate game, if you want to also pull that up, a couple of movies we saw in the last like year or two. The wild robot was a big science fiction film Godzilla minus one See Godzilla, I don't know like that that kind of people would say science fiction. I never would think of it, but I I can see, now that you've explained a little bit, I can see how that fits um everything, everywhere, all at once yeah one of my favorites movie we saw this year called companion.
Speaker 2:
1:43:31
Uh, definitely fits that bill. Companion was really, really good. Uh, it's what's inside that Phil mentioned, and those are probably the biggest ones that we liked.
Speaker 1:
1:43:42
But I will tell you in the past am I missing?
Speaker 2:
1:43:45
Well, I mean interstellar. Oh well, we watched interstellar for the first time at the beginning of last year and then we saw it in the. Imax before the end of the year, which was crazy. Yeah, top tier film, so good so good.
Speaker 1:
1:44:04
Who directed that again? Was that Nolan? That's what I thought. It was, just his scene with the black hole that was freaking awesome.
Speaker 2:
1:44:16
It's crazy, it is absolutely insane.
Speaker 3:
1:44:18
I can't believe it took us so long to to watch. I don't know why we just never had gotten to it up until, yeah, last year, but now it's one of my favorites. It's a great watch.
Speaker 2:
1:44:27
It's a great, great watch, um, yeah, so, with that being said, let's, let's transition into some game time, and these will be pretty quick. They're nothing too too long. The first thing we're going to do is a sci-fi debate, so, uh, this is where friends are lost, enemies are made. This is a good opportunity to uh to jump into some conversation.
Speaker 2:
1:44:47
So, phil, if you want to move to the next one? Uh, the debate rules are simple. Each of you guys are going to have 60 seconds to state your argument. Uh, you do have to make a debate even if you disagree with it, so getting first choice here would really help. Uh, don't interject during the opposing debate, and then the winner just has ultimate bragging rights. So, with that being said, we're going to jump into our first prompt. This is going to be five rounds, and our first prompt is which is the superior sci-fi experience for the audience? Is it film and tv or is it video games? The first choice actually goes to the person who's published a book, and because I don't believe phil has published a book, nick, I believe that means you get your choice of which one you want to argue for. Oh, Again.
Speaker 2:
1:45:41
Phil, there was no way I could know.
Speaker 1:
1:45:43
Okay, I'm going to go video game.
Speaker 2:
1:45:46
Video game. Okay, that's literally Phil's favorite saying Video games are the better experience. I'm so excited for this. So, nick, you have just about 60 seconds, so go ahead and rattle off. Why is video games, why are video games, the superior experience for audiences?
Speaker 1:
1:46:07
Okay.
Speaker 1:
1:46:07
So when it relates to sci-fi, I think one of the big things that you get with video games is especially video games now is the opportunity to make choices, and since your choices are what end up basically creating the future that you want to happen or that you hope to happen I mean there's literal consequence involved.
Speaker 1:
1:46:38
There's the experience of actually controlling the character. There's the experience of being there with the character through every step of the way, whether it's through each battle, whether it's through a dialogue skirmish that you're going through, where you actually get to make the choice yourself, you get to own it. I feel like that ties into sci-fi in a massive way, because it is our decisions, literally, that create the future that we're striving towards or, unfortunately, at times, the future that we're not striving towards. So I think there's investment in that outcome that you don't necessarily get when you're watching it and film and TV which I still love, by the way I love being taken for a ride, but I feel like when you've got control of the ride, at least some autonomy, I feel like it adds an extra layer of investment into whatever universe that you're delving into, and I think that's fucking awesome.
Speaker 2:
1:47:49
All right, and Phil don't pay attention to the time. I think that was a 30-second delay. What do you mean? You know what? He had a first time guest round, one bonus ability.
Speaker 1:
1:48:03
All right, cut me off next time.
Speaker 2:
1:48:04
That's my. I don't make. I don't make the rules, I just follow them. You do make the rules. Phil, you have 60 seconds and please keep it tight.
