Ryan Steck puts his heart into writing MONARCH for Ted Bell's legacy
On today's 218th episode of The Thriller Zone with Dave Temple, we're diving into the heart of thriller fiction as we chat with Ryan Steck, The Real Book Spy, and Byrdie Bell, the daughter of the late Ted Bell, a New York Times Bestselling author.
We launch discussing "Monarch," the new thriller penned by Steck which respects the legacy of Ted’s iconic Alex Hawke series. I for one, feel it's a deeply emotional ride filled with heartfelt moments and behind-the-scenes stories that’ll give you the goosebumps.
Sure, we hit a few tech (video) snags at the start—who doesn’t love a good tech hiccup? But don’t worry, we’ve got all the juicy audio goodness for you to enjoy. Plus, we sprinkle in some classic clips of Ted himself, because who doesn’t want to hear from the master?
I trust you'll enjoy as we navigate the emotional landscape of Ted's legacy. Ted became a sincere friend in such a short time, and Ryan, who penned the latest Alex Hawke thriller, 'Monarch', echoes the fondness we share of a man who genuinely brought light to this world.
One thing I particularly like is when Ryan shares his intimate journey of channeling Ted's voice while crafting a new chapter for this beloved character.
An added bonus is when Byrdie offers a heartfelt glimpse into her father's storytelling genius, recalling cherished childhood memories filled with his animated storytelling and the creation of fantastical worlds.
All together, we explore the intricacies of preserving a literary legacy while infusing fresh narratives that resonate with both new and longtime fans.
Lastly, THANK YOU for Following us on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook, all at @TheThrillerZone.
To learn more visit: TedBell.com, TheRealBookSpy.com and TheThrillerZone.com.
Don't forget, you find us on ALL the podcast channels, like @applepodcasts @Spotify, @iHeartRadio and more.
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💟 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/thethrillerzone
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Other shows you might enjoy include these favorites:
✅ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOan3dQthmI
✅ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB1owUf8VhY&t=549s
✅ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwnwFs9CBkA
✅ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHY7LiJIAno
✅ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skxQ51uNgRs
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TheThrillerZone.com
00:00 - None
00:12 - None
00:18 - Introducing Ryan Steck and Birdie Bell
07:48 - The Legacy of Ted Bell: Remembering a Master Storyteller
13:26 - The Impact of a Mentor
19:50 - The Legacy of Ted: A Watch and a Pen
28:17 - The Influence of Early Storytelling
34:48 - Transitioning into the Creative Process
38:47 - Exploring Creative Paths
Speaker A
Hello and welcome to the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A
I'm your host, David Teppel.
Speaker A
And on today's 218th episode of the Thriller Zone, now in season eight, I'm very happy to welcome Ryan Steck.
Speaker A
Yes, you know him as the real book spy, along with daughter of Ted Bell, Birdie Bell.
Speaker A
And why is that combination happening?
Speaker A
Because we're talking about the book Monarch, Ted Bell's latest thriller written by Ryan Steck.
Speaker A
Now, I'm going to tell you straight up front, we ran into some tech issues at the beginning.
Speaker A
I won't belabor the challenges, but we lost video on the beginning.
Speaker A
Let's just put it this way, a lot of the beginning video is not there.
Speaker A
However, fortunately, we always have an audio backup, so you're going to hear the show in its entirety.
Speaker A
However, you will only see a still frame of the three of us chatting at the beginning.
Speaker A
And another thing I wanted to do is, as you may or may not know if you're a fan of the show, Ted Bell made two appearances on the show.
Speaker A
Some of the highlights of my show, and because I think it'll be particularly fun, I'm going to intersperse the show with sound bites and video of my conversations with Ted.
Speaker A
Ted, as you know, was a remarkable man with a remarkable story.
Speaker A
He was a prolific writer, and if you've ever read his books, you just knew the way he would sweep you into these stories, especially the Alex Hawk series.
Speaker A
So without any further ado, and not worried about the video, but certainly having great audio, please welcome Ryan Ste, the real book spy and Birdie Bell, daughter of Ted Bell.
Speaker A
Along with me, Dave Tetlo here in the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker A
Birdie Bell.
Speaker A
So nice to see you, young lady.
Speaker B
Nice to see you.
Speaker A
What a pleasure and an honor.
Speaker C
Let me do it.
Speaker C
So David and I are good friends, Birdie and David.
Speaker C
You know, Birdie is my best friend.
Speaker C
So, yes, sorry I replaced you with her, but thank you for having us on in short notice.
Speaker A
All right, so is everybody comfortable?
Speaker A
You got your beverages?
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
You really have a nice setup there, Birdie.
Speaker A
Very professional, very elegant.
Speaker B
Well, I am in my basement and I just threw this shelf together for you guys because there's just a wall.
Speaker A
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A
As you can see on the screen, you have the lovely and talented Ryan Steck.
Speaker A
And with us, Birdie Bel, daughter of Ted Bell.
Speaker A
Welcome, kids.
Speaker C
Thanks for having us, Dave.
Speaker A
This is so cool because it is a return visit for Ryan and then Birdie.
Speaker A
I'd heard all about you, Ted, and I Who was on the show twice, talked about you constantly.
Speaker A
I'm like, who is this Birdie?
Speaker A
Who is this Birdie?
Speaker A
And then I started following you on social media.
Speaker A
So to finally meet you, it's, it's pretty cool.
Speaker A
And such an honor.
Speaker B
Thank you.
Speaker A
Thank you, folks.
Speaker A
Ryan is a very, very important guy.
Speaker A
He's got so many things to do.
Speaker A
You know, he's a real book spy.
Speaker A
He's WR Books with everybody in the world.
Speaker A
We're going to jump in today's show and just roll, slam it.
Speaker A
That's a, that's a hell of a handsome coverage.
Speaker A
Whoever did this knows what they're doing.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, we're really pleased.
Speaker B
Really exciting.
Speaker A
I got so many things I want to say when I pick this up and I'm Birdie, between you and me, I'm going to pretend Ryan's not here for a second because it will go to his head.
Speaker A
When I started reading this, I'm like, there's no way anybody else except Ted wrote this book.
Speaker A
It's the language, the pacing, the nuance, everything.
Speaker A
It's spot on.
Speaker A
How does that, how did that make you feel?
Speaker B
It's amazing.
Speaker B
It's spooky almost in a good way.
