Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / That Which Feeds Us The New Thriller From Keala Kendall

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That Which Feeds Us The New Thriller From Keala Kendall · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: It's a podcast network called arrow dot Net A r
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  Speaker 1: r oe dot net, twenty different podcasts to choose from.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to know about movies, we do movies.
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  Speaker 1: You want sports, we got sports. You want anything, We're
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  Speaker 1: you can pretty much do anything and get away with it.
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  Speaker 1: Arrow dot Net A r r oe dot Net. Enjoy
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  Speaker 1: your exploration. Hello, and good morning. How are you doing today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me sing it right erow.
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  Speaker 1: You said it right man. That's one of those weird
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  Speaker 1: names that came to me back there in the summer
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty one and Lewistown, Montana, and I said,
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  Speaker 1: all right, let's do it, let's do it. And so
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  Speaker 1: all these years.
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  Speaker 2: It's been except I was not born yet.
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  Speaker 1: You weren't. Oh man, you got to go back to
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  Speaker 1: the eighties. Something happened back there in the nineteen eighties
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  Speaker 1: that really kind of changed the whole planet.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, No, definitely changed the acts of the world.
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  Speaker 1: We got to talk about this, this this book cover.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason why is because I too am an author,
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  Speaker 1: and I I am a book cover whore. And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you've got the raised coloring you. It's so dynamic. It's
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  Speaker 1: it's something that I would hang on a wall. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's like this is a work of art. How did
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  Speaker 1: it come into being? Because this is first impression? Here
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  Speaker 1: this book cover, Oh, I love it.
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  Speaker 2: Francis Brenz there and artists they illustrated it, and they
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  Speaker 2: did tell me I had to learn a lot about
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  Speaker 2: percions to make it, but they were really detailed with
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  Speaker 2: how they came up with it. I think it's I
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  Speaker 2: feel like I've bluffed out with my covers, like I
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  Speaker 2: have how far ago the monitors the tail and then
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  Speaker 2: nobody gets left behind and those always look great. And
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  Speaker 2: I just like how they all look on a shelf
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  Speaker 2: like you, my books are arranged by color. It's a
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  Speaker 2: work of art art for me. And yeah, this cover,
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  Speaker 2: I love all the symbolism in it. And it does
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  Speaker 2: feel like a word of wark to me too, because
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  Speaker 2: you have the po Maria growing out of her and
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  Speaker 2: one of the characters is actually named Melia, which is
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  Speaker 2: the Hawaiian word for poo Maria. You have the persimmons,
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  Speaker 2: and you have like the moths that are these black
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  Speaker 2: witch moths and Hawaiian lore that are said to be
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  Speaker 2: our visiting dad, visiting loved ones who have passed, like
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  Speaker 2: who's died? And yeah, it's just I love all the
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  Speaker 2: details they included. Yeah, it's very haunting and evocative.
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  Speaker 1: So what what's really interesting about your writing is that
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  Speaker 1: the reader is going to pick it up and they're
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  Speaker 1: going to catch that chill that you put into those paragraphs.
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  Speaker 1: So therefore, my question is is that when it comes
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  Speaker 1: from you, were you cold and you wanted us just
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  Speaker 1: to be chilled? What was it? Because I always want
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  Speaker 1: to make sure. I want to know what that connection
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  Speaker 1: is between the author and the reader, because what we
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  Speaker 1: feel started with you.
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  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm no, yeah, I so I approached this horror
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  Speaker 2: like writing it similar to like Midsummer I really, have
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  Speaker 2: you seen the film Midsummer No.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not that Yeah, that will please fill me in.
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  Speaker 2: It's well, it's this weird just a position of horror
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  Speaker 2: because it's takes place and basically this northern I think
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  Speaker 2: I'm not I don't want to assume which country. I
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  Speaker 2: can't remember at the top of my head, but it's
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  Speaker 2: this northern Scandinavian country and it's very very bright. It's
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  Speaker 2: midsummar and Florence too is the main character, and she's
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  Speaker 2: having this almost hallucinogenic experience there. You can't be eighties
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  Speaker 2: and whils and it's just this weird j exposition of
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  Speaker 2: this bright eeriness. And she's having these experiences in this
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  Speaker 2: cult like Midsummar celebration. And I thought about that with Kabai.
