Podcast appearances and mentions of mira grant

What does it really take to build a multi-six-figure author business with no advertising? Is running your own warehouse really necessary for direct sales success — or is there a simpler path using print-on-demand that works just as well? In this conversation, Sacha Black and I compare our very different approaches to selling direct, from print on demand to pallets of books, and explore why the right model depends entirely on who you are and what your goals are for your author business. In the intro, Memoir Examples and interviews [Reedsy, The Creative Penn memoir tips]; Written Word Media annual indie author survey results; Successful Self-Publishing Fourth Edition; Business for Authors webinars; Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant; Camino Portuguese Coastal on My Camino Podcast; Creating while Caring Community with Donn King; The Buried and the Drowned by J.F. Penn Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Sacha Black is the author of YA and non-fiction for authors and previously hosted The Rebel Author Podcast. As Ruby Roe, she is a multi-six-figure author of sapphic romantasy. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights, and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Two models for selling direct: print on demand vs running your own warehouse. Plus, check out Sacha's solo Rebel Author episode about the details of the warehouse. Cashflow management Kickstarter lessons: pre-launch followers, fulfillment time, and realistic timelines How Sacha built a multi-six-figure business through TikTok with zero ad spend Matching your business model to your personality and skill set Building resilience: staff salaries, SOPs, and planning for when things change You can find Ruby at RubyRoe.co.uk and on TikTok @rubyroeauthor and on Instagram @sachablackauthor Transcript of the interview Joanna: Sacha Black is the author of YA and nonfiction for authors, and previously hosted the Rebel Author podcast. As Ruby Roe, she is a multi-six-figure author of sapphic romance. So welcome back to the show, Sacha. Sacha: Hello. Thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to be here. Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today. Now, just for context, for everybody listening, Sacha has a solo episode on her Rebel Author podcast, last week as we record this, which goes into specific lessons around the warehouse in more detail, including financials. So we are going to come at this from a slightly different angle in our discussion today, which is really about two different ways of doing selling direct. I want us to start though, Sacha, in case people don't know your background, in case they've missed out. Can you just give us a quick recap of your indie author journey, because you haven't just come out of nowhere and jumped into this business and done incredibly well? Sacha's Indie Author Journey Sacha: No, I really haven't. Okay. So 2013, I started writing. So 12 years ago I started writing with the intention to publish, because I was writing before, but not with the intention. 2017 I first self-published and then two years after that, in 2019, I quit the day job. But let me be clear, it wasn't because I was rolling in self-published royalties or commissions or whatever you want to call them. I was barely scraping by. And so those are what I like to call my hustle years because I mean, I still hustle, but it was a different kind. It was grind and hustle. So I did a lot of freelance work. I did a lot of VA work for other authors. I did speaking, I was podcasting, teaching courses, and so on and so forth. 2022, in the summer, I made a realisation that I'd created another job for myself rather than a business that I wanted to grow and thrive in and was loving life and all of that stuff. And so I took a huge risk and I slowed down everything, and I do mean everything. I slowed down the speaking, I slowed down the courses, I slowed down the nonfiction, and — I poured everything into writing what became the first Ruby Roe book. I published that in February 2023. In August/September 2023, I stopped all freelance work. And to be clear, at that point, I also wasn't entirely sure if I was going to be able to pay my bills with Ruby, but I could see that she had the potential there and I was making enough to scrape by. And there's nothing if not a little bit of pressure to make you work hard. So that is when I stopped the freelance. And then in November 2023, so two months later, I started TikTok in earnest. And then a month after that, December the eighth, I went viral. And then what's relevant to this is that two days after that, on December the 10th, I had whipped up my minimum viable Shopify, and that went live. Then roll on, I did more of the same, published more Ruby Roe books. I made a big change to my Shopify. So at that point it was still print on demand Shopify, and then February 2025, I took control and took the reins and rented a warehouse and started fulfilling distribution myself. The Ten-Year Overnight Success Joanna: So great. So really good for people to realise that 2013, you started writing with the intention, like, seriously, I want this to be what I do. And it was 2019 when you quit the day job, but really it was 2023 when you actually started making decent money, right? Sacha: Almost like we all need 10 years. Joanna: Yeah. I mean, it definitely takes time. So I wanted just to set that scene there. And also that you did at least a year of print on demand Shopify before getting your own warehouse. Sacha: Yeah, maybe 14 months. Joanna: Yeah, 14 months. Okay. So we are going to revisit some of these, but I also just want as context, what was your day job so people know? Sacha: So I was a project manager in a local government, quite corporate, quite conservative place. And I played the villain. It was great. I would helicopter into departments and fix them up and look at processes that were failing and restructure things and bring in new software and bits and bobs like that. The Importance of Business Skills Joanna: Yeah. So I think that's important too, because your job was fixing things and looking at processes, and I feel like that is a lot of what you've done and we'll revisit that. Sacha: How did I not realise that?! Joanna: I thought you did know that. No. Well, oh my goodness. And let's just put my business background in context. I'm sure most people have heard it before, but I was an IT consultant for about 13 years, but much of my job was going into businesses and doing process mapping and then doing software to fix that. And also I worked, I'm not an accountant, but I worked in financial accounting departments. So I think this is really important context for people to realise that learning the craft is one thing, but learning business is a completely different game, right? Sacha: Oh, it is. I have learnt — it's wild because I always feel like there's no way you can learn more than in your first year of publishing because everything is brand new. But I genuinely feel like this past 18 months I have learnt as much, if not more, because of the business, because of money, because of all of the other legal regulation type changes in the last 18 months. It's just been exhausting in terms of learning. It's great, but also it is a lot to learn. There is just so much to business. Joanna's Attempts to Talk Sacha Out of the Warehouse Joanna: So that's one thing. Now, I also want to say for context, when you decided to start a warehouse, how much effort did I put into trying to persuade you not to do this? Sacha: Oh my goodness, me. I mean a lot. There were probably two dinners, several coffees, a Zoom. It was like, don't do it. Don't do it. You got me halfway there. So for everybody listening, I went big and I was like, oh, I'm going to buy shipping containers and convert them and put them on a plot of land and all of this stuff. And Joanna very sensibly turned around and was like, hmm, why don't you rent somewhere that you can bail out of if it doesn't work? And I was like, oh yeah, that does sound like a good idea. Joanna: Try it, try it before you really commit. Okay. So let's just again take a step back because the whole point of doing this discussion for me is because you are doing really well and it is amazing what you are doing and what some other people are doing with warehouses. But I also sell direct and in the same way as you used to, which is I use Bookfunnel for ebooks and audiobooks and I use BookVault for print on demand books, and people can also use Lulu. That's another option for people. So you don't have to do direct sales in the way that you've done it. And part of the reason to do this episode was to show people that there are gradations of selling direct. Why Sell Direct? Joanna: But I wanted to go back to the basics around this. Why might people consider selling direct, even in a really simple way, for example, just ebooks from their website, or what might be reasons to sell direct rather than just sending everything to Amazon or other stores? Sacha: I think, well, first of all, it depends on what you want as a business model. For me, I have a similar background to you in that I was very vulnerable when I was in corporate because of redundancies, and so that bred a bit of control freakness inside me. And having control of my customers was really important to me. We don't get any data from Amazon or Kobo really, or anywhere, even though all of these distributors are incredible for us in our careers. We don't actually have direct access to readers, and you do with Shopify. You know everything about your reader, and that is priceless. Because once you have that data and you have delivered a product, a book, merchandise, something that that reader values and appreciates, you can then sell to them again and again and again. I have some readers who have been on my website who have spent almost four figures now. I mean, that is just — one person's done that and I have thousands of people who are coming to the website on a regular basis. So definitely that control and access to readers is a huge reason for doing it. Customising the Reader Relationship Sacha: And also I think that you can, depending on how you do this model, there are ways to do some of the things I'm going to talk about digitally as well. But for me, I really like the physical aspect of it. We are able to customise the relationship with our customers. We can give them more because we are in control of delivery. And so by that I mean we could give art prints, which lots of my readers really value. We can do — you could send those digitally if you wanted to, but we can add in extra freebies like our romance pop sockets, that makes them feel like they are part of my reader group. They're part of a community. It creates this belonging. So I think there is just so much more that you can do when you are in control of that relationship and in control of the access to it. Joanna: Yeah. And on that, I mean, one of the reasons we can do really cool print books — and again, we're going to come back to print on demand, but I use print on demand. You don't have to buy pallets of books as Sacha does. You can just do print on demand. Obviously the financials are different, but I can still do foiling and custom end papers and ribbons and all this with print on demand through BookVault custom printing and bespoke printing. The Speed of Money Joanna: But also, I think the other thing with the money — I don't know if you even remember this, because it's very different when you are selling direct — you can set up your system so you get paid like every single day, right? Or every week? Sacha: Yes. Joanna: So the money is faster because with Amazon, with any of these other systems, it can take 30, 60, 90 days for the money to get to you. So faster money, you are in more control of the money. And you can also do a lot more things like bundling and like you mentioned, much higher value that you could offer, but you can also make higher income. Average order value per customer because you have so many things, right? So that speed of money is very different. Sacha: It is, but it's also very dangerous. I know we might talk about cashflow more later, but— Joanna: Let's talk about it now. Managing Cashflow With Multiple Bank Accounts Sacha: Okay, cool. So one of the things that I think is the most valuable thing that I've ever done is, someone who is really clever told me that you're allowed more than one business account. Joanna: Just to be clear, bank accounts? Sacha: Yes, sorry. Yeah. Bank accounts. And one of my banks in particular enables you to have mini banks inside it, mini pots they call it. And what I do with pre-orders is I treat it a bit like Amazon. So that money will come in — you know, I do get paid daily pretty much — but I then siphon it off every week into a pot. So let's just say I've got one book on pre-order. Every week the team tells me how much we've got in pre-orders for that one product and all the shipping money, and I put it into an account and I leave it there. And I do not touch it unless it is to pay for the print run of that book or to pay for the shipping. Because one of the benefits of coming direct to me is that I promise to ship all pre-orders early, so we have to pay the shipping costs before necessarily Amazon might pay for its shipping costs because they only release on the actual release day. But that has enabled me to have a little savings scheme, but also guarantee that I can pay for the print run in advance because I haven't accidentally spent that money on something else or invested it. I've kept it aside and it also helps you track numbers as well, so you know how well that pre-order is doing financially. Understanding Cashflow as an Author Joanna: Yeah. And this cashflow, if people don't really know it, is the difference between when money comes in and when it goes out. So another example, common to many authors, is paying for advertising. So for example, if you run some ads one month, you're going to have to pay, let's say Facebook or BookBub or whoever, that month. You might not get the money from the sale of those books if it's from a store until two months later. In that case, the cash flows the other way. The money is sitting with the store, sitting on Amazon until they pay you later. This idea of cashflow is so important for authors to think about. Another, I guess even more basic example is you are writing your first book and you pay for an editor. Money goes out of your bank account and then hopefully you're going to sell some books, but that might take, let's say six months, and then some money will come back into your bank account. I think this understanding cashflow is so important at a small level because as it gets bigger and bigger — and you are doing these very big print runs now, aren't you? Talk a bit about that. The Risks of Print Runs Sacha: Yeah. So one of the things I was going to say, one of the benefits of your sell direct model is that you don't have to deal with mistakes like this one. So in my recent book, Architecti, that we launched at the end of September, we did a print run of a thousand books, maybe about 3,000 pounds, something like that, 2,000 pounds. And basically we ended up selling all thousand and more. So the pre-orders breached a thousand and we didn't have enough books. But what made that worse is that 20% of the books that arrived were damaged because there had been massive rain. So we then had to do a second print run, which is bad for two reasons. The first reason is that one, that space, two, the time it's going to take to get to you — it's not instant, it's not printed on demand. But also three, I then had to spend the same amount of money again. And actually if we had ordered 2,000 originally, we would've saved a bit more money on it per book. So you don't — if you are doing selling direct with a print on demand model, the number of pre-orders you get is irrelevant because they'll just keep printing, and you just get charged per copy. So there are benefits and disadvantages to doing it each way. Obviously, I'm getting a cheaper price per copy printed, but not if I mess up the order numbers. Is Running a Warehouse Just Another Job? Joanna: So I'm going to come back on something you said earlier, which was in 2022 you said, “I realised I made a job for myself.” Sacha: Yeah. Joanna: And I mean, I've been to your store. You obviously have people to help you. But one of my reservations about