Speaker B
And I think it was really helpful for me just in terms of grieving, because I'm still grieving, to sort of have all these characters speaking as themselves and as they would.
Speaker B
It's been really therapeutic and really a great comfort.
Speaker A
Okay, you, you can chime in here.
Speaker A
Ryan, you really nailed it.
Speaker A
Dead gummy, dude.
Speaker A
You nailed it.
Speaker C
Well, thanks, man.
Speaker C
It, it's the hardest thing I've ever done.
Speaker C
You know, I ignored the advice of the legendary Tom Colgan.
Speaker C
You know, he, he warned me.
Speaker C
He tells a lot of the state writers.
Speaker C
Don't try to write it and sound like the author you're replacing.
Speaker C
Write it like you.
Speaker C
And I tried that at first, and then I realized I don't even, I don't even want my take on Hawk.
Speaker C
Right?
Speaker C
Like, I love him because it was, it was Ted and I was privileged to work with Ted behind the scenes.
Speaker C
He would call me and read pages a lot.
Speaker C
So I, I heard him perform Hawk, which is like totally surreal.
Speaker C
A lot of people don't know.
Speaker C
I mean, it's probably going to click for many that hadn't thought this, but Ted was Hawk.
Speaker C
He was like the 70 year old version of Alex for.
Speaker C
And so he would perform them and he would, he would laugh the hardest at his own lines.
Speaker C
And then, you know, I'd hear John Shea and he's a brilliant narrator, by the way.
Speaker C
He is back for Monarch.
Speaker C
And.
Speaker C
And so, really, I just went through this process of, like, I signed the contract.
Speaker C
I was really excited.
Speaker C
Birdie and I didn't know each other before all this, like, at all.
Speaker C
And now I feel like she's my long lost half sister, slash best friend slash therapist.
Speaker C
Every time I felt like I couldn't do this, I sat down.
Speaker C
The first day I was committed to.
Speaker C
I was gonna write this, like, Ted.
Speaker C
I sat right here at my desk, and I was doing.
Speaker C
I was doing good.
Speaker C
And then I got to the.
Speaker C
The first quotation mark where Alex was going to talk for the first time in the book.
Speaker C
And the weight of that hit me and Dave, we go way back.
Speaker C
So you know me, I'm a laugh, like, to have fun joking guy.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
Getting surprisingly emotional right now.
Speaker C
I.
Speaker C
Wep, dude.
Speaker C
Like, I literally typed that first quotation and realized, no one's done this but Ted, who was a dear friend, a mentor to me.
Speaker C
I loved him.
Speaker C
And it was very heavy.
Speaker C
And my first thought was, like, I can't do this.
Speaker C
You know, I can't do this.
Speaker C
And I literally, honestly, honestly considered, like, calling my agent and saying, like, if I just don't cash the check, is it too late to, like, not do this?
Speaker C
And I was so overwhelmed.
Speaker C
My wife came in and sort of talked me off the ledge, and I thought, all right, we're just.
Speaker C
I'm going to do this one line at a time, right?
Speaker C
One line at a time.
Speaker C
And.
Speaker C
But I.
Speaker C
I did rely on Birdie a lot.
Speaker C
A lot.
Speaker C
And the most nervous I've ever been in my life was when the book went to her and I knew she was reading it.
Speaker C
That was terrifying for me because I really wrote this, and she knows this.
Speaker C
We've talked, but I.
Speaker C
I wrote this for her.
Speaker C
I figured if she likes it, I did my job.
Speaker C
You know, I want.
Speaker C
I want Ted's readers to love it.
Speaker C
I want Hawk fans everywhere to love this book.
Speaker C
I hope that they do.
Speaker C
But I just knew, like, if Bertie signed off and she loved it, okay, I did.
Speaker C
I did what I set out to do.
Speaker C
So it was a grueling, terrifying process for me.
Speaker C
But I will say, like, I'm.
Speaker C
I'm really pleased with how it turned out.
Speaker C
I'm really proud of it.
Speaker A
Birdie.
Speaker A
I went back this morning just to kind of reignite some emotions, not that I needed to do that.
Speaker A
And I pulled up the two shows that he had on the show when he was on my show, and we used to just laugh and Talk.
Speaker A
And we would.
Speaker A
Dre.
Speaker A
I would dress up the same way as him when I'd get on the show because he was such a classy guy and so much swag.
Speaker C
He really did.
Speaker C
He was.
Speaker B
Every day.
Speaker B
It was so consistent every day.
Speaker A
And I so love that about him.
Speaker A
And I don't know if I told you this, Ryan, but he passed in January.
Speaker A
It was around Thanksgiving.
Speaker A
It was around Thanksgiving the year before.
Speaker A
You know, in fact, let me just go ahead and pull up this clip that I am going to explain to you.
Speaker A
I'd rather just.
Speaker A
You see it for yourself.
Speaker A
Here we go.
Speaker A
Here's.
Speaker A
Here's Ted and I back.
Speaker A
This would have been like August of 2021.
Speaker A
Well, I would love for the next time that we speak, if it isn't somewhere around December, when the release of Seahawk or.
Speaker A
I would.
Speaker D
I wish that would be good time for me.
Speaker A
I wish we could sit down face to face, have a cocktail and do it proper.
Speaker D
Let's do it.
Speaker A
We got to figure out how to do this.
Speaker D
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker D
To be decided.
Speaker D
And where do you want to do it?
Speaker A
Well, we'll just have to figure that out, because I'm on.
Speaker A
I'm in San Diego and you're in Connecticut, and we'll just have to.
Speaker A
Maybe we have to just.
Speaker A
Let's see.
Speaker A
Oh, you know what?
Speaker A
I'm going to be down in Miami first week of November.
Speaker A
I love my, yeah, my fan.
Speaker A
My.
Speaker A
My wife's family's down there.
Speaker D
We stay at the, the hotel on Brickle, Brickell Key.
Speaker D
The Manuran that's got the pool and, and the white sandy beach.
Speaker D
It's right out in the middle of the, you know, it lights up the whole skyline at night, and it's.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D
Great restaurant.
Speaker A
Way to slum it.
Speaker A
That's.
Speaker A
That's a shame.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
And then something came up at the last minute.
Speaker A
Somebody got a cold or a flu or something happened.
Speaker A
And I'm like, okay, we'll catch you.
Speaker A
And then it was too late.
