If You Like Piña Coladas...

[00:00:00] Hi, my name is Shrebe Pennant and you're listening to The Incoherent Fangirl. Welcome to The Incoherent Fangirl. Where we have a whole gaggle of people to talk to today. I think this is our biggest episode yet. Yes, I'm so excited. I am Karin from Lumnus. I'm Mandy from, well, Disney World. Shock, surprise, aww!

[00:00:29] Okay, in our timeline it is August 13th and in y'all's timeline August 21st. My kid's a sixth grader. I don't like it. My nieces are seniors. Help! It all sucks. I hate it. Please help. I hate this. Zero out of ten. Zero out of ten. That sound means we have an intruder alert. We don't have an intruder alert. We have intruders. Many intruders.

[00:00:58] We've got lots of intruders today. Very exciting. Today we are talking to a lot of people. We're talking about these kindred hearts. We have Cherie B. Pennant, Angela Montoya, Maggie Tecuda Hall, and Vanessa Montepan here with us to talk about it. We're really excited. Thank you all for being here. Okay. So we normally this is the part where we ask for like the elevator pitch of the book.

[00:01:24] It's an anthology. So it's a YA romanticity, romanticity anthology written by BIPOC authors. So what we'd love to ask right now is if each of you could maybe give us a quick pitch of your specific story and maybe a little of the inspiration behind it. Angela is first on my screen. So if you want to go first. And then our listeners know. Yeah. Then we make sure our listeners know who's speaking. Yes. Yes.

[00:01:54] This is Angela Montoya here. I wrote a short story called The Color of a Broken Heart. And it is a just very cozy, low stakes, um, romanticity. And it is about a young woman who wants to go to this midnight ball, this promenade on this beautiful lagoon. And the only way she could do it is if she has a date. She doesn't have one.

[00:02:23] The boy that she loves, she feels like has friend zoned her. So she decides to, um, use her magic to make a date for herself. And she soon finds out that magic and, uh, and a wooden mannequin just don't compare to the real deal. Uh, Maggie, do you want to go next? Sure. I'm Maggie Takuda Hall. I wrote a story called Beneath the Yellow Moon.

[00:02:52] It takes place in the Minidoka Japanese American incarceration camp, which is not a terribly romantic setting. Um, but it's about a girl who meets sort of like a mystery girl at one of the dances that they held there and follows her out into the night and into the good stuff, which is like smooching. And we love smooching. Vanessa, I have you next. Okay.

[00:03:18] Um, so I cheated a little bit because Cherie was kind enough to kind of like blurb all our stories. And that's what I was scrambling to do before we started was like, pick that up again and be like, okay, what was my story about? So I'm Vanessa Montalbang and I wrote Our Cursed Tides. It's a second chance romance between a sailor and a siren who reunite after many tumultuous years apart.

[00:03:47] And she's out for vengeance. Um, but he manages to kind of find his way back into her heart after many years. And Cherie? Um, I wrote Meet Me at World's End and it's a friends to lovers story about a girl who is a daughter of an oracle and a granddaughter of an oracle and her grandmother prophesied that today is the last day on earth. Today's the beginning of the apocalypse.

[00:04:14] And so it's the last chance that she and, um, she's a demon hunter. And so that's just she has to tell the boy that she loves who is also a demon hunter that she loves him. So it's a little bit Buffy. It's a little bit shadow hunters kind of lives in that paranormal world that I love so much. I love it. Okay, so sometimes when you go into writing for an anthology, you're like, you're given a prompt or gentle guidelines that they'd like you to stay within.

[00:04:44] How, I want to know from everybody, how does your writing process change from going, you know, writing a full length novel that you've gotten your idea completely organically versus writing for an anthology with a theme? Um, do we want to go in the same order? Do we want to switch it up? That. Whoever wants to go. I will go.

[00:05:10] Um, I feel like for me, this was the first actual short story that I've written. And so that was really, really intimidating, um, because I'm so used to word vomiting on the page and having a hundred thousand words to explain myself.

[00:05:30] And so with this anthology, which I'm so happy I got to do, um, it really was a challenge of like, okay, how do I, how do I get a full story into this, this small chunk? And so that was the biggest challenge for me writing the story was like, how do I stop over explaining everything and just get to the goods of what this story is supposed to be about?

[00:05:55] Um, so that was my first challenge with this one, but I really, I was really excited about this idea of getting to write this anthology in particular where it's, you know, all these amazing BIPOC stories and it's romantic. And it's, and so for me, I was like, I really want to write something cozy and, and low stakes.

[00:06:16] Cause a lot of my books so far have been like the, the end of the world for this character, um, where this one is just like, I will just be heartbroken, which I guess is really a heart, a high stake as well, but not in the way of, I will die. Um, and so, so that was really fun to write. And, um, I was really excited to sort of explore and figure out what that short story would look like for me.

[00:06:40] And so as soon as I thought cozy, I was like magical potions shop as it, as we all belong in. Right. Um, so yeah, so it was really, really fun, but so challenging and really intimidating to, to learn how to write a short story. Very cool. You did a great job. You did wonderful. Um, Maggie, you're gonna go next? I love writing short stories. I like doing it as my hobby.

[00:07:09] Like that's how I relax creatively is to write short stories. Cause like novels are a lot of pressure and a lot of work and then you have to edit them. And that's a nightmare that nobody should sign up for. Yeah. For real. Um, but short stories are like a chance to try on a different voice and like use a completely different authorial posture than you normally do. And I really love the chance to do that.

[00:07:34] And I especially love the chance to do that with a prompt because I feel like it jump starts me out of my own sort of like creative complacency and boredom. And it'll remind me like to flex a little bit more and to be more experimental. Um, so I was super excited to write a romantic story. I arguably my first two YA novels are fantasy and they are romantic, but I wouldn't call them romantic. That's not like the central driving force of either of them.

[00:08:04] So this felt really different for me. Um, and it was hard cause I'm such a pessimist and I'm such like an awful person deep down inside. Uh, to like write like a happy thing ultimately was very counter to my nature. Um, but when I was first sitting down to write the story, I was at Minidoka to give the keynote for their annual pilgrimage that they give. And that is where my grandparents met and fell in love.

[00:08:32] Um, and so it was kind of fun to write not their story and to have no obligation to their reality, but to try to honor the place where they had fallen in love in a rope as a romantic setting. And it was, uh, a challenge, but one that I really enjoyed taking. That's awesome. That's so special. Yeah. Vanessa. Vanessa.

