115. AMALIE HOWARD: Writing Why Choose Romantasy & Finding Her Own Voice

This week on LiteraryHype Podcast, Amalie Howard is back to chat about her new romantasy, Queen of the Night Sky, and it's turn into why choose territory, as well as her upcoming YA regency romance, Rebel Heiress. This conversation was filmed at Love Y'All in Atlanta, and is full of fun, heart, and Amalie is dropping some wisdom. She's also addressing how AI ended up on a book cover and how her publisher fixed the issue.

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Bookshop:
Queen of the Night Sky
The Starlight Heir
Queen Bee
Lady Knight
Rebel Heiress
Beast of Beswick

Amazon:
Queen of the Night Sky
The Starlight Heir
Queen Bee
Lady Knight
Rebel Heiress
Beast of Beswick

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Queen of the Night Sky
The Starlight Heir
Queen Bee
Lady Knight
Rebel Heiress
Beast of Beswick

Transcript

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00;00;03;09 - 00;00;09;25
Unknown
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman back with another author conversation for Literary Hype podcast.

00;00;09;29 - 00;00;17;26
Unknown
I've had Emily Howard on the show before, and we had such a great time talking about the first book in her adult romantic series and vibing and just having a grand old time.

00;00;17;29 - 00;00;23;25
Unknown
It made sense to bring her back to talk about the sequel and all of the other books that she's doing.

00;00;23;27 - 00;00;37;23
Unknown
Her new Why Choose Romance is Queen of the night Sky, and she's got another book coming soon. That is the third book following up on Lady Night and Queen bee, so we had a lot to talk about, from historicals to romantic

00;00;37;29 - 00;00;46;07
Unknown
and also a lot of other goofy jokes. But it's like as much fun as we had. There was also a lot of really good, deep information that Emily shared.

00;00;46;07 - 00;00;55;23
Unknown
She's so smart. I love her dearly, so please enjoy this conversation with Emily Howard.

00;00;55;26 - 00;01;10;12
Unknown
Welcome back to Literary Hype. It's so exciting to have you like you've got so many books to talk about all the time. Like, I don't know how you function, writing so many books and being out and about as much as you are. I try to have a life, but thank you very much for having me back. It's always great to be up and on the show with you.

00;01;10;14 - 00;01;31;06
Unknown
You call it a show? Yeah, I would show podcasts like it's all the show. Whatever. Look at my lovely Literary hype podcast bracelet. We just came from a crafting party where we made bracelets and had a whole bunch of fun making all of the dirty jokes. So what's our password? Our password is r u and spelled r u.

00;01;31;12 - 00;01;51;29
Unknown
I n, so it's ruin. We just told everybody our password. I don't know if that was smart. Probably not. Yeah, but the more the merrier. What if they say it the right way? Then we're good. Just like ruined. Did you say the more the merrier? Yes, I did. Which goes along with a great segue. So we were talking in the hallway, and the.

00;01;51;29 - 00;02;06;05
Unknown
The girls that I was around are like, you have to include this in the podcast because it was such a good line from you where I was like, yeah, I read double the pages of last night before the interview and you're like, well, there's double of everything, and the three double of everything in this lecture. Yes. So we're going to talk some why choose?

00;02;06;11 - 00;02;28;03
Unknown
But first I want to talk about the cover. Because you kind of got into a little bit of a scandal in the book world, but it's been remedied. So, because, like, Queen of the night Sky is the new one. It. This cover is not the final cover because of what happened. So talk a little bit about what happened with the I flub in the cover.

00;02;28;05 - 00;02;45;10
Unknown
So there was an, element that was used, that the design team did not know that it was I because it was not labeled as such. It was, I think it was Adobe Stock. I can't remember what which one it was. The good thing is, you know, I think people like my readers were amazing and coming and saying, hey, you might want to check this.

00;02;45;17 - 00;03;04;17
Unknown
You know, element and I, Harpercollins was very quick to, to make sure that, you know, when people pointed out there might be an issue with the element to, fix it. So they hired, designer who did the drawing, and, it's on my Instagram if you want to see the time lapse, of it. And, you know, they got it done pretty quickly, which was great.

00;03;04;20 - 00;03;21;27
Unknown
I did want to point out that time lapse video, because that is so smart, not just for like, marketing the book, but to prove that. Yeah, hey, we saw this issue and we heard you and we fixed it, and this is proof that we fixed it and didn't just let it go. And that's neat. Neat. I know burger is the artist.

