Sarah was finally in the same place as Angela James, whom Jane and Sarah mention frequently in podcast episodes as “Angie,” and they both had time for an interview. Angie is the Editorial Director of Carina Press, the digital first imprint of Harlequin. We talk about what she’s reading currently, what she thinks of Scribd, the potential for menage wizard biscuits, and also about space opera.
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Transcript
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[music]
Sarah Wendell: Hello and welcome to another DBSA podcast! This is episode number 113, which is awesome ‘cause I like the number 13 a lot. I was born on a Friday the 13th. I am Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and with me today is Angela James, who’s the executive editor or editorial director or Grand Editorial Poobah – I’m going with that one – of Carina Press, the digital-first imprint of Harlequin. You might have heard Angie referred to several times in Jane’s and my conversations over the years. We just usually say, and then Angie said, ‘cause we just assume everyone knows who she is. This is Angie! If you didn’t know that, well, you’re about to meet her. We talk about what she’s reading, what she thinks of Scribd, and we talk about ménage wizard biscuits and space opera, because why not?
This podcast is brought to you by Berkley, publisher of Reaper’s Stand, the latest bad-boy biker romance in Joanna Wylde’s edgy, sizzling Reapers Motorcycle Club series.
The music that you’re listening to was provided by Sassy Outwater, and I’ll have information at the end of the podcast as to who this is and where you can buy it for your very own.
And as usual, in the podcast entry, when this podcast is posted, you can go to Smart Bitches or Dear Author, and you can find links to all of the books that we discuss in this episode, so please don’t feel like you have to write and drive.
And now, without any further delays, on with the podcast.
[music]
Sarah: So, introduce yourself to all of the lovely people.
Angela James: No, do I have to?
Sarah: I could just make it up.
Angela: You, you and Jane just always call me Angie. Can I just be, like – ?
Sarah: Yeah, this is Angie.
[Laughter]
Sarah: Hello.
Angie: Hi. Hello, Sarah.
Sarah: How you doing?
Angie: Good.
Sarah: Whatcha reading?
Angie: I’m reading something that’s not romance and not an adult novel, but I’m reading – what’s the book – I’m reading with Brianna, and for those of you who don’t know, Brianna is my, well, she’s going to be 10 on Wednesday, the 22nd, so 10-year-old daughter.
Sarah: Geeze!
Angie: I know. I’m reading, we’re reading Wonder by R. J. Palacio?
Sarah: R. J. Palacio.
Angie: Oh, which – have you read it?
Sarah: No, but Jane talked about it because she and her daughter read it for their mother-daughter book club.
Angie: And her daughter is very similar in age to Brianna –
Sarah: Right.
Angie: – and so Brianna and I are reading it, and we’re reading it out loud, and we got 75% in last night –
Sarah: Wow.
Angie: – and something really sad happens.
Sarah: Oh, no.
Angie: And I don’t want to spoil it for anybody who hasn’t read it, but we were kind of hysterical.
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: Like, to, to watch, had, had you been in the room with us. I was struggling to get through, and she was turned away from me, but I could feel her shuddering and, and sniffing, and so we got through the first chapter of the sad part and I stopped, and I said, do we need Kleenex? And she turns around and her face is all red and puffy –
Sarah: Oh, God.
Angie: – and she has tears streaming down her face, and she said –
Sarah: I need tissues!
Angie: – so we did get Kleenex, and then we got to the second chapter, and I found myself actually laughing because I was like, we are so ridiculous. We are both sobbing, we’re sobbing reading this book, and I, I had to laugh. I was really glad that my husband didn’t come and look at us at that point, ‘cause we were all –
Sarah: What are you doing to each other?
Angie: – red faced and tears, and, but it’s a really good book, although I have to, I have to tell you that it’s really funny, ‘cause Brianna is so my kid. There’s, there are different point of views of all the different middle graders and high school kids, and for those that don’t know, the book is about August who is a 10-year-old boy who has a –
Sarah: Severe facial def- –
Angie: – syndrome that is, like, very long, but has severe facial deformities over his entire face and his ears and things like that, and so it is what Brianna calls a teaching book –
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: – ‘cause it clearly is teaching you things about life lessons –
Sarah: Uh-huh.
Angie: – but she’s still really enjoying it, but every section is from a different child’s point of view, including a lot of characters that you wouldn’t have anticipated getting a point of view section from, so we’re enjoying it because you get to see different people’s views on August, but also it’s been good for Brianna because she gets to appreciate some of the things that she has in life such as, actually, just her family, and she’ll be like, oh, one of the kids was really jealous of a family because they tell each other that I love you all the time and they laugh a lot, and she’s like, well, that’s like our family. Oh, and then she’s, you know, she’s like, I’m so lucky to have you, and I was like, yes! It’s a teaching book!
[Laughter]
Angie: It really worked out well in, in my favor. But she is so my kid, because there was a point of view section, which was thankfully really short, from one kid, and they didn’t use capital letters, and they didn’t use a lot of punctuation and no quotation marks, and the whole time we were reading, Brianna kept saying, why isn’t that capitalized?
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: Where’s the punctuation? I have to have punctuation. She’s only nine, and it just was really bothering her. And so, yeah, she’s, like, a little me, me in training.
Sarah: She’s going to start copyediting people in middle school.
Angie: Yes.
Sarah: Like, get away from me! Wow.
Angie: So anyways, we’ve been reading Wonder. We’re almost done. A couple more nights of reading and we’ll probably get the –
Sarah: Oh, you have crazy back muscle guy.
Angie: Crazy back muscle guy.
Sarah: That is crazy back muscle guy.
Angie: Oh.
Sarah: I actually, I showed that cover to my personal trainer, and I was like –
Angie: That is crazy back muscle –
Sarah: – what muscle is that? And he goes, that is an overdeveloped trapezius muscle, and it has hypertrophy in this region, and he’s been doing this exercise incorrectly, blah blah blah.
Angie: Well, we should tell people we’re looking at the cover for Freedom by S. A. Wolfe, and I don’t, I didn’t put this on my Kindle. I share a Kindle app with somebody, and so books appear on here like magic?
Sarah: [Laughs] Well, apparently you get weird back muscle guy.
Angie: Yeah. It looks like a heart!
Sarah: I actually – yes, his trapezius muscle looks like a heart.
Angie: But he’s got nice arms.