[00:08:59] Yeah, I was super honored when Shuri asked me to be a part of the anthology. Um, it was a nice change of pace. Not gonna lie. Cause like all my other books have also been very heavy themes. Um, they're horror mystery paranormal. And it was just, it's a lot of baggage to unload on a story and a full length novel is very different than a short story. So I just like allowed myself to have a lot of fun with it.

[00:09:26] And it was, it was a nice breath of fresh air, honestly, to just like dive into this story where I can just focus on the romance. And from my college days, I remember, you know, like you start the story right at the peak where everything is happening. And then the denouement is where you're, you're kind of like focusing on. Um, so that's what I did. You know, I just focus on like, I gave them all the backstory that I needed to know, but then I focused on like the height of their rekindling.

[00:09:55] And then, you know, kind of like unraveled things from there. But it was really nice to just spend time in that romantic space and just have fun and, and have all those good feels come out while writing it. I'm also really inspired by songs. When I write short stories, specifically short stories for some reason. My last, uh, short story in night of the living queers, I base it off. Um, welcome to hotel California.

[00:10:22] And for this one, it was, um, if you like piña coladas. So very like beachy. It makes perfect sense. That's amazing. Yeah. Love it. From there, like the story just like unraveled. Just from the. That is hilarious. That's amazing. I didn't know that. I love it. Also discovering things about myself. I'm like, wait, I did this twice in a row.

[00:10:52] Like why am I doing this? Like what's going to happen next? And I do love piña coladas. Do you? Yes. Always. 100%. That's right. It always makes me cry. I love that it's a second chance romance that they were both like gonna cheat and then they come back together. Yeah. And also, I know, I know. It's not, it's not that. It's not that. It's not that. Everybody is outraged. It's not that. Angela's like, I have never actually paid attention to this song. I don't know that either.

[00:11:20] You're all are going to listen to it after we record and you're going to be like, holy shit, they were going to cheat on each other. Like, hold on. And they came back together in the end. They were both going to cheat. And then accidentally were each other's like Tinder date. Yeah. But they were in the classified ads. What? Yes. Yeah, you're right. And I just like that they came back together. But honestly, you know, yeah, bad, you know, not a good way to do it.

[00:11:50] You got to draw inspiration where you can. Spotify is going to wonder why like the Pina Colada song spiked this week. I'm sorry. I just read the lyrics to this song. This song's fucked up. Yeah. But everybody plays it at the beach. Yeah. That's nice. They both tried to cheat on each other at the beach. Everybody's like, oh, it's so romantic. They like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. Yeah. And they're one ads for someone they're cheating with.

[00:12:20] Oh, my. And Vanessa said, this is my inspiration. This is it. Yes. That's where I should. If you love toxic love, not just me. It's not my story. It's not toxic. I just like the vibe that it gives. It's like. I'm still learning new things about this anthology. I see the lore that you've created. It's great. I love this. Oh, okay. How do you follow up? Yeah.

[00:12:49] I think you got the question a little bit. I'm going to get off the last of the things. But basically for me writing a short story, I'm a heavy plotter. So I kind of followed the same process with when I'm writing a novel. But with meet me at world's end, it just takes place on the last day of Earth. So there's no like building up their friendship and romance. It's just there. You're in it with them. You're in her emotions with her. And you're just like in the apocalypse.

[00:13:18] And you're like, we got 24 hours. I don't know. Like what do we do? And I kind of think of it this way. You know, it's like best case scenario. You know, you tell the guy that you like him and he likes you and you save the world and everything is great. And worst case scenario, you know, the world ends anyway. And like, what? No. What do you say when the world ends? Yeah. There's nothing left to lose. Exactly. At that point. Yeah. Might as well. Nothing.

[00:13:49] All right. So we have a couple questions for each of you all individually about your specific stories. I'm going to start with Vanessa. So in our cursed tides, it features sirens who feel like incredibly familiar to lore. I think that most people know, but also feels a little bit different. And I know that you write a lot from like your own cultural lore. Was there.

[00:14:15] Can you talk about kind of how you developed your version of sirens and how that lore may have seeped into your story? Yeah. So a lot of the mermaid lore that I tend to have is from dollar store little mermaid movie. Ah, yes. I don't know if you guys remember. That was dark. That was dark, dude. Yes. It was dark. It was dark and it was so good.

[00:14:45] Like it stuck with me for years. Okay. But no, that's not where I get all my lore. But like, that's kind of like what I think of sirens. I think of them. But yeah, there are some Latin American folk tales that talk about certain mermaids that would brush out their hair and pearls would come out of the hair. So they had magical hair kind of like tangled. So they were sought after for their magical pearl producing hair and hunted.

[00:15:14] And just like little things like that, like those kind of powers that have are directly tied to the ocean, to the sea. I'm also a cancer, you know, so like I'm ruled by the moon at the ocean, I guess. Yeah. So I was just like kind of interweaving the stuff that I know, but also trying to give them a fresh spin and give their, their powers a little bit of a unique twist.

[00:15:35] Like one of them can infuse magic into a little CD talismans and, or it could drive you mad if you put it up to your ear, like a conch shell. So yeah, just taking little powers and giving them a twist. And I like that. I, I'm a big fan of sister stories. I could write sister stories for the rest of my life. And sirens is for me is like all about sisterhood, you know, even the Peter Pan sirens are like, they're banding together to drown them. Oh yeah.

[00:16:07] I'm going to learn something from them. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to bounce to Cherie. And meet me at world's end. Um, and meet me at world's end a short story you set up and flawlessly execute a prophecy coming true and ultimate betrayal in a short story. How are you able to so easily like bring the reader up to speed on all of the nuances of

[00:16:35] this magic system and this world and all the relationships between all of these characters get to the point of the big bad and have it all like, just make perfect sense and flow so perfectly. Like how? How? Well, first thing, I'm glad you enjoyed it that much. It was great. Yeah. Um, one of the ways I feel like I try to really kind of show that relationship without doing

[00:17:01] all that background is those, that dialogue, those like quick quips between the friends, those snarky remarks between the frenemies, right? The, the way that she kind of cowers when her grandmother watches her, um, train. Um, and so, I don't know, like I said, it was kind of like, we just got to get right to the meat of it. Let's just, let's just end the world. Let's just do it. You know? What could go wrong? Yeah. Like we can go wrong.

