Recreating Epic Poetry With The Intention Of Female Empowerment

Are you someone who enjoys Epic Poetry, but you wish that there were women in them that weren't antagonists or damsels in distress? Peter Gunn felt the same way, and wanting to inspire his daughter and other young women to enjoy Epic Poetry and feel related to, he set out to create a new style of Epic Poetry.

Mr. Gunn discusses his journey from the U.S. Air Force to the frontlines of modern literature. We get into our passion for epic poetry and the origins of his groundbreaking work, The Amazons. Mr. Gunn introduces us to Linked Lyrical Poetry (LLP), a demanding and innovative poetic form that links rhyming words between sentences and blends the rhythm of rap with the scope of heroic epics. He explains the inspirations behind his work, his daughter's influence, and why he believes it’s time women wield the sword in literature—not just the walking stick.

The conversation navigates themes of gender representation in classical storytelling, military culture, and literary rebellion. Mr. Gunn opens up about the literary void he discovered when searching for heroic narratives for women, and how that realization drove him to craft stories that merge masculine and feminine energies in meaningful ways. He also talks candidly about the backlash from editors, the difficulty of creating LLP, and the artistic freedom required to bring new genres into existence.

I ask Mr. Gunn about his other current and upcoming projects, and he shares his commitment to empowering readers—especially women—to defy social expectations and pursue their callings with courage.

https://www.petergunn.net/

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Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and I found out the hard way just now that, uh, wearing a Green Jungle shirt to be thematic with today's episode, uh, didn't work. With the green screen. So all I got is this, uh, dark green shirt, but I do have the coast of South America behind me, a hint at the Amazons, which is a work we'll be discussing today.

But in general, today's conversation is going to be about women in literature and looking specifically at epic poetry, which is not what you may think it is. If you are someone who is not an avid reader or into literature.  It's, uh, not like regular poetry or, you know.  Well, we're gonna get it to, we're gonna break down.

We're gonna have the expert on the call here, break down what is, you know, epic poetry, what is go over different writing styles throughout time. And we're gonna get into it with, uh, Mr. Peter Gunn. It's great to have you here.  Thank you, Mr. Brisky. It's a pleasure to be here.  Yeah. So can we start with, I know you're a US Air Force veteran.

Can you please tell us about your time in the service real quick? Well, I did, uh, 21 years total. Uh, I did, uh, about a year in the Guard, uh, then, uh, 14 years active duty. And then I did the rest in the reserves, but I was Air Force the entire time.  Wow. Yeah. That's a, that's a long time. So what made you stay in that long?

Were you enjoying it or was it just. Once you got to a certain point, it's like, you might as well stay in or,  yeah, I mean, there, there's always, you know, at, at a certain point where, you know, you have retirement points, okay. So you might as well, you know, um, uh, push it through and then you get a, you know, a little check when you retire.

But, um,  I believe in serving, you know, people other than myself. So, serving the country always appealed to me. So it, it wasn't really, uh, it was easy for me to make this decision really.  Yeah. Yeah. So  as I mentioned previously, we're gonna be getting into epic poetry and literature, uh, and we're gonna break it down.

But let's start with your passion for that kind of content. Was that prior to your military service? During it afterward? How did that get introduced into your life?  Well, uh, one of the things that always stood in my mind is when, when in it was mentioned in, uh, the Hobbit, you know, when the, you know, Gandalf mentioned to Billbo about, uh, carrying the sword instead of a walking stick.

Mm-hmm. And that always, uh, correlated in my mind to joining the military. So going out and fighting versus just going out and doing what you wanna do, you know, and mm-hmm. Um.  I, you know, I, I wish a lot of younger people would  do it. More informed, not just quick find fi, find a recruiter and sign a contract, you know, just because he puts money there, but do your homework.

Because I went and do like the VA and stuff like that. And I talked to a lot of retirees and I asked them one basic question is you had to do it all over again. What service would you go in? And surprisingly, the Marines said the Air Force. The Navy said the Air Force. Yeah. So I mean the, every, the army said the Air Force.