Sarah: Yeah. I believe that my trainer said that to. Now we know.
Angie: Well, now we, it got mentioned, now it got mentioned on the podcast. Hmm.
Sarah: Well then it’s official.
Angie: I have been reading, you know what, I, I’ve been, I’ve just read, thanks to Scribd – I have a subscription to Scribd, and that’s totally not a plug, because Harlequin just –
Sarah: Do you get a free subscription to – ?
Angie: No –
Sarah: No?
Angie: – I have to pay for my subscription, and I started paying for my subscription before I knew –
Sarah: Before –
Angie: that we were going to do the –
Sarah: Yeah?
Angie: Harlequin thing and –
Sarah: ‘Cause Elyse did not like it. She said the search function is horrible. It’s impossible to find things. She really didn’t like it.
Angie: I, I don’t find it – I know you said that, and I don’t find it as impossible to find things. I will say, so I was going to say, I’ve been reading, I went through D. B. Reynolds’ backlist, and she writes, like, a Vampires in America series –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – so, paranormal romance. It was exactly what I wanted to read, very alpha, like, possessive heroes and actually great, spunky heroines, so there was a lot that I really liked about it. Some things that I, I didn’t love about it as much. The author tends to break her own world rules a little bit. So I think she just forgot, maybe at the beginning of the series that that was a rule when she got to later, but you know, it’s good, fun reading. But I, I, I don’t – Scribd does have some search function problems, but I think that there’s a lot to like about Scribd? And I, I will say I actually emailed D. B. Reynolds, ‘cause she has initials, her names are initials, and when I was searching for her books on Scribd, her books appeared under four different author names, and I think it has to do with the spacing between the initials and the metadata.
Sarah: Oh, my goodness.
Angie: So I just said, you know, you might, might want to –
Sarah: Want to correct this.
Angie: – go in and fix it. And you know, for authors listening, that’s the problem with using initials and apostrophes in your name. They screw up the metadata bad. So I do, it is challenging, but it’s interesting because I have found a lot to read on Scribd, so I’ve been tracking, ‘cause I have, I subscribe to Scribd, Oyster, and Kindle –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – Unlimited, and I read, in September I read three times as much on Scribd as I did –
Sarah: On the other two?
Angie: – on the other two.
Sarah: What are you reading on Scribd that you’re liking? Do you know what it is that you want when you log in?
Angie: So –
Sarah: Do you search by genre?
Angie: That’s the part that I liked about Scribd more than I like about the other two, is I actually think, find that browsing is easier on Scribd than I do on the other two, because Scribd actually does let you pare it down by genre, and you look, you can look at it by what other people are reading or by what they’re curating, or by what’s new, and so I just kind of go in and just start browsing the lists.
Sarah: Right.
Angie: I’m, you know, I have patience, I have time. And also it’s unlimited, so you don’t, you don’t have to worry about only having 10 checked out. You can just, like –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – start adding them to your device. So I do like that about Scribd. I just am finding more of the things that I’m looking for. So, for instance, I think Jane and I were talking about this at one point where I was saying, I’m trying a lot more books, especially self-published books, that I have started to get a little leery of just the sample, because often a, the sample isn’t long enough to really know –
Sarah: Yes.
Angie: – if it’s, if the, the, the editing or the writing is going to kind of wander off –
Sarah: Yes.
Angie: – in a direction I don’t prefer.
Sarah: I’ve read more than a few books that fell apart right after the sample.
Angie: Yeah, so, I’m, I’m becoming –
Sarah: Like, those were the chapters that were entered in contests.
[Laughter]
Angie: Well, you’ve, I mean, I find that as an editor –
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: – I hate it when slush, in the submissions. So I’m, I’m using it a lot to read books that I otherwise wouldn’t want to pay for?
Sarah: Right.
Angie: Because I read a lot. I mean, I read, I think I’m on track to read, like, 400 books this year, and that’s not including my work reading.
Sarah: Right.
Angie: And so I also spend a lot of money on books. I spend several thousand dollars on books every year –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – and you know, so it seems like just to try something, say, oh, you can drop 99 cents or $2.99, I start to not even want to do that because if the book just –
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: – isn’t, isn’t for me, it starts to add up because I’m doing it so frequently.
Sarah: Yep.
Angie: So Scribd takes, takes away that element of risk, because I’m paying a flat fee and I can –
Sarah: Read as much as you want.
Angie: – I can read as much as I want. I am trying –
Sarah: Are you –
Angie: – a lot of authors I wouldn’t –
Sarah: – finding –
Angie: – normally otherwise.
Sarah: – are you finding books that are the same quality that you would find in bookstores, or is it sort of like, because it’s Scribd you adjust your expectations accordingly?
Angie: No, I don’t think that Scribd has anything to do with that. I think that the quality of what I’m reading, I mean, if I’m being fair, that I, there is some decrease in the quality of what I’m reading, but I’m also one of those people who will read for story –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – so I actually do forgive a lot –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – of quality. I’m willing to do that because I like to read across different stories. The more I pay for a book, the better quality I expect it to be.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: I think there’s that. So, but then I still, I do have a, a, like, a max-out level. I was saying this to somebody the other day. There is a, there’s a, a sample on my phone right now, and it’s, it’s not romance. Oh, it’s called the, it’s called The Intern’s Handbook by Shane Kuhn, and I think it’s a thriller, and an acquaintance of mine recommended it to me, and it’s not – I will read, I will read thrillers, but they’re not my normal reading, and I went to look at it, and it was $12.00 for a digital edition, and I was like, I just –
Sarah: No.
Angie: And again, I buy so much, but I was talking to somebody else who reads much more in this genre and tends to read a lot more women’s fiction or literary fiction, and she said that that’s, that’s still totally a price that she will pay for a digital book. So I, I do wonder if pricing is genre difference there.
Sarah: You might be right. I, I read, I am reading a book called The One Thing, and it is nonfiction, and it – I don’t remember where exactly I learned about it, but it’s basically one of those books that I really like that’s all about identifying priorities and goals and efficiency and cutting away a lot of the bullshit so you figure out what it is that you absolutely want to get done, and setting your goals according to your own personal ideas of achievement, and –
Angie: Hmm.