00;03;21;27 - 00;03;37;26
Unknown
He actually is doing some portrait cards for me for this. And he's a fantastic artist. So he does timelapses for everything, which is really cool. But the dragon time lapse is fantastic. It's so cool to watch. I watch it like 12,000 times. It's just like, yeah, it's like. And it's also good for people with ADHD like me. I'm just like, I'm mesmerized.

00;03;37;26 - 00;04;06;17
Unknown
I'm calm. Oh, maybe that's why I watch it so many times. Looking out. Looking out. The topic of art. You showed me your, your art prints way early, so I've had to keep this secret since July. She did. And that's not easy. No, especially when it's that spicy of art. So talk a little bit about, deciding what scene you want turned into your art prints and finding your artist to do so.

00;04;06;17 - 00;04;26;10
Unknown
So my artist is Rick Bisbee. She's been, my long time artist. She's done most of the art that I've done for overlays and character cart art, all this stuff. And when we were chatting about it, I said, you know, I really knew that I wanted this Jabari scene just because Shadow Jabari is really cool, like. And it's magic's in there.

00;04;26;12 - 00;04;45;29
Unknown
Plus she's with, you know, her. The two main, male characters. And, I knew I wanted that. I'm really I have I'm OCD diagnosed, so like, I always like to be very upfront with what I like, what I don't like, what I want. So I sent her Art of shibori and said, I want this, but with shadows.

00;04;46;01 - 00;05;06;03
Unknown
And then the other character, Art one's a spoiler. So I won't give away what the. Yeah, the female main character Soraya is doing with it. She's not only standing in front of a creature. Let me just say beast mode. Is that. Is that enough of, like, a teaser, not a spoiler? Yeah, she has a b side. Don't don't don't do so.

00;05;06;03 - 00;05;28;03
Unknown
I mean, it's fun, like deciding what you wanted. Like, I thought about having a someone flying on a dragon, but the dragons on the cover, so it's, you know, it's like, how do we do something different? And then the scene with the throne is. So it's it's very innocent, but it's also so sensual because, you know, he's giving her a forehead kiss while the second guy is, you know, holding her toes, like, so sexy.

00;05;28;03 - 00;05;52;00
Unknown
Throne scenes. Yeah. Throne scene. Rebecca Yara's also has one of those, you know, fun there. Why do we like Thrones scenes? I don't know, I think it's a power thing. It's like, you know, kings, queens, rulers. It's hot. It's a big chair. It's room to move. Not the Iron Throne. Because I have swords. They will hurt you. And we don't want you to be pale that way.

00;05;52;00 - 00;06;11;01
Unknown
No, that's not the way to do it. That's not the. Are you in the cheap one else? That's not the one you want at all. That's for anybody who hasn't seen the Starlight er or Queen of the night Sky. It on social media, or for the first book in the bookstores. What is this book about? Starlight er is about a girls woman who has,

00;06;11;03 - 00;06;33;28
Unknown
She is born with the magic of the stars in her blood. It's been hidden because she's obviously hunted for magic in a world that has none. And she goes to the palace where the crown prince is trying to find this mysterious star keeper. And the star keeper is marked in a certain way by her magic. But my heroine's magic has been found by her mom.

00;06;34;00 - 00;06;55;03
Unknown
So she goes to this thing, and her magic does manifest. Obviously, she's in a little bit of trouble. Her? She meets the bastard. She say bastard. The illegitimate brother of the Crown Prince who takes her on the run. He tries to save her because obviously the Crown Prince is is not a good man. And they go on the run and they're.

00;06;55;03 - 00;07;19;18
Unknown
You know, being hunted. And then they come back to the palace. And this is a big thing and the secrets that get exposed. So no spoilers. And then, there is a happy ever after. For now, I'm not going to say who ends up with whom. And then in book two, Queen of the night Sky, if you look at the map, I would say that the is to look at the top part of the map and figure out where the story is going to go next.

00;07;19;21 - 00;07;40;18
Unknown
So the world of Inara, the first part is in the bottom half, and the second part is in the Kingdom of Beverly, which is ruled by the Night King, who was her shadow person, and bacon shadow, that is shadow that is are huge right now. Daddies are so fun. Like they're so fun. What's the best part of writing a shadow, daddy?

00;07;40;18 - 00;08;13;06
Unknown
The shrubbery, a lair. I mean, it's so fun that has this magic like dark magic. But I didn't have him, like, using shadow to, like, you know, jump places. Places. You see a lot of those tropes in books, like, you know what, the use of shadow magic. But I think using it in sexy times super fun. He also like, gets mad and like, goes from his throne when he was holding court with all his people when she does something and he goes up to where she's watching in a storm of shadow hot clip again, this mad giant man just coming out of this swirl of shadow and you're just like, well, oh, hello town.

