Transcript: Children Chatting With Author Minh Lê and Illustrator Andie Tong

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Transcript: Children Chatting With Author Minh Lê, Illustrator Andie Tong, and Children Chatting members

DANIELLA: Hello, everyone. You're listening to Children Chatting With Authors. Today, we're going to be joined by award winning author Minh Le and award winning artist and illustrator Andie Tong of the book Green Lantern: Legacy. So, hi, my name's Daniella. And I have a question for both of you. My question for Minh is, what parts of Tai's life are inspired by your own?

MINH LE: That's a great question. Thank you so much for having us on your podcast. A lot of this story is inspired by my grandmothers. So Tai in the story discovers that his own grandmother was actually a Green Lantern. And that was based on the idea, when I was looking at characters to write and I saw that Green Lantern was a character with a really strong willpower and a green ring, the first image that popped into my head was a picture of my grandmother because she's one of the strongest people I know, and she always wore a jade ring. So I was like, oh, what if my grandmother or somebody's grandmother was a a Green Lantern.

MINH LE: So once that fell into place, a lot of the details in the story are also pulled from pieces of my life, like Tai lives with his grandmother and his parents, and they own like a grocery store. And that was like, my grandparents owned one of those. So I spent a lot of time as a kid in a market like that one. And what's interesting is that I actually have a jade ring from my grandmother that I always wear. I took it off today, but it was always, my grandmother had given it to me like 20 years ago. I had never really wore it because I wasn't really into rings, so I had it on my key chain, but as I was working on this story, I remembered, I have a jade ring from my grandmother. So I put it on and have been wearing it ever since for good luck. So there are lots of elements that are pulled from my life. And it's amazing that those elements, when Andie put them on the page, that they somehow felt like they were pulled straight out of my memories. It was amazing.

DANIELLA: Thank you. That's super cool. Especially the jade ring, that's so cool. So my question for Andie is, I noticed that for some parts of the graphic novel, mainly the scenes that show Tai's grandmother in the past, are colored red or yellow and orange. Is there any significance behind this choice?

ANDIE TONG: Yeah. I think in terms of colors, it was a nice choice by Sarah, who's the colorist. For me, it was more, visually, it was just a part of the story. I mean, I drew it as from experience as well as part of me growing up and experiencing certain things. And I would put elements of those things in it, but not really ... In terms of color wise, it was mainly Sarah's choice. I didn't really specify for Sarah's colors that, certain locations or color or different things like that. But there were some things in the script that Minh put, that said like, you know, it needs to be that kind of aura or that atmosphere in the room. So I think Sarah, by reading the script, would know what color choices to put in.

MINH LE: [inaudible 00:03:37] It's a really interesting question because in the Green Lantern universe, there are so many different colors. So like green is supposed to represent will power. So yellow is supposed to represent fear, and red is supposed to represent like anger and rage. So I think Sarah picked up on those cues then. So like those scenes in the past, which were taking place during the war, she wanted to give it the sense of fear and anger that would become part of the natural emotions during wartime. So those little details, I'm interested that you picked up on that, because that kind of adds to the emotional fabric of the story.

ANDIE TONG: The bit I added was, for example, when the kids visited Xander's office, if you notice that the couch area that he has is actually the shape of the Yellow Lantern sign. So that was like, little elements like that, where we decided to put little Easter eggs in there just to make it more interesting visually as well.

MINH LE: Andie, I have to tell you, I was on a school visit recently with a school, and one of the students picked that out. They're like-

ANDIE TONG: Oh, really? It was quite subtle. And I didn't know if anyone would, but no one's actually ever mentioned it to me.

MINH LE: That student was the first one, so I was really impressed.

ANDIE TONG: Very cool.

DANIELLA: Thank you.

GABE: Hi, my name is Gabe. And my question is, why did you choose to draw a graphic novel instead of just a normal writing a book, what made you think to do that?

