1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,000
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori

3
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,840
Speaker 1: with you. Kevin J. Anderson with us. A noted author

4
00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,960
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy plus books, including Doone and Steak,

5
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,320
Speaker 1: Vampire Hunter or Serial Killer. He has written numerous novels

6
00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,680
Speaker 1: in the Star Wars, X Files and Done universes, as

7
00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,680
Speaker 1: well as unique fantasy novels as well. He has edited

8
00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:28,040
Speaker 1: numerous anthologies, written comics, games, and lyrics for a couple

9
00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 1: to rock CDs. He's the director of the Graduate Program

10
00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,360
Speaker 1: in Publishing at Western Colorado University. Kevin and his wife,

11
00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:41,160
Speaker 1: Rebecca are also publishers of the Word Fire Press. This

12
00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,520
Speaker 1: is his first time on Coast to Coast. Kevin, Welcome

13
00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,400
Speaker 1: to the program, looking forward to chatting with you. Well,

14
00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:48,120
Speaker 1: thank you, George. I'm so glad to be any of

15
00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,080
Speaker 1: such a fascinating show. So I'm thrilled to be here,

16
00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,120
Speaker 1: and you know, we can talk about a million different things,

17
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,080
Speaker 1: which I think is what your listeners want. Absolutely, how

18
00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,520
Speaker 1: did you get started doing all of this? Well, you know,

19
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,880
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a writer since I was like

20
00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,200
Speaker 1: five years old and we'll get into this in a bit.

21
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,480
Speaker 1: But I watched the Martian Invasion movie Wore the Worlds

22
00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,479
Speaker 1: when I was just a little kid, and that just

23
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,959
Speaker 1: it just consume my imagination. It just as a little kid,

24
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,720
Speaker 1: wide eyed, little kid watching this thing and the Martians

25
00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:22,679
Speaker 1: and the heat rays and taking over the whole world

26
00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,640
Speaker 1: and city following, and what are you going to do?

27
00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 1: We can't we I mean, the atomic bomb doesn't stop them.

28
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,840
Speaker 1: In the army doesn't stop them. But you know the

29
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,560
Speaker 1: spoiler alert. But the thing was written in eighteen ninety seven,

30
00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 1: so it's not like it's too much. But so like germs,

31
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,480
Speaker 1: germs on Earth kill the Martians because they're they're so advanced,

32
00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: they don't have any immunity to our common cold or COVID.

33
00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,200
Speaker 1: I guess today that's right. But but that thing, when

34
00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,600
Speaker 1: I was five years old, it just like I wanted

35
00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,160
Speaker 1: to tell stories like that. I wanted to read stories

36
00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,960
Speaker 1: like that, and I, in fact, I was so inspired

37
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,080
Speaker 1: by that movie. I took like the little scrapbook of

38
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,120
Speaker 1: paper from beside the telephone, and I wanted to write stories.

39
00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:10,239
Speaker 1: But I couldn't write because I was five years old.

40
00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:11,760
Speaker 1: I did not how to read yet. So I drew

41
00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:13,840
Speaker 1: pictures and I laid them out on the floor, and

42
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,840
Speaker 1: I would stand there and tell my little story to

43
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:18,840
Speaker 1: anybody who would come by. And so I was a

44
00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:20,720
Speaker 1: writer when I was five years old, even though it

45
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,679
Speaker 1: was in pictures instead. That's great, isn't It isn't in

46
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,800
Speaker 1: marvelous how our youth forms our foundation when we get older.

47
00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,040
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a broadcaster when I was ten

48
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 1: eleven years old and chase down UFO stories. And who

49
00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,800
Speaker 1: would think? Right, Well, and we're doing what we love

50
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,079
Speaker 1: and we're making a living at it. How about that? Absolutely,

51
00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,120
Speaker 1: we really are. But don't tell them we'd do it

52
00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,880
Speaker 1: for free if well, I want to do that. But

53
00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,120
Speaker 1: we never work a day in our lives because we're

54
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,760
Speaker 1: loving what we're doing. It's fun times and fun times.

