Creating Characters with Heart: Kwame Mbalia on Writing for Young Readers

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Mahogany Books Podcast Network, your gateway to the world of African American literature. We're proud to present a collection of podcasts dedicated to exploring the depth and richness of African American literature. Immerse yourself in podcasts like Black Books Matter, the podcast where we learn about the books and major life moments that influence today's top writers. Or tune in to Real Ballers Read, where brothers Jan and Miles invite amazing people to talk about the meaningful books in their lives.

[00:00:29] So, whether you're a literature enthusiast, an advocate for social justice, or simply curious about the untold stories that shape our world, subscribe to the Mahogany Books Podcast Network on your favorite platform and let African American literature ignite your passion.

[00:00:46] Hey guys, how you doing? Good, good, good. Come on guys. Yeah, it's one o'clock on a Saturday. Y'all here to hear an incredible, incredible author talk with Kwame Mbalia. Come on, man.

[00:00:58] Let me get a smile on that face. There you go. All right. Welcome everybody. My name is Derek Young. I am one third of the ownership team here at Mahogany Books. Myself, my wife and my son Adrian, we founded Mahogany Books 17 years ago now.

[00:01:18] We started as an online bookstore that specialized in selling books written for, by, and about people of the African diaspora.

[00:01:27] I am from Southeast D.C. I grew up here in PG County. I went to, who knows, Little Baltimore Academy. How many Ojes are? No? God, okay, that school is gone.

[00:01:39] You know what? Thank you. I appreciate it. I need the support. Thank you so much. I also graduated from Suitland High School. Are there any future Suitland Rams in the building? No?

[00:01:51] And you're still not giving me a smile? Okay. No problem. All right. So, I graduated from Suitland High School and then I went to Bowie State University.

[00:01:58] I used to study in this library myself, guys. So, in the early 90s, I used to come here, read, study, and just enjoy the library. So, I'm super excited to be back here.

[00:02:11] We've actually been partnering with the Oxen Hill Library for years now, doing events like this from Sister Soulja to Mayor Marion Barry to our special guest today, Kwame Mbalia.

[00:02:25] Okay? So, I'm excited to be here. I'm glad you guys are here to share it with us as well.

[00:02:30] And then we're going to have an incredible time. I need energy from the kiddos because this event was specifically created for you guys, for you lovers of books, for you lovers of adventure.

[00:02:42] Okay? And we have a new series that we are now introducing today with today's guest, Kwame Mbalia.

[00:02:49] All right? So, I'm going to do a little bit more about Mahogany Books. We have a location here, maybe five minutes away at National Harbor.

[00:03:03] We opened that one in 2021. Our very first location was open in Southeast D.C. again, my hometown.

[00:03:11] So, I'm, again, super excited that we are here and providing this type of service and opportunity for all you incredible book readers out there who love literature and adventure and fantasy stories.

[00:03:24] Right? Okay. So, a little bit about our conversation host, Roseanne Brown. She is actually a homegirl. She's from here as well. She's an author.

[00:03:35] Roseanne A. Brown is an immigrant from the West African nation of Ghana and a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she completed the Jimenez Porter Writers House program.

[00:03:48] Her debut novel, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, was an instant New York Times bestseller, an indie bestseller, and received six starred reviews.

[00:03:59] She has worked with Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney, among other publishers.

[00:04:04] You can visit her online at RoseanneBrown.com, and of course, catch her on Twitter and Instagram at RoseanneRambles.

[00:04:13] On the publishing side of things, she has worked as an editorial intern at Entangled Publishing.

[00:04:20] Rosie was a 2017 Pitch Wars mentee and a 2018 Pitch Wars mentor.

[00:04:27] Rosie currently lives outside of Washington, D.C., where in her free time, she can usually be found wandering the woods, making memes, and thinking about my favorite movie, Star Wars.

[00:04:41] Welcome, Roseanne Brown.

[00:04:43] Give us a...

[00:04:50] Woo-hoo! Thank you.

[00:04:52] Woo-hoo!

[00:04:53] All right, all right.

[00:04:55] Come on, grab a seat, guys.

[00:04:56] Welcome, welcome.

[00:04:57] Welcome.

[00:04:58] And our star of the day, the guy we're all here to see and celebrate, the author of this incredible book, Jax Freeman, is Kwame Ambalia.

[00:05:10] Kwame is a husband, father, writer, a New York Times bestselling author, a publisher, and I need to ask him what this means,

[00:05:19] and a former pharmaceutical...

[00:05:25] I can't say metrologist.

[00:05:28] I messed that up, guys.

[00:05:29] We need to find out what that means.

[00:05:31] Okay.

[00:05:32] In that order, he is the author of the bestselling Tristan Strong series, which I absolutely love,

[00:05:37] the first of which was awarded a Coretta Scott King author honor.

[00:05:42] Kwame is the co-author of Last Gate to the Emperor with Prince Joel McKinnon from Scholastic Books,

[00:05:50] and the editor of the number one New York Times bestselling anthology, which another book I enjoy, Black Boy Joy, published by Delacorte Press.

[00:05:59] And if you weren't tired of listening to Kwame's bio, there's more, because Kwame is also a publisher with his own imprint, Freedom Fire.

[00:06:09] Give him a round of applause for that, guys.

[00:06:12] He's publishing books, publishing books for you all.

[00:06:15] That's fantastic.

[00:06:16] A collaboration with Disney Books, his newest middle grade adventure is Jax Freeman, what we're here to celebrate today.

[00:06:25] And the Phantom Shriek is a Freedom Fire title that launched this month.

[00:06:30] He's a Howard University alum.

[00:06:33] Okay.

[00:06:33] Oh!

[00:06:34] Okay.

[00:06:35] Oh, Lord.

[00:06:40] Yeah, he's a Howard University graduate, a Midwesterner now living in the south of North Carolina, where my mom is from.

[00:06:47] He survives on dad jokes.

[00:06:50] Fantastic.

[00:06:51] And she's it.

[00:06:52] Welcome, Kwame Ambalia.

[00:06:55] There you go.

[00:06:56] Woo-hoo!

[00:07:08] Thank you.

[00:07:09] Get a mic?

[00:07:10] You good?

[00:07:10] I'm good.

[00:07:11] I'm good.

[00:07:13] Listen, I drove a long way.

[00:07:15] I kind of want to stretch my legs.

[00:07:18] Should...

[00:07:18] I agree.

[00:07:20] Should we drop...

[00:07:21] Should we...

[00:07:23] Should we jump into conversation?

[00:07:25] Or should I read an excerpt first?

[00:07:27] I mean, I guess we can just like vote here if people want to hear.

[00:07:30] Do y'all want to hear a part of this book?

[00:07:31] Y'all want to hear a part of the book?

[00:07:32] Okay.

[00:07:33] Okay.

[00:07:33] All right.

[00:07:34] It sounds like they want to hear a part of the book to me.

[00:07:35] All right.

[00:07:37] This is from...

[00:07:38] It doesn't have...

[00:07:40] My editor made me take out the chapter titles, I think.

[00:07:45] Yeah.

[00:07:46] It just says chapter three.

[00:07:47] But when I was writing it and I had chapter titles, it...

[00:07:54] This chapter was called Conductor Buck Ducks the Sanctified Chucks.

[00:08:00] All right?

[00:08:02] So to set the story, Jax has arrived in Chicago.

[00:08:09] He has lost his bags and a strange, tall, skinny, withered, skeleton-looking man in a very official uniform tells him,

[00:08:23] Oh, I found your bags.

[00:08:24] Come with me.

[00:08:26] And his name is Conductor Buck and he wants something from Jax.

[00:08:31] All right.

[00:08:35] Conductor Buck laughed even as more skin peeled away, revealing his yellow teeth.

[00:08:44] You can't hide it, boy.

[00:08:47] I saw you talking to the spirits earlier.

[00:08:50] The ancestors don't speak to just anyone.

[00:08:53] Got to be powerful to hear.

[00:08:54] But to talk to them, don't play sly with me, Freeman.

[00:08:59] Freeman, yes.

[00:09:01] A Freeman summoner, too.

[00:09:03] Ooh, she's been looking for you.

[00:09:06] But if I get you first, we'll see who gives the orders.

[00:09:09] We'll see.

[00:09:10] I've been cooped up in this station for decades.

[00:09:13] But soon, ooh, baby, soon.

[00:09:16] Now come here.

[00:09:17] The last word came out in a roar as he pulled himself forward on the string still stuck to my palms.

[00:09:24] Without thinking, I kicked out in a panic, trying to keep this wraith away from me.

[00:09:29] My right foot connected with his left shin.

[00:09:32] Wham!

[00:09:33] He shrieked in pain as some of his bones clattered to the train platform floor.

[00:09:39] He hopped on one leg, trying to remain upright as he glared at me.

[00:09:44] Repel powder, he shouted.

[00:09:46] That's a dirty trick.

[00:09:47] That's a dirty trick.

[00:09:50] A rumble sounded.

[00:09:51] And my eyes flicked to the clock on the far wall.

[00:09:54] I knew, as sure as my name was Jax and water was wet, that a train was going to come through in one minute.

[00:10:00] Express.

[00:10:01] From Gary, Indiana.

[00:10:03] How I knew this, I don't know.

[00:10:05] But now wasn't the time to question it.

[00:10:07] Nor was it the first question I'd asked if given the opportunity.

[00:10:10] Plenty of weirder things to investigate.

[00:10:12] What I did know was I had to move.

[00:10:15] Give me your skin!

[00:10:18] Conductor Buck shrieked, hopping towards me.

