Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: Recent Episodes
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Each week on Smart Podcast, Trashy Books, Sarah Wendell interviews authors, readers, reviewers, bloggers, publishing professionals, editors, and librarians about romance novels, which are among the most popular genres in fiction worldwide. Popular guests include: Ilona Andrews, Robin Bradford, NPR's Barrie Hardymon, Jaye Wells, and Rachel Aaron. Amanda, Carrie, Elyse, and RedHeadedGirl, the crew of reviewers at SB-TB.com, also make frequent appearances with maximum silliness. Frequent topics include romance novels, the way the genre is changing, and the brilliant and interesting people who read, write, and produce it, and issues common among romance readers. Plus, we always recommend some books we're reading and really enjoying.
Christine M. Larson is the author of the new book Love in the Time of Self-Publishing: How Romance Writers Changed the Rules of Writing and Success, published by Princeton University Press. This book is NIFTY – it’s about us! I was interviewed for it, and we are going to talk about ALL The Things, from...
Mel Blue wasmy guest when we discussedSpareâ which has become one of my most listened-to episodes â so I asked her back to talk about the narratives of PR, why the weird stories around Kate Middleton grabbed attention worldwide, and why so many people were and are paying attention. On one level itâs a story...
Dr. Chuck Tingle is back!Myepisode with Chuck Tingle from 2016remains one of my most popular, and I was very excited to have Chuck back on the show while he was in the middle of his tour for Camp Damascus.
We’re going to talk about eliciting joy, proving love, the three most maligned genres and why they’re denigrated, and Chuck’s ever-evolving trot as an artist and a person.
Thank you to Caroline Perny for coordinating this interview!
Music: purple-planet.com
LINKS!
You can find Chuck Tingle on his website, ChuckTingle.com, and on Tumblr (!!) at DrChuckTingle.Tumblr.com.
It's been a long time since I've linked to Tumblr. Ah, good times.
We also discussed his prior episode, Episode 206.Proving Love: An Interview with Dr. Chuck Tingle.
Finally, a humble request: if you are so inclined, would you please leave a review for the show? I used to have some on Apple Podcasts - and now I have none? I would appreciate your time and comments so very much. Thank you.
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Louise Hare is the author of the Canary Club mystery series, and book two,Harlem After Midnightis out this week! Louise joins me to talk about her main character, Lena Aldridge, and how Lena uses every asset at her disposal to navigate both a transatlantic cruise in book one, and Harlem in the 1930s in book two.We also talk about writing in dual timelines and the fun of writing family drama and murder, and most of all writing a character whose most familiar home is whatever stage she is on.
It is a little tricky to do an interview for the second book of a mystery series, so to give you a bit more context, this is the cover copy for Harlem After Midnight:
Harlem, 1936: Lena Aldridge grew up in a cramped corner of London, hearing stories of the bright lights of Broadway. She always imagined that when she finally went to New York City, she’d be there with her father. But now he’s dead, and she’s newly arrived and alone, chasing a dream that has quickly dried up. When Will Goodman—the handsome musician she met on the crossing from England—offers for her to stay with his friends in Harlem, she agrees. She has nowhere else to go, and this will give her a chance to get to know Will better and see if she can find any trace of the family she might have remaining.
Will’s friends welcome her with open arms, but just as Lena discovers the stories her father once told her were missing giant pieces of information, she also starts to realize the man she’s falling too fast and too hard for has secrets of his own.
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Music: purple-planet.com
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A humble request from me, your podcast host and producer:If you have a moment and your thumbs are not busy, would you be so kind as to leave a review for the show?
I used to have a few and now they are all gone? It is a mystery - but reviews help other folks find the show., so if you enjoy the podcast and you want to help me reach more nifty people, please drop us a review if you're so inclined? Thank you!
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Deanna Raybourn is back, and we’re talking about some of the unusual methods used to kill folks inKillers of a Certain Age–and there are mild plot spoilers for that book, please be aware. We also talk about the images she receives from fans of her series, and the larger context of why there’s a sense of catharsis reading about terrible people meeting terrible ends.
TW/CW: I mention lice when talking about networks of women. And we’re talking about poison, murders, and some serial killers.
Music: purple-planet.com
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A humble request from me, your podcast host and producer:If you have a moment and your thumbs are not busy, would you be so kind as toleave a review for the show?
