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West Of Wicked The First Of Three Oz Stories From Nikki St Crowe · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Have you checked out ero dot net yet, ar r
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  Speaker 1: ero dot net. Ar r Oe dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Good,
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic and very excited to share a conversation with you.
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  Speaker 1: And I know I'm not the only one because you
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  Speaker 1: are stepping into something that has been a part of
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  Speaker 1: all of our lives, but yet now you have a
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  Speaker 1: continuation of it in a different version. I'm just so
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  Speaker 1: proud of you.
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  Speaker 2: I am well.
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  Speaker 1: It all reminds me of what Stevie Nick said. You
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  Speaker 1: can write a song, but after a certain amount of years,
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  Speaker 1: what happens is everybody starts to get their own version
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  Speaker 1: of the song and interpretation. And that's what I love
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  Speaker 1: about this book is that you you know, it's like
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  Speaker 1: I know the names, but now there's a story. There's tension,
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  Speaker 1: there's murder, there's like, oh my god, where is Nikki
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  Speaker 1: gonna take us next?
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  Speaker 2: That's my favorite thing about Retellens is that we all
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  Speaker 2: have a relationship to the original material, but we could
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  Speaker 2: experience it in a brand new way.
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  Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna ask you, just like probably everybody else,
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  Speaker 1: is this going to lead to a musical because we've
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  Speaker 1: gotten used to because I want my songs and I
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  Speaker 1: know that with your writing style, I can feel music
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  Speaker 1: in your paragraphs.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well, thank you. That is a dear supplement.
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  Speaker 2: I would love to have a musical. I think that
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  Speaker 2: would be amazing, but I would also be happy being
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  Speaker 2: on TV with a TV show.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and it's going to be that darkness side that
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  Speaker 1: you're bringing to it. I mean, this is this is
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's always had a darker side, but you
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  Speaker 1: bring something else to oz that I haven't really seen before,
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  Speaker 1: and that's what's going to make this very special and
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  Speaker 1: a great conversation piece.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope. So. I definitely love the darker, grittier
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  Speaker 2: side of it because I think also as human beings,
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  Speaker 2: we all experience that every day. So to get to
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  Speaker 2: experience it in this like fairy tale aspect is a
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  Speaker 2: lot of fun.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there's romance, there's spice, there's a twist. How is
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  Speaker 1: it that you felt while you were writing it? Because
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  Speaker 1: before you get it, you have to live it before
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  Speaker 1: I feel it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I think there's a lot that I relate
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  Speaker 2: to with Dorothy and that whole like trying to find
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  Speaker 2: your way home. I was actually doing a year long
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  Speaker 2: road trip when I wrote Less of Wickeds, so there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of themes of like traveling and trying to
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  Speaker 2: find your way home.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you love that about writing? Because you know there's
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  Speaker 1: somebody sitting inside their little office at home right now,
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  Speaker 1: or they're at work, and they're going I've always wanted
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  Speaker 1: to write. I can get a couple of paragraphs out. See,
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  Speaker 1: they need people like you, Nikki, because I'll bet you
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  Speaker 1: you'll tell me who your favorite author is and who
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  Speaker 1: led you to the power of the pan.
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  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, well, I definitely have a lot of favorite authors.
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  Speaker 2: I would say I like somebody that will probably all
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  Speaker 2: be familiar with is Lee Bardugo, who she writes fantasy
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  Speaker 2: and I love her world and I was able to
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  Speaker 2: escape so many times through her work. So yeah, she
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  Speaker 2: was a huge inspiration to me.
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  Speaker 1: Now down here in the Carolinas, I don't know how
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  Speaker 1: close to the Wizard of Oz story that you are,
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  Speaker 1: but we we actually have and and well it can't
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  Speaker 1: because of the storm. It kind of was damaged. But
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  Speaker 1: they're they're going to reopen the Land of Oz down here,
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  Speaker 1: and that is to become such an attraction. So are
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  Speaker 1: you going to put your book on their shelves?
