WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:20.679 You heard the story. Now you're those who were involved in medical life, 2 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:33.479 join us as we built behind the Door. Good evening, roomies, and 3 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:38.039 welcome back to another episode of Behind the Door with the Gray Rooms podcast. 4 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.600 I am your host Brooks Bigley, and with me tonight is Nick Manzilillo, 5 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:48.520 the author of season four, episode nineteen entitled Luckless. How are you this 6 00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.799 evening? Nick? Great? Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely, 7 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:56.119 thank you for traveling back in time to have this conversation with us. 8 00:00:56.119 --> 00:00:59.600 From whatever future you're from. This is a crazy story. I absolutely love 9 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:03.159 it. Um Where are you from? By the way, I'm from Rhode 10 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:07.319 Island, specifically, I live in Warwick, Okay. So another East Coast 11 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.120 author. I think every single one of our authors this season somehow lives out 12 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:15.079 on the East Coast. There's some kind of conspiracy here. I haven't figured 13 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:19.959 it out yet. What's the weather like out there? It's it's certainly heating 14 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.480 up here out on the West coast. It's gotta be you gotta be having 15 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:26.400 sun sunshine out there by now. It's warm, but it's moody, you 16 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.079 know, some days otter than others. Some days it's it feels like it's 17 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:33.519 gonna snow again, typically New England. That's right, because you're like up 18 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.400 at the very northern end, you know, kind of up there at the 19 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.799 bottom of Canada. Basically, yeah, pretty much. Yeah, yeah, 20 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:45.920 So Hey, this story uh fucking amazing like time travel, Like, wow, 21 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:49.879 we haven't done I think anything like that at all in the show. 22 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:52.480 I might have to go back in time and check that. We're gonna make 23 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:59.200 lots of travel time travel puns tonight. But you know, saving your story 24 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:04.239 till the end here was I think a great idea because it really helps kind 25 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:07.080 of round out, you know, this season with a really fun episode that 26 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.759 like entertains a lot that you don't have to think too much about this, 27 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:15.400 but it does leave a lot of lingering questions, you know that I'll that 28 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:20.439 I'll get to, you know, the style of just these these two two 29 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.159 people having this conversation and like you get into it and you have no idea 30 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:27.400 at all, there's no foreshadowing as to what's happening, you know, and 31 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:30.159 you're just like, well, what crime did this husband commit? What what 32 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:32.759 is going on here? Why are they not going to get their money? 33 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:38.719 And it totally goes in a direction that I think nobody saw happening. So 34 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:43.759 how then tell me, as usual, how did you sit down and you 35 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.599 know, create this story? What was the impetus for it? So the 36 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:52.199 crazy idea comes first. You know, uh, lottery commission meant to catch 37 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:55.560 chime travelers, right, and it's it's kind of like a common like meme, 38 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.960 right, like you know, if you could travel back in time or 39 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.319 to the future, you'd probably use it to cheat the lottery or get rich 40 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:06.919 right right. And from there it was just all right, so you have 41 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.560 this crazy idea, how do you nuance it and like ground it in reality? 42 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:15.800 And so it's just two people talking out a table. Interesting, So 43 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:19.960 you immediately were like, hm, I'm going to write a story about time 44 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.960 travel. It was at the very first thing that you thought, for the 45 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:25.560 most part, I wanted to write a story about someone who thinks they're a 46 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:30.960 winner, and then it just goes horribly wrong, like so catastrophically wrong you 47 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.960 could couldn't even begin to imagine it, right, Okay, yeah, yeah, 48 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.000 because anyone can write a time travel story. You know, the premise 49 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:40.439 that is there to just okay, time travel, go back in time and 50 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:44.479 do something, you know, and then you had to figure out. Okay, 51 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:46.639 well, what is the thing that is causing the time travel? Who 52 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:51.520 is it? You know, who? Which perspective a person is telling that 53 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:55.439 story? So you determined you did want to do a time Did you write 54 00:03:55.479 --> 00:04:00.560 this for us or you already had this written? I wrote that actually during 55 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:03.680 the peak of the pandemic. I think it was like March, the late 56 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:09.120 end of March twenty twenty. Okay, so you had this time travel idea, 57 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:12.199 