E718 - V. Maia - Cultural clashes and ordinary moments become intertwined with extraordinary dreams and the destiny of the universe

Summary

Podcast Summary: Living The Next Chapter – E718

Guest: V. Maia
Host: Dave Campbell
Episode Title: Cultural clashes and ordinary moments become intertwined with extraordinary dreams and the destiny of the universe
Date: May 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

This candid conversation with author V. Maia dives into his unique book "Under Full Moons," which blends the daily realities of parenting in Paris with high-concept science fiction rooted in astrophysics. The discussion explores cultural adaptation, the creative process, parental challenges abroad, and the fusion of personal experience with speculative narrative. This episode offers inspiration and practical insights for writers and readers, showcasing Maia’s passion and the originality behind his literary vision.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to V. Maia & Brasilia (01:17–04:12)

• V. Maia shares his background: Living in Brasilia, Brazil, its history as a planned city with unique architecture by Niemeyler, and the diverse population that came together to build the capital.
• Cultural Note: Brasilia is only about 60 years old, so most current residents grew up with influences from across Brazil.

Advice for Aspiring Writers (04:12–08:44)

• Practical tips for new authors:
  • Pay attention to book length; 80,000 words is a good target for debut fiction.
  • Traditional publishing requires an agent; use platforms like Query Tracker to find agents relevant to your genre. Review what agents are currently looking for.
  • Decide whether to write for the market (for traditional publishing) or to focus on your personal passion (especially for self-publishing).
  • "If you want to be published, I suggest looking for what agents want...for me, I wanted to write this specific book, not worrying about that." (A/Vinny, 08:29)

The Book’s Unique Blend: Parenting in Paris Meets Science Fiction (08:44–17:19)

• Real-life inspiration: Maia’s two years in Paris as a stay-at-home parent while his wife pursued a master’s degree.
  • Initial expectation of ample free time to write proved false: “The first month was like a wrecking ball...I would not have any time to write.” (A, 11:42)
  • Only managed to write 10 pages in Paris, later continuing the book back home in Brazil.
• About the book:
  • 100% true-to-life sections about family life in Paris.
  • Infused with Maia’s passion for astrophysics, weaving cutting-edge science concepts (like dark matter and dark energy) into the personal narrative.
  • “I merged the two things...using recent research in astrophysics inside that story. So you have Paris, astrophysics, parenting—a really, really interesting mix.” (A, 15:50)

Universal Parenting & Cultural Insights (17:19–19:54)

• Parental challenges: The experience is universally challenging, especially without close family support.
  • “I recognize how difficult it is to be a parent without the close support of your parents...without a safety net.” (A, 18:37)
• Cultural integration: Parisian society can feel unwelcoming even to other Parisians, revealing the importance of empathy and openness when living abroad.

Broader Audiences: Beyond Parenting (19:54–24:58)

• For lovers of Paris and travel: The city acts as another main character, with its own unique social and cultural dynamics.
• Expatriate experience: “How to live, how to navigate those problems...and how to integrate with the local people.” (A, 21:56)
• Science fiction lovers: Deep exploration of dark energy, dark matter, and potential universe-ending scenarios (“The Big Rip”).
  • “I use what we know about dark matter and dark energy and ground my theories on actual possibilities.” (A, 24:41)

The Science Behind the Fiction (24:58–31:40)

• Fascination with the unknown: Our observable universe is only about 5% ordinary matter; the rest is dark matter and dark energy, mysteries that Maia incorporates into his plot.
  • “There’s almost 95% of things that actually exist that we don’t see...that fascinates me.” (A, 27:30)
• Imparting wonder to his kids: Maia shares scientific curiosities with his children, sometimes meeting excitement, other times confusion.

How Do These Stories Connect? The Creative Process (31:40–36:39)

• Blending genres: The bridge between slice-of-life memoir and science fiction lies in dreams—a human phenomenon still not fully understood by science.
  • “I use that, those things, as the bridge to bring the science fiction part to living in Paris.” (A, 33:18)
• Reflections on process: Writing the book after returning to Brazil allowed Maia to blend daily accounts with speculative ideas in a way that’s both original and personal.

