Justinian Huang (Lucky Seed) feat. Lukas Gage, Guest Gay Reader

Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Gaze reading where the greatsdrop by trendy authors.
Tell us all the who, what, andwhy.
Anyone can listen.
Comes we're spoiler free Readingfrom politic stars to book club
picks where the curious mindscan get their picks.
So you say you're not gay.

(00:24):
Well that's okay.
There's something for everyone.
Gays rating.
Hello and welcome to GA'sReading.
I'm your host, Jason Bluman, andI am joined for this
introduction by my lovelyhusband Franklin.

(00:44):
Hi, free.
Hi Jay.
Hello, listeners.
our, um, and if you hear anylike jingling and snorting, that
is our dog, who also is, oh mygoodness, a part of this
meeting.
Um.
Today is my Thanksgivingepisode, and so I wanted to have
my family here with me for myintro.
Happy to be here.
Do you, what do you love aboutThanksgiving?

(01:07):
Hmm.
Well, I like that.
It's a time of year where youcan sort of get together and
reflect on, uh, your life withgratitude.
And it's the whole.
Holidays kind of structuredaround that and I think that's
pretty cool.
I agree.
And you get to eat a lot of goodfood.
That too.
Um, I have been like hesitant todo this introduction, I think

(01:30):
because Thanksgiving is such anoverwhelming time of year for
me.
Uh, it just brings out a lot ofemotions, I think, there's a lot
of like family strife and youknow, I think there's just a lot
of, there's baggage I think thatcomes with this holiday in
particular, but it's a goodreminder that there is chosen

(01:54):
family and this is so weird andrandom, but I was just happy to
have you here for myThanksgiving episode.
Oh, well, I'm super happy to behere.
Yeah.
And anyone who's listening, Ihope that you have your, people
to spend it with, whether thatis your family, your chosen
family, your friends, maybeyou're volunteering and you're
amongst people who are estrangedto you and soon to be friends.

(02:17):
Um, well, we just hope you havea really great holiday.
And I'm thankful for youhusband, likewise.
And I'm thankful for you.
Listeners, thank you all so muchfor being here.
Always.
Uh, if you like what you'rehearing, share us with your
friends.
Follow us on social media.
We are at Gabe's Reading, andtoday I am joined by Justinian

(02:38):
Huang talking to me about hisbook Lucky Seed, which is a.
Fantastic Thanksgiving bookfilled with delicious family
drama.
Uh, hint hint, this is not thelast you'll be hearing about
Lucky Seed from me.
Uh, and then my guest, gayreader today is Lucas Gage, who

(02:58):
everybody knows and loves from.
The first season of White Lotus.
So I'm excited for you to hearthose conversations I guess I'll
also say while we're talkingabout family, the book Club Pick
with URA this month is likeFamily by Erin O White.
You could find out more aboutthat in the show notes and in
the Link tree on Instagram.

(03:19):
check out, gaze reading.
We're all wherever you find yourthings and have a really happy
Thanksgiving.
Thanks everyone.
Enjoy the conversations withJustinian and Lucas.

Jason Blitman (03:32):
A gaze reading first where someone is coming
live from the car.
This is incredible.

Justinian Huang (03:41):
like to, I like to break barriers.

Obsessed I there is so much about what's going on
right now.
I'm so glad I hit record when Idid.
The sunroof just opened.
You're wearing your new dad hat.
You're like

Yeah.

muscle shirty and ready to go.

I, uh, I was so stressed.
I was like, I'm at Equinox.
Anyway, let's work out a littlebit.
Get out.
So it's uh, it's been a lot ofmental health.
So my mental health regimen isworking out.
I think people like referred tome as like that that always
like, as like very thirsttrappy.

(04:23):
And I'm like, dude, that's justlike my survival.
That's how I survive.
It's how I survive in 2025 aslike a gay Um, yeah, I'm, I'm, I
think it's probably been a yearsince we've talked.

been

Wow.

back to Gay's Reading Justinian.
It's very nice to see you.

I'm so glad to be here.
This is great.
I'm a little awkwardly angled,but I see You great.

look great.
Wait, so there's, before we evendive into the book I'm gonna
pull out the most random pieceof the book because of what you
just said about Equinox.
There's a quote that overlyattractive people are either an
egomaniac or anum poop.

(05:07):
All right.
You just talked about yourregimen for dealing with your
mental health obvi.
You are overly attractive.
Are you an or are.

That's really sweet.
I don't consider myself anoverly attractive person.
That's very so I, I don't thinkI, I don't think that applies to
me.
That is definitely, so you know,the person you know, there's 20
different perspectives in thisbook, and the person and the
character's Right.
and then the person who'scurrently thinking that is Iris
the mother of the maincharacter.

(05:39):
Right.
And my mom used to tell me thatall the time.
She was like, you don't want tobe overly attractive.
Because those people are eithercrazy or stupid, right?
So I just sort of distilled itinto that

Oh my God.
I love That That is a directquote from your own mother.

there's a lot of direct quotes from her in
this book.
She's definitely the muse ofthis book.

That is incredible.
okay.
Before we even talk about thebook, because I'm like, I'm so
overwhelmed that I'm talking toyou today because it's your pub
day, even though this episodedoesn't come out for a bit.

it is, isn't it?
Damn, it is my pub date.
Oh my God.
uh, I'm up

you're about, you're like, you're a new dad.
There's you have so many babiescoming out in the world right
now.

I, it is my pub date that just, that sort of
just registered, Uh, you know,I, up in, uh, my baby's been, my
baby was born five weeks early,so I've been up in in uh, just
being with her in, NICU thiswhole time.
And yeah, my brain's just beingrewired you know, like, you
know, Seed is, is my paper baby.

(06:48):
my Flesh baby is also here.
it's a lot of things going onright now.
A lot of things going on.

I am not sure I've ever heard the phrase Flesh
Baby before.

It's a distinction required when you
have a paper baby.

Oh my God, that's so funny.
all right, how is Flesh Babydoing?
How are you feeling?
How is New Dad energy going?
You feeling good?

uh, it was such a tumultuous Um, It was a really
difficult pregnancy know,there's so much privilege when
it comes to assisted fertility.
I would say.
There's also a lot of privilege.
For folks who get to physicallytake care of the person who's
pregnant with their baby becausethat person's in their
household.

(07:34):
It was really tough for mebecause my surrogate was so far
for me to I wanted to advocatefor her.
I wanted to advocate for mydaughter, and I couldn't, and It
was you know, there, there's Uh,there's gotta be a silver lining
to the nicu, which is that, um,a lot of the un unknowns are
taken outta the equation and youcan physically hold your baby

(07:57):
know, help her grow.
And you know, overall I'mfeeling very blessed right now.
I'm very grateful that she'sgonna be discharged soon and,
yeah.
It's a lot like my, every day I,every time I look at her, I can
feel the synapses in my brain.
Like literally It's, it's soknow?
It's, it's really weird, but I'm

That's really cool.
And like I'm, I am, obviouslyyou.
Don't have to share anything youdon't feel comfortable sharing,
but at some point in thisconversation, what you're doing
is really unique and I thinkinspiring to a lot of queer
people around the world.
So if it's we, it would be funto get there at some point if
you felt comfortable talkingabout it.

