96. OLIVIE BLAKE RETURNS: Universal girlhood, cannibalism, & chaos

You are in for a treat on this week's episode of LiteraryHype Podcast. Olivie Blake joins me to talk about her latest novel, Girl Dinner, as well as her upcoming projects including Clara and the Devil Vol. 1. This is an absolutely unhinged, chaotic conversation in all the best ways. We're talking universal girlhood, the cannibalistic sorority in her book, our love of dips like ranch dressing, and there's a suprise appearance from another beloved Tor author. There's much to laugh about in this delightful conversation with Olivie Blake.

Links to come.

Transcript

00;00;03;04 - 00;00;25;26
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman. And today's author conversation is a little bit of deja vu because I interviewed this author last year at San Diego Comic-Con in the same booth, which was in the same space as it was in last year at the same table and chairs we did change the angle just a little bit, just so we would know that we were not fully glitching The Matrix.

00;00;26;14 - 00;00;56;02
Speaker 1
But this author is Oliver Blake. She's best known for the Atlas six series, but she's got a brand new one coming out called Girl Dinner. And this is Cannibalistic Sorority. So this is a whole adventure exploring girlhood, bonus in this conversation, we get interrupted by another pretty popular author. So definitely stay tuned to see who interrupts us in sick when pink, hot, short who.

00;00;56;15 - 00;01;00;07
Speaker 1
Welcome back to Literary Hype. Does this feel like deja vu to you? A little bit.

00;01;00;17 - 00;01;03;10
Speaker 2
It's really going to look like we never let we didn't.

00;01;03;10 - 00;01;11;22
Speaker 1
It's a glitch in The Matrix. There's just different books on the wall now and like different people around us and we're in a million different outfits. And I almost wear the same shirt just for fun days, but.

00;01;12;23 - 00;01;18;10
Speaker 2
But I actually, you know, I remember this interview so clearly that it's it's almost like no time has passed.

00;01;18;17 - 00;01;21;08
Speaker 1
Oh, well, this could be a good thing, but also could be very bad.

00;01;21;08 - 00;01;22;19
Speaker 2
You know, it's a great thing.

00;01;22;19 - 00;01;36;06
Speaker 1
OK, well, you agreed to do a second one, so it must not have been that bad. But a year ago, we were sitting at this very table in this very booth. Yeah. And you we were talking about a book that had not been announced and that's finally just announced. Yes.

00;01;36;15 - 00;01;39;20
Speaker 2
So finally, one year later.

00;01;40;12 - 00;01;50;00
Speaker 1
A year later, we can now officially talk about, yeah, it's clearly going on. What can you tell us now that you couldn't tell us about playing the double a year ago? I mean.

00;01;50;07 - 00;02;09;06
Speaker 2
The art has been finally is now. And so it's like it's gorgeous. The cover is amazing. I'm going to frame it like a movie poster on my wall. Like I just can't even believe the way this has come together. And I'm we've I've actually written there going to be seven books because it's seven mediums of art.

00;02;10;11 - 00;02;11;07
Speaker 1
OK? Yeah.

00;02;11;07 - 00;02;12;25
Speaker 2
And Seven Deadly Sins.

00;02;12;25 - 00;02;13;10
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;02;13;24 - 00;02;16;29
Speaker 2
So season one is the one that's season one. We used to call it Seasons.

00;02;17;20 - 00;02;18;01
Speaker 1
One, two.

00;02;18;01 - 00;02;38;11
Speaker 2
Messages of Love Tune. Yeah. So Book one is coming out next year and it'll be followed quite closely by book two. Book one is lust and literature, but two is gluttony and theater and then book three is well, it's written, let's just put it that way. I've written three, book four, so like we're good.

00;02;38;17 - 00;02;43;28
Speaker 1
So does your approach to writing change for writing a graphic novel versus writing for a straight novel?

