Author Lisa Czarina Michaud ("Slanted and Disenchanted"')!

The podcast that you're listening to is being presented to you with the cooperation of the SJ Network. If you're a person who needs a publicist and you want to appear on podcasts, contact Stephen Joyner at s-j-network.com. Let's get on with the show. Today's guest in the Sherpa screening room is Lisa Serena Michelle. Author has landed it and disenchanted. She told the Sherpa that she's a fan of the show. That sounds impossible. Maybe she meant she wants to sell him an air conditioner. Wait, you're trying to open the show with an air conditioner joke? Sorry. Not a fan. Attention, rebels of the Sherpa Lucien. Today's podcast is brought to you by Audible. We would like to give you a free audiobook download and 30-day free trial simply by heading to www.audibletrial.com/shurpa. There are over 180,000 titles of audiobooks and podcasts, including this one, to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or MP3 player. And now, the one and only Mr. Bruce will lead you into the Sherpa Shallae. As a reminder, on Fridays, ladies drink free at the Sherpa Shallae Nightclub. Provided that you are a Lady Vildebeest. It's time for entertainment interviews in the Sherpa Screening Room. Grab a Nile seat and a bucket of popcorn, but don't crunch too loud. Or you'll miss the show. Now, here's your host, Jim, the podcast Sherpa. Hello, there, rebels. And welcome to the Sherpa Screening Room, a presentation of too many podcasts. It is on. Jim, the podcast Sherpa, asking you the one musical question. Is this thing on? Can you hear me? I'm actually breaking in a new microphone. That's the lovely Sherpa Brie gave me for Christmas. And yes, this is my first recorded show for 2022. So welcome, and I hope you guys had a safe end of 2021. Even though I know it's a little late to hear it this late in the year. But anyway, it is a very special episode today because the interview that I'm having with my guest today, her name is Lisa Zareena Meshod. And she is an author. And I didn't find her through super publicist Steve Joyner. No, no, she actually reached out to me. She is a fan of the show. And you can do that too if you've got something to promote, like some music or book or something like that or whatever. And you do that by emailing me at Jim, the podcast [email protected]. So anyway, Lisa reached out to me and I found her story was fascinating. So we set up an interview and guess what? We had a lot of fun too. So I really enjoy getting to know her. And I think you will enjoy getting to know her too. So let's hear from our guest today, Lisa Zareena Meshod. Bonjour, Mona Meshod, the Sherpa Lucian. Why am I greeting you like this? Because my guest today is actually coming to us from Paris, France, where actually she lives. She's not a vacation. This is her home. And she is an author of the book, slanted and disenchanted. And we're going to talk about that. And we're going to get to know her. Her name is Lisa Zareena Meshod. And she's right here. Lisa, welcome to the show. Bonjour. Thank you. Hi, Jim. How are you? I'm very good. Thank you. It's finally good that we meet. We've been corresponding a little back and forth. And I got to know you a little bit and I got to sample your book. And I'm really enjoying it so far. I haven't finished it yet. But I like the story. It's very different. I'm working to kind of get into this a little bit more. But I know there seem to be little samples of you in that book from the little of you I know. There might be. It might have been inspired by by some aspects of my life. Um, you know, from being Italian American and loving rock music. So yeah, I know I definitely pulled for my life. But I've never been in a rock band and I'm a terrible guitar player. So I think I kind of, that's where the fiction comes in. So how did the nice go from New York City ended up in Paris? You kind of took the long way, didn't you? I did. I did. I, um, I didn't, okay, so I didn't grow up like loving Paris. I didn't have like, I full towers in my, my room and dream of French things at all. Um, I was working. Well, I moved from New York to Los Angeles first and kind of stumbled through adulthood, um, in Hollywood, which was entertaining. I have stories. Um, and then I moved back to New York and I worked in fashion and my bosses were all French. And just for fun, I started to take French classes after work at Alliance François on 60th Street. And then after a few years, I kind of like, why don't I use this French and, you know, it was right before I turned 30 and I was going to go to Paris for a few months as like a sabbatical. I had been working since I was 13 years old. So I was like, let's just do something really crazy before, you know, I get settled down. And that was 14 years ago. And I never came back. I mean, I go back to see my family, of course, but I, um, I'm, I'm a Parisian now. I met my husband. I made a baby. My son is French. He prefers speaking French, which is so funny to hear because I didn't think, uh, I never imagined I'd have a child who would answer me back in French. And we're here. And I, I'm better now instead of working in fashion. So which means that I get to wear sweatpants and I get to eat. That's always a plus. It's always a plus when we get to consume food and we're sweatpants all day. I just go that working from home right now. And I think we're all like experiencing that right now. The, the, the joys of like not having to get on a train or drive to work. I think, uh, I think we're all very comfortable in our, our Zoom occupations. So what's one thing about living in Paris that people should probably know that they don't know? Okay. Okay. When I moved here, I got such an education on bread. You know, and I mentioned that in my book, um, how the father says, there's no bread