Yeah, absolutely.
I'm happy to know, um, both ofmy books have been inspired
directly by things that happenedto me.
Um, I guess you could say I'm awriter of auto fiction, My first
book was not exactly autofiction, but spiritually you
know, and this book was, thisbook is definitely inspired by
my mom's family, so, yeah.
Yeah, and I, I would say thatthere's a lot of and, you know,

(08:58):
I'm happy to talk to all of it.

Cool.
So this book that we keepreferring to is of course Lucky
Seed,

Yes.

is

I have a hard cover

a brilliant, so delicious.
I, as you obviously know, wasDMing you along the way because
I

thank you.

I needed to talk to someone who I knew had read
the book and you were the personthat I knew.

I love when people do that.
I appreciate it so much that

Yeah, of course.
You know there was that, therewas a moment specifically that,
I wrote to you about and youwere like Jason buckle up.
And I was like, oh God.
Oh.
So for the people who have notyet had a chance to read it,
what is your elevator pitch forLucky Seed?

Sure.
Well, Lucky Seed.
It's been described asSuccession meets Crazy Rich
Asians.
It's about a family on the westside of Los Angeles who are on
this relentless quest.
To produce a baby boy, tocontinue their lineage.
And the book is instead aboutthe scandalous secrets and the

(10:08):
thrilling twists that theyunearth instead.
And it's based on this conceptthat this family's very
superstitious and they believein this ancient belief that
billions of people around theworld believe in called hungry
ghosts, which is that if youpass on without descendants,
you're you're cursed in theafterlife to starve because you
don't have.
You don't have a lineage thatremembers you.

(10:30):
So, so they're, so, they're verymuch in shackles about this, in
golden handcuffs, so to speak,because it's also very wealthy
family consumed their privilege,I would say.

Do you believe in hungry ghosts?

Yeah.
no short answer Short answer isknow, I always,

from the book.

I right?
I, I short answer is you know,but I have to say, the older I
get.
Once again, I'm gonna refer tolike my daughter's journey.
There are a lot of times Jason,where I am not like a go to
church prayer cloth type of Youknow, like there are there are a
few moments where I knelt down.

(11:13):
I was like, I don't know who I'mpraying

Hmm.

but like, please protect my daughter.
And now my daughter's going to,okay.
You know, and you really wonderlike, is there something out
there?
I believe in the powers, Ibelieve power of, of
superstition.
I do.
I believe in the superstitionsare complicated because they're
often in really problematicdogma, but at the same time, we

(11:38):
don't want to obliterate ourculture.
We don't wanna obliterate whatwe come from, you know, and a
lot of superstitions arehilarious.
does, like, you know, everyoneknocks on wood when they're
freaked out.
Right?
Or some people like, I like youknow, chefs throw salt over
their shoulders, like they're, alot of'em are cute actually.
And.
This world feels this this worldfeels so uncertain and weird and

(12:00):
scary sometimes.
like I, you know, I live in lawhich is woo woo city there is,
right?
and like la is one of thosecities.
you know, someone will just takeout a crystal and start petting
it mid-conversation with you ata dinner party.
Which, which is why I reallylove setting this book in LA
like, uh, because you know thisfamily as traditionally Asian

(12:22):
American as they are, they liveon the west side.
So actually their woo is, worksvery well in LA's one of those
cities where you're like, whatis your sign?
And they'll be like, do You meanuh, astrological or Zodiac sign?
You know, it's like, one ofthose cities.

know, it's interesting of hear you say all
of that because I like wrotedown so many things just based
on what you were saying.
First of all, I am not areligious person.
I don't even know that I'd callmyself a quote unquote spiritual
person.
However, there's definitely likean energy.
And so like, okay, where am Isending energy?
Where do I need energy to comefrom?

(12:57):
Because energy is real, sothat's just like an interesting,
con of scientific concept tochew on, right?
Where, are we sending ourenergy?
Where's it coming from?
How, what are we, how do we useit?
How do we expel it?
But then also, know, you talkingabout some traditions or, or
some superstitions being funnyand how some of it becomes

(13:18):
tradition it's, almost lessabout superstition and more
about, uh, tradition is an oddword, but like, you know, the
amount of people who say Blessyou after someone sneezes,

Exactly, and which stems from idea that your
soul used escape out of yournose, um, when you when you you
know, which makes.
Which, you like middle agedthink like middle, middle ages,
thinking it kind of makes sense.
Yeah, Yeah.
And then now it's justconsidered polite.
It's now, it's just apoliteness.
It's so ingrained in the wayYeah, exactly.

(13:54):
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's kind of fascinating.

I wonder what other things have sort of
become, just like pieces ofculture, knock on wood, being
similar, right?
Like we, we don't actually knockon wood, we knock on our head,
or, know, it's of like a, oh,it's tradition.
We just do that,

Yeah, absolutely.
Uh, you know, I think a lot ofit is also fear-based, isn't it?
Like I said, the world is scary.
There's so many unknowns, likeknocking on wood is to prevent
whatever scary you said fromhappening.
Sneezing is to stuff that the

Step that spirit back in.

Exactly, suck it back in.
You know, like, yeah.
And and like the family in mybook, they're literally scared.
They're driven by fear.
You know, They're driven by fearthat they're literally starving
in the afterlife, which is aterrifying concept, you know?
Uh, which by the way is also.
Exists in many differentcultures, like the Mexicans have

(14:48):
di de MUTOs, which is the exactsame belief system as Asian
diaspora communities have

okay, we're talking about tradition.
We're talking about starving,we're talking about being
hungry, we're talking aboutfamily.
You mix all those thingstogether and it just so happens
that this episode is coming outthe week of Thanksgiving.

Oh wow.
Yes.
I love that That was myoriginal, that was the original
due date for my daughter wasThanksgiving Day.

Oh, how funny.

Yeah, I know.

and I was so excited as I was, know, creating
the schedule for this month, Iwas like, oh, this is the
perfect Thanksgiving weekepisode, because it's about all
of these things and like at itscore, know, family drama.
okay.
What are your, do you have anyhot tips for surviving the
family during Thanksgiving?

Um, you know, I would seeding is so important
and it needs Um, you, you putthe liberals in this side, you
put the you put theconservatives on this side and
you lock the out'cause no onewants to talk to those assholes.
Um, I would say it's reallyimportant actually.
And then also like in my family.