Message to Readers & Final Thoughts (36:39–39:37)

• A “human” science fiction: Maia wants readers to approach the book as a human story, grounding the fantastical elements in relatable, everyday experiences.
  • “I wanted to write science fiction that had a human feel...so read it as you would read something that could happen to you.” (A, 37:14)
• Theme of empathy: Becoming aware of the struggles of people outside their comfort zone, Maia now strives to welcome newcomers wherever he lives.
  • “That’s one of the messages I wanted to give—that science fiction can feel like a closer connection to the human side.” (A, 39:11)

Website & Future Projects (39:37–45:19)

• Maia’s website: Features more about him, the book, and buying information.
• Upcoming works:
  • A science fiction set in a remote Brazilian nature reserve with Lovecraftian and cosmic horror elements.
  • A future-set story involving faster-than-light travel and cosmic influence, inspired by scientific research on behavioral manipulation in animals.
  • “There are other seeds I want to explore, but these are my main focus. They inhabit my brain for some time now.” (A, 45:07)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The first month [of parenting in Paris] was like a wrecking ball...I was so wrong. This is really, really difficult.” (A, 11:42)
• “I could write two different books. But I think [this mix] got a really different spice and uniqueness I haven’t seen yet.” (A, 36:12)
• “There’s almost 95% of matter...we don’t see, we don’t know what it is. That fascinates me.” (A, 27:30)
• “Science fiction can feel like a closer connection to the human side.” (A, 39:11)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:01–04:12: Introduction; V. Maia’s life in Brasilia
• 04:12–08:44: Advice to aspiring authors, traditional vs. self-publishing
• 09:23–17:19: Origin story of “Under Full Moons,” life in Paris, writing challenges
• 17:19–19:54: Universal parenting struggles and the importance of support networks
• 20:12–24:58: Exploring Parisian culture, expat integration, and the science fiction premise
• 24:58–31:40: The real science behind the fiction: dark matter, energy, and wonder
• 31:40–36:39: Blending memoir and science fiction, creative process, uniqueness
• 36:39–39:37: Messages for readers, empathy, and the human side of sci-fi
• 39:40–45:19: V. Maia’s website and forthcoming book projects
• 45:19–46:54: Closing remarks, reflections on creativity and connection

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Summary

E718 of Living The Next Chapter offers a rich, inspiring journey into the mind of V. Maia—a scientist, parent, and creative author uniting the ordinary and extraordinary. Listeners are treated to practical writing tips, personal stories from Paris, meaningful reflections on parenting and cultural adaptation, and a masterful explanation of how science and human connection coexist in storytelling. Whether you are a parent, writer, reader, or science lover, this episode brims with heart, insight, and originality.

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Find out more, connect with V. Maia, and explore his book and future works via his website and social links provided in the episode notes.

Transcript

[A]

I have all these stories that want to come to life and might not put them together. I could write two different books, one science fiction and one Slice of life. Daily account of events that happened in Paris would probably would be fine too. But I think it got like a really different spice and really uniqueness that I haven't seen yet. I can be wrong, of course. Yeah, there could be books about that, but I. I personally haven't seen them, and I thought this uniqueness would work in my favor.

[B]

Everybody, welcome back to Living the Next Chapter. It's the author podcast where we get to meet amazing people from around the world. And I really mean that because today we're going to do some traveling. I'm in Canada, and anytime I can leave Canada and go somewhere else, especially in the winter, I like going to places warm. And my guest is somewhere warm. Vinny's joining us today. We're talking about his book and talking about what happens under full moons here on the podcast. I'm excited about this and Vinnie's joining us from somewhere very warm and very beautiful on my list of places I must go sometime. Vinnie, welcome to Living the Next Chapter. And glad to have you on the podcast.

[A]

Well, thank you, Dave. It's a pleasure to be here. And yeah, it's very hot as you can. I mean, I don't know if this is gonna be what, the video, too? Yeah, we're the video too. But you can see outside. It's sunny outside. And we are during the. One of the hottest months of the year here in Brazil, where we are. And I'm in Brasilia, which is the capital. It's right in the middle of Brazil. It was intended to be like that. So it gets. It's a strategic position. It was planned. It's a plant city. It has actually one of the most famous architects of this century, which is Niemayler. He's designed the city. So the city is very new. It has almost 60 years old, which is a big city now because it was designed to be the capital and was created from scratch. So everything has its place. It's a very organized town. It's a very beautiful place, too. You have, like, very, very famous buildings that. That were designed by this architect. Wow. And it's a very nice place to live.

