The Mythic Mic Podcast

S.2 Ep. 129: Geneva Lee

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S.2 Ep. 128: Wolf Shifters, Valkyries, and Forbidden Love: Olivia Wildenstein on The Ice Beyond

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where mythological worlds collide, romance blooms in the most dangerous places, and every monster has a story. This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara sit down with bestselling fantasy author Olivia Wildenstein to celebrate The Ice Beyond, the first book in her breathtaking new Empress of Thorns series. Olivia shares her fascinating journey from self-publishing to hybrid publishing, the realities of navigating both indie and traditional publishing, and why perseverance—not overnight success—is the true secret to a writing career. We also dive into writing routines, perfectionism, character art, worldbuilding, and why some stories refuse to let go until they're told. Then we explore The Ice Beyond, an epic Norse-inspired fantasy filled with wolf shifters, vampires, Valkyries, dragons, forbidden romance, devastating secrets, morally gray characters, and a heroine whose entire identity is shattered when she discovers everything she's believed about herself is a lie. 🐺 What happens when the family who raised you has been hiding the biggest secret of your life? ❄️ Can love survive when it was forbidden from the very beginning? ⚔️ And who are the real monsters in a world filled with gods, shifters, and ancient legends? If you love Viking-inspired fantasy, morally gray heroes, mythology, dangerous monsters, sweeping romance, love triangles, and immersive fantasy worlds, this is an episode you won't want to miss. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Olivia's publishing journey from selling ten self-published copies to becoming a bestselling hybrid author. ✨ The biggest differences between indie, traditional, and hybrid publishing, and why she now loves working in both worlds. ✨ Why perseverance matters far more than chasing trends or overnight success. ✨ Her writing process, perfectionism, self-editing habits, and why deadlines are both terrifying and essential. ✨ Character art, visual storytelling, and how seeing a world helps bring fantasy to life. ✨ Building The Ice Beyond from a simple vampire story into an expansive Norse-inspired fantasy universe. ✨ Reimagining Norse mythology with wolf shifters, Valkyries, vampires, dragons, and unforgettable monsters. ✨ Writing morally gray characters whose motivations remain a mystery until the very end. ✨ Why Olivia loves heroines who grow, stumble, and make mistakes instead of having all the answers. ✨ Forbidden romance, love triangles, and why readers secretly love emotional chaos. ✨ Advice for aspiring fantasy authors on finding your audience while staying true to your creative vision. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Olivia Wildenstein – @Olives21 ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 127: Istanbul, Immortality, and a Curse Made of Heartbreak: Ova Ceren on The Book of Heartbreak

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️ This episode includes candid conversations about infertility and fertility loss, premature menopause, ovarian removal, unsuccessful IVF, hysterectomy, pregnancy and childbirth complications, loss of reproductive choice, death and grief, abortion, medical trauma, depression, and religious fear surrounding death and the afterlife. Please listen with care. 🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where heartbreak becomes a fatal curse, ancient towers preserve stories that empires could not erase, and healing begins when a woman finally chooses something entirely for herself. This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with author Ova Ceren to discuss her Turkish fantasy novel, The Book of Heartbreak. Ova shares her journey from growing up under intense academic pressure in Turkey to spending nearly twenty years in mathematics, computer science, and the male-dominated technology industry. She opens up about entering premature menopause, learning that she could not have another child, and how the resulting grief and loss of identity inspired her to leave behind work she did not love and pursue writing for herself. Ova, Sara, and Bethany also have a deeply personal conversation about infertility, failed IVF, hysterectomy, pregnancy complications, reproductive healthcare, and the grief that can accompany losing the ability or the choice to expand a family. We also dive into The Book of Heartbreak, which follows seventeen-year-old Sare, a girl cursed to die whenever her heart breaks. After learning that her mother has died, Sare moves to Istanbul to live with her estranged grandfather and discovers that everything she believed about her family may be a lie. Ova discusses drawing inspiration from the thousand-year-old Byzantine myth of Istanbul’s Maiden’s Tower, writing heartbreak beyond romantic loss, creating a hopeful and humorous afterlife, and exploring identity, family wounds, religion, grief, and the memories that can make old pain feel suddenly new again. 💔 How do you survive grief when a broken heart can literally kill you? 🗼 What secrets connect Sare’s curse to Istanbul’s ancient Maiden’s Tower? ✨ And can she reclaim her life when the deepest wounds come from the people she trusted most? This is a must-listen for urban-fantasy readers, lovers of mythology and magical Istanbul settings, anyone drawn to stories about complicated families, and readers seeking an emotional journey that honors grief while still making room for humor, hope, and healing. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Ova’s life in Cambridge, cycling, traveling, cooking, and searching for creative inspiration. ✨ Her ducks, chickens, allergic husband, and desire to give her son a life surrounded by animals. ✨ Creating a private garden library inside a former artist’s studio. ✨ Growing up in Turkey under intense pressure to perform academically, and entering computer science because she excelled at mathematics. ✨ Premature menopause, ovarian removal, and being told she could not have another child. ✨ Grieving the loss of a possibility even when she had not decided whether she wanted another baby. ✨ Feeling dehumanized by clinical conversations about fertility and reproductive health, and why reproductive loss deserves emotional support. ✨ Reclaiming identity after years of making choices for family, culture, and financial stability. ✨ How writing The Book of Heartbreak helped Ova survive a dark period. ✨ The structural similarities between editing fiction and debugging software. ✨ Ova’s advice to remain patient and never compare one publishing journey with another. ✨ Reimagining the Byzantine legend surrounding Istanbul’s Maiden’s Tower, and why the tower represents a piece of the city’s identity that history never erased. ✨ Exploring heartbreak as an enduring wound rather than a purely romantic experience. ✨ Creating a heroine who ultimately saves herself rather than relying on romance. ✨ Bureaucratic angels, an imaginative afterlife, and comparisons to Good Omens. ✨ Reimagining the afterlife as a hopeful space rather than one governed by shame and fear. ✨ Why old heartbreaks can return through memories, music, scents, and unexpected reminders. ✨ Choosing standalones so every book can explore a completely different world. ✨ Ova’s next Ottoman-inspired dark fantasy about a magical library and dangerous books. ✨ How religion, women’s autonomy, history, and identity continue to shape her fiction. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Ova Ceren – @ExcuseMyReading ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 126: The Angel vs. Demon Fantasy Everyone's About to Obsess Over: Adalyn Grace on The Wretched Divine

