In this episode, we’re diving into the tropes that make our monster-loving hearts soar—and the ones that make us want to throw our books across the room. Whether it’s a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, forced proximity, or a trope that just never works for us, we’re getting to the meat about what makes a trope hit just right.

Podcast Scavenger Hunt

Can you find when we mention these topics?

• [ ] Size Difference
• [ ] Forces Proximity
• [ ] Grumpy/Sunshine
• [ ] Fake Marriage
• [ ] Retold Folklore
• [ ] Cinderella Body Horror
• [ ] Under-Hyped Tiffany Roberts Books you must try
• [ ] Defending Ruby Dixon’s Honor
• [ ] The Chosen One
• [ ] Adult Love Triangles

Authors, Books, and Other Media We Mentioned

Books & Series

• The King’s Spinster Bride by Ruby Dixon
• Ice Planet Barbarians: Honeymoon Tales by Ruby Dixon
• Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon
• Jaxar: Warlord Brides by Nancey Cummings
• Five Gifts for the Blacksmith’s Wife by Lyonne Riley
• A Minotaur Tale: Being a Monster Romance for Yuletide by Kass O'Shire
• The Rake by Kass O'Shire
• Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe (graphic novel/webcomic)
• Sugar Apple Fairy Tale by Miri Mikawa (manga series)
• Neon Gods series by Katee Robert
• A Kinda Fairy Tale by Cassandra Gannon
• Love Letters Duology by SJ Tilly
• The Belladonna Series by Adalyn Grace
• Cordon Empire by Anna Carven
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
• Mercenaries Series by Angela Knight (Goodreads link)
• Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton

Underhyped Picks: Tiffany Roberts

• Dust Walker by Tiffany Roberts
• Warlock’s Kiss by Tiffany Roberts
• Kraken Series by Tiffany Roberts
• Claimed by an Alien Warrior by Tiffany Roberts

Authors

• Joanna Lindsey
• Anna Carven
• Kresley Cole
• SJ Tilly
• Cassandra Gannon
• Laurell K. Hamilton
• Ruby Dixon
• Nancey Cummings
• Lyonne Riley
• Kass O'Shire
• Rachel Smythe
• Miri Mikawa
• Katee Robert
• Adalyn Grace
• Angela Knight
• Xiran Jay Zhao
• Tiffany Roberts

Other Media

• Nosferatu (2024 film adaptation)

What really makes a book “smutty”? Is it about explicitness, frequency, or something else entirely? And how does that definition shift when we talk about monster romance? In this episode, we’re tackling the age-old question: What defines smut? We’ll explore everything from spice levels to the line between romance and erotica, plus what non-explicit factors make a book sexy.

Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to keep up with new episodes and let other people know about us!

Check out Stacy's other podcast project, TropesG.O.A.Ts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tropesg-o-a-ts/id1793022885)

Check out EJ’s monster romance blogging directly on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/monster_romance/) and Substack (https://monsterromancereviews.substack.com/).

Authors, Books, and Other Media We Mention:

• Vulture Article: https://www.vulture.com/article/rebecca-yarro-fourth-wing-empyrean-guide.html
• Rebecca Yarros
• Sarah J. Maas
• Bound to the Battle God by Ruby Dixon
• A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon
• The Company of Fiends by Kathryn Moon
• Sanctuary with Kings by Kathryn Moon
• Honey Phillips
• Susan Trombley
• Nosferatu (2024) ****
• Doves & Demons by Clio Evans
• How to Train Your Goblin King by Erin Vere
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
• Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
• Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud
• Grindhouse Double Feature (2018)
• Deal with the Devil by Lizzie Strong
• Doctor D'Arco, Sorcerer of London: A Victorian Gothic Romance by Kathryn Colvin
• Amelia Peabody series
• Morning Glory Milking Farm by C. M. Nascosta
• Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic by C. M. Nascosta
• Scrubs (2001-2010)
• Escaping the Friendzone by Emily Antoinette
• Mahdfel from the Warlord Brides Universe by Nancey Cummings
• Orc Sworn Series by Finley Fenn
• Berries and Greed by Lily Mayne
• Milana Jacks
• Loki Renard
• I Married a Lizardman by Regine Abel
• I Married a Naga by Regine Abel
• Mate for the Alien P*rn Star by by Alexis B. Osborne
• Romantically Inclined Reviews
• Love Hina
• Upon a Moon-Dark Moor by Rebecca Brandewyne

If you can't be bothered to actually write it, why should I be bothered to pay for it and read it?