00;08;13;06 - 00;08;31;22
Unknown
Yeah. Hi, sir. Yes, in the second book, though, Sariah has no magic. So she goes from all the magic to no magic, which I thought was a nice segue because when you're, you know, discussing that you had no magic your whole like you finally realize you have all the magic in the world. Then you go to book two and you're like, you have none again.

00;08;31;28 - 00;08;54;02
Unknown
How do you deal? And we as people deal with that all the time, right? We're boring people with no magic, but not not even magic. We take something else love, money, anything that kind of makes the world turn and it's taken from you. Or you get it in some way. It changes you. Right? But the kind of person who, at the core, defines how you react to those things either being given to you or taken away.

00;08;54;04 - 00;09;17;01
Unknown
So there's a line toward the beginning of Queen of the night Sky where he's like, this is what I get for falling in love with a magical sadist. If you were a magical creature, how would you use your power of opening? I'd be like, what is my villain origin story as about a hero? I have to naughty is never going to happen.

00;09;17;04 - 00;09;36;11
Unknown
Oh magical cities. I don't know if that's the. It is also because she was like using her magic in a public space to tease him, which I thought was really cute. I don't know. This is very entertaining. I don't know what I would do, like if I had magic that was sadistic, just harassing people for, you know, like pulling people's hair.

00;09;36;13 - 00;09;57;25
Unknown
I no, you got to keep it PG. Like in, like, places like this. I don't know it where my I mean, she doesn't like a PG yet at all. Yeah. There would be. Yeah. Okay. Oh my fooling. You're not fooling anybody. One I was like how accurate is this for Emily's. And like I don't know. Yeah random rips didn't like you know clothing also at the beginning.

00;09;57;28 - 00;10;20;25
Unknown
So the scene where she's, like, having fun with the magic turns everything crazy. And then she's kind of put in a really bad position. And she's kind of going through, like, talking about mental, like going through her mind of, like, monstrosity and what it means to be a monster. So talk a little bit about crafting this story around the idea of what is a monster.

00;10;20;27 - 00;10;41;01
Unknown
I feel like anybody who has any kind of challenges or like, you know, issues like, you know, talking about things, trauma or anything like that. I, you know, I was anorexic, like in my late teens. And I used to describe it because I spoke to a lot of teens at like conventions and stuff about eating disorders. And I always spoke about it as a monster inside of you.

00;10;41;01 - 00;11;02;22
Unknown
And either the monster is going to win or you're going to win. You have to slay your monsters, and that could apply to anything. So it's right. And this magic, like this magic can be. You know, I always like to look at magic. Like, people talk about magic as being bad or good. Magic is nothing. It's the mind of the wielder that makes it not how it's used.

00;11;02;22 - 00;11;24;28
Unknown
Right? So it's a tool. So if you're angry and upset, I mean, I know it's kind of literally like to be like, you know, with great the suffering, you know, fear leads to suffering and all this stuff. But like, yeah, if you have negative emotions, anything you expel is going to have a negative tinge. So with Soraya, like, I knew that the angrier she got, her magic had a potential of turning potentially bad.

00;11;24;29 - 00;11;44;20
Unknown
So, I mean, I think it's anything that we go through in life if you wanted to, like, line up those things in writing that, crafting that character, I just drew from those things. Anything that you know that you're facing that is hurtful or anything that's joyous, you know, your your magic, the way you interact with people is going to be, you know, influenced by that.

00;11;44;20 - 00;12;04;02
Unknown
And so, like one of the teasers you posted for this book was a line of like, fear is giving your adversary power, which fits very well into this idea of monstrosity. And like feeding that beast of fear versus power and all these kind of situations that she's thrust into. But this is also a very feminine rage story.

00;12;04;02 - 00;12;19;15
Unknown
So what was it like for you to tap into feminine rage for her? So much of that right now, I think, like writing has always been cathartic for me, because I'll just take all those things and put it in the book. But I love writing those series because, you know, fear is a natural emotion. And, you know, people are always like, oh, you shouldn't be afraid.

00;12;19;15 - 00;12;38;19
Unknown
You should be afraid. It like tells your body how to react. Right? And I know this from therapy, many, many hours of therapy. Right. The one thing you don't want to do is have panic. Panic puts you in a dangerous situation. Fear is okay because it tells your body okay. This is how you need to react to the situation to survive.

