Alien Dinosaurs, VHS Tapes & One Piece: Geoffrey Breedwell Unleashed

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In the author's spotlight, where the stories collide. Twenty authors waiting. Let curiosity guide. All genres invited. From horror district. Unravel the tales at our podcast heartbeat.

SPEAKER_06 0:24

Welcome to the Author Spotlight series. This is where we step behind the pages to meet the people who create the stories we love. We'll talk about their latest book, their writing journey, and the story behind the story, and probably a few things neither of us plan to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Today I'm putting Jeffrey Breedwell in the spotlight. Jeffrey, welcome to Travel Time Stories. We're so glad to have you here.

SPEAKER_10 0:50

Thank you. And I'm really happy to be here. Uh Shannon, great to be with you guys. I love the podcast that you guys are doing and all the hilarious adventures you get to go on from time to time. Shannon, your journey that you took uh from Nashville to Adamsville was absolutely hilarious. I can't believe you had a cow named Clarence that you taught.

SPEAKER_06 1:15

I know, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:18

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:22

I was shocked to find that out as well.

SPEAKER_10 1:24

It was, it was, it was nuts. Uh, but thank you for sharing that story in the pregame. I thought it was really great.

SPEAKER_06 1:29

I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Jeffrey.

SPEAKER_10 1:31

It was you are an excellent storyteller, Shannon. You really are. She really is, actually.

SPEAKER_06 1:37

I should write a book, right?

SPEAKER_10 1:39

I mean I mean, you you've got all these authors, you know. You can just be like, hey, let's, how do you do this? Okay, great. I'm gonna do it myself.

SPEAKER_06 1:46

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

There you go. So, Jeffrey, before we dive into your book, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our audience and just tell us a little bit about who you are.

SPEAKER_10 2:00

Sure. So, as you said, my name is Jeffrey Breedwell. And I'm really trying hard not to give my stand-up joke at that point. But I'm an author based out of Indianapolis, Indiana, and I've been writing since the fifth grade or so, since you know, really started writing. I grew up on the stage, and my dad was a playwright, and I just kind of emulated him.

SPEAKER_07 2:22

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_10 2:23

I've got a master's in divinity from Lipscomb University. I've got a bachelor's in general studies, but communications and psychology from Southern New Hampshire University. I served in the Navy for about eight years, uh, a little less than that. And I've got uh a family, I've got a wife and two kids and a dog and three cats.

SPEAKER_07 2:47

And oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_10 2:49

One cat today like jumped up on my head, like from the back of the couch and scratched the back of my head. And as you can tell, I have no fur. So my fur is like John Cena. It's like you can't see me.

SPEAKER_06 3:02

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_10 3:03

It's all down here and just goes, I'm like, what in the world? Ow. And the cat's like, ow. I'm like, what are you is that sorry? All right. Did you want to play? Wow. Okay, huh? The dog's looking at me like, you are an idiot, sir.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Can't believe you're gonna play with that cat now.

SPEAKER_10 3:24

You're not gonna ironically enough, though, I'm the only biological male in my entire house. Out of all of the animals and all of the people, I am the only dude. Wow. So it is that's great. Fantastic. I always wanted to be surrounded by girls when I was a teenager, and God just was like, you got it.

SPEAKER_06 3:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_10 3:46

You got it, but you're gonna wait until you're about 40.

SPEAKER_06 3:50

Right.

SPEAKER_10 3:51

You're gonna go through a bunch of trauma first, and you're gonna understand exactly what the female process is like as much as you can for being a dude. And then we're gonna give you painted nails and manicures. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:07

Yep. All the things that come with being a girl dad.

SPEAKER_10 4:10

All the all the things that come with being a girl dad. I'm right there in the thick of it and love every single minute of it. So the book we're discussing today, Just Put the VHS in the bag, bro, is my first uh published book, not my first book that I've written, but is the first one that is published, thankfully to Cloaked Press, who decided I'm gonna take a chance on you. They're great people over there and for giving me the chance. So I'm really thankful for that. Kind of shout out to them.

SPEAKER_06 4:38

Uh I'm glad they took a chance on you as well, because it's a great book. It is so good. And I'm hoping it's just the first of many more to come.

SPEAKER_10 4:48

I will uh break the announcement here that there is a sequel in the works.

SPEAKER_07 4:53

Awesome. Okay, it's so good.