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where gods wage impossible wars, monsters aren't always who they seem, and fantasy asks what happens when everything you've been taught is a lie. This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with bestselling fantasy author Adalyn Grace to celebrate her stunning adult fantasy debut, The Wretched Divine. Adalyn shares her incredible publishing journey, from writing wolf role plays on Neopets and working on The Legend of Korra at Nickelodeon to becoming the bestselling author behind Belladonna. We also dive into the realities of modern publishing, balancing creativity with the business of being an author, social media burnout, AI's growing impact on artists, and why writing what you genuinely love matters more than chasing trends. Then we explore The Wretched Divine, an epic fantasy where a mortal knight becomes bound to both an angel and a demon in the middle of an ancient war. With an expansive magic system, unforgettable characters, anime-inspired action, and questions about morality, faith, and inherited beliefs, this is a fantasy that delivers both breathtaking spectacle and emotional depth. ⚔️ What if heaven wasn't as righteous as you believed? 😈 Can demons truly be monsters if the angels are just as dangerous? 🪽 And what happens when saving the world means binding your soul to both? If you love epic fantasy, angels and demons, sprawling magic systems, anime-inspired storytelling, unforgettable twists, and fantasy that leads with worldbuilding while delivering incredible romance, this is an episode you won't want to miss. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Adalyn's journey from Neopets role plays and The Legend of Korra to becoming a bestselling fantasy author. ✨ How Pitch Wars shaped her career and helped transform her writing before landing her first publishing deal. ✨ Writing All the Stars and Teeth in just three weeks while recovering from a serious accident. ✨ Why The Wretched Divine became the most difficult, and ultimately most rewarding, book she's ever written. ✨ The anime inspirations behind the novel. ✨ Building a massive angel-and-demon magic system where humans gain extraordinary powers by binding their souls to celestial beings. ✨ Why Adalyn intentionally wrote an epic fantasy that bridges romantasy readers into larger, more expansive fantasy worlds. ✨ The themes of morality, inherited beliefs, religion, and questioning who truly deserves to be called a monster. ✨ Her thoughts on romantasy, fantasy romance, YA versus adult publishing, and where she believes fantasy publishing is headed next. ✨ AI, social media, fan expectations, and the growing pressures facing today's authors. ✨ The shocking ending of The Wretched Divine and why readers won't stop talking about the final chapters. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Adalyn Grace – @AuthorAdalynGrace ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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Off the Shelf Ep. 3: The Truth About ARCs, Street Teams & Getting Free Books

Have ARCs gone from a bookish perk to a part-time job? Welcome to another episode of Off The Shelf, our monthly segment where we dive into bookish trends, deep dives, hot takes, and all things fantasy! In this Off the Shelf episode, host Britt is joined by Mythic Mic team member Amara and special guest Megan to unpack the increasingly competitive world of advanced reader copies, publisher influencer programs, NetGalley, street teams, and the book reviewer hustle. From figuring out how to actually get physical ARCs to managing NetGalley ratios, follower counts, engagement, publisher emails, and the very real pressure to say yes to everything, the conversation explores what it takes to be an ARC reader today. The group also gets into the complicated side of street teams, including when supporting an author starts to feel like unpaid labor, what authors and readers owe each other, how to handle an ARC you didn’t enjoy, and why chasing every opportunity can quickly kill the thing that started it all: your love of reading. We’re asking: Do you really need thousands of followers to get ARCs? Are street teams a fun way to support authors or unpaid labor for readers? What should you do when you receive an ARC and hate the book? How do you chase bookish opportunities without burning yourself out? If you’ve ever wondered how people get those coveted physical ARCs, destroyed your NetGalley ratio by requesting everything in sight, joined one too many street teams, or simply wondered whether the ARC hustle is still worth it, this episode is for you. CONNECT WITH THE MYTHIC MIC TEAM 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 👤 Britt – @BrittBooksit 👤 Amara – @Bored_Military_Wife ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 125: From Bones to Fangs: Magic, Survival, and the Dystopian Romantasy Comeback by KL Speer

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where surviving the apocalypse is hard enough without adding forbidden magic, trauma, and a found family you never expected to need. This week, Host Bethany Amanda sits down with author K.L. Speer to discuss Bones and Fangs, a post-apocalyptic romantasy series where civilization has collapsed, magic shouldn't exist, and one woman possesses a healing power that could make her invaluable or turn her into something others will exploit. Kelsey also shares the incredible story behind Bones, from writing it simply because it was the story she wanted to tell to watching readers embrace its unconventional mix of dystopian fantasy, romance, and mental health representation, and eventually having the originally indie-published series picked up for traditional publication. 🦴 What happens when your greatest gift is also the thing that makes you a target? 🖤 How do you learn to trust again when survival has taught you not to? 🔥 And who can you become when surviving is no longer enough? If you love adult dystopian fantasy, post-apocalyptic worlds, romantasy, found family, rare magic, complicated heroines, emotional character arcs, survival stories, and enemies-to-lovers, this episode is for you. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Kelsey's lifelong love of storytelling, the fantasy adventure she started writing at twelve, and how finally finishing Bones turned a story she'd written purely for herself into an unexpected publishing career. ✨ The incredible indie-to-trad publishing journey that followed Bones. ✨ Why Kelsey believes authors should write the stories they genuinely want to read instead of chasing whatever is currently selling. ✨ Creating a survivalist post-apocalyptic world without zombies, where governments have disappeared, humanity survives inside scattered strongholds, raiders roam outside their walls, and magic is virtually nonexistent. ✨ Building Bones as a heroine with a mysterious healing ability in a world without powers, and exploring what happens when something capable of saving people also makes its owner vulnerable to exploitation. ✨ Writing a heroine shaped by trauma who doesn't magically become “fixed." ✨ How a tabletop RPG first introduced Kelsey to the character of Bones. ✨ The return of dystopian fiction for the generation that grew up reading The Hunger Games and Divergent, and why Kelsey believes adult readers are now searching for darker, more mature versions of the stories they loved growing up. ✨ Expanding the story in Fangs with grief, complicated family dynamics, sibling reconciliation, deeper character development, and an ending Kelsey promises gets absolutely bananas. ✨ Why readers should have Fangs ready immediately after Bones, Kelsey's unapologetic love of cliffhangers, and her warning that the ending of Book Three, Ashes, might actually take readers out. ✨ Expanding what was originally planned as a trilogy into a four-book series, and the other stories already tempting Kelsey, including a 1930s paranormal romance and a pirate story that accidentally became much bigger than expected. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 KL Speer – @Author.KLSpeer ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 124: 50% Fate, 50% Luck, and One Long-Distance Love Story: Michael Tavon on I Want to Be Where You Are

