Speaker 2 00:01:26 You are listening to Right On Radio on Kfa 90.3 FM and streaming Live on the
[email protected]. I'm Molly Ray On tonight's program, Liz Olds chats with Robert Cra about his work racing the Light. When a worried mother hires Elvis Cole to find her missing son, a controversial podcast her named Josh Shoe, written with the heart humor and relentless suspense racing, the light delivers Elvis Cole's most dangerous case. Yet.
Speaker 3 00:01:57 Then in the last part of the hour, Molly Ray talks with Nate Tole, the author of the Poetry Collection, a message from the Gallery of Excavated Heads. He currently works as an English tutor and a caretaker for clients with cognitive illnesses such as dementia, all of this and more. So stay tuned on, right on radio.
Speaker 0 00:02:26 Oh, Robert, are you there? I'm here. I can see you. It's good to be here. I know. It's, it's great to be able to see each other. You know, that's one positive thing about Zoom. We're speaking with Robert Cra, author of Ray Single White and Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel. Now for the sake of, uh, total disclosure, I have to say that I'm a big Elvis Cole and Joe Pike fan. So just so you know that, um, why don't we start with, uh, set us up for the reading and we'll start, start with the reading. You can go right ahead.
Speaker 4 00:03:02 Well, this is, uh, from the prologue. Josh stood to go as Skylar stepped through the door, slender and gorgeous, wearing a black moto jacket over a short black dress. Even with Josh being all the way in the back, their eyes locked and she smiled. A crooked smile. He found charming. Josh had never decided if the smile made her seem knowing or bored. Josh liked her. He was even impressed by her, but he was also put off. She was smart, maybe in a way brilliant, but she was one of the most self-destructive people he knew. Josh said, I was leaving. Sit, leave. Three minutes from now, I have something for you. I was worried, and now I'm annoyed. You couldn't text her eyes crinkled with lions almost too faint to see. I'm sorry. I'm a horrible person. Now. Sit. Josh made a big side. A show is annoyance, but he said, this is me sitting.
Speaker 4 00:04:09 I'm still mad, but I'm sitting, want a coffee? Can't my car's waiting. But I had to see you. Josh rolled his eyes tonight. You said you wanted to see me. Now she placed her phone on the table near his and her hands over the phone. I have something special for you. Well, lucky me. I wait for an hour and I get 30 seconds with your Royal Highness. You get this? She turned over a hand to reveal a silver flash drive under the table. She towed his shoe. Josh moved his foot, but she towed him again. He said, you're kicking me. I'm kicking you because you'll be impressed. She wiggled the flash drive back and forth. Tick, tick like a metronome. Josh Frn. I don't get it. It's a flash drive. I know what it is. I can see it. And ah, but you can't see what it contains.
Speaker 4 00:05:10 Josh scowled at the drive. I hate games like this. This isn't a game. The crooked smile vanished. And now she seemed watchful. Josh said, is this your new work? No, no, not me. Not mine. Then what? She nudged the flash drive toward him. Secrets, dangerous secrets. You know, you're annoying, you're amazing and beautiful and talented, but you're a very annoying person. She touched the flash drive closer. Only when I respect someone and what am I supposed to do with these dangerous secrets? Her watchful eyes darkened. Talk to me and we'll decide until then, don't tell anyone unless you tell everyone you see. No, I don't. Josh felt nervous. He pushed the drive with his finger. Where did you get this? Whatever it is. She said, take it. Look at it. You'll have questions, which I will answer. Her phone chimes sky glance at the screen and stood got a jet. My driver, Josh stopped her with a touch. She was serious and being as real as she had ever been, which worried him even more. Sky, what's going on? You're a good dude, Josh. We'll talk. She turned and hurri toward the door. Josh quickly left money on the table and tried to catch up. But when he finally reached the sidewalk, Skylar stood at the open door of a black Uber car. She slid into the backseat and Josh watched her glide away.
Speaker 4 00:06:57 A light colored sedan slowly passed and fell in behind her. Josh glanced at the passing car, but thought nothing of it. He would later, but on this night, the sedan was simply a car within a school of cars. No different from any other.
Speaker 0 00:07:19 Thanks. That's Robert Cra reading from his latest book, racing The Light, A new Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel. Well, for those of our audience who aren't familiar with Elvis and Joe, why don't you introduce us to them?
