#smart podcast‚ trashy books

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (12-18 Jan 2025)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍 An Apple A Day (SquadOfCats) - 59K shrunkyclunks with doctor!/part time apple seller!Bucky & very freshly defrosted Cap!Steve - EXCELLENT FIC, ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS 🍎🍏

🥰 bear hugs (steddieas_shegoes) - 76K steddie second chance hockey AU where they're both retired NHL'ers, Steve's a single dad & Eddie's his daughter's coach (main fic in a series, lots of fun sequel drabbles in series)

🙂 The Paddington Mystery (Dr. Priestley #1) (John Rhode, author; Gordon Griffin, narrator) - golden age detective story, originally published 1925. read for Shedunnit Book Club. Decently readable Golden Age mystery marred by the period-typical, latent antisemitism; it's not as egregious as other Golden Age stories I've read but it's definitely present in an almost 'background radiation' way

😍 Monoclonius (Zenaidamacrouras1) - reread for stucky book club, forever fave. Featuring environmental policy lobbyist single dad Steve with a dino-obsessed daughter, paleontologist post-doc Bucky, a fantastic co-parenting arrangement, amazing but chaotic roommates and the star of the fic: a purple trilobite plushie named Izzy

💖💖 +139K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

One deep breath out from the sky (musette22) - MCU: Stucky, 14K - just a really good sex pollen fic. in the year 2025! we love to see it.

Fixer-Upper (earlgreytea68) - Inception: Arthur/Eames, 8K - The One Where They're Stars on HGTV #1 - the start of an 9 work so-far amazing series (no surprise with this writer) but I was IN IT before I realized the entire series is 466K. I ain't even really mad about it, I just usually plan those sorts of reads. 😂 (you could absolutely just read this fic & be 100% satisfied, it's very definitely a stand-alone)

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

The Graham Norton Show - s31, e14 (Daniel Craig, Nicola Coughlan, Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin and FLO)

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled - s2, e1; s3, e7; s1, e2

Nobody Asked - s1, e4

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #21

Handsome - Penn Jillette asks about the placebo effect

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #22

Home Town - s9, e3

Heartstopper - s3, e1

Death In Paradise - Christmas Special 2024

Dirty Laundry - s4, e12

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Desert Island Discs - Cher, singer and actor

The Sporkful - Our 15th Anniversary Sporktacular

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe - Time travel fiction

Sibling Rivalry - The One About DnD (with Brennan Lee Mulligan)

Switched on Pop - Our jingle sucks. Let’s change it.

Pop Culture Happy Hour - The Best One-Hit Wonders

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Kola Superdeep Borehole

⭐ 99% Invisible - Ancient DMs

⭐ Vibe Check - Zero to Hero featuring Royal Ramey

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Wolf Man And What's Making Us Happy

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books - 650. “I’m Going to Keep Daring” - Romance and History with Joanna Shupe

Shedunnit - Book Club Fact File: The Paddington Mystery by John Rhode (No Spoilers)

Shedunnit - Book Club Conversation: The Paddington Mystery by John Rhode (Full Spoilers)

⭐ Decoder Ring - I am Tupperware, I Contain Multitudes

Hit Parade - The Freewheelin’ Edition

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

'80s Soft Pop

Power Ballads Forever

'60s Sunshine Pop

Bad Bunny

'70s Rock

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

[drchucktingle]

podcast 'smart bitches trashy books' has always been so kind to chuck and DANG this was a treat going back to talk on camp damascus and tingler theory and art and art criticism and i was so moved by this talk. thank you for proving love to me buckaroos it was a dang honor

LISTEN TO EPISODE HERE

[lightyakami]

do you have any podcast recs?

yes absolutely!! i love podcasts. in general, my favourites are:

twenty thousand hertz: excellent podcast about sound design -- sort of like 99%i but exclusively about sound

maintenance phase: a podcast about critiquing the wellness industry & fatphobia more broadly

books in the freezer: a podcast about horror fiction. i really love how in-depth they are, and their recommendations are great

smart podcast, trashy books: a podcast about romance fiction. this is truly such an amazing podcast -- they do have recs, but it's more of a deep dive into specific aspects of the romance publishing industry. (for example, how those painted harlequin covers were made.)