in America. After living here, I do understand that comment. And that was taken from my bosses at the job that I work in my fashion office. They'd always say, there's no, there's no bread in America. And I just feel like, what are you guys talking about? It's like aisle seven and, you know, and wallbounds or CDs, whatever super market. And they were like, that is not bread. Now living in Paris, I get it. There's not that like that, um, boulangerie, the bakery, um, culture. And not all bakeries are the same. And they are good bakeries. And they're really bad ones. And you have to find the perfect baguette. And every neighborhood you're going to live in is going to have like a choice of five bakeries. And you have to try all of them. And you find your favorite bakery. And it sounds so stupid, but it's part of the culture. We get bread in the morning. And then we get it at night. And there's a line out the door. And you want to get it when it comes out of the oven. So when you crack it open, the steam comes out. It's incredible. My son and I, it's our favorite thing. I pick him up from school. We go to our bakery. And I'm putting up finger quotes for everyone, because it is our bakery. And we know when it comes out of the oven, it's about five, 15, because school gets out of five. And you crack that puppy open. It's crusty on the outside. You know, melts in your mouth on the inside. And the steam comes out. And that's something that's really special to me. And I think the French would really appreciate me hailing their bread as the best bread ever. So that's one thing I guess I picked up from living here. And also I learned a lot about wine. When you eat the baguette, do you have to put butter on it? Or is there a certain thing that you have to put on it to make it truly a French experience? I mean, you don't need to. I don't. If I'm feeling decadent, yeah, I'll put a butter on it from from Brittany, a nice half salted butter, which is really good. But then I ended eating the whole baguette. Then you end up finishing it, because it's so good. So I try and hold back. But yeah, you can put butter on it. Jam, confiture, anything really. Or my Italian side likes a little olive oil, some salt and pepper in it. And they dip it in that. Okay. So when you were growing up, I mean, there's a lot of different inspirations from what I can see in, like I said, in the short time that I've gotten to know you. I mean, you said you were involved in fashion. You like music. What were your goals when you were a kid? Did you think about being a writer or was there something else? Well, I wrote everything. I've been writing every day since I was like seven years old. My mom bought me a journal. And I would just like write everything that happened for the day. You know, my journals are so boring, even my high school journals, when they're supposed to be kind of juicy, it's like we went to the mall and somebody stole something from Woolworths. And the police came, like it's like it's like a reporting of like what happened in 1995 at Roosevelt Field Mall. And I just always wrote, but I never really thought that it could be like a real job. You know, I was kind of like, well, I write, but what do you really do for a living? And so I worked in when I was in fashion, I was working in finance and an IT, but I'd go home and write. And then when I moved to Paris, that was able, that was how I was able to make a living because a lot of newspapers, magazines, they like to hire expatriates to write about the French experience. So that's how I got my poll into writing professionally. And then I wrote this book out of really nowhere. I just had this idea. my head and I just wrote it and I had finished writing the first draft in like three months. It just like kind of poured out of me. Now, is there going to be more sequels so we can hear more about these characters, Carla and Peter from Selena and Disengented? Yes, we are. I finished the first draft of the second book and now I'm revising and going back into it for the second draft and it should probably take about a year working with my editor. But yeah, where they end up, does the band continue? Does he go to Paris? Does she find herself? Who knows? It's all in book two. But you said that you worked in Hollywood? Or were you a writer in Hollywood? Or did you do something else? No, I was a background artist, which is fancy talk for saying I was an extra. So if you want to see my work, you can see me kind of behind Angelina Jolie in the carnival scene in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The scandalous movie set where she got together with Brad, PS, the extras we knew beforehand. When the story broke, we were all like, yeah, we knew that. Big shocker. We were kind of like, it's seen, there was a lot of flirting on the set and we were like, interesting. And then when the story broke, I remember all of us extras were calling each other, being like, they should have just asked us. We would have told you what was going on. No, I was an extra IPA, that's how I paid my rent. I was non-union. So it's $54 for eight hours. And I was on so many, I mean, teen dramas, but the one show that I was on, that was really freaking cool. And I don't know if people remember this show. It was on NBC and it was called American Dreams. Okay. And it was based in the 1960s. And my extra part, if it could be called a part, is that I got to reenact scenes from American bandstand. And it was really cool. Like the girl, it was set in Philadelphia. So the main characters would go to American bandstand and they would see the band's play and they would have modern bands reenact scenes from old footage of American of American bandstand. So I think like Richie Sambora played Eric Clapton and when he was in the Artbirds, we had Jennifer Love Hewitt as the, as