June 21, 2025 • 58 mins
Off The Shelf Books welcomes a storyteller whose work blurs the lines between reality, rebellion, and razor-sharp imagination—Michael Bland.
By day, Michael works in the financial services world, but his true passion lies in the realm of fiction. A seasoned writer trained at the University of Iowa and a founding member of the exclusive BookPod collective, Michael has made waves in both short fiction and full-length novels. His award-winning short story “Elizabeth” earned recognition from Writer’s Digest, and his gripping sci-fi thriller series, The Price of Safety, continues to spark thought and conversation with its chillingly plausible look at surveillance, power, and resistance.
We’ll talk about what drives Michael to write, how his background influences his stories, and what readers can expect from the third installment of The Price Of trilogy. Plus, we'll dive into his latest release, Lawyers Can’t Fly—a comedic work that adds even more depth to his growing literary legacy.
Whether you're a fan of thrilling sci-fi, deeply human stories, or just love discovering fresh, powerful voices—this episode is for you.
Tune in NOW!
Streaming on all major platforms
Off The Shelf Books with Host, Author Denise Turney: Where stories matter and authors shine.
By day, Michael works in the financial services world, but his true passion lies in the realm of fiction. A seasoned writer trained at the University of Iowa and a founding member of the exclusive BookPod collective, Michael has made waves in both short fiction and full-length novels. His award-winning short story “Elizabeth” earned recognition from Writer’s Digest, and his gripping sci-fi thriller series, The Price of Safety, continues to spark thought and conversation with its chillingly plausible look at surveillance, power, and resistance.
We’ll talk about what drives Michael to write, how his background influences his stories, and what readers can expect from the third installment of The Price Of trilogy. Plus, we'll dive into his latest release, Lawyers Can’t Fly—a comedic work that adds even more depth to his growing literary legacy.
Whether you're a fan of thrilling sci-fi, deeply human stories, or just love discovering fresh, powerful voices—this episode is for you.
Tune in NOW!
Streaming on all major platforms
Off The Shelf Books with Host, Author Denise Turney: Where stories matter and authors shine.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the winning literary show Off the Shelf
Books Talk Radio Live with host Denise Turney, author of
the books Long Walk Up, Porsche, Love, Mo Over Me,
Spiral Love Has Many Faces, and Rosette Us Great Hope.
Turn up your dial and get ready for a blast
of feature author interviews, four one one on book festivals,
(00:21):
writing conferences, and so much more. Ready, let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to this Saturday's June the twenty first,
twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Five author self book podcast. Who Allow your listeners. I
always look out the show with you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you, thank you, thank you eighteen years for being
with us here for eighteen years, and our audience this
is worldwide, it's just growing, So thank you for being
here with us.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
If this is your first time, just.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Wherever you are surfing a lot, we're on so many
different platforms that you're listening to Off the Shelf this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I want to tell you that you absolutely are.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Listening to the winning book radio podcast Off the Shelf,
and welcome to you.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I like to also start with a quote, just something
for just.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
A mind that you on throughout the day, and this quote,
the source is anonymous, and the quote is every day
is a chance to be better. That is really powerful.
Every day is a chance to be batter something to
start with. And I next, as I've asked this question,
(01:43):
I asked different ones about different books that I've written,
and one is a mystery story. It's a love story
as well, and it's titled Love for Over Me. I
love mysteries. I love mysteries if you love a mystery.
There is a murder mystery in his story. And Raymond
(02:04):
Clark is a is a track and field olympian. He's
on his way too. He's a middle distance runner fetom
and he's also very gifted academically.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
He's really smart.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But him and his father had this complicated relationship because
his dad has untreated alcoholism, so he's growing up with this.
But he loved him enough to take care of him, right,
and so it's just these complications there and their relationship
when he goes to college is like the script flips.
He meets the woman he supposed really to spend the
(02:38):
rest of his life with. But he's also this talented athlete.
He's just a and he is a really gentle guy.
But he's in his early twenties and he's everything's going
his way, and he comes across he witnesses something he
wasn't no way could he have expected to see this.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Then he meets these five, these.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Friends at college, and one of them is actually involved
in this murder, but he doesn't know that. As a
story unwined, You've got this wonderful love story, this complicated
father son relationship, and these friends, these dude friends, are
friends for life. One of them goes on to the NFL.
(03:24):
They all grow up and do well, but then one
has this this secret, the secret. If you like mysteries
and you love you value relationships, I encourage you to
get a copy of Love Pull for Me by Yours truly,
Denise Turney. Today it's an audiobook ebook and in print
again Love Pour Over Me by the Nice Tournemy. And
(03:48):
now let us go and meet our very special office
shelf guests. I learned something from every guest and I'm
just so excited. And our special guest this morning is
Michael Bland. Michael works at a financial services firm, but
that's not all. His passion is writing books. He has
(04:09):
studied writing at the University of Iowa and he is
a founding member and the Secretary of Book Pod and
invitation only only online support group of people who specialize
in film, TV, books, magazines and journals. His short story
Elizabeth won Honorable Mention Impressive and Writers Digest twenty fifteen
(04:32):
Popular Fiction Awards Contests Congratulations. His novel The Price of
Safety was released on April sixth, twenty twenty during COVID
from World Castle Publishing. It is the first of the
Price of the Price of trilogy. The sequel, The Price
(04:53):
of Rebellion, was released on May sixteenth, twenty twenty three,
and additionally, Michael has written in public with the book
Lawyers Can't Fly. You can check Michael out online at
mc bland dot com. It's well just the way it
sounds mc b l A n d dot com, mc
(05:13):
bland dot com. We are just absolutely honored to have
Michael with us on Off the Show Books podcast this morning. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Michael, Denise.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Thank you for having me on. It's great to be here.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
It is a pleasure to have you.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
This is the first question we ask every guest and
those who've been listening for many years or if it's
your first time catching listening to Off the Show, if
you can go back and listen to some of the
other interviews. It's just interesting how the authors answer some
of these intro questions that I asked generally every guest
who's come on the show. So to kick off the
(05:50):
show this morning, Michael, can you please tell off the
show listeners where you grew up and what life was
like for you growing up.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Oh do question? I grew up? Excuse me. I grew
up in the Midwest. Single mom raised me with my
sister who is four years older than I am, and
we're still very close, always been close. Didn't have a
lot of money, and so imagination and uh, running out,
(06:24):
being outside all day during the summer. I would you know,
it was the typical where the lights kick on on
the street and you listen to you know, hear your
mom's always yelling at you to come back in for dinner.
Would be out all day long with my friends and
exploring and having fun and using our imagination and bicycling everywhere. Uh,
(06:47):
And it was h you know, kind of trope kind
of thing, but in a way, it was a more
innocent kind of experience growing up. Also, that's when Star
Wars came out, and so as why I wanted to be.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Jedi.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Yes, that that absolutely captivated me. And you know, to
this day, if I could ever get a real lightsaber,
i'd be very dangerous, but I would absolutely love to
have one. But that's that's the world that I grew
up in. And when I actually when I was ten
years old, I wrote. I created three comic books. Yes,
I was kind of a geek. Yeah, And I drew
(07:26):
them and I wrote, I wrote the stories and drew
them and amazingly I still had them because my mom
kept those, which she gave to me a ten years later,
so I still have those. And then I went to school.
I did very well in school. Numbers were always super
easy for me, and so I ended up going to
(07:47):
college for financeable things because I thought that's what you do.
My dad was a businessman, so I thought, well, that's
what you do, is you do finance, you know, or
a business. And so since numbers were always easy for me,
that's the route that I went to. My first job
out of college was in the collections department, which included
repolling cars for a living. And I'm going, really, this
(08:07):
is my life no, no, no, there's gotta be more. And
that's when I my love of stories and of writing,
and so I started down that path.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Interesting, you know, you just you said something when I
asked about how you what it's life all like for
you growing up? That was another guest and several guests
are said, when that street light came on, oh you could, Yes,
that's the way it was. Kids played outside a lot
years ago. That I don't see kids playing outside so
(08:43):
much anymore, but I guess because of technology.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
They have their gadgets and stuff indoors.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
But yeah, kids were five riding their bikes and playing
and all day and then then when that street like
came on, you're supposed to start heading home. Now, financial services,
that is a fast paced industry. I've worked in it,
so that's where I know that from. It is very fast.
I've worked in retail, in the military, I've worked in
(09:12):
healthcare and academia, and I'm telling you, of all of them,
I feel like financial services had the fastest.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Pace to it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
How do you juggle working in financial services and writing books.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Well, one, it helps that I have a very understanding spouse.
She when we met, she knew that I wrote novels. So,
and we don't have kids to be bloked, so I
have time on weekends. Yeah, So during the week I
might be able to tinker here and there in the evenings,
(09:52):
and I know, in the back of my head whatever
the story idea I'm working on is kind of percolating,
and then on the weekends is when I get the
vast majority of my writing it.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Okay, Nah, Can I switch in a little bit and
talk about two more questions before we start talking about
one of your books. What was it like living in
Russia as part of a food exchange program?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And how did that experience?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I asked us of our listeners who have lived or
traveled abroad, how did that experience affect your writing?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I wanted to learn another language. My grandfather, my mom's
dad knew five languages, and so I always wanted to
learn another language and have that ability. And when I
was in college was the time of glisals in Pastroko,
where the Sevie Union was falling apart, so I thought
that'd be a really great opportunity. I was always fascinated
(10:46):
by you know, I was growing up not only with
you on the streetlights coming on, but also where you know,
the Soviet Union is going to bomb us any day now.
So I was like, well, these they have families, they
have people they care about. Why would they want to
destroy us and potentially get destroyed as well? And so
I took frush and I was able to get through
(11:10):
a program through University of Michigan State to go over
there for the summer. And it was extremely eye opening
in that they were in a way they some of
the smartest people I've met. Their their science and their
their mathematics and engineering are are outstanding. Yet they knew
(11:32):
almost nothing about basic economics, supply and demand. They were yeah,
and they were a third world country in many ways.
