A Conversation with Bryan Nowak

[00:00:00] Halfling: Thank you all for tuning into the Halfling and the Spaceman. If you're new to our show, we welcome you and hope you're entertained and inspired to start your own journey into active fandom. And if you're returning listener, thank you for choosing to spend some more time with us. Today, we are super excited to be talking with Bryan Nowak.

[00:00:17] Halfling: Bryan will be talking about his writing and podcasting. Bryan, welcome to the show.

[00:00:23] Bryan Nowak: Thank you so much for having me. It's such a huge honor, uh, to be on your show and, and really see all of this take off.

[00:00:30] Halfling: Well, the Honor is ours to be sure. We really appreciate you taking the time. And before we get started, I'm gonna have to give you a huge shout out because if it weren't for meeting you and talking with you at RavenCon, The Halfling and the Spaceman would not exist. So a big thank you to you.

[00:00:50] Halfling: And we also wanna thank you for having me on as a guest, you know, on your podcast, which was loads of fun. We had a great time. But y'all can blame Bryan for The Halfling and the Spaceman.

[00:01:06] Bryan Nowak: Well, uh, I will say that, if you are listening to this and you're on the fence about coming to a convention, don't be on the fence. Come to a convention. You learn so much. You get to make great people. You get to meet great people, not make great people. You shouldn't be making great people at a con.

[00:01:24] Bryan Nowak: Well, I don't know what happens, but, uh, yeah, you should be, you know, you're meeting great people, you're exchanging ideas and that's the advantage to going.

[00:01:32] Halfling: Well again, welcome to the show, spaceman. You wanna start us off?

[00:01:37] Spaceman: Well, before we get started, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and what are your varied interests?

[00:01:45] Bryan Nowak: Oh boy. Uh, where do you begin with that? Uh, . So, uh, as you mentioned, I'm a podcaster, uh, podcast. I'm the host of the show. All things writing. Uh, actually, we just, we hit our 5000th download mark. It's very exciting for us. So we have a wonderful sponsor. Scott Ellis Reeds, who signed on with us and has been very active and very helpful.

[00:02:10] Bryan Nowak: They're wonderful, wonderful people. I am a novelist who writes horror mystery in science fiction novels. I am currently developing a series of seminars discussing how to get your first book, actually like moving along cuz everybody, you know, talks about, well, I wanna write a book and we always tell them, butt in seats.

[00:02:33] Bryan Nowak: Well, the idea is what happens? How do we get beyond that advice? Because I've given the advice myself and I realize it's kind of ridiculous advice because it's not what people are really looking for. So I'm going to get them started down the road. I'm a husband, a father, I'm a doggy daddy, uh, US Army veteran and I'm a rated axe thrower who competes rather unsuccessfully in the world, axe throwing league.

[00:03:00] Bryan Nowak: So that's all me.

[00:03:02] Spaceman: Axe throwing. That sounds pretty cool. Tell us about that.

[00:03:06] Bryan Nowak: Well, uh, axe throwing. I started, uh, boy, about a year and a half ago, my wife and I went on a wonderful, date night to our local AXS throwing place, Axes as and Os appropriately named. And we started throwing and I was hooked. First time, that was it. Right out of the gate. I wanted to keep doing it.

[00:03:27] Bryan Nowak: I signed up with the league. Uh, the rest is history. Now I get to watch my stats be very unceremonious and very unimpressive in the standings for the World axe Throwing League. But I am there, at least I can say.

[00:03:44] Spaceman: That is awesome. You're the honestly, the first axe thrower we've had on the show. you know, we've had plenty of varied interest, including people who beat each other with sticks. But axe throwing, that's a first.

[00:03:57] Bryan Nowak: It's a lot of fun. You guys should try it.

[00:03:59] Spaceman: Maybe we will. So now that we've talked about that, one of the questions we kind of ask everybody is, what does fandom mean to you and what does it mean to be a fan of something?

[00:04:11] Spaceman: Because you can tell by your interest, you're a fan of a lot of things. 

[00:04:15] Bryan Nowak: You know, my mom always accused me of being a joiner when I was a kid. Uh, she said that I was always into all these different things, and she's right. I always was. And, uh, I, I think being a fan of anything means that you're passionate about it. It's not just something you know a lot about, uh, people don't know it.

[00:04:38] Bryan Nowak: But I'm very knowledgeable and I know quite a bit about Turn of the Century Bottle making, uh, but I'm not a fan of Turn of the Century Bottle making. Uh, I just happen to know a lot about the subject now. I'm a huge fan of horror movies and oddly enough, the more B-movieish, the movie is the more fun it is, at least in my humble opinion.

[00:05:02] Bryan Nowak: I, I have a real soft spot for people. Who tried and maybe failed by Hollywood Standard, by, um, by modern era standards. Um, but they followed their dreams. They followed what was in their part. And to me, that's, that is the true, I don't know, that's the crux of fandom, if you will. It's beyond something that's just in the top of your mind.

[00:05:27] Bryan Nowak: It infuses everything you do. I, I, I mean, I have a collection of horror. I'm pointing off screen, like you can see it on the podcast. Uh, I have this collection of horror, um, figurines from my favorite horror movies because I love them. Uh, I just love them so much. You know, there was a point in my life where I just latched onto horror.

[00:05:53] Bryan Nowak: I don't know.

[00:05:56] Halfling: Well So you were talking about be more B-movie kind of horror or whatever. There's a wonderful YouTuber that we follow, called, Brandon Tenold, and he reviews a lot of B-movie horrors. Uh, you know, but he does all sorts of just like your creature horror, but slasher horror, just, you know, all of that.

[00:06:21] Halfling: And he is so much fun. If you have not watched him, you definitely should. He would be right up your alley. I think

[00:06:29] Bryan Nowak: Oh, I love all of that, especially like the black and white stuff. I mean, that was, that for the time that was edgy, that was, that was kind of out there. And the, the, the special effects which we now think are hokey, that looked good for then.

[00:06:47] Spaceman: Speaking of which of those old ancient horror movies, what was your favorite?

[00:06:54] Bryan Nowak: So this is the thing that sort of made me a fan of horror movies when, uh, that made me a fan of this, this thing, right? I watched when I was little, and God only knows why. Anybody let me watch it. I don't know if I was unsupervised or what the, what the case was. Uh, I watched the movie, the Screaming Skull.

