The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – An 8 Legged Tale by Conner Mccue

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

An 8 Legged Tale by Conner Mccue https://www.amazon.com/8-Legged-Tale-Conner-McCue/dp/1524670103 Connermccuebooks.com After getting kicked out of his house by his (unknowing) human roommate, Gus the Hobo Spider must now find his place in the world. Join him as the spider explores the various sights and sounds of the people and places worldwide. This is a tale about growing up and discovering who you are with stops in such places as the Big Apple, parts of Europe and even Down Under. Along the way, Gus learn about love, loss, and laughter on this raucous adventure around the world.

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Because you're about to go on a monster education role. roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. I'm O'S Voss here from The Chris Voss Show, Doc. Ladies, gentlemen, there are these things that makes official. Welcome to 16, 11, 17 years of the Chris Voss show. Over 27 under episodes we have up at all times so you can take a look at them. You know, most podcasts, they only put up the max 300 that Apple allows and that most

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Some guests of the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it's not endorsement or review of any kind. Today's featured author comes to us from books to lifemarketing.co.com. With expert publishing to strategic marketing, they help authors reach their audience and maximize their book success. Today's an amazing young man on the show. We're going to be talking about his hot book called Eight-Leged Tale out February 2nd, 2017. Connor McHugh is which you're going to be joining us on the show. We're going to get into it in some of his other books that you have as well and find out how cool this is and why you should go to Amazon and order it now. He is a dedicated Denver Nuggets fan, an accomplished writer.

He is the esteemed author of novels, including an eight-legged tail and vamps, along with various newspaper editorials nestled in the picturesque four corners of southwest Colorado. He shares his home with his beloved rescue dog, Mo. Not just an author, he also works as an educator, passionately inspiring students, to cultivate a love for reading and independent thinking. His latest work, low, is a testament to his remarkable storytelling skills and is sure to captivate young adults, middle school, high school, college students, and fantasy, fiction, affidios alike. Welcome to the show. How are you, Connor? I'm good, good. Thank you for having me. Happy New Year. Thank you for coming. Happy New Year, 26, if you're watching this

year's from now on the YouTube. Give us your dot coms. Where can you find people on the interwebs? So you can find me at Connor McHugh Books.com, C-O-N-N-E-R-M-C-C-U-E-B-O-O-K-S dot com. So give us a 30,000 overview. What's inside this book? All right. So it is called an eight-legged tail, and it tells the story of a hobo spider named Gus, who thinks that he's living in harmony with his human roommate, until one day the human roommate comes at him with a rolled-up newspaper.

and Gus kind of gets kicked out of his house. And from there, then has to kind of figure out where does he go next, kind of what happens, where is he going to try to find a home again? And so with that being said, he kind of embarks on a journey that takes him to New York City as well as overseas to like the running of the Bulls, Egypt with the pyramids, as well as the Great Down Under. Wow, man, this guy had an adventure. He got around for a hobo spider.

That's a pretty big too, aren't they? The hobo spiders? So they're the big hairy ones? Yeah, I think so. And I mean, I'm not a big fan of spiders. I'm pretty scared of them. Is that what made you choose that character as a hobo spider then? It just kind of popped into my head one day when I was waking up.

And I was like, oh, that's kind of a goofy idea. And it just kind of went along from there. But you're afraid of spiders. So. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I try not to kill them, you know, but still, I'll be jogging. Combed and screaming a little bit.

Yeah, I do if they look poisonous. But if their daddy long legs, I'm like, okay, you get a pass because I know you go hunt down the other one. Yeah, right. What's the name of the character, the protagonist, the spider, I believe, I guess maybe it would be. His name is Gus. That's the hobo spider. Gus the hobo. Well, you know, the hobos used to go on trains and travel all the time everywhere back in the old days.

