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Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning, Samuel. How you doing?

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Speaker 2: Good morning? How are you?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic. I got to start it off with a

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child's question only because the child in me wants to

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make sure that I'm on the right page. I know

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that it's about it's about a unicorn. But is it Unico?

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Is it Unico or is it Uniko?

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Speaker 2: So it's Nico, Yeah, Unico. Absolutely, you have to write that.

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Speaker 1: You absolutely have to write good because when I want

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to sit down and talk with young readers, I want

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to be able to say the right name, so we

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can all be on the same page here, of course,

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And this is no normal unicorn either. I mean, this

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one has power that affects human life. I love the

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idea that you are stepping into this no, thank.

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Speaker 2: You so much. Yeah, that's exactly right. It's about a

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unicorn whose power to spread lovingest draw the ire of

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the of an evil goddess.

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Speaker 1: And the thing is is that you do it in

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a way that invites people to look for their own

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little superpowers. I mean, in other words, when they see

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it with Unico, it's like, well maybe I can do

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this as well.

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Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, Well, because I meant, at its core, the

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whole entire book is about friendship, and it's about you know,

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worrying about you know, to accept who you are and

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accepting the power and you know, growing into the power

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that you do have. And so absolutely very much relatable

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in that way.

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Speaker 1: How did you create the world of manga, because I mean,

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that's that really is something that is very you know,

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it's almost very spiritual or universal.

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Speaker 2: Sure, absolutely, yeah, So manga is you know, so manga

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is kind of the Japanese word for comics, right, and

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so it's like that's what it what it means in

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translation is is comics. And so but as I think

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you you know, many of you have spending you and

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you probably your listeners have heard, it's really become just

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a global phenomenon, right, with so many people, uh some

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other people especially reading uh manga and the work. Uh So,

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you know, I've been a huge fan of them itself

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for years and years and years and years. But what

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of the issues that we that I hear from librarians

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for example, and other people and you know who read manga.

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Is that especially for younger readers when they go and

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they you know, you know, eight year older, nine year old, well,

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you know, get so interested in the genre, in the

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medium as they go and they pick up you know,

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a book, right Demons Player, and which is for an

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older audience, you know, I want to say a teen audience.

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It's a little bit bloodier, a little more, a little

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it's just kind of no appropriate in their age group.

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And so kind of what we're doing here is we've

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tried to create a story that has all the manga

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hallmarks well for a younger audience for twelve. So it

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allows kids to really latch on to that h to

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the medium in a way that is citing, refleshing, and

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and also you know, authentic.

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Speaker 1: I would love to see the number of parents that

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are going to pick up this book and read it

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for themselves, because you're right, it is the adults are

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the ones that know it, and they're gonna they're gonna

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get this and they're gonna say, oh, this is just

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a simple read. I'm going to take this in. So

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I'm anxious to find out how many parents are going

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to reach out to you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, me too, I can't wait to hear. I really

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do feel like there's it's interesting with all the readers

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that we've had so far, kids are really funny, well

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but a sore adults. And that's been great to see

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because you know, I kind of like what I want

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to read myself that I did him, and that's kind

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of the way that I hoped it would go.

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Speaker 1: How did you keep it in that simple format, because

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I mean, I mean, when you're writing to a young adult,

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I mean, you've got to be able to put it

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in a language that they can attach themselves too. And

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we live in this world where it's like it's like, Okay,

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we like big words, but we don't like big words,

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but we want a real simple story.

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Speaker 2: That's right. Well, that's kind of the in my opinion,

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the beauty of the story of Unico in general is

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that it's a story that, while it has its complexities

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and it does explore deeper truths and things that are

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a little bit more, you know, harder show on through

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the story, is also the least simple. At the same time,

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it's a story about friendship, it's a story about growth.

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It's a story that's class and timeless in that regard,

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and that's a testament to you know, where it comes from,

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the fact that it was created as a story for

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kids about a character who is experiencing a lot of difficulty.

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Speaker 1: I can totally see this having a lot of merchandise

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involved in it. Are you going to jump into that

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T shirts and little figures and things like that, because

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I mean, I mean when when once people attach themselves

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to this story, they're going to want to hold onto something.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, absolutely, that's that's my hope as well. We

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have people that are definitely working on that at the moment,

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and I hear it's going well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, because this is volume one, this is

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where you bring listeners and readers into into your vision

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as as a writer and an author, because I mean,

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what we want volume two, then we want volume three.

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And one of the things that I get so jealous

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of is that, because this is volume one, you already

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know where this story is going, but you can't tell

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us what's going on next.

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Speaker 2: It's a big secret. Yeah actually yeah no, But it's

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it's one of those things where actually it's it's really funny.

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I heard I have been asked by a couple of

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kids in particular, like, so what happens with volume two?

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And I give them a little bit of a you know,

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a little bit information like okay, fine, but what happens

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to volume three. You know, I really want to know,

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and that's that's really fun. And also I can totally

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understand as a leader, how how how frustrated, the fun

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the way that can be.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because they've got the courage to ask those questions.

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Where an adult would go, Okay, i'm gonna I'm gonna

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weigh I'm going to patiently wait for it. But no, no,

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kids will look at you directly in the eyes and

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they'll bring out that question.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, Yeah, that's which is one of the most

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wonderful things about you know, having kids as your readers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So now this this project was was part of

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the Kickstarter program. Now is this something that you're going

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to continue with the other novels and things like that,

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because I mean I want people to get involved with

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what you're doing.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah, So, Walsall, Kickstarter was the way the

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originally was kind of like the proof of concept for

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the entire story. So, you know, we thought because Nigo

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Is I had a lot of like you know, cult

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popularity following like that from you know, people like me

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who grew up in the eighties and nineties who had

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seen the films. We got really excited by them and

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just love them to this day. Uh, you know, we

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thought that publishers would want to we'd have to see

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it to believe it. Yeah, So that's why we ended

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up going to the kickstarter as a way to kind

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of show the world that people wanted me to go,

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and we did. We did pretty well, and so then

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eventually Scholastic was the company that ended up picking it

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up and really bringing in this larger, you know place

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where we're in the series. And it's been such an

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exciting road to get there. So we won't be doing

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any more kickstarters, but the books now will be cleaning

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out through Scholastic and then will be there'll be multiple

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ones in the series.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that is an amazing place to be because I've

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been reading Scholastic books my entire life. That is so

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awesome that you are part of that circle, sir.

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Speaker 2: I'm very thankful as incredible as incredible honors to be

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part of that circle.

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Speaker 1: Wow. You got to come back to the show anytime

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in the future, Samuel. The door is always going to

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be open for you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. It's it's

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awesome to be on.

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Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today? Okay, Okay, thank

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Speaker 2: You so much.