speaker-0 (02:06.07)
Right, can you hear me? I can I can hear you. Look at that.

speaker-1 (02:08.193)
Anne, can you hear me?

Awesome. How have you been?

speaker-0 (02:15.49)
Yeah, how are you doing?

speaker-1 (02:17.378)
Pretty good. Pretty good. just as a formality, as always, we are recording audio and video. Do I have your permission to use the recordings?

speaker-0 (02:26.286)
Yeah, go for it.

speaker-1 (02:27.544)
Perfect. And then we'll keep this about thirty to forty minutes to respect your time. And then I do plan to air this episode on September fourteenth as a podcast and on YouTube and then on social media and I'll tag you on those things.

Perfect. And then sorry, my dog is over there scratching. Huh?

speaker-0 (02:52.3)
Excited.

speaker-1 (02:54.03)
And then I've started something new. I'm doing a quick intro. Hold on one second.

speaker-1 (03:10.434)
kept scratching. I don't know if you could hear her collar. I took that off so that it's not making noise during the recording. but yeah, I do a quick little intro now and then I'll have some questions. We'll keep it conversational as usual. And same wrap up question about what tip you have for someone that would like to connect with nature. So you can either keep the same or you can add on to it if you like.

And then let people know where they can find you and get your new book. Cool, you got any questions?

speaker-0 (03:42.968)
Okay.

No, let's get going.

speaker-1 (03:47.166)
Alrighty. So then I'm gonna put you over here. So okay.

Alright, we'll start in three, two. His characters hate his stories. After reading the teaser for the newest book, I'm starting to understand why. His newest character is gifted as a painter haunted by a nightmare that steals the color from his world, and it may be showing him exactly how his family will die. Last time he was on the show, he talked about Isaac in the sky and NASA. Today he's talking about his new young adult horror novel, The Scattering.

I would like to give a very wild welcome back to Mark Benson.

speaker-0 (04:29.389)
How are you doing?

speaker-1 (04:30.926)
I'm doing great. I'm excited to talk to you and about your new book. And you kind of teased it the last time you were on the show that it was a nightmare about a nightmare. Now that the book is almost released, can you talk about that nightmare at all and how much of it actually made it into the book?

speaker-0 (04:47.998)
Yeah, so it's it's out in six days. So that's very exciting. We've got a good launch event and I'll explain that later. It's gonna be a very cool event. But yeah, so this book is based on a nightmare that I had. And like any re reasonable writer, I immediately took that nightmare and gave it to a character and said, You deal with it. I don't want to have anything to do with that. So

This book has gone through a lot of rewrites, a lot of changes, wholesale changes. I've been working on this one for better part of a decade. Like I've had at least six full different versions of this one. Like not revisions, but like select, all delete, start over. Six full different versions until I finally got it right. At least I I hope so. but one thing has never a couple things have never changed about the book, and one of them is the nightmare that the book is based on.

That has always stayed the same, that has never changed even in the slightest. Everything is always just built around me. And the nightmare was you know, was being in being in a house. It wasn't my house, but it was, you know, in the nightmare, it felt like it was my house. and hiding under floorboards.

And watching through the crack in floor words as somebody came in the house that I couldn't see and went one by one and killed my family. And I woke up and was, you know, pretty terrified by that. And immediately took a moment and then immediately grabbed a notebook and started scribbling down every detail I could remember before it disappeared and handed that to a character. And the book was based on that. So

Everything built off of them. And I'm not gonna remember in the nightmare, one of the things with the nightmare is that somewhere midway through the nightmare, everything for whatever reason just kind of started shifting to black and white. And but the only color was red, the only color was blood that I could see. so that was one of the details I kind of scribbled down and I thought, okay, well.

speaker-0 (07:03.308)
Since the point of, like you said in the intro, the point of my stories is to really make my characters miserable. I thought, well, what would okay, so clearly this is about someone losing color. so who would really hate that? I thought, well, an artist would. so then it just kind of, you know, like all stories just kind of spiraled off of that. But yeah, and all this came from that one nightmare.

speaker-1 (07:32.758)
That is really cool. And I was gonna ask why you chose a painter, but that totally makes sense. And as a watercolor artist, you're right. Like having, you know, being limited to I guess I be black and white and red would would not be a fun thing to deal with. Does losing color mean more to James beyond the physical reality of being colorblind?

speaker-0 (07:57.038)
It starts that way and then it kind of leads it it it it kind of seeps into everything in in his world and it kind of you know it's simple to just say, well then I guess he couldn't paint. Well, but it's not that simple if you're passionate about something and suddenly that's pulled out from underneath you in such a dramatic way. so he stops painting because it doesn't feel like he can do that.