[00:10:21] I took off my right shoe and flipped it over to see glittering black grains embedded in the sole.

[00:10:26] The same powder that Miss Ella had thrown at me and apparently I'd stepped in.

[00:10:30] Whatever that powder was, laxative or not, it was protecting me.

[00:10:36] As much as I hated to sacrifice a low-top Chuck Taylor special edition, I launched my shoe like a missile and watched it land square in the emaciated chest of the shrieking skeleton man.

[00:10:50] Whap!

[00:10:52] Conductor Buck was blown backwards off the platform in a tangle of bones and shredded uniform bits, clattering in a scattered heap on the tracks below.

[00:11:01] I ran one foot bare towards the elevator as he shouted threats.

[00:11:07] That's a dirty trick, Freeman.

[00:11:09] When I pull myself together, I'ma find you and wear you like an evening coat.

[00:11:14] I've been stuck here for 89 years, boy.

[00:11:17] You ain't getting away.

[00:11:19] I'm not fooling with you.

[00:11:20] You're mine.

[00:11:21] Get back here, you hear me?

[00:11:23] The elevator dinged and I leaped inside.

[00:11:25] I punched the button for the ground floor over and over, willing it to close.

[00:11:30] 89 years.

[00:11:31] This isn't happening.

[00:11:33] It can't be happening.

[00:11:34] When I looked up, Conductor Buck had shoved his left arm into his right leg socket and was crawling along the tracks like a misshapen crab or a twisted, nightmarish spider from a horror movie.

[00:11:46] He dragged himself closer, howling in rage.

[00:11:50] Gonna wear you like a dinner jacket, boy.

[00:11:53] You hear me?

[00:11:53] Come on, come on, come on.

[00:11:55] Close, I shouted at the elevator doors.

[00:11:57] Why were they so slow?

[00:11:59] Was this it?

[00:12:00] The end in a new city with no friends and one shoe?

[00:12:05] Don't you dare run, boy, Conductor Buck shouted.

[00:12:08] I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

[00:12:09] Here it comes, I thought.

[00:12:12] Splat.

[00:12:13] A train rolled into the station, bashing the wraith to pieces.

[00:12:18] Trash, dust, and bits of an angry ghost rippled outward.

[00:12:21] And too late, I realized it was all heading towards me.

[00:12:24] The shockwave slammed me against the back of the elevator.

[00:12:26] And as I slid down, my head hit the handrail.

[00:12:30] Stars exploded in my eyes and then everything went dim.

[00:12:33] Faintly, I could hear one final howl being carried by the wind.

[00:12:36] The elevator doors closed.

[00:12:39] My brain was spinning as my chest heaved from all the running.

[00:12:42] Wraith, summoner, spirits.

[00:12:45] Someone was playing a huge joke on me.

[00:12:47] Welcome to Chicago, Jax.

[00:12:49] Here's your free hallucination with a concussion on top.

[00:12:53] So far, being 12 sucked.

[00:12:55] At least things couldn't possibly get any worse.

[00:12:59] The elevator doors slid open as I struggled to my feet, just in time to see a sour-faced Uncle Mo,

[00:13:07] an Amtrak security officer, and a tall, severe-looking Black woman marching towards me.

[00:13:14] Grand.

[00:13:16] Jackson Josiah Freeman, where have you been?

[00:13:29] So Kwame, the first and most important question I have for you.

[00:13:33] Yes.

[00:13:33] What's going on, family?

[00:13:35] This is Derek Young.

[00:13:36] And Ramonda Young.

[00:13:37] Owners of both Mahogany Books and the Mahogany Books Podcast Network.

[00:13:41] We really want to thank each and every one of you for listening to this episode.

[00:13:44] And if you enjoyed what you just heard, drop us a review and rate us on whatever platform you download podcasts on.

[00:13:51] We truly appreciate each and every one of you for supporting us and making us your go-to for Black books.

[00:13:56] And we look forward to connecting with you all sometime in the future.

[00:13:59] Thank you again, fam.

[00:14:00] And always remember, Black books matter.

[00:14:06] How do you sleep at night?

[00:14:08] Because when they sent me this book to read it before this event today, they did not warn me how scary it was.

[00:14:15] Some of this imagery you have here, you had me, oh, it was not that scary.

[00:14:19] I'm glad it wasn't that scary for you.

[00:14:20] I was scared.

[00:14:21] Okay.

[00:14:21] I was scared.

[00:14:22] Okay.

[00:14:23] But that's one of the first things I want to talk to you about when you were creating the energy and just the world of Jackson.

[00:14:30] Like, what were you drawing on to create this?

[00:14:32] Because it's so vibrant.

[00:14:33] So the first thing I got to say is that for some unknown, unexplained, really weird reason, young people love scary books or horror books.

[00:14:46] Think Goosebumps and R.L.

[00:14:47] Stein and feel like...

[00:14:48] Absolutely not.

[00:14:49] I don't know what it is.

[00:14:51] And so as I find myself, like, I'm trying to think of, like, every book starts with some sort of, at least, you know, that I've written, starts with some sort of, like, really kind of, you're in a new setting and sort of a spooky encounter.

[00:15:07] So, like, if you've ever read Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, you know, there's the chapter with Gun Baby breaking in and Tristan is in a new place.

[00:15:17] So with Jax is something similar.

[00:15:20] I wanted...

[00:15:20] Jax is in a new place.

[00:15:22] He's unfamiliar.

[00:15:24] Weird things are happening around him even before this.

[00:15:28] Like, the clocks on the wall start talking to him.

[00:15:31] Someone's glasses talks to him.

[00:15:34] Someone's belt complains about being constipated.

[00:15:36] Like, it's very, very, very weird.

[00:15:40] And so I think I liked writing about that, especially in the opening, because this time, especially for the young people who are reading it, is also very weird.

[00:15:52] You know?

[00:15:54] You are learning more and experiencing more.

[00:15:57] You're understanding more of, like, what's happening around you.

[00:15:59] You hear the headlines.

[00:16:00] You hear what your parents are saying.

[00:16:03] You hear what your parents are saying.

[00:16:03] And, you know, no one wants to listen to you.

[00:16:07] They're giving you all these rules.

[00:16:09] They're giving you all this homework.

[00:16:10] Your body is starting to smell weird.

[00:16:13] It's just like you need deodorant now.

[00:16:16] Bunch of bunch of weird things are happening.

[00:16:18] And so the weirder I can make an opening of a book, the better.

[00:16:22] And I think the more the readers really vibe with it, which is important.

[00:16:27] See, I was not a Goosebumps kid.

[00:16:29] I liked Animal Ark.

[00:16:30] I like movies.

[00:16:31] I liked books where kids saved horses and farms.

[00:16:33] Like, I did not do more scary stuff.

[00:16:36] But that, with this book here.

[00:16:39] So let's walk back my beef a little bit so you can tell us a little bit about Jackson Freeman as a character.

[00:16:44] Because one thing I found when I was reading it is I'm sure people here are very familiar with Tristan and Jackson from page one.

[00:16:50] The energy was very different.

[00:16:52] And Jackson was just bringing a very different kind of vibrancy to the page.

[00:16:56] So can you tell us a little bit about Jackson Freeman and what he's going through?

[00:16:59] Yeah, so Tristan was a boxer.

[00:17:01] Tristan was a fighter, right?

[00:17:02] Jax is not.

[00:17:04] Jax is a six-foot tall, almost 200-pound former offensive lineman of a boy who, when people see him, think he's also going to be very violent because he's very intimidating.

[00:17:16] And he is, like, the biggest softie out there.

[00:17:21] All Jax wants to do, he wants to make friends.

[00:17:25] He wants to talk about his favorite, you know, the video games that his grandmother loves to play.

[00:17:30] And he loves meatball subs.

[00:17:32] And at the end of the day, at the end of the day, friends, video games, and meatball subs, what more could you possibly want?

[00:17:41] And so Jax, that's all Jax is looking forward to when all of this starts happening to him.

[00:17:48] Writing Jax was very different than writing Tristan.

[00:17:52] Tristan is like a normal, skinny, sort of average-sized boy.

[00:17:56] Jax is bigger and larger.

[00:17:57] And there are many moments throughout the story where Jax just stands up and people flinch.

[00:18:05] Because he is bigger, he is larger, he's black, and so they think he's going to be aggressive.

[00:18:11] And which is totally not the case.

[00:18:13] And so this is a story as much of kind of, like, resetting the narrative about the whole don't judge a book by its cover,

[00:18:22] as it is about a boy who goes on an adventure, makes friends, and gets a pretty cool magical power.

[00:18:30] So growing up, personality-wise, were you more of a Tristan or a Jax?

[00:18:36] I was definitely a Jax in a Tristan's body.

[00:18:44] So I was like a really tall, skinny, nerdy, big, thick glasses, you know, quiet, shy, unassuming kid.

[00:18:55] Give me a couple of books, a 25-cent Huggies juice box from the corner store, and an oatmeal cream pie,

[00:19:03] and you wouldn't hear from me for the rest of the afternoon.

[00:19:08] What's a Huggies? I think some of us in the audience don't know what that is.

[00:19:11] Listen, okay.

[00:19:12] Listen, some of us...

[00:19:13] Did you just...

[00:19:14] Did you just date me?

[00:19:16] Like, did you...

[00:19:17] Are you judging?

[00:19:18] You don't know what a Huggie is?

[00:19:19] I don't.

[00:19:20] All right, show of hands.

[00:19:21] Who knows what a Huggie is?

[00:19:24] Okay, my hand.

[00:19:24] Who knows what a Huggie is?

[00:19:26] Okay, listen, I don't go outside.