you sit down and you started hammering it out how and then yeah, 58 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:14.919 you know you're right that, like what is the very first thing anyone will 59 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:16.560 you'd go back in time and try and win some money, try and win 60 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.480 the lotto, you know, maybe correct a couple of mistakes, murder a 61 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.560 couple of people you didn't like, blah blah blah. Anyways, you decided 62 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:29.120 to pull back on the murder portion and you went with this this lotto idea, 63 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.000 so like, take me through how then you started to flesh that out. 64 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:35.240 So, you know, with most of my high concept stories, I 65 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:39.279 like to try and ground them as much as possible, you know, just 66 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:43.279 so the reader can kind of like get a feel for the weirdness and slowly 67 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.399 open up to the idea of it. So starts off, you know, 68 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:50.000 just with the interrogation in a lottery room. You know something's wrong. You're 69 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:56.639 thinking fraud, you're thinking some type of like massive conspiracy possibly, but times 70 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.720 travels probably the furthest thing from your imagination. And I kind of tried to 71 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:04.040 make it more personable to the main narrator and how it was her husband and 72 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:08.959 how her whole life was basically a lie. And as it starts to get 73 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.120 weirder and weirder, the time travel idea starts to present itself. So it's 74 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:15.360 not a complete out of left field. Still is a little bit not a 75 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:18.800 complete out of left field reveal. Yeah, you unraveled it, I think 76 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:24.759 perfectly because you introduced you know, little nuances here and there, this man 77 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:29.959 questioning her in strange manner, and her absolutely thinking well, this is just 78 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:33.120 the state commission. This is just some lot of dude that is questioning the 79 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:36.199 method as to how we won here, you know, and then questioning her 80 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:40.160 relationship, and you know, you're thinking, well, what does that have 81 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:43.000 to do with anything, So then it does make it seem like, oh, 82 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.040 this is some kind of crime caper that like this is really a the 83 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:49.519 detective who's just trying to piece together you know, the situation. I love 84 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:54.639 absolutely, you know how you came up with that, and you gave just 85 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:58.759 a couple of bits of information at a time, you know, leading us, 86 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.120 you know, with the care it down down that road towards you know, 87 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:06.279 the ultimate conclusion of the story here, how did you kind of determine 88 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:14.480 you know, the relationship between like you you had a body of characters, 89 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.000 and how did you determine that this should be a man because he you know, 90 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:24.519 again it's about him coming back in time and illegally winning the lottery, 91 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:29.759 But then you also worked in the relationship between her and him. Did you 92 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:31.920 do that just to keep it going or was there like what theme were you 93 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:35.639 trying to go with there? So you know, I started off just wanting 94 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:41.319 to tell a time travel story and making it a practice in constraint and like 95 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:45.120 not trying to reveal too much and trying to like train myself as a writer 96 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:50.720 for that. And then it became almost amusing on like faithfulness and relationship how 97 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:54.839 well know, you know, your partners, and it kind of evolved into 98 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:58.399 this commentary and all that. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of implications 99 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:01.120 I thought about, you know, the theme of trust, and like she 100 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:05.759 really thought she had this perfect guy here, and how much of it was 101 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:11.000 that he was in love with her and you know, it was the right 102 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:14.800 kind of person for the relationship with her versus what this Latto man was saying. 103 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:16.199 And he could have just been saying anything because you know, he just 104 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:20.040 needed to fix the time continuum, but saying, well, he doesn't really 105 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:25.399 love you and he back basically calculated all of these different moves, which to 106 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:29.439 me is also like, well, how the hell then can you keep your 107 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:34.600 composure for eleven years trying to connect all these dots just so at the very 108 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:40.480 end of it all you could win the lotto. It seems like it seems 109 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.480 like a plot from like a nineties sci fi movie. This was such a 110 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:49.279 fun, i think story to go through that you didn't need to understand any 111 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:54.199 kind of science. It very much was just caught up in the