Josh Plasse, DUST: A Novel
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[0:44]Josh Plassie is the author of Dest, a novel, the son of a U.S. Navy SEAL and 2012 Golden
[0:51]Gloves Champion, Josh studied Homeland Security and Criminal Justice at Virginia Commonwealth
[0:57]University, before moving to Los Angeles and dedicating his life to writing and filmmaking.
[1:01]With over 50 episodes of Network Television under his belt, Josh has also penned and
[1:06]produced three feature films and two documentaries.
[1:09]Josh's debut novel, Dest, is coming out now, and he is responsible for raising over
[1:15]$50,000 throughout his multiple campaigns for veteran suicide awareness.
[1:20]He currently resides in Nashville with his wife and two fur babies.
[1:25]Welcome, Josh.
[1:26]Thank you for coming on Totally Book to Zibi.
[1:29]Thank you for rescheduling 100 times with me.
[1:30]I really appreciate it.
[1:32]Sorry about that.
[1:33]So before we get into dust, congratulations.
[1:36]You have been one of the many positive side effects of Kyle's career when I met you because
[1:43]of Wildflower and all that, which is so fabulous.
[1:47]How did you even get involved with Wildflower that project, by the way?
[1:50]Yeah.
[1:51]Yeah.
[1:52]Well, thanks for having me, first of all.
[1:53]It's awesome to be in here.
[1:54]And then, yeah, Wildflower.
[1:55]So I actually just got cast in Wildflower as an actor.
[1:57]I was not the part of that from a pretty surreal side.
[2:00]I just had a ton of fun with the audition, and I think Kyle and his team probably just
[2:05]enjoyed the many antics that I brought with it in Zibi.
[2:10]So I just got involved as an actor, but when I got there, they were so easy to blend with
[2:14]and have fun.
[2:15]And so I think it was a pretty seamless, hey, we should work together again in the future
[2:19]kind of a thing.
[2:20]Amazing.
[2:21]Oh, I just love that.
[2:22]Okay.
[2:23]Well, let's talk about dust.
[2:24]First of all, why did you write a novel?
[2:26]And why this novel, and what's this novel about, like, how did we end up here?
[2:30]Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[2:31]So disclaimer, I have always been a huge nerd in my whole life growing up, specifically
[2:36]like any all things warfare.
[2:38]So my dad was an ABCL, and I grew up doing all kinds of interesting, like I loved anything
[2:42]tactical.
[2:43]So risk, games, he and I would always play tabletop board games together.
[2:47]He's a nerd too.
[2:48]We would get into all that lore.
[2:51]Nerd is not negative.
[2:52]We want to spend this a little more positively.
[2:55]Exactly.
[2:56]But I think the intellectual and interested in, you know, strategy, how about that?
[3:01]Strategy, yes.
[3:02]I think, I think the nerd term is really making it come back, right?
[3:05]Okay.
[3:06]I think we're, uh, I'll leave it then.
[3:08]I'll leave it.
[3:09]No, no, no, I get, yeah.
[3:11]So, you know, we did that and I say that to say that led into me drawing comics.
[3:15]And as I started drawing comics, I started reading more books.
[3:18]He got me into literature at a pretty young age.
[3:21]And I actually studied at Homeland Security and Criminal Justice in college.
[3:23]And after that, I left Virginia.
[3:26]These, you came to California and I started studying screenwriting.
[3:30]And so I sort of blended those loves of like the more terse screenwriting prose to what
[3:35]he had kind of raised me on with literature.
[3:37]And like, we would read some stuff together when he was home or he wasn't deployed.
[3:41]And I was drawing comics.
[3:42]One thing led to another where I started sort of blending all of this.
[3:45]And really the birth child of that is, is dust.
[3:48]It's my love of warfare.
[3:49]It's my love of comics.
[3:51]It's my love of literature.
[3:52]I consider the prose pretty terse in this.
[3:54]And one thing led to another, I just really was like, you know what then?
[3:58]I want to try my hand at this.
[3:59]I've always been somewhat creative.
[4:00]I've always loved the concept of fantasy.
[4:03]I grew up on like CS Lewis.
[4:05]Like I loved a lot of his early work brand and Sanderson, a lot of these really, really
[4:08]successful fantasy.