MINH LE: It's interesting because my background is in picture books. So all the stories I like to tell are told through pictures, and I feel like as the writer, I'm kind of like, I found a cheat code for making books because I'm a writer that doesn't like to use a lot of words. So for me, a graphic novel is the perfect way to tell a longer form story, because I can write the dialogue in and tell some stories, but then I hand it over to Andie and he just turns it into this amazing, beautiful visual masterpiece. I can't tell you how many times I had like an action scene in the book, and I was like, I" don't know how Andie's going to pull this off, but I'm just going to go for it and hope for the best." And then I would get the artwork back and he took just those few sentences that I put out and it becomes this amazing action sequence. So for me, it's the ideal way of telling a story because I like to think very visually. And so I think it's a really amazing treat to get to work with amazing artists. And I think when you combine the talents of multiple people into one book, you get something that's greater than the sum of its parts.

GABE: Thank you.

MINH LE: Thank you.

LEAH: My name is Leah and I have a question for Andie. Why for the Green Lantern: Legacy use the color green and for the Yellow Lantern he used yellow?

ANDIE TONG: I think it's a history that's been established in the DC Comics, and for the super heroes, I think green and yellow, they seem to be always in odds of each other. So they're always fighting against each other. I think it's just the, it's the law that's been established by the DC Comics between green and yellow. So there's plenty of other lanterns nowadays too with red, blue. I've seen quite a few of them. So, but yeah, it's just something with the green and yellow. It's always, has been established for quite a while. Maybe Minh might be able to help me answer that because he's probably done a lot more research about Green Lantern: Legacy, before he wrote it.

MINH LE: It was green. When I started writing this book, I asked my editor, I was like, "Can you send me all of the old Green Lantern comics so I can do some research?" And they sent me a box that was like, you can't see this on a podcast, but it's a really big box full of comics. And I was up late reading. I was like, "This is the dream. I get to read comics for work." But yeah, in the Green Lantern universe, green stands for will power and yellow stands for fear, and they've always been, like Andie said, at odds. They've always been kind of like battling over the years. And when I was writing the story, I wanted it to fit in with all the existing Green Lantern stories so that, there's such a rich universe there, I was like, "Let's see if I can figure out a way to create these new characters and still have them fit in with everything else." So, like Andie said, we wanted to make sure that it made sense with the history of the Green Lantern character, so green and yellow is kind of like the key dynamic there. So that's a really good question.

LEAH: Thank you.

MINH LE: Thank you.

ANDIE TONG: Thank you.

MILES: For Minh Lee, my question is...Oh, by the way, my name is Miles.

MINH LE: Hi, Miles.

ANDIE TONG: Hi Miles.

MILES: My question is, what influenced you to make a Green Lantern and Yellow Lantern?

MINH LE: Yeah. So my, when I was writing the story, I took a lot of influence from the history of the character. Like I said, there's so many Green Lanterns out there and there's people who have spent decades. I think this year was the 80th anniversary of Green Lantern as a character. So there's so much history there. So I took a lot of inspiration from that. But for me, the superhero stories that I like the most are the ones where the superhuman is grounded in something very human, right? Like you can take away the cape, you can take away the ring, all the powers and you still have a very human story there. So for me, when I was writing Green Lantern: Legacy, I was very much inspired by that question of who are the real heroes in your life, right? I think nowadays with the COVID pandemic, you don't have to look far to see people who are true heroes doing this incredible work to keep everyone safe and everything. And so for me, my grandmothers were very much the heroes in my family story. During the Vietnam war, my grandmother was very much responsible for getting a lot of our family out of Vietnam. So it made sense for me to, when I was trying to figure out how do I write a story about superheroes, my grandmother felt like the natural place to start.

MILES: Thank you.

MINH LE: Thank you.

MILES: My question for Andie is, how many versions of the lantern did you draw before finalizing the design?

ANDIE TONG: I went through a few concepts. I had to run it by my editors,.Lauren, and Minh just to make sure it's okay. I know Minh had an idea of using the traditional Vietnamese, like ... How do you say it, Minh?

MINH LE: Yeah, it's called an áo dài.

ANDIE TONG: Yeah, áo dài. And so originally, as most Green Lanterns, they would get a basic costume. And then I knew Minh in the story wanted to create more of a traditional Vietnamese type look for the Green Lantern. And so I ran a few designs past Minh and Lauren, the editor, and yeah, and I was very happy that that was going down the right track. And we came down to the one that you see in the book now. I went through a few conceptual designs.

MINH LE: Yeah. I think the first time I saw Andie's sketch of the Green Lantern with the áo dài and the traditional Vietnamese, I probably started like tearing up because it was such a powerful image. And you did such a great job with that.