Speaker 4 00:07:35 Well, Elvis Cole is a private investigator, and Joe Pike, uh, is his partner and, uh, in racing the light, um, Josh Schumacher's mother comes to Elvis Cole because Josh is missing. Now, Adele, his mother, she believes in certain fringy um, unsubstantiated things like conspiracies and whatnot. So she believes her son has been kidnapped. But Elvis Cole doesn't really hear that. He just knows that her son is missing and his job as a private eye is to find her son. So that's the task at hand, and as he uncovers the layers within layers of Josh's disappearance, um, they end up working toward the same end.
Speaker 0 00:08:30 Uh, podcasting plays a big role in this novel. Uh, what is your experience with social media? How do you, how do you feel about it? What what does it mean to you?
Speaker 4 00:08:44 Well, what it means to me is, is an exciting new realm. Um, you know, I don't, uh, I'm not a podcaster, uh, but, uh, you know, there are, there are many marvelous, marvelous, interesting, wonderful podcasts out there. It's sort of like the new jour. It's the new journalism. Um, one doesn't have to write for a magazine or a new newspaper. One can do the research if research is required and just, um, do an entertaining show. Uh, you know, my own experience is limited to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I'm on all three, but, uh, Josh is a podcaster and because I, I wanted him to deal with subjects that would mar marginalize him, especially in the eyes of his, of his parents. You know, his Josh's interest and his podcast is, is, is about, uh, fringe concepts, things like conspiracy theories and, and, uh, and aliens and Area 51, things like that. So, because he has such beliefs, um, frankly, the larger population doesn't take him seriously. His own parents dismiss him. You know, his father thinks he's thrown his life away. Uh, his, his mother loves him dearly, but she sort of shares, shares many of these beliefs. So, uh, it's, it's when Josh finally uncovers something, a story that's actually real, uh, he knows no one will believe him. So he's, he becomes basically a warrior for justice. He's willing to risk everything to uncover the truth.
Speaker 0 00:10:24 I'm curious, um, would you say your Elvis Cole Joe Pike books are thrillers or mysteries? And what do you think the difference is,
Speaker 4 00:10:35 Liz? Honestly, I don't know the truth. I mean, I, I know people perceive, uh, a different, certainly, uh, book sellers do and publishers do. I like to think that my books are a mix of several categories. They're, they are thrillers because thrilling thing things happen and they're page turners, but they're, they're mysteries because there is mysteries involved. They're detective novels. They're all of the, they're procedurals. Um, you know, I grew up reading crime fiction. It, it, that's why I write it. I, I love it. I'm a fan of the, of the genre, but I, I read across the platform, so to speak. Um, so now that I'm writing my own novels, I think, um, I've, I've mashed up all those different categories into one art form since, to me it's, there's no real difference to it.
Speaker 0 00:11:29 Now, this is your, am I right that it's your 23rd Elvis call, Joe Pike novel? Is that the right number?
Speaker 4 00:11:35 It's, it's my 23rd novel overall, but it's my 19th Elvis call, Joe Pike novel.
Speaker 0 00:11:41 Okay. Okay. And when did you start, uh, well, how old were you when you started writing these mysteries and thrillers? Uh, what prompted you to get into that kind of writing besides your love of the, uh, genre itself?
Speaker 4 00:11:57 I've, I've been writing since junior high school. I've always wanted to be a storyteller. I was a voracious reader as a boy. Um, I wanted to start and did start telling my own stories back then, you know, spiral notebook, pencil, that, that kind of thing. Um, but I, I was in love with it all and wanted to write it all. Uh, you know, I grew up watching, um, movies and television like everyone else, uh, but it wasn't enough just to be the viewer and enjoyed them. Uh, I wanted to create shows and write them. Same with books. When, when I actually discovered what we call crime fiction now, I think I was probably, oh, uh, maybe 15 and probably my first, um, the, the first author I discovered of any note was, was Raymond Chandler. I, I bought a used paperback of his, um, book novel, the the little Sister, and fell in love with it, fell in love with Philip Marlow, fell in in love with, um, Chandler's Voice and Language, and the la he, he depicted. And he was basically my gateway to the entire world of, of thrillers mystery crime, you name it, detective novels. I knew then, uh, that one day I wanted to, to do this. I, I wanted to create my own worlds like that. And so when I, when I got to the point where I was ready to start writing novels, um, it was only natural for me to create my own detectives.
Speaker 0 00:13:39 Now you have become a New York Times bestselling author, which, which, uh, book was it that, uh, became the first of those, uh, New York Times bestsellers. And how did you feel about that? Did you, did you feel proud or was it a little awkward, or how did you feel about that?
