The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Ballad of Darcy and Russell By Morgan Matson

Episode Date: May 5, 2024

The Ballad of Darcy and Russell By Morgan Matson https://amzn.to/44v64qj From New York Times bestselling author Morgan Matson comes a sweeping romantic novel about love, fate…and that one night that can change everything. Darcy believes in love at first sight. Even though it’s never happened to her, she’s spent her whole life waiting for that perfect, magical moment. But right now, her life is anything but perfect. In the aftermath of a music festival, she’s stranded at a bus station until morning—the day before she leaves for college. Her phone is dead, she has no cash, and she’s convinced nothing good can come of this night…but then she meets Russell. Russell. Cute and nice, funny, and kind. She knows this is the moment—and the guy—she’s been waiting for. And they have until sunrise to walk and talk and connect. Over the course of this one fateful night—filled with football field picnics, night swimming, and escape-artist dogs—Darcy and Russell’s lives will change forever. They’ll discover things they never imagined about each other…and about themselves. But can you really know someone after only a handful of hours? Is it possible to fall in love in just one day? And is it worth saying hello…when you know you’re destined for a goodbye? Morgan Matson is the New York Times bestselling author of six books for teens, including Since You’ve Been Gone and Save the Date, and the middle grade novel The Firefly Summer. She lives in Los Angeles but spends part of every summer in the Pocono Mountains.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show. The preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times, because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. This is Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com.

The Chris Voss Show. Come on. Welcome to the Big Show, my family and friends. I am Chris Voss, your host for the last 16 years of The Chris Voss Show. And that's not a, that's not a, never mind, I'll have a joke for it. I was going to say that's not a threat. That's a good thing. So there you go.

Anyway, guys, we always have the most amazing authors on the show. Be sure to refer the show to your family, friends, and relatives, or else, damn it, I just want to start the show with a threat this morning. I'm in that sort of mood. If you can't't tell we are the most amazing author on the show she's the author of the newest book to come out may 7th 2024 it's called the ballad of darcy and russell morgan matson joins us on the show with us today we'll be talking to her about her amazing book and all her insights and all the things you're going to love about this book or else darn it there's just it's a callback joke for the show lots of threats of violence no not of

violence just silly empty threats she is she is the new york best-selling uh author of six books for teens including since you've been gone and save the date and the middle grade novel the firefly summer she lives in los angeles but spends every summer in the Pocono Mountains. And she joins us here on the show. Welcome to the show, Morgan. How are you? I'm good, Chris. Thank you so much for having me.

And I love all the threats we're starting out with today. It's a great way to kick off the morning. Yeah. I mean, there's something over coffee. It's good to hear the threats. I love it. Everyone during the day, don't screw with me. I haven't had my coffee. It's good for you. Threats. Threaten everyone during the day. Don't screw with me.

I haven't had my coffee. So there you go. Morgan, what's a.com that people can go to to find out more about you? It's just morganmatson.com with information about all my books and tour dates and everything like that. Ah, the tour dates. People can do that now after COVID. It's so nice. Yes.

Fantastic. So give us a 30,000 overview. What's in your new book? So The Ballad of Darcy and Russell takes, it's a YA book for teenagers, but you know, also adults might like it too. It takes place all in 24 hours. Darcy is a young woman who has always believed sort of in what the movies have sold her. She's always believed in love at first sight and that when she met the right person, it would all be perfect. But her life is anything but perfect after a music festival the bus she was going to take home broke down and so she's stranded with very little cash a dead phone and no charger and she's going to college the next day but then she looks like every day at coachella i'm sorry exactly

exactly but then she looks across the bus station and sees Russell, who's a boy her age. He's very cute. And he also needs to charge his phone. And so this kicks off sort of 24 hours of which they learn a lot about themselves and about each other. There's some twists and turns and surprises in there. And they sort of examine this idea of if you actually can fall in love with someone that quickly. And since they're both heading off to different colleges, is there any point in saying hello when you know you're going to have to say goodbye? And so that's the Ballad of Darcy and Russell. I love it. This should be a song. I think they're Swift or Beyonce or somebody. Exactly. Oh, my gosh. I love it.