drama of 112 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:59.959 the reveal. This is very suspenseful dawning on her what the actual truth was, 113 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:01.879 you know, and then whether or not we even saw the husband in 114 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.600 the end, you know, which we got to see him. You know, 115 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:05.920 she passes by him and he's like Oh, I'm so sorry, blah 116 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:09.519 blah blah. You know, it didn't matter whether he felt bad or not, 117 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:11.439 because it was I guess ultimately the story wasn't about him. It was 118 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:16.199 about her. It was about our narrator and just having her life completely ripped 119 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:22.759 out from under her. Basically, you know, was there anything personal to 120 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:26.199 you that kind of brought this out of you to write it this way subconsciously, 121 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.120 you know, subconsciously, and because it was the pandemic, like you 122 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.120 know, things are pretty dark in March twenty twenty. I think it was 123 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:37.519 more so like just that negative atmosphere of let's take the luckiest thing you can 124 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:41.639 imagine, winning the lottery and completely flip it on its head and make it 125 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:45.679 the worst day, not just like the worst day of your life, but 126 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:48.679 the end of your life as you know it. Yeah, it's funny how 127 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:52.159 the pandemic really caused lots of people to think differently, you know, just 128 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:56.879 about things in general. That has leaked out into our writings. I've always 129 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:01.120 thought, I remember, like, right when the pandemic started and you see 130 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.879 memes about this, but like you know, sure enough, in a year 131 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:07.000 or two, you're going to see all these kinds of stories coming out because 132 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:11.039 of the actual psychological pressure that was put on everyone because of the pandemic. 133 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:18.200 So it's it's I guess it's good to hear you know that you use it 134 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:20.600 positively to to kind of get you, you know, moving forward with some 135 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.759 new writing and stuff. I was fortunate to not experience a slowdown writing unlike 136 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:28.919 a lot of my fellow writers. But I did notice that a lot of 137 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.639 my characters didn't have the happiest of endings during the most of the pandemic. 138 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:35.240 Well, of course, I mean, I can't have all you know, 139 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:39.519 rose colored glasses on through all of this. I have some questions now also 140 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.679 about just the story itself, Like you can immediately shut me up if you 141 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.840 you know you want, but you're the author, and so I thought i'd 142 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:50.720 i'd plug them anyways with the ending, right the reveal of like there's this 143 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:54.360 like spiderlike machine and you know they're firing it up, and you know, 144 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.120 the Lotto man will just keep calling him that. I know he wasn't an 145 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.000 actual lotto man, but the lottom Man like telling her that you know, 146 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:05.000 he was going to send her back in time to fix everything, send her 147 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.240 consciousness back in time, which is akin to I guess how the husband came 148 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:13.720 back in time himself was some type of like conscious transference, you know, 149 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:18.240 not physically showing up in space, but his conscious coming back. At least 150 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.000 that's what it sounds like. So did that really happen though, because it 151 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:26.799 seems like he just killed He just shot her and killed her and disposed of 152 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:33.879 the body and and basically was admitting I I needed to clean up the timeline 153 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:37.799 basically, So it's kind of like you can go either way, right, 154 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.519 if he was just going to kill her, why didn't he just shoot her 155 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:43.200 in the back of the head or something brutal like that, it's more so 156 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.720 even if it's more so, if her mind went back in time, there's 157 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:52.639 still a body in the present. The present just doesn't collapse, and so 158 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:56.360 the mission. I'd like to think that. And I'm not necessarily necessarily sure 159 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.240 if this actually happened or not. I mean, it's out of my control 160 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:03.120 at this point towards and the story. I like to think that her consciousness 161 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:07.960 went back to that moment, like the timeline was restored without that man infiltrating 162 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.000 her whole life. But at the same time there's a dead body in the 163 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:16.279 present because she can't be allowed to continue living because she's basically an anomaly and 164 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:18.559 a disruption to the current timeline, right right, Yes, And that's what 165 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:24.759 I inferred from the story as well, that you know, if indeed it 166 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:26.720 worked and her consciousness went back in time, it does leave that shell, 167 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:30.639 that husk of a body, you know, behind with nothing in it. 168 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.919 So that is basically the death of the body per se, not really the 169 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.200 death of the soul. And I talked about this with a team too, 170 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:41.240 like, hey, does this story kind of go against the gray rooms because 171 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:46.399 the idea is that, like the character dies and then you know, the 172 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:50.799 souls are being collected for you know, our main characters throughout the the narrative. 