ask me about kpop: my favourite kpop podcast. they do kind of general kpop news & informative episodes about the industry as a whole

swindled: a corporate true crime podcast with a notably deadpan host

within the wires: a found-footage fiction podcast about a dystopian world that is never fully explained; every season centres around a different story

game studies study buddies: a podcast that breaks down an academic book about game studies every episode.

anyway this is a pretty random list -- if you have anything in particular you're looking for please feel free to lmk and i might have something more specific

[yazthebookish]

— Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (Podcast episode with SJM to talk about ACOSF - March 5th, 2021)

We already know the original cast got crumbs in ACOFAS, so I can name three characters that got an obvious set up in ACOSF for future books: Gwyn, Emerie, and Eris.

[nesta-is-my-queen]

There seems to be a lot of Nesta hate on social media so I’m gonna show some Nesta love using with SJM’s own words/analysis of Nesta, paraphrased from her interview with Smart Podcast Trashy books episodes 395 & 447 ❤️

To every Nesta out there—climb that mountain - Sarah J Maas 🖤

Art by: @searland_art; commissioned by @melphsreads on Instagram 🥰

PART I

[songofthesibyl]

I think there is a misconception when speaking of mental illness in regards to Tamlin and Nesta, that is reflective of the discourse in mental health in general. When there is compassion for their struggles, it is received in one of two ways—that it is at the expense of those they hurt because of it, whether the character intended that hurt or not; and that the characters are victims of an affliction and can’t be blamed for anything they do.

In other words, it is a way to play the victim and to not have to take responsibility. The thing to remember is that having a disorder/disability/disease etc. does not make someone a good or bad person: it does not strip them of the consequences of their actions. But it does go towards explaining why they behave and act as they do. SJM from episode 447 of the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast:

“…it’s not that I sat down and I was like, I want to write a book about mental health. It’s just, Nesta was that character who, she had gone through stuff, and she wasn’t a perfect person, and I have zero interest in writing about sweet little perfect people and their problems…”

“I mean, and there are some characters in this book [ACOSF] that, I don’t want to spoil things, but, like, you can kind of tell, like, how I’m setting them up for future books? But I just think I’m so curious all the time about, like, why—like, even if someone’s an asshole, like, why? Like what makes them tick? [Note that she said this specifically about Tamlin in an interview I posted earlier.] Like, even before I went into therapy I wanted to know, like, why are these characters like that? Like, you know, what’s their secret backstory that led them to act this way? And, you know, sometimes it’s, you know, they’re just an asshole, but then sometimes they actually do have, like, you know, reasons why. And Nesta, in this book, I didn’t want to excuse her past behavior, and I deliberately…wrote her in the previous books in such a way where, like, I kind of…knew…what she had gone through, but I, like, I didn’t want to make her this, like, nice sweet sister. Like, that wasn’t interesting to me. There wasn’t conflict, and, you know, it didn’t drive the plot anywhere. But I, I wanted Nesta to be able to own up to her mistakes in the past, but also start reflecting on where, where some of that destructive behavior comes—like, self-destructive and then also, like, hurtful towards other people. Where does that…where does that come from? And I, I didn’t sit down, like, intentionally thinking like, you know, I can mess with people’s minds and make them love Nesta! It was just, she’s the kind of character that I’m drawn to, where she acts a certain way—like she, it’s like the tip of the iceberg.”

