This week on Amy & we're thrilled to be interviewing romance author and academic, Jodi McAlister, about her career and latest romance novel, An Academic Affair !! Join us as we ask Jodi all about writing romance fiction as an academic from her latest research on bonkbusters and erotic audio, to creating a believable rivals to lovers plot against the backdrop of a 'brutal neoliberal institution that will never love you back' (not to mention dreaming about the perfect wine pairings).

Our Book of the Month is An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club!

LINKS

• Find the TEXT special issue here: Trope Actually - Popular Romance
• Find Jodi here: @jodimcalister
• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to Academia Month!

This week, we talk through two fascinating academic articles, 'The Australian Convict Prostitute Romance', and 'Conflict and Colonialism in 21st Century Romantic Historical Fiction: Repairing the Past, Repurposing History' by one of our podcast favourites, Professor Hsu-Ming Teo, with a shoutout to Dr Paloma Fresno-Calleja too! Prepare for a raucous discussion, a mysterious disappearance by our very own Abby Guy, and multiple moments where we get so entangled in our discussion that we cut each other off.

Mentions: The Convict Wives Trilogy by Lena Dowling

Damned Whores And Gods police by Anne Summers

A Cargo of Women by Babbette Smith

Academic Rivals by Jodi McAlister

TEXT Journal by Scholastic Romance Writers Australia

Articles:

The Australian Convict Prostitute Romance Narrating Social and Sexual Justice for “Damned Whores” by Hsu-Ming Teo.

Conflict and Colonialism in 21st Century Romantic Historical Fiction: Repairing the Past, Repurposing History by Hsu-Ming Teo and Paloma Fresno-Calleja

Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single SAME OLD here: https://tr.ee/Mn6oTQ2AOW

Our Book of the Month is An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club!

LINKS

• Find the TEXT special issue here: Trope Actually - Popular Romance
• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast

• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Academia Month, where the vibes are casual but the thoughts are deep 🧠. In this episode, Amy is joined by Justina, Millie, and special return guestie Kathleen Stanley to talk all things academia. Tune in to hear all about their TEXT special issue, how being an academic is both scary and fun, and why you don't have to justify being a romance researcher anymore! Our Book of the Month is An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club!

Our Book of the Month is An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club!

LINKS

• Find the TEXT special issue here: Trope Actually - Popular Romance
• Find Kathleen Stanley on IG: @decktheshelves
• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not ready to say goodbye to Western month yet? Good! Neither are we! It's the last week of our cast takeover and we’re lucky enough to have a cheeky fifth Thursday – which means it's time for Amy & After Dark! These are the late-night episodes where we get cosy and yap about all the things that don't fit into our regular podcast schedule.

At the behest of Amy, our holidaying host, we tucked into some popcorn and s'mores with all the table manners of a band of backwoodsmen and sat down to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. This 1954 technicolour Western (directed by Stanley Donen, with music and lyrics by Gene de Paul and Johnny Mercer, and starring Howard Keel, Jane Powell and, crucially, Julie Newmar as our dear Dorcas) is an Academy Award–winning smash hit from the golden age of Hollywood studio musicals.

For some of us, it's a classic comfort watch and for others it was a brand new experience but, bless our beautiful hides, boy do we have a lot to say about it! In this episode we chat about everything from barn raising dance battles, to the cultural and political climate of 1950s USA, to the colonial impulses at the heart of Hollywood’s fascination with Ancient Rome.

MENTIONS

🎬 FILM: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954); Raise Your Voice (2004); High School Musical (2006); Braveheart (1995)

🎭 THEATRE: Seussical the Musical; The Book of Mormon; Mamma Mia!; Cats; Stomp; Hadestown; Six

📺 TELEVISION: Ru Paul’s Drag Race/“The Rusical”

📚 LITERATURE: “The Sobbin’ Women”, Stephen Vincent Benét; Parallel Lives, “Life of Romulus”, Plutarch; Ab Urbe Condita, Titus Livy; Ars Amatoria, Ovid

🎓 SCHOLARSHIP: “Two Hundred Years of Changes to Native Peoples of Western Oregon”, David Lewis; “The Australian Convict Prostitute Romance: Narrating Social and Sexual Justice for ‘Damned Whores’”, Hsu-Ming Teo; “Ancient Allusions and Modern Anxieties in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)”, Christopher M. McDonough; “Livy’s Sabine Women and the Ideal of Concordia”, Robert Brown; “Hunks, History, and Homophobia: Masculinity and Politics in ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Edward II’”, Sid Ray; 100 Film Musicals, Douglas Pye & Jim Hilliery

🏛️: ON-CALL CLASSICIST/ARTIST: Gemma Neall / 🎨 IG: @gememberthat

LINKS

• Our BOTM is Seven Brides for Beau McBride by Amy Barry
• Watch the Live Bookclub on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our amazing host is off galavanting in the mountains and in her absence we read Amy Barry's latest release, Seven Brides for Beau Mcbride. ⋆˖°.𖤓𓄀🂾𐚁𓃗.°˖⋆

Beau Mcbride might just be Amy Barry's most swoon-worthy cowboy yet — and we are so ready to catch the next train to Montana. Join us as we discuss why we (genuinely) love these books, and just how easily the Mcbride siblings have lassoed our hearts. We talk all things character, setting, plot, Junebug antics, representations of diverse masculinities, the relationships between women on the page, and just how perfect Ellie is for Beau.

Nobody does historical western romance like Amy Barry (no brown-nosing found here).

If you loved our conversation (and Amy) follow the link to secure your copy !!

LINKS

• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SPOILER ALERT! Cast takeover month continues as Abby, Harry, and Payton interrogate— I mean interview bestselling author Amy Barry about her latest release and our July book club pick, Seven Brides for Beau McBride! Learn what Harry REALLY thinks about this book, why Abby fantasises about getting stuck on fences, and whether or not Payton is a brown-noser, this week on Amy &.

Mentions:

• The McBrides of Montana by Amy Barry
• Frontiers of the Heart by Tess Lesue
• Someone Else’s Bucket List by Amy Matthews
• 'Entangled: The Exegetical Process of a Romance Author' by Amy Matthews
• ‘The Wicked Problem’ developed by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber in the 1973 article, ‘Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning’.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Put on your cowboy boots and grab a partner for the square dance, because we ain't finished talkin' cowboys just yet! ⋆˖°.𖤓𓄀🂾𐚁𓃗.°˖⋆

In this episode we are joined by writer, social media manager, cowboy enthusiast and boot scootin' professional, Bee Saint James, as well as academic and Christmas romance (occasionally on a ranch) expert Kathleen Stanley, to talk all things contemporary cowboy romance novels.

Should we bring back the dance social? Which parts of the wild west do contemporary cowboy romances reinscribe? How much of the dirty reality of farming does the contemporary romance ignore? And we are still stuck on the most important question: what types of farming are the sexiest?

Our Book of the Month for July is Seven Brides for Beau McBride by Amy Barry! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club!

LINKS

• Follow Bee Saint James on IG: @beesaintjames
• Find more from Bee (or fancy an evening of boot scootin'?) here.
• Follow Kathleen Stanley on IG: @decktheshelves
• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Howdy! Amy is off on holiday so we (the collective & of AMY &) have taken this opportunity to do a sneaky takeover of the pod 😈 Welcome to WESTERN MONTH! Yee, and I cannot stress this enough, haw 🤠 🌄🐎🌾🐄🌵

We’re keen as a tin of hot beans to deep dive into all things both country and western, from cowboy heroes to spirited heroines, rugged outlaws to lonesome ranchers, the wild mountains of Montana to small desert towns that, try as we might to huddle close together, just can’t quite seem to fit the two of us.

In this episode we’ll be asking the big questions: Why are westerns so hot right now? What is it about the rough masculinity of cowboys that’s so attractive to readers? What makes a good heroine and why is the answer “spunk”? How can we navigate the fantasy of fictional frontier life with the violent reality of settler colonialism? And of course, what’s the sexiest kind of farming?

Our Book of the Month for July is Seven Brides for Beau McBride by Amy Barry! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club!

LINKS

• Watch the full episode on YouTube: @AmyAndPodcast
• Follow the Amy & Podcast on IG: @amyandpodcast
• Join the Amy & Bookclub: Amy & Bookclub
• Follow Amy Matthews on IG: @amymatthewsauthor
• Follow Amy Barry on IG: @amybarryauthor
• Our theme music is by Mass Wisteria. Stream their single "Same Old" here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.