1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,560 This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:05,960 You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:07,400 Welcome to Fortress Fiction. 4 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:11,720 This is Story Over Everything episode 55, Fortress Fiction episode 7, I think. 5 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:12,720 It's been a little while. 6 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:13,720 I took a little break. 7 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,480 I was writing a book though, so it's okay. 8 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,820 But this episode of Fortress Fiction, I'm going to be talking about The Westing Game 9 00:00:19,820 --> 00:00:26,100 from 1978 written by Ellen something. 10 00:00:26,100 --> 00:00:30,600 Written by Ellen Raskin, will you believe it that as soon as I went away from the video 11 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,080 app, I remembered it was Ellen Raskin. 12 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,760 I saw the book cover title. 13 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:35,760 I didn't see her name. 14 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,120 I clicked on it because I downloaded it for the episode graphic. 15 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,440 And sure enough, there it was, Ellen Raskin right in front of me. 16 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:44,440 Unbelievable. 17 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:45,840 But maybe it is believable. 18 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,360 So anyway, so I'm talking about whether or not I believe this book belongs in the Fortress 19 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,200 Fiction and the short quick answer is no. 20 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,640 If I wanted to be, well, I don't want to be mean, so I won't say that. 21 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,500 But I almost thought about joking around or kind of saying that the reason I stopped doing 22 00:01:02,500 --> 00:01:07,860 Fortress Fiction for a while was because of this book, which is not true at all. 23 00:01:07,860 --> 00:01:08,860 Other things happen. 24 00:01:08,860 --> 00:01:11,440 But yeah, this this was not a good book. 25 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,960 Well, one, I think this was not a good book. 26 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:16,320 Two, or it wasn't my taste. 27 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:20,560 Two, this is not a good book for children, which that's how it's marketed. 28 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,480 That's what it says it is. 29 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,560 And three, I don't think it was a good mystery either. 30 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,080 Yeah, that's the intro. 31 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,960 I'm going to take a break and I'm going to get back to it and give you as full as I can 32 00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:39,560 my thoughts on the book, because it's been probably over two months since I read it. 33 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,760 But I do remember those three things that I brought up right away. 34 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:46,480 And we'll see what else I remember. 35 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:47,760 I'm not going to make this a long one. 36 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:52,040 It'll be possibly the shortest episode of Fortress Fiction ever. 37 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,200 We'll see. 38 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,720 And so I don't forget, I want to say one positive thing for sure. 39 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:04,720 And then also just jump to the end and try to suggest Ellen Raskin's other works. 40 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:13,320 This is Ellen Raskin's only fiction novel that she wrote. 41 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:17,920 She was an illustrator for some company and she did a ton of illustrations with like, 42 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:22,360 I think hundreds of illustrations for many books, a lot of book covers as well. 43 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:27,920 Notably, I believe she did covers for a George McDonald reprint of like the Princess and 44 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:29,480 the Goblin, Princess and Curdie. 45 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,440 I think that's accurate. 46 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:36,760 But she did, you know, in book illustrations for her picture books, I believe as well. 47 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:42,480 And I believe in the end of the note of the version I bought on Audible, because that 48 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:43,640 was the only way I could get it. 49 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:45,920 I couldn't borrow it from a library or anything like that. 50 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:50,240 I had to buy it, which it's just constantly doing business, right? 51 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:52,200 It's just part of the job. 52 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:57,720 Anyway, it's mentioned, I believe, by a friend of hers or I don't know. 53 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,680 I believe, I believe it was the actual voice of the lady who she was friends with wrote 54 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,840 about her and like it was nice. 55 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:05,840 It was very lovely. 56 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:10,800 And I think she mentioned that she wanted to see an adaptation of Goblin Market, which 57 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:16,600 is a classical thing that I've never read and I'd only heard of recently. 58 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:17,600 So that's kind of me. 59 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:25,360 Like my after the fact after I read the book and then as I was in the book, I was upset. 60 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,000 I was upset actually, like the first chapter of the first page for the first couple of 61 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,000 minutes of it. 62 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,400 I was irritated by stuff and I thought this isn't I don't like this. 63 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:34,400 I don't like this. 64 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,320 I don't like where it's going. 65 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:43,560 But the the afterwards, like the who she was as a person, I found there were a lot of admirable 66 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:44,560 traits. 67 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,840 I found a lot of things I liked and that I respect about her and her work. 68 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:49,840 And that's really neat. 69 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,280 But yeah, this book isn't for me. 70 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:54,280 Although it's interesting. 71 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:55,680 It was written in 78. 72 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:00,320 It sounds I try not to get too political. 73 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:01,320 Politics permeate everything. 