So people who are drawn to Nesta, and even Tamlin, are recognizing these things. Like the author, they might identify—to an extent, of course—with their mental health struggles. SJM, in this same interview, about Nesta:

“It seems like, you know, Nesta’s mental health journey has resonated with a lot of people, and that means the world to me, ‘cause I—so even though I began writing this years ago, I wound up deciding that I was just kind of like [going to] go back to page one and rewrite nearly everything, and a big part of that decision was that during those years that the story kind of sat in my mind, I went through, like, my own mental health journey and struggle…”

In the real world, if someone hurts you, mistreats you, you aren’t really going to care all that much why—I certainly didn’t when I was in those situations. But with fiction, you can explore these ideas, and spend time with these characters the way the author did and does. And identify, or again simply feel compassion, with certain aspects of their journey, as is described above. I’ve seen people identify Nesta and Tamlin’s destructive tendencies, both outward and inward, their depressive tendencies, but be confused why they don’t just act, when they know the right thing to do, and often even want to do it. In the real world, I’ve heard many times—I get depressed, but I don’t let it get to me; if you’re depressed/anxious/etc just stop being that way. The point is that these people struggle with just turning it off—it’s not an excuse, but an honest assessment of their mental state. People with mental health disorders are often difficult to deal with and be around. They can be self-focused, they can be hurtful. Not always—but they can be. It’s understandable that if someone was around someone like that they wouldn’t particularly care about their struggles. But for those that are, or have been in the midst of a mental health disorder, they can understand the difficulty in getting out of that headspace and doing the work to heal, to be able to cope. That journey, whether in the middle of it (Nesta) or the start of it (Tamlin, if SJM isn’t going the route of “he’s just an asshole,” which is still up in the air at this point)—is what is identified with. Even if they haven’t hurt someone—having unhealthy coping mechanisms, screwing up their lives and feeling like it’s hopeless it will ever get better—people identity with these things as well. It’s very personal, of course. But it isn’t about being innocent, and it isn’t about being justified in being hurtful.

[literaticat]

Hi Jenn!! Can I ask you an unorthodox question not related to kidlit but instead about ... adult romance???? :) I've read in previous posts you enjoy reading adult romance novels and just wondered if you have any advice to new adult romance authors - even if it's just things to avoid and/or things you'd like to see being written in adult romance that you don't see much or enough of???? I've never written in this genre before but a lot of my other genres have heavy romance subplots so thought I'd try my hand at a full on romance story for a change. Also open to any other resources you can recommend but wanted to pick your brain so to speak too!! Hope it's ok to ask this here as I know you mostly answer about kidlit. Thanx. xx

I'm sorry to say that I really, truly, know next to nothing about writing or selling Romance.

I do read it -- but I have pretty specific things I like and authors I auto-buy, I'm not reading widely across the whole genre. So I have NO idea if the authors I personally like and read a lot of are any indication of what the market generally is doing or interested in or whatever.

My only suggestions, then: Follow a lot of Romance people on socials, follow the Romance conversations (podcasts you might check out: Fated Mates and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books). If you are lucky enough to be near Brooklyn or LA, go to the Ripped Bodice. Get great book recommendations. READ A LOT. Like -- A LOT a lot. Figure out where YOUR book would fit in the market, because it's quite a big market with all kinds of different niches! When you find books that seem like YOUR kind of books -- look at who publishes them, and check out the author's website or acknowledgements to see who represents them!

Different romance imprints can often have pretty specific likes, dislikes, "rules" etc -- for example, here are the different imprints at Entangled and Harlequin -- you'll note that every imprint has different length and "steam" and style requirements. When you've figured out what kind of a book YOU are writing, you'll have a good idea of what the "rules" are around that kind of book, which publishers publish them, which agents rep them, etc.

(Oh and please -- you gotta have a HEA. No happy ending? Not a romance. It might be a great book -- BUT IT AIN'T A ROMANCE.)

[bookclub4m]

Episode 184 - Horror

This episode we’re discussing the fiction genre of Horror! We talk about fear, control, Goosebumps, bad dogs, horror-comedy, creepypasta, the apocalypse, lizard romance, and more! 

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Straight by Chuck Tingle

Mister Magic by Kiersten White, narrated by Rebecca Lowman

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

Leech by Hiron Ennes

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen edited by Ellen Datlow

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit: Fazbear Frights #1 by Scott Cawthon and Elley Cooper

Sadako at the End of the World by Koma Natsumi

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus, Book 3 by Eiji Otsuka and Yamazaki Housui

Things We Read (but didn’t talk about in this episode)

Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki! by Kanako Inuki

Résumé With Monsters by William Browning Spencer

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu and Soo Lee

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw

A Song for the Quiet by Cassandra Khaw

The Helios Syndrome by Vivian Shaw

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

Other Media (& Authors) We Mentioned

Captain Britain And MI13, Volume 3: Vampire State by Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk, and Mike Collins

Stephen King

Misery

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Cujo

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Alien: Isolation (Wikipedia)

Dead Space (2008 video game) (Wikipedia)

R.L. Stine

Goosebumps

Fear Street

Junji Ito

The Enigma of Amigara Fault - “T-this is my hole! It was made for me!”

