EITM interviews Brad Meltzer

EITM interviews Brad Meltzer

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
How are you, brother?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am doing great, sir, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:04):
I am good? Because we are going tonight to the
World Series.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Okay, Well, isn't it going to be shocking when you
get there tonight and there's no game going on?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Well, I mean I'm leaving tonight. I didn't mean like
this way.

Speaker 4 (00:17):
Whenever I go.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Wait a minute, So you're going to Toronto for the
World Series.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
So here's a bit.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Every year since my son is little, I make a
bet with him he can pick a team that's in
the bottom half of the rankings in baseball. Wait a minute,
I feel like you before I've told you this story.
I've told you privately. I maybe on the air. But
and if he pick if that team makes the World Series,
I'll take him. And it's an impossible bet because you're
taking like one of the worst teams and trying to

(00:46):
make it into the best. It never worrid. He's been
doing it for.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
A dozen years nothing, and two years.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Ago he picks the Texas Rangers who go to the
World Series. I'm like, this is the most expensive bet
I've ever made. Now, and so the game's one and
two are always during my daughter's parents weekend. So we
can't go to one and two. I get tickets to
Game six, but the.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Rangers win in five.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Last year, I get tickets to Game six and seven
and the Dodgers win in five. And so this is
the third year. I'm trying to complete this bet for
three years now, and finally there's a game six and
we are going to Toronto.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Dude, that is awesome. That is freaking awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
It's so good because my son is like, he's almost
happy when it keeps going, because he just loves watching
me being tortured trying to get tickets to Game six
and seven, the two hardest tickets every year, three years
in a row.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now have you been to I've never been to that
stadium for a baseball game. And that that entire city
is going to be nuts tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well that's why I was happy that one last night,
because I'm like, this place is going to explode. It's
you know, obviously, I'm so excited. We went to We
went to the Cubs the first time they were in
the World Series, and even though they lost the first game,
it regularly when we were there, it was like the
place it was the best game I've ever seen because
every pitch was like it was the end of the universe,

(02:15):
and and I love that atmosphere. It's so fun to
be a part of.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Oh dude, oh you got to send pictures. I can't
imagine what that's going to be.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Like, yeah, no, no, it's gonna be good. Where and
and and you know, our our kids all the all
the animators for our kids TV show based on the books,
they're all from Toronto, so all like, you know, for
a month now, they're all freaking out, and I'm like,
let's let's not get crazy until you guys get there,
and then you know, after that, you know, nearly twenty

(02:43):
inning game, I'm like, everybody, calm down.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
And then suddenly they're.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Like, do not tell us to calm down. You should
not come down.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, dude, good for you. Oh I'm so excited for you.
I'm so excited for you.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
All right, I got a couple of things that I
need to get into.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
And before I get to Moan Biles, can I start
with a different im book if you don't mind, please,
I thought of you, and I can't. It feels like
it was a week ago. Was probably closer to a
month ago, but I thought of you when the news
broke about Jane Goodall, I thought of you immediately.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah. She was so special, you know, she was the
first famous person when we were when we started the
im series. She was the first one that was alive
that we ever did a hero of. And we wrote
to her and said, hey, can you help us? And
again the series was just getting started and she was
like yep, and we were like what you know? And
she was so nice And let me tell you one thing.

(03:41):
You know, she did pictures with with you know, I
am Jane Goodall, you know, and did all the stuff.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
But what I love, and I've never told.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
This story, is when we were doing the book, there's
a moment when she was little, she used to love
putting dressing her dogs up with real clothes. It was
just fun for her as a little girl. And we
put that in the book. And then when she was
proofing the book, she said, can you do me a
favor though, and take out that part about me dressing
the dogs in clothes? And I said, wait, but didn't

(04:08):
you do that? She says, I did, She says, but
it's not good for the dogs. And I want to
always do what's best by the animal.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
And I love that, like even ninety.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Years old, she's still always on message, like never ever.
It was so nice and I was just like, of course,
so obviously when she passed away, all of us, you know,
I was emailing with her whole team and we were
just like, I mean, she's a legend, the best.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now then you know.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
The other thing that I thought was really nice is
they like when they announced her funeral, it's going to
take place at the National Cathedral in DC.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I like that me too. I mean too, I feel
like I feel like that's you know, there's like a
she's she's she's on that mount rushmore of like people,
you know, like not presidents, but just like people who
truly changed the world.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
I think that's a good thing. I love that. I
don't know, I actually didn't even know. That's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, I like that, and I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
It just shows how big she is and how important
she was that that's where they're holding her funeral. I
loved when I saw that. Anyway, let me switch gears.
Let me get to Simone Biles.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
First.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Remind me I read the book, Brad, But remind me,
how did we get to Simone Biles?

