Author Interview: Discussing Sci-Fi and Fantasy with Jonathan Yanez

Okay, so it looks like we are live. Um, I don't know if anybody's here yet because we just started, so we'll see. Um, but for those that are trickling in, hi, I'm Eric from Break Even Books. You guys probably know me because if you are here, you're on my channel. And today I am welcoming author Jonathan Yanez, and so I'll let you introduce yourself.

Hey everyone, first of all, I want to say thank you, Eric. Thank you for allowing me to be here just to hang out, make a new friend, and talk about what we already love, all things books. So yeah, I'm a science fiction fantasy author. I've been writing for about 11 years now. Probably made all the mistakes in the book possible the first 5 years. And then just more and more doors keep on opening to the point where we have our own TV show now, to an opportunity to write comic books. To, um, being on— yeah, to being on your show, which is awesome in its own right. So, uh, yeah, so just— I was a little engine that could, just never gave up, kept on going.

Right on, that's awesome. Yeah, sci-fi and fantasy are like two of my favorite genres, so I was very excited to meet with you and like just discuss all the books that you created. I actually didn't know that you had work with comic books as well, which is very cool. When you say you worked with comic books, are you mainly just like the writing part of it or do you have other teams that do like the comic book art? Like, how does that work?

Yeah, so we were kind of touched on this a little bit before we went live, how we like to say yes. We say yes to a lot of different opportunities that come our way. So I want to do it all. I feel like I get so excited just like you. Like, I love everything science fiction fantasy. So when the opportunity came to write comic books, um, there was a producer who came with like kind of like, you know how everybody says like, oh, I have an idea for a book? So he came to me with like the idea for a comic. So I kind of helped him flesh out the storyline with the characters, and then I went and taught myself how to write comic books because it's a completely different format than writing like a novel or a script. So I am the writer on that series, but I'm also going to help produce it as well, so help, you know, share it with our audience and our platform when it comes out. But, uh, it's being published by Outland Entertainment. They're the publishers actually working with the team that's doing the art for the book.

Right on, that's awesome. Very cool. Um, also, for those of you that are just trickling in, we will be having a giveaway at the end of this live stream, and the giveaway will be for the trilogy Guardians Galactic Guardians.

Yes.

And, um, also a t-shirt, but this will also only be US only. So if you are US-based, you can enter the giveaway. If not, um, sorry, just due to shipping constraints, like, that's what we have to do. But yeah, and I'll explain how to enter it when we get to that point.

And I'll explain for Eric too, I was the one that said, hey, maybe we should just keep the shipping to the US in this one. And I'll explain why to everybody. We, uh, just did a contest a month ago or maybe 2 months ago where we picked a winner who lived in Australia. So we're like, cool, no problem. Went to the post office to go ship the books and it was somewhere in like the $60 to $70 range just to send the books shipped. So everybody who's overseas, we love you, we appreciate you. Thank you for being here. And if you did want to enter some sort of giveaway, we will figure that out. I promise we'll figure it— we'll figure out an effective way to be able to ship overseas.

Yeah, or could do like an ebook giveaway as well. Yes, a potential as well.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you— I don't know if, uh, it's okay to throw up a Hail Mary, but we could always do like, if you're overseas and would like to enter the giveaway, I would love to send you those first 3 ebooks.

Okay, yeah, we can do that if everybody wants to do that. And then, yeah, so just We'll do the giveaway for everybody and then like if you are overseas, let us know once we have the giveaway chosen and or giveaway winner chosen. And if you are overseas, then we'll do ebooks.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Sorry to throw that up at the last minute. It just occurred to me right now.

No, it's totally fine. It just popped into my head too as we were like talking. So, okay. Yeah. So I have a list of questions here for you and also anybody in the chat, if you wanna ask Jonathan any questions, by all means, put your questions in the chat and we will highlight them so he can answer them for you. So my first question, I like to start it off kind of just generalized. I'm assuming that you are also a reader if you are an author.

Yes.

So I was wondering, do you have a specific book that you are currently reading in the year of 2023 or a book that's coming out that you are super excited about?

I just finished reading All Systems Red by Martha Wells.

Yes.

I was like, it was a great book. Don't get me wrong. I was just like, I had heard so many good things about the book and I didn't realize how short it was. That's just on me. It was my own perception. I just thought I was going to like, because everybody was just like nonstop, so good, so good, so good. So I thought I was going to be jumping into like some long weaving tale of the expanding universe. And when I found out it was like, you know, a shorter book, it kind of threw me off. And I was so— I almost think that maybe that's why it made it so much better too, because I feel like, um, because I expected her to be able to have to tell a story like long form in a longer book, but she was able to do it in a much smaller book but still hit all the tropes and hit all the emotions and hit you in the feels and make you laugh and build a suspense in a shorter story. I feel like it even made it better.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of like the Murderbot series. I love those books. I've only read the first 3, I believe, but I feel like they just keep getting better and better as you go through them. The first one was definitely one that like grabbed my attention, and as well as you, like, I heard so much about it. So many people were like just saying how awesome the series was, but when I actually picked it up and read it, like, I can wholeheartedly agree. I do think that it was just such a fun time and it was so comical. Like the way that you, the way that you can like identify with this robot and just feel similarities. You're just like, okay, this is hilarious.

Yeah, she did. Yeah, she did such a good job. Just like, uh, like what you said, like humanizing the robot. Like you could relate to it. Like, okay, like, yeah. And it almost felt like at some points I'm like, should I be able to relate this closely to a robot? Like, you know, it's not even a human being, but she did such a good job.

I know. Yeah, I felt that way too. I was like, it's kind of weird that I'm feeling relatable to a robot.

Yes.

But yeah. Um, okay. So another fun question I like to ask is, what is your favorite book friendship, if you have one?

