wellRED podcast - Drew Talks River Trash w/ L.A. Fields!

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

On this very special episode of WellRED aka "The Drew Skeew!" Drew sits down one on one with Author L.A. Fields! L.A. Fields is the award-winning author of LGBT novels, short stories, and scholarship, including the Lambda Literary Award finalists My Dear Watson (a Sherlock Holmes pastiche) and Homo Superiors (a modern Leopold and Loeb retelling).  Summary of their new book River Trash!: Singer-songwriter Whitney Thorn is a 50-year-old recovered crystal meth addict and the well-known son of country music royalty. Struggling comedian and former nurse Graham Morrow is down and out at 35, living back home with his mother. They meet at an unauthorized show in a Louisiana field and take a chance on shacking up together, creating art at leisure and exploring each other with curiosity and wonder. But with hurricanes ravaging other parts of the South and death tolls rising due to COVID-19, eventually trouble finds them. River Trash is a slice of Americana, a love story, and a bottle novel that takes place mainly indoors. Two men seek to know one another while a chaotic world swirls around them. Check out L.A.'s work at https://lafields.webflow.io/ TraeCrowder.com for tickets WeLoveCorey.com for Bonus Stuff DrewMorganComedy.com for all things Drew Sponsor links: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app and enter my show name wellRED podcast in the survey so they know I sent you! Don’t wait! Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show! Get up to 10 FREE meals and a free high protein item for life at HelloFresh.com/wellred10fm One item per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on first box, new subscribers only, varies by plan.

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Hey everybody. It's your boy, Corey Ryan Forster. Very, very special episode of the well-read podcast today. For the past couple weeks, we've actually been Sands Drew. So now we thought it'd be nice if it was all dream. But no, not all Drew, of course. He has a tremendous guest. L.A. Fields, the award-winning author of LGBTQ novel, short stories, and a scholarship, including the Lambda Literary Award finalist.

My Dear Watson, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, and Homo superiors, a modern Leopold and Loeb retelling. Well, I know I'm in. And you're going to love this interview. It's fantastic. Y'all have a time, and I'll see you later. They're the liberal rednecks They like cornbread, but sex They care way too much, but don't give a fuck

They're the liberal rednecks That makes some people upset But they got three big old dicks That you can suck What is up, everybody? Welcome to a very special segment On the podcast today. I am joined by author, L.A. Fields, which is such a cool name, by the way. I don't

if we've talked about that before. Oh, you cut out for a second. I was like, oh, I was just moving my mouth. So, yeah. We are in audio and visual, but mostly audio medium. So I know you're a writer, but you're going to have to speak. Ma'am, you've got such a face for radio. No. Yeah, no. The, those are my actual initials. So that's, the name my mama gave me when you think about it. L.A. for Lauren Ariel. Oh, excellent. So not Lower Alabama. Lower Alabama fields. This Los Angeles, you know, trash field over here. Yeah. Well, you already brought Trash Field. Your new novel is called River Trash. We're going to get into it

very soon. This is not the first time I've interviewed you. I had you on, DJ and I had you on Gravy Baby. I think when it was called into the Abisket, maybe, to discuss your work. both writing in, I'm going to say it wrong, I'm a redneck, but you write in the gay genre. And you also write in the fanfic subgenre. Is that fair? That is fair. So, yeah, when you guys were, you kind of, it may not be the best thing that you do, but you do let just any old weirdo kind of wander into your circles and be like, who are you? Stick a mic in their face. And so the way I pitched myself was just like, hey, fellas, I hear you're looking for stories.

like I'm a lady who writes about like gay fiction and you're like that's how like come on down. So that's how it happened. The stuff I've read of yours and I think I've read two or three things at this point, we're all about men. Is it specifically gay men that you write about all the time or do you also write about gay women? It's all gay men so far. Although one of my recent ones has been just a fan of their work. One of my more recent ones was actually LGBT Antis. so it has a lesbian in there,

that we've got a trans character, people are genderqueer, it's all over the map. So, like, who knows? I mean, this is, this is me before 40. I've already written, I have to, like, 13 published novels.

I've got a few more that are just, like, waiting in the hopper to come out. 13? I'm going to be one of those prolific authors. That's just like, she died, she left like 48,000, but I don't know so much.

I have a question about fanfic. Mm-hmm. Well, first of all, how broad of a genre is that? Sometimes it's obvious where you're on a Reddit thread for specific. It's like Superman fan fiction and it's like it's literally called that this thread is. And then it is people who use the characters that everyone knows and then they make up stories about them. They're often sexual.

Is that, am I wrong about that or that's just what's getting filtered to me? You're not wrong, although I mean, you may be talking to like the, like, it's a very limited, you know, like interview pool here because that's how I got into fan fiction. So we talked about it the last we spoke on a podcast, but I got into fan fiction as a child, like an actual like 12 year old little child. So, and that was that started with Harry Potter fan fiction. So I was just like- And was that sexual? Yes, it was. That's why it's funny when people are just like, you know, if you feel strongly about stuff out there, you should run for office. And I'm like, oh, I don't think I can.

I was a teenage pornographer. It's not going to work out. So they're going to find that. You know it. That's a pretty good book title. It's like, I mean, it sounds like a crime, but it's very, what's the word? Not intriguing. I can't think you're the author.

I don't know what word I'm looking for, but it's enticing. See, that also sounds sexual. I'm trying to say it's like, that's going to grab attention. Right. It's salacious, maybe. Yeah, I was a teenage pornographer. Yeah, so I was just writing my little, like, grade school smart, basically. So, like, middle school, it was very boring in class.

I didn't teach us good because I'm from Florida. So I my brain was just like eating itself all day. So like I would, they'd be like, here's your homework design. Like here's all the work, just busy work handed to us. And I'm like, great, finish that. You're not allowed to like be rambunctious or speak to your friends or anything because they're all working at their own pace. So I would like, I would do two things.