So I'm like, okay, I'll go in the Air Force. Yeah. And, and I think it, it is most unlike normal military, or most unlike the other branches, you know, it's run, it is run a lot like in, in ways like a corporation. Okay. Yeah. But it's still military. It's still military. You can still get article 15 if you messed up. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.  You don't wanna get one of those. You know, it's funny,  we would, you know, every chain of command you go to, at least in the beginning, we'll ask you, you know, why did you join? Or whatever it is, your little origin story. And so many people said the Air Force recruiting office was closed.

That's how I ended up in the Navy.  You know, uh, obviously in the Navy we call it the chair force 'cause y'all sit around all day, but yeah. Mm-hmm. Most people would've gone to Air Force and  even if it wasn't a different branch. Just researching the different rates or moss or jobs, whatever, you know, each branch has their terms,  researching those before you make a decision, like you said, so many people will see the bonus.

Um mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Which, you know, I, I take it with a grain of salt. The, the larger, the bonus, I'm, I'm more skeptical, like, why is it such a large pro? I learned, you know? Exactly. Good, good. Yes. Yeah, that's exactly what you wanna be skeptical. What you really wanna look at is marketable skills when you get out.

There are jobs where they'll even allow us a smaller three-year enlistment versus a four, and you could come out with a marketable skill that will allow you to make six figures depending on what it is. Yeah, and that's one thing people really, the younger generation need to look at is what skills you're gonna have when you get out.

Can you need a career when you get out if you have to?  That is important because so many people will say, well. You know, it is gonna say military on a resume and that's gonna be a, a free pass to any job. And you know, there are higher veteran programs and there are plenty of mm-hmm. Resources out there to help you.

Uh, but they're just an assistance. They're not a guarantee All. You know, and it can be very difficult. I mean, of course on the show we've had multiple episodes dedicated just to career transitioning as a veteran. And, uh, to summarize them quickly, your resume, if you don't choose wisely, your rate for the military is gonna basically give you nothing on your resume.

Yeah. Where you know there's gonna be hundreds of y'all with the same exact cookie cutter resume. Mm-hmm. So it's definitely. Something to think about it, you know, whether you're getting out or staying in, what's it looking like? If I stay in job wise, what's it look like If I'm getting out, do I wanna do the same thing when I'm getting out?

Uh, yeah, because plenty of people can have a huge resume with all these military skills and then you're like, well, I want to be, you know, white collar side, not blue collar side, or vice versa. Well also think about it is, okay, you could do what you did in the military once you get out as a transition. So it's sort of a cushion.

You have a job, have money coming in while you're gonna school or transitioning to the next, you know, point in your life.  Yeah. Yeah. And so you talked about,  you know, your analogy there with the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and then mm-hmm. Kind of,  so the military, are you saying the military was kind of your, your, your staff so to say, you chose to do what you wanted to do, not just, you were kind of forced into that situation. 

Well, um,  it,  it almost appealed to me, you know, in the military movies and stuff like that. And then of course, I said, I, I initially went into the International Guard and what I did was, uh, they, they give you an asfab, so it's like an uh, yeah. IQ test. Okay. And, um, I did rather well, and then the recruiter just threw the book at me and said, here, pick an H, hiv want.

So, uh, I did that. And, uh, the guard always has to wait for spots for active duty. You know, active duty goes first, finally went to bootcamp, and then something clicked. It all made sense. I loved it. I enjoyed boot camp. It was fun for me, and I like, okay, yeah, I could, I could do this as a career. Yeah, definitely. 

Yeah. An IQ test where your IQ is, can you pick the best multiple choice? Answer? Uh, you know, at least, I don't know about when you went in, but when I went in, it was multiple choice. So  yes, yes, it is. It is, yeah. And it, I mean, it's not a guarantee, right? If you just go with no knowledge, you're gonna get, you know, just by chance a good score.

But it is, um, it's an interesting test and. You know, obviously you wanna do good on it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So let's get into, um,  one of the things that it doesn't really weigh, which I, I hate with the ASVAB or any standardized testing, the analysis of your literary and word skills is always like.  It's not, are you a good writer?

