Matter of Facts: Franklin Horton, the Purveyor of Nightmare Fuel

[00:00:03] Welcome back to the Matter of Facts podcast on the Prepper Broadcasting Network. We talk prepping guns and politics every week on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Go check out our content at MWFpodcast.com on Facebook or Instagram.

[00:00:14] You can support us via Patreon or by checking out our affiliate partners. I'm your host Phil Rabbley and my co-host Andrew Bobo is on the other side of the mic and here's your show. And welcome back to the Matter of Facts podcast.

[00:00:24] Phil and Andrew are back behind the mic. Franklin Horton's in the house to talk with us and frankly, I have a new title for you. I see that. Up till now, I've always referred to you kind of put, you know, in a joking way,

[00:00:37] not really joking as like the godfather of post-pocalyptic fiction. And now you are my personal purveyor of nightmare fuel. I'll take that title. I love it. Well, and just like for background to the, I guess to the people who are listening that

[00:00:52] haven't been a fan of the show for a couple years because it's been a while since we've had you on, but like I don't want to give away the premise of your books because like Hey, let's do what's new.

[00:01:04] Fine. Andrew will keep me on track tonight so I don't run around like a squirrel on meth. Well, well, I mean, Franklin, I mean, it's been it's been quite a few years.

[00:01:13] I mean, I'm trying more the last time we had you on three years, but has it been three years? Yeah, feels like that maybe four. Um, but I mean, but so like, I guess just catches up. I mean, what's what's new?

[00:01:25] Like, I mean, last time we talked, you had just quit your full-time job and you were actually writing you started writing full he had just I think he had just released the first in the

[00:01:34] Madmig series if that helps us put a timeline to this maybe it was the second book he just put out. But Madmig was fairly, fairly new. Yeah, I just remember you I just remember you just you like you just quit your job.

[00:01:46] Basically took over like basically writing has been full time for you. Now and like you were just pumping out your stars really want to pump out the old books there. And so yeah, so catch us up. What's been new with you? How's everything been going? How's life?

[00:01:59] Things have been going well. You know, it's interesting to think about the Madmig series being new then because Madmig has really has really taken off. I mean, he's got kind of a cult following at this point.

[00:02:14] And you know, it's interesting is it's not just a post apocalyptic audience, but he has really excelled in military thrillers. As a matter of fact, if you go to audible right now to the military thriller category of the top 30 books, eight of them are Madmig.

[00:02:33] He is just doing really well in military thrillers. I think it's a combination of Kevin Pierce's reading and the pace of that story. People just love it. I love I love the accent Kevin Pierce does for the Madmig. Like, I mean, he does. I'm a huge fan.

[00:02:53] I mean, and I've probably just before I'm a huge fan of Kevin Pierce. And so and I'm trying to remember I can't I can't think of the off the top of my head right now. I just finished his whole line of books just now when I jumped over.

[00:03:07] Now I'm listening to your new book and we'll get into that in a second. The guy who narrates for a American. Yeah, yeah, Duke like it's funny because I listened to so many.

[00:03:18] I mean, I listened to what is a American like eight books or nine books in the home series. And I listened to all of those all back to back and got basically caught up to where he's at.

[00:03:27] And then like, I'm like, okay, I got yours next in the pipeline and I jump over and it's funny because I'm so used to Duke. Then I jump over to Kevin and I'm like, I was I was expecting Duke Fontaine because I so used to hearing it.

[00:03:39] And then all of a sudden Kevin voice I go, oh yeah, I said this guy, I said, I remember this guy and just but the way he does the accents and with Barb and I like,

[00:03:51] I really like the way he does the different accents between between Madmig and Barb and how he it just he does such a great job. So he's I mean, I'm glad he's doing that job because he's great.

[00:04:03] He has really learned those characters because at this point I've got 11 borrowed world books. I've got 10 mad makebooks and he's done several other projects. Locker nine the way of Dan. So at this point, he's done a lot of books for me and he's kind of,

[00:04:21] I think he has an ear to the way I write books. He kind of understands what parts I intend to be funny. And so, you know, I just think he understands my writing and it's made for a good partnership.

[00:04:37] But you know, you were asking earlier about, you know, what I've been doing since then but cranking out mad Mick when I was working, I was lucky to do two to three books a year.

[00:04:48] But since I've mostly been doing this, I've done anywhere from five to six books a year. And most of the books are fairly long. In the thriller genre, you know, a lot of people are writing 60 to 70,000 word books.

[00:05:04] But you know, mad Mick books and borrowed world books tend to be up there in the 100, 110, 140,000 word links. So these are chunky books. So, you know, right now I just write six days a week.

[00:05:19] I try to write from about six in the morning up until about one in the afternoon. And then the rest of the day is business, you know, it's answering emails, answering messages, marketing, all that stuff. So it's, you know, even though I don't have a day job anymore,

[00:05:35] this has become more of a business. That's two day jobs. Yeah. But at least now it's only one instead of having to do the other job too. That is true. So I guess, I mean, and I know we've talked about, I think I remember talking about this

[00:05:51] when we last had John three or four years ago. So when you're writing this, when you're writing, especially being full time and you're you got multiple books, it seems like you're really cranking them out.

[00:06:04] Where like, are you often do you have an idea of like, where you want the book the whole like that book to go? And then do you finally just like, okay, I need to end it here?

[00:06:14] Or do you kind of, do you have stuff? Okay. You know what, that's going to go in this book. It's going to go in the next, in the next chapter or, you know, in the next series or whatever.

[00:06:23] Like, you know what I mean? I guess I'm kind of In other words, like does he write from A to B and then chop it up? Or does he just go to the end of this book and then figure out the next book when he gets there?