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where love stories can begin in the most unexpected places, fate sometimes needs a little luck, and the right person can change everything. This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with author and poet Michael Tavon to discuss his contemporary romance, I Want to Be Where You Are, a raw, poetic, emotionally honest love story inspired by how he met his wife. Michael shares his journey from poetry to romance, including the life experiences that pushed him toward writing, the creative writing class that helped him build confidence, and the moment he walked out of an anatomy class to pursue writing more seriously. He opens up about being a Black male romance author in a genre often dominated by women, the challenges of being overlooked, and why he hopes readers focus on the heart of the story rather than assumptions about who is telling it. The conversation also dives into I Want to Be Where You Are, a romance about two writers connecting long-distance while their separate lives are falling apart. Based largely on Michael’s real-life relationship with his wife, the book follows two people learning how to heal, grow, and rebuild themselves before finally choosing love together. 💫 What happens when two people meet at exactly the right wrong time? ❤️ Can love be both fate and luck? ✈️ And what does it take to leave behind everything familiar for the person who feels like home? Whether you love contemporary romance, poetic writing, real-life love stories, long-distance relationships, emotionally grounded happily ever afters, or stories about healing before love, this episode is heartfelt, honest, and deeply romantic. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Michael’s journey from poet to romance author. ✨ How writing became an outlet during heartbreak, grief, and major life changes. ✨ The creative writing class that helped Michael see himself as a writer. ✨ Dropping out of college to pursue writing and the courage that choice required. ✨ Being a Black male author writing romance and poetry. ✨ The stigma around men writing romance and why sensitivity matters on the page. ✨ Moving from poetry into contemporary romance. ✨ Why Michael wants to write across romance, sports romance, and romantasy. ✨ The music, dancing, and pop culture that fuel his creative process. ✨ I Want to Be Where You Are and the real-life love story behind it. ✨ The vulnerability of writing real people and real experiences into fiction. ✨ Long-distance connection, healing, messy personal lives, and emotional timing. ✨ Interracial love, family questions, cultural assumptions, and finding connection beyond difference. ✨ Michael’s upcoming romance projects, including sports romance, forbidden love, and a dream-inspired story about healing after loss. 🎶 Plus: 90s pop music, R&B, dancing as a creative ritual, celebrity trial rabbit holes, Nicholas Sparks vibes, poetry forms, This Is Us theme songs, and the pickup line Michael did not have prepared. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Michael Tavon – @AuthorMichaelTavon ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 123: Warrior Princesses, Deadly Gauntlets, and an Enemy Sailor: Sariah Wilson on the Eye of the Goddess Series

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where ancient goddesses demand vengeance, warrior princesses enter trials designed to kill them, and the enemy making everything more difficult may become impossible to resist. This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with bestselling romance and fantasy author Sariah Wilson to discuss her Eye of the Goddess series. Sariah shares the extraordinary path that led her to publishing, beginning with a neighborhood fundraiser for her autistic son’s therapies and a reporter who recognized her talent from a press release. She opens up about entering indie publishing, selling only a handful of copies, winning Amazon’s Kindle Scout program, and unexpectedly receiving her first two-book offer. We also dive into the deeply personal circumstances behind Sariah’s move from romantic comedy into romantasy. When a family medical emergency forced her family to take out a second loan on their home, Sariah promised that she would write the book that could pay it back. She drafted a 159,000-word fantasy in just thirty-nine days, received a preemptive publishing offer, and used the first installment to repay the remaining loan. At the heart of the conversation is the Eye of the Goddess series, inspired by the real history of the Locrian maidens. Following the Trojan War and the assault of Cassandra inside Athena’s temple, maidens from Locris were reportedly sent as tribute for approximately one thousand years and could be hunted before reaching sanctuary. Sariah reimagines that forgotten history through a princess who trains to survive the deadly gauntlet and retrieve something capable of saving her nation, only to have her unprepared sister selected alongside her and an enemy sailor complicating every step of the journey. ⚔️ Can a warrior princess survive a ritual designed to punish generations of innocent women? 🏛️ What happens when the sister she trained to protect is chosen for the deadly tribute beside her? 🔥 And can she trust the enemy sailor standing between her, the goddess, and the salvation of her kingdom? This is a must-listen for Greek mythology lovers, romantasy readers, fans of warrior heroines and sisterhood, and anyone craving deadly trials, forgotten history, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers tension, and gods who refuse to remain in the background. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Sariah’s Southern California childhood and her obsession with 3D printing. ✨ Meeting Adam Driver after manifesting the opportunity through a charity auction. ✨ Writing for a regional publisher before pausing her career to expand her family. ✨ Entering and becoming one of the first winners of Amazon’s Kindle Scout program, and building a decade-long relationship with Amazon Publishing. ✨ Why traditional fantasy romances often left her craving more longing, tension, and emotional intimacy. ✨ The family medical emergency that pushed her to finally write romantasy. ✨ Receiving a preempt that allowed her family to repay its medical debt. ✨ How imposter syndrome persists even after years of professional success. ✨ The historical foundations of the Eye of the Goddess series, including the assault of Cassandra by Ajax the Lesser after the Trojan War and Athena’s demand that Locris send maidens to serve at her temple as recompense. ✨ Crafting a story about a princess who deliberately trains to survive the goddess’s deadly gauntlet, and the devastating twist of her untrained sister being selected beside her. ✨ An enemy sailor, a slow-burn romance, and escalating divine stakes. ✨ Building an alternate ancient Greece filled with magic, dragons, gods, and goddesses. ✨ The hospice reader whose message reminded Sariah exactly why she writes. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Sariah Wilson – @SariahWilsonAuthor ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 122: Ancient Rome Meets Knives Out in Mai Corland's Verity