Are you a good reader? It's, um, we have a very specific word we want to use. Do you know that word?  Mm-hmm. Yes. So obviously the military was not necessarily a, uh, you know, where you could flourish as a writer, but as we discussed, you're an author. So when did that whole part of your journey begin?  Well, I will say the concept for the Amazons came into mind, um, when I had my daughter back in 2010.

Um, because, you know, as a father you want to introduce your. Your children to things that you enjoy, you know, and that, that you enjoyed as a, as as a child. And I went in there, in the, the literature section, in the poetry, and of course that you always have your staples, your, the i, the Odyssey by Homer, you have Bale Wolf.

You, you have all the, you know, Dante Inferno  and there's nothing wrong with them. They're great. But then I, I, I start to look around and there's, well, there's love poetry, but there's no.  There's no epic hero's journey for the females. The fact that it doesn't really exist is like saying that,  you know, they're not good enough.

Our mothers, our daughters, or sisters aren't good enough to have that hero's journey, you know? And I felt bad. I'm like, wow, you know, something needs to be done about that. Someone should write something for the feminine.  Yeah. And so with that being said, you know.  What I wanna understand is because I, I read the Amazons and it is a great read.

It's, it's a, I love the plot wasn't at all what I was expecting, so I love that. But  if we're trying to empower women and make them feel represented, why did you choose to write it from, you know, a kind of, it's a centered around the, the men or the main protagonist, and the women are antagonists, some of them are protagonists.

Why did you choose not to write it from a woman's perspective?  Because it needs to be able to be relatable. First off, uh, because the Amazons are humans, they're quote unquote demigods. Okay. Okay. And write it from the point of view of a demigod would be somewhat difficult and we need to write it from humanity's point of view.

Okay. Okay. And then also I wanted to work in. The fact that women aren't alone. We need to, as men and women, we need to become like a synergy and work together. Right. Okay. So you can't have one without the other one is they're more powerful together. So I refuse to leave out the masculine. Yeah. But I wanted to integrate the, the, the feminine as well. 

Okay. Yeah, because I was just trying to understand that, like I said, there's nothing wrong with it and I was just, I think I liked it. I liked the way it was written where you have some women who just villainize men or you know, turn them into an object and you see the counter arguments for that, how that's wrong and I, I think that's good.

I think it's always hard to have a balance, you know, in these kind of things where like. We saw with like the Barbie movie or companion, there's been a lot of content coming out lately where it is always a lot of  one way or the other, there's not really a lot of compromise, which relationships in real life, you know, balance is about compromise.

Where the men are flawed in some aspects, and the women are flawed in some aspects, and they're good in some and good in others. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But a lot of times we see this one or the other, gender is just. Totally the antagonist, whereas you had a mixture of it. So I, I, I like that. And so I have to ask, has your daughter read your works? 

Uh, I've read it to her, although I did have to leave out some of the racer stuff in the first answer, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.  And, and what did she think? How old is she for just reference? 'cause I know this is, she's 14. She's 14 now. Yeah. Okay. It's a bit of a. More advanced leave, uh, reading level kind of content.

For sure. Well, you know, the, the thing is, is once you start to understand LLP, uh, linked lyrical poetry, you know, the, you know, a lot of people are like, what, what am I reading at first? And then, oh, oh, now I get it. You know? And, and that's, uh,  another thing is, is I felt it's important to stand out. You know, you can. 

The pentameter of normal poult is expected. That dumb dun dun da da dah, you know, and the repetitive, repetitive,  to write a novel in that way, it, it's just not going to stick. It's not going to keep a person's attention.  And I couldn't certainly not do it. I couldn't do it the way like the, the alien, the Odyssey was doing, and I needed something different.

Okay? So I needed to come up with. My own special way or poetry, LLP, you know, and a lot of people say it sounds like rap, like, uh, the flow of rap because the words, the, the lyrical poetry,  uh, are linked from, from set to sentence to sentence to sentence. So it's like reading rap in a way or a song.  Yeah.