00;02;44;06 - 00;03;06;23
Speaker 2
Yeah, I actually feel terrible because we're talking about like a day of work for me versus a year of work. Motomura Like, truly, because the way that I write is I she knows me so well. She understands the kind of things that I like thematically. And so I'm just like, like I'm, I'm, I'm one of the bunnies from Bunny by Mona.

00;03;06;23 - 00;03;09;26
Speaker 2
Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering.

00;03;09;26 - 00;03;13;10
Speaker 1
One of my workers will be so excited. Yeah, I mean, not me.

00;03;13;29 - 00;03;33;23
Speaker 2
But anyway, she's she's so talented. We've been working together for so long. Actually, Clara is going to come out right around our ten year anniversary of collaboration. But what was I even saying? She's just so. She's just so good that all I have to do is write the script. I don't have to write any of the like. I just have to write dialog and action, basically.

00;03;33;23 - 00;03;35;28
Speaker 2
So it ends up being very, very quick for me.

00;03;36;09 - 00;03;38;29
Speaker 1
Are there any changes from the web tune to the book?

00;03;39;09 - 00;03;53;27
Speaker 2
Yes, it's not. I mean, the story is the same, but the art is 100% different. Like, it's basically all been scrapped. It looks completely different. We've made some changes here and put in I think it's going to feel to anyone who read the Web seemed like a completely new work.

00;03;54;05 - 00;03;56;19
Speaker 1
What are you most excited for people to see in this book?

00;03;56;19 - 00;04;12;15
Speaker 2
Oh, my God. Everything. Every spread is like jaw dropping. She just, like, has really found her style and done it. And it's just the kind of thing that, like, no one else could have done this. And it's just so gorgeous. I'm so proud of where I'm so proud of where. I'm so glad to be working on this with her.

00;04;12;21 - 00;04;21;08
Speaker 1
Also, instance, this last year, I'm talking to you. You've got out a lot of books like like a lot. Yeah. How are you doing?

00;04;21;20 - 00;04;39;13
Speaker 2
I'm good. I got I got we've we've agreed and my publisher and I have agreed that I will continue writing at the pace I'm writing, and we'll just slow down the production pace and when we release them. But the reason is just that, like, my editor was so excited about girl dinner that she didn't want to wait a year and like, fair enough.

00;04;39;23 - 00;04;50;24
Speaker 1
So, I mean, everybody's very excited about girl dinner. Crowd here is ravenous to get their hands on early copy. Oh, I have one. Ha ha. So let's talk about your thriller.

00;04;50;25 - 00;04;51;19
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.

00;04;52;02 - 00;04;56;08
Speaker 1
So for anybody who hasn't seen this making the rounds on social media now that the sharks are out.

00;04;56;08 - 00;05;32;06
Speaker 2
Yes. What's it about? So girl, dinner is a satire about a cannibal sorority. And it was kind of it was basically a response to me watching the rise of online conservative feminine roles, you know, radical feminism. It's kind of also about the generational tension between like the millennial girl boxes and the Gen Z. Like I'm just a girl kind of meme stars the way one person put it is that it doesn't come from a place of necessarily criticism.

00;05;32;06 - 00;05;55;29
Speaker 2
It's like, I understand this. I am drawn to I think I think the girl is funny. And I think that you know, I like the Barbie movie. I just wonder if there's maybe something wrong with all of this content that sort of assumes this monolith of girlhood. You know, and I feel that it's very degrading to what the feminist movement should be trying to accomplish.

00;05;56;18 - 00;06;09;17
Speaker 2
You know, I think it integrates intersectional feminism especially. And so I think I wanted to write a story that was like, what is feminism cannibalizing itself? But I wanted it to be fun.

00;06;10;06 - 00;06;15;13
Speaker 1
What point did you think, you know, who would be a really fun group to explore cannibalism? Sorority girls? Yeah.

00;06;15;17 - 00;06;39;20
Speaker 2
So I was in a sorority I mean, this book is very much from a place of love, like it comes from. I enjoyed my time there. I'm also aware of like aspects of hypocrisy and the rigged system and stuff like that. So it's kind of like, I see you femininity, culture. I get lots of feeling about it. You know, if you could be this kind of person, maybe you anyone would want to be but what does it actually have power?