SPEAKER_10 4:55

It's in the early stages. I'm still outlining it. Um, as we'll talk about, you know, my processes, what you want to talk about later. So there is plans for a two and a three of where it goes. And we get more with Ethan and Cruz and the stuff that happens with Briefrec and Blumeta that we see more of that. Uh we dive into the Niborexian culture, we dive more into uh the culture with uh the Mavlorians and their side. So you we're gonna fully immerse ourselves into that universe within books two and three.

SPEAKER_06 5:29

Love that. I'm excited for that.

SPEAKER_10 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

I want to know more about that.

SPEAKER_06 5:35

Because so far, I I love the universe that we're getting a taste of in book one, so that'll be great to get fully immersed in two and three. So yeah.

SPEAKER_10 5:44

Yeah. Book one is very Earth-based, and then book two, uh, we spend a little bit of time on Earth, and then as of the plans as of right now, um, but we'll go on to Niborexia and we'll see what that planet is like and what their culture is like. And then we'll go on to uh Topan and see what the Mavlorians are like and why their planet is named Topan and not Mavloria, and we'll see what happened and why the things are the way they are, and we'll experience all of that within the next two books.

SPEAKER_06 6:16

Okay. Nice.

SPEAKER_10 6:17

So within our within our thing. So we have what I'm kind of softly referring to it as a VHS ilogy instead of a trilogy. We just it's just VHS ilogy. Oh, I think it's a terrible pun, but it works. So terrible works. Yeah, it's so terrible that it works, it's like Betamax.

SPEAKER_06 6:37

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_10 6:39

Or laserdisc. We're just gonna have this huge disc and you're gonna put the thing into the side.

SPEAKER_06 6:44

Yeah, and how many listener how many listeners remember those discs?

SPEAKER_04 6:49

I do. Right. Remember those big discs that were literally the size of a hubcap. Exactly.

SPEAKER_10 6:55

Exactly. And we had to hold it like this. And if you didn't hold it like this properly, you would scratch it because of your thumbprint.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

And you're just like, oh, I'm gonna put this on. It's gonna be good. Look at all this, look at how high the quality is. This is great. Yes. What's the first thing we're gonna watch? Nature. Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_06 7:18

Yep, exactly. So, Jeffrey, there are author bios, and then there is your author bio that contains the sentence, because an alien emperor wants his BHS back.

SPEAKER_10 7:30

I just love the fact that you were like, There are author bios, and then there's your author bio, and you're like, well, it didn't fit. I mean, it might, but is it a size 12?

unknown 7:42

Oh no.

SPEAKER_06 7:44

That's perfect. So I just have to know, like, where did this wonderfully ridiculous idea come from? Jeez.

SPEAKER_10 7:54

Okay, so I'm gonna turn back the clock about 20 years. Uh, we're still in the post-9-11 world, but you know, it's 2006, and I have been writing a little bit, been writing stories and kind of going back and forth. And I got the first like story was a novella at the time, was more of a psychological horror thing that I was doing because you know, angsty teenage kid, you know, oh, I'm gonna be so dark. Yeah, I'm really pressing the limits on. He took the zitters, you know, whatever, and writing it down. But then I was like, I need something lighter, I need something funnier to kind of res maybe reset my stuff. So uh my best friend at the time was named Ted White, still a fantastic individual. Um, he is like six foot seven and is a gigantic teddy bear, and I love him to death. I grew up with him, and he and I he had agreed to help uh write a screenplay because I was getting into screenplays at the time. I was like, okay, so we wrote this one, and this screenplay was called Josh and Greg Save the World. Based off of all of the stoner comedies of that were very popular in 2006.

SPEAKER_07 9:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_10 9:13

So Dude Where's My Car, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and then even like the D-level movies that nobody remembers, like Mom and Dad Save the World.

SPEAKER_09 9:23

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 9:25

You know, I had just watched that movie and realized, oh my gosh, this is hilariously bad. This is great. John Lovitz is the hero?

unknown 9:32

What?

SPEAKER_10 9:34

Michael McKeon. And this was before I really knew those actors' bodies of work. And I was like, okay, so we wrote this stuff, and I'm like, okay, we gotta what is the best thing? You know, I had to give them this McGuffin that the guys had to go on, and the Josh and Greg, when they first started out, were pot smoking cannibals.