Nancy Sinatra, Hillary Duff was the Shangri-La's with her sister. And our job was to dance around all these people. And it was really like American bandstand. But the hair and makeup, I have photographs that I would take, that I have from that time period. And they look like they're from the 60s. Like my hair was in a huge beehive. They would put us in mini skirts, fake eyelashes, pull on makeup where we would have to break for lunch. And we would go to like the shopping center on Sunset Boulevard. And I remember this one man, he was so confused because all the extras we all would go to lunch together. And everyone looked like Buddy Holly, you know, Ronnie Spector, Rest in Peace. And I just, everyone was full of, out and done. And this guy who was Twitter, the, the Shana Nas in town, I think he really was very confusing to people because we were, there was like a hundred of us. And that was my favorite job in the whole entire world. It paid terribly, but it was one of the best jobs you could have at 21 years old living in Hollywood. It does sound like a lot of fun. Definitely had that kind of experience to say that you were part of something. Yeah, I have clips of it too. My husband found all of the clips where you can kind of see me. And he made like a little reel of, of me like dancing and like, you know, just partying to like all this like 60s music. And so he made like a little reel of all my, my teeny tiny clothes, Ricky kind of see me in the background. And we know it's us, no one else is, but you won't make it an official demo reel or anything like that. You can go and if you look closely. Yeah, of my acting of my fine acting abilities. No, no, no, but to really pay the rent, I was also a waitress. So, and I worked at some really kitschy like 70s kind of down there over in the Hollywood Hills. It actually recently just closed, which really makes me sad. It was called the 101 coffee shop. So RIP 101 also. And I worked it for a few years. It was one of the best waitressing gigs I, I had. And my my countertop. I mean, everybody can. We had Selma Hayek came in, Brad Pitt speaking of came in. Jimmy Franco came in with James Franco. Jason state them. He was a big one. Table seven. Do you remember any particular customers in the diner that might have left the last thing in impression for you? Yeah, Jimmy Franco. I didn't know he was an actor. He was just so nice. He always set table one, which is our counter table one. It was just like one seat. And so when you're at the counter, you're always talking to whoever's there, you know, because you're just the proximity so close. And if it's kind of quiet, you know, it's the same people that come in. And so like one day I asked him, so what do you do for a living? And he's a gum and actor. And I'm like, oh, that's cool. It's L.A. Everyone's an actor. So you don't get you're not impressed. And I'm like anything I've seen you in. And he's like, oh, I played James Dean in a TV movie, but at the time he was already in Spider-Man, which I found out in hindsight. Like in retrospect, I found out later. And I'm like, well, that's great. You know, a really good luck on your acting, but he was totally famous at the time. And it occurred to me years later, because I watched Spider-Man with a friend. I'm like, oh my god, there's Jimmy. And he's like Jimmy. I'm like, yeah, table one. Jimmy, egg white. I'm with, you know, he's like, yeah, he's like kind of super famous. And now I know he's like a superstar, you know, but and that's the beauty. That was the beauty of this this restaurant. It was just so not pretentious. And it wasn't, you know, it was just really a mom-and-pop kind of vibe. It had a jukebox and, you know, and Jason Statham was always a few seats down. And he was really cool too. But he was, he told me he was like an action movies. And I'm like, that's cool, you know. It was he didn't like fatten of beat anybody up. It's like the coffee wasn't right or anything like that, right? No, no, he's a sweetheart, really. They, I mean, they all really were really, I mean, everyone says actors or jerks, but I haven't had that experience. I actually found them delightful, the more famous I found the nicer. It was always the ones who was like who like, they'd some role in some TV show that no one knows. Those guys were always kind of jerky, but it was like the real famous ones. They were always super cool. Right. You didn't have to want to deal with the guy who like, don't you recognize me? I was boy with bag in ET. Yeah, you don't want to deal that. Actually, I met Jennifer Lopez. She was really cool. Yeah. She was awesome. I a friend of a friend got an invitation to Ben Affleck's birthday party. And again, I was not invited. I'm just like the person who's like, I'm available. I can, I chap a rona and come to the party with you. And it was when they were together the first time around. And the party was like really intimate. It was at like a club. And my friend goes to me, I dare you to go wish Ben a happy birthday. And I'm like, are you really daring me? You're going to double dog dare me? Okay. I'm in a wish. I'm a happy birthday. And it was Ben and Jen. They were together. And so I went over and I'm like, hey guys, how you been? Happy birthday. And he was like so totally cool. Happy birthday. Thanks so much for coming. And at one point, they kind of were looking at each other like, who's that F is this? And that was when I was like, made my exit. I'm like, anyway, great party. And my friend and I went to the bar. And we had a complimentary glass of champagne. We danced. And, and then we went home. Jennifer Lopez is absolutely gorgeous by the way. Like, I mean, we all know she is, but in person, it was like her skin was like liquid gold. And she smelled really good too. It's not just the cameras on her. It's just a