[00:06:33] Yeah, you know, everybody has a different way for doing that. And I am not a big outliner. I'm one of these people that the story kind of unveils itself. Sometimes I'll sit down and I'll

[00:06:46] say, you know, I'm going to do a really thorough outline this time, you know, I'm going to impress myself with how detailed I'm going to be. And it never sticks to the outline because what'll

[00:06:56] happen sometimes is this one aspect of the story will kind of rise to become way more important than I saw it in the outline. Or this one character that I just saw as kind

[00:07:06] of being a bit character will rise up to become somebody, you know, way more important than I imagined him being. So what I do is I have an idea of where the story will start and then kind

[00:07:18] of a rough idea of what I want to do. And I just start writing and the story unveils itself as it goes. And then what happens is when I get to about 80% of the story being done,

[00:07:32] I go back to the beginning and I write through a second time and I write the ending then because I want it may take me two months to write that first 80%. But then when I write it through to the end,

[00:07:45] I want it to be just like, you know, I want it all fresh in my mind. I want it all lined out and as close to perfect and finished as I can get it. So that way the ending to me is always

[00:08:01] more true to the beginning of the story because I go back that second time and I just write it all in kind of one big blazing dumpster fire. Yeah, it's yeah, it's just it's interesting. It would be fun

[00:08:17] to it'd be fun to sit and watch you write just to see how you do it how the process is and just your mind because I in my in my head I almost I don't know because there's sometimes

[00:08:27] Robby listen to any of the books really and all of a sudden something will happen. I'm like, I did not see that coming. And it's like, I always wonder if like they're sitting there and all

[00:08:37] of a sudden you just like you're writing your writing your writing all of a sudden you just write this line and it's almost like it's as if you know, like you didn't write it but somebody

[00:08:44] else did and you're like, that's not where I want to take this but I guess let's go let's see where it goes. Not all of my books are like this but the mad Mick it's almost like he's

[00:08:53] standing back here behind my shoulder, you know and I'm just typing out what he's telling me because I hear his voice in my head. And you know he he a lot of times is kind of pushing the story out.

[00:09:07] You know, he's telling me what parts are funny and he's propelling the action. So I think that makes it move better when I let him tell the story and I don't get in the way

[00:09:17] of it. But you know, one thing that really slows them down and makes them take a lot longer is the research because in the borrowed world I don't really have a lot to look up. But in the mad Mick you know, I'm always downloading these government manuals and

[00:09:33] military manuals and helicopter manuals and weapons manuals all this stuff to make sure that you know I know what he's doing and that he's doing it correctly. Well and the other thing is like I know from having read a number of your books like you have a tendency

[00:09:49] intentional or otherwise to create characters that are very, very vibrant. I think it's a nice neutral way to put it like they have a very definite personality and within a couple hundred pages

[00:10:03] the the reader or the listener has this really firm idea of who they're dealing with to the point where like I guess my point of view is like if I reading the pages can kind of

[00:10:15] anticipate what these characters might do based on what I know of them then I have to imagine that you as the author are kind of injecting that into the story. Kind of like I guess what I'm saying is

[00:10:26] like it's almost as if like you've thought of the character and now you're just asking yourself what would Connor do? You know? Well it's like especially with my bad guys. I don't like

[00:10:38] when the bad guy walks in in this one chapter and becomes the bad guy the very first time you meet him. I want you to meet every character a chapter or two before they become important.

[00:10:51] I want you to know what their life is like outside of being the bad guy. I want you to know what their home life is like. I want you to know what they're doing during the day and then

[00:11:01] they revealed themselves as being the bad guy because it makes them richer because every bad guy is a good guy to somebody and every good guy is a bad guy to somebody.

[00:11:13] So totally not going to give it away but like I can't remember if it was the first or the second locker nine book your quote unquote bad guy from that starts off from such like

[00:11:24] humble slacker douche canoe you know background like every every human being listen to this podcast or reading your books or knows somebody from their childhood that fits that mold that was like you know the weird the weird kid that got picked on that nobody took seriously and

[00:11:44] you could totally interject that person into that position and be like that's who this person would turn into if the world fell apart. I really try to use that creepy I have not just my own

[00:11:58] school yearbooks but I buy yearbooks at like thrift stores so I have this selection of yearbooks I can pull out and kind of flip through for names and pictures oh that's a good idea it kind of

[00:12:11] helps me build a character because I can look at this guy you know his picture in the yearbook in 1967 and I can build a story just from that one picture you know so I like to have that image in my

[00:12:23] head that's cool actually yeah that's actually good because I know like I was I've always tried to try to write here and there um and I don't have the the gift for it uh as your fill what eventually

[00:12:35] when he gets off his butt and does but probably seems like man my career is killing me yeah no but uh you know like you uh Franklin you and like a american and stuff just like the gift that

[00:12:46] you guys have for doing it and that's the biggest thing is I remember I sat down one day I was like okay I need some character names and I'm like going through family friends and like I'm going

[00:12:55] through I'm like all right well that exhausts that like so it's just like okay well then who do I want to kill off and it's very easy to uh to reuse names if you're not careful because

[00:13:08] I have some names that I've accidentally used twice and so you know readers point that out to me and I don't even notice it because when I'm done with the book it's kind of like I purge the memory you know

[00:13:20] it's like I you know a magnetic tape and I run a magnet over it and I just start over you know so I don't even remember the last books real clearly the details because I can't keep all

[00:13:32] that in my head yeah it would be interesting for you to like assemble a list of all of the the goof ups or the faux pas that people have caught over the years and almost make it like an easter egg hunt

[00:13:42] for your for your listeners because like I remember you and I've talked about a couple that they called you out on where it was like it was a logical inconsistency between two scenes where it was

[00:13:51] like this was this way and then this was this way and you were very specific you know like you missed a step oh one of the big ones was uh the boots that a guy was wearing one time and

[00:14:01] it's like only one guy's ever noticed that but for him it was a big I missed it like when you pointed out to me that it was the boots he was wearing at the end of the first book those were the ones

[00:14:14] that stuck in my head I assumed that's what he was wearing the whole time yeah it wasn't until you point out I was like oh my god I went back and reread the book and blow em bold there it was

[00:14:23] yeah what's funny is I started that book with the boots that I've been wearing recently and then I bought a new pair of Solomon boots and liked them a lot better so he finished the book

[00:14:32] in those boots yeah and the boot guy who read the books is like hey I'm a shoe guy I know this in the apocalypse I'm probably gonna have two couple pairs of boots so I mean that's probably

[00:14:44] why the Solomon's stuck with me because like of all the hiking boots I've ever worn Solomon's were the ones that fit my feet the best so like when I when I when I read Solomon's it's

[00:14:54] stuck in my head yeah and I totally breezed over Merrill's yeah um what's funny is uh so I've recommended I recommended your books and a american the home series to uh to a friend of mine

[00:15:08] because he was asking about preparedness and you know what's a good way I don't really know where to start and I was like honestly the good way to start is I used to get into these books