SPEAKER_06 9:56

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_10 9:57

It was pot smoking cannibals. Pot smoking cannibals. I don't know what was in the pot that made them want to eat people. It was also like cannibal the musical, you know, that Trey Parker and Matt Stone comedy thing. I was like, okay, let's go in this, that whole vibe. I was like, oh, this is gonna be great. Uh it was not. It was terrible. So then when I started writing books, I got it's like 38, like jumped forward several years, and we had I had written like six different versions of that book or of that story, of that screenplay. Tried to sell things, things didn't work, went to the Navy, got my education, did some more stuff. And then I'm like 38. I'm like, okay, I need to what's something that I can do for the age of 40 that no one in my family has done. I oh no, I could write a book. So my dad being a playwright uh has had plays produced, and I had written short films that were produced in the Navy for like Navy training films and stuff, so I knew I could do that. So I was like, well, let me write a book. So I set a goal to write a book by the time I was 40, when I was 38. I ended up writing three. And I took uh one of those stories that was the Josh and Greg saved the world, and I completely page one rewrite, tossed everything out but a few things. And that VHS tape that they needed to go get in Truth or Consequence is New Mexico, and the alien's name was Brief Wreck and was always a dinosaur-evolved alien. Those things stayed. Everything else went by the wayside. And I just had to make sure that you know I told the best and funniest story for who they were, who these characters need really needed to be. And I'm glad I did because now it was this level of the story that really like came out. So now I'm gonna make sure that it's not another 20 years before you see episodes two and three. Thank God. That that might be a little hard.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

I'm 60. Here's uh here's uh just put the VHS in the bag, bro, part three. There you go, everybody. It's been 87 years since I've written the first book.

SPEAKER_06 12:15

Yeah, don't be uh George R.R. Martin, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Meanwhile, some of us have already died off and never got to Red Three, so you know Jeff, but you need to get it going there, Jeffrey.

SPEAKER_10 12:28

Right. She's like, Jeff, we're losing daylight. Come on. And you drive. Okay, right.

SPEAKER_06 12:33

So why did you choose a VHS tape? Like, why not some futuristic alien artifact or something?

SPEAKER_10 12:42

Um so that part really came from uh Dude Where's My Car.

SPEAKER_06 12:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 12:47

Okay, so the MacGuffin of Dude Where's My Car was the continuum transfunctioner, which we see the entire movie, and it's him doing this Rubik's Cube.

SPEAKER_07 12:58

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_10 13:00

And the Rubik's Cube being that toy from when they were kids. Not like, oh hey, it's the thing, but I'm talking like just age-wise.

SPEAKER_07 13:10

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 13:10

You know, Jesse and Chester would have been kids and playing with playing with a Rubik's Cube. And the creators of the story would have been playing with a Rubik's Cube, you know, during the 70s. The 60s and 70s when they really came out and they were big a thing. So I was like, okay, cool. And that the VHS tape was always a thing. So I was like, well, what's old, but not so old that everybody forgets? And it was like a VHS tape. I was like, that was always the best. So, but the VHS tape having the special qualities, I'm not gonna ruin it for you, Shannon, but Anne, you'll know what I'm talking about. The VHS tape having the special qualities that it does was new to this version of the story.

SPEAKER_09 13:52

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_10 13:53

The older versions of the story was just like it's a VHS tape, and it was in a Scientologist convent, the original version, and it wasn't even like real Scientology, it was like fake Scientology. Like if Scientology was made by a dude who didn't know anything about Scientology at the time, which I didn't. So it was basically Catholicism with on the things on the buttons for Scientology, and they threw microscopes and they were all wearing lab coats. Like it was ridiculous. Still funny. Like I still love that bit, but it's that I'm like, I can't do that. Scientology might really bury that. Okay, let's make it something else. VHSology. Oh, so and then that's where you are, Shannon, where you told me in the book where he just got saved by Sister Zye. And they have the whole they have a whole background for them that you'll get to explore and why, you know, things are the way they are for that.

SPEAKER_07 14:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 14:49

So like I really wanted to make sure that the book itself was something that was better, but it was also something that people could really look at. And then when the after they read the book, they look at it differently.

SPEAKER_07 15:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 15:01

Okay. So like now, if you see a VHS tape, you're like, uh, is that really what's on that? Yeah. Is that really Star Wars? Or is that I mean, something else?

SPEAKER_06 15:12

I mean, I kind of have those questions now if I see a VHS tape.