natural glow for her. No, yeah. I think she's, she's very, very beautiful. So that was, that was nice to know. You know, it was nice to get confirmation. I slept well that night knowing Jennifer Lopez was beautiful. Okay. So we got to talk about your work here before we talked a little bit more about JLo and Ben. You're a music buff, just like me. And I guess it was this, that was the inspiration behind swimming and disenchanted. Yes, yes. And definitely a music buff. My dad was a roti for Emerson, like, in Palmer. And he was a drummer. And so I grew up listening to, like, my mom really likes dance music and, like, Madonna and Prince. And then my dad really likes, like, Pro Rock and Jazz. So I kind of had, like, my brain is split into between, like, nerdy rock music and then, like, total pop music. So I try to get both of them into the book. The book, I mean, I think it's been noted, like, it's definitely a pop culture reference extravaganza. I, you know, I kind of, like, pulled in, like, old conversations I used to have in high school, where it was just, like, a movie always came up, or the album cover, or, like, slash from Guns and Roses. He always came up in conversation in high school. But I could think of one person that always came up and be like, "Oh, like, slash." So I had to put slash in there in, like, some, you know, some comment, because he was, like, such a, like, standard for us. I guess maybe it's kind of, like, my Gen X side coming out, like, a '90s thing. But it was just always, like, slash. Like, if someone played guitar, we'd be like, "Oh, he doesn't play like slash." Like, slash is always the standard for hair, guitar, leather pants. What were some of your favorite bands? Nirvana, 100%. I'm not going to lie. I did cry when Kurt died. My friends and I did like a candlelight vigil in her backyard on Long Island. And it was very traumatic. And our parents were like, who is this guy? You guys don't understand Kurt died. And they were like, who is he? Was he in seventh grade? And we were just like, our parents don't understand anything. So Nirvana was a big one, of course Pearl Jam. We, Kurt Cobain's wife, Hull, Courtney Love was a huge one for us. I mean, she was like the standard for us, like, mid-90s girls. We loved her. I mean, I went to all her concerts. And then, you know, I'm not going to lie. I kind of did fall into the spice girls. I did like them. I know that's not rock, but I, you know, I got to do spy all the dancing around. And everyone got to pick their own spice girl, who was like them. I was, I identified Ginger. But of course, Guns and Roses love them. User illusion one and two is probably, well, I love two more than one. But that's like a standard and like, great rock albums and videos. Totally the music videos. Like, I'm the MTV generation. So, I mean, anything that was on MTV, whether it was like pop music or, or grunge rock, it, you know, it resonated and it like shaped who our generation is. Are you like me? That if somebody asks like a music trivia question and, and you can just bang it out, the answer really fast. And you're like, why don't you know this? It's a, yeah, it's a fence. I'll like make like comments. I'll just do like, we'll, you know, like Steve Albini clearly, you know, he, he produced that album because he's totally into Mike placement. And I make all these like nerdy references. And they're like, one, who's a Steve Albini into Mike placement? I'm like, Mike placement is very important. You can't just play with the knobs in your producer. The mics have to be like so in the studio, which is what I learned, reading about Steve Albini. But yeah, I'm constantly saying things in my house. But even with classical music, I'll be like talking about something. And I'm like, well, you know, it's Chopin. He died of, you know, tuberculosis. And so I, you know, it all just reference, like Chopin and just feel like what? All right. We got to talk about the book now. And we got to know you a little bit more. Why don't you let everybody know kind of like a little synopsis about the book. So if they want to check it out. Um, so it's called planted and disenchanted, which is a play off the pavement album, planted and enchanted, which is one of my favorite albums growing up. And I like the idea of being disenchanted because they, the two characters, they're, it's Karlyn Pete and they're 20 years old. They're just about to turn 21. And it's sort of that moment in, in life, we're wondering like, are we adults yet? You know, you never quite know when we've technically turned adults, you know, yes, technically is boomer 18. We can vote. Some countries you can drink. And, but that doesn't mean anything. You know, and that's like the big theme of the book is like, what does it mean? What does adulting mean? And it alternates between the perspective of Pete and Carla, where the idea is that I wanted the reader to be smarter than the characters. So we could see all the misunderstandings, but they don't because they respond to things differently, and they see the same situation completely differently based on their, their experiences, the background, their upbringing, their gender. And so I really played with that kind of he said, she said, balance. And the thing that brings them together is their love of pop music and rock. And I purposefully made them on different ends of the spectrum of rock. So he's into like fish, the grateful dead, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, the Zeppelin, just that real, you know, progressive jam band classic rock. And I had her on the other end, feminist rock, riot girl, punk. And they kind of have this kind of like battle of the bands kind of feel to it, which is super fun because it reminds me also of growing up where all the boys listen to this like this jammy stuff. And us like