#136: Adam Cesare // Horror Week 2023

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Capes and Tights podcast right here on Capesandtites.com. Adam Caesar returns to the podcast for Horror Week. Adam Caesar came on way back to talk about Dead Mall with his friend and a co creator of that book and illustrator David Stole. This episode, Adam comes back on the podcast to talk Clown in the Cornfield and Clown in the Cornfield two friendo lives as well as preview and talk about his new upcoming book, Audio Original. You'll just have to pay with us to find out. So check out this episode with Adam Caesar. But before you do, make sure you head over to Slash Horror for this week's content and so much more. I hate the word content, but there is a ton of content on there and ton of stuff on there, including many podcasts, countdown lists, interviews with creators, and so much more. Also, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as Blue Sky and Rate Review. Subscribe all those things over at Apple and Spotify and all the major podcasting platforms. But for this episode right here on Horror Week is Adam Caesar, author, Bram Stoker, award winning author of things like Clown in the Cornfield, clown in the Cornfield to Video Night, Dead Mall, and so much more. Enjoy, everyone. To the podcast, I should say. Welcome back to the podcast, Adam Caesar. This is, you know, happy Halloween. [00:01:31] Speaker B: Happy Halloween. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Welcome back. This is your time of year, isn't it? [00:01:36] Speaker B: It is my time of year. And I may not even have a voice by the end of this podcast because that's how much of my time of year it is. My first event of the year was a signing at a roller rink. Very intimate affair. Not a ton of people came to that one. And then I flew to Winnipeg, Canada, which was brutal because there's nothing direct from Philadelphia. And it was a full day of travel on either side. And I was there for one day, which was it was a great experience, but it was brutal. Just the day after getting two days after getting back to that, I drove down to Baltimore, did Fright Reads, which is a great like its third year. It's the first time I'd been great. Little kind of mini con in Baltimore. I sold out of books like Gangbusters like there. And then this is my week off. Well, no, that's not true because at the end of this week, I go to Colorado. I'm going to be a guest at the Telluride Horror Show, which is a film festival. But I have writer duties because they flew me out. So I got to read and sign and stuff like that. But the rest of the time I'm going to be in those movie theaters. I'm not even going to see mountains. I'm not even going to know. And then with my family, I'm doing Hershey Park at the end of it. So it's. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. [00:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. That's a lot of fun, though. If you're busy, it means that it's good for your career. [00:03:06] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. No, I was telling someone else about it and they were like I felt like I maybe was starting to complain because he was like, hey, man, it's all additive. It's good problem to have. And I'm like, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I'm just tired. [00:03:25] Speaker A: And you did a signing. Actually, I did a collaboration with Daniel Krause. I worked for a brewery during the day and I did a beer with Daniel Krause. [00:03:34] Speaker B: You're the beer guy. I didn't even make this connection. I didn't even make this connection. [00:03:38] Speaker A: That's my day job as the beer guy. And I actually think they have one in here. [00:03:42] Speaker B: You have a Whale fall beer there. [00:03:44] Speaker A: What did I do with it? I thought I had one in here. [00:03:47] Speaker B: I must not have listened to the show. Sorry. Because I would have known that if I would have listened to the show. [00:03:55] Speaker A: This is whalefall. This is the beer for Daniel. So, Daniel, I've been a guest twice on the podcast. Once to talk about Trojan, his comic book he did with Awa, and then a second time to talk about Whalefall and the beer collaboration, so on and so forth. But you did a signing with Daniel in your area, so he did that. Stephen Graham Jones has also been a guest on the podcast, which Daniel did a signing with him. [00:04:17] Speaker B: You're collecting them. [00:04:21] Speaker A: But that's pretty mean. Daniel's a great dude. He was up here, so we brought him up here. He was up in Bangor. I live in Bangor, Maine. And he came up here to do a signing, two different spots and to talk about the book and all that stuff, too. And so we drove by Stephen King's house. [00:04:35] Speaker B: Nice. [00:04:37] Speaker A: But that's pretty cool. [00:04:39] Speaker B: He's a great guy. [00:04:40] Speaker A: Small world. It is, exactly. [00:04:43] Speaker B: But in horror and in the book world, it's amazingly how small it is. It's crazy because with him, with that event, I think Doylestown Books had put it together and they do a lot of events. And Chuck Wending lives in this area and he lives a lot closer to Doylestown Books, who you should have him on. He's great. But they usually have him when they need authors in conversation. I feel like for Horror guys, they go with him. But he was like having a book come out like two weeks later. So they're like, let's leave him alone and let's tap in Adam. So they brought me in, and it's so fun because I think we have such different energies. Daniel's a very serious man, and I think people can tell that from who listen to the podcast with him. But he's like such a serious guy. And I'm like the least serious human being in the world. And I think he was like, you ever hear that Tommy Lee Jones being interviewed about Jim Carrey on Batman Forever. He talks about how he can't sanction his and after the end of that hour and a half, I truly felt like like was like, I can't sanction Adam's Tom Foolery. Because it was like the end of the tour, too. It was like the second to last date where he'd been traveling all over. And the first day, bring me back into the green room, and I look at him. I'm like, you look really tired, was like the first thing I said to him. And he was just like he was just like, all right. I feel like I brought the energy if he needed to rest. But I drove him to his hotel at the end of that. So he still couldn't even escape. He was like, do I pay $50 for a lift, or do I let Adam drive me? And I was like, well, I picked. [00:06:32] Speaker A: Him up at the airport, and we went to dinner. And then we had the next day. So Friday night and then all day Saturday, he spent with me basically doing the he did two events up here for us. We smushed them into one day so that we could get all in. And then Saturday night, we were done with the stuff. And I'm like, you should just go back to your hotel. You've had enough of me. Just go back. There's a restaurant in your hotel. And then his flight out was like, at 430 in the morning. And I was like, I don't know what the Uber situation is at 430 in the morning right now. Post, pandemic, all that stuff. We're not a very big community, I said, but the hotel might have a shuttle or whatever, but I'm also willing to come get you. My son's. I have a two year old. He's probably going to be up by that time anyway, so it's not a big deal. And so he's like nobody's trying to figure out he ended up getting an Uber. And thank God, because I was like, you don't want to have to deal with me again because my energy is pretty there, too. And also, I don't want to have to get up at 430 in the morning because I don't know what my energy would be like. It would be probably even more overwhelming at 430 in the same either. [00:07:30] Speaker B: I'm framed up on caffeine. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, all right, I had a double shot. Let's go. [00:07:35] Speaker A: But that's awesome. It's one of those cool things that you're a competitor, in a sense, with another horror author because you're trying to get eyes on your books, but you're. [00:07:44] Speaker B: Really not all it's interesting because I think there are people that have that mentality. And I think it's interesting because not to shit on those guys, but I think they don't do as well because they don't collaborate, and they don't talk with other authors, and they don't kind of hype each other up. I think that's, like, I do a little bit less of it now because I'm a dad. I'm a new dad, and you find stuff falls through the cracks in blurb requests and things like that. I feel like I don't do as much as I used to do, but look at this beard. This is a 05:00 shadow. Plus I've been meaning to shave this for like five days, you know what I mean? But I'm a firm believer in that idea of no, especially if you in the bookish community and people that you're more of a comic guy. And I think the same is true for comics, too, because comics people are buyers. They go to the store and they're willing to pick up something new. They're willing to pick up something if just the COVID looks cool or they heard a good thing about the creator, they'll pick something up. And I think bookish people, especially within the day and age of TikTok, are like that, where it's like they may not read your book first, and you may be competing for time and eyes, but you're not really competing for shelf space. I've found people will buy a book and then they'll read it three years later. I'm fine with that. You bought it? Yeah, I got paid. That's the thing. I don't think it's 100% true, and I think it's especially because we all read each other's work and we're kind of part of, for lack of a better term, like a community, or you can think of it like a French parlor of this parlor of ideas and things that's going on. Especially we do the same podcast. We talk to each other. So I never once saw myself as in competition with authors, really? Even if it's like a similarly themed book or something like that. I really don't. I think there's authors, there's other authors that it's easier to root for than not. And usually it comes down to I like their work. Usually it comes down to you were talking about Dr. Jones. I'm his biggest cheerleader. I have been way since before Mongirls and way since before the first big publisher book. I'm like a SGA superfan. So I do not see a competition there at all. And if it were a competition between me and him, I would get smoked. I would lose. [00:10:20] Speaker A: No offense at him, but. [00:10:25] Speaker B: Competition. [00:10:26] Speaker A: You mentioned this whole collecting thing. The same mentality is I went to the Bull Moose Music, which is a music book. [00:10:32] Speaker B: Oh, I know. [00:10:33] Speaker A: And I bought Final Girls support group from Grady Hendrix. It's like 17th on my list of need to read. It's, like, so far. And then I also bought Don't Fear the Reaper from Steven. And so those books I bought yesterday at the but they're way off, and it's not like I needed to buy them because they were going to like. [00:10:54] Speaker B: But they look nice it makes you gives you a little dopamine hit and you want it. That's why I'm the same way. That's how I am. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Well, I got to go back because I didn't realize it, and I didn't realize I didn't grab it was they actually had a used copy of a hard copy of Clown on the Cornfield. And I was like, oh, I have a paperback. I need that hardcover of two. And I'm like, I got it to the point where I'm like, I need them to match. I need them to be next to each other. [00:11:19] Speaker B: The hardcover three, I just saw them just two days ago. I saw the full wraparound for the thanks. And you're going to want the hardcover. [00:11:28] Speaker A: I'm going to want it. [00:11:32] Speaker B: That was my one note on the design of it was like, there was an element on the spine. And I was like, it'd make it nicer for people like me and like you if you did this to the spine. And my editor was like, oh, I totally agree. So we'll see what that tweak ends up doing. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know. I told because I talked to Daniel about it was like, I had a bunch of his books he was signing. And I was like, it would piss me off because his Teddy bear saga issue or volume one of that only came out in paperback. But volumes two and three don't. I think two doesn't even have a paperback. And three, it's one of these weird things. Like, I literally have volume one in paperback and volume two and three in hardcover. [00:12:08] Speaker B: Oh, that would drive me nuts. [00:12:11] Speaker A: But it's nice. I mean, they all read the same. I also own them both an audiobook, too, because I'm a big audiobook person as well. [00:12:16] Speaker B: The audio is great. Yeah, the audio jesse Valentine's exactly. Yeah. I don't actually know if she's coming back for three because we're so far from three now that I'm still working on the manuscript. But the COVID is done and the ad copy is done. And it's going to go up for preorder soon. By the time this is up, people should preorder Clown of the Cornfield three Church of Friendo, even though they're not going to get it until next year. [00:12:39] Speaker A: But they'll like it, order it now, get it ahead of time. Exactly. It shows the public. I always say that. One thing I will say about the book market versus the comic book market is the fact that it's a little bit easier to get that out there because it is more of an advanced thing. And preordering comic books, there's still people like, even myself, I don't know how to do it. [00:12:59] Speaker B: It's still hard. It's like, bring your diamond code and show this UPC. And maybe your LCS has a computer system that can do it and maybe they don't. Maybe it's just a guy with like, a little credit card machine and a scratch pad. Next to him, which is mine. When publishers are like, push preorders for comics, I'm like, get your shit in gear. And I'll push preorders better. Because. [00:13:27] Speaker A: If you want to review it like us on this side, on the review side, if I want to review a comic book, a lot of like the Boom Studios, for an example, sends out the review copies the Friday before the Wednesday release. So how am I supposed to promote a book that comes out? You already pre. Your store is a small store. [00:13:43] Speaker B: Yeah, they were better with that. [00:13:43] Speaker A: And IDW has especially with Boom with. [00:13:46] Speaker B: The tie in stuff. I think they're like having to cut down on spoilers and stuff like that. Because when I was doing I did 40 page one shot for Power Rangers. And I think that was like it kind of got parceled up and became like news items because there were things that I was doing with there was introduced a new Rangers team and stuff like that. So I think it makes sense that they have to be that way. Because literally the second those PDFs went out, there were like three news articles about spoiling, the big splash page where you reveal what the team looks like. And I was like, all right, that kind of sucks for the people that want to buy it on Tuesday. And they're going to see nothing but the Drake and Rangers on their Twitter. But I understand why. [00:14:34] Speaker A: But there's also times they're not even done yet. The crazy part, I met Kent on the podcast about his new book Subgenre. And literally Caitlin from Dark Horse is sending me, like, the artist proof of the thing because it's not even ready because we were so advanced of the book coming out. But the pre orders were like the following Monday. And I'm just like, how is I supposed to be interested in preordering this? Just by the synopsis, by the solicitation, whether or not you want to buy something? I guess so. [00:15:01] Speaker B: I think at a certain point there's creative teams on books that are going to sell books because it's Matt Kim, you're probably going to like his books. Yeah, I understand. [00:15:12] Speaker A: Such a different market. But I like the idea that you can in preordering. It gives your publisher an idea of what they need to print and where it's going to go and so on and so forth. And maybe more marketing. Yes. [00:15:22] Speaker B: In theory, they also could just ignore those numbers completely and then get, oh, this book's a huge hit. And it's like, guys, you had sold out that print run on pre orders just on Amazon. Like, why didn't you look at those numbers? [00:15:36] Speaker A: Daniel and I had a lot of conversations off air about Daniel's, a little. [00:15:40] Speaker B: Bit more circumspect than I am, but I'll call him those numbers because he. [00:15:46] Speaker A: Would have been probably I would not have been surprised if Whalefall made the New York times bestselling list author couldn't get it. [00:15:52] Speaker B: Yeah, no book was, like, sold out. [00:15:53] Speaker A: At local shops except for the ones that were on his tour. [00:15:56] Speaker B: It was such a bummer. And it was not to say what would have could have happened with this thing, but I agree with you, but I don't want him hearing this and getting bummed out. But I think he knows, too, because I was with him. I guess it was like a week into his tour. So it was kind of basically like the last week where you could have sold something and it counted in those final numbers and it was just they just didn't. The Doylestown bookshop luckily, had copies, so he had copies to sell and Barnes and Noble was getting, like, one or two copies and then they were gone and you couldn't get them. And it was like, guys, you could have guessed that with your promotional might and stuff like that, MTV books that it would have done well. But I think to the publishers, I think in a certain extent, they're so conservative in a way of like, we don't want a single book going out, coming back remaindered. And it's like an unknown quantity. Even though he's had, like, 20 books, he's been on the New York Times bestseller list before. It's so depressing to me that Daniel Krause, who's this I look up to as, like, this guy's so much further along in his publishing journey than me. This guy's done so much better than me. He's had books that done so much better than me. And then you go to a signing with him and it's like, well, Simon and Schuster couldn't figure out you're not a known enough quality for them to print enough books. And I'm a little sympathetic to the publisher side because supply chain is still messed up from COVID No one can get paper. No one can get glue. No one can get the physical elements to make books. So their margins are super tiny and they're, like, portioning it out. But it's like, you could have done a little bit better job guessing that, because it helps them. If that thing hits the New York Times bestseller list, it helps them because they get to put it on all the future editions. It ran through, like, five editions the week it was out. It's like, Come on, guys, that's a. [00:17:54] Speaker A: Whole nother thing that I don't understand. The same thing in the comic book market. [00:17:57] Speaker B: Just print more, man. Like, you should have printed more. We're either super boring your listeners or your listeners in the publishing industry are, like, putting me on some kind of list somewhere. [00:18:09] Speaker A: This guy an episode earlier this week on this Horror Week thing we're doing, joseph Schmalachi, who's a friend of mine who's a comic book writer and artist, his book Seven Years in Darkness at CEX Publishing, went into second printing. And before the second printing even was even fully finished orders. They were in the third print. Why was I don't understand that. [00:18:29] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah, you guys could have guessed that. Sometimes I think it's a little bit of hoopla where it's like, oh, we get it's in the fifth printing. But