Is romantasy dead? That’s the question we try to answer on our latest Short Stories episode. Ayesha gets the ball rolling by giving her thoughts on recent romantasy read, QuickSilver, and what booktok’s take is on Silver Elite. This leads us to question what exactly romantasy means these days and why all of the sudden it seems like newly published romantasy books are giving us…well, nothing. No plot, only vibes (if even that). After airing our many grievances with the genre, we try to end with recommending some romantasy books we do actually enjoy!

Let’s welcome our featured guest poet Aimee Donnell! Originally from Northern Ireland, Aimee is a York-based poet who recently released her debut poetry collection We Are All Creatures of Struggle. We chat with Aimee about her inspirations, her journey as a writer, her writing process, and more! At the end of the episode, Aimee leaves us with a beautiful reading of one of her favorite poems in the collection and some sneak peeks into her upcoming works!

Follow Aimee on Instagram @awriternamed_aimee and check out her book on Amazon or Waterstones.

For this latest episode, we spend time interviewing guest author Nehemiah Russell! Local to the DMV (or DC area for you non-locals), Nehemiah is the author and illustrator of Codename, a manga style comic book set in a dystopian world where a teenager’s future is determined by their assigned codename.

We talk to Nehemiah about his journey as an artist and writer, his storyboarding process, the importance of identity, and much more! We left our conversation feeling inspired not only by the story behind Codename but also by Nehemiah’s own path as an artist. If you’re seeking validation to take a leap of faith, whether it’s a career change or starting a new passion project, this is certainly an episode to listen to.

Follow Nehemiah on Instagram @nehemiahr and find his website here: https://nrussellweb.wordpress.com/

Our latest short stories episode is a pot-pourri of bookish updates in our lives, from attending bookstore launches and book club meetings to a live book haul and reading anecdotes. We’ve been lost in the bookish sauce recently and we wanted to share with you!

In this episode of Short Stories we are joined by special guest Miles Spencer, adventurer, tech investor, and co-author of ‘A Line in the Sand.’ We talk with Miles about the inspirations behind his story, the underlying message he hopes to share, the writing process, and best of all, his escapades across the Middle East! Having grown up in Saudi Arabia, we particularly enjoyed talking to Miles about his adventures in the Kingdom, and hearing his perspective on certain issues that hit close to home.

Find out more about Miles at milesspencer.com and check out ‘A Line in the Sand’ on Amazon!

In this Short Stories episode, we are delving into the behind-the-scenes of our podcast journey! We discuss the birth of our podcast idea, managing everything from editing to marketing, and balancing it with our personal and professional lives. To end, we reflect on the podcast’s challenges, growth, and our hopes for future episodes.

00:54 Full Moon Reflections and Tarot Readings

04:42 Podcast Journey and Friendship

08:35 Starting the Podcast: The Origin Story

11:18 Podcast Growth and Future Plans

22:23 Podcast Goals

From “It Girl” celebrity book clubs to sneaky senators and questionable government bills, this episode of Short Stories is all about who gets to influence the books that we read. With the new wave of celebrity book clubs popping up, it looks like reading itself, and particularly the types of books we read, is becoming a status symbol. On the other hand, representatives in Oklahoma are trying to clamp down on the distribution and even creation of romance books (of the spicy variety). Why is everyone so obsessed with what we are reading? The message we leave you with: reading is political!

For our third short stories episode, we have something a little different (and super exciting) to share with you guys: our first guest interview with poet Caitlin Kent-Halliday! We talk with Caitlin about her writing process, inspirations, our favourite poems in her collection, and much more. We hope you enjoy this heartfelt conversation with Caitlin about her debut poetry collection 'Peace of Mind' as much as we did.

To find out more about Caitlin and her poetry, you can visit her website at www.caitlinkenthalliday.com.