It's very interesting reading style. And I, I remember when I was reading it. I had a little chuckle to myself. You know, you had a note to reading in the beginner that says, I fired all my editors. You know, I had, this is unconventional writing. Like, they want me to do it this way, I'm gonna do it my way. So I, I did have, you have no idea how many arguments I got into with editors.

There was an argument over the word.  Um. Purse or un.  Now I tell you, I, you know, you tell somebody, you purse something, you understand that, and then if you were to unuse something, you would understand that I needed the UN word unperson in order to keep the rhyme scheme. Okay? Yeah. Editor just flew off the handle.

He said, no, that's not a word. Now he's right. It's not a word, but  you know, poetry is art, you know, and this is a brushstroke on a, on a canvas. And he's criticizing my brushstroke on a canvas. Okay? So you have to say, no, no. And you have to set up for yourself. And no, this is, this is the way it's going to be.

Yeah.  Yeah. And as long as the context is there, you know, the people are gonna be tracking. So I think that's important. Yeah. But yeah, I think, you know, it's important to have that independency and say, Hey, this is, you know, how I want it to be. And, and it's gonna work, you know, and, and to trust in you. And so  you have another work that I didn't get to read, and hopefully I pronounce this right, the caru Peace curse. 

Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. So can you give us a little breakdown about that?  Well, that goes back into, uh, ancient, ancient South American folklore. Okay. About the gods and, uh, what they believe to be, uh, uh, deities that lived among them. Okay. There's not very much written about them, and I felt that, well, since I had started on the Amazons, I might as well go ahead and then, um, start on a Chile's book as well.

Um. My friend Andrea Di Giani, uh, she's the one that did the audiobook with me on that. She's has a wonderful voice and if you ever have a book that you just want your kids to listen to, you know, go to bedtime. That's the perfect book. And it also, um, I, you know, I made it a point to their show, a positive light on, on the feminine and have a.

Have a strong female presence. So the majority of the book is about the princess. Okay. And about her strife and how she came to be and what she had to put up with.  Yeah, it's, it's, there is a evil deity that they believe in even talking about today called the carpi. And it's funny how the, the South Americans would talk about it.

Like they'll actually say like, if someone has an ugly baby, oh, you made it with the, you know,  but they actually believe it to be, you know, some believe that it still exists today, but it was an evil deity that was always pulling tricks. Sort of like Loki in uh, uh, uh, other folklore, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So.

It, it, it was the perfect, uh, uh, person to, to bring into the novel and make the antagonists. Yeah.  Yeah. So you got, we talked about the Amazons and then the corrupt, these curse. And then I know on your website, under the Coming Soon page, you have the Sigma Squad hunting the Deep State. When do we have an estimated timeline for that?

And can we have just a little overview? Well, that goes into, uh, let's see here. Um.  Conspiracy theories. Okay. Mm-hmm. I mean, I, I think a lot of us loved like, uh, the X-Files. You ever, have you ever watched those on, on television that, that series? No, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Okay.

Basically it generates a lot of attraction. Yes, it generates a lot of attraction because I always like to do this, 'cause I'll do this in the Amazons, I'll do it in the Crest Curse, I'd do it in all my writing, and I'll integrate it truth  into fiction.  I call it doing, pulling a Dan Brown.  That leaves the person wondering, well, wait a minute.

Is this true or isn't it? But  there's so many conspiracies out there, you know, that I decided to bring them into a graphic novel to, to show people what is really going on behind the scenes, you know, in the conspiracy theories versus what they may have here. Because there's,  there's a lot of people that don't want to pick up a book without pictures. 

But they will pick up. Look you, you get, you look at the mega uh, section in any bookstore, it's huge. Or the comics. Okay. Yeah. There's a lot of people that don't want to read, read a book without pictures. So this is an easier transition for that to help them understand by pictures what's going on behind the scenes.

But it, it starts from the ancient gnostic gospels. They will actually talk about,  um.  Where angels are split into two halves. This is a male or female, they call them Aons, and they're then brought to earth okay. To do God's work. Okay. And then there's also beings called highlights that are, that are sort of like empty shells that are, that are, uh, commanded and possessed by the, the evil entities that, you know, walk among us.