Maybe they still do. Is that how he gets around? How does he get around all these places without getting stomped on? well i mean you know they say you're never too far from a spider so he has his ways you know sneaks on suitcases or the back of blue jeans he also gets around on buses and planes there who what ages are the book uh so i would say that it is probably later middle school high school it looks a little innocent, but it's not exactly elementary school. There might be some cursing, some beer drinking, maybe some pot smoking, stuff like that along the way. Wait, now is the hobo hitting

the, hitting the weed and the booze? Well, every once in a while, you know, maybe what he comes across. Can't give too much away yet. I didn't know spiders that drinking problems. Yeah, those are more like barflies. Barflies. Barflies? Barflies. Okay. Barflies and hobo spiders. We got a whole, we got a whole Noah's Ark lining up here. So what did you, what did you target it towards that age group? And do you write children's books? I know we have two others we're going to be discussing here on the show, two other books. So this one was just kind of more to get my foot in the door. I definitely like writing more fantasy, fiction, castles, dragons, magic, or a little bit more supernatural. But this one's a little bit more, I guess, commercial friendly. So I do have.

have a few kids books. They're not out yet, but there's going to be a few, like, picture books. There's also going to be a few, like, kids series. So think like goosebumps, animorphs, stuff like that. And then some of the other books that I've written, the ones that are out now, Vamps and Low, the first and the Low and Behold trilogy is more for, like, middle school-ish, any kids who likes fantasy. What was your life growing up? When did you start writing? And when did you kind of feel like you'd really become a writer and author. And you're like, I got this down. I'm going to write books.

So life growing up was in Southwest Colorado in Durango. So not too far from the four corners in a little mountain towns. And so life growing up was definitely kind of an adventure in itself because, you know, you kind of had to find a way to entertain yourself. You had to have things to play with. And fortunately, I had two younger sisters who we had tons of stories and games that we were playing throughout our childhood that we were kind of able to incorporate with our surroundings. As far as writing goes, I was actually going to school to be an English teacher,

and along the way, I had to take a creative, well, I got to take a creative writing class, just because I needed, you know, an English credit. And it was one of the ones that seemed kind of, you know, easy, so to speak. And ultimately, it really changed my life. Yeah, I can't really explain it, but all of a sudden, all these ideas just kind of started popping in my head. And it was kind of like a connect the dots or follow the leader kind of thing where I'd have like the beginning, some of the middle, and then I'd have the end down. And then it was just one of those things where I couldn't leave it off to the side. And so I had to complete it, even if it was just for myself. And fortunately, it seems like, you know, some people do like them,

which has been pretty cool to see. That is awesome. I mean, you know, it's interesting. The things we do, the things we learn when we go through life, you know, these stories we pick up. And it's interesting how they can influence us, whether it's a business or job or stories that we tell or books that we can write, you know, these stories. And, you know, it's just, you know, you kind of come to a place in life. Sometimes you're like, I have all these amazing stories. Now, did you do any, a lot of authors we have on the show, especially novice, they do, I'll tell you a trick they do if you don't know it already. What they do is they tell their publisher, they need to do. to go do a study of what do they call it you know you need you need to study the uh the concepts of

their book so they write books purposely in like france so they can have excuse to go there did you do any hobo spider uh research uh maybe bring a couple in the house or anything like that uh no but i'm going to write that down and that's going to maybe be for the second one go go explore some places give you give you some inspiration of uh you know their behavior and don't the ones they have the really big eyes and stuff around? Maybe I think so, yeah. I think you just

get about five or six of them running around your house because they're not poisonous, are they? I think they might be. Oh, yeah. That might be a good idea. Research is research. Yeah, keep you on your toes. Yeah, yeah. I mean,

a spider bite here and there who's going to live. No, the hideer, I just Googled it. No, the hobo spider is generally not considered medically significant or dangerous to humans, despite past fears, misinformation, and it's not a health concern. Bites are mild, short-lived redness, and itching, just like other spider bites. Other spider bites aren't fun.