[00:07:17] Bryan Nowak: Uh, it's directed by Alex Nichol. It was from 1958. It's a terrible movie. I mean, it's just not very good. The acting as hokey, the special effects are, it's got the skull that, uh, falls off of a shelf and chases somebody down a stairs. You can see like the strings that they pulled it. It was so wonderful.

[00:07:41] Bryan Nowak: And I don't know, for the rest of my life I was hooked. And then after that, Dracula, the Swamp thing, the Mummy, I don't even know how to describe it. I found this world and it was like, I suppose it's sort of like people who really get into tabletop games, like Dungeons and Dragons and that kind of thing.

[00:08:04] Bryan Nowak: Um, or some of the more modern ones that, that people play now, which I don't personally do. So I know very little about them, but, uh, people get into them.

[00:08:15] Spaceman: All right. Right, right. You know, thinking about, 

[00:08:17] Spaceman: I'm not really a big fan of horror or at least modern horror. I like the old Dracula Frankenstein, but there are two movies, two movies that I really love and I figured I'd pick your brain on it as a horror writer. 

[00:08:30] Spaceman: The first is Quatermass in the Pit. Have you ever seen that one?

[00:08:34] Bryan Nowak: I have never seen that

[00:08:35] Spaceman: Oh man, you should find it. It's a Hammer Films film and I think it was called 5 Million Years to Earth when it was released in the United States. Um, but, but the British name is Quatermass and the Pit, and the other one is this kind of bizarre 1980s film. The Keep

[00:08:56] Bryan Nowak: I remember seeing it. I don't remember any details about it though.

[00:08:59] Spaceman: scared the Bejesus out of me when I watched it one night by myself when Janet was off at a teaching conference. 

[00:09:06] Spaceman: Uh, so the halfling was off and the spaceman was up watching horror movies. Not a good combination.

[00:09:14] Bryan Nowak: Well, I love, uh, I love now that they ha, you know, we're so fortunate that we can have things like, in the modern era. We can have our different channels that we can just load up like apps on our television. There is one that count Gore DeVol has and it's the creature feature, the weekly web program.

[00:09:34] Bryan Nowak: And he's got all these wonderful old horror movies on there. Um, It Came From Hell, which is, hokey, beyond hokey but man is so much fun.

[00:09:46] Halfling: that sounds like one that Brandon should review just by the title alone.

[00:09:52] Bryan Nowak: yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:09:56] Halfling: So that's how your interest in horror writing came about is just, you know, you started off watching these and became just this huge fan and became hooked on the genre in general,

[00:10:09] Bryan Nowak: But I think it's very interesting when we talk about becoming a fan of horror. Well, I always like to point out that, you know, if you look at those, uh, you know, Murder She Wrote was the thing that I always, you know, point at and go, that's what got me interested in mysteries.

[00:10:26] Bryan Nowak: Uh, and if you look at, of course, star Wars, I will give praise to the original Star Wars movies for making me a sci-fi fan and then, you know, buck Rogers and that kind of thing. Um, but it, there's always that element of danger. You know, there are people being killed and pushed outta Airlocks and, uh, there are, you know, they find a body washed up on the shore and there's that element of horror in all of

[00:10:56] Bryan Nowak: that. 

[00:10:57] Bryan Nowak: So they're all very closely related. They're very heavily dialogue driven, which makes them fun. There's that relational aspect between the characters. It's not just showing you sweeping vistas, uh, like you have to have in fantasy, for example, fantasy. You have to have these sweeping vistas things like that.

[00:11:14] Bryan Nowak: Well, that's why I love those genres specifically.

[00:11:19] Spaceman: Where do you draw the line between horror and dark fantasy?

[00:11:24] Bryan Nowak: Oh, that is a very difficult question to answer because I, you know, the difference between, okay, one man's dark fantasy is going to be another person's horror, and because of that, uh, you have to, you have to accept that much of what we, um, much of what we're going to perceive in one way is not gonna be perceived in another way by another person.

[00:11:56] Bryan Nowak: Uh, I met somebody at a show once they told me that they couldn't read my novels because they'd be too scared and wouldn't be able to sleep at night. About three, three seconds later, they start talking about, oh, have I watched the show Dexter? Yeah.

[00:12:17] Halfling: Well, if they like Dexter, then surely they're Okay. I got you.

[00:12:22] Bryan Nowak: And I, yeah, and I don't understand what, you know, is there one person's horror is not horror to another person. So it's very, very difficult to balance those two. Uh, the really, you know, the, the Dark Fantasy, the dark fantasy genre. you really get into these wild, epic novels. We're talking, you know, the, the novels that the movies are eventually based off of.

[00:12:50] Bryan Nowak: You're talking about a lot of pages, a lot of words, horror tends to not do that. So I guess from a novel standpoint, you know there's the difference. Novels tend to stick around, you know, that 110,000 words or less, mark. But your epic fantasy type of things, even the dark fantasy tends to go a lot longer.

[00:13:12] Bryan Nowak: But I mean, just in terms of feeling, that's a little bit harder to, to pin down. You could ask the exact same question about, mystery and horror. Really, in my humble opinion.

[00:13:27] Halfling: and you're not so humble opinion. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Well, it's funny you mentioned that you know the Dexter and that they couldn't see themselves reading your book cuz I thought it'd be too scary. I actually had somebody suggest to me one time that I would love, love Dexter because I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[00:13:48] Bryan Nowak: two completely different. F and actually there is a big difference between, serial killers and zombies and vampires. These are very distinct. Boy you get a group of people talking about which is better. You're in for a fight. I've written vampires and all that stuff, but 

[00:14:07] Halfling: Uhhuh 

[00:14:10] Spaceman: Yeah. Everybody was convinced we were gonna love Game of Thrones because we love Lord of the Rings. They're not the same. 

[00:14:17] Bryan Nowak: They're not the same. You know what? My wife loved Game of Thrones, which is great. I personally can't stand it. Not because I don't like plot lines that are that complex if I really need to keep notes. Well, you've lost me right 

[00:14:31] Halfling: mm-hmm. . Yeah. I don't wanna read something that I have to think too much about too, , I mean, or watch something that I have to think too much about. I like to watch movies or read or watch a television show for escape. And so I don't want something that's gonna make me think too much,

[00:14:52] Bryan Nowak: And that's literally my motto. I mean, that's my motto When I write, I wanna write something that I can, uh, I wanna be the ultimate airport author. I want to be the guy that you pick the book off the shelf and you read it on that Trans-Atlantic flight because it's something that pulls you out of someplace you don't really want to be sitting on an airplane and into a different world, a different realm, a different dimension. That's what books do for you.