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu

Emily Carroll

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Smart Podcast Trashy Books: 579. Punk Rock Writing with Chuck Tingle

Candle Cove by Kris Straub

Candle Cove (Wikipedia)

SCP Foundation 

SCP-087

The SCP Foundation: Declassified (YouTube)

The Ring (2002 film) (Wikipedia)

We talked more about the novel The Ring in Episode 078 - Supernatural Thrillers

Crapshots Ep608 - The Old Ones (YouTube) 

Links, Articles, Etc.

Episode 176: Fantasy

Episode 123: Psychological Horror

Does the Dog Die?

Matthew’s spooky phone case is a variant of this one

Matthew did a “31 Spooky Manga” challenge a few years ago and read a different spooky manga every day in October.

The Midnight Library: Episode 001 - Halloween Poetry

Sound Effects

Big Thunder And Distant Thunder Rain Birds by morvei01

Dramatic Organ, A by InspectorJ

bats1 by sofie

Pigeons (St Stephens Green, Dublin) by iainmccurdy

31 Recent Horror Books by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

This list features horror fiction by BIPOC authors published within the last 3 years.

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

The Spite House by Johnny Compton

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell

Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Morena-Garcia 

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn

Manmade Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

Chlorine by Jade Song

Midnight Storm Moonless Sky: Indigenous Horror Stories by Alex Soop

There's No Way I'd Die First by Lisa Springer

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality: Stories by Lindsay Wong

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth 

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, November 7th when we’ll be discussing the non-fiction genre of Crafts and Crafting!

Then on Tuesday, December 5th we’ll be talking about the genre of Suspense Fiction!

[smartbitches]

This week on the podcast, my guest is Mimi Matthews talking about her book The Lily of Ludgate Hill.

Y'all there is so much pining in this book. PINING.

Mimi is a really, really fun guest and if you like historical romances, or were (or are!) a horse girl, you'll like this. We do talk about loss (some characters are pining for the past) and about death and grief, but it's mostly hopeful and entirely about loving someone after they're gone.

Happy Friday, y'all!

You can find Smart Podcast Trashy Books wherever you get podcasts, or, you can listen right here:

[irrigos]

bit late but 6, 7, 35 for that ask game

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

I guess the obvious one is that my writing isn't very good. Or, more specifically, that I'm not actually good at conveying the things I want to convey. Are these characters actually sounding distinct from each other, or do they all sound exactly the same? I can say that I Eliot is charming and fake, that Morgan is smart but impulsive, that Jacob is patient and well-reasoned, but like... does any of that actually come across in my writing?

I've mentioned it before on here I think (and definitely i bring it up too much on my main lol) but I used to be on an actual play podcast, and the way people reacted to me/my characters honestly really shook my confidence in my own storytelling abilities. My character was a bard (so, high charisma) and i tried to play her as smart and charming even though she was also kind of a trashy mess, and everyone from my GM to our audience insisted she was dumb and everyone hated her?? The way people treated me made me really afraid to actually post any creative work ever again, because people would hold me to impossible standards, make me justify the decisions of my costars, and other than that, entirely ignored me. After the show ended (and we deleted all the episodes lol syonara you weeaboo shits, etc) i really felt like i was never going to be creative in public again, because I just didn't have the emotional fortitude to withstand it. If people were only going to pay attention when they wanted me to explain why a man I worked with did something problematic (I don't know! Ask him!), and otherwise, pretend I'm not there at all, like... why bother, you know?