Speaker 1 (05:21):
So it's a good question. You know. They a couple
of years ago, they said, hey, we want you to
do Simone Biles. But you know, everyone puts together different things.
And at the time, I was like, no, her story's
not done yet. She just walked away from the Olympics.
I was like, you know, I'm glad she stood up
for her mental health, but but there's no ending to
the story yet. She needs an ending. And then when

(05:42):
she won the gold medal, I was like, well, let
me look into this. Let me just look into what
her story is. I really didn't know it very well
because I thought it was about like, oh, you get
knocked down and then you get back up right. And
I was completely wrong. I was just wrong. Like what
I realized her story was is I wanted to do.
I knew this I came about as I knew I
wanted to do a book about mental health. I was

(06:02):
just looking at my own kids and looking at all
my friends' kids, and our kids today are suffering. They're suffering, right,
I mean, it is not the same as when we
were growing up. You know, social media has wrecked these kids'
self esteem. If you have a kid today of a
certain age, there's like anxieties off the charts, and I said,
who can I do? And it was Simone Biles whose
name kept coming up. And then that's what the book.

(06:25):
I said. I don't care about the gold medal. I
care about this advocate for her mental health. And man,
do our kids need a mental health kid's book more
than ever?

Speaker 3 (06:34):
And you know what's interesting, Brad is like you said,
you didn't know her story. And I feel like Simone
Biles is so famous and Simone Biles is like such
a star. And then I realized when I was reading it,
I don't know her story. I know her as an olympian.
I know her as the olympian that had to take
a break from the sport for her mental health. And

(06:56):
I know her as an olympian or a gymnast. I
should say who came back and then and then shocked
the world and did it again. I didn't know her
story from when she was a kid. I didn't know
that at what is at three years old? Her mom
and her dad or her mom rather takes her to
foster care and she ends up with a foster family
until her grandparents are able to come get her with

(07:18):
her and her silly I had.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
No idea, and that you know, we the letters that
were getting from families already, the book's been out like
two days from foster families. I'll read you another one
when we gets to the mental health part. But like
they're so emotional. And when she goes and lives with
our grandparents, you know, she's officially adopted at six years old,

(07:41):
and she goes to her grandmother's like is this I mean,
I can call you mom and dad now, And she's
so excited by that possibility that she goes up to
her room and she just practiced it, you know.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
Say mom and dad, mom and dad. Those words are.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
So meaningful to her. And then she runs back downstairs.
She's like mom, dad, you know, and they're like yeah,
and they're like, you know, what's going on to the
mown and she's like nothing, and she just runs back upstairs.
And it's like, I call the mom and dad, and
I know that there are kids that are going to.

Speaker 4 (08:09):
Read this book.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
That that page is the most important page in any
book I've ever written, by the way they suddenly they're
not alone.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
I wrote it down. I was like, it's the greatest
page in the book.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
It is by far that that whole scene where she
goes downstairs and for the first time she says mom
and dad and they answer, it's the greatest page in
the book.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I mean, listen, the rest of the book is good.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
And there's a lot of good stuff in there, but
that page is so powerful.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
No, and listen, That's why I gave it its own page.
I was like, you know, I think you know in
these biographies, you know, you can be like I'm going
to give the big page to the gold medal. I'm
going to give the page where she learns to do
a flip. When we have those pages is fine, but
I'm like, no, this is the most important part. Like
I stretched that part out because I'm like, there are
kids out there that are just like, where's a book

(08:55):
where the hero looks like me? And I don't mean
like skin color, I mean like they have my life.
I'm a foster child. I was, I don't know who
my parents are, or I do know who they are,
and they let me go, and I was like, no, no, no,
this this is where we're going to help some kid,
and this is a permanent memory. And I care more
about that one kid, you know, than all the kids
are going to buy no offense but for the gold

(09:16):
medal like that is.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
And then you know the other thing.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
And I tell you this, I always love at these
moments of trying to go through the book and trying
to figure out if that didn't happen, would we get blank?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
And like when when? When?