this kind of model is that even if you have people to help you, taking on physical book — even though you are not printing them yourself, you're still shipping them all and you're signing them all. And to me it feels like a job. So maybe talk about why you have continued — you have pretty much decided to continue with your warehouse. So why is this not a job? What makes this fun for you? The Joy of Physical Product Creation Sacha: I wish that listeners could see my face because I'm literally glittering. I love it. I literally love it. I love us being able to create cool and wacky things. We can make a decision and we can create that physical product really quickly. We can do all of these quirky things. We can experiment. We can do book boxes. So first of all, it's the creativity in the physical product creation. I had no idea how much I love physical product creation, but there is something extremely satisfying about us coming up with an idea that's so integrated in the book. So for example, one of my characters uses, has a coin, a yes/no coin. She's an assassin and she flips it to decide whether or not she's going to assassinate somebody. We've actually designed and had that coin made, and it's my favourite item in the warehouse. It's such a small little thing, but I love it. And so there is a lot of joy that I derive from us being able to create these items. Sending Book Mail and Building Community Sacha: I think the second thing is I really love book mail. There is no better gift somebody can give me than a book. And so I do get a lot of satisfaction from knowing we're sending out lots and lots of book presents to people and we get to add more to it. So some of the promises that we make are: I sign every book and we give gifts. We have character art and, like I've mentioned before, pop sockets and all these kinds of things. And I get tagged daily in unboxings and stories and things like this where people are like, oh my gosh, I didn't realise I was going to get this, this, and this. And I just — it's like crack to me. I get high off of it. So I can't — this is not for everybody. This is a logistical nightmare. There are so many problems inherent in this business model. I love it. Discovering a Love of Team Building Sacha: And I think the other thing, which is very much not for a lot of authors — I did not realise that I actually really like having a team. And that has been a recent realisation. I really was told that I'm not a team player when I was in corporate, that I work alone, all of this nonsense. And I believed that and taken it on. But finding the right team, the right people who love the jobs that they do inside your business and they're all as passionate as you, is just life changing. And so that also helps me continue because I have a really great team. Joanna: I do have to ask you, what is a pop socket? Sacha: It's a little round disc that has a mechanism that you can pull out and then you — and it has a sticky command strip back and you can pop it on the back of your phone or on the back of a Kindle and it helps you to hold it. I don't know how else to describe it. It just helps you to hold the device easier. Joanna: Okay. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was confused. I'm like, why are you doing electrical socket products? Know What Kind of Person You Are Joanna: But I think this actually does demonstrate another point, and I hope people listening — I hope you can sort of — why we are doing this partly is to help you figure out what kind of person you are as well. Because I can't think of anything worse than having lots of little boxes! And I've been in Sacha's thing and there's all these little stickers and there's lots of boxes of little things that they put in people's packages, which make people happy. And I'm like, oh, I just don't like packages of things. And I mean, you geek out on packaging, don't you as well? Sacha: Oh my goodness. Yeah. One of the first things I did when we got the warehouse was I actually went to a packaging expo in Birmingham. It was like this giant conference place and I just nerded out there. It was so fun. And one of the things that I'm booked to do is an advent calendar. And that was what drove me there in the first place. I was looking for a manufacturer that could create an advent calendar for us. I have two. I'm not — I have two advent calendars this year because I love them so much. But yeah, the other thing that I was going to say to you is I often think that as adults, we can find what we're supposed to do rooted in our childhood. And I was talking the other day and someone said to me, what toy do you remember from your youth? And I was like, oh yeah. The only one that I can remember is that I had a sticker maker. I like — that makes sense. You do like stickers. And I do. Yeah. Digital Minimalism vs Physical Products Joanna: Yeah, I do. And I think this is so important because I love books. I buy a lot of books. I love books, but I also get rid of a lot of books. I know people hate this, but I will just get rid of bags and bags of books. So I value books more for what's inside them than the physical product as such. I mean, I have some big expensive, beautiful books, but mostly I want what's in them. So it's really interesting to me. And I think there's a big difference between us is just how much you like all that stuff. So if you are listening, if you are like a digital minimalist and you don't want to have stuff around your house, you definitely don't want a warehouse. You don't want all the shipping bits and bobs. You are not interested in all that. Or even if you are, you can still do a lot of this print on demand. Then I think that's just so important, isn't it? I mean, did you look at the print on demand merch? Did you find anything you liked? The Draw of Customisation Sacha: Yeah, we did, but I think for me it was that customisation. We are now moving towards — I've just put an order in this morning for 10,000 customised boxes. We've got our own branding on them. We've got a little naughty, cheeky message when they flip up the flap. And it's little things like that that you can't — you know, we wouldn't have control over what was sent. So much of what I wanted, and some of the reasons for me doing it, is that I wanted to be able to sign the books. I was being asked on a daily basis if people could buy signed books from me, and it was driving me bonkers not being able to say yes. But also being able to send a website mailing list sign-up in the box, or being able to give them a discount in the box. I mean, I know you do that, but yeah, there was just a lot more customisation and things that we could do if we were controlling the shipping. Also, I wanted to pack the boxes, the books better. So we wanted to be able to bubble wrap things or we wanted to be able to waterproof things because we had various different issues with deliveries and so we wanted a bit more control over that. So yeah, there were just so many reasons for us to do it. Print on Demand Is Still Fantastic Sacha: Look, don't get me wrong, if I suddenly wanted to go off travelling for a year, then maybe I would shut down the warehouse and go back to print on demand. I think print on demand is fantastic. I did it for 14 months before I decided to open a warehouse. It is the foundation of most authors' models. So it's fantastic. I just want to do more. Joanna: Yeah. You want to do more of it. Life Stage Matters Joanna: We should also, I also wanted to mention your life stage. Because when we did talk about it, your son is just going to secondary school, so we knew that you would be in the same area, right? Sacha: Yeah. Joanna: Because I said to you, you can't just do this and — well, you can, you could ditch it all. But the better decision is to do this for a certain number of years. If you're going to do it, it needs time, right? So you are at that point in your life. Sacha: Yeah, absolutely. We — I mean, we are going to move house, I think, but not that far away. We'll still be in reachable distance of the warehouse. And yeah, the staying power is so important because it's also about raising awareness. You have to train readers to come to you. You have to show them why it's beneficial for them to order directly from you. Growing the Business Year Over Year Sacha: And then you also have to be able to iterate and add more products. Like you were talking earlier about increasing that average order value. And that does come from having more products, but more products does create other issues like space, which may or may not be suffering issues with now. But yeah, so for example, 2024, which was the first real year, I did about 73 and a half thousand British pounds. And then this year, where — as we record this, it's actually the 1st of December — and I'm on 232,000. So from year one to year two, it's a huge difference. And that I do think is about the number of products and the number of things that we have on there. Joanna: And the number of customers. I guess you've also grown your customer base as well. And one of the rules, I guess, in inverted commas, of publishing is that the money is in the backlist. And every time you add to your backlist and every launch, you are selling a lot more of your backlist as well. So I think as time goes on, yeah, you get more books. Kickstarter as an Alternative Joanna: But let's also talk about Kickstarter because I do signed books for my Kickstarters and to me the Kickstarter is like a short-term ability to do the things you are doing regularly. So for example, if you want to do book boxes, you could just do them for a Kickstarter. You don't have to run a warehouse and do it every single day. For example, your last Kickstarter for Ruby Roe made around 150,000 US dollars, which is amazing. Like really fantastic. So just maybe talk about that, any lessons from the Kickstarter specifically, because I feel like most people, for most people listening, they are far more likely to do a Kickstarter than they are to start a warehouse. Pre-Launch Followers Are Critical Sacha: Yeah, so the first thing is even before you start your Kickstarter, the pre-launch follow accounts are critical. So a lot of people think — well, I guess there's a lot of loud noise about all these big numbers about how much people can make on Kickstarter, but actually a lot of it is driven by you, the author, pushing your audience to Kickstarter. So we actually have a formula now. Somebody more intelligent gave this to me, but essentially, based on my own personal campaign data — so this wouldn't necessarily be the same for other people — but based on my campaign data, each pre-launch follower is worth 75 pounds. And then we add on seven grand, for example. So on campaign three, which was the most recent one, I had 1,501 pre-launch followers. And when you times that by 75 and you add on seven grand, it makes more or less exactly what we made on the campaign. And the same formula can be applied to the others. So you need more pre-launch followers than you think you do. And lots of people don't put enough impetus on the marketing beforehand. Almost all of our Kickstarter marketing is beforehand because we drive so many people to that follow button. Early Bird Pricing and Fulfillment Time Sacha: And then the other thing that we do is that we do early bird pricing. So we get the majority of our income on a campaign on day one. I think it was something wild, like 80% this time was on day one, so that's really important. The second thing is it takes so, so very much longer than you think it does to fulfil a campaign, and you must factor in that cost. Because if it's not you fulfilling, you are paying somebody else to fulfil it. And if it is you fulfilling it, you must account for your own time in the pricing of your campaign. And the other thing is that the amount of time it takes to fulfil is directly proportionate to the size of the campaign. That's one thing I did not even compute — the fact that we went from about 56,000 British pounds up to double that, and the time was exponentially more than double. So you do have to think about that. Overseas Printing and Timelines Sacha: The other lesson that we have learned is that overseas printing will drag your timelines out far longer than you think it does. So whatever you think it's going to take you to fulfil, add several months more onto that and put that information in your campaign. And thankfully, we are now only going to be a month delayed, whereas lots of campaigns get up to a year delayed because they don't consider that. Reinvesting Kickstarter Profits Sacha: And then the last thing I think, which was really key for us, is that if you have some profit in the Kickstarter — because not all Kickstarters are actually massively profitable because they either don't account enough for shipping or they don't account enough in the pricing. Thankfully, ours have been profitable, but we've actually reinvested that profit back into buying more stock and more merchandise, which not everybody would want to do if they don't have a warehouse. However, we are stockpiling merchandise and books so that we can do mystery boxes later on down the line. It's probably a year away, but we are buying extra of everything so that we have that in the warehouse. So yeah, depending on what you want to do with your profit, for us it was all about buying more books, basically. Offering Something Exclusive Sacha: I think the other thing to think about is what is it that you are doing that's exclusive to Kickstarter? Because you will get backers on Kickstarter who want that quirky, unique thing that they're not going to be able to get anywhere else. But what about you? Because you've done more Kickstarters than me. What do you think is the biggest lesson you've learned? Reward Tiers and Bundling Joanna: Oh, well I think all of mine together add up to the one you just did. Although I will comment on — you said something like 75 pounds per pre-launch backer. That is obviously dependent on your tiers for the rewards, so most authors won't have that amount. So my average order value, which I know is slightly different, but I don't offer things like book boxes like you have. So a lot of it will depend on the tiers. Some people will do a Kickstarter just with an ebook, just with one ebook and maybe a bundle of ebooks. So you are never going to make it up to that kind of value. So I think this is important too, is have a look at what people offer on their different levels of Kickstarter. And in fact, here's my AI tip for the day. What you can do — what I did with my Buried and the Drowned campaign recently — is I uploaded my book to ChatGPT and said, tell me, what are some ideas for the different reward tiers that I can do on Kickstarter? And it will give you some ideas for what you can do, what kind of bundles you might want to do. So I think bundling your backlist is another thing you can do as upsells, or you can just, for example, for me, when I did Blood Vintage, I did a horror bundle when it was four standalone horror books in one of the upper tiers. So I think bundling is a good way. Also upselling your backlist is a really good way to up things. And also if you do it digitally, so for ebooks and audiobooks, there's a lot less time in fulfillment. Focus on Digital Products Too Joanna: So again, yours — well, you make things hard, but also more fun according to you, because most of it's physical, right? In fact, this is one of the things you haven't done so well, really, is concentrate on the digital side of things. Is that something you are thinking about now? Sacha: Yeah, it is. I mean, we do have our books digitally on the website. So the last — I only had one series in Kindle Unlimited, and I took those out in January. But so we do have all of the digital products on the website, and the novellas that we do, we have in all formats because I narrate the audio for them. So that is something that we're looking at. And since somebody very smart told me to have upsell apps on my website, we now have a full “get the everything bundle” in physical and digital and we are now selling them as well. Surprising. Definitely not you. So yeah, we are looking at it and that's something that we could look at next year as well for advertising because I haven't really done any advertising. I think I've spent about 200 pounds in ads in the last four months or something. It's very, very low level. So that is a way to make a huge amount of profit because the cost is so low. So your