Sarah: – the, the root question is what is the one thing that you need to do to fulfill X, which I liked, because I already start most days by asking myself, okay, your brain has just booted up and given you 65,000 things you need to do today. What are the one or two things that you need to get done today that will make you feel like you have accomplished something. Because the worst is when you get to the end of the day and it’s time for me to go, to get, get the kids, I have to make dinner, and all of a sudden the work time is done, and I didn’t get this thing done, and I’m beating myself up about it. So, like, the 90 zillion other things that I got done that day don’t matter –
Angie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: – ‘cause I didn’t get that one thing done. So I already start my day by saying, okay, let’s not beat Future Sarah up unnecessarily. What the one thing you need to get done today that’s going to make you feel like you accomplished something with your day? This book sort of expands that idea to apply that kind of a question to goal setting and ideas of how to generate more business or to identify your own personal goals. Like, the one thing that’s the most important to you is to work as little as possible and have as much time –
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: – with your family as possible. All right, well what are the things that you need to do to make that happen? And so there’s a lot of sort of privilege baked in, but the book is very quick reading. It is 133 pages, and the digital file, when you’re not buying at Amazon, is $25.00.
Angie: Oh, wow.
Sarah: And I was like, how much is that a word? Is the –
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: – What was the One Thing this guy was doing? Was the One Thing that he wanted to do with this book to make each word as expensive as possible? How much money can I make with this one book? This is his One Thing? $25.00 for a book that’s 133 pages!
Angie: That was his One Thing.
Sarah: That’s his One Thing, dude! I was like, wow, gosh darn. Fortunately, my library had a copy, so I borrowed it through the library, but I was like, I can’t even recommend anyone pay that, let alone a library. My library already had it, and I would never have requested it, because it’s a ridiculous amount of money. I don’t think that anything in that book is going to fulfill me to the tune of $25.00. Like, there’s nothing in there that I would be like, that was worth every single dollar that I paid for it!
Angie: Yeah.
Sarah: That book better give me an orgasm and make me breakfast.
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: Twenty-five damn dollars.
Angie: Both of those things – well, you’re actually a cheap date then, though. $25.00.
Sarah: It’s just One Thing.
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: I, I didn’t want to ask for too much, so it’s just One Thing.
Angie: You asked for two things, an orgasm and breakfast.
Sarah: Those can happen together, is what I’m saying here. Just, Dunkin Donuts is a perfectly accurate op-, adequate option.
Angie: Yeah, so, sorry, but that was, like, a long conversational detour. Scribd, I do like it.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: I’m going to keep using it.
Sarah: That was my detour. It’s, it’s allowed.
Angie: We, yeah, we just went, like –
Sarah: Yeah. [Laughs]
Angie: I’ll probably keep using it. It’s hard to justify subscribing to all three.
Sarah: Yes.
Angie: I have to decide, which is difficult because there are actually different books on all three.
Sarah: Oh, yes. I have noticed this very much.
Angie: But this is why I’m tracking how many I read on each one, and I’ve got to tell you, when I started with Scribd, I love – and, and I’m not saying this because I now work for HarperCollins and for Harlequin, but I loved the fact that HarperCollins was on there, ‘cause I was reading old Linda Howard books, and you can, if you read Kim Harrison or if you read, like, all these urban fantasy series, they’re all on, they’re all on there, and –
Sarah: All the old series that came over from Dorchester?
Angie: Jennifer, Jennifer Eh-step?
Sarah: Estep.
Angie: Estep.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: Yes.
Sarah: Marjorie Liu.
Angie: Marjorie – there are, like, all these, all these urban fantasy series. Like, if you wanted to catch up on any of them, Scribd is the way to go. But, again, old Linda Howard, which, you know, I know you and I can’t have Linda Howard discussions, and we’ve already done this on a podcast –
Sarah: Did you see, did you see earlier today, I was tweeting romance costumes?
Angie: I saw that, but did you, did – oh, no, did you do Marc’s toes and the ferns?
Sarah: [Laughs] Just be a guy holding a fern wearing a condom.
Angie: Ferns, yeah.
Sarah: Wearing a condom! [Laughs]
Angie: I, I knew that you would –
Sarah: Just wear a condom and hold a fern. You’re Kill and Tell by Linda Howard.
Angie: What was his name, Marc Chastain?
Sarah: Marc Chastain. God damn it. And it, when I went to the, the – I always go to the garden store at the end of September because all the perennials are on sale –
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: – and there’s like, you know, one leaf, and it’s a dollar, and then I stick it in the ground, and then the next year it’s like, hello! I’m gorgeous. So all of the ferns were on sale, and I was like, Marc Chastain, Marc Chastain, paging Marc Chastain. All ferns on sale, buy one, get one.
Angie: Mm, I love that book.
Sarah: That book is wrong.
Angie: Oh, I know.
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: But we can’t talk about this.
Sarah: We once, you and me and Jane at a, at a restaurant in Penn Station once got into, like, a 20-minute argument about that book.
Angie: Yes, that’s right.
Sarah: Wearing a condom, holding a fern. You’re Kill and Tell
Angie: This is why you had me do the Linda Howard – What to Read post.
Sarah: Yes! And you notice, there were some pictures of some ferns in that entry –
Angie: [Laughs] I noticed. You couldn’t –
Sarah: Big, big-ass ferns.
Angie: – you couldn’t resist. So I knew there’d be-
Sarah: Ferns everywhere.
Angie: – that symbol of Linda Howard.
Sarah: So if you like HarperCollins’ backlist –
Angie: And then Harlequin’s backlist is now on there, so I was reading some old Diana Palmer, which –
Sarah: Whoo! Biscuits.
Angie: Biscuits, and oh, my God, the ‘80s references are enough to just knock you over.
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: The heroine is wearing velour coats –
Sarah: Yes, she is.
Angie: – and she’s typing on a typewriter –
Sarah: Of course she is.
Angie: – and of course all the heroes smoke.
Sarah: Oh, I love that, when the, when the characters smoke, and you’re like, wow!
Angie: What! You know, what’s interesting is how smoking has come full circle because we, for, you know, maybe 10 years or so, smoking, you couldn’t have a hero who smoked. Oh, my God, no, don’t have a hero who smokes, that’s gross. But now we have all these New Adult heroes, and they all smoke!
Sarah: Yep. ‘Cause they’re –
Angie: ‘Cause they’re bad boys.