And when he stops painting, you know, he was a prodigy painter and he did shows in in his town, and the art gallery in town used to put his stuff up, and people bought his works all the time. And he was making a name for himself. And he has a twin sister, and the two of them are about to go away to college, and he's gonna study art, and it was everything, like it was this whole thing. So when that goes away, when that color goes away, he stops painting. And when that happens, you know, his family's getting very concerned. and then

You as a part of this, it's a nightmare that you know I had it once, but with this character, I give it to him every single night. And it's the only nightmare he has. And he goes for five the book starts five years in to him having this nightmare and only this nightmare every single night for five years and having color gone. And so color is gone. his family doesn't know what to believe, his friends kind of don't know what to believe either. He stopped doing the one thing that made him feel important and and

light and interesting. his friendships kind of fall apart. His family kind of falls apart around him. he doesn't end up going away to college. He graduates, but he doesn't end up going away to college with his sister because his parents are concerned about him being on his own and they're not they're not sure about that. Also as this nightmare develops over time, he becomes convinced that you know a nightmare doesn't make you lose color. A nightmare doesn't happen every night.

this has to be more than that. So he becomes very convinced that it's a vision, that he's seeing the future. and that to any parent would, you know, kind of really affect him. So they don't feel good about James getting on with his life and going away to college and doing jobs and doing all this stuff. So he just kind of stalls. Like he he he doesn't paint and he doesn't go away to he's not going to school and he doesn't he's not doing anything. And

speaker-0 (10:19.986)
And all the while he's terrified that one of these nights, this nightmare is going to actually happen. and he doesn't have the faintest idea how to how to stop it or deal with it. And he doesn't really think anyone believes him. Even if they do say they believe him, he doesn't really he thinks they're just being nice. So

speaker-1 (10:40.054)
Man, it the losing the color part in real life really just makes me want to pick the book up even more just to be like, okay, how is that making him lose color? And is this connected in any way to to the the end of the the book? And is I mean, ha are you a painter? Have you painted before and

speaker-0 (11:01.95)
Alone. I mean, I'm sure I've got finger paints in the soul at some point. but no, I I have a lot of I have a lot of artists. I'm married to an artist. I have a lot of artists around me. but painting, no, that's not that's not even a primary art of really anyone that I particularly know, but I love paintings. Like I'm a consumer moved paintings. I love going to the art institute here in Chicago and and looking at paintings and getting close as close as they'll let you to.

kind of see the stroke so the the pointalism or whatever style was used and yeah it just felt like a good part of it too was it's very it's color is very important but also it's a very kind of physical and visceral type of word form. I mean I guess most of them are but the physical motion the uniqueness of the stroke that no two people are going to paint exactly the same way

I make a big deal in this book about how his specialty is color and that he doesn't buy colors. he's that he's never painted with a color he's gotten from the streamer, that he mixes every single color. And he kind of boasts that he's never ever painted the same color twice. he's never used the same color twice because every time he mixes, he comes up with that. You know, he well, this store is red. Well, that's not the same red as this, so it has to be different.

so he makes a big deal out of everything is its own unique color, and you know, to you know, doesn't give anything away, but there's you know, kind of I try to explore it a bit and what it does, and I kind of use the sister, the twin sister is a little bit, you know, she's not the main character by any means, but I kind of use her a little bit as kind of the everyman or everywoman. and she's trying to relate, you know, to it's a you know, twin sibling, they've literally been around each other.

They know each other better than anything. and you know, there's a scene where they're in the he's trying to figure out if he can paint again, and he's frustrated. And they go into his favorite paint store and they stand in the paint aisle and they're just staring at swatches. And she's asking him, What do you see? And he's like, I you know what I see. I I don't see what you see. and they get in this conversation about, you know, colors aren't.

speaker-0 (13:25.14)
hues but colors to him are emotions they're a feel and those emotions have cracked and all the emotions are just blacks and grays and those aren't positive but again she's trying to be supportive and just says well you know you see the world different than anybody else so that's kind of cool doesn't exactly play to him but he's trying so so yeah I used her a little bit as a as a guide to

You know, what would that difference be like? So

speaker-1 (13:59.214)
So did you have to research more on the painting aspect? 'Cause you sound very well versed in it or the learning.

speaker-0 (14:06.904)
Whatever you like to see the world is. Yeah. I watch I did a lot of research on painting. I watched a lot. I mean, a lot of it honestly, a lot of it to me, to for what I put in the book, and everyone is different. I mean, painting or any art for that matter, but especially I think when you're using your hands like that, even my mom for I use it I used her actually as a little bit of an example. my mom was a musician and she was you know, fabulous musician. She literally played every instrument, like literally.

