Seventeen Tropes in a Trenchcoat

[00:00:00] You didn't spill it this time. I didn't, oh my god. During insane fires, Karin. Right, I know! Like, water is such a precious resource right now. This is not the time. Welcome to The Incoherent Fangirl. Where we're back, bitches! We're back. I feel like I blinked. I know. The holiday season goes so fast. Yeah, our winter break doesn't ever feel like a break. The summer break, however. Yes, summer break feels like a break.

[00:00:29] Winter feels like I blinked and it was gone. Yeah, anyways, I'm Mandy of Beskaiath War College. I'm Karin from Chinatown. Hey! Welcome back to the podcast. It is season four. When did that happen? I feel like we just started this. I know, this is really weird. This freaked me out. Yeah, and for anybody who's on Patreon and gets the video, I have a new backdrop because I am like a grown-up and have

[00:00:59] an official office now. It's very strange. Look at you. But also very exciting. I see me. I am on your screen multiple times now. There you are. I know, my big-ass head is blocking most of it, but it's fine. It'll be in, like, content. I added someone, too. That's Aaron Warner. It's an Aaron Warner candle with a little cartoon of Aaron Warner. I love it. I love it. He was over there and I was like, wait a minute. You deserve to be in the shot. He needs to be. Yeah, that's silly. He needs the limelight.

[00:01:27] The fact that he wasn't there already is just. I know. I don't know. Well, that one's closer to my desk. Oh, that'll do it. I've got Chloe. Like, this is literally all of this is Chloe. Everything in this shot is Chloe. So that's fun. We've got Lauren, Lana, and then that's the end making of June Farrell because I'm obsessed with that book. Love it.

[00:01:51] So lots going on. But welcome back. We're very excited. We are booked with interviews almost every week until May. We have a couple weeks that we're still working on, but it's very exciting. I think we've got most of the first half of the season booked, which is so insane. Yeah. For, yeah. So. This is wild. This is crazy. I'm loving this for us. So, yay.

[00:02:19] But boo stuff now. Mandy's, it's time to make Mandy mad at me for the first time this year. In our timeline, friends, it is January 9th. And in y'all's timeline, it is January 17th when this first episode is being released into the world. It's very exciting. I will say these nine days of January have felt like 500 days of January, which is always the case. January is like the longest month of the year to me. It's so weird how that works too because.

[00:02:49] I guess because we went from like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then it's like. And then it's like nothing. Now there's nothing but going back to work. Which is gross. Which is so gross. Yeah. I like that. But here we are. This week in fangirling, Mandy, tell me what you did. What I did not do for last year was meet my reading goal. But that's because I was.

[00:03:16] Biggest, most exciting thing is that the living and the dead is like the draft is finished. It's with my alpha readers. I've got feedback from one of the three. I'm making edits based on their feedback. Then it'll go to beta readers. Whatever. You know, editing, of course. Yes. I got to read it on my Kindle, which I should have brought up here. I'm realizing now, which is the most surreal thing in the world. Because you can like, I could highlight on my Kindle and my book. Words that you wrote.

[00:03:44] Words that I wrote and characters that I made up in my head. Yeah. I've been drafting book two a lot. And there's a new character that I am high key obsessed with. The twins hate this character already. They're like, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. And I can't wait for everybody to meet Abby and write in. Yay. And the gang. So exciting. There's a lot of people. I'm like 10 chapters in. But this is, I was saying to Manny, I'm like, this is the slowest that I've read a book

[00:04:13] in a long time because I'm like going through and taking notes and writing comments and things like that. Like I can't just speed through it like I normally do with the book. Like I actually have to do work. Yeah. Which is great. No, it's great. I love it. It's just very different for me. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, whatever gets the feedback. Yeah. I need it. I did. This technically wasn't this week, but I would be remiss if I don't have it in my notes because it's going to impact the Candy Awards.

[00:04:41] I did reread Shatter Me over the break, which means we already know who my fictional boyfriend of the year is. So, I mean, nobody else should even try because I read Aaron Warner this cycle. What a way to start like the year, this year cycle. Like you can't even. Starting it off. Right. Like there's no, there's no, you're done. There's no topping it. So I guess I kind of messed myself up. Yeah. This definitely would have been like the end of the year.

[00:05:10] I mean, technically it was your end of the year. It was. I read it in like November-ish, but. Yeah. Okay. So this week I took my baby niece to see Wicket. I took the twins and Josh in November, of course. Took her this weekend because I wanted to take her in the theater before it was gone. Wanted her to get the experience. So I didn't tell her. I just text my sister and I said, hey, I want to pick her up, surprise her, take her to the movie, take her to dinner, have a spin a night, all of it. She's five.

[00:05:39] She loved Galinda, obviously. She said everyone but Elphaba needed to listen to the kindness song. And when I asked her what she thought of Fiero, she blushed and like covered her face. So like same girl. One of us. Same. One of us. That night I was like, we should probably watch The Wizard of Oz. And she was not amused, not impressed. Her commentary was, I hate these munchkins. I hate their costumes. And they're so mean to Elphaba. I hate the way they dance.

[00:06:08] Ugh, they're mean and I hate them. She hated the scarecrow, the tin man, the lion. And asked me to, she said, you know when you press that button and then it goes faster to the end? Can you do that? Because this is so bored. And Mandy told me this. And I guess spoiler alert for Wicked if you don't know. But I was like, she told me that her niece did not like the scarecrow. And I was like, baby girl is going to have a conniption for Wicked Part 2. A conniption. Yep.

[00:06:37] We'll try again. Maybe I won't try to convince, try to get her to watch a movie made in the 2020s and then watch a movie made in 1939. Because for a five-year-old, that's a drastic quality difference. Yeah. She fell asleep right after she saw the horse of a different color. She was like, I'm so done with this shit. And I'm not interested in this at all. But it was a fun little Mimi and baby girl night. Yeah. I took her to Waffle House after and she got whatever she wanted.

[00:07:05] And then she took a nice long bath with the bath toys at Mimi's, which are different than the bath toys at home. So she stayed in there until she was pruney. And then we tried with the Wizard of Oz. And yeah. It was just that. And then we went thrifting the next day with my sister. Fun. I am re-listening to Iron Flame to get ready for Onyx Storm. And I have something controversial that I hate myself to say. I may be becoming a Dane apologist in my old age. Yeah.

[00:07:33] It has been an experience to witness this change in Mandy. So like we know that other than the Hunger Games, like I am sick for the best friend from home. Like I love that. Like Kalorn Warren. Hello. Like I wanted her with Kalorn. So if you look at Violet from Dane's perspective, he thinks she's brainwashed. He thinks something like that is something has been done to her. And I'm not convinced. Spoiler. Spoiler. Spoiler. Spoiler.

[00:08:03] Spoiler. Spoiler. I'm not convinced that he's not under a signet of like mind control. Fair. Sporadically. Because there are moments where he acts one way and then he acts completely different and it's erratic. And I don't trust that he's doing some things of his own free will. I don't trust anything at this point. Right. To be honest. And I'm not saying I want her to end up with Dane. I've heard controversial theories that Dane is the enemy and the enemy's to lovers.