[00:15:16] and he was like what are you talking about they're close to the apocalypse it's fiction I was like it might be fiction now but I said these books if you want something of a job like get

[00:15:27] your memory going or get your thought process going of what you might need or what's what's going on or just something to kind of like think about and uh to kind of start writing

[00:15:36] notes down on what gear people might be running I go I'm like the I said the barred world slash and mad mac is a mad mick rather sorry it's a little bit uh harder to do that but the

[00:15:48] bar road series and the home series locker nine like read these two series or locker locker nine is good yeah locker nine Julia the the home and um the bar world that I've read those I've

[00:15:59] supposed I'm humming time so those of us stick with me but uh I I pointed them to him and I said listen to these books and then start writing stuff down and the guy goes what are you talking

[00:16:09] about he goes like what do they know about some of this gear I go no you don't understand they like both authors have like this is gear that they use this is research that they've

[00:16:17] done this is like the backpack when they name backpacks and hiking boots and a pistol and they they name all this stuff down I said they have this stuff in their room and they're using this

[00:16:29] this is the gear that they know so this is the gear that they're using and I said so this is great research that you can do right now and it's entertainment too at the same time and it

[00:16:38] gets your mind going so that's I use I use these books a lot to like get people like hey you want to know where to start just start here restart reading these books and or listen to them

[00:16:49] and start taking notes you know the analogy I would use is like it's like reading Tom Clancy knowing his his predilection for having hyper accurate military particularly navy and aviation but hyper accurate information in those books that is very accurate to the real world I mean yes

[00:17:09] it's a very fictitious story but a lot of the technical details are spot on which is something that I mean you know Franklin to your credit stood out when I read your books it it became very

[00:17:20] apparent extraordinarily quickly that you either did a crap ton of research or you've done some of this stuff before or at least thought it through because like it just it makes sense it clicks especially for people that are already in the preparedness community yeah those first borrowed

[00:17:36] world books you know I only use stuff that I owned I tried to use places that I'd been people that I knew so it was easy to write it in a very authentic way by the time I got the mad nick you know I don't

[00:17:50] have helicopters and rocket launchers and mraps all that stuff well maybe you should yeah maybe I should research purposes research research you can probably write it off as research you know

[00:18:00] and stuff so r&b I'm pretty sure that neither the IRS nor the ATF are gonna gonna let that one slide but please please try it let me know how it works well by this point I have built a database

[00:18:10] because I hear from these people who read the books and they're like hey I was a mechanic or hey I drove this or hey I ran this gun you know so I've built this whole spreadsheet of these

[00:18:21] specialists in all these areas so now when I want to know you know any specific question about you know uh does this particular helicopter come with a hoist system and if it does how do you

[00:18:33] operate it and uh you know how do you use it so I have this whole list of people I can go to now and and get that information and make it more authentic but in the that's that's yeah put me down as your

[00:18:44] I didn't need put put me down as your u- age 60 alpha specialist if you need one frequently I do I'll tell you the non-classified version how about that that's good enough

[00:18:57] so let's uh I can one of the something I kind of want to jump into is the mad mix series we've talked a little bit about it here um but just because your new book that just came out

[00:19:08] more isn't the Barreau World Series so so mad mic uh kind of give us uh you can give us kind of like the elevator pitch of kind of like where this because I mean in the Barreau World Series you

[00:19:19] do kind of hint at uh this guy um the you know Matt at the mm carved in the trees uh that people are seeing uh did you have an idea for the mad mix like as we're writing or like had you just pop up out

[00:19:33] of nowhere and you were like I'm gonna give him a sidecaric I'm gonna be maybe like a sidecaric or did you always know that you wanted to do like this many books uh for the mad mix well there

[00:19:43] was a guy years ago when I was doing these preparedness shows who would uh come up to me and he's like hey you should write a book about me called the mad mic and he would tell me these

[00:19:53] crazy stories from his childhood and um he was not an assassin but a lot of the backstory for the mad mic a lot of the little uh details about the mad mix childhood uh actually come from this guy's

[00:20:09] life and uh I'm like you should write a book about these he's like no I don't want to write a book about this but you know let me tell you this story so just over the years I collected these

[00:20:18] little stories and uh you know when I started writing the mad mic that's kind of where the inspiration came from was pulling these stories together this guy told me over the years and

[00:20:29] you know as much as it's a story an action thriller it's also the story about a dad who you know is trying to raise his daughter and he has concerns about whether he's done a good

[00:20:41] job or not and he's trying to decide if he should retire from the business he's in uh you know which happens to be killing people and uh you know it so it's a relatable story even though it's just this

[00:20:54] crazy absurd level uh post-apocalyptic action you know that is in no way realistic it's still relatable because it's a dad and his child and he's trying to decide if he's done a good job

[00:21:06] or not trying to keep her safe and all that and I think people relate to that aspect of it yeah like I said I just yeah him and Barb like they're if yes if you're listening to this and

[00:21:18] you have not read the mad mic series uh I'm sorry if you get some spoilers but you need to do it I don't care uh but speaking of spoilers like before we get too much further because they're

[00:21:30] like there's I know there's one common linchman that ties all these worlds together can we spoil like what the great event is that started all these series or like set all of them and not

[00:21:44] that not ruin it for the audience because I mean they're going to find out in the first 25 pages of the of the bar world yeah well for the most part um at the time I started this series I was

[00:21:53] reading a lot of EMP books and so I didn't want to write an EMP story uh I wanted something different and I saw you know we were in the wake of 9-11 we were in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

[00:22:08] where we could see how these disasters created these prolonged recovery events and it made me start thinking about you know what if terrorists slipped across the border and all these different

[00:22:20] places and did a small small attacks but a lot of small attacks so the point that it was really difficult to recover from them and it created you know what they call a cascading systems failure

[00:22:33] to where you slowly lost communication and gas and electricity and everything so uh and you know at the time I wrote that and I started writing that idea in like 2012 and at the time I'm like well

[00:22:46] I hope this is not dated in 10 years but it actually you know every year that possibility becomes greater and greater so it's a demand uh authentic well and and to your to your point though

[00:23:00] like without giving the person away I spoke to somebody who literally spent their entire life working for the power company I asked him specifically about this and I'm like how possible