I would either copy out poems I had memorized, which is, yeah, because I knew how to party. And then I would plot out my fan fictions and go home and write them. So I started with, um, Harry Dregco fan fiction just being like, like they seem like they hate each other a little too much. I'm like suspicious. Can't stop thinking about him. You were 12 years old and you're looking at this like male homo erotic rivalry and you're like,

I think they're into each other. That is so funny to me. I was a little pervert too, but in a much more standard tail like red-blooded American boy, figured out how to program the satellite dish to get the channels I wasn't supposed to see. Definitely started out with the soft core playboy channel because like the other stuff felt medical to me like do you know what i remember

like seeing actual porn at a very young age and being not even disgusted but just like almost like this is hot to people whereas you know the playboy channel just was like naked women running through a field and pouring milk on themselves i was like now this buddy this right here's where it's at yeah so i um well i mean the old internet i mean we'll be able to tell people someday just be like you don't even know back with the dial up you just don't even know how we we struggled in the day um so no my my first entree to like actual like sexual stuff was like there were there were cassette tapes somewhere in the house from like whatever like boot leg dish like other people had so like what that was that was that's a little personal family trauma of like where did you find these tapes you're going to like you you have um so but

but that was um yeah where did you leave them i found where you put them dad i hire you to rewrite my memories for me. So it's like that. Honestly, a lot of the fiction writing comes from like, you know what I should have said? And then that's so I'd write a whole novel based on something like that. Well, yeah. I mean, fanfic is you going, you know what? They should have done instead of fighting for four books.

Really miss an opportunity here with this room of requirement, J.K. Rowling. Like, I like how she built that and it's just like and of course people use it for something. Shut out. There's a whole looob room in there when people are like, you know what we really need right now? It's a little bit of privacy. So anyway.

So that was the old fan fiction stuff. At a certain point, I just kind of like graduated. I'm like, it's time to start doing original stuff. Started with YA books that are very like after school special with people like, they're cutting themselves. They have feelings. Like somebody's pregnant underage and stuff. That is why I read all of my filth because as a red-blooded American girl,

it was mostly like, don't you let those boys touch you. So I was like, okay. But like that energy has to go somewhere. And I'm like, now I'm prolific with my books. So that's where all of that started. I went through a five-book Y-A series called The Disorder Series. True fanfiction, I returned to my roots at one point. I kind of did an inventory of all my works to be like,

well, I used to do fan fiction as a kid, as a little, you know, good practice. It actually is fantastic practice for people if you want to know what it's like to be a writer. Go ahead and just start with fan fiction because it teaches you pacing. It teaches you dialogue. Like grad school can't do you better. Trust me, I went. So the return to fan fiction started with, Sherlock Holmes' pastiche.

So Mrs. Watson, from her point of view, being like, I think my husband and Sherlock Holmes kind of had a thing. And, like, he comes to visit after the war, and she's like, these sons of bitches in my house, in my house. But she kind of allows it. You know, she's like, look, I got a lot of brothers. He's a good man, you know? Like, if he's got a boyfriend on the side, fine.

You know, like Sherlock Holmes knows how to keep a secret. Did they all bang? Oh, that's pretty good. Now Sherlock, he doesn't like women that much. At all. Oh, wow. He very much taught. And this is like, this is just true, like, all the history research I do because I'm also a scholar

like a perverted scholar as well where it's a lot of Victorian-era men especially the gay ones would be like look women are the fucking worst they are stealing my friends into marriages with their gross children so like some of them really hate women

it's unique when you find one who like actually like So gay men haven't changed much I mean there are pretty much it's the same it's the same split because there are some gay men who are just like I mean girl I agree with men are garbage. I mean, they're hot. We like them, but like, ah. So, like, there are plenty of men who love to hang with the girls. And then there are plenty of gay men who are just like,

I actually don't like women at all. Like, I think they might be like a subset of the species. No, thank you. And that's where you'll get your, um, your, your gay men who are also like straight Nazis, like legitimately like Ernst Rome, kind of your Nazis. But, um, and then you'll have some people like, um, Oscar Wilde loved women and some of the most difficult women, which is actresses. Like, he was like, I get along great with these ladies. That was, uh, that was Capote's archetype too, right? There was a show about that recently and Andy was super into it. And we could discuss that show, but I'd like to put some focus on your work here. And I hope people are super tuned in. I'm going to have to tease this in the description, but let's get it a little bit

into what you're doing lately. So, first of all, is River Trash fan fiction in your own mind? or is it like a blend of half fanfic, half something else? I consider it real life inspired. So my legitimate transition is the Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Where you actually use their names. Yes, where I use Sherlock Holmes' name and Watson's name and Mrs. Watson. Same with the Leopold and Low book I wrote. I changed their names, but I very much advertise it as like this is a Leopold and Loeb retelling.

It's written on the back of the book. It's not a secret to anybody. These new books are interesting secrets. So like the first one I wrote actually like, uh, was based on, I was, I was trying to be coy about it for a while, but I don't think the lawsuit's coming through. So I'm just going to go ahead and like, I've got a, I've got an exclusive scoop for you. So this one, Riot's on, um, me listening to a lot of behind the bastards, like, right as the pandemic was kicking in. And so I, it's like a radio play of like listening to these actual people talking about their actual lives and just being like, and like fan fiction brain kicks in and I start filling in gaps and stuff. So like, um, Robert. Evans on the podcast was like he was going through it his friends were concerned about him so i'm like listening like oh no his people are concerned about robert what's going on and then at one point it switches his mood is back and his his voice is alight with like passion again and he was like they're like what happened you seem happy he's like i met a riot son out on the street and then that guy joins the

podcast and i'm like stop talking i'm writing a whole story in my head and so that's what i did i changed names and took some of the, like, actual reporting they were doing as, like, as you would with the news. Like, you can use the news in your little stories. Um, and then, like, started changing names and just like, they just look suspiciously like the guys in the story, but like, no worries. Like, there's no reason to sue. It's fine. So you wrote, correct me if I'm wrong, what you're saying is in Riot Sun, which is not the new one that we're about to talk about, but in the past one, Robert Evans and someone else on behind the bastards become gay lovers. Yeah. Look at your face light up, too. This is so interesting. And I mean this at a very point.

positive way. It is, and we're going to get into this in a minute on a personal level. It is very interesting to see a woman essentially objectify men. And it's like how much more artistic you are with it. Because like basically what you did is you took two very real people and you found out they had a cool moment. And then you said, what are they fucked? Which is like a very male thing to do. But then you made it a play instead of a porn. Yeah, I absolutely did. I'm like, what if I make it literary? Then they can't be mad at me. Right. Right. This is a play, not a porno, this is a play. Yeah, it's called literature.

If it's erotic, it's erotic literature, and it's different than erotica. Okay, so anybody can tell you. Even the Supreme Court could see that. You'll know it when you see it. But so basically, like, I got that book into somebody's hands in their orbit, and they either read it and we're like, no, God damn, thank you. Or they didn't read it or whatever. But it doesn't matter.

As long as I don't get sued, I can, you know, they could always tell me to shut up about it. So you're saying someone at least try to get it in front of them and they either didn't actually take the bait or they saw it and just decided not to ever reach out to you. I got it into somebody's inbox and they ran out of time to blurb it. And I'm like, if they read it, they would very quickly figure out what I did.