So I guess my other fear is having to go through that again. It took me 4 years after the end of that show to start posting Book of Red Murder because i was genuinely just too afraid. (Thankfully everyone has been very nice, so thank u all)

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

sometimes u make an oc kiss and thats pretty good. and sometimes you share ur writing and people start calling you names because you made your fake little guys sad and u get to laugh at them

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

i can't really think of any!! i love properly implementing writing rules and when i fuck it up, i get sad. of course, it depends on what you define as "writing rules", because i love using sentences fragments but i also hate when a gun appears in act one but doesnt go off by act 3, yknow?

[mermaidsirennikita]

do you follow any blogs about romance novels or i guess books in general that you could recommend me to follow? thanks in advance

I don't really follow book blogs. I listen to Fated Mates, Sarah MacLean and Jen Prokop's podcast, and that's a great resource. You get book breakdowns based on tropes, book recs, some industry insight..

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is a good resource to check out! You might also want to look into romance.io, which is a site that's like... Goodreads, but just for romance novels. I am BEGGING more people to use the heat level rating system with that site, because it's my favorite thing about that sight--but it's clearly not used by everyone.

[ear-worthy]

Little Gold Men Podcast: Inside Hollywood

Two generations ago, print magazines existed as a primary form of communication, cultural exchange, and social commentary. The advent of the digital age has issued a terminal notice to print magazines with only limited methods for recovery. 

Vanity Fair is an American monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the US. It was, at one time, at the center of the social and cultural discussion. 

The first version of Vanity Fair was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in 1983 after Condé Nast took over the magazine company. Vanity Fair currently includes five international editions of the magazine -- United Kingdom (since 1991), Italy (since 2003), Spain (since 2008), France (since 2013), and Mexico (since 2015). As of 2018, the Editor-in-Chief is Radhika Jones.

Like more nimble companies that own print magazines, Vanity Fair (VF) has adapted. It now has an impressive roster of podcasts -- from Inside The Hive to Still Watching. What I admire about VF's podcast roster is that the shows coalesce around similar themes, so the audience's expectations are met. Remember the CW TV network before it got acquired by Nexstar and essentially disemboweled in 2022? The CW was the home of young adult entertainment from Riverdale to The Flash to Supergirl. Viewers knew to expect, and the network actively recruited these viewers. 

VF's podcast are at the intersection of entertainment, culture, and supporting industries. The podcasts are not tell-alls about Reality TV and melodramatic trashiness. 

Little Gold Men is a Vanity Fair podcast that details the inside story of Hollywood, from awards shows and red-carpet premieres to the hard work and whisper campaigns that get people there. Weekly episodes feature conversations about the best of television and film, with special guest appearances from stars, creators, and critics. Little Gold Men also dives deep into Oscar history, and offers insight into all the other awards that make up Hollywood’s continual dash toward glitz and glory. For more on Little Gold Men, click on the link. Little Gold Men has been podcasting for nine years and is approaching 600 episodes. David Canfield and a roster of VF correspondents capably host the podcast.

David Canfield joined Entertainment Weekly in 2017 as an editorial assistant. He was promoted to associate editor the following year, writing features and reviews for the brand's Books section. He was also the co-host of the EW radio show Shelf Life. David then became a movies' editor at Entertainment Weekly, with special interest in Oscars coverage. Additionally, he hosted The Awardist podcast for EW. He left EW in 2021. He previously worked as an intern at both IndieWire and Slate magazine before becoming a news reporter at Vulture.

Recent episodes of note include  an aughts Saturday Night Live reunion as Maya Rudolph and Seth Meyers join the podcast. First, Rudolph dug into the new season of her Apple TV+ comedy Loot and the career that’s led to this long-awaited starring vehicle. Then Meyers reflected on the 10th anniversary of his talk series Late Night, and how he’s kept things fresh in a turbulent media ecosystem. As a bonus, the pair shares their favorite memories of each other from their time on SNL.

 Another excellent episode was the May 7th interview with Emmy winner Jean Smart by VF senior Hollywood correspondent Julie Miller about the third season of Hacks. The interview ranged from the show's increased physical demands on the actress to the deepening of her relationship with co-star Hannah Einbinder. Then, staff writer Savannah Walsh caught up with Nicole Beharie, the scene-stealing powerhouse who brought The Morning Show to new heights.