return, if you're doing a 40 or 50 pound bundle of ebooks and you are spending, I don't know, four pounds in advertising to get that sale, your return on that investment is enormous for ads. So that is something that we are looking at for next year, but it just hasn't been something that we've done a huge amount of. A Multi-Six-Figure Author With No Ads Joanna: Yeah. Well, just quoting from your solo episode where you say, “I don't have any advertising costs, customers are from my mailing list, TikTok and Instagram.” Now, being as you are a multi-six-figure author with no ads, this is mostly unthinkable for many authors. And so I wonder if, maybe talk about that. How do you think you have done that and can other people potentially emulate it, or do you think it's luck? It's Not Luck, It's Skill Set Sacha: Do you know, this is okay. So I don't think it's luck. I don't believe in luck. I get quite aggressive about people flinging luck around. I know some people are huge supporters of luck. I'm like, no. Do I think anybody can do it? Do you know, I swing so hard on this. Sometimes I say yes, and sometimes I think no. And I think the brutal truth of it is that I know where my skill set lies and I lean extremely heavily into it. So what do I mean by that? TikTok and Instagram are both very visual mediums. It is video footage. It is static images. I am extremely comfortable on camera. I am an ex-theatre kid. I was on TV as a kid. I did voiceover work when I was younger. This is my wheelhouse. So acting a bit like a tit on TikTok on a video, I am very comfortable at doing that, and I think that is reflected in the results. Consistency Without Burnout Sacha: And the other part of it is because I am comfortable at doing it, I enjoy it. It makes me laugh. And therefore it feels easy. And I think because it feels easy, I can do it over and over and over again without burning out. I started posting on TikTok on November the 19th, 2023, and I have posted three times a day every day since. Every single day without stopping, and I do not feel burnt out. And I definitely feel like that is because it's easy for me because I am good at it. Reading the Algorithm Sacha: The other thing that I think goes in here is that I'm very good at reading what's working. So sorry to talk Clifton Strengths, but my number one Clifton Strength is competition. And one of the skills that has is understanding the market. We're very good at having a wide view. So not only do I read the market on Amazon or in bookstores or wherever I can, it's the same skill set but applied to the algorithm. So I am very good at dissecting viral videos and understanding what made it work, in the same way somebody that spends 20,000 pounds a month on Facebook advertising is very good at doing analytics and looking at those numbers. I am useless at that. I just can't do it. I just get complete shutdown. My brain just says no, and I'm incapable of running ads. That's why I don't do it. Not Everyone Can Do This Sacha: So can anybody do this? Maybe. If you are comfortable on camera, if you enjoy it. It's like we've got a mutual friend, Adam Beswick. We call him the QVC Book Bitch because he is a phenomenon on live videos on TikTok and Instagram and wherever he can sell. Anything on those lives. It is astonishing to watch the sales pop in as he's on these lives. I can't think of anything worse. I will do a live, but I'll be signing books and having a good old chitchat. Not like it's — like that hand selling. Another author, Willow Winters, has done like 18 in-person events this year. I literally die on the inside hearing that. But that's what works for them and that's what's helping grow their business models. So ah, honestly, no. I actually don't think anybody can do what I've done. I think if you have a similar skill set to me, then yes you can. But no, and I know that I don't want to crush anybody listening. Do you like social media? I like social media. Do you like being on camera? Then yeah, you can do it. But if you don't, then I just think it's a waste of your time. Find out what you are good at, find out where your skill set is, and then lean in very, very hard. Writing to Your Strengths and Passion Joanna: I also think, because let's be brutal, you had books before and they didn't sell like this. Sacha: Yep. Joanna: So I also think that you leaned into — yes, of course, sapphic romance is a big sub-genre, but you love it. And also it's your lived experience with the sapphic sub-genre. This is not you chasing a trend, right? I think that's important too because too many people are like, oh, well maybe this is the latest trend. And is TikTok a trend? And then try and force them together, whereas I feel like you haven't done that. Sacha: No, and actually I spoke to lots of people who were very knowledgeable on the market and they all said, don't do it. And the reason for this is that there were no adult lesbian sapphic romance books that were selling when I looked at the market and decided that this was what I wanted to write. And I was like, cool, I'm going to do it then. And rightly so, everyone was like, well, there's no evidence to suggest that this is going to make any money. You are taking a huge risk. And I was like, yeah, but I will. I knew from the outset before I even put a word to the page how I was going to market it. And I think that feeling of coming home is what I — I created a home for myself in my books and that is why it's just felt so easy to market. Lean Into What You're Good At Sacha: It's like you, with your podcasting. Nobody can get anywhere near your podcast because you are so good at it. You've got such a history. You are so natural with your podcasting that you are just unbeatable, you know? So it's a natural way for you to market it. Joanna: Many have tried, but no, you're right. It's because I like this. And what's so funny — I'm sure I've mentioned it on the show — but I did call you one day and say, okay, all right, show me how to do this TikTok thing. And you spent like two hours on the phone with me and then I basically said no. Okay. I almost tried and then I just went, no, this is definitely not for me. And I think that this has to be one of the most important things as an author. Maybe some people listening are just geeking out over packaging like you are, and maybe they're the people who might look at this potential business model. Whereas some people are like me and don't want to go anywhere near it. And then other people like you want to do video and maybe other people like me want to do audio. So yeah, it's so important to find, well, like you said, what does not work for you? What is fun for you and when are you having a good time? Because otherwise you would have a job. Like to me, it looks like a job, you having a warehouse. But to you, it's not the same as when you were grinding it out back in 2022. Packing Videos Are Peak Content Sacha: Completely. And I think if you look at my social media feeds, they are disproportionately full of packing videos, which I think tells you something. Joanna: Oh dear. I just literally — I'm just like, oh my, if I never see any more packaging, I'll be happy. Sacha: Yeah. That's good. The One Time Sacha Nearly Burnt It All Down Sacha: I have to say, there was one moment where I doubted everything. And that was at the end — but basically, in about, of really poor timing. I ended up having to fulfil every single pre-order of my latest release and hand packing about a thousand books in two weeks. And I nearly burnt it all to the ground. Joanna: Because you didn't have enough staffing, right? And your mum was sick or something? Sacha: Yeah, exactly that. And I had to do it all by myself, and I was alone in the warehouse and it was just horrendous. So never again. But hey, I learned the lessons and now I'm like, yay, let's do it again. Things Change: Building Resilience Into Your Business Joanna: Yeah. And make sure there's more staffing. Yes, I've talked a lot on this show — things change, right? Things change. And in fact, the episode that just went out today as we record this with Jennifer Probst, which she talked about hitting massive bestseller lists and doing just incredibly well, and then it just dropped off and she had to pivot and change things. And I'm not like Debbie Downer, but I do say things will change. So what are you putting in place to make sure, for example, TikTok finally does disappear or get banned, or that sapphic romance suddenly drops off a cliff? What are you doing to make sure that you can keep going in the future? Managing Cash Flow and Salaries Sacha: Yeah, so I think there's a few things. The first big one is managing cash flow and ensuring that I have three to six months' worth of staff salaries, for want of a better word, in an account. So if the worst thing happens and sales drop off — because I am responsible for other people's income now — that I'm not about to shaft a load of people. So that really helps give you that risk reassurance. Mailing Lists and Marketing Funnels Sacha: The second thing is making sure that we are cultivating our mailing lists, making sure that we are putting in infrastructure, like things like upsell apps. And, okay, so here's a ridiculous lesson that I learned in 2025: an automation sequence, an onboarding automation sequence, is not what people mean when they say you need a marketing funnel. I learned this in Vegas. A marketing funnel will sell your products to your existing readers. So when a customer signs up to your mailing list because they've purchased something, they will be tagged and then your email flow system will then send them a 5% discount on this, or “did you know you could bundle up and get blah?” So putting that kind of stuff in place will mean that we can take more advantage of the customers that we've already got. Standard Operating Procedures Sacha: It's also things like organisational knowledge. My team is big enough now that there are things in my business I don't know how to do. That's quite daunting for somebody who is a control freak. So I visited Vegas in 2025 and I sat in a session all on — this sounds so sexy — but standard operating procedures. And now I've given my team the job of creating a process instruction manual on how they do each of their tasks so that if anybody's sick, somebody else can pick it up. If somebody leaves, we've got that infrastructure in place. And even things down to things like passwords — who, if I unfortunately got hit by a car, who can access my Amazon account? Stuff like that, unfortunately. Joanna: Yeah, I know. Well, I mean, that would be tragic, wouldn't it? Sacha: But it's stuff like that. Building Longer Timelines Sacha: But then also more day-to-day things is putting in infrastructure that pulls me out. So looking more at staffing responsibilities for staffing so that I don't always have to be there, and creating longer timelines. That is probably the most important thing that we can do because we've got a book box launching next summer. And we both had the realisation — I say we, me and my operations manager — had the realisation that actually we ought to be commissioning the cover and the artwork now because of how long those processes take. So I'm a little bit shortsighted on timelines, I think. So putting a bit more rigour in what we do and when. We now have a team-wide heat map where we know when the warehouse is going to be really, really full, when staff are off, when deliveries are coming, and that's projected out a year in advance. So lots and lots of things that are changing. And then I guess also eventually we will do advertising as well. But that is a few months down the line. Personal Financial Resilience Sacha: And then on the more personal side, it's looking at things like not just how you keep the business running, but how do you keep yourself running? How do you make sure that, let's say you have a bad sales month, but you still have to pay your team? How are you going to get paid? So I, as well as having put staff salaries away, I also have my own salary. I've got a few months of my own salary put away. And then investing as well. I know, I am not a financial advisor, but I do invest money. I serve money that I pay myself. You can also do things like having investment vehicles inside your business if you want to deal with extra cash. And then I am taking advice from my accountant and my financial advisor on do I put more money into my pension — because did I say that I also have a pension? So I invest in my future as well. Or do I set up another company and have a property portfolio? Or how do I essentially make the money that is inside the business make more money rather than reinvesting it, spending it, and reinvesting it on things that don't become assets or don't become money generating? What can I do with the cash that's inside the company in order to then make it make more for the long term? Because then if you do have a down six months or worse, a down year, for example, you've got enough cash and equity inside the business to cover you during those lower months or years or weeks — or hopefully just a day. Different Business Models for Different Authors Joanna: Yes, of course. And we all hope it just carries on up and to the right, but sometimes it doesn't work that way. So it's really great that you are doing all those things. And I think what's lovely and why we started off with you giving us that potted history was it hasn't always been this way. So if you are listening to this and you are like, well, I've only got one ebook for sale on Amazon, well that might be all you ever want to do, which is fine. Or you can come to where my business model is, which is mostly even — I use print on demand, but it's mostly digital. It's mostly online. It's got no packaging that I deal with. Or you can go even further like Sacha and Adam Beswick and Willow Winters. But because that is being talked about a lot in the community, that's why we wanted to do this — to really show you that there's different people doing different things and you need to choose what's best for you. What Are You Excited About for 2026? Joanna: But just as we finish, just tell us what are you excited about for 2026? Sacha: Oh my goodness me. I am excited to iterate my craft. And this is completely not related to the warehouse, but I have gotten myself into a position where I get to play with words again. So I'm really excited for the things that I'm going to write. But also in terms of the warehouse, we've got the new packaging, so getting to see those on social media. We are also looking at things like book boxes. So we are doing a set of three book boxes and these are going to be new and bigger and better than anything that we've done before. And custom tailored. Oh, without giving too much away, but items that go inside and also the artwork. I love working with artists and commissioning different art projects. But yeah, basically more of the same, hopefully world domination. Joanna: World domination. Fantastic. So basically more creativity. Sacha: Yeah. Joanna: And also a bigger business. Because I know you are ambitious and I love that. I think it's really good for people to be ambitious. Joanna: Oh, I do have another question. Do you have more sympathy for traditional publishing at this point? Sacha: How dare you? Unfortunately, yeah. I really have learnt the hard way why traditional publishers need the timelines that they need. This latest release was probably the biggest that — so this latest release, which was called Architecting, is the reason that I did the podcast episode, because I learned so many lessons. And in particular about timelines and how tight things get, and it's just not realistic when you are doing this physical business. So that's another thing if you are listening and you are like, oh no, no, no, I like the immediacy of being able to finish, get it back from the editor and hit publish — this ain't for you, honey. This is not for you. Joanna: Yeah. No, that's fantastic. Where to Find Sacha and Ruby Roe Joanna: So where can people find you and your books online? Sacha: For the Ruby Empire, it's RubyRoe.co.uk and RubyRoeAuthor on TikTok if you'd like to see me dancing like a wally. And then Instagram, I'm back as @SachaBlackAuthor on Instagram. Joanna: Brilliant. Thanks so much for your time, Sacha. That was great. Sacha: Thank you for having me.The post Two Different Approaches To Selling Books Direct With Sacha Black And Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