173 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.519 But if this was just the body died and the consciousness went back, 174 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:56.919 then her soul is still intact. So but yeah, so then also then 175 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:00.799 what about what about his name was Paul? Right, Yeah, the husband's 176 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:05.720 name was Paul. If he came from the future, clearly there would be 177 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:13.120 his body somewhere doing something. But then whose body did his consciousness landing? 178 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:15.159 So like it opens up and you know, you don't have to answer this 179 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:20.320 we're just talking rhetoric here. Whose body did his consciousness landing? Like does 180 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.919 this mean that people going back in time? Could you be minding your own 181 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:26.480 business, that you know, shopping at the grocery store, and then suddenly 182 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:31.480 someone else's consciousness lands in your body from the future, and now you're deleted, 183 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.480 You're gone, Like, how does that work? I loved that ambiguousness 184 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:37.759 that was left open because I had I was like, oh my god, 185 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.360 I have like five different questions now about his story. Did you think about 186 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:43.159 any of that at all as you were writing it? Yes, Like, 187 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:48.360 I you know, I really originally will let an you think of time travel. 188 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.159 I came up with a lot of like different machines and concepts. But 189 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:54.919 through the nature of the story, you know this, it would never be 190 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.360 explained by the law of man just how the time travel worked. It wouldn't 191 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.440 benefit him. Maybe he wasn't privy to this information. And the main narrator 192 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:07.360 she wouldn't really understand it either, because you know, she's supposed to be 193 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:09.600 just a normal person with no concept of that kind of stuff. So I 194 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:13.440 kind of left all of that out. I played around some ideas, I 195 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.480 took some notes on it, but I didn't reveal it by Yeah, and 196 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:22.840 so basically I would say that there's more than one method through time, and 197 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:28.279 that the husband's physical body came from the future and he had managed to infiltrate 198 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.840 the past. But at the same time, the way the woman's consciousness is 199 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:33.720 kind of transported back, like her soul, as you said, kind of 200 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:39.399 just reset. There's different ways of fixing the time stream. And you'd imagine 201 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:43.679 the lot of Commission has more than one way to say, skin a cat, 202 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:46.600 you know, there's more than one way to solve a problem and handle 203 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:50.799 this massive disruption. Yeah, that makes sense. He because you know, 204 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:54.320 the lot of Man said that her husband had lived and in almost an entire 205 00:13:54.360 --> 00:14:00.440 lifetime prior to even meeting her, you know, so he there would have 206 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:03.240 to have been some kind of way around that, Like, you know, 207 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:09.120 you couldn't just have again what I said, conscious being just landing in people's 208 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:13.360 bodies and then deleting that person. You know, he'd have a bunch of 209 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:15.600 Oh, but he would still have I was gonna say false memories, but 210 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.320 not false memories, but he just wouldn't have. So he comes back in 211 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:22.399 time, he meets her at the new year's party. He's not gonna have 212 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:28.720 any memories of anything you know, from her world because he's from the future. 