(16:03):
We have a lot of dog drama.
Like our dogs don't get along.
So you need to decide whosehouse is more conducive to, most
conducive to the dog drama.
You know?
Uh, yes.
Like that's,

dog drama.

just Um, you know, uh,

simple.
Oh fair, fair.

Right.
And that's why, that's whyLucky.
See, the dogs have perspective.
Like that's why, you know, outof the 20 different perspectives
you have in this book, you alsodive into the dog's point of
view.
Whenever they do fight, like,uh, uh, that our dogs can like,
sort of mirror how we'refeeling.
Like this auntie not gettingalong with that Auntie, the dogs
fight when we get together and Iwas like, The up.

(16:42):
You were talking about energy.
The dogs must up on some sort ofenergy, you know?
Which I think is, yeah, it hasto be.
And I I think dogs, we're alwaystalking about vibes and stuff.
I don't think, I think dogs pickup on humans for sure.
Because they don't understandour language.
They need to be able to read us,you know?

Yeah.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
Seeding chart, pro tip forThanksgiving, not to be confused
with seeding.

See, ah, I see what you did there.
Hopefully there's not too that'dbe a bit but,

Oh

you know, you know, uh, you know, Jason, like
the, the original name of thisbook was the Highly Sought and
Auspicious Sperm of Wayward Sun,so actually

Oh my God.

I've never that before, but you made me think
about it.
Um, which, you know, mypublisher did not let me keep,
which I was very was like, howabout Lucky Seed?
Which is about it, they were

It really is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
my uh, dealing with my when itcomes to things to just like,
give them give them like, youknow, it's, it's always a matter
of just like wearing them downeventually.
I'm just, I just really reallywant to refer to some sort of
sperm slash seed, and they'relike, fine, you can have seed.
So,

That is so funny.
Um, also like his name isWayward son

Yeah, I know.
I mean like it's um.
It just really fit him, youknow, like, and the funny thing
is that in, in earlier of this,he was a lot more far gone when
you met him.
I still think that he is ways awayward kid.
Um, you know, I really wantedto, you know, wayward in many
ways.
He's a younger millennial, but Istill think his vibe is very

(18:30):
millennial, especially becausehe is so mature.
I think that a lot of usmillennials do feel.
A departure from our boomerparents.
You know what I mean?
I think that we just have such adrastically different
philosophical values.
It's not even political, justthe way we view the

Do you, do you like a, an example that comes to
mind off the

Well, I mean, I, well, I, I would say it's
more like I think we sit in avery interesting place because
we were the, we are the, we arethe generation that remembers
life before the internet.
Then we helped shape away fromus.
And now we're just like, whatthe hell is going on?
You know?
Um, I think that a lot of boomerpeople don't quite understand

(19:16):
the how nefarious the internetcan be because they weren't
exactly creating it.
We created the monster.
We helped create the monsterthat internet is now.
You know, I I feel like a lot ofus.
Folks who have parents who areboomers and older we're just
like, how are you thisalgorithm?
You know what I mean?

(19:36):
Like why do you believe that it,it's, it's kind of stunning they
believe and then they don't tendto realize that the internet
lies to them.
They just sort of are like, thisis what the, my tells me.
And it's true.
scary thing I think that we'reall still sort of grappling
with.
Like I, um, you know, I wastalking to the nurses in the
NICU and then they're like, ohyeah, my mom gives me.

(19:58):
Medical advice about how to dealwith these babies, and I'm like,
but you are the NICU nurse.
I'm like, yeah, but my momthinks she knows better because
Fox News tells her this, whichis wild.
wild.

mean even regardless of Fox News, like
just seeing anything online ofmakes it gospel.
And what's even harder today is,uh, boomers.
are used to boomers.
I think a lot of people are usedto seeing a video and assuming
that's true.

Yes.
Absolutely.

It's a video,

and now the specter of ai, which is
terrifying.

Yes.
And there are so many videos onInstagram that are clearly or
not so clearly AI generated,know, the, kid on the porch, uh,
and the alligator right next tohim And the bomb being like,
what do And, and I'm just like,that is not real and there are
so many.
know, you look at a, at anarticle that shares why it's not
real and it points out all theflaws, it's, it's very hard to
see.

(20:50):
And, uh, so at first glance, youhave people sharing this content
and you're like, oh my God,wait, this is, we're just
perpetuating this falsenarrative.
It's

scary.
Uh, who knows what happens next,but you know, like I, I, I'm an
optimist when it comes have tobe I just birthed a baby girl.
you know, like it's, if we, weare in a sticky moment right
really believe, I reallybelieve.
Here's what, okay, so I I reallywanted to, I really wanted to
write a book about a messybecause I feel like humanity is

(21:19):
a messy family.
right now.
You know, I feel like beingAmerican is being part of a
messy family.
A messy family, is that you'resort of like lumped with a group
of people that you're supposedto feel kinship with, fuck?
Like, why do I need to be inthis boat with you?
You know?
Um, yeah.
I, it, it was challenging for mebecause at first Lucky Seed,
didn't, at first I was like, Idon't feel like this family's

(21:41):
gonna come together at the end.
Right.
But then as I was writing thisbook, and also in real life,
like reconnecting with my reallife family, I was like, wait,
this is possible we can findcommon ground for these people.
I, I love that you're, is comingon Thanksgiving because I think
it's ultimate Thanksgiving bookbecause it's sort of like

I agree.

Right, because like at at the beginning of the,
at the beginning of the book,you're like, how the hell are
these people ever come toagreement?
And hopefully by the end of thebook you're just Like wow.
Like for many messy families outthere, you know?

Yeah.
And that's not a spoiler by anymeans, right?
It's just a matter the cycle offamily.
I think that it's so often thatbooks have comps are not totally
true or not totally fair or,hard Live up to the comp titles
and I don't know, I thinksuccession and Crazy rich rich

(22:38):
Asians is like the perfectcombination compare this book
to, it's so true.

Thank you.
I mean, I, you know, no one'sbeen like, you know, people
talked about the Betsy.
I also the corporate intrigue inthis book because, yeah, because
you know, that, you know, likebefore I became a novelist, I
was like a film exec.
I I, you know, my last

Yes, you were.

My last gig was K-pop demon hunters.
I know how to wor operate inlike a super political corporate
setting.
And a lot of that know, there'sa lot, there's a lot of
corporate intrigue in this bookas well, and that was really fun
for me to write.
You know, I think that.
I think that a intense just aspolitical as like you know?

