Bill 0:26

Welcome to Mishegoss, where we have a little bit of mischief and a whole lot of conversation. I'm Bill Lord, and this is my lovely co-host.

Joya 0:39

I'm Joya Lord. We're married.

Speaker 1 0:42

Yeah, and happily. So listen, here's the whole deal about Michegoss. It's a Yiddish word that means essentially mischief. Um, you know, having fun, being a little crazy. What do you think about that, babe?

Speaker 2 0:58

Yeah, you know, kind of mayhem and chaos.

Bill 1:01

You want to get crazy?

Joya 1:02

Let's get crazy.

Bill 1:03

All right, we'll get crazy.

Joya 1:05

So before we get crazy, let's talk about something important.

Bill 1:10

Okay, let's do it.

Joya 1:11

Okay, so this is a part of the show we take really seriously. Michegoss is a proud supporter of No Kid Hungry. Across the United States, about 14 million kids don't have reliable access to the food they need. And what people forget is if a kid is hungry, they can't learn. It's pretty hard to focus on what the teacher is saying when ...

Bill 1:40

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Teach, I know this. When your stomach is growling.

Joya 1:42

Louder than the teacher is talking.

Bill 1:45

Oh, like what I just did.

Joya 1:47

Yeah.

Bill 1:47

Yeah, sorry about that.

Joya 1:48

So for a lot of kids, school lunch is the most important and maybe the only meal of the day. You feed them, they come to school, their grades improve, doors open for them, and they have a future.

Bill 2:06

Yeah.

Joya 2:07

So we decided to build a little mischief into the show to help these kids. During every episode, we have the secret word that feeds. Oh, ooh, ooh. Who tells us the secret word? Our mascot, lunchbox, the mischievous monkey. Oh hey, lunchbox. And today's word of the day is spider. So our guest doesn't know that, but know that word, but if they say it, Michegoss donates $25 to No Kid Hungry.

Bill 2:46

There you go.

Joya 2:47

It's a silly game, it has a serious purpose. And if you'd like to help, we're going to put up a QR code that you can scan. If you miss it the first time, don't worry, it's going to come back at the end, and you can help make sure those kids get the meals that they need.

Bill 3:02

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Joya 3:04

So let's let's help feed the kids at No Kid Hungry.

Bill 3:09

All right. Now, our guest today is author A.K. Ellis. He'll be coming in just a little bit later. But first, we want to introduce uh another segment, uh, sort of a recurring segment that uh you'll be seeing uh with our very, very dear friend Johnny Heller, who always has something on his mind.

Johnny Heller 3:32

Hello, Bill. Hello, Joya. Welcome to your first show. It's it's very exciting for uh you to be here. Uh so listen, I guess you're wondering what's got my goat today.

Bill 3:44

I was about to ask.

Johnny Heller 3:46

Yeah, yeah, because I I'm a little you know, you know the the the White House reflecting pool.

Bill 3:50

Yeah.

Johnny Heller 3:52

It doesn't reflect anything anymore. So what they've done, you see, Don Trump, you've heard of Don Trump, what he's done is he's recreated the pool, like a a Florida hotel pool where every winter kids from the Midwest come down and pee in the pool to keep the temperature nice. So that's happening at the reflecting pool now, and then wait, wait. I'm getting some news in, Bill. This is important. The war in Iran is over, Bill. It's over. President said the war that he started in Iran, he just ended, he ended it. So that's great. That's great news. President Trump's won a great thing. He started a war. Now he's ended. Wait, wait, hold Bill. I'm getting the update. Update. No, no, Bill, Bill, the Joy, the the the war is back on. Oh yeah, it's back now. So yeah, we're back, we're back to fighting those sons of bitches. So yeah, so that's gonna we're gonna go ahead and uh go in there and and just destroy them. He's going to um apparently he's gonna do more damage than anybody's ever seen. People tell him he's the the the greatest warrior they've oh hold hold on, okay. No, no, we're at peace again. Love this out of the water. Yeah, so fine. Yeah, my gosh, that was close, wasn't it? Yeah, I'll tell you, man. Sorry, Bill. Bill, we're we're back. Yeah, we're back at war. We're back at war. So, Bill, let me tell you something else that's bugging me. We'll go back to the war network. You know, so I I I wanted to watch television the other day because that's how full my life is. And I I was looking for an episode of the Big Bang Theory. Uh-huh. Um, and for the first time in my adult existence, it wasn't playing anywhere.

Bill 5:29

Oh no. You must have been very disappointed.

Johnny Heller 5:38

Not yeah, not there. So you know what they had on though, Bill? I found I found a show. You remember remember Bill Cosby? Professor Huxtable?

Bill 5:48

Yeah, yeah.

Johnny Heller 5:48

Remember remember when we were kids, he had great comedy albums and stuff. Well now he's in prison for being a pretty much a rapist and a bad guy, but there's a program called The Cosby Show, which starred weirdly enough, Bill Cosby. I don't know how I guess that you know weird stuff happens. Bill Cosby stars in the Bill Cosby show. There is a station here on my television uh channels that features a Cosby show, followed, Bill, by the Cosby show. Joy, guess what comes after the Cosby show?

Joya 6:18

The Cosby show?

Johnny Heller 6:20

Yes, yes, it's it's like 24-7. So now we're waiting for the uh for the Don Trump show.

Bill 6:28

What about Fat Albert?

Johnny Heller 6:30

No, no, Fat may have in there.

Bill 6:32

No Fat Albert?

