🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where outlawed witches, hidden identities, and forbidden love make going to war significantly more complicated.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with debut fantasy author Bethan Croome to discuss Reign, a dark, British folklore-inspired romantic fantasy filled with secret magic, medieval politics, dangerous creatures, slow-burn romance, and a heroine who disguises herself as a man only to accidentally get conscripted into a war.

Before diving into Reign, Bethan shares the unconventional road to her debut, from studying English literature and creative writing and earning a master's degree in writing to walking away from an early agent opportunity that didn't feel right.

Then we enter a kingdom where magic is outlawed and being a witch could cost you everything. Inspired by British history, folklore, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and the darker corners of Britain's past, Reign blends medieval and Tudor atmosphere with court politics, magical creatures, hidden identities, and enemies-to-lovers.

🗡️ What happens when a secret witch disguises herself as a man and accidentally gets sent to war?
✨ How do you fight for a kingdom that has outlawed what you are?
🖤 And what happens when forbidden love becomes even more dangerous because no one knows who you really are?

If you love secret witches, women disguised as men, British folklore, medieval and Tudor-inspired fantasy, forbidden magic, and deliciously slow-burn romance, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Bethan's journey from studying creative writing and working in theatre to pursuing her dream of becoming a novelist.
✨ Why she walked away from an early opportunity with an agent even though she feared another opportunity might never come. And why she now considers it one of the best decisions she made.
✨ Finding her eventual literary agent through Instagram and writing Reign in roughly four months.
✨ Why Bethan chose Cosmo Reads and Sourcebooks for her debut, and the surreal experience of publishing through an imprint connected to a magazine she grew up reading.
✨ Creating Reign's showstopping deluxe edition, from the mood boards and visual references Bethan provided to the pink sprayed edges destined for fantasy readers' bookshelves.
✨ The impossible choice at the heart of Reign: fight for the kingdom that outlawed her magic or turn against it and help set magic free.
✨ Why Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, rather than Mulan, originally inspired Reign.
✨ Building a fantasy world from British history, folklore, mythology, medieval and Tudor influences, and the castles, libraries, manuscripts, and historical places Bethan loves exploring.
✨ Why British folklore's gruesome, macabre stories helped shape the darker and more melancholic atmosphere of Reign.
✨ Bethan's biggest advice for aspiring authors: stop jumping to the next shiny idea, finish the book, and be brave enough to put your work into the world.
✨ Plus: learning how to polish swords for research, the ideal amount of spice in romantasy, why Bethan would choose time travel as her magical power, and a mutual appreciation for the greatest song in Mulan.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Bethan Croome – @BethFiit

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where books become works of art, printers develop personalities, and missing out on one special edition can inspire an entire business.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with Sheree, the artist and owner behind Perfectly Edged, to discuss sprayed edges, collector editions, and building one of the most recognizable businesses in the bookish community.

Sheree shares how her search for a Fourth Wing special edition led her to experiment with spraying her own books, and how encouragement from a lifelong friend convinced her to begin selling them. She opens up about moving from hand-sprayed edges to professional printing, teaching herself digital design, growing through social media, and reaching the point where her husband left his job to join the business full time.

We also dive into the work behind every Perfectly Edged design, from creating artwork and running test prints to wrapping, clamping, printing, and preparing books for customers. Sheree discusses commissions, preorder planning, discounted seconds, artist collaborations, rep applications, and the challenges of choosing titles that will support the time and expense required. She also shares her dreams of creating a full publisher special edition and perhaps opening her own bookshop one day.

🎨 How does a single edge design move from an idea to a finished collector’s book?
📚 What does it take for an artist-led business to thrive in an increasingly crowded special-edition market?
✨ And how did one missed copy of Fourth Wing help launch Perfectly Edged?