And then there's a, there's a war raging between both of them. For humanity. Okay.  And basically we, I go into, uh, the main characters are, are aans or angels that you know, that are down on Earth  and they go into, in the first issue, Bohemian Grove. Kill all the elites. Blow it up. Okay.  And it, you will see what's going on behind the scenes in the novel.

I don't wanna spoil it too much, but it, it gets pretty graphic. Yeah.  Yeah. And so it's gonna be, the whole thing is gonna be a whole graphic novel.  Yeah. I'm expecting at least 150 pages, if not more. Yes. Wow. Yeah. So that's quite the  time consuming endeavor to to yes. To work on for sure. Yeah. I have a great team that helps me out too, because a lot of times I'll do the, the rough sketches and then I'll hand it over to my, to my artists on my team, and then they'll finish it for me.

And that's the way it goes because when you start. Becoming an entrepreneur and you start pushing out more and more on your own. You, you need help. You need help. You can't do it alone. Yes. Yeah. So it's, it's, I love my team and I, I I, I take them, you know, the Lord for them every day. For what they do for me.

Yeah. And I gotta ask is, is this you on the front cover of Sigma Squad? He is. Got the same square top military cut blonde hair.  I did, uh, style, the, the, the character's name is Sly. Okay, nice. But I did style him a little bit. Uh, uh, uh,  looks to look a little bit like me. And then the other character is son, and she is, she is one of my good friends.

So, uh, we were, you know, it's funny, we were talking one day about.  The, the psychological type of the sigma, you know, the sigma male? The sigma female. Yeah. Because we were joking about how, um, the alphas, we always seemed to piss them off just by being ourselves. So we were joking and like, well, what are we?

And we started looking it up and, um, it, it, we seem to fit into that stigma category. So we decided to call ourselves a Sigma squad.  Nice. Yeah, that's, that's, that's awesome. Yeah. And um.  So I'm, I'm excited for that. That looks good. And like you said, yeah, a lot of people are just into the, the more visual aspect, especially nowadays.

Um, and I've, I've gotten more into graphic novels as well in comic books. Um, I, I, I appreciate both forms of literature. I think it's important to have that strong foundation in reading. The classics and I, I hope that, um, over time they'll continue to put visual aids and formats to classic stories that just don't have those.

I know that I'll give a controversial, uh, uh, example. A lot of people have started designing like graphic novels for the Bible, for stories from the Bible. Mm-hmm. Which there's always been movies, TV shows, but people are trying to make comic book styles to entice more readers, but.  You know, they say, Hey, faith is, uh, you know, faith is hoping that, which has not yet been seen, you know, so you shouldn't mm-hmm.

Have to see all this stuff. But I follow some AI generator channels that do just Bible scenes and, um, I think it's great and I think I'd love to see like, um, I. They were trying to make a musical called Epic based on the Odyssey, and uh, they're trying to make it into a musical just like Hamilton was. So I think it's, you know, so many people, especially the younger generations, are just into different art styles, different forms of literature, and it's important to try to. 

Not necessarily say cater to those, but if we want to put out a good work and have more people enjoy it, then sometimes we have to do that as long as we're not compromising our artistic vision or message. So I think that's the important part there. As long as you're still getting the message across in the same way, I think that's important. 

Oh yeah. People learn in different ways. I mean, you know, putting a book in front of somebody isn't always gonna work. Yeah, I definitely agree.  Yeah. So it's important to keep that in mind. And then I, I had saw on, on your website as well the love Continuum or Loves Continuum. Yes, yes.  Well, that's, that's, uh, a love story that I had started writing for a friend and, uh, we were gonna make it into a podcast that is actually a  full 45 minute podcast.

Um, but everyone's like, well, you should make it into a book as well. So, uh, you know, I, I'm working on that little by little. But with the whole press and everything, uh, about the Amazons, um,  I am focusing most of my time on making the Amazons too, because I do wanna make it into a trilogy. And I'd say I'm about 50% of the way done right now.

But there's still a lot more work to do and especially running an LLP. I mean, no publisher wants to hear that. I could sit there for an hour and maybe get a paragraph sometimes,  you know, no one has, very few people have the patience to do it. So, uh, it, it's, it's time consuming.  I want our listeners to understand better just how difficult it is to write an LLP.