Now this is back many, many years ago, but I
really don't think it's probably changed a lot, maybe to
some degrees, but there's still a huge disconnect. And also
the disparagon between rich and poor is even also very
(11:54):
extremely there. So it really did impact. Also when I
was writing this specific trilogy, some kind of elements I know,
kind of filtered in in terms of a kind of
over like a belief in that the people at the top,
they are mysterious and they're doing what they're doing for
(12:15):
the best for everybody. And it was also really interesting
that one of the things is that they project their
belief in themselves via the strength of their leader. They
want someone who is strong. When I was there, Boris
Yeltsen was in power and they kind of didn't feel
as good about themselves. I know, these strokes, but talking
(12:39):
to numerous people about it, they really wanted a strong
leader because then that means they're strong. Ah.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Interesting, I wanted that if that happens actually everywhere in
some in some form, that in what ways has working
in financial services and influenced more directly than the stories
that you write.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Maybe in an indirect way?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, are you a John Christam?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
No, I don't write about the financial services because, frankly,
I don't think it's that interesting. I mean, maybe it is,
and maybe at some time I will, but I think
it's almost like, you know, blending too much of my
passion with my day job, if that makes sense, Okay,
And so this in a way is kind of an escape.
What I'm writing is nothing to do with the the
(13:32):
my day job, and so that I guess maybe also
my brain, so I don't mix up. Wait, am I
thinking about an actual you know?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:39):
The thing that's going on at work, or am I
imagining my story? Maybe my brain would would mix those
up too much and I would start causing problems at
work for something that I was imagining in a book
of mine, which would be a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Okay, yeah, now, can you please give off the shelf
listeners an overview of the Price of Safety?
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
So.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
The Price of Safety is set a little over twenty
years in the future, where technology has become so inwoven
into our lives that no crime goes unsolved anymore. When
the main character hit that's Dray con terror when his
nineteen year old daughter commits a crime, he covers it
up to save her life, and that starts down this
(14:22):
path where he discovers that his own technology is being
used to manipulate and control everyone.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Hmm, interesting, thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Okay, So the story takes place twenty years into the future.
Where give us the setting? What is is?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
What is the area where this story takes place. What
does it look like?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Are there flying cars? What are people having robots for friends?
And what's going on in this setting where this story
takes place.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
It's a great question. So it's set in the first
book is said in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's
and it's very well. I try to make it as
relatable as possible, however, also setting it with a futuristic tone,
because imagine where we were twenty five years ago, we're
(15:16):
still basic using beepers, to where we are now and
and advance of technology, and where are we're going to
be in twenty five years. So I did a lot
of research in terms of where we are in terms
of advancement technology and where we are going with certain
certain things, so that I could project to where the
(15:38):
technology will become. So there are robots, they're not like,
you know, I robot, it's not you don't have R
two D two unfortunately you know by your side in it,
because I didn't think that's where we're going to be
in twenty five years. However, drones are very prevalent the
tracking software. Also, some of the technology that I was
(16:02):
starting that was imagining might come true actually already has
started to come f wow, and I'll give you an example.
So right after so one of the technologies in my
book is called a DNA scanner, because we all shed
dead skin cells and hair follicles just no of course
of life. Well, in my book, this device called a
(16:22):
DNA scanner will suck those those dead skin cells and
hair foggles out of the air, run the DNA and
identify you.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
A month after the Price Rebellion came out, a company
California announced they made that exact.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Technology Get out of Town.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
They claim it for Well, we'll put them on like
hiking paths, so if a hiker goes missing, g we'll
know where they were.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Oh my gosh, They're not going to use it for that,
Let's be honest. Oh my goodness, that is so wild.
Why though, okay, this nice.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
This is why I loved the show and people who listen,
because when you start digging deeper into the story, you
can't put all this in a book description. As you write,
why do the crimes? Why did they never go unseen
or unsolved? And is this happening at the start of
the prices set of safety? Who invented this whatever so
(17:17):
they can know crime goes unsolved? Who invented it? And
why so.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Drake created the technology to drastic reduce crime to the
point where it really doesn't go unsolved anymore, because we
are there are already so many cameras and it's weird.
I mean, we've already gotten so just used to being
checked by our phones, having cameras everywhere, and we're fine
(17:42):
with it. I read I was told the statistic recently
that in London, an average person walking just around the
city of London is captured by three hundred and thirty
different cameras. Oh my god, that's in twenty That was
in twenty twenty four. Where were we going to be
in twenty forty seven when my book is out?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Book?
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah? So what he did, what Dre did because he
one of the big things with great Man terrorists. Let
me just talk about him for a second. He's an engineer.
He's an extremely skilled engineer, in fact, one of the
top of the country. And what drives him though is
protecting his kids. He has two daughters, or Raven and Talia,
(18:27):
and so what he wants to do is he wants
to make the world better for like any parent wants
to make the world better for them. So what he
did was he helped create He did right, created a
system that links all of the existing cameras across the
country because there are all different systems, all different software
is all, you know, their own both private and public cameras.
(18:50):
His system links them all together. So that way, if
there's a crime that's committed, now the police have hundreds
of cameras to instantly link to to track and find
the criminal.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, oh my gosh, So what you said is he
he's got two daughters. He wants to make the world
better for them. Is he described his personality?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Is he married? How old is he? Uh?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And I guess he's living in San Francisco or LA
at the time of this story.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And is he like more of a like a very
social guy? Is he?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Is he like what they called him type A or.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Type A personality? He's he's extremely skilled with uh as
an engineer, but he's he's social, but he's slightly awkward socially.
He is is And partly where that stems from is
he he was raised by a single mom, never knew,
(19:53):
never knew, his dad, doesn't have any siblings, lost his mom.
She died when he was h around twenty. He's in
his mid forties during the time of the book series,
So he's suffered loss. He's married, and he and his
wife we were extremely close. But then he also then
(20:15):
suffered another loss in that they had a son, Adam,
who died as an infant, and this also drives Dray
to be so protective of his daughters. He felt he
let his son down even though it was no fault.
What happened was absolutely no fault of anyone, was just
an accident, and so that's what drives them this whole series.
(20:41):
But he also is law abiding and he believes in
the police because when he was young, his mom was
in a bad relationship and so Deray protected her by
shooting a crossbow at this guy who is to hit her.
His mom, Well, the police covered it up because they
(21:06):
saw that, look, there was an abusive guy. Drey's just
trying to protect his mom. So ever since then, Dre
always believed in the police and supported them, And so
he starts out this whole trilogy as this family man,
this law abiding guy, this extremely talented engineer. And the
(21:29):
story how he changes over the course of these three
novels is this huge transformation because also what one would
I put him through? And then two, he's going to
become the one that's going to lead the efforts to
try to free the country from this hidden coup that happened,
(21:52):
and by taking this guy who's this law abiding citizen
who cares for his kids, who loves his wife though
they've been strained to get to the point where he
is this battlescarred hero that leads the fight. That's that's
a huge journey and that's what happens during throughout this trilogy.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Oh my gosh, it sounds so interesting. Do you do
you go into in depth? Being that this is a
really foundational experience for Dre. Do you go into like
the passing of his son in the first book?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Yes, yes, that first book, Yes, and the rarefications of that.
Even though his son's death happens prior to the first book,
the rarefications are still felt and still impact some of
the events in the first book.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Now does his daughter Raven? Does she live with him?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And what's going on in Raven's life at the start
of the Price of Safety.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
So is a smart, headstrong, idealistic, nineteen year obd women.
A lot of teenagers iolistic, really idealistic, right, So she
really wants to make a difference. She wants to help
others who can't help themselves. And she has a secret
(23:24):
at the start of the book in that she has
discovered that there are these rebels, these groups of people
that have discovered that there's something wrong with the government
of twenty forty seven and that everyone is being lied to.
And so she is actually going to She lives with
with Drer and Mina, her parents, and she goes she's
(23:49):
a freshman at UCLA, but she's gotten in contact with
these rebels and she's planning to join them.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Wow, God, Now, had you always plan to create this
story as a series or is that's something that just
kind of happen it?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
So just give a little insight into my excuse me
into my writing is that I have to plan everything
out and partably that's my way, the way my brain works,
and probably because I do have a full time job
that I need to outline everything, plan it all out
before I start writing. Also because of the story, because
(24:29):
of the world that I have, the technology that I have,
I couldn't I had to make sure everything made sense
because of if you have something where they are so
interconnected in the communications, so easy back and forth between people,
and I couldn't have a situation where a Gieve will
you know, trade just called his daughter then they would
(24:49):
resolve everything. Well, No, that's this world is I can't
have it that way, okay, So I had to plan
it all out. But what I was finding was as
I was coming to the end of the story, it
was opening up a larger world. The original idea is
(25:10):
this is going to be a single novel, and it
douns it has a beginning, middle on end, but almost
like you remember the original matrix. Yes, and Neo becomes
the one and he is now you know, he's taken
on his role, he's completed his that journey. But then
he has that call on the phone both to the
end to the Asians to say, you know, basically watch
(25:34):
out here I come. It opens up a larger world.
And so that's what happens in my book, in that
dre beginning, middle on end, and then it's opening up
to this larger world because of what he discovers during
the course of the first book.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Ah, okay, can you introduce us to some of the
other major and minor minor characters who helped move this
story forward. You do a great job of talking about
your story. The more you talk about it, the more
intriguing this story sounds. But can you introduce us to
some other major minor characters who help to move this
(26:14):
story forward.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Yes, absolutely, I'd love to. The bad guy. His name
is Kieran. He is an Egypt of this very powerful
federal agency that came out of the NSA, and agents
are very distinct in that they have metallic silver hair.
(26:39):
And the reason is because everyone in the future has
a very small little implant in their head, like a
very tiny, little minor mini computer. And that's explained why
in the book Kieran has six or seven implants. He's
(27:00):
hyper connected to various government systems, various surveillance, all those things.