Speaker 3 (09:33):
When she's really really young, like I think like four
or five or whatever, if that trampoline and listen, she's hiding,
She's all over the place and she's like running around
and if that trampoline isn't in the backyard, do we
get some moan biles?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
I mean, the thing is, I think we like, let's
just talk about it, right.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
So she goes to live.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
In this new home and in the backyard is a
full trampoline and she's like, you know, they're like you
want to try it? She's like, are you kidding? Runs
Chris Elliopolis draws one of the most beautiful pictures I've
ever seen him draw, which is her, you know, in
the air, her braids just all you know, like a
rainbow around her, and obviously that's where she starts figuring

(10:15):
out what she loves. I do think we still get
it because there's and I didn't make up any moment
in this book. You know, you can see her on
her bunk beds. When she'd be on the bottom, she
would grab the slats on the top and then use
them as monkey bars. Right like she is, she's doing gymnastics.
I don't care if there's a trampoline. Gymnastics will be

(10:36):
done in this house. And and you know, obviously she
event I think the bigger moment is even when she
walks into that gymnastics place.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
But oh that tumbling john the tumbling gym where the
person's like, you got a membership. She's six years old.
She's six years old inside the tumbling gym, and the
director of it is like, uh, you could just stay here,
like you do whatever you want here, Like she was
amazing what she was doing in there.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, what they do is they have like one of
those big one of the giant ropes that come down
from the ceiling and they're like, listen, if you want
to climb the rope using just your arms, put your
legs straight out, give it a shot. You probably won't
get far. Button She's like but and she's all the
way to the top and they're like what And you know,
They're like, six year olds are not supposed to be
able to do that. And the coach is like, who's

(11:22):
that and they're like, that's the one I'm telling you about.
And yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
Then they're like, you have a membership.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Here's the blockbuster card, come back every day.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
But like, I was so glad to read that stuff,
because again, I know of Simone Biles when she became famous.
I don't know her upbringing, but that gets me too.
There's another part here, Brad where and this is the
other place, like as impactful and as important to me
as that foster fan or calling her her grandparents mom

(11:54):
and dad. Is where she says, at the age of nine,
she was diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD at the age
of nine. How great. I mean, listen when I say
how great is that? Not that not that she has
anxiety in ADHD, but that she was she had parents
that were interested that.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
That took notice and then got her diagnosed.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
We know ADHD very well in my family, and it
was obviously I did not know that about her when
I started writing the book, and of course I was like, no,
this is it, and I'm going to read you this
is a letter. It's actually going up on our social
media later tonight. But this is this is the first
letter I got when the book came out the day
came out, and it said this. It was like, dear Brad,

(12:38):
not sure this will reach you, but just want to
say a wonderful I Amsmo bilesis and this is what
it says. It says, we had a rough week over
here with my daughter who's in third grade, being laughed
at on the bus in tears. But when she saw
that Simone had ADHD like her, she let up and
she said, thank you for writing this book.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
We needed it.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
We have all your books, but this is definitely our favorite.
And again those moments where a kid can see themselves
that ADHD moment again, you can see what I you know,
what I did there is. I'm like, you get your
own page for this. This is not something we mentioned
in the timeline, you know, And she says, you know,
looking if you look at that page I have sometimes
Simone Biles will break the fourth wall and talk to

(13:18):
you directly as the reader, right, And it says on
that page to be your best, you need to feel
good about yourself. And that is what kids who are
going through that stuff don't understand at that young age.
And here's Simonbiles breaking the fourth wall and saying, you're okay,
exactly as you are. You know, you have worth and
you're worthy of being loved. And I don't care if

(13:39):
you're you know, in third grade or you're, you know,
fifty years old. We all need that message.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Hey, you talk about like certain moments in the book
getting their own page and not just being part of
a timeline or just kind of telling the story when
you talk about her withdrawing from the Olympics. Right, so
now fast forward that we're we're Olympian Simone Biles and
she withdraws from the Olympics, and it talks about the
public reaction.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
That page is pretty heavy, dude.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, it is the one that we were like, you
should see.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
It was heavier.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Like what she says about her time is she feels
like all the words that everyone calls her publicly are
on her face. So failure, quitter, loser, terrible, embarrassment. And
so we had we did exactly what she says when
she talked about it publicly, is we put all those