Yeah, that's such a good question too. When I was read— you, you had sent some of the questions ahead of time and I got to put some time and effort into it, and I almost didn't want to say this one because it sounds a little bit cliché because everybody knows it, but I mean, it's hard for me to get away from Sam and Frodo. Like, that was the first thing that popped into my mind, and I didn't want to say it because I feel like that's maybe like a typical answer or like, and maybe like an easy out. But as I was continuing to think about the question, I was like, I just, it just kept on coming to mind, just, um, like the brotherhood that they shared. And like, when I'm writing books, I try to explain kind of like one warrior, one person is great on their own, but if you have two people looking out for you or three people, and like everybody's looking out for each other and watching each other's backs, it's so much more powerful than one person trying to do it by themselves.

Yeah, absolutely. My favorite— have you read Red Rising?

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. So my favorite would probably be Darrow and Severo. Yeah, they kind of have that same bond, but like they gained that bond by like forces that brought them together. Like they never would have met otherwise if certain things didn't happen for them to be in the same place at the same time, um, which I can't say because I don't want to give anything away for anybody that would want to read the series. But yeah, it's kind of like the same thing where they form that bond and then they have this, like, well, eventually the wolf, like, the howlers. So that, like, forms. And yeah, I'm, like, trying to explain it without giving anything away. I'm really doing a bad job of it.

Um, so I know what you meant.

Yeah, before I get further, but yeah, like, that would be my favorite. Um, that also touches on something else though. Like, I, I see that on your website you refer to people as, like, joining the pack, and, like, you have t-shirts with, like, a wolf symbol on it.

So what's that all about?

Yeah, that one right there.

Yeah, here's our, uh, pack symbol. So early on, like, okay, this is— this might get a little far out there for you, Eric, but here we go. We're gonna dive into the rabbit hole. I don't feel like I'm doing this by myself. Like, if I was just an author and there was nobody out there who would be willing to support me, like, I would not be able to do this for a living. I wouldn't be able to support my 2 children or my wife at home, right? There'd be no way. So I almost feel like very little of my author career is actually me, and it's more about the community that has grown up around us and to support us. So we decided to— I really like dogs and wolves. So early on we're thinking like, what do we call ourselves? Like the Wolf Pack, the Pack? Because I wanted that community idea that we're all in this together. And, uh, so we decided on the pack, and then my wife went ahead and, uh, designed the logo for us. So now we have it like on shirts and hats, and there's people from all over the world who are part of this community. And even just like in, in our Facebook group where we have like thousands and thousands of people there like reading our books and supporting us, they're able to come and talk to one another, not just about books, but like if somebody is going through a hard time in life, they're struggling with whatever it might be, like bullying or depression, or they just don't feel in having a hard day, um, they feel comfortable enough sharing with the pack. And it's so amazing to see all these people from all different walks of life, right? We have people from like the Philippines, we have people from Canada, we have people from Africa, like all helping to, um, support one of our pack members who might be down. Kind of like the Howlers, right? Like they're a group together moving towards the same direction and they have each other's back no matter what happens.

That's honestly really beautiful to hear that a community has been created through this thing. That's really cool.

Thanks.

Yeah. Okay, before we do more questions, I'm just going to pop in some of the people that are chatting here. So we have Trucker Charlie saying hi, everybody. Sick Puppies waving. Very cute puppy dog. Um, Amy said, I'm not overseas, but I would love to win ebooks also. Okay, so yeah, for the giveaway, like, we'll give the option. So whoever's the winner, we'll give the option, like, if you are in the US, to do either paperback or ebook. Uh, Trucker D wants to know, what is your favorite book or series you have written so far?

Let's see, Charlie, what's my favorite book or series I've written so far? You know, I have this thing where if I'm not, if what I'm writing currently isn't my favorite thing that I've ever written, then why am I writing it in the first place? Right? If I'm not so excited about what I'm writing currently, I feel like that will come out on the other side when somebody's reading it. Like, oh, maybe he's just like phoning it in. Or, you know, this is just kind of like, he wasn't really focused. It's not his best work. So I only take on projects that I'm really excited about. So I would have to say, even though it sounds kind of cliché, like the book that I'm working on now is my favorite, but that will change with my next book. 'Cause then as soon as that book's finished, my next book will be my favorite that I'm so excited about.

Well, I mean, that's really good though, that like you have that much passion going into each one. So it's, it's nice to hear that it's not like you're not just being forced to write more and more, like you're actually enjoying what you're doing and you're, you're very passionate about it. That's awesome.

No, it was fun. Charlie is actually one of our members of the pack. So he's a truck driver. And in Galactic Guardians, no spoilers, but Galactic Guardians, the main character is a truck driver. So we have a ton of different drivers who are part of our pack. So I thought to myself, because they usually listen to audiobooks, they read too at night, like when they're pulled over, but they listen to a lot of audiobooks. So I was kind of thinking like, how can I honor them and show how much we appreciate them for like all the hours on the road that they take? To take our supplies. Because, I mean, remember during the pandemic when the supply chain— I don't know if it was ever, like, broken broken, but it was, like, in jeopardy. And all these truck drivers were continuing to work through the pandemic so people can get supplies. So I was kind of thinking, like, how could I say thank you to them? So the main character in Galactic Guardians, his name is Max Tycho. He was a truck driver before he was taken.

Nice. I love hearing, like, these little bits about, like, how you take inspiration from real life and add it into your books. Like, that's— it's cool. It's always really interesting to hear, like, how authors utilize events in their life and put it into, like, their fictional worlds and stuff. It's just— it's fascinating to me. Um, so you touched a little bit on the book that you're currently working on. Are we able to know anything about this new book coming?

Yeah, for sure. So I have, um, book 6 in the Galactic Guardians series that I'm working on now. And, um, it's hard. I'm trying to think of what I could say about book 6 that would let people know who haven't read book 1 but also not give anything away for people who are already through book 5. So I guess, um, in book 6, I really enjoy characters developing. And kind of like what you were saying with Red Rising, it's almost like a little bit of like that base-building trope, as like when he first starts out like he doesn't really have anybody to have his back. But then slowly he starts making friends and connections and he has more assets. And then the Howlers come, right? He has— he starts building his community. So in book 6, we'll see Max Tycho continue to build. Like, right, first you're just a guy, now he has a ship, now he has a crew. And I wonder if he continues to grow, if maybe, you know, in the future— hint, hint— there might be like an army that he starts to build. So we'll see.