Speaker 3:
1:48:19
Okay, Let us know why you think film and TV is a superior experience. For film and TV, especially now for people. You know, if you're not a gamer, you can trust the writers and the developers of that show or that movie to take you on a journey in which you actually where you will be fulfilled and where god, I don't even believe this where you will be, where you'll, you'll come out at the end and you'll be happy with the experience that was presented to you. You just sit back, you relax, you can look at your phone, do whatever it is that you do, I guess, when you're watching TV and films, things you can't do when you're playing a video game. So yeah, film and watch a movie, watch a TV show and just sit there for the ride. I guess I don't even know much. I don't care how much time that was With time to spare.
Speaker 2:
1:49:20
That is you know what. I think we're going to give that one to Nick, I think.
Speaker 3:
1:49:24
Nick's going to go up 1-0.
Speaker 1:
1:49:26
Yep, yep yep Great, I feel bad because I feel like you were on my side the whole time.
Speaker 2:
1:49:31
Phil, phil's favorite thing is to tell people video games is like the best storytelling medium I love how you said, you can just trust the writers.
Speaker 1:
1:49:41
A little bit of trust will kill you, if you like.
Speaker 3:
1:49:45
That trust has bitten us quite a few times. We won't name any specific series, but they've done us wrong, they know.
Speaker 2:
1:49:54
All right, round two For round two, guys, which is more important? For a good story, character development or world building? The first choice goes to the winner of the last round. So, nick, you get a shot at either argument. Both are important, but if you had to pick one to argue for over the other, which would it be?
Speaker 1:
1:50:17
specifically for a sci-fi story All right, you got to cut me off If I hit my time limit this time you guys get a timer on the screen here.
Speaker 2:
1:50:25
We do. The feedback has been received.
Speaker 1:
1:50:29
I'm going to go with Ooh, that's a tough, that's a tough fucking choice. I'm going to go with character development for this one.
Speaker 2:
1:50:40
All right, nick, you've got 60 seconds. Tell us why character development is the most important thing for a good story.
Speaker 1:
1:50:48
Well, typically, who is reading, watching, playing, whatever your story, it's a person and character development is an opportunity for you to actually present the human elements and the qualities of your character that are relatable and can basically ingratiate readers into your immersive environment. You know, world building is immensely important, but character development is what basically brings your reader into the scenario and attaches your reader to that story.
Speaker 2:
1:51:29
All right Time to spare Phil world building. Why is that the most important thing?
Speaker 3:
1:51:39
world building. Why is that the most important thing? I think a really good world can make up for a pretty, even sometimes subpar, characters. The the examples that I'll use is the assassin's creed games, as well as far cry. There hasn't really been a really really good far cry character in in quite some time. However, the world I'll use Far Cry 4 as an example the world like the of this post-apocalyptic cult, while the main characters are the villains, are interesting, but it's also really fun to kind of explore what's going on, how this specific area of the country is reacting to this cult.
Speaker 3:
1:52:13
In Assassin's Creed, again, we've had a couple games. I mean, they put out a game every single year. Some of the characters are man. They're okay. But exploring Egypt, exploring the streets of London, exploring these on a pirate ship like a Black Flag all that stuff makes up for characters that sometimes maybe aren't as interesting, because you're just enjoying being out there and being an assassin or being a rebel or something along those lines, because you're just enjoying being out there and being an assassin or being a rebel or something along those lines, all right, with time to spare.
Speaker 2:
1:52:41
Those are both great arguments.
Speaker 1:
1:52:46
I'm going to give the edge to Phil because he got to bring up video games. He literally came with a bibliography and I'll give you that one.
Speaker 3:
1:52:54
I couldn't tell you what Far Cry 5 is about, but I know it was pretty you're not.
Speaker 2:
1:53:01
Uh, you're not wrong.
Speaker 1:
1:53:03
Well, all right if you read vidalarium, you get both character development and world building. That's right exactly that.
Speaker 3:
1:53:09
That's the plug we brought it all back around got it.
Speaker 2:
1:53:13
All right, let's go ahead and jump into our next one, round three. Which trope is more effective the use of a multiverse or time travel? For this one first choice goes to the person who is not currently hosting a podcast I do believe that is nick unless you have a podcast that I don't know about, uh, which would be unfortunate. But yeah, yeah, you get first choice here.
