bonkers uncle or an auntie or somebody that took you off the rails then?

No, my auntie and uncle were quite dull, to be honest.

My whole family's nothing like me at all.

Yeah, I am the small town boy who ran away to the big city to be a rock and roll star.

Everybody else had careers and got married and kids and what have you.

So, yeah, always loved books and stories.

And, yeah, just always loved writing as well, loved books.

was just going to say, if you were born in 81, then it will be like 26 years ago, 27 years ago.

So I'm assuming it's this novel, but I guess how did that short story come about and is Rage and Grace connected to all the way back there then?

Um, originally I started off when Mantic put out, uh, Winged Hussar put out a thing looking for new authors.

Uh, I was like, "Well, I can do that." So, um, part of it was you write out the synopsis and give a 10,000-word treatment of your story just so they know that you're a decent enough writer, and then they'll consider it.

So, uh, I was being smart about it.

Um, listening to the podcast, I know they wanted to promote their own IP, so I started off doing a Basilian and Abyssal one, and I sent it off.

And about three, four weeks later, I got the email back saying, "Oh, we've just released a book with Basilians and Abyssals." It's like, "I know, 'cause, uh, [laughs] Steps to Deliverance had arrived in the post the day before." And I looked through it and went, "Oh, damn."

Yeah.

So, uh, that's a dragon.

No traffic.

That's, well, driving through Austin is awful, so, uh, it'll take me like 17 hours.

But here's the thing, what I got for, [laughs] for the Reds, what I wish the Reds could do, I, I, I really think they need to, uh, solidify their bullpen.

Emilio Pagán was great for them last year at the back end, uh, 32 saves, one of eight in all of Major League Baseball that had, uh, 30 plus saves.

It's hard to find that guy at the back end that, that can shut down games for you.

Um, he is a free agent.

Uh, whether they'll try to sign him back, I'm not sure.

And do you think they have a little bit of hesitancy because the last two kinda big deals they gave to power bats didn't work out?