347 | An Amazing Horror Writer on Positive Talk Radio at KKNW 1150AM!

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
This is a production of kN media dot Pro. Welcome back to positive talk radio. Our goal is simple to explore evolving ideas one conversation at a time. So come on over into our world. I know you'll like it. Because on today's show, well, you know, it's great Friday afternoon, and you know what's happening this weekend. Nathan, what's happening? While it's actually not happening the weekend? It's happening right after the weekend. And this would be what we would call what would we call this weekend?

Unknown Speaker  0:39  
The day where you get to be somebody else? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  0:45  
That's right. It's, we have Halloween coming up on Monday. And so we've got a very special show for you today. It's going to be a lot of fun. And I hope you'll stay with us the entire time. Because we've got a great gentleman. He's an author, and he's with us for the entire hour. And we're going to talk about some things well, let me let me read a review of his which was if you like old fashion creep fest stories that was bizarre twists and turns. This anthology is for you. It's an almost nostalgic feel to it reminiscent of old horror shows like Night Gallery remember like gallery? You're too young for that, probably Nathan.

Unknown Speaker  1:26  
Yeah, doesn't sound familiar to me.

Unknown Speaker  1:28  
That was like in the 80s. It was a great, I think it was the 80s may have been the 70s. But it was a great late night thing that they did on like a Friday night and, and every single story held the reviewer spellbound and kept her glued to the pages. The diversity among the pilots is fabulous. And the scripts oozing atmosphere, and the name of the book is called throwing shadows, a dark collection. And, and the author's name is Jerry Roth. And he is with us. Jerry is right there. Jerry, how are you?

Unknown Speaker  2:05  
Great, Kevin. Nice to see you. Nice to see you Nathan working in the background there. I'm so happy to be on our show. We talked yesterday, but I was like, I didn't get enough. I need some more. So thank you for inviting me again.

Unknown Speaker  2:17  
Oh, absolutely. Because you know, we had a great time yesterday and you can go to positive talk radio dotnet. Or you can go to positive talk radio, the YouTube channel. And you can watch Jerry and me talk about his book and all of those things. But first, I have something for Nathan, Nathan. I've got I've got two things that I'm going to play for you. Or I'm going to tell you about. And I want you to tell me which one is the real thing and which one comes straight from the book. Okay. Are you ready? Okay. The first one is what happens when you die in your sleep? The answer for this age old questions become reality for a down on his luck father joined in an experiment. For extra cash, he learns more than he ever wanted to know. And the second one is, there's this family of four and then moved to rural Pennsylvania. And in Pennsylvania, there's an old church. And the church has been renovated. The church was built in 1906. It's been renovated, but it has stories. It has lots of stories, cathedral ceilings, and it's got little people that have been there had died there. And the story continues from there. Which one is real? And which one is not?

Unknown Speaker  3:47  
I want to say they're both real. I've been to many churches and everything has like a story behind it and cathedrals, there's always so much history. I'm gonna have to say the first one is real.

Unknown Speaker  4:03  
That's actually the second one. And Jerry, Jerry and his family he is he's what would we would call a horror writer or a suspense writer or someone in the in the like a Oh, I had his name. It was on the table. Have you ever done that? His name was on the tip of your tongue. And then there's Stephen King. That's

Unknown Speaker  4:27  
that was my second book on the tip of her tongue. So you segue perfectly into it. So yeah, I'm I'm I guess you can call him anything. I'm a writer is what you can call me. But yeah, I do live in a 1908 Catholic Church, if you believe it or not. So there are lots of spirits that are guiding my writing as we speak. I can't stop.

Unknown Speaker  4:48  
And so every Friday night, they have to take communion. No, I'm kidding. No, I

Unknown Speaker  4:53  
paid rent. They got to they got to give me some cash for staying in here with us.

Unknown Speaker  4:58  
Oh, very nice. Well It's, you know, I can't imagine your net what your neighbors are saying when you moved in. It's like, this guy writes horror stories. And he moved into a church that it's been renovated. So a family can fit there. But it was built a long time ago.

Unknown Speaker  5:17  
Yeah, a different era altogether. I know, we always in my family, we're always comparing things that happened around 1908 When our house was built, you know, the Titanic was close. And you know, there people didn't have rights. And so it was a whole different era when my place was built. But the first time I moved in, I remember my neighbor next door, he was very skeptical that somebody would purchase, you know, a church. And yeah, he found out I was a horror writer, and he was not to please maybe I was, you know, desecrating something special to him. But he said, so your first book, you're reading about the devil, and you've brought your family into a place of holiness? What are you thinking? So it's, uh, it's definitely, you know, I raised some eyebrows moving into the community

Unknown Speaker  6:05  
and went to what even motivated you to do that? Was that was that just a you just saw it? And, and you guys, but I know your wife. I asked you yesterday and your wife was real thrilled with it as well. So was it something that you just kind of fell in love with?

Unknown Speaker  6:20  
I mean, you know, it's in a rural area, and the amount of the amount of real estate that we have, and space inside the home is outrageous. Probably looking back, you know, I had to heat that I didn't think that one through completely, but I was thinking more about the inspirational part. Like, you know, what kind of writing could I do in a place so grand and maybe at night, so spooky.

Unknown Speaker  6:45  
Now does it have, you know, fireplaces and stuff in it?

Unknown Speaker  6:49  
Uh, yeah, they have a wood burning stove in here. And we use that, you know, kind of save on the bills by heating that up a little bit. But yeah, I mean, you know, we don't even try to like most people, I'm sure I have friends who come over, and they're like, Yeah, we have ours pinned to 80 degrees or 75. Yeah, we're not trying to do that in our place. We're like, Yeah, yes. 65 is warm enough.

