For this episode, we’re headed back to the film set with director, writer and actor Adam Griswold for his upcoming movie, “The Other Christmas Show.” Here’s a look at the story behind the story.

For years, Aaron Hawthorne and his theater company staged ambitious musical productions in a suburban New England theater, and ultimately went their separate ways when the shows failed to find much of an audience.

However, when Aaron learns that a famed Broadway producer is staging a new production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in his hometown theater, he sees it as a chance to finally be noticed and reunites his old team to scrape together a Christmas show of their own to be performed the night before.

As the team powers through the setbacks and complications of bringing their show to life, it starts to become apparent that the Broadway troupe that’s invaded their town may have a hidden agenda.

Joining us for this interview is Adam, along with cast members Bob Tourangeau, Ritik Rao and longtime friend of the show Kate Eppers. We talk about how this film came to be and hear from the cast about their roles and experiences on set. Adam shares how he brought such a massive cast together and the different locations used in the filming process.

Adam’s been making movies through his company, Smoking Bottle Entertainment, for the past decade, and talks about his past films and what it’s been like to working in the New England film scene.

Our first Citywide Bytes of the new year features friend of the show LJ Cohen for her soon-to-be-released book, “Litany for a Broken World” (Feb. 10). In it, three strangers are drawn together in a conflict that threatens not only themselves, but all reality.

In this episode, LJ talks about her characters and the reality-spanning conflict they must face. We go into the development of the protagonists and how they face this challenge. “Litany for a Broken World” is the first in a new series and we get a peek at what is next. We also look at the cover art, which is just amazing!

We’re getting 2025 off to a stellar start with one of the greats of the writing world! Author Jonathan Maberry is a NYT bestseller and 5-time Bram Stoker Award winner. He’s the creator of the Pine Deep Trilogy, V-Wars, Rot and Ruin and of course, the Joe Ledger series among many others.

In our first episode of the new year, Jonathan talks about “Burn to Shine,” the 14th book in the Joe Ledger series. In this book, a covert group is infiltrating the world’s most secure bio-weapons research sites. All across the country, people are acting as human ‘disease bombs’ by infecting themselves and walking into public places. And heavily-armed groups of illegal private soldiers are massing for some unknown strike.

Old enemies are rising and joining forces to hit Joe and his team with one devastating blow after another. What is the end game for all of this madness and terror? Outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, Joe Ledger has to find a way back from the fires of grief in order to make a stand between these enemies and millions of potential innocent lives. But Joe has allies, too. His team, the vicious fighters of Arklight, and friends who may or may not be entirely human.

Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? Jonathan, Curtis and Max talk all about the new book, the fights awaiting RTI and some callbacks to characters in past books.

Jonathan also talks about Joe Ledger, what defines this character, and how his trauma over the years has shaped him. We learn what keeps in the fight and why after all these years, he has no plans to back down.

We also talk about the big news that the Joe Ledger series has been optioned by Chad Stahelski, director of the John Wick movies to be optioned for TV development. Jonathan talks about how he and Chad met and the process of working together. We dive into potential actors to play Joe and where we are at in the production process. “Rot and Ruin,” his young adult zombie series, is in advanced development by Alcon Entertainment and we go into how that has come along.

After all these years, working in novels, comics, and much more, one would think that Jonathan Maberry has done it all, and we ask about his “Mount Everest” accomplishments and what else he wants to do in his career.