00;06;39;23 - 00;06;54;12
Speaker 2
Like, what does girl power mean? In what way is beauty? Power? Is beauty power at all? What is what does it mean to have institutional power and appropriate resources and accountability versus just like being hot?

00;06;54;22 - 00;06;58;18
Speaker 1
Do you feel like that you came to anything allusions or answers to any of those questions to this book?

00;06;58;23 - 00;07;18;06
Speaker 2
I would like to think that it would be crazy for me to just answer and be like, I've solved feminism. What I like to think Girl Dinner is, is it's an invitation to sit next to me and ask some of the questions that I'm asking and see if maybe together we can derive something a way forward. But also, it's a little campy.

00;07;18;19 - 00;07;34;26
Speaker 1
Yes. There's so much about like the opening scene with Sloane trying to have a conversation with her husband, and the baby is just like banging I'm trying to read this, and my husband's like, Oh, and one more thing. Oh, did I just come up? And I'm like, I was like, You are the child in this bag.

00;07;37;07 - 00;07;38;27
Speaker 1
With all of in my head, OK?

00;07;38;27 - 00;07;47;01
Speaker 2
Yes. A lot of people really enjoy that first scene. I really wanted it to feel like an episode of The Bear, like the pilot of the bear. I was like, whoa, I'm so overwhelmed. And that's good.

00;07;47;06 - 00;07;59;23
Speaker 1
Chapter one to be like, it does. But it's so realistic about channeling because you are a mom of a small child. Yes. A chilling that reality of how hard it is to have a child and have a career.

00;07;59;23 - 00;08;20;04
Speaker 2
And yeah, I mean, I think the whole thing with being a woman is you feel like you're just torn into a million pieces. You're supposed to be everything to everyone. And it is exhausting. It's fundamentally exhausting. We're tired. And I think it's really unfair also to talk about the male loneliness crisis or whatever when everybody's lonely. It's just that women, like, still have to claw for rights.

00;08;21;06 - 00;08;29;05
Speaker 2
We still have to do that. Yes. Capital ism is what's making us lonely. The patriarchy is what's making it seem like a male.

00;08;29;05 - 00;08;37;08
Speaker 1
Kind of is an interesting thing. Like, yeah, oh, there's so many single men because some women won't marry them. Well, right. That doesn't mean the women aren't lonely.

00;08;37;10 - 00;08;39;28
Speaker 2
Yeah. Like, what is it that's crazy?

00;08;39;28 - 00;08;42;21
Speaker 1
Just because they're not marrying you. Does that mean that I'm.

00;08;42;26 - 00;08;46;20
Speaker 2
The only one? Just because we have come up with fun hobbies like cannibalism?

00;08;48;10 - 00;08;53;00
Speaker 1
So the tagline of this book is Good Girls Deserve a treat, which is hilarious.

00;08;53;00 - 00;08;53;14
Speaker 2
Thank you.

00;08;53;24 - 00;08;56;28
Speaker 1
Did you come up with that, or is that more on the marketing side of things? I think it.

00;08;57;07 - 00;09;16;16
Speaker 2
Is in the book. I think it's or maybe I did write it, I don't know. But I was sort of the I didn't want to deliver a tagline to my cover, and it's because he comes up with it's Jamie Shepherd Hill. He does basically all of my covers, and he comes up with really funny like working subtitles a lot of the time.

00;09;17;09 - 00;09;30;26
Speaker 2
So I was kind of hoping he would just spontaneously come up with the feminine eat facts. But Good Girls Deserve a treat is also applicable.

00;09;31;07 - 00;09;32;22
Speaker 1
Those are both so good, though.

00;09;32;25 - 00;09;34;23
Speaker 2
We had a lot of fun puns.

00;09;34;23 - 00;09;36;16
Speaker 1
Were there any other puns that didn't make it?