Speaker 1:
1:53:38
All right, I'm going multiverse.
Speaker 2:
1:53:41
All right, Phil is going to get time travel. Nick, tell us why multiverse is the more effective trope in sci-fi.
Speaker 1:
1:53:50
I think it's way more interesting, I think it leaves way more open to interpretation, I think it leaves a lot more storytelling options. I think time travel has been overused and I think it kind of creates a moot point, since anytime you do time travel, so to speak, in terms of like real physics, you you technically create a separate timeline anyway, which would not affect the original timeline, so it becomes a whole kind of moot point, whereas multiverse it opens up the possibility for all types of unique interactions, unique types of travel, types of universes that one couldn't even fathom, and some that are even so similar to ours, that only you know. You woke up one morning and you sneezed or didn't sneeze, and that's the only difference in the universe. And I think there's a lot more to be explored in multiverse than there is with time travel.
Speaker 2:
1:54:56
All right, there we go. And you saw, Phil, I put a little thing on the screen.
Speaker 3:
1:55:00
I saw.
Speaker 2:
1:55:01
I was trying to try new features out here Again, real-life, lifetime feedback, live feedback. Phil, you have time travel, go ahead and make your argument, 60 seconds starting now.
Speaker 3:
1:55:13
Yeah, so I can really only kind of compare it as far as what we've seen recently when it comes to multiverse stuff. That hasn't really worked very well, and obviously we're talking about whoa we're talking about.
Speaker 2:
1:55:31
You got a 10 second uh runoff.
Speaker 3:
1:55:33
Okay, we're talking we're talking about, like the marvel movies, where it's been used as a little bit of as a crutch right. Um, now, as far as time travel, we've seen that done very, very well kind of time and time again, you know it is used a lot. Uh, obviously, back to the future, uh, tenant is one, even interstellar, I think, can be a time travel movie. A hot tub time machine one of the best time travel movies of all time. Uh, palm springs, another one of my favorites. So I think time travel is more effective because I think we've gotten that down a little bit more as far as like a tighter storytelling method, while multiverse, I think, does give us a lot of opportunities to bring more stories into it. I think because now it's, it's still because of what the superheroes have done with it. It's so convoluted, I think, because time travel, we have the formula down and it works.
Speaker 2:
1:56:24
All right, this, this might be our hardest decision yet. Um, I think I think, phil, you have a really strong argument, but I think Nick is right that multiverse isn't quite at the exhaustion point, that time travel is. So, nick, I'm going to give you round three, but slightly. It's a slight edge. I respect that, the 2-1 lead here.
Speaker 1:
1:56:49
Don't let one bad egg ruin the batch. That's right, the superhero multiverse.
Speaker 3:
1:56:54
Everything everywhere all at once is a great multiverse movie and Spider-Man across Spider-Verse. You know they've been, they've done that really well so come on, what about?
Speaker 1:
1:57:02
what about Rick and Morty?
Speaker 2:
1:57:05
Rick and Morty staying strong for sure.
Speaker 3:
1:57:08
Yeah, gotta love it.
Speaker 2:
1:57:09
Gotta love it. All right, round four. Which of these opinions are stronger? Wrong way, phil. Round four. There we go. Sci-fi and fantasy are very similar, or fantasy and sci-fi are very different. So the first choice goes to the winner of the last round, nick, that is you. Which one would you like to argue is stronger, or right? Uh, sci-fi and fantasy are similar or different um, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2:
1:57:49
It can be tough. This is. This is tough because this was inspired by the debates that people have. Is star Wars a sci-fi film? Obviously yes, but the use of the force is so fantasy like that. People argue that sometimes the big other, the other big one is Lord of the Rings, right? So uh again, either one. They're both arguably unpopular opinions, depending on what side of the coin you're on.
Speaker 1:
1:58:15
Once again, I feel like there's depending on what side of the coin you're on Once again. I feel like there's a balance that is not achieved in this question. Very much, I'll go with. Sci-fi and fantasy are different.
Speaker 2:
1:58:25
Okay, phil, you're going to go for similar and Nick, you get first crack at it 60 seconds, go ahead and make your argument.