Even the little ones, you know? You sit there and you got to scrape it until it gets to poison out. Itches for like a week. But no, I think you should get like a bunch of hobo spiders and, you know, I'll go once I'm with you. We'll split them. It'll give you. It'll give you, inspiration, you know, their behavior and what they're up to. And I don't know, maybe if you get one a passport, you can send on a trip and he can come back and tell you how it was. And you got your whole book written there. All right. Like a little pen pal. Let's talk about some of the other books you have out of the three books you publish and you've got more on the way, right?

Let's talk about these other books and what they're about. Lead off with the second one you'd like to promote. So the second one is called Vamps. And as you can probably ascertain it is about vampires. It tells the story of a guy named Nate who's about to graduate from college. And then he happens to get bit by a vampire and finds out that the whole city

is kind of being infiltrated by vampires. And what is he going to do about that? Is he going to run or is he going to try to save the city? Ah, vampires. Well, ladies love the vampires. They love those vampire novels. And

and, yeah, They love werewolves too, like evidently. What was that one series, Twilight? That thing was popular, disturbingly. These ones don't glitter, so. Yeah, and hopefully they're better actors. Oh, oh. I saw parts of that, those Twilight movies, and I was like,

what the fuck is going on? I mean, I think the whole plot was guys with their shirt off and a chick. I think that was, I think that's the concept they threw in home. What's this movie about? Guys with their shirts off and a chick. Yeah, we'll break in the money. It's some vampire shit. Trust me.

They'll eat it up. I think we had a gal on the show who was like 16 or 17, and she was like a prolific vampire genre, romance novel writer, and she had like, I don't know, 20 books or something. She was publishing them herself, pumping them out. And she'd gotten this huge thing. So, you know, maybe need you expand that series there.

Get some, are there any guys with shirts off? That's the key. right there. That's the ticket. No spoilers. I can't say one way or the other. You have to go check it out. We've had a few of those wonderful romance novels on the show that have the shirtless covers, you know? Oh, right.

Yeah. This is appropriate for me to be looking at this right now. In the grocery market. Mommy, what's that? So anyway, let's see. So what's the second book we want to cover, I guess? Yes, so the second one,

just came out last year and it's called Lowe, the first in the low and the low and behold trilogy. And like I was saying, it's kind of more fantasy fiction, castles, dragons, magic, kingdoms. It just tells the story of a king who's trying to protect, not just his own nation, but the rest of the world from an old enemy that came a couple years ago, and they don't really know what happened, where it came from, or what's going to happen next, they can trust. And so the next one is going to be called and a bump in the road.

And it should be coming out either the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Just kind of waiting for a few more illustrations to get wrapped up with that one. Low, the first in the Low and Behold trilogy out December 2024th. And is this kind of set in a period time? Is it a little bit maybe like a Lord of the Rings

Toki and Hobbit sort of thing? Yeah, yeah, definitely more. it's called the world of Hark. So there's kingdoms and nations such as like Grove, Raleford, Emery, Oxus. You got the warriors

and the shadows of doom. I should say that deeply. The shadows of doom. I got goosebumps. Oh, did you? Really? Wow. I actually have a good voice. I mean, no. Well, I kind of know that. But yeah, I just kind of hit that just on

improv. So let's see. There's sometimes we have authors in the show where I should, where I should just intro them with that movie voice, you know? In a world gone bad. Lowe, the first and the low and behold trilogy. Come into theaters near you. Or Amazon. Tell us about some of the maybe characters there in the Low Book there. So the King is Lowe.

That's his name. And he lost his father in the first battles with the, strangers, as they're called. And each kingdom had some kind of interaction with the strangers. And each one was a little bit different, but it caused a lot of casualties, a lot of sadness. And so because of that, it's a little frustrating to know who's on your side and who's not. So Lowe's best friend and head of guard is named Graves, and he's probably one of my favorite characters. But my favorite character, her name is Rhee. And it's short for Adriana. And she's an elementalist, which means that she can kind of control the different elements around her.