So can you break down the requirements for it, the structure for it, so they understand like it's not just like writing a regular story, there is so much intellectual thought in strategy that has to go into writing it.  Well, um, I always use the analogy of thick of a mason, uh, building a brick wall. Okay, standard. 

Red, uh, bricks, you know, and mortar. And he has a plumb bob, and he makes it nice and straight. Does row after row after row. Someone comes in, does quality control, tells him to make some changes. That might be like the editor. Okay. And the mason is the writer, and it's very straightforward. Okay? And you could put out pages and pages and pages and, and you could put out a, an entire building in a couple of days with, you know, with,  but with LLP, um. 

Nothing standard. So you need to fit in the words to, to make them work okay? If you have to look at context, so that could be akin to making a natural stone wall where you actually have to, you can't just start, you know, start putting it up. You have to look at the shapes of the stone. Do they fit, which, which ones are gonna be best for the corners? 

The motor is not going to be flush. You know, you're gonna have to make changes in, in, in, in, in  every step of the way. Okay, so l, l, p, the basic premises. Would, the last word of the sentence should rhyme with the first word of the sentence. Okay. And then therefore then be linked. Okay. And then of course it should continue from next sentence, next sentence, next sentence.

And then you sometimes the words. The story and you have to allow it to happen,  but then also be prepared to where you might, you know, spend a day or two on three paragraphs, but then realize you can't, it came to a dead end. You can't write what you wanna write, so you need to start from the beginning. 

Yeah. It's, it's time consuming, it's time consuming, but it's, it's very much worth it. Everyone says that once they figured it out, they're like, I just had a, uh, vo vocal orders artist tell me that he was astounded. Like he couldn't believe it when he was on page two of how much time this must have taken.

Yeah,  yeah. Like you said, it requires a lot of, uh, patience, you know? Yes. I, I can imagine that. It's, it's definitely interesting and, um.  I have a couple, you know, projects that I've started working on that I'm trying to write like in the style of Worthing Heights, a a certain book, which for anyone who hasn't read that, it's not old English.

It's not new English and it's nothing in between. It is its own thing. I remember like, 'cause we, in high school I read plenty of Shakespeare, plenty of other stuff. We got to. E even Beowulf and other, you know, epic poems. And then we got to Worthing Heights and was just like, what is this language? You know?

Mm-hmm. So it's, it's interesting and, you know, to, I really admire like, you know, the skill and the time that you put into this, it shows how much love for your craft that you have. Mm-hmm. And so,  you know, I appreciate you, you know, guesting on podcasts to share this because I think, like you said, it's important because I don't. 

During that time period, you know, women were viewed a different way. Yes. But instead of seeing literature catch up to where we are nowadays in society, we saw a lot of literature just left behind. Mm-hmm. And I think it's important, like you said, your mission is to bring back epic poetry, so I really admire what you do.

And I know we've kind of talked about the future in terms of you continuing to write and do this. And I'm definitely excited for the Amazons too. There was a lot of. Things left unknown that I definitely, I was like,  yeah, well that was very impress. Well, you have to leave, you have to leave your audience hanging when, when, when you writing.

Of course. Yeah. Just not hanging from a tree upside down with the bracelet. Yeah.  Um, yeah. So that's really exciting to, to see that. And then ultimately, I assume my hope of yours is to see the Amazon's adapted into some kind of other form of media, whether it's a TV show or. A movie or did you plan on doing a graphic novel version?

I'm currently in talks with an undisclosed business that, uh, is a little interested in making the Amazons into a CGI, uh, sort of like, uh, star Wars, you know, that sort of CGI. Yeah. So we, we'll have, we're discussions right now. Um, I don't know if anything will, will come of it, but they, they said they were looking for a good story. 

That fits within a certain timeframe and the Amazons is perfect. Yeah.  Yeah. So that's, that's really exciting and I, I think it's awesome. And, um,  you know, what, what would you say? I know we talked a little bit about representing women, so just to to recap it, what would you say your message is across all of your written works that you're working on?