213 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:33.000 But there where you did add little bits of like how he he basically 214 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:35.720 calculated everything, So clearly he must have done some research, you know, 215 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:41.919 he came prepared basically, and then this was just this long con for him. 216 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:45.600 I'm guessing ultimately to just win the lottery, you know, to win 217 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.440 what was the eighty eighty five million dollars for him to then just comfortable and 218 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:54.000 who the hell knows if he would have stayed with her, But interesting that 219 00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:56.759 she was a part he had he need for whatever reason, he needed her 220 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:01.639 to be a part of that that world to get there. Man, you 221 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:05.200 you've opened up this world. I want to like see sequels and prequels and 222 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.799 like other other characters in this world, you have a lot that you could 223 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:13.240 you work with here to like continue this as like a series. Yeah, 224 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:18.279 the Lot of Commission itself was really fascinated me while I was writing it, 225 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:22.600 And you know, I'm always generating new ideas. My notepad is filled with 226 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:26.639 hundreds and hundreds of possible stories, and I would love to possibly explore more 227 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:30.639 of the law of commission, especially the lot of Man and their role what 228 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.200 they know. You got to imagine that they live in the presence, So 229 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:37.879 how much information are they given about the future, the past, the technology 230 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:43.440 itself. Yeah, and you establish a couple of rules like you mentioned where 231 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:46.360 the lot of Man mentioned that there was like a you know, a law 232 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:50.240 that he broke, and there was kind of like, ah, I forgot 233 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.840 why what did you say? Was it had to do with like it was 234 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:56.000 a statute of limitations or something like one hundred years back one hundred years forward. 235 00:15:56.440 --> 00:16:02.639 So like this opens up, you know, lot to play with this 236 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:07.080 giant time sandbox that you've created, that you could kind of flesh out and 237 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.840 make many stories and larger stories and more characters. So I mean I would 238 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:15.120 I would be absolutely interested in hearing and reading, you know, do more 239 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.919 with this, turn it into some kind of series. Yeah, if there's 240 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.960 a lot of possibility with it. And I have actually written something similar to 241 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.200 it that I'm currently still on the ed stages of It's but like thirty page 242 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:30.360 story, but it deals with entirely different concepts in the same kind of universe. 243 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:34.320 Excellent, Okay, Okay, Now now tell me about your writings like, 244 00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:37.840 is this the first time that you've had a story turned into a podcast 245 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.159 or have you done this kind of stuff before. I'm fortunate enough that this 246 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:47.840 is the second time I've had a story publishes a podcast. This was more 247 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.519 so one of my more favorite stories that could turn into it, Like I 248 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:56.919 published, Okay, what was your other story? I was Paul the firm 249 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.639 grip on the back of the ankle. It was for the Tales to Terrify 250 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.119 pod cast. Basically, it's a haunted hotel story with some lovecrafty and uh 251 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.839 outer dimensional craziness going on towards the end of it. Now, tell me 252 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:11.880 more about does your writings in general? Do you do you write a lot? 253 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:15.480 Do you have any novels out? Any any novellas? Like what is 254 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.000 your what is your gamut of writing? So last spring I published my first 255 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:25.440 novel through Worldcastle Press small press. It's Moon Regardless. It's a mostly a 256 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:30.480 dark crime story with a lovecrafting and spin on it as some supernatural horror elements. 257 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:36.119 And then I've I've written about well, I've published about seventy short stories 258 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:40.039 through a variety of different publications, Like I mentioned, only two podcasts so 259 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:44.480 far. Hopefully more in the future, and I'm generally writing every day. 260 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.680 I'm currently editing about three different novels right now. I'm trying to shop one, 261 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:53.160 and I'm always busy with that nice nice are they? Is everything within 262 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.519 like a horror theme or a suspense a thriller theme is your what is your 263 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:03.000 flavor? Kind of runs the limits of genre fantasy. A lot of stuff 264 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:07.400 is kind of split between, like crime and fantasy, or crime and sci 265 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:12.559 fi. I have been getting into more straightforward like fantasy, urban fantasy, 266 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:17.960 contemporary fantasy writing as of Wait, so when you wrote this story, Luckless, 267 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.720 it was the crime portion first that you were aiming for, and then 268 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:25.680 you developed time travel around it instead of it being a sci fi thriller of 269 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.319 time travel, and then you added crime into it. I think the sci 270 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:33.960 fi element was more so the driving curiosity for it. I've written only about 271 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:38.480 like twelve sci fi stories, and I love the genre. It's just I 272 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:44.920 always like I'm on edge about knowing what I'm talking about or inventing technology that's 273 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.880 really sound and stuff like that. So I'm a little more intimidated by sci 274 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:52.440 fi than I am fantasy or horror for the most part, And like what 275 