(14:32):
words on her face and it was devastating.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
I was like, we were like we.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Can't do it, and Chris then very smartly put those
words all over the page and she's just, you know,
has a peer coming down and she's crying as you
feel it, and I think, you know, you cannot understand
what she comes back from until you understand what she's
been through. And that is a you know, sometimes the
internet's really fun and funny.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
We can make a good joke, and.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Sometimes it is the ruless most you know, and we
are as a society ruthless, and we were ruthless with her,
and when no one understood even at the time, because
they were like, oh, you're a quitter, you quit the Olympics,
and then you forget that that story came out about
sexual abuse for all these gymnasts. Yeah, right, and then
you forget that Wait a minute, she went through that too,

(15:20):
and we don't we don't talk about that part, right
like we obviously in a book we make a mention
of she had some coaches that were bad, and we
make it so it's age appropriate, so you can, you know,
if you need to tell that story with your kid,
you know what page it's on.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
But as a as a.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
As a society, we we didn't we didn't mention that
we just went after her throat because we didn't win
the she didn't win the goal for us, like she
owed us something. And I again, and that page to
me is that's when you realize, man, we put her
through the ringer.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
That was rough.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
And by the way, Brad, where you mentioned and you're right,
like it references that she had some coaches that were bad.
And like you said, depending on who's reading the book,
they may not be ready for that.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
And would be up to parents. But I will give
a ton of credit to Chris.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Eliopolist that little frame where it says that she had
the coaches that are really bad. I mean for trying
to send a message without saying the message that artwork
is great.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Now, I mean, listen, the secret weapon of these books
is Chris, right. I mean, he has this art style
that's like Calvin and Hobbes meets Charlie Brown and that's
all adorable and kids love it. But like there's a
reason why there have been, you know, thousands of books
written about Rosa Parks or Amelia Earhart or Abraham Lincoln
or the Beatles. But kids gravitate to arts and it's
no offense to me, it's not my writing. It's Chris's

(16:39):
beautiful art. He makes you you know, anyone can do cute, right,
Chris has cute arsa. But what Chris can do, he
can do heart. He can make you feel. And on
that page it says, you know, and one coach was
very bad for me. You know, I had coaches who
were intents and coaches who were good, but one coach
was very bad. And it's Simone in the shadows, just
looking down. Now you have a little kid whatever. They

(17:00):
just think you have a bad coach, but you have
a kid who needs that story, and you have an
opportunity now to change their life. And it's all thanks
to Chris's art.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
Hey, Brett, I hesitate to ask what I'm going to
like you would? You had mentioned when we were talking
about Jane good all about how she was involved and
her people were involved. Has were some most people involved
in the in the at least the reading of the
book and going through it.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
So I know she's read the book. The funny part
was when we were proofing it, and it's just the
time and of how it worked. She finally went on
her honeymoon. So we've been talking to all of her people.
But They're like, she's on her honeymoon. I'm like, I
can't bother her on her honeymoon to check our books,
Like there's only so much, like you know, like I'm
pretty shameless about asking people for papers, but I was like,

(17:47):
I can't. Like the woman has been like done nothing
but try to win stuff for the country her whole
life and has finally taken the you know, a six
month period where she truly escaped and left and was
like I need to live my own life now. And
I'd be like, what about our book though, you know,
I'm like, we really really could use your helper.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
So I know she's read it.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
They said, we sent it to her, and obviously we
sent it to her Jim and to her parents and
and and the people that she works with have been
really really nice to us. But yeah, I even I
couldn't do that one.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
And so she also hasn't commented on the picture you
posted of you in tights.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
I mean, can I let's talk about that for a moment.
Of all the pictures I've ever posted on my Instagram, whatever,
Twitter or whatever that all, you know, all the things,
nothing has horrified my daughter more than this photo like,
I sent it to Lilah. My daughter is now twenty
years old, so I sent her two pictures that Chris
Aliofice did where it's a it's a picture of Stephen

(18:46):
the awesome gymnasts, who you know would go asses, who
you know is the heart throb, and they put my
head on his body and my and my daughter literally
wrote back and said I'm terrified.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
I'm horrified.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
I was the only response. I'm like, so you're saying
you love this. She's like, do not post those?