Johnny Heller 6:33

No, this is Professor Huxtable with all the lovely loud uh uh sweaters and things. Yeah, those are the Cosby days when it was cool Cos. And that's when he was likable. But apparently he's a horrible human being. You know, it's weird. Cosby uh did things that uh that he got went to jail for, and and Donald Trump did the same stuff, and he he's still in the press. Wait, update. Okay Where was I last time? We're at peace or at war?

Bill 6:58

I don't remember.

Johnny Heller 7:00

Well, we're back at war.

Bill 7:01

Oh, jeez.

Johnny Heller 7:02

Yeah, so that we'll stay at war probably until the end of your show, and we'll be back at peace. But that's all I have time for this morning, and I I want to let you know I'll be here every week to tell you what's got my goat. Maybe political, maybe personal, maybe you. But I'll be back next week. You guys enjoy your great show.

Bill 7:18

Well, we can't wait for it, but I have to ask you something. We've known each other for like, I don't know, ten or fifteen years or something like that, and I always thought you were a real person. But I'm watching you uh here on the the show, and you look sort of like an apparition. What what's going on, man? Are you a ghost or are you real?

Johnny Heller 7:33

Oh, that that's you know what that that black ink attacking me?

Bill 7:36

Yeah.

Johnny Heller 7:36

That's all the ink that journalists in mainstream media haven't used to confront the president. It's a living being. These are words that need to be spoken that haven't been yet, and and they're trying to take over, so I'll try and speak those words. Truth to power.

Bill 7:52

Excellent. Johnny, thank you so much for joining us. And uh, I can't wait to see what you're gonna talk about next week.

Johnny Heller 7:58

So great to me too.

Bill 8:02

All right, man. Take good care.

Johnny Heller 8:04

I love you again. Thanks. Bye.

Bill 8:09

Well, let's get into it, man. This is our very first guest in Michegoss history. Um he writes cyberpunk, Noor, and sci-fi, and I guess he's never met a genre he doesn't like. His latest novel, Jimmy Dean's Last Dance, reopens Marilyn Monroe's death, filed under alt history, because the real ending was already taken. He lives and writes in Western Australia where it's already tomorrow, which means for him the interview already happened, and he says it went great. Please welcome A.K. Alice, well, all right. Hello, A.K.

AK Alliss 8:55

Hi. Hi, Bill. Hey Joya.

Bill 8:58

Hey, A.K., nice to see you again. It's been a while.

AK Alliss 9:02

It's been a little while, that's for sure.

Bill 9:05

It's been a few minutes. So I I guess we have to acknowledge that um we have a little bit of a history, a real one, not an alt one. Um Joya and I narrated uh a book with you, as did Johnny Heller. In fact, he was the lead narrator on the book. So um, you know, if we throw a few softball questions, forgive us, but AK's a friend.

AK Alliss 9:28

So Yeah, it was uh it was an amazing experience, and uh and I was very grateful to have such talented uh cast uh bringing my words to life. So thank you.

Bill 9:40

Well, Jimmy Dean's Last Dance was the name of the uh the novel that we narrated with uh with Johnny and 4 AK. And it was a great, great, great novel. I mean, really interesting. Um do you want to talk a little bit about uh uh Jimmy Dean's Last Dance and exactly what it is? Because a lot of us don't get alt history. Well, I mean I do.

AK Alliss 10:04

Yeah, so look, Jimmy Dean's Last Dance, I think um for me it came out of uh I I I really like this painting by uh an artist called Edward Hopper. And there's a variation of it called the I think it's called the Boulevard of Broken Dreams or something like that. But essentially what it is is it's this this painting where it's a cafe full of strangers. Now in Hopper's version, it's just unnamed strangers and it's in this cafe, and the person looking at the painting is almost like a voyeur. So they're looking in at these people seated around this diner bench, uh, and um you know they're kind of connected but disconnected. But in Boulevard of Broken Dreams, it's Bogart, Marilyn, um, Elvis, and Jimmy Dean. And you know, something about that painting really stuck out with me. And and look, I've loved um I've loved noir fiction for as long as I can remember. Um, you know, uh anything by Dashille Hammett, um, you know, really kind of anything by James Elroy, anything that's kind of a bit gritty, a bit of uh the underside of things, I really loved. And the more I looked at this painting, the more I kind of thought, well, what if I took that concept and turned it into a noir, because it had this noirish element, what if I took that and turned it into a novel? So I took um Elvis and I took James Dean, and I basically kind of came up with this concept of, well, what if they never became famous? So Elvis is still a truck driver, and James Dean is this bit part actor who's you know he's playing second fiddle, and uh, you know, but he becomes friends with Marilyn Munro, and uh and over the course of the novel, she obviously dies, and he's convinced that it's not suicide, he's convinced that it's uh that it's actually uh a murder. So he calls up his old friend Elvis, who he has a past association with on the sedia side of things, and they decide to investigate uh what happened in Maryland and see if they can work out what the truth is. So it's kind of uh got that noir-ish element, and then obviously the uh you know the conspiracy theory side of things as well, because old history and uh conspiracy and noir go hand in hand. Uh, I so I kind of took my keys from Chinatown and embedded those concepts into this novel.

Bill 12:35

Well, it made for a fascinating read, and uh, you know, we're in the audiobook world, so it made uh made for a fascinating listen as well. And um you know what I let me ask you something. What real event is there that you uh can't believe actually happened? The kind that would get left out of a writer's room if you pitch pitched it as fiction.