[00:08:31] I'm worried that Jack Barlow could be an enemy to lover because she and Zayden were never really enemies. Yeah. And people will say, Rebecca Yaros said their end game. Rebecca Yaros did some bad things. Okay. She did some bad things. So I don't know that I trust her saying that. I don't trust any fantasy writers saying anything. Other than like. The only thing I trust is I won't kill off the dog. That's what I was going to say.

[00:09:00] That's the only thing I trust. The animal companion is safe. I trust that. But other than that, I don't trust a single word out of their mouth until that book is written. Nothing. Yeah. Also, they could say that and that just not be where the characters take them to. You know? Yeah. Like they could be like, this is end game. Especially. Yeah. She's got two more books to write. Like she could be writing and be like, oh, JK. And then all of those words are out the window.

[00:09:29] Unless she's got them plotted and outlined to hell. She said she hasn't even started writing book four. So I don't trust that shit. Not a chance. I don't either. Not a chance. I don't either. So I might be feeling sorry or feeling empathetic towards Dane. There. In my old age. I might be coming around to the guy. So there's that. But I am not completely done with it because I had to get on a record. But oh my God. Oh my God. My boss just texted me Milo Ventimiglia's house.

[00:09:58] Oh no. Oh, I love him so much. Oh. Oh, that makes me so. We're listening. We're a week behind. So we are in the middle of the California wildfires. Oh my God. That makes me so. Like, I'm so sad for everybody. But. Yeah. It's. It's a really scary time. I was smiling. Not that it's a funny thing. But that my boss loves me and knows that I love my little bit of Amelia. So that's why I was smiling. Right. That's sweet of her to tell me. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Okay. I am so sorry for that derailment. Yeah. We're thinking of everybody. Yeah. In the fires.

[00:10:28] In this crazy snowstorm. In the. Yeah. Midwest. In the north. People in Virginia who don't have water. It's wild right now. It is. What is going on? It's. Well. It's the end of days. Yeah. I mean. Pretty much. I mean. Seriously. Well. January 6th was just a few days ago. So it's clear. It's end of days. It's. That's cursed. That's it. That's it. Yeah. And before. I. I put this on like my personal Facebook. So I didn't post this widely. But like.

[00:10:58] And when you're hearing this. This is a week later. So I'm. Probably fine. But. I'm in northern California. So I'm not by the fires. I've had several people reach out. And I'm like. I love you. I'm hundreds of miles away. California is huge. We have friends there though. We have so many friends. We have. I have family down there. Like it's. Scary as fuck right now. Yeah. So. Our hearts definitely go out. To everybody in the LA area. Everybody who is dealing with.

[00:11:28] All of the crazy weather. And all of the crazy stuff. That is happening. Right now. It's wild. It's scary. In another life. He would have been my husband. And his house is burning down. That would have been your house. I could have been mine. In another life. In another life. That was your house. With your husband. Sorry Josh. But that has been my A1. Since I was like 13. Him and Lazera are holding out. They're the longest running celebrities. Yeah. I hate to see that. It's terrifying. And I can't even fathom.

[00:11:58] The photos coming out of LA are so scary. Yeah. So scary. Yeah. And then I don't understand it. Because this is like when California hears hurricane. It's like that's a rare thing. But people are like we're not in the evacuation zone. But they can see the fire like down the block. And I'm like how does that work? Yeah. It's. How can you see it? But you're not close enough. Like it blows. I guess because that's the way the wind is blowing. And all of that. Pushing the flames.

[00:12:28] I'm sure there's something behind it. There's science there. There's not. There's not. There's not enough wildfires close enough to where I live. To where I know like all the details of that. But I'm sure there's. It's so humid here that it's. Yeah. There's. I'm sure there's some sort of science and something behind it. But yeah. I have friends who are like I can see it from my window. Which is terrifying. We're staying home because we're not being told to evacuate. What? Yeah. What?

[00:12:58] I know a lot of people who are like we're not being told to evacuate. But we're ready to. Like they're packed and ready to go. Our car is packed. We're ready to walk. Everybody's ready to go. They're. They've got the plans for their pets and all of that. So. They're ready. It's just they're not quite in danger. I don't want to say it like that. But like you know what I mean. Yeah. So. I guess if everybody evacuated all at once. Everybody would be stuck in the line of fire. So that's why they do it in zones. Yeah. Woo. Definitely. Definitely. Hope that we have a.

[00:13:27] An update next week that. Or by the time you're hearing this. There have been updates that. The fires are contained. They're put out. And they're starting to rebuild. It should be fucking raining right now. And we're on fire. I know. It's a mess. Climate change isn't real guys. Fuck that. Anyways. Okay. So on a lighter note. Now that. Yeah. That derailed a little bit. I'm sorry. Josh and I started. While we were eating dinner. The wild robot. Have you. Have you seen this? I haven't seen it yet. No.

[00:13:56] It is so cute. Okay. So it's a movie. He just put it on. I was like. Okay. We're going to watch a movie. It's called the wild robot. It's got an AI. A word style. Full body robot. Robot. That like. That's the world it is. I robot. Whatever. And they are like. Give me a task. And I'll do the task. So they can help you with gardening. They can trim your nose hairs. They can you know. Go grocery shopping for you. Whatever you need. These robots can do that. So this one robot. It's like.

[00:14:27] Rosam. And a bunch of numbers. Is lost in shipment. And I assume it's like a plane crash. Or something. She's like. Lands in the ocean. And washes up a shore. On an uninhabited by humans. Island. So there's just animals. So of course. She's a terrifying monster. And they all run from her. And they're all afraid. So she kind of goes into this weird like. Hibernation thing. Because she's like. I can't understand your language. Because all she hears is like. Squirrels chittering. Right. You know. Raccoons screaming.

[00:14:56] And bears growling. So she goes into this weird hibernation. And she collects data. And learns to speak animal. Basically. Things happen. And she ends up with a baby gosling. It like hatches and imprints on her. And so he's like. Mama. Like this is my mother. And so she's basically a mother now. Even though she's a robot. So she doesn't have. Any maternal instincts. At all. Until. Her fox friend. Fink. Is like. This is your task.

[00:15:25] You've been wandering around. Saying you got to get a task. Here it is. Motherhood. Enjoy. So the gosling. Has to learn how to eat. Swim. And fly. Before the fall migration. Because if he stays there. Like it's too cold. We all know. Like birds migrate. So she and the fox. Fink. Kind of adopt him. They become this little. Found family. Aww. And it's very cute. I've got like 20 minutes left in it. So I'll finish it when we finish recording. But it is. Precious. I love. I love. Yeah.

[00:15:55] It's really cute. And then. I read. Unromance. By Erin Connor. More on that later. And I think that was my week. It was kind of boring over here. It's fair. I mean it's week after everything. The holidays. It's quiet. I wrote a lot. Yeah. Edited a lot. TikToked a lot. Before we might lose it. I've been spending a lot of time on TikTok. Just in case I lose it. What did you do this week?