Unknown Speaker  7:14  
So we have Halloween coming up. We know, have you been? Have you been there more than a year? Have you experienced more than one Halloween there?

Unknown Speaker  7:23  
This is going to be our second Halloween?

Unknown Speaker  7:25  
Did anybody show up the first Halloween for candy?

Unknown Speaker  7:29  
No, I think they're too frightened. I gotta put a sign out this year, see if I can gather some, you know, stragglers after Halloween to come visit, maybe I'll give them a big treat.

Unknown Speaker  7:39  
B, that would be interesting. So. So again, Jerry Roth is with us. He's got a book out that just came out now. And it's called throwing shadows, a dark collection. It's actually the collection of nine different stories. And each one is a short story. And they're all really good and very interesting ways of you creating the writing that you do. Oh, thank you.

Unknown Speaker  8:06  
I appreciate that. Yeah, it's, I like I said yesterday, it's a labor of love, just, you know, creating nine different stories, you know, you're you're trying to satisfy everybody's tastes with one book. And it's, there's the challenge in it. But my goal was just to scare people. So that was maybe the effort that I put it all together. But you know, the overarching theme that I have for the book is just kind of overcoming your fear, you know, a lot of the characters are grounded in real life. But I wanted you to read it and say, you know, what I can relate to this character. And you know, they faced a challenge and a fearful and whether they survived the challenge, that's a whole different story for the book. But you know, they've all had to face a challenge of fear and overcome it, I wanted to put a little spin on something positive about it. So you'll, you'll learn about, you know, parents, and children and friends and family who are under some extreme situations.

Unknown Speaker  9:05  
And these are not and I want to be clear here, these are not particularly what you would call slasher novels, or they're not they're not grotesque in in really any way. They're, they're more psychological in nature. Is that would that be fair? Absolutely. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  9:20  
I mean, I my first book I wrote, I use a lot of graphic detail with it because it was more horror based. But this one I would say is more is more creepy. It gives you a great atmosphere of wanting to build attention and atmosphere, and then maybe, maybe some surprises into some of them so you can kind of you know, you work along with the character then you're like shocked maybe sometimes the rug is pulled out from under you but all at the same time, trying to give you some scares.

Unknown Speaker  9:49  
Now, by the way, since this isn't a live program, and you can always call us and talk to Jerry about his writing style or how we got into this So if you're interested in being a writer, how can you take go to the next step? And we'd be happy to talk to you about that today. So if you want to call Nathan, how do

Unknown Speaker  10:09  
they get a hold of us, just give us a call at 425-373-5527. We also have a toll free phone line at 1-888-298-5569.

Unknown Speaker  10:22  
So if, if creepy stuff is your bailiwick, and you really would like to find out more about it, I can't think of a better author to have on the show. And and I know that there's positive talk radio, and people are going wide is positive talk radio, what are you doing? But you see, he is a very gifted writer and what he does, and it doesn't matter what the genre is, it's still he's a gifted, gifted writer, and it's important for us to talk about all of that, and he puts a positive spin on a lot of those as well.

Unknown Speaker  10:54  
Don't jump? Absolutely, yeah, I, you know, I don't want people to think that, you know, every kind of writing even horror, you know, it, it, there's a whole broad spectrum of what you're going to find in this one, this book, personally, I don't feel it's going to, you know, go over the edge with boundaries of something grotesque that you couldn't read, or you know, it's nothing like that it's more of something, it's more of something to put you in a great mood, and an atmosphere for the holiday season. These are the times when people they turn to scary movies, or haunted hay rides. And I think this book will kind of fit in perfectly with that kind of mindset, if you want to pick up something and maybe give yourself some, some shivers during this Halloween season.

Unknown Speaker  11:42  
You know, and I mentioned to Nathan, the story about the family of four that moved into an all rickety church. Have you thought about using that premise? For a short story?

Unknown Speaker  11:53  
Yeah, actually, you know what I, I won't say that. I haven't thought of it for a short story. But I'm currently writing right now a book based on my house as the setting. So two people move in and you know, some crazy things happen. It's definitely a more of an adult kind of book that's going to that was going to be, but the title of that book is going to be a ghost from a yard sale. And the premise is that a person moves into this house, and they go to a yard sale and pick up a one of those baby monitors for their new pet, you know, something they do? And when they do, they bring along a ghost with them. So to this house that I live in. So I hope I don't bring any good, bad karma to my home by starting this story. But that's going to be the start of it.

Unknown Speaker  12:39  
Now do you have obviously done a lot of research in in the in the books that you've written? And the kind of genre that you are in? Does the research that you've done indicate really that anything like this is real, I mean, like, are spirits real or ghosts happening or anything like that? Those? There's a guy that's on KK and W quite a little bit. His name is Matthew Shay. And he likes to go to haunted houses, or haunted places of business, in the in the area, and then he gets stories from that. You get stories like that? Or do you know, they created directly from your mind?

Unknown Speaker  13:19  
That's a good question. I mean, most of the time, everything is sort of, you know, we're creatures of inputs. So everything that we've learned our entire life, any experiences, movies, you know, we take in and sort of regurgitate for books, and I do the same thing. But I've always feel like, you know, your belief in something spiritual is so personal, like falling in love, and everything, everybody has a different take on it. It's always different for each person. But you know, my belief is not going to be the same as your belief. But you know, there are too many things out there that I have seen and heard that I just can't say, you know, I don't believe so. I always kind of say, maybe, and when I write to that, I open up the door of possibility.