It's Halloween season, so the podcast has decided it's the perfect time to share our thoughts on horror in Magic story, as well as some of our favorite scary stories that you can read for free on the Magic Story website. Read these: "His Eyes, All of Them" by Margaret Killjoy: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/his-eyes-all-them-2021-09-17 "Sacrifice" by Michael Yichao: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/sacrifice-2016-03-23 "The Blight We Were Born For" by Ken Troop: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/blight-we-were-born-2016-01-13 "Grasp in the Dark" by RJ Taylor: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/edge-of-eternities-grasp-in-the-dark "Children of the Carnival" by Mira Grant: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/side-two-children-of-the-carnival-part-1 and https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/side-three-children-of-the-carnival-part-2

Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy is one of the most brilliant zombie apocalypse series ever written… but what about Feedback (2016), the so-called “Book 4”? In this spoiler-lite review, Jim (flying solo for Fantasy for the Ages) dives into this parallel tale that runs alongside the events of Feed.Does Feedback add anything compelling to the Newsflesh universe, or does it stumble under the weight of its own message? I'll share the book basics, a quick synopsis, and then my honest take—why I found it disappointing, and why I wouldn't recommend it to most fans. Still, there are a few reasons you might enjoy it, and I'll cover those too.Have you read Feedback? Do you agree with me—or did you find more to love in this installment? Let's discuss in the comments!

Seanan McGuire is a prolific author who has written in many genres, but by far my favorite have been her horror novels. Overgrowth released in April 2025 and feels simultaniously timeless and timely. Check out the October Daye books if you are into urban fairy tales!

Inspired by Overgrowth by Mira Grant, Kirt & Maz discuss the relationship between aliens and queer characters in fiction.Find Hoof & Fang PodcastPatreon | Website | Store | Facebook Page | X (Twitter) | Instagram | TikTok Find Kirt GravesWebsite | Facebook Narrator Page | X (Twitter) | Instagram | TikTok Find Maz MaddoxWebsite | Facebook | Facebook Author Page | X (Twitter) | Instagram | TikTok Hoof & Fang Podcast is produced by Kirt Graves & Maz Maddox. All copyrighted material is shared with permission. Music & sound effects are licensed through Storyblocks Audio. All opinions shared are those of the individuals and do not reflect the positions or policies of any company or organization with which they happen to be associated.

This week Meka, Brooke, Stacy, and Shannon discuss series they can't stop reading. Titles mentioned include:Cherise Sinclair, Not A Hero (Sons Of The Survivalist #1)K.F. Breene, Born In Fire (Demon Days, Vampire Nights #1)E.M. Lindsey, Free Hand (Irons And Works #1)Kennedy Ryan, Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)Chloe Neill, Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1)Annabel Chase, Great Balls Of Fury (Federal Bureau Of Magic #1)Pamela Clare, Extreme Exposure (I-Team #1)Tiffany Reisz, The Siren (The Original Sinners #1)Harley Laroux, Her Soul To Take (Souls Trilogy #1)Sara Driscoll, Lone Wolf (FBI K-9 #1)Kelley Armstrong, Omens (Cainsville #1)Mira Grant, Feed (Newsflesh #1)You can always contact the Book Bistro team by searching @BookBistroPodcast on facebook, or visiting:https://www.facebook.com/BookBistroPodcast/You can also send an email to:TheBookBistroPodcast@gmail.comFor more information on the podcast and the team behind it, please visit:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/book-bistro

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: heart pounding reads and bookish goodies Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: the stuff we don't love about book podcasting The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  1:27 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 1:45 - How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny 5:41 - The Bookish Shop 5:50 - The Bookish Box subscription 7:15 - Our Current Reads 7:28 - Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (Meredith) 10:18 - @hollyslitmagic on Instagram 10:49 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 14:24 - Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire 15:47 - Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri (Kaytee) 17:41 - Changing Hands Bookstore 18:04 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 20:16 - The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos (Meredith) 21:50 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live 24:47 - Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux (Katee) 27:31 - The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 27:45 - Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto 27:59 - Glory Daze by Danielle Arceneaux  29:39 - Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Meredith, pre-order releases May 13, 2025) 29:55 - Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz 29:56 - Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz 34:27 - A Dead and Stormy Night by Steffnie Holmes 35:25 - This Changes Everything by Tyler Merritt (Kaytee) 35:44 - I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt 36:59 - The Trees by Percival Everett 39:36 - The Downsides of Book Podcasting 53:42 - Meet Us At The Fountain 54:00 - I wish Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito was turned into a graphic novel. (Meredith) 54:02 - Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito 54:48 - I wish for an easy way to find niche book things. (Kaytee) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. April's IPL is brought to you by Warwick's in La Jolla, California! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: booktube and libraries enabling our hobbies Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: how to finish a book well The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  1:35 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 4:08 - Megwithbooks on Youtube 6:29 - Blackwell's UK 6:35 - Our Current Reads 6:43 - All Along You Were Blooming by Morgan Harper Nichols (Kaytee) 9:04 - Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman (Meredith) 13:13 - Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (Kaytee) 15:25 - Orbital by Samantha Harvey 16:00 -  Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 17:08 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 17:27 - A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Meredith, releases April 1, 2025) 21:57 - Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang (Kaytee) 24:28 - American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang 25:23 - The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson (Meredith) 26:26 - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 28:37 - Deep Dive: How To Finish A Book Well 38:12 - StoryGraph 39:45 - Currently Reading Patreon (to get the tracker Kaytee mentions) 46:52 - Meet Us At The Fountain 46:56 - I wish it was more socially acceptable to be nosy in people's reading lives. (Kaytee) 48:49 - I wish everyone would schedule a reading retreat this year. (Meredith) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. February's IPL comes to you from Fables and Fairy Tales in Marinsville, Indiana! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Welcome to Paranormal Spectrum, where we illuminate the enigmatic corners of the supernatural world. I'm your host, Barnaby Jones, and today we have a very special guest joining us:Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite.Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist.Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com.In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep.Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life.Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies.Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.WEBSITEhttps://seananmcguire.com/Click that play button, and let's unravel the mysteries of the UNTOLD! Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our channel to stay updated on all the latest discoveries and adventures. See you there!Join Barnaby Jones on the Paranormal Spectrum every Thursday on the Untold Radio Network Live at 12pm Central – 10am Pacific and 1pm Eastern. Come and Join the live discussion next week. Please subscribe.We have twelve different Professional Podcasts on all the things you like. New favorite shows drop each day only on the UNTOLD RADIO NETWORK.To find out more about Barnaby Jones and his team, (Cryptids, Anomalies, and the Paranormal Society) visit their website www.WisconsinCAPS.comMake sure you share and Subscribe to the CAPS YouTube Channel as wellhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7ifB9Ur7x2C3VqTzVmjNQ

We slip once more through the halls of the House this week as our survivors face their greatest fears and terrible monsters. Not all of them do a very good job of surviving these episodes... Duskmourn story can be read for free on the Magic website at magic.wizards.com/en/story and you can find Mira Grant's DVD Extras on Seanan McGuire's blog at seananmcguire.com/blog/. If you like our show, consider subscribing to our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where $1 a month gets you access to our Discord server, and $3 a month means you can listen to our show live as we record it! We also post early episode releases on the Patreon when we can, so it's never a bad time to join!

It's time for our journey into the House to begin. The story for Duskmourn gave us a jumpscare with a release a full week earlier than anticipated, so we're going to start our coverage a full week early, too! But we haven't forgotten our promise of worldbuilding details, so every week we will also include a little bit of the Planeswalker Guide for you to keep you comfortable in the reassuring walls of the House. Duskmourn story can be read for free on the Magic website at https://magic.wizards.com/en/story and you can find Mira Grant's DVD Extras on Seanan McGuire's blog at https://seananmcguire.com/blog/. If you like our show, consider subscribing to our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where $1 a month gets you access to our Discord server, and $3 a month means you can listen to our show live as we record it! We also post early episode releases on the Patreon when we can, so it's never a bad time to join!