AK Alliss 13:02

I look I kinda I I tend to focus on the less fantastical elements, I always try to try and think of like this high stakes, you know. So for me I always think about things like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Um that to me was a massive event, it held everybody captivated and it was really significant, and yet when you look at it through the lens of now, looking back, it's almost inconceivable that it happened, you know. So you kind of look at these things and you go, Well, how did that actually get to an escalated point where it was where it was kind of everybody was on the edge of their seats going, is this it? Is this the point? You know, and so for me it's not about aliens, it's not about anything like that, it's things like the Cuban Missile Crisis, it's things like MK Ultra, it's just really bizarre decisions that people make um in the heat of the moment. And and for you know, what they are able to rationalize as really um reasonable reasons, uh but are actually, you know, when you look at it from the outside, you go, why did you make that decision?

Bill 14:21

Okay, okay. So so interesting. So I I voiced what five or six different characters, I think.

AK Alliss 14:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. And we we did this well back. I love multi-character novels, yeah, for sure.

Bill 14:35

Oh yeah, yeah. But I don't I don't uh we did this a while back. I don't remember all of them. So you tell me, who did I play?

AK Alliss 14:44

Uh you played Hank.

Bill 14:46

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I like Hank.

AK Alliss 14:47

Yeah, and Hank was kind of like uh an agent, a government agent, who was uh really kind of like a henchman that was taking care of things in the background, making sure that uh messes were cleaned up and things were swept under the rug. So kind of like the uh the villain without being the villain.

Bill 15:08

Yeah, okay, okay. And there was uh the guy uh who talked like this. Don't tell me that was Hank.

AK Alliss 15:18

Oh now you're testing my memory. Uh well I know there was a there was a bit of a mobster uh yeah, yeah, sorry. That was um Dominic, Dominic. Um I wrote the thing and I can't even remember it. Sorry.

Bill 15:44

I can't either. Because we actually did this a couple of years ago, didn't we? Several. Several of years ago.

AK Alliss 15:51

It's been uh about six years. It's been about six years.

Bill 15:56

Well, six since you wrote it, but not since we uh did the audiobook.

AK Alliss 16:00

Yeah, so about five five.

Bill 16:02

Has it been that long? Yeah after last. Oh shit, we were in COVID. That's that's why I don't think that's why I don't remember. Yeah.

Joya 16:13

Isn't it funny how something uh like COVID skews your entire perception of time passing?

Speaker 3 16:22

Yeah.

Joya 16:24

Sometimes it's just like yesterday, sometimes it feels like 20 years ago.

AK Alliss 16:29

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, for me, um, like obviously that that's the last book that I released, right? You know, so for me it's kind of weird meeting with you guys um, you know, six years or five years um after that thing was written uh and and then turned into an audio book as well. And you know, I kind of I I was reflecting on it before we met and um before we met tonight and uh or today, this morning, your time. Um and I thought to myself, isn't it bizarre that something that is a fictional work can connect complete strangers um and and isn't it amazing that it's formed a bond that's strong enough that you can come back, you know, half a decade later and pick up where you left off as if no time at all had passed. Yeah. I think that's really amazing.

Bill 17:35

I agree. I I had no idea it was that long ago, so yeah, good point. Good point. I think so.

Joya 17:41

We should probably mention that this amazing piece of alt history um won an award.

AK Alliss 17:52

Sure did. It did. It won an wouldn't have been possible without you guys. So, you know, very grateful for that.

Bill 18:01

Well, one very interesting thing about that is that Joya um had never narrated a book in her life at that point. And she had three lines?

Joya 18:17

Well, I I had a part a character that had no lines at first.

Bill 18:25

So so to explain that, so when uh AK, when we were uh shredding out the characters and and uh deciding who was going to read what and all of that, in your book there's a mention of a telephone operator. It doesn't matter, you know, right? So I was like, oh, that'd be perfect, Joya will be the telephone operator. So we start going through. Do you want to tell the rest of it from there?

Joya 18:51

So so I was going through the book looking for my lines, and I didn't have any. And so I would tell the rest of these well-known, well-storied, well-awarded narrators. Well, I don't know what your problem is, I'm done with my part. And they found me um a role.

Bill 19:15

We found you the frantic lady in uh in Dallas.

AK Alliss 19:19

The frantic lady. Yeah, absolutely.

Bill 19:23

I I th I think I would like to hear you recreate those lines.

Joya 19:27

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Can I remember them? One of them was they tried to shoot the president.

AK Alliss 19:38

That's exactly right.

Speaker 4 19:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:39

Yeah.

Joya 19:39

It was small.

Speaker 1 19:41

But pivotal.

AK Alliss 19:42

That's significant. Pivotal. Pivotal.

Bill 19:46

Yeah, yeah. And so so, you know, there are narrators who have um been grinding for years hoping to get an earphones award, which is what we're talking about. And Joya comes in, first book, three lines, and walks away with an earphone.

Joya 20:03

I should have caught while I was ahead.

AK Alliss 20:07

It's kind of surreal, you know, to me that that book um that book became what it was. You know, like for me, uh it it's one of those things where it's kind of like I say, oh yeah, I won an award for a uh book that I wrote, uh, got an uh, you know, an audio award, and and um and people go, really? And I I'm like, yeah. And they're they just can't seem to put it together because it doesn't fit. Uh so it's it's kind of it's kind of insane when I when I think back on it that that that was a thing that happened. Um, but as I said, you know, it wouldn't have happened without the people involved. And uh, you know, otherwise it's just me in a room uh writing this novel that that some people read, some people don't read. Uh I'm not by any stretch of the imagination uh a famous author, but um, but you know, you you kind of you guys took it and elevated it to a level that um I don't think would have been possible uh just with with the words alone. So, you know, you you kind of encapsulated these characters in a way that made it living and breathing. And I can remember the first time I um listened to it. Um I was so excited when it when you know I I got to hear the audio and um I was in my car and I was driving along and I I could remember uh hearing the very first lines you know being spoken and um and it was it felt I felt it was almost like an out of body experience, you know, because it it didn't feel like it belonged to me anymore. It felt like it belonged to someone else. So it's really, really good in that regard, you know, taking that taking that um creativity and turning it into another form of creativity that was so different. Um but also connected um in so many ways. So yeah.