You know, what would you say is your main message for the, the women out there, especially for women who wanna write, for women who want to do those non-traditional roles or jobs or careers that, that, you know, society may say, Hey, you're a woman, you shouldn't be doing this.  Don't let fear stop you. Okay.

Throw down the walkie stick and pick up the sword if you want to.  You know, don't let fear stop you from living your life just because someone says you're just a woman. That should be even more so to, to show that you could do it. You know? Um,  I, I feel bad because like I have worked with a lot of women in the military and. 

I remember specifically one, uh, that she was pushing into toolbox writing and, and she was just covered of dirt, and she looks up at me and she said.  I would have to work three times as hard to get just the same credit as the guys. And this is, that just stuck with me because it bothered me. It's not fair.

It's not fair. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's one of the reasons why I wrote the Amazons is it's for women like that, you know, to, to inspire them to go out and do what they want to do. Yeah. Don't let anything stop you.  You know, when you brought up the military, that does, that's one of the. Focal points in our society where women. 

Aren't treated the same. I feel like, at least from what I've personally experienced, I seen they'll tell you they are, you know? Yeah. The, the, the public affairs officials will tell you, but they're not, they're not. No. Yeah, no, that's what I was gonna say is like, that's why I was like, where they're not treated the same because like publicly, you know, they put forward so much like celebrating, you know, women's month or women's mental health or you know, this and that, and they're trying to.

You know, change things. But I still met a lot of higher up who talked about how they were, you know, naval officers and they just weren't treated with respect because they were a woman. Or I've seen even like, um,  not even just in the military, just in plenty of workplaces, we've seen that kind of behavior.

And um, I think it's especially true military and blue collar side. You know, when women are willing to and want to do that kind of manual labor or that more blue collar work, we see a lot of like. Kind of, you know, that side eye and, um, or a lot of insults too, you know, or this idea that, oh, they must be lesbian or wanna be a man, or all this stuff.

Instead of like, we see their femininity taken away from them. Mm-hmm.  Well, they have to put up with, unfortunately, a lot of stuff that we don't have to put up with in the workplace. So, I mean, you know, like harassment, sexual harassment, stuff like that. So, um. It's, it's especially important for them to push and don't let that affect them and, and, you know, push through it and just be the best person that you can be.

You know? Yeah. Be more than what society expects you, you know, and  just keep pushing through.  Yeah, and, and hopefully your works are inspiring young women to do that, and I hope it brings about a interest back into Epic poetry. And before we close off, I wanna mention as well, on your website it says that you're a speaker.

So I'd love for you to share with everyone what you speak on.  Well, I have pre-made LLP speeches. Okay. And the one I usually use the most I call is literature is Dead. Mm-hmm. And the reason I decided to call it that is because I speak to a lot of writers, and then when you tell that to a writer, the automatically gets their, their attention.

Like, you know, what's this crazy guy talking about? Yeah. And then I could have their attention. And then I actually, the, the speech is about, um, how the heart isn't used enough. People don't realize that like when you got writer's block isn't necessarily your brain. It might be your heart.  Okay? Yeah. If your heart isn't in it, you could think of you, you, you can, you, you could think of a great idea, but you're be able to flow with it as a writer if you'd be stuck.

And it's, it's important to integrate your heart and your brain into your writing in order to, uh, be able to give you best work.  I agree with that a hundred percent because, you know, I've, I've got my 10th and 11th book coming out this year, and it, it really is that matter of heart. I, I really agree with that.

You know, that, that heart, you know, and, um, I've always had the issue where my heart wants to write too much, you know, like, you come on, gotta come back a little bit. But yeah, I, I can't even imagine. The frustration of being restricted the way you are in structure and words and wanting to write, and you're like, oh, well I, how do I word this?

Is there a word for that? Exactly, yes. Like you said, yes. Even having to make up a few words, but like I said, as long as they work and people know what you're saying, then it's, it is, I like, almost like abstract artwork. And it sounds like you said the, the canvas and the, and the brush, but, mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that's important to,  you know. 