Sarah: – they’re – that is the biggest rebellion, man, you whipping out – ‘cause the funny thing is –
Angie: Being bad boys.
Sarah: – statistically speaking, young people are very much more unlikely to smoke. The generational divide, as each generation achieves the age at which you can buy cigarettes, they’re buying fewer and fewer of them. Which is interestingly sending tobacco companies into a bit of a panic.
Angie: Well, that’s really interesting, because I just feel like we’ve come full circle now.
Sarah: So all the bad-boy heroes are smoking.
Angie: Diana Palmer and her alpha cowboys.
Sarah: Are there any biscuit-making New Adult heroines that we don’t –
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: We need to find some.
Angie: I don’t know, but there were some biscuit makers in Diana Palmer’s.
Sarah: [Laughs] Is it just backlist from Harlequin, or is there – ?
Angie: Mm-mm. No, it’s – I mean there’s, it’s actually fairly recent, because you have to think that Carina Press has only been in business since 2009 –
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: – five years actually; our five-year anniversary is coming up –
Sarah: Ooh, congratulations.
Angie: – and we have 500 titles on there.
Sarah: Nice.
Angie: So, yeah.
Sarah: So you can get a lot of the original launch titles from Carina Press, like –
Angie: Yeah, you can get most of Shannon Stacey’s backlist.
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: Yeah, there’s a lot. I mean, you can start R. L. Naquin’s series, I think, and –
Sarah: Nice.
Angie: There’s a lot of stuff on there, so if you’re a series fan or an old category fan –
Sarah: There’s a lot to be –
Angie: – there’s stuff to be had there.
Sarah: – there’s a lot to enjoy there.
Angie: Yep.
Sarah: Nice.
Angie: Mm-hmm. And HarperCollins. I mean, I have to say, so, all of the, all their historical, and there’s also, I have noticed some, quite a few small presses who are using it.
Sarah: Oh, really.
Angie: Samhain actually is, is, some of Samhain’s stuff is on there, and I noticed Totally Bound is on there. I hope they, I hope that they keep getting presses signed up, because I do really like it.
Sarah: Wow. Oh –
Angie: And if I keep reading at the rate I’m reading, I’ll run out of stuff to read.
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: And I have my brother, my brother is actually a big fantasy and science fiction reader, and he’s been using my account to go in and read, and –
Sarah: He’s very happy?
Angie: He’s very happy, yeah. He, I said, you’ve got to check it out, you know, and he was skeptical. He’s only been using it for the last couple of weeks. He was really skeptical, but I can see what he’s reading, ‘cause now our reading list is, like, this weird mishmash of –
Sarah: Science –
Angie: – his science fiction and then, like, it’ll be, like, some ménage book.
[Laughter]
Sarah: And then some biscuits, and then some wizards. Wizards making some biscuits.
Angie: Yeah. So I can tell he is –
Sarah: Somebody should write that.
Angie: – he’s looking at stuff. No, wizards making biscuits?
Sarah: Yes, that needs to be a thing.
Angie: Wizards in a ménage making biscuits?
Sarah: Yes! Ménage wizard biscuits.
Angie: [Laughs] So, Scribd. I don’t know, what else have I been reading? You know, I just read something, I wish I could remember. I should look it up. It is, I read the anthology that Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews – you featured it on the podcast with –
Sarah: Oh, when Ilona –
Angie: Ilona was on, and –
Sarah: [whispers] So amazing.
Angie: – Milla Vane –
Sarah: Is Meljean Brook.
Angie: – is Meljean Brook.
Sarah: It’s barbarian romance!
Angie: And that whole – it’s an es-, oh, and it’s got Lisa Shearin in it.
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: And it is rare that I will buy an anthology and actually read all of the books in it.
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: I often buy and read maybe two.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: I obviously didn’t buy it, ‘cause it’s not out yet, but I was given an advanced copy. Actually, Ilona sent it to me one day when I was looking for something to read. One of the perks of working in the industry is when you say on Twitter, I really can’t find anything to read, people’ll be like, here, I’ll send you my book! Okay!
Sarah: Oh, fine.
Angie: She –
Sarah: Okay.
Angie: – she sent it to me, and they were all so good.
Sarah: Really.
Angie: I really liked all of the novellas, and they’re all very different.
Sarah: It’s barbarian romance.
Angie: Well, I, I don’t, are they all barbarian?
Sarah: No, Milla Vane was barbarian.
Angie: Yes, that was barbarian.
Sarah: That was the one that Ilona was, was talking about during the podcast.
Angie: Yeah.
Sarah: That interview was so amazing. I, I – what had happened was I recorded Jane –
Angie: I have that printed, because – I saw that, because the, the one with Jane –
Sarah: It didn’t record.
Angie: – didn’t record.
Sarah: And I was like, I need a podcast! She’s like, I will talk to you on Skype right now.
Angie: I downloaded, ‘cause you suggested that new app, and so I downloaded that app, and that was the one, one of the ones I downloaded for my drive home.
Sarah: It’s a really good episode, I think, because Ilona is really funny.
Angie: Mmmm.
Sarah: And it, it was like, you know, I was recording a phone, a Skype call, so there she is with her headset, and I’m with my headset, and her dogs and my dogs, and they bark at each other, and I had to edit that out.
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: It was really fun.
Angie: Well, I recommend, I recommend that anthology. I think it’s coming out soon.
Sarah: I think it comes out late October, early November, I think.
Angie: Mm-hmm. It is – I just was really surprised. I mean, Nalini always delivers a great story, and I love Ilona’s Kate Daniels world, and it wasn’t this, you know, this was Jim and Dali –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – and so, just so much fun to see the relationship between them, and then, I am a fan of Lisa Shearin, her actual Raine Benares series. I just recommended Jane try reading that series, actually. ‘Cause she was looking for something maybe a little outside of her normal reading –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – and I said, well, try that. And this, this was a new series that she’s starting. And then Meljean writing as Milla Vane. She’s, she’s a very, she’s such a talented author, and this was a – Have you read it?
Sarah: Nope.
Angie: The novella is just, like, so easy to, to sink into.
Sarah: Oh, really?
Angie: So the whole, the whole thing, the whole book is really, really good and well worth the time investment and the money.
Sarah: Cool.
Angie: Mm-hmm. I have so much stuff on here.
Sarah: Did you read Kristen Callihan’s New Adult?
Angie: The Hookup, yes. You know, I, I enjoyed it. Jane really liked it.
Sarah: Uh-huh.
Angie: I, I enjoyed it. I, I didn’t enjoy it as, as much as other people. Like, some people loved it –
Sarah: Uh-huh.
Angie: – and said it was their read of the year. I enjoyed it. I, I had some difficulties with the heroine. I thought some of her resistance and her holdout was a little maybe protracted for me? I didn’t love it, but I did like it. And I would, I mean, I would read more from her. Oh, no, I’ve just been reading, I’ve just been reading all over the place, and I’ve been reading a lot of stuff that – Oh, you know what I did read that I really enjoyed? S. E. Jakes, who writes for Riptide?
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: Well, okay, she writes for Carina as Stephanie Tyler –
Sarah: Right.
Angie: – but she writes for Riptide, a male/male, as S. E. Jakes. I’ve been reading her Hell or High Water series –
Sarah: Yeah?
Angie: – which I have really been enjoying.
Sarah: Cool!
Angie: Yeah, she –
Sarah: But she’s been writing for a really long time, right?
Angie: She’s been writing for a really long time, and she does a great job with male/male, and I just like the, the heroes that she’s set up. She writes great heroes. And the, just, she’s doing a really good job of kind of, it’s the same couple over several, over a series of books –
Sarah: Right.
Angie: – and she does a good job of, of writing the conflict without making you feel like she’s drawing out the conflict –
Sarah: Right.
Angie: – artificially, which I think is hard to do over a series of books?
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: But I’m really, I am enjoying those, and I think the next one comes out soon, in November –
Sarah: Cool.
Angie: – of book four, so I’m looking forward to it. Yeah. Other than that, I’ve just been, I read, I’ve been reading a lot of urban fantasy, fantasy, and paranormal. I just, reading a lot of paranormal recently.
Sarah: I’ve been reading a lot of YA fantasy, so I totally understand.
Angie: Yeah. Have you read anything good lately?
Sarah: After my conversation with Ilona Andrews, I went on a huge Robin McKinley binge, which was nicely fueled –
Angie: Oh, I saw that.
Sarah: – by my library, bless them. So I had, I read The Blue Sword, I read Chalice. Chalice really just sucked me in, and I was like, really, just don’t talk to me right now. I need to finish this book. The romance parts of those books are so understated that I almost sort of missed the normal beats of the romance, but once I sort of figured, okay, they’re not here, it was really fun to explore. A completely different style of worldbuilding than I’m, than I’m used to reading.
Angie: I think that’s really common in fantasy, though, is having a lot of fantasy injects the romance element, but it’s often very understated –
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: – because it’s not the driving conflict –
Sarah: Yep.
Angie: – and it’s, I would say that – I, I just listened to Poison Study by Maria Snyder on my way up here, and I have read the series several times. I really, I really love it, and there’s a new one coming out in the spring –
Sarah: Right.
Angie: – and so I was listening to it – the narrator was fantastic, by the way – and I was thinking just about what you were saying is how the romance is such a slow build, and in some cases it was so subtle or you didn’t have the, like you said, the normal beats, that I was like, wait. So did they have sex?
Sarah: [Laughs] I had that moment at the end of the, at the end of The Blue Sword. There’s, like, this big reunion, and the big battle is over, and the, then there’s this sort of, like, and guess what, I totally love you! We’re getting married! Okay, great! And I was like, wha-, what, what?
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: There was no, where was the rest of that part? And I was like, oh, I missed that part.
Angie: Well, in, in this case it was just, it was almost like there was –
Sarah: A subtle –
Angie: – I don’t want to say, like, flowery language, but there was, like, passionate embrace, and I can’t even remember the way, remember it was –
Sarah: Did you guys, did you guys just bonk?
Angie: – and then it was like, did they do, did they do it?
Sarah: Did they do the do?
Angie: Did they do it, and can we, can we talk for a minute with – [laughs] – can we talk for a minute about how gross it is when some-, the hero or the heroine throws up, and then there’s kissing afterwards?
Sarah: Oh, dear God!
Angie: And we, even if they have brushed their teeth –
Sarah: No!
Angie: – isn’t it still gross?
Sarah: Yes! No. I mean, yaaaah. There – [laughs] – there was a book I read, because I couldn’t not read it, called Who’s the Daddy? –
Angie: [Laughs] Of course –
Sarah: – by –
Angie: – like you do.
Sarah: – Judy Christenberry, and it’s about a woman who is pregnant who has amnesia –
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: – and of course she’s very wealthy, and she can’t recall who the daddy of her baby is.
Angie: Is it still a secret baby if there’s amnesia?
Sarah: I think so.
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: It was, it was a hell of a setup, but there was one scene where she has morning sickness, which I totally get, and then she kisses this guy, and I’m like, no! No, nonono, no, no kissing!
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: There must be a 10-page boundary between the throwing up and the kissing, at least a chapter. No! Oh, God.
Angie: Well, I think in Poison Study, I think she is, has perhaps rinsed her mouth out with water?
Sarah: Bleahh, not good enough.
Angie: And I think she had been sick for, like, two days –
Sarah: No, good God.
Angie: – And I just remember thinking –
Sarah: Ew.
Angie: – as I was listening, there should never be kissing after vomiting, even if a toothbrush has, like, entered the picture.
Sarah: Well –
Angie: Just, we just need, we need, like, we need time for –
Sarah: There was that one –
Angie: – all odors to leave the building.
Sarah: There’s that series, the Konigsburg series, the, the Konigsburg, Texas series that’s written in, it’s a Samhain series, and it’s really, really wonderful. They’re all set in this Konigsburg town, and the heroines are awesome, and the heroes are interesting, and the conflicts are – I really like the series, but there was one book where I was reading it, and I literally stood up in my patio, on my patio and yelled, no! Not okay! And the dogs were like, what’s wrong with the lady?
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: The, the hero kissed the heroine and started to talk about what her mouth tasted like, and it included tuna!
Angie: Oh, yes, I remember you talking about that! [Laughs]
Sarah: She’d just eaten a tuna sandwich, and I’m like, it’s not okay that he’s tasting her lunch! While he’s kissing her! Why, why did this happen? Why is this happening to me? This is not okay! I literally stood up in my chair and went, NO! Not okay! And I’m, like, gesturing angrily at my Kindle. ‘Cause you don’t want to taste what the heroine ate. I don’t need that part of point of view.