It may have made them uncomfortable. Correct. And that's understandable. And I'll stay in my own lane. So I think that might be the difference. Like when women do this, I'm just like, I'm not going to be like, you don't have to be like, my wife wants a word.

Like you stay the fuck off the property. Like, so like I'm like, no. Yeah. Well, you're not a threat. physically, usually. You know, sometimes there's like stalker level stuff, but I didn't get that vibe. Now somebody being like, why would you care? All right. Let's, we buried the lead in that. So right. That was how the first book happened. And I did that and it felt so daring. And so like, oh, my God. For Bolton, what have I done? And then I started listening to your podcast. And I was like, you know what?

So here's, here's how it actually happened. This is River Trash. It was, it was inspired by one of the well-read episodes that you guys did when you interviewed Whalen Pace. I had never heard about Waylon Payne even once in my life. I don't listen to a lot of country music. And when I did, it was in, like, it was like cassette tapes in my dad's truck. It was a long time ago. It was like, it was like before Shania Twain left country. It was a long time ago. So small, brief Waylon Payne catch up for people who don't remember the episode.

Waylon Payne, I think, was introduced to us by Elizabeth Cook. I could have that a little off. Whelan Payne is a country music prince, who's now an elder statesman, for lack of a better word. mother and father were royalty. He was named after, obviously, you know, Waylon Jennings. His, what's the word of moving forward? Godfather, correct me if I'm wrong,

it was Johnny Cash. That I actually don't know, because I worked very hard to not learn too much more about Waylon Payne because that was already going to be bad enough. Fair enough. Yeah. He played Jerry Lee Lewis in the Joaquin Phoenix Johnny Cash movie, he was sort of set up for stardom in Nashville

and then some things happened you can go back and find the episode he's a really cool guy and now he puts out incredible work and he put out an album a few years ago that blew my mind I think it was called High Horse so we have him on the podcast

he's telling us all that and what your brain just does a similar thing right so yeah so I I parked up because I was listening to when I start a podcast I go all the way back to the beginning so I was just like that's it makes it good actually for research because like especially with like when I did it with the first podcast I did it with yours where like I start from the beginning and I within like three months I have years of backstory and that's straight character building like from just from a mercenary like a mathematical way if you're trying to build character if anybody wants to start being a writer like like it's actually like William Sbrose would tell you um like I think L.A would tell you like real writers steal steal like crazy dog like um just you know just cover your tracks right so um we talk about that with comedy you can't steal jokes from comics but you should be

stealing ideas from people who aren't comedians. Correct. You should be stealing from life all the time. Now, Burroughs had an essay that I recommend to everybody. It's called Les Wollers, however you say it in French. But it translates to the thieves. And he talks about how like, like, you know, like real office steal, like you overhear a conversation. You steal him because he was like, he was like, people get so up their own butts about being like academic purity, never plagiarized from anybody. And he's like, people plagiarize all the time. First of all, there are no ideas, no new ideas under the sun. That's, that's been over a long time. Ulysses is a ripoff. Okay, it is. He just rewrote it for Ireland. That's all that Joyce did. So,

same like that. And like, so Burroughs kind of like dispelled my myth about me. You have to write your own story. You're like, nobody has their own story. You're part of a collective, bro. So, um, so steal from conversations, steal from real life. And I did mention it in our last conversation that, like, the pieces of true life you bring into a book are the ones that people recognize the most. Like, when you got your heart broken or when you did something dumb and you can't get over it or like, or when you see other people like blow up a marriage or find, their true love or something like that. Those are those real human things and you can just,

you can take pieces of it. And that's kind of what I do. I kind of like collide, like just bring in the pieces and like stitch it into something cohesive enough for like one through line, one story. So I'm listening to the podcast. Years and years of backstory with you guys. And so like you're all characters in my head now. It's just like it's like the shadows on the wall for a prisoner.

Just being like, these are now, these are now the people who live in my head this year. And so what made me perk up is people were just like so he's a country singer and gay what um probably trice said it or something like that and i was like who what who gay where so um i was like i haven't heard of this where did i miss the memo and it's because i'm not in the country music scene at all it's been a long time so i was just like who the hell is this so listen to the whole podcast and as soon as he starts talking i'm like what a guy like what what a story yeah so like you found like a hard-earned story at this point.

Yeah, so, like, I'm just watching this unfold. And all I know is what I got from the podcast episode. And I did, like, a very cursory, like, skim of a Wikipedia. And I was like, I'm out. Don't learn anything else about him. I'm fictionalizing this. You guys, I kept listening to the well-read podcast and all the other stuff you do. So, like, I'm going to be, like, guilty as charged with the comedian stuff that went in there.

So the premise of this book. Go ahead. Yeah, the premise of the book is singer-songwriter Whitney Thorne is a 50-year-old recovered crystal meth addict. and the well-known son of country music royalty. Now, that may sound quite a bit, like what Drew just said about. And I left out the addiction issues, but Whalen went into them on the podcast. So that's also part of his backstory.

He did. And that, I mean, that immediately was just like, well, what would it be like to be the well-known son of country music royalty and gay? What? That doesn't sound easy. Crystal meth. Well, that's where I have heard before because when you, I mean, like just all the, there's a whole generation who had to deal with it.

Like, I actually read a whole book dedicated it. It is called Lust Men and Meth that talks about. the specific relationship that gay men have in dealing with meth because it's tied up in sexuality and that's tied up in a lot of other trauma usually with their lives are coming out, you know, whether or not you stay in your hometown, go to the big city, stuff like that. So once I heard that by the way, you absolutely keep going. Let me note for people if you're hearing background noise, I apologize. It's hailing at my house, but go ahead.

Cool. It's only the middle of April. Awesome. Surely not the sign of the end times, right? So the story with him, I was just like immediately like, who is this handsome man who's nice to his dog? Because that was another thing I saw on his Instagram. He's like, is he singing with his dog? It's over. It's over.

I love him. He's a character now. I'm taking it. So like, now there's a dog in the book because I'm like, I have to. He sings with the dog. So that's what happened there. I saw learning stuff about him and just kind of like took those like five major points. Like country music, son of royalty.

He goes into the business too. Gay, meth, dog. We're out. I'm out. I'm leaving. I'm taking this. I'm going somewhere else with it. So you write love stories.

So you have this character and you're like, all right, I'm obsessed with this character. And then you decide to create a love story between that character and what? And a comedian. And a comedian. Correct. So he's sitting there right next to the three of you because that's the second thing that happens. This happened with my first book, too, where I'm like, I have a character, now what? Because that's not enough.