Speaker 4 00:14:00 Well, um, I started at, at the bottom of the publishing trade. Um, my, my first book, the Monkey's Raincoat was a paperback original, uh, basic category marketed basic category fiction. You know, the publisher throws a bunch of books against a wall every month and see, sees what sticks. There was no publicity, no ads, no interviews with people like you or anyone else. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and it took me, uh, I think it was my eighth book, uh, which was La Requi, a novel called La Requiem before I made the New York Times Best Seller List List.
Speaker 0 00:14:41 And was that a Elvis Cole Joe Pike novel, or was that a different
Speaker 4 00:14:45 It? No, it was my, my first, uh, uh, my first eight books were all Elvis Cole novels, uh, in my career built book by book by book, thanks to readers who, who loved them and passed it on to their friends and recommended the books and independent book sellers who did exactly the same thing, read the books, fell in love with Elvis, and, and, and, and recommended them to their customers. And then when I finally hit, which was with La Requiem, um, of course it was, it was exciting and thrilling and, and, um, and and gratifying. Um, and I think forever after changed how I look at my books, because I wrote larger books after that. La Rew was a, was a large book. Um, and I, I think it was a breakthrough book for me, not only with the the Times List, but as an artist.
Speaker 0 00:15:41 We're speaking tonight with Robert Cra, author of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel Racing the Light, uh, very, uh, exciting book. A thriller. A thriller. Um, do you have a favorite, oh, I know this is like asking what your favorite child is, but do you have a favorite of your books or a favorite topic that you covered in your books? I know you, you touch on the topics of the day quite often, and, uh, for example, this one is about social media, podcasting, and, uh, you've hit on other topics during your, uh, writing. Do you have a favorite one?
Speaker 4 00:16:24 Uh, of course. No, I don't have a favorite one. And, and you know, what you said is correct. They're like children, uh, over the 23 books. Uh, what I really, what I'm more think of is, is scenes within those books that, um, uh, may have been more difficult to write, or in retrospect, I feel I could have done differently. Uh, but I love them. Uh, I love them all. Uh, each one, uh, is a personal statement by me, I guess, uh, because I put myself so deeply into all of my books. Um, and if I, if I had a, um, I would say I, I do have recurring themes. Um, you know, I think the books are about friendship and loyalty. The books are, are about, um, people recreating themselves, meaning, um, you know, there's always a person in some sort of, uh, trouble, you know, Elvis calls client, um, and often it, it, in addition to whatever, you know, criminal type trouble they're in, there's often personal trouble of some kind or another.
Speaker 4 00:17:36 And Elvis is often finds himself helping that person like Josh Schumacher, um, become the person he wants to be. You know, at the beginning of the book, we meet, uh, we meet Josh, uh, when he is, when he is speaking with, with with Skylar. Uh, but we really don't know anything about him until, uh, the next few chapters when we're introduced to the people in his life and what they think of Josh. And Josh is estranged from his parents. Uh, he only has one friend in the world, uh, his his boyhood friend, uh, who he, who he grew up with since junior high. Um, his, his, his has no life outside of that friendship and the podcast that he does, that he believes in with all of his heart. Uh, so, and he is estranged from his parents. So, um, I, I think much of the book, uh, the subtext for much of the book is, is, is Elvis Cole helping Josh, um, to mend that estrangement and to help him achieve his goal. And I think a lot of the, uh, motive that Josh has for doing what he does here is to earn the respect of his father, which he's never had. His father's a highly critical judgmental man. Um, so, you know, I, I find, I find those elements in my novels, um, as much the engine of the story as the crime involved. It's, you know, the humane and humanity are things that I like to write about.
Speaker 0 00:19:15 Well, how have you changed over the many years you've been writing this? How has your relationship with your characters changed, and how have you changed as a writer and maybe even as a person?
Speaker 4 00:19:26 Well, <laugh>, I have a lot more gray hair now. <laugh>. Um, I, of course, I'm not, um, you know, the first book was published in 1987. Uh, I'm not the same man. I, I I was then none of us are, you know, we, we live in the world. We, we, we grow, we evolve, we change. Um, I think that, um, I hope I'm, I'm, I'm wiser. I have a philosophy for Elvis Cole as, as my detective, something he believes in when he is dealing with people. And, and it's very simple. It's, he, he tries to see more and judge less. And I think that's a good philosophy for everybody. It certainly is for me.