sometimes it's also like someone somewhere just is not doing the Excel spreadsheet right and is not reading it right. That's what I think. [00:18:44] Speaker A: So on a more upbeat note and stuff like that, you obviously had Connor in the Cornfield came out and then you had Con in the Cornfield Two. Connor the Cornfield two, friend of lives just hit paperback. [00:18:56] Speaker B: Paperback, yeah. This is beautiful. Paper edition, very affordable. [00:18:59] Speaker A: Yes, it is. And actually Amazon, though, it's like, yeah. [00:19:04] Speaker B: They knocked a couple of bucks off because they made it like the original price, the price of the first edition of the first one in paperback was $11. And then paper became more expensive. And now this one's marked as 1599 the Msmrp, which is like crazy for a paperback because like $2 more you can get the hardcover. But everywhere all the retailers have it. [00:19:25] Speaker A: On sale anyway and it's great. It's funny about something like this. I fell in love with clown the cornfield, honestly, just before you came on podcast last time. And then I read it again and then read two and so on. So I just mentioned I wanted to write the hardcover and things like that. But every time I go into a store that sells books now, I'm always like, do they have your book? I'm not going to buy it. I already have it. But I want to see if they have it because I want to see. [00:19:49] Speaker B: No, I do the same thing. I wrote them, I don't need them. [00:19:53] Speaker A: And it's just cool to see the spine, to see the clown of the Cornfield name out there and read it. And I'm telling people I want to read it. And let me actually look while we're on the sale. I'll look it up in a second, but the third one is coming out like you mentioned. But let's back up for a second here quickly, little synopsis on how you what's your horror origin story? How did you get into horror as the first as best as you can without spending 3 hours on it? [00:20:21] Speaker B: Origin story is like my origin story in a way. It goes back so far and I think a lot of horror fans and a lot of horror writers, if you talk to them, they have similar things. But mine is specifically movies. I'm a movie guy, as you can tell by the shells behind me. I'm a very big reader, but I'm like a cinephile first and foremost. And I think as a kid I would go with my mother to Pathmark, which is a supermarket chain on the east coast, and they had a little video rental section in that pathmark. And from one of my earliest memories is seeing the horror section, is seeing the covers to horror movies and having them scare me, them being so kind of forbidden that I didn't want to look at them. But I was always kind of so compelled by them. So grew up in a household where reading and movies were very prized. My dad's a huge movie fan. He's also a big reader, very big Stephen King reader. So I grew up with nice Stephen King hardcovers on the shelf, kind of looking at him, always knowing that name, and then always like grade school and stuff like that. He was the kind of dad that was like, it's first grade. Who cares? I'm going to take him out. I'm going to take him out and we'll go to the movies. So, like, he would just take me to the movies. And he's just a huge movie fan, but odly enough. The one genre of movies he's not that big a fan of are horror movies. That kind of became my thing. It's like, you want to be like your dad, but you don't want to be exactly like your dad kind of thing. I would say that's my origin story in a way, which clearly it's gotten carried away. I just love horror cinema. I love talking about it. It's what I studied in college. It's what I wrote papers on my work. It's interesting because The Clown of the Cornfield books are my kind of only novels, or the novels that are least textually about horror movies. It was very purposeful on my part. The characters don't talk about horror movies. Quinn, the main character, couldn't care less, couldn't tell you your exorcist from your exorcism of Emmy Rose deliberate on my part. And I think it's because I'd written ten books where it was about horror movies in a very in your face kind of way. And then with the Clown of Cornfield books, because they're meant for young readers. I didn't want to alienate any teenagers that don't have that base in horror like I do and like we do. It's the idea that I was writing them in a certain way to be gateway horror for both teens and adults that aren't big horror people. I see it as a little bit of proselytizing. Speaking of church, of friendo, this idea of I love horror so much that I want other people to be a part of it. And whether it's your hundredth horror book or your first horror book, I want you to have a good time. So that's what these books kind of are in a way. And I hear that all the time, too. I hear from teachers, I hear from librarians, I hear from parents that my kid either wasn't a big reader at all or never showed an interest in horror. Because a lot of the times, parents are horror people. And they'll be like, oh, if your kid's showing a little bit of interest, you'll be like this perfect Connor Cornfield. And they'll tell me it hooked them, or now they've read, or they've graduated to Barker and King and Anne Rice and Rachel Harris and Stephen Graham Jones and Daniel Krause. That, to me, is the nicest thing I can hear. So charting that origin story to other kids origin stories is like bringing it kind of full circle. It's what interests me about writing kind of in the first place. [00:24:14] Speaker A: In all your books previous, was this written in your mind originally as a trilogy, or was this like, calling the Cornfield did so well that you did two and three? [00:24:22] Speaker B: This is a funny story. So there's two parts to that thing. It's not a trilogy. I would like to do four. I would like to do four, a quad trilogy, and then maybe take a break from it after four. So I have in my mind, I have at least up to four kind of planned, but the first one came out August 2020. The Pandemic stores were closed. Everything was closed. And I'd written it kind of thinking, this is cool that I'm getting to put a book out with Harper teen Harper Collins, big publisher, going to be a hardcover original. I was like, it's cool I'm getting to do that. But after 1213 years of being in the small press, being in the indie press, kind of just being like and I had already had a book. I had a book called Mercy House that Penguin Random House put out. They just put it out as an ebook. And it's kind of like it's that one thing on my bibliography, like, no one's read because it's just an ebook, and they did nothing kind of to promote it. So I kind of had been burned a little bit by that experience. Not that I think that book's great, actually. And I think every day I kind of think about like, wouldn't it be cool if that came out in paperback and we could relaunch that? But my interactions with New York Publishing at that point had been a little I don't was like, it was like your dreams coming true. But I was a healthy dose of cynicism. So when I wrote the first one, I was kind of like, all right, they're letting me do all this stuff. They're letting me put all this violence and language and R rated stuff in a teen book. I'm getting away with murder here. This is going to be probably it. I'm probably just going to get to do this. So I wrote it as a standalone. But because it's a slasher and because there are certain things that you do in a slasher, and there's an epilogue that leaves something open as a character survives that you thought was dead. I wrote that just because it's what you do in a slasher. And the funniest thing and don't read your goodreads reviews if you're a reader or if you're a. Writer. But I was starting to like when the when the arcs were going out, I started reading goodreads reviews. And eight out of ten of them nine out of ten of them were good reviews. And even some of the good reviews, some people were saying, picking on this, and they were like, I wish it didn't have that epilogue. Because that epilogue just is like such a cash grab for a sequel. It's not even a real book, not even real ending. I got a few of those, and in my mind, I was like, I didn't even track that. That's just the way these stories end to me. I'm like, that's not a set up for a sequel. I had no idea I was going to write a sequel. [00:26:58] Speaker A: Well, it's part of the fear. It's part of the idea that one of the scary things about this as being a horror book. A horror book is that someone potentially. [00:27:05] Speaker B: Survives the hand coming out of the grave in Carrie. [00:27:07] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:27:08] Speaker B: This is the classic stinger at the end. It was such a funny thing to me that because it did affect me a little bit, where I try not to be affected by reviews, but I was like, when someone misinterprets something you thought you were doing, you just get a little defensive. I'm like, wait a second. And now it's funny because I'm being like, I want to write four. And again, the process of writing two, I was a little worried because I think when you do any sequel is a lot of work. I'd never done a sequel before. My first book, Video Night, people had asked all the time, like, when is there going to be a video night too? Because again, it ends on a little open ended note, video night. So people were always thinking I was going to write a sequel to Video Night, even though I had no intention two. And then with Clown Two, I was like, okay, I'm a little worried that it's not going to be as good. But what I found is that I like it better. I think it's a better book, and I think three is better than two. What I found is it's actually helpful to me to have this almost like these obstructions. You can't do that because you did it in two. You can't do that because you did it in one. And being very cognizant of not repeating myself. Whereas in a standalone