00;09;37;18 - 00;09;56;00
Speaker 2
There's a lot of puns in the book. Like there's a lot. Both of those patterns are already in the book. I'm pretty sure what I think is really funny is also underneath the jacket be the case stamp on the actual hard cover is like a beautiful fork with POS on it. Like we just had so much fun designing this book.

00;09;56;13 - 00;09;57;07
Speaker 2
Just everything about.

00;09;57;10 - 00;10;10;03
Speaker 1
It, which you love to hear because it's it is that like blend of all these different things and just so much fun. Yeah, so talk about the writing process for you and like what the most fun part of writing it was.

00;10;10;10 - 00;10;36;21
Speaker 2
This book was one that was just like, I can't fight it. I have to write this like this. I'm like, my brain is churning in a way that means that anything else I work on right now will be a waste of my time. It also, like, I wrote it quite briefly and I wrote it in the fall of 20, 23 after I came up with the idea at Comic-Con and I pitched it to a few people who work at tour, I was like, Get this cannibal sorority girl dinner.

00;10;36;21 - 00;11;03;03
Speaker 2
And they were like, Do it. And I did. And but I really specifically wanted the reading experience to be the kind of thing that you could eat in one sitting like theoretically, not that you have to, but that you could. So that meant like, I didn't let myself run free as much as I normally would like. I would sit down to write and be like, OK, in 2500 words, you have to accomplish the next plot point, which is not how I normally write.

00;11;04;03 - 00;11;06;08
Speaker 1
Are you a cancer potter? Oh, I'm a panther.

00;11;06;08 - 00;11;07;09
Speaker 2
I don't know what's going on.

00;11;07;11 - 00;11;10;11
Speaker 1
Or was it weird trying to force yourself to plot?

00;11;10;22 - 00;11;26;04
Speaker 2
Oh, I didn't plot. I just was like, You have to make a point, OK? Within this time, like normally I would just be like, Go with what you feel, girl. And I was very indulgent. Goes along with the artistic process. Yeah, for girls. And I was like, no, no, make your point and get out.

00;11;27;03 - 00;11;27;20
Speaker 1
Do it.

00;11;28;21 - 00;11;47;26
Speaker 2
And, you know, and it came together quite easily. I remember that when I started writing, I was like, it is very clear vision of the first and last scenes except that I did not necessarily know what would be for dinner the second time. And when I got there, I was like, Oh my God. It was one of those moments that was like Whoa!

00;11;47;26 - 00;11;55;01
Speaker 2
Everything really just came together in a very kind of hallucinatory way. So it's always really rewarding when that happens.

00;11;55;13 - 00;12;08;11
Speaker 1
Just on the panel and Jaycee Lee yesterday, she was talking about her drafting process. It's like the cheese thrower in the UK. They throw the cheese and then you just throw yourself down after that. And then it's like all of this connected to that yeah.

00;12;08;21 - 00;12;13;02
Speaker 2
Those are the times when you get to feel like a genius. I mean, one day plotters get to feel like geniuses.

00;12;13;09 - 00;12;14;08
Speaker 1
Oh, man.

00;12;14;13 - 00;12;21;21
Speaker 2
There's, you know, like you have you have to you have to your part of your brain has to keep a secret from the rest of you in order for you to feel like, oh, my God.

00;12;22;14 - 00;12;27;11
Speaker 1
I am amazing. You know, that's a really interesting way of thinking of it. I like to bring.

00;12;27;21 - 00;12;29;09
Speaker 2
Like a light I you it'd.

00;12;29;09 - 00;12;36;23
Speaker 1
Be a great girl dinner. Yeah. What does that mean? Material dinner. What's your most common girl dinner?

00;12;37;16 - 00;12;48;00
Speaker 2
I mean, I do I relate to the wanting a Caesar salad and French fries that it does appeal to me. I do like I like dips also.

00;12;48;08 - 00;12;57;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. What are friends if not a vehicle for dip? Yeah. Like, no, I want to try so I can have ranch oh, there's a tasty some fries and.