[00:17:27] Um, and so when you've got that, you just kind of have to just dive in, you know, the ends of the world, at least in the story, it doesn't, doesn't happen like slowly. It's just bang, bang one thing after another. And I kind of just really wanted to lean into the speed of that. If that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. You did great. It felt like it really felt like a full, like novel, just in a short story. Right. It's like, I knew like, like I was up to speed.

[00:17:56] I was like, yeah, of course, of course it's, I don't want to say it. Like, I don't want to say the name in spoilers. Of course. Of course. Of course it was them. Twist the knife. Okay. Angela, the color of a broken heart. It's giving why a wicker, but like before we knew, we didn't know wicker was going to be a thing, but like, you know, it's kind of given that. Um, yes, but I'm a trendsetter.

[00:18:24] You were doing it before. You should sue. Maybe. Yes. It's royalty. Um, all joking aside, the magic in the story kind of involves a lot of, um, symbolism of sorts. True. Alexander could never. Period. Um, so what, you know, like the symbolism, like what colors mean, what the different materials that she's using can do what they mean.

[00:18:54] Um, and all of that, like what kind of research did you have to put into that aspect of it? And how big, how, how big of an effect that it have on like what you chose to use in your story? Yeah. I mean, I, I, it was really kind of interesting to sort of pull that sort of magic where they basically can see emotions. They taste them different. And each thing has a different taste, different smell.

[00:19:21] Um, and so I just kind of thought, cause I was trying to get all five of them or all five senses in there somehow. And so for like the things I would taste, um, if it's hard to really remember, but like jealousy would probably taste sour. Um, so those sorts of things are just, I felt just easy to figure out myself of like, what, like if, if I could come up with a taste of those sorts of things, like, yeah, it would be sour, be bitter, but the colors and the gemstones and the plants and the

[00:19:51] plants, those were things that I was just researching as I was writing. And no, the colors I just started like, as I was like, okay, I want to, um, want to explore his like deep, dark heartbreak of seeing her. Well, I don't want to spoil anything, but potentially her choosing something, somebody else and what that color would look like.

[00:20:17] And so I just kind of honestly started looking into different people that see colors, like see numbers and days and emotions as colors. And there's a whole like psychology to it. And, and it's really, really fascinating. And so that's, Oh yes. I can't even announce that pronounce that word. They're synesthesiacs. That's it. Yes.

[00:20:45] Colors and, uh, numbers and abstract ideas. So cool. Like the beetles, thank you. Color mustard. Yeah. Thank you, Maggie. That's exactly that. That word is what I was researching. And, and it's so fascinating because people really can see it and, and what an interesting world to live in when you could see all of that. And so that's sort of what I wanted to pull in and insert into the story. Um, yeah.

[00:21:15] And then I just, I love a good gemstone. I love a good stone. So that too was like, of course, I'm going to add a little turquoise or whatever I put in there. Yeah. It was a little lapis. Okay. Maggie in beneath the yellow moon. Rin is attending a dance at the Japanese incarceration camp. She's held in with her family, including her abusive father at the dance.

[00:21:40] She meets someone who helps her to realize that she's bigger than her fears. Um, could you tell us more about, I'm, I'm sorry. I'm a white girl. I'm going to butcher this. Okay. Could you tell us more about Kitsune and why they appeared to the people that they appear to or like the, the lore of, and what made you want to write this story and include them? And also I have to say, I love how like expertly you, like she moved like a fox and like she,

[00:22:08] you know, a very sly, like it was so the way you described her before you revealed, you know, like it was, I was like, Oh, I love this. Um, Kitsune is a thing that I grew up understanding as being part of Japanese mythology. And then like much of coming of age as a Japanese person realized we stole it from Korean culture. Uh, cause that's how colonialism works. Um, but it's a trickster figure. They're like a, a fox with nine tails.

[00:22:37] They appear to certain people, different people tell different versions of it. I liked the idea of a Kitsune being, uh, a mysterious, attractive, pretty girl. And I think the idea of like this Kitsune being kind of like her doorway to freedom is I know when I came of age and finally accepted my own queerness, it felt like a kind of freedom and a burden had been lifted.

[00:23:02] That was really profound and it opened up freedom in so many other parts of my life that I wasn't anticipating because once you are no longer carrying this sort of false burden of heteronormativity, everything feels a lot easier to be more frank and freer and truer. And, and beyond that, it feels like more of a burden to be living a pretend life in any of those other places. Cause now you've tasted what freedom is like.

[00:23:29] And so I wanted to give that to this character, especially while she is literally incarcerated for her to have a sense of freedom that was profound and was life changing and would stay with her for the rest of her life, regardless of any other romantic entanglements she will have. Um, felt like a powerful thing to give to somebody who is at that point in her life, wouldn't have known if she was ever going to be free again. I love that.

[00:23:58] A beautiful job. Yes. Truly. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so sweet. Okay. Shuri. Can you talk a little bit about how this anthology came together? Did you reach out to authors like personally? Did you know who you wanted to reach out to? Was the publisher part of it? Um, any of that kind of information?

[00:24:19] And also I loved, like, I would love like a little bit of the behind the scenes on the decision to like do a short story contest for some of the contributors in this. Sure. Sure. Yeah. So the idea for the anthology came to me, um, at the end of 2023. And I was kind of just looking around at, um, like the publishing landscape, what was out, what was coming out. And I was like, we could really use a little more diversity here as with everything.

[00:24:48] And, um, I was just thinking about it some more. And it's something I really kind of started to lean more into my romance writing at the time. Um, I write mostly kid lit, but I was kind of, I was for whatever we know I was fighting against my natural self with my love of romance and fantasy and paranormal romance and my Twilight era and all those things, you know? Um, so yeah, I reached out to my agent and she was immediately on board.

[00:25:13] I called up some of my friends who did their anthologies and I was like, Hey, I need advice right now, right now. Right now. Um, and I kind of badged them for a few weeks. And then I was like, cool. Thanks for all the advice. Do you want to join me? Um, from there, I reached out to several people that I knew, um, several people that I didn't. Um, you know, the, the three amazing women on here, I immediately was like, Hey, I have to have that bit here.

