Head-tail Etiquette with Alexander Freed

*We’re finally wrapping up the Alphabet Squadron trilogy and we thought the best way to get answers to our lingering questions was to go directly to the source, Alexander Freed himself! If he were a natural disaster, which would he be and why? Where did the idea for the therapist torture droid come from? And, perhaps most importantly, who gave him the right to break out hearts over and over like that?! All this and so much more on this episode of Rogue Podron!*

*Huge thanks to **Alexander Freed** for guesting on the podcast. Follow him on twitter (www.twitter.com/alexandermfreed) or visit his website (www.alexanderfreed.com) for updates on his latest writing projects.*

## Episode 164

### ***Actual Interview with Shadow-san Alexander Freed himself!***

1. Favorite working group members?: Empathizes with Quell, but he likes Adan. ( Heath likes Chass, Ash likes Wyl, Danny likes Chass, Saf likes Kairos, Meg likes Wyl.)
2. If you were a natural disaster, what would you be and why? Climate Change, relentless and inevitable.
3. What Class do you most relate to? 5e:Warlock. AD&D:Rogue.
4. Pokemon? ...not really.
5. If you were a nice place for a nap: Isolation chamber.
6. Do you like Panera? Meh.
7. If you were a kind of salad, what would it be and why? Spinach, goat cheese, walnut, and cranberry sort of thing. Nothing too fancy.
8. Is there a Rogue or Wraith you'd like to see interact with Alphabet Squadron? Never read them, but.... the HORSE GUY.
9. If you were going to bring one species of earth animal into the GFFA as a new alien species what would it be? Wooly Mammoth or Capybara.
10. How dare you, who gave you the right? Disney, Del-Ray, and Penguin-Randomhouse.
11. How write good moments? Ideas first, characters that fit the ideas, conflicts that fit the characters, then the moments then emerge naturally.
12. Absquad elevator pitch? This is the story of the war after RotJ and what it's like for pilots on both sides to live through the moment.
13. How much crossover with other properties? Not much. Story group is very subtle, but not passive aggressive about it. No Bad Batch at all, but plenty for Squadrons and TIE Fighter.
14. What does it feel like when something you created shows up? It's hard to keep track, but he enjoys seeing the obscure references pop up.
15. Yrica Quell, how did she become so real and frustrating? Good characters are grounded in the parts we don't like to talk about.
16. Chass na Chadic, music in the cockpit inspiration? It was a way to ground the character in the world.
17. Nord's blood sacrifice, WHY? It seemed like common sense, really.
18. Was Nath taking Wyl's energy to make himself more powerful and beefy? You've revealed the secret 'Nath is Anzati' subplot.
19. Was the sexual tension on purpose? It was not intentional, but it's not wrong.
20. What does Kairos look like in your head? Kind of but it's intentionally murky. The feel of the alien is more important. Show him some sketches and he'll tell you which one is right.
21. Hera Syndulla, what's the process of dealing with an established character? The challenge is deciding what do you do with more than a cameo. Her role became 'The Star Wars Character' (ie the Hero's Journey type) to juxtapose against the less filmic characters.
22. Therapist torture droid, how did you make that work so well? I'd been looking for an excuse to write a torture droid for years.
23. What is your favorite background character name? Sata Neek.
24. Is there a background character for whom you have an elaborate head canon? Not in particular, but I could turn Twitch into a POV character without much trouble.
25. What is CHEWABLE CAF? He was picturing caffeine infused chewing gum.
26. Was it your idea to strand the Captain on an asteroid for half of a book? Yes.
27. Is Gadran doing okay? He knows what Gadran is doing but he won't say.
28. Is Carver still alive? He would need to check to be sure... It may have changed between drafts... But Carver is probably dead.
29. Thank you for not gendering droids. Yes, droids are tricky. Some are it and some are they and he is glad it worked.
30. What can you tease for the future? He is not workign on ANY Star Wars projects at the moment.
31. Same question, but not Star Wars? The Violet Dawn project, some comics, some video games he can't talk about (a company called Archetype is involved).
32. Where WOULD you go next? Nath's squadron... and there's always Twitch! He would always like a shot at FACPOV 3

### Glistener Question Lightning Round:

1. Heath: Who would be the worst baby sitter in the GFFA? Besides Anakin... Tarkin.
2. Ash: What does Broosh's mustache look like? Bushy, 70s style.
3. Danny: What voice does ITO use to therapy you? David Warner [not the cricketer]
4. Saf: What SW character do you want to see in Cats, and what do they look like as a cat? Hohass Ekwesh
5. Meg: What moment in Absquad gave you the most feels? The epilogue. Sith tower is a close runner up.