00;12;38;22 - 00;12;57;23
Unknown
So for her, you know, that fear, she kind of like, used it. She was like, okay, I'm afraid, how do I fix this? How do I become. And I mean, she's not like this all powerful super, you know, she knows all the things she learns as she goes. We're all learning as we go. So, yeah. No, I, I love doing that.

00;12;57;23 - 00;13;13;06
Unknown
I love, like, when she did have, like, her explosive mistake moments because we all have them, you know. What did she do? I think the biggest thing from that is if you intended to do what you own, that you intended to do it, and if you didn't, then you say, okay, I need to figure out how to fix it and then learn from it.

00;13;13;07 - 00;13;29;07
Unknown
Like, don't do it again. It comes with that like balance of feminine rage versus femininity. So how do you walk that line when you create your characters? I mean, sometimes when I'm writing them, like I might make the mistake of saying they should do this. And then I'm like, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. That doesn't want it doesn't jive with her character or two.

00;13;29;10 - 00;13;46;29
Unknown
I don't know if I'm okay with her doing that. Right. So and within the context, I mean, it could be anything. Could be like what's going on in the world? It could be how I grew up. It could be anything, that informs that. So I think there is a line, the one thing I want to do, and the biggest line comes from intent versus impact.

00;13;47;02 - 00;14;07;26
Unknown
I think those two things are huge. You know, you might have an intention about something, but the impact that it might have on your reader, right? It has to have a point to move your plot forward. Moving the plot forward is real fun. And this one, because it moves into a Y choose. Yes, it does. At what point did you realize this needed to become a Y?

00;14;07;26 - 00;14;29;26
Unknown
You choose? It was actually early on, because I was telling my editor how, you know, I loved Roshan and, you know, he's great. But I also really, really loved Darius. And she was like, oh. And I was like, here's what I'm thinking of doing. She's like, but I love Roshan. And I was like, okay, but something has to happen in this story.

00;14;29;26 - 00;14;49;04
Unknown
Can I have both? And she's like, why not both? It was like an epiphany because I was like, why not both? So that's how it went there. And I think that, you know, I'm really obsessed with the fated meets trope. Like, I just love it. I don't know, I hate her, love it, I do. But love is also a choice and it takes work.

00;14;49;04 - 00;15;13;06
Unknown
And you have to decide if you want to keep working on something. I've been married to 26 years. Like it's not always rainbows and joy every day. So I think, you know, I wanted Roshan to have that chance at redemption. And it was hard. It was hard taking him to a point where I don't want to give away too much, but like where he was not likable to be able to bring him back.

00;15;13;08 - 00;15;37;08
Unknown
You see it coming. He's he's walking a very fine line and it's like, oh buddy, don't do that. Yeah. This is not you're going to mess things up if you do. But then we have a story and that's why we have the story. Yeah. What's the weaponization, right. The weaponization of power. And if somebody has something to have control over something and they want to control that something, they're going to take it and they're going to say it.

00;15;37;08 - 00;15;56;07
Unknown
It's for the greater good. But is it really for the greater good? Like, why are you doing that? There's also a lot of yearning in this book. Yes, yes. So talk a little bit about your process in writing, the yearning and the longing in these characters. I think the yearning and longing comes from like when there's something that you want and you can't have it.

00;15;56;09 - 00;16;12;01
Unknown
I'm not going to lie, I probably did channel a lot of my 16.5 year old daughter. She yearns constantly. Her life is yearning. She will come home from school and sit there and be like, mom, oh my God, this boy like that, I have this crush. And like, you know, he's so perfect. He's so smart. And the way he walks.

00;16;12;01 - 00;16;36;11
Unknown
Like what? The way he walks. You know what I mean? Like, you're balancing that yearning and longing, especially when in motion skates is something that has been taken away from him by his own self. And there's a lot of yearning, but it's also like he's trying to do what's right. And then he is also has his own challenges to face.

00;16;36;13 - 00;16;55;10
Unknown
Right? So I'm not going to give him too much of a pass early on. But yeah. Yeah, I love hearing we did a panel together at San Diego called The Culture of Our Man to See. Yes, it was a fantastic panel. It was maxed out. You can watch the panel on YouTube. It is on my YouTube channel. So if you want to check that out, you can see the whole thing.