[00:19:27] So that's my problem.

[00:19:29] Listen...

[00:19:29] What actually is a Huggie?

[00:19:30] Is it like Fanta?

[00:19:32] No, it's a little...

[00:19:33] Is it like Tang?

[00:19:34] ...juice box, 90% sugar, and food coloring.

[00:19:39] Okay, maybe that...

[00:19:39] With a foil...

[00:19:40] It doesn't even have a real top.

[00:19:41] It has a foil top wrapper.

[00:19:44] It is...

[00:19:44] It is probably the most unhealthy thing you could drink.

[00:19:48] It was also 25 cents.

[00:19:50] Okay, you know what?

[00:19:51] I don't know with inflation what it is now.

[00:19:53] Oh, the little barrel thingy?

[00:19:54] That's what that's called?

[00:19:55] Oh, okay.

[00:19:55] I know what that is.

[00:19:56] Okay, I know what that is.

[00:19:57] I never knew the name for it, apparently.

[00:19:59] Sorry about...

[00:20:00] Okay, Kwame.

[00:20:00] I'm really sorry about this.

[00:20:01] I'm really sorry about this.

[00:20:02] The next time you choose a conversation partner for me...

[00:20:06] Okay, don't bring Mahogany into this.

[00:20:07] Do not bring Mahogany into this.

[00:20:08] We need a Huggies test, okay?

[00:20:09] They are good people.

[00:20:09] That is the only threshold I want in my writer.

[00:20:12] Okay?

[00:20:13] I told...

[00:20:15] Pardon me?

[00:20:17] I'm trying to hear.

[00:20:17] I'm trying to make it look good here.

[00:20:19] Work with me.

[00:20:20] Work with me.

[00:20:21] Okay.

[00:20:21] I am almost offended.

[00:20:23] Almost offended.

[00:20:24] I didn't know that...

[00:20:24] Okay.

[00:20:24] We'll talk afterwards.

[00:20:27] So with Jackson...

[00:20:29] So with Jackson...

[00:20:31] So another thing I found really, like...

[00:20:34] Just I felt very drawn to in this story is the middle grade trope.

[00:20:37] You know, a character moves somewhere new, lives with a new family.

[00:20:40] It's like a very common thing.

[00:20:41] But when he got there, the Freeman house where he's staying with his relatives,

[00:20:45] this is actually...

[00:20:46] It's a hub for people in his family.

[00:20:47] Like he's not the only one who's kind of done this journey to this house

[00:20:51] that this house is like kind of a stopping point or a starting point for.

[00:20:54] And as the person who in my family, our house was the house.

[00:20:57] Like if people need a place to stay, they came on hard times, something happened.

[00:21:01] Like my house was a house where that happened.

[00:21:03] And that had sort of that purpose.

[00:21:06] So I wanted you to talk a little bit about sort of the Freeman family,

[00:21:09] like what they represent in this story and sort of the experiences you brought

[00:21:13] into sort of constructing them.

[00:21:16] Yeah.

[00:21:16] So the Freeman...

[00:21:18] I want to start with the house and then the family.

[00:21:21] The house to me is magical.

[00:21:25] And you will figure out more and more as you move throughout the story,

[00:21:30] just how much of a character and not just a setting the house is, right?

[00:21:35] The house warns Jack.

[00:21:36] The house has messages for Jack.

[00:21:42] Imagine waking up, you know, and it's like a Tuesday.

[00:21:45] You know, you got to go to school and you're getting dressed and you're about to go outside.

[00:21:48] And there's like a little sign, you know, above your doorway.

[00:21:52] And it's like, did you grab your, you know, your homework or whatever?

[00:21:56] And you're like, oh, I sure did.

[00:21:58] And you go back and you grab it.

[00:21:59] Or like, remember today is picture day and you were going to go out in a stained t-shirt.

[00:22:03] Like, the house is as helpful to Jack's as any other character in the book, right?

[00:22:10] And that's just because of what I like to believe is the way it was built and the reason that it was built.

[00:22:16] The Freeman house was built by Jack's ancestor as a place for people to gather.

[00:22:24] Jack's ancestor was a porter.

[00:22:29] A porter, if you think of a plane and the flight attendants on the plane, a porter was similar to a flight attendant, except for trains, especially sleeping car trains.

[00:22:38] You would get on and they would take you to where you're sleeping berth or where you were sitting.

[00:22:44] They would help you with your luggage.

[00:22:45] If you had a problem, they would fix it.

[00:22:47] They were the ones who were really looking out for you and helping you as you were riding on this train journey.

[00:22:54] Porters were also one of the only careers that you could have after, you know, an African-American could have after the end of slavery.

[00:23:04] It was one of the only careers that you could get on and expect to not just struggle.

[00:23:10] It is one of the careers that sort of helped elevate like a black middle class where you could buy a house.

[00:23:16] You could save up.

[00:23:17] You could pass something down to, you know, your descendants or whatever.

[00:23:21] And so Jack's ancestor was a porter and he built the Freeman house.

[00:23:26] Because another thing about porters is that you, the black porters were not allowed to stay together with the white porters.

[00:23:38] They were segregated.

[00:23:40] So Jack's ancestor built the Freeman house to also have other porters stay over.

[00:23:46] And it expanded over time as more and more people needed a place to stay.

[00:23:52] And eventually it became a place where you would send people who maybe got in a little bit of trouble at home.

[00:24:02] Maybe they weren't doing their best at school and they needed a new environment.

[00:24:06] If you read Tristan, you know how Tristan went south to his grandparents, excuse me, to his grandparents farm in the beginning of the book.

[00:24:15] This is something similar.

[00:24:16] This has happened to, I'm sure everyone in here knows someone who traveled somewhere.

[00:24:22] I used to go visit my grandmother in the summer.

[00:24:25] Sometimes your parents just needed a break.

[00:24:28] Sometimes you knew or they knew that if you hung around there, you might get into trouble.

[00:24:33] So it's better to send you off somewhere where you could be until school started again.

[00:24:37] And so Jack's Freeman house became that spot where people would send other Freemans who got into trouble.

[00:24:46] And they would call them, the community would call them the Freeman foul-ups because they got into trouble.

[00:24:53] You knew if a Freeman was staying there, they had gotten into trouble somewhere.

[00:24:56] Whether it's Uncle Mo, whether it's Grand, whether it's Jack's, or maybe because of something that was out of their control, like Jack's little nephew, Buggs, who's a two-year-old toddler, who gets sent to the Freeman house as well for Grand to take care of because he was in a situation that wasn't conducive to him.

[00:25:19] So the Freeman house is like this hub.

[00:25:22] It's welcoming, lots of bacon.

[00:25:26] And the Freeman house wanted to help you as much as anyone else in the book would.

[00:25:35] And what about the family there?

[00:25:37] You mentioned Uncle Mo and you mentioned Grand.

[00:25:40] Was there any character in Jackson's family that you based off anyone in your own life or any experiences in your own life?

[00:25:48] Grand, I like combined everyone's idea of what a grandmother is and what that sort of welcoming aura and persona would be.

[00:26:00] Someone who you would like, you could call if you needed help.

[00:26:03] No judgment, no questions asked.

[00:26:05] There was a place to stay.

[00:26:08] Didn't have too many restrictions on how much candy you could eat within reason.

[00:26:13] And then also, I thought about who our generation would be as grandparents.

[00:26:19] We would definitely be on the Xbox after we put the kids to bed.

[00:26:24] I know I am going to be.

[00:26:26] You know, at 80 years old, I'm firing up the Xbox 12.

[00:26:31] Being like, listen, let's play 2K50.

[00:26:37] Our generation?

[00:26:38] Huh?

[00:26:38] We said our generation.

[00:26:40] Don't date me again.

[00:26:42] Listen, we are.

[00:26:43] I'm sorry.

[00:26:44] Strike two.

[00:26:45] It was too open.

[00:26:46] You left it right open right there when you said that.

[00:26:48] I'm sorry.

[00:26:50] Anyway.

[00:26:51] Keep going, yes.

[00:26:52] I'm thinking about like, what would I be as a grandparent?

[00:26:55] You know, what would my wife be as a grandmother?

[00:26:59] And what would we be doing?

[00:27:01] We'd be playing, you know, we'd be playing video games, right?

[00:27:03] We, whether it's Madden 42 or, you know, 2K or Call of Duty 1000.

[00:27:12] Like, we would be, and that's what you will see grand in the book.

[00:27:16] She has her group of grannies and they play together.

[00:27:20] And, you know, Devin's friends think it's really cool.

[00:27:23] And she's just like, listen, I'm in the middle of a match.

[00:27:25] The spaghetti is on the stove.

[00:27:27] You know, serve yourselves.

[00:27:28] And she gets back to it.

[00:27:30] Uncle Mo is, if you've ever driven with an older person, and by older, I mean just an adult who's responsible for you.

[00:27:42] And you're just like, I need four pairs of seatbelts right now because of the way that they're driving.

[00:27:53] Don't point out, don't call anybody out right now.

[00:27:56] Don't call anybody out right now.

[00:27:58] This is a safe space.

[00:27:59] This is a safe space.

[00:27:59] All right?

[00:28:00] Hold it in like I did.

[00:28:03] I don't know who did.

[00:28:04] That's the thing.

[00:28:05] That's who Uncle Mo is.

[00:28:06] Uncle Mo is, he's a silent, he is a terrible driver, but he's the driver of the family.

[00:28:14] He's also, Bugs, the two-year-old toddler, his caretaker.

[00:28:18] He is the one who Bugs goes to, who he's most comfortable with.

[00:28:23] That's his person, right?