Unknown Speaker  14:07  
Have you ever had if they have the church that you're living in? Have you ever had a experience that explain?

Unknown Speaker  14:17  
I would not lie to you, I've had a lot of experiences. Even last night, me and my son, were just watching TV. And we have a second floor. You know, that's above us. You know, before you get to the cathedral ceiling, which is an art space and an arcade we have set up there. And we're watching TV and we hear footsteps and we think it's our dog that's gone up there and the dog is sitting right next to us. So we're thinking, Okay, does anybody want to check him out and we just turn up the volume of the TV

Unknown Speaker  14:48  
and then go to bed and have a nice quiet evening in bed and lock our doors. Which means nothing if it's a spirit because it can go right through the door.

Unknown Speaker  14:59  
Man, you just ruined my buffer now now I'm gonna be worried.

Unknown Speaker  15:04  
Well, but you know, the thing is they can they can hurt you. And most of the time they are they're benevolent. And they just haven't found their way to the other side yet.

Unknown Speaker  15:15  
But nine creatures Yeah. So you we have had some experiences, for sure we it's a big house. So you you will could be on one end of the house and hear talking all the time and there will be nobody in the house but us and we'll hear talking and we call it you know, we call it our friends that live with us. So they haven't heard us yet. But I'm not sure there's a lot of people that would under no circumstances want to live in a place where they thought spirits lived. But you know, obviously, I'm a horror writer, and we've come from a different cloth. So we kind of take it in stride. Well, and

Unknown Speaker  15:51  
they like living with you because they know that about you so so they feel comfortable and safe.

Unknown Speaker  15:57  
And they'll say hey, I wrote that part. He said, You know, I put that in his head. So they're getting, they're getting credit on my copyright.

Unknown Speaker  16:04  
By the way, how many square feet is the church?

Unknown Speaker  16:08  
Well, on one floor, we have 2700 block, we have a second floor. So I guess double that.

Unknown Speaker  16:14  
Wow, what's on the second floor?

Unknown Speaker  16:17  
Oh, the original owners were after it became a church, they built additions. But when they built additions to the room, they you know, couldn't obviously build a cathedral that so high. So they just put railings and made made rooms on top of the rooms they had, which is kind of interesting. Now do the priests live there? They did at one time, I believe because there was a kitchen in the back servings I guess you would call it a servants quarter. So they I think I'm sure the priest he probably lived there maybe with his close, close, I guess people who worked with him.

Unknown Speaker  16:58  
Now if you've done any research on the church itself to to see if there was any? And how did it cease to become a church? I thought I always thought that especially the Catholic Church that once it's the Catholic Church, it's always a Catholic Church.

Unknown Speaker  17:13  
Yeah, I mean, that's that was my experience as well. I think that what they did was they built a newer one somewhere far off. Usually that's what happened with churches. And I think it's old, they'll build another one. And they'll move their congregation to that area. But I mean, even to this day, I mean, I It's a small community and least once every month, somebody will say, Oh, you live in a church. We got married there. So I haven't heard anybody say, well, that church I you know, my had my funeral there. So I don't want to hear any of those stories yet.

Unknown Speaker  17:46  
Well, it's because you live there. And with your family and your kids, you have a couple of teenagers. And I imagine when they go to school, it's like, that's a real story that they get to tell.

Unknown Speaker  17:59  
Absolutely. I you know, it's, it's, it's something interesting, and it's something to brag about, that you live in a church, you know, we're we're a little isolated. So it's probably they probably wish they were in a big city with you know, a bunch of people close by but they take it they take it all in stride.

Unknown Speaker  18:17  
So now you live in the church and then you've got a lot of land around it is it all flat. So that so if you were taking it in from a camera angle from from far away, it would be it would just be a standalone building all by itself.

Unknown Speaker  18:34  
You know, and we actually slopes down into we have three acres of wooded lot. So we have a dark scary forest. Right next to our church.

Unknown Speaker  18:47  
Oh my goodness gracious, you know that I could come up with a whole bunch of really dark things like the the cemetery that is out in back that or, or stuff like that. But in any event, by the way, we're talking with Jerry Roth, if you want to find out more about him, if you want to get the book throwing shadows. How do they do that? Jerry?

Unknown Speaker  19:12  
You can get it several ways you can. It's on Amazon, of course like most books are, but you can get it from my wonderful publisher, Bridget's gate press, you can go to their website or if you know I time from time to time, I will sign copies if you want to go on my website and check it out. It's Jerry Roth author.com And you can see all about me find out what's up and see more

Unknown Speaker  19:38  
nefarious so you'll sign a contract for somebody if they if they go in and ask for it.

Unknown Speaker  19:43  
Absolutely. You know, I I am. I am. I'm definitely at this stage in my career where I Will not I am not going to hide behind you know a wall and say I'm not going to sign I'll sign whatever you want. Well, the

Unknown Speaker  19:57  
cool thing is you also were a screenwriter before you did This. Yeah. And you. And you did screenwriting, and you actually had one that was almost published. And but was not quite published.

Unknown Speaker  20:10  
Right? Yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was almost a purchase for a film. It, it was a, it was one of my first as actually maybe possibly my second screenplay that I ever wrote. That's kind of my entering into the writing profession. And I wrote it a suspense. In my mind, it was sort of a fan fiction of seven. If you've ever seen the movie Seven, I thought, well, how cool would it be, to see a prequel? You know, Morgan Freeman's character in it? And what would happen if he was on another case? So and, you know, it won many awards and almost optioned off to, to make into a film. But I got a lot of, I got a lot of notes back to change it. And I was at a point in my career where I just, I wasn't ready to kind of give up that control yet. So I had to pass.