It's time for a little sci-fi horror! This episode we are joined by Bry and Fry from the Pontifacts pod to talk about Feed by Mira Grant. A near future were zombies are a fact of everyday life, bloggers are super important, and we look with post 2020 eyes at how someone in 2010 imagined we would react to a world wide deadly pandemic. Sometimes dystopia is actually more positive that reality.@pontifactspodhttps://pontifacts.podbean.com/patreon.com/swordsandsocialismEmail: SwordsAndSocialismPod@protonmail.com The Show: @SwordsNSocPodAsha: @Herbo_AnarchistKetho: @MusicalPuma69

paypal.me/LibroTobias Mira Grant (seudónimo de la escritora Seanan McGuire) es fan de las películas de terror y de las enfermedades mortales, vive en California, donde comparte una vieja granja con un grupo de gatos, armas raras y cómics. Cuando no se dedica a escribir, reparte su tiempo entre viajar, asistir a cursos de virología, y ver más pelis de terror de las que se considerarían saludables. Ha publicado relatos en las antologías The Living Dead 2, Grants Pass y The Edge of Propinquity. Canciones: • “Doubt” de Bridge City Sinners • “Burn The Witches” de Maylene and the Sons of Disaster Narración: Asier Menéndez Marín Diseño logo Podcast: albacanodesigns (Alba Cano) Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

This week on PodQuest, Drootin took a trip to Asbury Park NJ to play some Pinball, Chris finished the third book in the Lady Astronaut series, The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal, and Walnut finally got to watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. We also chat about Chris' thoughts on Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, and Walnut continues his watch-a-thon of X-Men films with Deadpool (2016). We also take a quick minute to check in on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and wish the best to Sam Riegel from Critical Role. Our next book club will be the 2003 indie film The Room for our cult classic theme. (Due to some scheduling trouble we had to push this back one more week!) Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:08 - Agenda 00:06:06 - Pinball and classic arcades 00:17:57 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant *Some Spoilers* 00:27:14 - The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal (Lady Astronaut #3) *Some Spoilers* 00:36:37 - Deadpool (2016) *Some Spoilers* 00:41:39 - Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) *MAJOR SPOILERS* 00:59:42 - Little Final Fantasy VII Rebirth check in 01:04:44 - *Content Warning - Health* Sam Riegel and Critical Role Support One-Quest https://www.Patreon.com/OneQuest Follow Us Email - Social@one-quest.com Twitter - @One_Quest Instagram - @One_Quest Facebook - OneQuestOnline Follow Chris on Twitter - @Just_Cobb Follow Richie on Twitter - @B_Walnuts Follow Drootin on Twitter - @IamDroot Check out Richie's streaming and videos! Twitch b_walnuts YouTube BWalnuts TikTok b_walnuts Intro and Outro music Mega Man 2 'Project X2 - Title Screen' OC ReMix courtesy of Project X over at OCRemix

This week on PodQuest, Drootin took a trip to Asbury Park NJ to play some Pinball, Chris finished the third book in the Lady Astronaut series, The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal, and Walnut finally got to watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. We also chat about Chris' thoughts on Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, and Walnut continues his watch-a-thon of X-Men films with Deadpool (2016). We also take a quick minute to check in on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and wish the best to Sam Riegel from Critical Role.

In this episode Dr's J and Santhosh take a break from their usual history and science to discuss their summer reading list of medical themed books! Along the way they cover reading rainbow, alternative names for viruses, pizza hut, Hans Zinsa,, Humpty Dumpty and neurosurgery, murine typhus, the transatlantic accent, plagues and generals, doctor to the supernatural, gothic medical horror mystery, genetically engineered tapeworms, futurama and more! So sit back and relax as we discuss our book recommendations for the period we dont release episodes!Further ReadingRats Lice and History by Hans ZinsserThe Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons by Sam KeanThe Icepick Surgeon by Sam KeanStrange Practice by Vivian ShawLeech by Hiron EnnesParasite by Mira GrantTRansformer by Nick LaneSupport Us spiritually, emotionally or financially here! or on ACAST+travelmedicinepodcast.comX/Twitter: @doctorjcomedy @toshyfroTiktok: DrjtoksmedicineGmail: travelmedicinepodcast@gmail.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/28uQe3cYGrTLhP6X0zyEhTFacebook: facebook.com/travelmedicinepodcastPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/travelmedicinepodcast Supporting us monthly has all sorts of perks! You get ad free episodes, bonus musical parody, behind the scenes conversations not available to regular folks and more!! Your support helps us to pay for more guest interviews, better equipment, and behind the scenes people who know what they are doing! https://plus.acast.com/s/travelmedicinepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: puzzle competitions and a new to Meredith podcast Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: a recap of Kaytee and Meredith's annual CR get together The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  .  :10 Bite Size Intro 2:33 - Currently Reading Patreon 4:09 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 5:02 - Puzzle Board (Amazon link for something similar, the Aldi one does not have an online link) 6:19 - Talking Scared podcast 7:23 - Talking Scared Ep. 176 8:43 - Our Current Reads 8:53 - Love in Color by Bolu Babalola (Kaytee) 10:35 - Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola 12:19 - No Way Out by Cara Hunter (Meredith, DI Adam Foley #3) 13:50 - Close to Home by Cara Hunter (Blackwell's link) 16:59 - Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (Kaytee) 19:51 - Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 22:00 - A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke (Meredith) 23:51 - The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke 23:56 - The Nesting by C.J. Cooke 24:06 - I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir 24:08 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 27:16 - I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong (Kaytee) 27:26 - An Immense World by Ed Yong 27:55 - Let Kaytee know if you have a copy of It's Not Exactly Rocket Science by Ed Yong!  33:28 - The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett (Meredith) 35:08 - The Appeal by Janice Hallett 41:17 - Deep Dive: Kaytee and Meredith's Bookish Retreat 46:12 - The King's English Bookshop 48:12 - Brady @booksbybrady on Instagram 49:00 - Currently Reading Patreon 53:08 - Meet Us At The Fountain 53:14 - I wish that we could visit every Indie Press List bookstore in person, or even every potential IPL bookstore. (Kaytee) 54:53 - I co-sign a bookish friend's wish for a movie theater, but make it silent reading with snacks. (Meredith, thanks Julie Myers for the wish!) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL comes to us from our Anchor store An Unlikely Story! Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

On this episode, we discuss The CBS Radio Mystery Theater episode The Tell-Tale Heart (https://www.cbsrmt.com/episode/202-the-tell-tale-heart.html). Meanwhile, Lawrence recounts thrilling tales of security clearance decisions, Ronald's psychopathic nature rears its head, and Rahul waxes poetic about a knife fight. Recommendations The Expanse (2015-2022, created by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby) The Fall of the House of Usher (2023, created by Mike Flanagan) No Exit (2022, directed by Damien Power) Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant 

This is the number one best horror audiobook for 2023. Introducing News Flesh by Mira Grant.

A lot of work and thought can go into worldbuilding, but sometimes, you just have to go with what feels right. In this episode, guest Seanan McGuire joins us to explore how writers can make the most of their worldbuilding flow and lean into their personal resonance. How can writers develop worldbuilding instinct? Why does worldbuilding come easily to some writers but require more conscious effort for others? When should you trust it to its core, and when might you need to temper it with a bit of a double-check? [Transcript TK] Our Guest: Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite. Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist. Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life. Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Mary are discussing: Bookish Moments: reading with family and choosing family's reads Current Reads: lots of books great for fall! Deep Dive: books that follow a formula, and when it feels phoned in or not The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  We are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). The goal here is to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your laundry detergent, if you recently got obsessed with switching up your laundry game) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . 1:40 - Currently Reading Patreon 3:42 - The Novel Neighbor 4:09 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 4:16 - Elizabeth Barnhill on Instagram @wacoreads 6:13 - This Tender Land by William Kent Kreuger 7:33 - Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese 7:40 - Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kreuger 7:46 - Holly by Stephen King 7:58 - Current Reads 8:06 - A Death In Door County by Annelise Ryan (Mary) 9:53 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant  10:44 - Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan (releases December 2023) 11:43 - Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (Meredith) 13:39 - Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent 15:36 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live 16:25 - The Maid by Nita Prose 18:17 - The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston (Mary) 18:26 - The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston 21:34 - Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia and Bill Gifford (Meredith) 23:06 - Oprah Daily “The Life You Want” talk w/Dr. Peter Attia (this is for Oprah Daily subscribers. I tried finding it elsewhere and no luck. Sorry friends!) 26:08 - Tim Ferriss and Dr. Peter Attia episode #517 27:06 - Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano (Mary) 29:39 - @what_amy_reads on Instagram 29:48 - The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier 29:56 - 11/22/63 by Stephen King 32:00 - DM Mary on Instagram if you read Dead Eleven @maryreadsandsips 32:21 - The Governess Game by Tessa Dare (Meredith) 37:58 - Deep Dive: Books That Follow Formulas 38:08 - The Only One Left by Riley Sager 48:43 - Meet Us At The Fountain 48: 53 - I wish everyone would find their bookish joy and be totally extra about it. (Mary) 50:22 - I wish everyone would follow Mary on Instagram! (Meredith) Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredithmondayschwartz on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram Roxanna is @roxannatheplanner on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcastand www.zazzle.com/store/currentlyreading

Books mentioned in this episode:Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham JonesRolling in the Deep by Mira GrantInto the Drowning Deep by Mira GrantThe Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl StrayedWild by Cheryl StrayedDear Sugars PodcastSugar Calling PodcastLibro.fm.Use our code GOODBOOKS at checkout and get two books for the price of your first months membership!Find us at:www.goodbookspodcast.comFacebook - In Her Good Books PodcastInstagram - @inhergoodbookspodcastTikTok - @inhergoodbookspodcastWe are affiliated with Libro.fm, but all reviews are our true and honest opinions!

It's time for a special Mrs. Pearlmania's Book Club Episode. Mrs. P read "Into The Drowning Deep" by Mira Grant.This whole episode is spoilers for the book, Mrs.P loved it, Mr. P had to suffer through it.If you would like to support the show, you can subscribe to our patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/pearlmania500Our theme song and all of the music for our show comes from our friend's project called "His Name Was Dusk." You can get his album "Let Us Prey" at "hisnamewasdusk.bandcamp.com" and hear all of his other music projects at "tesseractsociety.com" Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the author of the main story for Phyrexia: All Will Be One has joined us to talk Nahiri, Tyvar, and the heartbreaking fates of some of our favorite planeswalkers. Seanan McGuire is a Hugo Award-winning author of "more books than is actually healthy for a single person," including the Wayward Children series and, as Mira Grant, the Newsflesh and Parasitology series. Her story for ONE is the first main story collection she's written for Magic, but you may recognize her from "Homecoming," the story of Liliana and the Raven Man from Dominaria United, or the Hugo-nominated "Tangles" from Midnight Hunt. If you'd like to support The Vorthos Cast, check us out on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where all of our patrons get access to our Discord server!