[00:28:24] And so that's who Uncle Mo is.

[00:28:27] He is someone who has suffered in the past, but looks after the Freeman kids in the household and the kids in the community, like Jax's new best friend who comes over.

[00:28:38] Toussaint.

[00:28:39] Yes.

[00:28:39] I love Toussaint.

[00:28:41] Toussaint.

[00:28:42] Toussaint.

[00:28:43] His name should be Toussaint.

[00:28:44] He spells it Toussaint, T-W-O-S-A-I-N-T.

[00:28:50] Toussaint.

[00:28:51] And he's like, that's my nickname.

[00:28:52] And everyone always, every time he says that, everyone's like, you can't give yourself a nickname.

[00:28:57] Someone else has.

[00:28:57] He's like, no, we're going to make it, you know.

[00:29:00] And Toussaint is one of my favorite characters as well, just because he's, if Jax is big and scary, Toussaint is the complete opposite.

[00:29:09] You know, and the two of them instantly gravitate towards each other as two people who have wrongfully suffered in life and are alone and are in need of friends.

[00:29:21] And they instantly bond over bacon.

[00:29:25] Which is, listen, listen.

[00:29:27] Okay, time out.

[00:29:28] Bacon, turkey, soy, pork, beef is the great unifier in society.

[00:29:36] I truly believe, I truly believe that if I approach you and you didn't know me and I just stood there silently staring at you, you'd be like, what?

[00:29:45] What's up?

[00:29:46] What's happening?

[00:29:47] What are you trying to do?

[00:29:48] But then I pulled out a plate of bacon.

[00:29:50] You'd be like, homie, my brother.

[00:29:54] I feel we are, twin, we are locked in.

[00:29:58] Bacon, we need more bacon in the world as, you know, come to the table, sit down, let's chop up whatever disagreement we may have.

[00:30:05] I'm more of a sausage person, personally.

[00:30:07] Oh my.

[00:30:16] We can just see you.

[00:30:17] Thank you all for coming to.

[00:30:20] All right, show of hands.

[00:30:23] Bacon.

[00:30:26] All right, show of hands.

[00:30:28] Sausage.

[00:30:29] Thank you.

[00:30:29] Thank you.

[00:30:30] I see y'all.

[00:30:30] I see every single one of you.

[00:30:31] Thank you.

[00:30:32] It's less greasy.

[00:30:32] Put your hand down.

[00:30:33] Put your hand down.

[00:30:35] Put your.

[00:30:36] It's less.

[00:30:37] Listen, I respect both.

[00:30:38] I remember faces.

[00:30:40] I remember faces.

[00:30:43] It's less greasy.

[00:30:44] But one more question about the book specifically before we sort of segue to some other stuff you're up to.

[00:30:50] So with the magic system, we have a really cool magic school here, the DuSable Middle School, which you have a whole bunch of sort of train imagery.

[00:30:59] And like, I'm trying to figure out the best way to word this here.

[00:31:02] What is, do you feel is the most fun or just as a writer, was the funnest part of the magic system to write for you?

[00:31:10] So for me, so the magic system, nobody has the same power in Jax.

[00:31:16] No one kind of, you know, there's one shared skill that everyone can do that, you know, Jax kind of learns in the middle of the book.

[00:31:27] And I got that from, I'm a huge anime fan.

[00:31:31] All right.

[00:31:31] Show of hands.

[00:31:32] How many people in here watch or like anime?

[00:31:35] Okay.

[00:31:36] There's a thing that they do in anime, right?

[00:31:39] Where they sort of like, it's almost like teleportation where they like, where they fade out here and they end up, that's how fast they're moving, right?

[00:31:48] They like disappear here and they reappear somewhere else.

[00:31:51] So that's a skill that they learn in the book and it's called flickering.

[00:31:54] They will flicker from one spot to another.

[00:31:56] That's the one unifying skill that every, you know, summoner in the book can do.

[00:32:03] Other than that, they have power that they inherit from their ancestors, right?

[00:32:09] For example, I just commissioned artwork of them.

[00:32:13] So when we do a book signing or we do questions later, I'll show you what they look like.

[00:32:18] There are two characters that Jax travels with in the book, Devin and Nina.

[00:32:24] Devin's power is he inherited a deck of cards, right?

[00:32:28] And with it, he can summon the spirits of his uncles to come fight for him.

[00:32:37] Nina inherited her family's kind of gardening satchel.

[00:32:40] And with it, she practices an ancient African-American spiritual practice called hoodoo.

[00:32:47] And she uses her different talents to track, trap, and identify evil spirits.

[00:32:57] There is a Irish kid in the book who can summon the four special talismans of like Irish mythos.

[00:33:14] So they are the, I am going to butcher it.

[00:33:17] But their name, they're the Tuatha de Danan.

[00:33:21] And I could, I'm totally butchering that.

[00:33:23] But there's like four special talismans that those mythological characters have.

[00:33:29] Like a spear, a cauldron, and I'm forgetting what the other two are.

[00:33:33] And then one of my favorites, Vanessa, she, how many people, show of hands, have ever watched the movie Encanto?

[00:33:41] So you know how you have that special magical candle that the family has, that the Madrigal family has?

[00:33:49] Vanessa's family also has a similar candle.

[00:33:52] And when she summons it, the hands of, they call it the matron's hands appear.

[00:34:00] And so four pairs of giant hands appear around her.

[00:34:05] And they can protect, they can swat, they can lift, they can hold.

[00:34:11] Basically, she has previous generations helping to lift her up.

[00:34:17] Jax can summon a train.

[00:34:24] So I don't know, you can't really fight with that.

[00:34:27] You can't really, right.

[00:34:30] Also, he can only summon a train if he's standing next to or near to railroad tracks.

[00:34:38] So not even just like inside of us, you know, he's got to be next to railroad tracks.

[00:34:43] Listen, I know it's not a cool power.

[00:34:45] Really convenient.

[00:34:46] But again, I wanted Jax to think about, and this is something that goes through, you know, book one, book two, which is already written,

[00:34:55] which will be coming out next year, and book three, which I just signed a contract for.

[00:34:58] Throughout the entire series, Jax does not fight.

[00:35:05] If you're coming from Tristan, and you know how Tristan boxed, uppercutted, jabbed, everything.

[00:35:11] Tristan fought.

[00:35:12] Jax does not fight.

[00:35:15] Jax, once again, is a giant, dark-skinned, heavy-set black boy.

[00:35:23] He does, he, I refuse to have him fight throughout the book.

[00:35:27] Because I know what the image and the visuals and the optics are.

[00:35:32] And so Jax uses his talents to defend, to protect, and to escape.

[00:35:38] And he has to figure out how he can do that with his power, limited as it may be.

[00:35:44] And hopefully you figure out, you know, throughout the book that, okay, maybe he is one of the more talented summoners that we've ever seen.

[00:35:51] Mm-hmm.

[00:35:52] That's one thing I loved about Jax.

[00:35:54] Because, like, as someone who grew up, knowing what it's like to be that plus-size, bigger black kid,

[00:35:58] and knowing that way people just kind of, like, flinch or make these assumptions.

[00:36:01] Like, seeing him staying so true to, like, even if the world doesn't know I'm a gentle person, I know I'm a gentle person.

[00:36:07] Even when he's struggling with that, standing in that, and standing in the train.

[00:36:10] I know it meant a lot to me as an adult, so I know it's probably going to mean a lot to the kids out there.

[00:36:14] And so I said one last question about this before, but another one last question.

[00:36:18] What would your summoner, what would your item, and what would your power be?

[00:36:24] So this is a question that I love asking, you know, people to think about.

[00:36:28] Like, what is something that, if you had to have something that symbolized your family, right?

[00:36:36] Something that you or your family do well, know about, are talented to that, or just as you've come to be known as that family, right?

[00:36:48] Maybe you're the family who every Friday you had a fish fry.

[00:36:53] Maybe your symbol is a skillet, right?

[00:36:59] Maybe you had an incredible garden that people would come to and pick from.

[00:37:04] It was a community garden, right?

[00:37:06] Maybe your symbol was, you know, a pair of gardening gloves or a trowel, right?

[00:37:10] Or a shovel.

[00:37:12] For me, my family, we have always, we've been two things, right?

[00:37:18] We have been activists and we have been book nerds, right?

[00:37:23] And so I think a big, giant book.

[00:37:28] All right, show of hands.

[00:37:30] This is an obscure anime reference.

[00:37:32] And if you get it, I have several stickers up here for you, right?

[00:37:37] How many people have watched the show Black Clover?

[00:37:44] One, you don't get, you're too old to get a sticker.

[00:37:47] So I'm going to give you the stickers.

[00:37:48] You got to disseminate it to your group, okay?

[00:37:50] I can't give you stickers.

[00:37:52] But yes, Black Clover, like they summon a book, right?

[00:37:56] And that's how they cast their spells.

[00:37:57] And for me, I think that is, I think it would be a giant book with like the black power fist on it.

[00:38:04] And that would be like the Mbalia symbol summoning thing.

[00:38:09] Because we're just a bunch of activists and nerds.

[00:38:13] I don't know what like my talent would be.

[00:38:15] Like we would, the book would be here.

[00:38:19] And then what would our ability be, right?

[00:38:22] Like Jax is, he has a train ticket and he summons a train.

[00:38:26] Devin has the deck of cards that he uses to summon his uncles who would be around the card table.

[00:38:32] We would summon a book and then, I don't know, just a tower of books would fall on you.

[00:38:40] I don't know, that's, that's.

[00:38:42] You can work with that though.

[00:38:43] You can work with that.