Very cool. Very cool. Um, okay, so I think Drew was answering this for the friendship question. Johnny and Evan.

Oh yeah, Drew. Drew's a friend too. So, uh, Drew actually came out every year. We hold a meetup for our community. We call it a pack meetup. So everybody from all over flies in and we descend on Las Vegas for a few days. We do things like axe throwing, when we filmed our pilot for our TV show, we did a showing for them, like a private showing just for them to be able to see the TV show and all kinds of stuff. And Drew was able to come out one year. So he's talking about— I have another series called Hunters for Hire, which basically is— have you ever watched Friends?

Yep.

Okay, so imagine the character Joey from Friends struggling, right? Like, good-hearted guy, but maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed. Uh, very— right, right. Loyal, loving, struggling model in LA. He finds out that monsters are real and that the government pays bounties on these monsters. So as he's struggling through trying to get jobs, you know, casting calls, uh, for like urinary tract infections and all that kind of stuff, because that's the only thing that he can get as he's trying out for all these casting calls, at night he's also monster hunting to try to pay the bills.

Very cool. That is something I would not have expected as like a twist, but like, I like it. That's fun. Uh, yeah, so it looks like you have a lot of people from the pack here. So Leanne, the pack is an amazing group of people. We got Drew saying the pack has your back. Charlie, the pack is great. Uh, Amy, super hi everyone. Uh, Sick Puppy wants to know, will you ever revisit the Archangels?

Yeah, so I wrote a series called The Archangel Wars, and there's 5 books in that series, And it's basically like angels and demons can't fight on Earth anymore. There's a great war. They can't— they're not allowed to fight anymore, but they're able to recruit humans to their side, and the humans fight for them, kind of like in a proxy war. And the humans are given different abilities. So there's 5 books in that series. And I do want to go back. I think it would be fun to write a book 6 and 7 and continue on. The, uh, issue— it's a good problem to have. I say the problem we have right now— it's not a problem, it's a good problem. The, uh, thing that's going on right now is, uh, we're getting deeper, deeper into film. So like, we just raised funding for our first movie because we did a TV show, but now we got funding for our first movie. So it's kind of like, how much time do I have to continue to write Galactic Guardians and then also now to write the scripts for the TV shows and the movies and to have all the meetings with like the producers and actors and directors and still continue to write. So yeah, like you, Eric, like we were talking before, I want to do it all. I want to say yes to everything. I want to do it all.

All those projects are piling up.

Yes. Yeah.

Well, don't let it get you too bogged down.

No, for sure. I want to say thank you everybody too for— you showed all those people are coming, like Charlie and Leanne. Uh, thank you everybody for coming and spending your time with us. Like, I know it's easy to say that Eric and I don't take it lightly, but we really appreciate your support. Like, we're able to do what we love and we enjoy because of people like you.

Absolutely. Yeah, I agree with everything that Jonathan just said. Um, okay, Lady Care said hello guys. Kaylee Bird, um, Mr. Roro, hi everybody. Hey Roro. And Paige said hi Jonathan.

Hey everyone.

Okay, so that's the messages. Let me get back to my questions I have for you. Okay, so I like, when I was looking through your site, I looked through all the books and like all your different series, but how many books have you written total? I didn't count them all. There was a lot of them, so I was very impressed.

Thank you. Um, I mean, I've been doing it full-time for 11 years and I don't believe in writer's block. Like there's a lot of writers that say like, oh, I can't write, you know, writer's block, whatever. And that's not to say it's not hard, Don't get me wrong, it is difficult. There are days when the words just don't come and I just tell myself mentally, no matter what it takes, like you're gonna sit in this chair with your fingers on the keyboard and you're gonna just make yourself sit here until those words come. So I've just kind of taken that approach. Like, you know, like if writer's block exists, then how come like teacher's block doesn't exist or plumber's block? You know, they wake up and they just don't feel inspired so they don't go to work. So I've kind of taken that approach. So over the last 11 years I've just written. Um, so I have— I haven't counted myself, but I feel like somebody counted recently and we were in the 70s. 70-some novels in 11 years. Yeah.

Yeah. Because I was like, when I was looking through all the different series, I was like, a lot of these are like 3+ books in each one. Like, this is a lot.

Yeah, it's been fun. It's been fun. Like, are you familiar with Joseph Campbell?

No, I don't think so.

He wrote a book called The Hero's Journey, and it kind of like hits on the different tropes as we as writers like would progress through a natural story. So like Red Rising would be a great example of the hero's journey as we see our hero go through certain tropes to become like, you know, at the very end who he is. So Joseph Campbell wrote a book, and in that book, The Hero's Journey, he says The cave which you fear to enter the most holds the treasure that you seek. And I've really thought about that lately, right? Like, where you're— what you're afraid to do or where you're afraid to go, that's probably where you need to go, out of your comfort zone and do more of these things. So, uh, as I was writing early on, that was comfortable for me. It's comfortable for me to wake up and walk, you know, down the hall to my office and just sit down and write. That's easy and comfortable. What's not easy and comfortable is, uh, going out and being amongst, uh, people at like film festival events or out meeting like directors and producers and stuff like that. So early on, I was just writing. That's why I was able to crank so much out. Like, anytime I was asked to be like on a panel or a speaking event, I'd be like, no thank you, no, actually I'm working on my next book. And that was easy and comfortable for me. But now, over the last like 2 years, as we're getting into film, I see how important it is for me to go into the cave, which I fear the most. For me, that's like going out and being amongst, you know, thousands and thousands of people. But we've seen the results and we've seen the growth in our community just as we start doing that. So now I think I'm going to start ramping down, maybe just do like 4 books a year instead of what I was doing before, but being able to put myself out there and out of my comfort zone.

And even so, 4 books a year is still awesome. Like, that is, that is quite the feat. Like, some people take years on its own just to write one book. So like, that's still very impressive.