novel, I'm okay, like dipping back into Wells and doing scares and doing things because I'm getting reflexive with it and be like, oh, well, this can comment on this part that happened in this other book. In the Clown books, I want none of that. I'm like, no, all fresh, all new. People love these books, so I want them to have the best possible time. I actually find it helps me writing, and it helps me make the books better because I can't do certain things again, which I like. And it's fun for me as a writer. [00:29:01] Speaker A: It's funny how you mentioned it better if I were to put, like, stars on it. So clown the cornfield right now is right now in the time of my life. It's one of my favorite a book that's out there. And this is not just because you're on there. And this is one of the reasons I want to talk to you again. And actually not. And if I were to put a number on it, if Connor Mccorrinfield was ten out of ten, connor the Cornfield Two is like a 9.75 out of ten, only because you always love the original. What caught you hooked under the series more, if that makes any sense. [00:29:29] Speaker B: I'm not dictating anyone's opinion. I appreciate that. And a lot of people don't agree with me. But to me, there's things in that book that I just love so much that I'm like. To me, that's top tier, and I feel like the writing is a little better. But I appreciate that. I'm happy with a 9.75 as long as they're in the positive camp. I want to keep doing them. When one comes out and people are like, well, that was the stinker of the bunch, I'd be a little sad. [00:30:00] Speaker A: You can come back and say it was on. It was a joke. [00:30:03] Speaker B: No, exactly. That might happen with three, because three, the way I pitched it to the publisher is I was like about like 30% of the people that like, the other two books are going to fury. They're going to hate this, hopefully, if. [00:30:19] Speaker A: It replaced them with 30% new cut. [00:30:21] Speaker B: What's wrong? Don't do that. And then I was like, no, but the people that like it are going to like it way more. I pitched it that way because my pitch was basically like Halloween three season of The Witch and Nightmare on Elm Street Two. Like Freddie's dead or not. Freddie's dead. [00:30:40] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:30:41] Speaker B: I'm going to lose my horror card. Oh, my God. Cut this out. Me not remembering nightmare. Elm street, too. Is it cursive? What is it? Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. Mike Patton did it. Oh, my God. [00:30:58] Speaker A: It is the 2010 one. I was trying to look it up. I don't know. I don't know. The subtitle. Here you go. [00:31:07] Speaker B: No. Freddy's Revenge. Freddy's Revenge. Fredie's Revenge. [00:31:09] Speaker A: There. You. [00:31:13] Speaker B: Like those movies when they came out, turned fans off because they're such a departure from what preceded them. I wanted to do that in such a way that it wouldn't alienate people too hard because they were a little aware I was doing it. So that's where this fits in, that slasher entry of like, it's going to do a little bit of that and then it's stick with it because it's going to do some things that you're very happy with, too. But it feels weird to talk about a book that's not coming out till next August. [00:31:50] Speaker A: It's funny, too, is I tend to talk to people about things, and I'm always like, so what's next after this? And we're promoting the book that they're on right then? I'm like, this book hasn't even hit the shelves yet. I'm like, I know, but you always think about the future. But yeah, so you got to plan ahead. It's a book market. You got to get people to preorder it. But the funny thing is, this episode will drop later on this afternoon when after this episode drops in the morning on our website, where I'm jotting down my top horror novels that I'm into right now and past look towards the top. That's all I'm saying. I'm not going to give out the list, but it also includes books like Stephen Graham Jones and Daniel Krawitz and Stephen King. So those are some lists to be on. Stephen King's my neighbor, so I got to put him yeah, that's true. [00:32:33] Speaker B: You got to make sure he takes out the recycling. [00:32:36] Speaker A: I drive by his house every time I go to the comic book store, if that makes sense, or one of his houses. He's never there. But let's be honest, I wouldn't be. [00:32:44] Speaker B: Either turning into a writer's retreat. [00:32:47] Speaker A: Maybe one of these days, the next big novel from you will be written there. Who knows? [00:32:50] Speaker B: Oh, I would love that. I would love that. I want the ghost of using my writing. [00:32:56] Speaker A: It's not so great. People are like, oh, you got the ghost from one of his bad books. [00:33:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I get the Langley's Ghost. No, I love the Langley's. [00:33:06] Speaker A: No, Steven, don't. Please don't. Please don't talk to me like this. But yeah. So you have the third one coming up, which is awesome. I do think that there is something to say. We talked about the collaboration aspect of it and so on and so forth. If I'm looking for more books like like I said, oh, I'm looking for more books like this. Maybe some of people that that Adam knows or likes or whatever might have these things. But also, I'm a big person of like, I want this to go on forever. You could write ten Clown in the Cornfield books because I want more story of the same world. Comic book fans, people who listen to this podcast are big Marvel fans or DC fans. They've been telling stories in the same universes for years and years and years. And so to me, in horror genre, it's one of those ones you could go, clown the cornfield ten. [00:33:45] Speaker B: Like I said, I have plans up to four, but I could see myself doing it until I'm put in the ground, because I really do think there's something about the slasher that lends itself to that. And because in two, we open up the world in a different way, and in three, we make it really weird. So there's things you can do to extend that lifespan and extend not only my interest, but everyone else's interest in it. So I never say never, but at least my goal is at least four because I've already tried to get ahead of the curve because I know people are going to talk trilogy. And I'm like, not a trilogy yet. Don't stop. Don't stop it there. [00:34:20] Speaker A: Yeah, but the cool thing is, too, when I first started reading Number Two Friend of Lives, I was like, at the end of number one. I'm like, you could have just stopped it. Like you said, this could have been great, and this could have been amazing novel. You could have been selling this and pitching this for years. It would have been fine. I love that number two. But when I started number Two, I'm like, how is he going to do it with number one being so what it is, I was like, how is he going to do it? And then a couple of chapters, and you're like, okay, now I get this. And then I was hooked and I was on the ride and so on and so forth. And you created some relatable and awesome characters. There's just so much things. And I have a I before I started doing creative directing job for my brewery and doing the design stuff, I was a manager of the restaurant. And I had regular customers that used to come in and so on and so forth. And one of the regular customers, Scott and Dina, they have a daughter named Claire. And she was like my surrogate daughter of sorts because of the fact that she was into comics, she was in stuff like this. And so every once in a while I'd get something. I'd be like, oh. So when I go back and buy that hardcover I mentioned at Bomus, I'm probably going to be gifting this over to Claire because Claire will probably really enjoy it. Her birthday is actually coming up here pretty soon, so maybe there's a little that's perfect. I love it. And I do think that one of the things I always talk to people about who write young adult stuff or stuff that's more geared is the fact that just because it's young adult does not mean it's for just young adults. It means it's for young adults. And it means that young adult people can read it, but it doesn't mean it's only for them. And I do believe in this. This is one of those ones that if you want a great classic horror story with some twists and some things in it, this is where you want to go. And I do appreciate they're meant to. [00:36:07] Speaker B: Be consumed that way. I think I'm telling myself as a 35 year old horror fan stories, and I think I want those to be applicable to teens. And that's the goal. But I think you can't get away with the fact that as a 35 year old hard fan is writing them. So I think that I think, actually a majority of my readers are adults, which is great, which is cool, but they're not the target audience, which is one of those things. I broke no complaints from them. I'll broke complaints from teens because I was like, if a teen didn't like it, I was like, that's a bummer. You were supposed to like it. If an adult doesn't like it, I was like, hey, not for you. [00:36:51] Speaker A: It's not for you. Yeah, it's fine. But I understand. I can see that. And I do see, like I said, though, this is one of those ones that horror isn't for everybody. And so there are people out there who really like the style of movie Terrifyer and that style of movie. But that's not for everybody, for sure. It's made for a specific demographic specific group of people who like that style of movie. Whereas if you're like, this fits in that genre that people might like that might also like this and so on and so forth, overlapping. [00:37:20] Speaker B: It's like a Ven diagram of like not everyone that likes Terrifyer will like this, but some of them will. [00:37:26] Speaker A: One of them because I do like Terrifyer pretty well. [00:37:29] Speaker B: I really like the second one. I'm hot and cold on the first one, but I