SPEAKER_10 15:15

I mean, honestly, just because you never know what's on a VHS tape until you put it in your VCR. Yes. It could be anything. That was Blockbuster's biggest gamble. Yes. Right? What'd you do? Oh, I retaped over that. What over what? Oh, it's just a copy of true lies. I made it, I made it truthful. Made it truthful. What'd you do? I sat in front of my camera and just re-recorded it and I said, It's all a lie. And that was it. That was the rest of the movie is a Dallas Cowboys game.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Oh my God. So, Jeffrey, I gotta ask you a question. I have to answer you a question. How in the world do you manage to make absurdity feel believable enough that I, as a reader, was emotionally invested in this? I mean, I was right there. Right there.

SPEAKER_10 16:11

I like how you're saying this and Shannon's laughing at you. I was emotionally invested. Shannon just read like the part of the book that made when I was doing it for Audible and I was doing the voiceover and reading it, it made my little kid cry, like where they separate out.

SPEAKER_07 16:28

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 16:29

And they, you know, Cruz's big scene, Cruz's big speech is what made my youngest. She was in there, she was in, they were in here with me and just bald.

SPEAKER_06 16:41

Yeah. When I read that part, I was like holding my heart, going, Oh my god, no. The poor baby. And I was no, I but I in my mind I was also thinking, good for you, Cruz, for finally standing up for yourself and setting a boundary and telling Ethan how it is.

SPEAKER_10 17:00

And punching him in the face.

SPEAKER_06 17:02

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_10 17:03

And schooling him in paper rock scissors. Right. Um so back to your question, and as far as like the absurdity stuff that I do, I know that there's like making absurd stuff believable is what brings the comedy that much better. That's good. But it it's what makes it that much more real. You know, if you have believable characters and you have people that you can really attach to, you can really feel like, oh, I know them. I can see them. Like, okay, great. I can I can imagine that Cruz or Ethan are like my kid, or they're, you know, I remember being that age. And that's kind of exactly what we were like. And it was that mentality of like, okay, I wanted to make sure that the characters were people that they had their flaws. You know, we see this with brief rec. He's not this huge destroy single note antagonist.

SPEAKER_06 17:59

Yeah. Right. Yeah, with layers.

SPEAKER_10 18:01

Right. He's he's this guy who, you know, he made a mistake because he was, you know, he's in love with his with his queen consort and he thought he had it locked up, and for some reason it got stolen. But it's that moment where it was just like, let's have these characters be something that people can really latch on to. Because I wanted to make sure that it was something that you could that kept you turning the page or kept you listening for one more minute, where brief rec is just he's somebody that you don't he doesn't feel like a villain because he's not. He's an antagonist, right? The real villain, Shannon, you'll figure you'll find out who that is later on. And knows what I'm talking about. But you'll find like the real villain who set everything up and set everything going, you know, is explained, but it's like, oh, okay, well, that guy, sure. That makes sense. But all of this happening to the characters that you feel, like you really want to be a fan of them.

SPEAKER_06 19:03

You know, as you said, oh yeah, yeah, cruise, yeah, get it, get it.

unknown 19:07

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_10 19:10

And then you're laughing at Ethan because Ethan's being a moron.

SPEAKER_06 19:14

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we have all had that moron friend too. Yes. So it's like, it's like I could totally relate.

SPEAKER_10 19:21

I can relate, yeah. So you can relate to that moron friend, but you also love that moron friend. Yeah, you love the moron friend. Yeah, that moron friend. You believe in that moron friend that they can do anything. And that they're right there with you. And that, you know, if you identify with Cruz and if you identify more with Ethan, you've got that person who's a little bit more guarded, who isn't in a family that you don't understand. You know, you get put in an environment that you don't understand, which is why, you know, you have that Spanish that's in there. And it's like, even if you don't know Spanish, you're like, the heck is going on? And that was the point. It was making sure, you know, you putting the not even just the reader, but the main characters in situations that you feel out of place in, but you've you have an anchor to attach to. And then when you have that anchor, you see the absurdity, and then it just makes it all that much more funny. And it just becomes hilarious. And you have to chase a VHS tape.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Yeah, I was sitting there last night with my iPad and my lap, my phone. Well, my phone's over here. I get to the Spanish part. I'm like, oh, okay. I know that word. I know that word. I'm like, hell with it. I grab my phone, hit Google. I'm like, we're gonna Google translate this because I have to know.

SPEAKER_10 20:36

I have to know what she is saying here.