Bill 22:04

I guess you could almost say we hijacked your characters.

AK Alliss 22:08

You did. You did.

Speaker 1 22:09

Absolutely. Yeah.

Joya 22:11

Well you gave us a lot to work with. It was it was a wonderfully written book and a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and I would recommend it either in print or in audio form to anyone.

AK Alliss 22:28

Thank you.

Joya 22:29

And I remember last time we smoke spoke, the last thing I said to you was, When's the sequel coming out?

AK Alliss 22:38

Yeah, when is the sequel coming out? Look, you know, it's it's one of those things. Uh I was speaking to a friend earlier tonight, and he was he's a book reviewer, um, and I'll give him a shout out. He's uh uh Books and Beyond. Uh, you know, he uh he was an early believer in my work and and gave me a review when not many other people would. Um and um it was really um it was really interesting. He he said, you know, like no pressure, but I really want to read some more of your work. Um and I thought about it um because I know I've kind of put up a couple of posts up and I've and a couple of false starts, and you know, it's one of those things where I think a lot of authors suffer it where they have the ideas in their head, but it's just the impetus to get it down on the paper and and get it out. So I've got about three books actually uh like rattling around in my head, including a sequel to Jimmy Dean's Last Dance. Um, and I'll, you know, I guess if I'm talking about it, um, you know, we mentioned MK Ultra earlier, uh the plot around that, same thing. Uh it has to do with uh it's set about 10 years after the events of Jimmy Dean's Last Dance, except the protagonist this time is Hunter S. Thompson. He's uh an investigative journalist in New Orleans. Uh and he and again he teams up with Elvis because Elvis is a central figure in these these books. Um and they kind of uh Elvis is now a private investigator, uh, and they're looking into a cult that is kidnapping kids from universities, and uh, and it's tied to the MK Ultra program. So it's again, you know, conspiracy linked, uh, you know, a little bit alt history. Uh I like to capture the vibe. I've got a uh a character in there that's uh that's basically an alternate version of Keith Richards. Uh and you know, it's it's kind of um it's it I I've got about probably three or four chapters down, and and I like every time I read it, I go, this is really good. I should keep writing this. And you know, it's um it's hard because life catches up. Um, you know, I've got my family, uh obviously I've got a young daughter, um, my wife had just bought a house in the last year, uh, work, and I'm studying criminology. So in the time since we last spoke, um, I've picked that up as a as a uh side project. Um so I'm doing it very slowly. Um, but I'm about probably halfway at the halfway mark now. And um that takes a lot of effort and a lot of time. It's something that I love, it's adjacent to the the fiction work. But um, you know, every time I I pick up um those few chapters that I've written of the of the next book, I look at it and I go, I miss this. I should I should do something about this. But it's uh it's almost like this bittersweet thing where you look at your writing and you go, Am I good enough? You know, uh what I wrote was some time ago, am I good enough to keep it going? And and do I actually have enough um energy and stamina to keep it going as well?

Bill 25:57

So you you told me a couple of days ago um when we were writing back and forth that geopolitics drives a lot of what you write, right? So if you were gonna be honest, is fiction where you just stuff the side this, you know, stuff the things you're not allowed to say out loud?

AK Alliss 26:22

Uh yeah, well, I mean I I'm kind of very attuned to what happens uh around me, you know. Like I'm I'm always like hyper vigilant about it. But yeah, I grew up in this environment um where the news was always on. So uh I was you know, probably my daughter's age now, which is about nine, and I was seeing stuff like the Gulf War on TV and it and it really freaked me out, you know, like it was really, really concerning to me. Um so I had that exposure at an early age about things that were happening. And when when you see news reports and stuff, you go, oh, um, you know, and you're a kid. You go, oh, is that gonna happen here? You know, is that gonna happen here? And it kind of informs your view when you grow into an adult, you know. Um, and Joya, uh, I hope you don't mind, but obviously I think anybody that's familiar with you know you know that you served in the military, and you know, you probably um went through experiences that other people haven't. Um, and so I, you know, everybody's got these personal experiences that inform um who they are when they grow up or who they are as adults, who they are as children. Uh, and for me, having that exposure in an early age, you know, I became infinitely aware of the broader world around me and all the things that happen in it. And it kind of developed in inside of me this hyper-vigilance about um, you know, what's happening on the broader stage. So, you know, we we live in a world of 24-hour news cycles, um, we live in a world of algorithmically mediated uh content um where you you know what you choose online informs what your worldview is. Um and I I think it's pretty fair to say that everybody uh is exposed to it. Some people are aware of it, some people aren't aware of it. And those of us that are aware of it, you know, we kind of have this tendency to dive into it a bit deeper. And and yeah, so in answer to your question, Bill, long way of saying, Yes, you know, like I I do use fiction as a vehicle to drive my concerns about what's happening in the in the world, and and I I try, you know, I don't think it's really a permission thing, I think it's I think it's a fact that um fiction is a great way of getting a message across uh to people that isn't influenced by any other any other thing except your writing, you know. Um so particularly if you're an independent author, you know, you don't have an editor, you don't have a publisher, you don't have somebody curating your work. So you're able to be honest. And sometimes it resonates, sometimes it doesn't. But you know, for me, I I always put down on the page what I think, what I feel. Um the characters are by and large an extension of me, even in Jimmy Dean's Last Dance, you know. Yes, I did a hell of a lot of research on who James Dean was, who Elvis Presley was, um, who those other um, you know, characters in there that were based on real people, um, who they were, but I also use them as an extension of my own personality and my own thoughts and my own fears, and I and I try to realize it through the fiction.