Speaker 1:
1:58:34
All right. So, whereas I love both sci-fi and fantasy, I feel like fantasy uses the concept of magic, which is the ability to explain or basically present a concept without explaining it by just saying it's magic, whereas sci-fi takes the leap and tries to ground it in actual scientific discovery. Even oftentimes, if it's soft sci-fi, there's grounding in some sort of extrapolation of real life concepts. Fantasy can fill a lot of gaps by basically just saying, oh, there's a magical thing that does this, there's, you know this foretelling, you know foreshadowing scripture that says this is going to happen and that explains the entire, you know story arc of what they're going for, whereas you actually have to dive in deep and create.
Speaker 1:
1:59:47
You asked me to do it. I'm going to do it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:
1:59:51
All right, nick was going in. So, phil, you got a lot of ground to cover 60 seconds. Why are they similar?
Speaker 3:
1:59:59
I think they're very similar because so, first off, the game I'm playing right now it's called Split Fiction and it's incredible and the main characters one is a fantasy writer, one is a sci-fi writer and throughout this story you're finding how very, very similar they are in terms of where they draw inspiration from, how very, very similar they are in terms of where they draw inspiration from. And, you know, one of the most popular films of all time is a sci-fi fantasy film. It's not my favorite, it's not even something I particularly enjoy, but it's called Avatar and it's made like $10 billion and I think it's a good mixture of both of those films. However, one movie that is one of my favorites of all time also, I think, sci-fi fantasy it's called Pacific Rim and it is a masterpiece and it's got a lot of sci-fi in it and it's got a lot of really, really cool fantasy looking monsters called Kaiju and that movie rips. So I think sci-fi and fantasy are very similar and they live together in quite a nice harmony.
Speaker 2:
2:00:55
All right, a little bit of time to spare. Phil Phil came with the examples again in that one See that's what I'm saying, I'm telling you it feels like you keep prepared. He did not get these in advance. I must, I must, clarify. Okay, I think we're tied up to two going into round five. I love that. This is a working in your favor, phil going into round five uh love that.
Speaker 3:
2:01:19
This is uh working in your favor, phil. Usually it's a blowout, so I'm usually down at this point.
Speaker 1:
2:01:21
What was the quote I was trying? Is it any any um? What is it any? Suitable technology is indistinguishable from magic. I forget who said that that was a prolific sci-fi writer. Who said that I, I, what. I can't remember if it was asimov or not, but that was.
Speaker 1:
2:01:39
That was literally the one quote that was like maybe I should arthur clark, arthur clark thank you, it was arthur clark and, uh, arthur c clark. 2001, space odyssey and all subsequent. But, um, yeah, no, it's true, it's true, they do live close together and I do agree with that. And then there are certain liberties that a lot of fantasy authors will take that will divert massively from that, but I feel like there is some very, a pretty broad common ground between fantasy and sci-fi.
Speaker 2:
2:02:20
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
2:02:22
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
2:02:23
All right Round five guys. Last question in this which is more important for a film? Is it the visual effects or a score and the soundtrack? So for sci-fi, those are two big, important things. The first choice here goes to literally anyone other than Phil and considering that I am not playing, I am hosting Nick, I believe that is you. You get first choice here. Which one do you think is more important for a sci-fi film?
Speaker 1:
2:02:54
I'm going to go with God with my music history. I'd love to say soundtrack, but I'm going. Visual effects.
Speaker 2:
2:03:01
All right, you're going visual effects, Phil. You're going score soundtrack. Nick, you got 60 seconds. Why is visual effects your choice here?
Speaker 1:
2:03:11
I come with my own bibliography this time. Let's look at the difference between the original Dune movie back in the 80s and the new one that just came out Massively different and in terms of the visual effects that are available today versus what were what was available back then. And the one that was made back then was an absolute flop, which is a combination of a lot of things. They tried to mash two movies, what should have been two movies, into one, but the visual effects were campy, they were rough, they didn't make a whole lot of sense, whereas today sci-fi is hot now as a genre in general because of what we're able to do with the visual effects. We're able to make these grand futures come to life, and I feel like that is basically what's fostering this, basically height of sci-fi that we're seeing come out now.