Speaker 0 00:20:18 Yes, he always, uh, likes to finish the job as well, as I recall. He, he doesn't give up on,
Speaker 4 00:20:25 Uh, he doesn't quit. He doesn't quit. He's, he's, he's determined. Elvis Cole is, is is a person that you, you very much want on your side. Uh, he's an extremely loyal person, and he's, he's, he's a, he's a man of his word. He's committed. Um, he himself, uh, you know, I think of him as, as a warrior for justice. Um, he's, I invariably involve him, um, with his clients. There ends up always being an emotional relationship. I'm not talking about romance, but I'm talking about caring. Like, you know, he meets Josh in this, in this novel, and he cares what happens to Josh. Uh, he certainly wants to keep Josh alive, which, you know, he may or may not, I'm not gonna give that away. But as in all of the books, uh, there's an, there's an emotional involvement. And, and, and he's then driven to do his utmost and best to, um, uh, to complete the case and give the client the justification, the client warrants.
Speaker 0 00:21:38 Believe it or not, I've been given the three minute warning from, uh, my engineer. So let's finish up real briefly. Do you have a website?
Speaker 4 00:21:47 I do. Uh, robert cra.com. Uh, I'm also, uh, on Twitter at, at Robert cra and Instagram at Robert cra.
Speaker 0 00:21:58 And Craig is spelled c r a i s? Correct. So it's Robert c r a i s. Well, uh, to finish up what's next? Are you working on another Elvis Cold Joe Pike novel or something else?
Speaker 4 00:22:11 I'm working on another Elvis Cold Joe Pike novel. Had a great idea for one. Um, and I'm already well into it, and I'm excited to hopefully get it finished soon and, uh, get it out, out into public. Let everybody read it next year. Don't have a title yet, but that'll come.
Speaker 0 00:22:28 That'll be wonderful. We have been talking with Robert Grace. Thank you so much. Uh, author of Racing the Wife, the latest Elvis Cole and Joe Pipe novel. It's been wonderful speaking to you. Thank you for spending part of your Tuesday evening with us here on Right On Radio.
Speaker 4 00:22:44 Thank you so much, Liz. It's always a pleasure.
Speaker 0 00:22:48 And now this
Speaker 5 00:23:20 Okay. Um, hi, and welcome to Right on Radio on K F A I, uh, my name is Molly Ray, and today I am interviewing Nate Hoyle, the author of Gallery, uh, a message from the Gallery of Excavated Heads, a soon to be out and self-published book of poetry. Hello, Nate. And how are you?
Speaker 4 00:23:43 Hello. I'm doing well,
Speaker 6 00:23:44 And thank you for having me out here.
Speaker 5 00:23:46 Yeah, definitely. I'm so glad that we could connect again and, and get this included on air. Um, so I'm just gonna start right off. I wanted to ask, um, so I met you in Minneapolis and now you're in the other Midwest big city of Chicago. How, how and has that influenced your writing in poetry?
Speaker 6 00:24:04 Uh, that's a good question. Um, so I, I've lived in the Midwest my whole life pretty much. So, um, and I think it is true that, uh, it has influenced my work, but I don't really know anything else cuz I, I grew up like three hours from Chicago, uh, in a place called the Quad Cities that's on the Iowa, Illinois border. And, um, then I went to Iowa City for school, Minneapolis, and then I lived in Ohio for grad school, and now I'm here. So it's like states that are all almost connected except for Indiana. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I will say, um, cuz I was thinking about this and it's, it's cool that I'm doing this interview with, uh, a Minneapolis radio show because I do think that was an important part in my writing just because, like, I think that that was when I was out of school and it was kind of a point where I started thinking less about like, writing, um, for school or writing, like for Litera your idea of like literature.
Speaker 6 00:25:10 I feel like it's easy to fall into, um, like writing what you think is the next, like, literary thing. Like what is a novel or what is like the next like, I dunno, Emily Dickinson, like, you kind, you can fall into like these ideas of audience where, um, it's not really real. And I think when I moved to Minneapolis and the people I met, I was like very inspired to start thinking more about just like, what do you want to say just in general instead of like, what is a poem in the context of like, literature?
Speaker 5 00:25:47 Yeah. That's huge in like, I think art and literature incredibly about what, what do people want versus what do I wanna create? So that's really cool. Um, the title of your self-published book is A Message from the Gallery of the Excavated Heads is very intriguing. Do you have any commentary on that?
