New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer returns to talk with Zibby his latest thriller, The Lightning Rod, which was inspired by a real figure hired by the United States Army to paint disasters as they occur. Brad shares how influential his mother and the loss of his parents have been on all of his novels, which real-life spy tricks he has included in his projects that have impressed his kids, and what his experience was like reading to former President George H. W. Bush just before he passed away.
Brad Meltzer, THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY
Brad: Those are the parts we always put in the book that are most important, not where they're succeeding and do amazing things, but where they're totally utterly failing; watching Abraham Lincoln lose eight elections. Walt Disney goes bankrupt with one of his first businesses. He's so poor at that moment that he sleeps in a bus station. We all know Disney as this great property. Everyone goes to Disney World and Disneyland. It's the most beautiful place and wonderful place on earth. When I teach my kids that Walt Disney failed, that the first Mickey Mouse cartoon was a disaster, that when Walt Disney named Mickey Mouse, he called him Mortimer Mouse -- his wife is like, "That's a terrible name. Mortimer? That's a terrible name." He said, "Okay. What do you think is better?" She's like, "I don't know. What about Mickey?" That's how the world gets Mickey Mouse, not because America's the greatest country on earth, not because Walt Disney's always a genius, because his wife is like, "Shmuck, listen. Pay attention." My kids are like, "Oh. So the first draft can be bad?" I'm like, exactly. You've got to work at it to make greatness. I want to teach my kids that you fail and you fail and you fail, but if you get back up again, that's how you fly.