I used to have a few and now they are all gone? It is a mystery – but reviews help other folks find the show., so if you enjoy the podcast and you want to help me reach more nifty people, please drop us a review if you’re so inclined? Thank you!
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Pop culture critic and former book blogger Kayleigh Donaldson joins me to talk about BookTok, hockey romance, and the Seattle Kraken. We’re locating this conversation in a larger discussion about fandom, fanfiction about real people, and the ways celebrity culture, fan culture, and romance intersect.
I want to mention that we do talk very briefly about Johnny Depp and fandom, and larger issues of misogyny and sexual harrassment.
Music: purple-planet.com
You can find Kayleigh Donaldson on Twitter @Ceillidhann, and on Pajiba.com. Her newsletter, The Gossip Reading Club, is excellent.
We also mentioned the Dundee Stars hockey team in Dundee, Scotland, and I mentioned Klout, which was a way, way old memory of online weirdness.
And here are the articles she mentioned that she wrote:
- Paste Magazine: "The Hottest Romances of the Season are All Happening On Ice"
- Paste Magazine: "Why is Adam Driver the Hero of Every Romance Novel Now?"
- Pajiba.com: "Krack My Back: Booktok, the Seattle Kraken, and Why You Shouldn't Turn Real People into Your Playthings."
Important Coupon News!
- To celebrate 5 years of HEAs, Love’s Sweet Arrow is offering Smart Bitches listeners 20% off purchases in store and online throughout the month of August with code SMARTBITCHES. All orders over 100 dollars will receive a free gift with purchase. Enter code SMARTBITCHES at checkout online or mention it in store to receive your discount. Code applies only to in-stock products. Free gift will be selected by staff when filling your order.
- Ritual is all about hot data and stone cold facts. Get to know your nutrients on a deeper level with 30% off during your first month. Visit ritual.com/SARAH to start Ritual or add Essential For Women 18+ to your subscription today.
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Time for another Heaving Bosoms Crossover!
The first part of this recap of Dragon Called is up this week at Heaving Bosoms, and here for your listening pleasure is part II. I do a quick recap at the start, so no worries.
This book, and episode, are both very NSFW though - heads up for that.
Important coupon news!
To celebrate 5 years of HEAs, Love’s Sweet Arrow is offering Smart Bitches listeners 20% off purchases in store and online throughout the month of August with code SMARTBITCHES.
In addition, all orders over 100 dollars will receive a free gift with purchase. Enter code SMARTBITCHES at checkout online or mention it in store to receive your discount.
Code applies only to in-stock products. Free gift will be selected by staff when filling your order.
New customers GET $5 OFF a Lume Starter Pack with code SARAH30 at lumedeodorant.com/sarah.
Music: purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mimi Matthews joins me to talk about self publishing historical romance, and about being one of many lawyers who write romance. We also talk about chronic pain and recovery, disability, and the joys of re-reading. Plus, she shares some of her all time favorite historical romances.
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In past years, Amanda and I would be at different romance conferences around this time, and it got me thinking. So we connected to talk about what we miss about romance-focused conferences, and what would our ideal book-focused conference look like?
So! Many! Links! To share with you!
- I wrote about the RT cling-film signage back in 2013
- The episode where we are high: Episode 304. You Have a Type and It Might be Mullets: Sarah, Amanda and Elyse at RT
- Episode 566:. The Blessings of Comfort Reads with KJ Charles
- Episode 371. Amanda and AJ Have Major Book Hangover from Gideon the Ninth
- The Unofficial Romantic Times Index
- Back issues of RT sometimes appear on eBay
- My review ofA Most Agreeable Murder
- Steamy Lit Con
- Fall in Love with New England
- Apollycon
- Brookline Booksmith
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Recently KJ Charles tweeted about how absolutely devouring the Blessings series by Beverly Jenkins helped “save her sanity during the 2020 lockdown.”
So I asked if she’d talk to me about it - and to my surprise this is a popular topic at the moment! She recently did a panel about comfort reading, and I’m really excited to take a look at what makes a comfort read, well, comfy. Plus, we learn what a HFY ending is.
And brace yourself, we have a LOT of recs.
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Music: purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Elissa Sussman has a new book, Once More with Feeling, so of course I could not WAIT to have her back to talk about the story, the pop culture inspirations for this novel, and her research methods.
We also talk about the way stardom and pop stardom specifically has changed since the early 2000s, and how we’re now examining the way we talked about young women and young people at that time.