Speaker 4 (19:04):
And so of course I posted it, and.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
She and yesterday it's two days later, and yesterday she
says to me, why did you post that?

Speaker 4 (19:11):
I told you not to.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
And I'm like, because she told me Nazi. Of course
that's why I posted it, exactly why I posted it.
But we did text Simone Biles and and I'm like,
I don't think she's going to be sharing this one,
but whatever it's it's going to bother my daughter, so
it's got to be worth it.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
And then let me switch to something else because I
don't know. I don't want to run out of time
with you.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
So that that book is out, I am some mo Biles, uh,
that is out and it's available.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
It's fantastic. It's awesome. Did I did?

Speaker 4 (19:39):
I thank you.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
I was reading about it and I love this.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Also, you took the Nazi Conspiracy and you made it
a kid's book.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
We did, you know, because you know kids love Nazis,
you know, I mean?

Speaker 4 (19:52):
And again.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
The thing is when you say is the kids book,
it's me it's like for your three year old? I mean,
we did do im m frank, we did do a
kid's book.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
For like like ails book.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yes, no, no, but it's we did it. It's for
I don't even know what age, young adults, young adults.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
But Brad, how long have I been telling you that
I wish like all your conspiracy books. How long have
I been telling you that's how history books should be written.
They should be written like novels in a way that
read where it's interesting and it tells the story and
it puts you in it. I love that they actually
that you actually did it. And now it's a it's
a history book for for for young adults.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah no, no, listen, we it's for nine, you know,
nine to twelve year olds, because older than that you
could just read the real book.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
But we had all these kids.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
That were that were exactly what you just said that
all these parents were like, we want this since we
did a first conspiracy book for young readers. But the
Nazi conspiracy book, you know, a secret plot to kill Fdr.
Stalin In Churchill at the height of World War Two.
It's this amazing story of them against the Nazis. And
we had all the teacher's writing to us saying, hey,
can you do a young adult version, so we can

(21:04):
you know, assign it to you know, our nine year olds, ten, eleven,
twelve year olds, and and it worked, it actually works.
Scholastic was like, we want to do this with you.
So we went through the book. You pull out the
most graphic stuff, you pull out obviously the language stuff
that doesn't work for that young age group. But the
funny thing was is my son in his in his

(21:24):
school last year, got assigned one of our conspiracy books
that was on the list of books you can pick.
So the first Conspiracy was about a secret plot to
kill George Washington at the height of the of the
revolution is one of them. And my son, of course
is not picking my book, but all of his friends
picked the book because they were like whatever we can

(21:44):
ask Brad if he don't, you know, if we get
stuck on something. And my again, my son is like,
they picked your book, and I'm actually getting worried. And
then my son says to me with a shock, like
true shock, they liked it, like well thanks for that?
What like I mean truly as if it was like

(22:05):
an impossible dream, like how could that possibly be? You know,
happened that they would like this book? And and that's
and the not to Conspiracy to me is an even
better book for you know, those kids who are reluctant
readers who are in you know, kind of want to
find something that they would love in history.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
You're not alone, dude.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Is Scholastic was like, we're doing it, and I love
the fact they did. I want to do it with
all the all of our conspiracy books.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Well I'm just going to ask you will, like, well,
will you end up doing it with all of them?

Speaker 2 (22:31):
You should? They should? Scholastic should, yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Bliss and people buy the books and they'll do another
one with us. It's all about, you know, is this
gonna work or not? Like and and you know they
they don't know, we've never done.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
A book together before. So obviously that came out.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
You know, this has been a busy week for us,
but yeah, we have nots conspiracy coming out at this
you know, same time. But it's a I love the
fact that these And the thing is is, you know,
at my book signs, those kids come and find me,
like if you're a history nerd like me when I
was well, like when I was I don't know where
to go. But those kids when I go to events,
like when I'm coming in January for the new thriller there,

(23:07):
like you'll look, you'll pick them out in line. There
are these really smart, shy kids who just look like
me when I was little, and they come up to
me and they'll tell me like and they'll tell me.
The best part is they'll tell me what I get wrong.
Like they'll tell me like you TYPEOED FDR's birthday, you
got it off by a digit, like because you typed
the eighteens instead of the nineteenth. And I'm like, they
find everything like they and I'm like, they should be

