The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Deadly Ground by Thomas W Starbuck

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

Deadly Ground by Thomas W Starbuck https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972881027 We’re all on deadly ground now. This virus doesn’t have rules. We don’t know what the next moments will bring. For whatever reason, God saw fit to give me the responsibility of being the second Adam, and to restart the human race.

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Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education role. roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Los Voss here from The Chris Voss Show. Duhl. Well, you know, the only scenes that makes it official. Welcome the big show. Hey, it's wonderful to have you guys on. By the way, the prior two shows of the show, we had some audio difficulties, and I couldn't even hear my own voice. There was a little bit of muck-ups on the sound that came through. So if you hear that, you're like, why does it sound

a little different? That's what that was. But we got to fix today. Opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the Chris Faw Show. Some guests of the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it's not an endorsement or review of any kind. We have an amazing young man on the show. We're going to be talking about two of his books called Until the End of Love and his book will lead off with called Deadly Ground. What if they're tied together because most of my marriages were the end of love and deadly grounds? Maybe they're together.

We'll find out. But Thomas W. Starbuck is on this show with us today. We're going to get into it with him. And remember, we're the oldest podcast still be. broadcasting daily. No one else is doing that from the handful that's left from like the 2005-2008s era. And we'll be 17 years old in August in one month. So let's get into it with Thomas. We're going to find out more about him, his insights, and these lovely books he's been writing. He's the creative force behind deadly ground embarked on a compelling journey of exploration and imagination back in 2006 with a keen eye on the real world threats posed by Bert Flew and. and SARS viruses while stationed in the Southeast Asia serving in the Marine Corps,

Sarbuck delved into the realm of speculative fiction to envision a world gripped by pandemic chaos. Central to his narrative is the enigmatic figure, A.B. A. Crimeric individual or chimeric? I'll get correct. Chimeric. Chimic, there is. Embodding a fusion of virology and genetic expertise through A. these eyes, readers are drawn to a gripping tale of survival and renewal as a protagonist embarks on a quest to seek out the survivors and chart a path towards repopulating Earth in the wake of destination.

His other book is Until the End of Love, which we'll get to later in the show. Welcome to show, Thomas, how are you, sir? I'm good, thank you, Chris. I was getting Crimea mixed with the Trimeric, so that was kind of throwing me there a little bit. So give us your dot coms, Thomas. How can people find you on the internet web, sir? Right. www.

Deadlyground.com. And I think that's my wife's divorce attorney's website too. No, I'm just kidding. Doing marriage jokes. So give us a 30,000 overview. What's aside, Deadly Ground? Yeah, interesting. A good intro.

Deadly Ground was an evolution in my experience, my life experiences. what I experienced over in Southeast Asia and Vietnam was bird flu and some SARS. And I noticed under some pretty uninhabitable, some conditions just in the life of the people there, that we were vulnerable as humans to virus that potentially could have decimating effects. So over time, I kind of developed that sense of what if there was

this apocalyptic virus that wiped out primate life on earth. And so that was kind of the seed that brought me to Deadly Ground, which was originally published in 2017. And what I found amazing was right after publishing, we had the COVID-19 breakout. And it reinforced the storyline in Deadly Grounded, and laid out what not only could happen, but what's plausible. And so the story of Deadly Ground then becomes the story of an individual, the protagonist,

A.B. And he happened to be a chimeric, which a chimeric is a known medical condition. And what that consists of is that if twins are conceived and only one develops and his birth, that one that is birth maintains both sets of DNA. And Stoic, Primera is typically savant in many disciplines, whether that's mathematics, artwork, whether it's mechanical, whatever that might be. And A.B. possessed most in all these different savant talents, and then became along with his friend Clayton Ramsey.

He went to become the head virologist and genealogist and at the CDC. He decides that he's going to take a little break from all of his work. He goes to his home that he's built by hand in California, out on the coast, and he gets a call from Clayton saying that I need to get, that A.V. needs to get back to Atlanta. immediately because they detected a virus in Africa, which is more than anything that he could

understand. And AB gets back and the different satellite imagery that they're getting are people are being affected. And what happens is that within minutes, they are reduced to dust. In other words, the virus that attacks them is extremely viral and absolutely taking. control and they are reduced to dust. So you see visions of cities that are establishments there that were once days earlier populated that are now just swirling dust. It's air transmitted. So now it becomes part of what is taking hold into the world. So you have quite a bit of now governments and everybody trying to deal with this and as it turns out in fact it

It wipes out all primate life on earth, except for AB, who has compiled a fairly substantial list of chimera in the world. So that was one of the things he was trying to do is understand more about himself. So he finds himself literally out on the street in Atlanta with cars, everything decimated, that he then realizes he has survived. and decides that then it's his job to go find additional survivors by fixing up a truck and then he has an adventure where he goes all the way across the states. He has several stops where he has some false alarms. And he realizes that he owns everything, that everything now is his possession. There's a scene where he ends up in Denver and goes to the Denver Mint and loads up

a pallet of gold bars and what have you and whatnot, but gets back to California, finds himself then dealing with the loneliness that sets in, and he finds himself abandoned, he's been unable to contact. So you have this sense of what it would be like to be absolutely alone. And one of the things that was part of my development was in scripture, the book of Job, which Job was a character that virtually lost everything, but he was able to continue having a faith in a higher authority. And that faith in a higher authority is what sustained him.