[00:15:18] Bryan Nowak: It's magic in physical form.

[00:15:22] Halfling: So how long have you actually been writing?

[00:15:25] Bryan Nowak: I started in 2013, so almost 10 years.

[00:15:29] Halfling: Okay. And how many books have you put out at this point?

[00:15:34] Bryan Nowak: Well, um book nine exists. Uh, book 10 is with the publisher.

[00:15:41] Bryan Nowak: Book 11 is over three quarters the way written, book 12 is currently on my dining room table, in a big, notebook form. And I'm actually writing down every single chapter and, and kind of playing with what the total layout's gonna be.

[00:16:01] Bryan Nowak: Um, I'm trying to do that more and more because it's just easier for me. I also have a script out there that I need to finish polishing up cuz I want to get it ready to submit to several different competitions. So there's a lot.

[00:16:14] Halfling: Wow, that's . I, that's all I had to keep track of. I mean, you know, I had it, I, you must have some sort of charts or something to kind of gauge where you are. I mean,

[00:16:28] Bryan Nowak: a chalkboard.

[00:16:29] Halfling: Okay. That works. We've got a whiteboard in our office, so yeah,

[00:16:33] Bryan Nowak: Yep.

[00:16:34] Halfling: so kind of the same thing if you're, juggling multiple things, that's kind of a handy thing to have.

[00:16:40] Halfling: So,

[00:16:41] Bryan Nowak: Well also in the meantime, I rewrote the book, the Dramatic Dead, uh, that was my second novel, and I'm waiting on the, editor to get done with the third round because I wanted to, there was some things I wanted to add and some things I wanted to take away. And so

[00:16:57] Halfling: mm-hmm.

[00:16:58] Bryan Nowak: been another project.

[00:16:59] Halfling: Well, is that the first time you've done this, where you've gone back to a book and spiced, spiced it up, or Spruced it up however you wanna

[00:17:08] Bryan Nowak: Yep. Well, I mean it, you know, all of and I would tell this to all the young authors out there, the thing to keep in mind is that you. are going to notice a huge difference between book one and book 10 or 11. You got better like anything else, you got better at it. It's like playing the piano or violin or painting.

[00:17:32] Bryan Nowak: Uh, you get better at it with practice and that's what you have to do. That's what fingers on the keyboard or words through the dictation device or whatever. That's what happens. You get better at it.

[00:17:44] Halfling: But have you ever written or tried to write something that's out of your comfort zone? You have some preferred genres, but you, have you ever tried writing outside of those

[00:17:57] Bryan Nowak: So trying to decide how much I wanna admit here.

[00:18:03] Halfling: you're.

[00:18:04] Bryan Nowak: because, so writing. essentially boils down to, you know, we like to say writing, write what you know. But the reality is your stories are from a place inside of you that is somewhere between your heart and your brain. And in order to get those words out, you have to sort of let that part of you express itself.

[00:18:34] Bryan Nowak: If you are not a romance writer, I'm giving you a hint to what I tried to write. Don't do it, just don't do it. If it's not in you, don't do it. The same way, if you're not a horror writer, don't try to force it. People are gonna know and, you're not gonna be any good at it. So, yeah, I try to stick to the genres that I personally love, but I also write, I write what I wanna write when I wanna write it.

[00:19:01] Bryan Nowak: Uh, I don't let trends or anything else really dictate what I'm gonna do.

[00:19:08] Halfling: Okay. That sounds perfectly reasonable. I can see that you write what you, I've always heard write what you know and yeah, 

[00:19:18] Bryan Nowak: yeah, 

[00:19:19] Halfling: I guess that's, I guess that's sort of similar sentiment.

[00:19:23] Bryan Nowak: Yeah.

[00:19:25] Halfling: So Spaceman, I think you wanted to start talking about that podcast of his right? You had a question.

[00:19:30] Spaceman: Well, since I believe that we already established that Bryan is the one who wrecked the havoc that is the halfling in the spaceman on the fandom community. Or at least he laid the seed down. 

[00:19:42] Bryan Nowak: I will be judged harshly. 

[00:19:44] Spaceman: You will be judged . But we figured we'd go ahead and get started and talk about all things writing.

[00:19:50] Spaceman: As a writer, you have a unique position to talk about writing and what got your interest in doing a podcast or about your writing? Or is it about writing in general?

[00:20:02] Bryan Nowak: So there I was in the throes of covid. I was knee deep in a foxhole surrounded by grenade pins. No, I'm kidding. The idea for the podcast came out of my feeling that there's a lot of people out there that are missing, advice is the wrong word, missing a storyline that they could follow from somebody who had been there and done that.

[00:20:31] Bryan Nowak: Not to say that my way is perfect by any means, because the reality is that if you ask 20 writers how to write in a room, you're gonna get 30 different answers honestly, just having somebody who can sympathize and say, this is what I tried. This is what has failed spectacularly. That's reality. That's life.

[00:20:55] Bryan Nowak: I'm working on writing this seminar course right now, to actually sort of tie up everything I've learned and help people along. And in a lot of ways I'm doing that because I want people to know things. Like, before you start writing, you really need to think about why you want to write. This may seem like an overly simplified question, but are you writing because you think you want to be a millionaire?

[00:21:24] Bryan Nowak: Ha ha ha. Yeah. Don't do it because you're never gonna make millions of dollars, or most of us won't. Are you writing? Because you've gone through some personal tragedy and you wanna get that story out and share it with other people. Are you writing because you've got like me, little voices in your head that are like begging to be let out?

[00:21:43] Bryan Nowak: So you let them out on the paper. The why's. And so all things writing is literally about the writing journey. The writing process. It's about how we as writers develop and the tips and tricks we learn along the way. And interviewing people was a natural outflow because not only I was in a position to not only give people my opinion, but also bring other people onto the show like, you wonderful folks, and have them talk about their experiences too.

