#First time caller

[er-the-surgeon]

Started reading Death Note for the first time and man, I gotta give it up for my guy Ryuk. Man showed up blinged out and seems to barely have a clue what’s going on. He has no dog in this fight. Just gonna watch this teenager try to become god and look cool as hell while doing it

[ohwarnette]

first-time caller by b. k. borison

i like that. thinking that I’m worth paying attention to. something ordinary made extraordinary by the person you’re sharing it with.

playlist. (part one) (part three)

[margielalalove]

“I think books are sexy,” she says very seriously. “No one at school has quite lived up to Aragorn yet.”

B.K. Borison, First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)

[cmx2000]

🌐💫

[fearsmagazine]

FIRST TIME CALLER | Official Trailer, Poster & Images

Brent Ziff is an internet shock-jock at the top of his game. Fans and followers tune in from coast to coast to be insulted and enlightened by their favorite on-air provocateur. But on one very unusual night, Brent's world is rocked by a long-time listener who calls in with a grave message.

Buffalo 8 is thrilled to open their 2024 slate with the North American VOD release of First Time Caller, the feature adaptation of the fan-favorite podcast "The Earth Moves" from directors J.D. Brynn and Abe Goldfarb. Based on Gideon Media's acclaimed podcast, First Time Caller is a darkly hilarious look at success, power, loneliness and the apocalypse. First Time Caller debuts on Cable and Digital VOD January 12, 2024, including Prime Video, Vudu, Vubiquity, Cox, and Comcast.

First Time Caller world premiered at the Seattle Film Festival and earned the Grand Jury Prize, along with awards for Best Actor (Goldfarb) and Best Director (Goldfarb and Brynn). The film went on to win Best Feature Film at the Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival and headlined as the Opening Night Feature at the Bowery Film Festival.

Abe Goldfarb and Brian Silliman reprise their roles from "The Earth Moves" as Brent and Leo, alongside vocal performances from Greg Proops, Ophira Eisenberg, and Ashlie Atkinson. Mac Rogers, who penned the original podcast, adapted the script. Patrick Terry produced for Cinedata. Gerry Ohrstrom, Thomas Campbell Jackson and Lawrence Starr are executive producers, alongside Buffalo 8’s Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor, Nikki Stier Justice and Grady Craig.

[mercerislandbooks]

Book Chats: First-Time Caller

Now is the time for cozy, feel-good books. It's the time for books with a guaranteed Happily Ever After (known among romance aficionados as a HEA), where you have the reassurance that, no matter the hardships and struggles, everyone will come out okay on the other side. First-Time Caller by BK Borison is all of these things, as well as a fun callback to the set-up of Sleepless in Seattle.

After listening to people gripe and complain about their relationships for years, Aiden Valentine has become disillusioned with love. But being jaded about love is a bit of a problem when you're a romance radio show host. So when a young girl calls into Heartstrings, Baltimore's late-night romance hotline, looking for love on her mother Lucie's behalf, his interest is piqued. Lucie believes in love and wants to find that magic in her own life, and her earnest beliefs land her on Heartstrings next to Aiden in a bid to save the failing radio show and find her love at the same time.

Becca: I love Lucie's backstory. Often, one of the main characters has a sad life or no friends or is lacking fulfillment in more than one facet of her life. And that's not a bad thing, but it was refreshing to read about the family that she had already cobbled together for herself: the guys from the shop, her friend Patty, her daughter, and Grayson and Mateo. I love that Lucie is doing well for herself already. She doesn't need Aiden to make her life good; her life is already good, and Aiden makes it better.

Lori: I did love how Lucie reminded herself (and others) that she has all the love she needs and basically that finding her person is the bonus. More than one character says she's allowed to want things too. Mateo points out that Lucie putting her own happiness as a priority shows her daughter a great example: “What she needs is to see her mom prioritizing her own happiness for once. So she can learn to do the same.” I liked that the friends she has around her are all rooting for her to be happy. No one expects her to just give and give and give. They want her to have the things that make her happy.

Becca: They do, which is awesome. In fact, all of Baltimore wants her to be happy and find love (preferably with Aiden). There's something magical about listening to two people talk; I can see why Baltimore gets so invested in listening to Aiden and Lucie's banter on Heartstrings.

Lori: And the audiobook does this amazing job with the dual narration in those interludes, using both voice actors. We've talked amongst ourselves about the challenge of male narrators doing a female voice and vice versa. Some are more successful than others. I really liked both narrators for this book -- you said something about the way Grayson sounded in the male voice vs the female voice? I agree it wasn't consistent but I liked the spin on it. 

Becca: It was really interesting to hear how the two narrators interpreted the same charachters' voices differently. But they were both excellent! This book has me wanting to seek out radio shows, especially late-night ones. I've listened to countless podcasts, but I'm not a radio person. But there's something comforting about knowing you're not the only one awake late at night, alone in the darkness but also not alone. It's the idea that you're alone together with everyone else who is still up.

Lori: Radio does feel like such a lost art these days. My go-to radio is the Classic King FM and there are certainly voices I prefer over others. I almost want to say, Becca, that you're too young for radio, but even with the years I have on you, it was never a thing for me either. Now I'm curious. I loved the picture the book painted, of exactly what you're talking about: the intimacy of being up late with the other night owls. Maybe alone, but not lonely if you have these voices to keep you company. 

Becca: Well, I'll have to do some looking and see if I can find any radio shows that strike my fancy. Maybe Baltimore really does have a Heartstrings-esque show!

Lori: This is such a love letter to Baltimore, too. From the cookies to the small neighborhoods and the Oriels. And Skulduggery, I wish that was a real place! Can't beat cruffins and books!