[00:23:10] is this like is this is this like complete BS fantasy and if it is it's still a great premise or is this like reasonably plausible and he sat there and thought about for a second like

[00:23:21] yeah that could be done like that that wouldn't even be that hard you just need enough manpower and he said you know he said it's not even like you need secret information I mean most of these

[00:23:30] substations are in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a hurricane fence like you can find them by accident oh I did extensive research on this uh but in the beginning

[00:23:42] and you know we think of our power grid as being you know this massive spider web of wire but you know there are actually a few key places where it interconnects and damaging those interconnections

[00:23:57] is is how you would bring it all down and and it's interesting too that I ran across a guy who years ago who read the book and I met him in kind of a situation that I can't really talk about but he's like I know this works because

[00:24:15] I've done it in another country but but yeah it's it's interesting when people validate your idea that it it's actually doable yeah and and that's what I like about I'll just say well

[00:24:29] that's but that's what I like about the book series like you have you have the bar world which kind of things kind of kick off and you know this guy's away from home and it's a bunch you

[00:24:39] know all the stuff is going on and he's trying to get home to his family and then you have the locker nine series where it's a daughter that's away from home but uh it it really goes into

[00:24:51] some detail about uh the event uh the kick how it how it kicks off and like what the who's behind it and stuff like that and so and then it really covers like the day that it happens it

[00:25:04] really covers it really well and then you have mad mix series who yeah it's they taught it really it's right in the middle of it but then you really you get a sense of who the mad mic is especially

[00:25:15] going through uh when I mean I don't want to get too much away but uh light speed when the whole thing with light speed happens and uh you get oh wow this is this is all happening

[00:25:26] on the background this is why this is happening and you start thinking back okay now in in the bar world series this was going on and like it's it's really funny because now I'm like

[00:25:35] it's what's that what's that mean from uh Charlie from uh always sunny in Philadelphia where he's up against the sign and he's like doing the red streams going back and forth like he's connecting

[00:25:44] all the guys uh that's like that's how it is of reading like these books uh with it and everything because what's going on and I guess uh I mean we can get into it now is your new book

[00:25:54] which is the in dark in uh that uh it came out not long ago uh that one it's uh it's a bar world series um and that one like it's funny because I'm listening as I'm listening to it I'm like

[00:26:08] do they not know that this just happened like you know they're sitting there talking about like I don't want to again don't want to give too much away on it but like there's certain things or certain events that have happened in the mad mix that you're like

[00:26:21] okay and they haven't got word of it yet and they're like okay we're hearing these transmissions this is going on this this and this and I'm like have you not heard like what in the heck is going

[00:26:30] on like what like no just read this book I you know about it like and you know the thing is the the borrowed world people have much less access to information than the people in the

[00:26:42] mad mix series and even as I was writing it I was experiencing the same thing that you're talking about which is like there is this knot in your gut because you know that there are things

[00:26:52] illumined over these people that they are going to experience and you're just waiting for the hammer to drop on them uh and and it's it was really sad because you know I like these characters

[00:27:03] I've spent years with them and a lot of them are based on people I know and I'm just sitting there man they're gonna be crushed I can't believe I had to do this to them you know

[00:27:13] they become real to you yeah and then I mean so you're you were talking about how some characters were like you based some characters off of like a uh they're kind of like uh some character that kind of just supports what's going on they're not anything big or

[00:27:31] they don't make and then they turn into something bigger uh did Hugh in the the guy named Hugh did you have did you have this whole thing planned out or was he more of like a support

[00:27:42] character and he kind of blossomed into like this other character that's what I the vibe I get off of that like when you first introduced him and I was like all right this guy's kind of cool

[00:27:50] and then like every book that you put out not with him in it or every chapter really like oh he was doing this you like it keeps snowballing I'm like dude this guy's cool yeah and and Hugh

[00:28:01] is cool because when I was uh 15 I started working at this radio station and the guy that I based Hugh on worked there also and he was probably about five or six years older than me

[00:28:14] and uh the way that we bonded is we were both uh huge fans of Soldier of Fortune magazine so we were always discussing the latest soldier of fortune and what was going on you know whether

[00:28:27] you know Rhodesia was gonna fall or whatever you know because everybody was reading you know that was the big thing at the time was Rhodesian war you know so he is the guy that I kind of

[00:28:38] channeled to become this character and he became cooler as he went on and people asked about him and they wanted to see more of him and uh he is in real life you know very much like he is

[00:28:53] he doesn't have the same background but he's one of those guys that when you talk to him and he tells you a story uh you always wonder you know with the basis of that story is just what

[00:29:05] does this guy know and what has he done in his life you know and you never know it's just everything he tells you leaves you with more questions yeah the thing Andrew was talking about a minute ago

[00:29:15] about how all these books they do weave together they they poke holes into each other like there there's not a you would have to read all three of these series twice to see all the places that they

[00:29:28] do crossover because it's not as if it's it's it's not as if this book in this series and then this book in this series and they're like in a nice cohesive timeline you almost see echoes of the

[00:29:38] books within each other that's why I asked about like earlier I asked about like what precipitated all these stories because I know from having read enough of them they're all set in somewhat of the same world you know it's not it's not as if they're three alternate timelines

[00:29:55] they all started from the same genesis and they could all conceivably be happening parallel to each other yeah but it's that's why I bring those kinds of things up because like I

[00:30:05] think I think what makes your books stick with the audience and it's stuck with me is there's this element of it sounds weird to call it an element of realism when we're talking about

[00:30:16] admittedly semi farfetched I think fairly plausible fiction book but there's so much realism to it and there's so much believability like your character's motivations are very very rarely paper thin one-dimensional like you you have characters who they they struggle with

[00:30:36] the the morality that they once knew in the world and I'm not gonna no spoilers if you haven't already figured this part of you know human psyche out I don't know what to tell you it's 2024

[00:30:46] and we've been through enough stuff together as a you know as a host co-host an audience y'all should have figured this out by now but like these people struggle with the morality from the world

[00:30:57] they used to live in that is gone and the brutality of the world that is now facing them and they're asking really personal questions of themselves of like am I prepared to be this

[00:31:08] evil vindictive SOB to survive this world and so my family survives am I willing to give up things like morality and principles and what am I willing to compromise what's really important to me

[00:31:22] at what point is destroying the last vestige of who I used to be worth my family living another day and like you see echoes of that in all these characters for someone like the mad Mick who