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:55.359 does horror mean to you? Like, what what do you what do you 276 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:59.880 get out of it that encourages you to add your voice, you know too, 277 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.880 to the zeitgeist of it. You know, to me, horror is 278 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.880 the mystery. Some horror is what isn't explained. And I guess that's kind 279 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.160 of what I love about, like you know, sci fi or fantasy um 280 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.480 as evident in this story about what I don't tell the reader, you know, 281 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:17.359 like watching like movies like Friday Thirteenth as a kid, I was always 282 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:21.039 more curious about, like how does Jason keep coming back to life? Like 283 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:23.400 what's possessing him? How come we can get shot in the face and still 284 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:27.279 attack people? You know? Oh yeah, that's the supernatural element behind all 285 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:32.279 of it. Oh god, those some of those movies were truly disturbing as 286 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:34.480 they were getting you know, deeper into the lower of it all. M 287 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:41.240 I mean, it's it's amazing again how horror really is just this umbrella of 288 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:45.400 so many larger concepts that fit under it and in just different ways that you 289 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:52.119 can explore different elements in ways that we feel and fear, you know, 290 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:57.359 things in real life. With your story, luckless, like it was kind 291 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:00.319 of like, well, how do you trust anybody? You know, how 292 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.519 how can you trust this person? She absolutely thought that her life was perfect 293 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:08.680 with him, and then he was the greatest thing, and maybe he was 294 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.039 still like, maybe he was treating her right. He wasn't out, you 295 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:15.160 know, having sex with a bunch of people after going to a club or 296 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:21.000 something. But still there was this massive lie as to why he originally got 297 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:26.640 with her. It was just to slowly work his way towards winning this this 298 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.599 this lotto, I guess. So you definitely, you know, kind of 299 00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:34.440 shed light a bit on the themes of trust in a relationship. Absolutely, 300 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.319 the crime portion, which I thought was was brilliant. We don't have enough 301 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.680 like crime horror, I guess. Yeah. And then of course just the 302 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:45.000 marriage of sci fi with horror is always fun. Yes. Yeah. One 303 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.000 of my biggest inspirations for a lot of what I write was a true detective 304 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.279 the first season that ran on HBO. Um if you're not familiar, if 305 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:56.160 that, it's you know, it's a crime story, detective story, and 306 00:20:56.200 --> 00:21:00.240 then they start working in this love crafting, cosmic horror angle to it, 307 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.960 and by the end it almost completely transforms into something that's pure horror, and 308 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.799 I kind of love that transformation from what you expect into the complete out of 309 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:11.880 left field, right, yes, And that's very indicative of this story. 310 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:15.160 You know, as I said in the beginning, that you put down the 311 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.160 parameters of what it was going to be about, and then whoa fuck. 312 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:22.839 Time Travel as a total total came out of left field. But it all 313 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.440 made sense too. It didn't feel like you were just like painting into a 314 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.480 corner and then trying to figure a way back out of the story to conclude 315 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.240 it. How did it feel to hear the story turned into a podcast? 316 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:36.680 Like, you know, having your story on tales to terrify. Its different 317 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:41.880 because that's more dude sitting in a chair narrating your story doing all the voices. 318 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.720 This was like fully fleshed out audio drama. How did that feel to 319 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:47.680 hear it? Oh? It was so impressive. I had a bit of 320 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.680 a long road trip more of the weekend and I played in the car with 321 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:55.640 my friends who were driving, and all four of us were just completely gripped 322 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.039 for about twenty minutes just to the whole thing. And it was awesome. 