punky girls were like, oh my gosh, how why is this song 12 minutes long? They can't get to the point in two minutes and 33 seconds like every other punk band. And I actually like both sides of them. So I was able to like play with that debate because I see both sides. I understand why is a song 12 minutes long? That's, that's, you know, excessive. But then maybe it can be because it's influenced by jazz and bluegrass and, um, and other, there's other influences in it that makes it 12 minutes long. And so I definitely play with that. There's tons of 90s, you know, pop culture reference is from like, you know, the movie My Girl. I don't think you're there yet. Maybe not. The movie My Girl, which was such a like a movie that was always on HBO growing up. And for all of us, we were just say this is just sad movie. And I'm not going to tell anyone what happens. But the kid from Home Alone isn't it? It's really sad. And, um, and, you know, the Soul of Silent Video with all the missing children. That was always on TV. And it was very scary. And we were always scared of like vans driving down the street because we're like, are we gonna be in the Soul of Silent Video? So I kind of played with some of these pop culture references. And it's funny. The response that I got from readers, they were like, oh my god. Yes, I was scared of vans too after the Soul of Silent Video. And it's so satisfying to like meet other readers on the internet who are like, yes, I completely remember having this same exact conversation with my best friend in like 1994. And it's just so cool because I feel like I'm like creating this like community of like, you know, 90s nostalgia. It's not that we're stuck in the past, but we're just kind of laughing at how, you know, kind of dramatic everything felt. So, and then they go on a cross-country road trip, you know, a big tragedy happens in our country or as a world, however you want to look at it. And that's kind of serves as a catalyst on them being like, okay, why don't we head face person to being an adult? And to them, that means getting into a rusty van or rusty Buick and driving across country to do a kind of greasy dive bar tour. And on the road, they learn about who they are and they come into themselves. They find each other, but they also find themselves and answer some questions that they're going to have to, you know, work through even more in the sequel. It's really a story that's I think very well suited to being an audiobook, which is what you gave me the link to, by the way, so everybody's wondering. Because as you said, you know, there's a lot of, she said, she said perspectives and you hear that the two different voices in the book, expressing that where they relive an event and, you know, they both look at it, they both have that different perspective on it. Yeah, the audiobook is great because it is, I mean, the book itself has like the cinematic quality. So I've been told that's the big, that was like a big comment coming back from early readers and and current readers. And so once I heard that, I wasn't going to do an audiobook, but then once I heard how like cinematic it was I was like, all right, let's do an audiobook. And the casting was really, it took a long time finding the voices because everyone was good, but not quite what the voice is called for. And I did play with getting actors that had New York acts. And I couldn't find anyone. I had people do the New York accent, but it wasn't authentic. And it seemed almost comical. So I just said, okay, just scratch it. And I have had actors who have more of a neutral accent. And they, they killed it. I'm really, really happy with both actors. They were a delight to work with. And they, they really worked with me because there were a lot of cultural references too because Pete is French American. And Carla's Italian Americans. So it's like there are parts of our culture that like foods we eat that aren't in the, you know, in the English language like Brazil. And I mean, the actress, she's not from New York. So I mean, like, I had to literally record myself saying these were like these, these words of doing, "Brujole." Boy, I tell, with the New York accent too. I don't know if this was intentional or not when you, when you did the book, but I find it interesting that Carla works in a photo developing store because a lot of the book really is like a snapshot of a lot of different things, not just the music scene of like Long Island, of suburbia, you know, at that point in time. And I just thought it was odd that out of all the jobs that you had, you know, she's the one developing the pictures. And that's how they come together as a matter of fact. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I wanted a good job that doesn't exist today. To just really place the reader into like the late 90s, 2000. It takes place in 2000, but I wanted to put the reader there without so much saying it, showing and not telling. And then also I pulled from my own background. That's what I did after school. I worked in a Photoshop. And the scene that is in the book is a real scene that truly, truly happened. Somebody dropped the dirty pictures off at the at my photo store. A cute boy didn't come in. That didn't happen. But I was just developing the film and I was with my aunt. boss, who the boss in the book is based on my real boss. And him and I were like bumping into each other as these dirty pictures were being developed in the machine behind us, coming down the little carousel in the window. And we were so scared that people were going to come in or children. And I was so embarrassed when the guy came back and got the pictures. I mean, today I could have called the police, but this is 1989. So I just, you know, I was 17. I was so embarrassed. And so that's that was true, a real scene. They