And literally, he then survived and not only regained, what he lost, but more than what he had lost. And that was what inspired AB as he kind of went forward in the process of dealing with loneliness. A name like AB, like when I was reading the bio was kind of twisting me a little bit. Like, see, and that's his name. Like, is that a name types that they use in that environment? Actually, yeah, his name is Adam Bradley. And I just reduced it to AB.

Oh, okay. All right. So just giving up. Right. All right then. I get it. So the, when did you start writing science fiction? It's science fiction, right?

When you start writing in this genre? And when did you know you kind of had the knack to make a book for it? And again, like I say, it was evolutionary in my experience. One thing led to the other is I have a greater idea, expanded on it, amplified it, and made notes, and then decided that it was time that, that I thought this was a good enough story that it deserved to be a motion picture was my original vision. And I worked with a woman who helped me write a screenplay. And when I found out how difficult it was to attract production money for an independent,

we converted the actual screenplay into Deadly Ground the novel. And then I had it published in 2017. Ah, and it did really well. Now, what made you interested in writing this next book that we're going to be talking about until the end of love? And is that kind of a whole different genre and stretch than what you had before? Yeah, it is. The thing that I found that as I've evolved in my own spirituality, there's been a lot of talk recently, You've probably seen some news items appearing on the 3-Eye Atlas, which a year ago was the third discovered intergalactic object.

And Abbey Loeb, who was the head of astrophysics at Harvard University, along with Michi Okaku, who I have followed for decades as an astrophysicist, were pointed out all these different anomalies from this intergaloclac, which gave me. me the sense that we're not alone and that then I started trying to realize what was the source? What was the source of matter? What's it all about? That question, are we alone? Where did we come from? All of that came into my focus and what I determined was that actually there has been no astrophysics that have ever been purported or written or documented, which gives you that sense of thought, what creates a thought in your mind? Where did it come from? What was the origination of that? And what I finally have come comfortable with is that the whole sense of consciousness is basically love, that it's a, it is, it's an infinite flow from a higher authority,

and that it can be tapped into through a belief, through faith. So in other words, you can't prove it. And you have all the atheists out there in the world saying, this, that, and the other thing, God doesn't exist. It all started from nothing. But the reality is that there is a design, and all of that comes to us through faith, and that the higher authority is just simply the fountainhead of love. And that the reason that we are unable to know without doubt with total proof there is a higher authority that there is a God, is that the God keeps himself from us through that sense of wanting reciprocal love. He offers it freely.

Love is a free gift, and that it's our faith response to that and reciprocating that creates the peace in our lives. And so I think all of us desire to have love in our lives, to be in love, fall in love, no love. And with that being said, I realize that love is an infinite experience and that it's actually, it's our awareness that is malleable. So we can adjust our awareness to heighten or deny the actual love that's freely given, but the higher authority or the fountainhead of love is the one that is seeking reciprocation. I go back to my days in formation when I went through deacconate formation for the Diocese of Des Moines to become a permanent deaconate. One of the things I took advantage of was the liturgy of the hour that was presented every morning,

has for centuries, with the monks of Conception Abbey, a Benedictine Abbey in northeast Missouri, northwest Missouri. Going there, I recall on Saturday mornings at the vigil service, and they have the liturgy of the hours, which are times of the day where they gather for prayer. but the opening hymn was O' Fountainhead of Love Supreme and Maker of the Cosmic Frame, one Godhead of the universe, three persons guiding, yet the same. And with that kind of as a sense, I started realizing that love is infinite, that it is something that is freely given, that if we become aware of it through faith,

then we find a peace in a loving God who only wants us to love. And with that being said, I decided that there are people, there's no restrictions as to who can fall in love. And so until the end of love is a story of an age gap relationship. A woman and a man, he's 53, she's mid-30s. They met it in the airport, and then they developed this love overtime as twin flames. And that was something that really I put my heart and soul into because it became such a reality that I find such deep peace in knowing that my faith response to the Godhead, I have found myself a more loving, caring person.

And it's interesting when we write about these things, we tend to improve ourselves. because we ponder these topics and see about these topics. Tell us about some of the protagonists they're in the book about love. Until the end of love, the protagonist is he's an author. He's 53 years old. He's single and never been in a relationship. And as just one of those people that have gone through, he's published several books. And she happens to be, as she calls herself, the makeup artist to the star,

and mid-30s, attractive. And she and he meet while he's waiting for a flight to Seoul South Corita for a book fair, and she's waiting to take on a production. So they both were heading towards going first to Los Angeles than he on to Seoul. And over that four-hour flight, they discover each other. and from there it builds to a twin flame relationship that moves forward and it becomes something very eternal. One of the closing line that I used in Deadly Ground after he had been through so much for so long, was until he realized what the realities were, he said, until then, the love of God is all I need.