(23:29):
my proof readers, not the ones I.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Got nerd you're at a book signing.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
No, But the best part is the kids, the younger
ones who like are still like they you know, Chris
hides me in every single I am right, so I'm
always hidden in the background. And so I had these
It was like these two brothers and they came up
to me and one is probably like ten years old,
and the younger brother's like seven years old, maybe even
a little younger. And the younger one is like, wait,

(23:56):
you know, I saw you and I am Rosa Parks
and I saw you and you know we are the
Beatles and I saw you on this and They're like,
I have a question for you. And I'm like yeah,
They're like, are you a time traveler? And I thought
that was really adorable and then the older brother, the
older brother says like angry at the younger brother says
he's not a time traveler, idiot, and he says he's

(24:18):
a vampire.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
Look at him.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
And I'm like, look at me? What is that part?
Like I know, I'm like not the Tannis guy around.
But I was like, so kids can come and like
ask him questions about your history stuff, but like they
are fantastic.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Hey. Two other things about the conspiracy books.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Number one and not not to get all heavy and stuff,
but with the Nazi conspiracy, dude with the amount of
anti Semitism that's out there and running around right now,
great timing for this to be out.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
And listen, when we wrote that book, we thought we
were at the height of anti semitism, right, Josh mentioned
I put that book out a couple of years ago.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
We did not know it was going to be even worse.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
And that I love you for saying that, because that's
what Scholastic love too, if they were like, you need
a book that you can teach your kids, you know,
and to me, when what the Nazi Conspiracy is as
a kid's book and as an adult book, you know, yes,
it's cool to say we have a secret plot to
kill Fdr Stalin in Churchill and that's titilating and all that.
But the key thing about that book is that authoritarianism

(25:24):
has a roadmap, and it always has had a roadmap.
And if you look at it, you know, you have
this charismatic leader who basically is like, finds these you know,
these these poor and struggling economically, you know, white Germans,
and then he says those magic words, right, those magic
words are those people. Those people are the cause of

(25:46):
your pain. And for decades, you know, that's a code word, right, right,
And in World War Two it's a code word, you know,
Hitler's saying it about. In Adolf Hitler's case, it's it's
the Jewish people, right, But it eventually has become the
black community, it becomes a gay community, becomes the immigrant community,
and we forget that. To me, you know, the Holocaust

(26:08):
doesn't start with death camps. It starts with slogans and
propaganda and rallies and book bands. And to me, the
American dream is not about, you know, money. The American
dream is that when you see a bully and you
see someone being picked on, you use your voice and
you say enough enough already. And man, we're fighting Nazis

(26:31):
in twenty twenty five. Still they're still here. And you know,
and I'm not talking about like just calling anyone in
a different political party not say there are really we're
fighting Nazis, right like there are people who are happy
to watch the Jewish people be wiped off the planet.
And as someone who's Jewish, that matters to me a
great deal. So yeah, you know, when we want people's

(26:52):
kids to learn these lessons, because it's hard to change
the minds of adults. Eliot, as you know, but for
decades now, we've been arming the next generation of kids
with these lessons of kindness and generosity and compassion. And
I'll take that battle any day.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Hey, Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Like obviously, and we'll we'll circle back to the I
Am books and I'm definitely gonna get to the to
the novel.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?

Speaker 4 (27:19):
Oh yeah, working on it.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
Now. You're gonna You're gonna love this one. You're gonna
love this one. I'll tell I'll text you when we're done,
or unless you tell you don't you.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Know, because then I'll just I'll come back here and go, Hey, Brad,
text it.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
I know what it is. I'm horrible with secret. Yeah,
if normally I love a secret, but I'll blow it.
I'll blow it.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
You're gonna like it. It's good, all right?

Speaker 4 (27:37):
Tell me I'm not Yeah, no, go ahead, no, go ahead, no.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
No, no, I got all the time in the world. I
got it.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
Wherever you want to go?

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh, I was gonna say I mentioned the novel, dude.
We got a date for the novel?