This is a must-listen for special-edition collectors, Bookstagrammers, indie authors, aspiring bookish entrepreneurs, and anyone fascinated by the art and business behind beautiful books.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ How missing out on a Fourth Wing special edition inspired Perfectly Edged.
✨ Learning to hand-spray books and turning a hobby into a business.
✨ Moving from manual spraying to professional edge printing.
✨ The artwork, testing, wrapping, clamping, and printing behind each design.
✨ Why creating a single custom book can take several hours.
✨ What happens to books with misprints, scratches, or imperfect edges.
✨ How authors can commission artwork or printed edges for their books.
✨ Using preorders and batch printing to manage inventory and turnaround times.
✨ Choosing which popular, traditional, and indie titles to feature.
✨ Janet, the enormous printer responsible for the company’s edges and headaches.
✨ Collaborating with artists, including the Hurricane Wars project with Bluelyboo.
✨ What Sheree considers when selecting Perfectly Edged representatives.
✨ Social media growth, changing algorithms, and building customer loyalty.
✨ The cost and risk involved in producing a complete special edition.
✨ Sheree’s dreams of working directly with a publisher and opening a bookshop.
✨ Balancing art, business ownership, motherhood, marathon training, and writing.
✨ Throne of Glass ambitions, favorite designs, licensing challenges, and rapid-fire questions.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Perfectly Edged – @PerfectlyEdged

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where cursed kingdoms, deadly enemies, and enough sexual tension to make murder complicated collide.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with fantasy author Stacey Marie Brown to discuss her newest fantasy, White Raven, a dark, Viking-inspired adventure packed with lost magic, forced proximity, found family, deadly secrets, and two enemies who genuinely might kill each other before they ever admit they want each other.

Stacey takes us behind her fourteen-year writing career, from leaving her retail job after being told to choose between work and her first author event to building a career that now spans urban fantasy, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and high fantasy. We talk about following creative obsession instead of staying neatly in one genre, why success is an ever-moving target, and the advice she gives writers who are still trying to figure out exactly how they're “supposed” to write.

Then we enter the world of White Raven, where a centuries-old curse has stripped the land of its magic and fractured the realm into eternal day, night, and dusk. As a deadly Shadow Rift slowly consumes what's left, Wrennlyn, the White Raven, is believed to possess the blood capable of restoring the magic everyone desperately wants to control.

Unfortunately for her, the Night King wants that power too.

🖤 What if your blood was the only thing capable of restoring magic to a dying world?
⚔️ What happens when you're kidnapped by the enemy you've been taught to fear your entire life?
🔥 And how do you fall for someone when you're still seriously considering killing them?

If you love true enemies-to-lovers, Viking-inspired fantasy, forced proximity, found family, cursed kingdoms, morally complicated characters, deadly journeys, vicious banter, and cliffhangers designed to make you suffer, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ How Stacey chooses what genre to write next, and why creative obsession will always win over staying safely in one publishing lane.
✨ Using contemporary romance as a creative “refresh button” when the magic, worldbuilding, and action of fantasy start leading toward burnout.
✨ Stacey's fourteen-year career and the author event that forced her to choose between her retail job and writing.
✨ Why success remains an ever-moving target, even after building a long-term writing career, and why authors don't need massive platforms or viral fame for their work to matter.
✨ Building a Viking-inspired world fractured by a 199-year-old curse into realms of eternal day, night, and dusk, and the Shadow Rift slowly draining the life from the land.
✨ Writing true enemies-to-lovers where the characters don't simply exchange insults before giving in to attraction.
✨ Exploring prejudice, inherited hatred, and what happens when Wrennlyn discovers the people she was taught to fear have families, children, struggles, and humanity just like her own.
✨ Stacey's signature balance of darkness and humor, including Munch, a tiny root creature with an unfortunate habit of eating clothing, and Fluffy, the decidedly unfriendly undead horse.
✨ Why Stacey embraces being a “cliffhanger queen,” what readers lose when they wait for an entire series to release before starting it, and the joy of theorizing together while waiting for the next book.
✨ Pantsing, following the muse, letting characters derail your plans, and why trying to force herself into someone else's writing process only leads to writer's block.
✨ Plus: fictional men who would be terrible real-life boyfriends, the characters Stacey would never invite to holiday dinner, and possibly the most unexpected author Google search we've ever heard on The Mythic Mic.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Stacey Marie Brown – @StaceyMarieBrown

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast! This week, host Bethany Amanda and co-host Amara are joined by book influencer and content creator Jaimee Johnson, known as ThtGrlReads, for an unfiltered conversation about Bookstagram, brutally honest reviews, paid partnerships, viral content, and the books actually worth the hype.