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  Speaker 2: How do I get people to not to see pass
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  Speaker 2: the tourist landscape that they're familiar with, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: postcard image. How do we peel that back? Basically layer
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  Speaker 2: by lair. And I really liked using La Hua, who
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  Speaker 2: is the main character, is the vehicle for that because
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  Speaker 2: she's never actually been to Habaii, but she has an
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  Speaker 2: idea of it in her head and she kind of
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  Speaker 2: comes to it feeling like an outsider. You know, we
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  Speaker 2: have I heard you like to journal and your.
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  Speaker 1: Writers I am.
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  Speaker 2: And when we hear our family history from our grandparents
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  Speaker 2: or you know, just any relative and then going to
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  Speaker 2: a place to actually experience it, maybe it's like the
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  Speaker 2: family farm, the family you know, house they grew up in,
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  Speaker 2: and then you go there and maybe it's more dilapidated
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  Speaker 2: or it's not been taken care of. That's the feeling
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  Speaker 2: I really wanted to start with, is I feel like
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  Speaker 2: a stranger in my hometown even though this is the
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  Speaker 2: place I should belong, yet it's owned by someone else. Now,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think a lot of people have had
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  Speaker 2: that experience where their family houses and't they don't live
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  Speaker 2: there anymore, someone else does. And you see how they
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  Speaker 2: painted it and how they had changed it, And I
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  Speaker 2: think that's an experience everyone can relate to. So it's like,
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  Speaker 2: how do I blow that up with the audience and
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  Speaker 2: for Lahu to start there and also have this loving
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  Speaker 2: connection to the land that you know, she's building roots
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  Speaker 2: to it at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, see if in radio we would call that
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  Speaker 1: a relate break, because and he would always say that,
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  Speaker 1: the program directors would go, where's your relate, where's your relate?
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  Speaker 1: I need a relate break. If you're not relating, they're
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  Speaker 1: not picturing. You got to get them to picture what
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  Speaker 1: you're saying and what you just described. I was just
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  Speaker 1: in a car with some friends yesterday that went back
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  Speaker 1: to their first home as a husband and wife. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so you're spot on with that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And because many people haven't been to Hawaii, so
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  Speaker 2: I was like, how do I bring them there? How
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  Speaker 2: do I show them my Hawaii? Because that was ultimately
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  Speaker 2: the challenges. I know this might be their first experience
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  Speaker 2: with this vision of Hai that I grew up with.
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  Speaker 2: How do I make it not feel like almost not threatening?
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  Speaker 2: That's way too strong of a word, But you know,
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  Speaker 2: I don't want it to feel like, uh uh, this
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  Speaker 2: is actual Hawaii. I want it to feel like a conversation,
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  Speaker 2: like I'm inviting you into my house to like, let's
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  Speaker 2: take a tour through place. And I'm sure people who
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  Speaker 2: are like, you know, based in I'm trying to think,
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  Speaker 2: like I've been using New York as my example on
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  Speaker 2: these reviews, but like when people say I'm from if
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  Speaker 2: you're from New York, they might be like, oh, Manhattan,
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  Speaker 2: and they're telling you about Oh I've been brought, I've
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  Speaker 2: been to this, and you're like, I'm from an update
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  Speaker 2: New York actually, you know. And so that kind of
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  Speaker 2: conversation of comes, come see my house with me, and
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  Speaker 2: this is my experience, and yeah, relate break I.
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  Speaker 1: Love that, Please don't move. We've got more with Keela
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  Speaker 1: Kendall coming up next. The name of a book that
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  Speaker 1: which feeds us Oh, this is a good one, we
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  Speaker 1: are back with author Keela Kendall. You've got something here
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  Speaker 1: that's just so magical in the hearts of readers, in
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  Speaker 1: the way that for many of us we think of
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  Speaker 1: Hawaii as being our version of a modern day OZ.