[00:31:36] let's just say probably didn't have a severe compunction with ending somebody's life for money principle almost anything but fun it means not a malicious person he's just like you need to die it's nothing personal then you have some of these characters that like you'd like you would basically

[00:31:53] have to stop a kitten's head in in front of them before they get angry but you put them in those situations where they have to say this is do or die now and it's gut wrenching to read

[00:32:06] and I really enjoy exploring people's values in these books because it's interesting you know everybody's got their own values as to what they'll kill for and what they feel like they have to

[00:32:20] protect and it's interesting to look at that in each person because like in this latest book The Endark and you know they've they've caught some guy and they're trying to decide if this guy

[00:32:31] who has committed this act should be killed and they a person has come forward and said I think we should put them in jail we still have a jail we can go lock them in there

[00:32:47] and it raises all these questions of in this situation what does putting somebody in jail involve you know the jail's not heated there's no food there's no water if you put somebody in

[00:32:57] jail who's going to take care of them are you going to have a person who devotes their life to caring for this person that you have locked in a cage so you know they explore that and

[00:33:09] and people have to question you know is jail an appropriate punishment or should we just go ahead and kill this person and then you have other people who you know characters in these

[00:33:20] series who will not blink an eye at shooting a person that they feel needs to die but at the same time they'll kill a man for injuring a dog you know so the values that people have in real life

[00:33:35] are you know what I reflect in these books well not just that but like I think what's important because like Andrew and I have Andrew and I one of our patrons recently in our page

[00:33:45] and we have a little closed signal chat just for the patrons and one of them started this thing recently where he literally picks I think he has all the conflicted decks he picks a card at

[00:33:55] random every morning and just screenshots it into the chat and that is our topic of conversation for the day and it has led to some extremely interesting stratifications like you get some

[00:34:07] of these cards where you get about 15 people in the room we're all saying the exact same thing or pretty close to it and then you get some weird scenario where you get everything from

[00:34:18] Kilimanidum this guy over here all the way to kindler gentler mother Teresa and everything in the middle so I think it's interesting like when when when we talk about things like survival situations or emergency situations and I think a lot of times like we we in the preparedness

[00:34:36] community we charge into those with this thought process of I've already decided how this is going to get done but we made those decisions in a vacuum and I can tell you that from

[00:34:46] like my personal experience I have two people in this household a wife and an 11 year old daughter and they're going to be involved in the decision making because I'd like my wife to be able to

[00:34:58] look at me as a human being after we get done with all this and I'd like my daughter to not be terrified of me so you know it's one of those situations where it's like you get into

[00:35:06] those weird situations about you're talking about a group debating this amongst each other because you're going to have all those different opinions and all those different values and all those different the different amounts of weight placed on those values and I'm talking about

[00:35:22] three people in a family unit and I'm gonna have those debates within myself about like if I do this what are these two people that live with me what are they going to see when it

[00:35:33] as you know from reading these books that is one of the persistent themes with Jim the main character in the borrowed world is he's one of those guys that that frequently wished we need to

[00:35:45] reset we just need a good disaster to clean this country out and separate you know the tough from the weak and we hear people every day that say that but you know he experiences a good bit

[00:35:56] of guilt because in some ways he's like you know I basically brought this on myself you know because I wish I wished for it yeah and so he struggles with that constant constantly he's like

[00:36:08] you know I put my family in this situation and he didn't cause the terror attack but in his mind wishing for it you know was almost as bad as having created it well I mean it could almost be

[00:36:23] argued that by him wishing for it he didn't fully appreciate the consequences of it and how it's going to impact everybody else yeah because like I think the three of us and most listeners would

[00:36:35] probably agree at least once in your life you thought to yourself it's just time smash the reset button like I we're we're done with this it is time for the fall of Rome it is time for World War

[00:36:45] III push the reset button wipe the board clean biblical biblical plague flood burn the earth done just once I said at least once that left open the possibility that this might be a daily occurrence

[00:36:58] but um but you know I've I've had this discussion with people and I've always told them I'm like I as a person that's into preparedness I prepare for the worst day of my life and I pray I never see it

[00:37:13] not for myself because you know I've lived through war and I've lived through hurricanes twice and I've done it it it sucks it'll get you'll get over it it sounds really weird to say about

[00:37:23] being in a war zone but you get over it you know you make peace with it after a while but I don't want these people with me to have to live through it and I can totally I can like

[00:37:33] being that father figure and that husband I could feel Jim's frustration with himself like I wish for this to happen and people are suffering because of it and the guilt I mean it eats at

[00:37:47] him you can feel it well at the same time though too is like I mean you you know what the world like if something were to happen you are ready your mind is already set to where okay

[00:38:00] if something were to happen this is what I'd have to do this is how it's gonna have a play out and this is the struggle that's gonna be your daughter and really from frankly I mean you know

[00:38:09] your wife and stuff they don't necessarily like Gillian might you know comprehend a little bit with it she might not know you know about it like get this maybe understand the struggles a little bit she won't completely comprehend it like what you do but your daughter being 11 years

[00:38:23] old she doesn't she will not understand and that's where like with her it's gonna be you know hey no you can't go outside or like you got to keep her busy doing something else and trying to do whatever

[00:38:36] because there's dangers outside and you gotta explain to her okay why what's going on and yeah the struggles and so yeah the whole and then you're basically I mean you're basically you're taking away that child that child from that from that girl

[00:38:50] and and you know the fact is you're okay I wish this would happen but at the same time like I really don't want that because I want my child to have each other I want them to grow up

[00:38:58] I want them to have fun experience life and stuff like that versus you know but with everything that's going on in the world it wouldn't hurt to have a reset yeah a quick one well let me

[00:39:07] know put you this way can we put a timeline on it 20 minutes before we punched into this show I wasn't out there teaching Piper how to put a turnic it on and you know build a fox hole

[00:39:17] I was playing switch I was playing Mario Kart with her like I was being dad we were goofing around having fun like I so desperately want the people I care about to have that childhood and maintain

[00:39:29] that innocence and I sit here and fret over if there comes a day when I can't maintain that any longer then I have to be prepared for what comes next and like I just I don't know I see that