TW/CW: I want to flag that because we’re talking about pop stars in the early 2000s, there are references to disordered eating, anti fat bias, and staggering misogyny.
I have QUESTIONS:Do you have a favorite musical? Did you or do you have a favorite pop star?
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Music: purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In September of 2022, we snarked a cover, Planet Oster: Fertility Fusion.
The cover designer, who is also one half of the writing team behind the series, reached out to me saying that they were unironically flattered that we’d snarked the cover, and asked if I’d like to talk about the process and the behind the scenes of the design work.
Of course I said yes.
Music: Purple-planet.com
Coupon!
Control Body Odor anywhere with @lumedeodorant and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code SARAH30 at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH30! #lumepod
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
You asked questions, and we have answers! We talk about paranormal worldbuilding mysteries, choosing recommendations to introduce folks to romance, and our origin stories - plus the enigma that is Amanda’s ability to remember book details.
Thank you to Varian, Norette, Rachel, Elizabeth, Sandra, and Sol for the questions!
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Music: purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Amanda and I are back, trying to shock one another, and possibly you, with astonishing covers. We have Easter and bunnies and our latest guess as to what the next monster schtupping romance trend will be!
For extra fun, try to imagine what the cover looks like based on our baffled descriptions, then have a look at the show notes to see the cover in question. How close are you to the stunning reality?
You can see all the covers right here.
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Meredith Goldstein is the host of the Boston Globe’s Love Letters podcast, and she’s been writing their Love Letters advice column for years.
The newest season of Love Letters has arrived, and this season is all about money. We talk about the stories from couples featured in this season, and what she’s learned about love and relationships writing an advice column for so long.
And of course, we talk about books, too.
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Amanda and I are answering listener questions about reading when you’re burnt out, saving the last book of a series, and mood reading. We also talk video games, cozy horror especially, and more.
Thank you to Agatha, Malaraa, Clay, Ellen, and Abigail for the questions for this episode!
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We also mentioned:
- The Merlin Bird identification app
- Shana's review ofThe No-Show by Beth O'Leary
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Coupon! Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get over 40% off your starter pack with promo code SARAH30 at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH30! #lumepod
Music: Purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jeff Adams, who you may know as one half ofThe Big Gay Fiction Podcast,is also a credentialed expert in web accessibility, and he’s co-written a new book,Content for Everyone.
This book is for creative people to help ensure that all your online content, from websites to social media posts, is accessible to everyone.
We’re going to talk about the top four things you can do to make your web content accessible, and spoiler: they’re really not difficult.
Then, of course, we’ve got tv and book recs, because that’s what we do here.
music: Purple-planet.com
Coupons!
- Honeylove.com/SARAH - Get 20% off!
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chels, who is on TikTok as Chels_Ebooks, has been doing a series debunking the myths of BookTok, and let me tell you, when people say everything old is new again? Myths about the sales power of readers on social media are recycled with every new platform.
We’re going to debunk some myths about romance and TikTok, and cover what Chels really loves about TikTok, too.
And we have some very special discussions of classic romances and even more classic cover art.
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Amanda and I make a startling discovery at the start of this episode! Author Karelia Stetz-Waters collects clitoris images and research and we have so many questions. After we take a side trip into the French Olympic mascot design, and cliteracy, a term coined by Sophia Wallace.Then we talk about Karelia’s latest book,Behind the Scenes, which was one of Amanda’s favorite books.
Music: purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Olivia Waite joins me to talk about her New York Times romance column, and her best-of coverage for 2022. We talk about her favorite books of 2022, about writing grief, writing her column, and what’s next.
We take a side trip into discussing the emotionally intense books that are popular now, and the properties that had an emotional wallop on us when we were younger.
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Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get over 40% off your starter pack with promo code SARAH at lumedeodorant.com/SARAH! #lumepod
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Music: purple-planet.com
Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Shana McDavis-Conway is a social change consultant, activist, and a reviewer at this here website! She recently published an article, “Self-conscious, unapologetic, and straight: fat protagonists in romantic fiction” in the journal Fat Studies, and she’s written about fat rep in romance for SBTB a few times, too. We talk about the evolution of fat characters in romance, what’s changing, and then Shana shares the romances that made her a romance reader - and the books that rock her world.
Laura Hankin is the author of Happy And You Know It, A Special Place for Women, and the upcoming book The Daydreams. The paperback of A Special Place for Women is out on May 24th, and as I learned is being adapted for film, too!