really, really like the second. [00:37:34] Speaker A: Is that your same thing here? You got a friend who lives it's actually more it's weird. [00:37:37] Speaker B: No, it's OD. Because I think there's little things that happen in two that I think two is a little bit more have your cake and eat it. Because one is so grim. And the way that it deals with certain characters feels like a little, to me, overly mean and not in almost like the story is not driving it. It's almost like the filmmakers are driving it to be like, this is the meanest thing I could do in two. A balance is found that's a little bit more palatable to me while still having the most messed up oh, hell, yeah. Nice. [00:38:15] Speaker A: We did a beer called Terrifypa. [00:38:18] Speaker B: Oh, man. [00:38:20] Speaker A: Yeah, so we did that. [00:38:21] Speaker B: Get some of these beers. [00:38:24] Speaker A: Also, we're pre recording this to come out on November 2. But we're actually hanging out again this weekend. Coming Up Weekend The 13th, 14th and 15th with Damien Leone And David Howard. Thornton Because they're coming up to our convention here in Bangor area to hang out too. But we did that for the convention they came to last year. And so this year they get a lot of people. [00:38:44] Speaker B: They get a lot of people in Cons. They do the monster mania here in Oaks. Yeah, I was very happy they were there because I'm like selling a clown horror books. And they're there and everyone's there in, like, full art the clown make. [00:38:56] Speaker A: I think it should kill it here, too, because I think I wrote my first review. Number one was the idea that I should love it, too because being from Bangor, Maine, and living in a town where it is such a big thing that this is a clown horror story. You could say in the same vein as someone like Pennywise, but it's not the same. It's a completely different story, kind of clown in a different way. But clowns are scary to a lot of people. So it's easy for you to write. Not easy. I'm saying easy. It's easy to write because obviously it wasn't easy to write the book. [00:39:25] Speaker B: There's room and that's like, when I first started, it was like these things were looming very large in my mind and wanting to complement them and not do the same thing. And I think because it's a slasher, it's funny because it's closer to art. But I think I saw Terrifyer either towards the end of writing one, so it wasn't much of an influence other than the fact that it was definitely an influence on two because it was around and I was cognizant of it and not wanting to be it. And I think it's very easy. I mean, art and friendo are very different characters. I like being in the melange of clown horror as it is. And like you said, it's a shorthand to get people interested. It's like, well, if you like those things, you might like this because it's different. [00:40:11] Speaker A: But it fits perfectly, too, because another episode this week is my comic book store owner and myself are reviewing killer clowns from out of space for Horror Week. So we're just like on the whole know theme right here. But yeah. So you've done this, you've done video night. You did Dead Mall, which we won't touch much on deadmall just because the fact that you can listen to our previous episode, adam and David stole we. [00:40:31] Speaker B: Didn'T get to hold this up last time. [00:40:33] Speaker A: No. The trade paperback is now out with a nice spot gloss on there. The best thing is that now, because the trade's out, you can go pick up your clown in the cornfield one and Two and Dead Mall at your local bookstore because they can carry both of them. Barnes and Noble have it for yeah, so that's great. You can grab both at the same time. And actually, I mentioned I put a little note here on my thing is if you're in the Pennsylvania in your area, the possibility of going these places, they might be signed because I've definitely seen some footage of you out on. [00:41:00] Speaker B: The you're in the Philly area. A good chance that I, like, drive to every Barnes and Noble and sign them just as something fun to do. And it helps me sell them, too. So, yeah, if you're in the Philly area, you also can get them online, too. Yeah, and you can get them signed online, too. A local bookstore here ships them out. But yeah, so we're talking about books. Books books, physical books and all these different things. But you're probably listening to this in your ears. We've got a very special announcement, a book that just came out today that I'm hijacking Justin's podcast to talk about because he hasn't gotten to listen to it yet. [00:41:34] Speaker A: Hold on, I'll be back. See you guys. [00:41:38] Speaker B: But I do want to mention we would be remiss if we didn't mention that I have a new surprise book that just came out. If you were listening to this on November 2, the day you're listening to it, it's called Influencer. It is an audible original. I think you got to have Audible to get it. This is funny. Amazon should have walked me through the prompt about what I'm supposed to say. But yeah, so it's new original novel, full length novel. Not like a novellad or novella or short story or anything like that. I pitched it as Ya American Psycho meets Ya Silence of Lambs, which means that there are two dueling POVs. The male POV of our bad guy is Christopher Briney from the summer I got pretty. Summer I turned pretty. And the female POV is Isabella Merced, who's been in a million movies. She's hawk girl. Coming up in the DC universe. So they do a tremendous job reading this book, and it is scary as hell. So you're probably on a little bit of a Halloween hangover, and you're probably like, what could Ya American Psycho even sound like? Because that sounds like almost like a misnomer of like, you can't do that. We can and we will. We did. Please go. Listen to influencer. Every warning in the book, every kind of content trigger in the book. We're talking about Terrifyer and stuff like that. But if you're not willing to hang with that kind of stuff, may not be the book for you, but I'm immensely proud of it. I think it's my best book so far, and I'd like you to go listen to it. So that's that that's my pitch on that. And I feel bad that I wasn't able to get you a copy so you could have listened to it before we recorded. [00:43:42] Speaker A: I'm always willing to listen to. So the funny thing is I do intake a lot of audiobooks. There were some really good ones. James Patterson just had one original with what's his name from Breaking Bad. Aaron Paul. A lot of those things are cool. I like a traditional audiobook, but I also like one that has more back to forth voices and more production value to it, so on and so forth. My buddy just put out one of our guests. Now I'm not even thinking Mud 79. He's going to kill me now because not saying who it's by, but Fearless Fred, fred Kennedy, who wrote Dead Romans over there at Image. He just put out an audio drama of storage called Mud 79, which is his own fan Star Wars story. So those are cool too, with the sound effects, but there's a mixture of everything. And I think that's one of those things that for me personally on the audiobook side or the audio original, Audible original is I drive 20 minutes to my office and 20 minutes home. And that's useless time in my opinion, because there's nothing to do. [00:44:43] Speaker B: I'm the same way. [00:44:45] Speaker A: And so to me, I'm like, can I jam this in to can I jam more stuff into my day and intake more stuff? And that's where I'm halfway through the audible book for Salem's Lot. Never actually read the book before. And this is amazing. I'm going to bed at night AirPods in, trying to listen to it. My wife's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm listening to my so it's cool in that sense. So there's a mixture and there's some people out there just won't pick up an actual physical novel. So having this would be an Audible and having the as much as people hate to say, but having the backing of someone like Amazon put this out. [00:45:19] Speaker B: Like, no, they've been so good to me. And it was more of a conversation because it's like, we sold it and Amazon bought the book, but they were like, well, we want to do it as an Audible original. And I kind of was like, I had to go in with basically had to go into a meeting with them. My editor over there, she's wonderful. And it was like not that I had to be sold on it because it was very nice deal and very like, oh, you definitely want to do it. But I just kind of in my mind was like kind of what you were saying. Some of these they release as podcasts, some of these they do different formats for and I kind of really wanted to impress upon have that meeting where I'm like, I want this to be a book. [00:46:02] Speaker A: Like, I talked about it. [00:46:03] Speaker B: I said my new novel. I didn't say my new audiobook or audio play. I really wanted to be like, I feel uncomfortable because this is an Audible exclusive, but only for a certain window. So we are going eventually do paperback because I don't want people missing out because I know that it's going to be the first thing that people ask when I tweet it out and it comes out. It's not going to be like, cool, congratulations. It's going to be like, when can I get the paperback? Which I completely understand. So going into this deal was very much like, I love audio dramas, especially as a horror fan. That kind of storytelling is very evocative and works very well for the horror genre. But I wanted to be like I wanted their assurance. This is a book first and foremost. And they did. But they did little things where it's like the fact that they were able to cast two narrators and that you can have this kind of element of performance to it that it's built to have. Like, I wrote the book for that for Chris Briney and Isabella Merced to read back and forth to each other. And it has a really nice it has a little bit of music strung between