Thank you. No, I appreciate it. I tell, uh, I tell everybody like, don't give me too much credit. Um, we have 2 kids and they like to eat at the same time every day. Those darn kids, every day they want to eat. So I have to make sure that I'm always like, you know, working and producing, that I always have a project that's like in the can that's going to be coming out soon. That way I can provide for my family.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's like, you kind of touched on it a bit. Networking and marketing is like a skill in itself. So to be able to go out of your comfort zone and do those things is, is hard, but like it's necessary in today's world. It's definitely necessary.

Yes. Like, would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?

I would like to consider myself a little bit of both. Okay. I, in certain circumstances, I'm very extroverted, but then in other circumstances, I just want to kind of like be to myself, sit with a book, like in solitude. I really, I have a favorite spot, which is very cheesy cuz it's like attached to my house, but I like to sit out on our back deck when it's like a nice sunny day and just be by myself and just read and just have a drink, sit there. It's very peaceful. There's lots of like animals that are around there. Like today I was sitting out there reading before we jumped on to do this interview and like a little bunny rabbit just like hopped by in my backyard and I was just like, cool. So I like, I like my own like solitude time, but I also can be extroverted depending on the occasion or like circumstance. I would say.

Gotcha. Yeah, so I'm kind of like with you where I can extrovert with the best of them, but I— it drains me. It like drains my battery, right? So then I need to like recharge that battery by being on my own. So it's kind of like— it's like, I guess it's just life, right? Like in life, so much is about balance. So it's just that balancing act.

Absolutely. Uh, okay, we got a couple more comments and then I'll jump over to more questions. Uh, so Leanne said, Jonathan has been amazing with his ability to balance what he's doing and still interact with us readers. Makes him my favorite author. That's, that's very nice to hear.

Thank you.

Uh, Charlie said, you're welcome, just out here trucking. Nice. Uh, okay, so Amy has a question for you. When you're stuck, do you work on another project or write imaginary letters to people?

So I wish I could take— that's a good question, first of all, and I wish I could take credit for this, but Stephen King actually taught me. So he has a process where if, um, he doesn't know what he's going to write the next day or he feels like he's stuck, he goes to sleep thinking about what he will write, like the next scene or what needs to happen next in his book. And your subconscious actually works on it for you. So I've been using that at nighttime when I go to bed, like close my eyes and I'm thinking like, okay, the next scene, what's going to happen, what am I going to write the next day? And I'll wake up in the morning, like I don't think it's ever not worked. So I'll say 9 times out of 10 because I'm sure it has not worked before and I just can't remember.. But most of the time you wake up and your subconscious has worked on it for you overnight. So you're able to put your fingers on the keyboard and you know what scene, like what's gonna happen next.

Mm-hmm. That's very interesting. I find this sounds kind of weird, but I find that the, like the best spot for me to do like any intense thinking is when I'm standing in the shower because like you don't have anything else to focus on, right? You're just standing there under the hot water and I don't know why, but just For some reason, that's the one place that like I can think about everything important, or if I need to like come up with something or some sort of idea or something like that, that's just my idea generating spot for some reason.

Yeah, no, I, I've heard that too. And I feel like, um, I wonder if it has something to do, cuz I can also do it at the gym. Like if I'm exercising and my body has like one thing to do, maybe it like frees up our mind somehow to go ahead and think deeper on a deeper level. But I feel like it's a similar idea. Kind of like in the shower or at the gym, like kind of like, uh, you know, just stand underneath the hot water or you're just like, you know, sitting there and like stretching. And while your body's occupied doing something, it helps. It, it gives your mind freedom, maybe. Yeah, to think about that.

Yeah. Okay. Uh, Renee said thank you for indulging us, Jonathan, and thank you for coming. I love that quote from Joseph Campbell.

Yes, I think about it a lot. I think about, um, there's so much growth on the other side of fear. Like, um, for me, I'm not afraid of talking to people, but I would much rather just be behind my computer writing a story, talking to the characters in my head, than talking to like, uh, you know, thousands, hundreds or thousands of people. So real quick story on just like, if I can encourage people that there's great things waiting for you on the other side of fear, like putting yourself in the position that might be uncomfortable, but that you can grow and learn something. So real quick, I was asked to be on a panel at WonderCon in Anaheim. And 2 years ago, I would have said no, like, no, you know, I'm busy working on my next book. And that wouldn't have been a lie. I would have been working on my next book. But it would have been the easy answer for me to be like, hey, I'm not going to be able to make it.. But now that I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and going to more like in-person events and doing more talks, I said yes. So I went to WonderCon and on the panel with me at WonderCon was a gentleman named Paul Levine. Eric, have you ever heard of Jack Kirby?

Absolutely.

So, yeah. So Jack Kirby has passed away now. For anybody who may not know, he was the creator of like everything from like Black Panther to the Hulk. To Iron Man, Captain America. He worked like hand in hand with Stan Lee in the early, early days of Marvel. So even though Jack Kirby's passed away, his lawyer, who still handles his estate to this day, was on the panel with me. And afterwards we got to talking and he told me to give him a call. So I have his number and I gave him a call and we talked and he'd be willing to help us in the film world as we start navigating larger and larger projects. So isn't that crazy? So like, if I hadn't—

if I had—

yeah, if I just said like, no, you know what, I'm not going to be able to do this panel, I'm just going to stay in my little house, you know, right on my little keyboard, the next story— yeah, I wouldn't have been able to be on the panel. I wouldn't have been able to meet him and now work with him. So I can't— it's crazy to think that the person who represents like, you know, Black Panther, like Jack Kirby's estate, the person who represents that estate is willing to work with us on our next film. That's just— that's—

it just like blows my mind. Yeah, that's really cool. Comics have been like a huge influence for me. They're kind of— I would probably say that comics were the thing that got me into reading, and my cousin was a big impact in that sense because they're the one that gave me all their hand-me-down comic books after they finished them. I would just get boxes and boxes of like these old single-issue comic books They didn't even have to be in order. Like, they were all different ones, and I would just read those and read those and read those. And that was like my entire childhood, just grabbing different comic books from the box and reading them. And then every time I would see my cousin, they would always bring me more. So they kind of like fed that obsession that I had with comic books. And then that turned into like reading actual like big novels. And yeah, I would say they kind of like started my love for reading and— I mean, I'm still like a huge superhero nerd. I have— well, I'm literally wearing like an Iron Man t-shirt right now.

