No Dragons Press

Episode 5: “Addie Makes a Choice”

Show Notes for Episode 5

Hey, everyone! Welcome to the show.

So, a lot of scary things going on this week, again—a lot of uncertainty, a lot of people trying to tell you we’re broken and we can’t be fixed. Let’s just keep moving forward, and keep respecting each other as individuals. Everyone has their own story, and it might not be the one you expect, so let’s keep an open mind about each other and be kind to the people you encounter, OK?

High Fantasy = HIGH + FANTASY

So, I know we’ve spent a lot of the story just hanging around the No Dragons Press building in the tiny Midwestern town of Myrick. And the “high” aspect is pretty clear by now, but since you may be wondering, I thought I’d take a few minutes today to talk about where this alleged “fantasy” part kicks in.

Hopefully you have a pretty clear sense by now that something is about to happen, something that involves Tristan’s secret door to the basement.

Now, this isn’t a total spoiler, but in case you’re starting to get a little antsy for the shape of this thing, keep in mind that one of the most critical characteristics of the traditional “high fantasy” genre is that the story takes place in a world that isn’t our own. And while it’s gonna be a few more weeks before shit really hits the fan, you’re definitely going to start seeing some of those pieces coming together really soon, so that’ll be really exciting.

In the meantime, today’s chapter skips forward a few weeks, and it starts off a little more reflectively than some of the others. You can think of this as kind of the calm before the storm, when Addie still thinks she has a little bit of control over her life. She doesn’t, of course, but she thinks she does.

No, really, I know what I’m doing…

So, I was talking with some friends the other day about Lost and the Battlestar Galactica reboot—you know, other shows like that where you either suspect or know that the writers really didn’t know if they’d be canceled and they may or may not have had an actual plan for how the thing might end if it had the chance to.

That’s not what’s happening with No Dragons Press. I’m actually completely finished with book one, which is what you’re listening to now, and I’ve got books 2 through 5 outlined, and each book is novel-length. So don’t worry, you’re in good hands, I will not leave you with a ton of open questions and just suddenly slap an ending on it and call it a day, promise.

Have I mentioned I love fantastic leggings?

So, I have to mention this because I’m still absolutely tickled by Emily’s surprise for me this week. If you follow me on Instagram at @nodragonspress, you already know that I have a bit of a love affair with fantastic leggings. Most weeks, my artist Emily and I meet up and discuss the chapter, see what about it really calls to her as something she wants to depict—and she usually suggests something I’m not expecting and it completely blows me away, like the map of the galaxy in last week’s chapter.

This week, I don’t even remember what we decided on initially, but I got a message from Emily saying that she hopes I don’t mind but she took the artwork in a slightly different direction than planned this week, and would I mind if we made a bit of a switch. Immediately followed by another text saying: I’m going for it.

The result is of course amazing, and, as usual, way cooler than what I had imagined—and to top off the surprise, she put Addie in a pair of my own favorite leggings. It was so much fun to see this happen, and it’s a great reminder for me to just listen to the creative process as it’s happening, and if something feels like it isn’t working and some other option seems way more interesting, it probably is.

Check it out here:

Well, I think that’s it from me—I hope you enjoy chapter five! If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you, just head to nodragonspress.com for contact info, or you can follow me on Twitter or Instagram at @nodragonspress.

And hey: if you like what you hear, tell a friend! Because I had to rate this podcast “explicit” due to the the F-bombs and the marijuana thing, I don’t have the biggest outreach right now, so your word of mouth is definitely appreciated, and it is definitely the most powerful way for me to reach more listeners.

Thank you so much for your help, and thanks so much for listening, and I hope you enjoy Chapter Five: Addie Makes a Choice.

Thanks for listening, you guys. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast wherever you’re listening, be sure to check out nodragonspress.com/podcast to learn more about our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series, and tune in next week for another episode of No Dragons Press: A High Fantasy Podcast. Have fun, be good, and I’ll see you next week!