[00:38:43] I don't know what the actual.

[00:38:45] You could really hurt some people with that.

[00:38:45] I would summon a book and then the book would like fall on your toe.

[00:38:48] That hurts.

[00:38:49] It's like up there with Lego.

[00:38:51] And I'd be like, aha!

[00:38:51] And then I'd run away.

[00:38:52] Yeah.

[00:38:52] I think, I believe in it.

[00:38:54] That's all I got.

[00:38:55] It'd be a cool looking, it'd be the most amazing book you've ever seen.

[00:38:59] And then it would fall on your toe.

[00:39:01] And while you'd be like hopping up and down on one foot, I'd be scampering away.

[00:39:07] Cackling maniacally.

[00:39:10] Just something real heavy too.

[00:39:11] Scuttling off.

[00:39:12] Yeah.

[00:39:12] Like a first edition.

[00:39:13] Think of the biggest, the biggest book you've ever seen.

[00:39:16] Like a phone book, leather bound.

[00:39:18] Do they still have those?

[00:39:19] With, do they still have phone books?

[00:39:21] I don't know.

[00:39:22] That's a genuine question.

[00:39:22] I'm not trying to mess with you.

[00:39:23] I'm not.

[00:39:23] When was the last time anyone saw one?

[00:39:25] Do you know what a phone book is?

[00:39:27] Have you, have you used a phone book?

[00:39:29] Have you ever held it in your hands?

[00:39:30] No.

[00:39:30] Was it like in the library in a historical section?

[00:39:33] Ooh.

[00:39:35] Wow.

[00:39:35] That's real bad.

[00:39:36] I didn't know I was going to get my feelings hurt so bad coming here to do this event.

[00:39:43] Don't, don't throw her under the bus again.

[00:39:45] You already said she, she couldn't drive.

[00:39:47] And now you're saying she has like, well, your car is literally in the shop right now.

[00:39:53] Don't confirm it for him.

[00:39:56] All right.

[00:39:56] Stop.

[00:39:57] You know what?

[00:39:58] Fifth amendment.

[00:39:59] Do you have to say anything?

[00:40:00] Okay.

[00:40:02] Okay.

[00:40:02] So I want to make sure we have time for the Q and A.

[00:40:04] So real quick here.

[00:40:05] So one very important detail about Jax Freeman.

[00:40:08] This is the first book in the Freedom Fire, which is one of the first new imprints Disney's put out in years.

[00:40:13] And so can you tell us about Freedom Fire?

[00:40:16] Why you made this imprint and what's next for it?

[00:40:20] All right.

[00:40:21] So Freedom Fire is the imprint that I have with Disney.

[00:40:23] So I'm a publisher now.

[00:40:26] This is the second book on the imprint.

[00:40:27] The first book.

[00:40:29] If you, if when you come up and you see the stickers, the first book is MoCo Magic.

[00:40:34] My bad.

[00:40:35] About a trio of cousins in Brooklyn who discover that they can practice magic, but that they will lose it in seven days if they don't figure out who is taking away the magic.

[00:40:46] Then there's my books, Jax Freeman.

[00:40:49] And the way that I pitched Jax Freeman to you all is like, show of hands, how many people have heard of or watched the show Naruto?

[00:40:58] Okay.

[00:40:59] So I pitched Jax Freeman as Jax is a black Naruto practicing ancestral jutsus in the streets of Chicago.

[00:41:06] So.

[00:41:07] Uh, and then we have Black Girl Power, which comes out in November.

[00:41:11] It's an anthology.

[00:41:12] If you've read or seen Black Boy Joy, this is almost, it's, uh, it's sibling Black Girl Power.

[00:41:18] It comes out November 12th, I believe.

[00:41:21] And yes, Rosie is in that book as well.

[00:41:23] Sure am.

[00:41:23] I did creme de la creme.

[00:41:25] My story is a story about a group of cutthroat witches at a school for magic baking.

[00:41:32] And it's about a young girl who has to write a letter of apology to her community after the last magic baking tournament got a little too heated.

[00:41:41] So it's for anyone who you ever knew, you, anyone who grew up knowing that you were the best at something and the world was not quite ready to acknowledge it yet.

[00:41:50] So as you can guess, I was a very ambitious kind of kid.

[00:41:54] Um, so yeah, this is for all y'all.

[00:41:56] This is for all your Virgos out there.

[00:41:57] I'm a Virgo.

[00:41:57] This is for all the Virgo kids out there.

[00:41:58] That's who I wrote this story for.

[00:41:59] Sounds like Great British Bake Off that turned violent.

[00:42:03] Basically.

[00:42:03] Love it.

[00:42:04] Basically.

[00:42:05] Love it.

[00:42:05] If you can't handle the heat, get out the kitchen.

[00:42:08] That's my one.

[00:42:09] Was that a pun?

[00:42:10] No.

[00:42:10] Okay.

[00:42:12] All right.

[00:42:13] All right.

[00:42:13] On that note.

[00:42:15] Um, so now we're going to do the Q&A portion here.

[00:42:18] And so he was going to take my mic, but we were going to pass the mic around.

[00:42:22] But until he gets back.

[00:42:24] You have to shout very loud.

[00:42:25] Yes.

[00:42:25] And so I see.

[00:42:26] I will repeat the question.

[00:42:27] Yes, we will.

[00:42:28] So let's start right here.

[00:42:29] I saw your hand first.

[00:42:41] Ooh, as a published author yourself, do I find myself getting writer's block?

[00:42:49] Um, and Rosie, I want you to answer this as well.

[00:42:53] I, you know what I did?

[00:42:55] I stopped calling it timeout.

[00:42:58] I just realized that this is not recording.

[00:43:01] We had a whole conversation about this.

[00:43:03] Like, oh, you got your camera?

[00:43:04] Anyway, and I got the mic and everything.

[00:43:06] Uh, anyway, um, I stopped calling it writer's block.

[00:43:11] I call it my creative well.

[00:43:15] And that I have dipped into it too much and it has run dry.

[00:43:20] Right.

[00:43:20] And what needs to happen to a well when it, when it, you know, when you've used it too much?

[00:43:26] You need to let it be.

[00:43:28] You need to let the water gather back into it or you need to refill it.

[00:43:32] And the way I refill my creative well is by consuming more creativity from someone else.

[00:43:38] So if I get writer's block or if my creative well has run dry, I go read more books.

[00:43:44] I go, um, uh, listen to more music.

[00:43:47] I go, uh, jazz specifically Ethiopian jazz, even more specifically.

[00:43:53] Um, listen, I got, I got a Spotify playlist for you.

[00:43:57] It'll be amazing.

[00:43:58] Um, or I go view more art.

[00:44:00] I do something that triggers my brain to think about things in a more creative fashion.

[00:44:06] And then, um, I find that more often than not, my subconscious has worked through it.

[00:44:11] I don't try to force it.

[00:44:13] Um, but I find that leaving it alone and doing something else creative really helps for me.

[00:44:19] What about you?

[00:44:20] Yeah, I think I agree.

[00:44:21] Um, cause I've noticed I have two different kinds of blocks.

[00:44:24] There's the one you mentioned, which is like the well running dry and refilling it works.

[00:44:28] Or there's a second one where for me, the second block is when I've taken a wrong turn in the story.

[00:44:33] Like sometimes I'll be a chapter like 20 and it's just everything I'm trying.

[00:44:37] Absolutely nothing is working and I'm stuck.

[00:44:39] And for that kind of block, what I usually find is I usually, it means I made a wrong turn somewhere earlier in the story.

[00:44:47] So I have to bring myself, what is the last thing that I wrote that feels right?

[00:44:52] Like I am certain about like, this is what's working.

[00:44:54] Cause almost, I'd say 99% of the time, there is usually a chapter right after that where, oh, I had the characters go right here when they should have gone left.

[00:45:03] So if I can find that early snarl in the story, it usually will fix something that happened in chapter four.

[00:45:08] I can fix that.

[00:45:09] It'll fix the entire problem I'm having in chapter 20.

[00:45:12] So sometimes it's about going back and figuring out where the snarl began because it's not always where you're feeling it.

[00:45:18] Yeah.

[00:45:18] Think of it like a maze, you know, the maze where you're trying to, the little activity puzzles or whatever, and you reach a dead end.

[00:45:24] And then you have to backtrack and try and find your way to the next, the next route.

[00:45:29] Like sometimes we'll write ourselves into a corner and we just, as Rosie said, have to backtrack to find the right path that the story needs to take.

[00:45:42] Who inspired me to become a writer?

[00:45:45] My mother.

[00:45:47] My, Dorita Mbalia is a writer.

[00:45:50] She is self-published and also traditionally published.

[00:45:53] She helped to, she's a English professor.

[00:45:59] She helped to co-write an English textbook.

[00:46:03] She publishes all sorts of fiction and nonfiction.

[00:46:08] And I would wake up in the morning to find her already at her desk scribbling.

[00:46:13] I would find little post-it notes of story ideas or notes throughout the house that she had stuck somewhere as she was doing whatever she needed to do.

[00:46:21] She would get us up, get us ready for school in the morning.

[00:46:25] Her and my father, they would work together.

[00:46:27] They would have dinner at night.

[00:46:29] They had all their other responsibilities.

[00:46:30] And yet she still found time to be a writer.

[00:46:33] Saturday mornings, I would find her up with her pile of sticky notes, sorting them, organizing them, and making the story out of them.

[00:46:41] And so she's the one who let me know that it was possible.

[00:46:44] Because children emulate and imitate what they see.

[00:46:48] If they don't see it and know that it is available to them, how are they supposed to pursue it?