A huge THANK YOU to our Patrons: Console peasant, Edwoon, ("last word" tier) Sinemac, Mohammed Albshaiti (“your message here” tier) Daniel Simonson, Shawn Farrell, Aaron Maule, Michael DeVries, Brandon C, irvin ruiz, Eddydoo, Hoshi 127 ("Credited Supporter" tier), Chris Wolff, Scarlet Dani, Awesomegamer 241, Pavu RS, Gavin Mallott, & Isfar E ("Gratitude" tier, www.patreon.com/bdckr). our previous book reviews: Martha Wells' All Systems Red (https://youtu.be/IfIqIybTpGs?t=4m44s) Sarah Gailey's River of Teeth (same video as All Systems Red) Mara Wilson's Where Am I Now (https://youtu.be/n_MO1-XjL40?t=6m6s) Neil Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats (https://youtu.be/wI2LmT4pO7g?t=6m5s) Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series (https://youtu.be/7nEtnjPr41o?t=8m44s) Ursula K. LeGuin's The Found and the Lost and The Unreal and the Real (https://youtu.be/wdRNUscZtNM?t=5m23s) Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway (https://youtu.be/7UKCg0lLtbE?t=3m42s) Tim Powers' Medusa's Web (https://youtu.be/wk2jXiO786U?t=5m4s) Felicia Day's You're Never Weird on the Internet (https://youtu.be/RyCD83ql66g?t=4m46s) Randall Munroe's What If and Thing Explainer (https://youtu.be/PkfYkPnAFVM?t=3m51s and https://youtu.be/PkfYkPnAFVM?t=5m8s) Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files (https://youtu.be/pV_r0v-uedM?t=6m) Joseph Fink's and Jeffrey Cranor's Welcome to Night Vale (https://youtu.be/JgnNU9kBa0E?t=5m35s) older book reviews from our original channel bdckr: Mira Grant's Newsflesh Series (https://youtu.be/UNORbgIzAac?t=7m9s) Jo Walton's What Makes This Book So Great (https://youtu.be/B2rvP8uT01Y?t=6m35s) Caanan Grall's Max Overacts (https://youtu.be/vqAmRIwK-BE?t=7m35s) Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat Series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypq7FAZn_gw&feature=youtu.be&t=7m54s) Alan Moore's Miracle Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tJd2iBjpqQ&feature=youtu.be&t=9m57s) Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and Robert McCammon's Boy's Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uqe2Ag_5Fc&feature=youtu.be&t=7m58s) Pat Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PxrKQyVU94&feature=youtu.be&t=7m20s) Ursula K. LeGuin everything (https://youtu.be/Y8u4Ib_gMMg?t=9m11s) Thanks to the following for providing fodder for our Q&A: @Kamran 107 (MP Matchmaking Unlocked by mg425 AKA u/mtgy425) mg425 AKA u/mtgy425: Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mg425 Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/InjusticeMobile/comments/z3sbis/how_online_battles_matchmaker_works_a_study_of/ Article explaining MP Matchmaking: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t3wREVKqhiITaOGOh5ZCp6AdTKc-J4WmTp5kNaQHFzs/edit --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bdckr/support

We had a great time rolling out the red carpet in Chicago, and we're excited to release the first set of interviews!The Seanan McGuire interview starts at 2:10. Seanan is a multiple Hugo award winning fantasy and sci fi author, most well known for her Wayward Children series and her Newsflesh zombie series (published under her pseudonym Mira Grant). We talked with her about how she manages to create so much content, what made her want to write about zombies, and her approach to researching her stories (she once gave herself a tapeworm to prep for a book about parasites!)The Ryka Aoki interview starts at 15:47. Ryka's breakout novel Light from Uncommon Stars came second in the Hugo voting this year. We talked with her about the book, making music, why she loves donut shops (and how she managed to include them in a sci fi novel), and queerness and what it means to be 'normal'.The interview with Joe and Gay Haldeman starts at 42:13. Joe is most famous for his novel The Forever War (which we talked with him about in a previous episode), as well as the Nebula award winning book Camouflage. We talk with Joe and Gay about Camouflage, the Bataan death march, as well as hanging out with Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Wolf, and Robert Silverberg at sci-fi conventions over the years. If you want to see photos from the red carpet, check them out on twitter or instagram! And if you want to see the rest of the interviews from ChiCon with other content creators, we'll be releasing those on our YouTube channel.

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: derailed reading and theater nerdery Current Reads: We are exceptionally murdery today. Sorry, not sorry. Deep Dive: books about all kinds of disasters Book Presses: a cozy series we love and a parenting book of joy As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your laundry detergent, if you recently got obsessed with switching up your laundry game) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . .   2:27 - Bookish Moment of the Week 2:40 - Novel Memphis 4:51 - The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede 4:56 - Season 4: Episode 14 6:00 - Current Reads 6:14 - The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Meredith) 11:09 - Blackwell's UK 11:53 - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (Kaytee) 15:07 - Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule (Meredith) 15:12 - The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule  16:58 - Half Price Books 18:53 - The Yoga Store Murder by Dan Morse 18:55 - I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 19:07 - Shelf Subscription Bookshelf Thomasville 19:19 - Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez (Kaytee) 23:31 - The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch (Meredith) 24:59 - Holly @birdbrainbooks on Instagram 25:02 - Hearts and Daggers Podcast on Instagram 26:51 - Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 27:32 - The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks Sarah Pekkanen (Kaytee) 27:44 - The Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks Sarah Pekkanen 27:45 - The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks Sarah Pekkanen 27:46 - You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks Sarah Pekkanen 30:53 - Deep Dive: Disaster Books We Love 33:34 - Ordeal by Hunger by George Stuart (Amazon link) 34:03 - The Hunger by Alma Katsu 35:44 - The Fifth Season by N.K Jemison  35:59 - The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner 37:00 - A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner 37:05 - As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner 37:53 - The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin 38:35 - We Are Unprepared by Meg Little Reilly 39:35 - After the Flood by Kassandra Montag  39:51 - Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy 40:02 - Seven Years of Darkness by You-Jeong Jeong 40:43 - Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink 41:25 - Salvage the Bones by Jessamyn Ward 42:20 - Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson 44:36 - The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 45:10 - Into the Drowning Deep by Jennifer McMahon 45:13 - Devolution by Max Brooks 45:35 - Parasite by Mira Grant 45:58  - Books We'd Like to Press Into Your Hands 46:26 - The Secret, Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams (Meredith) 49:17 - How to Be A Happier Parent by Kj Dell'antonia (Kaytee) Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Es ist "Zombie Awareness Month". Doch, wirklich. Dem wollen wir uns nicht verschließen, also lesen wir einen Zombie-Roman. Nein, gelogen, das ist reiner Zufall, das Buch ist uns in die Hände gefallen, und das Versprechen, einen Politthriller mit diesem Horrormotiv zu kreuzen, hat uns neugierig gemacht. Mira Grant ist eine äußerst produtkive und hochdekorierte Autorin, und "Feed" - der erste Band einer Reihe hat viel Lob eingeheimst, als es vor zehn Jahren erschienen ist. Zurecht? Verraten wir in dieser Folge. Viel Spaß damit! Timecodes und Kapitelmarken00:00 - Autorin, Rahmendaten, Prämisse 11:01 - World Building und Anspielungen auf die Pop- Kultur 31:01 - Dialoge, Plot, alternatives Ende 46:01 - Empfehlungen 54:41 - Teaser Mira Grant: Feed – Viruszone (Newsflesh, Band 1) Lyx, 512 Seiten, 2012 Taschenbuch nur noch antiquarisch erhältlich Originalausgabe: Feed (Newsflesh 1) Orbit, 608 Seiten, 2010 Taschenbuch / E-Book Originalausgabe der gesamten Trilogie: The Rising: The Newsflesh Trilogy Taschenbuch / E-Book Shownotes Interview mit der Autorin auf Wired Unsere Folge zu World War Z Ausblick Die nächste freie Folge erscheint Ende Mai. Dann geht es um kein bestimmtes Buch, sondern wir reden über Roman-Enden im Allgemeinen. In der nächsten Bonusfolge geht es um dieses Buch: Walter Moers: Rumo und die Wunder im Dunkeln Penguin, 704 Seiten, Ausgabe von 2020, Erstveröffentlichung 2003 Taschenbuch: 16 Euro E-Book: 14,99 Euro Das nächste Gespräch von Falko erscheint Anfang/Mitte Juni. Die nächste Kurzgeschichte von Falko erhalten unsere 10-Euro-Abonnent*innen Ende Mai.

On today's show, five Deliberate Freelancer listeners are sharing their tips. Specifically, they share the systems, processes and tools they use that have helped them create a successful freelance business.   Some of these listeners are previous guests. See the resources below for links to their previous guest appearances.   You will hear from: Amy Ragland Treasa Edmond Poornima Apte Danna Lorch Clare Hastings   I hope you find their experiences helpful!   Biz Bite: How to easily record phone calls   The Bookshelf: “Into the Drowning Deep” by Mira Grant   Resources:   Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.   Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.   Episode #115 of Deliberate Freelancer: Time Tracking Lessons from Deliberate Freelancer Listeners   Episode #59 of Deliberate Freelancer: Parenting while Freelancing (with or without a pandemic), with Amy Ragland   Episode #129 of Deliberate Freelancer: A Script for Tough Client Conversations, with Treasa Edmond   Episode #118 of Deliberate Freelancer: Crash Landing and Being Forced to Restart Your Business, with Danna Lorch  

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: the change of the seasons and a young fan Current Reads: a few books that will stay with us forever, and some that… won't Deep Dive: the books that live rent-free in our heads Book Presses: a fairy tale retelling and a beloved brick As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your dishwasher detergent!) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . 1:20 - Currently Reading Patreon 3:26 - Bookish Moment of the Week 6:01 - Current Reads 6:21 - Fabled Bookshop 6:42 - My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh (Meredith) 13:53 - The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (Kaytee)  16:55 - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow (Meredith) 18:40 - book darts for your own books! 20:09 - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 22:45 - When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten (Kaytee) 24:45 - Bookshelf Thomasville subscriptions 25:19 - Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane (Meredith) 29:15 - How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon (Kaytee) 30:15 - Heavy by Kiese Laymon 30:19 - Season 3: Ep. 34 32:27 - Garcia Street Books 32:59 - Deep Dive: Books that Live Rent Free In Our Heads 34:15 - An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green 35:49 - So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson 36:49 - Into the Wild by Jack Krakauer 37:55 - A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 37:59 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 38:37 - Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng 39:30 - Murmur of Bees by Sophia Segovia 39:49 - Violeta by Isabel Allende 40:30 - Scythe by Neal Shusterman 40:37 - Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 40:38 - The One by John Marrs 40:44 - Jurassic Park by Michael Chricton 40:46 - Parasite by Mira Grant 40:57 - The Lazy Genius Way by Kenda Adachi 41:50 - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix 42:13 - The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins 44:41  - Books We'd Like to Press Into Your Hands 45:02 - All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller (Meredith) 46:58 - Wicked by Gregory Maguire 47:52 - Roots by Alex Haley (Kaytee) 49:16 - The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers  49:21 - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 49:38 - Shogun by James Clavell 49:39 - The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Sonderfolge zum Roman Alien: Echo von Mira Grant und dem Alien-Franchise 9,5 von 10 Sternen

Hey ya the gang is back! This week they are joined by S.H. Cooper to deep dive into the excellent anthology A Woman Built by Man. Before that they discuss the popular Elden Ring, check out Scream 2022, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022, Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, Crossroad by Laurel Hightower, and Kijo: Japan's Most Notorious Female Criminals by Tara A. Devlin.  A Woman Built by Man - Cemetery Gates Media