[4:09]I like Stormlight Archives.
[4:10]Do you know Robin Hobb?
[4:12]I loved her stuff growing up.
[4:13]She was amazing.
[4:14]So that would say those were like the inspirations for the book.
[4:17]And then I started writing.
[4:18]I got about, I want to say 200 pages in, maybe six years ago, and I shared it with
[4:23]some friends.
[4:24]They're like, dude, this is terrible.
[4:26]So hello!
[4:27]I know.
[4:28]I know.
[4:29]I know.
[4:30]But I was very honest with myself.
[4:32]I was very harsh.
[4:33]And so I took what was working, deleted the rest, started a new manuscript, and here we
[4:38]are.
[4:39]Oh my gosh.
[4:40]So you're happy with those friends or you're not happy with those friends?
[4:43]I am so happy with those friends.
[4:45]If I have anything I could say to any artist in the world, it's like be unbelievably
[4:50]and you have to be careful with this, of course, but be unbelievably real with yourself
[4:54]because it's so stinking competitive and truly, usually only get one first impression
[4:59]with people.
[5:00]You know what I mean?
[5:01]So if they read your work and it isn't top class or at least your best, you're probably
[5:04]not going to open that door again.
[5:05]So I owe a lot to those friends, actually, because you gave me the honest truth.
[5:09]Literature was not a circle that I was in.
[5:10]I had grown up reading and writing and I had a love for it.
[5:14]But film is where I've actually worked and I've been critiqued and I've had that sculpting
[5:19]if you will.
[5:20]Whereas my work here, I needed that.
[5:23]And so that's why it took me 10 years to get anything done to have a first manuscript
[5:26]and even an agent.
[5:27]It's like I was never going to rush a process and it wasn't prepared for it.
[5:31]Well, but this is like your very first novel.
[5:33]I mean, that's crazy.
[5:35]This never happens and it's really good.
[5:37]So there you go.
[5:38]And I understand it's like the second draft of a first novel, but still impressive.
[5:43]I don't know much.
[5:44]I appreciate that.
[5:45]Yeah.
[5:46]I'm quite proud of it.
[5:47]So tell everybody what the book is about.
[5:50]Yeah.
[5:51]Yeah.
[5:52]So it's a high fantasy for anyone who likes fantasy if you don't.
[5:54]It's not for you.
[5:55]Yeah.
[5:56]And you're so funny.
[5:57]Your likes to be this might not be your totally your genre, but thank you for having me.
[6:03]I love it.
[6:04]I love it.
[6:05]I love it.
[6:06]I might not be.
[6:07]But honestly, I think fantasy is good for anybody.
[6:10]If you just want to have that suspense for a moment, you want to walk into a different
[6:13]world.
[6:14]That is reflective of our world, but obviously kind of gets you lost for a while.
[6:17]I think it's a nice change of pace from from most of what we have today.
[6:21]So ultimately, dust is about three siblings in the fallout of their parents assassination and
[6:26]follows three different characters.
[6:28]And ultimately, their stories intertwining to the question of like, is dust still existing
[6:34]in the world today?
[6:35]And what dust is the reason it's called that is going to have some fun here for a second.
[6:40]This is the map of the book.
[6:43]And sort of like Pangea in the real world today, the sort of continental fragments are
[6:48]as they are because of the comet shower.
[6:50]The story takes place 2000 years later.
[6:53]And these ancient comments are all lost.
[6:56]But if one comes across them, the dust from these comments contains mythical and or magical
[7:01]elements to them.
[7:02]So that's sort of the source of magic, which keeps it very grounded and very like one
[7:07]note, if you will, within the world of the story where if you come across this dust, you'll
[7:11]gain one of seven gifts.
[7:13]And that's like the source of magic for the book.
[7:15]So ultimately, these three siblings are vying for a throne and vying for the truth of
[7:19]is dust still real once they discover that it is.
[7:22]There's a great conquest and great warfare over obtaining the dust.
[7:27]It's a lot.
[7:29]Where did this all come from?
[7:33]Like tell me it didn't come from like sweeping the dust in your house one day or something.
[7:38]And you're like, what if this was a magical element?
[7:40]What if this sees to exist?
[7:42]Like who are what are the traits?
[7:44]Like where I know there's never a good answer to like where did my imagination?