00;16;55;12 - 00;17;15;10
Unknown
But it was such a good panel and it was so full. It was on the PBS podcast. I don't know if you know that. Yeah, I did, it was amazing. It was wild, wild, wild, wild times for friends. But this story does pull from other cultures and their mythology. So talk a little bit about blending those and why it's important to feature elements of other cultures in fiction.

00;17;15;10 - 00;17;38;00
Unknown
Yeah, for one, I mean, the world is a very broad, diverse place, and we have people with many different histories and cultures. And seeing books set in those is always awesome. I have like a pinned thread where I'm like, people are like, oh my God, all the books are the same. They're not the same. You need to expand your worldview and look for authors that are writing in those spaces, especially diverse authors.

00;17;38;02 - 00;18;03;10
Unknown
You should tool is a good one. I love her so much. You know, so like, I wanted to include a little bit of, like, you know, my history. So Persian anthology, there's some Vedic astrology in there as well, because I talk a lot about calamansi, which is like palm reading. And there's a little bit of that in there, just incorporating little elements that just, I think make it richer.

00;18;03;12 - 00;18;20;22
Unknown
Because it gives you a glimpse into a whole other culture. And if something fascinates you in a book, which I've done before, I'm like, oh, I'd like to learn more about that and go look it up. And it's fantastic being able to do that. You know, some of it can be a living. It's a living religion. So you want to also be thoughtful and respectful in the same breath.

00;18;20;22 - 00;18;43;16
Unknown
So a lot of it obviously is fiction and just kind of incorporated with Western stuff to make like the pantheon of gods similar to the Olympic gods, like just different, you know what I mean? So like there's there's a lot more, of my background in it, but still similar enough because I think across like people and cultures, there's so many similarities.

00;18;43;16 - 00;18;57;08
Unknown
Right? You look at all the religions, they all have very similar things. I mean, I went through like stuff in my life where I was like a deist and then I was not a de as I was an atheist. And then, you know, my father's Hindu, so he's a Hindu priest. And like, you know, my mom is Christian.

00;18;57;15 - 00;19;18;09
Unknown
So like, I learned a lot about different religions, cultures and all that stuff and, enjoyed it. I had a teacher back in your old college days that talked about world religions, and it's like every religion has a piece of the puzzle and you don't understand the full puzzle. And once you look at all the pieces are, they are important to broaden your perspective into her eyes.

00;19;18;10 - 00;19;38;14
Unknown
Absolutely. And it's it makes life for you richer to be able to do that. Which is why, you know, with all these big bands and stuff and like, you know, books that are coming out, it's important to make sure that this is like, you know, still accessible for people. And then, you know, read diversely. I always say that on my socials all the time.

00;19;38;17 - 00;20;10;23
Unknown
Diverse authors, like, really need support because, you know, not to be a downer, but like, they get their deals or less or they get less publicity, or they don't get as invited to as many events, you know, or something. It's always, not as I don't say it was not as competitive sometimes. So I was trying to boost other authors, like other diverse authors, because I think collectively and socially, it's best to like, make sure that everybody even actually have like a, a, an author who has a really big platform.

00;20;10;23 - 00;20;28;29
Unknown
She's like, what can I do? Is like, you can do something that costs you nothing, literally lift up an author or a book that you read. And even if you haven't read the book, be like, you know what? I'm hearing a lot of good things about this author. You know who's writing about something fantastic within. Like, if you're a fantasy writer, just boost them so that it's a repost.

00;20;28;29 - 00;20;44;25
Unknown
Now, you know, it's super easy to hit that button, put it in your story form, you know, and Rebecca actually does a great job of that. Like she talked about solidarity. Me she blurbed this book. So like, you know, I'm grateful to her for that because her platform is really huge. And but she's always been, you know, supportive.

00;20;44;25 - 00;21;09;09
Unknown
So not only do we need to diversify ourselves in all the other ways, but also genre wise, I had a publicist point out to me that historical romance is romantic. For romantic readers who just don't realize that they are actually historical romance, let's call it the the cool, eccentric aunt. Yes, it's. I didn't think about how similar they were until she pointed it out.

00;21;09;09 - 00;21;34;07
Unknown
And you happened to write in both of these worlds? Yeah. So talk a little bit about that crossover between romantic and historical romance. I mean, like I actually started in fantasy and science fiction for Y. So going from that to historical romance, which is like my first love for reading and I was talking about the five days is to devrel, to this book, not, Joanna Lindsay and Julie Garwood and Beverly Jenkins, my five days.