Reassess it. You know, are you having trouble thinking of a plot or is it, you've got plot points, but you're just not feeling them and that, and that's okay. You know, because that's, and that's a sign, that's a good thing to be aware of. If you're not feeling it, then your heart's saying, you know, there's something wrong.

Yes. Well, and, and  I'll say something that I know some other people would disagree with, especially editors, but hopefully you'll be on my side given your history with them, but.  I say write for yourself first in the audience second. And what I mean by that is some people will change their plot or their characters or try to write what will sell best or what will this community like more?

I.  If you do not like the story, if your heart is not in it, it doesn't matter. Yes. And that's my personal opinion. I just, I would never want to write well and conform my whole book to someone else's image. That's not what those, those are big name writers that ha of ghost writers working for them and just push out books.

That's all they do is push up book after book after book. Yeah.  It's not, and not everything's from the heart in the, in the, and you know when it comes from them, unfortunately. And you can tell Yeah.  Yeah. And I think that's so important. So if you're out there, you know, write what you want to write. Like if, if they want something different, they can go find it.

There's hundreds of books out there where they can make it themselves. But stick to what your vision is and what you want and, and the rest will follow. And, um, so, and the description below ladies and gentlemen, will have Mr. Gunn's, you know, information so y'all can check out the Amazons the Caru Peace Curse, and then in the future. 

The Sigma Squad and Low Continuum and the Amazons too. And I'm sure a couple years from now there'll be, uh, several other Yes. Unexpected books and graphic novels. Well, we, writers always have like ideas in the back of our head, you know, so, we'll, we'll file it away, you know, but eventually it might come into existence.

Yeah. It's, uh, it's, uh. What I felt as an author is it's, uh, it's just there's no time, you know? Yes. It's like I have all these things I wanna write. Mm-hmm. But I can only work on one at a time, really. Or maybe two or three if I'm careful. Uh, but I still only have so much time in a day. And sometimes it's like, Hey, I sat down for an hour.

I. I wrote a whole chapter and other times, like you said, I sat down for an hour and I wrote a paragraph. You know, every day is different, every book is different. Um, so like I said, everyone will have your website and description below for them to check out what you currently have, and I encourage everyone to just keep going back and seeing what you put out.

But, um, yeah. Mr. Gun, I appreciate. What you're trying to do. I think it's something that, um, that you're the first person I've met doing this and may, you may be the only person I ever meet who's doing this. So I really appreciate that dedication and. What are you doing? I definitely wanna see a resurgence of classic literature from epic poetry to just Shakespeare style stuff.

Just, you know, everything nowadays, especially with, uh, AI is just so copy, paste and Yeah. Yeah. And I want to see a resurgence of, uh, appreciation for this old literature that people are like, oh, it's too sexist, or too this or that. Well, it doesn't have to be. We've got plenty of authors nowadays. Well, they have to, like, it might be written in the 15 hundreds.

They have to keep that in binds, you know, when it was things like that was commonplace. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But it doesn't have to,  we have capable minds and writers like yourself and like others out there who can give us something modern that is still in that old style. So I, I appreciate that and I encourage anyone out there who.

Is thinking about writing and you're like, well, I don't know if people are gonna wanna read an LLP. What if people don't want to read, you know, a Shakespearean style thing? I'm telling you. Do it. Yeah.  Yeah. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Listen to that voice. Yeah. Listen to that voice. There's no such thing as a stupid idea.

There is such a thing as an undeveloped idea. Something made that idea come into your head. Just develop it. Yeah. There might be a grain of, of genius there. I.  Yeah, like you said, it's, uh, everything is, is, is growth. You know, I, every time I've gone to write something and, and you cannot testify to this, where it started originally, day one to where it ended when it was published, a very different thing, uh, you know, yes.

It still built on that foundation. But drastically different. It's like seeing a child grow up. You're like, wow, I never thought it would, you know? Yeah. That would happen. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So, Mr. Gunn, I appreciate you coming on the show today and sharing. Like I said, I encourage everyone to check out your works and I hope that they do well and I'm excited for the Amazons too.

Oh, thank you for having me Mr. Mr. Whiskey. I appreciate it.