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where deadly secrets, morally gray suspects, and murder mysteries are infinitely more fun when you add a little magic. This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Megan Tromposch sit down with Mai Corland to discuss Verity Guild, a Heartless Hunter meets Knives Out romantasy murder mystery set in a world inspired by the ancient Roman Republic, where everyone has something to hide and no one is above suspicion. Mai also takes us behind the scenes of her journey from civil litigator to author, the books that didn't find immediate success before Five Broken Blades took off, and how her legal background unexpectedly shaped a fantasy story about truth, justice, institutional power, and what happens when the people making the laws are above them. ⚖️ What does justice look like when the most powerful people in the room are above the law? 🔪 How do you solve a murder when everyone has secrets and the suspects keep dying? 🔥 And what happens when the investigator has every reason to suspect the woman he's falling for? If you love romantasy murder mysteries, ancient Rome-inspired fantasy, enemies-to-lovers, morally gray characters, unreliable narrators, political intrigue, deadly secrets, and closed-circle whodunits, this episode is for you. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Mai's unconventional path from civil litigator to published author, and the family experience that finally pushed her to pursue writing. ✨ Why Five Broken Blades wasn't actually Mai's first published novel, and how writing books that didn't immediately take off gave her a very different perspective for her debut. ✨ The discovery-writing process that keeps Mai excited about creating new stories. ✨ Mai's advice for aspiring authors to read widely both inside and outside their genres. ✨ The inspiration behind Verity Guild, which Mai describes as Heartless Hunter meets Knives Out: a romantasy murder mystery that combines a closed-circle whodunit with fantasy, political intrigue, secrets, and romance. ✨ Building a fantasy world inspired by the ancient Roman Republic, Mai's background studying ancient Roman art, and why the rigid class divisions and inequalities beneath an ostensibly representative political system fascinated her as a foundation for the story. ✨ Moving from the six points of view in the Broken Blades trilogy to the much more intimate dual POV of Verity Guild. ✨ Why Mai loves unreliable narrators, morally gray characters, and liars, and why the motivation behind a character's deception can be just as fascinating as the lie itself. ✨ The central question that emerged while Mai was writing Verity Guild: What is justice when some people are above the law? And how far can someone's morals bend in the pursuit of it? ✨ Why fantasy became the perfect space for Mai to explore corruption, inequality, justice, and truth without writing a traditional legal story. ✨ An early tease of Mai's next fantasy, which she describes as Water Moon meets ACOTAR, featuring a demigod with a pawn shop that trades in love stories and a fae prince searching for his missing brother. ✨ Plus: why law school ruins legal television, the goldfish who may secretly be a murderer or a cursed human, Mai and Bethany's spectacularly terrible altitude-related travel decisions, questionable amounts of cold foam, and the trope that wins every time: enemies-to-lovers. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Mai Corland – @Maicorland ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 121: Sleep Hallucinations as a Doorway to Another World: Christine Drummond on Kingdom of the Owl

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where hidden worlds, Celtic mythology, and suspiciously attractive strangers are waiting just beyond the veil. This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with author Christine Drummond to discuss Kingdom of the Owl, a modern-day Outlander meets ACOTAR romantasy filled with portal magic, Celtic mythology, and enemies-to-lovers, where unsettling sleep hallucinations might be something far more dangerous than they appear. Christine also takes us behind the scenes of her journey from corporate marketer to published author, including querying, switching agents, becoming the lead title for Gilded Wing, building a street team before publication, and why she believes authors don't need to go viral to build an audience. 🦉 What if your hallucinations were actually another world calling to you? ✨ What would really happen if an ordinary woman fell into a fantasy world? 🔥 And can you trust the man you're supposed to hate when he may be the only person you can rely on? If you love portal fantasy, Celtic mythology, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, one bed, one horse, immersive worlds, and ordinary heroines thrown into extraordinary circumstances, this episode is for you. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Christine's journey from a fifteen-year career in marketing to finally giving herself permission to pursue the love of storytelling she'd carried since childhood. ✨ Building visibility for a book years before publication and why Christine believes authors can start creating meaningful connections with readers long before they have a cover, release date, or finished product to sell. ✨ How Christine built a street team before its members had even read Kingdom of the Owl. ✨ Why authors don't necessarily need one massive viral moment to build an audience, and how consistency, community, relatability, and letting readers become invested in your journey can create momentum over time. ✨ Christine's path through querying and submission, including switching agents and learning why finding an agent or editor who genuinely shares your vision matters more than simply saying yes to the first opportunity. ✨ Becoming the lead title for Gilded Wing, City Owl Press's new collector-focused imprint, and discovering after signing her publishing deal that Kingdom of the Owl would help launch an immersive new publishing experience and Kickstarter campaign. ✨ The real-life conversation that sparked Kingdom of the Owl and transformed the eerie experience of sleep hallucinations into the seed of an entirely new fantasy world. ✨ Writing enemies-to-lovers through genuine fear, distrust, reluctant reliance, and attraction. ✨ Building her fantasy world on a foundation of Celtic mythology. ✨ Why Christine maintains a worldbuilding bible and how the realities of publishing can reshape even carefully planned series, sequels, character arcs, and endings. ✨ The changing relationship between traditional and indie publishing, why hybrid authorship will likely become increasingly common, and what authors should consider when weighing distribution and industry reach against speed, royalties, and creative control. ✨ Plus: Christine's upcoming contemporary holiday romance, why writers simultaneously want to accomplish absolutely everything and disappear beneath a heated blanket, and the rapid-fire questions every author should probably be slightly afraid to answer. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Christine Drummond – @ChristineDrummondWrites ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 120: The Phantom of the Opera Through Christine Daaé's Eyes: Erin A. Craig on Our Strange Duet for Phantom's 40th Anniversary