Unknown Speaker  21:06  
Oh, I, I, it would be awesome to work with Morgan Freeman and, and to develop a character for him and all of that, that would be that would be just really special. Now, is there a difference between writing style between a screenwriter or and an author?

Unknown Speaker  21:22  
Oh, absolutely. You know, what, you know, really, when you do screenplays, brevity is what your best friend is because you really don't have very much space to get your point across. So you know, you're going to you're going to use as many, you know, descriptive words as you can, but in a small little area. So you have to use your words, you know, wisely and carefully. I think that's why I kind of moved away from screenplays, I just wanted that freedom to just express myself in books.

Unknown Speaker  21:57  
That was it also, like you, when you're doing a screenplay, though you're setting up, it's like, it's like a regular play. You're just setting up the blocking? What's happening within the framework of the shots and all that kind of thing?

Unknown Speaker  22:09  
Yeah. I mean, if you look at a screenplay, it's really dry. You know, you're saying location, and you're saying, you know, words like fade in, and you're you're giving a brief, you know, summary of what you're looking at. But, you know, dialogue is really about pushing and driving your screenplays. So you're you are, you know, in some ways people love that, you know, they don't have to, you know, flourish everything on a page, they want to be able to give the scene and, and let the director make up his mind on his vision of the movie.

Unknown Speaker  22:42  
You know, it was interesting yesterday that when we were talking, and by the way, you can go on positive talk radio.net. And you can listen to that entire interview, we were talking about a young gal that is a writer, and I had no idea that you actually knew who she was or is she, she's 14 years old, his name is Shanti. And she's got like, nine or 12, or 14 books that are published

Unknown Speaker  23:07  
1616 A girl is prolific. I am totally impressed with her. I don't know what I would give to be that together as a 14 year old doing anything, not just writing, but, you know, writing is, you know, for you and for me, it's challenging. Can imagine doing it at 14 and just being able to, you know, put that many words on paper.

Unknown Speaker  23:34  
And she was telling me the last time I interviewed her that she could write as much as 2000 words an hour. Oh my God, that's a lot isn't it?

Unknown Speaker  23:45  
That's incredible. That is incredible. I mean, that's that's dream of conscience writing right there. That's just putting all of your your mind and energy onto a paper just letting it flow. So kudos to her and I'm really proud of her. You know, I I try to watch all the the new riders as they're coming up, and she's definitely one to watch. Majan 16 at her young age, you know, when she's my age, she's going to be a terrific, terrific writer.

Unknown Speaker  24:13  
One of her books is 800 pages long. Wow. It was it was amazing. It was three inches thick. It was amazing to me and it's a science fiction book. Yeah, it was amazing. So what how did you mean or did you just follow the new writers?

Unknown Speaker  24:28  
Yeah, I just followed new writers we haven't met personally but yeah, I keep you know, I've been you know, watching some of these writers come up and she's definitely on your radar. How could she not be she's like it's She's incredible.

Unknown Speaker  24:41  
Yeah, indeed. So when we we need to take a break. But when we come back, I want to talk with you about your writing style. Where do the words come from wherever the thoughts Where did the ideas where the conceptually Where does all of this come from in your brain? And how does it go from your brain to the paper And then all of that whole process of how it works. Can we talk about that? You got it awesome. Nathan we're gonna be right back and I've got the commercials all lined up for me to play and, and we will be right back you're listening to the positive talk radio right here on KK and W 11:50am Hey there. I'm excited that you're listening right now. And if you like what we're doing here, you're gonna love positive talk radio.net on positive talk radio.net. Each show which is recorded live is packed with positive information with real people discussing real issues and positive solutions that can work for everyone. I hope that you'll join us on positive talk radio dotnet and listen to all 340 Plus shows. I think it's worth your time. That's just me that's positive talk radio dotnet your home for great progressive positive podcast.

Unknown Speaker  25:56  
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Unknown Speaker  26:31  
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Unknown Speaker  27:24  
add Welcome back everybody to positive talk radio right here on KK and w 11:50am. I hope that everybody is going to have a great weekend and enjoy Halloween and All of us festivities. And so by the way, Nathan, I wanted to ask you do you have a question for raw Jerry the door and thought that you'd like to pass along?

Unknown Speaker  27:45  
Or not now, but I feel like we can use something to get us in a little bit of that Halloween spirit.

Unknown Speaker  28:02  
Perfect, perfect. And that sounds like Oh, I gotta ask you in the church that you live in. Is there still a Oregon there?

Unknown Speaker  28:11  
No, there's not. We do have a bell tower though. So my kids, my kids will ring the bell on every, every holiday. So and we have. I have a stepson and he every time he comes to visit us, he'll ring that bell to let the my children know that he's arrived. So they get a kick out of it.

Unknown Speaker  28:32  
There's not a guy with a humpback that lives up there is there? Well,

Unknown Speaker  28:36  
we haven't cleared out everything yet. So there could be. We're working on that.

Unknown Speaker  28:42  
So I got I got to ask you because I'm fascinated with the process, because people like you are able to write. And my favorite example of this is a songwriter. And you may have heard of him before. His name is Sir Paul McCartney. And he was yeah, he was asleep. And he woke up and he had yesterday in his head. Complete song yesterday in his head. And he doesn't know where it came from. Nobody else knows where it came from. Does writing happened lab a way for you? Is it inspired? Does it just come through you? How does how does it work for you?