Little Gold Men is an ideal podcast for those who are fascinated by the "behind the scenes" view of Hollywood, which includes TV and film. 

[jewel-odom]

Book Review: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (2022)

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, published in 2020, is a New York Times bestseller. It’s the most recent of Hendrix’s long line of horror novels, which have been applauded by a Stoker Award, Library Journal, the Chicago Public Library, and more. A quick IMDb search also confirms that there is a TV adaptation “in development”.

TSBCGSV in particular has received positive feedback from almost everyone. One Kirkus Reviews article says, “Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one,” and I couldn’t agree more. The story revolves around five middle-class stay-at-home moms, with personalities that couldn’t get further apart, who decide to start a book club together. Not a stuffy book club, but one where they could read “trashy true crime books,” (23). When a new neighbor moves into their well-to-do neighborhood, they all take notice – Patricia Campbell especially, and not for good reasons. The story follows her struggle to convince her friends, husband, and the police that something is very, very wrong with James Harris... until she is finally forced to take things into her own hands.

I first heard of TSBCGSV on BookTok, but only really committed to reading it after a failed book club incident (which, luckily, had nothing to do with the quality of the book, nor was it a Marjorie Fretwell situation). The most endearing thing I find about this story, before the story itself even starts, is the author’s note. Hendrix honors his mother and all ‘housewives’ with this story, “…pit[ting] Dracula against my mom. As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight,” (8). A story that highlights the strength of the often-overlooked middle-aged women who raised us? Yes, yes, yes. Honestly, when my short-lived book club realized around Chapter 15 that this was written by a man (none of us bothered to Google ‘Grady Hendrix’ previously), we were all shocked. The attention to detail and the accuracy of the female friendships and perspective made us all certain in our assumptions that the author was a woman. This, I think, is a quality to be admired in Mr. Hendrix, who can clearly inhabit his character’s minds so, so well.  

In fact, the more I dove into who Grady Hendrix was the more I felt I had been missing out. He was one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival? He’s written fourteen books, including a cookbook that he co-wrote with his wife? He used to be a journalist and has written articles for Playboy Magazine and The New York Post? He has a podcast on the “history of horror”? Who is this guy?

Unfortunately, I can’t answer that (yet). However, I can tell you about his latest novel. Before I dive into the spoilers-included section of this review, I feel obligated to give any unsuspecting potential readers of this book a trigger warning. Trigger warnings are a heavily debated topic of the creative writing community, which is why I don’t expect them as a given – and no reader should. However, if you are considering reading this book, and stumble upon this review first, I feel it’s my duty to give one now. There are heavy sexual tones and plot points in this book, and a lot of detailed, gory violence - sometimes those two things overlap. It’s chilling, shocking, and potentially triggering if unexpected.

~SPOILERS AHEAD~

Okay, now to talk about the actual book. My very first thoughts walking away from it: my expectations were absolutely not ready for the reality of this book. It was much more intense than I first expected, something the trigger warning above alludes to. I do think it could have been a little more fast-paced, as the first third of the book drags a little, but I suppose that’s the irritation of living in the South – nothing is fast. Though once it does pick up, it picks up quick. The sexual element of it was also unforeseen, especially since I wasn’t even sure going in if this book was actually going to be about vampires. But I don’t mind it – it reminds me of Salem’s Lot, which also contains heavy sexual overtones and a focus on children, but without the romantic B-plot that occasionally gets in the way.

Something I really love about this book is the diversity Hendrix presents. We get the stereotypical ragtag group of personality types: the tacky (Kitty), the Yankee feminist (Maryellen), the anxious worrywart (Grace), the overtly religious (Slick), and the overly polite Patricia. The real diversity of these characters appears under the surface: Kitty has money problems, Maryellen still defers to her husband, Grace is in an abusive relationship, Slick is a victim of sexual violence, and Patricia experiences a serious mental break. Furthermore, there is the racism and gentrification demonstrated via Francine and Mrs. Greene, both of whom prove to be some of the most important characters in the story in terms of driving the plot. All of these things are shown in the frame of the South in the ‘90s, meaning they’re subtle, hidden, and rarely called out into the light – perhaps like a vampire. I really appreciate Hendrix's handling of such heavy topics. He doesn't overdo it, but rather weaves it into each of the characters.