ANDIE TONG: It's very close to, to the Chinese chongsan and like, you know, the traditional, I think it's very closely tied together in some ways. So drawing the áo dài was very similar to drawing the Chinese traditional attire that people used to wear as well.

MINH LE: So there's a scene in the book where his friends try to, Tai's friends try to help him come up with different costume designs. So even within the book itself, I made Andie draw like four or five different costumes. So thank you.

ANDIE TONG: That was great, I thought. It was a fun exercise, definitely. So.

MINH LE: Thank you guys.

ANDIE TONG: Thank you.

NICHOLAS: My name is Nicholas and I have questions for Andie. My question for Andie is when he was, when his friends were trying to help them get the costume, design his costume, where did you get the ideas for the costumes?

ANDIE TONG: Minh had some ideas in it. And then I looked ... That's a good thing about watching movies and watching cartoons, there's a lot of inspiration there from the designs. And so I was influenced by a lot of things coming out of those films and genres. And I think one of them was, the one that I laughed the most was the one that looked like a Jason mask. I thought that was quite a good skit that Minh put in which, I loved designing for that. So I just use the mask of Jason and then I designed the costume around it. And yeah, I think it looked quite decent and I hope people got, caught on on that, that it was based on the Jason mask, I guess.

MINH LE: And one of the outfits [inaudible 00:13:25] tries on is based on Alan Scott, who was the original first Green Lantern. So we kind of put that in there as like a little nod to the people who have been reading Green Lantern for the entire time so that we're kind of like, again, tying it to the history of the character.

NICHOLAS: My question for Minh is, where did you get the idea for Tai and his friends?

MINH LE: That's a really good question, and interestingly, since the book has been out, a lot of people have commented on just like the friendship aspect of the book. And I think a lot of times with superhero stories, you have a character who is just on their own and there's just like one person trying to figure out how they navigate the world.

MINH LE: I wanted Tai to feel natural and have friends around that he could kind of balance both the journey about becoming a superhero, but also just like being a kid in the world, right? And like this, trying to find time to hang out with your friends and finish your homework and things like that. So for me, I just really wanted to have the relationship between the kids to be a key part of the book. Because again, this is a book for young readers. I think you want to balance the heavier superhero stuff, with just like real life kid stuff. So, yeah, that's why I wanted to put emphasis on their friendship.

ANDIE TONG: And when I was drawing the characters, I was drawing inspiration from my friends with the way, you know, how they would sit in a room and how they would do homework in a room or, and all that. So this is the stuff that my friends and myself would do, and I would just, you know, try and remember how they sat, how they positioned themselves, and how they interacted with each other and the way ... What's his name, what's the blonde kid's name, Minh?

MINH LE: Tommy, the friend?

ANDIE TONG: Yeah. And how he would walk, when they were walking down the streets or at Xander's building, and how he walked backwards and trying to get people's attention and stuff like that. So those were the little fun things that I remember friends of mine were doing as we were walking down the street at three, you know, and one of them is trying to get attention of the friends. They would walk backwards and try, and, you know, so stuff like that when I was drawing, the three of them being, interacting with each other.

MINH LE: And those details tied back to the earlier question about why I like to write graphic novels instead of like regular, just like prose novels, because those details in the pictures say so much to me that it wouldn't be fun for me to write and say, Tommy walks backwards while talking to his friends. But Andie can like capture that in an image and you just instantly know what's going on and get the friendship dynamic because of the positioning of the kids. And there's just so much, so many layers of meaning that you can put into a graphic novel without just spelling it out with the word [inaudible 00:16:27]. I just love those details.

ANDIE TONG: And Minh wrote really good characters. As I was reading the script, I could tell what kind of character Tommy was, what kind of character Serena was. Just the strong, supportive type and Tommy's a bit of a joker. Like even when he was trying out the virtual goggles, and the way Minh wrote it, I could just visualize the character and how he would actually react and do certain things, and try to interpret that into the drawings. And hopefully that came through. So, yeah.

MINH LE: It did, it was perfect.

LOUIS: I wanted to ask for Minh, why do you [inaudible 00:17:11] that you write?