Unknown Speaker  29:18  
Yeah, it's mostly like an exorcism. No, I you know, I'm a person who has trouble sleeping. So I have insomnia, which is you know, the dreaded word for, for I can't go to bed. But when I do after an exhausted night, I will usually have a lot of dreams. And sometimes they're not so pretty. And the first thing I do is I wake up and I try to jot them down or remember them. And they are sometimes the kernel of, of books that I'm writing. So I take inspiration from everywhere, but definitely I've had quite a few dreams that have turned into stories.

Unknown Speaker  29:57  
I'm curious to know how somebody could Given how you get so many dark ideas, do you do have positive ideas as well, that you just are saving for another lifetime or another incarnation of yourself?

Unknown Speaker  30:11  
You know, I, you know, I guess that there's always every person is a half full or half empty kind of person. And I guess I would be leaning towards the half empty. You know, I think like you mentioned Paul McCartney and John Lennon, they were the same way you know, two sides of the same coin. Paul McCartney was always would write a lyric that was so positive and and John Lennon maybe had a little harder life would always, you know, it, put it in some things that weren't so pretty weren't so nice, little darker. And I think I maybe lean towards the darker things in life, just because they interest me not because I've had that horrible of a of childhood or anything. But I've always been attracted to the scary things in life.

Unknown Speaker  30:58  
You know, it's interesting that you mentioned that because Paul McCartney mentioned that very thing. He said one time, you know, they were writing a book, or writing a song. And his his line was, it's getting better all the time. And John's line was couldn't get much worse. Oh, yeah. Okay, I

Unknown Speaker  31:15  
remember. Yeah, that's, yeah, that I think that's what drew to me. I when I was a young teenager, you know, John Lennon was like my idol. I loved listening to him. And I didn't care so much for Paul McCartney. But as I've gotten older, I realize, you know, I've I've warmed up to all the comfortable lyrics that Paul McCartney does. It's so funny that evolution of music changes you.

Unknown Speaker  31:39  
It does. Now, I got to ask you, because there are times I remember exactly where I was when John F. Kennedy was was assassinated. Right. I remember where I was when Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Do you remember where you were when you heard that John Lennon had been shot?

Unknown Speaker  31:57  
Again? No, I was in school. I was I think it was, was it? 1980? Right. Correct. I was in I was in grade school still. And I remember back then they would turn on televisions. I don't know why they thought that was a great idea. But any kind of tragedy they would put they would wheeling a TV and we'd watch it. And that was one of those experiences. I remember them turning it on and we're seeing the new the headline news that that he was he was shot down in front of his apartment.

Unknown Speaker  32:26  
That was that was a horrible experience for the entire country. Really, right. You know, but but let's talk more about you and other than the current now, this book came out during this week did not

Unknown Speaker  32:41  
absolutely it just came out Tuesday. It's a brand new baby hasn't even said its first word yet. So it's one of those things where the hopefully the world is embracing it and they're excited about something for this season.

Unknown Speaker  32:55  
Well, and the name of the book again, is throwing shadows a dark collection, but it's not really like one of them is a woman's strength when Sarah a new wife and mother invites her mother in law. I did that one time and I only did that one time anybody my mother just stay with her reality unravels dealing with a lack of sleep and a baby that won't take the breastfeeding sir develops an unhealthy obsession with a farm scarecrow now I gotta admit, that's a little bit farther than I would have taken I do have no idea I would scarecrow when it comes into it.

Unknown Speaker  33:31  
Yeah, I mean, it's it's definitely that I've made sure to try to be grounded in reality, but I wanted to you know, it's like what could scare you? But what if you what if the Scarecrow was always right outside your window watching you asleep? Watching your family watching your brand new baby. You know what, how would that scare you? And I guess you know, for some people, the thought of a scarecrow anyways, being such a human form might be frightening to them. But I take it to the next level on this book,

Unknown Speaker  34:03  
which is you'll have to get the book in order to find out what level he goes to. Fourth, which is which is which is really cool. By the way. Nathan, do you have another song another one of one of my favorite Hitchcock movies of all times psycho. And wouldn't you How old were you in that now? That came out when you were really young? Right?

Unknown Speaker  34:32  
Right. Yeah, I was born in a 70 So that was before my time but I have parents that love love scary movies. And in black and white movies. You know, I was born embracing the Bela Lugosi movies in the Frankenstein's and those old monster absolutely those were like those were the first frightening images I saw was of a Romanian Dracula. You You know, fallen in love with his victims

Unknown Speaker  35:03  
with them before and then and then killing them, I guess I guess

Unknown Speaker  35:07  
I didn't want to add that to this conversation. But yes, he would do that too.

Unknown Speaker  35:11  
Well, you know, they you know what they call a beautiful young woman in Transylvania. What's at lunch?

Unknown Speaker  35:18  
Or a drink? Or cocktail? Or cocktail?

Unknown Speaker  35:21  
Yeah, it's I haven't gotten Nathan's a laugh on that one. I think he thought that was totally inappropriate. But that's, you know, that's just me. But it's interesting that you put all that together, and you're able to, to write all that and and it's a it's a, it's awesome. So what's the future hold for you?

Unknown Speaker  35:41  
Well, I'm, you know, I'm deciding to where my where I want to pull my, I guess, I guess, my wagon towards. And I think I want to just keep writing horror novels, I think, you know, it's a comforting thing. For me. It's almost like, you know, seeing a therapist, in a lot of ways I can, I can get all of my anger and anxiety and fear and put it all onto a paper and let somebody else deal with it.

Unknown Speaker  36:10  
And you're a writer, you've got several books out, and you're continuing to do that. If somebody wants to be a writer, but has got no idea how to start? Can you give us some ideas on how someone can start and the genre doesn't matter? But how could they can start writing?