[B]

Wow. Okay. All right. A planned city. I like that.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, it was planned to be the capital because the middle of Brazil was not. There were Madawar people there, and the capital before that was Rio, and they wanted to populate the interior of Brazil, and so they Devised a way. So let's bring the capital to the interior. It's going to be more strategically placed. So they created from scratch. And we had a lot of people come here to build the city. And nowadays it's a very, very. We had like I think firm even people now here in Brasilia. It's a big city now. It was really fast too because all the administration and the public sector, almost everything migrated to here. So we have like a vibrant city.

[B]

Wow, excellent. And like 60 years old. That's not a very old city at all. That's.

[A]

No, no, it's. It's very new. We're now having the first generation of people who were born here because normally when I was growing up, all my friends, their parents were from another. I mean Rio, Sao Paulo and other, other cities. So we grew, grew up with a lot of influence from other cities because everybody had family somewhere else. And now it's the first generation that the kids have. Parents also composite it.

[B]

Okay, so Vinnie, we have on this show, we have authors who listen to our podcast. They're new at the process of writing. They're just starting. They don't know what you know, you've done this, you're published, you've gone through the process. You know, things that could really help somebody who's just beginning as a writer. What kind of things would have been helpful for you to hear before writing under full moons? Like if another author could talk to you. What kind of things would have been helpful to hear you think now that you look back?

[A]

Yeah, now that I wrote back. Because writing this book was a personal quest to me that I wanted to take regard regardless of, wanted to be an author, wanted to write. I want, I wanted to write this book first. I am traditionally published in the computer section. I have books on computers. But I wanted to write fiction too. But I wanted to write specifically this book. So there are some things that today I know that would be helpful if I wanted just to, to publish a book. But because I wanted to wrap this book, I didn't pay that much attention to that. But there are things that new authors that can like prosper in the field. They, they could pay attention to. I mean first of all, the length of the book. If UFOs first time authority, your book can be too long. Depending on the genre, on the genre, you could focus on 80,000 words, which is like the sweet spot for a first time author, maybe a little less. And there are some things that nowadays are more invoke with the publishers so they could like go to the, to the sites. First of all, see the pages. Because normally to be traditionally published today, you have to be. To have an agent. So there's a process to have an agent. And that process normally involves a platform called query tracker. And when authors send their query letters to. To the. To the agents. So it's useful perhaps before writing a book, focusing on what area specifically they want to write about and then finding like 10, 20, 30 agents that work in that area and see what they are running right now in terms of size, in terms of focus of female leading or something in that area, because it helps their OP if they want it to be traditionally published. But if they wanted just to publish their book, which is. Or write their book, which is something I chose to do, then focus exactly what you want to write about and don't pay attention to that thing. And there's something that. I think it's an important decision because it's very difficult to be traditionally published today unless you follow the specifics of the. Of the market in that. In that time, during that time. Nowadays, the market is very niche now, and there are some things that the agents look for in an author. And I. I recommend authors looking for that and see where they fit and they can like, then prepare the book that they want to write. But for me, I wanted to write this specific book, not worrying about that. So it's a little bit longer than normally a first fiction book would be,

[B]

and

[A]

it has some things that I wanted to talk about regardless if I was not going to be published or not. But if authors want to be published, they have. I mean, I suggest they look for these things first.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. Because when I'm reading the COVID of your book, A Tale of Parenting in Paris and the Fate of the Universe, those two things don't seem to go together in my mind. Those seem to be two different things, but. And then here's a guy from Brazil talking about parenting in Paris. There's a lot of things going on here for a reader to kind of go, wait a minute, I thought, Vinny's from Brazil. Okay. But there's a lot going on. So what's the connection about your family in Paris? And kind of when was that time period as it relates to us recording today? Can you give us a little history about your family in Paris then? Is part of the idea behind the book?