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  Speaker 1: And number two, when you've got twins involved, we all
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  Speaker 1: have our interpretation of what it must be like to
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  Speaker 1: have a twin. I mean, you're you're tapping in two
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  Speaker 1: very important things that get that we all think about it.
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  Speaker 1: If they say I do, not yes, you do. Somewhere
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  Speaker 1: along the line, you did bring it up and you're
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  Speaker 1: covering both subjects in this.
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  Speaker 2: Mm hmm yeah, because I definitely well. I thought the
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  Speaker 2: gothic genre was perfect for exploring those two concepts leading
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  Speaker 2: doppel gangers and twins or common trope, And for like,
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  Speaker 2: who was the main character when she's looking for her sister?
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  Speaker 2: Since you know you're a writer, I'll talk more about
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  Speaker 2: the craft two of it. I thought, she's not really
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  Speaker 2: on the page, So how do we keep her sister
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  Speaker 2: present throughout the novel while we're looking for her and
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  Speaker 2: not in a gosh, I can't believe we're looking for
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  Speaker 2: this girl because where they start off in the novel
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  Speaker 2: they've had a terrible fight, and it's not the type
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  Speaker 2: of person you're like, well, let me go muster so
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  Speaker 2: much enthusiasm to go find them in Homebodi and spend
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  Speaker 2: the last of my bank account savings. Because she's a
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  Speaker 2: college you know, drop out turned Mortigian's assistant, she has
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  Speaker 2: to go there. And the lasting her sister told her
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  Speaker 2: in their fight was you're wasting You're throwing your life away.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, just to the fact that that you've turned
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  Speaker 1: this like into a gothic kind of a horror style.
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  Speaker 1: I was just on the phone with another jockey yesterday
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  Speaker 1: and he goes, how would you describe what it is
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  Speaker 1: that you're doing on your podcast? I said, I said,
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  Speaker 1: you have to understand it's goth there's something about it.
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  Speaker 1: You're not supposed to understand it. Just go along with
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  Speaker 1: it and pick something up along the way.
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  Speaker 2: And it kind of thrives on that contrast, that gossip genre.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Like I think a lot of people, I
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  Speaker 2: think we're living through a gothic time to be we are.
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  Speaker 1: But nobody's dressing the part.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, because it feels very gilded right now. Like
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  Speaker 2: sure we all have iPhones, Sure we have like fancy
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  Speaker 2: cars and everything, or we have these modern conveniences we
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  Speaker 2: didn't have, you know, in the eighties, in the hundred
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  Speaker 2: years one hundred years ago. But there's still the same
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  Speaker 2: struggles and there's still this kind of ropnith at all
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  Speaker 2: where everyday people are still struggling. And I did want
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  Speaker 2: to connect it to like Lehu in that way where
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  Speaker 2: she goes home and it's like, oh, real life for
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  Speaker 2: Hawaiians when you check out, they're still struggling, Like this
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  Speaker 2: is life for them. It might be a postcard where
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  Speaker 2: you can step in and out of it, almost like
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  Speaker 2: a portrait, you know, and it exists in that fantasy
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  Speaker 2: land in your mind, separate from reality. But when she's there,
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  Speaker 2: she's not there for vacation. She's there to find her sister.
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  Speaker 2: And I think I had a line when I was
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  Speaker 2: talking about it to friends, It's like, I really want
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  Speaker 2: people to feel like their dream vacation is her nightmare.
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  Speaker 2: Oh now you're talking.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you're talking about that old Brady Bunch special where
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  Speaker 1: the Brady family went over there for two weeks and
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  Speaker 1: they lost a little teaky Oh my god. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I was going to bring that up stating, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the last time I really got into a Hawaiian story
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  Speaker 1: was with The Brady Bunch, and now I've got this
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  Speaker 1: was gone. Thank god, you gave me a good Hawaiian
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  Speaker 1: story here.
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  Speaker 2: Oh I'm so glad. I'm so glad you like you
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  Speaker 2: like to get corn straight. I'dout to check out that
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  Speaker 2: Brady Bunch episode. I love I love finding other you know.