Unknown Speaker  36:27  
Yeah, I mean, you know, the old The old adage, or the advice that people would give back when I was a kid was go to college, you'll you know, you can, you can learn your trade, and you can go out and nowadays, I say, don't go to college for that, you know, don't waste your money, get just start writing every day, don't worry about the grammar. Don't worry about if it's perfect, and don't even worry about the editing part, just start putting it on paper. And you know, for anybody who wants to write you have to read widely. There is no, there's not really too many writers out there, don't read. So you got to, especially in the genre that you're excited about writing, pick up as many books as you can find a favorite author. And you're, you'd be surprised how fast your writing improves.

Unknown Speaker  37:17  
So if you are like a Western writer, and you have it in you go pick up while I forgot his name, but but there are several Western writers that are prolific, and they've written a lot of books. And so you would kind of not mimic them, but give you an idea of their style of how it works and that kind of thing.

Unknown Speaker  37:36  
Absolutely. I mean, I'm not even against mimicking because I, you know, people, you know, when you start learning your own voice, you're copying somebody else right away. And you probably will for the first few years of your writing career, because you have no choice but to you know, steal from the best. I'm not saying steal their ideas, or steal the work. But you you hear a voice. And you copy that and you see what's writing for you fit it on like a hat. And you move on until finally, that hat is your own and you're not really speaking in somebody else's voice anymore.

Unknown Speaker  38:09  
And I just remember the name of the gentleman his name and Louie, Louie l'amour. Yes, absolutely. He's a great writer. And one of the books that he wrote now do you can see you see this happening with your work. One of the books that he wrote is called Hondo. And that became a movie that John Wayne starred in. And when it became a big hit, this is back in the early you're in the 60s somewhere, right? Is that something that you can see that even though you're not writing a screenplay, that somebody can take your book and make it into a movie?

Unknown Speaker  38:40  
I mean, that would be exciting. You know, everybody wants to see their, their, I guess their babies or their children grow up and make it onto the big screen. I mean, that's everybody would love that idea. And, and I think truthfully, a lot of my books kind of lend themselves to movies, because I still kind of kept the style of cinematic, you know, narrative when I write. So a lot of the things I have would probably make a pretty easy transition. But I just would have to, you know, separate my feelings from it. So I just have to say, Okay, it's your baby now. Please do whatever you want. Yeah, that's, that's the hard part is giving up that control.

Unknown Speaker  39:21  
In any of your books, would you ever have the the the the ones that are being Oh, first of all, I gotta ask you, why is it that the girls are the ones that always fall down?

Unknown Speaker  39:33  
Everybody loves a damsel in distress, right? There's always somebody that you want to protect or save, or help along the way. But you know, I see a lot of these movies now. And I think the women are helping the men a lot more in a lot of the films I'm watching. So I think we're seeing a lot of reversal.

Unknown Speaker  39:51  
Yeah, but in any of your books, does anybody hide behind the chainsaws?

Unknown Speaker  39:56  
Just the dumb ones, but no, I would Don't do that.

Unknown Speaker  40:00  
I'm referencing a commercial. Yeah, it really is. But, but they can't get into the running car. What are you crazy?

Unknown Speaker  40:11  
I still love the scene where the right after they get in there and they're talking amongst themselves in the serial killer rolls his eyes at the dump teenagers. That's, you know, there's nothing better than that. That was a perfect part.

Unknown Speaker  40:23  
Yes, indeed. And by the way, have you watched some of the horror movies some of the slasher movies that are out there? Like a Halloween or Halloween? Number 339.

Unknown Speaker  40:35  
The new one is a Halloween in so yeah, no, I, some of them are hit or miss. You know, you always love the original. It's hard to, it's hard to enjoy the sequels in the same way. But you know, if you, if you just say, You know what, I'm going to take it for what it is, there are I do enjoy some of them. Some of them that are a little bit more clever. I remember when the saw when came out. And the twist that they would they would present to you those were groundbreaking for the time, you know, you wanted something that you didn't expect. And I and you know, that's the same for the M Night Shyamalan movies. You know, when he was beginning of his career, it was amazing to see how he could make a twist and that nobody got through the whole movie. So I'm a fan.

Unknown Speaker  41:19  
The Sixth Sense, yep. was one of the most it was one of the most amazing movies that I saw, because you went through the entire movie has been catching any of the clues of what was actually happening. And

Unknown Speaker  41:35  
he did a really good job of showing you clues he didn't you know, it wasn't like he gave you one. He gave you hundreds of clues to the whole movie. I mean, I think it was a really well done movie. And it's almost a shame he was he did too well, that he copied himself. Others copied him and it may have just killed that like those twist in the movies. But I'm always going to be a fan of

Unknown Speaker  41:57  
that. Yeah, well, that's one of those ones that you can only watch once and you can't tell your friends that you've seen it because you can't tell them the end.

Unknown Speaker  42:05  
Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker  42:07  
It's so what is your favorite horror movie of all time?

Unknown Speaker  42:11  
Oh, my gosh. You know, I I always and I know that, you know, Stephen King would rat me on a knuckles if he if he heard me say this. But the Stanley Kubrick movie, The Shining is always really one of my favorites is Yanni. Yeah. I mean, it's visually so freaky and stunning at the same time. And he puts so much hidden information in there. That really, like if you every time you watch it, you see something new and it's overload really about what he's telling you or hiding from you. Or trying to explain or infer. I think it's incredible masterpiece of filmmaking. That wasn't even you know, received very well when it came out.

Unknown Speaker  42:56  
No, it's grown over time. It's called classic. Nathan, are you into horror movies at all?