[00:25:40] If they say no, I will curl into a ball and cry and who knows, you know? Um, which is a valid reaction, quite frankly. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, but, um, it was really great because everybody was really, really excited about the anthology. Everybody was really on board. They also saw the vision of happily ever afters for diverse teams. And, um, yeah, my publisher was really, really excited about it as well.

[00:26:07] And for the contest, um, many people don't know, but I was also the winner of our contest back in 2021, is it? For, um, Cool Awkward Black, the anthology, um, edited by Karen Strong. I actually have a copy here. Um, and so it was 18, 17 other, um, black authors. And so I was the 18th one and I, she held a contest for an unagented unpublished writer. And it kind of opened a door for me.

[00:26:37] And I was like, you know, I want to do the same thing for someone else. You know, I am a firm believer that when someone opens a door for you, you keep that door open behind you. Um, yeah, that's the story of the contest. I love that. That's so much. I would say a rising tide lifts all boats and it's the same concept of you turn around and you reach out your hand to someone. Once you've done something, you help someone else do it too. Right.

[00:27:02] So many amazing submissions and the two winners, Jennifer and Chelsea, their stories blew us away. They were incredible. Like, I don't know how they were unagented unpublished. They were so, so amazing. And I just feel blessed that they're even in it. So that's amazing. And on a personal level, I did, I saw that contest and I wrote, and this kind of goes back to what Maggie was saying, um, earlier.

[00:27:27] It was just one of those things where it was like a really fun, like creative exercise to just kind of flex your creative muscles and just go for it and just do it. And it was, I personally, thank you because I got a cute little story out of it as well. Like I wrote something real quick and it's the first thing that I've ever actually finished writing. So I appreciate that. I remember that short story, Karen, and that was really, really good. Me too. I was just going to chime in. Yeah, it was so cute. I loved it. I know.

[00:27:56] I reached out to both of them. I'm like, you guys are in this. Please help me. Okay. Um, we have a little question for everyone and then we'll get into like, we have some fun questions that are just kind of, um, they will make you lose whatever you've ever consumed in media. But before that. Yes. Um, this, I specifically added this in for Maggie. Yeah. Okay.

[00:28:22] So, um, we just want to, to talk about and hear you guys's thoughts on the importance and the significance of an anthology like this, that features marginalized writers in the current trash political climate. So if you guys want to say anything, or if you don't, that's okay too. Um, I just, I just want, I'm pulling that string, Maggie. I just want you to talk and talk. Yeah.

[00:28:51] Everyone buckle in. Maggie's going to yell about fascism again. I mean, obviously it's so the greatest like antidote to the worst injustices in the world are creativity and joy. And this is an anthology that explores both of those things really profoundly.

[00:29:09] And especially in a regressive, uh, sex negative, um, racist period of time, the, uh, creation of a book that highlights BIPOC creators thinking about romance and just loving that and giving those kids happily ever afters is so powerful and wonderful. And Sheree, I'm so grateful that you've put this together because the timing couldn't be better.

[00:29:33] I am sure that it is being quietly banned across the country, uh, in lots of places because it's got smooching, um, black people and that's enough for a lot of book banners. Um, and so, you know, it's horrible that we're in this period of time, but I'm really grateful that there are so many creators who rather than censoring themselves are doubling down on what made our voices unique and important in the first place.

[00:30:00] And so I'm glad and pleased to be in an anthology where everyone is doing that. Yes. Beautifully said. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:40] And also, you know, I look around at, at the kids and the teams and, and there's so much going on in their lives. And it's like, let's just give them some of that joy back and remind them that they are loved, you know, they're loved then love today. They will be loved tomorrow, no matter what they look like, no matter who they love, no matter where they live. That's all it's not really. Yeah.

[00:31:06] I would say, honestly, for me, um, I, I've, and I've talked about this before on different things, but I always like talking about it because I come from a family of activists, my grandfather, my uncles, my aunt, um, specifically here in California, the farm rights workers movement, um, you know, heavily, heavily involved.

[00:31:29] And, um, you know, and to this day, still my aunts, my uncles are out there spreading the word about Chicano rights, um, and just, and just our culture and, and that we should exist, that we're allowed to exist. And I remember when I first started writing young adult romanticy, I was talking to one of my uncles who was a playwright and an actor. And I was like, ah, I'm just writing young adult fantasy.

[00:31:58] I'm not really doing like the work, the Montoya work. And he was like, no, no, no, no. You are present. You are showing this next generation that they get to be the heroes. They get to fall in love. They get to just simply be. And that is that next generation of activism and resistance. It's just us, like you guys were saying, us being joyful, us being here.

[00:32:24] And so it's something I think about very often because so right now in particular, the young adult market is really tough. I feel like the finding the readership is tough. Um, it, I feel like, especially with the Latine, uh, readership, it's really hard. And so I just, we just keep going. We keep doing it.

[00:32:49] And when I get to go to places like y'all West and I get to find our readers there, you're like, okay, wait, we're doing the thing. And so, so yeah, this, this anthology, anthologies like it, stories like it, they're so damn important. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:07] I mean, you all encapsulated exactly what I feel so well, but mostly when you talk to like other, um, marginalized creators, you'll usually hear, like, I didn't see myself in a book until I was in my twenties. And I had a very similar experience. Like I would read all these books.

[00:33:25] I was the only one in my family that read and I was just connecting to these other, other stories, but it wasn't until I went to college and I read a Sandra Cisneros, um, short story that she was speaking about her Mexican culture. And I'm Nicaraguan, um, Cuban, but so many similar, I found so many similarities. I was like, wow, I have, and like, I started crying. I was like, I've never experienced this while reading.

[00:33:52] I've never felt like I'm reading about my story, like my life. And I just feel like kids, especially like in the teenage formative years need to see themselves sooner in books. And so like, I think this work is really important and it's really important to just have more variety for the kids to read, have them have the ability to step into other people's shoes. And yeah, I think we're doing great. We're doing the best we can. Yeah.

[00:34:21] Well, and I think I can speak for Mandy as well. Like we were both raising, you know, BIPOC children in this day and age. I know most of you also have, you know, BIPOC kids who are growing up and getting to, um, kind of see this in our literary world and see how we're being present and, and, you know, fighting for that joy, like you said. So thank you on behalf of us and on behalf of our kids, on behalf of all of the kids. Yeah.