00;21;34;07 - 00;21;55;07
Unknown
And I love them like Bev is a queen. If you haven't read any of her books, please do. Like she's just just phenomenal writer. And good friend. After I start, I love her. Yeah. You know, so like. And I always loved reading that. So actually, how this started was like a friend of mine, we were, like, in way contracts, and we're like, oh, we really love this.

00;21;55;07 - 00;22;13;08
Unknown
Just write a book together. So we opened the Google doc and we started writing, you know, sort of writing this story, mainly Marcus's editing for the where we worked with that Derek Dukes like, and, we finished a book in like a month and we're like, what do we do with this? And we gave it to our agents and they sold it, and it was actually, entangles Amara line.

00;22;13;08 - 00;22;35;02
Unknown
So Red tower like that, publishing company. And they published seven of our books, historical romance, which we wrote together. And then I went on my own. My first was Bicester, Beswick, which is probably like my most well known title for historical, and. Yeah, and mean writing historical. And then if we're talking like romantic, the leap isn't very long.

00;22;35;05 - 00;23;05;14
Unknown
They wear amazing clothes, you know, they have they speak in a certain way. You have your worldbuilding definitely reflects more of, like an old Europe vibe or an old, you know, if like, Persian vibe for mine. Like, you know, I mean, I don't think there's a huge gap between them and people don't realize it because they think that either historical romance is, oh, it's to, it's to, to smart or it's to it's too much and it's not historical romance is also an escape, especially some of the newer stuff.

00;23;05;17 - 00;23;33;27
Unknown
You know, Liana de la Rosa, she's a great series. She's awesome, you know, and there's a lot of, like, diverse historical, romance writers to check out that are fantastic, fantastic books. You mentioned Beast of Beswick. What's it like for that book to get noticed by Oprah? I know that was awesome. I mean, I love when, you know, obviously any author likes when their books get into big media spaces because it just means more exposure.

00;23;33;29 - 00;23;58;20
Unknown
And I'm grateful for everything that I get. So like, I just hope that more of it happens, you know? Yeah, I'm greedy, I want it. But you also have a a series in the historical space. Lady Knight got some love as well. American Booksellers Association feminists rage on see from this very feminist rise. Feminist. I lost that feminist rage to feminist rise.

00;23;58;27 - 00;24;21;19
Unknown
Yeah. List. So what was it like? What made this one so special for the feminist rise aspect? To really think about Lady Night is that it was, it's about, a girl squad that's like, you know, don't tell us what to do. We want to live our lives like the men do, because thinking 18, 19, you know, rules for women were very, very, like, strict.

00;24;21;24 - 00;24;45;24
Unknown
They couldn't, you know, go to college, university, their education, were finishing schools. They couldn't, like, talk out of turn. You can talk about politics. You can do anything, that the boys did. And so she forms this band like this group of girls. And it's because of a teacher who's basically tells them to, you know, live out of the box, like, live your best life that you want.

00;24;45;26 - 00;25;11;00
Unknown
So she forms this girl squad that does all the things that boy boys do. And they they read controversial literature. So the book they read is Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley. I start my chapters with quotes from Mary Wollstonecraft, who most people would say is the mother mother of modern feminism. And her daughter Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. And back then the book was like gothic murder girls not allowed to read that.

00;25;11;02 - 00;25;30;07
Unknown
So of course they read it, of course. And they all did. Like they had like projects with their teacher. So that's why I say it's like Bridgerton meets Dead Poets Society teachers are amazing. You know, my parents are both teachers. I couldn't do it. But of course, you know, you can. You can only have a group like that that challenges the system only until someone says, what are you doing?

00;25;30;07 - 00;25;49;16
Unknown
Or you make a mistake that gets you into trouble, which they do. And then she has to come back from all those mistakes you make because they hurt people in her sphere. And then, of course, you know, brother's best friend, Raffi is like the these like the Playboy from the first book, like I don't you see Playboy, that womanizer like, I don't know, we call it rake.

00;25;49;23 - 00;26;05;28
Unknown
The real rake the rake from the first book. Good. I love a good read. And he. Exactly. And he, you know, he's very protective. So as a hero, like, I love him either he's like a cinnamon roll rake. Is that a thing? Like, let's make it a fake? I feel like. Yeah. What's his face from Bridgerton. Could be a cinnamon roll, right?

00;26;05;28 - 00;26;27;19
Unknown
Yeah. No, it's Benedict's, that's his name. Season two is the season whose hit? Oh, hate. I'm just saying it. But book three is coming out. So talk a little bit about Rebel Heiress. So Rebel Heiress comes out in May, and it's the third book in the series, and it is. So I'll pitch it as Bridgerton meets She's the Man, which I love.