the chapters. There's a couple in key moments, there's a couple sound effects. It's not like a full audio production because it's not different voice actors and stuff like that. But it does have for a gunshot or for a car crash or for a school bell, because you're in high school. Having that ability to layer those in is nice and does add to your kind of immersion, I think, in a certain way. So that's what this book is. And like I said, I wanted to leave with the idea that this is a book, but it's a damn good audiobook. I'll say. [00:47:38] Speaker A: Well, it's even the simplest fact of when you have someone reading an audiobook, they're reading they have knowledge that you don't have technically, when they're going to read it in the microphone to record it in the sense of inflection or loudness or things. So there's certain things where someone's like and he yelled across the room, that a lot of audiobooks that are reading it. They're reading it in that way. They're yelling. So they already have read the fact that maybe where they are. And so that's another thing. Like Salem's Lot, for an example, like, oh, and he whispered, and they whisper on the actual pod. It's an audiobook. That's the thing that I like about that. Whereas when I go to read a book, I'm pretty much reading it monotoned in my head and just getting the knowledge in there. [00:48:13] Speaker B: It's your inflection it's almost your performance when you're reading a book. And there's something I like about that, and there's something I prefer about that. And then there's something I like about because a bad audiobook or a bad audio performance can really hurt things, and it can turn me off of a book, but luckily, I haven't had that experience. And luckily this again, it's something that can spice something up, something can be additive. And I feel like both of these, because they're such pros and because they're such great actors, it's like another collaborator. It's like, I have three collaborators on this book where it's like I have normally it's just the writer and the editor, and that's the collaboration. But here it's me, the editor, the two readers, because it really does feel like their performance is part and parcel of the book. And when we were casting them, it was like, oh, well, Chris, obviously, Chris Bridey is like, that's this guy that's perfect. In my mind, I could see him cutting people up. I was like, this is the guy, so it works. Yeah. [00:49:25] Speaker A: And another thing you can intake, a lot of us are trying to get as much content as possible because of our love for whether it be horror or some sort of author or creator or something like that. And it's like I could then go ahead and read Video Night for an example in a physical paperback. But while I'm driving to work, I'm going to listen to Switch Off. I want to watch a movie, one with my wife, and I'm going to watch a TV show. So there's another thing. It's a novel, but it's another way to take a novel in. So it's like, even if you're like, oh, my god, I've read six novels in a row, I need something different. And this would be that. Spicing it up and changing it up a little bit. There's not like one's better than the other. I just think it's nice. And a lot of times, honestly, lab done. And this is something that when the paperback eventually does come out, is I've actually sat down and listened to an audiobook in my headphones and read along with the book. And so, like, just following along all. [00:50:08] Speaker B: The was that was another concern for me of like, I want to be able to have that. So I'm glad we're going to get to have that's. [00:50:17] Speaker A: Awesome. Amazon is doing some great things recently. This month, the Creature feature stuff they did, there's like five or six short stories by some heavy hitters. And technically, when I saw who was listed on that thing, I was like, holy shit. That's a pretty good line of authors right there. [00:50:33] Speaker B: They know what they're doing, and they know what readers are interested. Because that's the thing. They have all the data. They know. They know better than I know. They know better than I know who listened to Clown of the Cornfield one and Two, and at what speed they listen to and what parts they listen to again. So it's like they know what interests people. And it's like I said, they've been nothing but good to me. [00:50:58] Speaker A: Kyle and the Cornfield books have been on sale and featured a lot more because they're trying to get your name up there. [00:51:03] Speaker B: I wonder I've talked to the editor about that, where I'm like, hey. And they're 100% like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing kind of thing. And I think they're just like, it's happy accident. But I was like, I want to be in bed with these people because they control the means of distribution here. So I don't think it is that. I don't think it's that. I think it's just one of those things where it's like, they see this works, and they're like, oh, wanted to work with me? I understand. I shop small, too. Like we were saying, when people want signed books from me, I send them to Children's Book World right here in Haverford, PA. I support small businesses whenever possible. And I think shop small whenever possible. But I also don't think I'm not a. Complete purist where I do think the editors working at this division are like some of the best editors in the world and some of the best editors in the publishing business because Amazon has the money to pay them, pay them what they're worth. So it's like the things that they are producing I almost said content. I don't like saying that. But the things that they are producing are good because they have the money, makes the world go around. So it's like you said, with the creature features. They basically put out a mini anthology with original stories from some of the best horror writers working for free or for pennies. [00:52:31] Speaker A: It's included in your Amazon Prime. [00:52:33] Speaker B: They already got you. I don't know. I kind of love that kind of stuff. And they could be the biggest company in the world. They could be not putting out good stuff. They could be not doing this. It's like, no, I'm glad they are. [00:52:45] Speaker A: In the end, I think I also feel like comics, trade paperbacks novels, things like that are a completely different animal on a business like Amazon because of the fact that the money obviously they're making money off of it too. But in the end, someone else like, if you're buying, I don't know, plastic baggies there's not a creative person in the back end of that trying to get some bomb. It's just another bigger corporation making more money off of something that you need to live. Whereas something like a novel, for an example, if I buy it at the local bookstore, yes, they're going to make some money off of it. But it still comes back to you and your publisher making the if you're going to not buy it, buy it on Amazon, if that makes any sense. My point is, it's like don't not buy it because you're going to have to buy it on Amazon. Or don't not listen to it because it's there. You still should do that if it's in the end wanting to get it or not. That's one of those things like try to shop local if you can. Obviously you can't with something like influencer. If it's an Audible original, you only can get it from Audible. [00:53:48] Speaker B: Listen to it for a certain period, like I said. But I think people are going to be really into it and really impressed by it because it's something very new for me because the Clown of Cornfield books, for lack of a better word, are fun. I think there's a lot of serious stuff in them and I think there's a lot of serious topics that they bring up but they never forget to not hopeful is not the right word. But there is something about the themes of the books is that progress errors toward the just even though characters die, we care about. What I'm saying is there's more of a moral compass in those books. In this book, it's something a little bit different for me and I think something a little bit different for my readers. And people who've read my books before are going to be, oh, like, this is Adam Caesar. Like, there's going to be some stuff that you're like, clearly it is me, but there's going to be some stuff where you're like like I said, it's still ya, but we're working more in that. Like Jack Ketchum ya. [00:54:54] Speaker A: Almost. [00:54:57] Speaker B: These are a little harder edged. Things are a little bit more dire in this book. And it's a little bit more realistic and squirmy in that way, which is not the typical kind of horror I write. And I like making myself uncomfortable. Like we talked about with the sequel, that idea of like, if I can push my discomfort levels very high as a writer, it usually yields good things for readers. [00:55:22] Speaker A: That's awesome. I'm so excited. It's so pumped. I'm always looking for new content. If there's new content coming out from you before Number Three hits the shelves, then I'm way before. So I'm going to be happy there's something to get me by. I mean, there was dead mall. Then there's this definitely influencers going to be financing beyond my wish list to. [00:55:39] Speaker B: Want to have a steady drip. Yeah, want to have a steady drip. That's the thing. And it's so hard, like you're saying it's so hard promoting stuff where you're like, you write everything out of order. And it's like, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have another book come out between Influencer and Clowns three. But I don't even know. I don't even know from that point. It's been done since both of them were done. So there's a book that was written before, finished, handed in, paid for the check, cleared before both of these. And now I'm on podcast talking about them. And I'm like, well, I can't even talk about the thing that has been done for months and months and months. This has been done since