[00:16:23] So I wrote down stuff that basically I started this year. So it's a little more than a week. But whatever. I read Stranger Skies by Pascal LaSalle. This is the sequel to Curious Tides. And I'll be honest. I don't really remember Curious Tides. I do remember really loving it when I did read it. But in this story our main girly Emery and her bestie Romy have gone through a door which happened in book one. It was like the end of book one.

[00:16:52] And they have ended up in this twisted kind of version of the Witchwood which is a place from this beloved thought to be fictional novel. The Song of the Drowned Gods. And they're kind of like what the hell is happening? And something is kind of corrupting the world. And they need to figure out what it is and also how to get back to their world. Meanwhile their buddies Baz and Kai are in their world.

[00:17:20] Basically trying to save all of the eclipse born. So the magic system in this is like people are born under certain moon phases. And so people who are born under an eclipse are thought to be more of the bad guys. And so they're trying to save the eclipse born who have collapsed. Which basically means that they use too much of their magic. And it kind of burned through them. And now it's uncontrollable.

[00:17:49] But spoiler alert. It's actually not uncontrollable. It's more like it's more limitless than it was before. But the people in charge don't really want the population to know that. They have this bias against eclipse born. Because they're so much more rare than everybody else. And so of course the people in charge are like they're awful people. Look what happens to them. They're very dangerous. And trying to turn everybody against them. So Baz and Kai are working on trying to save all of the eclipse born who have collapsed.

[00:18:18] Who are currently in hiding because they have collapsed. At the same time they're trying to find a way to bring Emery and Romy back to their world. And somehow end up in the past. Oops. Oops. So the whole story is basically across worlds and across timelines. Emery, Romy, Baz and Kai are trying to find their way back to each other. Trying to find their way back to their present. To their world.

[00:18:44] To stop kind of a greater evil that they really could not have ever predicted. It was something that I was like reading. And I was like what do you what do you mean? What do you mean this is actually the big bad? It does end on a cliffhanger of sorts. And I'm very excited for book three. So hopefully we get that soon. I read Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. It's a really interesting format for a book. And it's in part written in like second person.

[00:19:14] Which is pretty cool. You don't see a lot of books written in second person. It's kind of hard to explain like the storyline and the premise of this book. But what I would say is I would recommend watching like the Hulu series that was adapted from this book first before reading the book. Because I think that it's less confusing if you watch it in a physical format first. And then go back and read it. At least that's how I did it. And I don't know. Maybe that's just how my brain works.

[00:19:44] Maybe it works okay for other people to read it first and then watch the series. But I really enjoyed it. I really love the series as well. So I highly recommend both of them. Public Rivalry by Rebecca Kincaid. You've got Corinne and Gray who have basically been rivals since grade school. They literally have known each other basically their whole lives. They attended the same boarding schools. The same colleges. They were even in the same like MBA JD program. Now in the present Corinne's best friend impersonates her on a dating app.

[00:20:14] And swipes, unknowingly swipes right on Gray. She doesn't know who Gray is to Corinne. And she swipes right on Gray. And Corinne is mortified because she's like, oh shit, he's gonna lord this over me. Until Gray responds about time. What? What? So she is basically the one thing that his billions of dollars cannot buy. But can he convince her that they aren't actually arch enemies? Like she thinks they are? It's a romance novel. So what do you think?

[00:20:43] I think that I hope she ate him in the end. He's a billionaire. Technically his dad's a billionaire and he just benefits from that. He himself does not have billions, but it's close enough. You know. Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter, which kind of similar dynamics. You've got Liz, who is a hopeless romantic. And she grew up on like her mom's rom-com. So she's very like into like love stories and the tropes and all of that.

[00:21:13] And when her childhood crush, Michael Young, returns to town, she will do anything to get him to notice her because she thinks he is the love of her life. They are endgame. This is fate. She will even enlist the help of her very cute, but also super obnoxious neighbor since basically birth, Wes Bennett. Liz and Wes have... It's a good name. It's a good name. Liz and Wes have not been friends. They used to like, they all used to hang out as kids in the neighborhood.

[00:21:40] And as they grew up, Wes just kind of became too obnoxious for her. And she was like, not a fan. So Liz proposes a deal in which Wes will bring her along to a party that Michael is attending. And he will talk her up and try and convince Michael to try and date her. And she is going to give up the very coveted parking spot on the curb in front of both of their houses. And so he's like, deal, I'm in.

[00:22:07] Due to a mishap at the party, Wes ends up proposing a counter offer. They should fake date so that Michael can actually see that Liz is a catch and not the little Liz that he knew from childhood. Shenanigans ensue. Wes has very clearly been obsessed with her for forever. This is a devious kind of plot, obviously. So yes, I will say this is the book. And I texted Mandy about this.

[00:22:33] When I first started listening to this book, I was so close to DNFing it because Liz is such peak cringe teenager. And I think part of it is that she reminded me too much of myself at that age where it's like, oh my gosh, this is fate. This is the love of my life. I have to do anything to get him. And it's in such a cringe way because everything to teenagers is extremes, right? The biggest thing ever. Right.

[00:23:04] And so she's like lying to her best friend about trying to rope Wes into scheming and all of this stuff. And so it's just so it's so cringe in the beginning, the way she talks about Michael. And I'm just like, oh, but it got better once they like hatched a plan and Wes was actually more involved in the narrative. I was like, okay, this man actually had for a teenager. He's actually got his head on straight. So that helped a lot. And it's told strictly from Liz's POV.

[00:23:32] So it was a lot at the beginning. And I was so close to DNFing it. And then I read there are a couple short stories that follow it. So Better Than The Prom, which is Prom Night from Wes's POV. What? No, I'm just kidding. Better Than Before, which is like a prequel crossover of Better Than The Movies and then another Lynn Painter book, Betting On You, that features the lead couples from both books.

[00:23:58] Nothing Better Than You, which is Liz and Wes's first kiss from Wes's POV. I wish the whole book was in Wes's POV. Honestly, Liz drives drove me absolutely insane. And again, it could just be because she reminded me way too much of myself at that age. I don't want to see how cringe I was. Because it's so cringy. And I'm just like, oh, God, that was me. Yeah.

[00:24:25] So I know anytime the twins come up with any kind of drama with their friends or anything, I'm just like, listen, you're not going to remember this. Right. Oh, God, the teenage years. Yeah. And then I read Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chow. You've got Lady Jing, who is a half vampire, half fox spirit that was pawned off by her mother to the king of hell when she was just a child. Growing up as the king's ward didn't really win her any friends or any favors.

[00:24:55] And she spent the last 90 some odd years just running errands and dodging taunts from like the society like in hell because they have hierarchies in hell too. Who knew? And trying to control her very explosive temper. She has a temper. Obviously, she's a vampire and fox spirit. Like she was bound to have a temper. When she overhears a bunch of courtiers who, by the way, she already hates because they have been tormenting her for forever.