(23:21):
And in this book thecorporation, you know?
So that, that was, that wasreally fun to write as well.
Yeah, I, I you know, I wantedthem to, I wanted them to make
the Murdochs look like SesameStreet, so.
Yeah.
And also what's different thoughis different from, than
Succession and different thanthe real life Murs is by the way
Rupert Murdoch owns my imprint.
But anyways, like, but differentdifferent than succession in the

(23:45):
real life.
Murdochs is that in this book,the the, it's a matriarch that's
running this family.
But then another twist is she'strying to perpetuate
patrilineal.
Bs.
It's, it's, it's such an oddthing, you know, like, and I, I
see that all the time infamilies of color that are
largely ma uh, uh, matriarchal,is that they're trying to

(24:09):
perpetuate these patrilineallines you know, it's, it's, it's
the strangest, it's such a weirdweird dichotomy.
I don't get it.
And I was really fun to explorethis book as well.

Do you feel like you perhaps understand things a
little better having written thebook?

Yes, I do, or I, I, I don't know if I
understand things, but Iunderstand them better.

You understand the why maybe?
Or

I understand compassion for it.
You know, like I feel like, youknow, my family, my family, we
are Taiwanese, my mom and hersisters grew up with the specter
of possibly invading Taiwan anyday of their that does
something, that trauma doessomething.

(24:59):
Um, you know, It's, it's, Iwould say that this book really
tackles intergenerational traumaand doesn't try to solve it, but
just tries to create anunderstanding that, you know,
we're just trying to loveourselves You know, um,
ourselves get there.
That's our journey, isn't it?
Um, and yeah, and then like, youknow, in this instance, it's a

(25:22):
family.
It decides that they're going tolearn to love themselves by
giving each other a hand.
Like That's really this familyhopefully.
And I think most of them do.
Yeah.
And you know, like another, I,you know, also like there in
this family, villain.
There isn't a hero.
know, like everyone sort of, Iwanted everyone to sort of have,

(25:44):
that's what that's what thirdperson omniscient fun because
you could really explain theirthought processes, you know?
Yeah.

what has that journey been like for Justinian?
The, that evolution?

Well, you know, like when I first started
writing this book, tone wassuper different.
It was almost like a revengefantasy, um, and it was much
darker and very angsty.
As I was writing this book, Irealized that the central
relationship is between a motherand her son.
Because I realized the book isabout healing generational

(26:20):
trauma.
And in my real life, after nottalking to my mom's family for a
long time, because of the realus, I found my way coming back
to them.
You know, it's Like art was andforth, back and forth, you know?
Um.
I.

(26:40):
I, I, you know, I, I, with thiswith this baby girl coming and
me proudly continuing the strongline of my mom's family, even
though to have a son.
Um, I, I feel like I've comefull circle, you know, and I'm,
I'm you know, I, I'm very, veryhopeful, especially when it
comes to just me and my family,you know, like you gotta clean
your own the world.
And, you know, I feel like mycloset's pretty clean now.

(27:02):
yeah, and I think that writingthis book was a big part of the,
of the therapy for me to getthere.

Fantastic.
That isn't always the case, andI'm that, that you feel that
way.
so Okay, because You justbrought her up again.
And you know, the idea of havingthe baby.
you, are, you, did this journeysolo.
Generally.
Can you share a bit more aboutbecoming a dad?

sure.
So, um, in summer of 2021.
My, my mom's big auntie, thematriarch of her clan, told me
that she wanted me to have a sonbecause otherwise my mom's
family would all become hungry,ghosts in the afterlife.
So if this sounds familiar, itspeak that's that's premise.

(27:50):
Is what inspires Lucky seed,right?
I ultimately didn't do itbecause I just don't subscribe
to that way of thinking.
And also my family.
was fighting a lot and I'm thepeacekeeper of my family.
It didn't feel right.
Um, So I said no.
But then my mom I know wasreally sad because I know my mom
wants to be a, wanted to be agrandmother.

(28:11):
And I said to her, I was like,let me finish book and then
we'll have our own baby.
But I want a daughter.
You know, And so that's where Iam today.
That, that, that's how I'm,that's why I'm up here with a
little girl about released fromNICU and gonna drive her home
tomorrow.
Probably, uh, taking the preemieroute because I can't go too

(28:32):
high.
The high Yeah.
Yeah.
I am doing this alone.
Um, but you know, like.
My first book, A lot of people,uh, to this day, I still get
people telling me, oh my gosh,your book ruined me.
It's sad.
All these things, justice forCalvin, et cetera.
You know, I this second book,ha, though it's sort of like a
meditate on a happy ending.

(28:54):
Um.
You know, I I, I fell in loverecently and strangely enough,
and I didn't really put two andSo the romantic co-leader of
Lucky Seed, um, is, is thisperson who's named Jamal, right?
He's like the Roman Jamal golightly.
He's sort of like the on and offagain boyfriend, recently met a
guy who looks strangely likehim.

(29:16):
I just like, again, lifeimitating art, I this case.
Um, but yeah, I, It's it'sreally strange.
It's kind of, I ending I thoughtwould be ideal and um, and yeah,
I sort of manifested it, Iguess, which is wild.
Which is wild.
It's

mean, it goes, again, goes back of the energy
that we're putting out into theworld.

Precisely.
I agree with that so much.
For sure.
Absolutely.

Though, know, I think, I don't mean to like harp
on the fact that, you embarkedon the journey solo.
However, I think there are a lotof queer people that don't feel
empowered to.
To have kids on their own ordesperately want children and

(30:04):
don't feel like it's somethingin the cards simply because they
haven't met the right partneryet.
So I, I that, that, to call itadmirable is so not the word
that I mean, or what I'm lookingfor, but it

I like De Lulu.

Listen, I as a, when I was a kid, I always
wanted to be a dad and like

Aw.

in, on the journey of coming out, I, who
knew how it was gonna work orfit in or whatever.
like that is still somethingpotentially in the cards for us.
But yeah.
Anyway, I is, it is aninteresting point of fact and,
uh, I think setting a reallygreat example for people in the
queer community who don't thinkthat it can happen for them.

That's really lovely.
Thank you so much.
I mean, like.
I, you know, I, father becominga parent is such a personal, is
such a personal want, and forthe longest time I just didn't
think it was available to me.
Um.

Mm-hmm.

You know, in a way I sort of jerry-rigged this
plot of my family to get what Iwant, you know, because I would
not be able myself if my familyhadn't had this like
Machiavellian way to like inducea boy out of me.
Right?
Um, so.

(31:31):
Yeah, I sort of maneuvered thatsituation.
Like I used to maneuver dealswhen I was a film exec.
Right.
kind of, it's, you know, likeit's, but.
I, I, you know, I think onceshe's home and I can really just
like hold her and take care ofher and everything, it really
will.
I think I'm still sort, becauseshe's still in the NICU and she

(31:52):
hasn't been released yet, I'mstill in like a fight or flight
response to the whole situation.
Obviously she's doing so wellnow and we're so grateful to
like the team at John Muir OfWalnut Creek.
Shout out just the best NICUunit in the world.
Literally miracle workers.
If you ever have an option andyou have a NICU baby, go to

(32:13):
Walnut Creek, John Muir.
They're just amazing, amazingmiracle workers.
But yes, I just have so muchgratitude.
Just simply put, I'm sograteful.
I'm so grateful to whatever dehe listened to me pray about
her.