But she doesn't really know how to do that exactly. So luckily, she has a mentor for her named Braun. Oh, wow. Yeah. So a bit of a bit of a spell, spells maybe, that sort of thing? Yep. Oh, well, this should be very interesting. And so do you find, you see you have several books on the works there, are you fine, you're really developing as a writer?

You're getting more prolific. you're writing more stuff and kind of expanding the genre of what you're doing in each of these things? Yeah, I would say so. They each seem to hit a certain niche that I haven't really seen out there as a reader. So I don't know maybe if that's fill in a void that way. Yeah. But there's some books that are standalone. There's some books that are part of a series.

So, I mean, like the tale is actually the first of kind of not just like a sequel, but also has like a spin-off. universe with some different bugs and insects like that, where maybe they come across each other in a canteena somewhere or on the beach or something. Yeah. So it's kind of cool that way where they're not all the same, where it's not kind of like a paint by numbers where it's just like, all right, the same beginning, middle, end, just shifted in like a different place. Sometimes we see those with a romance.

also. And he told me, they're like, yeah, it's kind of, it's kind of rubber sand blueprint at this point, but it's a blueprint that works. So, you know, the audience loves it, no one's complaining. Yeah, you know, not to knock them and stuff, but I think I would just get kind of

a little bit bored with just being so repetitive that way, I guess. I would too. I would be like this dude again. And a lot of, you know, we just had the Tom Clancy folks on again recently, uh, and then they have their own series. I forget their names, Andrew and stuff.

But they have their own series. They have multiple series like you do, where they have all these branch shops. And people really fall in love with the characters. They really enjoy the process. And, you know, and so it gives them kind of a fresh avenue. We have one gal who comes on the show.

I think she's in her 90s, really delightful. She's written probably 120 books. And she even started late. But she's really good with her novels and the series. that she's written and the characters in them and people just fall in love with them. But one thing is interesting is she'll have people come up and tell her things

about her characters through, you know, dozens of books. They're like, do you know so-and-so was an alcoholic? And she's like, no, are you? Really? I know he drinks. And then she realized that her ex-husband was an alcoholic and she'd written him into the book. And so it's kind of interesting how the interplay between

author and reader and fan goes. And what you can develop with these series of books. And then she hops, I think she has like four or five series. And so she can hop and just refresh with each one like we've been talking about. Oh, right. Awesome. Yeah, yeah, just build it out. And I like how you're kind of like a writer of, you know, different genres.

So you can spread yourself out there. If one really takes off, you can maybe roll with it and stuff. What is your process for writing? How do you, you know, writing all these books, we've got stuff coming out. What's your process for writing that, You help. I mean, some writers are all right, and at least an hour a day. What is your process, and how do you go about inspiration? Oh, that's a good question. So, a lot of it is by myself with just a composition notebook and handwriting it down first, while just an old listen to playlist of music that I've listened to a thousand times. is blaring and blasting

and yeah because I found like if I listen to music that I haven't heard before or if I haven't really heard it, I'll be focusing more on that. But if it's music that I've heard a million times but I still like it, that just kind of gives me in the groove.

So when that's happening, you know, I'm maybe not the funnest to be around because I'm not there and you can hear me from my room. But so then from where the book is, once I've written it in the composition, and finished it, then I'll type it up and see how it is, maybe make the corrections where I don't want someone else to read it. Because that's happened a few times where, you know, it'll be our first

draft where I haven't gone back and taken out things that maybe, you know, shouldn't have been in there. Maybe we're a little funky. And then I have my, you know, 99-year-old grandma reading it where I'm like, ooh, I should have pulled that out. So, yeah, that took a few times to learn. So from there, then once it's all typed up, and I've kind of done the first revision, then I've got a pretty good group of friends and family that I can send it out to. And they are good enough at not pulling punches. They will let me know exactly what they think, what's good, what's bad, maybe what needs to be sanded down or what needs to be fixed a little bit.