[7:48]How did my imagination come up with something like this?
[7:50]But do you have any any sense?
[7:53]Yes.
[7:54]Yeah.
[7:55]Yeah.
[7:56]Yeah.
[7:57]So if anyone really lives, it comes from a number of things.
[8:00]But I used to collect sea glass on the bay in Virginia Beach with my mom.
[8:05]And we would go in, you know, you dig for the glass because it rises up kind of in like
[8:08]the foamy shallows.
[8:09]And when I was a kid, I just had this super vivid imagery in my head still kind of like
[8:13]smells like you played football or soccer or something.
[8:16]You remember like the smell of feel, remember the smell of grabbing the sea glass in
[8:20]the sand just kind of trickling down through my hands and that imagery stuck with me.
[8:25]And it kind of felt like it's not dust, but it was.
[8:28]And if you once you get the hard cover, you'll see it's like a matte, the dust is sort
[8:32]of in there.
[8:33]It's kind of like that in the soft cover too.
[8:34]But that I wanted to design it like that because of just that memory to me.
[8:39]And that's where the concept of dust came from.
[8:42]And I sort of I sort of have that vivid imagery and just remember as a kid being like,
[8:46]man, look at this blue turquoise sea glass amongst the sand falling through and just feeling
[8:51]like it was magical as a kid.
[8:53]And I didn't take that concept and directly think, let's go write a book.
[8:57]But that feeling stuck with me as something that was always very magical in my life.
[9:01]And so as I got older, I think if I'm looking back on it these days, I'm recollecting
[9:06]like, man, that's where that concept came from to me.
[9:08]And it was it's so it's so strange how aspects of our life stay with us so long, you know?
[9:14]Well, as a mom, I'm suggesting that you tell your mom that those times like digging for
[9:19]sea glass in the beach when like, maybe she was stressed and had to go somewhere else
[9:24]and whatever that it actually, it was that moment that inspired your your book because
[9:29]who knows.
[9:30]I love it.
[9:31]I will show I assure you she will watch this.
[9:33]So that's awesome.
[9:34]Oh my gosh, I love that.
[9:39]Tell me about these three main characters and how you came up with who they were and
[9:44]did you base them on anybody and you know, were there things to learn from each one that
[9:48]you wanted to like, did you outline who these characters would be?
[9:52]Tell me about crafting them.
[9:53]Wow.
[9:54]Yeah, no, that's a great question.
[9:55]I appreciate that.
[9:56]I do.
[9:57]I'm super, super meticulous with the way I craft the.
[10:00]world and the story. This is the first installment of, you know, what I hope to be three
[10:04]books potentially even for as long as it is successful. But I actually took, answer that
[10:08]question, one step forward. I took a screenwriting process to the literature process here
[10:13]where they have, you know, the classic B board for extra three-act structure there and each,
[10:17]you know, each card is a scene, if you will. I actually color that and I categorize it
[10:22]with each character, all three of them. So I take those scenes and I replace them with chapters.
[10:27]The book is 75 chapters. I broke it into three sections, if you will, three acts
[10:31]of 25 chapters. And then I would color coat each character for each chapter and sort of where
[10:36]they intersect with their thematics. So like Taren, my main female character, her, her
[10:41]main principal and theme is good versus evil. I find that fascinating from a perspective
[10:46]of like human moralism, what is good and what is evil. If two people are vying against
[10:50]one another, it's generally a more of a concept of perspective. No one ever thinks they're
[10:55]wrong and is willing to fight or die on the sword because they're wrong. It's like, no,
[10:59]we both think we're right. And that's where this conflict rises from. So I crafted
[11:03]her out of sort of human moralism. I'm a huge theology buff as well where I just like,
[11:08]I'm very into that kind of thing. So I crafted her from there. It's the good versus
[11:11]evil. And then similarly, Tyvetti, which excuse the fantasy days that Tyvetti is her older
[11:18]brother who for him, it's the concept of right versus wrong and what is right. And again,
[11:23]I think that's fascinating. You know, I took him off of my father actually. So Tyvetti
[11:28]is away from their kingdom. He's stationed in this desert called the Red Sand Desert where
[11:33]they fight this war. And I crafted that not to get political about it because I never,
[11:38]I never, I don't like anyone who states their politics. I like to just ask questions
[11:41]and like readers to do for themselves how they feel about the situation. So what I do with
[11:45]Tyvetti was just pose this question where he, he wonders in the realm of right versus
[11:50]wrong and what is right? Were we ever the good guys here? And so they're in this desert
[11:55]for 250 years protecting local tribes from this great evil, which is sort of, I, I'll
[12:00]admit outright. I took from, so totally stole from works, but like they're, they're a different
[12:06]faction. It's my own version of it. It's cool. I don't think there's anything new under
[12:09]the sign if we're being honest. So I say that to say Tyvetti was crafted based on my dad
[12:13]who was always gone and was always serving time over in places that are desertists.