Whoever, whoever they might be.
Well, so it's interesting thatyou're saying all of this
because, you know, I'm curiouswhat does, well, it's a, it's a
weird day to be asking you thisbecause I'm sure two weeks ago
your answer would be different,but your book is called Lucky
Seed, right?
What does, What does luck meanto you?
What does feeling lucky mean toyou?

I personally do not believe in like dumb luck.
I think that, I think that youneed to create your luck by, by
pursuing opportunity.
Like, no, like, you know, likeit's, you know, even.
You know, I, I, I've been toldmany times that I've had a lot

(33:09):
of luck in my career, Iliterally moved to China to get
the job at Dreamworks.
You know, That really launchedmy career.
Like I, I created theopportunity for myself.
You know, I'm very Capricorn toget really superstitious and woo
about things like

LA boy.

I'm very capric.
I'm like, I'm the most Capricornthing to happen.
Everything in my life, I'vereally carefully planned out
and.
Yes.
There's been moments where I waslike, wow, that was really
lucky.
But it's that I created formyself and that luck happened.
You know?

yeah,

Um, yes.
I, so I don't, I actually,personally, yeah, ironically, I
don't believe in luck.
I, I, think that you need to teeyourself up for opportunity
striking, right?
I think that that's what wethink.
Good luck is absolutely.

Mm.
Right.
We don't give ourselves enoughcredit.

Yes.
Give yourself more credit whengood things happen to you.

Okay.
Speaking of.
The other elephant in the roomyou name dropped a minute ago,
but we have to say it again forreal right now.
K-Pop demon hunters.

Yes.
That is

How do you feel?
It's like baby number six foryou.

Oh my gosh.
It is wild.
I mean, like, we knew, so Ijoined Sony Animation in summer
of 2020, and that was theproject Christine Belson, who's
like, the, visionary presidentof Sony Animation.
she's like she's, she's like thethe, she's like the spiritual

(34:39):
guide of that studio.
Um, she.
She pitched that idea to me inthis like park, a socially
distanced picnic we had whereshe was telling me I should join
her team.
And she was like, I have thisthat is Buffy meets black pink.
And when she said that, I waslike, yes.
like, that is an idea.

(35:00):
That could be huge.
I've worked on many movie ideasthat I thought would be huge.
This is the biggest, this islike a generational cultural
reset.
That will probably redefinesuccessful movie, not just
successful movie.
Um, I feel like we, I I don'tknow, like we, that was, it was

(35:23):
not easy because everyone wastelling us, and the subtext was
this movie that stars all Asianpeople would never be a huge
hit.
That was the Often whendoubters.
Would gaslight us basically.
But you know, I'm on many textthreads with the directors,
Maggie King, Chris Hans, and theproducer Michelle Wong, and my

(35:46):
exec team, Jeremiah Loeb andAlexandra Kade Tim be like, we
are on a lot of text threadswhere we're just sort of like,
everyone needs to chill is, thisis too much now.

Yeah.

much.
But you know, I, I have to saylike I feel like that movie
really hit a thread because it'sultimately about accepting your
own and realizing that they arewhat make You powerful.
You know, Like you need toharness, you need to accept your
scars, you need to harness them.
And I feel like that's reallyhitting a moment right where we

(36:19):
want to do seems is demonizeeach other.
So I, I it's, it's tracking the,the math is mapping to me why
it's, why, why it's such beensuch a huge hit.
It's just that you just, thatsort of thing needs to sort of
happen because of an alignmentof strange stars.
You know, Like you just neverexpect something like that to
happen.

it, it's interesting that that's on the
heels of me asking you aboutLucky because you just said in
alignment of the stars, right?
It wasn't, it's not about luck,it's about all of these, the
right things coming together atthe right time,

absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
You know, uh.
when Sony and when Sony when, sowhen our parent company, Sony,
they they, they decided theydidn't have the ability to
market it and therefore theydidn't wanna distribute it.
We had a crisis moment, andthat's when I was like, let's go
to Netflix.
You know, And I know there's alot of chatter online about

(37:14):
like, how that was such a hugeloss, blah, blah, blah.
I, you know, I'm a storyteller.
At the end of the day, my numberone goal is to reach as many
people with the stories that I,that I'm working for.
You know, that That's my thoughtprocess as a film exec.
I think that we would never havehit the audience that we did had

(37:34):
that not been released toNetflix the moment it had.
we just really struck gold atthat moment.
So, yeah.
You know, like it's, uh, I, I'msure there's a Sony exec
somewhere who's like prettyupset with themselves, but I'm
not.
I'm very proud.

Of course, and also believing in the project
and having faith in the storyand the work and, having the
foresight to see those starsaligning and saying, okay, we
have to figure out another way.

yes.
Stick with itness.
You just never ever give up.
You never give up.
You know, Like the othercultural reset animation is
probably frozen, and that was indevelopment for 20 plus years.
So you just gotta stick with it.

know, it's so interesting you, you say this
about this stick with Anessbecause, so once upon a time I
worked, and I feel like I saythis on every episode these
days, I worked for a companycalled Theater Works, USA in New
York City.
We developed new musicals forkids that were based on, that
are based on properties.
but they're like big titles likeDog Man and Charlotte's Web

(38:37):
know, whatever.
And there was a songwriter whowould write a bunch of stuff,
including like cow cowgirl, Kateand Coco, the musical, know,
writing these sort of seeminglysilly songs or musicals or
whatever.
I, was like gooped and gaggedbecause it was Mark Blech who of

(39:00):
course wrote.
The biggest songs of the momentright now.

That's amazing.

know, I can't get golden out of my head.
and I feel like, so, so TheStick with Itness, the
sticktoitiveness of Mark, who,you know, was sort of a, a New
York composer who's been hoofingit for years and years and years
and now like, could win afreaking Oscar.
You know, like it's

I know it's really you know, it it feels
very special.
Like I think that I'm gonna be,I think I'm gonna be remembering
that that I was part of K-popdemon hunters, which is really
cool.
If it, if, you know, like, ifthat's my last credit as a film
exec, I think it's a pretty goodone, I have to say.

It's a pretty good one.
just hearing you say a, smallpiece of that puzzle.
When you think about a puzzle,if you look at it could be a
10,000 piece puzzle.
If there's one piece missing,you notice it.

Yeah.
that's true.
That's a really beautiful way oflooking at it.
I love that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

the Suns, they are not a family, but a web.

Mm-hmm.

You're either a fly or a spider, which are you.