[00:39:43] echoed so many times throughout these books I'm drawing a blank on Jim's best friend in the bar world because he encountered ha Lloyd the barber no wasn't Lloyd it was it was as Gary Gary yeah

[00:39:59] and I'm not going to spoil it Gary encounters some some personal tragedy very you know early relatively early on in the series but like I see the juxtaposition between Jim and Gary and I

[00:40:10] think to myself I'm like they're going to be so many Gary's in the world who have to have to have their teeth kicked in by the world before they finally realize oh it's ugly out here it's mean

[00:40:24] these this world isn't playing it's not being nice it's not playing by the rules like my sense morality doesn't apply to these people and having been in a war zone before like that's a very

[00:40:35] jarring experience for most people like this again I don't want to spoil it I don't want to drag it out but like these are all the things that come out of your books that it's the entire emotional

[00:40:48] psychological relationship aspect of these books that that got got deep got its hooks deep into me I think that's the value because when you were talking earlier Andrew about people using these

[00:41:00] books as kind of an introduction to preparedness I tell people that it's not about these books are not about training you on techniques and survival and weaponry it's it's teaching you about scenarios and mindset and adaptability and resourcefulness and and that's the value and

[00:41:25] you know it's funny I get a lot of email and and messages from people reaching out about the books and it's funny because I've received enough at this point that I have a pretty good breakdown on who

[00:41:36] I hear from and it's two major groups it's women and law enforcement officers those are the two biggest groups that reach out and with law enforcement officers it's people who are in

[00:41:49] situations where they understand how close we are to the world of the books and the women who reach out are generally saying I like the way that this story breaks things down because it makes it seem very

[00:42:04] logical the way you go from this state of normalcy to this state of chaos and in a lot of movies that happen so quickly that it just doesn't seem reasonable but in the books the way that you

[00:42:18] follow this decline and at every step you see okay well they've lost this okay well they've lost this and they've lost this and it changes the entire world around them and I think that's the value

[00:42:31] to people reading books like this whether it's my series or any of these type of post post apocalyptic series is that it teaches you about scenarios and about preparing your mindset to be ready for whatever whether it's societal collapse or weather or rioting or whatever you know

[00:42:52] can happen to you out there but that and but that's also why like I really like the locker nine series or I mean even the Barrow Row was because the first the first few chapters or so is building up

[00:43:07] to okay yeah this is all gonna happen but it's just an everyday it's just an everyday uh just a normal day I mean like in locker nine Grace there she was at college and her and her friend were like

[00:43:19] they were walking through like the food the food court and like they were looking at okay hey I'm going to go eat this food uh and you know the guys hey we're closed and something's going on

[00:43:28] and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose like out of nowhere in the middle and just in the middle of just a random day uh the normal day in college and so uh and so yeah so that's why

[00:43:39] like and that's the thing is people don't I'd like to people can take away something it's just the fact that violence can happen or a situation can happen no matter where you are at no matter

[00:43:50] what time of day it is doesn't if you're black white yellow I don't man woman whatever something could just happen to you and you could be in the middle of something

[00:44:02] and that's where as I guess preppers in a way that's where we try to train for okay I'm going out I'm going down the road today what do I need well it's not going to be very long but I'm gonna I

[00:44:13] have a med bag that's always in my truck in case I come across the accident I carry turnikets I carry a turniket on my ankle every single day I carry stuff that I carry something

[00:44:23] that can put holes in somebody and I carry something I can I carry stuff that hatches little holes as well you know just in case if something were to happen uh and it's not that I'm scared that

[00:44:33] something's gonna happen I hope nothing does but in the case that I need to use it it's something that I'm prepared to use and I'm prepared for that and I get you know and so that's the thing

[00:44:41] is because again you never know and I mean this goes to the whole saying you never know when you're going to be your own first responder or or in general a first responder in general

[00:44:53] I mean as far as a rollover an accident whatever you can walk through the store somebody drops a jar of pickles slips and falls and slices their arm open who knows I mean that's a bad day but

[00:45:04] when I wrote the opening chapters of both of those series locker nine in the borrowed world it was you know it was over a decade out from 9 11 but the thing I kept thinking was you know

[00:45:16] for those that live through 9 11 it was a normal day you know I remember you know the first things we were hearing this but there's been a plane crash in New York City you know and it was normal and

[00:45:28] gradually became less normal as the day went on and and that was exactly the vibe I wanted to create in the first chapters of those books that it was a normal day and became less

[00:45:38] normal with each passing moment you know as they began to figure out what was going on mm-hmm so I guess uh I mean what's next I mean what's next with the series with the

[00:45:50] barred world of mad Mick I mean like with uh I would love I wish you would do more locker nine I really do but uh uh no I mean so what's next what do you what do you got coming down

[00:46:02] the plate yeah um this will be a scoop because I haven't talked about this anywhere else uh but I've um you know I plan things out way in advance because I have to get covers made and

[00:46:16] I have to schedule audio and all that stuff so um I'm usually know what I'm going to do for the entire year by January so I'm working on mad Mick 11 now which will come out in May

[00:46:33] uh I don't have any immediate plans to write another borrowed world this year but I am going to write a start a new series in the borrowed world universe it's going to be a new borrowed

[00:46:46] world spinoff that's going to be much more in the vein of locker nine and borrowed world and uh I'm going to start writing that probably in June so my goal is to have at least one or

[00:46:59] two books out in that series by the end of the year but I'm excited about that because it's going to go back to those beginning days of the disaster and pick up with another group just like all the other

[00:47:10] series in that universe do you're going to find a group of people and you're going to pick up from day one what they experienced as they were learning what was happening uh how they experienced those

[00:47:22] early days and this is actually going to be a way less prepared group of people so that's going to be interesting because you had a pretty good stratification even in like the first

[00:47:34] couple of borrowed world books like you had not going to spoil it but you you had how can I say there is no perfect situation for the kind of event you're describing like there is no one

[00:47:48] is going to start at 10 nobody everybody's going to be behind the A ball anybody that doesn't think you're going to be behind the A ball you should sit sit down have a talk with me I thought I've

[00:48:00] been prepared for stuff in the past and I still got snuck up on it just it's it's inevitable but within the borrowed world you you had a pretty good stratification of people who like

[00:48:10] definitely had some some aces in the hole for preparedness and some people that um whether it be physical perhaps or mentality they did not and that's the nicest thing I could think to say