[00:34:51] I was going to say, um, like you always in this current environment, especially always like, I always want to yell and I always want to like criticize and scream, which we should, but it's also, you guys have given such a good reminder that like, you still have to have joy. Like you cannot be fighting every single second because it will consume you. And that rage that like the cruelty is the point and knowing that the cruelty is the point will eat you alive. You have to have stories about joy.

[00:35:19] And I've been seeing so many people talking about how, like you don't learn how to be a human from like nonfiction books. You learn it from being a fiction reader because you put yourself in other people's lives. And the, the more diverse are the, the reading world gets and the YA space gets, I feel like the better the world is going to be because kids in the, you know, the kids we're raising generation and the future will have more shoes to put themselves in that they might not have put on before.

[00:35:49] And that's so special. And that's so wonderful. And you guys are contributing to that. So thank you so much. Okay. We're going to pivot to some fun questions now. This is where, like I said, everything so consumed is going to leave your brain. Have I ever seen a movie? Yes, this is truly, truly the moment. What's a book? I don't know what a book is. You're going to forget everything. Okay. Can I add something really quick though? Can I add something really quick? Yeah, of course.

[00:36:18] I've been like, I've been hearing a lot of rumblings like online too, that say that romanticy is dying and over my body. It makes me so angry because it's like finally, sometimes when marginalized authors get their foot in the door, they want to like slam it close. No. And I just want all the writers out there to just keep putting your stories out there. No genre is dead. It always comes back around. And like the world just needs more, more and more and more of our stories.

[00:36:47] I'm never going to be full. We're never going to be full of romanticy. There's never going to be enough. Yes. Write your stories. That's a great addition. Thank you, Vanessa. And now I will step off. Never get off the soapbox either. We have to stay there. Just keep going. Okay. So we have a segment on the podcast that we call Fictional Boyfriend of the Week where we pick a fictional character. It doesn't necessarily have to be a boyfriend. I've had a fictional granny. Mandy's had a fictional son. We've had fictional pets.

[00:37:16] So any fictional character that you just really vibe with. Do you guys have anybody from books, film, television, video games, anything like that that you want to share with the world? He's cheating. Yeah. I do. I do. I do. I just read Vanessa's book. I want to be their mother. I want to be their auntie. I'll be with. Whatever it is. Yes. Count me in.

[00:37:44] Vanessa, can you tell the listeners what it's called? The Beautiful Air. Yes. And it is beautiful. It's perfect. I fall in love with you. Yes. Prepare to swoon. Prepare to swoon, damn it. I'm reading Dungeon Crawler Carl. Oh my gosh. I want Princess Donut here on my shoulder.

[00:38:13] And I also want Dungeon Crawler Carl. Just in general. I need to read it. I just haven't. Yeah. Same. Oh my God. I don't know what that is. What's Dungeon Crawler Carl? Oh my gosh. I'm so lost. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's so fun. It's so huge right now. I've heard. What is it? I don't know anything about it. I just know like everybody's reading that. It's so huge. I don't know what it is. It's so fun. Okay. Okay.

[00:38:42] Let me set the scene. Carl walks outside and then boom, everything flattens. The houses, buildings, everything flattens. And then he gets basically like, I think he hears it in the sky or in his head. Like these aliens have come and you have to go down. It's hard to explain guys. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Maggie, Maggie, take it away. Maggie, take it away.

[00:39:10] He's been put into a video game for his own survival without his consent. And he has to make like a party, which he does with his ex-girlfriend's cat, whose name is Donut, Princess Donut, excuse me. And he's like, the only reason he was outside was because he chased Princess Donut outside. So he's like in his underpants and has no shoes on and has to like embark on this survival story. Okay.

[00:39:34] But be warned, it's like 700 books long and every page is, or every book is like 4,500 pages long. I got three books in and I was like, I think I, I, I'm done. Yeah. I'm on two. I'm on book two. So I feel like I'm going to get there. That's a commitment. The amount of books is why I haven't done it yet. Yeah. Like that's so many. Thank you, Maggie. Thank you. He steps out, flattens everything. Then goes down. We're like, what?

[00:40:04] I knew it was a down. Down where? I'm scared. Great, sweetie. I got it. I have two. I have boy. I would like to be my son so that I can give him a talking to, which is the latest Spider-Man movie. There's a throwaway line where Peter Parker admits that he has installed unwarranted surveillance on the entire city of New York.

[00:40:33] He's a good boy, but someone needs to have a fucking talk with him. We're not doing flock cams, Peter. We are not. He is not. I'm sorry, but he is not Peter Palantir. Like, no doubt. Yes. Agreed. My forever book boyfriend is from the Hell's Bells series by Sarah McLean. There is a man named Tommy in the third book who has to kill the cop in his mind and quit

[00:41:00] the police force to get on board with these women who do crimes for revenge against powerful men who deserve it. And we love him. I have a boyfriend and I love him and I think we should make out. Yeah, we love him. We should make out. Yeah. No. Love that. Love it. We're doing what we're obsessed with, right? Like your fictional boyfriend character. Oh, a fictional child.

[00:41:30] Oh, boyfriend. I don't know. It doesn't have to be a boyfriend. It can be like just a fictional character that you really suck. My memory is trash, but I feel like you like made my heartbeat when you said yours. Aaron Warner. She did. Man. That is my man. I do love Aaron Warner from Shatter Me. Paramount in this book. Like, excellent. Like, I love how she can make me root for the villain. Like, well, you know, it's a whole thing. It's a whole thing.

[00:41:59] But I love a good redemption story for a villain. You know? I made my husband listen to them all and he's like, okay, I get it. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah. But he, like me, is a Kenji girly. Okay? He's a Kenji girly. Yeah. He's a Kenji Kishimoto girly and he always will be. He's like, let's be real. Aaron's fine. He's fine. He's fine. He's fine for you. Kenji, where it's at. I will say I've been obsessed with the girl from Obsession. Indie Neverred.

[00:42:29] Yes. And Neverred. And like her performance in that movie was spectacular. It was spectacular. Like, it was so. I haven't stopped thinking about that movie nonstop. Like, it's been on my mind. Like, and I keep fantasizing scenarios where like. Is it perhaps your obsession right now? It is my obsession. Obsession. And Epic the Musical. Odysseus specifically from Epic the Musical.

