Welcome back to the Blue Deck Podcast for our second OFF-SEASON show. 

During Season 1, we began going through Joseph Mazerac's book, Into the Attic of the World—kind of like an audiobook podcast. Before starting that up again in Season 2, we’re taking a break, having a little getting-to-know-you time. To help with that, we are joined again by our guest host, Dalyn Woods.

Also… Joseph's sons, William and Dylan, have…well…a special message for you. It’s very ridiculous and somewhat disturbing. Actually, I recommend skipping that part of the show!

This episode covers the complicated questions: Am I "called to write" or is it just a hobby? Also, are books being replaced in our lives? 

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Whg8pkLa7Ns

Email: joseph@thebluedeck.com

My Sister’s Keeper by Dalyn Woods.

Guest host Dalyn Woods and Joseph Mazerac discuss creativity, inspiration, and more in our third off-season show. 

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Whg8pkLa7Ns

Email: joseph@thebluedeck.com

My Sister’s Keeper by Dalyn Woods.

In this Off-Season show, we discuss the writing process, staying motivated, and inspiration. Shout out to K.M. Weiland! 

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Whg8pkLa7Ns

Email: joseph@thebluedeck.com

My Sister’s Keeper by Dalyn Woods.

Big news: Into the Attic of the World is getting published! 

(You can buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon.com!)

Also, Charles and his friends follow Captain Kid up the launch tower. As they climb, they learn the Nautilus shuttle was built in the 1930s by a wizard called Doctor Alkatan. After Charles risks his life boarding the ship, he finds five seats in the cockpit, all with important-looking instrumentation built around the chairs. And they are supposed to fly it, really?

When Captain Kid climbs inside, he digs through his backpack, taking out a small glass box and securing it to a bracket mounted on the wall. The box is a miniature aquarium and in it is Joseph, the captain’s pet crab.

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Whg8pkLa7Ns

Email: joseph@thebluedeck.com

Previously in Chapter 11

While prepping the shuttle for liftoff, Charles assists Captain Kid. Together, they measure things like wind speed and barometric pressure. Afterward, as the captain uses a spyglass to search for the Upward Facing Door, William brings a trio of Cokes to the top of the launch tower. While the search continues, Charles and his best friend drink their sodas until the illusive doorway is found. Once located, William takes a turn on the telescope, promptly finding the door, which he describes as a cross between a blimp and a space station. Intrigued, Charles takes his turn on the scope but fails to focus on the flying blur in the sky.

Having all the data needed for flight calculations, Captain Kid leads them back into the shuttle where he has another big surprise in store. Each crewmember will have a critical role aboard the Nautilus. Charles will be first mate, Dawn the electro-technical officer, William chief engineer, and Ozzie the assistant engineer. The only one aboard who remains merely a “passenger” is Joseph the crab in is travel-size aquarium.

The chapter concludes with Charles monitoring the rocket temperatures, still in the red but climbing.

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Whg8pkLa7Ns

Email: joseph@thebluedeck.com

Blast off! The Nautilus space shuttle rockets into the air—a shaking, roaring, vibrating flight that seems completely out of control. William and Ozzie jettison rocket sections and work the valves to prevent a meltdown, Dawn replaces burned fuses the size of poker decks, the captain tries to steer, and Charles cranks the peddles, extending the docking claw in front of the ship…but where’s the dock? Have they missed it?

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Whg8pkLa7Ns

Email: joseph@thebluedeck.com

After docking with the Upward Facing Door, Captain Kid leads the crew outside, where they climb up to the nose of the shuttle using a grappling hook. There, they come face-to-face with the door to another world. When Charles goes through, he finds a vast desert and a sign leading to a place called Salvation Mountain. 3.5 miles, thataway.

The rest of the kids climb up into the desert, but Ozzie closes the door in the sand sealing them away in the foreign world.

William digs with his hands, trying to uncover the passageway, but digging is no good. “There are rules,” the captain explains. William couldn’t dig to his world unless he was a wizard. Also, the captain reminds them, “We’re not looking for a way home. We’re looking for Castatine and the Patch Fairy.”

That may be true, but it doesn’t stop William and Charles from feeling trapped.

Charles gives voice to their doubts, and when it’s apparent he doesn’t trust their new leader, Captain Kid demotes him, making Dawn the new chief officer.

The chapter concludes with Captain Kid venturing out into the desert and Dawn left in charge of inventorying their supplies.

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

In Chapter 14 Charles and his friends spend their first night in the desert of the strange new world. As Charles lays on the ground, watching Ozzie build a shelter with the door he’d recovered out of the sand, Dawn—the crew’s new Chief Officer—busies herself inventorying their supplies. In Charles’s backpack, she finds, among other things, a toy Yoda action figure and lists it in the inventory. Charles finds in his pocket the cap off a Coke bottle. After seeing her record the Yoda figure, he wonders if the bottle cap should be added to their supply list, but rejects the idea.

Overall, our friend, Charles, is feeling depressed, so far from his home and now he’s been demoted, too.

In the morning they set off in search of the mysterious place called Salvation Mountain, and what they find isn’t anything they expected. It is an enormous art project of desert wreckage, paint covering everything, even the ground. And on everything is painted messages of God’s love.

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Arriving at Salvation Mountain, what Charles and his friends find is not a mountain at all but an enormous construction of tree branches, tires, dismembered car doors, and hay bails heaped together and covered with clay. Everything is painted, even the ground, with kaleidoscopes of colors and messages of repentance and God’s enduring love. The artist responsible for the monument, “The Man of the Mountain,” welcomes the newcomers, referring to the captain as one of “the Seven” and to the other kids as “knights.”

As Charles, William, and Ozzie explore the mountain, Captain Kid and Dawn meet with the mountain-painter to discuss the comings and goings of travelers headed west to a place called Atsuma the Great City. Also, the distant sound of engines and a faraway cloud of trailing dust alerts them to the approach of people the mountain man calls “Kybees” or “moon folk.” Who are these people? Charles doesn’t know, but as they depart Salvation Mountain, the captain warns them to be ready to fight.

Finally, before following Captain Kid back into the desolation of the desert, Charles once again digs in his heels. Where are they going, how long will they be away from their world, and when will they get back home? Charles wants to know. Dawn, the recently instated Chief Officer, goes to Charles, asking him to come along, but even she cannot deny the sensibility of his protests. When Dawn presents Charles’s questions to Captain Kid, the captain offers one thin slice of hope: they will go to a town called Doloptree. There, they will phone the king of Atsuma and tell him of their quest and that the fugitive, Castatine, is headed for the Great City.

Perhaps after that, Charles and his friends can return to the World Below.

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Email Joseph Mazerac: joseph@thebluedeck.com

Crossing the desert basin, Captain Kid leads Charles and his friends toward their encounter with the Kybees, also known as the “moon folk.” When the two groups meet, Charles finds the Kybees riding dune buggies and motorcycles. What will happen next? They’re about to find out, but at least one of the desert people has a gun and another has machetes on his back.

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Email Joseph Mazerac: joseph@thebluedeck.com