[00:48:21] about them bearing in mind how tragically some of those characters met their end but you know and what happened to them along the way so like you're saying that you're going to start off

[00:48:31] with a group that's less prepared than that yeah but this is going to be you know in the borrowed world in particular the less prepared people often got the short end of the stick

[00:48:43] they became the example of why you should be prepared but there are people out there who are resilient and hardcore and are going to survive no matter what happens to them and this is going

[00:48:56] to be a story about those people those people who don't have the resources that everybody else has but they are survivors and they are tough and they have gotten by with nothing for their entire

[00:49:07] lives and they're not going to die just because things are going crazy you know it's a it's a story that I've heard and I had that personality that when I look at modern problems I look back at the

[00:49:19] past and I say you know that history tends to echo so if I look back in the past I could probably find the solution for this modern problem but whenever we talk about like some of the subjects we've been talking about recently like with the hyperinflation and

[00:49:32] devaluing the currency and yada yada yada yada stop me if all that sounds familiar but I look back at the Great Depression and some of the stories I've heard in the accounts I've read

[00:49:41] were that like poor ass farmers that were just barely scratching the living out of the out of the earth with the exception of the ones in the dust bowl they came through the other end of the Great Depression and really didn't notice anything was happening because they were

[00:49:54] dirt they were literally dirt poor before the depression they were dirt poor after the depression nothing changed all the poor people that I know here and you know I live in Central Appalachia all the poor people I knew here growing up who lived through the

[00:50:09] depression did not know it was a depression at the time because they were always poor they lived the same life through the depression that they lived before the depression and it was only later that they kind of learned what the rest of the country was doing

[00:50:25] yeah well I mean you even look at how that echoes into like current day with all with some of the nonsense we're dealing with with the economy like it's the middle class that's getting absolutely butchered in the current situation but your ultra wealthy aren't really

[00:50:39] noticing the pinch much and your poor are I mean how many more degrees of poor are there yeah so it's it's interesting historical footnotes but yeah I mean I definitely think that that's going to be an

[00:50:50] interesting look at a person who almost has like the survivalist mentality but doesn't fit the classical mold of being a survivalist because like they did not prepare because they could not

[00:51:03] prepare yeah but they might have that emotional mental ace in the hole that a lot of people don't which something like Andrew and I've talked about in the past about how you can have all the gear

[00:51:13] and all the stuff and all the crap piled up in your house but if you don't have the mentality that I'm going to survive no matter what you're gonna have a really really rough day

[00:51:22] and I don't know how to I don't know how to tell a person how to build that like except throw them in a frying pan and see if they jump there's no other way

[00:51:30] yeah when people shoot and this happens at least once a week somebody sends me a message they're like I've been reading these books and and what should I prepare for I just don't know and I

[00:51:41] always tell people prepare for weather that's where you start prepare for weather and you can branch out from there if you're prepared for weather you know you've got a good uh you know good stable base because almost all of us are going to experience weather events you know

[00:51:59] I know you've been through it uh here we get ice storms snow storms whatever lose power you know from wind uh that's going to be something that you're gonna experience and that's going to be

[00:52:11] you know a test of it so uh you know that's where I always tell people to start no that's yeah that's that's a good uh that's really good actually I mean just because people

[00:52:23] look at the preparedness as a whole in their lay and we I mean again we we did a show on it before was where were we where do we start where to begin and that's a good spot is hey what's your weather

[00:52:33] that you get snow storms okay what do you think you need you need some loose water something that's not going to freeze you need a way to get water in case if you're on a well or anything

[00:52:43] like that um or even if you've got I mean you know you're on city water yeah as long as the pressure holds out but uh it's okay well I need to get I need water how do you cook food you already you already

[00:52:54] got shelter because if you have a house but then it's like okay well how do you have some heat you need extra blankets uh water food and then a way to if you want to try to bathe you can

[00:53:05] but uh you know basically just have those set up for a few like a week for a weather event and then just branch out from there yeah but the heart the hardest part about giving that advice and

[00:53:15] you too have to have this experience before is when you have that ice storm that blizzard that hurricane and I'm pointing at the three of us because like I know where the three of us live

[00:53:26] and I know the kind of weather we get and we all have to eat the poop sandwich every now and then it's just the nature of where we live yeah but tell me is this I'm frustrating as hell

[00:53:35] that you can watch a person go through the exact same weather events you did suck it real hard because they did they weren't prepared for it and then five minutes after the power comes back comes back on

[00:53:46] they get amnesia and they totally forget about all the less they should have learned and you watch them charge head first into the next emergency in exactly the state they were going to begin with well and it was the government's fault oh no listen yeah I I've I

[00:54:01] groused about this with Andrew and Andrew pretty much told me well dude just pull a couple hundred bucks out of savings to go load up the like two weeks after hurricane Ida our power is out for eight

[00:54:10] days where I'm at which is better than they had down to Orleans and especially further south where like whole communities got wiped off the map we got her we got hit but we didn't get his bad as

[00:54:19] some people did but like eight days without power right less than a week after the power came back on I saw chainsaws and generators on Facebook marketplace and I I was so angry I

[00:54:31] could have thrown stuff because I have a 5k and a chain a brand new chainsaw you know in the shed at this point and I'm thinking myself I'm like all of you idiots just lived through the exact same

[00:54:41] situation I did why are you selling this stuff put it in your shed you're it's already paid for yeah but I mean it but it's it is what it is I mean just like it's just like I mean here with

[00:54:53] snow storms ice storms you know our weather is up there and it's a dulong gloom and we're gonna get 15 feet of snow and seven inches of ice and I mean obviously it's never that bad the Grand

[00:55:02] River flooded this year the Grand River flooded which is floods every year it's and it's not surprising to me but uh but no you go to the store it sure seems to it seems to shock all your neighbors

[00:55:16] though because at least every other year Andrew comes on the show and's like people are complaining about the Grand River flooding again like it doesn't flood like this every year well people complain that it snows out every November or December they are complaining about how it snowed

[00:55:30] and I'm like it's December what do you expect you know and so but no it's just why it's right up there with uh when the storm comes in and I go to the store and I I'm looking for a whiskey and I'm

[00:55:40] looking for coke that's it I walk out of the store people are stocking up on bread milk water whatever you know whatever they got their stuff piled high and then normally if it's back