Angie: You actually just made my stomach roll a little bit. [Laughs] Like –
Sarah: I’m sorry! Maggots, maggots, crickets, crickets.
Angie: Stop it. Oh!
Sarah: [Laughs] Crickety maggots.
Angie: Lalalala. [Laughs]
Sarah: Cricket made of maggots.
Angie: Ewww. Yeah, no, no, there’s, I, there’s, think is, like, a point where you can inject a little too much realism.
Sarah: Yeah, no barfing and kissing.
Angie: Because as a, as romance readers we have, like, this weird, we’ve, we’ve come to this, like, weird place where we want our books to be realistic, but we don’t want them to be too realistic.
Sarah: I was just thinking about this today.
Angie: But we, but they need to be more realistic than reality, but not as realistic as reality.
Sarah: Right. They need to be –
Angie: And there’s a weird little conundrum there.
Sarah: – as realistic as possible for me as a reader, the characters have to sound like people. If they, if the dialogue is not good, I’m out. Like, that’s my line, and if there are characters who start talking in plot language –
Angie: [Laughs]
Sarah: – I’m like, I’m out. I’m out, I’m out. If your whole job is to walk in and advance the plot like you’re that guy who doesn’t talk in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I’m out. We’re done. But at the same time, I would be bothered by books that made reference to things that were too real and were too loaded for me. Like, if I was reading a contemporary romance and they referenced Robin Williams, I would have to stop and take a break. That would be like too much reality. You know what I mean?
Angie: I don’t want to name the book that I was just reading, but it was an advanced copy, and it hadn’t come out, it, it hasn’t come out yet –
Sarah: Uh-huh.
Angie: – and I’m not going to name it, and the character makes a reference to something being hairier than Robin Williams’ chest –
Sarah: [Gasps]
Angie: – and Robin Williams had just died. I mean, the book was obviously written –
Sarah: Written well before he died, yes.
Angie: – before that, and –
Sarah: And then, he was, he was a very hairy man.
Angie: – and then I read, and then I, I read that, and I, and I stopped, and I came out, and I was like – [gasp] – oh, my gosh –
Sarah: Oh!
Angie: – I hope they take that out before they print the book, and I don’t know if they will –
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: – and I don’t want to name who it was, but that’s why when, when we, when I do, when I do self-editing workshops, I talk about not doing character comparisons or cultural references, and the character comparisons, I – [laughs] – I use, I use a series of pictures of Mel Gibson –
Sarah: Yes.
Angie: – and where I talk about, you know, like, Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon era? He was kind of hot, and, you know, they – crazy hot, but still hot – and –
Sarah: And then he called me an oven-dodger, and I haven’t really looked at him the same way since!
Angie: [Laughs] And then, then there’s this picture where you see him, and he’s got, like, this point beard and crazy eyes?
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: And I go, you know, he goes from this to that. Or my other example is – actually, it was a category romance that I read where the hero gets out of the pool, and he’s shirtless, and the heroine goes, oh, he has a chest like Taylor Lautner –
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: So, okay, so Taylor Lautner is, was it Jacob –
Sarah: Yes, he was Jacob.
Angie: – in the Twilight movies, right? But I have a young child, and my young child used to love the movie The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.
Sarah: And he is in that movie.
Angie: And he is Sharkboy –
Sarah: Yes.
Angie: – and so I always flash up, okay, so this is what I’m supposed to think of – and first of all, Taylor Lautner is still way too young for me to be perving on, okay, ‘cause I’m almost 40, and he is, I, that is, like, seriously cougar territory.
Sarah: I got two words for you: Zac Ephron.
Angie: Well, yes!
Together: Yes! [Laughter]
Angie: Yes. Right there with you. And, but –
Sarah: Like, I should not be looking, but I do!
Angie: – but when I think of Taylor Lautner, he was such a skinny, homely little boy –
Sarah: Oh, my heavens.
Angie: – and so I flash up this picture of him as Sharkboy, and people are always laughing, and I’m like, this is the mental picture I get when you use –
Together: – Taylor Lautner –
Angie: – so you can never know –
Sarah: By the way –
Angie: – when somebody’s reference is the same –
Sarah: [Whispers] That’s a terrible movie.
Angie: Sharkboy and Lavagirl?
Sarah: It’s terrible!
Angie: I know, but she was, like, four, and she was obsessed with it.
Sarah: And was totally into it, yes!
Angie: So to a four-year-old, it was great and creative.
Sarah: But if that’s your reference, that’s going to mess –
Angie: Yeah, so you never know. And you never know when your reference is going to go bad, like Robin Williams, so –
Sarah: What’s funny is that – this will be, like, the third podcast in a row that – or maybe fourth – that I talk about this book, but in A Bollywood Affair, one of the things that I liked about it –
Angie: Love that book.
Sarah: Everybody loves this book! I’m going to, like, there’s going to be somebody online who’s like, I hated it! And we’re all going to be like, what?
Angie: Yes, and, but I have to say – I’m going to interrupt your train of thought here for a minute – we were just talking about my pricing caps?
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: And I think that book is going on sale next week, so by the time this comes out, it’ll probably be on sale, and it’s going on sale, I think, for $9.99 –
Sarah: Oh, I know.
Angie: – and it is, and, and I normally hesitate to, to recommend romances at that –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: – level, because –
Sarah: Yeah.
Angie: – there’s so many romances that you can get.
Sarah: For $9, you can get, like, 10 of them.
Angie: You mean, you – but, I mean, I would recommend it if it was $6.99, but $9.99 for A Bollywood Affair is still totally, I, I recommend it, ‘cause it was just so good and fresh and unique. I just, I really liked it.
Sarah: It’s – I, I worry that the price is going to hurt it –
Angie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: – but one of the things that I found so interesting was, in the book, the hero is a Bollywood director –
Angie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: – and there are many, many references to Bollywood movies, but the Bollywood movie world is such that movies stay perennially loved, and the, there was a guest column by a woman named Melanie on my site who wrote about how there was one particular movie that stayed in theaters for, like, 15 years, because it was so popular, they just kept showing it.
Angie: Wow.
Sarah: So there’s this sort of perennial longevity in Bollywood where you can reference movies, and that reference is understood, because in that particular popular culture world, those movies are as good and re-watchable constantly.