Speaker 6 00:26:08 Well, I, I think that there's reasons that the title, um, like relates to the, all the poems, but the process that it came out of is this thing that I do sometimes, um, where I'll take pages of a book and I take a highlighter and then I'll draw either X's across the paragraphs or I'll draw lines down the sides of the paragraph. So it's highlighting words that aren't a sentence, but they go next to each other. And then I'll kind of look at what letter or what words are highlighted, and then I'll start to form sentences out of those. Cool. So that's what, that's what's also the center section of the book is, is that process. Um, I do think the title's too long, but I, I don't wanna change it, call it gallery sometimes. But, uh, the reason that I like, uh, the title is because the main part of this book is a bunch of poems that are lyric and they're spoken from the first person I mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 6 00:27:12 And, and I've been writing in this style for a while, not just this book, but sometimes the question that comes up is whether these eyes are like the same person or whether they're separate people. And in the past I've, I've done work with like, texts about reincarnation, so I think that could be related, um, to this as well. But kind of this idea of a gallery of like skull speaking for some reason, that kind of, that image, um, I feel like it kind of adds something to it. I don't know if people will get that when they see the title or if they just look at it and think it's too long of a sentence to even <laugh>.
Speaker 5 00:27:49 Oh, you'd like the Muter Museum. There's a big wall of, um, archive skulls from, it's really interesting. Yeah, it's wild. Uh, so then, so that's kind of how you're pulling words out to use. Um, and I'm gonna ask you more about this concept of I next here. But first I wanna ask you like the basics of when did you, and like what really got you into poetry? Cuz you obviously have been doing it for a while cuz you've made changes in your angles in it. But, um, what was like, kind of the beginning if you have like a little summary?
Speaker 6 00:28:23 Um, I mean, it, it definitely was academic at first because it was when I was taking creative writing classes. Um, because before that I, like, when I was in high school, um, I would, I didn't even really read that much except for like comic books or like magazines. Um, and, uh, my main interest was, uh, I wanted to like play guitar and write music that way mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, which I did that like all the time. But once, uh, I moved out of my hometown, um, I never really met. I think, I don't know, maybe this isn't true for everyone, but for me, I think if you wanna play music and live music, uh, it's hard to find people that you really like connect with, um, in that way. And I think for me, the hardest part was that, um, when I, well growing up and I'm, I'm still like best friends with him, but, um, one of my friends would, he played, he's like a really good drummer, and so we would like spend all this time, um, like in his house, just like writing music mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then once I moved away, um, I didn't really find anybody I wanted to like, connect with him that way mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so it just kind of fizzled out, but then it was kind of replaced with poetry
Speaker 6 00:29:43 Oh, cool. And, um, creative writing in that way. Um, and then since then, I still do it like every day. I don't know why. I don't really know why. Why do you, why were you drawn to what you do? Do you have like a, do you plan things out or
Speaker 5 00:29:57 Right. Well, no, I'm, I'm chronically um, frustrated with making art because I have no patience in planning anything. So I always just make a giant mess first, and then I'm like, oh, okay. I guess that turned out okay. So
Speaker 6 00:30:10 <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:30:11 Planning is hard and collaboration is especially hard sometimes. So I, I completely get like, finding inspiration out of finding yourself doing something alone. Um, so you, you talked about this reference of the i the the individual, um, yourself or like this past self, future self, other self. Um, and I think that's really incredible because you use it a lot in comparison and you use it a lot in like self-reflection and questioning. Uh, do you wanna read the one piece, the ugly cards full of beautiful people that I really loved that had a lot of references to that. Please.
Speaker 6 00:30:48 Yeah. Okay. All right. And I, I have covid that's why I, I was kind of worried about like having to cough when I read or like going out.
Speaker 5 00:30:57 Right. Well, it's okay. It'll be archived in time and that's, it's convenient that we can do this prerecorded. Uh, virtually <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:31:05 All right. So, uh, ugly cars full of beautiful people. The thing about me, I set my goals very low to impress those around me. I go to the gym wearing an inflatable sumo suit the following week. I'm congratulated when I walk in with no suit on. If my vision's too powerful, then cover your eyes. Don't discourage my courage. Life is a battle of wits. I toss a sheet over, stop signs and drive, drive, drive. I go onward into the night like a television through a hotel window, eyes blink, like headlights across the dark of the night. Too late. It's all over.