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  Speaker 2: I like seeing how you through other people's eyes too.
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  Speaker 2: It's just such a different contrast. And yeah, uh someone
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  Speaker 2: when I was on action, we went to auction with this,
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  Speaker 2: and so I got to hear from a lot of editors.
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  Speaker 2: I feel so lucky to be in this position. But
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  Speaker 2: one editor is like, yeah, I felt like White Lotus
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  Speaker 2: meets Jordan Peele or written by Jordan Peel. And I
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  Speaker 2: was like, oh, slap that on the cover. You do. Like,
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  Speaker 2: that's high praise, you know. I said, I'm peaked. Put
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  Speaker 2: that on my team stone. That's what I want. There,
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  Speaker 2: such my praise. And so yeah, I'm so glad you've
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  Speaker 2: a little twisted version of Habai A two in your
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  Speaker 2: media with the Brady Brunch.
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  Speaker 1: If you're going to bring up White Lotus and I've
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  Speaker 1: got to I've got to go ahead and bring this
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  Speaker 1: up that's in my notes, And I said that you
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  Speaker 1: write with a way of knowing that I am sitting
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  Speaker 1: here inside my imagination in front of a giant theater
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  Speaker 1: movie screen, and through your words, I see pictures on
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  Speaker 1: that screen and I and I do feel like that
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  Speaker 1: this is an action type that I would love to
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  Speaker 1: see on that big screen.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that's so kind. So my background is actually in media,
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  Speaker 2: So I have a background screenwriting, TV and film production,
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  Speaker 2: and so I wanted to have this visual like. I
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  Speaker 2: really aim to bring that visual sensibility and narrative driven
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  Speaker 2: style to my writing and try to really focus on atmosphere.
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  Speaker 2: When I was first writing, in the beginning, I was like, Man,
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  Speaker 2: I know how i'd shoot this in a film, like
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  Speaker 2: the direction i'd give on a for the cameraman, because
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  Speaker 2: you know, you always have that moment in the horror
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  Speaker 2: film where you know someone is watching the protagonist but
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  Speaker 2: they don't know. And that's a lot harder to do
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  Speaker 2: when you're in this person's head, and it's like, how
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  Speaker 2: do you show someone's watching them without them seeing it? Anyway?
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  Speaker 1: So where can people go to find out more information
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  Speaker 1: about you? Because I want them to really dive into
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  Speaker 1: your work of art.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much. First of all, my website
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  Speaker 2: is the best place Calikandle dot com. I always say
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  Speaker 2: Kendle like the Jenner. That's gotten me a lot of
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  Speaker 2: mileage in Los Angeles, where I'm currently based. But I
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  Speaker 2: also am on social media. For now. The book is out,
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  Speaker 2: that would jesus. It's the Funny Reads pick for me
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  Speaker 2: and it's available at Target with an exclusive edition and
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  Speaker 2: then wherever books are sold. And yeah, I usually have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of dog picks on my social media. I
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  Speaker 2: have a Bernie Mountain dog. You know, there's you know,
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  Speaker 2: just a cutie and she's my writing assistant. But I
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  Speaker 2: always say she doesn't put in as many hours as
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  Speaker 2: I think she's.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. Well, please come back to this show
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  Speaker 1: anytime in the future. The door is always going to
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  Speaker 1: be open for you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd love to hear more about you know, I
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  Speaker 2: love the what was it? Relate break.
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  Speaker 1: If you can't relate, then they're not they're not checking in,
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  Speaker 1: they can't envision it. You've got to be able to relate.
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  Speaker 2: Relate fun they're not either. So if you're not having
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  Speaker 2: fun writing, your audience isn't going to either.
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  Speaker 1: That's why that movie should be about It should be
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  Speaker 1: a movie about you putting together a great novel.
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  Speaker 2: Oh well, thank you so much. You're so kind. I
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  Speaker 2: hope you guys have a great day today.
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  Speaker 1: Will you'd be brilliant today?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, thank you so much.