What if no one is coming to save you—and that realization becomes the beginning of your power?
In this episode of Books That Make You, award-winning author and entrepreneur Debbie Bishop joins the show to discuss PILLYWIGGIN: AWAKENING, an epic fantasy adventure that blends fey worlds, hidden realms, dragon danger, martial arts, friendship, resilience, and the deeply human journey of becoming your own hero.
Debbie describes the story as one rooted in survival and transformation. In her world, characters face harsh conditions, impossible odds, and dangers that force them to become stronger from the inside out. The boys trapped in the mines cannot use their wings, so they adapt, invent, train, strategize, and build bonds that help them endure. For Debbie, that fantasy premise speaks directly to real life. No one can live our lives for us. At some point, we have to stop waiting, step forward, and save ourselves.
The conversation also explores the layered themes inside PILLYWIGGIN: AWAKENING, including balance, diversity, light and dark, masculine and feminine, and the breaking down of stereotypes. Debbie shares how her upbringing in Los Angeles helped shape her desire to create characters who do not fit into narrow expectations. In her work, body type, color, gender, and background do not determine a character’s worth, strength, or morality. Instead, her world reflects the complexity of real people.
Debbie also opens up about her own reinvention. After years of building companies, working in entertainment, developing creative properties, and caring for her mother through Parkinson’s disease, she reached a point where she knew she could no longer hide behind other people’s success. She had spent years marketing others but hesitated to promote herself. Now, with PILLYWIGGIN: AWAKENING, she is stepping out of that old pattern and bringing her own stories forward.
The episode also moves into Debbie’s thoughts on metaphysics, AI, creativity, and the future of storytelling. She discusses Earth as a “teaching planet,” the importance of individual sovereignty, and how AI can be useful as a tool without replacing human imagination, artistry, and emotional intelligence.
For fantasy readers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and anyone navigating reinvention, Debbie Bishop’s message is clear: get out of your own way, trust your creativity, and become the hero of your own story.