He's also bio enhanced, and he was a former military
and he tried to be tried out for the Navy Seals.
(27:21):
Have you known that is extremely tough ruling training to pass.
But he fails. Ah, And the head of the agency
takes those who failed and give them another option, another
(27:42):
chance to be great, another chance to make a difference
and protect the country. And then the process he manipulates
them m and he twists them, and he uses their
love of country and that failure to warp. They're with
(28:02):
what is right and wrong in their eyes. AH, So
Kieren believes he is doing well. Everyone is the hero
of their own story right, and that includes Kieren, and
he starts out one team uh Drey to join him.
That he sees the incredible engineering knowledge and abilities that
(28:25):
Dray has, and he's thinking, this guy could help me
protect our country even more. I could help you know
all of us even more. Andrey's going no, no, because
there's a number, there's some red flags. And then with
what happens with with his daughter, with Raven committing the crime.
(28:49):
Now Dre's hiding something, especially as this very powerful agent
is sniffing.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Around and trying to recruit him.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
And he is you expect they our style. Now you
gonna be in opposing They're gonna be fighting against each other.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Interesting. What is Dre's wife like is she does she
play a big role in his book.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
She does play a role mina. She is politically connected,
she is very smart politically. She's actually the chief of
staff for the la Mayor at the start of the novel.
She's successful in her own right. She however, is also
struggling the as you can imagine, the loss of a
(29:36):
child will put massive strain to any marriage. I don't
care how close to people are that kind of a loss.
And so there's that tension between the two of them
from the start of the novel because of what happened
prior to the beginning, and then when they now have
(29:57):
Raven in trouble because of what happened, that adds to
the strain. And it also reopens the wounds and the
scars of what happened with their son because now they
have another child who's threatened.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Hmm, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I love how you interweave these things. Now do do
robots We're looking out twenty years? Do robots and AI
play a role in the series?
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Robots do AI? Not as much. I really didn't want
to focus on AI. I instead wanted more of the
humans and the humans making the decisions and then the
achievements and the failures. Okay, so, but robots are do
play a role. They are part of it. And in fact,
(30:45):
in the second one, there are these robot Attech dogs
that are brutal if you've seen the Boston Dynamics videos
with their like robotic dogs, and in fact, in China
they're starting to already put a big machine guns on
these robotic dogs. And so I'm taking it out twenty years.
What kind of weapons could you create out of these
(31:07):
kinds of robotic dogs, and so those player role in
the second book.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Oh gosh, nice, even in our overal world. What's going
on at the start of the Price of Rebellion? And
how many years from the end of the Price of
Safety and the start of the Price of Rebellion only.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
About a month different? Oh okay, so that's the end
of the first book. Like I said, Dre opens up
to this wider world, and so that a month later,
Dre and Raven are now in the thick of it.
Now they're with the Rebellion and they're being pulled into
this world day one that Dray didn't know truly existed
(31:51):
to the extent of it. And Raven is now she's
this is you know, she's now starting to live her dream.
She is now part of this group that is going
to you know, make a difference and they're going to
free everyone, and she's going to become a part of it.
And she also has a chip on her shoulder from
events that happened in the first book where she wants
to be the best fighter that anyone has seen, and
(32:14):
so she is becomes this warrior throughout the course of
the second novel, and then becomes very effective as well.
And with it also she her boyfriend Jax, who's a rebel.
He becomes a larger part. But we also start learning
on the you know, on Kieran side with the agency,
(32:34):
and the head of the agency has a connection that
is not expected. And then they they discovered Drade. They're attacked.
The agency has discovered with the rebellion and with what
(32:55):
Dray did at the end of the first book. Now
there's going to be some payback, and so now the
rebels are scrambling and now they're being hunted. And then
Dre finds a key, finds a way that he thinks
will absolutely change the game, that will really reveal the
truth to everyone, and so they plan a massive, huge
(33:21):
attack that is going to absolutely change the course of
the country. And then Dre gets a call and something
that he thought never would happen happens. And I'm trying
not to give away, but he but he's given a
(33:43):
ridiculous hope, a hope that shouldn't exist, and so he
has to choose does he chase after that hope or
does he try to end this war?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Oh my gosh, yeah, only see the gay you know,
I'm getting ready for that third when coming Now? Does
Mina help Dre fin answers to the questions he has,
like trying to find who stole members of Congress's identities.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Mina is a very complicated character in it. She does not,
but some of the other rebels do.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, it sounds like Drake had some people in his
own family might not be the trust now. As I
was researching for the interview, I also wanted to ask
is Dre part of a larger organization and can he
really be trusted or is he more of a lone ranger.
He works with a group, but he's really more of
a lone ranger And can Dre really be trusted?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
That's a great question, and I think he can be.
It's not as much trust, it's where his loyalties lie.
Because throughout all three books, throughout all that he goes through,
through all of the the struggle and the victory and
the defeats, is a guy trying to protect his kids
(35:09):
and that struggle the entire time, And are you going
to put them at risk? And what is acceptable? And
at what point do you go No, I have to
stop because they're in danger. And yet if you don't stop,
what kind of world are you leaving?
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Now? Wow? So one book three? When it will.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Book three be out? And is the is this the
last and final book? Or now will do you see
this story?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Is warrant? I have fourth book?
Speaker 4 (35:42):
The third book is out?
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Okay, give us a title.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
The Price of Freedom?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Okay, okay, tell us about the price of freedom.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Okay, So the Price of Freedom. It's set about a
month after the end of after the end of the
press for Biden, and in it he starts out that
he is imprisoned and has lost everything. And then and
(36:13):
readers are going to experience the twists and turns that
he and Raving the others experiences. They face these incredible
odds and heartbreaking choices that drive him to make make
a very difficult decision. And as it says in the
back of the book that Dre tried running, he tried fighting,
(36:37):
and this time he must try something radically different, something
no one will see coming.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
It's his daughter, Raven, And what's his other daughter doing?
He's got to is she just not in the scene
at all, She's not caught up on either side.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Talia is probably my favorite character. Actually, she's twelve years old.
She is a hacker, genius, extraordinary, is a spitfire, sees
through people, uh does not you know, suffer fools. And
(37:18):
she kind of has her own little language too, the
way she kind of talks, and she just to me
leaps off the page. And she is so much fun
to write, let alone to to you know, have her
go through this novels and she plays a role. She
(37:39):
plays actually a couple of roles throughout the trilogy.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
She's she's on her dead side. I'm sorry, I just
from listening to you describe her. She's she's down with
her dead.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Raven is kind of sound like on the opposite side
of her dad, and Talia is all the way riding would.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, oh yeah, ok? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
By book three, is it still that way? Is Raven
still not seeing it the way or dad death?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
There there is a they do start to get closer
in terms of seeing eye eye to a degree because
with with fighting and with the this drive to uh
defeat the bad guys for lack of a better phrase,
So they do continue to stay stay meet. They have
(38:33):
that commonality, but the approach and also you know Dre's
need to protect her, which starts to irritate her as
She's like, look, I can, I proven I can take
care of myself. Yet he wanted still being a father,
wanting to protect her. So there's that conflict as well throughout,
even even through the third book.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Is Mina still involved in the government. She's got a
pretty big position as a for the mayor, her connection
to the mayor, she's still there. I could see where
she could be conflicted on either side. Is she still
involved us? She stepped away from that, She's pulled.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Away from the in the first book, and she's going
with it. You're you're wanting to have us get you know,
have us be around these rebels, and you're actually what
you're going to look to try to have them help us.
Yet part of my job with the mayor was to
help defeat capture these people. What are you doing? And
(39:31):
so she has this conflict.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Oh my goodness, I don't tell us how it ends.
I kind of want to know if one of them
is going to win. But all it seemed like dre Mina,
Talia Raven, they all want the same They're rooting for
the same team. But like you said, the approach may
(39:55):
be different. Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Or's one of them?
Speaker 4 (39:59):
It's most well, it's mostly accurate. How abould I say
that mostly accurate?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I said, this is going to be a surprise at
the end. Somebody, You're going to do something. Somebody goes,
oh my gosh, and what is Drey doing in prison?
Speaker 3 (40:18):
He don't give it away.
Speaker 4 (40:21):
Yeah, you'll you'll have to read that. I don't want
to give it away, okay, but I will say that
that the third book is the end. That's it is
a trilogy, and it the story does end. Now there
are a couple I could do a couple of spin offs,
(40:41):
something happens later on, but the story that starts in
the Price of Safety is completed.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
The Price in the Price of Freedom, so we have
for our listeners.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
It kicks off with the Price of Safety, and that's
when you get to meet Dre and Nina and Raven
Italia and learn about their family and the loss of
their son and how the impacts Dre and Mina. And
then the second book is The Price of Rebellion. And
the third book in the trilogy, which we just discussed,
(41:13):
is The Price of Freedom. And what an intriguing, interesting book.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
I could see this as a movie so easily.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Now kind of switching gears a little bit as we
come down to about the last ten minutes of the
day show is Lawyers Can't Fly?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
And that's a switch off from just Trilogy. Is Lawyers
Can't Fly?
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Is this a work of fiction or nonfiction? And what's
the inspiration behind this story?
Speaker 4 (41:42):
It's fiction and it's a humorous take on superheroes because
you know, superheroes are tired of you know, saving the
day yet getting sued for the property damage that they
happen to you know, you know, triggered while they're saving
the day. And the main care Ben he doesn't want
to become their their lawyer because I mean, no one
(42:05):
will respect anyone that's protecting that has people in tights
his clients, and so but they decide that they want
him as their lawyer. And it's really hard to you know,
ignore someone that has super strength and can fly, and
so they rope him into becoming their lawyer and his
life gets turned upside down and at the but at
(42:26):
the end, he becomes their only hope.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
And who is fantasm.
Speaker 4 (42:33):
Is one of the you know, one of the superheroes
in it. And I had a lot of fun with
this with this story. And if you can't tell it
to humorous take on superheroes, like, for example, a mighty Man.