Joya 30:00

And and coming from a completely different world, different country on the other side of the globe, for you to write with such authenticity about classic American figures. And it was it was very interesting to me that that you were able to put those characters forward, even though it was an alt history with such authenticity. It was quite impressive.

AK Alliss 30:36

Thank you. I mean, look, they had to be real, right? They had to feel real, they had to feel like the actual characters, even if the stuff that they were doing, and even if this the situations that they found themselves in were nothing related to what happened in their real life, they had to feel real. Um, you know, so I kind of leveraged off. Obviously, we live in this, uh, we live in a great age where every information is accessible at the at the tap of a key. So really, you know, able to research things, but I made sure that whatever I looked at, I was able to back up. So it was almost like writing an essay, you know, everything had to be kind of peer-reviewed, uh, everything had to be stack up and go, yeah, okay, and and also open a challenge, you know. So I I remember I think there was one point in the story where I had uh I had uh Priscilla and I said that her accent was this. And someone in the cast, I can't remember who it was, said, Oh no, Priscilla didn't wouldn't have that accent because she was from here. And you know, I was like, Oh, okay, cool, you know, and we changed it because it was it was not authentic to the character and it and it didn't, you know, it didn't link up to who she really was, so had to happen.

Bill 31:55

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think I think Joanna picked that up.

Joya 31:58

Uh I think she did.

Bill 32:01

And for our audience, that's uh actually Johnny's wife, um Joanna, who also uh narrated a few parts in the book. In fact, she she did a pretty good uh Marilyn Monroe. She did a really good and a very good Priscilla. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joya 32:17

Um so let's let's talk about something that many of our listeners or viewers are probably gonna be interested in. What's life like in Australia? By the way, we've seen your your new home. Beautiful, beautiful.

AK Alliss 32:38

Thank you. A lot of work, yeah.

Bill 32:41

And you were out and you were out swimming in the middle of the winter the other day.

AK Alliss 32:45

Oh, yeah. Fortunately, our pool is heated, so uh, so and my wife likes to crank it up to about 32 degrees uh Celsius. So uh I won't do the conversion because I I think it's like 78 or 80 or something like that.

Bill 33:00

Sounds about right, yeah.

AK Alliss 33:01

Anyway, yeah, so uh so um but you know we're able to enjoy the last uh couple of days of sunshine and and jump in the pool and have a bit of a swim. It's only a little pool, but you know, uh but in a look, I don't I I think there's this misconception that Australia is significantly different to other countries. I don't think it is. I think we're all we all have the same things that other people do. We've got you know um the same uh kind of uh overarching issues that affect people, housing prices are insane, uh, you know, the economy's in the toilet. Um but uh you know um I think we we kind of have this thing where the geography informs a lot of our psyche, our our national psyche. So it's a it's a massive, it's a massive continent, and there's a lot of nothing in between places. So Perth is really isolated. Um, you know, it's it's on the west coast, but it's it's not like Los Angeles in that it's it's in proximity to other places. It's it's pretty pretty uh isolated from other places.

Bill 34:19

Well it isn't like isn't it like the biggest city in the world that's next to nothing?

AK Alliss 34:24

Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's um it's it is it it's got a lot of sprawl. It's it's kind of similar in that way. I think uh I've heard mention that it's very similar to uh San Diego. So uh people a lot of people say it's similar to San Diego. Haven't been to San Diego, so I can't attest to that. But um, you know, it's it's kind of uh if you're from Perth, you're very protective of it. You kind of, you know, you have this view about um about the way of life that we are fortunate enough to enjoy here. Uh we have a very uh, you know, a lot of people say we're quite conservative, but I I think it's actually the opposite. I think we're we're very kind of free and easygoing people, but we're quite protective of what we've got because we recognize that we are really fortunate to have what we have, you know. Um, and so um, you know, we do all the things that people uh in other parts of the world do. Uh, you know, contrary to popular belief, kangaroos do not roam the streets and all that kind of stuff. But um, but I think anybody that uh knows much about Australia will probably realize that. Um, but you know, I can drive uh two hours north of where I live and I'll be in the middle of nowhere.

Speaker 1 35:47

Yeah.

AK Alliss 35:47

So, you know, it's kind of one of those things where it's it's kind of an an unreal experience. And where I grew up, uh, which is about 1600 kilometers or about a thousand miles uh north of um north of Perth, uh northwest of Perth uh is um is a s was a small town, uh literally uh you know, at any given point between two to three thousand people, uh and it was a mining town. And it was just, you know, you could you could literally walk out of my street and at the end of my street was out back. So, you know, um there's different lived experiences in in Australia, um, depending on where you are. Regional areas, I think, um, you know, uh I think there's this kind of move away from regional areas. Uh people are becoming a lot more insular and a lot more kind of metropolitan based. Um, but when you do go out to those regional areas, they are um absolutely amazing, absolutely beautiful in a way that um I can't adequately describe with words, you know, like it's it's it's is it's a whole other it's a whole other experience. So um yeah.

