[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome back to Plot Pit, the show where we forge fiction from fact and folklore. William Atkinson here in studio with John Lemay. And we have Brian W. Peterson on the phone for the conclusion of a two parter from last Thursday. Brian W. Peterson is an author that has specialized in science fiction and some psychological thriller type stuff. Welcome, Brian. How are you?
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Good to be back.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Brian, why don't you give us a little bit of information about yourself and your socials for our listeners.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Sure, sounds good. I am a longtime writer, trained in screenwriting, trained in TV, film and radio. And I just have an imagination that doesn't stop. So I go different routes. I don't like just writing Sci-Fi, for example. So psychological thrillers, I love to get inside my character's minds.
I like adventure, I like twists. In fact, since we've had some time to think about this one, I have a twist on our alien. But I'm someone who just wants to entertain. I'm not looking to have a political point or any kind of message other than, hey, that was entertaining. That's what I'm looking for. You can find me, my website is writtenbybwp.com, twitter is at writtenbybwp, facebook is.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Also written by BWP, and BWP stands for Brian W. Peterson. I'll have links in all of those socials as well as his website below, as well as a link to his YouTube fan fiction for Star Trek that he's recently done. Would you give us just a snippet on that?
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Yes. It is set in the era of the original series and so the sets are from basically look like the Enterprise on the original series. It's a different ship and it's a 22 minutes short that just basically carries on a Star Trek show, star Trek idea. And it was shot at Neutral Zone Studios in Kingsland, Georgia. And you can find it on the Avalon Channel. Go to YouTube. Type the lost starship avalon Excellent.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Again, there will be a link in the description for the podcast below. And the other book that we talked about in episode or the first episode with Brian, here was his book Dead Dreams. Brian, if you don't mind, I'll read the blurb from Amazon.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: When Donald moved back in with his parents, the dreams began. Each dream was different, but they always ended the same way. Murdered by his family, he met a beautiful brunette who was sweet, charming and smart. Being with her helped put him at ease and made him forget his troubles. But there was something about her that disturbed him too. The dreams intensified until they began to blur with reality. His psychologist said the murderer's dreams were caused by deeply repressed childhood memories. Something horrific had happened in Donald's past and the psychologist was determined to help Donald remember. He could not recall any of the events from his past, but feared he knew his dreams were telling him that his family was about to murder him. He had to stop the dreams or stop his family.
Brian, you had mentioned that you had kind of been inspired to write that particular book in part with your fascination and experience with sleepwalking. We've got another book here by Brian W. Peterson on Amazon. It's called wager of death. By any chance, are these two connected?
[00:03:45] Speaker B: They are not.
All my novels, all five that are out are standalones, except the last one. The Nova Quadrant is the first book of the trilogy, so it's the only one out. The Wager of Death is another example of me delving inside my character's minds. And I just like the thought of a character who is struggling with reality, struggling with his own mind, and he knows he is descending mentally. He knows he's going the wrong way. But inside the character's mind, you feel what he's going through. And our main character is someone who is strong and yet struggling. And I really like that whole aspect of psychological thrillers dealing with that mindset.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: All right, Brian, we also have another book here called Paper Doll. Can you give us a little bit of information on that one?
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I have a lot of interesting things that have happened to my family, and Paper Doll is just one of those stories. It's about my family from 1937 to 1945. It's about three brothers during the Great Depression and then go off to World War II. I wrote it as a true story. I wasn't there for the dialogue, obviously, but I lifted a lot of lines from letters. I read hundreds of letters, interviewed people who knew my family, went to a military reunion. I spent over 20 years researching it, and it's a story of one family struggles and triumphs and tragedies from 1937 to 1945. It just happens to be my family. It's called paper doll.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: All right, excellent. Folks, we have been talking with Brian W. Peterson. I will leave links in the description below for his socials as well as books and the YouTube fan fiction from Star Trek, the video that he wrote for that. In the meantime, let's pick up where we left off. John, would you mind taking us into the fact and folklore that you were thinking about adding to the previous episode?