definitely seems to be some inside jokes about being Italian about the family talks loud. Well, they're not arguing they're just having a conversation. That was my, yeah, that was my little wink at my Italian upbringing. Like Thanksgiving at our house, that was a true Thanksgiving. Like, we didn't have Turkey. We had like Manacati, somebody had to take up the prosciutto at Glen Cove and the mozzarella. There was the roasted peppers. And it was just kind of why are we even calling a Thanksgiving and we just call it we're eating altogether. It's just a meal. And I had to go downstairs and get the leaf from the, the basement is a huge thing to make the table big. And everyone's screaming across the table, my grandfather was like, my grandfather at some point would get mad at my cousins, because they would complain about something. And then all of a sudden World War 2 would come up. And we were talking about Normandy, my grandfather was at Omaha Beach. So then World War 2 would come up. And we're sparking about D day. And it's Thanksgiving. And my cousins have no patients. And it just, yeah, that's pretty much a typical meal at my family's house that I had to just bring to life because it is so funny to me, even living it. I'm just like, this is my family. This is my family. And so, yeah. Did you have the other Italian things like the towels in the bathroom that you're not allowed to use and the room that you can't go in? Because that's for company. Yes, we did have that we had the towels we couldn't use in the powder room. Then we had the couch that we couldn't sit on in the living room. But we could sit in the salarium. We couldn't sit in a living room. We could sit in the salarium. And the reason why it was a salarium was because there was one skylight. tiny skylight in the ceiling. And that was the that to brought all the sun in. Yeah. And then, oh my god, we did cure prosciutto and and meats in our garage. And I did go to school smelling like cured meats. And I did have one of my teachers sniffing my hair, because she could smell so pesata in my hair. And she announced that to the entire class. And I was mortified because I smelled like cured pork product in the sixth grade. All that in the book that all happened. Well, kids can usually smell a lot worse and bad. So it's not too bad. My teachers seem to be really excited about it. And my family was in the food business. So she'd always asked you be like, what's going on at the store? And I'm like, I don't know, I'm 12. I don't know. I really, I just I just want people not to make fun of me. That's all I want. And for the listeners out there who were from Long Island, as we said, Lisa lived in Long Island, a good portion of her life. And a lot of the book you said, it's pretty much a love letter to Long Island from the places that you would go. Yeah, it really is. I mean, like I I poked on at Long Island a little bit. But you know, I all the places that are in the in the book and little references are completely real. Like there's one reference that makes you. Pete's dad flirting with the French lady at the that the music school that was on hillside Avenue. That was a real place. That's where I learned how to play guitar. It was this little music school. That's actually now a Ralph's. It would became a florist. And then now it's now to Ralph's ice. And the woman she chain smoked if you read French fashion magazines and all the women were topless. And I was 12 13. And I would go in my little classical acoustic guitar and you know, learn my scales. And her name was Lizette, which I did put in the book that's her true name because I don't know if she's still with us. I don't know anything. And that was like my little homage to her because she was so special to me. And I had gone to this little music school for three years. And then I stopped going and then I wouldn't move to California. And then when I came back, it was a Ralph's. So the store where it jam out in the music store, that's a real store that's still there. It's changed names a few times. So I don't know what the name of it is now. But I try to keep your hildebrands. There's the one old fashion diner from the 50s that still exists is on hillside Avenue. And that's where they get ice cream together on their 21st birthday. So I really tried to, you know, immortalize places that were really special to me. And when I was home on Long Island over the summer, I stopped into these places and I brought them a book just to say, you know, you guys are in a book. And I hope you like it. And I hope I did the business justice. And it's in a book forever now. So it's also like I say, what about a photograph, a really good photograph on Suburbia too, because you make a lot of reference to like, well, I had to stop and get coffee. We had to go to the mall. We took the train into the city. Yeah, definitely. There's told me yeah, definitely stopping to get coffee. And then it's like there's so many places you can go, you know, when you, you get in your car, you there's like, you pass four or five delis on the on the way to your deli, you know, you can go to any, you know, but you have your specific places. And it's like what I said about the bakeries and friends, I think in New York, we have the same thing with delis, like we have our deli, where we know the guys buy an account or we know they're going to make a nice sandwich that's going to have enough meat on it. We know my deli that I like on Long Island, they wrap my ice coffee in plastic wrap. So it doesn't condense all over my car. Like that's, that's an important detail. But it's not important for everyone. And maybe they go to the deli closer because they they get hot coffee. But who knows what these characters, but like we said, it's kind of a little bit of you, you know, in disperse and obviously