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: reading in the wrong format and new library discoveries Current Reads: books we blasted through and ones that surprised us on multiple levels Deep Dive: different types of readers - mood reading versus planned reading Book Presses: surprising books that get into your head As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your dishwasher detergent!) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . 1:24 - Bookish Moment of the Week 2:08 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live ep.104 w/Catherine Ryan Howard 2:11 - Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes 3:03 - Fabled Bookshop 3:10 - The Harbor by Katrine Engberg 7:37 - Current Reads 8:07 - The Guide by Peter Heller (Meredith) 8:13 - The River by Peter Heller 9:27 - A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean 13:56 - Lightseekers by Femi Kayode (Kaytee) 18:07 - Parasite by Mira Grant (Meredith) 18:11 - Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 21:00 - Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton 24:00 - Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward (Kaytee) 25:06 - Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 25:12 - Season 1: Episode 9 25:15 - Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward 27:47 - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Meredith) 31:27 - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 31:59 - The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino 32:04 - Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire 36:26 - Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black (Kaytee) 38:09 - Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby 38:14 - Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 38:19 - Gilded by Marilynne Robinson 39:41 - Deep Dive: Mood Reading vs Planned Reading 41:46 - Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black 46:09 - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke 49:43 - The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements 349:46 - Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth 49:50 - A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki 54:34  - Books We'd Like to Press Into Your Hands 55:01 - The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones (Meredith) 57:45 - Vox by Christina Dalcher (Kaytee) Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Travis interviews Lauren Panepinto, Creative Director of Orbit Books, about book design and more. Lauren and Travis discuss how a book cover gets made, how fonts and color theory attract a reader's eye, and the origin of the cloaked figure on so many fantasy covers. Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here. About Lauren Panepinto: After 15 years designing and art directing book covers, Lauren Panepinto has worked in every publishing genre and collaborated with artists of all disciplines. As the Creative Director of the Orbit Books division of the Hachette Book Group, she has been developing covers for commercial fiction, genre fiction, and graphic novels, as well as overseeing the advertising and promotion visuals of the imprint brands overall. She has designed bestselling covers for Iain Banks, Mira Grant, James S. A. Corey, Brent Weeks, and Gail Carriger, among many others.   Not content to just design covers, Lauren has written about science fiction and fantasy art for ImagineFX magazine, io9.com, Orbitbooks.net, and as a columnist at Muddy Colors. Lauren has been very active in the role of art business education, not only at a panelist, presenter, and portfolio reviewer at San Diego ComicCon, New York ComicCon, Spectrum, and Illuxcon, but also as an adjunct professor in the graduate level Center for Publishing at NYU, as well as a frequent guest lecturer at numerous art schools. Lauren has curated gallery shows for the Society of Illustrators in New York City and Krab Jab in Seattle. She is a frequent art competition judge, most recently for the Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles, Infected by Art, and ImagineFX's Rising Stars issue.   Lauren graduated from The School of Visual Arts with a degree in Graphic Design and Advertising. She has worked in fashion (Perry Ellis), television (MTV), and for boutique design firms, but found her true calling in book publishing. She has worked at three of the "Big Five" publishing companies: St. Martin's Press/Picador Books, then Doubleday/Random House, and now Hachette Book Group. Things Mentioned: Brian McClellan's Page Break podcast Find Us Online: Blog Discord Twitter Instagram Support Us: Become a Patron Buy Us a Coffee Music: Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S'atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples. Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores! The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

We are joined by multiple award winning author Seanan McGuire to discuss the 26th novel in the Discworld series, Thief of Time. At the time of recording, three of the four of us were either currently sick or recently recovering from being sick with the 'rona, so this one's a little loopy. Bear with us! Also, there's a series of Information Hazards around 3/4 of the way through recording.Editor's note: there's a moment I, Aaron, did not clock during the recording but heard during editing that made me have to walk away from my computer and have a good cry. I'll leave you to figure out where that was.Seanan McGuire is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. You can find her on twitter at @seananmcguireThe Small Gods Project, mentioned in this episode, can be found at https://smallgodseries.tumblr.com/Check us out on twitter at @atuin_podHelp us keep the lights on via our Patreon!Follow individual hosts at @urizenxvii, @The_Miannai, and @JustenwritesWe can also be found at www.compleatdiscography.pageOur art is by the indomitable Jess who can be found at @angryartist113Music is by Incompetech and used under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license.Take a Chance by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4457-take-a-chanceFuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-paradeLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I have something really different for you this week.  I know that recently we've had an episode that strayed off the path of body acceptance books but this is way, way off the path (we can barely see the path!).  This week I'm discussing a fictional book called Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant with a second time podcast guest, Destiny Dimattei.  I truly believe in the value of taking our body liberation lens and applying it to other books we read.  It insures integrity in our values and keeps our critical thinking skills alive.  So while this book isn't specifically a how-to on the treatment of marginalized identities, there are some important lessons within.  Destiny and I explore fatness, disability, mental health and sexuality in the pages of this novel.   Here are a few more of the things we discussed:Destiny updates us on her podcast and Facebook groupsWhy Destiny chose this bookThe basic plot of Into the Drowning DeepDoes this book fit into the horror genre?What are the components of horror?The treatment of the characters who are deafOther marginalized identities in this bookThe ending *shaking my fist*Media as a character in the boookWhat is Mira Grant REALLY trying to sayKeep reading everyone!Destiny's LinksDestiny on Facebook, Instagram, TwitterDestiny's Universe PodcastBody Liberation BaltimoreHearts and EarsFat Girl Book Club LinksWebsite/Your Better Body Image ChecklistFacebook groupPatreon pageBook RecommendationsEvery Heart a Doorway SeriesImaginary Friend by Stephen ChboskySaw Kill Girls by Claire LegrandWhat We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey GordonLandwhale by Jes BakerBody Respect by Lindo Bacon and Lucy AphramorDarkly Lit Podcast 

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: a Kindle device hack and the Edgar awards Current Reads: books that whelm us and surprise us in the best ways Deep Dive: the different ways we interact with our books and what we are reading Book Presses: a verse novel and an oldie but goodie As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your dishwasher detergent!) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . :30 - Currently Reading Patreon 1:55 - Bookish Moment of the Week 2:17 - Instructions on how to remove ads from you Kindle HERE 7:55 - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 8:10 - The Edgar Awards 8:37 - The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen 8:42 - Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby 8:46 - Five Decembers by James Kestrel 8:57 - How Lucky by Will Leitch 9:00 - No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield 9:55 - Current Reads 10:04 - You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union (Kaytee) 13:57 - The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers (Meredith) 19:54 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 20:23 - The Circle by Dave Eggers 21:24 - A Swim in a Pond and the Rain by George Saunders (Kaytee) 21:40 - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 25:36 - The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg (Meredith) 30:29 - Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan (Kaytee) 30:34 - Page and Palette 30:46 - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 31:06 - Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patty Callahan 35:44 - Book darts  37:59 - Girl 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke (Meredith) 41:51 - Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hiller 42:05 - Deep Dive: How We Interact with Our Books 43:36 - Book darts 47:39 - Season 3: Episode 5 of Currently Reading w/Roxanna  48:33 - Filofax refillable notebook 52:58 - Erin Condren highlighter pack 54:12 - Currently Reading Patreon 54:38 - A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders 55:34 - Breath by James Nestor 56:25 - Books We'd Like to Press Into Your Hands 56:37 - Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Kaytee) 58:26 - The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Meredith) 59:54 - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 1:00:03 - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Please enjoy the spoiler-free portion of our interview with author Seanan McGuire discussing several of her books, "Into The Drowning Deep", "Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day", "Middlegame", the Toby Daye series, and the Incryptid series. Other works mentioned include Newsflesh (series), Ghost Roads (series), "Rolling in the Deep", and Parasitology (series). Timestamps are marked for the interview questions. This interview was recorded several months prior to the 2021 Hugo Awards. Become a Patron at any level to receive the spoiler-filled second half of the interview. Intro (0:00) Can you talk a little about the way trauma works in your writing? (0:20) Has a traumatic event in your books ever changed your perception of a character? (3:00) What parts of your identities do you notice making appearances in your writing more than you intended? What parts of your identities do you notice seeping into your work unintentionally? (6:20) What is your approach to incorporating visible queerness in your work? (10:05) How does setting influence queerness in your stories? (12:40) What is your approach to incorporating visible characters of color in your work? (16:25) Do you tend to write disabilities based on a specific set of references or do you tend to write cultures that hide disabilities and all that they entail? (22:00) When building your characters' identities, what aspects did you intentionally include? (25:00) Do you consider your character's physical description when writing how other characters treat them? (26:20) --- Wrap-Up and Outro: Included in Part 1 and Part 2 --- What is your favorite non-traumatic thing in any of your books? (29:57) Do you have a favorite book written by someone else, and if so what makes it your favorite? (31:46) Do you have any queer authors and/or authors of color whose work you'd like to shoutout? (32:49) Where can our audience find you? (36:15) --- Check out Seanan's website for more about her writing. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.  --- At each link you can find Robin's written reviews of Seanan's work under her own name, her writings as Mira Grant, and as A. Deborah Baker. Music provided by HeartBeatArt and is used with permission.

Authors Seanan McGuire, Mira Grant, A. Deborah Baker, and I discuss how they're all Seanan McGuire and how she transitions between genres and intended age groups. We discuss her years as a standup comedian and how she transitioned to an award-winning author, her love of dice and My Little Ponies, her creative process, how she plans a series and keeps continuity, our mutual love of Stephen King's IT (the book, not the movie), why JURASSIC WORLD made her feel unwelcome to her favorite franchise, the critical importance of representation, knowing which stories are yours to tell, filking, and so much more. Oh, and she takes me on a tour of her haunted library, so don't miss that. Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite. Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist. Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life. Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: an ASMR playlist + supporting indie bookstores Current Reads: climate fiction, romance, non-fiction, and murder Deep Dive: the books that we want to see on the large or small screen Book Presses: another cinematic pick and a quick option for non-fiction November As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . 0:10 Bite Size Intro 2:18 - Your homework: Record a voice memo on your phone. Make sure your voice memo includes: your name, your location, the name of the indie bookstore you are referencing with its location, a book that was hand sold to you (either by the seller or a shelf talker, etc.) with the title and author, and all the reasons why you love the book and the bookstore!  Deadline -- DECEMBER 1 4:57 Bookish Moment of the Week 6:01 - Currently Reading Patreon 8:13 - The Worm bookstore in Sedona  11:52 Current Reads: 12:05 - Fabled Bookshop 12:18 - L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon (Meredith) 15:10 - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 16:44 - Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell 17:18 - Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore (Kaytee) 17:37 - Season 3: Episode 33 of Currently Reading 22:02 - Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi (Meredith) 25:37 - Fast Pitch by Nic Stone (Kaytee) 26:52 - Clean Getaway by Nic Stone 28:25 - Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier (Meredith) 33:22 - No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez 33:23 - The Whisper Man by Alex North   33:33 - Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell (Kaytee) 33:57 - Feminist Book Club Subscription Box 37:41 Deep Dive - Cinematic Books We Want To See On the Screen 39:28 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant  40:24 - Scythe by Neal Shusterman 40:54 - Lobizona by Romina Garber Russell 40:59 - Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse 41:06 - The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune 41:41 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 42:43 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer 43:34 - The Troop by Nick Cutter 43:40 - Lord of the Flies by William Golding 44:44 - Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven 44:21 - Devolution by Max Brooks 44:54 - Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano 45:21 - The One by John Marrs 45:27 - The Passengers by John Marrs 45:40 - One Two Three by Laurie Frankel 45:45 - This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel 46:28 - The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave 46:32 - Falling by T.J. Newman 46:40 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 46:49 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend 47:06 - Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston 47:16 - Books We Want to Press Into Your Hands: 47:38 - The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (Meredith) 49:37 - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Kaytee) 50:37 - Starstruck by Neil DeGrasse Tyson Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Episode 8: Lovely Rita Murdermaid Tim and Liz narrowly avoid mentioning Starbucks as they embark on a lively discussion about killer mermaids, PT Barnum, and how it feels to be the guy killed by a shrimp. All this while they discuss Mira Grant's Into the Drowning Deep. Join the discussion with Escape the Earth: email: saplescapetheearth@gmail.com goodreads: www.goodreads.com/group/show/10939…escape-the-earth libguide: guides.mysapl.org/ETE