Oh, I didn't see it.

I didn't see it. Hiding behind my sweater. But yeah, no, I'm still like a huge comic book nerd. So like you saying Jack Kirby was like, holy crap, dude.

It was, it was so crazy. Like, like, I'm still so grateful the panel at WonderCon did so well. They asked us to come to Comic-Con as a panelist, like having our own panel at Comic-Con. I've never been before, but that's like the holy grail for, uh, people who love comic books, right? So in July, we're going to San Diego, we're going to Comic-Con to be on the panel, and we'll have a booth there and stuff. And like, none of that would have happened if I wasn't— if I didn't go into the cave that I feared to enter the most.

Yeah, no, Comic-Con is a great opportunity to like get yourself out there too, because there's so many different people at Comic-Con of like different backgrounds, and they're all coming to just like share their love of all things geeky. And it's, it's, it's such a fun time. I've been to the Comic-Con in Canada here. It's, uh, it was held in Ottawa, which is like our capital. And so like I went to that one, but I haven't been to anything outside of that Comic-Con. But that one in itself was just so cool. And I think my favorite part of it was they had a section called like the Artist Alley, which is like actual comic book artists, and they all have like this giant row that you can just walk down and like chat with all the different artists of all the different comic books you love. And it was just, it was such a cool place.

So fun. So, you know, so all those memories that you have, Eric, and just like the enjoyment that you have, that's what I want to create with our pack. I want to create just a group of like-minded people. Like, it doesn't matter where you're from or like, you know, what you do or anything like that, but we can share a love for stories and characters.

Which is amazing. Like, I'm— that's such a great thing to like aspire to have. Okay. Paige says, do you write your chapters in order or do you just write a scene and place it later?

Usually it's easier for me if I write in order. My mind thinks very like chronologically. So, what will happen though is I'll be writing and I'll be like, oh, I should have added this or hinted at this earlier on in the book. So what I'll do is I'll just kind of like make a quick note in my notebook and I'll finish writing the book and then I'll look at my notebook like, okay, I wanted to add this scene or I wanted to hint at this earlier. And then I'll go back as I do my editing passes and go add in kind of like those little Easter eggs or those hints. Of kind of like what's coming on later.

Right, right on. Trunker said, always hear you do your best thinking in the bathroom. Yeah. Emmy said, you mentioned that whichever book you're currently writing is your favorite. Do you have a favorite character you've written?

Oh man, that's such a hard question too, because I love so many of them. Is it a weird thing? I'm almost thinking of them like people as I think of the characters I wrote. I'm like, oh man, is so-and-so going to get mad at me? Because then so-and-so is like my favorite character. Because yeah, in my mind I've spent so much time with these characters over and over again. Oh, okay, I'll give you an answer, but the other characters might get mad. Daniel Hunt is the main character in my Forsaken Mercenary series. And Eric, you'll like this. My wife always teases me that no matter what book I'm writing, whether it's science fiction or fantasy, that basically I always write superheroes. Just like everybody has powers, just like whether they're explained by like magic or like in sci-fi if they were like, you know, have like upgrades or something like that, which is like, oh, you're right, it's superheroes. So, uh, in that series, he's basically like a Jason Bourne meets Wolverine. So his name is Daniel Hunt. He, uh, opening up, he doesn't have memory, but he knows— he knows how to fight for some reason really well, and he heals faster than he should. And it takes place on the moon, so it's like the near future, like, you know, 100 years from now. Yeah. And it slowly unravels, like people from his past, kind of like Jason Bourne, start meeting him like, hey, we know who you are, do you know who you are? And then he has to struggle with, does he want to go back to be kind of like this killing machine, or is there a better way for him? So Daniel Hunt probably has like the number one spot.

Right on. So it's funny that you say you always write superheroes. Maybe another, or a new challenge, is that you write a supervillain storyline.

Yes, that would be cool. Who's your favorite supervillain?

Oh, that's a tough question because I, I don't know, I feel like I resonate more with the villains. Um, whenever I'm reading like a book, like if somebody is slightly morally gray, I'm just like, I'm— I know I'm gonna like you the most. So yeah, that's a really hard question to answer on the spot.

I'll give you a second to think about it. I'll tell you.

Yeah, I'll like— I'll keep thinking about it as we go and I'll see if I come up with one.

Um, so much like you, like, uh, early memories, I can remember going to the library when I was small and then just checking out like all the books I could, all the comic books. Like, I remember at our library growing up they would have like a rack, like one of those rotating racks, and it was just full of comic books. And I must have read all those comic books probably multiple times, uh, because it wasn't like a massive selection, but they had a few. Um, and early on I fell in love with the X-Men, and then I understood where Magneto was coming from. I under— like, he was looking out for the mutants, like, right? Like, you can almost justify it a little bit in your mind, for better or for worse, like what he was doing. Like, I understand he's trying to look out for the— for this minority, for these people who are being seen, um, you know, like put down or like thrown to the side. Yeah. So, uh, Magneto I feel like will always be my favorite, um, my favorite character. Plus his power was so cool, how he could just, you know, I mean, there's metal in everything. He could pull metal out of somebody's body to kill them. Like, he could do so much of it.