You know, I, I and I spin like a spider, but I
don't like to have victims.
You know, Like I, so yeah, Idon't.

spider.
You're a vegetarian spider

Yeah, I'm a vegetarian spider for sure.
You know, like if anything Icatch spies not to eat them, but
to redirect them into are betterfor everyone.
I'm definitely like that type ofperson for sure.
Um, I'm the master ofunsolicited advice amongst my
friends.
They know me.
I'm, I always have an idea ofhow things can be improved.

(40:50):
Um, when I was younger, I wasmore Machiavellian.
Like, My friends would always belike, you, we can feel you like
chess playing I'm not like, I'mtoo tired now, girl.
I'm almost 40.
Who has the energy for that?
You know?
And I have a

Right.
You're a new dad of, all sortsof babies.

Uh, yeah.
babies, paint babies.
Yeah.

Yeah.
know, it's interesting likesomething that comes up in the
book is the, idea of like alliesby circumstance and, when people
of see that they have commongoals, even though they might
not typically see eye to eye ortypically see themselves on the
same side, you know, I think.
Talking about the success ofK-pop demon hunters talking

(41:29):
about even like spiders versusflies, right?
It almost doesn't matter how youdefine yourself and it's about
what your goals are,

Mm-hmm.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yes.
That's a very very well put forsure.
I love that.
Would, how would you put thatAllies by

circumstance.

circumstance.
Yeah.
definitely.
Yes.
you

you know, it's.
There is that about having acommon enemy, you bond over
having a common enemy,

I mean, that's the quickest way, that's the
quickest way, to create teamworkand to create enemy for sure.
That was, that's like one of theoldest tricks in the book, you
know?
Um, yeah, and sometimes,especially when you're the boss
or the leader of something, youthat common enemy and then you
like give them something to teamup against, you know, like, And

(42:22):
And that's why certain bosseslike Anna Wintour do so well.
Right.
It's Because they're happy to bethe common enemy that everyone
teams try to vanquish, butreally to impress ultimately.
Right.
Yeah, it makes a lot

I feel like such an nin can poop that I Think
about it like that before,

mean, I would, you know, like, you know, roses,
then come poop.
You know, roses.
I think like she, when you firstmeet her, she says that she
needs.
She knows.
She knows the roses is thematriarch who hatches this plan
to have her gay nephew have theson, right?
She's the Machiavellian operatorof this crew, of this family,

(43:02):
and she says that she knows thatshe is the bastion of calm in
this messy group of people.
And she also knows that theseare ends that require merciless
means.
She's very aware of it.
She knows she needs to be thebad guy.
She does crazy book.
She does terrible things to her,own daughter and granddaughter
in this book, you to her, theends truly justify the means.

(43:26):
You know, uh, you know, Someonepoints out in this book that in
Chinese naming systems, the lastname comes first, because, which
is true like my Chinese name, myAmerican name is Justinian
Huang.
My Chinese name is Huang.
The My, the Huang comes firstbecause you're supposed to think
of your family first in alldecision making.

(43:47):
And that's definitely, that'swhere a lot of the generational
break happens is that this, theelders of this family were
raised in Asia and then they'retrained to think the family
comes first, but the youngers inthis generation.
Are westerners who are taughtindividuality and individualism,

(44:08):
and that's where a lot of thedisconnect happens as well.
Um, so that was really funny,fun to explore.
And you know, I feel like theyboth, that each generation
teaches the other generationsomething throughout this book.
Yeah.

Absolutely.
And I feel like it's a, it issomething we need to remember
and hold onto and try toperpetuate.

There's something to be learned by both
schools of thought.
You know?

Sure.

Um, Being fully individual individualistic is
ultimately a very selfish, bydefinition, a very selfish way
of living your life, right?
But.

Mm-hmm.

Thinking way too much about putting your,
putting others above yourself.
Having this sort of like idea ofwhat the group needs also people
yourself and the people thatshould be most important to you.
You know?

It is interesting that this of coming up
organically because there is achapter towards the end of the
book that talks about howShannon refuses to be anything
but a main character in thestory of her life.

Yes,

And I'm curious how you recommend doing that.
How do we do that?
How do we make sure we are themain character, in our own
story?

Thank my favorite character, which is
ironic because she's not in thefamily.
Right.
She's the she's the influencergirlfriend one of the cousins.
Um, and she's, she was a lot offun to write, because I got to
write like an Asian baby girl,which is which is this that
exists in San Gabriel east of layou know, like that it, like,
you know, it's like those Asianwith like.

(45:46):
Blonde hair and blue contactlenses who are always wielding
a, a milk tea boba.
She was so much fun to writewith her vocal fry.
Um, she was fun to write becausepeople who have that main
character energy are likable.
I think that people often thinkhaving main character energy

(46:06):
means barreling your way throughlife, when really the number one
rule of a protagonist is thatthey need to be readable.
If you want to have maincharacter energy, that's not
something that you bestow uponyourself.
Others need to bestow that uponyou.
You need to be likable.
Even as nefarious as Shannon'splans are, she's ultimately, a

(46:29):
quite likable character becauseshe's not wealthy like this
family, you know?
she is someone who.
Picks herself up by herbootstraps and maneuvers herself
into this family and outsmartsthem in many ways.
So yes, I think main characterenergy is not bestowed upon
oneself.
It is how you operate by beinglikable to others.

(46:50):
And likable does not mean you'relike a sappy person.
It means that you arecharismatic and magnetic and you
add to the equation.
You are a force multiplier inlife.

and it is not as one of my favorite quotes in the
book says, the human equivalentof gas station sushi.

There are a lot of ways.
Another one that.

gas station that is not a main character

it's not.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
I really liked That, line too.
Um, uh, that, that was one ofthe descriptors of Shannon by
the Right.
they they had quite a funnydescriptors of her.
I, I also think there was alsolike to her as a, a, a
dashboard, bobble boob.
'Cause she's'cause she's giftedupstairs.
She's God.
She was a was, it was a lot offun to write.
It was a, know.

(47:42):
You know, I, uh, I just reallyloved soap.
I, I really loved soap operas.
I just wanted to write a soapopera.
And this book was an homage tonot just crazy rich Asian
succession, but also obsessionas a kid, Collins novels, and,
you know.

my God.

Yes.
And you know like, like JackieCollins wrote one of the
greatest lines of all time,which is someone saying to
another person, who the hell areyou?
A nobody with freak shownipples, just like one of the
greatest lines.
Of all time.
I couldn't, I I just reallywanted to capture some of that

(48:19):
bit, like that, that, you know,that like, that, like that like,
you know, the, the, the gazerefers to as C-U-N-T-Y.
I don't really, I want to sayit, but, you know, but like, you
know, I really want to capturethat quality where just someone
is so caustic but also sobrilliant in their just, it was
really fun'cause I actuallydon't talk like that in real
life.
Those sentences, those, those,those, some of the barbs in this

(48:41):
were like days of like, howshould they say it?
How can they cut each other downin this moment?
You know?
So that was a lot of fun.
That was fun to formulate

Days of thinking slash, what did I hear my mom
call my aunt that one time.

maybe under her breath once in a while, but
that's never

So funny.
Just kidding, mom.
Just kidding.
I'm just, I'm so funny.
Justinian, it is so great tohave you back.
Everyone go get your copy ofLucky Seed

Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jason.