He's kind of like Superman and he's got this a massive,
you know, amazing physique, and well it doesn't matter what
he eats, he doesn't gain any weight. So he eats
(42:54):
the worst crap throughout the entire novel, you know, uh,
deep Fried, Uh, you know, Oreos and you know, greasy
pizza and all this. So almost every scene he's you know,
eating this you know, really really horrible bad food for you,
you know, but it doesn't matter to him because he doesn't
you know anyway, So it was a humor has taken
(43:17):
So actually, my my sister was in Columbus, Ohio, had
forded me an email that she had gotten saying that hey,
for uh, I guess so I forget where it was.
It was like a comic con type of thing, World
World wizardst something like that that Columbia Pictures was, we're
going to have representatives there and if you you can
(43:39):
have a chance to pitch your story idea and so
go to this website and type out, you know, provide
a summary of your idea and all this stuff and
all that well as a lark. Okay, So I did it,
and then a week before, eight days before the World
wizard Fest thing, I got an email saying you were selected.
(43:59):
I want you to Oh my gosh, I my pictures.
So I called my sister and I said, Hey, I'm
going to be crashing on your couch for this. I'm
coming to town. She's like, wait, I said that two,
he's a joke, and I'm like, well, I like the idea.
So it went in and I found out that I
was one of only sixteen.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
People that were Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
So I had never pitched a story idea before. So
I went in and when it was my turn, sat
down and over. I had six minutes and I don't
know if I've ever talked that fast in my life.
But the good news is the parts that I hope
that they the two very very pleasant women that were
(44:40):
there I was pitching to, they laughed. When I hoped
that they would have laughed, they went, oh, and I
hope they would have odd And they seemed really really
enthusiastic about the story idea and so great, thanks for
being touch awesome great. So I chalked it up as
a fun experience and about a week later, I got
(45:00):
an email, Hey, we like you to send us your
entire manuscript.
Speaker 3 (45:04):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4 (45:07):
The sad thing is that was that's the end of
the story. I haven't heard anything since.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
How long ago was that?
Speaker 1 (45:13):
That was?
Speaker 4 (45:14):
Oh my goodness, this was in I think twenty eighteen.
It was before I did I sending to the same
thing and got an automatic response and you know, well,
you know this is not a monitor email.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
I was like, seriously, Wow, maybe who knows, maybe somebody
will hear about your trilogy. And one of them most oh,
I remember that guy, and one of them all contact.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
I have the same cell phone number I've had since
you know, two thousand and five.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
So what have readers been saying about, uh, the the trilogy,
the Price of trilogy.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
I've had great, great responses I've had I've gotten great reviews.
It's it's been so heartening and inspiring to get the responses.
And of course not everyone's gonna like every story. You're
gonna pick any story on the planet and you'll have detractors.
But I've gotten really positive responses. The reactions to what
(46:22):
happens with some of the characters in the story also
mean a lot because That means they care about the characters, which,
as a writer, if you don't care about the characters,
I've done a horrible job. Yeah, and I will. I'm
very proud that. Also I've won a number of awards
for all three books.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
Actually, Okay, congratulations, that's how that spikes volumes in any
of again the readers and the reviews, and won an award.
So congratulations and look forward to what you write next. Now,
tell us about the editing services that you offer, and
(47:03):
do you still offer those services?
Speaker 4 (47:05):
I offer uh services in terms of editing, both for
grammar and minor mistakes, in terms of the spelling and
that type of that type, but also on a larger
level in terms of what works within the story and
what doesn't. I haven't been doing those services recently because
(47:27):
I've been so focused on these three novels, but that
is still an option. If you know someone is interested,
we can always talk about what they're looking for and
what their needs are and expectations.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Okay, Now, what writing process Michael do you follow?
Speaker 3 (47:44):
Do you when you're getting ready to create.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
A story and ideas popped into your head, do you
start with an outline, character sketches?
Speaker 3 (47:51):
How do you start to flush that idea, that story.
Speaker 4 (47:54):
Yet I start with the kernel of the idea of
what it might be. And for the Price of Safety series,
it was protecting your family, people you care about in
a world work technology, so in a role, then they
can track everything you do. So you take that kernel
(48:14):
and then you start to go, well, okay, who would
be the people that are directly affected by it? Why
are they the ones to tell the story with? What
do they bring and what does the story? What happens
within the story? Where do you want to go with it?
What do you want to happen with it? And so
(48:36):
for this trilogy, the original story, it went where I
expect where I wanted it to go. Although like I said,
the first book, I have regious planned it to be
a one off story, a standalone novel. But with the
way the more I developed the world and the way
the more the actual story developed, that the story required
(48:58):
at least that half that I was going, and that's
where it led to the trilogy. But it's I definitely outline,
and in fact, for the third book, for the Price
of Freedom, my outline is about one hundred and forty pages. Wow.
Now it has quotes in there, it has notes to
(49:20):
myself about either what's going on with the characters or
with various things that are kind of say, behind the scenes,
so while I'm writing it, so it's one to me
for me tracking the arcs and the events and setting
up for things that happened later in the story. So
the goal is to have it all work well and that.
(49:45):
I hate those stories that you read and then the
writer does some jump in terms of logic or something
and you go, well, wait a minute, that doesn't make
any sense. Why did that happen? I never want that
to happen in my stories. But then there's that balance
between over explaining and keeping the story moving. These are
fast paced stories because I'm let's be honest, I'm talking.
(50:11):
I'm writing about technology, about a technologically advanced world. I'm
finding the technology for the reader's attention, right, you know.
I mean there's more distractions nowadays than ever, So I
need to grab the reader's attention and not let go
because once you put my book down, you're probably not
(50:32):
gonna pick it back up.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Okay, Okay, Now, please share three to four steps that
you take that you found to be effective at getting
the word out about your books.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
One is a word really that provides validation and it
and gravitas and it allows oh okay, in fact, so
one thing, and if any of your listeners are in
Denver over the July fourth weekend at the Fan Expo,
I'm going to be there. I table there, and I've
(51:08):
and then I've been there. This is This would be
like the fourth or fifth year in a row that
I've that I've been there, not not counting twenty twenty
obviously when COVID was on. But it's interesting because as
I'm as someone passive IA talking about your book, when
I described to him also that I won awards. The
first one won four awards, the second one nine awards,
(51:30):
including Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year by Indies.
Today the third book has already won three awards. That
that's when they go, oh, so it's not just you know, hey,
I have this story idea and I'm you know, I
thought it would be kind of cool to throw it
out there. No, this is these are you know, okay
legit novels, right right, So that's that's definitely one aspect too,
(51:53):
is is Facebook setting up the you know, an account
under my title you can look for me Michael C.
Bland UH via Facebook and connecting with readers, telling them
what's happening, sharing reviews that happen, and where I'm going
to be, you know, all those kinds of things, and
(52:14):
whenever interact, I will say if for readers out there,
Alicia's out there who set that up, be warrened. You're
going to start getting fake UH notices for Messenger saying
you have violated our thing and you need to click
on this. Don't ever click don't ever click on anything.
(52:37):
Just their their steamers out there, unfortunately. And I've also
what's interesting is I've also been getting a ton of
emails after the third book came out saying, oh, do
you we can make a you know video of your
book that will help spur sales. Okay, if not that
I've done it, but okay, if I would get a video,
then then what I do with it to my Facebook
(52:59):
and then be careful, I mean, okay.
Speaker 3 (53:03):
We have to be careful, like you said, yeah.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
Yeah, yeah, And then other aspects are just engagement. One
thing that'll be helpful would be to have a blog.
I did have a blog on my website also, although
I recently hit it because the last time I've written
on it was like twenty twenty two, so I figured
that you have to be good enough to maintain at
(53:29):
least periodically. But that is also a really good way
for people to start to learn about you, not just
your books, but you as a as a person, because
when people start to like an author, they want to
know a little more about them, So that's that's also
a benefit. And shame on me for not keeping up
on it, But I think the day job didn't help.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
Okay, yeah, you could always start it back up and
I just do mine kind of like once a month,
but I used to do it once a week, so
I've done it for you, so I have a lot
of articles, but yeah, they keep it current with those
those new articles. Are you working on as we can
come to a close, are you working on any new books, Mica?
And if so, can you give us a real quick
glimpse into what you're working on.
Speaker 4 (54:14):
I'm just starting to work on a new book idea,
and it's also going to be a near future sci
fi and it's going to be a with have versus
have not and a possibility of someone who is has
a lot of money and is older and wants to
(54:36):
reclaim their youth. What what damage that can cause?
Speaker 3 (54:42):
I'm interesting.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Where can at the chef listeners get a copy of
your books?
Speaker 4 (54:48):
Amazon dot com is of course the you know, they're
the big you know, big ones, Barnes and Noble. You
can also go via my website mc blende dot com
and you can link it that way. It's available on audible.
The same vocal actor did all three novels. He did
a fantastic job, So those who love Audible, I highly
(55:12):
recommend He's a fantastic vocal actor. And added to the
stories some of my actors or some of my characters
had various accents or this or that. Then he added
to that as well. Or you can also go in
your local bookstore and ask okay.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
We have had the absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2 (55:31):
So enjoyed Michael Bland Author Michael Bland and hearing him
talk about his trilogy, The Price of Trilogy. The Price
of Safety is the first book. It occurs twenty years
in the future, is set in la and San Francisco.
And then I love to think about the DNA scanner.
He mentions it actually said, actually has happened. Andre, the
(55:54):
main character, his family, his wife Nina, and dauteris raven
and thout Tellia. It's just very very interesting characters. So
The Price of Safety and the Price of Rebellion, and
the third book in the series is The Price of
Freedom and if you want some laughs, he also wrote
Lawyers Can't Fly and which he pits to Columbia Pictures
(56:19):
and hopefully at some point he.
Speaker 3 (56:21):
I look up and say, oh my god, this is
a guy interview.