Speaker A
But we would just sit and talk about his days at the advertising agencies, and he would tell me story after story about how he got there, and, and you could see how his past crafted his future.
Speaker A
By the way, as you said, Ryan, he was hog.
Speaker A
You know, it was like he was just channeling himself.
Speaker A
Anyway, I just, I wanted to make sure I shared that.
Speaker C
I, I have a meetup story, too.
Speaker C
And I, I, I told it better in the acknowledgments of Monarch.
Speaker C
But when the pandemic hit in 2020, Ted called me and I would always answer the phone and say, ted.
Speaker C
And he'd say, buddy, how you doing?
Speaker C
You know, and he's just big, loud, infectious, always laughing, smiling.
Speaker C
So we get talking about, you know, Covid and all that, and he says, I think go charter a yacht, Sail around somewhere.
Speaker C
Get away from the world.
Speaker C
And I said, you know, yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker C
And he goes, come.
Speaker C
Come with me.
Speaker C
Just come with me.
Speaker C
Just me and you.
Speaker C
We'll talk about the next book.
Speaker C
We'll have fun.
Speaker C
And I said, ted, if I leave my wife and six kids during a pandemic to go sail around a yacht with you, I'm going to come home and.
Speaker C
And not have a wife and six kids waiting for me.
Speaker C
I'm going to be divorced.
Speaker C
And he started laughing, and he goes, yeah, but it's only your first divorce, so it doesn't count.
Speaker C
And so I got the biggest kick out of him, man.
Speaker C
That was.
Speaker C
That was my relationship with Ted is.
Speaker C
We just.
Speaker C
We always laugh.
Speaker C
We always had so much fun.
Speaker C
That's what I want his readers to feel when they.
Speaker C
When they read Monarch.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Birdie, I want to ask you, how did you know.
Speaker A
I mean, you were aware of their friendship.
Speaker A
How did you know that Ryan was the guy to do this book?
Speaker B
Really good question.
Speaker B
I knew him by name just because my dad would copy us on emails.
Speaker B
So when his name came up, it, you know, bells started ringing.
Speaker B
And I was really interested in Ryan Stack.
Speaker B
Who is Ryan Steck?
Speaker B
Why do I.
Speaker B
Why is this name kind of repeating in my head?
Speaker B
And then I read his books and I was like, oh, well, I think he can pull this off.
Speaker B
And he's such a talented writer.
Speaker B
It was obvious from the start.
Speaker B
But his personal relationship with my dad was what really sealed the deal.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
And it was hard not to have a good relationship with him because he always had this ability to make everybody feel like they were the most important person in the room.
Speaker A
And the interesting thing about that is when you see him and you see his.
Speaker A
His beautiful cars and the way he dressed and his yachts and so forth, you would think, oh, he must be some Hootie Tooty Faluti out and.
Speaker A
But he was the most grounded down to earth who just loved everybody and wanted to see everybody succeed.
Speaker A
That's one things I always admired about him.
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker C
And he had a commanding presence.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah.
Speaker C
And he had fun with that.
Speaker C
I know he was.
Speaker C
He was with our agent and in New York City for Thriller Fest one year, and there was, like, big protests going on, and Ted stopped and Took a photo in front of him and said, they're all here for me, you know, And John, our shout out to our.
Speaker C
Our wonderful literary agent John Talbot, he thought that was the funniest thing.
Speaker C
And I was like, that's classic Ted.
Speaker C
You know, that's.
Speaker C
That's so who he was and how he was.
Speaker C
What I appreciated about Ted is what you saw in the interviews is really what you got with him.
Speaker C
That is who he was.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
You know, and.
Speaker C
And I saw that all the time behind closed doors.
Speaker C
And.
Speaker C
And like I said, he was a.
Speaker C
He was a friend of me, but really a mentor when I was an editor and I wanted to make the leap to being a writer.
Speaker C
You know, everyone says in this business, like, if you get published and, you know, if.
Speaker C
If it happened, Ted would just always say, when, Buddy.
Speaker C
When you're published, Buddy.
Speaker C
When your books come out, buddy.
Speaker C
When this one.
Speaker A
That.
Speaker C
He always believed in me, and that always meant a lot to me.
Speaker C
Birdie's being very, very kind, and I appreciate that.
Speaker C
Like, my side to this story is, you know, Ted passed, and I got the call, and I don't.
Speaker C
I couldn't tell you the last time I cried as an adult before that.
Speaker C
And my wife said, I'm a really ugly crier, which is true.
Speaker C
So I sat and broke down.
Speaker C
I.
Speaker C
I locked my office and just.
Speaker C
And wept.
Speaker C
It's so hard.
Speaker C
My kid, like, my kids were concerned, and I went back into the books just as a way to heal, because Ted, so was Hawk, and I wanted to hear his voice.
Speaker C
And so it was like, later that summer.
Speaker C
I don't know how it got brought up, but, like, my agent said to me, like, you know, do you think anyone's going to continue that series?
Speaker C
And.
Speaker C
And I.
Speaker C
And I really.
Speaker C
I really hadn't given it much thought.
Speaker C
So when things were coming together and we knew Penguin was interested, we knew that maybe the estate.
Speaker C
I still hadn't met Birdie.
Speaker C
I hadn't talked to her.
Speaker C
And so I asked for a phone call.
Speaker C
And I was so scared.
Speaker C
Like, I was so terrified because I knew I needed to sell her on, like, why I wanted to do this.
Speaker C
There's so many talented writers out there.
Speaker C
I think my message to her was, nobody will care about Hawk more than me, because I loved your dad.
Speaker C
And I.
Speaker C
I was privileged to hear Ted.
Speaker C
I knew his process.
Speaker C
He really was like a mad genius.
Speaker C
He would just sit and write.
Speaker C
He didn't outline.
Speaker C
He didn't really think too far ahead in the plot.
Speaker C
He would just.
Speaker C
The character spoke to him, and he would just write it.
Speaker A
That's one thing that I found so fascinating when we were talking.
Speaker A
I'm like, ted, all right, tell me your.
Speaker A
You know, I'm always asking, what's your best writing advice?
Speaker A
What's your secret sauce?
Speaker A
How do you make the sausage?
Speaker A
And he's like, dude, I sit down, I listen to Hawk, and I transcribe, and I just kind of go by the seat of my pants, and I'm like, not for 500 plus pages.
Speaker A
He goes, nah, yeah, I do.