[00:22:20] Bryan Nowak: It also shows I think in a more of a tangible way that, you're a writer sitting at home in front of your keyboard. You are not alone. That's the central message. You are not alone. There's more of us out there. And you know what, if we go together, it's a better journey. So that's in US essence, All Things Writing

[00:22:42] Spaceman:

[00:22:42] Spaceman: We've all had our stumbles along the way, so you told us how you got started. What are your stumbles? What are the things that you encountered when you got started that you really wish you would've known were roadblocks or potholes on the way of your journey?

[00:22:59] Bryan Nowak: I think one of the biggest problems, and this is internal, and this is very common to writers in general and I think podcasters and any creative people, to be honest. It's the idea of imposter syndrome. We convince ourselves that we have nothing to add to the conversation.

[00:23:17] Bryan Nowak: We convince ourselves that we're not good enough or have done enough or, you know, Because of that, we talk ourselves out of doing things and not taking risks that we really should have. Now that I've had too many of those stumbling blocks along the way, I will say that aside from that, you know, time management has not been my strong suit ever.

[00:23:41] Bryan Nowak: I'm horrible at it and it's something I've had to get better at. Uh, learning to use the tools, the tips, and the tricks. If you're starting a podcast, learn to use your Google calendar, it's your friend. It will tell you what to do and because it's just hard to keep it all straight.

[00:23:57] Bryan Nowak: It really, really is. Um, you know, this hasn't been a stumbling block for me, but I always throw it out there as a reminder. Be kind, be giving, and just be a friend. And you would be amazed where doing something like this will take you.

[00:24:13] Halfling: That's awesome advice. That is awesome advice. Have you had any problems getting, because you have had writers and you've had editors and you've had ghost writers, and you've had your 

[00:24:25] Bryan Nowak: That was, that was a fun show, 

[00:24:27] Halfling: yeah, it really was. I enjoyed that a lot. But did you have any difficulty in getting people to come on your show?

[00:24:35] Halfling: or did that just kind of open up for you?

[00:24:38] Bryan Nowak: for me, especially in the beginning. Um, not, you know, kind of think of it. Not really. I have not had a chance ever finding, people to come on the show. I was very fortunate in the very beginning that I was already. I don't wanna say a fixture, cause that makes me sound like I'm important, I'm not important.

[00:24:58] Bryan Nowak: I was already kind of there in the horror community and the writing community wri large, so getting people to come on the program was not a problem. I just posted something on Facebook, say, Hey, who wants to come on my show? Also I found now that, publicists are sending me books to read and bring their authors on the show.

[00:25:18] Bryan Nowak: And, that's been great because I love to read books. So that all works out quite well. My book of the year last year, A Dance for the Dead by Nuzo Onoh was one that they sent to me and, uh, loved it and it was great fun having her on the show. Very unique person. I have several interviews coming up this month.

[00:25:40] Bryan Nowak: Or I have several coming up this next month, that are publicists are reaching out to me and saying, Hey, would you like to interview this person? So, not too many. Not too many. Of course, using your resources and using where your feelers are out there already. The podcast community is so large and the novel writing community is so large anyway.

[00:26:01] Bryan Nowak: Finding people is not an issue.

[00:26:03] Halfling: Is there anybody specifically that you haven't had an opportunity? To have on your show that you would just die to have on your show. Is there any one person specifically that you would say, okay, if I could do anything to get this person to talk with me, I would do anything

[00:26:24] Bryan Nowak: Okay. Living or dead.

[00:26:28] Spaceman: She did say anybody.

[00:26:30] Halfling: Uh, okay. I tell you what, both let, let's do both. Let's look. You tell, tell me. Tell me both.

[00:26:36] Spaceman: And undead. And undead. 

[00:26:38] Halfling: Oh, undead..

[00:26:39] Halfling: Okay. 

[00:26:40] Bryan Nowak: Okay. 

[00:26:41] Bryan Nowak: Um, 

[00:26:42] Halfling: Oh stop it.

[00:26:43] Bryan Nowak: so you know, I would say I would say dead. I would love to have, George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver was as you may know, was a scientist. Um, I contend he is easily one of the most brilliant men who have ever walked the earth. Uh, invented crop rotation essentially, and saved the South in a lot of ways.

[00:27:14] Bryan Nowak: Quite an impressive gentleman. I would've loved to get the chance to just sit there and pick his brain about what he knows and how he did things. And, 

[00:27:21] Halfling: Mm-hmm. 

[00:27:22] Bryan Nowak: living is a little bit harder though, uh, picking someone out, living because I, you know, I, I have access to a lot of the people that I admire.

[00:27:33] Bryan Nowak: I had Ronald Melfi on the show, and he's such a great guest and he's a guy I admire tremendously. I've had on, Patrick Hodges, another guy, another author that I admire. Um, I think, Josh Mailman. I would love to have him on. And the thing is, I know him, so I should be able to get him on.

[00:27:53] Bryan Nowak: That's not a problem. Um, but I've been so busy with other things that, you know, I just haven't reached out. I will eventually, I'll get around to it. 

[00:28:02] Spaceman: Back into the horror side of things. One second. The Halfling and I are trying to reach out to a lot of people doing a lot of different things, and not just necessarily authors, but other people who have taken their fandoms to other levels.

[00:28:14] Spaceman: One of the things we'd really like to meet is somebody who does practical effects makeup for horror. Just because that is just so cool. I mean, as a teenager, even though I wasn't into horror, I would pick up, uh, what is it, Fangoria magazine.

[00:28:29] Spaceman: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:30] Spaceman: and just page through it and look at all the makeup stuff and the practical 

[00:28:34] Spaceman: effects.

[00:28:35] Halfling: Yeah. 

[00:28:36] Spaceman: Have you had a chance to meet any of those guys? 

[00:28:39] Bryan Nowak: I actually, I've hung out with these people at different shows and it's amazing. I know quite a few people that do that kind of thing.

[00:28:47] Halfling: Oh, well, we'll have to hit you up for a recommendation for

[00:28:51] Bryan Nowak: yeah. Yeah. Well, at least I can put you in touch with people who know.

[00:28:55] Halfling: Yeah, that, that'd be awesome. We'll definitely, do that on the behind the scenes bit. We'll,

[00:29:00] Bryan Nowak: sure, sure.

