Speaker 1: This show contains terrifying, shocking, and haunting stories that some
Speaker 1: listeners may find disturbing or offensive.
Speaker 2: It's for a m You're driving down a dirt road,
Speaker 2: just off the sixty two. Not a soul in sight,
Speaker 2: just you and the desert night. But wait, you hear
Speaker 2: a signal off in the distance. It's faint that it
Speaker 2: grows louder. Is it a howl of a coyote, the
Speaker 2: hiss of a king snake? Or is the voice of
Speaker 2: a man guiding you toward a great darkness? From my
Speaker 2: heart radio and overtones media, You're listening to YFT two FM,
Speaker 2: the only sound you'll here in the Sleephole Valley. I'm
Speaker 2: Dixon Lewis your lone companion for the night, and I've
Speaker 2: got a.
Speaker 3: New batch of stories to keep you up as.
Speaker 2: You drive down this dusty, desolate highway. We got one
Speaker 2: more tale for you. Ray Morrison has quite the following
Speaker 2: for a true crime author, fame can be a bit suffocating,
Speaker 2: especially when one of his fans takes it too far.
Speaker 2: This is the Whisper by James Kim Okay.
Speaker 4: Are you still passing our tickets?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 4: We're actually done for the day. Please, I'll be less
Speaker 4: than a minute.
Speaker 3: Well, we're starting to pack things up.
Speaker 4: Please, I can see he's still meeting with a fan.
Speaker 4: I came a really long way.
Speaker 6: I would have gotten here earlier, but there was no parking.
Speaker 4: I had to park like a half mile away.
Speaker 6: I I was supposed to come with my sister and
Speaker 6: she got sick.
Speaker 4: It would mean everything to her if I got him
Speaker 4: to sign this book. Please.
Speaker 3: I'm really sorry.
Speaker 4: We have a strict cutoff time. So fine, have a
Speaker 4: good night. I'm just gonna buy one fam.
Speaker 3: No, so we are close.
Speaker 1: Hey, is everything okay?
Speaker 3: Oh, mister Morrison, I'm sorry. I was just letting this
Speaker 3: woman know that we're close for the night.
Speaker 1: Oh you know what, it's fine with me. If it's
Speaker 1: okay with you, I'd love to sign a book.
Speaker 3: Well, I was just trying to respect your time.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I have time for Sorry. What was your name, Janet? Yes, hi, Janet,
Speaker 1: come on over last one.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: I'm such a big fan.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you. I'm Ray.
Speaker 4: I know I'm Janet.
Speaker 6: I can't believe I'm meeting you. Will you sign my
Speaker 6: copy of The Whisper?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, thank you. It is a book
Speaker 1: signing of I'm happy to.
Speaker 7: Here.
Speaker 3: I've read all of your books.
Speaker 6: You're incredible at crafting a mystery.
Speaker 4: But this new one.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is so kind of you. I'm sorry, I'm
Speaker 1: where is everything?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just can't find my pen I've got one.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 6: Here, you know, I mean it though. The Whisper is
Speaker 6: unlike anything you ever written. Normally your stories are slow burns,
Speaker 6: but this one happen on the edge of my seat.
Speaker 6: I mean, it must feel great knowing that critics loved
Speaker 6: it too, especially after what they said about your last book.
Speaker 4: I mean, not that it matters what they say.
Speaker 6: I loved it, and your fans loved it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, I appreciate it, Janet, I really do. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Oh I found it.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you. Let's see here, I'll.
Speaker 4: Sign Actually, could you sign the back cover flap?
Speaker 6: No need to write a message or anything, just your
Speaker 6: signature would be great.
Speaker 1: Sure you don't want to buy my beautiful headshot? No? Okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: that was dumb. Let's see you know, I know.
Speaker 6: I put a put a line where you can sign
Speaker 6: to make things easier.
Speaker 1: Okay, there you go. That was easy.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. Great, truly, this means everything to me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, Janet, of course my pleasure.
Speaker 4: I will never forget this moment.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks, thanks again.
Speaker 8: Finally mm hm, when I'm right, I'm right and I
Speaker 8: am always right.
Speaker 7: You were right about this one. But I don't know
Speaker 7: if either of us thought this would be a huge hit.
Speaker 3: Oh I knew, I always knew.
Speaker 1: Well, it is your job to believe in me, your client.
Speaker 3: Oh still just your agent.
Speaker 1: No that's not what I mean, Margot, No, No, it's fine.
Speaker 3: I guess I thought.
Speaker 5: After fifteen years of working together, you know, I consider
Speaker 5: you a friend.