Unknown Speaker  43:03  
I fell asleep during Texas Chainsaw Massacre. little fun fact.

Unknown Speaker  43:08  
I think I'm worried about you, Nathan, if you're falling asleep during those things, I'm worried about what you're doing in your free time.

Unknown Speaker  43:15  
But one thing that always gets me is like demonic possession type movies like The Exorcist. Yes, those are real. Yeah, I'd say that's a Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a real incident too. But I mean, that's something that really gets to me.

Unknown Speaker  43:30  
The Exorcist is amazing. I remember. I remember when I first saw it, which I saw it as a driving at five years old. Believe it or not, my parents took me to a doubleheader. And I watched that and a Disney movie called The rescuers. And you're kidding me? Yeah, that's what parents did back there in the 70s. And 80s. You know, they just took you to whatever they were watching. And that happened to be the exorcist. So, but then I found out later that, you know, was based off a true story, which was scary to me even more. And I, I've heard and maybe I'm not, maybe I'm a little wrong, but I heard that, you know, the actual person who was possessed, had a waterbed in the first scene in their life that they remember being possessed, was pushed onto their waterbed. And I remember at the time I was five year old, I had a water bed. So the connection was frightening that I had a water bed I just saw the exorcist and I was wondering, Okay, what does this world mean now?

Unknown Speaker  44:25  
I have to point this out for those of you that are not you know, like a little younger that may be listening to the show. There used to be a bed that was full of water and then it had a heater underneath it and and then you would sleep on a wave of water they don't even make them anymore. I don't know why I loved my water bed and told me they do make

Unknown Speaker  44:46  
them but they're not as good as like my son actually bought one we went on Craigslist and he wanted to experience the he's like a big 80s guy now he's like a little you know, he collects the VHS is in the cassette tapes. And he we got we found him on on Craigslist and Google waterbed, and probably the best thing that's ever happened to me cranks that thing up to 90 degrees. And then a winter sweats why we're all freezing. So he's living the life with a waterbed. A little throwback.

Unknown Speaker  45:13  
Yeah, I didn't know that they, because I don't think they're being manufactured now.

Unknown Speaker  45:21  
American manufacturing, but they're the waveless kind that, you know, there aren't the full pockets of water like they used to have in the 70s and 80s.

Unknown Speaker  45:28  
Oh, you know, you had to have the full motion. Especially if you were like, I can't go there. Nevermind. That's that's a whole different thing. So, so. So Nathan was that was Did you see the Exorcist,

Unknown Speaker  45:45  
of course, as long time ago, but I remember it really given me nightmares for quite a while.

Unknown Speaker  45:53  
I remember that. And they said this yesterday that at school lunch the next day, they were serving pea soup. And nobody, nobody had the pea soup, because that's what she was. When she was throwing up, that's what she was throwing up was pizza. Yeah. But in any event, by the way, we're talking with Jerry Roth, if you want to go find out more about him. Jerry, how do we find out more about you,

Unknown Speaker  46:22  
and come to my website, Jerry Roth author.com, or check out my new book on Amazon. Or if you're really up for something new go to my publisher, Bridget's game, press and check out you know, I even saw that they my publisher put on some awesome merch, they got a T shirts of my new cover on there. So you can get get a shirt with my book cover on there or a pillow. I don't know why you'd want a pillow. I want to below my cover. But maybe you'd want one too. So yeah, check me out.

Unknown Speaker  46:54  
So what is the difference between having a publisher like this? And self publishing? Like through Amazon? What What would you recommend somebody do?

Unknown Speaker  47:03  
Oh, you know, I, you know, it's, it's all about patience to me with for a writer, I think reason why a lot of people are self publishing, not always, some people like they want the total control of being a self published person. But it's also comes down to patience, you can do everything yourself right away, you can put it out there within a month if you want to. But I always felt like I want I enjoy the support of a team around me. And they, you know, they, they help me, you know, get the book polished perfectly. And give me great interviews, like, like somebody like yourself,

Unknown Speaker  47:40  
we know that it's interesting that because a publisher, we'll help you as an example, how many podcasts and or radio shows have you done this week?

Unknown Speaker  47:49  
I've probably done six so far. And, you know, my schedule is filling up fast for November. So yeah, I mean, that's the other thing. They're, they're very helpful in getting me all these spots. And, you know, by now, as you wouldn't probably know it, but I'm a pretty shy guy. So I don't want to come out and ask for, you know, interviews or talk to people and I begrudgingly go out to book events. So it's good to have somebody a little behind you pushing you say, Come on, get out there. Meet the people,

Unknown Speaker  48:20  
when you gotta get out there because you got to market it. Right? Do you do and if you don't market the book, nobody's gonna hear about it. And, you know, the one of the statistics that I've that I've been told a lot is that new book that comes out, generally speaking, only sells a couple 100 copies.

Unknown Speaker  48:36  
Yeah, I hear that a lot. I hear that a lot. I mean, you know, I always say to people, unless you're one of the big, you know, unless you're, you know, Stephen King, or DNR coons or, you know, Anne Rice when she was alive, you know, you're there, they're going to get those immediate, you know, 1000s and millions of sales. But for most people, it's a, it's a grind, you start out with your release, and you're building a fan base for it over the whole course of a year until your next book comes

Unknown Speaker  49:04  
out. Now, do you get fan mail?

Unknown Speaker  49:08  
You know, in this world that we live in now, it's all digital, but I get a digital fan mail, you know, I'll get people who will drop into my DMs or I am me or email me and say how much they enjoy the book. But I think that's where the world is going. Now. Now you you know, if I put out a newsletter, somebody will make a comment and talk to me. So it's a different it's a different environment we live in now.