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  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, that would be great. I would love to
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  Speaker 2: get down there. It's definitely on my like bucket list,
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  Speaker 2: my bucket travel list, because I think that would be
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  Speaker 2: incredible to experience. And I love the Carolinas. We spent
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  Speaker 2: a lot of time there when we were on the road,
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  Speaker 2: so I would love to come back.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's a great place to write. I mean, it
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  Speaker 1: is one of them. I mean I can imagine what
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  Speaker 1: you maybe maybe the next time around, you'll do East
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  Speaker 1: of Wicked.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, well yes, actually book two is East of NDI.
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  Speaker 2: So there's that theme of cardinal directions for sure. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: So now, first of all, how did you even get
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  Speaker 1: permission to do this? Because I mean, you know, there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of writers that want to be able to
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  Speaker 1: take a story because we all believe we can add
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  Speaker 1: to it. Or is this something that you just you
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  Speaker 1: just say, look, I'm gonna step onto this path, this
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  Speaker 1: yellow brick road, and we're just gonna let it grow.
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  Speaker 2: So Wichard of Oz is in the public domain, So
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  Speaker 2: if you ever want to do a retelling and you're like,
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  Speaker 2: is this property available, check public domain lists because Peter
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  Speaker 2: Pan is another one that I've done that's on the
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  Speaker 2: public domain list. And it's a lot of fun doing retelling,
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  Speaker 2: So I highly recommend it. But I do love putting
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  Speaker 2: my own twists on these stories that we're familiar with
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  Speaker 2: and like just having a bit of that nostalgia from
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  Speaker 2: our childhood.
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  Speaker 1: Well, part of that twist is it's a romanticy and
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  Speaker 1: it's like, oh my god, We've seen all these different versions,
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  Speaker 1: but we've never seen a romanticy version of this.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, there is so much to love, I think
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  Speaker 2: with the romanticy version, with the characters we're familiar with,
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  Speaker 2: like the Scarecrow and the tin Man, like the Heartless Man,
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  Speaker 2: like that's there's a lot to pull on there for
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  Speaker 2: romance for sure.
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  Speaker 1: And when you do that soundtrack, you got to put
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  Speaker 1: a Bieber song in there, because I know Bieber is
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  Speaker 1: going through an evolution right now, whereas music is so heartfelt,
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  Speaker 1: and I think that with a different story like West
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  Speaker 1: of Wicked, you gotta go a different route and and
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  Speaker 1: somebody that's like, oh man, that fits that storyline.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would not be opposed to that. I haven't
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  Speaker 2: listened to his new stuff, but I I have been
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  Speaker 2: a fan in the past.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Nicky Saint cro
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  Speaker 1: coming up next the name of the book West of Wicked.
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  Speaker 1: We are back with Nicky Saint Crow. Now. What was
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  Speaker 1: it like for you though, for Dorothy to kind of
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  Speaker 1: step into this path because she wants to know her origins.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm going I'm gonna compliment you on this because
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  Speaker 1: even myself, I would love to know my origin because
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  Speaker 1: my mother wrote nothing down. So I'm pulled into this
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  Speaker 1: book because I want to have that inspiration and that
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  Speaker 1: encouragement go look for your own origins, because obviously Dorothy's
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  Speaker 1: doing it.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. And I think we sometimes get in our
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  Speaker 2: own way by following the story that we were told
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  Speaker 2: when you know, as we were growing up, and that
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  Speaker 2: is not always what our story actually is. So I
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  Speaker 2: think we all we shouldn't all have the permission to
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  Speaker 2: step out of the story that we were born with
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  Speaker 2: and find our own story. And Dorothy is definitely gonna
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  Speaker 2: do that. And I think in the source material, we
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  Speaker 2: were we all knew that she was an orphan, but
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  Speaker 2: we never got her backstory. So this was something I
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  Speaker 2: wanted to do explore in this version.