Speaker A
And I was always amazed at that.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
I would get calls from him, and he'd go, buddy, I'm stuck.
Speaker C
And I'd go, where are you stuck?
Speaker C
So he'd start reading me chapters, and I would get so lost in the story and all of a sudden would stop, and I'd go, what comes next?
Speaker C
And he'd go, I don't know.
Speaker C
That's what I called you for.
Speaker C
And I'm like, oh, okay.
Speaker C
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C
I was just so lost in his process and his performance of his own work.
Speaker C
And he really was larger than life, which I think is we.
Speaker C
Our personalities melded.
Speaker C
Well, he had a lot of energy.
Speaker C
You know, for a guy that was like.
Speaker C
Like 70, he was so.
Speaker C
He was a young soul.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker C
David, you look hurt, because, you know, I said that.
Speaker C
I saw it right in your eyes, man.
Speaker C
I saw it.
Speaker C
I saw it come over you.
Speaker C
You were like, 70s, not old.
Speaker C
You can have a lot of energy at 70.
Speaker A
And, dude, I'm so close to that.
Speaker C
Drinking those tiny.
Speaker C
Those tiny cappuccinos.
Speaker C
You will have a lot of energy, man.
Speaker C
But no, it's.
Speaker C
It's how he was.
Speaker C
It's how he was.
Speaker C
And I think I miss talking to Ted because I miss my friend.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
But the really rewarding thing that, like, we haven't got to touch on is, like, Birdie and I are really close.
Speaker C
I consider her a really good friend.
Speaker C
Getting to talk to her is like talking to her dad.
Speaker C
It's just like the very nice female, toned down version of that.
Speaker C
And I think we've been so in lockstep from the beginning that it's been really rewarding.
Speaker C
And I.
Speaker C
I definitely like to think that Ted is looking down every time we talk, laughing with us, part of this.
Speaker C
And I.
Speaker C
I think he'd get a big kick out of our partnership to.
Speaker C
To keep Hawk alive.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
And Birdie.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
How does.
Speaker A
How does that hit you?
Speaker B
Well, it's funny because I don't.
Speaker B
I.
Speaker B
I sort of feel like, yeah, I'll call Ryan whenever.
Speaker B
I'm sort of missing my dad or having, you know, like, a moment or, you know, I just want to snap out of it, and he'll.
Speaker B
It's sort of like, I don't think that I'm bringing my dad to the table, but it's nice to hear that.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Ryan, I have to say this, because short attention span here.
Speaker A
I was watching videos this morning, and, you know, I was always gawking at Ted's fashion, and I saw you flip your arm up there.
Speaker A
That looks like the same watch that he used to wear, because I saw it in the video.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker A
So where did you order a copy of that?
Speaker C
There's a good backstory to it.
Speaker C
Four, three.
Speaker C
I have two.
Speaker C
I have two.
Speaker C
There's a good backstory to this.
Speaker C
So first of all, it's the only watch he would ever own that I could afford, so there's that.
Speaker C
But I knew he.
Speaker C
I knew he loved this watch, and I think it takes a very secure, like, alpha male to pull off the yellow watch.
Speaker C
It's also pink.
Speaker C
I don't know if you can really see that.
Speaker C
It's, like, pink and purple and yellow.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
All right.
Speaker C
I'm really more of, like, a blacks and blues kind of guy, so for me.
Speaker C
All right, so when this went down, like, I knew he loved that watch, and I didn't even know what it was.
Speaker C
He.
Speaker C
I remember when he got it because he told me about it.
Speaker C
So I'm, like, not a superstitious person, but I got it in my head, if I can identify and get that watch, then this is gonna happen, and I'll get to write Hawk, and I really believe that.
Speaker C
So I went to a watch guy, by the way, that's expensive, but I went to a watch guy and was like, I don't even have a good picture.
Speaker C
I just have literally, his.
Speaker C
His author photo.
Speaker C
And this is in black and white, but it's.
Speaker C
It's literally.
Speaker C
So if I can get it.
Speaker C
This watch.
Speaker A
Yep.
Speaker C
Okay.
Speaker C
So that's all I had.
Speaker C
Well, the way the sun hit it, the colors look different and stuff, so it took a little while for them to identify.
Speaker C
And then it was like, all right, we got good news and bad news.
Speaker C
We know what it is.
Speaker C
There's, like, one available in the world, like, on the market for sale.
Speaker C
And I was like, just buy it.
Speaker C
I don't care what it costs.
Speaker C
I'm not gonna say that was a mistake, but, like, the.
Speaker C
The shock on.
Speaker C
On the.
Speaker C
The eventual price was a little bit like.
Speaker C
But I bought it, and I got it, and I was like, all right, this.
Speaker C
This is really gonna happen.
Speaker C
Well, then it did.
Speaker C
And then I kind of told Birdie this story.
Speaker C
And, you know, she.
Speaker C
One thing that, like, really helped me early is she sent me some stuff of Ted's.
Speaker C
So when I would write and take notes and outline, like, I would use this pen.
Speaker C
It was his pen.
Speaker C
And she sent me his.
Speaker C
His yellow watch.
Speaker C
So this one is actually Ted's watch.
Speaker A
Wow.
Speaker C
The other one is put up.
Speaker C
I broke this one out.
Speaker C
I only wear it really for.
Speaker C
For interviews, for.
Speaker C
For the books, but this is actually his watch.
Speaker C
So a piece of Ted is with us right now in this interview.
Speaker C
And that.
Speaker C
So it meant.
Speaker C
It meant a great deal to me.
Speaker A
If you were a real friend, you would have shipped me his pen so that I could have been holding the pen and you wearing his watch, and then we would have been.
Speaker A
But you were busy.
Speaker A
I get it.
Speaker C
You said it, not me.
Speaker C
But we're like.
Speaker C
We're like, you know.
Speaker C
No, I had.
Speaker C
I had to keep it because I want to sign a book for your.
Speaker C
For your audience.
Speaker A
Well, I was going to ask you that.
Speaker A
I mean, I.
Speaker A
I've got one here, but I'm not letting this out of my hands.
Speaker A
But if you got an extra on, would you autograph it and pass it along?
Speaker A
We could maybe give it away.
Speaker C
Let's do that.
Speaker C
And I'll sign it with Ted's pen.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker C
Okay.
Speaker A
And make sure you write that at the.