[00:25:22] She overhears them plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the king. She's like, this is my chance to expose them for the terrible people that they are because the king of hell has always kind of like sided with them against her. And she's like, no, this is my chance. It backfires pretty badly to the point where he is like, listen, you need to go to the mortal world for a couple days and cool down and you can come back after you've cooled down.

[00:25:49] And so he sends her to the mortal world with a mortal named Tony Lee who has been contracted by the king of hell to set up a central bank for hell. Okay. Because so it's very steeped in like a Chinese culture and stuff. So when during like certain lunar cycles, we were meant to burn Joss paper and burn things

[00:26:13] like that to send off to our ancestors so that they have money and they have things in the afterlife. And so there's kind of not been like a central bank for all of that stuff. And so this mortal who I guess works in banking, I think in the mortal world has been contracted to help create this in hell. And now he's kind of set as Lady Jing's babysitter because she tried to do things and got caught.

[00:26:42] And so she's like, god damn it. And but she's like, wait, I can still find things out in the mortal world. I'm still going to expose them. And so it's just a couple days until like the new moon and then she has to go back. But the more time she spends with him, the less he annoys her to the point where she actually eventually has to decide if she is going to continue plotting and scheming to avenge her

[00:27:07] loss of face in hell or kind of let go of her anger and the kind of half empty shell of a life that she has been living for the chance to experience some tenderness and maybe love. So who knows? But I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which I don't really know when it comes out. I looked it up and I think it comes out in the UK soon. But then several months later for the US, but the audiobook comes out before.

[00:27:37] I don't know. It was very confusing. So who knows? But I'm very excited. And that was my week. I did read Unromance, but it was not this week. It was a couple of weeks ago. But we will talk about that shortly. Do you have a fictional boyfriend this week? I have two. And it's basically for the same reasons. It's Wes Bennett from Better Than The Movies and Gray Davenport from Public Rivalry.

[00:28:06] Because it's so unbelievably obvious that they're both absolutely gone for their respective women and have been for forever. And yet the women are like, no, we're enemies. We're rivals. I hate you. Blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like, girl, what? What? Open your eyes. Just what? Especially Liz, who is like a romance girly. How do you not see that this man is gone for you?

[00:28:36] And it's just, it's wild. But the things that they would do for their girls, I adore them. They're so fun. What about you? I like it. I would be remiss if I don't say Zayden, obviously. Of course. I mean, I have a heart. I have a pulse. So yeah, Zayden. And then Mason Alvarez-West from Unromance. Because I too am a hopeless romantic. Yeah. Mason is. About love.

[00:29:04] Mason is such a sweetheart. I do adore him. Yeah. Sweet little baby. Love it. Love it. That sound means we have an intruder alert. It's the first intruder of 2025. This is so, so exciting. Oh my gosh. We're so excited to have you. Erin Conner is here, author of Unromance, which can we just marvel at this cover for a second?

[00:29:33] Because perfection. I'm obsessed with it. I love it. Welcome to the podcast, Erin. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Karen, this question you're about to ask is the funniest question you could ask for this book. And I'm just going to say it and then you ask the question. Is it really a question or is it just that? Okay. Well, what we normally do with our guests when they first arrive is can you give us the quick elevator pitch?

[00:30:02] The elevator pitch! Of the book for anyone. But your elevator pitch doesn't have to be quick because you're stuck in the elevator. I get the long pitch. You can go as long as you want. Okay. So elevator pitch is a recently jumped TV actor, gets stuck in an elevator with a jaded romance author,

[00:30:26] and they both recognize it as a meet cute, but they want nothing to do with it because they're both not in a position to be in a relationship. So they decide to ruin their meet cute by having a one night stand, which always works out in a rom-com. 100%. And they definitely don't run into each other again. Absolutely not. So when they run into each other again, they decide to embark on a mission to ruin more romance tropes for the hopeless romantic.

[00:30:52] So he stops falling for them and can clean up his image a little bit and then hopefully inspire our jaded romance author to finish her book, which is on deadline, past deadline, actually. And of course they fall in love. It's a romance. Yeah. It's a romance. It has to be. Oh, I loved it. So where did this story come from? Did you have to un-romance someone or is this just like a fun? I wish. I wish. I think I'd be great at it.

[00:31:19] But no, the idea came from during COVID, like a lot of people, I started just devouring romance because I just was craving that comfort of the happily ever after and the like, you're going to go on a journey, but you'll be okay in the end. And so I wanted to just kind of like write a love letter to the genre because it meant so much to me. Previous to un-romance, I was writing fantasy and paranormal, like every millennial I feel like that got their start in fan fiction trenches.

[00:31:49] And so I was like, can I write a romance? And then like, what would my ideal romance look like? And so I'm type A. So I made a list of all my favorite cliches and tropes in romance. And I was looking at the list and I was like, there's no way this is going to fit into one book without it feeling like 17 tropes in a trench coat. And then I was like, what if they were doing the tropes on purpose and then accidentally becoming other tropes?

[00:32:17] And then I was like, well, that's ridiculous. Who would do that? And then I realized, well, obviously an actor and a romance author would have knowledge of tropes. And from there, Sawyer just kind of walked into my brain. I still like vividly remember the minute it happened because I was cooking dinner and I had to go grab my laptop from the next room. And I was literally like typing and cooking at the same time. And I wrote that first scene where they got stuck in the elevator together.

[00:32:44] And I knew that she was going to be this like jaded romance author that didn't believe in love because that just felt like the contradiction there was just so delicious. And then I knew he was going to be our hopeless romantic because I was like, I just really want to read a man that's not anti-love. I was like, I want to write a male main character that's just like so excited to fall in love and like find his partner. And yeah, and it just, it took off from there. It's so good. And I love the way that you did it.

[00:33:13] You incorporated so many tropes into it. Like that's one of the things that I think is hard with romance because there are so many tropes to love and you want to always like pack it in there. And you found a way to do it in where it's like, it doesn't feel heavy with them because it can feel heavy if you put too many tropes in it. And I love that you kind of subverted them by them being like, hey, no, we're ruining this. This is a trope and we're going to make it suck.

[00:33:43] They weren't very good at making them suck because they still had too much fun with it. But they had fun trying. The little chapter intros too would kill me. Oh my gosh, yes. I had so much fun with those. Those actually didn't come about until right before we went on sub. I had already signed with my agent and she messaged me after we'd already done like a round of edits. And she was like, what do you think about adding chapter headers? And I was like, hmm.

[00:34:10] And they just came out of me because I wrote them in Sawyer's voice. It was so much fun. I think I did like 75% of them like in a day because I was just like, yep, I know exactly what's going on this chapter. And then it became kind of like a fun challenge of like, can I sneak any of these in? Like any more in? Yeah. Which ones have I not like touched on, you know, like gray sweatpants and like some of the like smaller like micro-troms. Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. So good. So as you said, Sawyer is very tired.

[00:34:40] She's very jaded kind of in her work life. She's like, oh, romance. Why? We'll be struggling. And I can't speak from experience. But I do feel like it feels very real and authentic to kind of the whole author-writer experience, especially debuting. And as a debut yourself, where or what exactly did you pull from to kind of give Sawyer that experience and that jadedness? Because she, she real tired.