your your life growing up and there, what do you think that they would be like today? That's such an awesome question. I, you know, when we were all in confinement, I was finishing the book. And I was like, what? How are my characters dealing with this right now? You know, and I was writing like kind of like mental fan fiction about what they were, what they were doing. And I, you know, and like politically, well, politically, I know exactly where they are. But I can get it. But you know, I always see things that are happening in 2020, 2021, 22. And I'm like, imagining how each one are going to, you know, respond to it. And because they're so ingrained in in my brain and who I am, I know exactly how they're going to respond to things, I know the dialogue. But during the confinement, I had them in France in the little region where Pete comes from, which is Alsace, which is on the border of Germany. And it's such an interesting part of French history because it has gone back and forth between being occupied between France and Germany. So, you know, everyone has a French first name, but their last names are very German sounding. And the architecture is very Germanic. And they have their own language, which is Alsaceian. And when I go there, I did a lot of research. I spent a lot of time in that region and learning about it, learning history, because it's not close to Paris at all. It's about six hour drive. And I picked this region because I wanted to learn something while I was writing. I could have had him come from Paris, but I just said, you know what, let's try something new, let's learn something while writing the book. And so, yeah, during the confinement, I had them in Alsace. And on a farm and just isolated with their guitars, maybe their children, I don't know, and lots of animals. I forgot to mention at the beginning of the interview, how this interview actually came to be, because could you tell the story of like, how we ended up setting up this interview? I know I'm on the spot, because I actually forgot the name of the the trombonist, right? Or re-logan? Yes, yes, that's I was just on I love jazz, you know, and I like when Spotify recommends other artists who aren't like the most famous. So I just kept going through the recommendations, like, I'll keep pressing. And I found, I found her. And it's a woman, you know, everything was was men, you know, all jazz musicians. And I think she's incredible, because she is, she's really in a man's world. I mean, there's not many women who are playing, you know, it's kind of music. And so I just wanted to know a little bit more about her because, you know, writing a book about musicians, like, and especially a female guitarist who knows how to, you know, knows her instrument so well. I wanted to, like, learn a little bit more about, you know, musician who also knows her instrument well. And I came across her podcast and she was such a delight on the show too. And so I felt really like satisfied to know that she was as cool as her music. It really is. Yeah, that was in careful editing. She was just that cool. She was just a lot of fun to speak with and just a very down to earth person. She's pregnant, by the way. Oh, that's great. Oh, well, I know you don't know me, but congratulations from another mom in France. I have, I have a six year old. So it's, it's a party. So Lisa had heard the podcast interview with the library. And then she said, I would like to come on your show and talk about my book, I said, absolutely. You're so great. You got back to me. Thank you. Really. I mean, I was so happy to hear from you because it's just I don't know, I like meeting other hosts of, you know, podcasts who are just like putting their, you know, just putting themselves out there and like sharing with us, you know, musicians, writers, artists that we probably wouldn't know about otherwise. Because I mean, we can go on any website and read about the most famous person Billie Elish and and they're great, but I also want to know what other people are doing who don't have, you know, the, the muscle behind, you know, the publicity. I love this like podcast culture we're in right now because we're all learning so much. Yeah. That's what I love about it too. You know, that there are people who get to tell their stories and you literally have a book and another book coming out, obviously, and you get to promote as well. We'll look at the promotion partners. I can don't where I didn't forget. No, this is fun. I just, I love talking about all these, like, these stories. It's, you know, it's not every day I can talk about when I was young and and, you know, carefree in meeting Jennifer Lopez, you know, I bring there, you know, I'll tell my son this story and I'll just be like, what's for dinner? Please don't say veggies again. The next book you're working on it right now when should people expect to release any timeframe yet? I'm shooting for Spring 2023, but knowing the publishing industry, it's probably going to be closer to summer, which is fine because it's set in a place with warm weather is all I'm going to say. So maybe it'll be a fun be trade and and it is. It is. I definitely, you know, in book one, I kind of held back on some of the experiences because, you know, when we are living with our parents, we aren't as expressive and so many aspects of adulthood. So in book two, I will share that they won't be living with their parents and then they'll be probably be a little more involved in their adult life. And I'll leave it at that. That's my, that's my G rated response. The book is very enjoyable. I like I said to Lisa, I'm up to like the eighth chapter. I haven't gotten to the deep part. I'm about to the part where the two characters call it and beat me and they, and they start playing together and obviously there's a lot