Welcome, everyone, to my first ever. . .drumroll please. . .
“Interview with the Author!”
Bailey Day is hard at work on all of her stories, but contrary to popular belief, she does take the time to enjoy a book or two at her leisure. In this series, I’ll be collecting Day’s insights on all of the crazy books that she has been reading. If any books that we review sounds like an interesting read to you, we encourage you to read them yourselves!
Today, I’ll be interviewing Day on a book that she read recently entitled Wandl the Invader, written by Ray Cummings. Got your popcorn? Got something to drink? Got a comfortable seat to sit in? Good! Let’s start the interview!
(Note: This is an actual interview that I had with Bailey Day, and has been transcribed word for word from a recording I taped of it. This is not a fake interview. It actually happened.)
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JOREL: Good afternoon everyone! Jorel here, and with me is the esteemed Bailey Day!
DAY: Hi.
JOREL: Let’s give her a big hand folks!
JOREL: So, Bailey Day…
DAY: Yes.
JOREL: How’s quarantine treating you?
DAY: I’m actually having a great time.
JOREL: Really!
DAY: I mean, I’m very blessed to live in a house where my parents both are working right now, right?
JOREL: Ah, yes.
DAY: Um, my book sales have been down, but in general, like, you know I haven’t been wanting money or food or anything. And so I’ve been feeling very blessed that way.
JOREL: That’s good to hear! And I hear you’ve been doing some reading recently…
DAY: I have been doing a lot of reading ’cause there’s not much else to do.
JOREL: What’s that book you’ve got there?
DAY: This is Wandl the Invader.
JOREL: What?
DAY: Yes, you heard me. It’s called Wandl the Invader, by Ray Cummings.
JOREL: Where’d you find this book?
DAY: Ummm, once upon a time my mom and I–before quarantine mind you, this was. . .last summer? We went to Powell’s bookstore.
JOREL: Hm!
DAY: It was really fun. I took my best friend there for the first time. I think it was only my second time ever going. And if you’ve never been to Powell’s bookstore in Portland it’s like this magical place.
JOREL: Sounds fun.
DAY: And so there’s all these books. They’re just lining the walls everywhere, and we just had fun exploring the whole thing. And on this, like, kiosk-y stand of these really old books in the sci-fi section I found Wandl the Invader. And as soon as I saw the cover, which I know is shown here-
JOREL: Yeah, that’s quite the cover there.
DAY: I saw it and I went, “I am absolutely in love with the little. . .” This little pink guy on the cover just stole my heart immediately. So knowing nothing about the story–I didn’t even open it and, like, read anything about it–I got it. It was only three dollars, and it’s. . .you know, it’s been not treated nicely in its lifetime. But I thought it was a great story.
JOREL: That’s wonderful to hear.
DAY: Mm-hm.
JOREL: Mind telling us exactly what Wandl the Invader is about?
DAY: Well, it’s about these. . .okay, start over. It’s about this, um, Wandl the Invader.
JOREL: Uh-huh.
DAY: But the thing is I was disappointed because Wandl the Invader is not actually the alien on the cover.
JOREL: Well then what exactly is Wandl, Bailey?
DAY: Wandl is a planet.
JOREL: Huh. . .
DAY: And so basically the story is about this planet who rockets itself across the entire universe. . .
JOREL: Wow.
DAY: . . .to come to Earth and our solar system. And its whole goal is to steal Earth, Mars, and Venus which. . .it, like–there’s a lot of plot holes but we accepted that it was willing to just–it was gonna tether Earth, Venus, and Mars and just yank it acro–
JOREL: Ah! Now, now, now Bailey let’s not get into, like, spoiler territory now okay?
DAY: Haha! Okay. Sorry.
JOREL: Some people might want to read this book. But Bailey, you read the book, let’s hear a good plot summary!