[12:18]And so I kind of wondered in this concept of like, man, you are doing the right thing,
[12:22]but what is right? What is wrong and from perspectives? And so there's a line in the
[12:25]book. It's one of my favorite lines where one of the local village women says to Tyvetti,
[12:29]he says, hey, you know, are you happy that we're here? And she says, well, are we happy?
[12:34]Yes. And he goes on, like, honestly, are you happier here? And she says, yes. I'm very
[12:39]happier here because without you, this force might have killed us. But without you, we also
[12:44]may have discovered all the dies underground and we might have grown strong. You might have
[12:47]gone rich. We might have done it ourselves. And I think that's really fascinating where
[12:51]it's like, you know, we could get into any country in the world and the politics of their
[12:56]influence and what they're doing in certain sectors of the world. So I base Tyvetti off of that.
[13:00]And that sort of core principle of like, am I right being here? Are we wrong? Is this
[13:03]war a good thing? Is it a bad thing? That's where he comes from. And then Hendrix,
[13:07]which is the third character, he's kind of based on me. He's one of the younger characters.
[13:11]And you could argue the primary character of the book, but really I try to share the time equally.
[13:16]He is essentially rooted in staying true to yourself in a world that's telling you not to.
[13:21]If that makes sense, that's sort of the best way that I can, I can articulate that he is part
[13:26]of the royal family. And he has grown up sort of in the shadow of his older brother and the
[13:30]shadow of his sister and all the things that they go through with their family. So it takes a
[13:35]while to get into this. And I think any good fantasy usually does. It's a slow burn of a read.
[13:39]It's I'm not going to give everything away in the first chapter. It's like an infotome.
[13:42]So as you sort of go through with the book, you'll realize he's discovering, you know,
[13:46]the dust of legend. This is true. This is real. The things that are happening,
[13:49]the assassination of his family was nefarious. He's blamed for it. It wasn't him.
[13:53]And so he starts realizing like the hard truth for the world. And as he gets out there and
[13:58]realizes, wow, this is a big world in my little home sector of where I grew up in the royal
[14:04]family is like not what the real world is like. But he has to stay true to who he is as all these
[14:08]different influences come into his life. So those are the three main characters and sort of what I
[14:13]based them off of. Well, so is that do you feel you are wrestling with some of the same issues
[14:19]as your alter you in the book? I think I think at times I at times I certainly have. I feel
[14:27]of course I think we all do. And that's also an interesting thing because we as humans grow
[14:31]individually. So it's like staying true to yourself as an interesting premise in its own because
[14:36]who is yourself? What is that rooted in? Are you rooted in something larger than yourself? Are you
[14:40]yourself? And does that change over time? So I think if we're all honest with ourselves on some
[14:46]level, yes, I do the answer is yes. I do still struggle with that. But I think we all do. I found
[14:52]that over the last five or six years in my life, I've been more rooted in who I am. And so that's
[14:57]been a lot easier to stay true to myself. I certainly don't let outside influences dictate how I'm
[15:01]going to live my life. But with that said, the way that I choose to live my life changes as it does
[15:06]for everyone, especially, you know, I'm still relatively young. But as I've gotten older and I
[15:10]got married, I've got my fur babies here and other kids one day in the future, you know, it's like
[15:17]your priorities change who you are changes fundamentally. And I think that's good. So yes,
[15:22]is the short answer. Wow. So and even with all of this sort of brilliance that became a book,
[15:30]this is still not your day job. Right. So take me through the day job. How many, how much is
[15:36]screenwriting producing? Like what does that look like also? And then when were you writing this,
[15:42]like how did you marry the two? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So day job, you know, first and foremost, like,
[15:48]again, getting getting honest in here, like I pay the bills with acting. So acting is my day job,
[15:54]if you will, like that is my favorite thing that is my first love. But I actually think that serves
[15:59]as a really good basis for everything else, because acting is ultimately like the study of human
[16:04]behavior. And if you're really good with human behavior, that means you're good with character,
[16:08]and that means you're going to be in some sense good at writing. You're going to be good at
[16:11]screenplays. You're going to be good of literature. So the sort of walking through it is yeah,
[16:16]first and foremost, I'm an actor. I'm auditioning every week, which is great. I'm super thankful for
[16:20]that. And that's amazing. Are those on zoom? I heard a lot of auditions are on zoom now.