00;12;58;03 - 00;13;03;11
Speaker 2
Any raw vegetable tray. It's like, oh, these are just vehicles for the ranch, like, 100%.

00;13;03;19 - 00;13;11;27
Speaker 1
Yeah, the because I hear somebody talking about the Caesar salad and fries, but I don't hear about that outside of Book World. It's like, I only hear about this from authors.

00;13;12;13 - 00;13;18;04
Speaker 2
Maybe we're not actually familiar with the outside world. And this is just we actually all came together at an author conference and we're like.

00;13;18;04 - 00;13;19;15
Speaker 1
OK, this is the meal.

00;13;19;21 - 00;13;22;19
Speaker 2
We have here. We have to create something of.

00;13;22;19 - 00;13;32;07
Speaker 1
Relevance, which the more I hang out with the authors, the more I think your salads. So I think I think it's just the book world is taking over our brands and being like, You should eat this Caesar salad.

00;13;32;23 - 00;13;41;00
Speaker 2
I do want to point out that I can't eat Caesar salad with visible anchovy. Yeah, that's like one of my plans, right? It's not my favorite. I actually like to tuck it under something.

00;13;41;00 - 00;13;55;12
Speaker 1
But I can't eat it. That's your strong your soul. And I we're so on edge. You know, this is why I like talking to you, because I like to make notes and nothing is going to happen.

00;13;55;25 - 00;13;57;29
Speaker 2
This is exactly like my writing process.

00;13;58;20 - 00;14;00;16
Speaker 1
Just chaos. This is how can.

00;14;00;16 - 00;14;03;22
Speaker 2
You feel that magic is happening if you're prepared in any way?

00;14;04;24 - 00;14;07;19
Speaker 1
See, maybe that's my problem, is I try to think too much yes.

00;14;07;19 - 00;14;11;25
Speaker 2
I just. OK, I got part of my act, so. Yeah, yeah. Just write more.

00;14;13;20 - 00;14;15;02
Speaker 1
I gotta make such a vibe.

00;14;15;09 - 00;14;23;20
Speaker 2
Yeah. I'm so disappointed I had to have the prop check. I mean it. At least it's glittery. There's that. But I would rather people believe I could be dangerous.

00;14;24;12 - 00;14;27;08
Speaker 1
I mean, it could be. You could. Like, checking.

00;14;27;18 - 00;14;34;08
Speaker 2
This mask is quite creepy, too. I'm going to put it on now. Look at this. Like, I might kill you.

00;14;34;16 - 00;14;38;26
Speaker 1
I haven't read money, but from what I know of it, yeah, it does definitely go with the girl dinner vibe.

00;14;39;02 - 00;14;49;19
Speaker 2
Oh, absolutely. We love you, Bunny, which is the prequel slash sequel slash almost a Frankenstein retelling is very much like Friends with Girl Dinner. Absolutely.

00;14;49;21 - 00;15;09;20
Speaker 1
Their best friend's going this much. OK, I don't know. If you know this, but after we talked about the 50% off the boat, go for the pick of the month. Last year, yours was the one that they were like, no more picks, no more bogus tickets. This like, oh, we did this thing. And they're like, Now you can't tell anybody that putting it on the Internet anyway, it's fine.

00;15;10;06 - 00;15;20;14
Speaker 1
They literally were like, No, like everybody will come for all of his work. So we can't, we can't put that on sale. So we have the Barnes Noble pick of the monster. Oh, my gosh.

00;15;21;08 - 00;15;30;09
Speaker 2
Sorry. Barnes and Noble. I think people are Barnes and Noble, like do Barnes and Noble just strut through the office, the corporate office.

00;15;30;10 - 00;15;32;06
Speaker 1
Owned by Dawn. He's right. Right?

00;15;32;08 - 00;15;38;13
Speaker 2
That's right. The Waterstones. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Anyways, back to Good Yeah.

00;15;39;07 - 00;15;45;23
Speaker 1
So there's something about power and of feeling that you're being chosen. Yes.