Speaker 2:
2:04:10
All right, very good, right on time, and a great argument came with examples. Phil See, that's the thing. He's a quick learner. I'm with examples, phil See, that's the thing.
Speaker 1:
2:04:21
He's a quick learner.
Speaker 2:
2:04:21
I'm on you, phil, he's got you. So, phil, you have 60 seconds. Go ahead and state your final argument.
Speaker 3:
2:04:28
So, for my example, what I will use is Jaws, which is a film that, visually, has not aged terribly well. However, you do think of the Jaws theme immediately. This isn't the best example, because it still looks great today. But Jurassic Park, you think of the score. Star Wars, you can hear that score in your head, god. But the movie looks bad though.
Speaker 2:
2:04:54
It's really hard.
Speaker 3:
2:04:56
I know I understand this is for the win though it's, it's hard, it's really hard, I know.
Speaker 2:
2:04:59
I would highly recommend that you pivot into um.
Speaker 3:
2:05:00
This is for the win these are just things that I'll also say that again, because, even though mass effect didn't end the, the best when we're talking, thinking about video game score, video game soundtrack, it is. It's something that still, uh, lives in my head to this day, despite how it ended. So a good score can make up for a lot when it comes to a story and specifically sci-fi, um, but maybe not what we're talking about here today. I was fine. I was pushing a rock uphill this whole time. Eric, I don't know what you want from me all All right.
Speaker 2:
2:05:35
Well, congratulations, Nick Home run at the end there.
Speaker 3:
2:05:39
I'll tell you.
Speaker 2:
2:05:39
Phil, you went Jaws, which was already kind of a tough act because, like visually, it's still pretty decent for its time. But you went Jaws and then you immediately followed up with, and this isn't a good example.
Speaker 3:
2:05:52
And then you said Jurassic Park.
Speaker 2:
2:05:52
Well, that's like the first movie that I thought of.
Speaker 3:
2:05:55
The other thing, what about Deep Blue Sea, where I don't think about those sharks, I think about LL Cool J saying deepest bluest. My hat is like a shark's fin.
Speaker 2:
2:06:06
You know there's no winning. Congratulations, nick, winning the debate. And we've got one final game. This is way more casual and going to be pretty quick. This is a quick, rapid fire game that we like to play. It is a visual game for our audio only listeners, but it'll go by pretty quickly. It's called Cinemoji, and for this game you guys will have a series of emojis that will appear on the screen. So we'll move to the how to play.
Speaker 2:
2:06:36
An example of what that'll look like for star trek. You'll see a star and then someone trekking up a mountain, or there'll be a visual element. So it's not the title, but you would know immediately by the hand signal here that this is speaking to spock star trek, right? So there's going to be some type of emoji either explaining the title or something very significant from the movie, maybe a quote or an action and it is your job to shout out a guess as quickly as possible before the other. Whoever gets the most correct wins. There's about seven films here under the sci-fi umbrella. There's about seven films here under the sci-fi umbrella. A couple of these are going to go super fast, and then there might be a few that make you pause. So, with that being said, let's jump into our first one and shout it out, if you know it.
Speaker 3:
2:07:31
Knife run, knife stab run. Scream no, no.
Speaker 1:
2:07:39
Knife party?
Speaker 2:
2:07:40
I don't know no, there's no way.
Speaker 3:
2:07:47
Thank, you blade runner.
Speaker 2:
2:07:50
I was like please knife party, one of my favorite good band name, all right. You can reveal the image. Phil, Blade Runner is the answer. All right, we're rocking and rolling. Let's run to our next one. Shout out the answer iRobot.
Speaker 3:
2:08:11
iRobot.
Speaker 2:
2:08:12
All right, Phil, just slightly beating you out there 1-1. The answer is I Robot.
Speaker 3:
2:08:18
I just went into a YouTube deep dive into I Robot recently. The movie is nothing like the book, right.
Speaker 1:
2:08:26
There's some differences. Yeah, I mean I enjoyed both.
Speaker 2:
2:08:31
Yeah, Good time Enjoyed both. Good time, all right that was Will Smith pre-slap.