It is delicious.
It is so much fun and I cannotwait for everyone to meet the
Sun Family.

Oh my gosh, what a joy.
I can't think of a better toremind myself that today's pub
day, um, and you

Slash Happy Thanksgiving.

yes slash happy Thanksgiving, and you talk about
energy.
Your energy has just really setme off.
I'm gonna go take care of mydaughter now and drive back home
with her tomorrow, so Iappreciate you.

I'm so excited.

I appreciate you so much and yes, can't wait
to hear this episode and yeah,thank you and uh, I can't wait
for anyone listening.
Just tell me if you figured outthe twist ending, tell me if you
figured it out, because no onehas yet.
I wanted to write a twist endingthat no one would figure out.
No one has yet, so if you didgive me a shout out, I'm easy to
follow.

Well, and after I stop the recording, I'll talk to
you about it.

Oh, I would love that for sure.

Lucas Gage, welcome to Gay's Reading.

Lukas Gage (50:16):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.

Thank you for being my guest gay reader today.
I, uh.
Are you familiar with, uh,Notting Hill?

Lukas Gage (50:26):
Of course one best wrong problems of all time.

Well, of course, uh, we're, I'm a little bit
older than you, but I know thatyou are a, a early two thousands
kid, and I can't, when I saylike gaze reading, talking to
you, I feel like Hugh Grantsaying that he's from Horse and
Hound when, when Julia Robertsis there on the really Long
press day and she's talking tolike the New York Times and
Variety and so Gay's reading isyour horse and hound.

(50:51):
You're welcome.

Lukas Gage (50:52):
I love it.
I I'm, this is the most excitingone of the day I can't wait.

Yes it is.
Um, Lucas, I have to know as myguest, gay reader, what have you
been reading?
What do you read?

Lukas Gage (51:05):
What do I read?
Okay.
Uh, I'm gonna go to my Amazonshopping cart just to make sure
that I don't miss anything thatread lately.
It's

And that was not a plug everybody buy from your
local indie bookstore.

Lukas Gage (51:17):
buy, uh, a roof is for attention on Amazon right
now.
Um, okay, so the last book I I,I'll start with the last one I
did.
'cause it was the most recent,it was Widow Basquiat.
Um, and um, part of that was Idoing a period piece movie from
that, that era.
And um, I was obsessed with it.

(51:41):
It's about Suzanne who datedJean-Michel Basquiat.
And it's a great story aboutaddiction and, uh, the first
intense love and that obsessionthat comes with it.
And it's basically journalentries, uh, and another
reflection in present day, uh,by Jennifer Clement, the author,

(52:02):
and it's, it's so good.

Cool.
I don't know why I was expectingyou to say an article

Lukas Gage (52:11):
An article.
I mean, I'm sure I, to thismorning I read something on

No, no, no, of course.
Right, right, But like I wasn'texpecting you to be like, this
is, this is the nonfiction bookthat I just read as

Lukas Gage (52:23):
Oh, oh, okay.
So we're talking about like,okay.
Um,

no, no, no, no.
I'm obsessed with it.
I love What else is in your,what else do you have on your
phone?
What, tell me what are you're,you're more of a reader than I
was expecting.

Lukas Gage (52:35):
Oh, okay.
Um, well, the book I read rightbefore that is called Year of
the King.
It's Anthony Cher's book, uh,about him playing King Richard
II for a year of his life onstage, and he documents the
whole entire experience fromstart to finish.
Ups, the downs, the process be,you know, behind him getting

(52:57):
into the role, uh, some personalstuff that's intertwined with
that.
And it's just one of the mostfascinating reads ever.
And if any actor is listening tothis, I feel like it should be
like, require reading to do,

Interesting.
Have you ever played a role forthat long?

Lukas Gage (53:13):
no, no, I wanna do theater.
They won't let me.

And by they you mean those faces staring at you
from behind?

Lukas Gage (53:21):
Exactly this.
Me, you won't let me.
Um, no, I, I'm starting to, youknow, I'm starting to audition
for theater and, and I wanna dothat next for sure.
But we'll see.
We'll see what happens.

totally.
Uh, was there anything else onyour list that you wanted to
share?

Lukas Gage (53:38):
Oh, um, okay.
I'll give you something kind ofju, like a little more juicy and
a little, a little less likeChic is, I read Verity by
Colleen Hoover, um, which Ithink is actually my favorite
book by Colleen.
Um, it's more of a thriller.
It kind of gives me misery vibesand it's, they just finished

(54:03):
shooting it, I think with AnneHathaway.
And an amazing cast.
I forget who else was saying,but I, I'm, I loved the book.
It's so creepy and disturbing,and I think Colleen Hoover's
best, best book

I, I, I am, I've never read a single Colleen
Hoover book.
So the fact that you have, youcould say what her, what your
favorite of hers is, is awesome.
You're also.
Doing the film adaptation of thepeople we meet on vacation.
Yes.

Lukas Gage (54:32):
am, yeah, the Emily Henry book, which is also a
great book.
Great, great book.

I little did.
I realize that you were gonna belike as prolific a reader as you
are.

Lukas Gage (54:42):
It's cool.
It's cool to be able to do.
I, I believe, and I probably amMess.
I did Colleen Hoover's webseries back in the day with her
book Confess, but I think thisis like the first big.
Production project that had, wasadapted from a book.
I've never done anything likethat.
And as a big reader, it was, itwas, I don't know.
It's been kind of like on the,the goal list, like bo gotta

(55:03):
check it off the, check it offthe list of things to do.
So, um, hopefully there's morebooks to screen adaptations, I
think.

You talked about reading the Basquiat book in
prep role.
Is that a common thing for you,just like reading to get into
the world?
I.

Lukas Gage (55:21):
Yeah.
I feel like, um, sometimes like,it's amazing when you're doing
an actual, um, you know, like ifyou're doing a biopic and
there's so much material thatyou can use to source, but
sometimes, like, it's not evenabout that for me.
You know, like it could betrying to give you like a good
example of something like.

(55:41):
I remember when I did you, Iread this, it's kind of like a
diabolical self-help book, butit's kind of like how to, how to
be successful or, or how to winpeople over.
it's like a self-help bookthat's actually has some really
interesting, beneficial thingson it.
But there's also a lot of thingsin there where I was like, whoa,
this is completely manipulate.

(56:02):
Like how to manipulate and getyour way in the world.
And I just felt like mycharacter Adam, who was this.
You know, success hungry, moneyhungry, uh, would do anything to
get to the top.
That would be the kind of bookthat he would read.
So sometimes like it informswhatever character I'm playing
and, or just like, kind of amood, a mood thing.