Speaker 5 00:31:52 Yeah. That's, yeah, this eye and the visuals that you have of like your physical presence in places is really interesting. I don't know if it's because of like the, the visuals. Yeah. I was getting brought to a lot of places in reading your other words, especially like some of the like strip clubs and like the roads at night and stuff like the, that I can see the lights there and this like, I don't know if it's like a mockery or not. Like it is like you're kind of like mocking the culture of it or something like that. And that kind of goes into this next question of mine of there are these awesome references of like, entities in your poetry of kings God heroes and war machines. Um, and then you're like physically comparing like human bodies to these items and like states of mind. Of course. Uh, there's also, um, well I think we have some enough time, so I'll save the next question rather than combining it. But, so there's these comparisons. Um, what are these representing? And you talk about like this eye a lot. And then now there's these others that are separate and they're, they're kinda looming, but they're also like close to home.
Speaker 6 00:33:10 Um, yeah, I, uh, I was thinking about how to answer this and um, I'm not sure if I could like fully describe it. Uh, <laugh>, I mean, cause a lot of these are sort of like, these particular poems are like free rights mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, I will say just in, in terms of like religion, um, I did, like, I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school and, and I think that because of that, I don't think that's ever not gonna be a part of how I think even if I like, don't really do anything about it anymore. Um, so maybe in free rights they come out in a subliminal way. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I also think that, um, a lot of this may maybe we're hinting at this earlier about like, um, like mocking or, or satire. There's a lot of themes of like, arrogance in these poems. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, people have referred to them as like, like satirically, like toxically male. And I think that's true. Um, I also don't think it's like me making fun of that. I think it's cause these things are like still my thoughts. It's like they're, they're like a part of me. It's just, they're like, they're elevated to a point of like, uh, to a point of like absurdity.
Speaker 5 00:34:34 Cool. I like that. Yeah. Because the, it is so big, a lot of these thoughts and sentences and these entities that you're like, wow. Like what, where is that going? But like, in free writing, uh, okay, cool. Yeah. Um, do you wanna read a battle between horses and men?
Speaker 6 00:34:48 Yeah,
Speaker 5 00:34:49 Thanks.
Speaker 6 00:34:53 Okay. So, um, a battle between horses and men. Here comes the hero galloping on aed, except the seed is me disguised as a horse. I'm outside the stable smoking a cigarette. I don't know what to tell you because I wasn't paying attention to what you said. Now I'm riding a horse and the horse is driving a car. We can't stop now because the brakes are worn down to the metal. Now I'm acting a fool for the sake of the plot. I bring a knife to a gun fight and leave with a bunch of new guns. Every cloud in the sky is capable of unimaginable evil.
Speaker 5 00:35:34 <laugh>. Yeah. Like those. Um, so then also these items that you've talked about are places and they're very regular places. They're very media like focused places like parties, the gym, Hollywood strip clubs, hospitals, bars. And so ob so you told me this is in a lot of free writing. So when writing about those as well, are they also just kind of like investigations? Or do you have like a different relationship with places than the titles? Like heroes?
Speaker 6 00:36:09 Um, yeah, I think that, uh, some of the places are places I do go to, um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I've never been to a strip club and I don't really go to the gym to work out <laugh>, but I don't, I don't really know what, yeah. I don't really know why, um, those stories kind of came out except for the same reason of like thinking about being macho or thinking about like, yeah, I, another variable I would say, and it creeps in, but I don't really have specific points where I can point out like, this is this and this is that. It's that sometimes I'll write with the TV onto mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think sometimes those, like, I have a hard time paying attention to TV like any time. So it's never something that I'm super engaged in mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But when you have that in the background where like there's stories or even just like simple images going on, like it's easy to pick up on that. And maybe it creeps into the writing too.
Speaker 5 00:37:09 Totally. I
Speaker 6 00:37:11 Don't remember. Like yeah.
Speaker 5 00:37:12 Oh, they say that in itself with TV always being around is a little metaphorical <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:37:18 Yeah. There is a lot of to that. But now that I think about it, I think, I think the strip club one, um, I was watching a movie called, um, I think it was called Hustlers. I don't know if you ever heard of that, but it's like, it's, it's told from the perspective of the strippers.
Speaker 5 00:37:35 Oh, okay. So it totally like, integrated in a little. Cool. Yeah. Um, do you wanna read, um, the one one that you wanted to read? The, was it blah, blah, blah?