323 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:03.240 The footstep up to the doors opening and closing, different accents, Jason knows 324 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:08.519 what he's doing. Would you be encouraged then to kind of write more of 325 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:12.440 your stuff or maybe take even stuff you've already written and kind of flesh it 326 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:17.920 out more into like script format in order to you know, submit to more 327 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:22.039 podcasts. Yeah. I was really energized after hearing that. I was come 328 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:25.119 up with all sorts of ideas behind I would like come up with more like 329 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:29.039 audio focused stories like that, like oh man, then mount of notes I 330 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:32.440 took after that one car ride excellent. Yeah, I am telling you right 331 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:36.079 now, you could create a series. I keep harping on this. You 332 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.759 can create a series out of what you have made here for luckless, like 333 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:44.279 does the larger world at play here? You could do so much with that. 334 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:48.200 It would just be so interesting to to, you know, develop the 335 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.799 science behind it and like how does how does it all work? Where you 336 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:53.759 know, you said that could be the consciousness is being sent back in time. 337 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:56.480 It could be the body that's being sent back in time. What does 338 00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:00.839 that mean when you have people in charge of trying to keep that from wrecking 339 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:03.400 and ruining the world. You know, basically you know your own version of 340 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:07.799 time cop. You know the Jean Claude Van Dam movie. Um, the 341 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:11.039 sky is the limit with with where you could go with this stuff, And 342 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:15.680 like I for sure would be hooked, you know, listening to like a 343 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:22.319 podcast series about this world. Like you know, if you create your own 344 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:26.440 storyline and everything that you should definitely look into doing something like that. I 345 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:30.799 think I would always keep it a little bit vague. Um. For me 346 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:33.559 personally, I love it when there's still a lot more that your imagination can 347 00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:37.640 fill in, you know, like just hearing the way you're you're you're thinking 348 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:40.920 about this, It's like, I think I'd go for more personable stories, 349 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:44.920 more more character focused stories, but at the same time play with more of 350 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.480 the time travel, more of the technology, more of the crazy world you 351 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.720 know, behind the curtain, right, And that's what I meant, Like, 352 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.480 I didn't mean like make a story where you explain to us how it 353 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:57.359 works. I meant more like the implications. So you know, you could 354 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:03.759 have a story where it's about this person also realizing that the person that they're 355 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.880 with is not who they should be or seemed to be because of something about 356 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:11.599 their consciousness shifting or changing. You could have stories, you know, just 357 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.920 about other people's motivations behind why they want to go back in time, and 358 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:18.200 you know, what are they trying to fix or what are they trying to 359 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:22.240 hurt? Because they could be they could be doing it for good or for 360 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:26.319 bad. You know that you could totally play around and then while that story 361 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:30.240 is unfolding, like you did with this one, reveal a little bit behind 362 00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:33.559 how it works, or a little bit behind what the rules are. You 363 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:37.119 know, maybe even set like one of the stories could be the you know, 364 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:40.880 more about the Laudo Man himself, or just a character like that where 365 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:44.240 his job is to stop this kind of stuff, So what is his daily 366 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:48.400 life like that he's he's got to do with the implications of knowing all of 367 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:51.279 this. It's like he's the men in Black and he knows what really is 368 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.000 happening, you know. So yeah, you could. You could totally turn 369 00:24:55.039 --> 00:25:00.279 this into a multimillion dollar enterprise. There's a lot of play with you. 370 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:06.039 I'm dangerously like overinspired. Where you tell me the slightest idea, I'll spin 371 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.079 it off into like a five thousand words stories. So it's already probably gonna 372 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:12.759 happen. That's awesome. So that's and that's why you just said you have 373 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:18.240 like what like seventy seventy something stories that you've already written that are published. 374 00:25:18.359 --> 00:25:22.480 I have a lot more waiting. Yeah, so not even just written, 375 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:23.880 but like chilling on your computer. You actually have them out there in the 376 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:27.079 world. Hey, good on you. Now what are you working on currently? 377 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.200 If you don't mind me asking if you can reveal anything. Yeah, 378 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:34.680 I'm trying to focus and just I really want to workshop and you know, 379 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:40.920 pitch to agents this new England urban fantasy novel with mermaids, sea monsters, 380 00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:44.720 you name it. And I'm really trying to just get that ready for agents, 381 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.240 get my query letters, get my synopsis ready, and just pitch that 382 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:49.960 and not do a million things at once. We wish I'd been doing my 383 00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:55.960 whole career. It's spreading yourself a little bit thin there. Yeah. Yeah, 384 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:57.599 but now that I have at this time travel of universe, I might 385 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:00.359 