55
00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,800
Speaker 1: Your work has been fantastic, by the way. Well, and

56
00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 1: I just my imagination is I spend all my time

57
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,000
Speaker 1: just making up fantasy worlds or science fiction worlds and

58
00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,600
Speaker 1: starships and convoluted plots and interesting characters that I do

59
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,480
Speaker 1: terrible things too, And you know that that's my job

60
00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,840
Speaker 1: as a writer. And I enjoy my imaginary friends. And

61
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,400
Speaker 1: I'm just glad that I have so many readers that

62
00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:16,639
Speaker 1: keep reading them so that I can keep doing what

63
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,840
Speaker 1: I like to do. Kevin, Sometimes it seems that science

64
00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,919
Speaker 1: fiction happens to be years ahead of reality. And sometimes

65
00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,720
Speaker 1: I've wondered if government officials or people in the know

66
00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,840
Speaker 1: kind of feed Hollywood or people like that with information

67
00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:35,000
Speaker 1: so they can turn them in the movies and things

68
00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,000
Speaker 1: like that. What do you think, Hm, Well, you know,

69
00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,880
Speaker 1: Hollywood's always looking for ideas. They keep they keep running

70
00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:45,320
Speaker 1: around and minding it. And as a writer, I have

71
00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,840
Speaker 1: to spend all this time just reading websites and reading

72
00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,040
Speaker 1: science news and read and keeping up on things so

73
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,840
Speaker 1: that when I try to write a science fiction story,

74
00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,600
Speaker 1: it's not outdated by the time it gets published. And

75
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: there's some many things that were considered like super duper

76
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,320
Speaker 1: high tech when they came out now just kind of

77
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,320
Speaker 1: seem laughable. If you remember, like Star Trek communicators, well

78
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,600
Speaker 1: they're like our old flip phones we had. And I

79
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,040
Speaker 1: mean I remember against in Star Trek Captain Kirk and

80
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,080
Speaker 1: mister Spock would sit at the table and they'd say, computer,

81
00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,680
Speaker 1: tell us the birthdate of Napoleon, and the thing would

82
00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,119
Speaker 1: chug and chug, and finally the machine voice would would

83
00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,320
Speaker 1: announce it after five seconds. Well, of course, we've got

84
00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:32,120
Speaker 1: way better than that in our iPhones. And my car

85
00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,280
Speaker 1: knows where it's going half to tie, and then you've

86
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,919
Speaker 1: got Alexa right, and you've got Alexa and and you

87
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,479
Speaker 1: know when I used to actually have maps in my car,

88
00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,160
Speaker 1: and I would look at where I was supposed to

89
00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,520
Speaker 1: go before I got in the car, and you're you're

90
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,080
Speaker 1: in La George. Think about the Thomas Brothers guides. We

91
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,839
Speaker 1: always head Oh my god, ya Alifornia maps with all

92
00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,520
Speaker 1: of our streets, and we had to know where we

93
00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:54,680
Speaker 1: were going. Now we just like let the phone tell

94
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,960
Speaker 1: us turn right, turn left, and which is good unless

95
00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,600
Speaker 1: the computer's deciding they don't, like I want us to

96
00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,160
Speaker 1: drive off a cliff or something. Thank God for satellites.

97
00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,200
Speaker 1: Huh yeah, well, I mean, if I understand it right,

98
00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:11,880
Speaker 1: that a long time ago, this whole irridium I think

99
00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,640
Speaker 1: satellite network that was that the government had out there.

100
00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:17,719
Speaker 1: They were about to just let it shut down because

101
00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:19,839
Speaker 1: nobody was using them, but instead they picked it up

102
00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 1: to use it as like GPS stuff, and that's what

103
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,280
Speaker 1: we're using now. It's it's our lives depend on that

104
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,520
Speaker 1: or our convenience says, at least remember the Dick Tracy watches.

