The Great Big Beautiful Podcast

This week, we have the one and only Peter Beagle on the show. Sometimes, we even impress ourselves. Peter is of course the author of The Last Unicorn. Though he has written many other books, it's this classic that cemented his place among the greatest living fantasy authors. This episode is a delight. Peter is a master storyteller and draws from an incredible life to keep you spellbound from beginning to end. On this episode, Shiri and I talk to Peter about his early career, writing and selling A Fine and Private Place, the legacy of The Last Unicorn, why unicorns are so compelling, why he's returned to the story numerous times over the years, and his other recent work.

Welcome, ladies and gents, to Episode 200! Happy anniversary to us! When we began this weird little show about four years ago, I don't think I ever realistically thought I'd be here to see 200 episodes. But here we are, and stronger than ever! And I could think of no better way to celebrate than with Dominique Tipper! Tipper currently anchors an absolutely amazing cast on The Expanse, which is making the jump over to Amazon Prime for its fourth season. As Naomi Nagata, she not only leads one of the best sci-fi shows ever made but also is the most prominent face in a show that excels at presenting a world (or galaxy) populated by people who represent the true diversity of our own world. On this episode, Shiri and I break out the hard-hitting journalistic questions and get to the root of her obsession with stationery. We also talk about her early proclivity toward performing, her music and dance career, her first audition and role, breaking into the Hollywood scene from abroad, working on The Expanse, and why the role of Naomi is so important.

Welcome to the Big Dumb Thing. This year, I made the incredibly awesome/unwise decision to take care of a pop culture blind spot that's been plaguing me for a while now. Regarding the Halloween franchise, I'd only ever seen the original, John Carpenter classic. Therefore, as this month saw the return of Michael Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis in the newest installment - 40 years after the original - AND it happens to be October, the month of Halloween, this all seemed to make sense. At the time. Over on The Roarbots, I was joined by Shiri Sondheimer (who has never seen ANY of them) to watch all 11 films in the franchise. Preston Burt also swung by for a few films (the better ones) in the series. We watched together and commented on the film in a private Slack channel.

However, since the newest film is still in the theaters, we thought this format was a wiser (and more appropriate) choice. On this episode, Shiri, Preston, and I recap the entire Halloween franchise, gab about the new film, rank all 11 films, and share our lists of Top 10 Lessons Learned. And trust me, you'll want to stick around to the end when I act out various lines of dialogue from the films for Shiri and Preston to guess the character and film.

We're going to win awards for this one, folks.

It doesn't matter if you were a jock or a nerd, a boy or a girl, or lived in the city, the burbs, or the country - all kids in the 80s had one thing in common: "choose your own adventure" books. Sure, those four words might be trademarked and just one brand, but that style of storytelling was all over the place in the 80s. From the ubiquitous Choose Your Own Adventure titles to Time Machine, Twistaplot, Pick a Path, Find Your Fate, Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, and Endless Quest . . . the list was seemingly endless.

And it's Endless Quest that we're talking about today since author Matt Forbeck and Candlewick Entertainment have revived the series and brought the format back from near extinction. The first wave of four books in the series focuses on four of the Dungeons & Dragons archetype characters: Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, and Thief. The books target younger readers and are a great introduction to both D&D and game books in general.

On this episode, I talk to Matt about his history with game books, how writing a branching storyline with multiple pathways presents unusual creative challenges, what the new (and upcoming) Endless Quest books have in store for us, and his experiences writing for various established franchises versus original worlds.

This week, we're traveling to Ancient Greece with Eric Shanower's epic Age of Bronze series. Shanower first began his story way back in the Dark Ages of 1998. And yes, he's still working on the series 20 years later. It's that big. After a break from the series - during which time he worked on projects such as the Oz series for Marvel and Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland for IDW - he's going back to Age of Bronze. To the beginning and to the future. On this episode, Shiri and I talk to Eric about working on Age of Bronze for 20 years - where it's come from, where it's going, and how it's changed - simultaneously going back to the beginning of the story and moving forward, and working in the classic sandboxes of Oz and Dreamland with Little Nemo.

This week, we're talking ghosts, magic, and the macabre with Victoria Schwab. Writing as both Victoria (for YA) and V.E. (for "adult"), Schwab has a deep and compelling catalog of amazing books. Most recently, she's spooking the middle grade crowd with City of Ghosts and thrilling fans of her runaway success Vicious with its sequel, Vengeful. She's also returning to the Shades of Magic world with The Steel Prince, a comic book prequel from Titan Comics. Busy much?

On this episode, Shiri and I talk to Victoria about her early career, finding (and making) a creative routine that works for you, keeping the process vibrant by writing across genres and audiences, scaring kids, and telling stories across media. We also talk about the arbitrary divides that categorize books for different age groups and why stories twinged with fantastical elements are so much fun. Hint: They show us a world vastly more interesting than our own.

Welcome back to everyone's favorite galaxy far, far away. This week, we take an advance peek at the newest incarnation of Star Wars to grace television screens: Star Wars Resistance. On this episode, Shiri and I talk about our immediate reaction to the first two episodes of Star Wars Resistance (what we liked and what we didn't) and how it stacks up to both The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. I then talk to Athena Portillo (executive producer) and Amy Beth Christenson (art director) about their history with the show and Lucasfilm - they both have lengthy careers with the company. We chat about making a show for a young audience, working with a focus group of kids to make sure they hit the right demographic, taking their experiences on both of the previous animated series and applying them to Star Wars Resistance, and what they're most excited about on the horizon.

There's also a surprise guest appearance by Dave Filoni. So you'll want to listen, is what I'm saying.

This week, we're headed to the Forgotten Realms with superstar author R.A. Salvatore! Thirty years ago, Salvatore created the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden. Over the course of more than 30 books, he's explored the legend of Drizzt from all angles and plumbed nearly every corner of his world. But there's always more story to tell. And his newest book, Timeless, kicks off a new trilogy that serves as a prequel of sorts. The book focuses on Drizzt's father, Zaknafein, and is a fascinating prelude to the journeys that have shaped the modern-day Forgotten Realms (part of the Dungeons & Dragons universe). On this episode, we talk with Salvatore about his many years playing in the Forgotten Realms sandbox, the freedom he had to develop the world and characters, returning to Drizzt with Timeless, playing EverQuest, novelizing Star Wars with Attack of the Clones, and killing Chewbacca.

This week, we turn our sights back to music and composing - television scores, to be specific. We welcome Siddhartha Khosla to the show and dive deep into his career and experiences as a musician. On this episode, we talk about his musical background with the band Goldspot, his family and the sacrifices they made for him, growing up as a first-generation American, his work on both This Is Us and Marvel's Runaways, how his experiences on both shows compare, and finding success in the "new normal" of the music industry.

This week, we're geeking out about Star Wars again. Big surprise, right? Joining us is Jason Fry, who's certainly no stranger to the franchise. His in-universe bibliography is lengthy, having written everything from fiction to "nonfiction" to visual guides to RPG supplements and covering nearly every corner of the Star Wars galaxy. His most recent foray to the galaxy far, far away is the novelization of The Last Jedi. On this episode, we talk about crossing the streams of being a fan versus a professional writer, how writing a film novelization differs from other fiction, dealing with fans online, working with Rian Johnson and adding new scenes to the book, and how The Jupiter Pirates grew out of his love for Star Wars.