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where haunted opera houses, masked men, and enough questionable romantic decisions to keep us arguing for forty years collide. This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Amara sit down with bestselling gothic fantasy author Erin A. Craig to discuss Our Strange Duet, her official reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera created in collaboration with Lloyd Webber Entertainment for the musical's 40th anniversary. For anyone who has spent years wondering what Christine was thinking, what happened during all those missing months, or whether a few murders should really disqualify the Phantom as a romantic option, this episode is for you. Before stepping beneath the Paris Opera House, Erin takes us backstage through her own incredible journey from professional stage manager to bestselling author. After spending fifteen years working in theater, musicals, and opera, Erin stepped away when her daughter was born and unexpectedly found herself returning to something she'd loved since childhood: writing. Her first attempt at publication earned roughly 180 rejections. Her next book became House of Salt and Sorrows. But Our Strange Duet brings Erin's story full circle. Long before she became an author, The Phantom of the Opera was the musical that made her fall in love with theater. She wrote Phantom fanfiction as a teenager, built a career backstage, and years later received the surreal opportunity to help introduce a new generation to the story that started it all. In Our Strange Duet, Christine Daaé finally takes center stage. The novel ventures into the spaces between the musical's iconic scenes: the months we never see, the relationships only hinted at onstage, and the thoughts and choices of the woman standing at the center of a story so often driven by what everyone else wants from her. And yes, we absolutely discuss the question Phantom fans have been fighting about for decades: Phantom or Raoul? 🎭 What changes when The Phantom of the Opera is finally told entirely through Christine's eyes? 🌹 What happened between the iconic scenes we've watched onstage for forty years? 🎶 And can being mysterious, musical, and extremely good with candles make us overlook a few murders? If you love The Phantom of the Opera, gothic romance, haunted theaters, masked men, tragic love stories, musical theater, morally questionable romantic interests, and books that let you step deeper inside stories you've loved for years, this episode is for you. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Erin's fifteen-year career as a professional stage manager and how working in theater and opera continues to shape the way she approaches dialogue, atmosphere, plotting, and character movement in her novels. ✨ Falling in love with The Phantom of the Opera as a teenager, writing Phantom fanfiction, and ultimately choosing a career backstage because of the musical that would unexpectedly return to her life decades later. ✨ The unpublished Peter Pan retelling that received roughly 180 rejections before Erin changed course and wrote the book that became her breakout debut, House of Salt and Sorrows. ✨ How Our Strange Duet became the official YA reimagining commissioned through Lloyd Webber Entertainment to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera. ✨ Why Erin and the creative team decided to tell the story exclusively through Christine Daaé's perspective and finally place her desires, fears, grief, ambitions, and choices at the center of the narrative. ✨ Exploring everything the musical doesn't have time to show, including Christine's first encounter with the mysterious voice, her early lessons with the Angel of Music, the six months between Acts One and Two, and the relationships developing beyond the stage. ✨ Expanding Christine and Raoul's history to show the teenage summer romance that came before the musical so readers can finally understand why Christine chose Raoul. ✨ Taking iconic characters like Carlotta and Piangi beyond their roles onstage and giving readers a deeper look at the personalities, vulnerabilities, and relationships Christine encounters inside the Opera Populaire. ✨ The lyrics, references, and Easter eggs hidden throughout the novel for longtime Phantom fans while still making the story completely accessible to readers encountering the Opera Ghost for the first time. ✨ Plus: Team Phantom versus Team Raoul, overlooking murder in the name of fictional romance, the unparalleled appeal of a man surrounded by candles, justice for Carlotta, Erin's favorite Phantom songs, and the romantic option Christine probably should have chosen all along: herself. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Erin Craig – @Penchant4Words ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 119: Twelfth Night Meets Dark British Folklore in a Kingdom Where Magic is Outlawed: Bethan Croome on Reign

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where outlawed witches, hidden identities, and forbidden love make going to war significantly more complicated. This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with debut fantasy author Bethan Croome to discuss Reign, a dark, British folklore-inspired romantic fantasy filled with secret magic, medieval politics, dangerous creatures, slow-burn romance, and a heroine who disguises herself as a man only to accidentally get conscripted into a war. Before diving into Reign, Bethan shares the unconventional road to her debut, from studying English literature and creative writing and earning a master's degree in writing to walking away from an early agent opportunity that didn't feel right. Then we enter a kingdom where magic is outlawed and being a witch could cost you everything. Inspired by British history, folklore, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and the darker corners of Britain's past, Reign blends medieval and Tudor atmosphere with court politics, magical creatures, hidden identities, and enemies-to-lovers. 🗡️ What happens when a secret witch disguises herself as a man and accidentally gets sent to war? ✨ How do you fight for a kingdom that has outlawed what you are? 🖤 And what happens when forbidden love becomes even more dangerous because no one knows who you really are? If you love secret witches, women disguised as men, British folklore, medieval and Tudor-inspired fantasy, forbidden magic, and deliciously slow-burn romance, this episode is for you. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Bethan's journey from studying creative writing and working in theatre to pursuing her dream of becoming a novelist. ✨ Why she walked away from an early opportunity with an agent even though she feared another opportunity might never come. And why she now considers it one of the best decisions she made. ✨ Finding her eventual literary agent through Instagram and writing Reign in roughly four months. ✨ Why Bethan chose Cosmo Reads and Sourcebooks for her debut, and the surreal experience of publishing through an imprint connected to a magazine she grew up reading. ✨ Creating Reign's showstopping deluxe edition, from the mood boards and visual references Bethan provided to the pink sprayed edges destined for fantasy readers' bookshelves. ✨ The impossible choice at the heart of Reign: fight for the kingdom that outlawed her magic or turn against it and help set magic free. ✨ Why Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, rather than Mulan, originally inspired Reign. ✨ Building a fantasy world from British history, folklore, mythology, medieval and Tudor influences, and the castles, libraries, manuscripts, and historical places Bethan loves exploring. ✨ Why British folklore's gruesome, macabre stories helped shape the darker and more melancholic atmosphere of Reign. ✨ Bethan's biggest advice for aspiring authors: stop jumping to the next shiny idea, finish the book, and be brave enough to put your work into the world. ✨ Plus: learning how to polish swords for research, the ideal amount of spice in romantasy, why Bethan would choose time travel as her magical power, and a mutual appreciation for the greatest song in Mulan. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Bethan Croome – @BethFiit ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 118: Sprayed Edges, Special Editions, and the Printer Named Janet: Sheree on Perfectly Edged