Speaker 6 00:37:45 Yeah. I, no.
Speaker 5 00:37:46 Yeah, I like that one too. I didn't wanna pick out all the ones that were just my favorites. <laugh>,
Speaker 6 00:37:52 I think like, uh, my dad's cousin really liked this one. There's, yeah, there's, I always remember it. Cause truthfully people, I mean, I've like sold more books than I expected, but when people, whenever they tell me which ones they like, it always, I don't forget it because it's kind. Yeah. Like this is like my first book I put out. So it's unusual for me, like <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:38:13 Talk about how people can get their hands on them later here.
Speaker 6 00:38:15 Yeah. Um, alright, blah, blah, blah my darling. Which that, um, that's a reference to the misfit song. I don't know, maybe.
Speaker 5 00:38:25 Oh, great.
Speaker 6 00:38:25 Yeah. <laugh>. All right. Uh, even in paradise, the walls are paper thin. I'm alone in my apartment with the shades drawn. Practicing being out in public, I'm planning out different things I'd like to be seen doing. Don't make me laugh. I can make myself laugh on my own. People should have told me when the fun would be over. Everyone's got multiple college degrees crying on the bleachers with a towel over my head from postgrad to postgrad. My life is a gradual decline. Life does not stop and start again. Life is one fluid motion, but how much fluid does it take to make a flood?
Speaker 5 00:39:08 Yeah. That water reference, there was that other part that you did in a different one that was about throwing a body in the trunk of your car, but the body is a body of water that I like that a lot too. Thanks for reading that. Uh, so it's exciting that outside from talking about this piece individually, you publish this independently via self-made publishing company called The Secret Restaurant Press. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That's very exciting. Um, would you share your experiences in that and kind of if you've had experience in that before, I guess?
Speaker 6 00:39:49 Um, no, this is is the first time I've done anything like this. I had, um, individual poems published, probably like 40 places before this. And then there's, there's three, there's one still coming out, and then there's two other presses that have published individual poems from this book. But, um, as a whole, I had, this is my first time doing it and the truth is, it's, it's particularly because it's poetry. And, um, I had written like two books that I thought were ready to publish in the last two years, and I was sending them out, but I had gotten some rejections and truthfully with the poetry or with the publishing world, the way that, uh, the publishers are like their scheduling books to come out like 20, 25 even sometimes, like, wow. A long way out. It depends on the press mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But, um, I just didn't feel like I needed to wait that long because I feel like in that amount of time, at this rate, I'll have like three other books.
Speaker 6 00:40:48 So I, I just, I just didn't really wanna wait. And, um, also I did kind of become obsessed with the process of, of selling them too, and it just kind of took off. I don't, I don't really know. Um, like, like we were talking about earlier, I, I don't really plan things. It's just like sometimes I'll, I'll get inspired to do something and then I just wanna go through with it. And, um, I think the full story would be there's, I found this notebook of like writing prompts and I saw how it was made. It was the binding was sewed and then I was wondering if I could do it and then I just started working on it and then it just kind of escalated in that way.
Speaker 5 00:41:25 Wow. So then have you, did you sew every single one of these?
Speaker 6 00:41:29 Yeah, at first it was taking me like an hour per book, but now I can get 'em done like a half hour, but I have about a hundred of them and, um, or I, I made a hundred of them and 57 have gone out or maybe 58. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I mean, I can maybe make more, but I'm kind of tired of making more <laugh>.
Speaker 5 00:41:49 Yeah. It sounds like a lot of work and it is like, it's quite a, it's durable, but it has that delicacy to it. Yeah. Where you see the thread, the thread is very much so there and vulnerable. And so that's very, like, that's very precious in poetry to do that. And um, had you done anything like that before or you just like kind of learned how and decided you were gonna do it?
Speaker 6 00:42:10 No, this was the first time I, I did anything. And that's truthfully kind of, uh, like it was a lot of experimenting at first because I was, I was trying, I knew how I was gonna sew the pages together, but then I, the, the thing I had to think about the most was putting the cover on. And so I was trying like glues and tapes and all these things and I didn't like how it worked. And then, um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I decided to just sew the cover on as well. And ultimately I'm, I'm pretty happy with how it looks. Obviously if I make each one by hand, they're not gonna be all the exact same. But like, um, I, I definitely wouldn't send one out that I thought looked bad. And then the cute, the cute sign note is that I was trying to figure out how to sew the cover on, I was trying all these different strings and my girlfriend had these friendship bracelets. Yeah. And, uh, so I started using the string for that. So the, the covers tied on with a friendship bracelet, <laugh>.