[16:25]Pretty much everything in the first round is on zoom. Wow, crazy. Or sit while more likely the
[16:31]first round will be self tape. But if you're starting to call backs, those will be on zoom,
[16:35]producer sessions. But some stuff is going back to a person in New York and in LA. But yeah, it's
[16:40]pretty much all zoom now. But I agree. I have all these images of like long hallways of people
[16:46]like waiting for the door to open, you know, from like all the sitcoms and the 80s or whatever,
[16:50]you know, anyway. Okay. So sorry. So your day job is you're auditioning a lot. Okay. Keep going.
[16:55]Yeah. No, no, no. That's funny. You're right. I wish it was that still, by the way. So yeah,
[16:59]acting. And then slowly over about the past four years, we started making our own production company
[17:04]called Pine Bay Pictures. I met three other gentlemen, two creatives, two guys who are more on
[17:09]the business side of things. And we all had a mutual taste for the kind of cinema we want to put
[17:15]in the world. The kind of stories we wanted to tell. And you know, what we want to stand for. So
[17:19]we came together, made back. And our first film ride was just acquired by Paramount Plus,
[17:24]which is wow. Congrats. Thank you. Yeah. And now obviously, you know, we're teaming up for late
[17:28]fame with yeah, which has been freezing outside filming this every day, by the way. So thank you for
[17:36]that. It's like it's like one degree here right now. So yeah, one degree. I mean, I think that's
[17:43]it's like the wind temperature. I think it's 18, but not that. But either way, no, it feels like
[17:49]it. Yeah, they'll send me pictures. And they're just like, right, literally, this is tough.
[17:54]So yeah, so producing sort of became this other thing. And that was sort of that and dust.
[18:00]Dust has been a long thing because I've been writing it in the background every day for about
[18:04]10 years and just different facets, just a little bit every day. I don't have the time to
[18:08]really sit down and properly take four hour sessions. But when I was younger, I had that
[18:12]energy. You know, it's like I could finish at 12 14 hour days to sit down and write. I could get
[18:17]up before go, right? I can't do that now. I'm like, I'm tired. I need to rest. Oh my god, but you're
[18:21]still young. How old are you? Am I even allowed to ask you that? Yeah, I'm 31. I'm 31. Yeah. So I feel
[18:29]I don't know. I still have the energy, of course. I'm somewhat kidding. But you know, it was easy to
[18:33]write back. So hopefully that answers the question. I started getting into producing and I say
[18:37]that to say, I had more time to actively work on dust, polish the manuscript, get my agent
[18:43]pitch letters ready. Like get everything set over the last four years because of COVID. So once COVID
[18:48]took all of our auditions virtual and simply non existent during the actor's strike, that was
[18:53]actually my birthplace for saying, Okay, you know what, this is terrible. But I can also, I can
[18:57]sit here and play the victim card or I can go create my own production company. And I can go
[19:01]finish this book that I've been working on every single day for the last eczema years.
[19:05]So that's kind of the answer to that. And depending on the success of level of the book and these
[19:10]next films and where my acting is, that will sort of dictate how quickly I write the next book,
[19:15]but I want to write it very quickly because I hate when people take like 10 years.
[19:20]No, for the next two, did you sell it as a trilogy? No, just one. Yeah, yeah, just one. So I'm
[19:26]hopeful that I so far it's looking like it's doing pretty well. Like my pre-order numbers are
[19:30]pretty good, which is great. But I don't know. I guess that's a subjective subjective term for me.
