We recently connected with Bryan Young and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bryan, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Well, the most meaningful project I’ve worked on, I still can’t talk about because of an NDA, but short of that, I can talk about some of the others. When I was a kid, I read every book in the house that I could get my hands on. Reading was an escape from all of the horrible things going on. Whatever you imagine, it was probably worse. And I was reading things I probably shouldn’t have at ages far too young. One of the series I picked up was “The Destroyer” a Men’s Adventure series by Warren Murphy and Richard Ben Sapir featuring the tongue-in-cheek adventures of Remo Williams and Chiun, assassins for the US Government. They were incredible bestsellers in the 70s and 80s and had captured my imagination.

The movie, “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” came out and became a favorite when I was a kid. Remo Williams was a character in my pantheon of heroes like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Luke Skywalker. Maybe he shouldn’t have been, but he was.

When I was beginning my writing career, I managed to reach out to Warren Murphy and he became a mentor to me. He read some of my early manuscripts and offered me intensely valuable feedback. He was such a fascinating character. I was in awe of the process it took to get those early Destroyers written. The way he and Sapir had to work–on typewriters, passing manuscripts back and forth–was astonishing. I learned so much for him. There was talk of he and I collaborating on a new novel starring Remo and Chiun as co-writers, but he passed away before anything could be done about it.

Naturally, I was devastated. Not so much because of the lost opportunity, but because of the loss of a friend and mentor.

When Bold Venture Press picked up the license and announced they were doing a new anthology of shorts and novellas featuring the characters, I felt like I might finally have a shot to explore the characters. And I was right.

I ended up getting to write a novella called “Dragon Fire” for the collection and to do it, I even broke out my typewriter and replicated Warren’s process as best I could as he had related it to me. I felt like I was transported, channeling the spirit of one of my mentors into the pages of my story and right into the spark of my youth. It was so deeply meaningful.

And every time I have an old fan of the Destroyer send me a note to tell me that I’ve captured the characters, I feel that glow of excitement I had, huddled over the typewriter, all over again.

But I find that feeling when I write books in the BattleTech universe for different reasons. Or when I get to work on Star Wars or Robotech. Or Shadowrun. I feel very lucky to get to do what I do.

Bryan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a lover of words and film. I think that’s the biggest thing to know about me. I am passionate about it. I started right out of high school by building a spaceship in my mom’s backyard and filming a movie inside of it.

I haven’t stopped living a creative life since then. I’m a fulltime writer and filmmaker and consider myself an artist. I’ve gotten to work in universes in some way that range from Star Wars and Star Trek to Doctor Who and Game of Thrones, as well as BattleTech and Shadowrun, Robotech and the Destroyer, as well as more to come. Besides that, I work on my own original fiction.

And I still make films. My latest short film, “The Lost Boys” has won more than a dozen awards and been seen in more than thirty film festivals around the world.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

We can work toward a world that reveres art and removes barriers from being an artist. Support politicians that don’t look down at art. Support politicians that understand that art gives meaning to life. Support politicians that support things that make making art easier: universal healthcare, universal basic income, things like that.

How many Shakespeares and Rodins and DaVincis are out there unable to create art because they’re languishing in a dead end, minimum wage job? It’s criminal. It’s evil.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Like Generative AI, they are worthless scams.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.swankmotron.com
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• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swankmotron/
• Twitter: https://bsky.app/profile/swankmotron.com

Image Credits

Bold Venture Press (for the Destroyer cover)