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm coming to town.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
January sixth, just in time for Christmas, the.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
As usual marketing team that brought you January fifth, January seventh,
January eighth.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
So the new novel is The Viper, a Zig and
Nola novel.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Hey remind me? So, so back up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
When was the last When was the last Zig and
Nola novel?

Speaker 1 (28:18):
It's going to be by that January four years. I
mean it's a long time. I I mean I used
to write a book every two years, but when I
started doing the kids books and all the other stuff
we do, I was like, I just, you know, whatever,
something has to give somewhere. So it's four years, people,
I mean even my wife is like, I don't remember
what happened anymore. I'm like, don't worry. We reset everything,

(28:39):
like I can't you know? I and so what you don't?
You know? We got a really nice blurb from you
know some of these you send your books out to,
like famous people to blurb them. And one of the
blurbs came back and said, this is the perfect place
to start. You don't have to know anything about Zig
and Nola, but you can read The Viper and just
read a good story.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
And that's how I treat it.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
I treat it as like, whenever you pick it up,
it could be your first book.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
And you can go from there. So I but I love.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
This book and there is one thing in this book
I know you're gonna love and I can't you're gonna
get I don't know if they did they send you
a copy.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yet, No, no, I don't. I don't have a copy
of it.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
I did get an early copy, if I am Simone Biles,
though you did.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, you always get it. But you're you're about to
get the viper. The viper is you know it is.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Don't do not.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Turn your back on the viper. It's a it's a
I love this book.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
And so yeah, we're coming to DC.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
We're doing like Baltimore, we're doing outside other part of Maryland.
And then we're going back to Tyson's Corner which has
opened up again. The Warn't Noble there, so we're going
to be there as well. Wait hold on, we'll be
there in January.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Wait hold on, Brad, Yes, Tyler, Brad, are you waiting
on Elliott's blurb.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's the blurb we were waiting for, the blurb that says,
great job putting it out in January.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
We can get that.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
But no, but I'm glad. I'm glad number one. I
think like your wife, but I thought the same thing.
Is like when I was reading that it's coming out
in January, is like, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm so glad it's coming out.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
I don't remember how the other one ended, And in
my head, I was like, is there like is there
going to be a prequel book or something?

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Or do I just have to go back and read it.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
But I'm glad to hear that if I wanted to start,
I could just start there.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, no, Lessen, I mean I remember when I was.
I know it's a silly comparison, but like when you
read Harry Potter, you forget those books came out and
she was, you know, she really did whatever you think
about those books, Like she resets the table, right, You've
got to reset the table for everyone because I can't.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Remember what happened.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
And that's where I'm a middle aged guy, like my
brain is not you know, all of our brains have
been fried by social media. We can't remember anything. So
I was like, I'm going to just reset it. And
the funny part is this one scene in the book
that was in like my friend said to me because
he was proofing it for me who I always go to,
and he's like, this is my favorite scene. Man, you
kill this scene. I'm like, yeah, that scene is in

(30:52):
the previous two books, like it's in there two other times.
And he had no and I'm like, dude, you're my
best friend and you don't remember what I did, so
I have no hope for any Like, so I knew
and that's why I put it in there because I'm like,
you're never going to remember this scene. It's so vital.
So I we tell it again. We make sure you
get it again. We're not We're not crazy, all right,

(31:14):
good cy.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
The biper will be out on January sixth. Like you said,
you're coming to town. Last couple of things.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
What is the action figure thing that you got from
comic Con? Oh?

Speaker 4 (31:25):
This is the best. Oh, I gotta get one for you.
It's so good.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
So I walk up to I take my kids to
San Diego Comic Con this year. My boys wanted to
go and they said to me, can we go? And
I'm like, I've been waiting my whole life for you
to say those words.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
And as we walk up, there is a beautiful stunning
woman dressed as Linda Carter Wonder Woman, and I'm like,
it's a sign from God. It's the first cosplay I see,
so immediately I go up. I say, hey, can we
take a picture together? And and she I basically tell her.
I'm like, I know Linda Carter, She's gonna love your outfit.
And she's like, you really know her. I'm like, yeah,

(32:01):
she's a good friend of ours, Like we just didn't
that we didn't event with her in Virginia, like for
the for the I Am wonder Woman book. And so
she dms me on Instagram. I mean when I say, like,
you just look look up the picture of me and
Wonder Woman, you'll see like, and she dms me and says,
come buy my booth I have. I'm entertaining at some
booth or I'm dressing. And I don't even know what

(32:22):
she's talking about. Like I don't even pay much attention
because san Die is so big, but I get all.
I send a picture of the text of me and
Wonder Woman to Linda Carter and then Linda texts me
back and and writes back like how amazing the woman's
costume is. And as I turn the corner with that
text in my hand, I run into the woman at
this booth and her booth is a booth that she's

(32:44):
you know, entertaining to draw people. In is where they
make your own action figure of you. They scan your
body and they make you into an action figure.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
And so I'm like, oh my gosh, that's you.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
You're You're wonder when you're here. Here's here's the text
Linda Carter.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
And she loves it.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
She goes, I'm going to have them make a free
action figure of you. And again I'm like, I'm waiting
my whole life for this. And so they they get
I mean, they put you in a little like laser
thing and it's truly out of like you know, Minority
Report or something, and it scans around you and they're like,
you know, in two months, we're going to send you

(33:19):
an action figure. And I open up this box and
I'm like, oh my gosh, it's me. And the funniest
part is my daughter when she sees it, she's like, Dad,
because I have a little mole on the top of
my head. She's like, they didn't get the mole, and
she took a sharpie and put it in for me.
She literally sharpied my mole in.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
By the way, Tyler found the picture. That woman is
amazing looking.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
She's and she's the nicest person of all time, truly
one of the nice pupils. She's become a good friend.
And I love the fact that she was so excited
to see that. Linda Carter like thinks that she has
the longest legs on the planet.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
She is very tall. I mean she dwarfs you, that's
for sure.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh it's not. One, it's not hard, but two, yes
she does. I mean she's gigantic. And I'm like, even
without the boots, she's like, you know, six whatever. It's great.
But she's a perfect Linder Carter wonder woman.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Hey, what is the otis spunk Meyer chocolate chip cookie story.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Someone's been going through my instagram. So so I go
to do it. This is this is how my life works, right.
So I go to do this speech at this like
corporate event. And you know when you go to these
corporate events, they always have like pre food outside whatever.
They'll be like, you know, like salads or something, or
coffee stations or whatever. At this particular one, it was

(34:42):
a food service one. They have Hershey bars and Otis
spunk Meyer Cookies, which is crazy to me. So my
first thought is, well, I'm stealing all this, and so
I just load up on Spunkmeyer Cookies and Hershey Bars
because it's like full sized Hershe bars. And as I
give the speech, I'm like, listen, I have this line
in the speech says, when you leave here, when you
go back home, but I added the line just imprompt

(35:03):
I said, when you leave here and you're done stealing
all the Hershey bars and Otis spunk Meyer cookies like
you blah blah blah. And at the end of the speech,
these two people come up to me looking really serious.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
I'm I go, oh, this is bad.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
And they're representatives from the Hershey Corporation and from Otis
spunk Meyer Cookies. And both of them say the same
thing to me, that was so nice. Where So because
I said, and I said, by the way, I totally
stole them myself.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
I admitted to the audience.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
I sold myself. And I said, they said, thank you
for that shout out, give us your address. You're about
to get the best care packages in the world. And
I get an entire thing of Hershey bars that will
last me, you know, forever. And then Otis spunk Meyer
Cookies sends me like a year's worth of frozen cookies.

(35:48):
It's like, I can't tell you, like the picture doesn't
do it justice. It is like you need another refrigerator, freezer.
It is like pounds and pounds and pounds of giant cookies.
We eat them every weekend. I still am not halfway done.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's awesome, all right.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
So, by the way, my sons, my son's friends come
over and they're like, you got cookies. I'm like, I
got cookies for everybody. Let go.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
All right.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
So the Nazi Conspiracy for the young adult that's out.
More importantly, I am Simone Biles, part of the ordinary
People Change the World collection that is out and available.
Bred That book is great. That book is so so good.
And then we'll see you in January for Viper.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
I can't wait. I'll see you face to face and
miss you, guys. I appreciate all the kindness and love
for Simone Biles, because man, I think there are some
kids who need that mental health love right now.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
Amen, And by the way, have fun at the World
Series tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Yeah, thank you. I'll send you a picture, all right.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Good deal? Thanks Brad,