Speaker 1:
2:08:35
He was crushing it. He was. That was Will Smith pre-slap.
Speaker 3:
2:08:37
He was crashing it he was. It was the summer of Will Smith. At that time it was he had just released. He was coming off Independence Day and stuff. Yeah, he was on a crazy run.
Speaker 2:
2:08:47
I have faith he'll come back. Yeah, generational. All right, shout out the next one if you know the answer et phone home oh yep, that is.
Speaker 3:
2:08:58
That is et et phone home house phone I was gonna I was actually gonna uh guess what was. What's that movie called the black phone, black no?
Speaker 2:
2:09:09
that's black. That was good. Black phone was good.
Speaker 3:
2:09:12
Yeah, it's really good, very good, sequel coming out soon all right, nicks.
Speaker 2:
2:09:16
Nick's up 2-1. Let's go to our next one.
Speaker 3:
2:09:20
Ready Player One.
Speaker 2:
2:09:22
That is Ready Player One. Very good job, all right, shout out if you know the next one.
Speaker 3:
2:09:34
Titanic the sci-fi epic titanic titanic I don't believe that falls under that umbrella, starship troopers?
Speaker 2:
2:09:47
it is oh, starship troopers one of my absolute favorites there we go back in the day.
Speaker 1:
2:09:52
That's uh. Would you like it?
Speaker 2:
2:09:54
no more that is a perfect way to take the lead and is a 3-2 lead for Nick. Shout out if you know the next one.
Speaker 3:
2:10:07
Fire, fire, water. What is this Half fire, half Avatar way of the water? No, it is not Avatar Avatar Way of the Water.
Speaker 2:
2:10:19
No, it is not Avatar Way of the Water. I will give a hint in a moment, if needed. Five.
Speaker 3:
2:10:28
I have no idea. Fire water Okay.
Speaker 2:
2:10:31
The hint I will give is the fire and water describe one word. I didn't want to put just one there, so I put two on purpose to try to create a word. So think of what fire, water and other things might represent here.
Speaker 1:
2:10:54
Steam, that's what I said, yeah something with steam?
Speaker 3:
2:11:03
okay, I have no idea.
Speaker 2:
2:11:08
I'm gonna give another hint. The word I couldn't put in here is the. The movie we're talking about starts with the word the the five, the movie we're talking about starts with the word the, the five. I have no clue, okay, nick any guesses?
Speaker 3:
2:11:31
Five water fire, water combined into water.
Speaker 1:
2:11:35
Oh, what's the?
Speaker 3:
2:11:39
Water fire. Oh my gosh, I have no idea. No, Okay.
Speaker 2:
2:11:45
Other things that I could have put. Let me see Other like symbols I could have put would have been uh, fire, water, uh earth, wind, power rangers what'd you say, nick avatar?
Speaker 1:
2:12:06
no, not avatar.
Speaker 2:
2:12:07
I guess that no, did you say patrick star. I said power rangers oh, I thought I heard somebody say pat Patrick Star fire, water, earth, fucking Pokemon.
Speaker 1:
2:12:19
What is this?
Speaker 3:
2:12:20
okay, okay fire water, captain Planet nope, this is.
Speaker 2:
2:12:26
I can't believe. This is the one that's dumped. Stop, alright, I can't give you the last one because it'll give it away, but it is. It starts with the and the five. It is actually five TH.
Speaker 1:
2:12:42
Oh, fifth element.
Speaker 2:
2:12:43
There we go.
Speaker 3:
2:12:46
It is, yeah, it is the fifth element. Okay, because they're elements.
Speaker 2:
2:12:52
Yeah, and you hate elemental, so I couldn't count on you figuring out that those are the two elements I chose.
Speaker 3:
2:12:57
I hope it's not that.
Speaker 2:
2:12:59
So, Nick, you're going to win this with a 4-2 lead, but our next one, who knows? Honestly, if neither of you get it, I'd be surprised, but this is also I maybe thought the hardest one, but I don't know anymore. My confidence is shaken. So if you know the answer, shout it out Interstellar. No.
Speaker 1:
2:13:25
Galaxy Quest.