[A]

Yeah, that's actually a very, very good question. It's actually part of. Out of my life. I. I've been in the academia since. Since forever. And I've traveled All the world with my studies and with my work. And I've lived in a few places. And that's what this story is about. And actually it was from a time because when I did my PhD, I lived in Sweden, in Stockholm. And my wife would. We didn't have kids yet, so she would stay a month with me there, come back to Brazil, stay a month working here. And because she had to come to conciliate with her work, so she would travel back and forth. That was when I was during my PhD. But then we came back to Brazil, got to work, we had kids. And then she wanted to do a master's degree. Master's degree. She was pursuing one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, which is institute in Paris. And she's a lawyer. And she wanted to do some. Some international law regardless to human rights. So the best place. And she got accepted there. And I told her, now it's your time. I'll go there, take care of the kids and you focus on your studies. So I'll take care of the house and take care of everything. And I thought it would be really. Was going to be a really easy operation. I'm gonna be in Paris. I'm gonna just take care of the kids. I'm not gonna work. It's gonna. It's gonna be really easy. And I thought to myself, I read a book about parenting in Paris, so because I'll have all this extra time that'll have in my hands, so I'm gonna write all up to write. And this is gonna be maybe a journal for my kids when they grow up. They won't remar because they were one year old and three years old at the time. We lived there for two years. They're gonna read this journal and see what was their life like there. And I read there with that in mind. And the first month was like a wrecking ball. I saw that I would not have any time to write because it's really, really intense. I think care. But just in care of the house and doing everything. I thought I would have all this extra time, which I didn't have like a second. I would be. Because when you were working here, actually I had a really good friend of mine that I got to work there in Paris. I would walk the kids to school with her with this friend, and we will talk about raising the kids. And during the first month, she asked me why we were walking to take the kids to school. Oh, so you did your PhD. You work with all the step in Brazil and how you're shining. Is. Is. Is it difficult? And I said to her, no, this is piece of cake. And I remember meeting her like three months later and certainly, oh my God, I was so wrong. I'm. I'm really sorry. This is really, really difficult. So the. I think I would. On my mind, I. I thought that I would write like once every two days and I got to. To write the first paragraph like on the second month and later would be like two months later. So during all those two years that is spent there, I got to read in Paris. I. I wrote like 10 pages and. And then when I came back to Brazil with those 10 pages written, it was like a journal. And I look at this and wow. It was not exactly what I had planned. And then it hit me because then when, when we came back, I got back to work working and got back and while going back to work, I. I started to have more free time. Kids were in school and you get more time than working and stuff. And. And I got in touch with something that I always wanted to write because not only the journal that I wanted to write, but I also am passionate about astrophysics. I had all my academic career was in science and not exactly astrophysics, but it's something that I got real big interest into. So I merged the two things. So I'm gonna still write the journal about our time there. So that part is 100% what. Exactly what happened that I'm gonna weave a story of science fiction using like astrophysics, recent research in astrophysics inside that story. So yeah, it got really original because it has these two things that aren't traditionally linked together and. But the result I'm really proud of and was when I finish written it right in the book that took like four years to write. It was two years not wrecking it in fairies and then two years when I. When I got back that I really got to write it and. But it has all because I would use like my timeline with the cell phone to know exactly where I was that day. And I would write what fasting that is, the interesting bits. And I put some astrophysics in it and a real interesting science fiction story and you have that Paris, astrophysics, parenting, all this stuff, like a really, really interesting mix of. Of topics. And that got me some really good critiques. Before I published the book. I would send them to the, to the editors and they would say that was really original having the slice of life and this science fiction part mixed together and having Paris as the backdrop that it would turned out to be really Interesting. It was for me and for people who are most of the people that read it tell me it's very interesting. Especially if they have kids or if they have some experience leaving their comfort zone or maybe living abroad or just moving from one city to another or trying a new job or leaving that conflict zone. What the kind of things that happen there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And a really interesting science fiction plot. Interviewing with that.

[B]

Because being a parent is almost like learning another language. It's almost like being put into a new situation that you're, you're not used to. You have expectations you're gonna have all this free time. That's like parenting in a way. You're like oh, it's gonna be so easy, no problem, it's simple. And then you realize it's not just as a parent. So any parent listening to this is going to relate to kind of the, the concept of the story. No matter where you live or, or if you've ever live, lived abroad, just being a parent, you're going to be able to appreciate some of the stories from your book. Do you think that's, that's true?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I think everybody's going to relate one. I mean imagine some scenes would happen with every kind of family regardless of living abroad or not. But those type, this type of day to day recurrences that, that spice life and on how are we we are surprised by everything that happens and every day is something different and you're not. I was not prepared for that. Not at all.

[B]

And

[A]

one thing that it's also was, was very, very important to me is that I recognize how difficult it is to be a parent without the close support of your parents because living abroad you are isolated, you have sons of course that it's really difficult to rely on anybody to do something. For example, I felt like I couldn't get sick because if I got sick my wife wouldn't be able to go to the university, the kids wouldn't go to school and all those things. But one simple thing that happens in the everyday life of everybody some at some time would be like a major event. So I'm really, really empathetic now with people that are parents that don't have their, their family close so they have to rely on friends or they have to rely on each other. And so without a safe net is something that, that I saw. It's the very, very important to, to

[B]

have so you we have the parental side of the story. Who is the other side of the story written for? Who do you have in mind who's going to appreciate more of the non parent family style of the pot of the book. More of what the book also. What's that other audience for this book?

[A]

Yeah, the other. There are. We have two, I mean maybe two other sides. One is Paris because it is a very interesting city. It has all its unique dynamics, how people the Parisians are. And Aotearo is very difficult to be. I mean I think it's difficult for themselves too because Parisians at first I thought was something with me being from. From Brazil. And the first you can see that you're not. Not you don't feel welcome nor. And I thought it was something related to that. But then when I got there I saw that it was more related to. To the way they. They are too because they are like that beneath chatter. I would see Parisians not being that welcoming with each other. And so it has that. That aspect of. So how to navigate this. This social. This society. That's very interesting because the city is beautiful. You have a lot to do, you have a lot to see. It's the culture aspect of it. It's very, very, very, very interesting. When it gets in all Parisians you can understand how they think and you can communicate better and then you, you can like ease your inside. I don't know if that's also a Brazilian characteristic that you can like get read with with almost every. Everybody in the world. We can like.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Communicate and, and find some common ground. And in the end we understood how, how to. To navigate that and we had a lot of fun with the Parisians too. But this is one other aspect. The city itself, it's a whole unique dynamic. You have a very beautiful city, you have a very unique people. This is one other aspect. The other aspect is being an expatriate, how to live, how to navigate those problems to. To. And how to. To integrate with the. The local. With the locals. And that's another aspect that I think is very interesting. And the science fiction aspect, which is a whole another story. Yes. And that I deal with two, three main themes, but two are from modern physics, which is dark matter and dark energy. I don't know if you ever heard something about those, but yeah, and I integrate those. So we have this, this alien entities that rules in the future, but they, they are experiencing the end of the universe in the future, which is caused by the phenomenon originated in dark energy where you had like this three possible outcomes. And I chose the one that would end the world in the big rip and which is a real possible outcome. For the universe nowadays, caused by dark energy, where this energy is making the universe expand at the greater and greater acceleration every time. So you will accelerate at such a speed it's gonna be tearing atoms apart with. They're gonna get apart faster than the speed of light and tear the universe apart. So these aliens in the future experiencing that they, they come to our time because they feel the energy of dreams. And that this energy of dreams can somehow over this, this, this fatal destiny. But they need help like channeling the dreams to, to avert the big rip in the future and the dark matter, which is the park that enables this, these beings to be in other places and other time. So I use, use what we know about dark matter and dark energy and are grounding my theories on actual possibilities so that this two, the two concepts can work in my book.

[B]

Okay. Why are you so fascinated by that part around dark energy, dark matter? Where does that come for you personally? Why, why is that something you're interested in?

[A]

Yeah, because when I started studying this, these things is something that I don't know, it talks to me in the sense that we know so little about everything. Because for example, dark matter, dark matter is the matter because we know the. Now nowadays we actually know that they, the ordinary manner matter that composes the atoms, the stairs, everything only composes about 5% of the whole matter in the universe. And what is the other matter? Well, and how do we know that this matter exists? Because rock, ordinary matter, the other types of matter, they produce gravity. So, so when you have like a star, you have, you can measure the, the orbit of the planets around and you can because of the orbit knows how to with mass that star pass that. When scientists got to observe the universe, they saw orbits and they saw the influence of matter that they couldn't see the matter. So they, they're measuring the universe and they know that's gravity over there that don't come from, that doesn't come from the matter of the stars that we're seeing. So that this matter that they see the gravity that comes from it, but they don't see the matter they're calling dark matter.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

