Creator of Ary and the Secret of Seasons, Sebastien Le Touze, guest stars on this special edition episode of The Storyteller Chatcast! Listen in as Seb and Lead Writer Genese Davis reveal the first-looks on the development of the game's main characters, story, and lore. How did they come to fruition and what was on the cusp of being cut? Hear every answer plus more as these two devs spotlight this fun 3d Action Adventure Platformer!

Ary and the Secret of Seasons is an action-adventure game developed by Belgian indie studio Exiin, ported on consoles by Fishing Cactus and published by Modus Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows via Steam, and Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on September 1, 2020.

Creative writers, authors, and artists unite! Genese Davis and Mackenzie Flohr reveal fantastic options for turning pain into passion and taking your writing or artistic project to the next level. Grab the attention of readers, watchers and consumers around the world using these women's insider tips, tricks, expert advice. Instead of dreading unfortunate real-life experiences, learn how to transform them!

Mackenzie Flohr grew up in the heartland of America, chasing leprechauns and rainbows and dreaming of angels. Her parents nurtured a love of fantasy and make-believe by introducing her at a very young age to the artistic and cultural opportunities that the city of Cleveland had to offer. 

From the time she could hold a pencil, Mackenzie was already creating pictorial interpretations of classic stories, and by the age of nine, she and a childhood friend were authors and reviewers of their own picture books.

While following her love of adventure, Mackenzie found a second home, the Beck Center for the Arts Children’s and Teen Theater School. It was there that a world of wonder was only a script and a performance away.

Yet it wasn’t until she was on a trip to Indiana, viewing a Lord of the Rings exhibit, that the innermost desire of her heart became clear to her. She wanted to write a fantasy of her own, one that could inspire imagination in others and lead them into a magical world of their own making. She hopes The Rite of Wands will do just that.

Wherever we live and wherever we come from is our individual heartland. Anything is possible and everything can happen. Pure imagination is in all of us—we only need to discover it, and sometimes story telling helps. http://www.mackenzieflohr.com/

Perilous Journeys

Season 1 | Episode 1

Troy Anthony Miller guest stars on the Storyteller Chatcast’s debut episode! Troy divulges not only intriguing details about the recently released film, First Man, but also his highly anticipated screenplay, T-MINUS EPSILON regarding NASA’s Challenger space shuttle, AND a near-death experience he survived on the ledge of a mountain peak!

Troy is a writer, filmmaker, and improv comedian who lives in Los Angeles, California. He holds the unique distinction of being a two-time winner of the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition (The Hitch, a thriller, and The Olympian, a comedy), and was named one of the “Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch 2016” by Moviemaker Magazine. He is a Black List Labs awardee, and is the co-writer of T-Minus Epsilon, a feature about the Challenger space shuttle disaster, currently being produced by the Oscar-winning team behind the film Spotlight. When not writing, Troy performs and teaches improv theatre/comedy - his nationally-touring comedy troupe, Confidence Men: Improvised David Mamet, was a two-time winner of the B. Iden Payne Award for Improvisational Theatre.

Voices and Songs

Season 1 | Episode 2

Aaron Phillips guest stars on the 2nd episode of Storyteller Chatcast! Genese talks to Aaron about his musical theater experience, his voice work in video games like Red Dead Redemption II and Overwatch as well as his daring adventure visiting a distant land during a missile crisis.

Aaron is an Ovation Award nominated actor/singer, proud member of Actor's Equity and SAG-AFTRA, and can frequently be seen and heard on film, TV and stage. As a voice-over talent, Aaron can be heard as the training bot in Blizzard's Overwatch, Wrathion, the black dragon prince in World of Warcraft, Elrond in Lord of the Rings: Online, and most recently Marko Dragic in Red Dead Redemption 2. Aaron is constantly working on new stage projects in New York, and just finished a developmental workshop of the new musical Gun & Powder about two bi-racial women who go on a robbing spree across the antebellum south. In addition to New York theatre, Aaron is also one of four singers on the international symphony tour, Disney In Concert. http://www.aaronbphillips.com

Electrifying Stories

Season 1 | Episode 3

Devri Walls guest stars on this week’s episode to talk about the recent film, Venom, story risks, developing YOUR storytelling strengths, writing tips & tricks, and misadventures with electricity.

Devri Walls is an international best selling author. She lives in Meridian, Idaho with her husband, two children and one adorable little mutt. Writing in all things fantasy, she would do just about anything for a working magic wand. Mostly because she's a walking disaster and a wand would be of enormous help...although she'd probably trip and break it. So, there's that. She graduated with a degree in theater and has studied vocal performance most of her life. She now teaches voice lessons when she's not writing novels, cooking dinner, playing taxi, spending time with her amazingly supportive husband or trying to read. http://www.devriwalls.com/

Boxing the Story

Season 1 | Episode 4

Jonathan Thomas Jones joins forces again with Genese and together they run the gamut of story influence. From children's books to video game story to animated storytelling and Aesop’s Fables, this episode of Storyteller Chatcast reveals stories' impressions.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jonathan Thomas Jones was molded from swamp magic, cosmic dust and spare parts. He's always loved reading and storytelling and has known he's wanted to be a writer since he was nine years old. 
Starting with short stories, he has moved all the way up to novels and has now taken the steps to helping younger generations understand the world and themselves by writing children's books.

Visit his website at jonathanthomasjones.com for frequent updates.

Chills and Thrills

Season 1 | Episode 5

Why zombies? Why werewolves? Genese and Susanne Lambdin discuss the realities and fantasies behind our draw to chilling stories like her Dead Hearts novels and movies like Bird Box.

Susanne's love for Star Trek took her to Los Angles in the late '80s. She is best known for her 'based in part' contribution to Star Trek The Next Generation, Season 4, Eps. 76 "Family."

Her book series, Dead Hearts, a fantasy/supernatural zombie apocalypse with a mutating virus is recommended by actor Spencer Wilding a/k/a Darth Vader in 'Rogue One'.

Her latest series, Realm of Magic is set in a war torn realm where magic is outlawed. Susanne is known for writing strong female characters to inspire a younger generation. "A female can do anything if she puts her mind to it." - S. Lambdin. Her fondness for the thrills and chills of the undead and supernatural creatures, like werewolves, can be found in her many published novels. https://www.susannelambdin.com/

Starting is Easy, Ending is Hard

Season 1 | Episode 6

Jason Inman hails from a farm in Kansas and has written several comic book stories including pieces in DC Comics; Love is Love and the IF Anthology. His newest series, JUPITER JET, co-written with Ashley Victoria Robinson was praised by IGN as "charming and a great story for anyone who needs more superhero action in their life.”

In 2019, SCIENCE!, their newest graphic novel will be published by Bedside Press. Prior to becoming a writer, Jason served in the US Army deploying for a year in Iraq.

He has also written for several websites and internet shows including Good Mythical Morning and Honest Trailers. Jason is a frequent guest on Collider Movie Talk and hosted DC All Access for over 3 years. When not posting weekly content on his Youtube channel, Jawiin or hosting his podcast geek History Lesson, Jason can be found hiking the hills of Los Angeles. https://www.jawiin.com/

Genese and Jon discuss not only the approach to writing thrillers for films such as "Can you ever forgive me?" "Widows" and "Bourne Identity" but also Jon's biotech thriller novels such as Drift, Deadout, and Dust Up. To finish off the podcast with a bang, Jon and Genese discuss his new YA novel, Spliced, and its to be released sequel Splintered.