We talk about the book-to-film adaptation process, and then we take a deep dive into secret societies, exclusive clubs, and how they work (or don’t). We also take a side trip into public vs private or hidden narratives, and why people want to belong.
Do you know of a secret club or exclusive society? Do you belong to one? Tell me all about it? I’m very nosy.
Lisa from Shrewsbury sent us an email and two contenders for Cover Snark - so we did Cover Snark live! Check the show notes for a link to the covers, and tell us what you notice first!
Happy belated birthday Lisa! Thank you for the wild thumbs and the shifter bonanza!
Are you ready for the covers Lisa sent us? I hope so!
Click this link here or head to the website, http://sb-tb.com and click "PODCASTS"
https://bit.ly/511CoverSnark
If you liked this episode, let me know! In the comments, via email - it’s fun to try different things and I would love to know if you laughed along with us today.
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Music: purple-planet.com
This week, my guest is Emily Henry, whose new romance Book Lovers is out this past week!
We talk about slow burns, book tour, puppies, the inspiration for the lead character, Nora, and the Icy City Ex Girlfriend Trope.
Thank you to Ann_Knee, Clairatrix, and the enthusiastic members of the Culture Study Discord’s romance channel who were very excited about this interview alongside me. And thank you to publicist Heather Mill who set the interview up.
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Music: purple-planet.com
This week, Amanda and I catch up on a whole bunch of things, including college visits, airboats, and dating!
We also have listener email, including recommendation requests and compliments galore!
I know some of y’all love the episodes where Amanda and I hang out and talk books and everything, so if you like this one, let me know? Email, comment, tweet at me, whatever - if you’re into these episodes, let me know!
CW/TW: discussion of needles in the first 10 minutes.
Also: my dogs barked a lot. Sorry about that!
What about you? What books are you looking forward to? We’d absolutely love to know!
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Music: purple-planet.com
Jess Michaels is celebrating the release of her 100th book, 100 Nights with the Duke! That’s a lot of books, and a long career of close to 20 years! We talk about how she’s celebrating this milestone, and we take a look back at how her experience of the romance industry has evolved over two decades.
Along the way we cover:
- Commemorative tattoos
- The biggest changes she’s experienced in her career
- How romance readership has evolved
- Finding your own compass to guide your business
CW: Jess’ father passed away earlier this year, and we talk a little about that near the end of the episode.
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Music: purple-planet.com
Authors Lucy Eden and Katee Robert join me to talk about their very successful Kickstarter campaigns!
Lucy’s is currently running and is fully funded: https://bit.ly/EdenKSLoveNotes
Katee is in the midst of fulfillment of her Kickstarter, which was fully funded in about five minutes.
We talk about why they went with Kickstarter, the essential elements of a successful campaign, and what they’ve learned from the experience so far.
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Music: Purple-planet.com
This is part two of the special crossover event with Bonkers Romance as we recap of A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon. Part one with me, Melody and Jenny is over at Bonkers Romance, so hello and welcome Bonkers Romance listeners! I’m so happy to have you here today!
Be Ye Warned - this episode is extremely nsfw and is a recap of the second half of the book, so spoilers indeed.
Also, yes, my brain cannot hold on to "Rooksgrave Hall" vs "Rooksgrave Manor." Apologies.
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Music: purple-planet.com
Jesse Q. Sutanto joins me today to talk about the release of Four Aunties and a Wedding, and we talk about all the wedding drama we’ve experienced from behind the scenes and as guests. We talk about weddings with thousands of guests, runaway brides, cultural clashes and the weight of wedding expectations.
I would love to know: Do you have a wedding drama story? Did you witness some serious nuptial shenanigans? Please tell me all about it!
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Music: purple-planet.com
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Special Crossover Event!
Next week, I'm the guest at Bonkers Romance! On Thursday April 14, we'll be recapping the first half of A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon. And then on Friday, April 15, I'll be releasing part 2 of our recap here! I hope you'll join Melody, Jenny and me for a very wholesome monster erotica recap.
My guest today is author Farah Heron, whose latest book, Kamila Knows Best, is an updated spin on the Jane Austen classic Emma! Along the way we talk about:
Updating a unique, challenging character
Addressing the age gap between the characters
The importance of hot wet saris
Curly hair care techniques Lipstick recommendations
What are your favorite Emma retellings? And what are your go-to lip color recommendations?
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Music: purple-planet.com