MINH LE: I think as a writer who likes stories that are also visual ... I was a very shy kid. When I was your age, I would not like to talk to people. I would sit in the corner and kind of read my books. And so a lot of the times I was like in my head and imagining, and doing a lot of storytelling in my head, but not necessarily with a lot of words and a lot of talking. So I think as someone who's very shy and didn't like to talk, I became very used to trying to figure out how to convey or how to share a message or share a story without having to talk a lot. So now as a writer, I get to put a story on a page and then work with amazing illustrators like Andie and have it combined to tell a story. And I can kind of ... My favorite way to be a writer is put a story on a page, hand it to the illustrator and then kind of like take a step back and let the artwork kind of take it from there. So, yeah, it's a really fun way to tell stories and I'm really grateful that I get to do it. So thank you for that question.

MALIKA: My name is Malika and my question is for kind of both of you. The location of the market and where he lives, did that come from any of your childhoods or did you just make it up?

MINH LE: So, yeah, that's a great question. So my grandparents, when they came to the U.S. from Vietnam, they opened up a grocery store, a Vietnamese market. And part of it was because when they came over here, they're like, "It's so hard to get the ingredients that we're used to cooking with. So why don't we start a market?" And what was great is that it kind of became a hub of the Vietnamese community because everyone would come to the store because they needed to get the ingredients and get the things that they're used to. And there's a scene at the end of the book or throughout the book where the grandmother meets a new family and brings them groceries and brings them things. That was actually a story that I learned at my grandmother's funeral. Someone came up, just like the characters in the book, and told me that, "You know, when we first came to this country, your grandmother showed up at the door with a bag of rice and fish sauce and like bowls and chopsticks to welcome us here because we didn't know anyone else." And apparently she did that for every family who came to town or who came here. So when I talk about her as like a real life hero, those are the kind of details I wanted to put in. So like, the market is very much inspired by my childhood. I spent a lot of time hanging out in the store or sitting on bags of rice, doing my homework. And what was amazing is that while the book was being made, I took my sons to a Vietnamese market and we walked inside and the first thing they said was, "It's the Jade market from Green Lantern: Legacy." So apparently Andie got all the details just right, because it felt like straight out ... Like I said, it was like he somehow reached in and plucked these memories out of my childhood.

ANDIE TONG: I moved to Australia really young. So I've lived in in Western countries most of my life. And then I was in London, and London has a lot of like Vietnamese, those kinds of stores that I would go and sometimes buy groceries. As Minh would say, I couldn't get ingredients from the normal supermarket. So living in London, gosh, almost seven years of my life, living in Australia quite a while as well, you would have to go to Chinatown, if you wanted to get, to cook those kind of Chinese foods and stuff like that. So I know those kind of shops really well as I've been in there many, many times. So when Minh mentioned the market, I was like, "Oh, perfect. I know the store and I can just draw it." So yeah, that's where I got my inspiration for the book. And did a bit of research just to make sure I got things right. And not use my memory too much because I might get things in there wrong.

MALIKA: Thank you.

ANDIE TONG: No worries.

THERON: Hi, my name is Theron. And my question is, how did you decide to do the background story of Green Lantern?

MINH LE: So how did I choose Green Lantern as a character to begin with, to write [crosstalk 00:21:40] story?

THERON: Yeah.

MINH LE: That's a great question. Because when I was invited by DC Comics, they called me up and they asked if I would, they said, "We're going to start a new line of books for young readers. And we'd like to invite you to write a story." And they said, "Take a look at all our characters from Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash on down, and just see what you come up with." And that's a lot of pressure to be like, "Look at all of our characters." So I looked at everything and I was like, Superman and Wonder Woman and Batman, that seems like a little bit, there's too much there to try to recreate or write something new. But like I said, when I read Green Lantern and I had that image of my grandmother, that's when the story fell into place. Because for me, I was like, I need to find a hook or an entry point into the story. And I needed to find a story that I was supposed to be the one writing, right? I needed to find my version of a superhero story. So that's how I got to the Green Lantern. It was based on the jade ring. And then also I went back to Vietnam recently, and I was walking down...Or my sister went while I was working on an idea. And she sent me this picture of a street in Vietnam with all these green lanterns, just hung up. So I was like, it must be meant to be. So yeah, that's kind of how I came around to the story.

THERON: Yeah. Thank you. And also I noticed on some of the pages in his house, you do a Superman poster in the background.