Or, you know, who would also this be? Maybe Simon Garfunkel could come back and be one. Amazing. The ballader. Who's that guy with the whiny voice? Bob Dylan. We could have him. Oh, yeah.

That sounds very kitschy for maybe him or not, really. But this sounds like a book for the times because these people, these young people, just about everybody nowadays live on their phones. And I run several singles groups being single myself and unlovable. Which is true. People in the audience are like, yes he is. No.

But one of the jokes that we have is divorce yourself from your phone. Break up with your phone and get out and meet people. Because we host meetups for singles. Where you can actually meet a human being instead of trying to meet one through your phone. It's really true. Like this book and my last one, which was called Take Me Home Tonight, I got rid of the teen cell phones very early just because it's really hard, I think.

I mean, you can do it. I've done it before, but it's more fun to tell a story when you do have two people who have to interact together, solve problems, and can't Google each other, because they're both Darcy and Russell, or sort of have some things about themselves, they're not sharing right away. And I was like, oh, if they could immediately look on social media, you know, find out everything about this person, you wouldn't have any fun twists in the story. So it was definitely, it was definitely intentional that I got, both of them don't have a phone for the first half of the story because otherwise it's a lot more fun.

It's a lot more fun that way, I think. Yeah, I mean, it'd be a horrible plot. Otherwise it'd be like, how's it going, Darcy? Yeah. Message coming in from the thing. Take Me Home Tonight is one of your other books. See, that's an eddie money song you're oh yeah you got you got an album here i think i love i love the song title books

and i love that song it's such a great song oh my gosh i grew up um eddie murphy so good yeah i wrote we did a tour bus to coachella with someone who was in the bands in the 80s wow and and he used to tour with any money so he told us a ton of any money stories in fact i in the 80s wow and and he used to tour with eddie money so he told us a ton of eddie money stories in fact i have the list that what's called the eddie money list or no it's it's it's his list i'll pull up the artists i'm referring to it's his list but one of the rules is the eddie money rule and eddie money was notorious for running off at concerts and going home with some girl Chicago at some chicks house and no one know where he's at and of course the tour bus has got to leave yeah so his rule was never separate from the herd. So that was the Eddie money rule.

Oh man. That's funny. So tell us a little about yourself. You've written, is it seven or eight books? Seven YA novels and, or actually eight YA novels and one novel for middle grade readers. I just had a different YA novel come out about a month ago that I did with Disney. And that one's called Prom Chanted in which it's sort of a, it's a bit of a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story. So tell us a little bit about your upbringing. What, what made you end up being a writer? When did you kind of first figure out your, you could write and started writing stuff? I'm from the East coast. I live in California now. And I just always, I was a huge reader. I was I always loved to write but didn't think I would ever do it. Like I was just one of those kids who could always write. And so I was always like, writing my essay that it was due on the bus the morning that it was due, you know, I was sort of using some writing talent for nefarious purposes. And then I was really into theater and started writing plays in my high school's theater department.

And when I got to college, sort of realized that I wanted to write books and write books for young people. And so I got a master's degree in that and worked in publishing for a while at Scholastic. And then I've just been doing this full time for a while now. There you go. And you're a hit. I mean, I see the reviews that you've got on Amazon. Aw. And you're killing it with young people.

It's really fun. And a lot of adults actually, too, which is fun. I think there's something about, I think, reading about 17 or 18-year-olds who aren't dealing with mortgages and taxes. And it's a bit escapist, I think, for some of my adult readers. Yeah, a lot of women like beach reads. Totally. People kind of like that, Eric, is the best time in life because they think of what you talk about. There's no bills. There's no tax man.