That's why it's dark matter. So there's all this matter always gravity that exists. This is in the universe that you can observe with the orbits and other other things that have, you can actually see the matter. So that's called that matter. And then to me, it speaks to me because when you only see and know about just like 5%, it's to me it's Fascinating. You actually have like almost 95% of matter of things that are actual exists that we don't see. We don't know where it is. It is another dimension. There's, there's that theory that it's matter that is on another dimension, but the gravity oozes, oozes out to our dimension or we don't have the senses to see these other matters. Like it's not under the visible spectrum or so you have to see. So for me that's fascinating. So that's why. And that energy, it's the. Is the other part of the. Of the matter because you have about 5% of ordinary matter, about 30% of dark matter that you can't translate matter to energy. So with the famous Einstein equation, energy is equals mass times the speed of light. So we can write one thing in terms of the other. So you can write mass in terms of energy or energy in terms of mass. So we see 5% of ordinary matter of ordinary mass, 30% of that matter and the rest is dark energy that you can also write or account for in terms of mass too. So you have a lot of things that they exist. We have proof that they exist, but we can't see. We don't know that it is. It's a mystery. And that fascinates me and I hope I'm alive to see whenever they discover what the Smith is where all this energy and mass comes from. So. But I do have my own own theories and those heroes are inside the book. We've into the story.

[B]

Okay. So we can touch on that. I like that when you talk to your kids about this kind of stuff, do they just look at you with their eyes getting bigger and bigger because they're like what is what is what is dad. Right.

[A]

Sometimes I talk to them with about these series. Sometimes they're like. Because there are some really nice curiosities. When you say when you talk about speed of light and talk about distances in time travel and that type of stuff they really enjoy. Sometimes they take me crazy and sometimes they very well bad we did. We don't want to listen to the stories. Or sometimes they. When. When is something that maybe stirs a little bit of curiosity. They. They get really excited about sometimes and there's a lot of things to. I sometimes myself get really flabbergasted when, when the editor was. Was listening to a podcast about physics and and they. They have. This is, this is proven. Because if you're standing right here and we're looking to a star at the sky and that star for example is five light years away. And a friend of you just passes through you and look at the same spot spot. But he's moving when you're not. You're looking at the same star that's five light years away. But ace that start with probably two 20,000, 30,000 years in difference. What is he seeing is just completely another time just because he would have a relative speed to you at the moment he look up his absence. So you have all those things that are physics. And that translates to this crazy situations that I always like to. To try to. To grab a little piece and put it inside the book.

[B]

Okay, now this sounds like two different books Vinnie that you've written. How do you take a story about a family in Paris and dark matter and blend them together in a. In a. Into a story? I don't understand. What's the. What's the connection between these two things? And how did you make this work for a reader?

[A]

Yeah merely. It's something that I I am always normally my Also sometimes my wife looks at me and she's speaking and then to sh. And said Are you listening to me? And my mind is somewhere else. And I got that part of it and I thought what about that these beings that they wanted to come from the future but they just because you have all the circumstances physical circumstances here that we. We. We are millions of years old evolving in this planet. So our biology is adapted to this. So to get to. To think that an alien entity would come here and breathe our air it's just. It's not. I mean it's not feasible category. So I imagine something that they would manifest in human bodies using dark energy, using dark matter. So that key use this as a way to be here. So and that the connection would be with dreaming and because also dream humans dream but also is another part of science that we understand so little about. Because while do humans dream that answer is not. Is not answered yet that the question is not answered yet. So this is also another crazy thing because you can look outside to see a lot of things that you. That we are only now grasping the basics of like dark matter, dark energy. But if you look inside to ourselves we don't understand what's going on inside our bodies and spend like half of our. Of our whole life we are sleeping and we don't know what happens. What's happening, what is a dream and how does this relate to ourselves to reality. Just what happened in the dream. It's a reality. So I use that those things that that is the bridge to bring the science fiction part to. To the. To. To living in Paris. So on top of all the. The things. The problems, the database occurrences, the discovering of the. Not all the Paris but also France because we traveled a lot inside of France. Sundays with one thing would happen that would manifest this. This alien entities. And I would have to deal with that too. And all with crowd things that would happen because that's it.