105
00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,480
Speaker 1: Oh well, I think my wife has one of those

106
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,920
Speaker 1: who we are Yeah, I mean what would make science

107
00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,600
Speaker 1: fiction though so far ahead of reality before these things

108
00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,520
Speaker 1: all happened. Well, And that's one of the things if

109
00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,840
Speaker 1: you try to write a story, and I write stories

110
00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: that are kind of like the Expanse or I do

111
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,920
Speaker 1: with with doone with the movies coming out next month

112
00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,680
Speaker 1: the because a lot of people might have seen commercials

113
00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,280
Speaker 1: for it. By write in that universe and they are

114
00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,039
Speaker 1: like ten thousand years in the future, fifteen thousand years

115
00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,479
Speaker 1: in the future, and I think realistically will be so advanced,

116
00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,320
Speaker 1: and I mean our bodies might be so advanced, our

117
00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,840
Speaker 1: minds might be so advanced, like our minds might be

118
00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,640
Speaker 1: connected with artificial intelligence so that we've got double the

119
00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,920
Speaker 1: mental power or whatever. You couldn't tell a realistic story

120
00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,880
Speaker 1: of fifteen thousand years in the future because nobody would

121
00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:27,880
Speaker 1: even recognize it. You have to write a story that

122
00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:33,560
Speaker 1: the readers can grasp and see what's going on. And

123
00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,520
Speaker 1: so you try to tell a story that's relevant to today,

124
00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,400
Speaker 1: but make people think that it's far in the future

125
00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,440
Speaker 1: or far across the universe. But it makes their imaginations expand,

126
00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,520
Speaker 1: and that's what my most exciting thing is to get

127
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,200
Speaker 1: people thinking of new ideas and see, a science fiction

128
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,520
Speaker 1: book is a big thought experiment. I get to say

129
00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,360
Speaker 1: what if and then tell the whole story about the consequences.

130
00:06:57,760 --> 00:06:59,520
Speaker 1: And that can be a warning, it can be a

131
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,640
Speaker 1: happy ending, it can be a political statement, and science

132
00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,520
Speaker 1: fiction gives you all of those tools to do it with.

133
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,000
Speaker 1: What did you think of the movie Independence Day? Oh?

134
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,239
Speaker 1: And I thought it was one of the best invasion movies.

135
00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,160
Speaker 1: It was sort of like an update of War of

136
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,600
Speaker 1: the Worlds really, and of course that one had such

137
00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,960
Speaker 1: an and positive effect on me. But I thought it

138
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,920
Speaker 1: was an extremely well crafted movie that the acting was great,

139
00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,320
Speaker 1: the characters were interesting, the pacing was great, the surprises

140
00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,400
Speaker 1: were great, and it's one of my favorite movies. I

141
00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:38,320
Speaker 1: really enjoy it. I loved Randy Quayte in that movie. Yeah, yeah,

142
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: the last little scene when he dives in and makes

143
00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:47,160
Speaker 1: his little final sign off stuff, and the opening scenes.

144
00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,160
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, now you're making me want to

145
00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:51,360
Speaker 1: watch the movie again. I've seen it like so many times,

146
00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:53,560
Speaker 1: but it's been a while. Well, it's great those opening

147
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,280
Speaker 1: scenes of the shadow of the UFO, the mothership, just

148
00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:02,240
Speaker 1: kind of creeping over hover Hollow Memorial on the Moon

149
00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,080
Speaker 1: and then creeping over the skyscrapers in the US. That

150
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,040
Speaker 1: was like that wasn't even big special effects, but it

151
00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,040
Speaker 1: was really creepy, and it gave you this ominous sense

152
00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:17,320
Speaker 1: of just how bad and powerful these aliens were. And

153
00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:19,040
Speaker 1: and you know, if you're going to send an invasion

154
00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,920
Speaker 1: for us, you got to send big ships. That's right, absolutely,

155
00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,520
Speaker 1: And they the way they went all over the planet

156
00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,600
Speaker 1: and over the major cities was something else too, wasn't

157
00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,560
Speaker 1: it well? And it was interesting at the time because

158
00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,080
Speaker 1: you know, so many, so many books and movies are

159
00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,360
Speaker 1: made in America, so we seem like like an invasion

160
00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,360
Speaker 1: is going to just hit New York and Washington, d C.

161
00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,520
Speaker 1: But there is an entire planet here. So it's good

162
00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,040
Speaker 1: that they they showed it expansive, so that the invasion

163
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,079
Speaker 1: was genuinely across the entire world. Listen to more Coast

164
00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,719
Speaker 1: to Coast AM every weeknight at one am Eastern and

165
00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,320
Speaker 1: go to Coast to Coast am dot com for more