74 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:02,840 So you have to a little bit a little bit. 75 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,960 And this is fortress fiction, which the object of it is to see whether or not these fiction 76 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:15,720 stories are worthy of being part of the foundation of morals and. 77 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:24,320 Ethos of children, because I don't think there should be any toxic or damaging or poisonous 78 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:25,320 and toxic was the same thing. 79 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:26,320 Right. 80 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:27,320 So very similar thing. 81 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,840 I don't think this should be anything like that promoted in children's fiction. 82 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:33,040 It may happen from time to time. 83 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:37,400 Like this book has some kind of toxic stuff in it that I didn't like. 84 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,480 And that's part of why it doesn't belong in the fortress fiction to me, because I would 85 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:43,440 never say, oh, my kids should definitely read this book. 86 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,080 It's going to help them be a better person. 87 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:50,400 I don't know what ill effect this book would have on children. 88 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,840 But there's no real merit in it. 89 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:55,360 And that's that's my problem with it. 90 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,040 And I mean, honestly, I didn't really find it that entertaining either. 91 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:05,040 However, despite the fact that I say that it was a was is a very competently written 92 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:06,040 book. 93 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:12,400 So I mentioned in the afterword is that apparently Raskin was making up this. 94 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,480 Mystery plot thing as she went along, she was basically panting the book and making 95 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:19,680 that part of it as she went along. 96 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:25,600 And the editor who gave the the afterword perhaps is what it's called. 97 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,080 Or maybe it's the forward and it's just audible, put six at the end in their productions. 98 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,040 She said that she had to help reign in the chaos and make sure it all fit, make sure 99 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:35,400 it was all logical. 100 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:40,200 And like, I guess it was logical, but it just seemed too goofy and really makes sense to 101 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:41,800 seem maybe it seemed to juvenile. 102 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:43,080 I don't know, but it was for kids. 103 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:44,320 So is that an excuse to do? 104 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,480 I don't really think you should write down or talk down to to readers or to children 105 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,000 as your audience, whatever the medium is. 106 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,880 And yeah, I did not like that. 107 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:59,000 But and yet I say it is a very competently written book. 108 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,200 Her prose is really good. 109 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,640 There's some flowery stuff that kind of bothered me. 110 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,280 Her prose is really good. 111 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:07,480 And she's like a very sharp cultural critic. 112 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,320 Like there's this black judge character, this judge character who happens to be black woman. 113 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:16,720 She says to herself at some point, I am the first black woman judge of this, that or whatever. 114 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,280 And she's shown to be an imperfect flawed human, which I think is wonderful. 115 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:24,600 She's in the cast as an imperfect flawed human, even the hero, even turtle. 116 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,480 And it's just it's a strange book. 117 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:27,480 It's a strange story. 118 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:28,480 I don't really get it. 119 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:29,480 I don't really what she was. 120 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,000 I don't really get what she was going for at all. 121 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,280 So one of the things, one of the biggest things that bothered me, it wasn't that there was 122 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:42,000 a black female judge and she was the first and she was, you know, breaking glass ceilings 123 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,000 or anything like that. 124 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,000 Didn't bother me. 125 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,000 That was great. 126 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:46,000 Whatever. 127 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,000 It's fine. 128 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,040 The second one was the, I don't know. 129 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,840 It is kind of like a, yeah, it's a very sharp cultural criticism of different things in 130 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:57,000 family. 131 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,840 And it turns out like the main character's mom is kind of a jerk. 132 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:05,040 And then she has an arc where she's less of a jerk and like her perfect, beautiful sister, 133 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:06,040 turtle, perfect, beautiful sister. 134 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:07,040 I can't remember now. 135 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:08,920 It's been too long since I've read the book. 136 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:14,040 She ends up getting scarred and kind of just figured and she kind of likes it, which again, 137 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,560 sounds like subversive, but she was lauded for her beauty and her like submissiveness 138 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:18,840 and compliance. 139 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,000 And then she rebels in this different, in these different ways throughout the book. 140 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:27,400 And I don't know, she doesn't rebel in a way that makes her a more person. 141 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:32,120 She rebels in a way that's kind of destructive and negative overall. 142 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,440 And I don't know, like everybody picks up the pieces of their lives because you need 143 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:38,160 to flash forward to like 10 years, 20 years, 30 years later, something like that, towards 144 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:39,160 the end of the book. 145 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,000 I think it's close to the 20 and maybe 25 at the most anyway. 