From Touring Prisons to Writing Final Fantasy Books: Interview with MJ Gallagher | PNWS Ep. 6

This week we have the pleasure of interviewing author M.J. Gallagher! Say hello and get familiar with his works in our introduction (00:00:06-00:14:52), then learn about how he began writing professionally and his creative process (00:14:52-00:20:39). Next, don't get too scared when he talks about living in a haunted prison and what it was like to work as a Cultural Tour Writer and how that time in his career contributed to his love for cultures and mythologies (00:20:39-00:29:46). We then shift gears to learn about his new book, Mythos, and the inspirations found in Final Fantasy XVI (00:29:46-00:46:16), then find out the importance of Myths in history and culture and why we should pay attention to them (00:46:16-00:54:13). We start to wrap up the show with his perspecitve on Final Fantasy XII: Rebirth, his thoughts on our True Crime take on the key elements of the game, and how video games as a medium are a unique experience in the exploration of grief and loss (00:54:13-01:08:14). To close, we get M.J.'s take on his required reading list of games and express our profound gratitude for his work and sharing his time with us (01:08:14-01:15:26).

00:00:00 — Intro
00:00:06 — MJ’s Origin Story
00:14:52 — MJ’s Creative Process
00:20:39 — Prison Days
00:29:46 — Mythos and FFXVI
00:46:16 — The Importance of Myth 
00:54:13 — True Crime: FF7 with MJ
01:08:14 — Closing Thoughts

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MJ Gallagher’s Books
Greek Myths that Inspired Final Fantasy VII: https://amzn.to/4c5Co57

Norse Myths that Inspired Final Fantasy VII:
https://amzn.to/3WGewR4

Kickstarter for Mythos : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mjgallagher/mythos-final-fantasy-xvi-volume-one

MJ’s Twitter: https://x.com/ffviinovels?s=21&t=S3evkXnalnaqc3LOm-9rYg