00;15;45;24 - 00;16;03;17
Speaker 2
In this book. Yes. I've heard people refer to Girl Dinner as a dark academia novel and I'm like, Oh my God, it is again, I don't really think of myself as like, I don't think of it as revisiting dark academia because, you know, I think of the Atlas six as definitely dark academia. Because I was in conversation with the secret history.

00;16;03;17 - 00;16;23;05
Speaker 2
I was actually working with what I felt the secret history was as a psychological thriller versus Girl Dinner. I saw as a different book I'm just asking questions about power. And then I was like, But that is bizarre. OK, academia is part of it, isn't it? And then the concept of exclusivity and how this is this is how the academy wins you over, right?

00;16;23;05 - 00;17;02;24
Speaker 2
It's like you can look at it as an institution and say, this institution is guilty of all these things until they let you in. And suddenly you're making all these compromises for who you are and what you believe in and what you think is worth it. Because I think part of the thing with safety and especially for Nina, who's, you know, the child of immigrants, and she is looking for financial safety and this sort of the transcendence from like uncertainty to certainty that that an advanced degree is supposed to get you that like that the if you are just chosen by the university by the house you'll be untouchable forever.

00;17;03;03 - 00;17;05;10
Speaker 2
And you know, it's a lie of course.

00;17;05;19 - 00;17;12;29
Speaker 1
I mean, if you like that's a lie that happens a lot. And just in college in general like where you go to school is so important because it's going to dictate your right.

00;17;13;25 - 00;17;22;16
Speaker 2
But of course. Yeah, I mean, it will if you're already if you're already dead because of your family, then like yeah. Then it works.

00;17;22;26 - 00;17;27;23
Speaker 1
You can still feel a lot of risk and not do anything for you.

00;17;28;10 - 00;17;32;19
Speaker 2
Yeah. Which is just one of those unfortunate. That's what makes the academia dark.

00;17;32;19 - 00;17;38;27
Speaker 1
And we love it in academia. It's such a good thing. It's such a popular genre. What is it about that genre that you love?

00;17;39;01 - 00;18;02;17
Speaker 2
I mean, I wouldn't have told you that I love it until like after realizing I wrote it again by accident. I think it's just like, this is I do love. I do love, you know, academia. I I'm a curious person. I'm a nerd by nature. I'm a bookish person. I think it's natural to feel especially tempted by the prospect of knowledge and the prospect.

00;18;02;18 - 00;18;29;11
Speaker 2
It's like if you could have these sort of forbidden resources, you could be a different person. You could have different power, you could exist in a different way. I think that that's because it is sometimes real. If some some people do get to be chosen, tokenism works because someone gets to be the token. And I think that there is that very real tension of like, how much of myself am I willing to compromise to have that?

00;18;29;11 - 00;18;43;18
Speaker 2
And I think there's there's something psychologically interesting and interesting in terms of, you know, writing about feminism and what does it mean like what does it mean to have all the resources that everybody wants and will that bring you any satisfaction?

00;18;44;07 - 00;18;51;16
Speaker 1
So there is a line in a little blurb about this book that I really loved as well. How much can you stomach in the name of solidarity and power?

00;18;51;21 - 00;18;57;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, I know. I didn't write that. My editors wrote that book. So Lindsay and Aisling maybe Hannah also.

00;18;58;02 - 00;19;05;00
Speaker 1
It's such a thought provoking line. Yeah. Like, so what would you stomach in the name of self? I know.

00;19;05;00 - 00;19;26;18
Speaker 2
Personally, I know. And I think it's really easy as the reader who's sitting in her comfy chair drinking tea to be like, I would never do that. And I think part of the exercise of girl dinner and following one particular character and all the choices they make is kind of like, you might make this choice. It's actually this it's it is kind of a rehash of what I did in the out of the series as well.

00;19;26;18 - 00;19;48;07
Speaker 2
It's just like, yeah, you start from this place of being rational, but we have to understand that we do want these things that are offered to us. We are honestly willing to do a lot in order to get them. And we live in a very individualistic society. That's just the terms of life. And so yeah, it is this kind of experiment of like how far would you go.