Speaker 2 (56:25):
These movies put out by Columbia Pictures. You never know
what will happened, and encourage you to visit Michael Bland
online at mc bland dot com and its spelled just
the way it sounds. Mc b L A n D
dot com, Michael Bland dot com. Thank you Michael for
being here with us on Off the Shelf Books podcast
(56:49):
this morning.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
To our listeners.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
As I always tell you, thank you, thank you, thank you,
and I want to close with the quote we open
with every day is a chance to be better and
that source is anonymous. I can't thank you enough for
being here with us, especially our loyal listeners, and I
hope those of you is your first time become a
loyal listener. Once it streams, if it's on YouTube, you
(57:14):
click subscribe. It's on Apple, It's Google Play Spreaker, which
is an iHeart radio platform, which is so many places
to catch off the Shelf books no matter where you
are in the world. So thank you and us I
always tell you are amazing. You really are. You are incredible.
(57:34):
Go out and create a fabulous day for yourself and
I'll see you back here next Saturday. Tell your friends,
your family, book lovers everywhere to catch off the Shelf books. Michael,
thank you so much. I'll send you a link to
the show when it finishes streaming.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
Bye for that
You're listening to the winning literary show Off the Shelf
Books Talk Radio Live with host Denise Turney, author of
the books Long Walk Up, Porsche, Love, Mo Over Me,
Spiral Love Has Many Faces, and Rosette Us Great Hope.
Turn up your dial and get ready for a blast
of feature author interviews, four one one on book festivals,
(00:21):
writing conferences, and so much more. Ready, let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to this Saturday's June the twenty first,
twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Five author self book podcast. Who Allow your listeners. I
always look out the show with you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you, thank you, thank you eighteen years for being
with us here for eighteen years, and our audience this
is worldwide, it's just growing, So thank you for being
here with us.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
If this is your first time, just.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Wherever you are surfing a lot, we're on so many
different platforms that you're listening to Off the Shelf this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I want to tell you that you absolutely are.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Listening to the winning book radio podcast Off the Shelf,
and welcome to you.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I like to also start with a quote, just something
for just.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
A mind that you on throughout the day, and this quote,
the source is anonymous, and the quote is every day
is a chance to be better. That is really powerful.
Every day is a chance to be batter something to
start with. And I next, as I've asked this question,
(01:43):
I asked different ones about different books that I've written,
and one is a mystery story. It's a love story
as well, and it's titled Love for Over Me. I
love mysteries. I love mysteries if you love a mystery.
There is a murder mystery in his story. And Raymond
(02:04):
Clark is a is a track and field olympian. He's
on his way too. He's a middle distance runner fetom
and he's also very gifted academically.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
He's really smart.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But him and his father had this complicated relationship because
his dad has untreated alcoholism, so he's growing up with this.
But he loved him enough to take care of him, right,
and so it's just these complications there and their relationship
when he goes to college is like the script flips.
He meets the woman he supposed really to spend the
(02:38):
rest of his life with. But he's also this talented athlete.
He's just a and he is a really gentle guy.
But he's in his early twenties and he's everything's going
his way, and he comes across he witnesses something he
wasn't no way could he have expected to see this.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Then he meets these five, these.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Friends at college, and one of them is actually involved
in this murder, but he doesn't know that. As a
story unwined, You've got this wonderful love story, this complicated
father son relationship, and these friends, these dude friends, are
friends for life. One of them goes on to the NFL.
(03:24):
They all grow up and do well, but then one
has this this secret, the secret. If you like mysteries
and you love you value relationships, I encourage you to
get a copy of Love Pull for Me by Yours truly,
Denise Turney. Today it's an audiobook ebook and in print
again Love Pour Over Me by the Nice Tournemy. And
(03:48):
now let us go and meet our very special office
shelf guests. I learned something from every guest and I'm
just so excited. And our special guest this morning is
Michael Bland. Michael works at a financial services firm, but
that's not all. His passion is writing books. He has
(04:09):
studied writing at the University of Iowa and he is
a founding member and the Secretary of Book Pod and
invitation only only online support group of people who specialize
in film, TV, books, magazines and journals. His short story
Elizabeth won Honorable Mention Impressive and Writers Digest twenty fifteen
(04:32):
Popular Fiction Awards Contests Congratulations. His novel The Price of
Safety was released on April sixth, twenty twenty during COVID
from World Castle Publishing. It is the first of the
Price of the Price of trilogy. The sequel, The Price
(04:53):
of Rebellion, was released on May sixteenth, twenty twenty three,
and additionally, Michael has written in public with the book
Lawyers Can't Fly. You can check Michael out online at
mc bland dot com. It's well just the way it
sounds mc b l A n d dot com, mc
(05:13):
bland dot com. We are just absolutely honored to have
Michael with us on Off the Show Books podcast this morning. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Michael, Denise.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Thank you for having me on. It's great to be here.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
It is a pleasure to have you.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
This is the first question we ask every guest and
those who've been listening for many years or if it's
your first time catching listening to Off the Show, if
you can go back and listen to some of the
other interviews. It's just interesting how the authors answer some
of these intro questions that I asked generally every guest
who's come on the show. So to kick off the
(05:50):
show this morning, Michael, can you please tell off the
show listeners where you grew up and what life was
like for you growing up.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Oh do question? I grew up? Excuse me. I grew
up in the Midwest. Single mom raised me with my
sister who is four years older than I am, and
we're still very close, always been close. Didn't have a
lot of money, and so imagination and uh, running out,
(06:24):
being outside all day during the summer. I would you know,
it was the typical where the lights kick on on
the street and you listen to you know, hear your
mom's always yelling at you to come back in for dinner.
Would be out all day long with my friends and
exploring and having fun and using our imagination and bicycling everywhere. Uh,
(06:47):
And it was h you know, kind of trope kind
of thing, but in a way, it was a more
innocent kind of experience growing up. Also, that's when Star
Wars came out, and so as why I wanted to be.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Jedi.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Yes, that that absolutely captivated me. And you know, to
this day, if I could ever get a real lightsaber,
i'd be very dangerous, but I would absolutely love to
have one. But that's that's the world that I grew
up in. And when I actually when I was ten
years old, I wrote. I created three comic books. Yes,
I was kind of a geek. Yeah, And I drew
(07:26):
them and I wrote, I wrote the stories and drew
them and amazingly I still had them because my mom
kept those, which she gave to me a ten years later,
so I still have those. And then I went to school.
I did very well in school. Numbers were always super
easy for me, and so I ended up going to
(07:47):
college for financeable things because I thought that's what you do.
My dad was a businessman, so I thought, well, that's
what you do, is you do finance, you know, or
a business. And so since numbers were always easy for me,
that's the route that I went to. My first job
out of college was in the collections department, which included
repolling cars for a living. And I'm going, really, this
(08:07):
is my life no, no, no, there's gotta be more. And
that's when I my love of stories and of writing,
and so I started down that path.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Interesting, you know, you just you said something when I
asked about how you what it's life all like for
you growing up? That was another guest and several guests
are said, when that street light came on, oh you could, Yes,
that's the way it was. Kids played outside a lot
years ago. That I don't see kids playing outside so
(08:43):
much anymore, but I guess because of technology.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
They have their gadgets and stuff indoors.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
But yeah, kids were five riding their bikes and playing
and all day and then then when that street like
came on, you're supposed to start heading home. Now, financial services,
that is a fast paced industry. I've worked in it,
so that's where I know that from. It is very fast.
I've worked in retail, in the military, I've worked in
(09:12):
healthcare and academia, and I'm telling you, of all of them,
I feel like financial services had the fastest.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Pace to it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
How do you juggle working in financial services and writing books.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Well, one, it helps that I have a very understanding spouse.
She when we met, she knew that I wrote novels. So,
and we don't have kids to be bloked, so I
have time on weekends. Yeah, So during the week I
might be able to tinker here and there in the evenings,
(09:52):
and I know, in the back of my head whatever
the story idea I'm working on is kind of percolating,
and then on the weekends is when I get the
vast majority of my writing it.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Okay, Nah, Can I switch in a little bit and
talk about two more questions before we start talking about
one of your books. What was it like living in
Russia as part of a food exchange program?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And how did that experience?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I asked us of our listeners who have lived or
traveled abroad, how did that experience affect your writing?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I wanted to learn another language. My grandfather, my mom's
dad knew five languages, and so I always wanted to
learn another language and have that ability. And when I
was in college was the time of glisals in Pastroko,
where the Sevie Union was falling apart, so I thought
that'd be a really great opportunity. I was always fascinated
(10:46):
by you know, I was growing up not only with
you on the streetlights coming on, but also where you know,
the Soviet Union is going to bomb us any day now.
So I was like, well, these they have families, they
have people they care about. Why would they want to
destroy us and potentially get destroyed as well? And so
I took frush and I was able to get through
(11:10):
a program through University of Michigan State to go over
there for the summer. And it was extremely eye opening
in that they were in a way they some of
the smartest people I've met. Their their science and their
their mathematics and engineering are are outstanding. Yet they knew
(11:32):
almost nothing about basic economics, supply and demand. They were yeah,
and they were a third world country in many ways.
Now this is back many, many years ago, but I
really don't think it's probably changed a lot, maybe to
some degrees, but there's still a huge disconnect. And also
the disparagon between rich and poor is even also very
(11:54):
extremely there. So it really did impact. Also when I
was writing this specific trilogy, some kind of elements I know,
kind of filtered in in terms of a kind of
over like a belief in that the people at the top,
they are mysterious and they're doing what they're doing for
(12:15):
the best for everybody. And it was also really interesting
that one of the things is that they project their
belief in themselves via the strength of their leader. They
want someone who is strong. When I was there, Boris
Yeltsen was in power and they kind of didn't feel
as good about themselves. I know, these strokes, but talking
(12:39):
to numerous people about it, they really wanted a strong
leader because then that means they're strong. Ah.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Interesting, I wanted that if that happens actually everywhere in
some in some form, that in what ways has working
in financial services and influenced more directly than the stories
that you write.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Maybe in an indirect way?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, are you a John Christam?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
No, I don't write about the financial services because, frankly,
I don't think it's that interesting. I mean, maybe it is,
and maybe at some time I will, but I think
it's almost like, you know, blending too much of my
passion with my day job, if that makes sense, Okay,
And so this in a way is kind of an escape.