Speaker A
As a P.S.
Speaker A
this is signed by Ted's pen.
Speaker A
With.
Speaker A
Yeah, signed by Ted with Ted's.
Speaker A
Been.
Speaker C
Yeah, sign with Ted's.
Speaker C
And then we'll give it away to.
Speaker A
We'll give it away on social media.
Speaker A
We'll.
Speaker A
We'll have a little contest of some sort.
Speaker C
And I'll let.
Speaker C
I'll let you do that.
Speaker A
Okay, we'll do it.
Speaker C
You're signed.
Speaker C
Signed with Ted's pen so your viewers can see.
Speaker A
Thanks for watching the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A
You're awesome.
Speaker A
Thank you.
Speaker C
That's right.
Speaker C
That's right.
Speaker C
Thank you for watching the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A
Now could you go on better and have Birdie sign it also?
Speaker A
That would.
Speaker B
Guys, I think that's weird.
Speaker C
I.
Speaker C
Yeah, I mean, I tried to get her to sign some, and she.
Speaker C
She didn't really want to.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Being silly.
Speaker A
Well, I got a couple.
Speaker A
But look, I know we're on a tight schedule.
Speaker A
I do have some actual official.
Speaker A
Now, you know me, I kind of keep official questions in the wings, and I sometimes break them out, but I got some that's make me sound kind of intelligent.
Speaker A
So now I want to know, having collaborated with Ted for well over a decade, like you said, how did your behind the scenes experience influence your approach to writing Monarch?
Speaker A
And I'm talking about just besides the channeling that you mentioned earlier, there are definitely things.
Speaker C
So, so here's, so here's one tidbit when I had to sit down, like the way this works, you have to put together a pitch for the publisher, right?
Speaker C
So I knew we needed titles.
Speaker C
You know, I didn't want to just call it Untitled Hawk 1, Untitled Hawk 2.
Speaker C
So for starters, I actually remember a long time back, Ted wanted to use the title Monarch.
Speaker C
So when I was putting together my pitches for everything, I went through like a thousand emails with me and Ted.
Speaker C
I printed them off and I went through and I found where he was working on a book.
Speaker C
He wanted it to be called Monarch.
Speaker C
And at the time it was a different publisher.
Speaker C
They didn't like the title.
Speaker C
And so they came back and told him like, no, we don't like it.
Speaker C
Pick something different.
Speaker C
And I said, I wrote to him and I said, dude, what a bummer, I love that title.
Speaker C
And he said to me, me too, buddy.
Speaker C
And one day there will be a Hawk book titled Monarch.
Speaker C
Count on it.
Speaker C
So when I was putting this pitch together, I thought, well, I'm definitely going to call the book Monarch.
Speaker C
That was, that was first.
Speaker C
Of course, when you start with the title, that's harder because now I needed a plot that would fit the title.
Speaker C
So I started thinking a lot about conversations with Ted.
Speaker C
You know, one thing is like, he, Ted didn't get to write a book where Charles was king, right?
Speaker C
That was a big thing.
Speaker C
So I thought about that.
Speaker C
I had the luxury of knowing, you know, there one thing that makes this really difficult and I, and I can't spoil it.
Speaker C
So it'll make sense to people who read it.
Speaker C
There are potential things in the book, like decisions that I knew Ted was gonna do.
Speaker C
I knew where he was gonna take certain things, but his readers might not have.
Speaker C
And it's a lot harder for me to get away with maybe some of the things he was going to do than it would have been for him.
Speaker C
I felt like if I did it, readers would be like, wow, I can't believe you did that.
Speaker C
Ted would never have done it.
Speaker C
And so it was really like threading that needle for me.
Speaker C
So I, I really just relied on conversations with Ted.
Speaker C
Little bullet points, you know, discussion topics that would come up.
Speaker C
And I layered those into the plot.
Speaker C
I layered that into, into the book as, as best I could.
Speaker C
And so it is like my story idea, but it's based very heavily off of 10 years of talking with Ted.
Speaker A
Gotcha.
Speaker A
Awesome.
Speaker A
Let's do this.
Speaker A
Let's take a short break.
Speaker A
When we come back, I want to ask Birdie how Ted shared some of his early stories with her.
Speaker A
It's Birdie Bell, Ryan Stack and me, Dave Temple, here on the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A
Stay with us.
Speaker A
Oh, hi there.
Speaker A
Taking a short break.
Speaker A
I wanted to jump in here and share this with you.
Speaker A
We're mentioning giving away a copy of Monarch, Ted Bell's latest book, of course.
Speaker A
Why don't you do me a favor?
Speaker A
Send me an email to the thrillerzonemail.com it's right here on the screen.
Speaker A
The thrillerzone gmail.com.
Speaker A
just a couple of sentences.
Speaker A
What was your favorite Ted Bell book?
Speaker A
Now, you know there were many of them.
Speaker A
I don't even remember exactly how many.
Speaker A
So all you gotta do is pick one, tell me what book it was and why it was your favorite.
Speaker A
While you're at it, tell me where you're writing from, what city, what state, what country.
Speaker A
And we will put them in a fishbowl and draw one name and send an autograph copy by Ryan.
Speaker A
Stick with Ted Bell's pen to one lucky reader listener.
Speaker A
And now back to the show.
Speaker A
By the way, you'll notice, Ted, that I have been stalking.
Speaker A
Well, you won't notice that I've been stalking your Instagram, but because I knew you're such a debonair, suave guy, I upped my game.
Speaker D
You've got it working.
Speaker D
I mean, you look like you just stepped off a yacht.
Speaker A
I've got to tell you something, Ted.
Speaker A
My yacht is much bigger than yours.
Speaker D
I'm sure it is.
Speaker D
Mine's 350ft.
Speaker D
I don't know what yours is.
Speaker A
Mine is a dinghy.
Speaker A
So I did.
Speaker D
I don't have a boat.
Speaker D
This is the first time in my life I've not had a boat.
Speaker D
It's making me nuts.
Speaker A
Why do you not have a boat?
Speaker D
Well, I had.
Speaker D
I had.
Speaker D
I had a lot of different boats when I lived in Chicago.
Speaker D
I had a beautiful Hinckley Southwester, 35, 1954 Block Island Champion that I bought in Manchester by the sea and trucked out to Chicago Yacht Club.
Speaker D
And I sailed that for 10 years out there.