146 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,680 And like you get to see where people are now and they've all kind of become better people, 147 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:49,520 but I don't think it's because of the events of the Westing name. 148 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:54,160 I think it's in spite of the events and like maybe they were kind of all thrown into each 149 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,520 other's trajectories because of this convoluted scheme that Westing came up with. 150 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,800 And I don't know, it's just, it's just weird. 151 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,640 Like it's just weird. 152 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,560 I don't really know what she was trying to say. 153 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,160 I didn't really get the story. 154 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,040 There were a few, like I said, it was comfortably written. 155 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:16,960 So there were a few moments where I was shocked, where I was kind of amazed by something that 156 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,400 she pulled off and where I thought like, oh, that's really compelling. 157 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:23,800 But then the rest of it is all not so great. 158 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:32,960 And it's, it was all a lot of the humor or a lot of the humor was very like random and 159 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:34,640 like mean spirited. 160 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,720 At one point it almost feels like this couple is going to get divorced. 161 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:42,280 At one point it almost feels like this couple is kind of like cheating on each other, like 162 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:47,120 having an emotional affair with this other married couple in the, who's in the Westing 163 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,120 game. 164 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,520 And it just, I don't know, like it's so uncomfortable. 165 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:52,520 It's so uncomfortable. 166 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:54,720 And it's like a very adult book. 167 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,000 And I said, you shouldn't talk down to your audience. 168 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:01,440 How can it be an adult book that talks, how can it be a book that has adult content in 169 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,440 it and yet talks down to his child audience? 170 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:05,440 I don't know. 171 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,960 I think we're asking to accomplish that feat. 172 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,600 Yeah, there was just things in there that just made me so uncomfortable. 173 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,200 And yet it was so like silly or goofy. 174 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:21,760 I think the silliness and the goofiness feels like it's talking down to children to me. 175 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:25,920 There was no, which this is like, I think this is the worst joke in kids stuff. 176 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:27,200 He's right behind me, isn't he? 177 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,520 But she can't remember who mentioned that, but I thought, oh my gosh, that is like such 178 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:35,560 a great thing to latch onto as that's a horrible bit of comedy. 179 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:36,560 And I don't know when that was funny. 180 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:37,560 Was that in Costello? 181 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:38,560 Was it somebody before that? 182 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:39,560 I'm talking 120 years ago. 183 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:40,560 Maybe it was funny, but it ain't funny now. 184 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:41,560 It has been funny for a long time. 185 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:49,520 I don't remember what I would have seen that in, but I've seen it in many children's media 186 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,720 things and I haven't liked it for a long time since I was young. 187 00:09:53,720 --> 00:10:01,520 Anyway, so yeah, I think the goofiness and silliness of things kind of feels like it's 188 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:07,800 talking down to kids, but then like these very adult concepts and realities and things 189 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,720 that it brings in, scenarios that it brings in, I just don't like them. 190 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,000 It feels like a really weird, like a poison pill. 191 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:18,000 I hate saying that. 192 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:19,480 Like I feel really badly saying that. 193 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:24,800 And I try very hard to not criticize these books in such a way where I'm attacking the 194 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,280 people and where if I had any influence at all, I'd be calling for people to like boycott 195 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,160 or attack them or to ban them or anything like that. 196 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,920 I won't advise anybody read it. 197 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,160 I have the links on the website in the show notes. 198 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:40,680 If you want to go ahead and go through and get the book on Audible for yourself or read 199 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:42,720 the paperback or whatever, you can do that. 200 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:49,240 I have links to, I think Penguin Random House is the current holder of the title. 201 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:51,680 Things change all the time, right? 202 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:54,160 And pretty sure you can get it from them. 203 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,760 And I know you can get it on Amazon, obviously, if you're through them or whoever. 204 00:10:57,760 --> 00:10:59,240 And you can also get it on Audible. 205 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:01,120 But still, I just, I wouldn't advise that you do. 206 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,200 I just don't think it's worth your time. 207 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,200 We only have so much time in this life. 208 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,740 Our life is precious. 209 00:11:06,740 --> 00:11:08,360 You never know what day is going to be your last. 210 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:13,280 And I would hate for you to get this book and hate it and then die that day and think, 211 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:14,960 oh, the last thing I read was the Westinghouse. 212 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,000 It wasn't very good. 213 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:22,960 But like I said, I'm trying to be nice and I'm trying to catch things in an intellectual 214 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,840 way and explain my reasons for not liking some of these things. 