Angie: But do you think there’s a difference between your – I mean, but that’s, that’s –
Sarah: In that –
Angie: – specific to that culture –
Sarah: Exactly.
Angie: – for one thing –
Sarah: Exactly.
Angie: – so it’s very culturally specific, so I, you know, I –
Sarah: In general culture, that does not work.
Angie: Right, so, but people tend to believe that if they make a reference, they don’t, they think that everybody’s going to think of it like that.
Sarah: The same way they will.
Angie: Somebody – I, I did a workshop recently, and we were having this conversation, and somebody said, well, yeah, but if you say Marilyn Monroe, everybody’s going to know exactly what you mean, and I was like –
Sarah: Nope.
Angie: – no, it’s like you, that – she was, she was an older lady, and I said, nonono, you are thinking very specifically from your cultural standpoint, and she’s like, no, everybody knows Marilyn Monroe, and everybody’s going to know that you mean, you mean a, a beautiful, slightly rounded woman, and I was like, no, some people might see a sad, pathetic woman who was, you know, a drug addict who took her life. I said, I’m not saying that’s what she was, I said, but you’re, you’re coming from your point of reference –
Sarah: Right.
Angie: – You can’t say that ev-, ev-, the world’s a large place, and with digital –
Sarah: Everyone has the same view of Marilyn Monroe.
Angie: – everybody doesn’t have the same view of Marilyn Monroe –
Sarah: It’s true.
Angie: – and she kept insisting, well, it’s Marilyn Monroe. I was like, no, she’s not ubiquitous to everybody. She just feels that way –
Sarah: Yes.
Angie: – because in your culture everybody knows her –
Sarah: In your world, everyone sees things –
Angie: – but the other thing is, is, you know, there’s one thing of, it’s one thing to have a cultural reference, but the other thing is, people might always recognize the cultural reference; they just might not recognize it positively.
Sarah: Yep.
Angie: ‘Cause it can change.
Sarah: Yep.
Angie: Can go bad.
Sarah: Yep, yep. Like, I don’t think there’ll be any romances referencing President Obama, because that is such a loaded concept for everyone. Like, no two people have the same concept of the –
Angie: Now you said it. Now you said never, and now somebody’s going to do it.
Sarah: Somebody’s going to be like, not only that – [snaps fingers] – but he’s the hero, so step back.
Angie: [Laughs] Did you say that you had questions for me?
Sarah: I do.
Angie: Ooh.
Sarah: I do have questions. What the ever-loving crap is space opera?
Angie: Oh, my God, I was like, what question are you going to ask me, and is it going to get me fired?
Sarah: There are two trains leaving two stations –
[Laughter]
Sarah: That is so –
Angie: Is this a common core problem?
Sarah: Yes, this is common core! What the ever-loving hell is space opera? You keep asking for it; did you get it?
Angie: Well…
Sarah: What, what is it? Did you not get it? You still wanting to know what it is?
[Laughter]
Sarah: You’re hoping someone will explain?
Angie: It’s such a, it’s such a, it – I mean, there are a couple of different interpretations, and then some, somebody out there is going to be like, no, not really. It’s a grand space story, set in space. A space story set in space, Sarah! [Laughs]
Sarah: Oh, my God, thank you! That clears everything. I’m so glad I asked!
Angie: I just wish everybody could have seen the look on your face when I said that.
[Laughter]
Angie: You know, it was the best –
Sarah: It was a very smartass expression, I promise.
Angie: It, it was a very smartass answer. The best example – I mean, there’s a couple of examples that are popular culture examples. Star Wars is the best one.
Sarah: Right.
Angie: Because you have a battle against, basically, good and evil.
Sarah: There’s a big stakes and little stakes.
Angie: There’s big stakes, there’s big conflict, there’s a love story. It, I was using, I used the term rebel pirates the other day on Twitter because I was reading something, and I thought it said rebel pirates, and I got very excited –
Sarah: [Laughs]
Angie: – and I was like, rebel pirates! I would read that in a heartbeat. And so, you know, you usually have trying to overcome an oppressive force of some, of some type.
Sarah: Right.
Angie: Star Wars is a great example in movie culture. Firefly is a great example in TV culture, I think.
Sarah: I have never been able to get past the first 15 minutes of Firefly, and I have tried six times.
Angie: I’m so sad, because I love it. I love it so much. Well then you should go onto the next episode.
Sarah: Like, what, just get out from behind the rock. Why are you behind the rock? What are you doing?
Angie: [Laughs] No, it’s – I think you would actually like the sense of humor of it if you could get past it.
Sarah: All right, I’ll try one more time.
Angie: Just skip the first episode. Go to the second episode.
Sarah: Okay.
Angie: And in fact, when they first originally showed it, they showed it in a different order.
Sarah: Really!
Angie: Yeah.
Sarah: Good to know.
Angie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: I will sk-, I will move ahead.
Angie: I think in, in book form, some great examples are, oh, gosh, sorry, my mind just went blank. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Sharon – did I get that right? Somebody out there will be like, no.
[Laughter]
Sarah: Many people just yelled at their radios. No!
Angie: Yes, at the Liaden, Lee-ay-den? I don’t know how you say it – Liaden Universe? Which they’ve been writing for years. It’s published by Baen publishing. Such a great series. Another series I’ve been trying to get Jane to read, it’s got that, again, that, that nice romance thread, but really dense – and I don’t want to say dense in a way that I think anybody should be scared off by it, but great worldbuilding.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Angie: Overarching time and plots. So I think that’s a really good example. We actually have a space opera series coming from Carina, and I have to assure the readers that you did not ask me this question just as a lead-in, but it’s –
Sarah: I totally did not.
Angie: – it’s, it’s a male/male series called Chaos Station, and –
Sarah: I think many people’s ears just went, what? Uh? Yeah? Who?
Angie: Yeah, and I’m, I’m super excited about it because it’s got those great elements of romance and action and adventure and going off into space in the space ship. [Laughs]
Sarah: In, in space.
Angie: In space.
Sarah: So, “Pigs in Space” – space opera?
Angie: Mmm. Well, no, I mean, you can’t just stick something in space and call it space opera.
Sarah: Oh.
Angie: It does have to have certain elements.