MINH LE: Yeah. Like I said, there's so much rich history within the DC universe. And great eyes, for catching that. We wanted to, as much as possible, kind of tip our cap to the stories that existed, that we could build upon that. So yeah, you did an amazing job of catching that detail. Good job.

AVERY: My name is Avery, and my question is, was the book based on things that happened in your life?

MINH LE: Yes. The book is very much inspired by things that happened in my life and my relationship with my grandmother. I'm trying to think of other details from there. So one detail that we added in very late, and I'm glad that Andie was able to squeeze it in, is there's a scene where Tai gets the ring in the middle of the night and he goes to his grandmother's room. On his grandmother's bedside table there's a little bottle of something called YoSun, Which is like a eucalyptus oil. And when we were in the, we were kind of late in the process, had that idea. Because my grandmother, whenever we were sick, she'd had this little tiny green bottle and she would use it and rub it on our bodies to make us feel better. And it had a very strong smell, but it felt like magic. Right? And so when I was like this, it's amazing that it's a green liquid. It's perfect for this story. I was like, can we please add this into, because there may be like four or five people that see it, but for me, I instantly smell it and think of my grandmother. And it's a detail that kind of really drives home the family's aspect of the story. So I was really glad that Andie was able to squeeze that in. So there are little details throughout the book that are kind of at least related to things that have happened throughout my life, because I wanted the story to feel authentic and the characters to feel real.

ANDIE TONG: And for my part, my contribution for that part was not to have people wearing shoes in the house, which is very common for Asian countries, Asian families. So I drew that in and then I ran it by Minh and [inaudible 00:25:27] said, "Yep, that's fine," without having ... And so if you noticed, when he went on a little fly around with the kids and he spotted the vandals spray painting the market, after he was caught in the alley with Xander, he doesn't have any shoes on. So he had to use the Green Lantern ring to create slippers on his feet. It's because they flew out from his room window, which didn't allow shoes in the house. So little small details like that, we decided to add in. And yeah, it's just a bit of Asian heritage and culture that we thought we'd sprinkle throughout the story to hopefully ... You know, people that know will know, and people that know will discover something.

MINH LE: I love that detail. When you sent me that sketch, I was like, "I have a pair of these flip flops in my closet." [crosstalk 00:26:27]

ANDIE TONG: It's very common, right?

ADALINE: My name is Adeline. So I have a question for both of you. So first of all, I have, I'm wondering is there going to be a part two in this book?

MINH LE: I love that you are interested in a sequel. When we started, when we wrote Green Lantern: Legacy it was meant to be a standalone, one book, but I think we've gotten such amazing feedback. So I would love to write more stories about Tai and his adventures.

ANDIE TONG: And I'd love to draw more of him, so.

ADALINE: So my question for Andie is how'd you get the idea to draw the characters the way you drew them?

ANDIE TONG: I'm influenced by a lot of things I watch. I watch a lot of anime, manga, and American comics and books, and a lot of illustrators that influenced me in the way I draw and things that I design. And I have very many styles. So, especially since this was aimed for kids, I wanted to make sure it was inviting. So I just blended a bit of American art. We had a bit of anime and manga, and hopefully it's something that will gel well in the storytelling. And I think it worked well. I think it did. And especially with Sarah's colors on top of it, it's so vibrant and bright. It just pops up on the page and definitely the cover as well. On the comic stand or on the magazine stand, it's a book that would definitely catch my eye. So I think the team has worked really well together on this. So yeah, that's where I draw my inspiration from, just making sure. And if you notice, if you watch a lot of animes and animes TV shows, they're very bright and they're very, they pop up really well and they don't have a lot of shadows. So yeah, that's where I drew my influence from.

LEAH: My name is Leah, and I have a question for Andie. Did you draw the people with your hand or on a computer or a device?

ANDIE TONG: It's a combination. I did use my hands to draw it on the computer, which then ... So the computers, they don't ... It's a tool. So you still ... It's essentially like drawing on paper, but you're just drawing it on screen nowadays. And it saves, I guess the environment, don't use a lot of paper. I used to have, I used to draw a lot on paper and I had tons and stacks of artwork that just piled in the corner. So I decided I'll invest in the computer equipment instead of drawing it on screen. That way I don't have to waste any more paper. And you have command Z, which is undo, which makes it very easy because when you're drawing it on paper, you tend to be slower because you're trying not to make mistakes. So with a computer, you can just kind of scribble and sketch. And then if I make a mistake, I can just undo it and redraw it again, which makes it very easy. And it's cleaner. You don't see those eraser marks. Thank you. Thank you for a good question.