That's enough maybe for a short story, like a little character piece, a little slice of life. But it's not enough for like a novel, like what happens now. So what happened here was I was just like, well, I need a premise. And I'm like, you guys were interviewing him in lockdown. Everybody's like, well, we can't really gig right now. And I'm like, that's kind of a premise. Like what happens to Roadax when nobody can go on the road when you can't perform? That's going to be a unique thing.

And I'm like, well, the comedians are sitting right here. So I looked at the 3 of you. And I was just like, this ginger guy, he seems kind of cute. And honestly, I'll tell you why this, the next character. So like, after we meet Whitney Thorne, the musician, the next character is struggling comedian and former nurse, Graham Morrow, is down and out at 35 living back home with his mother in Louisiana. Which is my wife's last name. And I don't know if that was on purpose or if it was just close to my name. But that was like the first thing I noticed. I was like, because I think you sent

to me and you're like, this is kind of about all of you. And then I just kept reading and I was like, I don't know if it is about all of us. Mostly about one of us. Yeah, well, that is what happened. So like, I picked on you. Honestly, it was because I'm like, I just need a figure and you'll be a stand in. And that's what I did with the last one too. I'm just like, he's going to look suspiciously like you. I needed names. I like patterns and stuff. So like there's another character in this book named Sage.

And the reason I picked that name is because Trey's sister's name is Paige. And I was like, it rhymes. Now do not tell her that character is based on her because it's not. The character in the book, piece of shit. And Paige seems really awesome. So that's how I'm like, I need something that kind of like rhymes in the skin and then I don't know if you know this. Whitney's my middle name.

Yes, I do know. Okay. So I was like, look at that. I was like, which gay dude am I? Yeah. Golly gee. Oh, no, yeah, that's what happened. So I needed for, so Whalen Payne, I'm like, I need to do a new name for this.

Okay, so the last name, pain, I changed to thorn because what causes pain, but a thorn, right? So I was like, geez, I'm sorry, where's my Pulitzer are right here now? So, and then I'm like, oh, I need a new first name. Wayland's a very unusual. It's kind of like a last name, first name kind of a thing, is what it sounds like. So I'm like, I need something unusual. I'll go with W. There's a, there's a character in Smallville, the bully in the first couple of seasons.

his name is Whitney and that's like that gives a boy named Sue energy you know like yeah a guy named Winnie and so like um but what happened the reason that the name popped in is because I was looking up more stuff about you and your middle name is somewhere on an old website I swear to God I'm not a soccer um just like only and only literally research yeah yeah um but so I was just like oh that's a good one and it's a middle name like who knows about that it's not a big deal and I'm like that's perfect though because it reminds me of that other character and it and it kind of you know almost almost rhymes in a way with the whalen. So I'm like, okay, so Whitney Thorne for that one.

With, so like your name is Drew Morgan. You can kind of hear Graham Morrow in that. Like, it's got a couple of similar consonants in there. The reason that Moral stuck out, one, because your wife came on and she was talking about how people try to argue with her about how her name is spelled. They keep trying to make it into like Merrill instead of Morrow. And I was just like, what are they stupid?

Like Moro, like the next day, like the morrow. Like, and then once I realize that, I'm like, that's too, now I have to take it because it has a double meaning. And now I take it. Yeah, no, not like apologies. She's not the only person with the name, just a little bit coincidental at a certain point. No, you don't, I mean, you certainly don't know me an apology, but I don't think you know anyone an apology or even like an explanation because the book

is, is like you say, it's like it's not based on anyone's life entirely. It's not fanfic. Yeah. I want to get into like some of the experiences I had reading it. It's an excellent book. If you don't mind, though, I guess give us quickly before we get into that your elevator pitch for what happens with these two characters. Like, I don't know how much you want to give away. So I'm going to allow you to have the floor of saying, hey, guys, check my book out.

Here's what it's about. And here's where you can find it. And then I'm going to tell people what it was like reading. And it's spectacular, by the way. And I would be polite and I would have had you on if it weren't. But like, I think I texted you this. I was literally bawling my eyes out at the ending. And I desperately want to know like where it got you.

So but like, so the pitch is like here are those two characters. There's singer-songwriter and recovered Crystal Methodic Whitney Thorn and somebody far younger than him 15 years. That's part of this. These two books are part of a will be an eventual three books set called My Americana series. And the third one is is less attached to a specific podcast, but it's got its origins and ones too. But like I just.

Last pot on the left. This Henry's umbrows. talking about dead. I don't know. To get the joke, people would have to know the pod. A little bit based on something from the majority report,

they were interviewing a woman named Jane McAulie about her unionizing efforts. And so I was like, I'm going to have a character like that. And that's the last tenuous connection. So I kind of like take a character like that, I named her Joan, and we wander off.

And then unrelated to her, a bunch of guys are having three cents. And you can tell. Unrelated, everybody. Yeah. And to tie it back to like the well-read podcast. So Corey often laments the fact that a bald man don't get enough attention, like, sexually or whatever, they're not,

like, objectified enough. And I was like, I'll fix that for him. So in book three, there's a bald guy, and he's been invited to not one but two, three ways, with multiple, uh, uh, genders and such. So, you know, my man. Yeah. So, sorry, I interrupt you. Give us your pitch for the book and tell people where they can find it. Sure. This is what it's like in the mind of a creative. It's all the time. Um, so, uh, Whitney Thoram, you got Graham Morrow, the comedian down and out back at his mama at 35. They're in Louisiana. They're in Louisiana. they meet at an unauthorized show in a Louisiana of like social distancing field and take a chance on shacking up together. So they create art at leisure, explore each other with curiosity and wonder,

but trouble finds them. There are hurricanes ravaging the South, COVID-19 deaths get close to them, surgeries kind of threaten sobriety, and there's also a dog and nothing bad happens to the dog. I make no promises for anyone else. So it's a love story. And it's two people who meet right at the beginning. the pandemic and then it's like oh we got a choice to make like are we going to be a part for this thing that's happening to us in the world or are we going to like give this new romance a shot and you do a phenomenal job with that with the the dating aspect of it I guess I'll say right I pitch it as a bottle novel so a bottle episode of TV is one where it's like we're like from my friends with

Chandler I'm trapped in an ATM vestibule you know like kind of thing where it's like it's a sandbox situation where like they they don't have enough funds for a new location so it's like whatever we're doing we're filming it in this one room figured out play style um so that's what this is they're mostly inside the entire time the only places they go are like out they don't go to new locations they just like drive between houses and like like other like hospitals or funeral parlors or whatever um places they have to go to but they're not allowed inside really like it's you know so they're very much isolated they're kind of like bubbled up and um uh that's why i refer to it as a bottle novel and basically it is from indie publisher leathy press um if anybody wants to feel real good about themselves

so you can go by from a nice like you know a small press publisher for the gays and the women's and such so um that's where it is a leathy press they're available on um amazon itself another thing you can do that somebody in the gravy baby discord actually did is call your library or like go on to the online thing and be like request a book and you can request a book like that that is actually a great way to like spread the news without costing you a cent. Other people can find that book in the library. The library now knows my publisher will send them books if they ask, you know. So that's another way to do it.