What I'm writing is nothing to do with the the
(13:32):
my day job, and so that I guess maybe also
my brain, so I don't mix up. Wait, am I
thinking about an actual you know?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:39):
The thing that's going on at work, or am I
imagining my story? Maybe my brain would would mix those
up too much and I would start causing problems at
work for something that I was imagining in a book
of mine, which would be a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Okay, yeah, now, can you please give off the shelf
listeners an overview of the Price of Safety?
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
So.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
The Price of Safety is set a little over twenty
years in the future, where technology has become so inwoven
into our lives that no crime goes unsolved anymore. When
the main character hit that's Dray con terror when his
nineteen year old daughter commits a crime, he covers it
up to save her life, and that starts down this
(14:22):
path where he discovers that his own technology is being
used to manipulate and control everyone.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Hmm, interesting, thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Okay, So the story takes place twenty years into the future.
Where give us the setting? What is is?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
What is the area where this story takes place. What
does it look like?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Are there flying cars? What are people having robots for friends?
And what's going on in this setting where this story
takes place.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
It's a great question. So it's set in the first
book is said in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's
and it's very well. I try to make it as
relatable as possible, however, also setting it with a futuristic tone,
because imagine where we were twenty five years ago, we're
(15:16):
still basic using beepers, to where we are now and
and advance of technology, and where are we're going to
be in twenty five years. So I did a lot
of research in terms of where we are in terms
of advancement technology and where we are going with certain
certain things, so that I could project to where the
(15:38):
technology will become. So there are robots, they're not like,
you know, I robot, it's not you don't have R
two D two unfortunately you know by your side in it,
because I didn't think that's where we're going to be
in twenty five years. However, drones are very prevalent the
tracking software. Also, some of the technology that I was
(16:02):
starting that was imagining might come true actually already has
started to come f wow, and I'll give you an example.
So right after so one of the technologies in my
book is called a DNA scanner, because we all shed
dead skin cells and hair follicles just no of course
of life. Well, in my book, this device called a
(16:22):
DNA scanner will suck those those dead skin cells and
hair foggles out of the air, run the DNA and
identify you.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
A month after the Price Rebellion came out, a company
California announced they made that exact.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Technology Get out of Town.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
They claim it for Well, we'll put them on like
hiking paths, so if a hiker goes missing, g we'll
know where they were.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Oh my gosh, They're not going to use it for that,
Let's be honest. Oh my goodness, that is so wild.
Why though, okay, this nice.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
This is why I loved the show and people who listen,
because when you start digging deeper into the story, you
can't put all this in a book description. As you write,
why do the crimes? Why did they never go unseen
or unsolved? And is this happening at the start of
the prices set of safety? Who invented this whatever so
(17:17):
they can know crime goes unsolved? Who invented it? And
why so.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Drake created the technology to drastic reduce crime to the
point where it really doesn't go unsolved anymore, because we
are there are already so many cameras and it's weird.
I mean, we've already gotten so just used to being
checked by our phones, having cameras everywhere, and we're fine
(17:42):
with it. I read I was told the statistic recently
that in London, an average person walking just around the
city of London is captured by three hundred and thirty
different cameras. Oh my god, that's in twenty That was
in twenty twenty four. Where were we going to be
in twenty forty seven when my book is out?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Book?
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah? So what he did, what Dre did because he
one of the big things with great Man terrorists. Let
me just talk about him for a second. He's an engineer.
He's an extremely skilled engineer, in fact, one of the
top of the country. And what drives him though is
protecting his kids. He has two daughters, or Raven and Talia,
(18:27):
and so what he wants to do is he wants
to make the world better for like any parent wants
to make the world better for them. So what he
did was he helped create He did right, created a
system that links all of the existing cameras across the
country because there are all different systems, all different software
is all, you know, their own both private and public cameras.
(18:50):
His system links them all together. So that way, if
there's a crime that's committed, now the police have hundreds
of cameras to instantly link to to track and find
the criminal.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, oh my gosh, So what you said is he
he's got two daughters. He wants to make the world
better for them. Is he described his personality?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Is he married? How old is he? Uh?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And I guess he's living in San Francisco or LA
at the time of this story.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And is he like more of a like a very
social guy? Is he?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Is he like what they called him type A or.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Type A personality? He's he's extremely skilled with uh as
an engineer, but he's he's social, but he's slightly awkward socially.
He is is And partly where that stems from is
he he was raised by a single mom, never knew,
(19:53):
never knew, his dad, doesn't have any siblings, lost his mom.
She died when he was h around twenty. He's in
his mid forties during the time of the book series,
So he's suffered loss. He's married, and he and his
wife we were extremely close. But then he also then
(20:15):
suffered another loss in that they had a son, Adam,
who died as an infant, and this also drives Dray
to be so protective of his daughters. He felt he
let his son down even though it was no fault.
What happened was absolutely no fault of anyone, was just
an accident, and so that's what drives them this whole series.
(20:41):
But he also is law abiding and he believes in
the police because when he was young, his mom was
in a bad relationship and so Deray protected her by
shooting a crossbow at this guy who is to hit her.
His mom, Well, the police covered it up because they
(21:06):
saw that, look, there was an abusive guy. Drey's just
trying to protect his mom. So ever since then, Dre
always believed in the police and supported them, And so
he starts out this whole trilogy as this family man,
this law abiding guy, this extremely talented engineer. And the
(21:29):
story how he changes over the course of these three
novels is this huge transformation because also what one would
I put him through? And then two, he's going to
become the one that's going to lead the efforts to
try to free the country from this hidden coup that happened,
(21:52):
and by taking this guy who's this law abiding citizen
who cares for his kids, who loves his wife though
they've been strained to get to the point where he
is this battlescarred hero that leads the fight. That's that's
a huge journey and that's what happens during throughout this trilogy.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Oh my gosh, it sounds so interesting. Do you do
you go into in depth? Being that this is a
really foundational experience for Dre. Do you go into like
the passing of his son in the first book?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Yes, yes, that first book, Yes, and the rarefications of that.
Even though his son's death happens prior to the first book,
the rarefications are still felt and still impact some of
the events in the first book.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Now does his daughter Raven? Does she live with him?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And what's going on in Raven's life at the start
of the Price of Safety.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
So is a smart, headstrong, idealistic, nineteen year obd women.
A lot of teenagers iolistic, really idealistic, right, So she
really wants to make a difference. She wants to help
others who can't help themselves. And she has a secret
(23:24):
at the start of the book in that she has
discovered that there are these rebels, these groups of people
that have discovered that there's something wrong with the government
of twenty forty seven and that everyone is being lied to.
And so she is actually going to She lives with
with Drer and Mina, her parents, and she goes she's
(23:49):
a freshman at UCLA, but she's gotten in contact with
these rebels and she's planning to join them.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Wow, God, Now, had you always plan to create this
story as a series or is that's something that just
kind of happen it?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
So just give a little insight into my excuse me
into my writing is that I have to plan everything
out and partably that's my way, the way my brain works,
and probably because I do have a full time job
that I need to outline everything, plan it all out
before I start writing. Also because of the story, because
(24:29):
of the world that I have, the technology that I have,
I couldn't I had to make sure everything made sense
because of if you have something where they are so
interconnected in the communications, so easy back and forth between people,
and I couldn't have a situation where a Gieve will
you know, trade just called his daughter then they would
(24:49):
resolve everything. Well, No, that's this world is I can't
have it that way, okay, So I had to plan
it all out. But what I was finding was as
I was coming to the end of the story, it
was opening up a larger world. The original idea is
(25:10):
this is going to be a single novel, and it
douns it has a beginning, middle on end, but almost
like you remember the original matrix. Yes, and Neo becomes
the one and he is now you know, he's taken
on his role, he's completed his that journey. But then
he has that call on the phone both to the
end to the Asians to say, you know, basically watch
(25:34):
out here I come. It opens up a larger world.
And so that's what happens in my book, in that
dre beginning, middle on end, and then it's opening up
to this larger world because of what he discovers during
the course of the first book.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Ah, okay, can you introduce us to some of the
other major and minor minor characters who helped move this
story forward. You do a great job of talking about
your story. The more you talk about it, the more
intriguing this story sounds. But can you introduce us to
some other major minor characters who help to move this
(26:14):
story forward.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Yes, absolutely, I'd love to. The bad guy. His name
is Kieran. He is an Egypt of this very powerful
federal agency that came out of the NSA, and agents
are very distinct in that they have metallic silver hair.
(26:39):
And the reason is because everyone in the future has
a very small little implant in their head, like a
very tiny, little minor mini computer. And that's explained why
in the book Kieran has six or seven implants. He's
(27:00):
hyper connected to various government systems, various surveillance, all those things.
He's also bio enhanced, and he was a former military
and he tried to be tried out for the Navy Seals.
(27:21):
Have you known that is extremely tough ruling training to pass.
But he fails. Ah, And the head of the agency
takes those who failed and give them another option, another
(27:42):
chance to be great, another chance to make a difference
and protect the country. And then the process he manipulates
them m and he twists them, and he uses their
love of country and that failure to warp. They're with
(28:02):
what is right and wrong in their eyes. AH, So
Kieren believes he is doing well. Everyone is the hero
of their own story right, and that includes Kieren, and
he starts out one team uh Drey to join him.
That he sees the incredible engineering knowledge and abilities that
(28:25):
Dray has, and he's thinking, this guy could help me
protect our country even more. I could help you know
all of us even more. Andrey's going no, no, because
there's a number, there's some red flags. And then with
what happens with with his daughter, with Raven committing the crime.