(56:23):
You know, I think I was reading,um, like Sally Rooney when I was
doing, after I read people wemeet on vacation, but there was
like that just that.
The, you know, the, the idea offinding your soulmate, that,
that kind of aspect that I feellike leaked into that film.

Yeah.
Throwing in Sally Rooney, we'vegot this.
I was a hundred percent judgingyou as a book by its cover,
assuming that you weren't a bigreader.
I don't know why.
This part of why doing thisseries actually, because.
The amount of folks I've talkedto who you don't equate with

(57:02):
reading or books who then arelike, oh yeah, I'm a huge
reader.
Um,

Lukas Gage (57:06):
see me, they think he's a dumb bitch.

well, maybe, but also, I mean, I've had people
like Jeff

Lukas Gage (57:14):
Everyone's shaking their head in the background
now.
I'm totally, I'm totallykidding.
no, no.
totally, I get what you'resaying.
I get what you're saying.
No, but I, I think, um, yeah, Idon't think I really talk about
how much I read or.
I don't think that, that's justlike not a common question in
interviews, especially beforethe book.
Like that's, so, cool to be ableto share that part of myself
and, uh, you know, I guess I,I've always been a big reader,

(57:38):
even since I was a little kid.
I was like, first in line to getthe new series of unfortunate
events or the first in line toget the Harry Potter books.
And the first to, uh, yeah, itwas, there was another one about
circus, just sole, like thehorror book.
I fuck, I'm blanking on the nameof it, but it was like this.
series about a circus.

(57:59):
Oh God.
It's gonna kill me.
I'll even, I'll look it

look up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, all right.
Before we dive in to your book,you, there's the list of chapter
titles in here.
However, to we are not, youhaven't, you didn't write about
today.
If you were to title a chapterpresent day, what do you think
your chapter title would beright now?

Lukas Gage (58:24):
So fucking tired.
little bit of rosacea and perialdermatitis Doesn't know where he
is.
Living in LA and staying withfive frat guys in Tribeca.
That's a true story.

Uh,

Lukas Gage (58:36):
An Airbnb with five F Flag from Tribeca.
'cause I don't know where tolive right now.
So that's gonna be three achapter in the next book I read.

great chapter.
Love it.
Um, literally just last nightstarted some sort of cream that
a dermatologist recommended forrosacea, so

Lukas Gage (58:54):
you did drop the name.

Yeah.
This is, we're, uh.

Lukas Gage (58:57):
I just started on um, cilantro, which is, sounds
like cilantro, but it's, um.
It's Ivermectin cream that'ssupposed to help with rosacea.
I don't know.

great.
This is an educational podcast,

Lukas Gage (59:11):
books and skincare

right?
Exactly.
Um, all right.
Your book, I wrote this forattention, which is out now.
Wherever you get your books, uh,I, I would say, what's your
elevator pitch?
But I think it says so in thetitle.
What, what?
Take us beyond that.

Lukas Gage (59:29):
I think beyond that, it tells a story of a, a needy
attention seeking, uh, reactivechild who becomes a needy
attention seeking reactive adultand how that manifests and, uh,
his journey along the way.
Um, and I think it's.

(59:50):
Just a wild tale that is, um,will take you on a ride to many
different places.
And, and I think ultimately youget to see this, uh, this young
boy that's seeking forattention, that's, that still
lives there, but how he uses itfor maybe the right reasons and
the right kind of attention, buthe'll still mess up and still do

(01:00:12):
it in the wrong way a lot of thetimes too.

Jason Blitman (01:00:13):
Yeah, and it's such a great story of, uh,
proving that things don't justcome easily to people

Lukas Gage (01:00:21):
Oh, really?
I like that.

or things.
Don't just get handed to them.

Right, right.
Like you kind of, I said thisearlier today, but like you make
your own luck is something thatI said in an interview earlier
that we were talking about someof the, the stories and some of
the decisions I had made and,and I think people were
surprised by it or they thought.
It had come easier or thingswere, uh, you know, I, I've

(01:00:45):
lived a great blessed life and,and all that, but I think, uh, a
lot of times people think, youknow, you just get lucky and,
and I just think luck has not alot to do with it.

Totally.
And I think that, uh, you know,if someone else was writing your
book for you or if someone elsewas writing a book that was
fictionalized version of thisand they said, let me, uh, throw
a whole lot of hurdles for thecharacter, they like, wouldn't
even, it would almost comeacross as unbelievable the
things that you going on foryou.
Something that you say in thebook is, uh, impulsivity is

(01:01:19):
second nature to you.
Uh, and if you want something,then you go for it and you just
do

Yeah.

Is that the case for this?
Is that part of how that thebook came to be?

Yeah, I mean, I'm like absolutely not qualified to
write a book whatsoever at all.
I don't know what in my DNA orwhat in my head was like, yeah,
you uh, absolutely should dothis.
And I, I was totally in over myhead at first and.
Yeah.
But I think that's kind of howI've been in my whole entire
life.
I mean, I didn't know anythingabout acting.
I just knew I wanted to do itsince I was a kid and I was

(01:01:52):
like, screw it.
I'm gonna move to LA and figureit out.
And um, that's always been kindof my, uh, the plus side of
being impulsive.
I mean, being impulsive has mademe, made a lot of mistakes and a
lot of shortcomings in my life.
But also some of the good stuffis like having this delusional.
Confidence, I would say of withlike becoming an actor or

(01:02:14):
writing a book and, um, I don'tknow, I think sometimes we can
think ourselves out of, out ofthings.
I think we can overthink to thepoint of, of self-destruction
and, and sometimes you just haveto like go for it.

Yeah, I'm a firm believer in leap and the net
will come.

Exactly.
I agree.
What's the worst that couldhappen?

What's the worst that can happen?
Well, Lucas Gage, it is apleasure.
I would, I could sit here andhear about all of the books that
you have on your list going on,but my time with you is running
short.
Um, anything else you wanted toshout out before we go?

No, I think, uh, I'll just, I'll come back a
second time and keep reading youmy Amazon book list and go
through all the, all the crazy,insane titles next time.
But please check out the bookand anyone listening.
Uh.
I promise.
It's a fun, easy read and it's awild time, and just go do it.

I wrote this for attention.
Go everyone.
Give Luke Gage your attention.
He is desperate for it.
Thanks Lucas.
Have a great rest of your day.
Thank you Justinian.
Thank you Lucas.
Everybody make sure to check outtheir books.
I'll be taking next week offbecause But I'll see you back,
with a really fun episode onDecember 9th, and I can't wait

(01:03:33):
for you to hear these excitingand fun December episodes.
Have a wonderful rest of yourday.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Have a great week, and see yousoon.
Bye.

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