[00:05:51] Speaker C: Well, you know, our listeners, they love the real stuff. Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't. And Brian brought the idea of the surviving alien. There are true stories. I shouldn't say true stories, allegedly true stories about surviving aliens on Earth. Supposedly, the Roswell crash alien lived for a few hours after the impact in 1947. But then there were allegedly other UFO crashes over the years. And I think this story is so funny because some people will have watched the Fox animated comedy American dad, which has Alien Gray character on it named Roger.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. One of the best characters of that whole show.
[00:06:29] Speaker C: So, William, would you believe it if I told you that Roger is based.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: On a real alien would not surprise me, but I did not know this.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Yeah. So Roger is based on an alien that lived at Area 51. I think supposedly he was in a UFO crash in Kingman, Arizona or something like that. In terms of, like, military designation. Allegedly, he was labeled Ebe two, and that means Extraterrestrial Biological Entity Number Two.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Is this at all part of the oh, let's see here. The conspiracy theory around Project Surpos?
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Maybe.
[00:07:01] Speaker C: I can't remember. I mean, what I remember about this Ebe Two, he was called JRod. I just remember the funny stuff about him. And supposedly he liked strawberry ice cream. That was the flavor he picked out of all of them. He liked Tibetan music. He was just a presence around Area 51, supposedly. Some people even claim sometimes he would wear shirts, kind of like Roger did.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: Yeah. And don't worry, Brian, I don't think we're going to use that in the story. It's just I wanted to think of something because our listeners, they love the real stuff. I thought what's? Something kind of real? So I'm not going to try and throw that into our story, but I just wanted to put it out there as an allegedly modern urban folklore.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Now another bit of modern folklore coming from or stemming out of the 47 alleged crash of Roswell. Is this eva? Eva. I cannot remember the particulars on the abbreviations there, but allegedly there was a survivor. He was the only survivor of the crash spaceship, and he lived from 47 to like, 1955 or something, either at Area 51 or one of the air bases. Right. And part of the technology that was recovered from the crash was a communications device, and he wanted to contact his people to basically he was trying to phone home. Right. So the military apparently agreed for this, if they, of course, would exchange information. And apparently the alien died before the home planet was able to or responded. And the US. Government continued to send the signal. Eventually they did make contact, and there was this agreement to exchange personnel from the alien civilization who would come here, and our US. Military would go there. So this is project serpa or Project serpa?
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Okay, yeah, I kind of remember that now.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: And these aliens came here, brought 13 astronauts from NASA, basically, or the US. Air Force, and these military personnel spent time on this foreign planet something like 40 light years away. So there is that legend of those aliens that have crash landed and were basically nursed back to health by human doctors or whatever. And there's also the question of the Battle of Dulce Base. Right, so that's a completely different scenario, but there's extraterrestrials apparently involved in that, as far as rumor goes.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: So a little bit of fact and folklore with this idea of a rather mischievous, long lived alien that Brian brought to us. So, Brian, what would you like to begin the descent with into the conclusion of our two parter episode coming from Thursday last.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Okay, so where we left off is he's starting to get a little honor, he's starting to have a little more fun in this day and age of communications. So I'm thinking, if I'm an alien, you might do something like get on a tall building. News gathers, they're watching him. It's breaking news story. And then he jumps off and just before he hits the ground, he disappears. So he's creating a lot of banter in the country and a lot of fear, a lot of talk. Everybody wakes up one morning and there are dozens of cars piled up on top of one another on the Golden Gate Bridge, and no one can figure out how those cars got there. But because I like to all of a sudden take a twist in my stories, go a different direction, catch people off guard thinking that this is about the time that something big has to happen. He's bored now. We have to have something interesting. And that is aliens come and they're coming to basically an idea of overrunning the Earth and slaving humans or stealing our resources. And now he knows he can help. And so he evolves from this basically bored alien who's a bit of a bad guy and a mean streak, a nasty creature, to, hey, you know what? I can help these people. And he helps with technology and finds ways to fight back against the invading aliens.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: What if the alien's motivation he gets here, say 1415 hundreds, that's the original crash point. And we toyed with the idea of it being the Bermuda Triangle, but we don't have to be there. We could be pretty much anywhere. He crashes, say in Europe or somewhere where there's a heavy spiritual church like influence. And he realizes that humans are incredibly spiritually driven during this time period and they've got all these religions or whatever else. And so he's thinking, hey, I could set myself up as a god.
