Charlie and Phoenicia Rogerson (Aphrodite) discuss the latter's mythological comedy, an incredibly unique book about the Greek goddess of love which sports an ensemble cast of many narrators in an Ancient Greek theatre fashion, a variety of different modes and effective mediums of writing including interrupting footnotes, and more sexual references than Zeus himself could produce.

Please note that this episode includes necessary mentions of mythological regular and sexual violence and swearing.

General references:
Pausanius says in his Description of Greece, chapter 19.2: "Now the shape of it is square, like that of the Her­mae, and the in­scrip­tion de­clares that the Heav­enly Aphrodite is the old­est of those called Fates."
Disney's Hercules

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Bram Stoker: Dracula
Phoenicia Rogerson: Herc
Phoenicia Rogerson: Aphrodite
Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games

Release details: recorded 12th September 2025; published 22nd December 2025

Where to find Phoenicia online: Website || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:41 Why Aphrodite? Changes made, and the Fates
07:01 Phoenicia's interesting writing style for her book, full of slang
09:47 Phoenicia's version of Zeus
12:25 The importance of humans in the mythology, how the gods rely on them, and how it's humanity who creates and furthers the story
16:14 Starting to discuss the different narratives and continuing on with the importance of humans to mythological stories
21:22 Phoenicia's favourite mythological character
22:37 Changing Cadmus' story to include dragons rather than serpents
23:57 The different written styles and multi-media writing Phoenicia uses, starting with the paragraph of one repeated word, and continuing on with the footnotes before talking about the way she allows reader interpretation
33:56 The chapter that is simply a list of the dead
36:34 The choice on when to change narrators
37:56 How the novel was planned
39:58 Did Phoenicia consider bringing her version of Prometheus back?
45:23 The ending, moving from Greek gods to Roman gods, in particular Aphrodite
47:03 Talking book cover knitwear
48:53 Brief notes about Phoenicia's next book

Charlie and Elodie Harper (Boudicca's Daughter) discuss the Iceni women history didn't deem important enough to give us names for, working with morally grey relationships for which there are no answers, and, in all this context, Ancient Britain and Ancient Rome.

Please note that there is mention of rape and violence in this episode.

General References: Butser Ancient Farm

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Elodie Harper: The Wolf Den trilogy
Elodie Harper: Boudicca's Daughter

Release details: recorded 27th August 2025; published 8th December 2025

Where to find Elodie online: Website || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:28 Why Elodie wrote about Boudicca's daughters; how Elodie approached the story in terms of responsibility; and the basics of the history that is known
09:04 Working with and including ancient texts that talk about Boudicca
11:05 Weaving Solina's almost completely fictional and Paulinus' somewhat factual stories together
15:19 Solina and Paulinus' mirrored experiences and the importance Elodie placed on Solina being both a cultural victim and aggressor
18:40 Solina and Paulinus are both from non-Roman cultures - Iceni and Etruscan; and Paulinus' Etruscan goddess, Nortia
21:35 Elodie's choice to kill off Solina's younger sister
25:15 Paulinus' decision not to tell Solina, effectively until the end of the book, about the brooch she left in Britain
27:18 Was it important that Solina stayed in Rome at the end?
31:15 Senovara, the Easter egg from Elodie's The Wolf Den trilogy, and Pliny, who Elodie had already written about in that trilogy, written in Boudicca's Daughter from a different perspective
36:55 Elodie's choices for Nero's wife, Poppaea
38:56 The sold slave, Ressona - what does Elodie think happened to her
39:53 Especially given Elodie's choices in terms of morally grey aspects, how does she hope readers will view the story?
42:11 Very brief notes on Elodie's next book (at the time of recording she wasn't allowed to say)

Photo credit: Paula Majid

Charlie and Juhea Kim (A Love Story From The End Of The World) discuss Juhea's fantastic largely environmental and philosophical short story collection. This is a book that looks at the problems with our present as well as the possible futures that may result from them.

General references:
Rocky
Groundhog Day
In The Mood For Love
Kpop Demon Hunters

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy
Juhea Kim: A Love Story From The End Of The World
Juhea Kim: the Divine Comedy
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master And The Margarita

Release details: recorded 29th August 2025; published 24th November 2025

Where to find Juhea online: Website || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:25 The ordering of the stories in A Love Story From The End Of The World. We then go on to discuss the last story in the book and environmentalism
05:56 Looking at the theme of time and using metaphors
12:59 The ending of the first story, Biodome, the film adaptations, and the way Juhea ends her stories on a more general scale
19:45 Notting Hill (the story in the second person) and Juhea's writing of that point of view
24:07 The story Mountain Island and its themes of consumerism and pop idols
29:05 The philosophy, the question of god, in the stories as per two quotes from Juhea's book
37:14 What Juhea is writing now, a novel called The Divine Comedy

Photo credit: Nola Logan