Your love for me is all I need. And so I guess what I'm saying is I've had a lot of life experience, but I've really discovered just through exploration this desire for peace in my life, avoiding the chaos that is so prevalent in the world that we live in today. I choose peace, and the way I choose peace is that through faith in a loving Almighty God. Faith is always a good thing to have, they say. I hear that from people. So what are some approaches that you use when you write?

How do you develop your characters, set your storylines and stuff? What are some of the processes that work for you, you found? Yeah, I, myself, I think it's a lot intuitive. I like to create through meditation and thought, get an idea, amplify it. And then I use a lot of post-it notes, write little this, that, comments, what have you. And then, like, for instance, until the end of love, once I completed the storyline, I did it as an audio, and then I took the audio, ran it through AI into a narrative, and then published it as a novel.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So an AI help you edit it? Did you use AI to edit it? Some people do that now. It's a great feedback. I didn't use AI to edit it, but the publisher that I worked with on this was a romantic herself and a writer and she and I collaborated to create a polished narrative after I presented the audio tour that's a way to get it done right you always have got to but you always got to figure out to preserve your voice too as well yeah good stuff there what do you hope people come away with when they read your books what do you hope their journey experiences I hope they see that life is full of challenges and that we all

face difficulties, some more extreme than others, but were never tested beyond our ability to endure. And by enduring challenge, a lot of times that strengthens faith and belief and increases a greater faith. And so I would hope that people as they go through deadly ground and see the challenge is faced by ABB and how he overcame and how he succeeded moving forward is inspiration for people to see that life is worth living and that there is an almighty source of love that if you tap into it, creates peace and calm in your life, and you can share that with others around you. What a great message. What a great wonderful story and thing to discuss there. So wonderful stuff. Anything future books coming out in the future?

Yes. Actually, I've begun outlining a prequel to do. Deadly Ground. Yeah, the storyline in Deadly Ground is that apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic. But now with the Three-Eye Atlas and Michi Okaku and some of the things that he's put out and Abby Loeb regarding the potential for extraterrestrial life or presence, yeah, that's something I want to start threading into a storyline that would tie into Deadly Ground as a prequel. Ah, this would be exciting to see all the stuff that you have going into it and all the future

books that you come out. When did you officially start writing? Did you write when you were young? Did you write when you retired? I mean, what was the, what did you like to read to? Yeah, I never was a great reader. There were certain novels and fiction that I liked, but nothing, nothing really, some people are voracious readers.

I casually wrote, I always have been more of a meditator, contemplator, and I came out of 32 years of financial services, and that in itself was a challenge experience just by virtue of all of the ups and downs of markets and everything else. And I was always seeking more of a peaceful environment, a peaceful life. So I never really did anything other than just, work towards developing that on a day-to-day basis in my life experience. Wonderful thing and all that good stuff.

Any final thoughts as we go out or give people your final pitch to pick up your books and dot-com so they can reach you at? I did have a story I'd like to share as we close because a lot of what I've said is all comes from the person's attitude and what they develop as their attitude. Is it positive? Is it negative? How do you develop a more peaceful being? And I mentioned all of a sudden I see a Buddhist monk.

He happens to be in Midtown Manhattan. And he's dressed in his burgundy and burnt orange robes and walking around midtown. And it's about noon hour. And he's getting a little hungry. So he sees a hot dog stand there. and he approaches the hot dog stand and looks down and the vendor says, can I help you?

And he says, yes, I want one with everything. And so the vendor picks up a warm bun and puts a hot dog in there and loads it with sourcrow and mustard ketchup, pickle, relish, and wraps it, wrapper hands it to the monk. And the monk reaches in his robe and hands the vendor a table, $20 bill. The vendor takes the $20 bill, folds it and puts it in his apron, and proceeds to call on the next customer there and serves the next customer. The monk continues to stand there. And then he serves the third and finally looks over and asks the monk, he says, I see you standing there. What are you

waiting for? And the monk says, I'm waiting for change. And the vendor looks at him and says, you among all of us gathered here don't know that change comes from within That's funny yeah, yeah, that's pretty smart That monk making a couple bucks there on the site I love it I love what a great story there maybe you should build a book around that story somehow I don't know it might be a motivational book or something did you write that story or is that one you picked up on one i had heard at one point along the way and it's always stuck with me because it's so true that change comes from within

change and we have to yeah we have to choose to change yeah that's why i always have to bang on the pop machine because change comes from within yeah i get it a good way of putting it built on your story maybe we got another plot thank you very much for coming the show we really appreciate it, Thomas, and thanks for getting your books off the ground and rolling as an author, and now you're just on to bigger and better things. Yeah, I'm hoping to attract some interested, either traditional publishing or production people. I think we got great marketable content, and I would love to work with anyone on moving the projects forward.

Let's do it. Let's get that taken care of. So, Thomas, thanks for me on the show. Thanks for my audience for being here. Go to goodreads.com, Fortress, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com. com, Fortress, Christchisvost, YouTube.com, Fortress, Chris Foss, and all those crazy places in the net. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you guys next. You've been listening to the most amazing, intelligent podcast ever made to improve your brain and your life.

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