[00:29:01] Halfling: we'll get, we'll get to 

[00:29:02] Spaceman: to that 

[00:29:02] Spaceman: Yeah. So the, the, 

[00:29:03] Spaceman: secret cabal of the Halfling and the spaceman 

[00:29:06] Spaceman: and 

[00:29:06] Spaceman: Bryan, 

[00:29:06] Halfling: the 

[00:29:06] Halfling: writer

[00:29:09] Halfling: it's the Holy Trinity, or is 

[00:29:11] Spaceman: the 

[00:29:12] Spaceman: unholy?

[00:29:12] Spaceman: Trinity

[00:29:15] Bryan Nowak: But, I love the horror genre and I would, if I didn't have my other interests, I would write nothing but horror and just go to horror shows and all that stuff. But, you know, I, I have many things that I like, like to do.

[00:29:31] Spaceman: Yeah, we know you write a little sci-fi also now you've delved into your horror. Tell us about your sci-fi interest and what inspires you there. 

[00:29:40] Bryan Nowak: So first of all, I am very, very interested in, space launch. I'm really excited by this idea of having the first city on the moon, which is something that's planned. It's something we're working on. If you've never, if you've never looked into it, we're, there's several companies working on robots that'll go to the moon or Mars and will 3D print using the existing materials there, uh, will build habitat modules for people to go up and live in. That, to me, is amazing. It's just an amazing idea.

[00:30:13] Spaceman: It's funny, I saw this documentary or made about 1999, I think it was about a moon colony where they put all this nuclear waste on. No, no. That was a TV series . So tell us a little bit more about, about these space colonies and how they're planning to do the construction, because a lot of folks aren't necessarily keeping up with what's going on in new space or even old space.

[00:30:36] Bryan Nowak: Yeah. Uh, so a actually it's something I watch quite closely. What they're planning on doing is basically flying, you know, well launching and then going up to the moon and you're gonna be dropping off robots. And the robots will prepare, essentially roads, buildings, and places that people can, people can inhabit.

[00:30:57] Bryan Nowak: And this is all scientific, you know, it sounds science fictiony, but the reality is, is that by 2035, we could look up at the moon at night and literally see the glow of a building or a city up there, just like we see, you know, you, you look down, at the earth, at nighttime in space and you'll see like Chicago.

[00:31:20] Bryan Nowak: Well, the same thing will be true. The moon.

[00:31:23] Bryan Nowak: so

[00:31:23] Bryan Nowak: It's really kind of an exciting time to be around, if you like that science fiction aspect. Of course, star Wars and all that kind of thing really sort of drew me into writing science fiction in the first place. And it's why, the series is called the Gregorian Chronicles.

[00:31:40] Bryan Nowak: I'm actually working, kind of working, I've got an idea for the third book. I have not started writing it yet, but I will, probably later this year. And I actually ignore really the technical aspects of the ships. The reason I do that is because that question's already been solved. We know how to build these ships, in my fictional universe.

[00:32:03] Bryan Nowak: Uh, actually the nanobots lay the ship.. They can literally build a ship in like days because you know, guy, you've got million of millions of nanobots attacking the problem, all working as one hive mind. It's quick and since they're 3D printing everything, essentially you've got a very structurally sound ship that can launch like right off the blocks. So, you know, I ignore that part and I can work on just the relationship aspect between all the characters and the mission that they have to carry out. So that's kind of how I attack the whole science fiction problem.

[00:32:41] Halfling: You don't try to instill or insert techno babble or is there some techno babble in there?

[00:32:49] Bryan Nowak: So there is a wonderful book and a wonderful by wonderful, I mean tedious, uh, book that was written by. It was written about submarines years ago, and for some reason the name of the author is escaping me. Uh, but he spends three pages telling you about how the hull plating on the submarine works. That is, I cannot even fathom what made somebody think that was going to be entertaining, cuz it was not, it was painful.

[00:33:28] Bryan Nowak: Uh, yeah. I don't, I don't write that. I do have to explain something. So, um, the type of engine that I use, it's a pulse engine. Believe it or not, we're actually working on a neutron pulse engine. That is, that is proven technology. It's slow, but it's proven technology. The idea of dropping a grenade in space, it's gonna happen. Well, if you're at a space station that has an artificial gravity field, how does that affect things? Now you've got gravity, you throw stuff around, so you gotta kind of deal with some of those aspects. What happens if you have a creature that gets stuck out in space, but they're naturally adapted to the ability to live in the vacuum of space for extended periods of time?

[00:34:14] Bryan Nowak: What does that mean? How do you deal with some of the parts of that question? So you do have to explain some of that. You can't just gloss over it. Otherwise, readers are gonna skewer you. 

[00:34:26] Spaceman: You're talking about keeping up with the developments in the real aerospace industry. There are a few technologies that have come around over the years that have always piqued my interest. The first was something that NASA developed called transhab, and we see it, in the inflatable module that's currently on the ISS.

[00:34:45] Spaceman: That not being a full size module on the International Space Station, I've always seen as a missed opportunity. 

[00:34:50] Spaceman: And the other one is the cancellation of the X-33. 

[00:34:54] Spaceman: I know that the sunk cost fallacy is a thing, but my goodness, we should have finished that thing.

[00:35:00] Bryan Nowak: We are looking at a very big paradigm shift in the way space is dealt with. We've gone from these gigantic Saturn five rockets to, basically just having the commercial capability off the shelf whenever we want it to launch, reusable first stage rockets. This is crazy. People who aren't paying attention to the space industry don't actually understand how exciting a time this is to be live. You know, earlier we talked about fandom and things we're fans of, and things we're passionate about. I am a fan of the space industry, and what's happening to it right now. Yes, people get really mad at Elon Musk and he's stealing our stars and whatnot.

[00:35:48] Bryan Nowak: Well, you know, I always counter that argument with, well, if he didn't do it, somebody else would have. So who do you want to do it? Him or a Russian?

[00:35:56] Halfling: Hmm.

[00:35:57] Bryan Nowak: So, you know, that is the question that you have to sort of deal with. But I think that there is a lot that's going to happen in the next 40 years in the space industry that is going to make our present in 40 years look like a sci-fi novel that nobody ever anticipated.

[00:36:18] Bryan Nowak: We're gonna have people on the moon, people on Mars. Wow.