[00:46:53] And so she was my role model.

[00:46:55] And if we had my school visit presentation, a picture of her and myself on my very first event in Chicago that she drove up to when Tristan was published.

[00:47:08] That is the last slide of all of my school visits.

[00:47:12] Because she's the one who really, she's the one, that's my twin in terms of the book nerd.

[00:47:18] She's the one who enabled my book nerdiness.

[00:47:21] And Friday, she would pick me up from school and she would take us straight to the library.

[00:47:25] And she would be like, check out as many books as you want.

[00:47:27] She's the one who will still call me and be like, hey, did you see such and such in the Poets and Writers magazine?

[00:47:33] Or did you see this book was out?

[00:47:34] She was my habit former for reading.

[00:47:38] She tricked us into reading.

[00:47:40] She would say, you can go take a nap or you can go read a book.

[00:47:46] And I'm like, I'm not taking no stinking nap.

[00:47:50] I know that.

[00:47:51] I'm going to go read this book.

[00:47:52] You're trying to get me to take a nap.

[00:47:53] I know what you're doing.

[00:47:54] You want me to take a nap.

[00:47:55] I'm going to read.

[00:47:56] And then I got hooked on reading.

[00:47:57] So she is my role model in all things literature, writing and reading.

[00:48:03] And she's one of the first ones.

[00:48:05] When I have book news, I send it to.

[00:48:07] Contract details, NDA or not, I'm letting her know.

[00:48:11] Because I know that she's proud of me.

[00:48:14] She's also living through me.

[00:48:15] And without her, I wouldn't be doing this.

[00:48:18] Awesome, awesome, awesome.

[00:48:19] Are there any other questions?

[00:48:21] I know I have one.

[00:48:23] If you have questions, please line up on my left here.

[00:48:25] Oh, come on, get up.

[00:48:26] Come on now.

[00:48:26] Get up.

[00:48:27] You got to stand up now.

[00:48:31] So I do want to take a quick privilege as well and ask a question for you.

[00:48:39] You maximizing that host abilities.

[00:48:40] Okay.

[00:48:41] I am.

[00:48:41] I am.

[00:48:41] I am.

[00:48:43] What, if you can think of it, or remember, what was the first book that really got you excited

[00:48:51] about reading or wanting to be a writer?

[00:48:57] Listen, I'm a nerd.

[00:48:59] I'm a nerd's nerd.

[00:49:00] Okay?

[00:49:02] I won a contest to go see the Milwaukee Bucks play the Chicago Bulls when Jordan was still playing.

[00:49:09] Was that your car?

[00:49:11] Okay.

[00:49:11] Okay.

[00:49:12] Just to make sure.

[00:49:13] Oh, nice.

[00:49:15] By reading the entire Lord of the Rings, not just the Fellowship and the two, like I read

[00:49:21] all three as one.

[00:49:22] And this was in fourth grade.

[00:49:25] So I would say that that was pretty formative, especially in science fiction and fantasy.

[00:49:30] And then when I was in high school, reading Walter Dean Myers' Slam was the first time I saw somebody

[00:49:40] talk about high school basketball, which I was playing at the time, in a language, in a

[00:49:45] descriptiveness about an area, the inner city, without being disparaging or disgusting.

[00:49:52] There was beauty in the graffiti and the weeds and the cracked pavement.

[00:49:56] And the way he described the problems and the environment, I was like, ah, gosh, I want

[00:50:04] more of this.

[00:50:05] I need this.

[00:50:06] So I think those two books really are the Kwame Inbali experience right there.

[00:50:12] So Lord of the Rings and then Watch the Empire Slam.

[00:50:15] Slam.

[00:50:16] I still have the yellowed, battered copy of it right next to my desk.

[00:50:20] I read it at least once a year.

[00:50:22] Awesome.

[00:50:22] Fantastic.

[00:50:23] I don't want to talk about how many copies of Tolkien I have.

[00:50:25] All right.

[00:50:26] Next question.

[00:50:27] Okay.

[00:50:27] Hi.

[00:50:28] Thanks for being here.

[00:50:29] We're so excited for him to meet a real live author so he can connect people and books.

[00:50:35] And I'm just wondering whether there are already or if there will or could be book club guides

[00:50:40] that we can use, especially to connect our young people to the historical references as a

[00:50:46] gateway to teaching that history at home.

[00:50:49] That is a great question.

[00:50:52] Amash, do you know?

[00:50:55] Oh, yes.

[00:50:56] I'm hogging the mic.

[00:50:59] So we are both, the Tristan series and my series, Sir Wahba Ting's Guide to Vampire Hunting.

[00:51:05] I know they made book club guides for both of those.

[00:51:07] Mine is about Ganyan folklore.

[00:51:09] And so I know in mine that they have provided glossaries because we have many words in my

[00:51:15] native language.

[00:51:16] And they also had educator guides available.

[00:51:18] And so I'm pretty sure like they would probably, you have one available for Tristan, yes?

[00:51:23] So odds are there will be one available for Jax Freeman.

[00:51:30] I am not, I'm going to ask probably as soon as we get out of this, if we have someone working

[00:51:36] on the educator's guide for it.

[00:51:38] Because if not, I have two people in mind that I could probably ask.

[00:51:42] And that is either my wife back there who is a former educator, but also once an educator,

[00:51:48] always an educator.

[00:51:49] And then my sister as well, who is also an educator.

[00:51:52] So we will get it figured out and let you know.

[00:51:56] So if not, if you put together like six or seven questions you want to know, we could

[00:52:00] start the book club guide right there.

[00:52:04] Okay.

[00:52:04] Yes.

[00:52:05] Yes.

[00:52:06] All right.

[00:52:06] Work together.

[00:52:07] And for the ones available, you should check the Disney website for Kwame's other, while

[00:52:11] we work on the Jax Freeman one, there are for Kwame's other books and lots of other books

[00:52:14] with black authors and like diverse authors.

[00:52:16] Disney's got them for you.

[00:52:17] So they're all there.

[00:52:18] Yeah, that's what I was going to recommend.

[00:52:19] So if you're looking for parents, if you're looking for reading guides, you can always check

[00:52:23] the publisher's website.

[00:52:24] Right.

[00:52:25] But what we'll do is I'll connect with Kwame and make sure we get them and add them to

[00:52:28] the Pogame Books website as well.

[00:52:29] So you can download them when you purchase the book there.

[00:52:32] So you can have them for your kids or schools if you're an educator.

[00:52:35] Okay.

[00:52:39] Is he going to like survive or you'll get like captured by those ghost things?

[00:52:45] Are you asking me for spoilers?

[00:52:47] Well, how is he going to survive?

[00:52:49] Like, is he going to survive or not?

[00:52:52] Do you have the book?

[00:52:53] Look, you tell me, you read the book and tell me what happens to him because he goes through

[00:53:00] some things.

[00:53:01] And I want you to tell me what do you think is the toughest thing that Jax goes through in

[00:53:05] this book?

[00:53:06] Okay.

[00:53:07] Can you do that?

[00:53:08] All right.

[00:53:11] Thank you guys.

[00:53:13] Excuse me.

[00:53:14] I have a question.

[00:53:16] How do you balance like writing, like your deadlines and stuff with like the things that you want

[00:53:20] to do like in life?

[00:53:22] Oh my gosh.

[00:53:23] That is a great question.

[00:53:25] Also, what is balance?

[00:53:32] So what do I like to do?

[00:53:34] I like, I love, obviously.

[00:53:36] So just, we're going to take parenting out of it.

[00:53:39] But assume, you know, I have a wonderful partner and my wife back there.

[00:53:44] And so we juggle parenting pretty well.

[00:53:46] I think my kids are, they're okay, sort of.

[00:53:51] Let's just talk about things that I want to do in terms of having fun.

[00:53:55] And then my job, which is writing, right?

[00:53:57] So I love watching anime.

[00:53:59] I love playing video games.

[00:54:01] And then I write, I love reading.

[00:54:03] And then I write, right?

[00:54:04] And so for me, if I have a deadline, I know I need something done.

[00:54:09] My wife will tell you, I will hand her my PS5 controller and tell her to hide it until

[00:54:16] I get my deadline done, until I get my work done.

[00:54:18] Because otherwise I'll get distracted.

[00:54:21] Sometimes I just like getting on the internet, browsing TikTok or Instagram and stuff like

[00:54:26] that.

[00:54:27] I have an app on my phone that will lock it.

[00:54:29] It's called the Forest app.

[00:54:31] And if I, what happens is you plant a little tree, a little digital tree, and then you

[00:54:37] set a timer.

[00:54:38] If you exit out of that, the tree dies.

[00:54:42] Do you want to kill a tree?

[00:54:44] No.

[00:54:45] No, you don't want to kill a tree.

[00:54:47] And so basically, and also like sometimes I'll go places where I know that I have an incredible

[00:54:52] computer at home.

[00:54:54] It is incredible.

[00:54:56] It is a, I can, you know, it's like 12K high definition.

[00:55:02] And it's amazing.

[00:55:03] It is super powered.

[00:55:04] I love playing it.

[00:55:07] If I have something to do, I will leave the house.

[00:55:10] So I'm not tempted to play that.

[00:55:12] I'll go to the library.

[00:55:13] I'll go to a bookstore, like Mahogany bookstore.

[00:55:15] Like I'll go to a bookstore to sit and work.

[00:55:17] And so you have to be responsible for knowing what is your distraction and preventing yourself

[00:55:24] from being distracted.

[00:55:25] Maybe it's telling your, you know, your parents or your guardians, hey, can you hold my phone

[00:55:30] for 30 minutes while I do this homework or while I study?