[00:11:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I like that too.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: And so this is where kind of that concept of what do I'm looking for? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So he's got like technology or maybe he knows how to manipulate things through spacetime, through telekinesis, telepathy or something. And he sets himself up as this spiritual guru or something. There could be that. Or you could have him realizing that he wants to take over the planet, but he knows he can't because humans are so rooted in their faith. So what he does is he starts trying to undermine that. And then when we get into the more modern era, such as today with social media, where faith isn't quite as important to a vast amount of the population, he then starts doing this houdini stuff that you were talking about, Brian, where he jumps off a building and then disappears. And he's now got the platforms like TikTok and Facebook and Instagram and everything to perpetuate this and becomes this Internet sensation of having these supernatural abilities. And he sets himself up as if he's the returned deities from, like, ancient Samaria or ancient Greece or something.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: I like that because I think there's a lot of subtext to it. There's subtext to people losing their faith, and they're all about commercialism and this instant gratification of the Internet and how this alien godlike being caters to, that there's a lot to unpack there, potentially. So I like that.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: What do you think, Brian?
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Well, I'm thinking that where that would really fit in well, is know I mentioned earlier, now things change, aliens attack, and he's helping humans, that he's drawing from his early days on Earth that you talked about in Europe, and he's drawing from that sense of right and wrong. And that is something that, from his past, has helped spurring him forward to help humanity rather than just toy with us, because now there's an hour of need. These aliens are attacking. And so he draws from that past that you just referenced.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: It could start off as a, this is my domain. Get out. And so it's a rather selfish scenario. But the hero's journey in this case, right? Or the antihero journey in this case, goes from one of selfish motivation of, this is my kingdom. You stay away, and that's why I'm helping humanity to one of legitimate compassion.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Yes. I like that because there's a character arc. I like that because there's that growth.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And I do think that every story needs a conflict. John, we've talked a little bit about this, and for our regular listeners, you all know that I do enjoy stories that have some form of social commentary. And like John, you had mentioned, there's a lot of possibilities to unpack with the subtext in this.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Okay. So, Brian, let's go from the Act Two, which we've kind of established. The main conflict, right. Earth is now under threat by this alien civilization that's come in, and we're moving now into Act Three. What is that turning point of being a kind of mischievous aligned Loki to a legitimate compassion for humanity? And I've got all this power. I've got this ability to stop the onslaught of slaughter. What is that moment where he taps into, say, his humanity or his love for the Homo sapien species that he has kind of set himself up over?
[00:15:38] Speaker B: I think he's got to have access to energy, and he has the ability to use energy to repel the aliens and to convince them to leave. And his ability to generate energy is something that he can teach us, which would lead us to the next stage in development, which is nuclear fusion, like having our own sun, having our own energy source. That would cure basically our energy problems on Earth.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we've developed a pretty solid story. Mean, I'm guessing he just helps defeat the bad aliens and they go away. And then what after that? What would he do? Would he get bored with Earth and decide, I'm going to move on? Kind of like the western hero that saves the little town. Then he's like, well, I'm going to move on to the next town that needs saving. Maybe the alien moves on to another planet similar to Earth.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Well, I'm not so sure we've answered the question of the moral switch, right? What is the instance where he realizes or comes to a change of heart?
We toyed with the idea that it's.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Going to have to be alien destruction and aliens killing or wiping out cities, for example, or wiping out people. And that makes him realize that he has been among us for so long that we do have some sort of value, that we do have a reason that we should continue to exist, which causes him to then start helping to defend the area.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: I know where it's at. Okay, so here's the scene. He's jumping off of a building just like you had described. Maybe it's even the Eiffel Tower. No, the one building that doesn't give as much love is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
[00:17:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: All right, we're going to hit that one. Okay. He's jumping off the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and just before he goes splat, right, he uses the teleportation device that he is able to use to disappear. And then with that, he jumps into this extra dimensional space where he witnesses, I don't know, two or three months pass. And that's during the time period. So it's like part of the rules of the story for this particular technology is, yeah, he disappears, but it takes a period of time for it to pop him back into the physical world. I don't know how long that is. Maybe it's three months, maybe it's three minutes. But during that window, he's outside watching humanity be attacked. And he sees this scene with a mother and her dying infant because of a laser blast from one of those creature vehicles that came in and started leveling everything. And that's that really powerful emotional moment, that heart tugging symphony that would be played. And he's watching this. And then he has flashbacks to say when he was on his homeworld and saw much the same thing and realizes that humanity and his species aren't necessarily terribly far apart like he originally thought. And then he pops back into reality. Now he's got the motivation to save humanity, and we tap into that idea that he's got this energy weapon or ability to help humanity through technology, defeat these onslaughting alien or the intergalactic horde, if you will. And then from there, we end up asking the question like John did at the very end. Does he ride off into the sunset, or is there something else that goes on? What do you think, Brian?