Bill 37:10

I was just gonna say, like, I think Americans think that everything in Australia, in Australia, can kill you. No, you know, now is there any truth to that or is that what you just tell tourists to, you know, for your own entertainment?

AK Alliss 37:25

Uh look, you know, it's like anywhere, really. I think uh I think uh the states have uh equally dangerous. You've got bears, for example, uh, and the more I read about bears, the more I never want to meet one. Um, you know, uh over here, um snakes are probably the big one. Um, but again, you know, in metropolitan areas you don't really see them. Uh you do see them on occasion, but not not not enough times to actually warrant it being some sort of big problem that we have to deal with on a daily basis.

Bill 38:05

So, like there are things in the United States that are you know this big, and in Australia, they're like huge. You know, like different animals or whatever. Insects. You know what I mean? Yeah, like insects. Do you know what I'm trying to do?

AK Alliss 38:21

Okay, uh, yeah, yeah. I mean, my backyard uh in the new place is uh we've got an abundance of wildlife of that type. Uh, you know, we moved here from a pretty um like kind of contained uh townhouse, and we've suddenly got this what I like to call the estate. It's quite sprawling. Um, and in our back garden, we've got um, you know, we've got plenty of insects, spiders, and um, you know...

Joya 38:57

Ding. Ding. Ding Ding. That's the word of the day. So no kid hung hungry, done. And you didn't even see it coming, and a kid's gonna eat because of your backyard spider.

AK Alliss 39:08

I like that. I'll be I'll I'll be I'll be um sure to thank uh to thank George uh later on. We've named our spiders.

Joya 39:19

You've named very good, very good. We name our squirrels.

AK Alliss 39:24

Oh, squirrels, I love squirrels.

Joya 39:26

We feed them peanuts and we have one named left eye and one named brown nose, and yeah, we name our squirrels. So beautiful.

Bill 39:35

So thank you for saying the secret word. And um um because you know 14 million kids uh go hungry every year.

Joya 39:42

And uh now without you even realizing what you did, you just made a little uh your we will make a little donation on your behalf, and uh and I this you know and to our listeners the QR code will reappear at the end of the show if you would like to be part of that part of that um giving it came up kind of quick there.

Bill 40:03

So uh but yeah, we'll we'll have that uh that again. So uh at the end, is like you say. So sorry to just uh to to interrupt your train of thought there, AK. But we had to give away some, you know, do some lunches. Yeah.

AK Alliss 40:17

That's okay. I'll be happy to be part of that as well. Anything I can do to support that cause, it sounds like a really uh worthwhile cause. So uh really uh I think it's really um commendable that you include that in the show.

Bill 40:32

Oh well, thank you. But the you know the this this this raises a question. You know, food insecurity is a real issue in the United States, and uh sadly it shouldn't be. You know, we if we'd stop bombing other countries, we could feed a lot of kids. But but my question is, um does does Australia uh experience the same kind of thing, or is that sort of uniquely American in a way?

AK Alliss 41:01

I think uh it's probably more of a problem than it used to be. Uh I don't I I I think uh with with our uh with our problems, it's probably people experiencing homelessness more generally. Um and and as a byproduct of that, it's probably you know the the physical security and that kind of thing that comes with it. So, you know, um I mean I obviously through my criminology studies um we look at different elements uh like that, and it's you know, it it really opened my eyes to how significant the problem is.

Bill 41:40

Yeah. So what what prompted you to start studying criminology, by the way? Was it um was it research or was there another reason for it?

AK Alliss 41:51

No, I'm I've always been interested in looking for ways that I can contribute to a reduction of harm. Um so for me, um I kind of like about probably uh it's it's over 15 years ago now, I started studying psychology, and it was with the intent to help people, you know, to to kind of address any issues that they had. And that's that was really um, you know, a noble kind of thing. But the more I got into it, the more I recognized that the way my brain works and the way I think, I like to tackle things at a broader level. And so criminology really is one of those weird subjects that it's a it's a bit of a uh hybrid, uh it's a hybrid field uh because it takes into account all kinds of things, like it takes into account policing, it takes into account psychology, it takes into account um you know forensics, it takes into account all these different elements that combine and to give you this overarching picture of a lot of different problems, but from different perspectives. So you've got a great number of experts in different fields that have kind of come together in this one um expertise um that allows you to kind of address um problems at a systemic level. So for me that that really ticked the boxes, and and it wasn't, you know, I was a little bit uncertain about it. I was you know, I'm 50 uh in a couple of weeks, but uh you know when I um when I started studying, I I the more I got into it, the more I realized that this was probably something that if I had known about it earlier or if I had recognized it earlier, I probably would have started it earlier. Um but now I'm on that path or that journey, it just feels like it's almost like a part of me. So, you know, it it it fits. It was it almost like plugged a plugged a gap that I was missing. Uh and now that I'm doing it. Wouldn't turn back.

Bill 44:01

So that's awesome. I would think that it would give you sort of a um like if you were writing a a crime novel. You know, it's like now you know how to weave in the whole um criminology thing. In other words, you know where you know how to bury the body now without getting caught.