[B]

Do you think the book would have been different if you had written more when you were living in Paris and it was like a daily journal like you kind of originally thought it would be? Do you think the book would have a different story?

[A]

Yeah, it would be totally different because I would keep to the journal part, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Would be like. Would be. Telling of the events like they happen. So I. But when I came back and then when I had time and I was thinking about all this stuff, I had time to. Because I like to sit down and reflect about things what happened and read about these things and they give me all these. These ideas and I just couldn't. Couldn't keep myself from putting all these things inside because to me the book would be really interesting. But then I thought I have all these stories that. That want to come to. To life that might not put them together. I could write two different books. One science fiction and one. One slice of Life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Daily account of events that happen in Paris would probably would be fine too. But I think it got like a really different spice and really uniqueness that I haven't seen yet. I can be wrong, of course. Yeah, there could be books about that. But I. I've personally haven't seen them. And I thought this uniqueness would working my failure.

[B]

It's a great combination. It's not something I've ever heard anybody do. Which makes you unique as an author and for readers, I think they're going to enjoy it for sure. If you could. If you could talk to your ideal reader. They have a copy of your book. They're going to read it today. But before they start reading, what would you like to say to that reader, from the author to the reader, before they read your book?

[A]

Yeah, the thing is, is that what I wanted to write was a human story. And of course you have science fiction with really intricate and interesting blocks. But I wanted to write science fiction that had that a human feel of it. You could relate to what was happening. It's just not that. Like Buck Rogers or something. Really, really fantastic heroes and some kind of. That I wanted to write a science fiction Story with a really human element of it. So I would say to my readers that read them, read it, read the book as you would read something that could happen to you. And maybe these science fiction elements can happen inside their head that don't mean they are not real. Because everything that happens to you, what you perceive is as reality could be your reality. That. The main message I wanted to. To give my readers is that I wanted to try to write something that could speak to the human side of everybody. How, how the difficult things that you go to your daily life and, and how the human connections are made. Making friends and getting to know people for. For first time when you're outside of your comfort zone and maybe have a different take on life too. Because when you see how it's difficult for someone. And this is something that I relate to now because whenever I'm here, I'm in Brazil and I see someone from, from another country coming, coming here. And I know Brazil, it's easier than another, than other countries, but I know how good Korea it is for each and every person to be outside of their. Their conferences. So I try to lend a hand and to, to be there and to. To accommodate those people and make them feel welcome. And that's, that's what I wanted to. That's one of the messages that I wanted to. To give is just that science fiction can feel like a closer connection to, to the human side.

[B]

I like it. It's great. Sounds amazing. Vinny. I love.

[A]

This is really good.

[B]

Can we talk a little bit about your website before we go? I want people to come and connect with you and follow your journey as an author. Yeah. Can you tell us more about your website?

[A]

Yeah, my website let me just sometimes let me open here so we can talk about it. So in my website you have. Where you can find the book. You, you have some, some, some, some blurbs about it and you have a little bit of myself and it tells a little bit of my story that I'm. I'm an academic researcher. I work in it too, but I'm a passionate storyteller. So it's, it's what I like to. To talk about to. To write about stories that I find in interesting and that translated to this, this is my first fiction book and you can see all that in my website.

[B]

Okay. And the name of my podcast is Living the Next Chapter. So I gotta ask, what, what are you doing right now to live your next chapter? What can we expect from you in the future? Future?

[A]

Yeah, I actually. I have two new stories That I kind of on the research phase I'm starting to to write and I don't know which one would be the first one that that is gonna get the the my full attention for for the next for the next for the next years. But one is really because we after. Because as a. As a family we traveled a lot and we got to know a lot of places and I personally know a lot of places in the world and when we came back after France we wanted to dedicate ourselves a lot to traveling inside Brazil that we knew. And it's a big big country but we wanted to to get to know more places. There is a lot of things that we didn't see. So we started traveling here in Brazil and we got to know this nature reserve that is very untouched. And I. I thought about a story a science fiction story with with aliens carrying coming to the. To this place and how they would work with this scenario and it would have a Lovecraftian element with a cosmic horror. So maybe I will go that. That. That road and another rose. Is that another science fiction story but this time a little bit in the future where the ability to travel between stars will be discovered as something that was not discovered by humans. But they will. It would be like like an inception idea that came from. From samurai in the universe within an intention to bring humans to a specific place and something would happen there.