(28:49):
Now Dre's hiding something, especially as this very powerful agent
is sniffing.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Around and trying to recruit him.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
And he is you expect they our style. Now you
gonna be in opposing They're gonna be fighting against each other.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Interesting. What is Dre's wife like is she does she
play a big role in his book.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
She does play a role mina. She is politically connected,
she is very smart politically. She's actually the chief of
staff for the la Mayor at the start of the novel.
She's successful in her own right. She however, is also
struggling the as you can imagine, the loss of a
(29:36):
child will put massive strain to any marriage. I don't
care how close to people are that kind of a loss.
And so there's that tension between the two of them
from the start of the novel because of what happened
prior to the beginning, and then when they now have
(29:57):
Raven in trouble because of what happened, that adds to
the strain. And it also reopens the wounds and the
scars of what happened with their son because now they
have another child who's threatened.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Hmm, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I love how you interweave these things. Now do do
robots We're looking out twenty years? Do robots and AI
play a role in the series?
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Robots do AI? Not as much. I really didn't want
to focus on AI. I instead wanted more of the
humans and the humans making the decisions and then the
achievements and the failures. Okay, so, but robots are do
play a role. They are part of it. And in fact,
(30:45):
in the second one, there are these robot Attech dogs
that are brutal if you've seen the Boston Dynamics videos
with their like robotic dogs, and in fact, in China
they're starting to already put a big machine guns on
these robotic dogs. And so I'm taking it out twenty years.
What kind of weapons could you create out of these
(31:07):
kinds of robotic dogs, and so those player role in
the second book.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Oh gosh, nice, even in our overal world. What's going
on at the start of the Price of Rebellion? And
how many years from the end of the Price of
Safety and the start of the Price of Rebellion only.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
About a month different? Oh okay, so that's the end
of the first book. Like I said, Dre opens up
to this wider world, and so that a month later,
Dre and Raven are now in the thick of it.
Now they're with the Rebellion and they're being pulled into
this world day one that Dray didn't know truly existed
(31:51):
to the extent of it. And Raven is now she's
this is you know, she's now starting to live her dream.
She is now part of this group that is going
to you know, make a difference and they're going to
free everyone, and she's going to become a part of it.
And she also has a chip on her shoulder from
events that happened in the first book where she wants
to be the best fighter that anyone has seen, and
(32:14):
so she is becomes this warrior throughout the course of
the second novel, and then becomes very effective as well.
And with it also she her boyfriend Jax, who's a rebel.
He becomes a larger part. But we also start learning
on the you know, on Kieran side with the agency,
(32:34):
and the head of the agency has a connection that
is not expected. And then they they discovered Drade. They're attacked.
The agency has discovered with the rebellion and with what
(32:55):
Dray did at the end of the first book. Now
there's going to be some payback, and so now the
rebels are scrambling and now they're being hunted. And then
Dre finds a key, finds a way that he thinks
will absolutely change the game, that will really reveal the
truth to everyone, and so they plan a massive, huge
(33:21):
attack that is going to absolutely change the course of
the country. And then Dre gets a call and something
that he thought never would happen happens. And I'm trying
not to give away, but he but he's given a
(33:43):
ridiculous hope, a hope that shouldn't exist, and so he
has to choose does he chase after that hope or
does he try to end this war?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Oh my gosh, yeah, only see the gay you know,
I'm getting ready for that third when coming Now? Does
Mina help Dre fin answers to the questions he has,
like trying to find who stole members of Congress's identities.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Mina is a very complicated character in it. She does not,
but some of the other rebels do.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, it sounds like Drake had some people in his
own family might not be the trust now. As I
was researching for the interview, I also wanted to ask
is Dre part of a larger organization and can he
really be trusted or is he more of a lone ranger.
He works with a group, but he's really more of
a lone ranger And can Dre really be trusted?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
That's a great question, and I think he can be.
It's not as much trust, it's where his loyalties lie.
Because throughout all three books, throughout all that he goes through,
through all of the the struggle and the victory and
the defeats, is a guy trying to protect his kids
(35:09):
and that struggle the entire time, And are you going
to put them at risk? And what is acceptable? And
at what point do you go No, I have to
stop because they're in danger. And yet if you don't stop,
what kind of world are you leaving?
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Now? Wow? So one book three? When it will.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Book three be out? And is the is this the
last and final book? Or now will do you see
this story?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Is warrant? I have fourth book?
Speaker 4 (35:42):
The third book is out?
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Okay, give us a title.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
The Price of Freedom?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Okay, okay, tell us about the price of freedom.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Okay, So the Price of Freedom. It's set about a
month after the end of after the end of the
press for Biden, and in it he starts out that
he is imprisoned and has lost everything. And then and
(36:13):
readers are going to experience the twists and turns that
he and Raving the others experiences. They face these incredible
odds and heartbreaking choices that drive him to make make
a very difficult decision. And as it says in the
back of the book that Dre tried running, he tried fighting,
(36:37):
and this time he must try something radically different, something
no one will see coming.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
It's his daughter, Raven, And what's his other daughter doing?
He's got to is she just not in the scene
at all, She's not caught up on either side.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Talia is probably my favorite character. Actually, she's twelve years old.
She is a hacker, genius, extraordinary, is a spitfire, sees
through people, uh does not you know, suffer fools. And
(37:18):
she kind of has her own little language too, the
way she kind of talks, and she just to me
leaps off the page. And she is so much fun
to write, let alone to to you know, have her
go through this novels and she plays a role. She
(37:39):
plays actually a couple of roles throughout the trilogy.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
She's she's on her dead side. I'm sorry, I just
from listening to you describe her. She's she's down with
her dead.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Raven is kind of sound like on the opposite side
of her dad, and Talia is all the way riding would.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, oh yeah, ok? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
By book three, is it still that way? Is Raven
still not seeing it the way or dad death?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
There there is a they do start to get closer
in terms of seeing eye eye to a degree because
with with fighting and with the this drive to uh
defeat the bad guys for lack of a better phrase,
So they do continue to stay stay meet. They have
(38:33):
that commonality, but the approach and also you know Dre's
need to protect her, which starts to irritate her as
She's like, look, I can, I proven I can take
care of myself. Yet he wanted still being a father,
wanting to protect her. So there's that conflict as well throughout,
even even through the third book.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Is Mina still involved in the government. She's got a
pretty big position as a for the mayor, her connection
to the mayor, she's still there. I could see where
she could be conflicted on either side. Is she still
involved us? She stepped away from that, She's pulled.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Away from the in the first book, and she's going
with it. You're you're wanting to have us get you know,
have us be around these rebels, and you're actually what
you're going to look to try to have them help us.
Yet part of my job with the mayor was to
help defeat capture these people. What are you doing? And
(39:31):
so she has this conflict.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Oh my goodness, I don't tell us how it ends.
I kind of want to know if one of them
is going to win. But all it seemed like dre Mina,
Talia Raven, they all want the same They're rooting for
the same team. But like you said, the approach may
(39:55):
be different. Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Or's one of them?
Speaker 4 (39:59):
It's most well, it's mostly accurate. How abould I say
that mostly accurate?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I said, this is going to be a surprise at
the end. Somebody, You're going to do something. Somebody goes,
oh my gosh, and what is Drey doing in prison?
Speaker 3 (40:18):
He don't give it away.
Speaker 4 (40:21):
Yeah, you'll you'll have to read that. I don't want
to give it away, okay, but I will say that
that the third book is the end. That's it is
a trilogy, and it the story does end. Now there
are a couple I could do a couple of spin offs,
(40:41):
something happens later on, but the story that starts in
the Price of Safety is completed.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
The Price in the Price of Freedom, so we have
for our listeners.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
It kicks off with the Price of Safety, and that's
when you get to meet Dre and Nina and Raven
Italia and learn about their family and the loss of
their son and how the impacts Dre and Mina. And
then the second book is The Price of Rebellion. And
the third book in the trilogy, which we just discussed,
(41:13):
is The Price of Freedom. And what an intriguing, interesting book.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
I could see this as a movie so easily.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Now kind of switching gears a little bit as we
come down to about the last ten minutes of the
day show is Lawyers Can't Fly?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
And that's a switch off from just Trilogy. Is Lawyers
Can't Fly?
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Is this a work of fiction or nonfiction? And what's
the inspiration behind this story?
Speaker 4 (41:42):
It's fiction and it's a humorous take on superheroes because
you know, superheroes are tired of you know, saving the
day yet getting sued for the property damage that they
happen to you know, you know, triggered while they're saving
the day. And the main care Ben he doesn't want
to become their their lawyer because I mean, no one
(42:05):
will respect anyone that's protecting that has people in tights
his clients, and so but they decide that they want
him as their lawyer. And it's really hard to you know,
ignore someone that has super strength and can fly, and
so they rope him into becoming their lawyer and his
life gets turned upside down and at the but at
(42:26):
the end, he becomes their only hope.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
And who is fantasm.
Speaker 4 (42:33):
Is one of the you know, one of the superheroes
in it. And I had a lot of fun with
this with this story. And if you can't tell it
to humorous take on superheroes, like, for example, a mighty Man.
He's kind of like Superman and he's got this a massive,
you know, amazing physique, and well it doesn't matter what
he eats, he doesn't gain any weight. So he eats
(42:54):
the worst crap throughout the entire novel, you know, uh,
deep Fried, Uh, you know, Oreos and you know, greasy
pizza and all this. So almost every scene he's you know,
eating this you know, really really horrible bad food for you,
you know, but it doesn't matter to him because he doesn't
you know anyway, So it was a humor has taken
(43:17):
So actually, my my sister was in Columbus, Ohio, had
forded me an email that she had gotten saying that hey,
for uh, I guess so I forget where it was.
It was like a comic con type of thing, World
World wizardst something like that that Columbia Pictures was, we're
going to have representatives there and if you you can
(43:39):
have a chance to pitch your story idea and so
go to this website and type out, you know, provide
a summary of your idea and all this stuff and
all that well as a lark. Okay, So I did it,
and then a week before, eight days before the World
wizard Fest thing, I got an email saying you were selected.
(43:59):
I want you to Oh my gosh, I my pictures.