AK Alliss 44:23

Um yeah, maybe. Um I I think I I think some things that are interesting to me are like, you know, um we we often have this view of crime, particularly like murders and stuff, is oh, it's uh you know, a serial killer or whatever, but you know, that's only accounting for one percent of actual murders. So facts like that actually when I when I look at crime novels now, I go, yeah, okay, but um that that serial killer is like one percent of the actual people that commit murders, it's usually someone that knows someone else, and there's some reason why they've done it on a personal level as opposed to just this kind of psychological um reason or driver for them actually doing it. So it's kind of influenced me at that level that maybe it's created a bit more of a realistic foundation for me to base things on.

Bill 45:14

Okay, yeah, that makes sense.

Joya 45:17

I've always found criminology to be very interesting. So I I understand your your uh attraction or to it.

AK Alliss 45:29

Yeah, it's it's it's such a um it's more complex than I ever thought uh it would be. Um and the more I get into it, the more I go, what am I doing? But uh but uh the I also equally think you know this is this is something that is actually uh as I said, you know, plugging that gap for me. So I I I really need to keep going with it. And uh and I think that's probably what's distracted me from writing so much because writing used to fill the gap that criminology now fills.

Bill 46:06

Well, I have to tell you, man, there there are so many other questions that I I wish I could ask you. We we've been researching you for like a long time, and there is nothing on you. There is nothing. There even your bios are very slim. What are you afraid of? What are you hiding?

AK Alliss 46:26

Uh yeah, well, we uh look, there's not much there's not much that I'm hiding. Uh I think I'm you know it's it's kind of weird. I'm I'm an introvert masquerading as an extrovert. Uh I I keep myself pretty pretty private because uh there's enough people out there that are talking about themselves. Uh even doing this is uh, you know, kind of like oh I'm going, okay, what do I talk about? You know, um, but um I think for me I like things really organic, right? You know, so um I think I I think of my life as very cyclical. So who I was when even when I wrote Jimmy Dean's Last Dance is definitely not who I am now. Um, you know, and I'm probably more sure of myself or more certain of myself than I was then, uh, you know, and the fiction was sort of like a way of me going, just make me someone else other than myself, you know. Um, but now I'm pretty comfortable in who I am. Uh it only took me 50 years to get there, but better late than never, I say. Um, so I think when you don't really know who you are, it's really hard to put down in any forum or any media uh who you are, you know. So um so I guess that's probably a very vague and roundabout way of explaining why there's not a lot there. Uh it's just, you know, I am who I am. Uh, and at this point of the game, I've probably the closest to who I should be that I can be.

Bill 48:24

I was afraid you were part of the witness protection program.

AK Alliss 48:30

Not not really Australian, just hiding down here, hey?

Joya 48:35

Picked up the accent and everything.

AK Alliss 48:38

Yeah, absolutely.

Bill 48:39

You you publish under your initials, you call yourself and you call yourself the elusive AK. Is AK a character that you play?

AK Alliss 48:50

Uh is it a character that I play? Um yeah, maybe. Um you know, when I when I look when I started writing, I look, I always knew I wanted to write a book, right? That's there's no doubts about that. Um and the first book that I wrote was called A False History, so that may be uh uh a little clue anyway, uh as to how I felt about writing, and it was semi-autobiographical, uh, and it took me about probably 15 years to write a book that wasn't that big in volume. Uh and it felt a little bit weird writing it at the age that I was when I did write it. But it felt like the right time to write it. And um, you know, when I first wrote that book, I didn't really know what I wanted to write about, but I thought about when when I really hit the mark, was you know, I I met my wife and uh I'd written this stuff as a kind of a journal and I'd given it to her um and she started reading through it and uh she said well where's the rest of it? And because I hadn't finished it. I said, Oh uh that's all I've got. She said, Okay, well what comes next? And I said, Oh, you know what comes next, you know, we get together and blah blah blah. She's like, No, I want to read more. So what I used to do is write a chapter every night and I would read it to her at bedtime. And uh, you know, we got to the end of it and I realized that the end point is actually much like most people's lives, is that there isn't really an endpoint. Um, you know, uh you one could argue that death is the end point, but I don't I also have views about that. I feel that a person's life has lots of different endpoints, right? And the end point for that story was when I stopped uh being the person that I was because I'd met my wife and she had changed me into someone else. And so that's why it was called a false history, because I essentially reinvented myself through that process of writing that novel, uh meeting her, her looking at the words that I'd written, me always wanting to write a book, and then finally getting to write a book and putting it out there with a little bit of trepidation because I wondered what people would think about it, and it was pretty raw. But essentially it was just a collection of the most significant memories that I could think of in my life up until the point where I met my wife, you know, including the point where I met her, because that was obviously one of the most significant uh memories, and it turned out to be, you know, a lot of people go, That's my favorite book that you've written. Um because it is raw, it's honest. Uh, you know, even though it's called a false history, it's as honest as it can be. Uh and you know, I think in in writing that novel, it's showed me that I can write something else that isn't true that is fiction, and I can create all these different characters, and then I went on to write all these other books, and you know, but it they wouldn't have happened if I hadn't written that book. So I think that when you are when you are committed to writing a story, it's almost like you're confessing. You're almost like confessing all those parts of your part. Going back to your early question, you know, you're always talking about those parts of yourself that you're afraid to talk about with other people. Yeah.

Bill 52:44

And and you um have used words like with trepidation, I hope people like it, and yada yada yada. Um I know as a performer, one of the most uh debilitating things that I have had to face as a performer is imposter syndrome. Right? I'm not good enough, I'll never be good enough, or that could have been so much better. Do you experience that as a writer?

AK Alliss 53:21

Uh yeah, sometimes, but I'm probably less so than I used to be. Um, you know, because I think you get to a point, particularly like I don't know, you know, maybe it's a different vibe for people that are successful authors, you know, or when I say successful, maybe what I mean is uh commercial writers, right? You know, because that's their livelihood. So everything that they write has to hit them up, everything that they write has to, you know, be attractive to someone and and and someone has to pick it up. Like a Patterson or a Clancy.

Speaker 4 53:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, but with me, when I first wrote my book, I had this thing, oh man, I wrote a book, you know, and I was starting to get a bit of media attention, and I spoke at a festival, and you know, uh I had a write-up in in the state newspaper, and uh and it was all very kind of like, oh my god, this is happening, you know, I'm becoming a like uh you know a critical writer that people are gonna read and blah blah blah. But then, you know, when you realize that uh the paycheck doesn't equal the amount of work that you put into something, you you maybe your care factor probably goes out the window a little bit in terms of what people think about your work because at the end of the day you've got to reach a point where you're comfortable with what you're doing for what I what I kind of like to think of as altruistic reasons, right? So what do I write? Um I don't write to sell novels, you know. It'd be great if they were commercial, it'd be great if people pick them up and go, man, this is uh, you know, Truman Capote or whatever, you know, and and people love it. Um, I is that gonna happen? Probably not, not in not in the world that we live in now, um, because it is all about content production, it's all about mass content production, right? So you have to grab people's attention in the first 10 seconds, or else it's not worthy. Uh but but it doesn't diminish the worth of the work that I produced to date, right? You know, because if if it was worthless, I wouldn't be here six years later talking to two people, three people, um, that had a role in bringing my work to life and believed in it enough to bring it to life as well, and believed in it enough to invite me to talk some more about it uh at a later point. So, you know, for me, the value is that I formed relationships with people that I didn't know, um, that I gave them something that they enjoyed doing, that they were able to use it to build something that they wanted to do. And that is the true worth of things. It's not a dollar value, it's not anything like that. Uh, contrary to the belief of some people, um, I feel that the true worth of creativity is the ability to connect people and make them believe in what they're doing.

Bill 56:17

I I so agree. Yep. Absolutely. Your your work has been wonderful to perform, and um, and I'm gonna go back and read all your other novels as well because uh I've done a little research on those and they look fabulous. And um so yeah, yeah, I I hope everybody will go out and do that. But uh I want to ask you something uh as we sort of wrap up here. Your tagline is anytime, anywhere. So, defend that. What's the weirdest place you've actually written a chapter?

AK Alliss 56:54

Uh probably on the toilet, to be honest. If I'm completely well, let's be real. I mean, you know, I I could have I could have probably made something up, but um, you know, I I am very time poor. Uh instead of scrolling, what I used to do is uh I used to use my phone to uh to write chapters or edit chapters, and I'd usually do my best work on the toilet because it's the it's the sanctum, it's where you're not disturbed, you know. You're you're in there, no one's gonna bother you when you're in there doing what you're doing. So, you know, it's great, it's fantastic, it's a perfect creative environment. It's like a it's like a sealed vacuum, no one's coming in until you come out, and uh, and you can get a lot of work done. So um, yeah.

Speaker 1 57:43

I love it.

Joya 57:45

A lesser man would never have admitted to that, AK.

Bill 57:48

You know, I go in there and I play skee ball on the phone, you know.

AK Alliss 57:54

Uh I I think we need to be truthful about uh uh about um what we're passionate about. So, you know, and for me, writing uh definitely I even though I probably am not as prolific as I used to be, I still love writing. And uh, you know, maybe that's the answer. The toilet is uh where I'm gonna write my next bestseller.

Bill 58:14

Well, it sounds like you've got a a few books on the burner getting ready to uh you know for completion. And uh where excuse me, where can people find your current work?

AK Alliss 58:27

Uh look, I've got a website, and obviously the uh the Ama-god uh is ever present. So uh on Amazon I've got obviously all my works published up there. Um yeah. Um so but probably my website www.aklists.com. Um just check it out.

Bill 58:52

All right. I hope everybody will do that. And I will. Yeah, yeah. AK, thank you so much, man. I I appreciate you taking out uh some some time, especially this late at night for you.

AK Alliss 59:05

I am a night owl, so it's no problem at all. I'm I'm happy to uh sit up and and particularly when it's talking about writing and creativity, so and also really uh really happy to support you guys with your first episode.

Bill 59:18

So well, thank you. Well, you're a terrific guy, and we thank you so much for joining us. And I guess we will uh we'll we'll talk to you soon.

AK Alliss 59:28

Hope so.

Bill 59:29

Okay, take good care.

Joya 59:30

Thank you so much.

Bill 59:33

All right. What a cool dude, man.

Joya 59:36

Absolutely, absolutely.

Bill 59:39

I really enjoyed that. So what now? Well, I think uh we've been we've been yakking long enough. We could probably uh uh probably end it at this point. Um why don't we let's just let's just um wind this up.

Speaker 2 59:59

If you want to be in on the mischief yourself...

Bill 1:00:02

Right, right.

Joya 1:00:03

We're gonna show a QR code, it's your way in. One scan puts you and no kid hungry on the same team, feeding kids and clearing the way for them to learn.

Bill 1:00:16

All right.

Joya 1:00:18

So grab it whenever you're ready, and we thank AK for getting us started today. You can keep it going, you can feed those kids too, and thank you.

Bill 1:00:28

All right, everybody have a great week. We'll be back next week with another show. Um I think we're not going to say who we've got yet because, well, quite frankly, we're still working out some details. So uh but enjoy, we'll be back next week for sure. And until then, just uh remember we're all part of the human race.