before my daughter was born. It's like this book is older than her. [00:56:22] Speaker A: It's not even out yet. Exactly. And also, I just thought about November 2 when this episode drops, is it's only a couple of weeks away from Thanksgiving for people. So you need something when you're traveling to visit your family. You got to be in your car. You might as well throw this on. [00:56:37] Speaker B: Thanksgiving dinner. Just put this on. Just make your mom listen to this. [00:56:42] Speaker A: Oh, you're going to put some? No, I got a new Adam season novel we're going to put on. Don't worry about it. [00:56:48] Speaker B: It's his most depraved yet. Enjoy. Yeah, enjoy. [00:56:51] Speaker A: How's that turkey leg? So you did. Dead mall too. Are you going to do more comics? I know you did. Dead mall. You did. Morphin power Rangers. Metamorphin Power Rangers. Other stuff, but. [00:57:04] Speaker B: I hope so. That's the thing I can say without a hint of, like, oh being coy. I haven't had any discussions with people. I haven't set dates. I will tell you that. I want to do a Dead mall, too. I want to do a sequel to it. That's kind of a spin off, kind of a sequel. Like, it'll serve both purposes. I know Dave is interested in doing it. It's one of those things where, like, traveling so much and I'm here and there, everywhere. The ball's a little bit in my court where I have to talk to Dark Horse because I've even talked to Dark Horse about it, and the editor over there is open to it, too. So it's just like, I want it to happen, but I also don't want it to suffer because I made deadlines for myself that I can't meet or I'm rushing to. So it'll happen, I think. And as far as stuff like Power Rangers and stuff like that, I love doing that. And that came together so quickly. The license stuff is quick. It's just like an editor reaching out and being like, do you want to do this? And then you're doing it because they have such tight deadlines on that stuff. It's like, okay, yeah, I guess I'm making the Power Rangers fight the Walking Dead at this point. I'm going for it. So that kind of stuff, I feel like, could happen quick. They got my number. Hey, I know comics professionals listen to this podcast. I would love to do some. [00:58:23] Speaker A: It's funny and selfishly with love for your writing. I love your comics. A Clown in the Cornfield trade paperback graphic novel adaptation would be up. [00:58:32] Speaker B: I would love that. I would love that. I think there's movement on the movie, so I think that might help. And my goal with Clown Comics is I don't want to do adaptations. I'd rather do, like, side stories because there's a bunch of time jumps put into the series. So I wouldn't mind doing like, a Clown of the Cornfield graphic novel that's telling a new story with the characters. We already know there's some hurdles to that because especially because some characters, the way they look isn't as fully defined. So the idea of someone drawing like, Cole and Rust and being like, this is what they look like, would kind of bother me a little bit, especially if it's meant to be like a canon story. Because I'm like, well, it means you have to pick Lane as to what they 100% we know they have a certain color hair and stuff like that, but I'm like, my obsessiveness goes to that. Do I want to do that? And I think of all other ways of do it with none of the main characters and just do a complete side story. And that's interesting to me, too. And no one's talked to me about that either. So I would love some of it. [00:59:46] Speaker A: Might actually make the most sense to do it after the movie comes in, hits theaters. Then you already have it almost makes more sense to design the characters after what the movie looks like because that's what's going to get the most eyes, too. Because think about the Stranger Things comic book is not a Stranger Things comic books that are based off of just anybody. It's based off the TV show. And so the characters look like the TV show. Even the new Star Wars stuff. And even some of the new Iron Man stuff looks like Robert Downey, Jr. Because the fact that we need to make sure that people know who it is and so on and so forth. [01:00:14] Speaker B: Yeah, Marvel's been doing that forever. Since the ultimates line. [01:00:17] Speaker A: They've been doing people in the comics. [01:00:20] Speaker B: Hoping to be movie. Yeah, they wanted to be movie people before they were movie people. [01:00:23] Speaker A: Yeah, see you in the comic book already. So you might as well do that and do that now. [01:00:28] Speaker B: Being so confused as a kid. I was like eleven or twelve when the ultimate started. And I was like, Why is it Samuel Jackson? It was like, are they making a movie? Is it going to be samuel Jackson? I just remember being so kind of not now. [01:00:40] Speaker A: They're bringing the ultimate universe back, too. [01:00:42] Speaker B: Jesus yeah, great. Which is cool, actually. I like that they did it. I just remember being I'm detail oriented. I'm obsessive in this way where I'm like flummoxed by an imaginary clown of the Cornfield comic. I was the same way as a young comics reader, being like, well, wait a second. This has to match up with. [01:01:04] Speaker A: Sam. [01:01:04] Speaker B: Jackson in the movie because they already drew you're lying. [01:01:08] Speaker A: If you obviously Connor Cornfield's been super successful. You won Bram Stoker award for the series, which is awesome. And I'll way later belated congratulations on that because that's a big thank you in the horror genre. If anybody doesn't know, that's a really big thing in the book genre in general. [01:01:23] Speaker B: It was a tremendous genre. Here, I'll show you. It's a tremendous honor. I'll show you my award. It looks awesome. It's just so cool if people haven't seen one. It's a little haunted house. [01:01:39] Speaker A: Oh, that's amazing. [01:01:40] Speaker B: It's like sculpted. It's got all this cool stuff on it, like these vines and a giant centipede, like coming out the back. And then you open the door and it's engraved because this is my Bram Stoker. So it says yeah, their little door opens. [01:01:55] Speaker A: It's got my amazing. [01:01:57] Speaker B: It's pretty cool. [01:01:59] Speaker A: Like I said, it's one of those things that a lot of people like. If you're not fully in, if you just occasional reader here and there, occasional you don't really some of the stuff you're like, oh, I know who Bram Stoker is. But whatever. I actually up there. I have Bam books. A million I bought for $3. They had a Bram Stoker pop vinyl. It was $3 on sale. [01:02:20] Speaker B: I got to get this. [01:02:21] Speaker A: But yeah, so it's a thing. It's like the same thing. When I tell someone about an Eisner, they're like, what the hell is an Eisner? I'm like, well, if you're really into comics, you understand that Eisner is like your Academy Awards, your Oscars, the big awards for your things. And in horror, Bram Stoker is Stoker. [01:02:37] Speaker B: And the Shirley Jackson and stuff like that. It was an honor. And it was a really cool thing. Yeah. I don't know that and the Clive Barker blurb were really yes, clive Barker blurb was really like the birth of my child getting married. And then that because that was the really big thing. [01:03:00] Speaker A: It's right on the it's on the COVID too. And you also got Paul Tremblay, though. That's another one. My wife's a huge the Cabin of the Woods, Cameron at the End of the World. I mean, Fan, she loved that. That's to me. [01:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah, he lent me an air of classiness. I think the fact that Paul was able to speak to it and endorse it because it is a book called Clown of the Cornfield. And I am a very silly man, but he's very serious also. He takes his heart very seriously. [01:03:30] Speaker A: That's awesome. But yeah, it's exciting to see the success that the book series has gotten. And then dead. Mall. I love dead mall. First of all, we've talked about it before, but David's artwork is absolutely phenomenal. [01:03:40] Speaker B: It's incredible. [01:03:42] Speaker A: And so that's also amazing about that. And Justin Birch, obviously, with his letters is just letters. Great book. People should read that as well. Get that out there. You can get that anywhere. Books are sold as well as your local comic book shop. And you can get it digitally. All that stuff, too. It's awesome with that. But yeah, your books, Clownfield, Cornfield, two friend who lives are available on Amazon Kindles, they're available on Audible. They're available on Amazon. Everything where you can get them. And if you go to your local bookstore and they don't have one on their shelf, just tell the clerk, yeah, ask. They can get them. This is not like one of those things. [01:04:18] Speaker B: This happens a lot because I'm a Ya author and people don't know. People think that it's an adult horror novel. And they go in and they look in the heart section. They're like, no, it's not here. When it was like, it's around the corner. And they're standing near it. They just got to ask. [01:04:31] Speaker A: And it may be sold out. It's possible someone bought the last copy. They just haven't got one in yet. But just talk to the person at the counter. Because even if they're like, oh, we actually didn't even know that. We don't carry much young Ya horror. They can order it from the store, from the distributor. It's possible to get so as we finish this episode, obviously, we both know I have somewhere to go, but I'm going to email you about something else afterwards. But what's? The horror book or horror movie that's like a must do every Halloween season that you must put on your list for reading or what's one that you look forward to the most or you've watched the most or something like that. Just for those people who want, like, a little input. [01:05:14] Speaker B: It's funny because now I have a little daughter and she does