[B]

Wow. So there's a lot to look forward to from a reader's perspective in the future as well.

[A]

Yeah. Because I read. I read this this particularly interesting scientific article where they discovered the. That a bacteria that would infect wolves would make these wolves more courageous that they would leave their territory and engage in other territories just so this bacteria could expand its its domain. So we would not not drill to another term because goes specific with this type of lobes. And they. They are very territorial. They don't leave the territory. But this bacteria would imbue them with this. This need to. To advance. And and so this is. This is something that recognization. And I thought about what would be that would that happen with humans outside the Earth.

[B]

Your brain is a busy place. You have a lot of stuff going on in here. I love it. It's. It's very interesting. We need to hear this. This is great.

[A]

Yeah. I thought it was so interesting to know that analogy of this can happen to a wolf here in there. What about something that would IM with the ability to discover for the info faster than light speed.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That with that intention of bringing those

[B]

somewhere that sounds like I can. Very interesting read, Vinnie. You got to get going on this. We need this in the world.

[A]

Other seeds that I want to explore, but these two are now my main focus. They inhabit my. My brain for. For some time now.

[B]

And your dreams, hopefully too.

[A]

Yeah, in my dreams. Yeah.

[B]

I love it, Vinnie. We'll have all your information for. For Vinnie in the show. Notes, please. Everyone go and grab a copy of this book. Leave a great review when you read this book as well. When you purchase it, let people know why you love this book as well. I think that Under Full Moons would be a great read for you and a great book for you to share with others as well. If we have listeners in. In France, we have listeners in Sweden. We now have listeners in Brazil as well. So if you're from any of those places and more, this is going to be a great book for you as well. So I would encourage you to grab a copy and again, like I said, leave a great review. Vinnie would love to hear your thoughts. Go to Vinnie's website as well. And I see his socials are there as well. You can connect with him and I know he'd love to hear from you as a reader and get your feedback on his books and follow his journey as well. Vinny, you got to come back in the future. Again. We talk future in the future. You got to come back. You'll make my dreams come true by coming back as a guest. Okay. We love to see what you're working on in the future as well, Dave.

[A]

I mean, you're so talented and it was a pleasure talking to you. You. You are very competent in translating what I mean, like taking the juice of an orange and I don't know if I have. Next you offer. I think you extracted everything I put out there and it tells you. It just shows how talented you are.

[B]

So you can pay me back when I come to Brazil and you can show me your beautiful city and we'll go for. For a nice bite to eat. You can. You can show me. I'd love to meet you someday in person.

[A]

It's just going to be a pleasure, man. Really. Really. Me. I really. Yeah.

[B]

Excellent. All right, we'll do that.

[A]

This is. It's just not something that. That was discussing here and we. Forget about it. I mean it. Just come and I'll. It's going to be a pleasure to me.

[B]

I love it.

[A]

It's going to be my pleasure to show you around.

[B]

Excellent. Everyone. All information is always in the show Notes. Please support our authors. They'd love to hear from you again. Vinnie, thank you so much for doing this. I look forward to having you back on the future.

[A]

Thank you, Dave. And it's been a really, really pleasure.

[B]

Awesome.

[A]

Thank you very much.

[B]

Hey, thanks for listening to the podcast. Glad to have you here. I just want to let you know that you can always find out what we're doing live in the moment by going to our YouTube channel. Head over to Living the Next Chapter dot com. There'll be a link right there. Head over to our YouTube channel. Make sure you, like, subscribe, you know, do all the things that all the YouTubers love to say. And in our YouTube channel, a couple things you're going to get advanced listens. You're gonna get the episodes that we're working on in real time. So we record and post daily on our YouTube channel. I'd love for you to give us a follow over there as well. We're making playlists. We have over 500 episodes. So finding the right episode for you, we're trying to group things into playlists. So if you like children's books, if you like business, you like historical fiction, we're grouping our authors together to make it a little easier for you to find your favorite next author. So head over to livingthenextchapter.com and again, I'd love to hear from you. Hearing from the listeners of the show is great. Great. And I just want to say thank you for being a part of the podcast family and I look forward to having you back for the next episode. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate your time and your listen. Take care.