SPEAKER_06 20:39

Yeah, I love that part when I got there too, as well. I mean, obviously, you know, I live in Texas. I took Spanish and in high school, and you know, that was my second language, but you know, I don't I don't use it enough to keep it up to date or whatever. My son, however, took Spanish in high school and in college. Oh, nice because I wanted I wanted him to be basically bilingual, you know, in Texas to really get a good job. You need to be bilingual. And so I almost had to call him in to say, hey, translate this for me. But I was like, no, you are not gonna win book. And so so I read through it four times. It took me four times to read through the Spanish part, but I went word by word, and yeah, it the memories started coming back, and I was like, okay, I got this.

SPEAKER_10 21:31

That's so funny. That's it's that environment that is like, okay, cool, like your Spanish. Like, I speak Spanish. And at the time that I was writing this, like I was almost fully immersed in Spanish, and I'm sorry, my family got home, and now my dog is going crazy.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

I love it.

SPEAKER_10 21:46

So my you can see this is Ginger in the back here. Do you want to say hi? No, you want to go outside? Okay. She's like, What? And then I have Angel is a cat, she's also by the door, so they're now looking both at the door. Like, what is happening? So you can see this nervous, like curious. They're coming for you. What are you doing? Yeah. What are you doing? Dad, let's go outside. Dad, let's do this. Dad, what's happening outside? Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad. I look, what's happening? I don't know. What's happening? Dad, dad, dad.

SPEAKER_05 22:15

Dad, open the door, dad. Like we see be dad, open the door.

SPEAKER_10 22:20

Right. I don't know why they have this deep, raspy voice. Open the door, father.

SPEAKER_05 22:24

I was gonna say, so your girl dog talks like a man? Hey, look, there's a lot of things, okay? There's a lot of things. Dad, I'm smoking. Dad, I'm a smoker and I'm an old Jewish lady from Brooklyn. If you don't believe me, call 555-4444. I'm gonna give you a topic.

SPEAKER_06 22:42

Well, uh, I have to say the character of Briefreck, you know, we're talking about how he has all these different layers. I love that about him because he's this big, huge leader, strong guy taking people down, but then he embraces and loves Ethan and Cruz and their personalities and the ability to make him laugh and all of that. So you know who it reminds me of since you have a supernatural reference in the book. I saw Briefrag as Crowley.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Yellow, yeah. There you go. That's great. I didn't make that connection. That was good. Oh, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_06 23:20

Yeah, I mean, because in Supernatural, Crowley, you know, is this demon guy, he's always doing this evil stuff, but then he absolutely loves the Winchester brothers. Yeah. You know, they have this secret love and respect for one another.

SPEAKER_10 23:36

I mean, yeah, like it's an admiration that you have not just for somebody who's like absolutely terrifying, but it's just like could be, but it's like, oh, you're a worthy adversary. I like you.

SPEAKER_06 23:48

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you're never the adversary.

SPEAKER_10 23:52

Good. So it's like having briefright be that guy where he's just like, Oh, I like them. You know, having that huge villain, but you're also like we have Cali Tello, you know, announcing these guys, and he's like, Cali Tello, I can't. You know, humans give me gas. They're actually the ones finding the tapes are. Well then why are they here? Sorry, my bad. No, but I mean, having that that whole thing and having that was Briefreck's voice, by the way, for the audio. That was actually his his voice of how it sounds, but doing that and making Briefrek that kind of personal thing who has you know, he has his adversaries, but he's just like, I like your guts. You know, it's like you've got you've got some grit to you. You're not scared of me.

SPEAKER_06 24:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 24:42

So that that's always the fun part.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Yeah, I like that. Yeah. So your characters have three days to save the earth. Now, Jeffrey, if you were given three days to save humanity, how concerned should the rest of us be?

SPEAKER_10 24:59

Oh, you guys would be dead. Sorry. Start counting your hours. I knew it. Say your goodbyes to your loved ones.

SPEAKER_06 25:06

I knew it.

SPEAKER_10 25:07

Okay. Death is gonna be better. I promise. Okay, I can't promise because I don't know, but it'll be more fun, maybe. Possibly. We don't know. It's an adventure.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

Yeah, exactly. We're all gonna die. Have one big party. We're all gonna have to do exactly.

SPEAKER_10 25:23

All right, congratulations, everybody. We have 12 hours to do a 36-hour coachella. One, two, three, go.

unknown 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 25:31

Like everybody, okay, great. The world is gonna be destroyed in 72 hours. Okay, don't hurt anybody. No, no bad things, but enjoy the 72 hours of life. Have a great time. And then yeah, we'd we we'd all be dead. And Lov was like, you have 72 hours to give me a perfect British accent. Well, that's 72 minutes, really, maybe. Just do that. You have 72 hours to give me a perfect Mickey Mouse. Well, all right, sure.