Yeah, I know. I— Magneto was one that like literally popped into my head immediately when you asked that question. Yeah, he's definitely one of the top ones up there. I also, on the same lines of X-Men, like I would say, I don't know if people would agree with me, but like the Dark Phoenix, because she's kind of like, she is a villain, but she's also part of a hero. So like I love that internal conflict that we have with Jean Grey and what she's like dealing with to kind of like force that side of her down, but also like release it at the same time. Like I found that a very interesting plotline that they've taken and done many different things with and tried it many different times. Like, I liked that. I will say the movies weren't amazing. Yeah, for that plotline, but I still really enjoyed like the Dark Phoenix as a villain. Okay, Amy said, you still have the comic books, probably worth money. I do somewhere. I'd have to go find them because there's boxes and boxes of comic books all over the place. So yeah, I'm sure some of them might be worth some. I'd have to actually like do my research and check, but yeah. So Leanne was also saying Daniel Hunt to your question for the godmother.

So, uh, in, um, Hunters for Hire, there's 6 books and one of them is titled Godmothered. I think Godmothered is book 4, I think. And, uh, in there I named— so basically there's a Godmother Academy in Georgia. So all the godmothers are trained there at this academy, and once they graduate, they go out to go, you know, do good across the world. So one of the godmothers is named Leanne. I named it after her. And then, uh, she came to one of our in-person pack meets up too, and she was wearing a shirt, Godmother. And I think she even had like a tiara that she was wearing.

That's awesome. She also has verified.

It's number 4.

Yes, number 4. That's awesome. Yeah, that was really cool. Uh, oh, Lady Care said Lex Luthor and the Joker are great villains. Yeah, the Joker was the other one that popped into my head, but I feel like everybody says the Joker. It's just they're like, they're such a complex villain that, yeah, I don't know, it's just, it definitely pops out as one of the ones that like I would, I would think are a top contender for me.

Yeah, those characters, like the crazier characters, are always fun to write because I feel like, um, you could say or make them do anything, but as long as the, uh, reader— no, the audience knows you establish that they're crazy, then it makes sense for their character, right? Like, you don't have to bring sanity to what they're doing.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, Eric, real quick before we start, I have some— I have a story to tell you that you'll appreciate. So, uh, I was at WonderCon, and do you know who Larry Houston is? It sounds familiar. So, uh, I met him. He was there with his booth, and I tried not to freak out. So one thing I've learned about meeting, um, people who are like your idols is like, uh, I don't want to go present myself as like only a fan. I want to present myself as like a mutual or like a fellow creator. That way when I asked them, like, you know, I could talk to them kind of like on level, like, hey, what would be your advice to me now as I'm going into film, as opposed to somebody who's just like freaking out, wants to take pictures with them, you know, stuff like that. So Larry Houston was the, uh, producer-director for the original X-Men series, like the cartoon X-Men. That was all him. He did it for— he did it, it was him. He did it for 4 years. He was there signing autographs with everybody. And then after 4 years he left. He also did like the cartoon Transformers, like way back in the day, the Ninja Turtles back in the day. And there was also a Fantastic Four cartoon. He did the second season of that.

Yeah, I watched that as well.

Yeah, yeah, man, that's— that was like my childhood. I could remember waking up, uh, in the mornings and hearing the X-Men. Yeah, I was just gonna say, when you said it, I can hear it in my head right Yeah, man, he was there and he was signing autographs and I was like trying not to freak out. So I was like explaining to him like, hey, I was like, hey, you know, this is what we're doing with our film project. Did you have any advice? You know what he tells me, Eric? I showed him our trailer, what we're doing. He's like, this looks amazing. He's like, I would love to be involved. He's like, I'm actually trying to— I want to learn more about like the live action, like producing and filmmaking. As opposed to just the animation. And I was like, yeah, Larry, I'm sure we could find a spot for you. And inside, inside, I'm like freaking out. Like, this guy was doing X-Men, you know, when I was, when I was like still eating like Froot Loops in my diapers. I don't know, it's so crazy.

That would be so hard to like not freak out in that moment.

Yes, because I've made that— not that it's a mistake, but I mean, I feel like when you come up to somebody like that, they don't know who you are. So whatever you tell them, however you start the conversation in their mind, then they kind of like, uh, not that it's a bad thing, but they're trying to figure out who you are. They don't know who you are. So when you start presenting yourself as just a fan, they'll be like, oh, okay, you know, this is just a fan of the work for a long time. But if you could present yourself as like a fellow content creator, then maybe there's more of a conversation to get them involved as opposed to like, oh, I'm a fan. And then like, oh, I also make this stuff.

Yeah, absolutely. That's— that— no, that is really cool. That's such a fun story, uh, dude.

And you know what's so cool about it, Eric, is, um, you know how sometimes like there's a saying, never meet your heroes? Like, Larry was just super nice. He was like the person that you hoped him to be, you know? Because I hear all these different stories how like either actors or celebrities or high-end producers or directors cannot be the nicest people in real life, and I'm sure that they're out there. But so far in my experiences, there are some really decent people out there, and they are who you would hope they would be.

Yeah, which is very cool. And you gotta— you have to remember too, like, all of these people are human. We're all human. They are also dealing with things at the same time as being this public persona. And so I'm sure sometimes that is like a lot to handle all at once with having the whole world like watching you. Yes, yes. Yeah, okay, uh, let's jump back in. I have a couple more questions. We're at about— we've got about 15 minutes left, so let's see which ones I can ask you. Okay, um, one of them I did really want to ask is how did you start writing? Like, what was— what was that spark that initially just got you to begin this journey, man?