you know, be a little distracted from that a few months. Yeah, 386 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:03.920 I'm glad to light a fire under your ass. Excellent, go for it. 387 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.000 Then do you write full time or do you have like a day job 388 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.920 and you kind of do this as a hobby around it all. I do 389 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:15.599 have a day job. I actually just went from freelancing content writing and blog 390 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:18.279 writing freelancing to working for a company called Butterfly m X, which is in 391 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.720 the real estate industry. Work is, for lack of a better term, 392 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:26.240 and they encourage me to use it boring, which is great for my creative 393 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:30.319 writing. At night. You've got to have kind of a stale daytime in 394 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.680 order to kind of jump start, you know, that creativity, Yeah, 395 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:37.680 at nighttime. Yeah, it's all about the routine, exactly, exactly. 396 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:41.000 Well, hey, as we draw up a close here, can you tell 397 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:47.000 us places where we can find those seventy stories that you've got written, or 398 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:49.480 where you're working on stuff, how you're releasing things and books whatnot. So 399 00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:55.200 most links to my stories can be found on Nick Manzililo dot com. Quite 400 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:59.079 a few of them are free, a few are in like paid anthologies through 401 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:02.839 Amazon, and my debut novel can be found on my website as well and 402 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.720 through my Amazon author page. Nick Manzielilla. Nice, excellent. So you've 403 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.119 got a lot, you know, you're a lot of pokers in the fire 404 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:11.480 right now, basically, yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to focus and 405 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:15.920 find an agent. So if you are an agent interested in mermaids and urban 406 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:21.559 fantasy and stores inspired by Stranger Things. Hopefully I have something for you. 407 00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:25.680 Ah, Man, isn't it crazy how Stranger Things is taken off with just 408 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:29.480 getting into our nostalgia. That's it right there. If you can write stories 409 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:33.759 that dips into people's in nostalgia, you're just guaranteed to have a sure fire 410 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.319 hit on your hands. Yeah. And you know, I noticed there's a 411 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.599 severe lack of oceanic everything, you know, I mean, how many vampire 412 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:45.359 how much vampire media is there compared to mermaids and vice versa, you know 413 00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:51.799 what I mean? Yeah, the ratio is unfair towards the vampires. Yeah, 414 00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:53.759 very much so. But are we talking about killer mermaids? Are we 415 00:27:53.799 --> 00:28:00.680 talking just about like the mythology of mermaids and themselves? The mythology you know, 416 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.680 you know, if there are areculer mermaids, then there are mermaids that 417 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:07.000 just help people who are drowning. You know. It's really diving into the 418 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:11.400 whole mythology of oceanic creatures in general too. That's amazing, that's awesome. 419 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:15.480 And you have some bodies of work that already touch on this or is this 420 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.240 stuff that you're currently working on. So that's my current novel, which is 421 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:21.880 what I've been completed, and I'm trying to pitch it to agents soon, 422 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:25.359 hopefully for the next month or two. And I've written two sequels to it 423 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:29.039 and a handful of short stories in that universe. Nice man, you are 424 00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:32.640 making moves. This is This is awesome to hear. It's all about getting 425 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:34.759 down and focusing. Yeah, that's that's the key to it all. Absolutely 426 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:41.160 just got to buckle down and focus on getting the task done at hand, 427 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.039 and you will be a great writer like Nick manzelul here hopefully. Thank you. 428 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.440 Yeah. Well, hey, it was great of you for joining us 429 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:52.559 tonight. Nick. I appreciate you taking the time to sit and chat and 430 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:55.480 I thank you for sharing your world with us here in the Gray Rooms. 431 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.839 Thank you so much for having me. I'm very inspired by this conversation. 432 00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:03.759 Excellent, Go fourth and achieve all those dreams, my friend. You definitely 433 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:07.480 definitely can do it, and I'm definitely looking forward to more of your time 434 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:10.599 travel stuff. Thank you. I appreciate it. And as usual, the 435 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:14.920 biggest thank you goes out to our fans and followers who listened daily and spread 436 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:18.599 the good word of Bob May you languish, may you lament, and may 437 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.119 you loathe, but always with love hashtag stay Gray, Take care and enjoy 438 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:26.640 your evening. Nick you two, thank you, and good night folks. 439 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:41.640 Bye. Join us each week after every episode for another interestion of Behind the Door.