[00:55:34] Could you take this, this controller so I don't play Madden or 2K while I do, while I

[00:55:39] study?

[00:55:40] And then when I come back, I'm like, look, I did it.

[00:55:43] They give it back to you.

[00:55:44] And so you have to be responsible for that.

[00:55:47] And I have to be responsible for that.

[00:55:48] So is it tough?

[00:55:50] Yes.

[00:55:51] Sometimes do I just want to stop writing and just like play Ghost of Tsushima or something

[00:55:55] like that?

[00:55:56] Absolutely.

[00:55:56] Absolutely.

[00:55:58] But I also know that if I don't finish this book, I can't pay the mortgage.

[00:56:06] And my wife is then going to take more than the controller for me.

[00:56:10] So I'm going to try and be as responsible as I can.

[00:56:15] And it's hard.

[00:56:16] But the sooner you learn it now, oh boy, high school, college, graduate school, it'll all

[00:56:25] be so much easier.

[00:56:26] The sooner you learn how to be disciplined yourself without someone telling you to do

[00:56:31] something, it'll be so much easier.

[00:56:33] Because when you get there, they're not going to be like, did you do your homework?

[00:56:37] You know, you have a quiz.

[00:56:38] Did you study?

[00:56:39] They're just going to show up, give you the test and whatever happens, happens.

[00:56:43] So learn it now and things will be so much easier in the future.

[00:56:47] Okay.

[00:56:47] Great question.

[00:56:48] Great question.

[00:56:49] Great question.

[00:56:51] How do you not just stop?

[00:56:54] Like if you get bored?

[00:56:56] Oh, that is, you know what?

[00:56:58] That is a really good question too.

[00:56:59] If I find myself getting bored, I'm like, wait a minute.

[00:57:03] If I'm bored writing this, imagine how someone is going to feel when they're reading this.

[00:57:09] So what would be exciting, right?

[00:57:11] So like the, in the excerpt that I just read to you as I'm writing it, I'm like, what would

[00:57:15] be scary?

[00:57:16] What would be cool, right?

[00:57:18] Throwing a shoe at somebody and then him scuttling like a crab after me.

[00:57:23] And I'm like, all right, that's pretty cool.

[00:57:24] That's pretty entertaining.

[00:57:25] And then how do I make sure that it ends on a really, you know, fun or tense, you know,

[00:57:32] moment?

[00:57:32] Well, you think he's escaped.

[00:57:34] He's defeated the ghost.

[00:57:36] He's done.

[00:57:37] He's saved.

[00:57:38] And then the elevator door opens and your angry grandmother is standing there, right?

[00:57:43] So thinking of ways that it can be excited or keep me on the edge of the seat or make

[00:57:48] me want to turn the page.

[00:57:49] So think about what you have fun doing or reading or drawing or writing, what is fun

[00:57:56] and what is entertaining for you, exciting for you.

[00:57:59] And then we try and put that into the book so that the reader can be excited as well.

[00:58:03] Okay?

[00:58:03] So if you're bored, the reader is going to be bored.

[00:58:07] So figure out what is entertaining.

[00:58:09] All right?

[00:58:09] Great question.

[00:58:10] Great question.

[00:58:12] So what inspired you to be, what is the first step of being a writer?

[00:58:19] The first, for me or for, or my advice?

[00:58:23] My advice.

[00:58:24] Do you write now?

[00:58:26] I write a lot of comic books.

[00:58:28] You write a lot of comic books.

[00:58:30] Have you finished writing a few comic books or just started?

[00:58:33] Just started.

[00:58:33] You started.

[00:58:34] So the first thing I say is to finish the book.

[00:58:39] The first thing, that's the second step.

[00:58:41] You're already doing the first thing.

[00:58:43] You know why?

[00:58:44] Because you sat down and you're like, I'm going to start writing.

[00:58:46] That is step number one.

[00:58:47] And people ask me, well, how do you publish a book?

[00:58:49] What's the first step of publishing a book and being a writer?

[00:58:51] I'm like, you got to write.

[00:58:53] You have to write.

[00:58:54] You have to find time, whether it's after school or maybe, hey, you come home, you finish your homework.

[00:58:59] You're like, oh, I'm going to go, you know, I'm going to go play Madden or something.

[00:59:04] Or I'm going to go get on the computer.

[00:59:06] I'm going to go play Roblox.

[00:59:07] You play Roblox?

[00:59:08] I play Roblox before.

[00:59:10] You play Roblox before?

[00:59:12] Book habit, all of it.

[00:59:13] Mm-hmm.

[00:59:14] Mm-hmm.

[00:59:14] I see it.

[00:59:15] And so the first step is, all right, instead of doing that, instead of playing Roblox, hopping on that, I'm going to do a little bit of writing.

[00:59:23] The second step is finishing what you wrote.

[00:59:26] The very first book I ever wrote was in the fifth grade.

[00:59:32] It was a comic book I wrote about a very overpowered, you know, superhero who had all the powers in the world named Emok.

[00:59:42] And Emok is just Kwame spelled backwards.

[00:59:46] And you know what?

[00:59:48] It was terrible.

[00:59:51] It was trash.

[00:59:53] It was horrible.

[00:59:54] All the things we talked about being bored and stuff, I was bored reading it after I was done with it.

[01:00:00] But you know what?

[01:00:02] I got better after that.

[01:00:04] I knew what not to do.

[01:00:05] So the first thing, start writing.

[01:00:07] Second thing, finish writing.

[01:00:09] And then figure out how to improve.

[01:00:11] And sometimes you just improve by starting over again.

[01:00:14] And other times you improve by reading.

[01:00:17] So read and finish the books that you start, okay?

[01:00:23] When did you start making Tristan strong?

[01:00:25] When did I start?

[01:00:26] Stop.

[01:00:27] Stop?

[01:00:28] Start?

[01:00:32] 2017, I want to say.

[01:00:35] 2017.

[01:00:36] And I wrote the first three chapters.

[01:00:38] Do you know who Rick Riordan is?

[01:00:40] Who wrote Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief?

[01:00:43] You should.

[01:00:44] That's your homework.

[01:00:45] It's probably in the library.

[01:00:47] Or at Mahogany Books.

[01:00:48] Go check it out.

[01:00:49] Yes, go check it out because it's free.

[01:00:53] I sent Rick the first three chapters that I wrote in the week between Christmas and New Year's.

[01:01:00] And I was like, all right, he's never going to read it.

[01:01:02] He's never going to like it.

[01:01:03] And I went to write something else.

[01:01:05] And then two months later, he emailed me.

[01:01:07] And they were like, Rick loves it.

[01:01:09] When can we have the rest of it?

[01:01:12] So 2017 is when it started.

[01:01:13] And then 2022, I think, is when the graphic novel came out.

[01:01:20] So 3.75 books.

[01:01:25] Because there's a graphic novel and a gum baby short story out there, too.

[01:01:29] A gum baby short story.

[01:01:33] Okay.

[01:01:35] Any more questions?

[01:01:36] Are you going to read another Tristan strong book?

[01:01:45] I don't know if I'm allowed to say.

[01:01:48] Yeah, you know.

[01:01:52] Okay, I'll say this.

[01:01:53] I have always wanted to write a story from gum baby's point of view.

[01:01:59] And so right now, I'm talking to Disney to see if they'll let me.

[01:02:02] And we're waiting on the final answer.

[01:02:05] Disney?

[01:02:06] I do work with Disney.

[01:02:09] Do you want to just come sit up here and ask?

[01:02:12] So we do have to get to the next people in line.

[01:02:15] All right, one last question.

[01:02:18] That's it.

[01:02:23] Good job, good job, good job.

[01:02:25] You had a great question.

[01:02:27] Because I was going to ask you about how to get started writing.

[01:02:29] With characters and stuff.

[01:02:30] You know what?

[01:02:31] I have things in my mind that just won't.

[01:02:33] When you go to the car shop to pick up your car,

[01:02:37] and you got to wait for them to finish.

[01:02:39] And that's 30 minutes.

[01:02:41] No, listen.

[01:02:42] As parents, as adults with other responsibilities,

[01:02:45] we have to find...

[01:02:46] One of the greatest lessons I learned is

[01:02:48] how not to write with a perfect environment.

[01:02:53] Right?

[01:02:54] I know that...

[01:02:55] I don't know where...

[01:02:55] Oh, he's sitting with my wife.

[01:02:56] He's four years old.

[01:02:57] I know that if I put on one of his shows,

[01:03:00] it's 11 minutes.

[01:03:01] He'll sit there for 11 minutes.

[01:03:03] It takes nine minutes to boil a pot of noodles.

[01:03:05] So I can put dinner on.

[01:03:06] I can put him down.

[01:03:07] I know he's not distracted.

[01:03:09] I know I got 8.5 minutes to sit and do something.

[01:03:12] I can get you a good paragraph and a half

[01:03:15] in 8.5 minutes.

[01:03:17] And you're like,

[01:03:17] a paragraph and a half?

[01:03:18] That's not a lot.

[01:03:19] A paragraph and a half

[01:03:20] is a paragraph and a half more than I had

[01:03:23] 8.5 minutes ago.

[01:03:25] You do that five or six times throughout the day.

[01:03:27] You have three or four or five pages.

[01:03:30] You got 1,000 words.

[01:03:32] You do that six or seven months out of the year,

[01:03:35] you'll have a book.

[01:03:37] A lot of people don't...

[01:03:38] One of my favorite authors used to...

[01:03:42] I'm paraphrasing.

[01:03:44] He used to just put out these numbers.