[00:42:59] That's my. Yeah. Those are my babies. Yeah. The only Odysseus who doesn't cheat. It's worth mentioning. Exactly. Real. Love that. Love it. He's actually a faithful husband. Builds olive tree beds. So. We'll keep him. We'll keep him. Okay. So my current obsessions. I am currently watching Outer Banks.

[00:43:28] And I don't know how it took me so long to watch this show because this show is extremely my shit. So basically it's a bunch. It's a found family, which is like one of my favorite things in the entire world. And it's like. The Poges. The Poges. Pogelandia. Oh my God. Anybody who doesn't know Outer Banks, it's these four, five kids. They live in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. And long story short, it starts off just kind of as a contemporary.

[00:43:58] And you're like, oh, these kids get into some shit sometimes. But then they like start hunting for a treasure on like an old slave merchant ship. And they find gold. And then they end up. Not going to say where. A lot of things happen. And I'm kind of like, these are my kids. And anytime something happens to them, I kind of scream inside. But I'm also like, you all should really go home. I'm so sure. What are you doing hunting for gold? That's insane. Please go do your homework.

[00:44:28] John B. It's time to pay attention to chemistry. Yeah. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I get it. Because if I found out there was like a mountain of gold just waiting for me somewhere, I probably would also fail physics class. Yeah. True. Valid. Yeah. But my favorite. One of my top, top love interests. I have it here. Where is it? Where is it? Any of you read Queen Booth by Kennedy Ryan?

[00:44:58] I haven't. It's one of the few of Kennedy Ryan's I haven't read. This is actually my favorite Kennedy Ryan book. But the love interest in this one is Ezra Stern. And this is just a man who knows what he wants. You know? Love it. It's kind of friends to lovers in a way because they were childhood friends and then they moved away and then he got married and she was building her career and then they come back and it lives in my head rent free. I was just going to say that. Love that. I love that. Yay.

[00:45:29] Putting it on list. Yes. Always. Kennedy Ryan's always going to be on the list. Yeah. Always. Okay. We need to know. I mean, we've gotten some of this through this conversation, but like, what are you guys reading right now? What are you recommending? Favorite books that everyone should read or like, I just read this last week and it was awesome. Any books that our listeners should know about? The Beautiful Air. Yeah. That one.

[00:45:59] By Vanessa Montalban. Just finished that one recently. That's right. Thank you. Thank you. That's a good choice. I'll tell you what I brought with me on my cruise recently to the Bahamas. Don't Tell Me How It Ends by Adrian Thurman. I'm reading this one right now and it is a contemporary black romance. Witty. It's fun. I love it. So this one's something you can check out.

[00:46:25] I'm also reading, I'm still reading The Vanquishers by Caelan Barron, which is a fifth grade vampire hunter book. And one thing I love, two things I love is middle grade and vampires. So. It's old. Yeah. Yeah. I also just love Caelan's writing. Just it. Fantastic. You're holding that up. We do have to work on the youths though, I fear, because my nieces are 17 year old twins and they have informed me that cartoon cover romances are cringe. And I'm like, well, you've never cracked one open. So have you?

[00:46:54] So you don't know anything. We've got to work on them and let them know that we love a cartoon cover romance. There's nothing wrong with this. I mean, that's, that's my only critique of, of the youths right now. We've got to figure this out, girls. This is not. Both of them are standing there like they know business. And I'm like, girl, sit down. I like a cartoon cover romance, but I'm, I'm really, I love this. That's perfect too. I'm good with it either. But yeah.

[00:47:24] We're not discriminating against books by their covers. All romance. I do love the actor. Like when they use actors, like photography, like, it's sexy. You know, let me put it down. Yeah. You all thought it out at the time. You know what it is. I'm sorry to be the old person here, but back in the day when I worked for Apple iBooks, we would go to romance conventions. Cause that's like a huge amount of the ebook readership. And my favorite ones would have the cover models just walking around.

[00:47:50] So you'd be like in a long Starbucks line with like everybody at the convention. And there'd be like a guy dressed up like a Viking. And this is a caveman. Just chilling. With his abs out and his uggs on. That's amazing. We bring it back. Bring back actors. Bring back the cover models. Oh my God. Bring back the cover models. Yes. I love that. Have you guys seen the Lost Isle of D with Sandra Bullock? Yes. Yes.

[00:48:19] I just think of like the Fabio style. Yes. You know, with this blonde flowing blonde hair. So good. I can't think of Fabio without thinking of when he like ran into a bird with his face on a roller coaster. And so now anytime anybody brings up Fabio, that's what I think about. Yes. It's not all his guys are roller coastering. He's learning so much. There's videos of it where he like comes back and there's just feathers and blood and it's horrible. But it's so funny. It's horrible.

[00:48:50] It's horrible. Poor bird. Poor bird. I've ever written before. So Julianne Long is my current like hyper fixation. And I've just read all her books. I'm like on her. I don't even know.

[00:49:20] Like I've gone mixing it up. I was like, I'm just going to consume everything. But also Evie Dunmore is another historical romance that I like to like also go to read. I love it. I read fan service by Rosie Dannen. That's been my favorite romance of the last few years. It's about a guy who used to star on a supernatural type show and he played a werewolf on it.

[00:49:49] And then his career has bottomed out. And then he starts turning into an actual werewolf. The person who ran the wiki, the fan wiki of his show to be like, what is happening? And it turns out that she he insulted her once at a con and like really broke her heart when she was a teenager. And then they fall in love. And it is hysterical. It includes the line. I'm getting a boner in Dunkin Donuts. Ben Affleck's favorite coffee shop.

[00:50:21] Which was great. And then on the complete other end of the spectrum, I am reading The Nerd Reich by Gail Duran, which is about the techno fascist movement that is brewing in Silicon Valley and the already hugely painful effects it's had on our government and the undoing of democracy in America. Because I contain multitudes. You do. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. I love it. Brilliant. Amazing.

[00:50:51] Okay, so These Kindred's Hearts is out now. But we'd love to know what's coming next for all y'all. I know. I know at least some of you have books coming soon. I mean, we've heard about one. Do you have a book coming out? Is it really good? Yes. Did you notice my deer in the headlights? Like, I was like, I'm gonna have to pitch this book now. Yes, you should. So I guess I'll go first.