### **Highlights:**

* LIKE BALOO!
* Cactus patty.
* Music sting as Alexander Freed is introduced (Vindicated?)

* Saf has the same writing style as S.A.F.
* Not thrill-a-minute, but definitely FEEL-a-minute.
* "Hey! Want to read about a war criminal!?"
* Saf yells really loud with music in the car.
* Chass' Cult. podcast, a Rogue Podron production.
* "Maybe blood will work!"
* It's not the first thing you try but [blood]'s gotta be on the list somewhere.
* 35:00 Shadow-san calls out Saf's face-blindness.
* Nobody but Saf understood Kairos' story from the first book, and Meg is mad about that.
* Shadow-san loves the anti-Tolkien way of painting a weird, vivid picture that leaves you thinking about things.
* Author's namedropped: Howard, CL Moore, Clark Ashton Smith, ER Eddison, Gormenghast, M John Harrison, Moorecock
* Hera is 80% of the hugs in the Rebellion.
* "Where do the hands go in regards to the head tails?"
* "Oh, you like twi'lek hugging? Have you met a TOGRUTA?".
* Shadow-san wanted a torture droid to be a companion character in KOTOR.
* "It's literally shaped like a bomb."
* 52:40 Monkey paw reference.
* You've just been cancelled by the mouse droid community.
* A non-zero chance of crab opinions.
* Saf has been pronouncing ITO correctly!
* 1:23:30 pew pew with Shadow-san. "Feel free to loop that if you need additional pews."

### **Responses to Last Week's Glistener Question:**

What character growth did YOU experience over the course of the AbSquad trilogy?

**Glistener Responses:** Not actually read this episode, but included for safe keeping.

* X-Wings in History - The thing I hope I've done since the first AbSquad book came out was be more present & engaged. The pandemic lockdown was a time to focus on the moment - I got to spend a summer off with my kid! - rather than hold out for ideal situations or lose time to doomscrolling. So a bit of a learned lesson there from Quell (just talk to people! Don't be weird about it!), with Nath as a cautionary tale: it's easy to backslide into being your worst self if you don't put in constant work.
* Yubsie - Well apparently I'm still the kind of person who writes fanfic on a dare and produces exactly what's expected, so maybe I haven't learned much. But my calves are much stronger from these episodes taking 9-12k steps to listen to!
* Jay - Personal growth huh? Well let’s see — I guess I can say that this past year I’ve really become unhappy with and critical of the royal family? That’s got to at least be as shocking a turn of events as the Mon Mothma thing saf commented on last time.

* TomtheFanboy - Each pilot represents a different lesson I've learned since the start of the trilogy:

1. Wyl: There's a point where need to stop trying to find common ground.
2. Quell: Eventually a father can be SO WRONG you have to cut them off completely.
3. Chass: If I can't DO what I love, at least I can BE WITH someone I love.
4. Nath: I know my strengths and I found the best place to use them.
5. Kairos: Getting blocked by someone I looked up to on twitter without knowing why is no excuse to subtweet in an attempt to figure out wh-

* Merovingians - my honest answer is that like Wyl I've sort of gone from drifting around trying to find places and causes to fit in to sticking with my plans long enough to finally get a lucky break that helps me move on to a new part of my life, plus a bit of Quell finding someone that I can learn to share my trauma with and get a sense of normalcy

**Glistening Bodhi goes to:**

Alexander Freed of course.

*Follow him on twitter (www.twitter.com/alexandermfreed) or visit his website (www.alexanderfreed.com) for updates on his latest writing projects.*

### **This Week's Glistener Question:**

Send us your Kairos sketches! (We won't "read them" on the pod, but they will make us smile.)