And it's just a really fun process because, you know, kind of like that old saying, there's too many chefs in the kitchen. I don't believe that for books because every idea, every eyeballs on it, just helps maybe make not that one better, but the next one that I'm working on. So at the moment, I've got two books that I'm trying to get published this next yearish, just kind of waiting for those illustrations again. And then at the same time, I've got about 12 that I'm getting through the first run through.

And then at the same time, I've got about three or four that are just kind of percolate. and that I've been pecking away with just thinking about like how are we going to finish it, how are we going to go from there. So I kind of find like whenever I get stuck on one, there's another one that I'm excited to go back to because I haven't seen it for a while. It's kind of like a new boy. Wow. That's interesting.

So what are some other things we should know about? Do your characters talk to you? Do you have a conversation with them or how does that work? They don't talk to me per se, but they, They kind of let me know kind of what's going to happen in their story. Oh. And it's happened on, yeah, and it's happened on more than a few times where they do something that really hurts me or angers me. And I don't want them to do it or I don't want that to happen to them.

But you know, they got to die or you know they got to, you know, do something that doesn't make them a good person. Oh. Yeah. So that's, you know, that's always kind of rough. Yeah. But in that aspect, it kind of gives, you know, me an ability to step back and say, well, I didn't do that to them. Sometimes some people just got to die. Yeah.

I can see your character. I can see your character being like, please don't kill me. I think they made movies about this sort of thing. Anyway, yeah, very insightful, very interesting, all that good stuff. So the future brings, is there any books that are coming up very soon that we should know about? So just and a bump in the road, the second low one. And then still just kind of working on that kids series. It still doesn't have a title yet, but it's all there.

So that's the most frustrating part because normally, you know, the titles come when I'm thinking about it. and this one's kind of been elude me for a little bit. Ah, looting you. All right, then fun is fun. Let's give us a final pitch out for people to order up the book where they can find it on the interwebs and dot coms. Awesome. Well, yeah, you can find me again at Connor McHughbooks.com, C-O-N-N-E-R-M-C-C-U-E-B-O-O-K-S dot com. You can also find me at Maria's Barnes & Noble.

or if you'd like to support a local bookshop bookstore in Durango, Colorado. It's called Maria's Bookshop. And they're just an awesome place that has been with me since the beginning. And if you ever get a chance, you know, swing by Durango, check them out or check them out online. Does that area of Colorado help inspire you at all for your books? It's a beautiful area, my understanding. Not so much. Yes, not so much yet.

Well, in Colorado, you got those loose, you got those loose laws on different paraphernalia of of weed and whatnot and everything. I think everything's legal there now, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Wow. I'll order me a diet soda then. Well, thank you very much, Connor, for coming to the show. We really appreciate it.

Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thanks for joining us for tuning in. Order up his book, wherever fine books are sold, an eight-legged tail out February 2nd, 2017. Connor McHugh has been with us on the show. Watch for his future books and go grab up his current books and all that good stuff. Is there anything on your website too that maybe can people reach out to you for autographs or follow up with you on a mailing list or

something so they know what you're doing in the future on that website? Yeah, absolutely. You can either send me an email, you can subscribe to the newsletter or if you'd like to, you can even order the book. And if you want to take a picture of yourself somewhere really cool and post it on to the website or send it to me through an email. That's kind of been a fun thing to do. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really great. So they can find your contact information all there and all that good stuff.

Yeah. All right. Thanks, Connor, for coming the show. We really appreciate it. Thanks for our audience for tuning in. Go to goodrease.com, Fortress Chris Foss. LinkedIn.com, Fortress Chris Foss. Chris Foss, one of the TikTok any and all those crazy places on the internet.

Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next. You've been listening to the most amazing intelligent podcast. ever made to improve your brain and your life. Warning. Consuming too much of the Chris Walsh Show podcast can lead to people thinking you're smarter, younger, and irresistible sexy. Consume in regularly moderated amounts. Consult a doctor for any resulting brain bleed.

All right, Connor, and we're out. Great show.