[00:35:09] She real tired. It's really funny that you ask that specifically because like when I was writing it, I was having like the time of my life. So like I was not struggling with writer's block. It just kind of flowed out of me. And then as I started editing it, like with my editor once it sold, like I hit some writer's block and like had some difficult edit notes that I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do here or like how to address this. Like this is an important note. And so it kind of felt like a mirror.

[00:35:38] And I was just like, oh, I played myself. I'm shorter now. Like I am the one that is struggling. So it was kind of funny. But it also just kind of allowed me to like lean into it further and add some more specific details. But I've been writing for a long time since I was probably like 14 and like seriously pursuing publication like since I was 22. So I pulled on that a lot. And I've definitely had periods of writer's block.

[00:36:05] So all the things that are in there are a lot of them are really niche to me, like the food metaphors that like comparing that to like drafting and like cooking. Like that's me eating a whole bag of Cheetos while you write. That's me. I actually initially had like in one of her scenes where she was writing that she had like banana peels and apple cores on her desk. And I like changed it to Cheetos and like peanut butter jars because I was like, there's no way she's over here like eating clean. Yeah.

[00:36:35] That's so true. Yeah, I pulled a lot on just like my many years of writing and just tried to make it like feel fun and specific. And I have had fellow authors that have read it that are like, you were just calling me out over here. I'm so sorry. I need to put a content warning for like, if you've ever had writer's block, this may trigger you. That's true.

[00:36:57] So this was a light and fun rom-com, but you also had some heaviness, at least for me as someone who has experience like going no contact with family. Sawyer is no contact with her family. What was it like to juggle such a big contrast and like keeping it fun, but also dealing with such like sad feelings and such a sad experience for her? I just, I feel like that's life.

[00:37:23] I feel like you have like really beautiful moments simultaneously with really awful ones. So I just felt like, you know, okay, they're doing this like fun and silly mission, but of course they're still going to have that depth and darkness. And like everyone has those things in their past, but that doesn't make you any less deserving of a happily ever after, you know, like you're going to go through things and grow through them and you deserve to be loved the whole time, you know?

[00:37:47] And with Sawyer too, it was important to me that, you know, there's a lot of stories where characters that don't have a relationship with their parents then reconcile by the end. And that's a part of the happily ever after, but there's also a lot of people that don't ever get that. And so I thought it was important to also show that, that like you're, you can still have, oh, sorry, that's my daughter. I'm going to apologize for your daughter. You can still have a happily ever after. As he interrupts my like very sad. He's like, don't be sad, mom.

[00:38:17] Don't be sad. Yeah, I love that. So this is kind of, this is kind of spoiler. So like, if you haven't read Unromance yet, like go away for a second. But one thing that I really did love was that Mason didn't go get her book for her. She went and got her book herself. Because when I read about the, when she first brought up the book, I was like, that's going to be his grand gesture. He's going to go get the book for her. I was so glad that she did it her damn self. If you want a deep cut here, I actually initially did have him go get the book.

[00:38:44] And Alicia Thompson read the first draft of this book because I submitted to her for Pitch Wars. And she was like, I really just feel like Sawyer should get it. Like, I feel like I wouldn't want my ex-boyfriend to go get this book. And so she pushed me. And I was like, when she said that, I was like, you're so right. Like, I would not want the guy that I was dating to go get the book. And like, I'm so glad that she said that because the book is so much better for it. And yeah, she got to have her healing moment, you know. So it's really funny that you picked up. Yeah. That was so mean. And I think she's so, yeah.

[00:39:14] And she's so like, she's so strong and independent herself. Like, I feel like that it's very true to her character for her to be like, no, I need to, I need to step up. I need to heal. I need to go do this for myself. And I love that. Like, she grand gestured herself. Yeah. Oh, I love that. In like a sense, in like, this whole book is kind of about them like, breaking trope stereotypes kind of thing. And so like, for her to go and grand gesture herself is like, it's so on par with the rest of the book. Yeah.

[00:39:43] And it's so like, true of her too, that like, she doesn't even like, fully think through what she's doing. She just like, goes and does it. And then she's like, oh, shit. Like, wait, what? Do you have a big gesture? What am I doing? I probably should have thought of this before I just drove to another state. I love that about her though. Because that's, it feels so true to not just her character, but to like a lot of people too. Like, you just kind of, when you get something in your mind, you just go for it. And then you're like, oh, shit. Wait, what?

[00:40:13] Should I have done that? Hold on a second. Am I emotionally prepared to do this right now? Nope. But I'm doing it. We're in it now. I'm in the middle of it. So too late to turn back now. Too late. So I always, we always like to know like kind of what the writing process is for authors. Like, are you a plotter? Are you a pantser? Did the story just kind of flow out of you? Or did you have to sit down and like, be like, okay, this is beat by beat what's going to happen? Every book is different for me.

[00:40:41] But this, I found a term that's like an in-between of a pantser and a plotter that's called like a flashlight plotter or a headlight plotter. And I only really know, so I know kind of the overarching beats of the story at a very loose level. Like, maybe like a line of like kind of what happens. And voice is really important to me. So like, I kind of tend to just like pants my way through like the first 10k.

[00:41:06] Just those like initial setup moments to really kind of learn who the character is and learn their voice and how they think and move through the world. And once I kind of feel like I know them, then I will do a little bit of plotting. But I kind of only know like a few scenes ahead of where I am. So like, I'll know what I'm working on and where it's going. And then maybe a vague inclination of whatever's next. But that's literally it. And it just kind of keeps the, like it moves forward just like as I go.

[00:41:34] So yeah, I'm not an intense plotter. I've tried to be. It just never works. I'm on the journey with them. I also write in order. I can't write out of order because I need to know like emotionally where they are and how they're feeling about things. I also edit as I go, which is like everyone says not to do. But like I go backwards and reread what I wrote before to kind of like check in with them emotionally. Like, okay, like what just happened? What should they be reacting to? How are we moving forward in this next moment? I'm also very weird and I have an alpha reader.

[00:42:04] So you can tell I'm from the fan fiction trenches because my best friend has read everything I've ever written. And she reads it as I write it. So I have like constant feedback from her. But it helps me like have my audience and know like, okay, is she like picking up what I'm laying down? Like, is she like intrigued by certain things? Like, is there something I could play into that maybe she picked up on that I didn't realize I was doing? So it's like a fun little challenge for me that I'm like always very specifically like I'm writing for myself, but also for her.

[00:42:31] So it's like if she's not engaged, then like something's wrong, you know? Right. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I know a lot of people are like, I could never have someone read as I write, but it's like I need it. Like, it's just it's so fun. Look, I finished the manuscript first, but she's alpha reading for me right now. So yeah. Meanwhile, she's she like didn't let me read anything until she finished the manuscript. And meanwhile, I'm like, she's in my Google Docs as I'm writing. Like, tell me what's going on. Yeah.

[00:43:01] Everyone's different. Like how like involved you want someone. But it's also like I don't think I could have anyone else do that with me except for her. Right. And it's just because we have that rapport because we've been doing it since I was like 14. But yeah, like I like that feedback. I've also done it where she like when she was busy where she couldn't read it as I was writing and I was just like, oh, it's so lonely. It's only me in here. Come back. I need you. I'm so bored.

[00:43:29] Okay, so we have a couple of questions that we like to ask all of our authors. And the first one is where everything you've ever read, watched, consumed goes out of your brain. It's gone. So it's normal. Prepare. Prepare for that. We have a segment that we call fictional boyfriend of the week. And it doesn't have to be a boyfriend, but we just pick a character in a book we've read or a movie we watched or show. That we're just vibing with that week. So it could be Mason was one of mine this week. Karen's had a fictional granny.

[00:43:59] We've had fictional found families. Fictional dogs. Do you have any like favorite characters that you are like, that is mine. That's my boo thing or my comfort character or. Just somebody that you think everybody needs to meet this person. I love it. It doesn't have to be someone you wrote. Yeah. I was going to say someone I wrote. That's like. You can't. That's super vain. No. No. So my book to love interest is like, I specifically wrote him for Teenage Me.

[00:44:27] That was like just the most emo girl on the planet that was very into music. And so he's like my love letter to like emo pop punk metal. His name is Dax and I'm obsessed with him. I love that. And so I was just. It's like literally like 17 year old me's like dream man. I was just talking about my 17 year old 13 year old dream man, which was my love and Amelia was one thing. But then Adam Lazara from taking back Sunday is my art. I'm married.

[00:44:57] But when I was like when we were a little bit younger, like taking back Sunday was on my Spotify and one of my nieces was like, is that Uncle Josh? Wait, did you just confuse your uncle for Lazara? Because I'll die. This is the best day of my life. You know, just like the bands that you listen to when you're a teenager are just like so formative and you just like. And like, so yeah, my book two is just like if book one, if Unromance is my love letter to romance, book two is my love letter to emo kids.

[00:45:26] So I cannot wait. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with that. I love that so much. Speaking of book two, is there anything that you can tell us about it? Like, are there any snippets that you can get just an idea of what's going on? What we can look forward to? I don't know how much I can share yet. Secrets. Formally. I do have a secret. I don't know how much I can share just because we haven't, I haven't even gotten my edit letter yet back for it yet. So I haven't talked to my editor.

[00:45:56] So I don't know how much is going to change between now and then. But it is Second Chance. And it follows a lead singer of a heavy metal band who hasn't given an interview in eight years and finally agrees to give one, but only to his ex-girlfriend who is a journalist. Ooh. Ooh, I like it. It follows them. And that's, I think, all I can really say. That's fun.

[00:46:24] I love a good Second Chance romance. Yeah. It makes me so happy. And a metal singer. Yeah, I know. I was like, I feel like it's weird to go for metal, but like, I just, I love metal bands because like you see the lead singers and they're like, they seem like, they're like on stage and screaming. But then if you see them offstage, they're usually like the most shy, reserved, like quiet, soft boys. And I just like, I love contradictions like that.

[00:46:51] Like a jaded romance author or like a very soft, screamy, screamy metal guy. Yeah. They were only like known around the middle Georgia. So like they weren't big at all, but like I married a metal singer. Wait, you're from Georgia? Yeah. I'm from Georgia. Where in Georgia? Albany. Oh, I'm from Macon. Oh my God. We were probably at shows together. Yeah. So he, he was the singer for Awakener, Fun in Washington. Okay. Yeah. See, they were kind of.

[00:47:21] My mind is Steve. I don't remember any of the bands that I went, I don't remember their names. Yeah. Like I have vivid memories of going to the shows, but like I couldn't tell, you couldn't pay me to tell you the name of a single one of them. Like I say they weren't, they weren't big, but they like played a show with under oath. So like, that's huge. But yeah. So like, I totally get you about the metal singers because he's downstairs. He doesn't do it anymore, but he's downstairs. And he is like a soft display. I feel like there's a thing like that where it's just like, it doesn't seem like, you

[00:47:50] know, like I feel like usually when you see, like when you read like a rock star romance, the front man is always like larger than life and super swaggery. And like, he's still swaggery. He knows how to turn it on. But like, I love when they're like that sweet soft boy. Yeah. It's so fun. Sucker best. 10 out of 10. A hundred percent. Okay. Another question we always ask is we know we love your books. We want to, we're going to recommend everybody read on romance, but what are you reading? Like when you're not writing. Sorry, I'm going to flex.

[00:48:20] I'm reading Left of Forever by Tara DeWitt right now. And it is so good. Lucky, lucky girl. She's also releasing it on my birthday, which is like such a nice thing of her to do. That is so kind of her. I know. That's special. I recently, I recently just read her like entire backlist and I'm just like, I'm so excited for everything that's to come because I hadn't read her before. And I was just like, sat down and just like read all of them. I'm like, okay, I get it. I get it. Same.

[00:48:49] I'm doing the same thing. I started with Savor It and was like, well, I'm obsessed with you. So, you know, a backlist needs to see me coming. I think that's what happened. I think I got like an arc of Savor It and I was like, I feel like I need to read all the other ones first. I'm one of those people, like, especially with romance where even if they're not a series, I'm just like, there's cameos all over the place. So I want to know, I want to be in on it. So I'm always like, if I get a romance book, I'm like, let me read their entire backlist first. So that's what happened.

[00:49:20] I love that. Okay. So I love discovering a new author and then they have like seven titles already. And I'm like, oh, yes. I'm fed. I'm fed for one. Best thing ever. Okay. So we would be remiss if we didn't talk about this cover, because first of all, it's gorgeous. But also how much of like input did you have to on this cover? And did you, did you expect that the chicken shop date would, would imitate it?

[00:49:48] Well, yes, I'm from the future. So I mean, that's what we want to know. No, that was just a lucky, lucky accident that that happened. And honestly, I didn't even realize it. It was other people being like, oh my God, it's your book cover. And I was like, oh, it is. Thank you. It is. And it's so funny because it's like, because they have such banter and they have such banter. And it's like, it's exactly your cover. And he's a movie star.

[00:50:18] You know, it's just so many similarities. I was like, thank you, Andrew and Amelia for doing that for me. Right. You're very much channeling. There's some sort of, there's some sort of like time travel something in your brain. I'm sure of it. But for the cover, I was very lucky that I did get a lot of input with my publisher. They asked me what artist I wanted. And then I got him, which I had been following. Guy Shield is the cover artist.

[00:50:45] I've been following him for a long time, even before he even did romance covers. And then he started doing them. And then he got really successful. And I was like, oh no, now I'll never get him because he's too cool for me. You know, Forever is so good at like getting things that their authors want. It's, it's like magical. I've been so spoiled. And then, so the cover image is the diner scene, which is actually inspired by my best friend, who the book is dedicated to that I moved to Chicago with after college.