[music]
Sarah: And that is all for this week’s episode. Thank you to Angie for sitting down with me for an hour, and I hope you enjoyed our interview. Future podcasts will include me, possibly Jane, possibly additional people, all talking about romance novels, ‘cause that’s what we do here, and it’s really fun! I hope that if you have just discovered the podcast you’re enjoying it, and if you’re a very long-time listener and you’re still listening to me talk during the outro – that’s what this part is called, even though my husband swears that outro is not a word, it’s totally a word, that’s what this is – if you’re still listening, that’s awesome! Thank you.
This podcast is brought to you by Berkley, publisher of Reaper’s Stand, the latest bad-boy biker romance in Joanna Wylde’s edgy, sizzling Reapers Motorcycle club series.
The music that you are listening to, and I hope enjoying, was provided by Sassy Outwater. You can find her on Twitter @SassyOutwater. This is called “Pro Terezku,” and it is by Dun an Doras. You can find them on MySpace, and I don’t know if I can possibly explain the joy that I get every time I get to mention MySpace on the podcast. It’s awesome! You can find them on MySpace (yes!) and on iTunes and other places where music is sold. I will have links to many options in the podcast entry.
And speaking of: if you are thinking, what was the book that you were talking about with the space pigs? “Pigs in Space,” not a book, but many of the other things we mentioned are. I will link to every book that we talk about in the podcast entry on Smart Bitches and on Dear Author.
If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, you can find us on PodcastPickle, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and other podcasting apps. But if you have ideas of what we should do or who we should talk to, if you think that we should interview someone you know because it would be awesome, we would like to hear your suggestion. You can contact us at [email protected] or you can call our Google voice number at 1-201-371-DBSA.
But in the meantime, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, Angie and Jane and I all wish you the very best of reading. Have a great weekend.
[lively music]
This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.
It doesn’t seem to be popping up in Itunes???
@StarOpal:
Thank you – will chase down that problem now. Thanks for letting me know.
Oh, iTunes. You’re so finicky. (Seriously, iTunes is SO EXACTING and so picky. Not even in a quirky adorable heroine sense.)
Sarah’s DNF review of Meg Benjamin’s Long Time Gone was what got me reading the series. I was my usual have-to-read-them-in-order self so I read the first three books and freebie story before I got to Long Time Gone. And the tuna reference did not bother me at all. When I read it I remember thinking that’s what the fuss about? But I have had small things throw me out of a story, so I totally understand where Sarah was coming from.
I was laughing when you discussed the book again during this podcast as Long Time Gone remains my favorite of the Konigsburg series. That DNF review sold four books at the time and four since then as I have kept up with the series.
Fun interview.
Hehe, I really enjoyed listening to this. I really want to read Nalini Singh & Ilona Andrews’ stories in Night Shift, I’m glad to hear you guys think that all the stories in it are good. I’m not a big anthology reader, so sometimes I just wait till stories are available separately, but I think I’ll give this one a go.
And this is another time I’ve heard people recommend A Bollywood Affair recently – maybe I’ll have to look for that.
~Ailsa
As of 5:35 pm Chicago time, podcast 113 is still not showing in iTunes. I even tried iTunes’ “Download All” button, but I only got the first 100+.
Thank for looking into it.
@Jane:
Yeah, I’m not sure what iTunes’ problem is, but we’re working on it. iTunes gives so little information about why something doesn’t work. I’m sorry about that.
@LIbrary Addict:
Despite the tuna, which gave me the icks, I loved that series, too. I especially loved how strong and capable and determined and badass the women were.
Ditto with the problems with iTunes. Next, I accessed the website on my ipad and started to listen, but the audio kept cutting out. This may be a wi-fi issue and not a site issue, because I ended up listening by going to the website from my iphone and pressing play. This option worked fine, so I could listen while fixing dinner.
Not happening on iTunes? Boohoo Hope it gets sorted
iTunes is a mystery wrapped in enigma, with no error codes or explanations to help you fix what isn’t working. Not sure what sort of hero that is, but iTunes is that one.
Add me to the people whining about iTunes not giving me my DBSA podcast. ITunes can be EVIL.
I know – iTunes makes me whine, and also drink wine. Not necessarily in that order.
My Android app called the RSS feed invalid so I deleted, searched for the feed in the app again (Podcast Addict) and was good to go. I’m glad I follow you on Twitter for the heads up there’s a new podcast because otherwise I would’ve never have known!
I’m having issues with the podcast. I use BeyondPod on my android phone. When I tried to update the feed, I get the 404error. I deleted the feed and did a new search. When I refresh the feed, it still fails (404 not found).
The (dead, nonworking etc) link my RSS came from
was
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/feed_podcast/
The updated link it’s fetched from is
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/feed_podcast/
I am using Beyond Pod also, and it is still not working, even when I delete the feed and add it again. The two links above look the same, could you verify the updated link? I might try another app as well… Can you tell this is my favorite podcast?
That was the correct link I posted. The newer link is
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/feed/podcast/
Ack. It’s too early.
The working RSS link is
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/feed/podcast/
First, let me just say what a great idea it is to post the podcast transcript on the same page as the original podcast post. But I can’t quickly find anything on this page because there are a lot of graphics vying for my attention. The link to the transcript actually doesn’t stand out, and the hearts surrounding it blends in with the social media links. Since this new web layout is still in the beta stages, I hope you all will be able to work something out.
The feed is definitely misbehaving, and we’re working on it. I’m so sorry!
I got it working again in iTunes by putting that updated feed URL into File > Subscribe to Podcast. Yay!
@lauredhel, Thank you for saying how to do that in iTunes. I didn’t know to do File > Subscribe to Podcast. Anyway, it worked, and I have 113 now. Yay!
Thank Julie – I have the podcast back using the URL. ????
Thank you to Julie for the link and to Lauredhel for the how to do it.
I’m bummed out that iTunes changed the way they do Podcasts without telling the User. I’ve never had to use a link before. iTunes gave me Podcasts in a different way before this one.
FWIW, I went onto Podcast Pickle and clicked on the “send to iTunes” icon and I got this episode which wasn’t showing up in iTunes.
On the intro/outro question, the OED has the following entry:-
outro, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /?a?tr??/ , U.S. /?a?tro?/
Etymology: Blend of out adv., prep., and int. and intro n.
colloq.
A concluding section, esp. of a piece of music or a broadcast programme. Freq. contrasted with intro.