I'm in the start and played every instrument. and she was a conductor. And I I almost used when I started doing research on painting and I started learning about kind of you know, everyone like handwriting or anything, you you you you can learn a technical skill, but you're always your hands are gonna move a little differently, and the way your the way your brush hits the canvas is gonna be a little different than anybody else. There's gonna be personality and style to it. and I remember kind of taking a really

Big deep dive on watching a lot of videos of a watch. And I would just kind of stare at people's hands and just watch how their hands would move, how their fingers would change, how their grip on the brush would change, how they're holding it. And I kind of tried to put a lot of that in there to kind of develop a personal style for my painter. but as I was doing that, it suddenly became very clear to me that I I kept getting kind of little flashbacks to my mom as a conductor. And I would picture Peach.

I would see people painting and then suddenly I would kind of see my mom conducting an orchestra. And it was like, okay, I get it. But she didn't conduct the same way someone else would. Their hands would move differently, their fingers would flourish a little differently. And and yeah, to me, painting felt like conducting a little bit. So I kind of stole a little bit from kind of my mom's conducting and kind of threw it in there for personalities.

speaker-1 (15:56.418)
Very nice. Did you have to study up on colorblindness and how people see the world differently too?

speaker-0 (16:02.924)
Done research on that. didn't go really deep into that because this was kind of a fantastical colorblindness. so it wasn't meant to be clinical. it wasn't meant to be what someone who is actually, you know, medically diagnosed as colorblind would see. it's supposed to be what a nightmare caused, which is obviously not real and obviously different. So I did want to kind of

the story needed to go certain ways, so I needed his eyes to act in a unique in a unique non-clinical way. But I did a little bit of research because I wanted to at least be I wanted to get a sense of how people described what they saw. how they described the shades they did see, how they describe different times of day was important to me, understanding the view through windows and streets and how nighttime and shadows.

moved and felt different. So I kind of did some research on that. But in terms of the colors themselves, I wanted James's eyes to be James's eyes.

speaker-1 (17:13.102)
Mm-hmm.

speaker-0 (17:14.571)
Yes, our six archivists. Yeah. His eyes I was into record design, so they they were what I wanted them to be and he was not happy with me for it. So

speaker-1 (17:24.366)
And then without spoiling anything, there are brushes that wash ashore from the eighteen hundreds. So what makes James willing to face that fear and pick up brushes again?

speaker-0 (17:38.274)
So the he starts, you know, it's five years into this experience for him. And he, you know, he just kind of keeps getting convinced that this obviously just if he believes that this is how his family's going to die, then every day is a bit closer to when that's going to happen. and you know, fifth anniversary is coming up, and there's an extra little emphasis about that with some of his family members. And

He just starts to kind of feel like this has to be happening soon. And then you know, clues kind of pop up in the nightmare where he's he pays attention to a few different things or a few different people he's talking to lash on to different aspects of the nightmare that maybe he didn't focus on. And that leads him down little trails. And in one actual physical trail when he's trying to track this,

He ends s going to the sites of some of his paintings that he has done, and kind of revisiting these sites. And he's trying to reintroduce himself to some of these paintings that he's done in the past and going to where they were, and he takes a paint, one of his paintings out to the location where he painted it in this field in front of the silo, and there's a forest and a stream. And he takes this painting out, it's kind of homework from his therapist.

To and he ends up kind of out in this field sitting where he sat when he painted this and kind of trying to wait and imagine the like the way it was when he painted it. and the other senses kind of kick in and he starts remembering sounds from the woods. And he starts remembering that if he you know he couldn't really hear the river before, but now he actually can. and the river was in his painting, and he decides to kind of pursue it and see, you know, well, what if I, you know.

kind of wander into the woods and he discovers these brushes that have been buried for a very very long time and but it's everything in the story is clues through his art that the way i kind of say it is he realizes that he he stops painting when this happens because he can't see colors however he does in the end kind of have to paint his way out of it

speaker-0 (19:59.418)
so it's the art that he's going to have to get back in order to save everybody. So finding following his old paintings to create new ones was part of his journey.

speaker-1 (20:13.41)
I am super excited to read this book. This sounds really amazing.

speaker-0 (20:16.958)
Yeah.

speaker-1 (20:19.348)
Man, okay, this is really cool. And it's such a cool concept, especially being an artist and like

speaker-0 (20:25.792)
I mean well, I'll be very curious what do you think. I hope I, you know, I I hope I did the art of it justice. Again, I'm not an artist, but I, you know, not a painter, but I, you know, I certainly tried. I I, you know, when I was having, you know, there were a couple scenes that had flashback scenes where he is painting, you know, back when he was in the the prime of his painting. And I wrote I don't know, it's one or two chapters where you see him painting back when he was at his full strength.