[00:51:15] She, after she went to the opera, so she was wearing this like beautiful gown from Rent the Runway. She went to this diner and was eating a cheeseburger. And I just was like, that's just so iconic of you that you're just like at this like, you know, greasy diner in a gown eating a cheeseburger. Um, and so that's kind of what inspired the diner scene. And I just always knew that I wanted it to be the cover because like this book has so many Easter eggs for my best friend in it that like, just, just so many like hyper specific details that are like a love letter to Chicago and to her.

[00:51:44] And so I knew I wanted that diner scene on the cover and I was very lucky that Forever was just on board with it. And I was not expecting it to be dark red. Like I, I feel like most romance novels are like more in like the true colors or like pastel. And so when they gave me the dark red, I was like, oh, you guys do know me. I'm so goth. So I was over the moon. I was like, oh, you get me. It's amazing. It is.

[00:52:12] It is very like, it is very romance, but also again, very goth. Like it goes, it's like a good mixture and I love it so much. The dark red is so sexy and I was like not expecting it. Like I was like, oh, I feel like they're going to go in that like retro fifties diner, like pastel pink color or like purple. And then they did it and I literally opened the image when I got it and I was like, oh. I can't imagine. I can't believe this. Like I can't imagine it being bright or anything.

[00:52:41] Like this feels so true to the story and it just, it's perfect. Yeah, I also have my UK cover, which is like purple and pastel and it's the elevator and it also feels perfect. And I just don't know how I got so lucky that they nailed it twice. So yeah, I'm spoiled for covers. And I feel, I feel like I can say that because I had no hand in it. I'm not an artist. All right.

[00:53:10] So we've talked about book two a little bit, but this is the time where I actually have some bad news for you. So now that you've been on the podcast, you're actually legally obligated to come back for all future book releases. Twist my arm. We're so sorry. We didn't make the rules. We just enforced them. Well, I haven't had any fun. No. Oh no. How terrible. I'll definitely come back.

[00:53:38] I know because I got to talk about the emo book. Oh, absolutely. So excited. You're not ready for me to go full emo. I'm holding back. So do it. No. We'll come in like our best Avril Lavigne dress. Oh my God. I'll do some skunk hair. I just, I mean, I'm, I'm already going full emo with my hair now. Yeah. It's perfect. I love it. I love it. I can't wait. Thank you so much, Erin, for coming and hanging out with us. This was a blast.

[00:54:07] When this episode releases, it's out in the world. So go pick up a copy of Unromance. It's super sexy cover, super sexy book. It's just amazing. Thank you so much. We're so excited for everything to come from you. I just literally, I think I was messaging you as I was reading it and I was just like, this is the best thing ever. I loved it. A lot of people threatened to do that and then didn't do it. And I was like, no, like I want you to.

[00:54:35] I've been hanging out with these like idiots for three years. So it's very much. Yeah. I'm just like this. That's the weirdest thing about writing, right? Is like, you're stuck with them for so long and nobody knows about them. And then all of a sudden, oh wait, other people know. Yeah. Like, please talk to me about them. I was joking with Anita Kelly about this. And I was like, the weirdest thing about being an author is that you write a joke and then you wait three years for someone to laugh at it. Yeah.

[00:55:05] You're just sitting there like, is it time? Is it time? So I love that. I love when people like send me highlights of things that made them laugh or like parts that they enjoyed. Cause I'm like, I've been reading this more than any one person should ever read a book. So please like pat my ego and tell me that you enjoyed it. Cause I worked really hard. You heard it here, folks. Go pick up a copy of Unromance and then go slide into Erin's DMs with all of your reactions. I'm always online.

[00:55:37] Thank you. Thank you. It has been so much fun. We'll talk to you soon. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you so much. Have a great night. Bye. Bye. Oh, I love her. She made my little emo heart happy. She's so fun. She's so fun. I literally was like in her DMs. I was like, I'm not stopping until I go to bed until I finish. It's like 2am. She's like passed out and wakes up to just blocks of text. Like, I'm not sorry. I do have to call you out though. What'd I do?

[00:56:07] Because you have no chill and you can read a whole backlog. Meanwhile, you stopped. Here. I did. An Assassin's Blade. Just before. This is the action. But Sam. This right here. I'm sad. I miss Sam. It's right here. Everybody go bully Karen to finish Throne of Glass. You and Josh have both done this to me. Where you both stopped at Assassin's Blade. And I'm going insane. I'm going insane. And I'm going to take both of you with me.

[00:56:36] Definitely planned it out that way. We both did it on purpose. For sure. No, I just miss Sam. I'm still sad about Sam. Well, you should be sad that you don't know Manon. Okay? You don't know Adian. You don't know Rowan. I just miss Sam. Fenris. Gabrielle. Sweet baby Sam. You know nobody. I miss him. I miss him. Well, you can miss him while you're meeting everybody else. I wanna. I wanna. Also, in my defense, I technically had to read this.

[00:57:06] True. Throne of Glass. I can take my time. You're going to read it in November. I was. I started it in November. I got through three whole books. Is it three? Yeah, three. Yeah. Yeah. We're getting there. Yeah. Yeah. I read Assassin's Blade after Air of Fire, but I did it wrong. And Roz made me go back. I was like, what the F do you mean? At the end of that book. And she was like, you can't though.

[00:57:36] You. You can't keep going. You gotta. You gotta. You gotta do Assassin's Blade. What do you mean? Why? Why? Oh my god. I love it. Okay, so time for an announcement. We have a couple. We do? You go first. Okay. Well, first, next week, our guest is the amazing Sonora Reyes. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. I've heard it that way. Author of The Proposal. I started this. It's so good so far.

[00:58:05] We're going to be talking to them about the book next week. So stay tuned. That's very exciting. Yay! Don't you have something on January 18th? I do have something on January 18th, which is the day after this episode goes live. That's very convenient. And I did not think about that. On January 18th, words are hard, I will be going live with author Shelley Page to celebrate

[00:58:33] the launch of her debut solo novel, Brewed with Love, at 11am Pacific. So that's 2pm Eastern. It's on my Instagram. Math is hard. But I'm really excited to talk to Shelley about this book. She has been part of two separate anthologies before now. And so this is actually like her official like solo debut. It's her book. It's a sapphic, cozy romanticy.

[00:59:01] And I'm so excited for it. So tune in. It's on Instagram. Yeah. Then in March, I will be moderating a fable book club with our very own favorite, Brianne Randall. I think you have to DM us for an invite link. Or, you know, I guess we could post it closer to time. You can join it now. Yeah, we're going to be talking about spell strings and forgotten things in March. So exciting. Are you going to tell the listeners that we have a new show dog?

[00:59:31] We do. He's not here. He's not here. But he's cute. He is cute. If you have been on my Instagram, you have seen him. We do have a new show dog. His name is Roma. He is a five-year-old chihuahua. Roma, of course, from these Vanna Delights. It should surprise nobody that that is the name I went with, especially considering my car is named Juliet. So more photos with him eventually.

[00:59:56] But I have been unreasonably obnoxious about it because it's basically like having a new child again. And there are, I have pictures where I'm just like cradling him. I'm like, it really is like having a newborn again. Like I can't get anything done. I did get a baby gate today. My first baby gate after having a child for almost 10 years. And I put it up. It separates the bedroom from my office.