Speaker 2:
2:13:27
Crazy pull.
Speaker 1:
2:13:27
Galaxy Quest is correct.
Speaker 3:
2:13:30
No, are you?
Speaker 2:
2:13:31
serious it is. What the hell you?
Speaker 3:
2:13:37
guys struggled on the fifth element, and then you pulled galaxy quest out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:
2:13:40
Great job, that one all right that one was out of my ass.
Speaker 2:
2:13:44
That was good, all right, congratulations, dick uh, two, two and oh, in the wait for it, games and uh yeah, that is um, that is how we wrap up this episode. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, so, uh, phil, this was a ton of fun and, yeah, I'm so sorry that this happened to you once again.
Speaker 3:
2:14:02
No, I don't think you are. I don't think you are at all. But, nick, again, thank you so much for taking the time with us here this evening. We cannot wait to see what's next for you and for Vidalarium. We will be following you very closely, as well as continuing to support you. So, please, for our audience, how can they continue to support you? Where can they find you, as well as where can they find your work? Please, let them know.
Speaker 1:
2:14:25
Absolutely. You can find me on all social medias Instagram X, tiktok, facebook threads at Vidularium series or at Vidalarium it'll pop up. There's not too many Vidalariums out there. My website, vidalariumseriescom. You can find my book on Amazon. You can find it on Audible. You can find it on Barnes and Noble, booksamillioncom, certain indie bookshops just about anywhere where you get your books, especially online. You can find Videlirium Descent into the Void, and book two should be coming out towards the end of this year, as well as the comics, which you can find on my website or at any of the conventions that we're going to this year. We're going to 15 conventions this year and that number is still climbing. I actually just actually no 16 now. I just signed up for another one today and yeah, no, listen guys, this was absolutely a blast. I thank you a lot for having me on. I hope we can do this again sometime in the future, maybe when I got a few more comics and another book to talk about. But I had a blast and thank you.
Speaker 3:
2:15:45
Yeah, likewise, nick, thank you again. It was fun linking up with you at Collective Con and we hope to see you at more shows around Florida as the year goes on. And yeah, everything you need to know about Nick and Vidalarium will be in the show notes of this episode, which is where you can also keep up with the Wait For A Podcast. We're in similar places that Nick just mentioned. Keep up with us, most importantly, on Instagram, tiktok, our growing Discord channel. We upload videos to YouTube and we're streaming every other week over on Twitch Although, as I have been mentioning, that may change soon. So more content on the way for our Twitch channel.
Speaker 3:
2:16:20
But you can support the show a couple of different ways Tag us, let us know that you listened, let Nick know that you listened and that you're also reading or listening to the book. All of that. We love hearing from you guys and hearing the feedback. And, on the podcast side of things, leave us five stars spotify, apple podcast, wherever it may be. All that helps, the wibbly, wobbly, algorithm stuff, and we thank you very much. But if you want to get some behind the scenes stuff, maybe get a little bit more involved with the wait for it community and become one of those famous wait watchers. Eric will let you know a little bit more about that and then wrap us up yeah.
Speaker 2:
2:16:52
So there's a lot of ways you can support the show, but none are more appreciated than our Patreon. And that's for our patrons like Briar, stefan T3Kato, corey from the World is my Burrito and Vintage, and Bridget from Retro AV Rewind. We really appreciate their support and in return, they get access, early access and behind the scenes looks at episodes like this one in exchange for that. So we're very much appreciative, appreciative, continuing to grow that platform. If you can do that, that's great. If you can't, the free stuff is awesome as well the likes, the comments, the engagement, the shares, everything under the sun we really do. Thank you for the support and we can't wait to have you back for the next episode. With that being said, my name name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host, phil the Filipino and our wonderful guest, nick. And, please don't forget, for the podcast, we release new episodes every Wednesday, plus bonus content on platforms like TikTok and Twitch, and all you gotta do is wait for it.
Speaker 3:
2:17:54
So I heard you're looking for a go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it. Gaming, Wait for it.
Speaker 1:
2:18:00
Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 2:
2:18:04
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it.
Speaker 3:
2:18:24
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