00;19;48;09 - 00;19;51;10
Speaker 1
And do a little bit at a time? Yes, yes.

00;19;52;04 - 00;20;06;13
Speaker 2
Yes. Like you yeah. You get gradually anesthetized to all these horrible things. Like in the end everyone is capable of atrocity and what stops you is really the question.

00;20;07;03 - 00;20;18;14
Speaker 1
And there's one with her slow in talking about teaching of like you don't, it's not your job to see it happen. And I feel like that's similar with writing books as well.

00;20;18;14 - 00;20;19;08
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's like.

00;20;19;08 - 00;20;29;12
Speaker 1
You write the thing and then you kind of have to just let it stay. So what's that like on your perspective? Of pushing all these books out in the last year and then just letting it.

00;20;30;17 - 00;20;46;24
Speaker 2
Girls in dinner? I'm very nervous about because I'm not confident that everybody is going to get in. We'll see. I do know, like, I am pretty confident that people who usually get it are going to get it, and that's good and that's going to make me happy. But like, I love this. I am bracingly little bit for people who maybe aren't.

00;20;47;09 - 00;21;12;06
Speaker 2
I don't know. We'll see, we'll see, we'll see what people take away from it because it's unusual for me. It's not really a romance. It's, you know, it's there's a lot of elements of desire, but not so much love. So it's unusual for me. It's kind of a break in the kind of things I usually write. The book is not just what I've written, it's also not just what the audience interprets.

00;21;12;06 - 00;21;18;11
Speaker 2
It's the communion of what I've brought to the table and what the audience consumes. It's dinner.

00;21;18;11 - 00;21;19;04
Speaker 1
Consumed.

00;21;19;21 - 00;21;28;17
Speaker 2
It's dinner. Dinner. Yeah. So I have never seen the ticktock because I don't have the tick tock. So it was news to me that there was a song.

00;21;29;04 - 00;21;38;14
Speaker 1
You just seemed to like get the sound off of Tick Tock and then just feeling like you was playing in the background. Yeah. So I let I.

00;21;38;14 - 00;21;55;01
Speaker 2
Love to call it communion, that Catholicism jumping out. But yeah, I think there is there's some release there that's just like, OK, well, I've, I've done it, I've written it, and now we have to see we have to see what the actual book is in that little space.

00;21;55;21 - 00;21;59;22
Speaker 1
So Nina is part of a cannibalistic spree. Yes. You were part of the story.

00;21;59;22 - 00;22;00;08
Speaker 2
I was.

00;22;00;22 - 00;22;05;21
Speaker 1
Were there any specific weird things from your experience that have influenced ideas in the.

00;22;05;21 - 00;22;07;12
Speaker 2
Book, aside from the cannibalism?

00;22;07;29 - 00;22;13;15
Speaker 1
I mean, there are theories no one really knows.

00;22;13;24 - 00;22;36;26
Speaker 2
You know, there are a lot of panhellenic rules. So there's nothing it's too like creepy. It's not like France where the rituals are dangerous. But there is sort of I think you never really let go of the the thing of being like kind of like a creepy girl. I know. I just said girlhood is not a monolith, but I think we're all a little creepy in adulthood.

00;22;38;16 - 00;22;47;07
Speaker 2
And so I think the feeling of like, oh, maybe there's ghosts is like part of the ritual. It's like you're you're tapping into that same thing.

00;22;48;07 - 00;22;50;03
Speaker 1
So you've been writing all these books.

00;22;50;05 - 00;23;17;23
Speaker 2
Yeah. Next is Kiss Your Devils in Los Angeles. It's it's gothic. It is set in contemporary L.A. It's about a 22 year old actress and I am describing it as like the vibe is like, you know how the old covers of Rebecca said the classic novel Romantic Suspense? That's the vibe. It's definitely this one is a romance. It's kind of a darker romance in that I mean, this girl on Yeah.