[00:51:21] I do have my new YA Romanticist coming out in February 2nd of next year. And it is about the eldest heir of a fake kingdom who has to work together with a no-nonsense professor's daughter in order to woo a princess. But he falls in love with the wrong girl and puts his whole kingdom at jeopardy. Sold. That was great. I have. Yeah.

[00:51:49] That was only the second time I've ever pitched this book. So thank you. We love it. We love it. Maggie, I think you have a picture book coming, right? I have two picture books coming. So on September 1st, I have What Do People Do at the Science Museum, which is illustrated by Chin Lang. It is about what it sounds like it's about. I also have one called Bathtime for Snow Monkeys that comes out in October, illustrated

[00:52:15] by Yaz Imamura, who previously illustrated Love in the Library that I wrote. And it's all in haiku. And it's about monkeys in the bath. Precious. You wrote the whole thing is in haiku. The whole thing's in haiku. It's about the snow monkeys in Jigokudani Monkey Park in Japan who hang out in the onsen. You've probably seen footage of it online and been like, oh, those are the happiest monkeys in the world.

[00:52:42] Where it's like the monkeys like super chilled out in hot tubs, like what looks like the absolute best life possible. Yeah, that sounds amazing. Yeah. I only get the angry videos where they're like pulling people's hairs and like biting their ankles. We need to reset your algorithm. I know. I need to come to your videos. We need to calm. We need more stuff that looks like a meditation app. Put it out, you know? Oh, yeah. We'll work on it.

[00:53:10] Angela, you have a new book coming at some point. At some point. I believe in the throes of it. Yeah, I am in the thick of it. I believe it comes out fall of 2027. It's called The Immortal Undoing. It is inspired by Mesoamerican lore. And so there's gods and there's flying feathered serpents and there's the end of the world.

[00:53:37] And then there's a boy god that loses power accidentally to a human and chaos. I don't know what it's about. But it's good. It's going to be great. You're like, I'm still revising. I'm not sure what's happening yet. Dude, it's got so much happening. It's so fun. And she's a thick girl. She's full of world building. And yeah, it's great. Love it. Love it. Cherie?

[00:54:07] I love it. Nothing announced. But I've decided to kind of lean into the vibes of my Meet Me at World's End short story. And I'm working on a lot of fun paranormal romance, dark fantasy, vampires, werewolves, fae, which is the whole 2008 shebang. All of it. Love it. You're hitting all my buzzwords. This is everything. I live for like the 2008 era. I live for it. Fantasy.

[00:54:35] I recently re-watched like Teen Wolf and like the originals. And I was like, oh, this is really good actually. So they don't make it like that anymore. I made my nieces watch Twilight with me a year or so ago. And they were like, what is this fever dream? And I'm like, you had to be there. You had to be there.

[00:55:00] There's another werewolf, like British werewolf show that I used to be obsessed with. I always forget the name of it. Being human. Is it being human? That's right. That was my first thought. That was a good one. There's another one? No, it was like they were really young. They were like middle school kids and they were werewolves. And she knew she was a werewolf. She had to like protect her werewolf family. But then a new lone wolf comes into town, like threatening their turf.

[00:55:28] Are you telling me about the 2000s werewolf show? Like it was. Oh my gosh. Which it had wolf in the title. Wolf British show. Wait, was it Wolf British show? It was Bitten. Bitten was Canadian. That wasn't it. Which one was it? Which who said? Bitten. Wolf blood? That was Canadian. Wolf blood. Wolf blood. Yes, it was wolf blood. I used to love that one. Oh my gosh.

[00:55:57] That sounds like a good time. That's a little bit. Add some stuff to my list real quick. Right. You want to continue in that vein of werewolves. I love it. I love it. Okay. Well, this is the point in time where we do have to give you a teeny tiny bit of bad news. And Angela and Vanessa, you know this already. But for Maggie and Cherie, now that you've been on the podcast, you're actually legally obligated to come back for any future book releases.

[00:56:28] So sorry. So sorry. Are you not sorry? So sorry. It was in the fine print. It was really tiny. Yeah. That's why you ask us to sign in blood. This is all so much clearer now. Yeah. Yeah. We're locked up for life. Wait till you see what happens. We'll walk right into that. Blood of old sisters. Blood of old sisters. We're all a little coven now. Can't leave. I love that. Yes. I feel it. I've always wanted a coven.

[00:56:58] All right. So like I said, These Kindred Hearts is out now. Everybody go pick up a copy. It's phenomenal. We love it. All of y'all stories are so much fun. You did great. We love it. Thank you for putting out this joy into the world for us, for our children who are growing up in this. Thank you guys so much for being here. This has been a blast. We loved having you and hopefully we'll see you soon.

[00:57:28] Thanks for having us. Bye. Oh my gosh. That was so fun. I, that was a blast. I was worried it was going to be chaotic, but no, I mean, it was chaotic, but in like the most incoherent fun way. Right. It was chaotic, but like understandable. Yeah. Like it was managed chaos. I think we did good for our first like podcast panel. Hey, go ahead. We should do this more often. That was really fun.

[00:57:59] All right. When's the next anthology? Book club must. Hey, that also has Angela Montoya. I know. I should have mentioned that. We didn't even talk about that. Well, well, I'm talking about it now. Now listeners, go to one to playbookclub.com. Get the book club mess box. We'll get there. We got a whole ship to go. If you're a loser, you've cut off our episodes when the credits start to roll and you should

[00:58:27] not because there's coupon codes. That are not listed, not spoken about elsewhere. Yeah. See? Stick around. You've been paying full price for things. No, you didn't need to pay full price for. All right. Now we have. Stop it. You look so cute with your hair up. Oh, thanks. I just realized. Precious. Wait. You just realized I look cute or you just realized I had my hair up? With your hair up.

[00:58:56] I just realized that your hair was up. And it's very cute. You're always cute, but I love it. Thanks. It's really hot. So I needed it off my shoulders. It was a requirement. My fan is losing power as we speak. All right. Well, let's get to an announcement. All right. We got announcements. We can get you out of the heat. Girl, next week is going to be crazy. I'm going to throw up next week. I don't even know how to process this because what do you mean?

[00:59:25] We have not one, but two bestsellers coming next week. And they're both phenomenal and they're both new to the podcast. And I'm so excited. I'm going to throw up. Yeah. All right. So next week we have Pen Cole with Burn of the Everflame and Emily Soprana with Arab Prophecy. Oh, my God. Is this real? Is this real life? Because I don't think it's real life. Allegedly, this is real life. I'm so excited. What?