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  Speaker 1: Well, as an adult, I want to know how she's
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  Speaker 1: going to handle bringing somebody new into her life, because
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like she surrounds herself with incredible
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  Speaker 1: characters that have got well, we've all got issues, and
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  Speaker 1: that's what I've loved about the Wizard of Oz. We
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  Speaker 1: all have issues, we work our way through it. Now
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  Speaker 1: I want to see Dorothy grow with her innercore of
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  Speaker 1: love in that heart.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Yes, and her own power. That's another
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  Speaker 2: theme that she will experience as the books one, two,
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  Speaker 2: and three, is realizing how powerful she is and that
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  Speaker 2: she can do a lot of good with that.
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  Speaker 1: But she doesn't know that, does she? Or does she?
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  Speaker 1: I mean because because right away I'm going, okay, because
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  Speaker 1: we all think, oh, she's just one of us, she's
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  Speaker 1: a regular person. But now we're starting to see a
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  Speaker 1: different side of Dorothy.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, I when with wes Wick, and she does
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  Speaker 2: not yet realize how powerful she is. And I think,
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  Speaker 2: like the rest of us as human beings, we also
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  Speaker 2: sometimes don't realize how talented we are, how smart we are,
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  Speaker 2: or how powerful we are, and Dorothy will go through
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  Speaker 2: that journey of realizing who she really is, how much
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  Speaker 2: power she has.
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  Speaker 1: We've got to give kudos to your publisher as well
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  Speaker 1: as whoever designed this book. Never in my entire life
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  Speaker 1: have I ever seen anything so beautiful in my life.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I really encourage listeners and readers go ahead
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  Speaker 1: and get several of them and put one in a frame,
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  Speaker 1: because you're probably never going to see a book like
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  Speaker 1: this ever again.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much. They did an incredible job,
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  Speaker 2: and the artist that created the cover art of Dorothy
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  Speaker 2: incredible work. The entire thing is beautiful, from the front
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  Speaker 2: cover to the map on the inside to the interior illustrations.
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  Speaker 2: It's amazing.
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  Speaker 1: And I've got to ask you because I mean, because
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  Speaker 1: the cover does feature a woman on the and it's like,
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  Speaker 1: people are gonna come up to this and to go,
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  Speaker 1: is that Dorothy? Is that the witch? And is that
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  Speaker 1: part of the mystery of Open up the book and
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  Speaker 1: find out for yourself, because it is a mysterious character
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  Speaker 1: with a background that is green, and you're going, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I'm being pulled into something here.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. I mean I think there is something to
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  Speaker 2: recognize there, like we think it's probably Dorothy and to
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  Speaker 2: confirm it is, But but who is Dorothy? That's the
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  Speaker 2: other thing that I think readers will be excited to
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  Speaker 2: find out as they get into the story.
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  Speaker 1: Oh God, ten minutes with you is not enough. Where
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  Speaker 1: can people go to find out more about what you're doing?
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  Speaker 1: And let's book up? You know what you said, there's
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  Speaker 1: gonna be three total.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that's correct.
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  Speaker 1: Oh man, so we're gonna be talking a lot. I
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  Speaker 1: love this, Yeah, I hope. So where can people go
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  Speaker 1: to find out more about you? Nicky?
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  Speaker 2: So I am online on all the socials as Nicki
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  Speaker 2: sant Crowe at Nicki san Crowe and then my website
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  Speaker 2: is Nicki santcro dot com. Instagram is the best place
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  Speaker 2: if you're looking for the most up today information.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. You got to come back to this
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  Speaker 1: show anytime in the future, Nikki, because you know that
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  Speaker 1: door is always going to be open for you.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I would love that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you'll be brilliant today and enjoy sharing your conversation
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  Speaker 1: as well as your book with all those people with
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  Speaker 1: questions that you have not read yet.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate that