Lit: Recent Episodes
Erin Brophy and Mary Jane Barnes
Join voracious readers since childhood, Erin and Mary Jane, as they explore the culture, tropes, and fandoms of literature! Find us on Instagram @litpodofficial or visit our store Alphabet Bookshop at https://alphabetbookshop.com to find a new book to fall in love with!
Grab a snack, because this one is bound to make you hungry! Just make sure you take it from a trusted source and not, we don’t know, any fairies. Erin is getting everyone’s appetite up this week as they discuss food in fantasy novels—the familiar tropes, the history, and why readers feel so connected to it. Of course, they also sprinkle in some discussion on literary cookbooks. Get cozy, get snacking, and enjoy! Sources for this week’s episodes are: Why Do Fantasy Novels Have So Much Food? By Anne Ewbanks for Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fantasy-books-food.amp The Fantastical Food of Fantasy Fiction by Beth Cato for Tor.com https://www.tor.com/2019/03/14/the-fantastical-food-of-fantasy-fiction/
Welcome to the first Book Swap Club! In this episode, MJ and Erin assigned each other a book they'd previously read that they thought the OTHER would love. Join us to hear about Erin's foray into Ruby Dixon, MJ's thoughts on romance villains, and, to no one's surprise, talk about sex. Happy swapping!
It's time for the first Reading Roundup of 2023! Join Erin and MJ as they discuss the mountain of books they've read (nevermind the fact that half of it is alien/ monster smut!) Listen to MJ give a quick review of Ruby Dixon's new series, and Erin gush about another Casey McQuiston book. And keep your eye out for a hint of an upcoming episode topic
Join Erin and MJ this week as they discuss even more fairytale and folklore retellings! MJ takes center stage to talk about her new Favorite Book of All Time™, and Erin horrifies and delights MJ with some bonkers fairytale endings. (Moral of the story: ?????)
Join us this week as Erin and MJ investigate cozy mysteries! Where did they come from, what are the constants, and why couldn't Erin get into any of the ones they tried reading?
February is Black History Month, and this episode we’re focusing on Black authors, poets, and activists.
This episode, MJ and Erin are recommending their favorite books by Black authors and their favorite authors and poets across all genres, and Tony jumps in on the microphone to recommend some of his favorite books by Black activists! In the show notes, we’ve linked resources for continuing education on racial justice.
Resources:GLAD’s Racial Justice Resources: https://www.glad.org/racial-justice-resources/The Loveland Foundation: “Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. We are becoming the ones we’ve been waiting for.” https://thelovelandfoundation.org/Campaign Zero: “Campaign Zero builds and sustains efforts that support communities to redefine public safety and create solutions that do not involve police.” https://campaignzero.org/8 Can’t Wait: “#8CANTWAIT is a campaign to bring immediate change to police departments.” https://8cantwait.org/Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com/NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/
National Bail Fund Directory: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory
The Equal Justice Initiative: https://eji.org/
Erin and MJ are kicking off Season 2 in the only way they know how: a lot of ridiculousness and a dash of monster romance.
Our first episode of the season covers the rise in polyamorous relationships in romance novels as well as one of the fastest growing themes in romance today: the reverse harem, or "why choose", romance. Join our hosts as they discuss the good, the bad, and the very weird sex (yes, again), along with strange descriptions of anatomy, experiences with unicorn hunting, and more as we ring in season two!
We’re taking a short break for the holidays and then returning on January 11th with our season two premiere! In the meantime: it’s the final countdowwwwn!
It’s finally here, fellow readers—Erin and MJ rank their top three and bottom three reads of the year! Covering October 2021 to October 2022, we talk the good, the bad, the ugly, and the impossible pickup truck sex scenes that left an impression over the last year (yes, there’s more than one on this list). Our hosts go more in-depth about what left an impression, what could have been left out, and what they took away from their most and least favorite books of the year. Quotes, themes, annoyingly impossible feats of human anatomy–you name it, Erin and MJ cover it. Join us for one last reading roundup, then re-listen to your favorite episodes before our season two premiere on January 11th, 2023!
WEEEE WOOOO WEEEE WOOO!!!! It’s the emergency episode!! In the anticipation of having to reschedule a recording or push back a release date, we recorded an emergency episode, and it’s time to shine has arrived!! (Our hosts are all fine, just had an unexpected conflict that meant recording had to be pushed back.) So, with inspiration from the Try Guys, here is our emergency episode. Please enjoy this absolutely UNHINGED conversation of Would-You-Rather’s, a rousing game of FMK, and some absolutely WEIRD romance novel quotes. See you in two weeks for the final episode of the season!
This week, we’re talking all things graphic novels! Using personal experience and research, our hosts talk about the benefits of young readers being allowed to read graphic novels, how forcing them to only read “real books” can be harmful to their reading development, and the ways that graphic novels can help readers understand nuance and storytelling better. This is a subject Erin and MJ are passionate about, so put any preconceived notion of graphic novels behind you and get ready to find some recommendations that we think will change any naysayer’s mind.
The articles Erin references in this episode are below:
https://www.today.com/parents/5-reasons-your-child-should-read-graphic-novels-t165336
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g38235935/graphic-novels-for-kids/
We've got a big list for our last Reading Roundup of the year! So buckle up and let's finish our reading year strong!
All aboard the charcuterie board! For the final episode of spooky season, Erin and MJ turn themselves, as well as mystical producer Tony, into cryptids. Stay tuned for an assortment of topics covering all things spooky, including (but not limited to) a questionable commercial, boats with genetalia, and therapy breakthroughs. Happy Halloween!
Watch the Skittles commercial along with Erin and MJ at 42:41: https://youtu.be/iFvSUL0rZeg
Welcome back to spoooooky season! As everyone knows, monster fu*kers reign supreme in this podcast, so this week we’re ranking vampires!
What started as a serious ranking of most to least scary took a turn when MJ forgot to read the directions before beginning a project, and Erin went off on a rampage about Twilight, but it sure made for an interesting ranking system! Hear why Bunnicula might be the scariest vampire of them all and where each host ranks Dracula, as well as how they both interpreted “allure” (which started the hilarity in the first place). Grab a seasonal red drink and settle into your coffin for some fangtasic discussion!
Boo! Erin and MJ are kicking off Spooky Season with a cackle! In this episode covering comedic horror our hosts cover the emergence of the sub genre in the book world, as well as the earlier examples in movies and podcasting. Hear about Erin's fear of empty department stores, and MJ's war stories from retail.
The end of summer is here, which means it’s time for pumpkin spice lattes, jumping in leaves, cozy sweaters, and also…going back to school. Thankfully, our hosts are here this week to make going back to school more interesting!
MJ and Erin dive into the topic of dark academia this episode, talking about the book that is thought to have started it all and whether they agree with that, the titles they own and love (or don’t love) that fall under that heading, and how Tumblr truly started the entire thing. They also cover the interesting phenomenon that is COVID19 bringing this aesthetic more to the forefront. So grab your moodboards, plaid skirts, and settle into your cozy reading nooks lit only by candlelight: it’s time to learn about dark academia!
The source Erin pulled their quotes from this episode is the Wikipedia article about Dark Academia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_academia
It’s time for the quarterly reading roundup! Did our intrepid hosts meet or beat their estimates of how many books they would read this quarter? Guess you’ll have to listen to find out!
Reading Roundup 3 is here, and it’s time to find out our hosts’ thoughts on the books they’ve read over the past three months. Join us in supporting women’s rights (but more importantly, women’s wrongs), children’s books that depict emotion in a healthy way, books with not enough smut, books with maybe too much smut, and more! Stay tuned after the episode for some bonus musical stylings, and send us what you’ve read over the last quarter! Will MJ and Erin meet their goals for the year-end Reading Roundup? Guess you’ll have to keep listening to find out!
Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if just one thing changed? Or maybe a lot of things changed? Spend a lot of time thinking about multiverses? This episode is for you!
Content Warning: this episode briefly touches on themes of sexual assault. We do give a warning before discussing it.
This week, MJ and Erin dive into another literary theme, alternate history! “What Ifs” include what if WWII had ended differently, what if zombies suddenly appeared and changed the course of history, and what if women suddenly had the power to disrupt electricity? Erin FINALLY gets to deep dive into one of their favorite books now that MJ has begun reading it (and it fits the theme), and even more what if’s are pondered as we travel down an interesting literary rabbit hole!
Today’s theme, “you get what you get”, is apt both for the topic title AND the episode itself, as our hosts recorded from two different locations for the first time ever!
Join MJ and Erin as they talk about the interesting literary device of the unreliable narrator! Learn about the history, the first book where it was used, the subcategories, and more as Erin explains why it’s one of their favorite devices and MJ remains on the fence about it. MJ and Erin also discuss some movies that contain this plot device, so get ready for massive spoilers ahead!
“You get what you get” comes into play as our hosts talk about not only the plots of these books and the twists and turns therein, but also the fact that their audio is being recorded in two places and, as such, might be a little wonky since Tony wasn’t present to work his absolute magic, but hey–nobody’s perfect!
Welcome to July! Scorching hot sun means just one thing: beach reads!
This week, Erin and MJ meet up to talk about the ambiguous topic of beach reads - what qualifies as a beach read? Is it only romance? Horror? Mystery? Is there a reason they went from talking about sunny beaches to suddenly daydreaming about the beaches in the Pacific Northwest? Guess you'll have to listen to this week's episode to find out, and get some good recommendations for every type of reader!
It’s our second Pride episode! Today, MJ and Erin are focusing on happily-ever-afters in queer lit!
In this week’s episodes, Erin and MJ take us through some of their favorite queer lit titles that have happily-ever-afters, because for far too long queer lit had to focus on ambiguous endings left to a reader’s imagination, and we are finally getting the happily-ever-afters that queer stories deserve! Topics range from romance to YA to sci-fi, reminiscing about Tumblr culture to exploring the difficulties of being your true self in a religious environment.
Happy Pride!!! This month we’re talking all things queer lit, and we kick off with the history of queer publishing! In this week’s episode, Erin takes us through the history of queer publishing and the influx of traditionally published queer books over the last few years. They talk about independent presses during the AIDS epidemic, the first queer YA novels, how queer lit helps readers of all ages feel seen, and their experience with queer lit growing up. Settle in and get comfy for our first Pride episode!! The sources Erin used in this episode are: Medium: A Brief History of Queer Young Adult Literature, 2016 https://medium.com/the-establishment/the-critical-evolution-of-lgbtq-young-adult-literature-ce40cd4905c6 Creating a Literary Culture: A Short, Selective, and Incomplete History of LGBT Publishing by Michael Nava, 2021 https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/creating-a-literary-culture-a-short-selective-and-incomplete-history-of-lgbt-publishing-part-i/ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/creating-a-literary-culture-a-short-selective-and-incomplete-history-of-lgbt-publishing-part-ii/ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/creating-a-literary-culture-a-short-selective-and-incomplete-history-of-lgbt-publishing-part-iii/
‘Solace, joy and a lifeline’: Why queer literature is vital for people growing up LGBTQ+ https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/feb/why-queer-literature-is-vital-for-people-growing-up-lgbtq-.html
Queer children's books have a long history that's only now being told, 2017 https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/feb/23/queer-childrens-books-have-a-long-history-thats-only-now-being-told
Time for our second Reading Roundup! In this week's Reading Roundup, our hosts go over the titles they've read, the titles the tried to read, and lament the fact that neither of them read as much as they wanted to the past couple of months. We're also taking bets on how much they'll read before the next Reading Roundup comes out!
Trigger warning 23:30-24:00
We’re talking guilty pleasures this week, and MJ and Erin realize that they, uh…do that all the time on this show. Whoops!
This week, Erin and MJ both realize that they talk about their guilty pleasures on this show all the dang time, so instead they just try to figure out which they haven’t talked about–and eventually just go into detail about the ones they already have, while giving book recommendations for other series they like that branch off from those guilty pleasures! Come sit for a while as we work through chronic illness flare-ups and depressive episodes, and get a look at what podcasting is really like sometimes–just a bunch of brain shambles doing their best.
Erin mentioned their cousin’s debut EP on this episode, and you can find it here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0a4tgUMk3gdoxChPnOpF4n?si=S0Ckj5cDQ3WLI7EvUZuL7Q
Content Warning: In the first half of today’s episode, MJ and Erin are discussing H.H. Holmes, a notorious serial killer, and this episode contains descriptions of his crimes. Listener discretion is advised. Today, MJ and Erin pay homage to “And That’s Why We Drink” in honor of seeing the podcast live! First, they cover The Devil in the White City—an engaging non-fiction work detailing how the World’s Fair in Chicago in the 1800’s created the perfect hunting ground for notorious serial killer H.H. Holmes. Then, they turn out the lights and grab their flashlights for the spookiest stories they’ve ever read, while also realizing that maybe they don’t actually LIKE spooky stories all that much. And that’s why we read!
Giddy-up! In this segment of Trope-sical Paradise, MJ explains to Erin how kidnapping is romanticized in certain genres. Learn why the hosts are now owned by pop sensation, One Direction, and about the true crime case that made MJ realize the trouble with this trope.
Content Warning This episode is centered around a topic that some may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised!
Once Upon A Time, the fairest podcast hosts in the land sat down to discuss fairies, sentient forests, and strong independent women who don't need no man!
This week on Lit, MJ and Erin sit down with guest Randi to discuss New Adult fiction - it's fresh! It's new! But what does it MEAN? Erin explains publisher theories behind the creation of the genre and discusses why MJ really shouldn't have read Speak in 6th grade. The topic also touches on reading as escapism, the many crises that Millennials and Gen Z have lived through, and why we as readers might just want happy things sometimes!
Welcome to the first Reading Roundup of 2022, where Erin and MJ cover what they've read so far this year. Beginning (finally!) with a discussion of Red, White, & Royal Blue, including producer Tony. Tune in to hear the gang speculate on whether Henry is a top or not, and learn about MJ's deep and abiding mistrust of poultry. Erin discusses the seven #Booktok books they started the year strong with, and MJ talks about her most recent forays into historical and contemporary fiction.
Yeehaw!
Trigger Warning Discussion of Rape from 1:06:45-1:08:40
Welcome back to Trope-sical Paradise! This week we're rounding up more romance tropes, this time in alien lit and creature features!
Join Erin and MJ back in the studio to talk more romance tropes, this time with MJ taking the wheel and focusing on alien lit! Our two guests, Randi and Jon, throw in their two cents as well, and we finally find out what happens when you fill a studio with neurodivergents and attempt to have them all focus on one topic for longer than five minutes. And that's what you're getting into this week on lit!
We're back in the studio and so happy to be back!! Join us this week for our first Trope-sical Paradise episode! Trope-sical Paradise is a recurring segment where we'll talk about, you guessed it, tropes we find in books! In this episode, Erin talks all thinks romance! From Nora Roberts and the "traditional" romance themes to the emerging genre of rom-coms, to queer romance and back again, they discuss their favorite tropes (and their least favorite tropes). MJ also gives us a peek into the tropes found in creature romances and an interesting summary of what she thinks Star Wars is about. Grab your favorite beverage and settle in with us!
*Trigger Warning: 50:00 - 57:21 Discussion of Call Me By Your Name and discussion about the relationship between an adult and a minor (as defined in the United States), and toxic behavior in relationships.
*More information about the Colectivo Colective can be found on their instagram @colectivocollective and on their website http://colectivounionyes.com/
Join MJ and Erin as this week they discuss the books that had a lasting impact on their lives, and the books they re-read the most often!
Content Warning: This episode contains overall themes of depression, mental health struggles, and homophobia/anti-LGBT sentiments. Please be safe while listening. Specifically from 1:18:30 - 1:19:43 we discuss the homophobic violence committed against Matthew Shepard.
You can purchase Empress of the World from us by visiting https://alphabetbookshop.com/shop/ols/products/empress-of-the-world
In episode Two, join Mary Jane and Erin for one of their favorite topics: books they read when they were way too young to be reading them! This one gets weird, y'all. (Content warnings for potential triggers are at the end of the episode description.)
This is a doozy, as MJ and Erin talk about the hazards of being an advanced reader and getting their hands on stuff they were way too young to be reading. Erin shares what it was like before the explosion of children's literature, MJ takes us through romance novels and trying to hide them from her classmates, and Tony chimes in with the weirdest scene from Wicked. You're not going to want to miss MJ's dramatic reading of it - trust us.
Content warnings:
As mentioned at the beginning of this episode, we talk about content that may be triggering to some listeners. The timestamps and potential triggers are:
13:10-15:50 we are discussing 13 Reasons Why, Cut, and Speak, and mention self harm, suicide, anorexia, sexual assault, and depression
20:02-20:35 we are discussing fearless and there is brief mention of rape
It's Finally here! In the first official episode of Lit, Mary Jane and Erin discuss learning to read, the books that got them hooked on reading, and the differences in the genres they both enjoy. Join us for laughter, insight, shout-outs to our moms, and a very interesting accidental biology lesson that revealed quite a lot about our hosts... trust us when we say you don't want to miss the inaugural episode of Lit (and maybe don't listen to it without headphones - like we said, a very interesting biology lesson)..
Meet hosts Erin and Mary Jane for the first time in this teaser trailer and get a glimpse of some of the topics yet to come your way!