[00:59:55] I'm so excited. I can't. Wild. I feel like we've been talking about trying to get Anna Lee on forever. Yeah. Since Lore came out. Yeah. And then you decided to pick up book one of Kindred's Curse and all of a sudden it's like, you know. This is a, I have to make her. Keyboard smash immediately. Yeah. Like, let's go. Yeah. I would also like to point out this, this is how much I love Mandy because she was like,

[01:00:24] hey, can we do this book that is book four of a series where every book is like a million thousand trillion pages. It's really good. You have to admit. And then I was like, yep, sure. Okay, great. Thank God there's audio books. It's really good though. You have to admit. It's great. It was just like, it was like, we were like a month away, two months away.

[01:00:51] And it's like, collectively, what is it? What's eight times three? I didn't feel how long they were because I listened to the first three while I was painting it, repainting all of my kitchen cabinets and my kitchen and doing a whole bunch of home improvement over the course of like five days. It's just, I didn't realize how long. I have my phone because my phone sits on my desk at work as I'm playing the audio books because I need to listen while I'm working.

[01:01:19] And I just look down and I just see 34 hours left. And I'm like, okay, great. Everything's great. I'm fine. Everything's fine. Why does she want to hurt me so much? It's so good. Look, I picked them up because everyone said that there was someone who yearns almost as much as Aaron Warner. And I needed to know. There is a year. We got a year. There's a year. We got a year. Yeah. So it's going to be so much fun.

[01:01:49] I'm so excited for Penko and Annalise Brana next week. Stay tuned. Yay. All right. Which means now it's time for the spiel. Where losers who have cut off at the spiel before are going to learn we have money to save you. You're welcome. You're welcome. All right. But first, you are going to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you're listening to us because you love us. Right? Obviously, of course. Follow us on social media at TheIncoherentFangirl on all the things.

[01:02:19] And then visit our website, TheIncoherentFangirl.com, where you can also stream all of our episodes as well as read our blog. And then head over to Patreon to subscribe for early access to podcast episodes, full video episodes, bonus content, and the opportunity to ask questions of our guests. I'm sorry. Do you want to ask a New York Times bestselling author multiple times over a question? You could. You could. You could. Head to Patreon. And then if you're a merch girly, you can head over to our merch store, TheIncoherentFangirl.com

[01:02:48] slash shop to grab some cute merch designed by Mandy because sometimes she gets bored with an iPad and we reap the benefits. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, design ideas, you just want to tell us that we're pretty, we will accept all of that, obviously. TheIncoherentFangirl at gmail.com. We love hearing from y'all. And one last way to support the podcast is to rate and review on whatever platform you're listening to us on. Please give us your words. Give us those words. You know we love words. Give us the words.

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[01:03:48] And that's definitely what we're doing is saving money by listening. Right. Yes. Of course. First stop, you're going to go to herecomesthenerd.com and get you some cute pins and artsy goodies. Use code fangirl and you'll get 20% off your first order. Then you're going to head to oncewonderbookclub.com. You're going to get a subscription. You're going to get some standalone boxes, especially Book Clubmas, the advent calendar that's coming in December with stories by who? Not just me. I don't know.

[01:04:18] Who? Who? Who? Who? Maybe Angela? I don't know. Who knows? Angela Montoya? You know a lot of them now. You know two people in that. Hello? Two out of 12. That's enough for me. Sold. When you go to check out, you're going to use code Karen10 to get 10% off, but you have to spell Karen right or you're never going to get to know anything about any New York Times bestselling authors ever.

[01:04:46] You're not going to get to ever ask them a question and you're going to have to crawl in a dungeon with Carl in his underwear. Oh, no. No. I cringe just thinking about that. I don't even know Carl. Spell Karen right, guys. Please do. And then you're going to head over and visit our friend Amber D. Lewis at amberdlewis.com. You're going to add 10 of everything to your cart and then you'll use code fangirl10 to

[01:05:13] take 10% off, which means you've gotten one of everything for free. And we've definitely, definitely saved you money. That's how math works. We've definitely saved you money. Yep. For sure. And last but not least, you can support my family. You can follow the show Husband. He's at Born and Josh on all the things. You can follow at Searchers Believe. That's Paranormal Investigation Group. They have some merch. It's, I'm like all over the place. Searchersbelieve.com slash shop.

[01:05:41] If you use code fangirl10, you'll get 10% off. Literally, when we stop recording, I'm going downstairs. So we're going to work on reviving their Patreon for some behind the scenes Beacon content, exclusive interviews with casts of Beacon shows. So yeah, go check out. I don't know what website that's going to be on yet. I'll figure it out and I'll have it next week. But Patreon is coming back with a gusto. You can follow at Searchers Podcast.

[01:06:10] Maybe that'll be brought back with the Patreon. I don't know. I don't know. It's there. You can follow it. And then the big one is Beacon TV. It's our paranormal horror true crime streaming app. It's like Netflix but better. You can go follow. A lot cheaper. You can go follow at Stream Beacon TV on all the things. I'm their social media girl. So if you could go engage with the page, that would be wonderful. What a lovely crime.

[01:06:41] I know. I can bribe you. It's fine. And then if you'd like to subscribe, you can go to StreamBeaconTV.com and use code fangirl10 to get 10% off of your subscription. And last but not least, I wrote a little book. I wrote a little something. It's called The Living and the Dead. It's about a girl who was born a ghost but ages like the living and the reaper who would die to get her to look at him. Speaking of yearners. He's a little swoony. I've been thinking about writing a lot.

[01:07:11] Wistfully thinking about writing. I just never have time. So yeah, if you would like to order The Living and the Dead, it is on all the major retailers. But if you would like a signed copy, you have to go to my website, aepervice.com and use code Erin Warner to get 10% off because it wouldn't be me if I didn't make something about Erin Warner. That's true. I'm but a girl. I'm who I am. Okay. I can't be anybody else.

[01:07:41] I'm terrified of this show. And we don't want you to be anything else. No. I'm just really scared of the show. I'm sorry. Anyways, that was the Coherent Fangirl. Thanks for listening. We love you. Bye-bye. We are sponsored by our friends at Here Comes the Nerd. Pins, stickers, magnets, and more. Here Comes the Nerd has happy art for all fandom loving hearts.

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