The Great Big Beautiful Podcast

This week, we celebrate the theatrical release of Spider-Man: Far From Home with Preeti Chhibber, author of the utterly charming Peter and Ned's Ultimate Travel Journal. The book is a snarky view of the MCU in general and Far From Home in particular in the form of a European travel journal as if it were written by Peter and Ned (with the occasional quip of extra snark from MJ in the margins). Our conversation with Chhibber is also super fun, and it's fantastic to chat with a writer at the relative beginning of her career. And what a beginning it is! Not many people land an A-list Marvel character for their first book. Needless to say, Preeti Chhibber is one to watch. Great things are coming, believe you me.

On this episode, we talk about writing Spider-Man, writing for middle grade, working on the multiple sides of the publishing industry, and how sensitive Peter's spidey sense needs to be to warn him of impending... flatulence.

You might know her as Mrs. Columbo. Or maybe Mary Ryan from Ryan's Hope. Batman: The Animated Series fans remember her as Red Claw. If you've watched Orange Is the New Black, you know her from her chilling portrayal of Galina "Red" Reznikov. And if you're a Star Trek fan, you know Kate Mulgrew from Star Trek: Voyager, where she boldly went and broke new ground for seven seasons as the franchise's first female captain: Captain Kathryn Janeway. On this episode, we talk with Mulgrew about her new memoir How to Forget, the tricky job of mining your own life for stories, distilling facts and "truth" from an often muddled mix of memories and emotion, the enduring legacy and popularity of Kathryn Janeway, and much more.

This week, Michael Moreci joins me for a fantastic conversation about all things geeky. Moreci is the author of Black Star Renegades and its sequel We Are Mayhem, which just came out last month. In a nutshell, the story dares to ask the age-old question: "What would happen if Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy had a love child?" And oh boy, is it a fun ride. But Moreci is also a seasoned comic book writer, having written for pretty much every major publisher: DC, Archie, Image, Vault, Dynamite, Dark Horse, Boom!, IDW, and Disney-Hyperion. On this episode, we chat about turning your passion into a career, his two novels with St. Martin's Press, writing comics versus novels, Battlestar Galactica, and of course Star Wars.

Talk to Evangeline Lilly for more than three minutes, and one thing become remarkably clear. She's positively overflowing with stories she wants to tell, and Hollywood isn't necessarily where she wants to tell them. So when you sit down with her for nearly an hour, as we do this week, the insight is profound. Perhaps best known for her roles as Kate Austen (Lost), Tauriel (The Hobbit), and Hope Van Dyne/Wasp (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Lilly nevertheless sees herself as a writer with a fantastic day job. On this episode, we chat about The Squickerwonkers, living with this story since she was 14, acting versus writing, The Hobbit, and her place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Welcome back! This week, we're chatting with author Lamar Giles about his newest book, The Last Last Day of Summer, and the brand-new Versify imprint it's helping launch. Giles has written several YA books (Fake ID, Overturned, Spin), and The Last Last Day of Summer is his first go at middle grade fiction. And he knocks it out of the park. On this episode, we chat about The Last Last Day of Summer (and its unique twists), Versify, We Need Diverse Books (he's a cofounder), Hong Kong, LEGO obsessions, and... Grumpy Cat?

I know I say this a lot, but this one was a real thrill for me. This week, my conversation with Skeletor himself: the one and only Alan Oppenheimer! If Alan's career only included his work on He-Man and She-Ra (where he also played Man-at-Arms, Cringer/Battle Cat, and Mer-Man) and The Neverending Story (Falkor, G'Mork), his reputation as a legend would've been secure. But he was involved with so much else. If you grew up in the 80s and watched any cartoons, odds are you heard his voice more than you know. He had regular roles on The Smurfs (he was Vanity Smurf), Transformers, Wuzzles, The Original Ghostbusters, Centurions, Rambo, Bionic Six, BraveStarr, and so many more. On this episode, we chat about his early career, The Neverending Story, a soup-to-nuts discussion of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and that show's enduring legacy.

This week, things are gettin' creepy as we talk to author Ronald L. Smith. Smith has a knack for imbuing his middle grade fiction with a little bit of that "X-Files vibe." And that dark, mysterious sensibility is certainly on display in his newest book, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, which is about a young kid who's convinced he's been abducted by aliens. On this episode, we talk about growing up as a military brat, why bullying recurs as a theme throughout his books, the role of adults in kids' stories, playing in the Marvel sandbox, and Baltimore.

This week, we welcome back one of our favorite guests: Tom Angleberger! Tom was actually one of our very first guests, WAY BACK on Episode 23. He was also the first guest to come back for a second appearance (with fellow Star Wars authors Alexandra Bracken and Adam Gidwitz on Episode 33). And now he's the first to hit another milestone: the threepeat! On this episode, I'm joined by Meg Humphrey to geek out about Tom's criminally underappreciated The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear. And the 10th anniversary of Origami Yoda. And what else he's got up his sleeve. Buckle up!

This week, we're geeking out with one of our very favorite artists working in comics/graphic novels today: Skottie Young! If you're familiar with Young, you're familiar with his unique, recognizable-at-once style. For 15 years, he's been at the center of the industry and has had a hand in almost every major character. That's almost literally true - he's done "baby" variant covers for nearly every Marvel title. On this episode, we talk about the "dream scenario" of how he started in comics, how he struggled to not get unfairly pigeonholed early in his career, the long journey to Middlewest and where it'll go from here, the freedom of working on your own stories, and lessons from fatherhood.

This week, we're talking to author Hena Khan, whose book Amina's Voice was one of the launch titles for Simon & Schuster's Salaam Reads imprint. She's also written a series of middle grade books about Zayd Saleem - "Chasing the Dream" - a 4th grader with dreams of basketball stardom, a few board books that spotlight Muslim traditions, and even a book starring Curious George! On this episode, we talk to Khan about getting attached to Salaam Reads, using her and her children's experiences as a foundation for her books, recognizing the differences between those experiences, and telling diverse stories where the characters aren't being marginalized or overcoming dramatic adversity - they're just being kids. Oh, and we also talk about Spain and Skor toffee bits.