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Well, maybe his species comes back to Earth. They have seen the because of the attack on Earth, they were able to monitor that and they returned to Earth. And that's when they find out that the one they left behind all those years ago is still alive. He's not dead like they thought he was. And so the story would end with him going home.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: We could have that with the ending kind of like from Star Wars where he's given a medal and, you know or Earth joins the Intergalactic Federation. Yeah, I like that. Kind of a happy sort of ending that opens up the possibility for a whole new universe, for other stories to be written in. So taking this from, say, a single novel into the possibility of a second, even a third. All right, excellent. So, Brian, do you want to summarize this?
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Okay, let's see. Yeah, that's a tough summary. So an alien is left behind 600 years ago ish. And over time, he has mixed in. Other times, he's drawn bored, caused problems, drawn attention to himself, but no one knows who he is. And then, as his boredom is getting to the point of driving him crazy, aliens attack Earth. He decides that humanity is worth the defense, humanity is worth saving, and he helps repel the alien attack and his own kind now discover that he's alive and come back and take him home.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: I think that's a nice, neat little story.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, definitely.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: All right. Excellent. Folks, we have been on the phone with Brian W. Peterson, author of quite a bit out there, including written the screenplay for the fan fiction Star Trek. Brian, give us all of that information real quick again on the way out, along with your socials.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: Sure, YouTube. Go type in the Lost Starship Avalon, and you'll come to the 22 minutes Star Trek that I wrote and produced. My novels can be
[email protected]. I have two psychological thrillers, two Sci-Fi, and then a true story written as a novel about brothers during the Great Depression who went off to World War II. And I have in the works the second book of the Sci-Fi trilogy that's follow up to the Nova Quadrant. And that should be out probably sometime next year. You can find me at written by BWP on Twitter, written by BWP on Facebook, and my website is written by Bwp.com.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: Excellent, folks. I'll have links in the description below, including all of the socials, as well as links to the Amazon account for Brian, which will have all of the books available there. Those will be affiliate links, which a small commission of the sale, if you choose to purchase one, will go to help support the channel. If you're interested in interacting with either myself, John, or any of the guests, including Brian W. Peterson, who you have been with here today, you can join our discord server. Again, a link for the invite will be down below. You can catch us on Twitter, Instagram, as well as YouTube. And at Plot Pit.com, we have a buy me coffee and a donation link as well, and a link to Patreon. If you want to financially support this program if you do not want to financially support this program but have enjoyed the content, please do like and share this podcast with any of your friends and family and on your socials well, folks, that is all for today. John, do you have anything else?
[00:23:19] Speaker C: No, I don't think so. Just another great episode. We enjoyed having you, Brian.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Thank you. That was challenging and unique. I enjoyed it.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Yeah, we enjoy this. This is just absolute blast and fun, everything that we do here. And the concept is to showcase an author's creativity. Most of the time, it's entirely on the fly, like it was today, aside from what you had brought to us, the Skunk works, which we actually brian brought skunkworks. Yeah. We completely glazed over skunkworks. We didn't use that.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: That's how it is, though, with a lot of developing concepts. I mean, with a lot of the finished films that we see, they start off with this idea they think they're going to use, and then the other ideas take over. So I think it's totally natural.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Part of the creative process. And that's the whole concept of the show, plot Pit. All right, again, thank you, Brian, for joining us today. It was a pleasure.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: And, John, I think that's it.
[00:24:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: All right, folks, goodbye from Roswell.
