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November 3, 2024 11 mins
About Book 1: the main character Joseph Banbury's life takes an extraordinary turn when he's drawn into an otherworldly dialogue with the Devil himself. Tasked with documenting this unparalleled interview, Joe dives into a narrative that blurs the lines between myth and reality, good and evil.  As he navigates the complexities of the Devil's tales, Joe uncovers secrets that challenge the foundations of his beliefs and the world's understanding of the celestial balance. Faced with a prophetic warning about a pivotal choice that could reshape the universe, Joe's journey becomes a testament to the power of questions and the search for truth. He must navigate the treacherous depths of Hell itself, where nothing is as it seems and every truth comes wrapped in layers of deception. As Joe delves deeper into the Devil’s twisted narrative, he uncovers a chilling prophecy that foretells the end of the Universe. The clock is ticking, and the fate of humanity rests on a razor’s edge. Will Joseph succumb to the dark forces at play, or will he defy the Devil and change the course of destiny?

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Er, Hey man, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm good, how are you? Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Well, dude, I'm very excited to talk with you because
a couple of actually maybe a decade ago, I wrote
a book called Conversation with the Devil. So I'm very
excited to talk with you about how you brought a
story together.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Wow, Jeeves, look at that one of the odds. Wow.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
So when I saw the title, I'm going, oh my god,
this is going to be an amazing conversation because as
you write stories like this, personally, you you go in
different directions that other people say, uh, I'm not going there.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Right, Yeah, yeah, it was yeah, you know, it's it's
funny because it changed so much as I was writing
it every day.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know.

Speaker 5 (00:45):
It's there were just so many different you know that
there's this uh, there's this thing that I have where
it's like, you know, if I you know, if I'm
going in one direction and I feel like I just
maybe get a little stuck, or you know, I'm kind
of looking for that bit of creativity. I write vertically
while then might introduce a new character, or I might

(01:06):
you know, kind of just expand and give somebody a
little bit more of a backstory.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, such an interesting process.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
One of the characters in the book, the main character Joseph,
has drawn into the world with the Devil. They dive
into the realms of the reality of what's going on here.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, yeah, it's you know, so the deal is.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
I mean, you know, when I was writing, you know,
when I was creating the story, I really came at
it from the perspective of a span you know, because
I I'm a bit horror us. I'm an adis kids,
you know, kind of you know, polter Guy's child's play,
all that stuff right up to what we get today.
And you know, I always you know, there's a lot

(01:48):
of movies and stories that have stuck with me throughout.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
But there's also i'd say, you know, like.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
Eighty percent of stuff leaves you a little disappointed.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
You know. It'sycle, well, the devil rocks up, possesses.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
The kids, the priest comes in and saves the day,
in bang, We're all good, right, and then it's ritse
and repeat.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I was like, well, like, why did you steer it?
What's going on?

Speaker 5 (02:09):
Like, you know, what happens next and all that stuff.
When's the end of days and So I really wanted
to deliver something that no one's done before, you know it,
and take it to a place that no one has
taken it to before. And you know, I did some
pretty heavy research for it. I actually, uh worked with

(02:29):
people who were in the Satanic temple, oh and researched
and interviewed them for a year.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
So that was pretty wild.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
See that's the kind of stuff that I really like
when it comes to putting a book together, when you
go ahead and get your elbows, you know, grease them
up and get those hands dirty, because I mean, you've
got to bring a story together that's going to feel
and you know, and and really kind of question your
own life. Because even when Joseph has shown the end
of the universe, how many of us have been there.
We want to be shown the end of the universe.
We want to see what's going on and this dude

(02:58):
does it.

Speaker 6 (03:00):
Yes, Amen, it's exactly that. It's it's you know, the
goal by the end of the because this is the
first thing a trilogy, so and it's going to expand
to a universe of stories. But in this trilogy, you know,
my goal by the end of it is to have
everyone who's read it questioning that existence, so you know,

(03:21):
or whether you're questioning your own existence everywhere, and so
I when people are looking for the answer in this story,
I deliver the answer to you.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
So you know, I'll I mean, I'm just echoing what
you know.

Speaker 5 (03:34):
Some horror book influences are reading it, and you know
what they're saying. But I mean, I'm humble to say
that it's the greatest horror story.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
They've ever read.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
So you know, I'm kind of passing that on to say, look,
you will not.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Have read a story like this. It'll blow your mind.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
So now when you say that it's the greatest scary story,
I can see the people in Hollywood going, oh, really,
we could use one of those, right now? Does the
movie come before the third book?

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Hopefully all the trilogy is out, so they they've got it. Good,
they've got it. I've delivered. I can delivered it.

Speaker 5 (04:09):
So it's you know, I wrote and you'll know this
kind of when you were writing yours that you know,
there's just so much material. You know that I thought
originally of just releasing it as one book, but it would.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Be like war and peace.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
You know, you need like a suitcase to carry it around,
so I was like, oh, well, let's.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Let's break it up.

Speaker 5 (04:28):
And that's that's how I got the trilogy out pretty quick.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
This is the reason why you call this more than
a book, that it's an experience, because you went through
the experience.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Therefore we shall as well.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah. Yeah, and it's you know, there's you know, my.

Speaker 5 (04:43):
Writing style is to really immerse you in it, so
you know, it's it is one of those books where
when you're reading it, you it does come to you visually.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
You know, there's there's a scene in the beginning of
the book where the Joe.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
The main character and assistant, reaped down into the basement,
and I really wanted to paint the picture so that
when you're reading it, you can imagine yourself going down
into this basement.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
And so, you know, that's very much the writing style.
And then.

Speaker 5 (05:15):
It'll feel real with some of the reference, you know,
the references or you know, for instance, the interviews I
did with the members of this church, there's some real
historical accuracies in there. It's just it's you're right, it's
such an experience.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
You have a great question here, that's that really kind
of haunts my heart even today. What if everything you
thought you knew about the Devil was a lie and
you sit there and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, what would
I do?

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah? Yeah, I'm throwing some pretty heavy questions out there
for sure.

Speaker 5 (05:47):
But you know, when you get to the interview in
the first book, because this is a big it's a
world building stage.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
But once you get to the interview, you know, you
kind of think, oh, man, the devil.

Speaker 5 (05:56):
Isn't that bad, you know, it's that's kind of it's
it's like, oh, come on, but of.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Course he's the devil.

Speaker 5 (06:02):
I think that we have an agenda?

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Is he deceiving Joe?

Speaker 5 (06:07):
But yeah, I will say you read this, you read
this first book, you're gonna think, oh man, this this
guy's all right.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know what's really interesting is that you bring up
something that is so true about this modern day world.
The real danger isn't what's in the shadows.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
Yeah, you know, it's it's yeah, it's a good point actually,
and I probably got a lot of that.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
You know, I was raised as you know, a kid.
We just all scared the life out of each other.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
And my mom would always say, you know, it's the
it's not the dead you need to see, it's the living. Yeah,
and so it's you know.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
It's yeah.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
Probably some of that echoes in the book for sure,
but I do try and bring up as much of
it to life as I can.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Was there a sight of you that actually thought, hmmm,
I don't know about this, but okay, let's do it anyway.
There's a resurrection in this book as well.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
I just threw caution to the wind on you know,
I thought, if I'm going to deliver something like this.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I have to go all out.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
And again, it would have been very easy to write
another exorcist, you know, or something like that. It would
have been you know, that would have been so easy.
But I think to take it where I did. And
also in my description of what heaven and hell looks
like and who God and the Devil really are, I mean,
there is the ending of this this trilogy you won't

(07:26):
see coming, like it hasn't been done before those twicts
and turns through well, I mean I had to go
all in.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
I had to be like, okay.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
Well, here's also not only my fictional mind but also
my opinion, and you won't see the ending coming.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
But I did. I did have to go all out.
I'm like, if I'm going to do it, I'm going
to do it.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Let's talk about your writing discipline. When you create a
book like this, it gets to you inside emotionally. What
was your discipline did you Did you say, Okay, I'm
going into the writing room for a couple of hours.
If it gets too heavy, I've got to take a
walk through a forest.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yes, I feel like we've met before. It's like, I mean, yeah,
it was exactly that.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
You know, my environment really dictates a lot on how
I do write. You know, if there's anyone you know
out there that you know and their there writing and
they struggle with it, you know, I would take myself off,
Like I say, if it got heavy, I'd be like, okay,
I need a break.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'm going for a walk.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
But then the you know, the kind of adjacent to that.
I couldn't just write in my kitchen. You know, It's
like I needed to go somewhere where I felt a.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Little inspired, and.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
So yeah, it's yeah, when when it got heavy, I definitely,
you know, because you start falling in love with the character.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
You know, Joe I based a whole lot of.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
Personal experiences and so you know it was maybe bringing
back a lot of trauma. I don't know, like, Okay,
I need to take a break and go out for
a bit.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
So when when when Joe is complicated and yet fun,
I mean that you're saying that to you, then, I
mean I think.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
He's a little bit of all of us.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
You know, it's like the dude wrote a best selling book,
because that's his character, that he wrote a book challenging religion,
and that's how the devil ended up getting to him.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
But you know, he wrote a really successful book.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
He became really rich, and there's a Manhattan and he's
in his mid thirties, and you know, he can't keep
a relationship down to save his life, and he's lonely.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
You know, he's looking for the he's looking for.

Speaker 5 (09:22):
You know, his family can't connect with them except his
sister and she's busy, and so you.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Know, he's lonely.

Speaker 5 (09:28):
You know, he's experienced things that we all have to
some degree, and you know, you throw in a successful
book and you get a little bit of a bit
of an ego and she's everything that the devil needs
to come up and manipulate.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
So, yeah, I there's a lot of me and him
for sure.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Oh my god, I just I'm so fascinated with this
book because I'll tell you what, there's gonna be a
lot of people come out of the woodwork that's going
to say, you know, I think I had an interview
with the devil too. I know I had an interview
with the devil. And that's what I just I really
believe that this Okay, so about we the people.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
One hund it's exactly that. It's exactly that. It's there's love,
there's loss.

Speaker 5 (10:09):
This every you know, there's every emotion that you might
have experienced. And you know, we all have demons, and
you know, for the first half of the book, you
do think like, you know, a lot of feedback.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
I've got people like.

Speaker 5 (10:23):
I didn't know in the beginning if it was just
him going mad or you know.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Whether it really was the devil.

Speaker 5 (10:30):
But yeah, we all have our own demons, and I
think we have all talked to and in a devil
at some point.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Wow, where can people go to find out more about you?

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (10:39):
Well, my uh, yes, my name is just Michael Harburn
dot com. So you can find out more there. And
then if you want to find out more about the
the book just I mean it's it's on Amazon.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
That's probably the easiest place.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
And then yeah, connect with me.

Speaker 5 (10:56):
I mean I have like this small core group of
readers that I talk too regularly. They hit me up
on Instagram and stuff, and yeah, any one, I love it.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Please come back to this show anytime in the future.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Michael. The door is always going to be open for you.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh god, I'd love to excellent. Thanks, I really appreciate it.
It was great to talk with you.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Will you be brilliant today?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Okay, yes, yeah, Happy Halloween.
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