[19:35]My good is not Robin Hobbes good. You know, my good is not Patrick Roth, this is good, but
[19:40]most books sell less than a thousand coffees, most like 99% something crazy. I'm probably getting
[19:46]this wrong. But really, most books don't sell that well at all. So I'm sure your pre-order members
[19:51]are great. I had to guess. That's funny. Okay, awesome. Well, yeah, hopefully that answers the
[19:58]question. I so appreciate that.
[20:00]Yeah, that basically it's sort of, you know, acting first and then my secondary creative endeavors are my my producing which I love my writing and slowly this is overtaking screen writing.
[20:09]I would like to continue screen writing but I have a much greater love for classic literature I'd rather write novels than I would write screen place.
[20:17]I love to act and produce and screen place so that's that's I'll do that you know forever but yeah I just really like this world it's so much I don't know it's more rewarding to me when I finish a book than it is a screen play.
[20:28]Well at first when we were talking and you were talking about your dad being Navy SEAL I was like maybe he's actually in the CIA and this is his cover story and I'm taking even write this book and whatever but now I feel like you're busy enough that I'm not sure I believe that anymore so that's hilarious you know it's funny my grandpa was in this three letter agency and it's so funny because the day I told them I was going to be an actor they were like what not there but they ultimately love it now.
[20:58]Oh good well that sounds like another story to be told and for greater detail for us to get another novel I don't know exactly exactly.
[21:07]So what was the process like of selling it you went and got an agent like was that easy hard like exciting terrifying.
[21:15]All the above all the above I am the first person to admit and always be honest I got pretty lucky actually.
[21:21]I think the manuscript is strong and it spoke for itself and I had been working I'm very meticulous.
[21:26]I've been working on it for so long that there were few grammatical errors few this few that I mean of course everything has has some some process but it was strong.
[21:34]And I got lucky in the sense that I looked for an agent for a while to no success but a I already had a little bit of a following from acting and I already had some really good connections and I had just been in this show with an author named Karen Kingsbury.
[21:47]And she's a multi-time New York selling New York Times bestselling author so I was actually at her home where I met another woman who was working at the time at a huge publishing house and I had no idea and her daughter was trying to get into marketing.
[22:03]So I was just being kind and just talking to her we were talking I had no idea what she did and I wasn't pitching dust that hard my agent was by wasn't.
[22:11]And so we're talking and she's like yeah my daughter's got a college is trying to get a marketing job. I was like no way you know my wife works for Nissan here in Nashville.
[22:19]It's their US headquarters.
[22:22]And send me the resume see what we can do.
[22:24]She's like oh my gosh I will and just like I don't know where just so happens that she is massive in the publishing game.
[22:31]And one thing led to another we became friends Karen put truthfully Karen put in a good word she read the manuscript and the rest was kind of history.
[22:37]Oh my gosh yeah yeah did her daughter get the job at Nissan.
[22:42]She actually never ended up applying to that job.
[22:45]I know I know but I think I think she found something else pretty quickly and so she had a it was fine she had an easy time of it.
[22:52]This is just another example of like you just put good will out into the world and it comes back in other ways.
[23:01]I mean not not you can't do it for that reason but it's just like if you're a good person generally something will come your way this is I don't know.
[23:09]I love that no I like to believe that as well truly growing up I that was like my mantra I always believe that and I think it is still very true.
[23:17]I've gotten slightly more pessimistic and lately but I still believe at heart that that is absolutely true and yeah good things do have to make it people might just take a little longer.
[23:26]I mean bad things also happen to good people but I don't know I still think the karma comes around so.
[23:31]I'm definitely way too there.
[23:37]So what are you do you read fantasy like what are you reading now like do you read all this or do you read across genres or I know you said you love different things when you were younger but.
[23:48]Yeah no I do I do read across genres but fantasy is admittedly my favorite for sure I just finished the entire series for Pierce Brown Red Rising and I will never stop raving about that series.
[23:59]It's funny the first book I just like I couldn't put it down and actually bothered me for a minute because in the total spirit of transparency I was like man.
[24:08]And mind you I've been writing my 10 years I don't feel this way about my book.