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where books become works of art, printers develop personalities, and missing out on one special edition can inspire an entire business. This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with Sheree, the artist and owner behind Perfectly Edged, to discuss sprayed edges, collector editions, and building one of the most recognizable businesses in the bookish community. Sheree shares how her search for a Fourth Wing special edition led her to experiment with spraying her own books, and how encouragement from a lifelong friend convinced her to begin selling them. She opens up about moving from hand-sprayed edges to professional printing, teaching herself digital design, growing through social media, and reaching the point where her husband left his job to join the business full time. We also dive into the work behind every Perfectly Edged design, from creating artwork and running test prints to wrapping, clamping, printing, and preparing books for customers. Sheree discusses commissions, preorder planning, discounted seconds, artist collaborations, rep applications, and the challenges of choosing titles that will support the time and expense required. She also shares her dreams of creating a full publisher special edition and perhaps opening her own bookshop one day. 🎨 How does a single edge design move from an idea to a finished collector’s book? 📚 What does it take for an artist-led business to thrive in an increasingly crowded special-edition market? ✨ And how did one missed copy of Fourth Wing help launch Perfectly Edged? This is a must-listen for special-edition collectors, Bookstagrammers, indie authors, aspiring bookish entrepreneurs, and anyone fascinated by the art and business behind beautiful books. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ How missing out on a Fourth Wing special edition inspired Perfectly Edged. ✨ Learning to hand-spray books and turning a hobby into a business. ✨ Moving from manual spraying to professional edge printing. ✨ The artwork, testing, wrapping, clamping, and printing behind each design. ✨ Why creating a single custom book can take several hours. ✨ What happens to books with misprints, scratches, or imperfect edges. ✨ How authors can commission artwork or printed edges for their books. ✨ Using preorders and batch printing to manage inventory and turnaround times. ✨ Choosing which popular, traditional, and indie titles to feature. ✨ Janet, the enormous printer responsible for the company’s edges and headaches. ✨ Collaborating with artists, including the Hurricane Wars project with Bluelyboo. ✨ What Sheree considers when selecting Perfectly Edged representatives. ✨ Social media growth, changing algorithms, and building customer loyalty. ✨ The cost and risk involved in producing a complete special edition. ✨ Sheree’s dreams of working directly with a publisher and opening a bookshop. ✨ Balancing art, business ownership, motherhood, marathon training, and writing. ✨ Throne of Glass ambitions, favorite designs, licensing challenges, and rapid-fire questions. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Perfectly Edged – @PerfectlyEdged ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 117: Vikings, Cursed Kingdoms, and Enemies-to-Lovers Done Right: Stacey Marie Brown on White Raven

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where cursed kingdoms, deadly enemies, and enough sexual tension to make murder complicated collide. This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with fantasy author Stacey Marie Brown to discuss her newest fantasy, White Raven, a dark, Viking-inspired adventure packed with lost magic, forced proximity, found family, deadly secrets, and two enemies who genuinely might kill each other before they ever admit they want each other. Stacey takes us behind her fourteen-year writing career, from leaving her retail job after being told to choose between work and her first author event to building a career that now spans urban fantasy, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and high fantasy. We talk about following creative obsession instead of staying neatly in one genre, why success is an ever-moving target, and the advice she gives writers who are still trying to figure out exactly how they're “supposed” to write. Then we enter the world of White Raven, where a centuries-old curse has stripped the land of its magic and fractured the realm into eternal day, night, and dusk. As a deadly Shadow Rift slowly consumes what's left, Wrennlyn, the White Raven, is believed to possess the blood capable of restoring the magic everyone desperately wants to control. Unfortunately for her, the Night King wants that power too. 🖤 What if your blood was the only thing capable of restoring magic to a dying world? ⚔️ What happens when you're kidnapped by the enemy you've been taught to fear your entire life? 🔥 And how do you fall for someone when you're still seriously considering killing them? If you love true enemies-to-lovers, Viking-inspired fantasy, forced proximity, found family, cursed kingdoms, morally complicated characters, deadly journeys, vicious banter, and cliffhangers designed to make you suffer, this episode is for you. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ How Stacey chooses what genre to write next, and why creative obsession will always win over staying safely in one publishing lane. ✨ Using contemporary romance as a creative “refresh button” when the magic, worldbuilding, and action of fantasy start leading toward burnout. ✨ Stacey's fourteen-year career and the author event that forced her to choose between her retail job and writing. ✨ Why success remains an ever-moving target, even after building a long-term writing career, and why authors don't need massive platforms or viral fame for their work to matter. ✨ Building a Viking-inspired world fractured by a 199-year-old curse into realms of eternal day, night, and dusk, and the Shadow Rift slowly draining the life from the land. ✨ Writing true enemies-to-lovers where the characters don't simply exchange insults before giving in to attraction. ✨ Exploring prejudice, inherited hatred, and what happens when Wrennlyn discovers the people she was taught to fear have families, children, struggles, and humanity just like her own. ✨ Stacey's signature balance of darkness and humor, including Munch, a tiny root creature with an unfortunate habit of eating clothing, and Fluffy, the decidedly unfriendly undead horse. ✨ Why Stacey embraces being a “cliffhanger queen,” what readers lose when they wait for an entire series to release before starting it, and the joy of theorizing together while waiting for the next book. ✨ Pantsing, following the muse, letting characters derail your plans, and why trying to force herself into someone else's writing process only leads to writer's block. ✨ Plus: fictional men who would be terrible real-life boyfriends, the characters Stacey would never invite to holiday dinner, and possibly the most unexpected author Google search we've ever heard on The Mythic Mic. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Stacey Marie Brown – @StaceyMarieBrown ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 116: So You Want to Be a Book Influencer? Jaimee Johnson of ThtGrlReads Tells All

Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast! This week, host Bethany Amanda and co-host Amara are joined by book influencer and content creator Jaimee Johnson, known as ThtGrlReads, for an unfiltered conversation about Bookstagram, brutally honest reviews, paid partnerships, viral content, and the books actually worth the hype. Jaimee takes us behind the account to talk about how a lifelong love of reading turned into a massive online platform, why she never planned on becoming a full-time creator, and what readers don't always see behind the polished world of book influencing. From the loneliness and cliques that can exist behind the scenes to the assumption that paid reviews can't possibly be genuine, Jaimee gets candid about what it actually means to turn talking about books into a career. Then we get into the books. Jaimee shares the reads she thinks deserve WAY more attention, her current God-tier favorites, why Zodiac Academy will always have a special place on her shelf, what makes a good bully romance, and why romantasy desperately needs to stop following the same blueprint. We also talk reading slumps, emotional damage, why she prefers going into books completely blind, and the kind of plot twist capable of making her physically put a book down and recover. And if you've ever wondered how to actually grow a bookish social media account, Jaimee is sharing the strategy behind the chaos: say something worth reacting to, hook people immediately, stop sanding off the weird parts of your personality, and give people a reason to remember you, not just the book you're holding. 📚 Can a paid book review still be completely honest? 🔥 Are viral romantasy books starting to follow the exact same formula? 👀 And is the secret to growing online simply being weird enough that people can't scroll away? If you love unfiltered book opinions, underrated romantasy recommendations, Bookstagram drama, chaotic reading habits, controversial takes, and finding out what really happens behind the scenes of a major bookish platform, you don't want to miss this episode. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ How Jaimee went from lifelong fantasy reader and fitness creator to building ThtGrlReads and making book content her primary career. ✨ Why some of her earliest viral content came from creating the recommendation videos she wished already existed. ✨ What readers don't see about influencer culture, including loneliness, creator cliques, follower counts, and the weirdness of realizing someone only wants to make content with you because you have the biggest platform. ✨ The assumption that paid partnerships mean dishonest reviews and Jaimee's rule that she reads a book first, turns down partnerships for books she doesn't like, and only promotes books she can genuinely recommend. ✨ Her advice for aspiring creators: find gaps in existing content, develop something you're known for, have an opinion people can actually debate, and never waste the first five seconds of a video. ✨ Why the parts of yourself you're tempted to edit out because they're “too weird” might actually be exactly what makes people want to follow you. ✨ Jaimee's chaotic approach to choosing her next read: recommendations, author pitches, pretty covers, viral emotional damage, or simply seeing someone crying on the internet. ✨ The underrated romantasy books and series she thinks deserve more attention, including Dominion, the Flame Cursed Fae trilogy, and the Bewitched series. ✨ Her God-tier reads, from Zodiac Academy and Anathema to Kissed by the Gods, The Bone Season, and more. ✨ Why “why choose” works better for her when the relationships are surrounded by a genuinely deep fantasy story and why spice without enough story or buildup can kill the payoff. ✨ Whether romantasy is becoming too formulaic, why readers deserve more than the same story in a different package, and the kinds of ambitious fantasy twists Jaimee wants authors to take more chances on. ✨ Plus: bully romance, controversial book opinions, a 36-pound watermelon, and why Jaimee insists she's not actually mean. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Jaimee Johnson – @ThtGrlReads ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 115: A Mortal Warrior, a Shadow Lord, and the Fae Realm No One Escapes: Malarie Weber on The Lies of Mortals

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where humans dare to cross into the fae realm, ancient gods shape the fate of kingdoms, and epic fantasy reminds us why we fell in love with the genre in the first place. This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with fantasy author Malarie Weber to discuss her sweeping romantasy series, The Lies of Mortals and its highly anticipated sequel, The Edge of Darkness. Malarie shares how a vivid dream sparked the opening scene of her debut novel, why becoming a Bookstagram influencer unexpectedly prepared her for self-publishing, and how she built a thriving author career by writing the kind of epic fantasy she always wished she could find on bookstore shelves. We also discuss indie publishing, designing gorgeous special editions, writing massive fantasy novels, and why helping aspiring authors has become one of her greatest passions. Then we dive into The Lies of Mortals, where twenty-nine-year-old warrior Auren finds herself hunted by a prince and forced to flee into the fae realm, a place no human has entered in a thousand years. There she comes face-to-face with Niall, the ruthless High Lord of Shadows, ancient gods, witches, wraiths, and a world filled with dangerous magic, political intrigue, and unforgettable found family. We also preview The Edge of Darkness, where the story expands into five points of view, multiple romances, devastating revelations, and an all-out war that changes everything readers thought they knew about this world. ⚔️ What happens when the only way to survive is crossing into the realm you've feared your entire life? 🖤 Can a human warrior trust the ruthless High Lord sworn to protect his people? ✨ And what secrets are waiting beneath the shadows of an ancient fae kingdom? If you love epic fantasy, mature protagonists, sprawling worlds, unforgettable side characters, political intrigue, and romantasy with serious Lord of the Rings vibes, this is an episode you won't want to miss. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ How a single dream became the foundation for The Lies of Mortals and eventually grew into an epic fantasy trilogy. ✨ Malarie's transition from Bookstagram influencer to bestselling indie fantasy author, and how building an online community helped launch her writing career. ✨ The realities of self-publishing. ✨ Why she intentionally wrote mature protagonists in their late twenties and thirties instead of following the typical YA romantasy formula. ✨ Creating Niall, the mysterious Shadow High Lord, and the supporting characters readers have completely fallen in love with. ✨ Why epic fantasy deserves room to breathe, and why she embraced writing 700- and 800-page novels instead of cutting the story short. ✨ What readers can expect from The Edge of Darkness, including five POVs, three romances, massive character reveals, heartbreaking twists, and war on an epic scale. ✨ Balancing multiple projects, planning long fantasy series, and knowing the ending years before writing the final pages. ✨ Practical advice for aspiring indie authors on building confidence, finding supportive communities, and creating stories they'll be proud of for years to come. ✨ Why writing the book you desperately want to read is still the best creative advice she can give. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Malarie Weber – @ABookshelfofMagic ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 114: Enchanted Libraries, Fae Bargains, and Becoming a Witch: Analeigh Sbrana on Lore of the Wilds

