Hello, dear listener. I'm Megan, host of this series. And before we get into the show,

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about our sponsor, Fire, the foundation for individual

rights and expression. We live in a moment when free speech, the bedrock of our democracy

and of all free societies, is often viewed as suspect, where many argue that the right

to free speech is too dangerous, and that even listening to ideological opponents is morally

wrong. Many people just don't see a problem with using the law, corporate power, and even

extraordinary social pressure to censor viewpoints they disagree with. But many of us feel the

costs of all this in our everyday lives. We feel it when we self-sensor, afraid to say what we really

think, sometimes even in private conversations with friends or loved ones. We feel it when

we opt out of a growing number of public discussions, afraid of the potential cost to our jobs,

and even our relationships. Fire shares a mission with this show. To remind us why a culture of

free speech in open dialogue matters, and regardless of how loud the calls for censorship are,

fire's defense of that culture is unshakable and invaluable. And if you want to remember why we

choose freedom, even for people we strenuously disagree with, you can learn more about fire's

incredible work at thefire.org. And now, onto the show.

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. Joseph Campbell.

Chapter 1. Plotted in darkness.

Hello there. Sorry to bother you on making a podcast, and I'm going to be asking a lot of fans,

a lot of questions a weekend, and you're one of the people not staring at your phone. So I thought,

maybe you start with this though. Sure. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing good. For starters,

why do you like Harry Potter? I think I had not such a great childhood, and I think a kid with not

such a great childhood actually escaped to something else in the book. It's a story about

...