[01:00:23] And now that he can like see me when I'm in here, he doesn't like whine or bark or anything. Because before I just had boxes. And so he couldn't see me and he would be upset and like scratching at the boxes. But now that he can see me, he's like, everything's fine. Mom's still here. So, yeah, it's very exciting. He's so cute. I'm obsessed with him. I mentioned show dog and the OG show dog is on my couch over here. And he stood up and looked at me like.

[01:00:53] He's like, you talking about me? Me? Me or somebody else. We still love you. Yes. Orgy. You're the original buddy. We love you. Yeah. So fun announcements. Exciting things. Lots of fun announcements. Very fun times. More to come. Okay. Spiel of the Year. Yay. All right, friends. If you enjoyed this episode, like, follow, and subscribe wherever you are listening to us. Follow us on social media. We are at TheIncoherentFangirl on all things.

[01:01:23] Except for Blue Sky. Because we haven't quite gotten there yet. I'm on Blue Sky. I haven't. We haven't. I haven't yet. I posted the first ever Blue Sky cloud. Whatever you call it over there. What is it called? I don't know. The first ever one about Aaron Warner. Well, of course. That was me. That's so shocking. I'm going to go down in the history book. Who was the... Google it.

[01:01:47] In 2050, who was the first person to loose guy, raindrop, about Aaron Warner? It was Mandy Perth. I don't know what you called it. Can it just be a post? Can it just be a post? I mean, if they want to be basic and boring, sure. Okay. Well, then they need to give us the lingo, okay? Because I need to give us... I'm going to ask Blue Sky right now. Do it. What do we call this? You do that.

[01:02:17] But anyways, follow us on all the other socials at TheIncoherentFangirl. You can also visit our website, TheIncoherentFangirl.com. You can stream all of our episodes there as well as read our blog. There's lots of stuff for you to read there. Don't worry about how we haven't posted recently. It's not a big deal. Subscribe to our Patreon for early access to podcast episodes, full video episodes, and some exclusive bonus content.

[01:02:43] Our Patreons knew about some of our guests or knew that we had guests. Teasers for our guests earlier. A lot earlier than y'all. Every now... Also, Patreon is where I'm like, fuck it. I'll just post what I want without getting Mandy's permission. You act like I don't... I check in sometimes. I just don't tell you. You act like I get permission when I go rogue anytime Ben Barnes exists on the internet. I'm in our Instagram stories.

[01:03:12] We each have our own little thing. We're just like, fuck it. We'll just go. We'll just do it. Patreon is mine. The listeners need to see that Ben Barnes was cooking. I love that anytime you commandeer our Instagram, Jason is like, oh, I know what's coming. I know what this is going to be. I know. The next slide is going to be something to do with Ben Barnes, and I love it so much. It's one of my favorites. I know. It's like our... We have an inside joke now. It's the best.

[01:03:42] The listenership. I love it. And then, friends, you can also head over to our merch shop to get some merch of the podcast. TheIncoherentFangirl.com shop. We do currently have on sale our 2024 limited edition Intruder Alert shirt, which has all of our 2024 authors on the back or guests on the back. It is available through the end of March, and then it's going away.

[01:04:10] So go get it right now. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, design ideas you want to tell us that we're pretty, we will accept all of that in our inbox, TheIncoherentFangirl at gmail.com. We love hearing from y'all. And another way to support the podcast is to rate and review on whatever platform you're listening to us on. Please give us your words. We love words here. We love words around here. Big fan of words here. And she is at Mandy Perv on all the things. She's at Miss Made in China on all the things.

[01:04:39] And once you followed us on social media and you followed the podcast on social media, you can head over and visit our internet besties and continue doing self-care. I know the holidays are over, but self-care is year round. So you're going to make a stop at HereComesTheNerd.com. Add a bunch of cute fandom shit to your cart. Use code FANGIRL to get 20% off your first order. Woo! Then you're going to go to OnceUponABookClub.com, get you some book boxes, bookish goodies. We have two codes that you can use. They do not stack.

[01:05:07] We love you no matter which one you choose. So use either code KARENTEN or MANDYTEN for 10% off. You just have to spell KAREN right or you'll get no percent off and we will throw you off a bridge. A whole bridge. We're violent this year. There's, there's, yeah. You know, this is the year of violence to be quite frank. Spell it right, fools. I have, there's a very iconic red bridge right by me, y'all, for me to throw you off of. So. Hey, fun fact.

[01:05:35] In the wild robot, that bridge is underwater. Only the spikes are up and there was whales swimming over it. I know. I was like, oh my God. That, that's better than changing the color of the bridge, quite frankly. Yeah. That hurts my soul. I'm like, it is famously red. Please don't change the color. Right. All right. And once you've done that, you're going to head over to our dear friend Amber D. Lewis's website, AmberDLewis.com. You're going to add like 10 of everything to your cart.

[01:06:05] Use code FANGIRL10 and you'll get 10% off that 10 of everything, which means you get one of the everything for free. Yeah. Math. Math. That's, that's mathy. That's math. And then last but not least, you're going to go support the show husband. We're kind of fans of his around here. The paranormal mind podcast is still on hiatus because filming has ramped up for Beacon TV. So you can go follow the paranormal mind so that you can be aware if they start posting new episodes again.

[01:06:32] But if you would like to have a streaming platform that is by the people or the people when it comes to true crime, paranormal and horror content, then you're going to go to streambeacontv.com. If you subscribe, you can use code FANGIRL10 to get 10% off. And then his little like paranormal investigation endeavor is Searchers. So if you'll go to searchersbelieve.com and use code FANGIRL10, you'll get 10% off of merch there.

[01:07:01] And follow at StreambeaconTV and at Searchers Believe on all the things. They've been doing some crazy things. He was gone a week. He was gone for a week last week. He's gone for a week, a few weeks from now filming a bunch. There's lots of stuff coming up too. Lots of crazy stuff coming. Very exciting stuff. I also, I've never said this, but I really enjoy the way you say the word horror. I don't know. It's Southern. I know. And I love it. Every time you say it, I'm just like.

[01:07:31] I don't know how to horror. It makes me have. Because it talks out kind of like whore. But that's what it sounds like every time you say happy. Horror. Horror. Look, don't ask me to say like the thing that you get changed in your car either because you get the oil changed. I gotta get an oil change. You ain't got no gas in it. I love when your Southern comes out. It makes me so. See, it doesn't come out that often. No.

[01:08:01] You should see me around my grandma. If I'm with my grandma. It's so fun though. I love it. I love it. But then there are certain words like. Horror. Horror. Oil. It makes me so happy. I love it so much. It's the best. All right. Oh God. That was the Incomerant Fan Girl. The Incomerant Fan Girl. We love you. We love you. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye. Bye.

[01:08:29] We're 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. New customers can use coupon code FANGIRL during checkout for 20% off their first order at herecomesthenerd.com. Coupon applies to ready to ship items only.