Speaker 5 00:43:08 I see. That's nice though, is like a kind of a creative and collaborative thing. Yeah. Um, that's really cool. And so like each one of these books is unique in its own physical way and it's also unique because it's self-published and it's, you made this, it's very personal. Um, so you said you've sent some out, but they're technically is, they're not technically released for sale yet. Is that the case? They they can get 'em on pre-order at this point?
Speaker 6 00:43:39 Well, that's how I set it up essentially because I was worried about getting, um, when I, when I set up the pre-order, I was still probably taking longer to make 'em mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, um, I didn't know how many orders I was gonna get and so I, at this point I'm just sending them out whenever I get the order. Mm. It was partially just for my own reason cuz I didn't want to get like 50 orders and then not send them out for like a month. Totally. If it took forever. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:44:06 Yeah. That's a lot of pressure <laugh>. Yeah. Um, how can folks order if they're interested in getting one? I know you have a website, right?
Speaker 6 00:44:16 Yeah, it's all through the website right now. Um, so it's just, my name is nate hoyle.com, which is N a t E H O I l.com. And there you can also find there's an interview, a written interview, and then a excerpt of the book on this press called Blackstone Whitestone. And then there's another excerpt from one called Expat. And on top of that there's probably like 30 more, 30 more poems that you can read that are not included in the book. Yeah. So if you just wanted to read something,
Speaker 5 00:44:48 You sent me this tiny kind of alternatively printed poetry piece, the Returning to earth with additional
Speaker 6 00:44:56 Tools. Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 00:44:57 Between the highway publishing, like that's pretty funky. It's like on this long, long strip of paper.
Speaker 6 00:45:03 Yeah. It's a receipt paper. This this guy, uh, his name's Alex and he's, he's doing a pretty cool thing, um, cuz he is, he's printing books on receipt paper and then the proceeds half of it go to food insecurity in North Carolina. Wow. Um, which I don't know if that was his intention, but my interpretation's like receipts and like food kinda go together
Speaker 5 00:45:25 And that's the, um, what does it say beneath the highway?
Speaker 6 00:45:29 Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 00:45:30 Published.
Speaker 6 00:45:30 It's all one word Beneath or between the highway.
Speaker 5 00:45:33 Oh, between, yeah.
Speaker 6 00:45:34 Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:45:35 Cool. Yeah. I love it. The texture. I was like, oh, this is like receipt paper <laugh>. Nice. I love it. So Nate hoyle.com is where folks can go if they wanna get one for themselves or learn more. Um, we have like four minutes left. You wanna read one more piece and then I can, um, move us along?
Speaker 6 00:45:56 Yeah, that sounds good. I'll do that last one. Uh, so this one's called a light ringing and nothing else.
Speaker 5 00:46:04 Mm-hmm.
Speaker 6 00:46:04 <affirmative>, the government has robotic replicas of every politician stored in an underground warehouse elsewhere in the wilderness. I mistake the forest for a beautiful cage. It's true. I am a scoundrel and you are a scientist. I wasn't made in the lab but I was modified in several research facilities across the United States. I see myself like I see a stranger. It's good to see that. I'm so charming when you meet me. I have insider knowledge that scientists have discovered a new alphabet where all 26 letters are evil. This is the dawn of the future of man for a while. Nothing changes because everyone goes to sleep.
Speaker 5 00:46:49 Yeah. I love that one. I love that <laugh>. Um, that's so awesome and this has been so awesome. Uh, thank you so much Nate Hoyle, uh, for reading parts of your book and sharing information about a message from the gallery of the excavated heads. Um, and I'm sure we will continue to talk further and it's exciting to think of more things and you keeping up with sewing <laugh>. Um, going to transition us out. Um, once again, this is Molly Ray on K F A I radio, right on radio programming. And up next we have this,
Speaker 8 00:49:13 You are listening to right on radio on k a i 90.3 FM and live on the
[email protected]. I'm Annie. I'd like to thank our special guest tonight, Robert Cray and Nate Hoyle and congrats to Molly Ray on her first interview and all of our Woo and all of our listeners. Without your supported donations, k I would not be possible. You can find out more news and info about radio right on radio
[email protected] slash right on radio and you can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. Now stay tuned for Democracy Now election coverage cuz this is kfi. I, we do democracy now in this house.