It doesn't cost you anything. And you can read the book for free yourself. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. It's it is phenomenal. It's a modern love story. Man, there's so much I can talk about in terms of kind of reading this thing and going, all right, wait.

Oh, shit, you know. And there's like things like he's a former nurse. and I'm not, but I am a former public defender, and I did kind of feel like some of his relationship to his past life as a nurse reminded me of some of the things I'm said about my past life to being a public defender. But there's also ego things right away, too,

where I'm like, well, this dude is just starting out in comedy. Like, I'm a fucking established, but this isn't about me or whatever. It's like you get your hackles up about this. Not hackles. I was never, like, upset, but I was like, okay, this isn't me. Oh, shit, that's me. And it was kind of fun after a while. to be like, like again, the nurse thing is when it stands out to me where I was like, oh,

it would be too on the nose to make him literally a former public defender, but the way he feels about his past life and his relationship to it, that's a lot of my emotion in there. And wow, what a great job capturing it. So that's, I mean, that's how to steal like a pro for anybody listening who wants to be. Right, right. Little plausible deniability, a little one degree of separation. And it is true.

So, like, I had, it was very tempting to want him to be, I needed a similar profession. And actually what ended up happening was by picking nurse, I did myself a huge favor because this is the COVID pandemic novel. And it's great to have a nurse on hand to be like, here's how that works medically. So like, I don't have to like shoehorn in that. A former nurse would naturally say that kind of crap to people.

And at least, the character Whitney pops a hernia, which is something I know about because my dad had one. And so, like, I was, I was there to, like, taking the hospital home, like, sealing that from real life. Because that's something I remember. It's like, it's like, it's not an emergency surgery, but you do have to get it fixed. Um, a nurse would know that immediately. Like, do it. Parnia.

Easy, easy, easy fix. Like, patch and a tire. No worries. Um, so, like, that ended up being, like, the decision I make at the beginning to have him be a nurse, and it ends up, like, like, paying off in dividends throughout the book. Um, I, I was tempted. I was, like, he could be a lawyer, but there's lawyers in the last book. And I'm like, you can't, you can't just steal the man's life.

So that's literally why I did. I'm like, it's too close. You're going to get to? I want to circle. No, I wouldn't see you. Plus, you told me, I want to circle back to me, as I always do. But I am curious, you said it's sort of based on your, you're all's podcast in general. Are there things you can think of off the top of your head that were either from Corey or Trey

or the well-read universe in general that have less to do with me? And again, we're going to get back to me. Yeah. I told you this would be like such a, I mean, like, I know you've got an ego. I do too. And I'm like, this is going to be so fun. If anybody ever writes a novel about me, you best believe you'll be getting interviewed. Going back into the, there was a time where you guys were in a studio and you pulled in, actually, DJ is somebody who kind of comes into this a lot.

One, because he used to do drugs, right? So, like, he talked about at one point, he said that Avery got out of prison, like, there was a time, now that he's on a farm somewhere where, like somebody in his family said, like, hey, can you take my son for the summer and teach him to drive while he's out there? And he was like, that would have been impossible to ask me 10 years ago. They would never, in their life, have asked me to take custody of their child for a summer

and teach him a goddamn thing. And that changes after 10 years were just proven yourself. So that's part of what's going on with Whitney's Supreme. That's one of my favorite moments ever, too. It's so fucking beautiful. That's why you can't just leave that unstolen on the fucking floor on the internet.

You're fucking delight. You can't just leave that unstolen as such a bar. Yeah, just look at here. It's money on the table, you dumb ass. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps to save it. You can see all your subscriptions in one place and know exactly where your money's going. For ones that you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them.

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com slash well-read 10 FM. Hello Fresh America's number one meal kit for a reason. But that's, I mean, like, that's literature. That's gold. I'm so like, that's what's going on with Whitney is because he's been over 10 years sober. People are calling him still being like, are you okay? It's the pandemic. We're worried about you.

You could relapse at any point. 10 years, you should be safe from being a, from relapsing. People shouldn't worry. But pandemic hasn't happened before. And a lot of people are going to fall off the wagon and it's going to be bad. So like, people are asking him like, are. Are you sure you're not spiraling? Oh, you just moved a guy in you just met, buddy. Like, that sounds like you going off the rails again. Oh, and a new dog. Okay, is that a good idea right now

with no income and your stability is all rocked and stuff? So like he is second guessing himself a lot. But what he learns is kind of what DJ realizes. It's that like because he's got this, like you said, a very young in his career, very unsure of himself comedian in his hands just being like, man, did the stage nerds ever go out? He's got all these questions. He's relying on Whitney, who is 15 years older than him, that he respects, regardless of the fact that he is or was now or has ever been a junkie or whatever. He just sees him as an authority and as somebody trustworthy. And so like, Whitney's slowly coming to believe that himself, that like I might actually be the stable one here. Yikes for both of us, but like kind of cool for me. So that is something that fed directly

into the book, and that was from DJ and not you specifically. You guys did have a nice argument and you revived it a couple of times about Tombstone. It came up because Don Kilmer just passed away. Me and my friend me watched the movie and were like, what a good movie. What a good woke ass movie full of like tender tonic masculinity

and willful women doing whatever the fuck they want and gays every which way. You know, like, you got your good age. Curly Bill was definitely gay. Yeah. Chaotic bisexual is how I put it in the book. Fuck anything living or dead probably.

And so, but you have your, you have your quiet gay, the blonde one. You have your theater gay. You have Curly Bill. Very dangerous, like a chaotic bisexual guy. So like he said he was, would screw the devil on the ass. You know he means it. You know he does. So like having those little arguments watching this was something that happened before too. This was a different podcast.

So Kyle Kaczynski's a political talk show host. And he has separate conversations with his friend Korn, who they grew up together in New York and stuff. I am so delighted to listen to boys who are friends talk to each other. That's so fun for me. Because if I was in the room, that conversation would be different. But you're recording it all by yourselves. So this is this is where I get like really weird and like spiritual about the internet being like look at these windows I'm allowed to look through if I was outside of your house listening to this it'd be a problem but you record it you posted on the internet and I've got all this this free data you couldn't pay for this fucking data you couldn't get into somebody's house and hear all of this and so like that the the fact that

you guys are are just like friends and you're bickering and stuff like I wanted to pull all of that into like their little like boyfriend buddy situation so all of that like bantery shit when they call each other out on stuff you know like I wanted them to be like to be sort of friends. And because they're 15 years apart and because this is a unique situation, they're not sure. Like, are we going to be husbands?

Are we going to be like, like, you know, like buddies? Like, you know, maybe we meet up to hookup sometimes, but we're just kind of like living our own lives and having our own futures. They don't know yet. They're still in the middle of the pandemic. They have no idea when it's going to stop. What kind of lives they'll have after?

Well, that was another thing you did a great job at too. It was just like, in some ways that was uncomfortable for me. I was just like kind of remembering the unsurety of the pandemic. But, all right, let's get into some salacious stuff because I know it's interesting to people, but also just like some of the emotions, I guess I went through. First of all, let me say, and I think you're aware of this, you're not the first person to write fanfic about me fucking dudes. And I think because of that, that was like you wrote a novel where there are a couple of sex scenes

and they're not over the top. Whereas I have seen my own name in print, alongside Corey's and Trace with just like people like with smut and I mean like proud smut not like I'm judging it like the person who wrote it was like I write smut so I think that in a

very good way tempered me for those moments and also Graham is very different than me it's not me and so I think some people would maybe expect a straight guy however woke he thinks he is to sort of like see himself in a character and then that character's

sort of falling in love with this older man who also represents someone who's a buddy of mine that might make me uncomfortable or whatever it didn't like there was definitely moments of like almost like a disconnect it's like almost how I know how straight I am in spite of sometimes wishing um but just like oh this isn't about me it's like oh yeah that's even if I were gay that's not how I do it you know dumb stuff like that. The discomfort, just being honest with people, there were moments where I felt sane and it was nice.

Like, you are a very good writer, and there were moments where I was like, oh shit, that is my problem. And it was kind of nice. And then there were a few other moments where I was like, I almost like, I wanted to be like, no, that ain't, fuck her.

You don't fuck I, LA Fields. Bullshit, man. Who do you think you are? Yeah, who do you think you are? Like, that's not because there's, there's parts of it where the character that's loosely based on me deals with emotions they have about

addicts in their own life. And I obviously have this strange relationship with my brother who just got out of prison himself in the real world. And that was a head trip at times. He has a cousin named Sage

who you referenced being a piece of shit, who, his relationship to her and how he dealt with it, there were times where it felt like, shit. And then there are other times where I was like, nah. And then I was like, well, wait, she didn't get it wrong.

She just wrote this character and it's not actually me. I don't think anyone else reading the book would have an experience like that because they're just like, this character feels this way. So they accept that. face value. The character is, whether it's through exposition or whatever it is, you're understanding their feelings. There were moments for me where I was like, is that how I felt?

And I had the, it took me a little while to get over that as a reader, as someone who was just enjoying the book. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. If it were a biography, then I'd be completely, I'd be a level of 100 and I wouldn't get out of that mode. You know, it's being like, don't you dare. Yeah. Or I'll be like, we've got to change this part. You know what I mean? Like, let's say you were helping me write my biography. It'd be like, hey, we got to change this part. But that's not the mode, right? And if I were just some dude who picked up your book, I'd be like, oh, interesting.

But I was in this weird middle space, and it took me a while to let go of it of like, and so eventually it got to the point where I was like, I could just be impressed when I felt like seen. And then I could just be like, that's the character when I didn't. That was a head trip, though. It was a very surreal thing. And I'm going to be honest with you, it made me rethink how I tell jokes about people. In a good way, is it going to make you kinder?

You're just like, I should stop telling true shit so that all these authors in the crowd don't say stuff. You know, I said rethink. Maybe I should say be more considered. Like, I always think about these things. I rarely use names other than my wives. But obviously if you say my father and mom. Well, that's a specific person. There was a thing that came up on my Amazon special

where the joke was about them pressuring us about having kids and we weren't sure if we wanted to at the time. And the joke was, when are you going to have kids? When are you going to have kids? When are you going to have kids? I don't know. When are you going to die? And leave me this fucking house.

When are you going to do that? We're talking about the future. When are you going to die? And I found out that it bought. him a lot because as someone who's not in the comedy world he sort of took it as like so you want me to die and I'm like no people also feel like up air and family business on the stage I know you had you had a couple of stories like that so that's part of why it came in there addiction is kind of a third character in this book in a lot of ways because when he has his

addiction passed um and sage is like actively like like in and out of being addicted to stuff. That was something that came out of like stuff that Trey talks about being like the son of a like a pill bitly basically. Like that that I was like pulling that stuff in. I thought so. Yeah, plus Wayland's story. Yeah. Trey's rightfully angrier is not the right word.

And I don't want to put anything out there that he doesn't, you know, it's his feelings. But it was Trey's parent not doing the right by him. whereas my brother didn't really owe me anything. And so that's part of why I asked that earlier. It is interesting. So I kind of thought that. I kind of thought some of this is stray stuff. Yeah.

It's basically like it's like a boggle box of like a whole bunch of stuff. And like I just kind of like read across and like take the stuff that fits. And then certain things will get like added, you know, just because they have a literary ring to it like your wife's name, you know. And then stuff like taking those family stories, but like mixing them up. Like that emotion, I recognize it too. my parents had issues with alcohol. I actually quit drinking just before writing this. And I was like, God damn, because I didn't really want to.

But like your body makes you at a certain point. It's like this hurts too much. You're going to stop. Yeah. So, you know, 20 anymore. You're in your 30s and you're going to start to feel it. Trust me. Like, anybody in their 40s is going to be just going to get worse.

Trust me, if it was easy to be drunk all your life, more people would do it. So, yeah. For real thief. But so I was just like, I was actually kind of pissed. I'm like, one, I have to quit drinking. It's stupid and mean and wrong. just the same void, boo, capitalism. But I was like, Constellation Prize.

I'm going to be writing about a sober character. And I call that, like, that's like, like, meta-acting. You know, like, it's like really, really, like, going through it while you write about it. And I was just like, okay, so, but stopping drinking is different than stopping crystal meth. They're not, their cousins, they are not the same family. Exactly. So, like, but there are something. So, like, I read a whole book, like I said, on specifically, you know, like recovery from meth.