SPEAKER_06 25:58

We'll just pop it right there. I was gonna say, I love your Mickey Mouse voice. Uh, I've listened to your audio, by the way.

SPEAKER_10 26:06

So thank you. I'm glad, I'm glad you like that audio cast. I'm really, really glad.

SPEAKER_06 26:13

Yes, I do. I love your Mickey Mouse voice. I was hoping you were gonna do it on the show. I did not tell Ann about it just in case. I was sitting here thinking, dang, he's good. Thanks. You're so nice, Ann.

SPEAKER_10 26:25

Such a wonderful, sweet lady, you really are. And for those of you who don't know, the Jeffrey Breedwell AudioCast is brought to you by Just Put the VHS in the bag, bro. Now available by Cloaked Press. Oh my goodness. You can listen to all 22 episodes now, wherever you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Yeah, you are good at that.

SPEAKER_10 26:42

Oh, thank you. I I actually that's so if you look on my thing, you see a little mini mouse picture here.

SPEAKER_08 26:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_10 26:51

Where a couple of years ago, the girl who voices Minnie Mouse and does it now, came to Indianapolis for a convention for PopCon Indie. And so did the uh Miley Flanagan, who voices Nowtertoe, who's one of my favorite characters of all time. And she was like right next door. So I go over to her and just, you know, I get an autograph because my kid is really into Minnie Mouse at the time. I was like, you know, that's cool. But I do the voice for her, and she does Minnie Mouse right back, you know, as any as the majority of people will do it. And I was like, yeah, I'm really kind of bringing in a lot of the Wayne All Wine voice with that. And she's like, Oh, I could tell. That was really good. That was mini mouse approved. I was like, wow, mini mouse approved. Wow, that's really well. And then fun fact, the guy who does the voice now, he and I have the same haircut. So we are both bald.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Yeah. Yeah. Say non-existent haircut. Non-existent.

SPEAKER_10 27:46

When I went, I went to Disneyland and I did the voice of Mickey Mouse uh just sporadically. And one of the cast members was like, Mickey, why why are you here? And I had a lightsaber in my hand. I was like, shh, don't tell Kylo Wren this, but I've been going back and forth between the multiverse, trying to find my way back to my body. And now here I am with this person. Have you seen Donald or Goofy? Maybe they can help.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

That's great. So your bio says you write, absurd galaxy spinning sci-fi with heart. And underneath aliens, bounty hunters, and explosions, this story has a broken friendship sitting right in the middle of it. Why did Ethan and Cruz's friendship need to be the emotional center of all this chaos?

SPEAKER_10 28:36

And that's the love element of the book. So every story, regardless of where what genre it is, every good story has love and is bait, has that love element, whether it's a B story or the C level story, but it has that element of love in it. Something somebody does because it's for love. They do something because it has, you know, I'm doing this for the ones I love. I need to save my family type thing, or, you know, I'm doing this because I love you type of action. And having that best friend love is one of those things where, sure, you can have romance, but you don't really have this best friend love that's talked about a lot, especially with two dudes. That's true. And especially with two dudes, and one of them is in the closet. So you have the hidden aspect of, especially from being straight, is you find out that your best friend is gay, and then you're thinking, does he have a crush on me? Has he been trying to date me this whole time? And it's no, you're a moron. Right. But we've been best friends. If I had a crush on you, I would have told you in eighth grade. Like when these feelings started coming, you know, I would have told you as soon as I figured out Spider-Man was hot. But it's that mentality, you know, having that best friend love and having that definition and that clear-cut definition between best friend brotherly love and sibling love and romantic love, you know, where you have the crush, the, you know, the one-way crush that happens between uh Cruz's sister and Ethan, where you have that one way, but it's this mentality of like, okay, the friendship there is more important. And that's really what kind of define the characters. And then any like road trip comedy that you have, like planes, trains, and automobiles, the dude where's my car, has that best friend mentality where they're both doing it for love for their girlfriends. But it's just really, really light. And then you have Harold and Kumar, you know, and Harold and Kumar do this, they have this best friend element that you see within their films and where they have this best friend love, but they don't call it love. You have the separation, but you don't really have the separation. Whereas in this book, like you get to that all is lost, dark night of the soul moment where it's they could really die. They're in the middle of the desert and they're each going a separate way. Because they believe with all of their heart that the town that saving the world, saving their family, everyone else, all eight billion people, their lives count on it. But you know what? It's this way. No, it's not, it's that way. And they have they believe that with everything they have, but then it's not just that that comes to a head. It's everything. As if I'm gonna die, I might as well share everything else. And when you get tired and you get worn down and you haven't really been sleeping well because your best friend has been taking all the sleep, you get pushed to your limit. And with your best friends, and you're in that situation, you know, where you're not trying to necessarily save the world to catastrophize everything, but you're pushed to your limit, your friendship gets tested. And I really wanted to make this story about, you know, best friends and what they go through, kind of at the heart of everything, rather than making it love. Because also romantic scenes I can't write very well, in all fairness. I can't write smut. I I can't I could do it, but I can't write it.