00;26;27;19 - 00;26;48;27
Unknown
There's no soccer in it, but the she's the Man comparison is because she is a very smart girl. She's in the first two books who everybody thinks is boy crazy. And marriage crazy, who just wants to get married. But she's not. She's just really smart, and she just wants to meet somebody who makes her happy. But she also wants to go to university.

00;26;48;27 - 00;27;10;11
Unknown
And guess what? Girls weren't allowed to go to university. So she pretends to be her cousin who goes off on a grand tour of Europe. And she takes this place at Cambridge University dressed up as him. And there she meets a tutor and he. They have these mathematics astronomy conversations. I was not the girl in high school who did math well.

00;27;10;13 - 00;27;35;21
Unknown
And math is actually sexy of this book, which is hilarious to me. How do you make math? I don't think I, I dare you to read it in Rebel Errors. I decided that they wouldn't give it to me early. Oh no, I shall make sure you get one. Yay! Seriously, he says like a math. He solves a math problem for her while they're dancing in a ballroom.

00;27;35;24 - 00;27;53;04
Unknown
And yeah, be still her beating heart. So now that we've talked about all of your various books, because you have so many, let's talk about you a little bit. And you mentioned Rebecca yours a little bit ago. I saw an Instagram that you guys went to the Halsey concert together. I was so jealous. Like, hey, I love Halsey.

00;27;53;05 - 00;28;13;13
Unknown
Halsey was my gateway drug into BTS. So good. But then to go with Rebecca Gates, what was that like, getting to go with somebody who's like, kind of can't really go out in public by herself anymore? I really can't. Like we walked out of there and like the amounts of is that Rebecca Yas? Is that Rebecca was like, I started getting anxiety and I'm not even her.

00;28;13;16 - 00;28;33;13
Unknown
You know, I think I've been recognized, like, one time, and which was cool. It was by a person, like in the middle of Denver, and it was awesome. And I will never forget it. But like that walking energy with her, I mean, privacy wise, especially for somebody with an anxiety attack. I mean, myself, like, I don't think I could deal with that, but she's so gracious.

00;28;33;20 - 00;28;53;22
Unknown
I'm I'm kidding. Like, I would probably put my head down and walk. She like, smiled and said hi. And, you know, I think somebody asked her to take a picture at one point and she didn't take any pictures, but she did sign something like she's she's kind of cellphone kind. So but we were talking about that earlier at the, the crafting is like get a pen name like you.

00;28;53;26 - 00;29;09;22
Unknown
You didn't and she didn't. And now you guys have kind of both learned that lesson of how important that is for your own protection as a person. Yes. And I think a lot of that comes down to boundaries as well. Which, yeah, people try to cross all the time. Having a pen name is a layer of protection.

00;29;09;22 - 00;29;29;01
Unknown
I think I would have, liked to have done, but, you know, I didn't do, like, now, but maybe I'll have one in the future. I don't know, maybe, you know, we would get even spicier. Crazier and more and more in the back. I'm all the way out of box sideways, like we have, like, two sideways. Yeah.

00;29;29;04 - 00;29;46;11
Unknown
I don't know. I mean, we always talk about, like, doing different things and whether it would, you know, pan out if you're writing, like, something super spicy or not. But I also have, like a middle grade book, too, so, like, you know. Yeah, maybe do that and so they stay over there. Yeah. I don't have to worry about romance.

00;29;46;18 - 00;30;07;12
Unknown
Although I think kids are savvy, man. If they want to find stuff, they're going to find it true. It's very true. I found some information on you, but, that you published poetry at 12 years old. I did. What would you say to your 12 year old self if you could know? Girl, why are you reading all of those dog romance?

00;30;07;12 - 00;30;28;03
Unknown
No kidding. Keep reading more. Rainbow. That poem that got published when I was 12 was actually about my English teacher lit a candle and said, write a poem. And mine was about a bridegroom burned his bride to the ground, a dark romance. Eyes were like they existed even then. I guess, I don't know. I should have been a white shoes with some other wicks.

00;30;28;06 - 00;30;52;09
Unknown
There. So weather like options. I had this blip like in my when I was 18. I went to, college and I took my first creative writing class, and I always thought that I would either major or minor in creative writing and, in this program, which was like, it was just a month long class. The teacher was, she was a substitute teacher, so she wasn't part of the, the department, and which was fine.