Speaker 7: But if you don't, yeah, and friends don't let friends
Speaker 7: do random signings in Bloomington.
Speaker 5: Okay, Okay, you should feel amazing that you could pack
Speaker 5: a small town bookstore like that.
Speaker 3: Not all authors can do that, but not all authors
Speaker 3: are at the top of the best sellers list.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I guess you're right. Maybe I could finally quit
Speaker 1: that teaching job.
Speaker 3: I didn't realize you were doing that for money.
Speaker 7: Well, it wasn't really that. It was just that I
Speaker 7: needed a break from writing.
Speaker 3: Why because the critics have been so harsh lately. Okay, right, Look,
Speaker 3: we've been real about this.
Speaker 5: We both know your last few books were goods, but this.
Speaker 3: One's put you right back on top.
Speaker 1: Here.
Speaker 3: Here's to that.
Speaker 5: However, it's good for your image to do a stop
Speaker 5: in a small town every.
Speaker 3: Once in a while.
Speaker 1: True, true, true.
Speaker 7: But the downside is it attracts some peculiar fans.
Speaker 3: Oh no, what did someone ask you to sign their chest?
Speaker 1: Well, there was one person who gave off a very
Speaker 1: strange aura.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I mean true crime fans are usually their
Speaker 5: own breed entirely.
Speaker 3: Oh I remember Bobby was telling me he had to
Speaker 3: do an event outside Chicago.
Speaker 6: Janet, you signed my poppy in an experience, Janet, I
Speaker 6: can't believe I'm meeting you.
Speaker 3: You whisper is this means everything that would up to me?
Speaker 4: I will never forget this.
Speaker 5: He is everything.
Speaker 7: Okay, she's here? Who the woman from earlier? That the
Speaker 7: one who wanted me to sign her book. I don't care.
Speaker 3: You're gonna have to be a lot more specific. There's
Speaker 3: lots of ladies here.
Speaker 1: I knew something was off about her, Dan, What does
Speaker 1: she look like?
Speaker 7: Blue sweater, red hat, edge of the bar by the entrance,
Speaker 7: you see.
Speaker 3: Oh, she's staring at us.
Speaker 1: Yep. I knew this was a bad idea.
Speaker 5: It's not that big of a deal. Oh, she's probably
Speaker 5: just a fan. She's just a fan, and she's excited
Speaker 5: that her favorite author is in town.
Speaker 1: And that's all great, but can we please get out
Speaker 1: of here?
Speaker 3: Look at me, Look at right, look at me. Breathe. Yes,
Speaker 3: it's fine, it's not I'll tell you what.
Speaker 5: Why don't you sneak out through the back patio, call
Speaker 5: yourself a ride, and I'll hang.
Speaker 3: Here and I'll make sure she doesn't follow you.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, see you are my friend than you got you?
Speaker 3: I got you.
Speaker 5: You need you well rested before your live interview with
Speaker 5: The Twin Chronicle tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Nervous, not about that.
Speaker 3: Good Get out of here, go get some sleep.
Speaker 7: Okay, okay, thanks, thanks, have a good night.
Speaker 1: Excuse me? Did you follow me? Listen, ma'am?
Speaker 7: I appreciate you being a fan, but you've crossed a
Speaker 7: line that what are you?
Speaker 1: What are you doing?
Speaker 5: Fan?
Speaker 4: You think I'm a fan?
Speaker 6: You are nothing more than a washed up author who
Speaker 6: became a city college professor because of your career, wedded
Speaker 6: to the shitter.
Speaker 9: Who are you?
Speaker 4: Did you really write the whisper?
Speaker 1: My name is on the cover miss.
Speaker 6: A murder mystery set during undas where people make kalama HATI.
Speaker 4: That's a story you came up with.
Speaker 1: Okay, I see what this is about. Now, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can just leave.
Speaker 6: My last name is Rossa, but older sister of Nikki Rusaliz,
Speaker 6: So you do remember, of.
Speaker 1: Course I remember it.
Speaker 7: Yes, she was a very bright student and what happened
Speaker 7: to her was awful.
Speaker 4: You were her teacher.
Speaker 6: She thought of you as her mentor, and you betrayed her.
Speaker 1: Ma'am, I don't appreciate these defamatories.
Speaker 4: Your copied her book word for word.
Speaker 6: She couldn't handle how successful it became. That's why she
Speaker 6: killed herself.
Speaker 1: That was not my fault.
Speaker 6: You think that was a book you signed earlier? Yeah,
Speaker 6: and that pen was filled with regular ink.
Speaker 1: What are you even talking about about. You're crazy.