more going on that's going to happen after that and for the more obviously in the sequel. We don't usually do this part on the Trevor screening room, but I know because you, because you like the show, I wanted to give you the opportunity to do a little shameless self promotion. And you can let everybody know how they can follow you and find out about the book as well. Well, I'm on all of the social media platforms. I actually just joined TikTok. I can't believe I did it. It makes you feel very old. At least I, you know, once I realize I don't have to dance around. I can't, I'm not going to do them. I'm filming myself dancing around. Okay. I became a writer, so I didn't have to do that. There was around being an author on TikTok without making an ass of yourself. That's what I told people. I'm on TikTok. I said, but you know, I'm not dancing. You don't want to do that. What is that? Is that like a requirement for the, for the platform? Like every time that they'll be like, they recommend like for you and everyone's dancing around. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. Like, it's embarrassing. So anyway, I'm on all the platforms. It's Lisa, C, Mishud, which is M I C H A U D. And I'm on Instagram, I'm Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and I answer all comments and messages because I love talking. If no one noticed, I like chatting. So I talk my husband to sleep at night. He's like, are we done talking? And I'm like, wait, I still have seven more minutes of content. Can I just talk a little more? He's like, okay, go. So yeah, Lisa, C Mishud at all, you know, all of those social media platforms are Lisa's C Mishud.com. So since you've written about it and you're over there in Paris, is there any little thing that you miss about living on the United States? Yeah, I do. I miss sarcasm. I'm joking. He was joking. The French are very sarcastic. Well, yeah, I miss, this is going to just sound so stupid, but it's a small thing. I miss the supermarket being open on Sunday. I am outside of Paris, actually. So now, now we're going to get into where I am. I'm 45 minutes. I call it Long Island France. I'm on the French R R outside of Paris. So we take a 45 minute train and we're in like this really small cute medieval village, but everything's closed on Sunday. So it's like, which is great, you know, it's a day of rest. But, you know, if you don't have eggs or milk, you're just like, okay, just got to wait till Monday. And some places in France, everything's closed on Monday too, so we're lucky. So you do the quick refrigerator scan on Saturday night, like quick, milk eggs, quick. We do. No, no, we do Saturdays. My son hates it. We have to go grocery shopping on Saturday. We went this morning and he's like, why do we always have to go grocery shopping on Saturday? And I'm like, because everything's closed on Sunday, like I'm so, I'm turning into my mom, like, these clothes on Sunday. And he's like, oh, okay. And so I mean, that's such a crappy answer. I wish I had something a little juicier. Oh, the internet. If everyone watches Netflix in our on our street, we can't watch Netflix. It'll just keep turning rotating and it won't connect or internet's a little medieval. But I can say that. I think the French government's going to have to get on that one. So they're right. Well, we have our elections coming in May. So I think they're a little busy and it's going to be a it's going to be a juicy one. I don't follow 100%. But I just know when my father and law starts pounding is just on the table. Things are getting crazy. So all right. So we've been talking to Lisa Zaryna Meshad, the author of slanted and just enchanted. And you can get the book on anywhere where books is hold, right? Yeah. Barnes and Noble, Amazon, your independent bookstore will order it. We work with Indiebound. So if you want to go order from an Indie bookstore, you can put your zip code in and the Indie bookstore closest to you will order it and it'll come that way. But I mean, Apple books, Google books, it's it's everywhere. It's all there. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. This has been a real treat. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, you know what? Can you, before we let's go, could you could you do a French Viva la Sherpa Lucian? Yes. Viva la Sherpa revolution. If that doesn't ruin me over in France, I don't know what. It'll be me and Jerry Lewis. Oh my god. They love Jerry Lewis. You're how do you know that? That's a huge thing for how do you know that? Oh, baby. I'm impressed. It takes so much recovery, Lisa. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Lisa. Zaryna Meshad, the author of slanted and disenchanted four coming by the Sherpa Shelley and I had a blast talking to her and be sure to check out her book whether it's on paper or audiobook. The audiobook is really great and it's just a wonderful story. Definitely, that one for the little kids, but an enjoyable adult novel. You can maybe have an adult beverage after you finish it. I don't know. Do whatever you want to do. I don't care. Oh, okay. So next week, we will be back in the Sherpa screening room and we will be speaking with another author. Her name is Kristen Stovall and we'll be talking about her fantasy novels. And in the meantime, Michelle Bruce, it is time to say "Orival." And don't forget, you can hear my show on any of your favorite podcast apps or SherpaLusion.com, which is also where you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and yes, TikTok. Until next time, folks, I can't say it as nice as she can, but Viva, La SherpaLusion. Thanks for listening to the Sherpa screening room. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share this podcast. I'm Mr. Bruce and this has been a SherpaLusion Studio's production. Viva, La SherpaLusion.