Becca: I would live at Skulduggery if I could. But Berger cookies! Aiden is so obsessed with these cookies, and they were mentioned so many times, that I had to order them in from the East Coast. We need to know! 

Lori: The cookies!! Clearly B. K. Borison made them jump off the page such that we had to first research to see if they were really a thing (I've never been to Baltimore, I'm sorry), and then I bugged all of our co-workers about them to see if they had heard of them, and then we just had to order them. Hopefully they live up to Aiden's soaring descriptions as his emotional support cookie.

Becca: I guess we'll have to see when they get here, but I'm excited to try them. But regardless of how the cookie tasting goes, I loved this book.

Lori: I really do love romances where both of the main characters have a journey to go on. It's not like one of them is perfect and there to fix the other one. They both need each other. They both need to face some things in themselves that they've used to protect themselves from getting hurt. They both need to take risks and grow. And it helps when they've got good people around them. Some of whom we want to see get their own HEA. Any contenders for the next book in the Heartstrings series? I know who I think it's going to be! 

Becca: Oh, I think I have an idea or two about who could be featured next. I'm looking forward to seeing these characters again!

Pick up a copy of First-Time Caller if you want a sweet romance with a nostalgic 90s rom-com vibe. And here's the Berger cookie verdict, for interested parties! Did they live up to Aiden's descriptions in the book? The general consensus is that they're very fudgy, very sweet, and delicious in the same way that a Lofthouse sugar cookies or any Hostess treat is (kind of awful but amazing at the same time). And Lori says, "If emotional support is defined by copious amounts of sugar, then yes. It also explains why he was always drinking so much coffee." 

Other recent favorites in the romance genre (it is February after all):

Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao

Komi Can't Communicate by Tomohito Oda

Once Smitten, Twice Shy by Chloe Liese

Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti

Unloved by Peyton Corinne

Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

Also, Libro.fm is holding a sale on romance audio books now through 2/19! First-Time Caller would be a great one to pick up through them.

-- Becca & Lori

[iramreads]

this here, friends, is an absolute wholesome book

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW:

FIRST TIME CALLER (Heartstrings 1) by #BKBorison at The Reading Cafe:

' a wonderful romance, filled with hope, joy, entertaining, and great banter.'

[thereadingcafe]

[ohwarnette]

first-time caller by b. k. borison

i want your favourite to be my favourite.

playlist. (part one) (part two)

[cutmy-teeth]

First Time Caller // White Lies

falling, like trash from the sky I hit a patchwork of loneliness, crooked and wild hung from the stars, and dropped through the night to a heatwave in hard placelessness, neon tiles

[pastlivesxpastlie]

you are being BOOped out of adoration and appreciation! i have accidentally waged too many boop wars because of my actions, but i hope you have a good day/night!!!!

oh my god hello, this slipped through the cracks. Thank you booping me and being booped by me. it was so fun 🥹

[scarevalue]

First Time Caller review.

A shock jock takes a call that changes everything. It's the end of the world as we know it...presented as we've never seen it before.

Out on VOD tomorrow.

[cultfaction]

Podcast turned Sci-Fi thriller First Time Caller comes to VOD this January

Buffalo 8 is thrilled to open their 2024 slate with the North American VOD release of First Time Caller, the feature adaptation of the fan-favorite podcast “The Earth Moves” from directors J.D. Brynn and Abe Goldfarb. Based on Gideon Media’s acclaimed podcast, First Time Caller is a darkly hilarious look at success, power, loneliness and the apocalypse. First Time Caller debuts on Cable and…

[cattieyote]

I'm just going to go ahead and participate for a wee bit instead of keeping up the lurker streak. #reblogingadventure

[endollvors]

file names:

Glomp (Ever After High, Comedy of kisses Darise fic)

Treason!Doug (Disney Descendants, You know how Doug was in the background of the cookie scene? Canon malicious compliance)

Scotty Noodling (Bully Canis Canem Edit, Registry name: Cheating on Truth, Scotty’s very cool very good totally healthy coping mechanisms)

Health Check! (Captain America MCU, The US government makes a 5’1” Super Soldier and, failing to realize this, send him home, “Reeve Dodgers” joins the Army anyway. Crack treated exactly seriously enough to make more jokes)

Cold Calling the Jedi Order (Star Wars, 8 year old CC cadets hack a holonet connection into a GPS, get former padawan Ferus Olin, eventually. Also probably crack)

The call connected. The circle gathered around the comm grinned at each other. “Vos.” Came through the automatic speech to text readout. Then, “Huh, text only.” A few seconds later. Wolffe typed their question as quickly as he could into the repurposed number pad. His fingers flying as he pressed the same button several times to type senth on a number based keyboard. “hi sir” He sent, and immediately started on the next message. “r u a jedi” went out only seconds before Vos’ reply to the first message made it through the signal delay. “Sir? Since when am I Sir? To anyone?” There was another pause, slightly too long to just be the delay before Vos answered the question. All of them leaned a little too far forward as they waited, Bly biting his lip as he stared at the display. A paragraph built itself in front of them. “Well, I can if you want me to be, stranger. I cater to all kinds. Twenty credits for the first 10 standard minutes and another credit per minute after that.” The readout indicated a chuckle. “You want to be Touched by the Force, darling?” Cody’s hand snapped sharply from where he’d been keeping two fingers on the processor chip to make sure it didn’t melt, and terminated the connection.

WIP Wednesday Game (28 FEB 24)

It’s WIP Wednesday, time for a little accountability, sharing your work, and getting a kick in the pants.

Here’s how it works:

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. I’ll be searching the reblogs to find people to send asks to!

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write.

Requested/Friend event mentions under the cut! If you'd like to be pinged next week, send me a message to ask!

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