DAY: So basically it stars this guy, Gregg, and his friends Venza and Anita and, like, Snap, or something. And basically the four of them are very good friends and Gregg runs this ship. And he just got promoted to run this really big ship called the Planetara. And so they are investigating this planetoid that has been rushing across the universe and is rushing straight to Earth. And they have no idea at that time it’s Wandl the Invader. Um, but so they are getting into this problem that they didn’t bargain for; they thought they were just dealing with, like, a giant asteroid. In reality it’s an alien planet that’s coming to wreck more havoc than they thought it would.
JOREL: Wonderful!
DAY: It was written in, like, 1961, and, um, if you can find it I would be super proud of you. We should look to see if it’s on Amazon.
JOREL: Oh, I’m sure you can find it somewhere Bailey.
DAY: Probably.
JOREL: And for those out there who want to read Wandl the Invader, I’m sure it’s out there somewhere.
DAY: It’s out there.
JOREL: So, Bailey, who else would like this book besides you?
DAY: Oho, gosh! Um. . .
JOREL: Oh, no, you’re a great person you know, and you have great tastes.
DAY: Yeah. Mm-hm. It’s, um, it’s definitely a science fiction, you know?
JOREL: Yeah, science fiction, mm-hm.
DAY: And so people who like science fiction would probably really like this book. But not if you like science fiction like The Martian, by Andy Weir. Now The Martian‘s this very serious story where he gets stuck on Mars.
JOREL: Right, right.
DAY: And it’s a survival story, right? This story (Wandl the Invader) definitely has more of, like, a Star Trek vibe to it, though they are on Earth a lot of the time. It’s more of, like, you know. . .I guess just things that really probably couldn’t happen ever?
JOREL: Mm.
DAY: First of all, there’s Venusians and Martians talked a lot about in this story. So if, like, that kind of science really bothers you, where it obviously could never happen–
JOREL: Well, it does sound unbelievable.
DAY: It is very unbelievable! But it was a fun read. So if you like, you know, science fiction, but aren’t necessarily, you know, it has to be completely science, you know, accurate. . .
JOREL: Yeah.
DAY: It’s like a cheesy B movie in a book.
JOREL: Ooh! And I do like cheesy B movies!
DAY: Oh, I do too.
JOREL: . . .
DAY: . . .
JOREL: Anything else to add, Bailey, before we, um, end the interview?
DAY: Umm, just that, you know, umm. . .I really liked it, and if you like Wandl the Invader, or if you like just cheesy sci-fi things in general, this would be just a fun read. It’s really quick. So, yeah, it didn’t take me that long to read it.
JOREL: You hear that, folks? If you want to read a good sci-fi, um, fantasy, you can pick up Wandl the Invader, by Ray Cummings. . .somewhere online, probably!
DAY: We’ll find it. We’ll have a link.
JOREL: Yeah, we’ll have a link! Don’t you worry. Well, Bailey, thanks for coming down to the interview!
DAY: Yeah, it was fun.
JOREL: And we’ll see you next time on Bailey Day’s Bookshelf!
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And just like we promised, ladies and gentlemen, you can download Wandl the Invader for your own reading pleasure by clicking on ‘the link’: the link.
Or if you’d like to buy Wandl the Invader and at the same time support the Pulp Fiction Book Store, you can purchase the book by following ‘this link’: this link.
Or if you’d rather not have to read and just want to listen to the whole thing, you can follow ‘that link’: that link.
And now, a little bonus to those who made it all the way down here! Bailey Day really likes the little Wandlite guy that appears on the cover of Wandl the Invader, but she felt that it didn’t quite capture the true character of the Wandlites in the book. So, she made a drawing of what she pictured the Wandlites in the book really looked like! Voila!
Beautiful, isn’t it? This piece is truly a work of art. Feel free to print it out, frame it in your best picture frame, and hang it on the wall of your living room, because you just can’t say that your an art appreciator if you don’t stop to admire this amazing portrait at least once a day. Well done Bailey Day. Another masterpiece!
Well, that just about wraps up our first interview session. Thank you all for reading. Tune in next time for the 2nd Interview with the Author, where Bailey Day tells a tale of her travels and travails while reading a book about vampire pirates sailing the seven seas.
Stay healthy, everyone. This is your host, Jorel, signing off.