Jane asks Maya Banks about her response to reader disappointment with After the Storm. Jane talks about author responses to reader reactions
Please note that after about 4:55 into the podcast, audio problems created a segment wherein it sounds like we threw Maya down a well. Which we did, of course. We tossed her down a well and gave her a microphone to finish the interview. (No, not really but it sounds that way. I'm sorry about that.)
But what she had to say about responding was so interesting that we wanted to share it.
Then, listener email! Recommendations, questions, requests, and suggestions – oh, my!
Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:
And the music recommendation was Amos Lee, who has a YouTube channel of many of his songs.
This podcast is brought to you by InterMix, publisher of Meljean Brook’s all-new e-serial novel THE KRAKEN KING, a sexy steampunk adventure with a first installment available April 15th!
The Kraken King and the Scribbling Spinster
A former smuggler and thief, Ariq—better known as the Kraken King—doesn’t know what to make of the clever, mysterious woman he rescues from an airship besieged by marauders. Unsure if she’s a spy or a pawn in someone else’s game, Ariq isn’t about to let her out of his sight until he finds out…
After escaping her fourth kidnapping attempt in a year, Zenobia Fox has learned to vigilantly guard her identity. While her brother Archimedes is notorious for his exploits, Zenobia has had no adventures to call her own—besides the stories she writes.
But when she jumps at the chance to escape to the wilds of Australia and acquire research for her next story, Zenobia quickly discovers that the voyage will be far more adventurous than any fiction she could put to paper…
The music you're listening to was provided by Sassy Outwater. This is Sassy herself playing “Fiddler on the Loose,” and I'm not sure if she recorded this just for us on the fly (in which case, holy crap) or if this is a composition she's worked on, but that's Sassy fiddling. Literally.
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So, got questions? Ideas? Suggestions? Responses to what we've talked about? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast, or email us, or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online.
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Nice podcast, even with the well. Jill Shalvis wrote a couple of baseball romances that were fun, so I would recommend those to anyone looking for sports romances.
Great podcast, ladies! I listen to you guys while making my rotis, such a tedious task made easy listening to you…
One of my favorite novel out there is a sport story: it’s Crazy Thing Called Love by Molly O’keefe.
Thank you for responding to my message, Sarah! I’m still not over my rage, but I am feeling slightly better. And you are absolutely correct about the wonders of fanfic. 🙂 All these sport romances look amazing!
I enjoyed this podcast. Maya is my second favorite author!
I’m so glad you liked the podcast, even with Maya Banks down a well.
@Redmirchee: I LOVE ROTI. Thank you for making it, especially during our podcast. I hope that gives them extra heroism. Or that they look like pectorals!
I love TV, but don’t think I could ever rewatch HIMYM. I deleted the DVDs from my wishlist. After the horridness that was Dark of Night I gave away all of my Troubleshooter books. I really really wanted to set them on fire, but as a booklover in general I could not bring myself to do so. It wasn’t so much the book (which I hated) but the author’s attitude toward those of us who didn’t like it that ruined the series for me. I have zero trust in Brockmann as an author now so I knew I would never be able to reread the earlier books. Like Sarah said she does, I rewrote the ending in my head and that’s what I choose to believe happened.
To this day I am wary of starting ongoing series by new-to-me authors unless either someone I trust has read some of the books or I get a sense the author doesn’t enjoy trying to “surprise” her fans. An author can write plenty of twists and turns and take unexpected plot detours without betraying reader trust so it’s not as if I need it all spoiled or spelled out in advance for me. I just want to have confidence the author knows where she’s going and that I can trust her to take me there. Once that trust is gone, there is no way to get it back IMO.
As for TV, I no longer watch shows that seem to exist only to shock their audience. No matter how award winning or edgy they seem it’s not worth the investment of my time and energy. Been there, done that, have enough of the t-shirts.
I have a couple of book series that the last books are still on the TBR shelves because I’m too afraid of ruining how I feel about the series.
As for TV I’ve found after being burned that fanfiction and distance are the best meds. There’s been shows that I loved the beginnings of SO MUCH, only to hate the ending and feel actually betrayed. Then a while later, say years, I’ll catch an early episode rerunning on TV and remember what it was I loved and just not watch the betrayal stuff. Like IT NEVER HAPPENED. I do the same thing with Matrix. There were never any sequels. Nope.
Weirdly, I often like stories that start with someone (often the hero) being sexual with someone who isn’t the other main character. I think it’s basically a way to signal that the hero is actively sexual and morally ambiguous. I appreciate this, because I read a lot of historicals, and there’s always so much “He’s such a rake!” when really, he is… not. So I like, if someone is going to say that their hero is sort of sordid, when they actually make him a little bit sordid.
The other thing I like about it is that it lets your book have something sexy right up front while still reserving a sexual slow burn for the central couple. Basically, if anybody has books with this trope to recommend, I am all ears!
@SBSarah: wow, your explanation of New Adult makes so much sense to me. I’m literally dumbstruck right now – great insight!
@starOpal:
I so agree: fanfic, time and distance can dull the pain of crap endings.
And of course there were no Matrix sequels. None at all!
@Cordy:
Thanks!
I realize now that I didn’t also mention the obvious stuff about New Adult (protagonist/s experiencing autonomy for the first time, be that job or independence or school or whatever, etc). Ooops.
I am totally with Divya on the HIMYM finale. I have gone so far as running to the remote to change the channel when i hear the show is on. It is like I have Post Traumatic Shitty Finale Syndrome. Even the fact that i suspected that the mother was going to be dead didn’t make me feel better. i remember writing on twitter that i felt the writers were going for the most depressing finale ever, which i previously thought was Dawson’s Creek because Jen’s death was just awful (the only things that saved that were Pacey/Joey and Jack/Doug).
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