There's no mortgages. There's no divorces. It's kind of that good time of everyone's life. Yeah, and it's also the future is sort of bright and hopeful. You know what I mean? When you're 18, you haven't messed up so much that you wrecked anything usually. So it's always fun. You're 40, you always just give up you've

it's also really fun to write for teenagers because everything's happening for the first time you know it's like the first time they're falling in love with someone or having a fight or it and so it all feels very like heightened and immediate so that's always a lot of fun whereas if you're writing for adults i feel like everyone has their baggage and their past relationships and you know it's less sort of fresh and new. You just described most of my dating groups for myself. Seriously. It's just like they're bags of damage.

At about 50, they're showing up with U-Hauls relationships on first dates. And you're just like, what are all the U-Hauls here for? Why is the 50-foot truck here? Oh, it's carrying my baggage. You're like, this is going to be a long coffee. Greg Kinn was the artist that I was referring to. We spent nine hours going from San Francisco to Coachella with him in a bus sponsored by JBL. And he told us the most amazing stories about the Beatles.

And he played with so many different people over the years. So cool. He told us some really crazy Eddie money stories then he also passed away didn't he last year any money so probably best to let his story go with him but how was Coachella I've never been I've always wanted to go it was crazy it was hot and it was windy and dry and I didn't like it as much because I'm a classic band, Metallica band. And so I just kind of stood there the whole time and went, who the hell are these people? What's this noise they're making?

But it was fun. But the stories he told us and we brought a guitar and he played for us. Oh, wow. It was just epic stuff that we went through with him. And he played with the Beatles and Tom Petty. Wow, geez. And he lived in that era of the 80s. stuff that we went through with him and and he played with the beatles and tom petty and wow and he lived in that era of the 80s and so he told us how crazy it was and the crazy yeah yeah any money any money was was just he was known for some debauchery let's just

so there was the any money rule that was on his list the other Some of the other lists were, do not eat road food on the bus or use the sit-down part of the toilet on the bus. Do not eat the, one of the rules was do not eat the canned pickles or the pickled pickles or the pickled eggs. If you've ever been in some of those stops, they have a big jar of pickled eggs. Yep.

Do not eat anything that will cause you to fill the bus with perfumes that's probably a good rule yeah and he's we will kick you off the bus if any of these things you will be free from the bus and then i guess you have to hitchhike to the to the events there you go with the balance of darcy and russell what made you this is kind of a standalone book right there's no yes yes no series. Yes, yes. No series. There you go. Yeah. When you came up with the characters and the plot setting, I think it's really smart to make people's phones turn off. Maybe you can make it a theme.

I'd love it. People don't get to know each other anymore. I don't have it ever happen with my dates. I have great dates, but I'm a good picker. But a big complaint I hear from people dating nowadays is they're know, they're on a date and they're just, you know, people are just glued to their phone still. They can't break up with their phone. And you're like, this is why you're single. And so there you go.

What's in the future for you with any books that you might be working on? Is there anything new that you've got cooking in the next year? Yeah. So I'm, this one just comes out on May 7th. So I'm, I'm promoting that now. And then I'm working on my next middle grade novel for younger kids.

So that'll be out probably not until 26. So yeah. So that's some, some things stacked up. Yeah. I'm just glad we've got kids reading stuff. Yeah. No,

it's, it's really true. And it's really fun because it's the books for younger kids. And I've gotten to tour around to different schools and, you know, get to meet a bunch of kids and, and they're so great. And so it's really, I love talking to kids and teens. It's, it's always really fun. And it's, it really is. I mean, kids get so excited and passionate when they're into something. So it's, it's really fun to get to talk to them. Yeah. And, and it's good for you to read. Everyone should read, damn it. Anytime you meet a person