It was all just fear again. So like, I always— I love reading ever since I can remember. I love reading, uh, going to the library, comic books, regular books, whatever it was. And I didn't really know what a life would look like as a writer. So when I went to college, I was an English major because I thought maybe that's what I, what I was supposed to major in if I wanted to be a novelist. And then right out of college, I mean I'm sure those writers out there who write one book and they hit it big after that one book, I, I know there are, but that wasn't me, right? So after college, I needed some sort of income, so I, I started working. And it— I always told myself like, okay, eventually I'm going to quit. That way I could write full-time. Eventually I'm going to quit. But it was like that fear thing. It's like, well, if I quit the steady paycheck, right, I have a steady source of income. Everything says like play it safe and, you know, work on your writing on the side, maybe until maybe like the writing can take over or bring in some money and you can make the change. But that wasn't happening. So when I was 25, I kind of just like had a coming-to-Jesus moment, and I was like, if I don't quit my job now that I don't like— I wasn't in love with my job. I was, uh, I worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I was renting cars. Not that that's bad, like some people love that job, and I say more power to you if that's what your calling in life is I was doing. It just wasn't for me. So, uh, I was doing that and I just didn't like my job. And I got to the point like, if I don't quit now, I'm never going to write. And I don't recommend this, but, uh, one day I just walked off the job. I was just done. So I just didn't go into work anymore. I didn't tell my wife that I was quitting, which was another mistake. I wouldn't recommend doing that. I would have done things differently now in retrospect, but I, I just reached a breaking point. So I quit my job, I cashed in my 401k to kind of help bring in some money in the meantime. My wife supported me, so I started writing full-time. So writing became the full-time thing, and then part-time I started personal training because I've always loved exercising. So I got a part-time job as a personal trainer but full-time writing. And then there was the course of like 5 years, Eric, where I just made every single mistake that I could. From like not knowing like to get, you know, the best covers to not knowing how important like advertising was and marketing to everything. So let's see. So about 6 years ago, things started to change as we started treating writing more like a business, kind of like what you were saying earlier. I think you had said that like marketing and advertising, those are like skills in themselves. Yeah, definitely. So, uh, we started putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and seeing how it all worked. And now let's fast forward to now, like my wife was able to quit her job. So now she's come over and she works for our company full-time. And now we're able to get into things like comic books and film. And it's been— I'm just so grateful. And it has to be like constant reminder too. Like I'm so grateful that I did take that chance and took that leap of faith. But it's also constant reminder that you need to keep on taking those chances. You keep on need to keep on putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. There's a quote, I don't know who said it, but the quote is, um, what if I fall? And right underneath it, it's like, but darling, what if you fly?

Yeah, no, that's, that's honestly like a beautiful quote, and I definitely agree. Like, you got to take those chances because like you never know if you don't try. That's something like I like to live by is just like, I think about something and I'm like, okay, what are the repercussions of this? Could there be a big benefit to it? And then I think, well, I'm never gonna know unless I give it a shot. Like at least if I give it a shot, I can say I tried and that's that. If I don't give it a shot, then I'm just gonna regret not trying at all. So yeah, I, I totally get that.

Yeah. 100%. I like what you said too. Like, um, I don't know if you said this, but you kind of alluded to it, like, no regrets, right? Like, I feel like life is short. We got one shot at this. The last thing I want to do is like look back on my life and be like, oh, I should have done this, or I should have done that. I'd rather look back on my life and be like, I dared greatly, and it didn't always work out, but I took all the chances.

Yeah, that's, that's a great outlook on it, honestly. Um, I had a question and I lost it. We got onto like a different topic and I lost it. Okay, if it comes back to me, I'll let you know. Um, Sick Puppy said, once met the Farscape folks. The hero was a— don't know if I can say that on livestream, but I hung with Lanny Toopoo and he was a sweet, fun guy.

Okay, cool. That is cool. Yeah, I'm sure that there are those stories out there of people not being who we hope they are. But I would like to believe that there are more good people out there than not.

Absolutely. Emmy wanted to ask, how has it been shifting from writing books to screenwriting?

Oh man, it's a completely different skill set, and it is much easier. Much for me. Again, I can only speak to me. I'm sure there's going to be screenwriters out there who it's not easy for, but coming from writing a novel. So a novel, the novels that I write are usually like 100,000, 80,000 to 100,000 words. And when you're writing a script for like an hour and a half movie, it's only 17,000 words. Because when you're writing a script, the format's very differently where you're just kind of setting the scene and then you get to write the dialogue. You're not doing a whole lot of introspective work for the characters. That kind of comes out the screen with the directors giving actors different direction. So for me, screenwriting was super easy. I think it would've been much harder had I gone the other way. Like if I started off screenwriting where again, an hour and a half movie is about 17,000 words, and then somebody told me I needed to write 100,000 words to do a novel, I think it would've been a more difficult transition for me, but going this way is so much easier.

Right on, that's awesome. Paige wants to know, have you ever had characters change direction mid-story?

Oh, all the time, all the time. Like, as crazy as this sounds, and trust me, I hear myself when I say this, the characters kind of tell me what to do. Like, I almost feel like if you've ever played a video game where you're like a god view, so you're up above and you look down at the characters and the characters, you know, are or doing, um, like going throughout the mission. I almost feel like that when I'm writing. I feel like I'm just a spectator to what's going on. Like I'm just writing down what I'm seeing in my mind and what the characters are telling me to do. So I mean, there'll be times when I'm writing, I'm like, I don't think you should be doing this. You should not be doing this. It's not going to end well. But that's where the story is telling me to go. Or there'll be other times when like, uh, the character— the story is telling me like this character needs to die. You need to kill this character. And I don't want to do it. It's so sad. And I'm writing it down and I'm crying on my keyboard because this character is dying. And, um, even though I would want to save this character, I know that's where the story is telling me to go. So to answer, yeah, to answer your question, yes, like the story changes all the time. Like I don't really outline. I have maybe like 4 to 5 points that I know, like things that I know will happen along the storyline.. And then from there I just write, I write towards those points and the characters kind of tell me, you know, like what's going to happen. Like the characters might be, you know, traveling through a mountain pass and all of a sudden there's like this weird whispering voice coming from a cave. Like I never saw that happen. I don't know who's in there, but the characters go in there. It's like some crazy lady from, you know, who's been trapped there for, from a spell for like X amount of years. And I had no idea that was going to happen.

That's, that's a fun way to approach it, I think. Cause like even you are surprising yourself as reading or as writing.

Yes. That's why I think it's so much fun. And I was able like in the early days just to like, you know, write like a book a month is because like it was fun for, it still is. It still is fun for me to sit down and write.

Like I have no idea what's gonna happen. Awesome. Uh, okay. I think I'll ask one more question and then we'll get into the giveaway cause we're getting close to our time. So my last question. Well, I guess it's kind of a two-parter. So one of them is, I like to ask authors this because it always throws them off. So don't worry if you're thrown off as well. But if you had to describe yourself as a book title, what would your book title be?