00;30;52;09 - 00;31;11;29
Unknown
But, you know, I was there on an academic scholarship, and she told me, you know, some things about my voice, and I. I felt so like, oh, my God, I'm not good enough. You're 18 years old. Somebody says, you know. And it wasn't like constructive criticism was more like, you know, oh, your voice is to X or to something.

00;31;12;01 - 00;31;34;26
Unknown
And I just kind of shut down because you're 18 years old. What do you know? Right. And you're like, oh, maybe I do suck. So to myself back then I would say, you don't suck. Your voice is your voice and it needs to be heard and you should persevere. So for new writers or any writers, somebody says you're not X, Y, or Z.

00;31;35;00 - 00;32;06;21
Unknown
You say, no, your voice is needed. So I ended up not taking another creative writing class in a fantastic department and then said, I majored in International Studies in French and went off to work for an international telecoms company and out of school. And then, you know, got into Twilight like everybody else in 2003 and was like, I really feel like I should be writing these stories because, you know, you have this woman who wrote a story from a dream she had, and you've been dressing as a vampire or a witch every year since you were like nine.

00;32;06;23 - 00;32;28;16
Unknown
Go do it if you want to do it. So that was kind of like the, you know, the driver for that. So I would tell myself, like, don't listen to negative voices. Well, this is this is me being a weirdo. Again. I like research, you know, I like digging into people. I love research, and I hear you're afraid of clowns and ghosts.

00;32;28;19 - 00;32;49;22
Unknown
Yeah. So I watch Zombieland. It's so good. It is so good. Until that zombie ghost clown thing ran out of nowhere. That is like nightmare fuel. Would you rather face a clown or a ghost? If we were to open this door and one of them was to be out there, which would you rather it be? I would say the clown.

00;32;49;22 - 00;33;15;22
Unknown
Because it's a person and it's real, I think like ghosts. Like I have this theory. I can love vampires and zombies. Revenants, like, because it's, impossible. They're not. They're not going to be real. Right? But ghosts, they're plausible. And there's no proof that those aren't real. So I've never been able to watch any of the Exorcist movies because of that.

00;33;15;24 - 00;33;37;09
Unknown
Oh, no no no no, I will. Nope. Out of those so fast. I don't do a lot of horror. Yeah. Yeah, that's not my I actually. So one of the things that traumatized me as a child was X-Files. Like saying I'm till midnight on New Year's Eve with my dad, and he wanted to watch X-Files and, like, now I have grown up to do panels with one of the actors from from X-Files.

00;33;37;15 - 00;33;52;11
Unknown
And he's like, which one was it? Like, it's no. And he's like, no, go watch my favorite episode, which was home. And I went watch. I was like, why is that one your favorite? You're not even in it. He's like, it's real messed up. Oh my God. Yeah yeah, yeah. No, no. Mine was like night of the Living Dead.

00;33;52;11 - 00;34;16;19
Unknown
Like I think that traumatized me. And then like any of the Poltergeist movies, I'm. I'm aging myself. But yes, like, no, I'm the ring. I cannot watch any of those. No, no, I like like, funnily enough, I went to Halloween Horror Nights last year and had the blast. I did like two houses. I was, I thought I was going to do zero so I can, I can have a little.

00;34;16;21 - 00;34;39;01
Unknown
Yeah, just a little. Just a little. Yeah. But since this is literary hype, what we're going to ask, what books are you hyped about right now? I just blurbed Lisa tully's Stormbreaker. I know I mentioned her before, that's coming out, I think in a couple months. It's her debut. Yeah. She's a pretty talented writer. I what else have I read?

00;34;39;04 - 00;34;50;09
Unknown
I mean, downtime, I read a lot of, like, mafia romance and monster romance because I love them. So, like, I can't even tell you what I'm reading now. So. Well, thanks so much for hanging out with literary hype from. Love you all in Atlanta.

00;34;50;14 - 00;34;51;27
Unknown
Awesome. Thanks for having me.

00;34;51;27 - 00;34;56;29
Unknown
Yay! Let's go through. Yep.

00;34;57;02 - 00;35;10;03
Unknown
Thanks again to Emily for taking time out of her. Love, y'all. Atlanta schedule to talk with me. This was a very early in the morning conversation, and I feel like we did really well for it being so early in the morning, because neither of us are morning people.

00;35;10;06 - 00;35;16;12
Unknown
If you want to check out either of these book series or some of her other books, the links to do so are down in the description for you.

00;35;16;18 - 00;35;25;00
Unknown
If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype Podcast. Give us some stars and share it with a friend. Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.