Speaker 6: You signed something, all right, and you signed it with
Speaker 6: the blood of my sister.
Speaker 1: Step away from me.
Speaker 6: It will come for you and it will take back
Speaker 6: what you have stolen.
Speaker 1: You are a psychopath. You're insane.
Speaker 2: Nah?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: Oh god?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we got a real wild one. Fuck. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, oh my god.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with our broadcast after these messages.
Speaker 7: Oh hi, oh Charles Charles Mendelssohn from The Twin Chronicle.
Speaker 1: Good to meet you.
Speaker 10: I'm the guy who's gonna be your inquisitor today. Okay, yeah, wait,
Speaker 10: freak out. I'm sorry, No, no, I just have a
Speaker 10: lot of my mind. It's sorry. This is going to
Speaker 10: be me throwing you softball questions.
Speaker 1: Okay, They're going to eat it up. They love you. You
Speaker 1: saw how many people are here, right, it's a nice crowd.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Yeah, they're so excited to see you and you are going.
Speaker 1: To kill Thanks. Gonna be awesome. Thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you for having me. This is like, yeah, it
Speaker 1: really thank you. All right, showtime.
Speaker 10: Thanks, fantastic to see all of you today. Thank you
Speaker 10: so much for coming. I'm Charles Mendelssohn. I'm the book
Speaker 10: critic at the Twin Chronicle. But you're not here for me.
Speaker 10: You're here for our author, who, over the last fifteen
Speaker 10: years has published ten novels. He has won eight Crime
Speaker 10: Awards for them, and he recently gave the commencement address.
Speaker 10: It is alma mater at a little school in ann Arbor.
Speaker 10: He is currently an English prophet Pico College, where he
Speaker 10: teaches young people how to write true crime. His latest novel,
Speaker 10: The Whisper, has quickly gained attention, both critically and commercially.
Speaker 10: It follows May Flores, who discovers a family secret buried
Speaker 10: in her hometown of Manila. It's a nail biting journey
Speaker 10: to uncover the horrific truths of her family's past.
Speaker 1: The critics love it.
Speaker 10: They have praised this man for his departure from his
Speaker 10: previous work, calling it a gripping and mature tale of
Speaker 10: generational trauma. At the Twin Chronicle, we gave it the
Speaker 10: pick of the week. Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored
Speaker 10: to present today the author himself, mister Ray Morrison.
Speaker 1: Do you pay them to do this?
Speaker 5: As?
Speaker 1: We're welcome? Ray? Got your mic right there? Yep? All right,
Speaker 1: hold it up close to your mouth. Make sure it's on.
Speaker 1: I think it's on. All right, Hello, Testing, What do
Speaker 1: you want to start? Okay? Ray, great to have you here.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 10: Before we talk about The Whisper, I want to talk
Speaker 10: about your past, like, how did you get into writing
Speaker 10: true crime?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 7: I never want to put myself into like sorry, I
Speaker 7: never want to put myself into like a box.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't really like to label myself that way.
Speaker 7: I think if my books is dealing with personal dramas,
Speaker 7: family dynamics, humanistic themes of loss and forgiveness, I didn't
Speaker 7: practice that.
Speaker 1: By the way. It just so happened that people get
Speaker 1: murdered in my books, you know.
Speaker 10: Man, So yeah, and that went great for eight novels,
Speaker 10: and then let's just say there.
Speaker 4: Was a lull.
Speaker 1: That's a nice yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 7: I guess I'd be lying if I didn't admit that
Speaker 7: those books sucked.
Speaker 10: But did that But did the experience of having two
Speaker 10: books that were not as great? Let's just say, did
Speaker 10: that give you the juice to write the whisper?
Speaker 7: I don't know, And I guess I guess what happened is,
Speaker 7: you know, I became so comfortable in my own style,
Speaker 7: and so I said, what am I going to do? Now,
Speaker 7: Let's take a journey somewhere completely different. Let's leave La,
Speaker 7: let's leave Noir, let's go to the Philippines.
Speaker 10: Yes, you took off in a totally new direction. And
Speaker 10: a lot of the critics they really noticed that. They said,
Speaker 10: it sounds like a new you. It's like like that
Speaker 10: was a totally different author writing that book.
Speaker 1: Where did that come from. Yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean, look, once you write, when you're doing well,
Speaker 7: nothing changes, you don't. You're not forced into change. And
Speaker 7: two really bad books made me think I have to change.
Speaker 7: So I stumbled on this news story about the history
Speaker 7: of the Undas and in the Philippines and well, basically
Speaker 7: it's what's known as Saints Holiday here.
Speaker 10: No all Saints DA that's the correct translation.