215 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:31,200 And yeah, it is a little unfair that it's been so long since I've read this book, but 216 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:32,200 there you have it. 217 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,240 I'm being a little unfair, but I'm trying to be as fair as possible. 218 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:36,240 I'm trying to be nice. 219 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:40,520 And I did compliment Raston's writing because she is a skillful writer, even if I didn't 220 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,080 like the things that she wrote because those things are very, very exclusive. 221 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,280 You have the most amazing writer in the world who writes things that you don't like. 222 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,320 You can have the worst writer in the world who writes about things that you like and 223 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:57,640 you indulge it because they're speaking directly to you, preaching at the choir, so to speak. 224 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,880 Or you can reject it based on its merits and say, you know, it's great that you have all 225 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:05,920 these things in common with me and that you agree with me in all these ways, but I'm not 226 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:10,280 going to validate your poor writing and say that you should keep doing this because you 227 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,800 share my opinions or make me feel better about myself. 228 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,360 I'm going to be intellectually honest and say, yeah, the writing in here isn't very 229 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:17,360 good. 230 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:18,360 So I feel like I'm being okay. 231 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,600 And I'm being fair because I'm saying intellectually, from an intellectually honest perspective, 232 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:24,080 Raskin's writing is very competent. 233 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:28,040 However, it is distasteful to me or doesn't align with my tastes. 234 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:34,200 And I don't think there's anything in there virtuous or up raising for young minds to 235 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:35,200 be reading it. 236 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:40,080 So yeah, I told my daughter right away, like when I was a quarter through the book, I said, 237 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:41,520 I don't think this book's for me. 238 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,600 She encouraged me to ditch the book and read something else instead. 239 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:48,120 But I want to stick to the stuff that I have on my list. 240 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:53,960 And I'm just going to let the chips fall where they may to use a cliche down by the bay. 241 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:55,640 Hey, hey, hey. 242 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,280 So anyway, that's all I have to say for this. 243 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:01,800 So again, you can go check out, I mean, if you look through her bio, you can find some 244 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,440 of the books that she's illustrated, see her art. 245 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:04,440 I'm sure her art is wonderful. 246 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:09,080 I didn't personally look it up myself, but yeah, I didn't look it up myself. 247 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,920 But from the things that she did all this art on, I would imagine that her artwork was 248 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:14,920 excellent. 249 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:16,200 I mean, that's what she made a living off. 250 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:22,800 So whether or not I like it or you like it, she was good enough and she did things right. 251 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,120 So that publishers, you know, Trad Pub, back in the day when that's all it was, it was 252 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:32,760 Trad Pub was giving this woman money to make her life, her livelihood off of from illustrating 253 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,360 these books and book covers and whatnot. 254 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:35,360 So that's great. 255 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,240 So I was looking at her and definitely I was looking at that stuff more than I would look 256 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:40,880 at any of her other writing. 257 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:44,280 Or like I said, that's this really is the only thing the Westinghouse or the Westing 258 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:45,280 Game. 259 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,160 So I keep saying Westinghouse, isn't that like a computer thing now? 260 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,440 Anyway, the Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. 261 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:50,440 Yeah. 262 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:51,760 So again, I do not advise it. 263 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,200 I don't think it's worthy of being part of the fortress fiction. 264 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:56,200 I don't think it works. 265 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:00,440 I think if you try to build a foundation on this, things are not going to be good for 266 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:01,440 you. 267 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:06,680 So with that being said, going back real quick to me saying that I'm sticking to my list. 268 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:09,640 I was so relieved in doing the preparation for this and getting my notes ready, getting 269 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:14,160 my show notes ready, getting my post ready, my blog post ready over on mjwinter's.com 270 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:16,520 that I saw the next thing on the list. 271 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:17,520 I'm pretty sure this is correct. 272 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,840 This is a modern children's book. 273 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,320 Now I'm going to go back and read a classic children's book, which is a classic, which 274 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:29,120 is the Wizard of Oz, which spoiler, I'm going to tell you right now, I love the book, but 275 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:36,720 I encourage you to read it and I'm going to talk about it and I will try to take not longer 276 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,800 than 15, 20 minutes to talk about it, but it's a wonderful book. 277 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,600 I enjoy it so much. 278 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,360 That one I know for fact, you can get an audible. 279 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:45,360 They have it. 280 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,760 You can get it read by different people, like different celebrities and stuff. 