Unknown Speaker  49:33  
So what's your What are you what's rattling around in your head for another topic that you're gonna write a book about?

Unknown Speaker  49:41  
I you know, I I want to do a gothic thing. I'm thinking about doing some fantasy, but I thought about a supernatural villain who who has powers with fire? You know, I won't steal fire starter that's already been done by I have a little idea of my sleeve that I'm excited about working on.

Unknown Speaker  50:05  
Good for you. So it's gonna be a super human individual who burns people up for fun.

Unknown Speaker  50:12  
Well, man, you could cut right to it. Yes. I don't need a book. I just need a pamphlet or I'm gonna jot that down.

Unknown Speaker  50:22  
That's right. The the name of the book is crispy critter. 12

Unknown Speaker  50:29  
herbs and spices. They exactly how many spices are in Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Unknown Speaker  50:34  
Exactly. By the way, did you catch the show on Netflix about Jeffrey Dahmer? I saw

Unknown Speaker  50:39  
the first episode so far. And it was very, very, very creepy.

Unknown Speaker  50:44  
He was he was a creepy dude, man.

Unknown Speaker  50:47  
And I think he's from Ohio, which is my home state, every serial killer seems to come out of Ohio, and I'm getting very nervous wasn't the Unabomber from Ohio as well.

Unknown Speaker  50:57  
Just a quick question, Nathan, do you know that

Unknown Speaker  51:01  
Google is right at my fingertips?

Unknown Speaker  51:05  
That's let's see. And that's that's why you see Nathan comes across as being very, very, very alert learned. But it actually is because he's got Google at his fingertips. But he's also very smart.

Unknown Speaker  51:16  
Yeah, we didn't have that we just had the libraries in our day.

Unknown Speaker  51:19  
I know when I when I was in grade school. Now this is predates both of you by a lot. There used to be something that called an encyclopedia. And there was a whole row of books and will be like A and then A and B and then B and C would be the difference. And he'd go pick a book. And then he would read the various things within the encyclopedia.

Unknown Speaker  51:47  
Well, there's how old I am. I remember my parents, when you go to the grocery store, they would every week, they would sell a different volume of it. And you could if you had certain kinds of things that you would buy a specials, you would get one. So but usually the specials went in before you got all the way to Z, you be somewhere in the neighborhood of GE and then you're like, Ah, I didn't get the rest of them.

Unknown Speaker  52:09  
Do you know, there used to be actually a sales guy and he was an encyclopedia salesperson. He would go door to door selling encyclopedia encyclopedias. Where's it? Where was the Unabomber born

Unknown Speaker  52:24  
in Chicago? Pretty close to Ohio, though.

Unknown Speaker  52:29  
Oh, well, I thought he was when he when he didn't have. He probably could

Unknown Speaker  52:33  
have moved there at one point. But it just says right here. That's all I'm finding right now is he was born in Chicago.

Unknown Speaker  52:39  
Okay, because yeah, I think he was it him or somebody else who had exotic animals that when he he passed away by his own hand. The he let all those animals three on his land. It was like exotic tigers and lions. And I've always heard that story. And maybe, maybe I'm getting confused by another villain.

Unknown Speaker  52:59  
There are so many, by the way. That Now have you ever thought about doing a horror novel? The duty that has got a hero attached to it? Who is who ultimately the feats? The the the dark side?

Unknown Speaker  53:17  
Um, yeah, I mean, well, I guess what, what I what I have done with my second one, I guess I wouldn't call it a horror. But it's a thriller with some elements of horror in there. It's called on the tip of your tongue. And I wanted to do a different kind of story that had to do with a vampire. I can't tell you what kind of vampire This is. But the victim is a young girl who's a writer herself. Who, who let's just say she loses her memory. And I'm going to, that's all I'm going to say about how her memory is gone. But yes, she kind of takes over. She kind of takes over in defeats the villain in this one.

Unknown Speaker  54:00  
Oh, good. By the way, we're talking with Jerry Roth, get the book throwing shadows, a dark collection. And I've got about a minute and a half left. And I want to give you the opportunity to talk to our audience and tell them anything that you'd like to know you got about 60 seconds. So go boy, I go. Okay.

Unknown Speaker  54:17  
Thank you for watching the show. I'm so happy to meet everybody here. Hopefully I can come on again. If you're ready to buy my book, please go to Amazon or my website, Jerry Roth author.com. And I hope to give you a scare this year.

Unknown Speaker  54:32  
That would be that would be fun. You could just go to his house and that could scare him. That will do it too. And so it's awesome. So you're they can get it from the website. They can get it from Amazon. They can also get it from your publisher. When the publisher again is

Unknown Speaker  54:47  
Bridget skate press Yep, absolutely any which way you want to get it. Grab one and let me know what you think.

Unknown Speaker  54:53  
Nathan, anything any last closing thoughts that you would have, sir?

Unknown Speaker  54:56  
Just Happy Halloween, everybody. That's right.

Unknown Speaker  54:59  
How Always coming up. And remember, make sure that you're checking the candy that your kids come home with. And make sure everything's wrapped up in their original wrapper. And in all of that, didn't you you guys know how to keep your kids safe. But make sure make sure you do that so that you don't ever have a problem with because there is some stuff out there that you don't want them to get a hold up. So be safe. Have a good time on Halloween, make sure they've got lots of lights, and it's going to probably be raining on Halloween which it always does here for some reason, but that's life. Hey, by the way, thank you Nathan. Thank you Jerry. Have a great day everybody and be kind to one another because each other is all we got.