[00:36:23] Spaceman: I've been waiting for this my entire adult life. 

[00:36:25] Spaceman: When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, my dad woke me up and sat me on the edge of the bed and said, son, when you're my age, you will be walking on the moon. And then we completely abandoned it for almost 50 years.

[00:36:38] Bryan Nowak: Yeah. That's the sad part is that we didn't capitalize on gains made there, but at the time though, our model for launching aircraft, it wasn't as good as it should have been. We should have grown from there, but we didn't. We just shelved the rockets that we were using were not the greatest.

[00:36:57] Bryan Nowak: So then we went to the shuttle, and the shuttle is, the shuttle for all of its good points was, uh it was a horse designed by committee, so it, you looked like a camel. It, uh, it just, Was not the most efficient way to do anything. I think we're gonna do a lot more with robots,

[00:37:16] Bryan Nowak: you 

[00:37:16] Spaceman: That is the best way I've ever heard anybody describe the shuttle

[00:37:20] Bryan Nowak: Yeah, 

[00:37:21] Halfling: well, and now, it's a situation where you have so many private companies that are some competition but also some collaboration, which is wonderful. And they have made tremendous progress.

[00:37:36] Halfling: When you look at, what has the government done? , you know, what have they done? And it, and it really becomes a situation where, okay, the space is really gonna be for the independents, the private companies, they're the ones that are gonna actually get us there.

[00:37:52] Spaceman: Yeah. I'm a hundred percent behind Sierra Space. I'm looking forward the DreamChaser launch.

[00:37:57] Halfling: Yeah.

[00:37:58] Bryan Nowak: Well, and I think that there's always gonna be government involved in space. Always. you're not gonna see that go away because the government has a vested interest in, setting norms in space.

[00:38:10] Bryan Nowak: So

[00:38:11] Bryan Nowak: because of that, you're going to see some government involvement, but it's gonna be SpaceX and other companies like them, which are going to be the ones charging forward.

[00:38:24] Bryan Nowak: And, I invest in a small company called, boy, the name escapes me, but the reason I invested in them is because they got a contract to work on future communications systems. Basically the cell phone system for the moon. 

[00:38:40] Spaceman: system. 

[00:38:41] Bryan Nowak: I don't even, I don't even care if they pull it off. I don't care if this company stays outta business or stays in business or not.

[00:38:47] Bryan Nowak: I think it's a great idea. So I've given them money periodically just to see cool stuff that they can do with it.

[00:38:55] Spaceman: and I think that's one of the things that defines us as nerds is we like cool stuff. 

[00:39:01] Bryan Nowak: We, do. 

[00:39:02] Spaceman: we like hopeful, optimistic, cool stuff.

[00:39:06] Bryan Nowak: Yeah, absolutely. It is not gonna be strange in 40 years for people to take a vacation to the moon. It's not gonna be strange at all. I think it'll be the norm.

[00:39:22] Spaceman: well, yeah, the Halfling and the Spaceman might not be around then, but I hope my great nieces will take that opportunity up. 

[00:39:29] Bryan Nowak: Bryan, the writer probably won't be around either

[00:39:32] Halfling: Well, 

[00:39:33] Bryan Nowak: be very, very old.

[00:39:35] Halfling: And probably in no shape to take that journey. any 

[00:39:38] Halfling: any of 

[00:39:39] Spaceman: I I don't know, if they let John Glenn on the space shuttle. I 

[00:39:42] Halfling: mean,

[00:39:42] Halfling: Well that's 

[00:39:43] Spaceman: that's true. 

[00:39:43] Spaceman: God 

[00:39:43] Halfling: true. Be John

[00:39:44] Halfling: Glenn. But it was John 

[00:39:45] Halfling: Glenn. I mean, come on

[00:39:48] Bryan Nowak: yeah. Well, I mean, they, they put, uh, they put Will Shatner

[00:39:51] Halfling: Yeah. They put the Shatt 

[00:39:53] Halfling: 90 years old. 

[00:39:56] Bryan Nowak: I was, yeah. And I was thinking, boy, oh boy, that margin for error had to be really, really small cuz you did not wanna be the person that killed Captain kirk. 

[00:40:04] Halfling: no, no, no. Don't kill Captain Kirk in space. God 

[00:40:10] Bryan Nowak: no, that would be be 

[00:40:11] Spaceman: that, 

[00:40:12] Halfling: that, 

[00:40:12] Spaceman: be bad. 

[00:40:13] Spaceman: Well, now that we've gone on this giant digression about space travel 

[00:40:17] Halfling: this is, this is not really a podcast about

[00:40:19] Spaceman: No, No, no, no, I might be the spaceman and I might love to talk about space travel, but we're really here to talk about Bryan, the writer.

[00:40:27] Spaceman: So bryan What is your advice for young people, either in writing or in podcasting? What are the things that you wish you would've known?

[00:40:38] Spaceman: If you had one thing you could do for a young person to be a mentor to save them a little heartache, what would it be?

[00:40:46] Bryan Nowak: Don't grow up because the problem with growing up is that means you're gonna start looking for advice and people are gonna tell you to do things like, you should write this, or you should write that, or You should write this way, or you should write that. Don't do that. Write your heart's desire, uh, damn the torpedoes.

[00:41:10] Bryan Nowak: Full speed ahead. Write whatever you like. If you wanna write a romance novel about blue hippopotamus that suddenly falls in love with a narwhal, oh, and by the way, they're in space on a spaceship. Dammit. Write it 

[00:41:28] Spaceman: I think I've read 

[00:41:29] Halfling: that 

[00:41:29] Spaceman: that fanfic. 

[00:41:29] Halfling: Okay. Wait, what? Okay. When's that 

[00:41:31] Spaceman: that book 

[00:41:32] Halfling: out?

[00:41:34] Bryan Nowak: Well, you know your relatives, God love them are your own worst enemies. Um, they'll say, oh, that's a great hobby. No, it's not a hobby, it's a job. It's a job. If you want to be a legit, writer, podcaster or whatever, it's a job. You gotta treat it that way. And if you don't, you're never gonna be successful And there's people out there itching to tell you, I told you so don't give them that opportunity. Don't listen to them. Um, do what you feel is right and course correct if you need to. Absolutely. You're gonna get better as time goes on. That's just how it works. And if you think it's something that you enjoy reading, cuz you're gonna write what you wanna read, somebody else will too. That is my biggest advice. 