Those are probably the chapters I spent the most time on because I wanted that to be authentic. I mean it goes back to kind of like when with the first book that I had with Isaac. the book isn't about Isaac isn't about astronomy, and scattering isn't about painting. But if you're an astronomer, I want you to appreciate what is in there. And if you're an artist, I want you to appreciate what is in scattering. It's not going to be

textbook, but I watch it and at least come, I I can see that. I've had moments like that. I've I've seen the light hit like that and been excited about it. Yeah, no, I I I get that. I get that frustration. I get that excitement. yeah, I wanted that to be real.

speaker-1 (21:39.0)
Well, and that's funny that you bring up Isaac too, because I've noticed a connection that both characters seem to have to overcome fears. And is that a theme that personally resonates with you?

speaker-0 (21:50.45)
Yeah, I think in general, just being afraid of things stops us from making smart decisions. And you know, it could be a smart decision about what to eat that day, but on a bigger scale, it's a smart decision about which friendships are worth pursuing, which career is for you, where to live. that's a big change. I don't know if I can do that.

Well, what's stopping you? Well, it's a fear of something. and just this general idea that with with Isaac and also with James, that I bury my characters in horrible, horrible holes all the time. That's what I do. And but if you're in that hole, if you're all the way buried in a deep, deep, deep hole, if you look up, there's still at least a pinprick of light.

The top that you can see. and each character, Isaac and James, are both kind of clinging to this idea of not giving up in Isaac. I in that book, you know, Isaac had every reason to just quit and just be like society sucks, no one likes me. I'm not gonna ever be a part of this. I will play the part, I'll be the sad boy, and everyone leave me alone. but in the first chapter of that book, he's attempting to go doing a TV interview to

Recatch his story. Because he still has hope despite all that. He can still see that light. And James, after five years of his nightmare and losing friends and his family and not going away to college and losing his career and losing his only passion that he loved, he's still willing to grab an old painting and wander into the woods with his broken eyes and sit there and stare and be like, All right, something, something like I'm coming here. Something help me. And then gets his clues. So they're each.

trying to find their way back to a spot that they are comfortable with themselves.

speaker-1 (23:57.198)
Now you brought up Isaac went to the news. You also recently went on the news to promote your book.

speaker-0 (24:02.958)
It was the first scene of that month. So I I did have a moment there where I like, All right, so I'm at r I'm acting out the opening of the music. So this is great. Yeah.

speaker-1 (24:12.984)
Really cool promoting your book in this way and a little bit different than Isaac.

speaker-0 (24:17.632)
It was. It w it was a lot of fun. and I mean I've been on TV for things for NASA stuff and other things like that, but like all of them have been so I don't really, you know, the camera thing doesn't bother me. but they're all on location and on my own terms. Like I'll get a camera crew to come out to a telescope event I'm doing. Well, it's my event, my location, my crown, my telescope, my it's my you come into my camera and now I'm gonna come to T.

Going into someone else's studio is completely different. So honestly the best part of that was that they told me they got me all mic'd up and ready, and then they said it's gonna be about an hour until it's your turn. And I just thought this is going to be disastrous because I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna quiz myself on my answers as if I don't know how to just talk about my own stuff. Like I'm gonna pretend like it's test. but luckily you just run me, and waiting in the room with me was a magician.

And he was still playing around with what Trixie wanted to do on camera once he saw the different camera litigants. And they got a free magic show for an hour while he was practicing. And that was all of a sudden they're like, All right, we're ready for you two. And it's like grateful total distraction. It was wonderful. So that's yeah. So that that really, really, really helped. But I'm hoping, you know, you know, I the T V thing did work. I got in

Good reaction on my websites and pre-sales, like, you know, that stuff was, you know, very helpful. the real measure is gonna be next week because I'm trying a big part of my the interview and what I'm promoting wasn't just the book, but the launch event itself. trying to do something really unique with it. And so I mean was really making a pitch on that show and the WGN in Chicago to get people to come out for the launch event because

yeah, it's gonna be different and unique. And I got my wife had this brilliant idea because of this the nature of the story, to reach out to local high school art teachers and to find out if they had painters who would be interested in creating works inspired by the book. So I reached out to teachers and I gave them one page passages from the book and I gave them canvas.

speaker-0 (26:38.83)
And each of their painters got a canvas and a one page passage and said, create whatever you want. Once I give it to you, it's yours. I don't care. You could literally paint the scene, you could latch on to one word. I don't care, it's yours. so for the launch event, it's gonna be at the at a my favorite bookstore in Oak Park called the Book Loft. And we're turning the bookstore into an art gallery. So we're gonna have their works up on easels to show.

And they're going to be able to put on a big high school art show for everyone on the works they created and be able to sell their art. Some of them will be showing their art for the first time ever. Hopefully I look up at some point and someone is selling a piece for the first time ever, making money as an artist. and my book will be there and I'll talk about my book and all that too. But turning this into an art gallery, like I think that's gonna be a little fun.

speaker-1 (27:30.754)
That is such an amazing idea that your wife had. Heads off.

speaker-0 (27:34.988)
Yep. Brilliant idea, yeah. It's so it makes sense. So yeah.

speaker-1 (27:40.504)
Yeah, you're gonna make so many kids like their entire year and probably start their art career. I mean, that's amazing.

speaker-0 (27:47.726)
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. I didn't I try to do one extra stuff. I tried to have because there's an art exhibit in the book that's really pivotal. I tried to actually get a local theater group to send and perform and like come in and perform a scene from the book without anyone knowing what was happening, just interrupt the gallery show and perform the scene. And I couldn't quite make the timing that all worked out, but that's still if if in one sense that would have dismissed it from the painters, so it'll be just fine.

speaker-1 (28:15.47)
It's gonna be really cool. You should do like a version two of your book where you've got all the kids like art a little gallery inside your book.

speaker-0 (28:22.942)
I don't know about you if the book goes well, I thought about talking to them if there are particular ones I like, I could use it, use their cut, you know, change the cover of them and use the paintings as the cover instead of different editions. I thought about that would be kind of fun. So kind of played around with that. I like my cover, I designed my covers, so I liked it, but but still I'd have if it was a good painting, I'll happily use it. So

speaker-1 (28:37.358)
Would that would be fun.

speaker-1 (28:46.944)
Are the listeners gonna be able to see the the kickoff event? Are you gonna be filming that and and posting that on your site?

speaker-0 (28:54.718)
I'm just only posting stuff on social media. I'll take you know, I'm not gonna just like film the whole thing, but camel crew or anything, but yeah, I'll shoot lots of videos, the pictures. My wife will do the same and I'm post everything I can. Still trying to get some TV to show up. That's like the next week is about. I was trying to get, you know, I got in studio and then I told them now your turn. You gotta come by me now and shoot this event. So I'm hoping the news the news should always be looking for happy things to cover. So

I'm giving them kind of a cool, fun, positive event. So I'm hoping I get some attention that way too.

speaker-1 (29:30.898)
Absolutely. And so I think it was you that posted something about Dolly speaking of the world losing some color. And she's got a lot of amazing charities and groups that she supports. Do you, well, one, have a favorite? And two, you're already starting to give back to your community with this art project that you're doing. If the sky was the limit, what would be your dream charity to start?

speaker-0 (29:59.147)
I mean, shake it itself. I mean it's

There's there's the groups that she started. It's like there's some different buckets and there's so many of them. There are the groups that she started and then there's the groups that she like supported and heavily funded. And then there's kind of like immediate need projects that she jumped in on. Like I mean one is like the I I don't know, and of course my brain now is just gonna completely the it's all gonna fly out of my head. all her books off with book getting books into

You she had was it the imagination reading or I can't see the name like completely jumped out. Right. But but she she's she's gotten like literally millions of books into millions of kids' hands. so that's you know, that's that's an amazing one. Like that's really hard to beat. At the same time, on the completely other island spectrum, if I remember right, she pretty much funded the getting that Moderna COVID vaccine out.

And then on top of it's like, yeah, and also she like made really good music. also she was a really good actress. Like, and she has a theme part. Like, but but you know, those are just friends over here, but also she's like massive proponent of literacy and and and public health and and all of that stuff. yeah, you that's like

I don't know. I mean, I think that for me, I don't know what shape it would take. And I guess I would look at there's kind of almost like two projects. Like I

speaker-0 (31:46.464)
The thing that really bothers me the most when I hear it, when I hear stories about it or just people I know or whatever talk about, the thing really bothers me a lot is when money gets in the way of art getting to people who could not only appreciate it, but actually really benefit from it. Cause I mean, art, like we can sit and read a book and say, Well, that was wonderful enjoyment. I read that for a week. It was wonderful little relaxation in the evening, that's fine.

That's great. That's really important. Means more. Certainly will mean more to other people. It's a lifeline for some people. and the idea that a story or a painting or an artist or a music or a movie or a documentary or something wouldn't get seen because of money. is just aggravating. Like it's reality, like I get that that's the world, but like that's aggravating.

So that would be, you know, a cause that I would, you know, would would be great. the other one going and flipping to the other book, Isaac, when I do astronomy stuff. I I I made a joke about it once. but I then I just kind of started noticing it. when I drive around kind of my area, it's not uncommon to find searches that are shuttered.

either by their science, whatever the cost. I don't know. But like there were ten churches over here, and now you try buying next year and two of them are closed and there's like a for sale sign. Well, these they I remember looking going, Well, these are a really nice tall steeple with really nice windows. Boy, that's a good telescope view. Wow. And I remember thinking taking steeples and turning them into observatories, community observatories would be kind of fun. So

speaker-1 (33:41.996)
That's a really good idea.

speaker-0 (33:43.19)
But I don't again I don't have the money for that. So maybe it's for somebody else like this. But but that goes from the art side, design side. But again, it's the same as kind of the same kind of problem. Like who's funding that? Like yeah. That's that's you know, that stuff doesn't always get the money. So

speaker-1 (34:01.728)
Hey, maybe eventually after this book.

speaker-0 (34:04.398)
Yes, after this book. Yep. So buy the book so I can do stuff like that.

speaker-1 (34:08.726)
Yes. And now do you have any other books in the works?

speaker-0 (34:13.257)
I do. I have I don't have a date for it yet, but I do have another one that'll probably be March. that actually just just because I needed a distraction today after doing all the stuff related to scattering, I was playing around with some promotional materials and some teaser release materials for a book that I have in March. It'll be

It's a weird combination to say that it'll be the darkest g it's easily the darkest, scariest thing I've written at the same time, easily not even close to the funniest, most ridiculous thing I've written all at the same time. conceptually it's completely stupid. Even I was playing with I was joking around playing with the cover for it earlier today, and at one point I wrote on the bottom of it, I wrote a stupid novel by Mark Benson. I was like, you know what? I might leave it because

Kind of is. So so yeah, we'll see. But yeah, kind of scary book. Not yeah, not so dark that like not personally dark, but dark things happening, but a lot, a lot of the humor thrown in and just completely ridiculous concept that as you're reading it will hopefully people go, at least somebody actually wrote this. Like, why did they write this? That's kind of

It came to me as a really weird idea, and I remember telling a regular friend of mine about it, and they're like, Well, you have to write that. I'm like, No, I'm not gonna write that. That's stupid. And then like a few years later, I was like, I can't get this idea out of my head, it's so stupid. I need to write it just so just so it'll be out of my head. And then I wrote it and was like, I like it.

speaker-1 (35:57.944)
That you're becoming the Dolly Parton of books with all these different themes.

speaker-0 (36:02.83)
Random completely different things. I will take that. Absolutely, yes. I will absolutely take that out every day, yeah.

speaker-1 (36:10.978)
So have you read by chance Dungeon Crawler Carl?

speaker-0 (36:17.31)
No, but I I know the name. I've heard that. Do you read that?

speaker-1 (36:20.49)
It's so I've I'm on book three now. My son and I started listening to it when we were driving back and forth from Florida and moving and all this stuff, but it is so absolutely ridiculous. And like that's what kept us listening because it's not like anything we've ever heard before. So I I I love that you're teasing the listeners with something like that to after they're done with this new book, something to look forward to in March.

speaker-0 (36:46.958)
Yeah, do you remember Lago I read a book called Ronders? I can't even remember what year that was. I might have been 15 years ago by now, I'm not even sure. so you if you look that one up, it's not that story by any means, but if you read Rounders, you'll recognize the very, very dark concept. Yet the book worked because it's really funny. So in what in in in a way

I'm kind of hoping to achieve what Ramler has achieved.

speaker-1 (37:20.536)
Very cool. I'm excited to well, I'm excited for both those books. That's awesome. I cannot wait. I do have to ask, because you we've talked a little bit about Stephen King before, I believe, in the previous episode, and how much of an influence did that have on your writing style? And do you believe in ghosts?

speaker-0 (37:42.548)
Yeah, Stephen King, I've you know, just like anyone, I'd say of a very big impact. I mean, I hope let's put it that way. I hope he seen a big impact on my writing style. I grew up with Stephen King. my my stepdad was a huge Stephen King fan, and he would get Stephen King books and read them and then decide if I was old enough. He would read it first and kind of preview it and then decide if I could have it. I'm pretty sure everyone he gave me I wasn't old enough to read, but he gave it to anyway.

so I just I love those. I and honestly, I love the simplicity of them. I think that's something that needs to be noted. I mean, I look outside in the morning, I'm like, it's kind of foggy out there today. And Stephen King looks out of the window and he goes, I wonder if there's monsters in the fog. Like it's you know, we just love this it most of his concepts are really, really simple and they work because they're simple. The body, the long walk.

the mist carry these are simple simple concepts especially his short stories talking all the you know his short stories in particular the concepts are so simple that they they're just always kind of relevant so yeah big influence i i love and it you know his joe hill is an amazing writer too like his kid is an amazing writer so he always gets mentioned but when i'm always asked about stephen king i always