Speaker D
And then when I moved to Palm Beach, I had a dock right on the water that went right out to the Intercoastal.
Speaker D
And so sailing didn't make a whole lot of sense on the Intercoastal.
Speaker D
But having a powerboat Did.
Speaker D
And so I got a.
Speaker D
One of those Carolina boats that had the big flared hulls.
Speaker A
Sure.
Speaker D
In the big one.
Speaker D
And then very sleek.
Speaker D
And I had three 250 horsepower outboards on the transom.
Speaker D
It was just, like, insane.
Speaker D
My stepson and I would just fire down to Ocean Reef Club or to Miami and Key west, and it was great.
Speaker D
Yeah.
Speaker A
So, Ted, let me ask you, because I've seen a couple of different numbers.
Speaker A
I saw 12, I saw 13.
Speaker A
Is it 14 New York Times bestsellers now?
Speaker D
Yeah.
Speaker D
Because that in addition to the Hawk books, are the first two books I wrote.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker D
One was Nick of Time, which was done by St Martin's and then the sequel was called the Time Pirate.
Speaker A
And that was.
Speaker A
Was that 2,000.
Speaker A
That was your first book, right?
Speaker D
Nick of Time was the first book of Time.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker D
And I was still.
Speaker D
I was writing that when I was running Y and R and living in London.
Speaker D
And so every spare minute that I wasn't working, I was writing that book.
Speaker A
Wow.
Speaker D
Vacations and everything.
Speaker D
And I continued to write it.
Speaker D
When we came back and moved to Greenwich on the commute, on the train going in and out, I was writing it.
Speaker D
And I never had any idea that I'd be able to sell the manuscript, but St.
Speaker D
Martin's just loved it, so.
Speaker D
And it got number four on the Times list for the children's hardcover, which was the first book.
Speaker D
I mean, that was great.
Speaker A
Folks, we're back.
Speaker A
Dave Temple here with Birdie Bell and Ryan Steck of the real book Spy.
Speaker A
We're talking about, of course, Ted Bell's Monarch, as you have heard.
Speaker A
And as we said just before the break, I wanted to find out from Bertie, I have to imagine, with a natural born storyteller like Ted, what were those early stories like he shared with you as a child?
Speaker B
Well, he had this incredible ear, so he could do all these voices, which are what I remember the most were the voices and just, you know, reading, like my books to me, children's books, and hearing, you know, these.
Speaker B
Hearing it come alive was always just really magical.
Speaker B
And then he started creating his own story, which was called Blue Island.
Speaker B
And he would tell Blue island to me when I was in bed.
Speaker B
This is like seven, six years old.
Speaker B
And he created this whole universe where everything was blue and on an island and was able to sustain it for a long, long time.
Speaker B
And it was one of my favorite, favorite memories.
Speaker B
And then when he started writing Nick of time, I was 8 years old and we had one family computer, and the computer was in my room, and he would come up.
Speaker B
And he would write after work, late at night, Nick of Time.
Speaker B
He didn't wake me up.
Speaker B
He didn't run things by me, but he was there in my room writing Nick of Time.
Speaker B
And I remember that.
Speaker B
How just absorbed he was and how.
Speaker B
How much fun he had.
Speaker B
I think that's, like, the main takeaway is that he always just was.
Speaker B
I could have been there.
Speaker B
I could have not been there.
Speaker B
He would have been having a really good time.
Speaker A
So, two things.
Speaker A
Back to the blue story.
Speaker A
Well, first of all, I did not know he did multiple voices.
Speaker A
I don't think I ever heard him.
Speaker A
A lot of times the people who do that will do that in conversation.
Speaker A
So I didn't know that.
Speaker A
Secondly, when he's doing the blues story, was he making it up as he went?
Speaker A
Yeah, so.
Speaker A
So that each night, when he would share more the story, he would have to remember where he went and where he was, was in that moment.
Speaker A
No.
Speaker B
No, no.
Speaker B
There wasn't.
Speaker B
There was.
Speaker B
It wasn't always chronological, but it was always on the island.
Speaker B
It was pretty cool.
Speaker C
I was gonna say that.
Speaker C
That totally checks out, Dave, because, like, I worked with him, and there was times, you know, I would say to Ted, look, I'm no, like, history major, but some of these wars that Hawk was flying airplanes in, he'd have been, like, negative 10.
Speaker C
Okay, so there was.
Speaker C
There was.
Speaker C
And he would just laugh and laugh and.
Speaker C
And would just keep writing.
Speaker C
One of the running jokes is I said to him one day, you know, we need to flesh out the timeline.
Speaker C
Ted, how old is Hawk?
Speaker C
And he said, 33.
Speaker C
And I said, okay.
Speaker C
In which book?
Speaker C
And he said, all of them.
Speaker C
And I thought, okay, he.
Speaker C
And he said, that was the best age.
Speaker C
33 is the best age.
Speaker C
He's 33 in every book.
Speaker C
So I got the biggest kick out of him because he really was just such a raw, natural, gifted storyteller.
Speaker C
But there were, you know, little details he would gloss over and just laugh and keep going.
Speaker C
You know, that really was how he worked.
Speaker A
As I was reading this, I was trying to remember.
Speaker A
I did not remember that he had the age frozen in time.
Speaker A
And as I came to the end of the book, I'm like, wait a minute.
Speaker A
And I don't want to spoil anything, but there is a love interest.
Speaker A
Hi, how are you?
Speaker A
And I'm like, is he the same age here that he was in the last one?
Speaker A
And it just, you know, it was a passing thought.
Speaker A
So will he always remain as far as you're concerned?
Speaker A
Let's say, for instance, you wrote Wrote another one.
Speaker A
Will he stay that same.
Speaker A
In that same pocket?
Speaker C
No.
Speaker D
You think?
Speaker C
No, no, no.
Speaker C
I think Birdie and I talked about this, and, you know, both of us want.
Speaker C
I don't want to do it quickly, but he's aged from.
Speaker C
In Monarch, from Seahawk, Ted's last book, and then in the next book, which right now is titled Warmonger.
Speaker C
That'll make sense when you read Monarch and you get to the end, a lot of people that'll click.
Speaker C
No, I think we both kind of wanted to see what a little bit of an older Alex Hawk looks like, what he ages like.
Speaker C
And, you know, my take on that was, if you really want to know what younger Hawk is like.
Speaker C
Ted.