[00:42:30] Halfling: Well, another person that we talked to said that basically if you find yourself thinking about other things that you would like to be doing instead of writing, like if you think you wanna go out into your garden instead of work on your writing, then, you know, maybe gardening's the thing for you because writing should be the thing.

[00:42:56] Halfling: It should be, you know, your sole focus and that if it's not, then maybe it's not for you. So is that sort of how you feel about it? I'm kind of getting that vibe, but 

[00:43:07] Bryan Nowak: You, you know it. I love writing above all else. It's actually, it is what I would rather do, with all of my time.

[00:43:14] Halfling: Mm-hmm.

[00:43:15] Bryan Nowak: But, you know, I also have other interests as well. There are times when I'm like, okay, I've written, I've sat here and I've written 2000 words. I could continue writing, but I'm not going to, I'm gonna go play modern warfare, because I love video games.

[00:43:32] Bryan Nowak: Um, you know, I'm gonna go for a walk. I'm going to go play with a dog. I'm gonna go answer some emails. Uh, unfortunately, the really dirty secret, and this is something that I'm talking about in the course I'm developing, um, the dirty secret is there's a business side to writing and it's not fun.

[00:43:50] Bryan Nowak: But it's important to learn it so that you can take that business side and you can get it done and move it off the stage so you get back to doing what you want to do, which is write, because sadly, if you sit at your desk and you write novels, what's gonna end up happening is you're gonna end up with a file folder full of novels because you've gotta do something with them.

[00:44:14] Bryan Nowak: And that's the business side. And you have to learn how to do that. If you're gonna be in indie or you want to go traditional publishing, it doesn't actually matter. There's still that business end of things and even traditional publishers now, or mid-size publishers and traditional publishers, when you come to them with a project, they wanna know how many people are following you, uh,

[00:44:38] Bryan Nowak: how much have you sold so far? Uh, they wanna know what your base is already. , you've gotta come to them with 

[00:44:47] Spaceman: I want to do an episode where I get together a bunch of people who are either, uh, authors or publishers or some combination of both. And we talk about the hustle because I don't think a lot of young folks, well, or even even middle-aged folks, people who are just getting into writing, understand that writing today is not like it was 20 years ago.

[00:45:10] Spaceman: That you don't have that same relationship you did with your agent. You don't have that same re relationship you did with your publisher, and you are expected to work your tuchus off promoting yourself and your work.

[00:45:22] Bryan Nowak: Yep. And you cannot, um, I, I think. in terms of the hustle, you know, and it sounds like it's a bad thing, but the reality is it's not. This is a really super, you know, we talked about space vehicles and how it's an exciting time to, to be interested in space, but the reality is it's a really exciting time to be a writer because now in, in 2013, being an indie author was a dirty word.

[00:45:52] Bryan Nowak: It was like, oh, you're one of those, right? Well, now it's exciting. It's a different world. Even the publishers are like going, Hey, wait a minute, what's, what's happening over here? Uh, this indie world is, is taking everything by storm. Now we have indie writers who are showing up on New York Times bestseller lists, and, uh, we're, we have people who are showing up and getting awards.

[00:46:14] Bryan Nowak: We have traditionally publisher published authors who have been added for years writing indie because the freedom. and the openness and the interaction with your fans that you no longer have to go with it. And, and I love publishers. I do, but the world has changed dramatically and we have to acknowledge that we really do.

[00:46:39] Halfling: Yeah, I would agree. I mean, you're not the first person to express that. It's a whole different world and publishers these days. From what I understand is, you know, it's no longer where they take you and nurture you and sort of guide you through everything and then introduce you to the world.

[00:46:58] Halfling: They expect you to do a whole lot more yourself. And like you said, they're even looking at your social media. What are you doing to promote yourself and your work? So

[00:47:09] Bryan Nowak: And more importantly, what are you doing on social media that makes you a lightning rod? And why is it that they wanna avoid you? So that's another little bit of advice, for young writers watch what you're posting, ladies and gentlemen, if you think that cutesy little video you posted out there on your Twitter account, or your in, um, what is the, 

[00:47:29] Bryan Nowak: the 

[00:47:30] Spaceman: Instagram, 

[00:47:32] Spaceman: TikTok,

[00:47:32] Spaceman: Oh, yeah, 

[00:47:33] Bryan Nowak: If you're, you're, you're posting that stuff on your TikTok, it's going to come back to haunt you and somebody who is prepared to write a check to, you may see that and go, no,

[00:47:45] Halfling: Yeah. 

[00:47:46] Bryan Nowak: consider

[00:47:47] Bryan Nowak: that. .

[00:47:48] Halfling: Mm-hmm. . Great advice.

[00:47:50] Spaceman: So Bryan, at this point, what kind of projects are you working on and how can we find out about 'em 

[00:47:56] Bryan Nowak: Oh my gosh, I've got so many projects going on , but that's okay. That's good. That means I'm busy. Uh, I just recently released my Nazi zombie horror, uh, novella, uh, formula 12 code name Formula 12, which I am so thrilled about. It was a, an idea for a video game I had a long time ago that, I wanted to see made into a video game and it wasn't being made into a video game.

[00:48:23] Bryan Nowak: So I eventually sat down and just wrote the story. So if somebody does make a video game off it, then I can make money. But actually I would love to play that video game. 

[00:48:32] Halfling: Sorry, let me interject. Is that actually out now or is that something that's coming?

[00:48:38] Bryan Nowak: Yep. It's out. Uh, it was put out there by, dream Punk Press, put that out, and it's sitting out there available for purchase. It really is pretty good. I very much enjoyed writing that one. I am working on, actually, dream Punk currently has my latest novel for consideration.

[00:49:00] Bryan Nowak: It's a vampire novel. Like I said, I'm rewriting my second book, dramatic Dead. I'm actually going to redo all the covers for the Dramatic Dead series so people can like, identify them as a series. Let's see. Of course, the podcast, all things writing. And like I said, I'm working on, a seminar series, which is going to be available later on this year, where I'm just sharing with people what I know and trying to help people move along.