Jaimee takes us behind the account to talk about how a lifelong love of reading turned into a massive online platform, why she never planned on becoming a full-time creator, and what readers don't always see behind the polished world of book influencing. From the loneliness and cliques that can exist behind the scenes to the assumption that paid reviews can't possibly be genuine, Jaimee gets candid about what it actually means to turn talking about books into a career.

Then we get into the books. Jaimee shares the reads she thinks deserve WAY more attention, her current God-tier favorites, why Zodiac Academy will always have a special place on her shelf, what makes a good bully romance, and why romantasy desperately needs to stop following the same blueprint. We also talk reading slumps, emotional damage, why she prefers going into books completely blind, and the kind of plot twist capable of making her physically put a book down and recover.

And if you've ever wondered how to actually grow a bookish social media account, Jaimee is sharing the strategy behind the chaos: say something worth reacting to, hook people immediately, stop sanding off the weird parts of your personality, and give people a reason to remember you, not just the book you're holding.

📚 Can a paid book review still be completely honest?
🔥 Are viral romantasy books starting to follow the exact same formula?
👀 And is the secret to growing online simply being weird enough that people can't scroll away?

If you love unfiltered book opinions, underrated romantasy recommendations, Bookstagram drama, chaotic reading habits, controversial takes, and finding out what really happens behind the scenes of a major bookish platform, you don't want to miss this episode.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

✨ How Jaimee went from lifelong fantasy reader and fitness creator to building ThtGrlReads and making book content her primary career.
✨ Why some of her earliest viral content came from creating the recommendation videos she wished already existed.
✨ What readers don't see about influencer culture, including loneliness, creator cliques, follower counts, and the weirdness of realizing someone only wants to make content with you because you have the biggest platform.
✨ The assumption that paid partnerships mean dishonest reviews and Jaimee's rule that she reads a book first, turns down partnerships for books she doesn't like, and only promotes books she can genuinely recommend.
✨ Her advice for aspiring creators: find gaps in existing content, develop something you're known for, have an opinion people can actually debate, and never waste the first five seconds of a video.
✨ Why the parts of yourself you're tempted to edit out because they're “too weird” might actually be exactly what makes people want to follow you.
✨ Jaimee's chaotic approach to choosing her next read: recommendations, author pitches, pretty covers, viral emotional damage, or simply seeing someone crying on the internet.
✨ The underrated romantasy books and series she thinks deserve more attention, including Dominion, the Flame Cursed Fae trilogy, and the Bewitched series.
✨ Her God-tier reads, from Zodiac Academy and Anathema to Kissed by the Gods, The Bone Season, and more.
✨ Why “why choose” works better for her when the relationships are surrounded by a genuinely deep fantasy story and why spice without enough story or buildup can kill the payoff.
✨ Whether romantasy is becoming too formulaic, why readers deserve more than the same story in a different package, and the kinds of ambitious fantasy twists Jaimee wants authors to take more chances on.
✨ Plus: bully romance, controversial book opinions, a 36-pound watermelon, and why Jaimee insists she's not actually mean.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Jaimee Johnson – @ThtGrlReads

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where humans dare to cross into the fae realm, ancient gods shape the fate of kingdoms, and epic fantasy reminds us why we fell in love with the genre in the first place.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with fantasy author Malarie Weber to discuss her sweeping romantasy series, The Lies of Mortals and its highly anticipated sequel, The Edge of Darkness.

Malarie shares how a vivid dream sparked the opening scene of her debut novel, why becoming a Bookstagram influencer unexpectedly prepared her for self-publishing, and how she built a thriving author career by writing the kind of epic fantasy she always wished she could find on bookstore shelves. We also discuss indie publishing, designing gorgeous special editions, writing massive fantasy novels, and why helping aspiring authors has become one of her greatest passions.

Then we dive into The Lies of Mortals, where twenty-nine-year-old warrior Auren finds herself hunted by a prince and forced to flee into the fae realm, a place no human has entered in a thousand years. There she comes face-to-face with Niall, the ruthless High Lord of Shadows, ancient gods, witches, wraiths, and a world filled with dangerous magic, political intrigue, and unforgettable found family.

We also preview The Edge of Darkness, where the story expands into five points of view, multiple romances, devastating revelations, and an all-out war that changes everything readers thought they knew about this world.