who doesn't read, they, I don't know, I don't have a joke for that. No, no, it's so true. Yeah. I mean, it expands your brain. It's how we learn stuff. Even if it's just entertainment or seemingly entertainment, it makes you sharper. We just just absolutely neuroscience neurologist on the show yesterday who talked about alzheimer's dementia and reading is one of the ways you can keep your brain active so that no that's awesome sharp otherwise you end up i don't know voting for certain parties on the book with what do you hope people come away with from the book is there any message you want people to get or do you just want them to enjoy themselves? I mean, I hope they have a good time. This was really inspired

by, I actually went to Woodstock 99 when I was 17 and on the bus ride home, the bus broke down. And so we had to spend overnight in a bus station. And so this was very much inspired by my own 17 year old experience. So I feel like it, I like look back on that now. And like, I literally, we didn't have cell phones. There was no internet. And I'm kind of, I like look back on that now. And like, I literally, we didn't have cell phones, there was no internet. And I'm kind of like, how did I figure that out? Like, somehow I did, I got home, it was okay. But it's, it was fun to sort of throw these characters into a situation, take their phones away from them, and kind of, they get to sort of see what they're made of and what they're up against and, and figure that out. And it was a fun book, because

it was sort of, I love deconstructing something. And so it's fun to have a character who's, I believe in love at first sight and it's going to be perfect. And then to sort of show her a little bit of what the reality is a little bit more like. And it's a very hopeful book, but I think it's also about kind of, sometimes we can come at something with preconceived notions of how it's supposed to be and who this person in my mind is. And then that it's a lot more richer. It's a lot richer and more interesting when you get to grips with how things actually

are and who this person really is as opposed to my idea of them. And so I think it's a hopeful book, but it's also kind of a realistic book. There you go. Maybe help some people go down the journey of learning about life, you know? Yeah, I think so. I still find people in my singles group that they're still in their own private idaho about what love is and you're like you've been divorced twice and you still like this is a really simple manual biology

but whatever fantasy you're living in your own private idaho must be great because you're nowhere near it and then they're then they're angry at you for waking up to their fantasy they built. Yeah. It's also, it's got a big family component to it too, that both Darcy and Russell's families become a part of this. And I think it's that sort of moment when you're about 17 or 18 and you suddenly realize that your parents are actual people who had a life before you and aren't perfect and begin to know, begin to see them more as, as actual flawed people. And so I feel like that was also an important part of the book. And I love writing about families as well,

in addition to romance. So that was a lot of fun. That's a real important part. Cause what you're writing about is how those families get started. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the,

the families aren't usually the most perfect people and, but I mean, that's how we are. We're kind of like a broken, wounded people and we kind of figure it out. You know, we go dating and you're like, hey, I got a box of razor blades from childhood. What do you have? And they're like, I got a bag of glass, broken glass. All right, let's play together. I'm sure that'll be fine.

But, you know, that's the trail of humanity as it were. It's true. It's true. And both. Blood broken glass and razor blades no it's so true and both darcy and russell are from more unconventional families and so it was it was fun to sort of see them in the beginning when they're presenting everything is being perfect that they're kind of like trying to push that part away from them and then as they get to know each other more it's sort of like oh this is actually the truth about my family or the issues with my mother or you know what it is and because you can't sort of separate yourself from where you

come from and who your family is i've tried i've given them all my death moved away but you've done everything again somehow my kids keep finding me so i think mari's involved that's the problem this has been really insightful give us your dot coms and final pitch out for people to pick up the book and find it wherever fine books are sold sure the website is morgan mattson.com and the ballad of darcy and russell comes out may 7th online and at bookstores everywhere there you go thank you very much morgan for coming on the show really appreciate thank you so much chris this was great there you go Order her book wherever fine books are sold, folks. The Ballad of Darcy and Russell coming out May

7th, 2024. Check out her books as well. They are hot and people love them. Thanks to my audience for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com 4chesschrisfast, linkedin.com 4chesschrisfast, chrisfast1, the tiktokity and all those crazy places on the internet. Bye-bye.