Speaker C
Ted gave you 12 books.
Speaker C
You know, I.
Speaker C
I didn't want to try to replicate that.
Speaker C
That side of it.
Speaker C
I heard him discuss a lot what he thought an older Hawk would look like.
Speaker C
And so my goal was to sort of show the reader that.
Speaker C
Not.
Speaker C
Not quickly.
Speaker C
I mean, he's not.
Speaker C
He's not going to be, you know, 65 in the next book, but I do want to age him slowly.
Speaker C
For sure.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
38 in Monarch.
Speaker B
Is that right?
Speaker C
Yeah, he's 38.
Speaker C
38.
Speaker A
And is there a significance to keeping it in that range for you anyway?
Speaker C
No.
Speaker C
38 was, like.
Speaker C
Was really hard.
Speaker C
You know, Hawk has an age, but his kid has, like, so that.
Speaker C
So I, like, had to factor.
Speaker C
I literally made a timeline of all the characters and stuff and was like, all right, I'm just gonna have to pick an age that's going to fit the best and then age everybody realistically from there.
Speaker C
So that's.
Speaker C
That's how Hawk became 38.
Speaker C
Monarch.
Speaker A
One of my last official questions.
Speaker A
I'm.
Speaker A
I'm thinking about your background as a literary critic and founder of the real book Spy, and it's given you a unique perspective on the whole thriller world.
Speaker A
I mean, you are kind of the big daddy on that.
Speaker A
How did that experience help shape that writing process?
Speaker A
And I don't mean just, oh, well, I've done this because I'm going to do that.
Speaker A
But.
Speaker A
And it goes back to kind of how we started the show.
Speaker A
Anyone who can step into.
Speaker A
And we've seen this do this before.
Speaker A
Ryan, you've seen guys take over for Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn and so forth, but I've always wondered, and I don't know that I've ever asked many guys this, how does that happen, that you can step into their mindset when they have lived with those characters for so long?
Speaker A
And I just want to know how it kind of shaped that writing process.
Speaker C
I.
Speaker C
Again, for me, this was so much more personal, you know, so.
Speaker C
So that guided me.
Speaker C
It would be very different if I wrote another estate book.
Speaker C
You know, I probably wouldn't have the.
Speaker C
The personal connection.
Speaker C
There might be one other.
Speaker C
One other franchise out there that I might have that with, but they got a great writer right now doing those books for sure.
Speaker C
So this was special.
Speaker C
Being a book spy, I will tell you the unique advantage I had.
Speaker C
I'd covered Ted, I worked with Ted.
Speaker C
I covered him.
Speaker C
I feel like I knew which of his books were real fan favorites, and I do think that helped me because there's.
Speaker A
There's.
Speaker C
There's pieces of those books that I know for sure.
Speaker C
His re.
Speaker C
I mean, everything he wrote was a bestseller and very beloved, but, you know, everyone's got a favorite, and I kind of knew which books those were, and I wanted to emulate a little bit of those.
Speaker C
So in this case, Phantom and Warlord were big.
Speaker C
Patriot was a real favorite.
Speaker C
So I kind of just mash those all up together and took bits and pieces from each one.
Speaker A
And one thing that you told me, you and I were on a call a couple of weeks ago, and this was fascinating to me.
Speaker A
You said that you took his audio books and just kind of listened to them over and over.
Speaker A
And you said you did this for, like, days on end.
Speaker C
No.
Speaker C
Six months.
Speaker C
Yeah, they were.
Speaker C
They were never.
Speaker C
Not on.
Speaker C
In my office, in my bedroom, I fell asleep to them, literally, if I was driving in my Tahoe.
Speaker C
That's not true.
Speaker C
I listened to a lot of loud music, but any other time I had, I would be in the shower listening to John Shea perform these books.
Speaker C
It was.
Speaker C
The thing about Hawk.
Speaker C
He's very proper.
Speaker C
He has a very selective word choice and a distinct cadence to the way he delivers when he talks.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
And.
Speaker C
And so emulating that was for.
Speaker C
For me, the hardest part and what I had told Birdie on day one is I just want to make sure every time Hawk opens his mouth, it's your dad's Alex, that comes out.
Speaker C
That was my.
Speaker C
That was my goal.
Speaker C
So I don't think I could have done that without John Shea listening all the time.
Speaker C
All the time.
Speaker C
Just hearing it really helped me find that rhythm.
Speaker C
I will tell you, the day I came down, it was like, I was incredibly nervous because Birdie was reading Monarch, but, like, this weight that came off me when the book was done and turned in, and I came down and I sat down and.
Speaker C
And my kids, my wife, everyone's like, you good?
Speaker C
And I was like, I sent Monarch to Birdie, so it's done.
Speaker C
And I was, like, so relieved.
Speaker C
First thing my wife said to me is, does that mean we get to go to sleep tonight not listening to an audiobook?
Speaker C
And I was like, yeah.
Speaker C
And then I kind of missed it, man.
Speaker C
I had to learn to fall asleep without John Shea reading to me.
Speaker C
So I did that for sure.
Speaker C
And when I.
Speaker C
When I came back to write Warmonger, I did the same thing.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Birdie, I've got this question.
Speaker A
I know that you've done acting and modeling and so forth.
Speaker A
And so a lot of times children, if.
Speaker A
Who.
Speaker A
Who's have parents who are actors and models, tend to carry on the same thing.
Speaker A
So it made me wonder.
Speaker A
I wonder if Birdie is going to carry on maybe not necessarily Ted's legacy, but do you write?
Speaker A
Do you find yourself wanting to write more?
Speaker A
Do you see that in your future.
Speaker B
Asking me that question?
Speaker B
No, I did as a child, because just like you pointed out, I.
Speaker B
That's what I saw.
Speaker B
So I was like, oh, I'll try to write.
Speaker B
And, you know, took extra creative writing classes, but I don't.
Speaker B
I'm not a writer.
Speaker B
I think it really is like something within you that is like a gift, and I just don't have that gift.
Speaker B
But I really, really appreciate it.
Speaker B
And I think it's more fun to be on the reading side, especially with.
Speaker B
With these characters, with this.
Speaker B
With the Alex Hawk.
Speaker A
And it's so funny you should say that, because last night we're watching.
Speaker A
My wife and I are watching a TV series, and out of clear blue, I.
Speaker A
I have this bad habit of going, I know what's going to happen next.