⚔️ What happens when the only way to survive is crossing into the realm you've feared your entire life?
🖤 Can a human warrior trust the ruthless High Lord sworn to protect his people?
✨ And what secrets are waiting beneath the shadows of an ancient fae kingdom?

If you love epic fantasy, mature protagonists, sprawling worlds, unforgettable side characters, political intrigue, and romantasy with serious Lord of the Rings vibes, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

✨ How a single dream became the foundation for The Lies of Mortals and eventually grew into an epic fantasy trilogy.
✨ Malarie's transition from Bookstagram influencer to bestselling indie fantasy author, and how building an online community helped launch her writing career.
✨ The realities of self-publishing.
✨ Why she intentionally wrote mature protagonists in their late twenties and thirties instead of following the typical YA romantasy formula.
✨ Creating Niall, the mysterious Shadow High Lord, and the supporting characters readers have completely fallen in love with.
✨ Why epic fantasy deserves room to breathe, and why she embraced writing 700- and 800-page novels instead of cutting the story short.
✨ What readers can expect from The Edge of Darkness, including five POVs, three romances, massive character reveals, heartbreaking twists, and war on an epic scale.
✨ Balancing multiple projects, planning long fantasy series, and knowing the ending years before writing the final pages.
✨ Practical advice for aspiring indie authors on building confidence, finding supportive communities, and creating stories they'll be proud of for years to come.
✨ Why writing the book you desperately want to read is still the best creative advice she can give.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Malarie Weber – @ABookshelfofMagic

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where enchanted libraries hide dangerous bargains, sentient books offer forbidden power, and entering the woods may change the course of magic forever.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with fantasy author Analeigh Sbrana to discuss the Lords of the Wilds Duology, including Lore of the Wilds and Lore of the Tides.

Analeigh shares her unconventional journey from Bookstagrammer and aspiring indie author to landing an agent through a viral cover reveal and sending her book to auction only two weeks later. She opens up about querying for a year and a half, investing her own savings into publishing, building a passionate reader community, and using her experience in the bookish space to approach marketing and special editions with an indie-author mindset.

We also dive into Lore of the Wilds, where a human woman enters a cursed Fae library, discovers a sentient grimoire, and makes a bargain that transforms her into the world’s first witch. Analeigh discusses writing a soft, whimsical Black heroine, the temptation and consequences of magical power, and expanding the sequel from familiar forests into ships, siren kingdoms, underwater libraries, and dangerous new betrayals.

📚 What would you sacrifice for the power to protect your community?
✨ Can Lore control the magic she fought so hard to obtain?
🌊 And what happens when the safety of the forest gives way to treacherous seas and an underwater kingdom?

This is a must-listen for romantasy readers, lovers of cursed libraries and ruthless Fae, Bookstagrammers dreaming of publication, and anyone eager for soft Black heroines centered in magical adventures.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Analeigh’s journey from childhood storyteller and fanfiction writer to published author.
✨ Returning to writing after photography school, motherhood, and a creative break.
✨ Funding Lore of the Wilds with savings from her Bookstagram preset business.
✨ The viral cover reveal that caught the attention of her future agent.
✨ Going from indie preparations to representation and a publishing auction in two weeks.
✨ Why indie authors should give themselves enough time to market their books.
✨ Building newsletters, ARC teams, preorders, and reader communities early.
✨ Transitioning from Bookstagrammer to author without losing her love for the bookish space.
✨ How Analeigh secured multiple special editions for her books.
✨ A human woman, a Dark Fae lord, an abandoned enchanted library, and the sentient grimoire that transforms Lore into the world’s first witch.
✨ Writing Lore as a soft, whimsical Black heroine who embraces vulnerability.
✨ Why visible representation and character art mattered for the original cover.
✨ The sacrifices Lore makes for magic and the danger of beginning to enjoy her power.
✨ Moving from forests and libraries into ships, oceans, sirens, and underwater kingdoms.
✨ The challenges of writing a sequel in a completely unfamiliar setting.
✨ Analeigh’s upcoming dark-academia epic fantasy, Heir of Prophecy.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Analeigh Sbrana – @AnaleighSbrana

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

Welcome back to Banter & Books, the monthly Mythic Mic segment where Amara and a special guest share spoiler-free reviews of the books they cannot stop thinking about!

This month, Amara is joined by Mythic Mic Team Member Teresa Diaz to talk alien death games, dystopian assassins, masked men, murderous berserkers, found family, comfort reads, and the very real problem of owning more books than you could possibly read.

They dive into Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, Heart of the Raven Prince by Parker Garner, Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe, and Blood Bound by J.A. Good. They also revisit two favorites with A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas and Beast Becomes Her by Crystal Seitz.

Along the way, Teresa explains why Dungeon Crawler Carl finally convinced her to take the plunge into LitRPG, Amara makes a bold comparison between Heart of the Raven Prince and some of her favorite recent fantasy reads, and the two investigate the increasingly undeniable appeal of mysterious masked men. They also talk enemies-to-lovers with actual enemies, unusual magic systems, female villains, morally questionable assassins, audiobook performances worth obsessing over, and why sometimes a great book does not need romance to completely consume you.

Whether you are hunting for your next five-star fantasy, curious about the dystopian books dividing readers, or simply need someone to validate your completely unreasonable TBR, this spoiler-free episode is for you.

BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE

• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
• Heart of the Raven Prince by Parker Garner
• Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe
• Blood Bound by J.A. Good
• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• Beast Becomes Her by Crystal Seitz (Check out our interview with Crystal Seitz (Ep. 87) here!)

CONNECT WITH THE MYTHIC MIC TEAM

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
👤 Teresa Diaz – @PrettyPageswithT
👤 Amara – @Bored_Military_Wife

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where fairy tales get a fresh twist, cozy romantasy meets unforgettable adventure, and even the kindest heroes can steal your heart.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with fantasy romance author Vanessa Rasanen to discuss her enchanting Immortal Reveries series, including Until the Stars Fall and Once the Skies Fade.

Vanessa shares her inspiring journey from engineer to full-time author, how Bookstagram helped launch her publishing career, and why writing became the creative outlet she'd been chasing all along. We also have an honest conversation about indie publishing, social media burnout, balancing motherhood with writing, and why building a sustainable creative career is often much messier than it looks online.

Then we dive into Until the Stars Fall, a cozy romantasy inspired by the classic film Sabrina. When a human servant who's secretly loved a carefree fae prince for years gets caught in a royal political alliance, she's unexpectedly swept into a fake engagement with his responsible older brother. What begins as a convenient arrangement slowly becomes a heartfelt romance filled with banter, swoon-worthy moments, and plenty of magical chaos.

We also preview Once the Skies Fade, where the series takes a darker turn with a grieving Shadow Queen, deadly trials, anxiety-fueled shadow magic, and one of the greenest flag MMCs you'll ever meet.

✨ What if the prince you're meant to protect is the wrong brother?
🖤 Can a queen haunted by grief learn to love again?
⚔️ And what happens when fairy tale romance collides with deadly magic and impossible choices?

If you love cozy romantasy, fake dating, fae royalty, interconnected standalones, green-flag heroes, magical kingdoms, and romances that balance warmth with emotional depth, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

✨ Vanessa's journey from engineering to becoming a full-time fantasy romance author, and how one indie author inspired her to finally publish her first novel.
✨ Why she believes aspiring authors should embrace research, learn the publishing process themselves, and avoid shortcuts that promise overnight success.
✨ The inspiration behind Until the Stars Fall, including its surprising roots in the classic film Sabrina and Vanessa's desire to create a comforting, fairy tale–inspired romantasy.
✨ Why interconnected standalones allow readers to revisit beloved characters while continually expanding the world through new kingdoms, romances, and magical conflicts.
✨ Once the Skies Fade and its emotionally richer story featuring a grieving Shadow Queen, anxiety-driven shadow magic, deadly tournaments, and a role reversal where the heroine becomes the feared protector.
✨ Creating Matthias, one of romantasy's rare green-flag heroes.
✨ What's coming next for the Immortal Reveries series, including dragon shifters, cursed princesses, Sleeping Beauty inspiration, and even more interconnected romances.
✨ Vanessa's candid advice about balancing creativity, family life, mental health, and building a writing career that can survive the inevitable highs and lows of publishing.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Vanessa Rasanen – @VanessaRasanenAuthor

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.