Throw as much praise at him as I possibly can. If someone knows him, please give him my book. I would love to I don't even care if he reads it. I would just love to know that it was in his house for a moment. Like that would be really cool. but I also like to mention some of the other people that like I have read tons of Stephen King and certainly inspired, but you can't forget Furley Jackson. Frirley Jackson wrote maybe the most scary book ever in The Haunting of Hill House, and one that's been changed and adapted and adapted in film and TV and

she might have she may have written the best theory book ever. So I always like to to point out, give a little credit to Furley Jackson. And even though it's technically considered sci-fi, the lines are a little blurred. So I always like to shout out Mary Shelley as well. on a dare, she wrote Frankenstein. Like on a dare. She just wrote it and accidentally invented an entire genre.

speaker-0 (40:08.428)
Like nobody does that. Like, how do you do that? So I read those books and I know people can look back at Frank Frankenstein today because I have today's image of Frankenstein, and it's it's goofy and it's comical and it's cartoonish and it's all that stuff and it's cliffé, but go back and read the original. It's really scary. It's an absolute, absolute masterpiece. I have it on my shelf. I read it every now and then. It's it's brilliant. So just I recommend people go back to the classics, they're classics for a reason.

As for ghosts, no. I spent a long time where I did. Somewhere in I don't know, not too long after college. I don't know. I think I s I think I kind of believed in ghosts through c out college. I did some ghost hunts in college for the school newspaper. We'd go to haunted places on campus and and we'd stake them out for the night with cameras and audio equipment and we hit the eight, you know, the the audiovisual department there and steal other gear and then

My and I was intrigued, fascinated, you know, growing up in Chicago, amazing ghost stories in this town. I lived a mile from one of the best haunted places around called Bachelor's Grove. And my mom had amazing stories about that woods and why never to go there. I think what killed it for me was cell phones.

speaker-1 (41:31.49)
Mm.

speaker-0 (41:32.578)
Suddenly everyone is walking around with a high powered camera and video camera in their pocket. Yet somehow we didn't instantly get amazing evidence of things. So I think I kind of that my science brain jumped in and went, Why do we still not have video? Why do we still not have evidence? Everyone has everything they need right there in their pocket. So I think that honestly, I think that kind of killed it for me. but the great thing about a ghost story is

The most interesting thing to me about a ghost story isn't the unknown. It's not the ghost part. the most interesting thing for ghost story for me is what we do know. It's the real people who inspired that story, it's the real tragedies of situations that inspired that situate that story. the real histories that inspired a lot of these legends. and that to me is what makes great ghost stories. It isn't whether there's a ghost or not. To me, it doesn't mean there.

Like it it's it's the living, it's the boy what I just referred to as the quote unquote survived by. that's more interesting to me. you know, if if you're you know, there's a great legend in Chicago. I think there's a pretty famous legend that's gotten to out of Chicago called Res of Resurrection Mary. That's a classic hithiking ghost story of this girl walking by herself at night, and cabs would pick her up and she would ask to be driven home, and they would draw a ritualist.

They pass the cemetery and she would ex to get him and then she would disappear into the cemetery. And it's just this amazing story. And the legend goes back, and everyone people trying to figure out, well, is it this girl from this tragedy or this girl? We don't really even know who the ghost is supposed to be of. And I found one of those legends down a little bit and looking at a history on it. And it's like, this girl dies in a current in 1920. And her best friend carries a wreath.

Down the street for the funeral procession, which is very public and a very big deal. The best friend does it. And then the best friend is a family member of the head gravedigger at the local cemetery. But the body wasn't supposed to be delivered there. There's a gravedigger strike. So her best friend couldn't be buried at one cemetery, had to be buried at her relative's cemetery because a gravedigger strike. And the other gravedigger.

speaker-0 (43:58.966)
Had to take the bodies who couldn't be buried and temporarily bury them at resurrection cemetery. And then problems happened. And then the bodies stayed there. And now there's this legend. And everything I just told you is true. Like she's related to the gravedigger. Well, where did the gravedigger family member live? It's the streets on the cemetery, in cemetery housing. Where did the accident occur? Where the girl died on the street in front of the cemetery. Like

That's a great story. And it is truthbreaking. And that best friend went on to live a very long, productive life and had generations who followed them. But they also lived long enough to see their best friend become a Halloween costume. And a and a legend and a movie and books. And what does that mean to you? and all of that stuff is true. It doesn't matter if there's a ghost. That stuff is just

That stuff just makes for great, great, great stories. And so many ghost stories are based on amazing truths that if you start there, it doesn't matter if real or not real, it doesn't matter. Just go only the way to the edge of the diving board of what's real. And then do only take one stuff off in the fiction, and that's a great story. Don't go so far that you lose everything.