And that was teaching me stuff about, like, I was replacing. like habits. I'm like, you're used to just getting a whiskey all the time and now you're going to get coffee and that is not going to be as fun. So maybe you can have like some credom on top or something like just trying to replace everything that's a trigger. So like I knew all of that stuff for Whitney. He's very careful in his sobriety because he doesn't want to like ache for the drug anymore. But there's also the aspect of like understanding how much people resent you for being a junkie in the first place. Like in the in the book Whitney's brother is just like, oh, I'm sorry. Was life too hard to live for you? You're good.

you got the family talent. You've had all of this. Like as somebody with connections in the music business, he was handed a career where other people have to like blow their way to the top of this shit. And like, and like, oh, is it still too hard to be alive for you? Like, so his brother is filled with a lot of resentment that he also has to try to marshal because he's like, I know it's hard. I know that once you get addicted, however you started doing the drug when it takes hold of you, that's a different animal. Stories about like what Oxy does to change the pathways of your brain. This stuff changes the pathways of your brain and to get free of it. He has to go through. This is direct from the doctor who wrote the book, which that guy conveniently, this is another talk about

just stealing like a professional. He used the metaphor of like a guitar player and I was just like, now if only I had a book specifically about meth and game. Oh, you do, you have a book specifically about meth. Now if only you can help me out with like a guitar metaphor, or you do you have that exactly. So I'm just going to rephrase what you just said and you're welcome. We'll call it a, you know, like a civic service, little public duty to help people like here's how here's how you got to do it so he has to quit when this blows up and they have you in court with all these lawsuits they're just going to keep cut into this interview now uh you say this is an original story uh is that right yeah so um uh that's uh there there was another comedian who talked about like you can talk about your family just say you

inspired me to do this so um and i didn't say necessarily in a good way or whatever so um but you know like you changed the names plausible deny ability, stuff like that. This interview will not help. This interview is going to be like, you, God, thank you. No, you actually, I'm 99% sure.

You cannot be sued for anything we've done or discussed so far. I mean, you can pray get sued if you did some of the sex stuff in from the book. Some of that stuff was pretty great. You also, I think, captured the awkwardness of,

what am I? How do I say this? I don't really know how to phrase it, because I think it'll sound way more delicious than I mean it. But there's this really great moment where they essentially try to, like, go to a club without going to a club, like have a Zoom party and then have sex. And it was like, yeah, man, I remember how much the pandemic sucked. That also was part of a true story.

So somebody said he, like, went in and he was like, I attended an orgy on Zoom. Here's what happened. And that's where I got the fact that the guys like being like, please mute. Like, please shut the fuck. Shut up. People try. It's hard enough. People are trying to get turned on.

Can we not hear your TV in the background? please mute was the refrain for it and so like I had to bring that into a story I've told before so I don't mind sharing is Andy and I went to a sex party who'd never been to one before and this guy invited us to one that was like you know smaller and more intimate so we wouldn't he's like you won't get overwhelmed it won't be like one of the big parties you just was this dude we used to live with in New York and the small and intimate was so much worse than the big would have been because you couldn't be anonymous and then like I've talked again I've talked about this before I don't mind it we were like trying to

to like, you know, make out and get going. And then I could just hear two people talking about their boss. And it's like, there's almost nothing less sexy right now. Then these two people having a normal thing that happens at a party, but it's like six feet for me. Anyway. It's like you said, like sometimes sex is straight. Like it's like open heart surgery.

It's really, ugh. I got, I was writing smut. I was ghost writing it to get out of student loan debt. And at a certain point, as you just transcribe like pornography, you're just like, oh, God, I feel like a fucking dog. or like my second shift like it's just the insides of people all at time. Oh, it's just a lot of meat. And by the way, everyone listening, that is not at all what either, were there two or three

six things I'm trying to remember? But there's a couple. There's a, it kind of builds up. So there's their, those of them are medical. At the beginning. Right. Yeah, I want to keep it, you know, it's a love story. So like it lends towards that.

But so the, yeah, they, they fuck when they're like morning and they fuck when they're like curious or frisky and stuff so like but it's um uh they have to like negotiate it in that weird way and so like the uh the zoom meeting for the orgy is something that they do because that was another real life this was also part of a project these these three books on that are i call it my americana series the third one will come out in a year or two but um they're they're supposed to be like i wanted to capture the moment because like we're already like a hundred years from that like just emotionally with what's going on in the news and everything um people are like remember the pandemic what the fuck i'm still traumatized but like who's got time to process anything so i wanted to

like capture it in a snow globe like real quick before like while it was fresh in my mind so like it's the riot summer the covid lockdown and then the um the next one is about it's called rising union so it's going to be about people trying to unionize in like a warehouse more or less like amazon we just call it the company because like i said love to not see you say it's not too smutty but i'm horny the more you talk about unionizing amazon the hornier i get um yeah well that is the sexiest one because it gets people going. So we don't have, we got a few more minutes here.

I do want to give you the opportunity if there's anything you haven't said or talked about. You had said earlier you wanted to hear what it got me crying. I don't want to give away too much of the book,

but I think it was the way he was genuinely brave facing what happens at the end of the book. And when I say genuinely brave, I don't mean what we in America

I've been taught as brave, which is like standing up and walking face forward. It was more like acknowledging that he was falling apart. And then having that moment of like so again,

I don't want to give too much away, but the character that is loosely based on me has to deal with something that he does not want to deal with at all and face it. And he has that moment of like, do I face it with this guy? or what are we? Like, wait a minute.

This is all so weird, again, the pandemic and just like, if I'm honest with you, going back to the ego thing, I was like, well, if any of that's me, thank you. And I, but what got me ball and was just, I guess his very human reaction in the way you captured it, which was just like being brave in that moment for him was not pretending that this didn't bother me. That's actually can be very cowardly.

um he he fell apart and was like having to grapple with like can i fall apart and what will that mean for me and um yeah i it was it's really it was really good i told you that when i read it i was like this is phenomenal i didn't know what to expect i thought it would be smuttier because uh the leopold stuff was a little raunchier and so So I thought it would be raunch here, and I was, I was cool with that. But it's just, it's just a phenomenal love story. You did a great job. Yeah, I wanted to bring in, like, the humanity of it.

So, like, that, I actually get, like, it gets me in my feelings. I'm glad it got you and yours. The, like, that whole Zoom orgy, the fact that it was about, like, gay men being, like, we've been through a pandemic before. Everybody remember HIV AIDS, it's serious. Like, so of all the people to say, like, we're not fucking with this, but we are fucking with this. You understand?

