Latest / Storied Account with Jen Jumba / Lee Matthew Goldberg: Miles in Time & The Time Fixers
Transcript
- Jennifer Jumba: This is Storied Account with Jen Jumba. In conversations with writers, something magical happens. And as readers, we begin to see them as human beings and not just the name on the spine of a book. And my hope is through these conversations, you learn about their craft and them as a person, and you'll become like me, loyal, want to read their current book, entire backlist, or any future book they write. And when you see their name, you'll want to support them. Not only is the incredible storytellers, but also the thoughtful individuals you have come to know. So excited to be talking to Lee Matthew Goldberg. He is the Anthony, Lefty and Pridupallar author of 15 novels, including The Ancestor and The Mentor, and one of my favorites, The Great Gimmelmans, along with his five book desire card series and the Runaway Train trilogy. Miles in Time, which we're going to be talking about today, came out almost a year ago, followed up by the Time Fixers, which we'll also talk about. Lee graduated with an MFA from the New School, and he's been published in multiple languages. His writing has also appeared as a contributor in countless publications, including Crime Reads, ⁓ Artists Lit Hub, Chicago Quarterly Review, ⁓ Literature, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Jewish Book Council. I could go on and on with the number of places where Lee has been a fabulous contributor, but we would run out of time and not be able to hear him talk. His pilots in screenplays have been finalist in script pipeline, book pipeline, stage 32, Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay Contest. He's the publisher of Fringe Press and the co-curator of the Gorilla Lit reading series and lives in New York City. I've been lucky enough to have met Lee and talked to him a couple of times. And I think you will see as we have this conversation, just his thoughtful and insightful approach to writing. He's a fantastic human being himself. And then these two books that we'll talk about, Miles in Time and Time Fixers are geared for a young adult audience, are fantastic. Do you want to introduce us to these books? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Thank Sure first thanks so much for having me Jen. It's a pleasure to do and yeah We're gonna talk about my two young adult novels miles on time and time fixers. Like you said, they came out about a year ago Miles in time is about a guy named miles From Iowa. He's a sweet kid ⁓ with an brother who's a genius inventor and the older winds up unfortunately dead and Miles finds sort of these clues that lead him to a time machine that his brother has created to go back in time a week and solve whoever killed him ⁓ stop him from being killed basically. And the brothers never really got along. I mean they did, but they were so different. So ⁓ book is really about them, ⁓ know, reigniting their brotherly relationship. And likes a girl, he was too nervous to talk to her in the past while solving this crime because ⁓ the one thing I forgot, he's a budding Sherlock Holmes detective and he has his own detective agency. Yeah. Jennifer Jumba: Yes. Right. mean, and so you talk about the brothers being too completely different. Simon is kind of buttoned up this inventor science proof ⁓ of keeps to himself and essentially like likes to work around the clock. He's working on this top secret project and is, freshmen in high school. think most of us listening to remember what that freshman year was like, it was a little awkward. We're trying to figure out where we fit in, who our friends are. And he has a great friend, Kevin, who's kind of his Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yep. Yes. Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Kevin, who's the most polarizing character according to Goodreads. A lot of people don't like Kevin. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, Kevin. No, you know, Kevin, I mean, we all know Kevin's right, you know, lot of like people. think Kevin says what a lot of us think. Right. It's also, mean, and I don't want to stereotype, but you know, that teen boy that has this voracious appetite and he's always eating something, you know, which is quite fun. yeah, so he's kind of. Lee Matthew Goldberg: We all know a Kevin, yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yes. Jennifer Jumba: You miles a sidekick. so they have this detective agency, they're budding Sherlock Holmes, so ⁓ they're in the of Iowa. mean, first of all, setting a book in Iowa, when you live in New York city, how does, how does that, how does that happen? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, we were talking to Drop before this originally was, Miles in Time was written over a decade ago. And it's just ⁓ sometimes in publishing, it just took so long for it to, you know, reach an audience. And had been at my buddy's wedding in Iowa in Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Cedar Falls, the smaller one. And it just had such a cute, charming ⁓ small Jennifer Jumba: Okay. Lee Matthew Goldberg: very positive vibe. Everybody's very sweet and nice and they were so excited that someone was from New York and they wanted to talk about it and everything. I was, it just seemed like the perfect place to set this book where there's this like darkness that exists kind of in the underbelly of this, you small town. I've always, a lot of my stuff, you know, very influenced by like David Lynch, who was like a pioneer of that, like Blue Velvet when this beautiful suburbia. And then there's a an ear that has been cut off somebody's head that exists in that suburbia. So that was really the of miles in time. And the up place Frontier, Iowa was just a perfect setting. Jennifer Jumba: Right, and so of we're to cut our teeth as young and this agency that we create while we're eighth graders ⁓ and going freshman year when everybody is, and hate to it, judging, ⁓ looking at who you and what you do and what you wear and are you cool enough, not enough, what lunch table do you sit at? And I just had to chuckle because their biggest cases so far has been missing cat. And dare I say the same missing cat. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yes. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Missing Same missing cat that keeps running away from this baddie old woman, because it really wants to not live with her. ⁓ But for Miles, you know, it's a it's steady case. And I think he ⁓ isn't He's paid in pies. So she cooks pies and pays them. And he's for something bigger to happen. Like he really wants to sink his teeth into a meaty case that he and Kevin could get into. Jennifer Jumba: Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: The problem is he doesn't realize the case is about to be, which is more than he could ever imagine because it involves the murder of his brother, basically. Jennifer Jumba: Right. Yeah, it's that whole line that you, I think you even mentioned in the book, you know, be careful what you wish for. he's kind of, bored with the, the missing cat, the same missing cat. And then, hears he's, he's sleeping, cause it's early, early in the morning and he hears a bang and goes down the hall to find that his brother has, been shot and killed ⁓ and, ⁓ horrific tragic. know in the first, you know, chapter two. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yes. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, yeah, it's in Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was something that I, you know, I, why you have to be so careful, young readers, it's very different than than writing adult thrillers, which is, you know, really my bread and butter. But kids really, I mean, like, when I was a kid, I was watching everything. My parents did not have their like, I was watching Halloween when I was really little, you know, I remember going up basic instinct with my dad. ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: Exactly. You Lee Matthew Goldberg: that says, like, we just want a basic instinct because why not? So to me, ⁓ 14 year old reading it can handle these types of things. And I think just with young adult, you really have that sort of, you know, trigger warnings on a book that they could ⁓ identify if over the that going to be too much. Jennifer Jumba: Great. And I think how different it was when I was growing up that we didn't have young adult. I mean, we kind of had like, you know, the children's section, you had Judy Bloom, who was like this fantastic writer, I ⁓ still adore ⁓ But this mini bridge, next thing you know, you're reading the adult stuff, you're reading Dean Koontz, and you're reading Sidney Sheldon, and you're reading Danielle Steele. so the fact that you have Lee Matthew Goldberg: No. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amazing. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. I wrote a book report in sixth grade on Bright Lights, Big City. Jennifer Jumba: It's fantastic. Lee Matthew Goldberg: was like, cool, Wall Street, cocaine, why not? And I wrote a book report on it. Jennifer Jumba: Exactly. And then, you you think back about some of the movies that we watched during that time period. Absolutely. Maybe besides just the horror movies, the other teen movies, you know, the breakfast club and 16 candles and some of the things that. Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. St. Elmo's Fire and yeah, I was born in 78. So like I was a really I think a perfect age for you know, I was old enough to be able to watch Breakfast Club at like nine or ten and then you know fully a teen in the early 90s and was so influenced by like all those 90s thrillers that you know malice and basic instinct and of evidence and all that stuff. Like I see it through my work constantly. Not so much miles in time, but the other ones, yeah. Jennifer Jumba: ⁓ right. Right. you know, he's now faced with a case like, they think, that his brother killed himself, but Miles and Miles's father, like, absolutely that that's not, that can't be right. That's not who Simon is. And because he was so invested in working on this top secret project, Miles starts to understand what the top secret project is. So do you want to talk a little bit about what Simon was working on? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, uh-uh. Mm-hmm. Sure. Yeah, I mean, for Miles, he knew that Simon would do anything to finish he was working on. So there's no universe where he would have, you know, killed himself because he couldn't finish it. He would do everything to finish it, even if he was 90 and he still hadn't finished it. So the brothers have a secret language. It's called Okejobi. It's named a lake in Iowa. So the brothers have a secret It's called Okejobi. It's named after a lake And it's that every third letter in a word is the letter that exists. you, know, ⁓ the two letters in between. So gets an email from who knows it's in secret language. And it basically tells them to go to an underground basement where this time machine, which looks like the Nintendo glove, which was the glove I had as a kid, ⁓ we'll take him back in time and And it's that every third letter in a word is the letter that exists. you, know, ⁓ the two letters in between. So gets an email from who knows it's in secret language. And it basically tells them to go to an underground basement where this time machine, which looks like the Nintendo glove, which was the glove I had as a kid, ⁓ we'll take him back in time and Jennifer Jumba: Right? Lee Matthew Goldberg: hopefully solve this mystery of who would ever come after him. And Miles, who we know is up for an adventure and is looking for that, you know, a detective to sink his teeth into, jumps at the chance and goes in time a week. And that's really of the setup for the book that continues from there. hopefully solve this mystery of who would ever come after him. And Miles, who we know is up for an adventure and is looking for that, you know, a detective to sink his teeth into, jumps at the chance and goes in time a week. And that's really of the setup for the book that continues from there. He has to... really be judicious and kind of feel out everybody in Simon's orbit, including some of the people in his own orbit that he never would have thought could be involved. His parents, his secret girl crush, his best friend Kevin, who we spoke of before, know, Simon's physics teacher, sort of everybody's a suspect and he has to navigate that while at the same time fixing some of the own things in his life, like. Jennifer Jumba: Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: not being able to talk to Maisie who he's always had a crush on. so sort dual things are happening at the same time, solving the case and also, you know, living for the first time really. Jennifer Jumba: Right, And there's ⁓ a book that he relies on, like the do's and don'ts of time travel. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yes The do's and don'ts of time travel. I kind of got it I don't if you remember Beetlejuice the movie when they find the book and it's like I forget the exact title But it's like the secret to being undead or something. So I just took that basically from ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah, no, I was going to ask you if that came from that movie because I can remember, I just think there's these little touches, you know, of the nostalgia from that the time period in which, I kind of grew up. ⁓ so I think that that's fun to have nods to that type of thing. And ⁓ thinking about, the do's and don'ts, I'm also of like, you mismaners, things you're supposed to do. But one of the big. ⁓ Go ahead. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. My ⁓ I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to say Miles is the type of person not to fully listen to the do's and don'ts, is a plot line that really, I think, makes the book interesting. Jennifer Jumba: Right. And I think one of the things that Simon tells him is because he's able to go back and see his brother, because it's a week before, so his brother's still alive, is that you have to be really careful if you time travel to not make such big changes it has such a huge impact. And I always think that's interesting because we hear the whole like, butterfly wings and, you know, these little things and end up having a big impact. But some of the things, you know, can't changed. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Okay. Mm-hmm. Right, right, the butterfly effect. Right. The interesting thing about time travel is it has not been done. So as a writer that we know of, but as a writer, you can really do anything. Who made these rules? Who knows the butterfly effect is even a real thing? So the main is don't meet your former self. And Miles Fs up minute one. Jennifer Jumba: that we know of. Lee Matthew Goldberg: and former self becomes his kind of right-hand man helping him solve the crime. And think, favorite part of the book is that ⁓ he works himself really to become a better detective. But he's such a different version of himself a week later because of the tragedy that he's experienced. So it's really almost two different people navigating this case. Jennifer Jumba: Correct. Have you always been interested in time travel? Like was that something as a kid that you enjoyed? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think I always wanted to write a time travel book. And it just was figuring out like the right one. Time travel is really hard to write also because like so many things almost ruin the plot as the plot unfolds. So you're constantly like, wait, if he does that, can this happen? If he does this, can that happen? So there's a lot of playing around with that. is fun but also makes it kind of janky at the same time for a writer kind of figuring it out. But yeah, I know I've always loved just time travel, sci-fi. I've always been a huge fan. Jennifer Jumba: Right. How does that impact your writing? Like your craft of writing is trying to keep track of if this happens, then this can happen or this can't happen. I mean, do you ⁓ postcards or post-its or do you just use a gigantic, you know, word document to try and keep track of it all? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Sure. Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of different for each book. Miles in Time, it was originally written so long ago, so it went through so many different phases. It's hard to remember at the beginning, like how I kept track of everything. Time Fixers, on the flip side, I wrote in about two months. And so that was just like a vomit of a book that just came out of me. I think I wrote it in the winter. That happens sometimes. just stuck inside, kind of. ⁓ And I'll just leave myself voice notes. I think I did that a lot with it. I always work off an outline, so I have a full chapter outline that's about 15, sometimes 20 pages. And think with Time Fixers, I pretty much stuck to it. It was what was. And it was also easy, because the publisher was like, do whatever you want to do. They really were like... Jennifer Jumba: Right. Okay. Lee Matthew Goldberg: you know, publishers sometimes they're not as like fixed and there's not a million people looking at it like a big five. So it was kind of cool. I had done books with them before and they were like, go, go for it. ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, I think it's a great, I think both of them are great and I think they really compliment one another. mean, going back in, you you could do anything if you can time travel. And they choose to do something good with that ability to time travel. First of all, Miles going back to figure out, which we won't give any spoilers, you know, who ended up killing his brother and why. And then in time fixtures, know, and Simon are growing up with parents. Their dad is this inventor that Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah. Yes. Mm hmm. Sure. Yeah, yeah. Right, right, right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jennifer Jumba: also teaches and then when he's done in the classroom, he immediately comes home, goes to the basement and he has ⁓ just piles of things that have just never quite worked out, including in lipstick applicator. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. No. butter stick. Yeah. I mean, it's not the worst thing. So, yeah, he has a thing it's called the butter stick. Yeah, the idea is like butter on the go. So it's in like a lipstick container. And if you just need to like rub some butter on something really easily. But yeah, unfortunately, it never sold. So, yeah, the dad is sort of, you know, failed inventor, you know, kind of living through his son, Simon. Jennifer Jumba: I'm thinking it's great for corn on the cob. mean, they're, they're value in. Yeah. It makes everything better. Lee Matthew Goldberg: and also taking care of the mom who's a important but also a character that you don't really know much about because she's not really with it at all. ⁓ She has through trauma in her life and has mentally shut off basically. So they wanna go back in time. And they're thinking about it, they're like, we can go back to the 1920s, we can go back the dinosaurs. And then they're like, we wanna go back and fix our mom, hence time fixers. they go back in a very back to the future kind of plot line where they go back to meet mom and dad when they first met as teens and see why the mom became what she became and fix it. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah. Yeah. And we don't always have that, as kids, of our parents, that sometimes, and I think there's a line in the book that, you kind of forget that your parents were people too, and that your parents were once teens. Like you only see them as like, that's just mom and dad. But they had a whole life, before, before us as, as kids, which is always kind of interesting. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right, right. Yeah, and I think like the and Simon, there was a separation between them and their parents, know, really because of circumstance. Where in the book when they meet them their age, they really form like a friendship with their parents that ultimately if they're successful will carry over to ⁓ their actual life as well. Jennifer Jumba: so we're talking a little bit before, but in time fixers, the time period that they go back to is not like ⁓ a week earlier, like it was in miles in time. They've realized ⁓ that can go back that only living things can actually time travel, not objects. So very interesting. So I think it started Simon did with his, ⁓ is a gerbil or a guinea pig or a guinea pig that, you know, blistered. ⁓ yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Uh-uh. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, a guinea pig, yeah, his guinea pig, Stinkers. So Stinkers is literally the guinea pig that is sent back in time to see if it works. And so he first uses him for a week, and Stinker comes back, and that's miles in time. And then he tries to send him to 1999, and Stinkers comes back as well. So that's sort of the perfect error, because it was really when the mom was a full teenager and coming into her own. Jennifer Jumba: then I have to tell you how much it was so much fun to go back to that time period with all of the things like when MTV at the time only showed music videos, right? I don't think I've ever seen like since then, you know, became all kinds of very sure real world. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. No, I think they actually stopped. I think they stopped showing videos completely. Like there was a thing at the top of the year that they will never show videos again. But yeah, mean, 1999, we're in full TRL era. ⁓ in college at the time, but I remember coming back home to New York City and passing by Times Square where it was filmed and there would be a million, mostly girls, ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, Carson Daly. Yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: screaming like it was the Beatles at TRL. So it was a real cultural moment where I think music videos were at its height, basically. it was just an era that I really dear to and I was coming of age. And when I was when set the book, I was like, let me set it in an era that'd be fun for me to write about and that I also had not written about before, because I've done books Jennifer Jumba: Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: set in like 78, Gimmelman's was the late 80s, Runaway Train was the early 90s, so I was like, let me do an era that I haven't done yet, and 1999, you know? Jennifer Jumba: Mm-hmm. and it was captured so well. were so many moments where like, kind of forget ⁓ some of the things until I'm reading. I'm thinking like, the whole, raspberry Snapple iced tea. And I'm thinking, ⁓ my God, how many of those I drank and you immediately, you know, ⁓ screw off the lid there's always some sort of trivia or fun facts. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Thank you. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. There's the little trivia. Yeah, absolutely. No, I was addicted to raspberry, raspberry iced tea. Definitely this now. Yeah, I mean, it was so much fun. Like a lot. I feel like for both of them. Well, no, no, no, no. Because Miles in Time was I was thinking my other young adult series. I really just talked to a lot of friends and was like, tell me what you remember from that year. You know, for guys, what you remember for girls, what you remember in terms of the makeup perfume. Jennifer Jumba: ⁓ my goodness, yes. Lee Matthew Goldberg: just all of those things that maybe I would have forgotten about. feel like Sunflower's Perfume is popular and stuff like that. Girls Body Shop and that was really big. So I just had this laundry list of things 1999. And then honestly, Spotify was a huge part of the book too, where I would just plug in 1999 and hear all the songs that came up on it. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah. Yes. Lee Matthew Goldberg: and then decide which ones I really wanted to use as a part of the book. Jennifer Jumba: You also did a great job with title of the song linking to ⁓ particular incident within the book, which is really kind of fun. It's almost like the foreshadowing, but it just dovetails so nicely. You you're like, hit me baby one more time, Britney Spears. And then there's, you know, some actor, somebody is just. Right. Exactly. That's fun. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's what a character is going through. Yeah, I mean, my novel runaway runaway train the sequel Grenade Bouquet is because they're set in ⁓ world of basically somebody becoming a grunge singer and just like almost the behind the music of the band or the books. So each chapter was a different song from that era. So I was so used to like doing that in that it just came very easy for. for time fixers. I didn't wanna make it chapter headings, because it wasn't fully about the music, but I'm glad that you picked up that it just kind of seamlessly flowed into the novel throughout. Jennifer Jumba: It's very clever, you know, in terms of how it's done, which, it doesn't have to, be ⁓ a chapter heading. it, it's much more fun to read it as it's embedded within the story and the, the action or the scenes that are happening for sure. it's kind of. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. trickiest part is doing it so you don't use the lyrics and then have to pay money for the pay royalties. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I did for Runaway Train where I got Soul Asylum to sign off on. Yeah, ⁓ dealt their manager. He was amazing. And it less expensive than you would have thought. But it also took a really long time to like Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, ⁓ Wow. Lee Matthew Goldberg: find the right person and everything. So with this one, was like, I don't even want to, I don't even want to bother. Jennifer Jumba: Right. Yeah. So it's super fun. Then I start to think about the things in 99 that I'm glad stayed at 99, you know, that didn't come forward. Some of the fashion trends that I thought for sure. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Forever, so much. Although you never know, know, always kind of rotates back and I feel like the odds are really kind of big again now in fashion. see that. ⁓ Shoulder Yeah, OK, that that may be not. like, you know, the bagginess, the baggy jeans and like big sleeves and fluorescent colors has kind of come back. Jennifer Jumba: Yes. If shoulder pads come back, I'm done. Yes, fluorescent colors. Lee Matthew Goldberg: 99 while not the pinnacle of fashion. ⁓ know, you see a little here and there. Jennifer Jumba: but ⁓ which is always quite fun. So, you know, this time when they go back with time fixers, now you have Simon who's really able to help because he understands what the mission whereas he doesn't understand it in miles in time. So they're going back really to try to understand their a little bit better, and see what kind of led up to the mom ⁓ that they know in present time. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yes. Mm-hmm. Jennifer Jumba: We know who's just sick and on their way to take her to ⁓ home to stay in, which is just sad. so thinking about just what good kids they are that want to go and influence that for the better. mean, they could go back and look for winning lottery numbers. They could go back and look for like trading that would, no, they choose to go back and do something good. was that something that you were really thoughtful about when you were Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they could do anything. Jennifer Jumba: creating that story. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, no, absolutely. A lot of my characters in my books are not the best people. I write about a lot of criminals. ⁓ I just finished one about a drug runner along the Canadian border. They're not really sweet individuals. Sometimes they become better as the book goes on, I sometimes, not all the time, but I ⁓ really to just write books with like... Jennifer Jumba: You Mm-hmm. sometime. Lee Matthew Goldberg: good characters that are really sweet, that are endearing, that yeah, have gotten themselves into a jam and the jam is a tough one, ⁓ but that you're really, really rooting for. And I think like all main characters are just good, sweet kids for the most part. And so it's more of challenge for me to write that, honestly. Like it's easier for me to write an evil person. Jennifer Jumba: Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: it just is. ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: I'm not gonna say it's a write what you know, we'll say. Lee Matthew Goldberg: not that, I mean, I've always said with all of us thriller writers that we're are such nice people because we get our demons out on the page and then there's like nothing left but to be nice. But I don't I just find comfort in like tragedy when I'm writing a book and know, despicableness and you know, just sometimes the worst humanity. And so these two books are really, you know. the opposite, I think, of that. There's evil people in the books, of course, you know, the antagonists, but the protagonists, I think, are full protagonists that you really like, love, and you wanna give like a hug to, I think, throughout the books. You just wanna tell them that it's gonna be okay because they're dealing with stuff the 14-year-old should not be dealing with at all. Like, what were you dealing with at 14? You weren't dealing with your brother's murder and going back in time and... Jennifer Jumba: Absolutely. Absolutely not. No. Lee Matthew Goldberg: this horrificness. So yeah, I just really wanted to write two sweet books. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, they're quite fun and there's a lot of humor in these books. And at one point, Simon is talking to Kevin and Kevin, which most polarizing character, according to Goodreads, of says things without thinking and to the point where I think Simon says to him, it's fine. I know you haven't figured out yet how to properly send information from your brain to your mouth yet. It's fantastic line. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yes, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. True. I mean, we all had a friend. Jennifer Jumba: And then I'm thinking I'm going to steal that line because there's several people I want to say it to. No, just kidding. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, I mean, you I think we all knew a Kevin in our life. He's not really based on anybody I know, but like probably an amalgamation of a bunch of people. And there's something really pure and innocent about somebody like Kevin, who just says whatever he feels like saying, you know, like I think too many of us are so concerned about how we're perceived that, you know, we're afraid to actually just speak our mind and say what we want. like, Kevin will say anything he doesn't he doesn't care. But because he was Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, no filter, yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: so kind of polarizing. I did leave him out of a lot of time fixers. Jennifer Jumba: yeah, it's quite fun to see he approaches the situation along with Miles because they're kind of working together with this detective agency. so they're polar opposites in terms of, I think talks a little bit in the earlier book, like as a detective, I think he says there's a danger in wanting a clue to appear so badly that one's mind tended to alter certain things. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. and then Mm-hmm. Jennifer Jumba: And I think that that's true because I guarantee anybody who's listening to this all of a sudden is going to see or hear music from 1999 just because there's an increased awareness after whatever they just heard in this conversation. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, no, absolutely. mean, I think that like, that's just how our brains sometimes work, where you hear something and it puts the little bug in your ear and then it kind of just sticks. ⁓ know, I hope people read the book and want to go listen to a bunch of 1999 songs. There's a Spotify playlist I created called Time Fixers. If you want to go on Spotify, it's every song in the book, basically. And I've done that with pretty much all my... books, like all my books, if you type in to Spotify, there's a playlist probably. Jennifer Jumba: That's awesome. I can tell you today I went out and grabbed lunch because I just needed to get away from work for a little bit where nobody could really find me. And I'm standing in line, you know, the deli waiting to order a sandwich. And wouldn't you know it in the refrigerated case, you know, there's Coke, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke. Can I just tell you there was a bottle of Snapple? I mean, the bottle is like a little bit elongated. It's not quite as chubby as it used to be lack of a better word, but I was like, Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. No way. Yeah. Yeah. Jennifer Jumba: Would I have noticed that before I had read Time Fixers? Probably not. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-mm. It's the universe. There's the term for it. It's not mandala effect. That's something else. It's something like that where it's like you hear something or you then then you just see it everywhere. Like, yeah, it definitely is a term for it. But I feel like that happens all the time. Like recently I've been seeing just 11 11 like every time I'll look at it'll be 11 11 11 11 3 3 3 4 4 4. And they say it's like angel. numbers, you know, that like the universe is trying to tell you something. if you're paying attention, then could follow along with whatever it's trying to tell you. But yeah, if you see repeated numbers like that, you know, if you interested in ⁓ numerology at it kind of is telling you something bigger than yourself is going to happen in a good way, in a good way, in a good way. Jennifer Jumba: Cool. Wow, I'm curious to know what is gonna happen to you now that you're seeing all these numbers. Mine was just a snap of the first. I was big on like this, the kiwi strawberry one. That was the one that was hooked on. Lee Matthew Goldberg: I don't know. Yours is Snavel but maybe that's the first, maybe now, 11-11 tonight, that's when you'll look at your watch. jam was raspberry, definitely raspberry. Yeah, the raspberry iced tea, which was like loaded sugar. I mean, like so sugary. I would never drink that now, but like I loved it. I loved it as a kid. Jennifer Jumba: Exactly. No, I mean, I think it's kind of like portable butter, right? If you need butter, like if you need sugar, you just carry around a snack full and you're good to go. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Exactly, yeah. Watch. All of a sudden you'll see butter sticks in the same way all over the place and somebody will have stolen that idea. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah. Oh, I can't even imagine. then there's like the interesting dynamic that happens in this story between Simon and his father. mean, his father is basically, I to say a failed inventor, but hasn't really come up with something as big and epic as a time traveling machine, which Simon has done. So the tension of having your son, your child be so much smarter than you. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Okay. Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm-hmm. Jennifer Jumba: how that affects a little bit of the ⁓ in that family. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, I mean, I think there's sort of two thoughts to it. I think he's obviously proud of Simon, but he's jealous of him. I mean, he wants that for himself. some way you're like, well, but I created this, so, you know, like a part of me has ultimately the time machine in and of itself. But I'm it's a hard pill for the dad to swallow. And the daddy, he's a strange guy. know, he's a good person. He really wants the best for his family, but he's also Jennifer Jumba: Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: gets ahead of himself in a lot of ways. Like he can't get out of his own way, basically. Jennifer Jumba: I'm thinking about some of the other, like there's a do's and don'ts of time travel. There's almost like a do's and don'ts that Miles is kind of composing in terms of being a detective. Cause he also about another skill that's important ⁓ as he's this emerged detective ⁓ knowing when to back when someone was clearly not ready to give information and to question them again when they were primed to offer up some nuggets. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. You Nice. Jennifer Jumba: I thought, my goodness, that's just true in life in general. Like there are some people who are just constantly, why, how about, what do you think? And it's just like, you know, give me a second. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. You have to let... Yeah, especially if you're looking for answers, you have to let people give those answers, basically. So it's interesting because he's such a different detective in Time Fixers than he is in Miles and Time. Miles and Time was like the origin, and then Time Fixers is almost like the superhero. He's... Jennifer Jumba: Mm-hmm. Lee Matthew Goldberg: learned so much in a short amount of time. think it's about a year and a half that passes between the two books. So he's really come in of his own as a detective. And the time fixes one is an even harder challenge in some He has to fix his mom, but also there's some really shady stuff going on that connects to the first book that he has to fix sort of once again. You know, they figured out in the first book who was the killer, but that killer was a peg in a, you know, in a bigger kind of conspiracy. and the bigger conspiracy is bigger than Miles could even imagine. Jennifer Jumba: ⁓ talked a little bit earlier. mean, just ⁓ a fan of your work period, ⁓ these two YA books. Like I wish, these books would have been around when I was growing up. But then I think I'm way more older than a young adult and I still love them. So I think they're great books. I'm hoping that, you know, parents will read them with their, you know, kids and maybe, talk a little bit about some of the things that are happening. You know, who knows? But I also know your background is Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah. Jennifer Jumba: has screenwriting. So how does that influence these books? Because they captured such a great atmosphere that, that I'm just wondering how that influences when you write a book versus because they know screenwriting is completely different, even though you're still telling a story. ⁓ Can talk about how that influences? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I think sure shirt. Yeah, I mean my screenwriting Influences all my books, know all my books I picture very visually I'm a very visual writer when I'm writing I leave my body and I go into the story for hours sometimes so I'm fully in the movie I also want all my books to become TV and movies So I'm always thinking about that as a part of the book as well. I see the book is sort of the beginning Jennifer Jumba: Okay. Lee Matthew Goldberg: and hopefully of a bigger picture. So yeah, these I really wanted to be as visual as possible. They should be. They're time travel books. There's action, there's intrigue, there's a lot going on. These wouldn't be like literary novels. It wouldn't work for them. So yeah, I mean, I'm always thinking as visual as possible. I took a screenwriting class at NYU. I didn't go to NYU, like sort of later in life when I really was looking to do this. And it really helped me strip. down my writing as much as possible. And I think it then really helped a lot of my prose writing as well, that it was maybe a little flowery and it could really be pared down. Cause I never want somebody to be bored. I always want the pages to be turning and for the action to always be happening and for the thrills to always be happening as well. So I think they really like play off of each other, the prose the screenwriting. Jennifer Jumba: I I kind of see it as almost like a cross between like back to the future with some stranger things and just, it's just an incredibly atmospheric, even your description of how they travel through time in that space that they're in. I just think so done that I absolutely, have to be picked up, they have to be a series, because I think kids would love think adults would love them. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. This is a little random tidbit and it has nothing to do with young adult anything, but like I did a trip where I did Ayahuasca and that was kind of what I saw. Jennifer Jumba: Ooh, good to know, yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: So yeah, just a little, yeah, I went to the Amazon about 10 years ago and I did that and like that tunnel was a part of the trip I put in the book. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah. Well, so you come by it honestly, we'll just say, you know, yeah, it's research, you know. Lee Matthew Goldberg: It was research. I was actually researching a different book when I went for that. yeah, I remember that as like a moment where I was like going through a tunnel. And it still with me so many years later that it became a part of that book. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, there's some collaboration from Simon's teacher, you know, in, high school, which is really kind of fun to see, that dynamic. And, then the other thing, I mean, speaking of characters in the stories is, Simon's quote unquote friends, this, this trio that he's friends with, you know, um, Quentin and, uh, Linda and, uh, Ellery, Ellery. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. I Ellery? Ellery. Yeah. Yeah. Jennifer Jumba: And just of them ⁓ a jar of something and I think I like gagged I read it. And then was Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, mean, Quentin, think that's the character. Yeah, Quentin. ⁓ he collects scabs, you know, so he's a he's an odd duck. He's also sort of like a poster child for like a Columbine where you could perceive him as somebody who would maybe cause trouble. But in actuality, he's the one who kind of gives Miles what he needs towards the end of the book. Jennifer Jumba: Mm-hmm. Lee Matthew Goldberg: So he becomes almost like a savior in and of himself, even though he's perceived by everybody as like the weird loner kid who's just really smart. And I always like to kind of turn characters on their head, like, you know, you're never you are, you can't judge a book by its cover. And that's the character Quentin in a nutshell. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, I think that's the fun thing with reading books is being able to kind of see inside a little bit, ⁓ kind of what makes people tick. And you think somebody's gonna be one way they might be, but then when there's something set in motion that typically influences how people choose to act and behave, you would think like, what is Character is revealed when times are tough or something to that effect. Because when everything's great, then you truly like the person you thought. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right, right, right. Jennifer Jumba: you'd want in that foxhole? Heck no. You know, another person you thought for sure was going to, you know, the one that went AWOL is right beside you. it's, ⁓ yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: I mean, I think. is the one I think, especially for, you know, kids, teens, young adult, so easily perceived as one thing. You know, you're a jock, you're a cheerleader, you're the theater kid, you're the burnout, you know, like we're so put in categories at that age. And at beginning of Miles in Time, it's how the cafeteria is really divided for the most part. And then there's Miles and Kevin who like don't really fit into anything. And I think that's a real feeling that like a lot of kids go through where they're like still trying to figure out who they are so they can't really be like, I'm this, I'm the cheerleader. You they don't even know yet where they're really contained like multitudes, you know, despite that. Jennifer Jumba: think that's the cool thing is them to figure that out because when we're all layered and nuanced, which I think is really cool. And if you take the time to really get to know somebody and ask great questions, and if somebody is like, have think about the detective skill, when they're ready to give information, when they're primed offer up some nuggets, ⁓ then you have great conversations. And to your point that they're not all one thing or another. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yes. ⁓ Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Jennifer Jumba: Even though like the breakfast club did a great job of kind of putting everybody into this box and that lunchroom, the cafeterias. Lee Matthew Goldberg: But then it threw them out of the box. None of them were they were perceived. know, Ali Shidi was the girl, but then she becomes the one that winds up with the Judd Nelson character at the end. I that's why that movie, I just rewatched that movie on a plane not too long ago. ⁓ So it's still pretty fresh. It's great. It's great. I think St. Elmo's is my favorite of that ⁓ era. Jennifer Jumba: Correct. Yes. Well, I can like every time it's on I have to watch at least like a little bit of it. Ooh, yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: That one was a little more dull. They were in college, they were leaving college, we're a little bit outside of high school. But yeah, give me any 80s, 90s, I'm in. Jennifer Jumba: So there anything that I haven't asked you that you want to talk a little bit about when it comes to these books? ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: mean, all your questions are fantastic, Jen. these books were just like a really fun departure for me. I don't know when I would write another young adult book. I don't know if that's I'm sure I will some point. But I think I was telling you before, it's just a lot harder to and I don't really know the market. So I found it was it was tough to get these books like out there to people. Jennifer Jumba: I don't. Lee Matthew Goldberg: the, the, know, I would love to write another one, but I ⁓ don't think that's in the cards right now. Yeah. Right now. Right now. I mean, there's Jennifer Jumba: right now. I was going to say, we'll say yet. Yeah, no, and that just shows how talented I mean, you're writing, you know, young adult books, you write adult books with, you know, more adult themes, we're not everybody, it's a nice person. You know, and there's some Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm Yes, yeah, I'm just about to start I was outlining it today in the park like a full horror novel like the I've never fully written full horror this one's full horror, but I wrote a draft of it when I was 18 and Then found it this winter and reread it and so I'm going back and closing the circle on that one ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: Very cool. When can we expect that to happen? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah. I mean, I don't know, have to, it's written, it's written and what's there is better than I anticipated. So I knew I wrote this and I had reread it like 10 years ago or something. So it's really all there. I just need to make it better. But it's about a woman who kills her husband because she's in an abusive relationship and then she hitchhikes with guy that picks her up on the side of the road. Jennifer Jumba: You still have to finish. Yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: He's going to California, she goes with him, they fall in love, but she believes that her husband can never die because he's literally the devil. And they get pursued by just the worst of humanity and society as they go on this road trip and fall in love. And you don't know whether she's crazy or if her husband was the devil. And the guy has his own demons and his own everything, so it's like. natural born killers meets the exorcist meets that Elizabeth movie invisible man the Blumhouse movie a little bit on this kind of road trip to hell Jennifer Jumba: Yes. Yeah, and that's where you really get to know somebody is when you're on a road trip, when you're confined in a car. Lee Matthew Goldberg: when you're in a road trip. Yeah, in the ⁓ 90s because that's when it really written for the first time. I don't want like cell phones. I want it to be in 96 when I wrote it. Yeah, it's fun. Cell phones can really... Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, this was great too when they went back. They had no cell phones. had no social media. And Miles makes a comment like, that's all people want is to be on these goofy celebrity reality shows and do selfies. So. Lee Matthew Goldberg: True, yeah. Cell phones ruin a lot of plots, certain things, it ends the plot really fast, where if the cell phone didn't exist, there'd be a whole plot that could happen. So this book, I just didn't want it. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, so there's no GPS, right? There's no cell phone. Lee Matthew Goldberg: There's no GPS. They're in like a beat up Honda. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see. Yeah. Jennifer Jumba: I can't wait. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? I mean, if you wrote this when you were 18, this is something that you... Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, I mean, when I was I was like four, I've been writing and I was like my I went to a Quaker school, a friend's school. So we were in like the eight nines. It wasn't like third, fourth grade. It was like eight, nine. And I had a wonderful teacher, Linda Chu, who still teaches there, still teaches there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unless she ⁓ I ⁓ no, she retired last year, but like very, very close. And we to ⁓ write like diary entry every day, like a journal. Jennifer Jumba: Okay. Okay. No way. Lee Matthew Goldberg: And I went up to her and I was like, every day is kind of the same. Like I play basketball with my friends. I go home and I play with my dog. Like, aren't you getting tired of reading that a little bit? And I was like, I have an idea of a where my dog gets caught in this like haunted house of like craziness. And she was like, go for it, write it. And so it was like a hundred something pages by the end of the year. And was like, yeah, I kind of want to do this. This is... ⁓ This is really cool. And then my senior year, the school had a novel writing class, because it was like a cool Quaker friend school. And favorite teacher was teaching it. ⁓ And wrote this horror, crazy novel. And at the end of the year, was like, send this to me over the summer and like, I'll help you edit it. And you should be doing this for a career. Yeah, yeah. Jennifer Jumba: Wow. Good for you. Lee Matthew Goldberg: So it means a lot and I mean, seen him since, like I've done an event at the school and I love Mr. Byrne. But when I finished this one, I'm gonna like really tell him that I finished the book that you helped me edit 30 years ago, basically, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ he's love it. He's very thick accent and he's gonna be like, you're still fucked up. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, that's awesome. I'm sure he'll be super happy to hear that. awesome. You but it's amazing how, somebody can say something to you and it totally influences and essentially changes the trajectory of your life. Yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: completely, I knew it and I remember being like, no I know that, but I needed to hear it from somebody that wasn't like my parents, who were always like, I love your writing, it's great, but that really meant a lot and he was like, I'm not telling anybody else that from the class, he's like, only yours, send to me over the summer and I was like, okay, something's going on here that like, so yeah, it's been my dream career for my whole life. Jennifer Jumba: That's awesome. think Miles makes mention of like being a detective. He says, I believe it's what I was born to do. And he's really pleased when somebody, asks him about being a detective and what he's learned and what he likes to do. And I think there's that outside influence that sometimes we're too close to something. And it takes that outside perspective to say, yeah, this is what you need to do. It's why I'm a librarian, ⁓ you know. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, mean, think, you know, like, whatever it is, is your passion, I think, to have that support and especially like a teacher to kind of guide you in that direction, I think is just so important. So yeah, I really like thank those, both those teachers for giving me what they gave. You know, I'm sure I would have found my way to be a writer, but who knows. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, and I just think like with your work, how many, you know, kids are reading the books thinking, ⁓ my gosh, I want to do this too. So, you know, it's that ripple effect. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, I would love that. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the really rewarding thing about especially writing young adult. It's why I probably will write another one at some point because you really could, you know, shape a reader at that age where, know, adults were like bitter. Jennifer Jumba: you remember what book it was that you read when you were growing up that kind of captured your attention to make you think more about writing? ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: There was a few. Yeah, there was totally, I mean, I loved Bridge to Terabithia. That was like, you know, yeah. I mean, that's just tragic and beautiful. like, you know, that one really just floored me. I loved, this was a little, I think a little younger. It was called Benicula and the Celery Stocks at Midnight by James Howe. And I think, I think a husband and wife wrote them. I think it was, Jennifer Jumba: ⁓ God, that broke my heart, ripped my heart out, stomped on it, still couldn't put it back together. Yep. Mm-hmm. Okay. Lee Matthew Goldberg: James and Deborah Howe, might be of their names wrong, but like, yeah, it was a series of books. Benicula was a vampire rabbit. The Celery Stalks at Midnight was like a bunch of animals getting together to like solve something. And book that I wrote in that third grade class had a lot to do. There was another one Howl Day Inn. So like I was really, really influenced by animal. I loved my dog. I was an only child. My dog was like my brother. ⁓ like. Jennifer Jumba: I think you're right. Yes. Lee Matthew Goldberg: love animals getting together and solving shit and solving crimes. Definitely books. And also A Catch on the Rye. I read that really, really young and that think changed my perspective of what I want to do. And then the other one would really probably be Wuthering Heights. Jennifer Jumba: ⁓ my gosh. And that's like having it a resurgence all over again with. Yeah. No book is better. Right. Lee Matthew Goldberg: The movie. Book amazing, the movie tries. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, it's too hard to capture all of that. And part of it is because there's so much, you all have a fancy name for it, but I think about what the character's thinking and feeling, what you can't quite capture on a screen, but you have that internal dialogue. You guys call it something else, something. Lee Matthew Goldberg: tries. You can't. Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like the voice, like the voice of a character or... Jennifer Jumba: Yeah, something I can't, I can't think of it. I just remember hearing somebody say it at voucher con, I'm like, what's that? that's what the character's thinking, feeling that internal thought process. So we understand why they're doing what they're doing. Yeah. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, mean, yeah, I think just the like the monologue of the character, the voiceover of the character, basically. Yeah, I mean, some books I think are just a little unfilmable. I think this the just tried to be too many things at once instead just like making the book, is perfection into a, you know, into a film. But like, you know, in case Emeril Farrell is watching this, I love all her other movies and she's a fantastic director. Yeah. Jennifer Jumba: Right? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Jennifer Jumba: There you go. So we're about to wrap up. ⁓ This has been super fun, but this is story. Yeah, stories and the final five questions, ⁓ Miles dad is an inventor along with Simon, what would you like to invent? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Yes. Okay. Mm hmm. mean, we've about the butter stick. ⁓ No, honestly, like a time travel machine. mean, like, of course, like that would just be amazing if you were able to like hop back in time and go wherever you want and fix things. And yeah, I mean, I ⁓ would to invent a time machine. Jennifer Jumba: Okay. ⁓ Leads me to my second question, time travel, where would you go or what time period would you travel to? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm. I've always been so the original sequel to time fixers when I was plotting the book So this again is going back a decade I had a whole plot that took place in the 1920s and it was gonna deal with like the great-great-grandfather His family and ⁓ back in time and solving a mystery then And then I was just like so much research like so much research. We're in 1999, I was like, I got it. But I would love to write another book set in the 1920s. I'm just very fascinated by that era and like, you know, between the world wars and, you know, flappers and prohibition and just the fashion and the music and the jazz and yeah, so I would love to see the 1920s. Jennifer Jumba: I was fascinated. recently talked to LA Chandler about the Hindenburg spy and was fascinated by the Hindenburg. Had no clue like the size of it. I'm always thinking, because I live in Cleveland, not far from Akron and the Goodyear Blimp. You see it all the time in this little like cage underneath, right? But to see like that scale, it's like the Titanic is up in the air. Yeah, just marveled at that and just how things were, you know, building, you know, Lee Matthew Goldberg: ⁓ yeah, I Lori, yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right, right, right. huge. Jennifer Jumba: right after the depression and that's kind of what got them out of it. just, I agree. 20s would be terrific. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. No, mean, I love writing historical. About a third of my books, I think, are historical novels. I have one that hasn't been published yet. It's set in 1937 in New York City and the rise of the advertising agency. also deals with pre-World War II and Nazis. It's a very, very heavy book, which is why it's not the easiest of sells. That was fascinating to research. I love doing the research for it. This one, because it was fun, I just I just feel like 1920s would have working against it. I think it, you know, like there was more fun to mine from 1999. Jennifer Jumba: sure. What is always part of your writing routine? Lee Matthew Goldberg: So my books and I was there today, I've written a good chunk of them at my tree in Central Park. I know it's not my tree, but it's my tree. And today was the first day that that area was like open for the season and I got to go and give it a big hug. And I was working today just at my tree, working on an for the horror novel. So like it made my day. ⁓ Jennifer Jumba: you That's awesome. Posters hang on the walls ⁓ the bedrooms of both Miles and Simon. What posters did you have on your wall as a kid? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That is a great question. I was obsessed with Terminator 2, so I 100 % had a giant Terminator 2 poster. And I also loved 90210, and I think I had a poster of Kelly and Brenda together before they got in a fight about Dylan. That error, yeah, that error, Kelly. Jennifer Jumba: Yes. Yeah, when they all got along. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Yeah, where they still got along. like early and, Jenny Garth and Shannon Doherty. Yeah, definitely. Jennifer Jumba: Yeah. the final question, and I know music is important to you, but what song would you always put on a road trip playlist? Lee Matthew Goldberg: Mm-hmm. I mean, my favorite song of all time is, my favorite artist of all time is Bruce Springsteen by like A Long Shot. And I would have to say Thunder Road is my favorite song of all songs. like, you know, definitely a lot of Bruce songs, but yeah, mean, Thunder Jennifer Jumba: Good call. Lee Matthew Goldberg: Road is the best. Epic. Jennifer Jumba: huge thank you to all of you who are listening and even bigger thank you to Lee for taking the time to ⁓ such a fun conversation. Yeah, For those of you who have young adults, no young adults, or even a adult at heart, make sure you pick up Miles in Time and then the Time Fixers. ⁓ Lee Matthew Goldberg: Thank you. Yes. No, thank you for having me. I loved it. Yes. Jennifer Jumba: He has also written books for adults, including one of my favorites. know we talked a little bit about it before the great Gimmelman's. And then to find out who else is visiting, go to storiedaccount.com. This is story to count with Jen Jumba.