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- Hi, everyone.

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My name is Linda Codega.

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I'm a journalist for Io9.

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I use they, them pronouns.

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And I'm sitting here
with one of the greatest

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buckaroos ever to do it, Chuck Tingle.

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Can you tell me a little bit about, like,

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the book that's out right now?

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Specifically the traditionally published,

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like, physical book.

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- Yes, "Camp Damascus" is my first

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traditionally published novel.

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Most buckaroos probably know me

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for writing about 350,

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closing in on 400-

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- Hell, yeah.
- erotica shorts-

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- Yes.
- called, "Tinglers"

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that involve either unicorns, big feet,

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dinosaurs, or living objects.

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And also kind of talking about

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political issues sometimes,

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sometimes just kind of proving love.

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And now I have, "Camp Damascus,"

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which Nightfire is publishing.
- Yes.

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Traditional publication, hardcover.

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Also, my first hardcover, and dang,

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they did such a dang good job.
- That's very cool.

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- It is beautiful.
- Yeah.

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- It has all sorts of...

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If you take off the thing,
it's got a stamp on it.

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So it has been an
interesting road to get here.

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Very different from self-publishing.

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- Yeah.
- But I enjoy it very much.

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- Yeah, so I do wanna talk

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a little bit about your self-publishing.

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'Cause in your own words,

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it's sort of like absurdist erotica.

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And I'm wondering, like, how
did you start writing that?

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Like, what was the impetus?

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Were you just like, did you
just want to create art?

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Were you just, like-
- Yes.

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- kind of having a good time?

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Like what was-

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- Well, when I first started this,

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I guess absurdist is correct,

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but I think a lot of people
think of that in one terms.

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- [Linda] Sure.

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- I would say philosophically absurdist.

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- [Linda] Okay, yeah.

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- As in the opposite of nihilist,

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seeing this sort of, "This will all end,"

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which is something I talk
about, the lonesome train a lot.

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I'm very aware of my mortality.

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So I think about the idea
that all this will go away

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and how do I wanna spend my time?

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And I think the nihilistic
approach to that is

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nothing matters so heck at all!

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(Linda chuckles)

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And my approach is nothing matters,

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so let's create as much joy and love,

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and have a good time while we're here.

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So it is absurdist in that way.

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I don't want buckaroos to listen

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and think that it is a joke.

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- Right.
- Because it is not.

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- Right.
- There's funny parts to it,

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but actually the intention
is not at all comedy.

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The intention I think originally,

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was wanting to create an
artistic outlet for myself

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and kind of express myself
in these deep feelings

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that have always kind of been with me,

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and now have this outlet.

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It has really changed my life.

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It's been good for my mental
health, my physical health,

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to be more of myself by
putting on this mask.

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And then in a sort of artistic,

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here's purely the message kind of thing,

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conservatives used to always
have this talking point

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of, "Well, if we let the gays get married,

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then what's next?

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Are they gonna marry a dang tree?

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Or four buckaroos getting married?"

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- Why not?

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Marry your favorite tree.

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- There you go.

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Well, that's kind of the way-

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- Spreading joy.
- I looked at it

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was, "Well, why the heck not?"

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- [Linda] Why not, man?

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- That sounds like a wonderful world

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and a place where anyone can
just love whoever they want

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in you know,

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in a responsible way between
consenting buckaroos.

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And so I kind of started
writing a bunch of books

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to just express what
that world would be like.

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- Right.
- To take it to the extreme

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and to realize, actually,

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that would be a very joyful, loving place.

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And so that was kind of the genesis.

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And it's interesting 'cause, of course,

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the devils and scoundrels
don't use that talking point

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anymore with gay marriage.

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It's kind of the systematic thing

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where they don't have a lot of ideas, so-

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- [Linda] Just gotta keep going.

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- And now it has moved
on to trans buckaroos.

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- [Linda] Right.

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- Exact same talking points,
just in a dang cycle.

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'Cause they're not very inspired
in their tactics, I guess.

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But, so yes, I think that
was the original genesis

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was just an artistic
way to express myself,

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and a lot of ideas,

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and also kind of as a political statement

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that that world that is warned about

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is actually kind of a wonderful place.

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- I feel like if more people
married their favorite trees,

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we'd have, like, a little
bit less climate change.

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- Yes, yes.

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- You know?
- That's true.

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Care about your dang trees.

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- Care about your trees.
- They're wonderful.

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(gentle music)