[00:55:52] to back storms sometimes I'll go back to get something different and something random um maybe more coke or more whiskey depending on how long the last storm was but I'll see a lot of times I'll

[00:56:02] recommend some or I'll recognize some people getting the exact same stuff and it's just like what what the heck but the part of this that drives me the craziest is if someone in Michigan that's

[00:56:14] about to deal with a blizzard goes and buys a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread I understand that because if the power goes out you take the milk and you stick it outside and it's not going to

[00:56:22] go bad it's a refrigerator outside but the part that drives me absolutely bat crap crazy is when people down here in south Louisiana in August buy milk and bread right before our power gets

[00:56:37] knocked out for a couple of days I'm I have asked every southerner I can find why and nobody knows the answer everybody just knows you're supposed to and everybody admits it makes no

[00:56:48] sense but they do it anyway biological drive well I don't know if it's biological psychosomatic or anything else I just know it makes absolutely no freaking sense to me and it will be my life's

[00:56:58] mission to find a reasonable explanation for it because there's no way there's that many generators running down here after a hurricane I've heard them but I digress Andrew why do you

[00:57:09] always let me get a good ran out and you don't put up the blood pressure warning beforehand I made that I made that video like for exactly these moments no because your blood pressure is not really

[00:57:18] that high we gotta wait till I see the vein pop just counted as cardio yeah how many calories do you burn screaming and yelling at your co-hosts it's a good bit yeah yeah right so well Franklin

[00:57:37] won't keep it too much longer thank you for coming on I mean we're so I guess so people if you haven't heard of Franklin look them up look up his books start with a bar world series and I think if you

[00:57:50] start the bar world series and then branch into the mad mech or locker nine I mean you won't be even the way of Dan I mean all of your books and honestly like you're the ones that you kind

[00:58:03] of went off but you kind of went off like the tie stone yeah like that series I'm okay I guess really quick are you gonna do another time you know I wanted to push that story further

[00:58:16] but though that series doesn't do as good as the mad mech so the the thing from a business standpoint is it takes me just as long to write a tie stone because a mad mech book

[00:58:27] but a mad mech book will you know hang up in the charts for a long time so it makes more business sense for me to write mad mech books so I don't know if I'll come back to it or not that's a good

[00:58:40] care I do like the character I do at the story that you have for that guy just because it's struggles that you actually hear of real people going through as far as you know military bad

[00:58:50] and all that it was inspired by a friend of mine who went in for inpatient treatment for PTSD and when he came out and admitted that you know he was going inpatient people were really surprised

[00:59:02] and uh you know good for him because better to go inpatient and admit you have a problem than to become the statistic that we don't want to read about you know uh so that just really

[00:59:16] really motivated me and I wrote that book kind of inspired by his bravery and coming forward mm-hmm no that's all that's it's interesting when you can find inspiration from you know somebody who's

[00:59:31] just and to me it gives them kind of like if you get inspired by them some way it kind of I kind of hope that they gives them like oh hey maybe I do you know something to live for I have you

[00:59:41] know I do inspire somebody and I mean people are looking oh yeah I told him offline that uh you know that that he was the reason I wrote those books yeah well having been in that

[00:59:51] position of like being very open with your own mental health struggles with other combat vets and like try trying to help them learn from your experience so they don't have to go down some

[01:00:01] the same roads you did like watching a person get better is worth all the pain and all the embarrassment I have in relive all that it makes it 100% worth it because you can at least say at least me talking

[01:00:15] about this and rehash this it helped him not have to do with two mm-hmm that's one person's perspective at least yeah um but uh that being said if you don't know who Franklin Horton is get on the

[01:00:28] ball look up his books Franklin where can they find you they can check out my website at franklinhorton.com my books are on amazon they're on audible the audio does really well people enjoy

[01:00:41] the audio so if you don't like to read check out the audio um and if you really like my characters also have a merch store now uh so you can go to resetroadhouse.com and buy t-shirts sweatshirts hoodies

[01:00:59] all that stuff coffee mugs all inspired by the books so and if you suck at spelling Franklin Horton I'll have it in the show notes I'll make it as simple to find as possible but if you can't spell

[01:01:10] Franklin Horton then you can't click a link I don't know what to do with you yeah and I mean if you're if you guys if you are caught up uh if you did not know about the in dark end which is book

[01:01:21] 11 uh in the bar world series uh you'll check it out has not been out very long I'll thank no two months maybe month or two yeah so yeah check it out uh but yeah Franklin um we need to get

[01:01:36] you on more often uh than three four years well I enjoy it it's always a good time I I am going to put this out there that uh I'll give you work I'll give you a couple months to get some

[01:01:47] more work done on the books and then we'll have you back on um discuss kind of what you're doing and honestly it can be just a BS session we don't have to you know but no I would love to have you

[01:01:58] on again soon yeah I'd be glad to I always enjoy it and I assume you're not going to proper camp no it overlaps with another event I do that's how I remember I am going to go to a mountain

[01:02:09] readiness which comes up uh I think it's the end of this month uh and it's in harmony North Carolina but it looks like an interesting show I enjoyed prepper camp I had a great time at prepper camp

[01:02:24] but it just overlaps with a conference that has just been really helpful for learning how to market my books good nope and I think that's helping uh helping you a lot so unfortunately one

[01:02:36] of these days we're gonna cross paths in person I can tell you that hey well if you drive to prepper camp you probably come close to here so you know hey you know what I'm gonna put it out

[01:02:47] I'll put it out there to you uh when it gets closer I'll put a word out to you because I'm going down two days early three days early I'm going down to prepper camp early so

[01:02:56] I'll uh I'll hit you up yeah let's communicate that because we'll catch up the one or coming one or the other yep yeah for sure so awesome well hey Franklin thanks again for coming on really

[01:03:06] thank you guys for having me yeah we'll go and punt this one out the door Franklin Horton Borrowed World Mad Mick Locker nine and about 13 other series I haven't heard of yet because Franklin writes like he owes his publisher money for god's sakes and it's always entertaining if

[01:03:23] you haven't can't tell by now we're fans and uh I mean Franklin anything you anything you write is worth a read and uh if it's not a little bit thought provoking I think that's kind of an

[01:03:33] indictment of the reader not the author I appreciate that but matter of fact going out the door good night everybody take care of each other we'll talk to you another week bye see you