The Great Big Beautiful Podcast

We welcome Minh Lê to the show! His newest book (a collaboration with Dan Santat), Lift, is a charming, escapist book about the power of imagination… and the compelling urge to press elevator buttons! Honestly, who can't relate to that? Minh also recently worked with illustrator Andie Tong on Green Lantern: Legacy for DC Comics, which tells the story of the newest Lantern: 13-year-old Tai Pham. On this episode, we talk to Minh about his career, his books, working with Dan Santat, and why it's important to continue working and creating… especially now.

Composer Kevin Kiner is back to give Star Wars: The Clone Wars the continuity of sound and music that fans have come to expect from the franchise. Having composed the first six seasons of The Clone Wars, along with all of Star Wars Rebels, Kiner is no stranger to the galaxy far, far away. In fact, no one's composed more music for Star Wars than Kevin Kiner - not even John Williams. On this episode of the show, we talk to Kiner about returning to The Clone Wars, making such an impact on the Star Wars universe, his approach to music in general, and his other recent projects (including Titans and Doom Patrol).

Every so often, I like to read a book for pleasure. With no expectation of a review or author interview. With no pressure on my back. Just for the enjoyment of the book. Mallory O'Meara's The Lady from the Black Lagoon was supposed to be one of those books. Alas. I enjoyed it so much that I knew I had to have O'Meara on the show. And here we are. The Lady from the Black Lagoon tells the story of Milicent Patrick, lead designer on the Creature from Universal's original Creature from the Black Lagoon. But Patrick's story is one that was essentially lost to history. O'Meara's book puts the pieces back together, from Patrick's childhood at Hearst Castle (her father was an architect there) to her days at Disney's Ink and Paint department to her time creating monsters and beyond. It's part biography of Patrick, part detective story, part memoir of O'Meara. But it's all awesome. And it's one hell of a fascinating and entertaining read.

This time, we're joined by author Mira Bartók, author of The Memory Palace and The Wonderling. And the two books couldn't be more different. Where The Memory Palace is an intensely personal and emotional memoir about mental illness, The Wonderling is a lovely children's book in the grandest tradition of all: talking animals. On this episode, we talk about The Wonderling, making the transition between memoir and fiction, writing for totally different audiences, memory, museums, Massachusetts, and more!

Surprise! We're back! And surprise! We're joined by another author from the stellar Rick Riordan Presents line: Kwame Mbalia, author of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky. What's most incredible about Tristan Strong is not its powerful characters or original storyline (though those are awesome), it's that the book is Mbalia's debut novel! It's truly a staggering achievement. On this episode, we talk about Tristan Strong the book, Tristan Strong the character as an Anansesem, cultural memory, and presenting timeless mythologies to an audience that might not be familiar with them.

This week, we're joined by a middle grade superstar: Jeff Kinney, the evil genius behind the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The fourteenth book in the series - Wrecking Ball - recently released, and it finds our hapless hero, Greg Heffley, at the center of another fine mess. On this episode, I talk to Jeff about the new book, keeping Greg the same age forever, writing an unlikable protagonist, finding influence in Lincoln Peirce's Big Nate, and owning an honest-to-goodness bookstore.

K. Eason has written one of our favorite books of 2019. How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is a book that cohost Shiri is on record as calling "joyfully, delightfully amazing." Because it is. And in this episode of the show, we're joined by K. Eason to talk about the book, how it upends traditional fairy tales, teaching zombies to college kids, and why it's important for young women to have a circle of supportive, female friends. Oh, and we also talk about her hobby of reenacting faithful Viking sword and shield work. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

If you're a Star Wars fan, you know Zoraida Córdova from the new book set in Galaxy's Edge, A Crash of Fate (or perhaps from her short story "You Owe Me a Ride" in the stellar From a Certain Point of View). If you're a fantasy reader, you likely know her from the Brooklyn Brujas or The Vicious Deep series. If you're a reader of romance, you know her by her pen name Zoey Castile. She's all kinds of prolific is what I'm saying. And she's all kinds of awesome. On this episode, Córdova sits down with us as we chat about her career, writing for Star Wars, being able to literally walk through the fantasy setting of her book, crafting magical systems, and so much more.

Rick Riordan is a middle grade superstar. Seriously, authors don't rank more A-list than him. When it comes to name recognition and reader obsession, you've got your J.K. Rowling, your Raina Telgemeier, and your Rick Riordan. That's the triumvirate, right there.

The father of Percy Jackson (and Magnus Chase... and Carter and Sadie Kane... and - to an extent - the god Apollo), Riordan has managed to breathe vitality, immediacy, relevancy, and a modern take into ancient (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse) mythology.

He's also recently begun wielding his power for an even greater good with Rick Riordan Presents - an imprint that tells the world's mythology from an "own voices" perspective. We've been huge fans of these books from the beginning, and there hasn't been a miss among them yet.

This week sees the release of The Tyrant's Tomb: the fourth installment in Riordan's The Trials of Apollo series. On this episode, we talk about The Tyrant's Tomb, approaching the end of his massively popular series, teaching middle school, giving voice to new authors with Rick Riordan Presents, and so much more.

This week, we welcome the legendary J. Michael Straczynski to the show. For many fans, Straczynski is the author of several seminal runs in both the DC and Marvel universes. For other fans, he's the genius behind Babylon 5. For still others, he's known for co-creating Sense8 with the Wachowskis.

And for nerds like me, he was one of the original writers on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. And, oh yeah, he co-created She-Ra: Princess of Power. But Straczynski has a new memoir out now - Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood - that chronicles his horrifically difficult childhood and how he SOMEHOW made it out alive. His father was, as he says himself, "the sampler platter of evil" - which somehow still manages to underestimate the depths of his awfulness.