speaker-1 (45:18.198)
Yeah. There's a couple of stories like that around Key West where well there's Robert the doll and the just the history behind the doll is a lot more fascinating than Yeah. And there's another one too where this guy i he was weird and he kept the corpse preserved for a long time. And there's a book, like when you leave on the airport, they have books for sale about that and yeah.

speaker-0 (45:28.536)
Yeah.

speaker-1 (45:44.952)
Very weird stories. But yeah, the like the stories actually the real life story is weirder than the haunting.

speaker-0 (45:51.874)
Yeah, like it couldn't you couldn't make this stuff. It's like if I told you that thing with the resurrection number one, you'd be there's no way. And a relative lived across the street from the cemetery where the accident have no way. It's like, well, I didn't make any of that up. That's real. So these stories are and and in Chicago and every city, I would imagine. is just full of the you know, before it was a ghost story, it was a history. So start there. The histories are amazing. It doesn't need to be a ghost story.

Just start with the history and then have a little fun with it.

speaker-1 (46:25.166)
Truth is stranger than fiction. But if you had a day that was totally unplugged and you could be anywhere in the world, where would you be? What are you doing? And what book is with you?

speaker-0 (46:27.412)
Oftentimes.

speaker-0 (46:39.381)
Good. So

I think I think my wife and I are wandering through the Redwoods and Mir Woods in northwest of San Francisco.

And the book?

speaker-0 (47:02.678)
I mean, I'm probably bringing my favorite book, which is All the Light We Cannot See.

'Cause I read that one periodically too for inspiration because I tell people this all the time. I hopefully have many years left to go and many books left to read. I will never ever read a book better than all the light we cannot see. I say that with full confidence. There there's no book being written right now or will be written in the next fifty years that's gonna be as good as that one. I have read the book's best book I'll ever read, and I'm perfectly comfortable with that. So I just keep rereading it. So

speaker-1 (47:38.092)
And then the last time you were here, your tip to for someone to unplug themselves and reconnect with nature was to keep it simple, find something local and repeatable. Has your answer changed or is there anything you'd like to add?

speaker-0 (47:54.568)
You know, maybe not interesting to say it, but I think it's kinda I think it's I don't think it's changed. I think the repeatable nature is really is really important. I think I mean some people might say, well, if you're doing the same thing, it's kind of in a rut. It's like, well, but if it's the perfect thing, then it's perfect. So I mean we'll have little habits that just make us comfortable all the way from like, you know.

I get off of work and I always put on the same song. And I drive to work and I put on the same song. And even just little things like that that just kind of set your tone and set your mood for the day and these little routines. And I still think if if you have a wonderful thing you can do outside, a wonderful park or path or whatever it might be, just project or whatever it is, if you have it and you love it and you're able to do it repeatedly and it's great every time.

Then why try to fix what's not broken? Yeah.

speaker-1 (48:56.386)
Very good. And then where can people find you?

speaker-0 (48:59.106)
Yeah, so they can find my website, which is authormarkbenson.com. And they can for six days, they can pre-order the book, or you can buy it just new in six days. also you can find me on Instagram. It's that's where I spend most of my social media time, which is at WaysideWriter, W A Y S I D E W R I T E R. Wayside Writer. Could I write on the side?

speaker-1 (49:26.306)
Perfect. Thank you so much, Mark, for being here again and good luck on the launch of your book.

speaker-0 (49:30.83)
Book.

speaker-1 (49:33.462)
And until next time, get outside and see what develops. Perfect. Thank you so much, Mark. Always a wonderful conversation.

speaker-0 (49:41.304)
Yeah, thanks for you know, the handling the technical di difficulty here and making this happen, having a fallback that was appreciated. Yeah, I don't know what happened. I didn't I used RubberSign once before and it was fine. I'm coming to think of it, I did use it on my phone that time. I wonder if that was different, caused some sort of a difference. But when you said rumorside, I was like, I've used that, it's fine. But I did do it on my phone the last time and maybe there was some setting that

My phone liked and my computer didn't. I don't know if

speaker-1 (50:12.224)
Yeah, it's new to me as of this week too. So I mean it the technical issue could be on my side. I just like it because it records from your computer and saves onto the website. So Yeah. and the video quality and audio quality is really nice. But I'm glad we were still able to make it work tonight.

speaker-0 (50:23.658)
Yeah, it seems like a good system.

speaker-0 (50:32.6)
Yeah. And I'll you know, I'll release another one and you can have me back on Riverside, so

speaker-1 (50:36.768)
Absolutely, anytime. And then I'll be emailing you with a preview of the the YouTube video and some clips. So and then releasing it on September fourteenth.

speaker-0 (50:49.439)
Thank you so much. Yeah, you too. Bye.

speaker-1 (50:50.584)
Thank you. Have a good night. Bye.