[24:11]I was like I think my world is as strong as his genuinely I believe that I think my characters are as strong or deep more deep but the flow of that work is so fast and I'm just turning the page I don't feel that way about my work.
[24:23]So for a while I was like man this and I just kept reading the books and covering this so I just started raving about and I was like well I can do two things about this.
[24:30]I was like I can be upset I can learn from this I can whatever I just think it's that good him and then the same with the name of the win by Patrick Roth.
[24:37]I read that which is like a 900 page book maybe even more and I literally.
[24:42]Just turning the pages and it's one of those things where I don't know if you ever had this happen in your life or in your work but where you in a good way and happens to me as an actor a lot.
[24:53]I'll read or witness someone else's work and I just you immediately have this like gut feeling of wow this is truly great.
[25:02]Like I'm witnessing something great and it is putting my my work under the microscope when I'm like it may be good it may even be great.
[25:10]I think dust is great I truly do but it's it's a different type of great.
[25:15]So with interest I I've been trying to I say that to say I've been trying to find works like that where I go online and go on good rates go on whatever I'm like okay oh wow this is this caliber of work everyone objectively thanks this this has 3 million reviews whatever.
[25:31]And just really hold the microscope up to my own work for the follow up installments for the other things so I say that to say I have been on a kick of more of the kind of bestsellers which is not always good because I like to support more indie work.
[25:43]Yeah, like I read all the game of thrones again by George or Martin the entire storm light archives Brandon Sarah's and like I said like patch broth this I love that though dirt like though admittedly if he ever watches this somehow Patrick finished the third book it's been 10 years, bro.
[26:00]I hate that so like I said you know Robin hob I love all first off Harry Potter I growing up take it rallying but recently I've been on a kick of Pierce Brown and.
[26:11]And to your question yes I often blown away by how good other books are.
[26:16]And if I am at the same time trying to write something it is deeply depressing to me because I'm like why am I even trying this is so good like what is the point am I even putting something in the world when like people could just read this like I could never even do this but then you're like I don't know something for everyone and we all have some.
[26:35]Well said that's very well said I love an honest take like that because so many people don't learn objective or honest about their work and you're right I feel that way a lot but it's all so objective to.
[26:45]It's over that's right you just don't know how it lands amazing so what is there anything we're going to see you in on the acting front soon.
[26:54]Yeah yeah yeah definitely so on the acting front there's a show on Amazon con butterfly and that's going to come out this year and I'm super proud of that one I've been I think you know this maybe you don't I don't look it.
[27:06]I haven't in a while but I grew up doing anime and I was pretty darn good.
[27:12]Do you want to go in gloves when I was 18 like I was oh my gosh totally different human but that was when I was like trying to be a CEO wanted to do stuff like my dad and I say that to say I booked this show with a guy named Daniel they can.
[27:24]And he's the lead of the show and it's kind of like a speaking of CIA stuff it's kind of like a three letter agency espionage spy show kind of meets the born identity series.
[27:34]I got cast in that which comes out I think August of this year stand by they haven't released an official date, but I got to use my fighting in it and I got to do all work I was in South Korea for like four months training with their skunk teams so much fun.
[27:49]So you'll see me in that butterfly that's going to be really good and then there's a movie called they have reckoning coming out that I'll be in and I know I'm missing some other things there's one other have to go look at mind you be there's.
[28:02]The next one I'm doing will not probably won't be out until early next year but I'll be in this thing called the pirate king very very.
[28:09]Yeah, so last question why and maybe this is like something more for therapy and with your family why did you decide not to be a seal or go down that route or did you like what was that about.
[28:25]extremely specific moment that I'll never forget my life with multiple words said and it was pretty loud actually.
[28:32]So I was I just went going gloves went to Virginia Commonwealth University like I alluded to earlier I studied Homeland Security criminal justice I was like ready.
[28:40]And I was shooting all the time running all the time swimming all the time and I found that I was much too serious in my life and there's some so this coming called buds which is basically under water demolition school which is like the precursor to becoming an agency.
[28:52]Most people don't make it through that and I was getting ready to do something like pre buds where you like enroll and you can prepare to do stuff to prepare yourself for that.
[29:00]And because of the caliber of who my dad was I had a lot of connections that would have made the process easier for me.
[29:05]And in the sense of like helping me train for that there's no shortcut to bless me.
