🎙️ THISISGRAEME PODCAST — EP#001: Smith Family Book Launch

Welcome to the first episode of the THISISGRAEME Podcast—a show about creativity, design, story, music, myth, and more.

In this premiere episode, I’m joined by members of my own whānau to launch and discuss our latest fiction projects. It’s a rich, multi-generational exploration of storytelling, publishing, and family legacy.

🎤 Featured Guests on THISISGRAEME

Susan Smith — Te Kererū: The Weight of Small Wings
Graeme Smith — Jack Tann: Phantom Directive
Daniel Merwyn — Nature V. Nurture: A Marcus Hale Thriller
Trinity Merwyn — Elegance in Progress (WIP)
Grace Smith — Untitled Fiction Project
Calvin Smith — Mythic Reimagining Anthology (WIP)

📺 Watch the Episode

Watch on YouTube or Spotify

🧠 What We Discussed

The inspiration behind each book
Our creative process as a family
Intergenerational feedback loops
Publishing and promoting indie works
The intersection of tech, AI, and narrative
Dreams for what’s next

🔗 Featured Links

🎙 This Is Not a Podcast – It’s the Story Forge

A family of writers gathers to celebrate their creative milestones

In this inaugural episode of what we’re calling the Smith-Merwyn Story Forge, our family sits down to share the stories behind our stories. From thrillers to fantasy, etiquette fiction to Norse myth, each of us has been quietly writing, publishing, or dreaming up books. This conversation marks the first time we’ve paused to reflect collectively, share our work publicly, and create a ritual around celebrating the craft of writing in our whānau.

We cover a lot of ground. Daniel shares the gritty inspiration and disciplined writing process behind Nature vs. Nurture, a psychological thriller now available on Amazon. Trinity gives us a peek inside The Art of Elegance, a near-finished fictional journey that explores modern womanhood through a classically polished lens. Grace reflects on The Wish Fairy, a magical fantasy with deep emotional undercurrents, while Calvin takes us into his richly imagined Norse-myth-inspired universe—equal parts epic and eccentric.

Susan unveils Te Kererū: The Weight of Small Wings, a tender, speculative New Zealand novel drawing on Aotearoa’s cultural intersections. And finally, Graeme (that’s me) talks through Jack Tann – The Phantom Directive, a cyber-noir spy thriller layered with unreliable AIs, hidden messages, and meta-fictional echoes.

We also dive into how each of us has used generative AI—some as editor, some as co-pilot, some as sounding board—to bring these projects to life. The episode wraps with reflections on publishing, persistence, creativity, and the joy of seeing your book spine beside your family’s on the shelf.

This is not just a podcast—it’s the forging of a family mythos, one book at a time.

🌀 Final Thought

This episode is the first ripple in what I hope will become an ongoing journey into creative ecosystems, mythic recursion, and sovereign storytelling.

If you enjoyed the conversation, subscribe on YouTube, follow the blog, and stay tuned for more.

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🎙️ THISISGRAEME PODCAST — EP#001: Smith Family Book Launch