As Halloween draws close and the veil between the realms grows thin, we wonder... how, exactly, do you build a world that, by design, touches other worlds? Seanan McGuire joins us to discuss portal realms, alternate realities, multiverses, and designing the liminal, the permeable, the spaces in-between. Transcript for Episode 62 (thank you, beloved scribes!) Our Guest: Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

In his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero unleashed the modern zombie upon the world. These reanimated corpses with a hunger for human flesh have taken many forms over the years, from slow, shambling ghouls to fast, menacing creatures. But why do they endure? What is it about zombies that fascinates and frightens us? And how have libraries gotten into the action? In Episode 67, Call Number with American Libraries celebrates Halloween with a look at libraries and the living dead. First, American Libraries Senior Editor and Call Number host Phil Morehart speaks with Ben Rubin, horror studies collection coordinator at University of Pittsburgh Library System, about the George A. Romero Archival Collection, which was gifted to the school after the filmmaker's death in 2017. Next American Libraries Managing Editor Terra Dankowski talks with Amy Dennis, programming and public relations librarian at Tom Green County (Texas) Library System, about the library's zombie doll program for youth. And finally, Morehart speaks with Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant), author of the Newsflesh trilogy of zombie novels, about the books' inspiration and legacy.

As we head into spooky season, let's talk about where to start reading horror. Stephanie from the Books in the Freezer Podcast joined me to talk about her favorite genre. For exclusive bonus content and early access to episodes, consider joining the Chapter 3 Podcast Patreon Looking for a book mentioned in the episode? Check here! *Note that all links are affiliate links from which we earn a commission to support the podcast   Books from On My Radar segment: Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray: https://amzn.to/3hEsMF2 The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer: https://amzn.to/3AlLWa8 Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki: https://amzn.to/2XCFGwz A Spindle Splintered by Alix E Harrow: https://amzn.to/3Esz4BC When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles: https://amzn.to/39dmBTM Slewfoot by Brom: https://amzn.to/39fOevr Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry: https://amzn.to/3EwaJur When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson: https://amzn.to/3hL6Qbw Other Books/Authors Mentioned House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti: https://amzn.to/3zidITG The Oath by Frank Peretti: https://amzn.to/3tNvz3J My Best Friends Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: https://amzn.to/3AkJ3pT Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix: https://amzn.to/3lGgy02 The Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix: https://amzn.to/3hIS7xP The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix: https://amzn.to/3zpl4o9 My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones: https://amzn.to/3nXDr1N Dracula by Bram Stoker: https://amzn.to/3lGgD3Q And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: https://amzn.to/3nNkiiL Nightingale by Amy Lukavics: https://amzn.to/3lC0eNv The Ravenous by Amy Lukavics: https://amzn.to/2YYupXC Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant: https://amzn.to/3CnazE2 Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant: https://amzn.to/3nJWkow The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring: https://amzn.to/2XtaBLR Final Girls by Mira Grant: https://amzn.to/3lyzEVM The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch: https://amzn.to/2Xv40Qk The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay: https://amzn.to/3hGYAZU The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling: https://amzn.to/3zkum4Q Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: https://amzn.to/3hKL8o1 Lakewood by Megan Giddings: https://amzn.to/3nIaOFv Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark: https://amzn.to/3kmlAzj Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer: https://amzn.to/3ClP4mN Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: https://amzn.to/3zobJwW The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson: https://amzn.to/3zfL857 The River has Teeth by Erica Waters: https://amzn.to/2XD3IHN Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand: https://amzn.to/2XD3Oz9 Extasia by Claire Legrand: https://amzn.to/3EvbHHm Lost Boy by Christina Henry: https://amzn.to/3lyAodw Alice by Christina Henry: https://amzn.to/3kjOW1d The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry: https://amzn.to/3hJnmIW My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due: https://amzn.to/3EnkvPH The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig: https://amzn.to/2XENXjr Miriam Black series by Chuck Wendig: https://amzn.to/2XFenBA Burn the Dark by S.A. Hunt: https://amzn.to/2Xtw4nW The Worm and His Kings By Hailey Piper: https://amzn.to/3nOFd5f Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper: https://amzn.to/2Z9L4rp The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson: https://amzn.to/3lCHMV4 American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett: https://amzn.to/2ZcIt01 Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno Garcia: https://amzn.to/3CsdU4J The Gates by John Connolly: https://amzn.to/3lyBki2 Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado: https://amzn.to/3EDHxlw The Thief of Always by Clive Barker: https://amzn.to/2VTJQzk   Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok @Chapter3Podcast and you can also find Bethany talking about books on YouTube @BeautifullyBookishBethany. You can now find episodes on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy6yRiktWbWRAFpByrVk-kg Interested in early access to episodes, private Discord channels and other perks? Consider joining the Chapter 3 Patreon! Or join our public Discord. A new episode will be available to download in two weeks!  This episode was recorded using a Blue Yeti USB condenser microphone kit: https://amzn.to/342dnqx

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: zooming with an author and a slow but steady encouragement Current Reads: fairy tales and graphic novels and non-fiction and middle grade. We're all over the place. Deep Dive: “gentle murder” is for those readers who want the propulsive and page-turning nature of mysteries and thriller, but can't handle adding new fears to their arsenal Book Presses: propulsive but gentle books we think you'll love As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . Bookish Moment of the Week: 2:35 - Zoom call with Catherine Ryan Howard 2:39 - The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard 2:40 - 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard 4:07 - I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 7:03 - The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili 7:40 - New Daughters of Africa by Margaret Busby  9:20 - Hawaii by James Michener  Current Reads: 10:05 - Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly (Meredith) 13:19 - Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly 16:07 - The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (Kaytee) 16:19 - Good Talk by Mira Jacob 16:57 - El Deafo by Cece Bell 19:46 - Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (Meredith) 22:11 - Currently Reading Patreon  24:02 - How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes by Melinda Wenner Moyer (Kaytee) 25:33 - Expecting Better by Emily Oster 27:20 - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles  27:37 - Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (Meredith) 35:33 - The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles  35:47 - Refugee by Alan Gratz (Kaytee) Deep Dive - Gentle Mysteries and Thrillers 39:24 - The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave 39:27 - Who is Maud Dixon by Alexandra Andrews 39:41 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (the mermaid book) 39:58 - The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon  41:34 - The Whisper Man by Alex North  41:35 - The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup 41:36 - The Snowman by Jo Nesbo 42:31 - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 42:38 - The Friend by Dorothy Koomson 42:54 - The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty  43:41 - No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole 43:58 - Lock Every Door by Riley Sager 44:11 - Home Before Dark by Riley Sager 47:23 - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 47:26 - One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus 47:49 - Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano 48:00 - My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 50:39 - The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz 50:39 - Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz 51:06 - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown  52:19 - Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Elliot Arnold Books We Want to Press Into Your Hands: 53:22 - The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Meredith) 54:38 - Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz 54:42 - The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett 55:55 - The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Pre-order link) 56:18 - Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (Kaytee) Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Join us for this special episode as part of the recorded episode showcase for Storytelling Podcast Week. This episode is brought to you by Jennifer “Macey” Mace of the Be the Serpent podcast. … Episode 74: Darling, It's Better Down Where It's Wetter (https://betheserpent.podbean.com/e/episode-74-darling-its-better-down-where-its-wetter/) On this week's episode, we're talking about mermaids, sirens, selkies, and other moist ladies who may or may not want to eat your whole face off! Guess what: The sea is terrifying! Fuck the sea! Tentpoles this week are The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, and the Studio Ghibli movie Ponyo. Transcription The transcript for this episode is available here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/19_w7Ny3-H1g0P0He4HWNE3c2FbDnGJuPjc-dlJGLxzo/edit). Thanks as always to our most excellent scribblin' scribes for their hard work. ... Storytelling Podcast Week is brought to you by Podbean. We're a podcast hosting and monetizing platform and home to over 500,000 podcasts, and we also offer the ability to livestream directly from the app to your audience with Podbean Live, where podcasts come to life! You can also start your own live stream for free on Podbean and to get your first 30 days of hosting for free use the code “story”!

Colleen, Anders and Daniel are joined by Bohemian Geek Studies' Sara O'Connor to discuss The Last Jedi! Rian Johnson's entry in the Skywalker Saga has divided fans, and we are no exception! The movie that divided fans has some division among us as well! Nevertheless, we can all agree that this movie is bold and beautiful! Anders is all in on Snoke's swagger but Sara thinks he looks like a Hugh Hefner ball sack! Colleen just can't get enough Holdo, but Sara thinks she just falls flat. We can all agree that she does not owe Poe anything though! Daniel is all in on Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver in this movie. Finally, we all revel in Mark Hamill's excellence and Luke Skywalker's swagger as he Force-Projects himself across the galaxy! http://www.forgottenentertainment.com (www.forgottenentertainment.com)   http://www.bohemiangeekstudies.com (www.bohemiangeekstudies.com)  Find us on Twitter and Instagram @YASWPod This week's recommendations: Anders: Batman Beyond (1999-2001) Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)/Batman: Death in the Family (2020) The Last Jedi (novelization) by Jason Fry Colleen: Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray Canto Bight by Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood Daniel:  Gears of War 5 (2019) Sara: Invincible (2021) on Amazon Prime Video

Dive on in to our first episode of our underwater theme where we review Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. We discuss whether all the science is accurate and necessary as well as the heavy amount of gore. For our shorter review and pictures of our crazy cupcakes, follow us on Instagram @The.Book.Coven. 

Recorded live at Dragons & Fairy Tales, this episode is for anybody who has a novel or two (or more) sitting in the bottom of their trunk. What are the best ways to re-use old material you've set aside? We talk about rewriting entire novels, repurposing plots or characters, and moving stories from one place to another. Sometimes we do this because an idea is just too good to let sit, but the execution on that idea (at least the first time around) wasn't good enough. And sometimes we shouldn't do it at all. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Feed by Mira Grant - it's 1/3 zombie novel, 2/3 political thriller. Writing Prompt: "Interspeciated workplace." Go! Prompt #2: You just got a "Cease & Desist" from a webcartoonist... Audience Noises: Delivered on cue, thanks to cleverly positioned signs... This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership*. *Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.