 Another clever thing Hendrix does is sort TSBCGSV into sections, titled according to what book is being read in Patricia & Co’s book club. All the books used as section titles (Cry, the Beloved Country; Helter Skelter; The Bridges of Madison County; The Stranger Beside Me; Psycho; Clear and Present Danger; Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus; and In Cold Blood) correspond to the action or theme of the section. For example, in The Stranger Beside Me, Patricia catches James Harris in the act of feeding on a young girl in Six Miles. In Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus, the most sexual violence is dealt with, and Patricia and the others finally ‘kill’ James Harris. Patricia asks for a divorce, and Slick dies. The gender lines are starkly drawn in this second-to-last section, corresponding to the title of the book James Harris chose for his book club.   

Most other online reviews are also positive. However, several reflect my own surprise at the direction this book took and the gender of the author. One Reddit thread called “Spoiler-Free Review: A Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix” is particularly unforgiving and sparks a somewhat heated debate in the comments. The OP talks about how their expectations were met for the first third of the novel, then it seemed as though the story went sideways. They think the book feels more like it’s set in the 1950s than the 1990s, because of the way the women are brushed off and presented as subordinate to their husbands. OP also didn’t like how and how much Hendrix wrote about sexual violence, particularly about children. They argue that he makes it seem “light”, something I personally disagree with, since the sexual violence in the story is the central motivator for the women to act. One commenter takes up for the book, voicing that Southern suburbia and real people are just as horrible and passive as portrayed by Hendrix. It feels like it’s more realistic to the 1950s? I couldn’t agree more. But often that’s the reality of it.

However, on one point I do agree with the OP Reddit user. There seems to be very little clarity and consistency on what powers James Harris has, other than charisma. The only thing seeming to be consistent with the ‘vampire’ trope is he survives off blood and is sensitive to light. The one thing everyone can agree on, though: we all expected something much lighter than the turn The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires took.

I am quite the fan of thrillers, Stephen King-esque, and Grady Hendrix has done a wonderful job of creating a goosebump-causing, blood-runs-cold, hair-standing-up story that sits right up there with Salem’s Lot, in my opinion. It could have been a little more fast-paced, sure, and I was surprised that it was a man choosing to write about the lives of five stay-at-home moms. But none of that took away from my enjoyment of the book, and the chills it sent down my spine. As always, let me know what you think in the notes.

Happy Friday!

Jewel Odom

Sources:

Grady Hendrix’s Website: https://www.gradyhendrix.com/

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11778700/

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/grady-hendrix/the-southern-book-clubs-guide-to-slaying-vampires/

Reddit Thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mjwqvj/spoilerfree_review_a_southern_book_clubs_guide_to/

[nesta-is-my-queen]

There seems to be a lot of Nesta hate on social media so I’m gonna show some Nesta love using with SJM’s own words/analysis of Nesta, paraphrased from her interview with Smart Podcast Trashy books episodes 395 & 447

To every Nesta out there—climb that mountain - Sarah J Maas

Art by: @searland_art; commissioned by @melphsreads on Instagram 🥰

PART II

[stjohnstarling]

This episode of the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast where they interview Shirley Green and Sharon Spiak, who were romance novel cover artists in the 80s, is a fascinating look at what a huge industry these covers were. Did you know they had whole photography studios full of props to make these? They’d take photos and turn those over to a painter who’d make something like a couple of these a day. They had it down to a science.

Ever since starting to publish romance novels I’ve been checking out the romance books at the thrift store specifically for the clinch covers, as a reference for what I might want to do with my own books.

As a culture we mocked these to extinction but I think we were just afraid of their power. The modern clinch revival still hasn't reached the heady heights of what they were doing in the 80s! The vintage covers can be really quite explicit. These ones in particular were steamy enough they had to be hidden on an inner flap.