unknown 32:10

It's great.

SPEAKER_10 32:10

My last name is Breed Well, not smut well. Like, although that would be a fun name. That'd be great. So I I excel more in that physical action than I do the writing part of the action, but everybody can equate and can relate to friendship much easier than they can relate to than having a romance where it's you know, you have that fantasy or you have those moments of like, oh, I'm gonna do Fifty Shades of Grey with this guy. And you're like, why? You just met him. Why is he tying you up? Like, why are you letting him why are you letting him tie you up? Do you realize what happens? Do you watch Dateline? Like exactly. Like you say true crime is your favorite genre, but do you really mean true crime is your favorite genre? You just want to exploit it. Come on, Becky.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

So why found family? I can't even be serious here. I really want to know.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

We have to get up to her. We have to let her have the serious questions as much as we can.

SPEAKER_06 33:11

God, no, with you talking like that, she'll never stop. That's her favorite ad. She'll never stop.

SPEAKER_10 33:16

All right, so I'm just gonna talk like this then, and we'll start doing you know, talking about your last name being Breedwell.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Yeah. Alright. We're just gonna have a great time. We're just gonna grow. We're gonna go and we're gonna have a fantastic time here. We're just gonna read it. We're gonna read it in an Irish accent for what reason?

SPEAKER_10 33:36

I don't know. Maybe something to do with nachos or potatoes, maybe something to do with a Guinness. Maybe. There you go. Now you're talking. Except Guinness from a can. We're not gonna do Guinness from a can. Oh god no.

SPEAKER_06 33:49

That's horrible. It's absolutely horrible.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

Why would you do Guinness from a can?

SPEAKER_06 33:53

That's what they have on the cruise ships, and it's horrible.

SPEAKER_10 33:56

Yeah, it's bad. I would throw myself overboard before I drank that.

SPEAKER_06 34:00

Yeah, the first time I I didn't realize that it was gonna be in a can. And my husband's like, so what do you want me to get you from the bar? I see they got Guinness on the list. I want a Guinness. He goes to the bar, he comes back, and he hands me a glass and a can. And I'm like, what is this? He's like, that's the only Guinness they have. I was like, uh, yeah, no, that's not happening.

SPEAKER_10 34:23

Hello, thank you for coming to Carnival Cruise Line. We have all of the expenses paid, but one thing you must have you must have Guinness in a can. This is the only way. Why are we doing Guinness from a can? It does not sell.

unknown 34:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 34:38

But you must put it yourself. You think that's why it doesn't sell? I don't know. I drink Boston Lager.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Yeah, there you go. Well, they drink Sam Adams up there.

SPEAKER_10 34:50

Big Red Sox fans are carnival cruise lines up there.

SPEAKER_08 34:53

Mm-hmm. Big Sox fans.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

I'm so embarrassed, but all my good cups were dirty today, so I had to use my Carnival.

SPEAKER_06 35:02

Shout out to Carnival Cruise Line if you would like to sponsor us. Hey, give us a call.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Travel Time Story Studio has been brought to you by Carnival Cruise Lines.

SPEAKER_06 35:11

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Carnival Cruise, book your cruise now at Carnival.com. See guys. This hilarious oddcast has been brought to you by Carnival. Now in Brazil.

SPEAKER_10 35:23

I wonder why Carnival doesn't offer a cruise to Rio for Carnival. So you're taking the Carnival to Carnival?

SPEAKER_04 35:31

Well, they actually have the Carnival ship. Yeah, so why not take that to Rio? Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 35:37

Nah, it's too it's too much for me to do it. I can't take a carnival to Carnival because then I'm gonna keep asking why don't they have elephant ears or you know fried Oreos? Funnel cakes. Funnel cakes.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

And the potatoes.