MILES: This question is for Minh, and I first want to give you guys a comment. I'm sort of a picky reader, and this is my first time reading a DC comic book. So, and this really drew me in and I want to read way more of these DC comics because of you. You guys did a really good job on the book.

MINH LE: Oh, thank you very much man.

MILES: You're welcome. And my last question is for Minh Le, how did you get connected with DC?

MINH LE: That's a great question. And I still kind of like have to pinch myself to make sure this is real, because like I said, my background is in writing picture books and I got a message one day from a vice-president at DC Comics asking if I would take a phone call. And I actually review picture books and books as well. So I thought maybe they wanted to send me some books to review. But when I answered the phone, they're like, "Yeah, we're starting this new line of books for young readers. And we'd like to invite you to write something." So it's a total dream to get that invitation. So they made the connection. At first, I told them, "I think you have the wrong Minh Le, because I write picture books, not comics, and not graphic novels," but they're like, "We have been following what you do and we would like to, we like the stories that you write. So we want to see what you can come up with." And your first comment about it drawing you in is like, that makes me so happy because that was our whole goal, to reach new readers, to reach people of your age and draw them in because I think there's so many people of Andie and my generation who grew up reading comics. And now there are lots of movies about it and everything, but we want to make sure that we're providing new content and new books for the new generation of readers. So that makes me so happy to hear. So thank you so much.

MILES: You're welcome. You two are very talented.

MINH LE: Oh, thank you. You're a very talented interviewer. So.

LEAH: So why did you choose to, grandmother, her name to be Ba and not any other name?

MINH LE: Hmm. Oh, that's a really good question. So in Vietnamese, ba or ba noi is your father's mother. So I wanted to include some Vietnamese in the book to make it authentic. And for Tai, like the sense that he goes back and forth between throwing a few Vietnamese words in here and there with the English, and that's kind of how I grew up talking. So yeah, we wanted to put Vietnamese in the book to make it feel real. So that's why we chose to do that. But good eyes, though, to catch on to the different languages that we roll in there.

MILES: How did you two get connected?

MINH LE: Oh, that's a great question. So after I started working on the story, the editors found Andie's work, so DC Comics connected me with Andie. And as soon as I heard about his work and saw his work on everything, I was just like so excited. Because I was still working on this story, so seeing the kinds of art and action sequences as he could do, definitely kind of influenced the story that I tried to write because all of a sudden ... I don't have a huge background in writing comics. So he has such a strong background in comics. I was like, okay, now, like my imagination kind of shifted into like, "Ooh, now it feels like more of an action story in a lot of ways." So yeah, DC Comics made that connection.

ANDIE TONG: Thank you for choosing me, Minh. I have to say, I would say, for someone that doesn't write comics scripts, it was very, I think it was great. I was reading through it and I had no problems. Because sometimes when you do read the script, it confuses me even more. So I had a lot of questions, but this was like, it's all, it was just a smooth transition I'd say for you to go from prose to writing a comic script. So it was great.

MINH LE: I'm glad that it came off that way. Because I wasn't sure. But thanks for that question, Miles.

ANDIE TONG: Thank you very much, Miles.

LEAH: I have a quick question for Minh Le. Why did you put the part in the beginning of the story when the cat had a little bit of glass in its hair?

MINH LE: So, yeah, we wanted to show very early on that Tai has just like, the instincts of a hero, right? So when the brick goes through the glass, we didn't want the cat to get hurt, but we wanted to show Tai rescuing that cat. And then I'm not sure if you noticed the cat's name, but the cat's name is Jordan. And that was like a reference to Hal Jordan who is the main Green Lantern that a lot of people knew. So yeah, we wanted just to have a very simple, early scene where people see like, oh, Thai is already kind of, feels like a hero. So that when he gets the ring, it's kind of playing off of his instincts and his, the way, who he is as a person, even if he didn't have a ring. But that's a great question. No, but don't worry. The cat did not get hurt. It was just a little bit of glass.

LEAH: Yeah. Thank you.

MINH LE: Thank you.

MILES: Thanks for listening to the Children Chatting with Authors podcast!

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