So when we were— there's a joke about this when I was working. So our TV show is called Infinity System, and when I was working on the pilot episode with our director, there was a bunch of different meetings, and I forget how in the conversation it came up, but we were talking about a phrase, desperate. What was it? It was desperate and it wasn't naive. It was something like that. It was like desperate and naive. And I was like, well, that's going to be my autobiography when the book comes out. But yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was, uh, it definitely, uh, definitely something like that. Or just like, you know, willing to take chances.

Yeah, it's always very interesting to see like everybody's answer to that question because it's always so different. Um, okay, and then the last thing was, I think you already answered this earlier, but what is your next project that you're going to work on, which you've been talking about quite a bit throughout this interview?

Yeah, yeah. So on the book side, it's Galactic Guardian 6, and on the film side, it's, um, Infinity System. Once we filmed the pilot and it came out, it did well enough to earn me— to get me my first agent. So now the agent is shopping it around, and also we're working on a movie adaptation for Hunters for Hire. We went ahead and raised the capital, and now we're attaching some actors to it.

Very cool, very cool. Um, yeah, so if somebody wanted to watch this show, how would we find it?

Yeah, so we put the trailer— if you just type— if you go to YouTube and just put Infinity System trailer, it should be like one of the first ones that pops up. The first episode, our pilot episode that we shot, we can't show yet. It's being shopped around right now by our agent. But, um, we could tell you, we'll definitely tell you if you follow, um, on Facebook. You just follow me, Jonathan Yáñez, and that's where I'll put all the updates.

Also, for everybody that's here, um, Jonathan's website is in the description of this live stream as well, so you can definitely go check out his website and learn more about him there as well.

Perfect.

Yes, thank you. Um, Leanne's excited and so is Drew. I think there's generally going to be a lot of excitement about this. It sounds really cool. Okay, let's do the giveaway. So the way the giveaway is going to work, just one second. I just have to set up a new screen for it. I can do it directly through StreamYard, which is what I'm— you guys don't know what that means, but it's the software we're using right now. Okay. So, I can specify a word that everybody that wants to enter would type into the live chat. And then if they type in that word, they'll automatically be entered into like the random giveaway shuffle. So, I think let's use— hmm. What word do we want to use? Do we want to use the pack?

Oh, yeah, yeah. How about— yeah, yeah.

That's a great idea. Okay. So, I'm gonna just set it up right now. Okay, so it's set up. So all you have to do is type in here. I will put it in the chat itself so you guys can see. I put it in the chat and I'll also make a little banner here. Um, oh, sorry, not that one. Let me edit that. That was from a previous one. Put this in the comments and that will enter you into the giveaway. So like we said, if you're in the US and you win, you can get the books in hardcover or ebook depending on what you like, and the t-shirt. And then if you are outside of the US, we can do ebooks, right?

Yes.

Yep, that sounds great. Perfect. Uh, also no spaces. Don't put a space in between the words, like just one word, the pack with the hashtag, and that'll enter you in. So yeah, we got, got a bunch of people here adding this in. So, oh, it might have added myself in because I put it in. If I win, I'll reach out. Yeah, I just realized that. Okay, I'll redo it if that's the case. Well, yeah, I'll give everybody, um, I'll ask you another question while everybody's still taking time to add their things in there. One of them that I thought was fun because it also ties kind of to comic books is, do you have a writing kryptonite?

Oh, I'm sure I do. I'm sure I do have a writing kryptonite. I'm trying to think of what it could be. A lot of times, I mean, we have two little ones So I've written at nighttime, like when they're sleeping, because I know during the day I'm going to be on duty. I've written, you know, with my wife's with a crying baby and I'm in the office and I'm still focused on writing over in that coffee shop, all over the place. Okay, so I know what it is. Um, my writing kryptonite is my kids, because I promised myself, kind of like what we were talking about before, how life is so short and I don't want to regret anything. So with my kids, I have an open door policy. Like, even though I'm in my office and the doors are closed, anytime they come inside, they come into the office and they need me, I stop whatever I'm doing with writing and I go pick them up and we go help them out with whatever they need help with. Because I know they're only going to be little, you know, for a certain number of years. Like, this is all I get. I don't have a time machine yet. I don't have a time machine that I can go back and like have them be little again. So this is all I have with them. So anytime they come into the— my office, I stop working, I see what they need and go help them. And it's already happening less and less. Like, we have a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old, so most of the time the 7-year-old doesn't come in. She knows, you know, when I'm in here working that, you know, she leaves Daddy, let him work. But the 2-year-old still comes in with his chubby little feet every once in a while, padding on the wood floor, and I pick him up and go see what he needs.

Okay. Uh, okay, so I think everybody has, uh, entered, so I will share the screen. Yeah, we have 8 entries in here, so let me share the screen. And then we'll draw our winner. I just gotta find which tab it's in because I have a million tabs open. Okay, I think you guys should be able to see it now. Yeah, there it is.

There you go.

All right, here we go. All right, Sick Puppy, you are the winner! So reach out to us after, um, the live stream. You can reach out to me or Jonathan, and we'll get you situated with your, your prize.

Yes, thank you, thank you everybody for coming too, and everybody for, um, participating, just being part of our community.

And congratulations for the win. Yeah, thanks. Like Jonathan said, thank you everybody for coming by and spending time with us this afternoon to do this interview. And just, you guys were fantastic with all of the questions that you guys had for Jonathan. I had a whole list of questions, we didn't even get to go through them all because you guys had so many. So that was fantastic, and I really appreciate you guys coming by to, to participate and be like an active person. I can clearly see that Jonathan has a great community of people that are like surrounding him and his writing and his books. So it's very cool to see you guys show up here and just spend the time with us.

So thank you.

Yes, thank you everybody for coming. All right, and, uh, with that, I think we're gonna head out. So I hope everybody has a great rest of your day, and until next time, keep on reading.