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where enchanted libraries hide dangerous bargains, sentient books offer forbidden power, and entering the woods may change the course of magic forever. This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with fantasy author Analeigh Sbrana to discuss the Lords of the Wilds Duology, including Lore of the Wilds and Lore of the Tides. Analeigh shares her unconventional journey from Bookstagrammer and aspiring indie author to landing an agent through a viral cover reveal and sending her book to auction only two weeks later. She opens up about querying for a year and a half, investing her own savings into publishing, building a passionate reader community, and using her experience in the bookish space to approach marketing and special editions with an indie-author mindset. We also dive into Lore of the Wilds, where a human woman enters a cursed Fae library, discovers a sentient grimoire, and makes a bargain that transforms her into the world’s first witch. Analeigh discusses writing a soft, whimsical Black heroine, the temptation and consequences of magical power, and expanding the sequel from familiar forests into ships, siren kingdoms, underwater libraries, and dangerous new betrayals. 📚 What would you sacrifice for the power to protect your community? ✨ Can Lore control the magic she fought so hard to obtain? 🌊 And what happens when the safety of the forest gives way to treacherous seas and an underwater kingdom? This is a must-listen for romantasy readers, lovers of cursed libraries and ruthless Fae, Bookstagrammers dreaming of publication, and anyone eager for soft Black heroines centered in magical adventures. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Analeigh’s journey from childhood storyteller and fanfiction writer to published author. ✨ Returning to writing after photography school, motherhood, and a creative break. ✨ Funding Lore of the Wilds with savings from her Bookstagram preset business. ✨ The viral cover reveal that caught the attention of her future agent. ✨ Going from indie preparations to representation and a publishing auction in two weeks. ✨ Why indie authors should give themselves enough time to market their books. ✨ Building newsletters, ARC teams, preorders, and reader communities early. ✨ Transitioning from Bookstagrammer to author without losing her love for the bookish space. ✨ How Analeigh secured multiple special editions for her books. ✨ A human woman, a Dark Fae lord, an abandoned enchanted library, and the sentient grimoire that transforms Lore into the world’s first witch. ✨ Writing Lore as a soft, whimsical Black heroine who embraces vulnerability. ✨ Why visible representation and character art mattered for the original cover. ✨ The sacrifices Lore makes for magic and the danger of beginning to enjoy her power. ✨ Moving from forests and libraries into ships, oceans, sirens, and underwater kingdoms. ✨ The challenges of writing a sequel in a completely unfamiliar setting. ✨ Analeigh’s upcoming dark-academia epic fantasy, Heir of Prophecy. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Analeigh Sbrana – @AnaleighSbrana ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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Banter & Books Ep. 2: Alien Death Games, Masked Men & Murderous Magic

Welcome back to Banter & Books, the monthly Mythic Mic segment where Amara and a special guest share spoiler-free reviews of the books they cannot stop thinking about! This month, Amara is joined by Mythic Mic Team Member Teresa Diaz to talk alien death games, dystopian assassins, masked men, murderous berserkers, found family, comfort reads, and the very real problem of owning more books than you could possibly read. They dive into Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, Heart of the Raven Prince by Parker Garner, Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe, and Blood Bound by J.A. Good. They also revisit two favorites with A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas and Beast Becomes Her by Crystal Seitz. Along the way, Teresa explains why Dungeon Crawler Carl finally convinced her to take the plunge into LitRPG, Amara makes a bold comparison between Heart of the Raven Prince and some of her favorite recent fantasy reads, and the two investigate the increasingly undeniable appeal of mysterious masked men. They also talk enemies-to-lovers with actual enemies, unusual magic systems, female villains, morally questionable assassins, audiobook performances worth obsessing over, and why sometimes a great book does not need romance to completely consume you. Whether you are hunting for your next five-star fantasy, curious about the dystopian books dividing readers, or simply need someone to validate your completely unreasonable TBR, this spoiler-free episode is for you. BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman Heart of the Raven Prince by Parker Garner Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe Blood Bound by J.A. Good A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas Beast Becomes Her by Crystal Seitz (Check out our interview with Crystal Seitz (Ep. 87) here!) CONNECT WITH THE MYTHIC MIC TEAM 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 👤 Teresa Diaz – @PrettyPageswithT 👤 Amara – @Bored_Military_Wife ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 113: Fake Engagement, Fae Princes, and Fairy Tale Romance: Vanessa Rasanen on Until the Stars Fall

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where fairy tales get a fresh twist, cozy romantasy meets unforgettable adventure, and even the kindest heroes can steal your heart. This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with fantasy romance author Vanessa Rasanen to discuss her enchanting Immortal Reveries series, including Until the Stars Fall and Once the Skies Fade. Vanessa shares her inspiring journey from engineer to full-time author, how Bookstagram helped launch her publishing career, and why writing became the creative outlet she'd been chasing all along. We also have an honest conversation about indie publishing, social media burnout, balancing motherhood with writing, and why building a sustainable creative career is often much messier than it looks online. Then we dive into Until the Stars Fall, a cozy romantasy inspired by the classic film Sabrina. When a human servant who's secretly loved a carefree fae prince for years gets caught in a royal political alliance, she's unexpectedly swept into a fake engagement with his responsible older brother. What begins as a convenient arrangement slowly becomes a heartfelt romance filled with banter, swoon-worthy moments, and plenty of magical chaos. We also preview Once the Skies Fade, where the series takes a darker turn with a grieving Shadow Queen, deadly trials, anxiety-fueled shadow magic, and one of the greenest flag MMCs you'll ever meet. ✨ What if the prince you're meant to protect is the wrong brother? 🖤 Can a queen haunted by grief learn to love again? ⚔️ And what happens when fairy tale romance collides with deadly magic and impossible choices? If you love cozy romantasy, fake dating, fae royalty, interconnected standalones, green-flag heroes, magical kingdoms, and romances that balance warmth with emotional depth, this is an episode you won't want to miss. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: ✨ Vanessa's journey from engineering to becoming a full-time fantasy romance author, and how one indie author inspired her to finally publish her first novel. ✨ Why she believes aspiring authors should embrace research, learn the publishing process themselves, and avoid shortcuts that promise overnight success. ✨ The inspiration behind Until the Stars Fall, including its surprising roots in the classic film Sabrina and Vanessa's desire to create a comforting, fairy tale–inspired romantasy. ✨ Why interconnected standalones allow readers to revisit beloved characters while continually expanding the world through new kingdoms, romances, and magical conflicts. ✨ Once the Skies Fade and its emotionally richer story featuring a grieving Shadow Queen, anxiety-driven shadow magic, deadly tournaments, and a role reversal where the heroine becomes the feared protector. ✨ Creating Matthias, one of romantasy's rare green-flag heroes. ✨ What's coming next for the Immortal Reveries series, including dragon shifters, cursed princesses, Sleeping Beauty inspiration, and even more interconnected romances. ✨ Vanessa's candid advice about balancing creativity, family life, mental health, and building a writing career that can survive the inevitable highs and lows of publishing. CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 Vanessa Rasanen – @VanessaRasanenAuthor ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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S.2 Ep. 112: MK Lobb on The Dark in Her Veins

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic 👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland 👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill 📚 MK Lobb – @Mk_Lobb ✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

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