books at bedtime. And it's funny because it's come back into my life because obviously, before having a child, I had a very little picture books on my shelves, very little children's books. But I have the Taylor Poe. If you've never heard it, it's like a folktale. It's like an Appalachian folktale, but there's a very specific picture book edition of it that I remember as a kid, a librarian reading to me and just terrifying me. But it's awesome. If you get the picture book version of the Taylor Poe, I'm completely blanking on the author and illustrator because it's. [01:05:52] Speaker A: Like an as told by Paul Galdon. [01:05:57] Speaker B: Yes. And it's kind of got an orange tint to the border around it. Who illustrated. [01:06:03] Speaker A: So the author is Paul, and it looks like maybe his wife Joanna. [01:06:08] Speaker B: Okay. [01:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And then Paul Galdone. I think it's Galdon or Gal dunn. Did the illustration So it's the couple of them from 1980. [01:06:18] Speaker B: It's awesome. I love that. And it's like the perfect thing to read your kids because it's, like, scary as hell, but it's also not that scary. So I've been reading her that because she's 18 months, she just grabs stuff off the shelf and she likes hearing me just read stuff. So every once in a while, we'll toss in the Taylor PO now. And I'm like, this is good. This is getting me in the Halloween mood. As far as movies. [01:06:43] Speaker A: Have you watched anything more recently this year when you're watching your horror movies to get ready for the season or anything that you've actually been know? Did you see totally killer yet? [01:06:52] Speaker B: I haven't watched it yet. I love Mad Men. I'm a huge Mad Men fan, so I'll watch anything with her in it. Little Sally Draper, kieran ship. How was it? Did you watch it? [01:07:03] Speaker A: Was it was it was just good. It was entertaining. I would doubt that much if you're into those kind of things. It's got a Back to the Future twist in it, meaning that it's got that time travel stuff in it. Something you don't normally see in some sort of slasher horror movie is the time travel, which is pretty cool, but it was a fun one. [01:07:21] Speaker B: It's definitely on the list for this year. I have been watching a lot of older stuff. As far as Halloween, there's certain movies like Ernest Scared, Stupid. I used to watch religiously as a kid, and every once in a while, especially my wife and I carve pumpkins and we usually have a little bit of a friendly competition as to who carves the best pumpkin. It also takes hours to carve pumpkins. So I'll put on stuff like that. Stuff I've seen a million times. I'll put on stuff. Trickortreat has kind of entered the rotation. I'll put that on. Yeah, it's funny because throughout the rest of the year, I don't do a lot of rewatching because I'm so big into like, I'm going to die and I'm going to not have seen half the movies that exist. I'm so big at chip it away. But Halloween is the one time of year that I give myself a little bit of a like, oh, let's just. [01:08:15] Speaker A: Yes, it's this season. It's like Halloween this month. I got a couple of movies that we watched every year and then it's like the Christmas time. It's like we watched a couple of movies. Exactly. I'm still on the same board. I was just talking to Joseph Schmucky about this, which is the idea that I'm so into, like, I haven't seen that horror movie yet. Why wouldn't I watch that horror movie? I just watched that one. Instead of watching Halloween over again, I'll watch whatever. I watched The Status the other day that Jeremy Dauber, who was the author of American Comics, told me to watch, which is from like 19 oh, the State. [01:08:44] Speaker B: Like, I was I thought it was like I thought, you're talking about new the Gas Station one, the Guy, the Gun. That movie rules. That's such a good movie. [01:08:51] Speaker A: I was like, I'd never seen it before. And he's talking on the podcast about it. And I was like, I guess I'm watching this one tonight. And I watched it. I was like, It's so good. I don't know. It's just something about it so dark. [01:09:00] Speaker B: For that time period is not what you're expecting at all. It's like a really harrowing movie. Really. Like, I love that movie. [01:09:10] Speaker A: I just think it's a fun thing. And I also think that as a horror fan like yourself and someone who writes horror books and slasher books and things like that, you live this all year long. So this month of Halloween time, it's like, whatever. It's fun to celebrate with other people and talk about it with other people. But in the same sense, if a new slasher movie comes out in July, it's not like you're waiting to go. [01:09:29] Speaker B: Down their first day anyway. It is. It's a little bit of like, it's the time of year where it's like, I'm more busy because of this professional stuff. But it's also like, it doesn't change what I'm watching that much because I'm always watching our movies. [01:09:49] Speaker A: It's a fun time of the year. That's why we did this horror week, because I think it's cool to do this and did it around Halloween because of that. But I was also thinking the next year in the future, it almost makes more sense to do it like the beginning of October. So people have the rest of October to use recommendations or things to do this. But again, November is not a bad time to read horror. [01:10:03] Speaker B: November is the time to do it anyway. November is the time to do it anyway. Try extending Halloween this year. If you're not a huge horror fan, you should try living the horror fan life and just doing it all year round. [01:10:13] Speaker A: And like we said before, if you're trying to read something like you want something a little bit not like, say, lighthearted, because it's definitely not lighthearted, but it's something a little bit more wider range of people will like it. Something like Connor the Cornfield would be a great option for you. If you're into comic books, dead Mall is a perfect option for that sense too. And then again, if you want something more rough but more harder edge, we'll. [01:10:34] Speaker B: Say influencers for you. Not to scare everyone off. But again, it's one of those things. If you are an all sensitive reader, I don't do that for any of my books. I want everyone to buy my books and read all my books. This is the one where I'm like. [01:10:48] Speaker A: You should try here's the deal, you. [01:10:50] Speaker B: Should read up that one before you check it out. Because it's like just proceed with caution because again, it's meant for a teen audience. I don't want to traumatize anyone. [01:11:02] Speaker A: That's awesome. I'm so pumped about that. It's coming out and like I said, it's one of those weird things. So there's so much a love hate relationship with Amazon now with people. But the thing about it is, it's like, in a sense that you're doing an audible original book of your novel is like you made it, if that makes any sense. It's like one of those things that a corporation that's that big is putting money and effort into an Adam Caesar. [01:11:22] Speaker B: It was a different kind of approach. And I was very fortunate that they wanted to do the book. But I think they did an amazing job because I've gotten to listen that's the thing, I've gotten to listen to the final files, but they didn't give me like codes yet or anything. So hopefully even before this airs, I'll have gotten you some kind of early copy and you'll get to listen to. [01:11:42] Speaker A: It and then obviously keep me on the short list for number three of Clown in the Cornfield because we'll do a bunch of marketing on that too, and stuff like that. Maybe we'll get you up here. We will book tour, come to Maine hometown. [01:11:52] Speaker B: Hey, let's do it. Actually. Yeah, we'll talk. We'll talk off Mike. But let's really do it because I would love to. Yeah, I would love to. [01:12:00] Speaker A: Sweet. But yeah. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule and your day to do this. Enjoy the rest of your week and have fun at Hershey Park because that's fun place too, I found out Colorado as well. And hopefully we'll also be able to come back on and talk about the movie too at some point. That'd be amazing too. So now that the writers are back. [01:12:15] Speaker B: In the rooms, fingers are starting to. [01:12:17] Speaker A: Flow in Hollywood again. So let's get this going. [01:12:19] Speaker B: Spice is flowing. [01:12:20] Speaker A: Yes, exactly. [01:12:21] Speaker B: Fingers crossed, man. [01:12:24] Speaker A: You have Adamseeser.com, right? [01:12:25] Speaker B: Yep, I have Adamseeser.com. I got all the socials go. Follow me on them. I make silly faces on TikTok and. [01:12:34] Speaker A: You open a bunch of mail on Instagram. Oh, yeah. [01:12:39] Speaker B: I'm like, this is good. That's what I tell my wife. I'm like, I don't have any kind of physical media addiction or shopping addiction. This is for us, baby. This is so I could open mail online marketing. [01:12:51] Speaker A: Marketing out of Caesar books. But I appreciate you taking time. We love it. Highly recommend. Again, one of the benefits I do about doing this podcast and so on and so forth is I get to talk to who I want to talk know. Adam's, I appreciate it. Publisher didn't come to me and say you should do this. You should talk to me. [01:13:07] Speaker B: No, they definitely didn't. [01:13:08] Speaker A: So it's the fact that I choose to say that I want to talk to Adam on this because I do actually endorse and love and read and actually care about these books. So I will say wholeheartedly I recommend this. Not that we're right. Not that I am the end all, be all. [01:13:22] Speaker B: What you should do though in this instance you are though. [01:13:25] Speaker A: Yes. So go out and read it. But yeah. Thank you so much, Adam. [01:13:29] Speaker B: Thank you. [01:13:29] Speaker A: Thank you.