[29:09]but helping me train and get better so I was doing that and I had a buddy in college who was super nonchalant his name was Adam and I was like man why are you only so happy all the time he was like dude you're not going to like this but it's the theater.
[29:21]And I was like oh man what so I'm like all right he was like yeah why don't you try it and so I get into this theater class with a guy named Joseph over Mueller who was a huge that's been he's like a big he's a big Christian actually is a big kind of religious guy big theater guy and just a good good human and I said I met him and just kind of fell in love with what he's doing.
[29:41]And he was like so why are you here and I'll get to all into the heart of your question the moment it's like well I want to sort of open up I guess and be less you know less care everyone thinks about me I was in a fraternity I was that guy you know and he's like all right well start by going and playing Dungeons and Dragons on sorority row at the local bookstore down there.
[30:00]I was like, oh man, no, it's a very, very long story short.
[30:05]I did.
[30:06]I went.
[30:07]I played totally embarrass myself, but as you know, I love that stuff, so like whatever.
[30:10]So I went.
[30:11]I did it.
[30:12]Embarrassed myself, didn't care.
[30:13]Got in theater, fell in love with it, started booking stuff in Virginia really quickly.
[30:17]There's not a lot of competition there.
[30:19]And he was like, dude, you're doing pretty good at this.
[30:21]I think you should go to LA.
[30:22]So I'm like, I'm 20 at the time.
[30:23]And I was like, well, my whole life has been, you know, predicated on doing this seal
[30:27]thing.
[30:28]I know I can do this.
[30:29]And if I can't, I know I'll do something in the Navy, I'm because we sat down and we're
[30:33]on the corner of Hope and Grace Street.
[30:35]And again, I'm sitting here with this Christian guy, like listening to him and like, what
[30:38]he's saying, he goes, Josh, I don't ever forget this.
[30:40]He says, Washington is power, but Hollywood is influence.
[30:45]And Washington was metaphorical in this instance for a naval career.
[30:48]And again, I should track back by saying that nothing but the greatest respect for that
[30:52]if you're in the army service in any kind.
[30:53]I think that's the cream of the corrupt top of the line, profession anyone can do
[30:56]on this planet.
[30:58]At the time with where my skill sets were leaning, he was like, you know, there's, there's
[31:03]a cultural war right now in all kinds of ways.
[31:06]And I think that where you are right now, if you want to bring the most good into the world
[31:11]and you want to do the best you can and make a positive impact for this world and not
[31:16]even in any specific way, just to promote some good like we were saying earlier, like just
[31:20]objective good.
[31:21]It's like I think you would have an easier time doing that out there and you should
[31:25]try it.
[31:26]But literally in that moment is, you know, Washington's power, Hollywood is influence.
[31:29]I was like, wow.
[31:30]And I think I packed up my car like a month later and moved to LA.
[31:33]Oh my gosh.
[31:35]And you're glad?
[31:37]Right.
[31:38]Call.
[31:39]Yeah, right.
[31:40]I have moments when I'm like, oh, dude, you should never sat down on that.
[31:43]But no, no, no, no, I do think it was the right call.
[31:46]I think it's all working out as a shit.
[31:48]Yeah.
[31:49]Okay.
[31:50]Good.
[31:51]Good.
[31:52]I'm glad to hear it.
[31:53]Well, what an impressive story.
[31:54]I can't believe how much you've accomplished already.
[31:56]I feel like very lazy at this point.
[31:58]I'm like, what am I going to do time, but anyway, so impressive.
[32:02]And this is so well written and you're like, this is awesome.
[32:05]And I'm really hoping for all the best with this whole thing.
[32:08]So congrats.
[32:09]Thank you.
[32:10]Really.
[32:11]I really appreciate you having me and on the fourth, I'll see you on the fourth.
[32:14]I have so many of you who are getting ready to come and check everything out.
[32:18]Amazing.
[32:19]Okay.
[32:20]See you soon.
[32:21]Thanks.
[32:22]Bye bye.
[32:23]Thanks for listening to totally booked with Zibi, formerly momstone have time to read books.
[32:28]If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review, follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens
[32:34]and spread the word.
[32:36]Thanks so much.
[32:37]Oh, and bye the books.