In this episode of The Malliard Report, Jim Malliard sits down with A.J. Ensor — novelist, media producer, and paralegal — for a candid and wide-ranging conversation that stretches from book publishing to extraterrestrial encounters. Ensor, known for Return of the Dark Side and The Human Quantum Leap, blends sharp storytelling with deep insight into how humans understand truth, imagination, and communication in the digital age.
The discussion opens with Ensor’s reflections on writing Return of the Dark Side — a modern American answer to the wizard-school genre. Inspired by what he calls “the void Harry Potter left behind,” Ensor created Luke Carter, a young protagonist navigating a world where magic meets modern America. He and Jim dig into the tension between artistic voice and grammatical purism, the balance between storytelling and structure, and how authenticity always outlasts academic perfectionism.
From there, the conversation transitions to Ensor’s long career in advertising and media production. As the creator of “triangulation marketing,” Ensor recalls his days crafting television commercials and building early digital campaigns that connected on-air storytelling with online engagement — long before today’s social metrics existed. His candid perspective on marketing mistakes, audience targeting, and the myth of “internet guarantees” reveals how old-school craftsmanship still drives results in a digital world.
The episode closes on Ensor’s nonfiction work The Human Quantum Leap, a book born from his friendship with a fellow Marine turned military intelligence operative. The story explores the idea of extraterrestrial contact not through conspiracy, but through observation — an anthropological look at humanity from a galactic perspective. Together, Jim and A.J. discuss the evolution of communication, from radio waves to brain-linked networks, and what it might mean for humanity’s next leap in consciousness.
It’s a conversation that moves effortlessly from grounded realism to cosmic wonder — a perfect reflection of The Malliard Report, where curiosity meets craft and mystery meets meaning.
00:00 – 05:00
Jim fumbles with the mic (“it’s one of those nights”) before welcoming A.J. Ensor. They discuss Return of the Dark Side, Ensor’s inspiration, and the challenge of following in the wake of Harry Potter.
05:00 – 10:00
Writing styles and English purists — Ensor defends storytelling over sentence diagrams and shares how he weaves poetry and “kid talk” to bring characters alive.
10:00 – 20:00
The realism behind fiction — every character is rooted in someone real, even if the story isn’t. Ensor explains why familiarity gives stories heartbeat.
20:00 – 35:00
Marketing lessons from the inside: how authors miss their target audience, what good promotion costs, and how he invented triangulation marketing — linking TV, websites, and engagement before social media made it cool.
35:00 – 50:00
Production trenches — from car commercials to personality clashes, Ensor breaks down the art and headaches of editing, timing, and working with overconfident “account execs.”
50:00 – 65:00
Contracts, paralegal life, and courtroom logic. Ensor reveals how his legal training sharpened his understanding of negotiation and narrative.
65:00 – 80:00
The Human Quantum Leap: an ex-Marine’s encounters with a being “who’d never say extraterrestrial.” Ensor and Jim explore the human need for proof versus the art of curiosity.
80:00 – End
Deep reflections on communication, technology, and consciousness — from the internet as “our training ground for galactic thought” to humanity’s slow crawl toward true sentience.
“The English language isn’t as important to me as the story is.” – A.J. Ensor
“When I can look at a website here in Florida and you can see it in Pennsylvania, that’s a fourth-dimensional device. The internet’s teaching us how to think together.” – A.J. Ensor
“You can’t market what you don’t understand. The first rule of writing is: write what you know.” – A.J. Ensor
“Even if you’re both telling the truth, court is still a fight — and that’s how it’s designed.” – A.J. Ensor
“At The Malliard Report, it’s never about proving — it’s about exploring.” – Jim Malliard