Speaker 7: Oh, I stand corrected, Yes, sorry about that. Yeah, anyway,
Speaker 7: today that's my to remember people who have departed. And
Speaker 7: I found it to be a beautiful but haunting story,
Speaker 7: perfect setting.
Speaker 1: For this novel.
Speaker 10: One of the things I really liked about The Whisper
Speaker 10: is how specific you got.
Speaker 1: You really took us there, all.
Speaker 10: The details like the food and the way they use
Speaker 10: candles to ward off spirits and everything else. You know,
Speaker 10: cultural appropriations a big topic nowadays, as it should be.
Speaker 10: You must have hired, brought in some experts, consulted with
Speaker 10: some experts to get that level of specificity.
Speaker 1: No, you know, I don't know. I grew up in
Speaker 1: a time that it's different from now.
Speaker 7: And I don't want to sound like a jerk, but
Speaker 7: I only learned to do books on my own, so
Speaker 7: I did all the research. I went to every library
Speaker 7: in the entire county. I found news articles and it
Speaker 7: just helped me with references. Here here we are now
Speaker 7: with the full story. How much time do you spend researching.
Speaker 1: Whatever? Whatever? However long it took me to write the book,
Speaker 1: like a year, year and a half. You must have
Speaker 1: gone to the Philippines.
Speaker 7: No, unfortunately, I've not been there yet.
Speaker 1: This was a big risk for you. How do it feel? Sorry?
Speaker 1: How'd this big risk fuelds you? Uh? Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Do you hear anyone making noises in the audience? What
Speaker 1: like somebody's making the goat sounds goat like a goat
Speaker 1: out in the audience. I don't know, maybe I'm just yeah, sorry.
Speaker 1: I can't tell if you're being serious or not. But
Speaker 1: let's move on. Okay, you've got a great sense of humor.
Speaker 1: Do you have ideas about what you want to do next? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I think that I will. I think that I might
Speaker 1: have an idea about writing something a little more cool.
Speaker 7: I guess close to home now. Ah God, I just
Speaker 7: said that whole thing about departing from you know, Ellen Moore.
Speaker 7: But I'm probably gonna just have to be closer to
Speaker 7: my own personal experience.
Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna just write.
Speaker 3: About something that I know and only.
Speaker 11: I know, and it's gonna have my signature style.
Speaker 1: I promise, up stop it.
Speaker 7: Sorry, Ray, are you okay?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna write it. It will be different.
Speaker 9: No no, no, no, no, no no no, get up?
Speaker 11: Sh sh shit shit said.
Speaker 1: No please fuck?
Speaker 4: Fuck sure hell hell?
Speaker 11: Oh oh no, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Speaker 11: I'm sorry. No, please please don't not no, what's not
Speaker 11: not no no, not you? No no, not you. No,
Speaker 11: I didn't I'm sorry. I didn't mean too. Hi. I
Speaker 11: stole Nikki Rosales's story. I'm so sorry I didn't write it.
Speaker 11: I'm I'm so sorry. I needed I was gonna run
Speaker 11: and I needed out.
Speaker 2: You stole the.
Speaker 3: Idea for the Whispers.
Speaker 1: Please don't take my poins.
Speaker 9: Please don't take Why.
Speaker 10: Are you talking to you?
Speaker 1: Please don't hurt me?
Speaker 12: Please please you no, Noyorray, somebody get some help.
Speaker 2: The Whisper is written and directed by James Kim. The
Speaker 2: executive producers are James Kim and Taylor Chaquoine Erica as
Speaker 2: a producer Diego Perez is producer and lead sound designer.
Speaker 2: Daniel Martinez is a production sound mixer. Matthew Wong is
Speaker 2: a composer. Theme music by Ryo Baum and Robert Garova.
Speaker 2: Artwork by Justin D.
Speaker 1: Lee.
Speaker 2: This episode was recorded at Hobby Shop West in Highland Park,
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. Jennifer Zey is a production sound mixer. Henrik
Speaker 2: Heiser plays Ray, Tess Bartholomew plays Janet. Gwen Hollander plays Margo,
Speaker 2: John Rabie plays Charles. Katherine Borne Taylor plays the bookstore employee.
Speaker 2: The audience in choir include Alissa Curiel, Angela Wynn, Benjamin Nicholas,
Speaker 2: Ian Gabriel Luna, Isaiah Chacahan, Lauren Battley, Rebecca Bishop, Savannah Rivers,
Speaker 2: Trace Gaynor, and v J. Roussalis. The choir leader You
Speaker 2: Feel In This Too is a production of iHeart Radio
Speaker 2: and Overtones Media