So we're going to take the orgy online, like responsible citizens. And I genuinely find that moving and I'm proud of them to be like, you don't have to stop. And that's part of what came about from that book about like gay men and meth where it's just like, you fight so hard to be who you are. And part of your sexuality is being who you are. You don't want to give that up just because the world is like, it's not, it's too inconvenient right now. Like you never give an inch to these fucking Nazis. You can't. So we will take the orgy online.

We will not be canceling it. And I was just like, you fucking, you good boys. You very good boy. You protect other people, even while you're being just smutting dorks. Like, I appreciate it so much. And it's the same with, like, I think the reason that your character, because that's how I was, like, seeing you as, like, the podcast characters stuck out to me was because there's a, like, a darkness in you sometimes.

There's, like, sort of like when you talk about being a prosecutor, that's why I was sad to lose it, but I'm like, I'll bring it back with the nurse. I can bring it back. I was a public defender. Now, you have not offended me yet, but do not ever call me a prosecutor. He's right literally the opposite. Sorry, my defense attorney, I met. Because I know that you hate them, and that's, I'm like,

that's what I like, that's what I like, good boy? He's like, oh, I'd throw them into a fucking woodchip for these prosecutors. I was like, yeah, buddy. So, especially because you were working with juvenile defendants. Like, the person who's, like, thirsty for wanting to throw children into jail is a piece of shit. That's a late-term abortion we could use. So, like, that's what I appreciate about you. And the fact that, like, some, like, you, I think you feel things very deeply because

you talked about how, like, you'll be sad after a show uh graham gets that and you you said at one point that you're like well i'll be like sad in a city and i don't know it and it's dark and i'll call my wife and she'll be sweet to me on the phone and stuff and then like i go back to the hotel room and just like drink and pass out or whatever and just hate life and i was like yeah but a lot of comedy comes out of that like i've known this a long time because i do like stand-up comedy um so like i've heard lots of stories about how people like some of the saddest motherfuckers or some of the funniest people on stage because they need it to survive like the way they because the reason i'm a writer is because

because like I have such great retorts that I did not get out at the time because it's socially awkward. So I put that shit in the books. And a comedian is, you'll find it. And a lot of them. It's not a really don't have to have it. But like if you have to talk yourself down from the ledge all the time, you're probably pretty good at making yourself laugh. And if you can do that to you in extremists, then you can do it to other people all the time. So it kind of like feeds.

And it's a way to put that energy somewhere more productive. And so like that's what I was kind of doing with both of these people. They kind of cover addiction from all different points. the fact that the pandemic is thrown them all through a loop there it's a big story about like connection and like trying to stay connected to people trying to make new connections without being took you know without being like used um without uh without investing too much in something that's not going to pay back and it's just going to leave you like high and dry or low and wet or whatever the fuck so um so like and they've got they're dealing with hurricanes they're dealing with um

like members of graham's family come into it so like there were um um there were all kinds of like pieces where at there's one point where graham has to ask Whitney he's basically asking him for permission to cut his cousin off like like like I don't I don't want to talk to her anymore after this is bullshit like do you disagree he asked him out a few times and he was like yeah look look buddy like obviously I'm a little biased because I was the junkie but then again I see where you're coming so he's like he's like self-theraping he's he's given therapy to this other dude who's now just in his house because he invited him you know so like they're both they're both very tenuous with it but I was committed as this may be in fact one of the

happiest endings I've ever wrote because I just, I'm going to put him through a lot, and I need something to work out nice for him in the end. They do go through a lot, but it is also very nice at the end. And I think I was like feeling something in my chest, and I wondered, is that just me, the reader, or is that me who keeps identifying with this fucking character, like, really hoping I get a happy ending with all this? You did a phenomenal job. I can't stretch it enough, guys.

River Trash is such a great novel. Is it Leithy or Lethey, perhaps? I always say Leithy Press. Leithy Press, L-E-T-H-E Press. You can find the book. Wherever you buy books, you'll be able to get it into your library. L.A. Fields, a phenomenal author. We appreciate you coming on so, so, so much.

If nothing else, because the other two, they deserved a week off because they've been doing it without me for a month as I've been in New Orleans, shacked up with a gay country singer. No. I guess thanks. I mean, thank you for coming on the show for sure, but I guess thank you for choosing the well-read podcast and then me specifically as an avatar

because again, and I got on this earlier, there's like an ego part of this of like, you put stuff out there in the world, podcast, comedy, whatever, you hope it inspires anything, even if it is, you know, the smut that was written about us where we were having threesomes

and making each other suck each other's dicks. Like, that's funny. and it inspired, you know, inspires people to laugh. I realize that we didn't turn you in an author. You're already doing this kind of thing, but like, enter in our universe to create a novel. For me, I mean, genuinely, really, really, really cool. I think outside of a song, outside of a song,

I don't think it could be any better for me. And this may be better than a song because the song's too short. Well, well, it becomes a movie. We will commission a song from your wife or something. We'll see what we can do. There we go. Thank you for the inspiration. That's how I'll put that.

Hell yeah. Do you want people to follow you? Do you want to plug anything besides your book? Just books. You like books? I got lots of them. You like Leopold and love? I get you some Leopoldold.

We want some Sherlock Holmes. Historical. You want some Y.A. I got you. Where can they find you? Obviously, they can search for River Trash. Where can they find you to see your other work? I have a website for L.A. Fields.

I also have an. Instagram, L.A. underscore Fields. That's where I'm most active with like... L.A. underscore Fields is your handle, and then L.A.Fields.com is your website. Website is like, let's see, because it's tough. She's got to look it up. I love that. It's free because I am an indie author. So it's L.A.fields.combeflow.io. Okay. L.A.fields. webflow. I.O. If you type in L.A. Fields, Rider, you're going to be able to find it. and by the way

let's plug what you just said too let's make that point before we get out of here independent indie author doing it herself small publisher support support this

like this is the death of stuff like this is the death of culture and just don't let that happen guys let's go all right and truly what I'm working on right now is an encyclopedia of queer characters

from all a history until Stonewall and it has never felt more important because they are literally trying to erase this stuff. Dude, I realize now that you meant the Stonewall riot, and that is so important what you're doing. For two seconds, I thought you were telling me General Stonewall was gay, and I was like, that is fucking mind-blowing, but that humorous thought, I want you to write that fanfic now. I want Sherman and the butt-fuck him all the way through Atlanta. All right, I'm going to fucking let you go.

Thank you so much. All right. Bye-bye.