SPEAKER_10 35:51

They had the zipper once, but it was not what I expected. They said ride the zipper. I said, okay, cool. And it turned out to be a guy named Chuck. So after I got off, it was fun. So, anyways, Chuck has my number.

SPEAKER_06 36:04

Okay, on a serious note. Yeah, exactly. So you publicly say that you're an AUDHD author.

SPEAKER_07 36:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:13

How does being how does that shape the way you experience creativity?

SPEAKER_10 36:19

All sorts of ways, to be honest. It's not a puzzle piece, I'll tell you that. Suck it, autism speaks. But that that's the thing, too, is so Aud, for those of you who don't know, is autism and ADHD. So having both of them and being diagnosed with both, one, explains a lot of my childhood, so much of my childhood. And I wasn't even diagnosed with autism until I was 39.

SPEAKER_07 36:46

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_10 36:47

Like I was diagnosed with ADHD in fourth grade. So the original riddle and gang. Like I was over here, like taking that robotic speed. And that was the, you know, that was fun until it had attention and then it just forgot everything. But having that autism and ADHD really made sense for why I do the things that I do and why I write the things that I write, why things are so weird and so obsessed. And it's like, like as you've seen here, where I've just been, you know, joke after joke after joke after joke, where it's just like, I'm just letting myself go. But also at the same time, if I, you know, I have this performance thing, but then afterwards it's like I'm white. But when I write, and I write characters who are like that. In fact, I saw not too long ago where one person had said that authors within their first book usually have characters who are like them, where it's semi-autobiographical. They're either placing themselves in the story or the story itself is autobiographical to that area. And I was like, you know what? That makes a lot of sense, which is why Ethan has ADHD. And you can tell that within the book. Because it's for me, it's a lot easier to write what I know when that's me. But Ethan's not me. Ethan is different. But it's still that same mentality of like those same thoughts. Like uh when they're traveling to New Mexico and Ethan is driving and he has this thought, this random thought where he's like, I wonder if people are up there and they're watching me. Hi, people. And he like looks up and waves, and then you see the alien like wave back. Like, as the throwaway joke that it is, I've actually done that. Like, I don't know if people are waving back or not. But it's that I've had that mentality, and it's that mentality of like, okay, maybe I'm putting on a show for somebody. Maybe I'm, you know, I'm not quite the same as everybody. And I've always felt that difference. I've always been called this unique kid. Ironically enough, that was the word the guidance counselor used to describe me when they were describing people. And this was in fourth grade. They described everything of, you know, oh, Jason, you're athletic. Heather, you're gorgeous. Jeff, you're unique. Thanks. What does that mean? You're different. I'm wearing a red shirt. Sure. That's what it means. And you're like, for me at the time, it went but then looking back at it, it's that moment of, what a bitch. Right. Right. You know? What a terrible teacher.

SPEAKER_04 39:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_10 39:29

You're just like, okay. So now it's I want to be able to have people who can still see themselves in books and see themselves in media. But also it's like, oh well, you have people who are coded that way. Like Sheldon, for example, you know, he takes high functioning autism and just registers everything, right? They just wrote Sheldon as not a particular type of person with these characteristics, like is what usually happens with a person. They took Sheldon and go, DSM five, okay, let's see. Yep, this is what it is. And they just gave him everything and didn't give him a specific set. But when you see things like The Pit, for example, and you see characters who are autistic coded in the pit, and you see her, and she's a phenomenal actress, and I love to death the way that she's doing everything. But with this high functioning autistic uh character that she has, she's coded that way. She's ridden with these certain number of characteristics. She doesn't have everything. Right. But at the same time, she doesn't have nothing either. So I wanted to make not just this book, but any book that I write. It that's just the way it comes out of me. So giving myself that label of being Audi HD and calling myself an Audi HD author is my attempt to try to give not only some recognition to like, hey, to other people who have autism or other people who have ADHD, and say, you can do this too. Right. You know, this is not a limit. This is something that you can go towards. You can do this. But also to somebody that's like, you see all this and you're like, you see Audi HD author, you're like, oh, he's got autism and he's got ADHD. Okay. Cool. So this is going to be absolutely crazy. Cool. I'm in. And that's kind of one of those things where it's like, okay, this is going to be different. This is an author that's not your typical author. And that's kind of wanted to give somebody who, especially when the bio, it's like, okay, this is not your typical person.