So I called my sister and I said, Hey, I'm
going to be crashing on your couch for this. I'm
coming to town. She's like, wait, I said that two,
he's a joke, and I'm like, well, I like the idea.
So it went in and I found out that I
was one of only sixteen.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
People that were Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
So I had never pitched a story idea before. So
I went in and when it was my turn, sat
down and over. I had six minutes and I don't
know if I've ever talked that fast in my life.
But the good news is the parts that I hope
that they the two very very pleasant women that were
(44:40):
there I was pitching to, they laughed. When I hoped
that they would have laughed, they went, oh, and I
hope they would have odd And they seemed really really
enthusiastic about the story idea and so great, thanks for
being touch awesome great. So I chalked it up as
a fun experience and about a week later, I got
(45:00):
an email, Hey, we like you to send us your
entire manuscript.
Speaker 3 (45:04):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4 (45:07):
The sad thing is that was that's the end of
the story. I haven't heard anything since.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
How long ago was that?
Speaker 1 (45:13):
That was?
Speaker 4 (45:14):
Oh my goodness, this was in I think twenty eighteen.
It was before I did I sending to the same
thing and got an automatic response and you know, well,
you know this is not a monitor email.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
I was like, seriously, Wow, maybe who knows, maybe somebody
will hear about your trilogy. And one of them most oh,
I remember that guy, and one of them all contact.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
I have the same cell phone number I've had since
you know, two thousand and five.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
So what have readers been saying about, uh, the the trilogy,
the Price of trilogy.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
I've had great, great responses I've had I've gotten great reviews.
It's it's been so heartening and inspiring to get the responses.
And of course not everyone's gonna like every story. You're
gonna pick any story on the planet and you'll have detractors.
But I've gotten really positive responses. The reactions to what
(46:22):
happens with some of the characters in the story also
mean a lot because That means they care about the characters, which,
as a writer, if you don't care about the characters,
I've done a horrible job. Yeah, and I will. I'm
very proud that. Also I've won a number of awards
for all three books.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
Actually, Okay, congratulations, that's how that spikes volumes in any
of again the readers and the reviews, and won an award.
So congratulations and look forward to what you write next. Now,
tell us about the editing services that you offer, and
(47:03):
do you still offer those services?
Speaker 4 (47:05):
I offer uh services in terms of editing, both for
grammar and minor mistakes, in terms of the spelling and
that type of that type, but also on a larger
level in terms of what works within the story and
what doesn't. I haven't been doing those services recently because
(47:27):
I've been so focused on these three novels, but that
is still an option. If you know someone is interested,
we can always talk about what they're looking for and
what their needs are and expectations.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Okay, Now, what writing process Michael do you follow?
Speaker 3 (47:44):
Do you when you're getting ready to create.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
A story and ideas popped into your head, do you
start with an outline, character sketches?
Speaker 3 (47:51):
How do you start to flush that idea, that story.
Speaker 4 (47:54):
Yet I start with the kernel of the idea of
what it might be. And for the Price of Safety series,
it was protecting your family, people you care about in
a world work technology, so in a role, then they
can track everything you do. So you take that kernel
(48:14):
and then you start to go, well, okay, who would
be the people that are directly affected by it? Why
are they the ones to tell the story with? What
do they bring and what does the story? What happens
within the story? Where do you want to go with it?
What do you want to happen with it? And so
(48:36):
for this trilogy, the original story, it went where I
expect where I wanted it to go. Although like I said,
the first book, I have regious planned it to be
a one off story, a standalone novel. But with the
way the more I developed the world and the way
the more the actual story developed, that the story required
(48:58):
at least that half that I was going, and that's
where it led to the trilogy. But it's I definitely outline,
and in fact, for the third book, for the Price
of Freedom, my outline is about one hundred and forty pages. Wow.
Now it has quotes in there, it has notes to
(49:20):
myself about either what's going on with the characters or
with various things that are kind of say, behind the scenes,
so while I'm writing it, so it's one to me
for me tracking the arcs and the events and setting
up for things that happened later in the story. So
the goal is to have it all work well and that.
(49:45):
I hate those stories that you read and then the
writer does some jump in terms of logic or something
and you go, well, wait a minute, that doesn't make
any sense. Why did that happen? I never want that
to happen in my stories. But then there's that balance
between over explaining and keeping the story moving. These are
fast paced stories because I'm let's be honest, I'm talking.
(50:11):
I'm writing about technology, about a technologically advanced world. I'm
finding the technology for the reader's attention, right, you know.
I mean there's more distractions nowadays than ever, So I
need to grab the reader's attention and not let go
because once you put my book down, you're probably not
(50:32):
gonna pick it back up.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Okay, Okay, Now, please share three to four steps that
you take that you found to be effective at getting
the word out about your books.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
One is a word really that provides validation and it
and gravitas and it allows oh okay, in fact, so
one thing, and if any of your listeners are in
Denver over the July fourth weekend at the Fan Expo,
I'm going to be there. I table there, and I've
(51:08):
and then I've been there. This is This would be
like the fourth or fifth year in a row that
I've that I've been there, not not counting twenty twenty
obviously when COVID was on. But it's interesting because as
I'm as someone passive IA talking about your book, when
I described to him also that I won awards. The
first one won four awards, the second one nine awards,
(51:30):
including Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year by Indies.
Today the third book has already won three awards. That
that's when they go, oh, so it's not just you know, hey,
I have this story idea and I'm you know, I
thought it would be kind of cool to throw it
out there. No, this is these are you know, okay
legit novels, right right, So that's that's definitely one aspect too,
(51:53):
is is Facebook setting up the you know, an account
under my title you can look for me Michael C.
Bland UH via Facebook and connecting with readers, telling them
what's happening, sharing reviews that happen, and where I'm going
to be, you know, all those kinds of things, and
(52:14):
whenever interact, I will say if for readers out there,
Alicia's out there who set that up, be warrened. You're
going to start getting fake UH notices for Messenger saying
you have violated our thing and you need to click
on this. Don't ever click don't ever click on anything.
(52:37):
Just their their steamers out there, unfortunately. And I've also
what's interesting is I've also been getting a ton of
emails after the third book came out saying, oh, do
you we can make a you know video of your
book that will help spur sales. Okay, if not that
I've done it, but okay, if I would get a video,
then then what I do with it to my Facebook
(52:59):
and then be careful, I mean, okay.
Speaker 3 (53:03):
We have to be careful, like you said, yeah.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
Yeah, yeah, And then other aspects are just engagement. One
thing that'll be helpful would be to have a blog.
I did have a blog on my website also, although
I recently hit it because the last time I've written
on it was like twenty twenty two, so I figured
that you have to be good enough to maintain at
(53:29):
least periodically. But that is also a really good way
for people to start to learn about you, not just
your books, but you as a as a person, because
when people start to like an author, they want to
know a little more about them, So that's that's also
a benefit. And shame on me for not keeping up
on it, But I think the day job didn't help.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
Okay, yeah, you could always start it back up and
I just do mine kind of like once a month,
but I used to do it once a week, so
I've done it for you, so I have a lot
of articles, but yeah, they keep it current with those
those new articles. Are you working on as we can
come to a close, are you working on any new books, Mica?
And if so, can you give us a real quick
glimpse into what you're working on.
Speaker 4 (54:14):
I'm just starting to work on a new book idea,
and it's also going to be a near future sci
fi and it's going to be a with have versus
have not and a possibility of someone who is has
a lot of money and is older and wants to
(54:36):
reclaim their youth. What what damage that can cause?
Speaker 3 (54:42):
I'm interesting.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Where can at the chef listeners get a copy of
your books?
Speaker 4 (54:48):
Amazon dot com is of course the you know, they're
the big you know, big ones, Barnes and Noble. You
can also go via my website mc blende dot com
and you can link it that way. It's available on audible.
The same vocal actor did all three novels. He did
a fantastic job, So those who love Audible, I highly
(55:12):
recommend He's a fantastic vocal actor. And added to the
stories some of my actors or some of my characters
had various accents or this or that. Then he added
to that as well. Or you can also go in
your local bookstore and ask okay.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
We have had the absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2 (55:31):
So enjoyed Michael Bland Author Michael Bland and hearing him
talk about his trilogy, The Price of Trilogy. The Price
of Safety is the first book. It occurs twenty years
in the future, is set in la and San Francisco.
And then I love to think about the DNA scanner.
He mentions it actually said, actually has happened. Andre, the
(55:54):
main character, his family, his wife Nina, and dauteris raven
and thout Tellia. It's just very very interesting characters. So
The Price of Safety and the Price of Rebellion, and
the third book in the series is The Price of
Freedom and if you want some laughs, he also wrote
Lawyers Can't Fly and which he pits to Columbia Pictures
(56:19):
and hopefully at some point he.
Speaker 3 (56:21):
I look up and say, oh my god, this is
a guy interview.
Speaker 2 (56:25):
These movies put out by Columbia Pictures. You never know
what will happened, and encourage you to visit Michael Bland
online at mc bland dot com and its spelled just
the way it sounds. Mc b L A n D
dot com, Michael Bland dot com. Thank you Michael for
being here with us on Off the Shelf Books podcast
(56:49):
this morning.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
To our listeners.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
As I always tell you, thank you, thank you, thank you,
and I want to close with the quote we open
with every day is a chance to be better and
that source is anonymous. I can't thank you enough for
being here with us, especially our loyal listeners, and I
hope those of you is your first time become a
loyal listener. Once it streams, if it's on YouTube, you
(57:14):
click subscribe. It's on Apple, It's Google Play Spreaker, which
is an iHeart radio platform, which is so many places
to catch off the Shelf books no matter where you
are in the world. So thank you and us I
always tell you are amazing. You really are. You are incredible.
(57:34):
Go out and create a fabulous day for yourself and
I'll see you back here next Saturday. Tell your friends,
your family, book lovers everywhere to catch off the Shelf books. Michael,
thank you so much. I'll send you a link to
the show when it finishes streaming.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
Bye for that
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