[00:49:32] Bryan Nowak: It's gonna be very interactive. People are gonna be able to send me back their, uh, there's gonna be some homework. They don't have to send it back to me, but if they do, I'll look at it and give them some advice. I'm kind of excited, about this kind of thing cuz I've, I, uh, combines my love of teaching with my love of writing, so it's kind of an odds on winner. You were about to ask where can people find your work?

[00:49:57] Spaceman: Yeah. Where can people find your work?

[00:49:59] Halfling: how 

[00:50:00] Spaceman: did 

[00:50:00] Spaceman: you, 

[00:50:00] Spaceman: how 

[00:50:00] Spaceman: did you

[00:50:01] Spaceman: how did 

[00:50:01] Spaceman: you 

[00:50:01] Spaceman: know

[00:50:02] Bryan Nowak: Yeah, 

[00:50:03] Halfling: You've been 

[00:50:03] Bryan Nowak: Jesus. It's almost like we've done this before. You can find me at Bryan Nowak. That is Bryan with a y dot com. You can find me on Amazon as well. You can reach out to me individually if you like sign copies of books. I have a way for you to pay me and I'll send you a signed book and it's very cool stuff.

[00:50:24] Bryan Nowak: But of course you can find us at conferences, come on out to conferences, especially if you're on the East Coast and come see us. Do the magic that we do there.

[00:50:33] Halfling: That's awesome. We'll make sure to get that all in the show notes cuz I'm sure people would love to find out more about you and get ahold of some of your books. Maybe listen 

[00:50:43] Bryan Nowak: so.

[00:50:44] Halfling: and maybe listen to a podcast. I will have to say, we have enjoyed listening to your podcast.

[00:50:49] Halfling: Um, 

[00:50:49] Halfling: and, uh, like I said, the Ghost Writer episode in particular, was a fun 

[00:50:54] Spaceman: one. that was, that was a lot of fun. 

[00:50:56] Halfling: enjoyed that. Um

[00:50:58] Bryan Nowak: So it's really funny because you have some guests that you're a little bit on the fence about, you're not entirely sure how that show's gonna go, and then all of a sudden you have them on and it just goes and goes, and you're like, this is so much fun. I can't believe I'm doing this.

[00:51:17] Bryan Nowak: my interview with, Ron Kelly was amazing. let's see. Bill Webb, I had on the show not that long ago, I had to do a part one and a part two because Bill has so much advice to give. I just let 'em run, I didn't even get in the way. Terry Brooks to be able to record a living legend like Terry Brooks.

[00:51:40] Bryan Nowak: Um, I, I, still pinch myself sometimes when I think about it. I'm like, that really happened and yes, it really happened. So Yeah,

[00:51:51] Halfling: We Have really enjoyed doing our podcast because we have met so many cool people that do, do some really cool things. And it's because of the podcast that we meet these people because otherwise we wouldn't have had the 

[00:52:07] Spaceman: Yeah. And I think this is actually our calling.

[00:52:10] Halfling: Yeah. And it's one of those things where, you know, you tell two friends and they'll two, two friends and so on and so on. And we just, you know, we're, part of what we're doing is trying to build a community ourselves when we're trying to include as many people and let people know that.

[00:52:29] Halfling: Like you, like you said, to start with that they're not alone. And, you know, and I mean, there's a lot of people who would love to go to a convention and maybe do costume or maybe even try a cosplay, but they're hesitant because of the whole gatekeeping issue. Um, you know, where they're, not the right size or color or what have you.

[00:52:49] Halfling: And so it's just a matter of you're not alone. And you'll have your allies and you'll find your tribe 

[00:52:55] Spaceman: you'll eventually find those Blake's 7 fans out there.

[00:52:59] Spaceman: All three or four of us

[00:53:00] Halfling: Really. So

[00:53:01] Bryan Nowak: It's, and, and it is, it's amazing to me that, when we go to things like, well, we've got RavenCon coming here right around the corner and um, you know, the people walking around you , I saw a man with a beard 

[00:53:18] Halfling: Mm-hmm. 

[00:53:19] Bryan Nowak: up like, uh, it was a female, the female character from Teen Titans, can't remember the name.

[00:53:31] Bryan Nowak: But anyway, um, it was very . It was a surreal moment, but I'm like, that is extremely well done. I saw a female Freddy Krueger at the show, at one of the shows I was with recently, and it was so well done. I had to stop and take her picture. I'm like, that is amazing. 

[00:53:51] Bryan Nowak: Um, And, it's amazing to me, the more time I spend with that community of Cosplayers, the more I realize that, that's a very genuine group of people in many ways.

[00:54:07] Bryan Nowak: And they're not terribly judgmental because we're the funny, nerdy outcasts to a certain extent. And that's what makes it cool. That's what makes it a great thing to be a part of.

[00:54:19] Halfling: Mm-hmm. . Well, I think that's just, the kind of fandom that we talk about on our show. It goes beyond anime obviously, or a cosplay. We cover a whole Smörgåsbord of fandoms that are out there, and like I said, it's just a matter of finding your tribe and there are people out there that are hesitant to do that, so we wanna say, Hey, it's okay.

[00:54:43] Halfling: We won't bite. 

[00:54:44] Spaceman: Yeah. We don't 

[00:54:45] Bryan Nowak: absolutely. 

[00:54:47] Halfling: yo

[00:54:48] Spaceman: Unless we're vampire LARPing and then we might bite 

[00:54:50] Halfling: Yeah. 

[00:54:51] Bryan Nowak: Well, yeah, that's, that is absolutely true. Yes.

[00:54:56] Halfling: Oh, well, listen, Bryan, we wanna thank you so much for joining us today. We have had such a good time talking with you, 

[00:55:02] Halfling: and getting to hear, you know, uh now the pleasures ours. It's been great to hear about your own personal journey and we issue all continued success with your writing and your podcasting.

[00:55:13] Halfling: We're gonna continue listening and reading. So, for everybody, we'll put everything in the show notes so you'll be able to find Bryan and everything that he's about. So again, we wanna thank you and we've just had a great time,

[00:55:27] Bryan Nowak: Thank you very much. It's been my pleasure.

[00:55:30] Spaceman: Right? And we wanna thank all our listeners for tuning in today. We hope if you've enjoyed and perhaps become a little inspired by today's guest, Bryan Nowak. Bryan, thank you again. And this is the Spaceman of the Halfling and the Spaceman signing out.