[01:03:46] He used to tweet them.

[01:03:46] He would say,

[01:03:47] if you write 725 words every weekday,

[01:03:52] not seven days a week,

[01:03:55] but Monday through Friday,

[01:03:56] like it's a job,

[01:03:57] if you wrote 725 words in nine months,

[01:04:01] you would have a 75,000-word book.

[01:04:04] And when you break it down like that

[01:04:06] into its most granular moments,

[01:04:08] and not just,

[01:04:09] I got to sit down and write a chapter.

[01:04:10] No, you just have to sit down and write.

[01:04:13] You'll get yourself to a book eventually.

[01:04:15] That's all it takes.

[01:04:16] That's why I say discipline.

[01:04:18] Discipline and belief that you can do it.

[01:04:21] Will it be good?

[01:04:22] I can't tell you.

[01:04:23] Will it be interesting?

[01:04:24] I can't tell you.

[01:04:25] Will it be a book that you wrote?

[01:04:27] I can tell you.

[01:04:27] Yes.

[01:04:29] That's knowledge right there.

[01:04:31] Awesome.

[01:04:31] Real quick.

[01:04:33] First of all,

[01:04:34] I'm glad to hear you say

[01:04:34] you're going to possibly do something on Gun Baby.

[01:04:37] My mother just died.

[01:04:39] And before she passed,

[01:04:40] her and my son were reading Tristan Strong.

[01:04:43] She loved Gun Baby.

[01:04:44] So that's so interesting.

[01:04:46] Second thing is,

[01:04:47] when you talked earlier about the theme in the book

[01:04:49] of Jax being a bigger kid

[01:04:51] and not wanting to feed into,

[01:04:55] I guess,

[01:04:55] like stereotypes about who he could be,

[01:04:57] how do we,

[01:04:58] how do you think parents

[01:05:00] and maybe teachers,

[01:05:01] if they,

[01:05:02] you know,

[01:05:02] have this in the classroom,

[01:05:04] how do they talk about those themes

[01:05:06] with our young people?

[01:05:08] Jax will talk about it himself.

[01:05:10] When you're reading the book,

[01:05:12] Jax will say,

[01:05:13] he'll talk about

[01:05:15] how the conductor thought he was 18 years old

[01:05:19] because of how big he was.

[01:05:20] They will talk about how

[01:05:22] he technically shouldn't be allowed

[01:05:24] on the train by himself,

[01:05:25] but they just assumed he was an adult.

[01:05:28] They'll talk about how

[01:05:29] he'll use it to his advantage

[01:05:31] when someone is bullying his friend Toussaint

[01:05:33] and he'll stand up

[01:05:34] and the bullies will take a step back, right?

[01:05:36] So throughout the book,

[01:05:37] you'll see these moments

[01:05:39] where Jax's size

[01:05:41] is not the point of the story,

[01:05:43] but it comes into play

[01:05:44] just because it's who he is

[01:05:46] and that's the body that he inhabits.

[01:05:49] And so maybe that's something

[01:05:51] that we could include in,

[01:05:52] you know,

[01:05:53] like the study guide or something

[01:05:54] where we talk about

[01:05:56] how does Jax's self-image,

[01:05:58] does it reflect the way that you see Jax

[01:06:01] or not and why?

[01:06:04] So it's an important conversation to have

[01:06:08] because I knew it was important

[01:06:10] that I wanted a bigger hero

[01:06:12] on the book cover

[01:06:13] as a big hero

[01:06:16] and not just a goon in the background

[01:06:18] or a bodyguard or a thug

[01:06:20] or someone that you might see

[01:06:21] and cross the other side of the street going.

[01:06:23] So it was very important

[01:06:26] for those optics to be shared.

[01:06:28] Absolutely.

[01:06:30] All right.

[01:06:30] Last two questions right here.

[01:06:32] Hey, make them good.

[01:06:34] Lock in.

[01:06:35] Lock in.

[01:06:36] What is your favorite color huggy barrel?

[01:06:45] I said lock in.

[01:06:49] And you said,

[01:06:50] what's my favorite color huggy?

[01:06:52] Because we can't even say flavor

[01:06:54] because it's just food color.

[01:06:59] It was either purple,

[01:07:03] which in, you know,

[01:07:05] drink juice parlance means what?

[01:07:07] Grape.

[01:07:08] Grape.

[01:07:08] It was either purple

[01:07:12] or the like blue,

[01:07:15] like the,

[01:07:16] it wasn't light blue.

[01:07:17] It was just,

[01:07:18] it was just,

[01:07:18] it wasn't navy blue.

[01:07:19] It was,

[01:07:20] I don't know what,

[01:07:20] it was like the color,

[01:07:21] it was like the color of her shirt

[01:07:24] or the wrapping on it.

[01:07:25] That's the color of the blue it was.

[01:07:27] It was like blue,

[01:07:28] like blue raspberry.

[01:07:29] All I know is that's the drink

[01:07:30] you would drink.

[01:07:31] And when you drink it,

[01:07:32] it was so sugary,

[01:07:33] it would scratch the back

[01:07:34] of your throat.

[01:07:35] Oh, good times.

[01:07:36] Good times.

[01:07:38] That was your question?

[01:07:41] What is your favorite anime?

[01:07:43] Oh, my favorite anime

[01:07:45] is the original Naruto.

[01:07:47] It is,

[01:07:48] I'm a big fan of,

[01:07:52] oh, I am staring right at it.

[01:07:55] The original Dragon Ball.

[01:07:57] No Z's after it.

[01:07:59] And then in one

[01:08:00] that was probably around before,

[01:08:02] well,

[01:08:02] they were all around

[01:08:03] before you were born.

[01:08:04] And it's called Yu Yu Hakusho.

[01:08:07] I need,

[01:08:07] I need Rose to answer that.

[01:08:08] Listen,

[01:08:09] anime,

[01:08:09] that's my jam right there.

[01:08:10] So my,

[01:08:11] I actually used to live in Japan

[01:08:12] up till 2019.

[01:08:13] So,

[01:08:14] big fan.

[01:08:15] My Hero,

[01:08:16] big one,

[01:08:16] big fan of that one.

[01:08:18] Grew up in Naruto as well.

[01:08:19] I was a big Digimon person,

[01:08:20] Pokemon,

[01:08:21] big one of those.

[01:08:27] Ghost Club.

[01:08:27] What's your favorite anime?

[01:08:30] The original Dragon Ball.

[01:08:32] Original Dragon Ball.

[01:08:33] Okay.

[01:08:33] Okay.

[01:08:35] But yes,

[01:08:36] anime,

[01:08:36] great stuff.

[01:08:37] Great stuff.

[01:08:38] All right.

[01:08:38] Last question.

[01:08:40] Hey,

[01:08:40] this is,

[01:08:41] this has got to be

[01:08:41] the best question.

[01:08:44] What about,

[01:08:45] okay,

[01:08:45] you can take your book,

[01:08:47] your little book,

[01:08:48] and turn it into a movie?

[01:08:49] Oh my gosh.

[01:08:52] So here,

[01:08:53] here,

[01:08:53] here is,

[01:08:54] uh,

[01:08:56] a little known fact.

[01:08:57] Every author wants their book

[01:08:59] to be turned into a movie,

[01:09:01] series,

[01:09:02] Netflix,

[01:09:03] you know,

[01:09:03] limited TV event,

[01:09:05] even a stage production.

[01:09:07] Um,

[01:09:08] interpretive dance,

[01:09:09] yes.

[01:09:10] Uh,

[01:09:11] but we need,

[01:09:13] you need a producer

[01:09:14] to want

[01:09:16] to turn your book

[01:09:17] into a movie

[01:09:18] because they're the ones

[01:09:19] who will,

[01:09:19] who will take on

[01:09:20] that financial burden.

[01:09:21] I'm not paying actors

[01:09:24] or visual effect artists

[01:09:25] to,

[01:09:26] to do Jaxx.

[01:09:26] I don't have that type of money.

[01:09:28] A producer gets the funding

[01:09:29] to make it.

[01:09:30] So how does that happen?

[01:09:32] Everyone buys a copy of Jaxx

[01:09:34] and they shout about Jaxx.

[01:09:36] Oh,

[01:09:36] this is amazing.

[01:09:37] This is great.

[01:09:38] Five stars,

[01:09:40] 10 out of 10.

[01:09:41] We love it.

[01:09:42] Uh,

[01:09:43] that uproar

[01:09:44] is what signals

[01:09:45] to people like,

[01:09:46] okay,

[01:09:48] let's,

[01:09:48] people love it.

[01:09:49] Let's keep it going

[01:09:50] because they want to make money

[01:09:51] and the only way

[01:09:53] they're going to make money

[01:09:53] is if they think people

[01:09:54] are going to support the movie.

[01:09:56] So support the book,

[01:09:58] maybe a movie gets made

[01:09:59] at least until

[01:10:00] I learn how to,

[01:10:01] you know,

[01:10:02] make my own movies.

[01:10:03] But I can't even turn on my camera.

[01:10:05] So like,

[01:10:06] I'm,

[01:10:07] I'm in the negative right now.

[01:10:09] Great question though.

[01:10:10] Thank you.

[01:10:10] Thank you.

[01:10:11] Hey everybody,

[01:10:12] give it up for

[01:10:13] Kwame Ambalia

[01:10:14] and Roseanne Brown.

[01:10:16] Awesome,

[01:10:17] awesome,

[01:10:18] awesome.

[01:10:19] Discover a world

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[01:10:55] This is Derek Young

[01:10:56] and Ramonda Young,

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[01:10:58] Mahogany Books

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