Speaker A
Oh, watch out.
Speaker A
He's gonna do this.
Speaker A
Oh, look, watch out.
Speaker A
This is gonna set that up.
Speaker A
And she'll look at me.
Speaker A
She's like, how do you know that?
Speaker A
I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker A
I don't understand it.
Speaker A
And she goes, that's a weird thing that she is completely the opposite of me.
Speaker A
Spreadsheets, linear, you know, facts and figures, numbers, crunching.
Speaker A
Loves it.
Speaker A
Me, I break into hives.
Speaker A
And she goes, that's one thing I admire about you, and I don't understand it about you because my.
Speaker A
My brain doesn't work that way.
Speaker A
And I'm like, you stay in that lane, I'll stay in this lane.
Speaker A
But it's so funny to, you know, Brian and I will sit here and go, oh, we can come up with an idea at the drop of a hat.
Speaker A
Give us three things and we'll write a paragraph about it.
Speaker A
So hearing you say that, it's like, it's just, you know, some people are just wired somebody one way.
Speaker A
And your, your dad was wired?
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
Even the way he would just do an interview.
Speaker A
To Ryan's point earlier, I would sit there and just find myself.
Speaker A
Huh.
Speaker A
I would just get so engrossed in just hearing him tell stories about working at Leo Burnett, you know, ad agency and so forth.
Speaker A
So, such a gift.
Speaker A
Well, thank you for sharing that with you because I, I wanted it.
Speaker A
I'm like, I wonder if she'll.
Speaker A
Would she co write with Ryan.
Speaker A
Wouldn't.
Speaker A
How cool would that be?
Speaker C
Look, honestly, she, I run everything by her.
Speaker C
Like I really do.
Speaker C
So it's, it.
Speaker C
I would say that it's a good partnership, very collaborative.
Speaker C
I run everything by her and we have a lot in common.
Speaker C
It's going to shock you that I'm not a model, an actor.
Speaker C
We don't share that.
Speaker C
We don't share that.
Speaker C
But, you know, that was my whole, my whole knowledge of Birdie.
Speaker C
We were on like a thousand emails together, but Ted would always tell me what she was in.
Speaker C
So like, you know, she had a TV show and my wife watched it all the time.
Speaker C
And so that was, that was.
Speaker C
The other side is like I felt like I knew her before I knew her.
Speaker C
And it was like the first time we talked, it was like, look, you don't know me, but like, you do.
Speaker C
But like I know you, but I don't.
Speaker C
And it was like a very fast friendship.
Speaker C
It took off because I think that we, we were, we were, you know, one and the same in a lot of ways.
Speaker C
And so I'm thankful that I could honestly say, you know, if I bring something to Birdie that I feel like, oh, this could be daring, I tell her why, why I want to do it, and she'll listen.
Speaker C
And I, I can't think of a single thing she said like I couldn't do with the books.
Speaker C
Like, she really, she really let me kind of get in and do my thing.
Speaker A
All right, well, as we start to wrap up first, I want to make sure that we circle back.
Speaker A
We're going to give away a book on social media.
Speaker A
We'll figure the details out and I'll, I'll do it in the post.
Speaker A
Two things always do.
Speaker A
Birdie and Ryan.
Speaker A
As you know, I, I give a plug as to the website where you can go to learn more.
Speaker A
And going TedBell.com feels kind of odd, but I went there this morning and of course Ryan has overtaken and put his thumb front on everything.
Speaker A
So of course you'll learn all about it.
Speaker A
And the other thing is, I always close with best writing advice.
Speaker A
Ryan, I've heard yours already, so I'm not going to ask you that.
Speaker A
And Birdie, you're not writing.
Speaker A
However I thought I'd be do.
Speaker A
I would do this.
Speaker A
I'm gonna go back, I got a couple of clips of Ted.
Speaker A
I'm gonna pull out his best writing advice because I think I've been doing that since was 260 plus episodes three years ago.
Speaker A
So I'm gonna.
Speaker A
I'm gonna drop that in right here.
Speaker A
But I do want to end by saying thank you so much for carving this time out.
Speaker A
We got some tech issues at the front end with recording, so people are gonna hear most of this and only get to see the tail end of it.
Speaker A
So everyone look at the camera real quick and smile.
Speaker A
Okay?
Speaker A
Beautiful.
Speaker A
I'll use that as a free frame.
Speaker A
But again, Ryan, always good to see you.
Speaker A
Bertie, what a pleasure.
Speaker A
What an honor to meet you.
Speaker A
Your dad was the best, and I look forward to know you better and.
Speaker A
And hanging in there with more.
Speaker A
Alex, thank you.
Speaker B
Thank you so much.
Speaker C
And Dave, thanks.
Speaker C
Thank you for having us, man.
Speaker C
Thank you for squeezing us in and for all you do for.
Speaker C
For authors and thriller readers and everything out there.
Speaker A
Thank you.
Speaker A
Last question.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker A
If you could give your younger self one piece of sage advice.
Speaker A
If you could go back and say, here, come here, young Ted, what would that be?
Speaker D
Be honest.
Speaker D
And.
Speaker D
And never do anything that you don't love.
Speaker D
Like, that's why I want to become a writer, because I love reading.
Speaker D
It's kind of the reason I.
Speaker D
I said, if I got to make some money, which I did after college, I said, why not go into advertising, be a copywriter?
Speaker D
Because I guess I'll be writing.
Speaker D
Great.
Speaker D
Now, what I didn't realize is to be spending other people's money to go to the south of France and shoot a commercial at the Hotel de Cat.
Speaker D
You know, it's just living it up, you know?
Speaker D
Yeah, it was a pretty good life.
Speaker D
Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
You have had quite a life.
Speaker A
Thank you again, buddy.
Speaker D
My pleasure.
Speaker D
I love being with you.
Speaker A
Thanks once again to three remarkable people.
Speaker A
Ryan Steck, a gifted writer.
Speaker A
Bertie Bell, a shining talent.
Speaker A
And to the amazing Ted Bell, a marvelous craftsman who was taken much too early.
Speaker A
Rest easy, my friend.
Speaker A
Now, so I can leave you with a smile on your face.
Speaker A
Join me in two weeks where we welcome special guest Eric Ricks, dad, author of his new thriller, Remote the Six.
Speaker A
I'm Dave Temple.
Speaker A
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time for another edition of the Thriller Zone.