281 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,680 There's a free version to pay for or use a credit board. 282 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,960 I know there's a free version on there, which is done by Phil Schennewehr. 283 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,320 Phil Schennewehr is the guy from Levervox. 284 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:03,000 I don't know where else he's from, but I was introduced to Phil Schennewehr on Levervox.org, 285 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,360 where he does all these free audio books. 286 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,440 I have a sneaking suspicion he's Catholic because there's a bunch of Catholic book stuff 287 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:16,800 that he's done, but he's also done tons of fantasy books, all of the original 14 Wizard 288 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:21,320 of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, and he's done a bunch of other stuff. 289 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:22,560 I love his vocal performances. 290 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:23,560 It's great. 291 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:31,480 I read the entire Wizard of Oz book, the first one, to my daughter with my own eyes off of 292 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:35,480 the e-reader screen years ago. 293 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:39,240 I've gone back and I've listened to those books again and again. 294 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:44,040 I'm in the middle of reading the Oz series to my kids right now. 295 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:45,040 It's wonderful. 296 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,200 The wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is wonderful. 297 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,360 I get to talk about that and tell you all the reasons I like it in the next episode 298 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:52,360 of Fortune Fiction. 299 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:56,400 Go ahead and either buy it or you can get it for free. 300 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,440 If you look around, Project Gutenberg will probably have it for free as well. 301 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:01,440 It's definitely in the public domain. 302 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,320 Yes, that's what's coming up. 303 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,000 I already gave you spoilers as to the fact that I really like it, but you'll get to hear 304 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,400 why I like it. 305 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:14,560 Hopefully I'll lay out a cogent argument for the virtues of the book and why it belongs 306 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:15,560 in part of the Fortune Fiction. 307 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:17,760 Although, I love the book. 308 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:18,760 How virtuous is it? 309 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:19,760 I don't know. 310 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,320 I'll just review it from that lens, from that perspective and see what I think of it in 311 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,640 that context this time when I listen through. 312 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:28,000 Until next time, folks, take care. 313 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,520 This is MJ signing out. 314 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:35,040 Oh, before I go, I mentioned earlier that I kind of took a hiatus from Fortune Fiction 315 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,160 and during that hiatus I was working on my book. 316 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:38,320 I wrote a book. 317 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,080 Here's the pitch for it. 318 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,220 Magical Bugs Battle Monsters. 319 00:16:42,220 --> 00:16:43,820 It's a middle grade book. 320 00:16:43,820 --> 00:16:47,640 It's around 23,000 words and I think it's good. 321 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:48,640 I like it. 322 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,680 I'm having some people I know read through it. 323 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:57,040 I'm trying to hire an editor who I know personally, or not personally personally, but who I know 324 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:58,880 through knowing other people. 325 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:05,360 I'm going to print some hard copies of it, give it to some kids I know and have them 326 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:06,360 read it. 327 00:17:06,360 --> 00:17:09,680 Yeah, I'm working on getting this thing done. 328 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,720 I hope that when it comes back I don't get a bunch of notes telling me to revise the 329 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,360 book, but I very well may. 330 00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:19,280 You can learn more about that and keep up to date on the progress of me getting that 331 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,560 book published by going to the website. 332 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:22,880 I'm setting up a newsletter. 333 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,280 It's not sequenced yet, but you can definitely sign up for the newsletter and I'm going to 334 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,280 be tweaking that as time goes on because now that I've gotten all this writing of the book 335 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:36,440 out of the way and I've revised it and all these different things, I'm ready to shift 336 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:41,420 gears as an author entrepreneur and start doing what I need to do to make sure the book 337 00:17:41,420 --> 00:17:44,920 is able to go out and it's as marketable as possible. 338 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:49,520 I have a great start to my book launch campaign and all that stuff. 339 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:55,400 So anyway, please look forward to that and if you value how I assess fiction, if you 340 00:17:55,400 --> 00:18:00,960 like how I approach books or if you want to see if I'm a filthy hypocrite, then please 341 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:01,960 check out my book. 342 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,880 Stay tuned and check out that book and let me know what you think about it when it comes 343 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:05,880 out. 344 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:11,440 It's going to be called Robochronicles and that's all I'll share for right now and you 345 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,260 can check out more later, find out more on the website. 346 00:18:14,260 --> 00:18:15,880 I hope you enjoyed that. 347 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:22,640 Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments or other feedback you might have. 348 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,440 There you can find all of my analysis, art and fiction. 349 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:31,740 I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime and more. 350 00:18:31,740 --> 00:18:35,400 Look around, you're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well. 351 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:58,280 This has been a Story Over Everything production.