Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast

Adib Khorram’s new book, Isn’t He Romantic, is out this week, so of course I wanted to ask many questions about it.

This is the third in a trilogy about three queer Iranian American friends, and our conversation touches on some of the themes of the book, such as aging and ageism in the gay community, reclaiming fun games from your youth, and about trends in m/m romance currently.

You can find Adib Khorram on his website, AdibKhorram.com!

We also mentioned:
Podcast: Adib on the Culture Study podcast discussing heartthrobs
YouTube: Adib on The Gaily Show
Interview: Adib on the APALA site
Stonewall Sports!
We Need Diverse Books
Romancing the Craft
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Young the Giant: Victory Garden
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We’re back in the time machine to check out the ads and features from the February 2012 issue of Romantic Times.

We’re talking about Anastasia, Madame Toussauds, and how close some cover models get to showing some hog.

THEN! Then, we have about a half hour of live cover snark. I’m wondering if this video will be taken down by the Y’Tube, because these covers are…unclothed.

What was the thing you were obsessed with when you were younger? Was it mythology, Anastasia, or something else?
Do you love historical pettiness? What’s your favorite example?

Don’t forget you can find this episode on YouTube – for now!

And, you can feed the YouTube werewolves if you Lycan Subscribe to our channel!
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My guest this week is Dylan Allen, and Lucy Wilson-Tagoe, who are conveniently the same person. Dylan Allen is a bestselling author of contemporary romance, while Lucy Wilson-Tagoe’s newest book To Catch a Sinner, is out now.

It’s a mystery and a romance set in DC that focuses on art repatriation and the cultural minefield therein. So we’re going to talk about art, writing, the DC of her imagined world in the book, and about the romances that shaped her writing. We also talk about her choosing a new pen name and why that was so meaningful for her.

You can find the links and books we mentions in the show notes at SBTB.
You can find this episode on YouTube if you’d like to watch our conversation.

You can find Lucy Wilson-Tagoe at her website, LucyWilsonTagoe.com, and on Instagram.
You can find Dylan Allen at her website, DylanAllenBooks.com.

We also mentioned:

Dylan Allen’s interview with Jillian Stein of Blue Box Press (YouTube)
The National Museum of African American History and Culture

music: purple-planet.com
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This month we’re going back to September 2012 to take a look at the new books in Romantic Times magazine.

We’re talking about a very male hero, letting teens be teens, and hooray, there are dozens of terrible men to add to the pile. We also talk about our favorite Garth Brooks songs, and our go-to karaoke songs. (What’s yours?)

At about 25 minute in we talk about something rather morbid – books bound in human skin, of which there are very few for obvious reasons.

You can find us on YouTube if you’d like to watch this episode!

And you can find all the books we mentioned at SBTB!

Music: purple-planet.com
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Jess Rothschild is a podcaster and journalist, one of the founding writers at Autostraddle, and her latest project is a documentary podcast called Finding Fire Island, about the history of Fire Island, Cherry Grove, and the Pines. Her prior work includes The Cult of Soul Cycle, and I love BOTH of these productions. Jess has been writing online longer than I have, and we talk about internet history, the process of making a podcast documentary, and what it’s like to have all your neighbors tell their most juicy, gossipy stories to you. For work.

Finding Fire Island is a unique historical record, and I hope you’ll listen or watch.

Please be advised that you can’t talk about gay history in the US without talking about the AIDS epidemic and the loss of so many people, so this episode is a little poignant at times.

You can find Jess Rothschild on Instagram @JessXNYC.

Links ahoy!

Finding Fire Island
The Cult of Body and Soul
Hulu – Black Twitter: A People’s History
Hot Takes and Deep Dives – Jess’s podcast
Caitlin Whyte – Jess’s Sound Designer
Them
Autostraddle
Dads & Daddies
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