00;23;17;23 - 00;23;34;02
Speaker 2
Has her career is sort of falling apart. The pilot that she is part of got canceled by a studio and she doesn't know what she's doing. And then a very famous movie star hires her to be a companion for his son who.

00;23;34;02 - 00;23;34;20
Speaker 1
Has.

00;23;35;06 - 00;23;51;26
Speaker 2
Epilepsy or a demon. And there's arcane rituals I love an arcane ritual, you know, and it's 43, she's 22, and she makes the worst decisions. It's very true to the 20 to.

00;23;52;05 - 00;23;53;17
Speaker 1
25%.

00;23;54;09 - 00;23;54;29
Speaker 2
But it's funny.

00;23;55;05 - 00;24;00;17
Speaker 1
I heard you talking to somebody at the booth about Tip Up Dina Fincher about some books. Oh, yeah.

00;24;00;17 - 00;24;04;12
Speaker 2
Oh, well, but I was saying that for Heaven's Gate by Julia V, and.

00;24;04;27 - 00;24;09;22
Speaker 1
I was going to ask which one that was. Yeah, even hunters, apparently.

00;24;09;24 - 00;24;16;09
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. I can't explain why yet because I'm not that far in, but it's not like I think that it would scratch that is.

00;24;17;10 - 00;24;22;07
Speaker 1
Which character do you like better? Adam, I'm asking you to like that.

00;24;23;06 - 00;24;33;23
Speaker 2
I don't know. We have to love them. All right. It did remind me a lot of when I was younger, and I watch totally spies with my cousins, and we would play totally spies, so that was the vibe for me.

00;24;35;01 - 00;24;38;26
Speaker 1
Well, since this is literary hype, last question we always ask is, what are you hyped about?

00;24;39;09 - 00;24;51;21
Speaker 2
Oh, my God. OK, well, I have it. Oh, Lucky Day by Chuck single is fantastic. Fantastic. But I think it's Chuck. It's just over here. Don't worry about this.

00;24;51;21 - 00;24;52;16
Speaker 1
What you thought about it.

00;24;52;20 - 00;24;54;15
Speaker 2
This is my girlfriend, Chuck. Hello.

00;24;55;09 - 00;24;59;29
Speaker 1
I'm always standing outside when you're doing interviews and you better mention.

00;25;02;03 - 00;25;04;06
Speaker 2
There's actually a nice oh back here.

00;25;04;16 - 00;25;06;25
Speaker 1
I actually have a copy of Lucky Day with Max.

00;25;07;08 - 00;25;07;17
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;25;07;29 - 00;25;09;29
Speaker 1
Thank you. You discussed that.

00;25;10;12 - 00;25;32;08
Speaker 2
Before, and it's true. This was one of the things we discussed. Anyway, so directed Lucky Day by Chuck single. What's the everlasting? I now I'm just reading off the wall right here. OK, might be everlasting by Alexey Harrow. Red City by Marie is great, if you like. Once my enemy Red City is similar I think it will again.

00;25;32;14 - 00;25;33;18
Speaker 1
Scratch scratch that is.

00;25;35;21 - 00;25;47;26
Speaker 2
Yeah. There's a lot. Oh, my God, there's so many so many yeah and I just finished Blob by Maggie Sue and that was great especially from like in an Asian biracial experience that one really spoke to me also.

00;25;47;26 - 00;25;51;26
Speaker 1
Thanks so much for hanging out with that very high from San Diego Comic-Con. Thank you.

00;25;54;03 - 00;26;13;15
Speaker 1
Thanks to all of you for hanging out with me again at San Diego Comic-Con. Love getting to talk to all of you. She is hilarious and leaves the two of us together. Just ADHD unhinged all over the place. And I love that we just get to ride the vibes and talk about whatever we want to talk about. If you want to check out her books, girl dinner is coming out, you need to check this out.

00;26;13;15 - 00;26;27;18
Speaker 1
The links to do so are down below in the description as well as some of her other books, including Gifted and Talented. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype podcast. Give us some stars and leave a review. Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.