EJ, Stacy, and Amy have more bookish thoughts on their noggins, and this is a HEFTY ONE. No, we’re not turning into a tech podcast, but there is no denying AI is here, and it is a part of our world. We’re talking about a lot of different topics that are developing and diving into the technological, economic, ethical, and legal sides of AI and how it pertains to the indie romance world.

Many currently available AI tools are not great, but you may be surprised to learn why we think so.

Links to some of the many random things we mention:

• That one tweet Stacy mentioned: https://x.com/ioana_nsfw_art/status/1784169462117151189
• A Paper on Cyberpunk and Late Stage Capitalism (So it isn’t just something that comes out of EJ’s mouth, and you have just to take it): https://ideas.repec.org/a/lum/jsmijo/v2y2020i1p63-74.html
• Tiffany Roberts’ Infinite City Series: https://www.authortiffanyroberts.com/theinfinitecity
• S. J. Sanders’ Broken Earth: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52231217
• Transwoman’s AI invention modeled after her wife: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-after-life-trangender-ceo-martine-rothblatt-builds-robot-bina48-mind-clone/
• Airline AI caught lying and the company held liable: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240222-air-canada-chatbot-misinformation-what-travellers-should-know
• The Erotica Writers Subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticauthors/)
• Nifty Links regarding AI litigation on EJ’s blog: https://monsterromancereviews.substack.com/p/bookish-thoughts-who-are-ais-major
• DeviantArt and AI, the most recent legal news story: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/05/10/deviantart-midjourney-stable-diffusion-artificial-intelligence-image-generators
• Duolingo Letting Go of Translators: https://www.pcmag.com/news/as-duolingo-taps-ai-for-translation-human-contractors-lose-their-jobs
• Library resources for learning languages
  • Mango: https://mangolanguages.com/libraries/
  • Transparency Language Learning Software: https://www.transparent.com/

Check out our Podcast Scavenger Hunt Here: https://talesfromtheorcden.com/2024/05/25/ai-and-the-indie-romance-book-world/

Many of our discussions are aimed at those already in the Monster Romance genre. This one’s got the baby monster f*ckers in mind. Stacy, EJ, and Amy talk about pitfalls we’ve noticed others run into (not naming names!). And we have wisdom for finding your ideal monster romance gateway. And, yes, we do have some recommendations sprinkled throughout!

Authors, Books, and Series We Mention:

• Dusk Walker series (https://www.goodreads.com/series/345992-duskwalker-brides)
• Vera Valentine’s books, Squeak and Unhinged (https://www.valentineverse.com/books)
• Dragon's Bride by Katee Robert (https://www.kateerobert.com/the-dragons-bride)
• Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark (https://www.lillianlark.com/pnr)
• I Married a Lizard Man by Regine Abel (https://www.regineabel.com/books/i-married-a-lizardman)
• Morning Glory Milking Farm (and the rest of The Cambric Creek Series) by C. M. Nascosta (https://cmnascosta.com/books/)
• Harley LaRoux (https://www.harleylaroux.com/)
• Tiffany Roberts (https://www.authortiffanyroberts.com/)
• Orc Sworn series by Finley Fenn (including The Lady and the Orc and The Maid and the Orcs) (https://finleyfenn.com/series/orc-sworn/)
• Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/802157)
• Beauty by Robin McKinley (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41424.Beauty)
• Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/8089)
• Emma Holly (https://emmahollyauthor.wordpress.com/)
• Kresley Cole (https://kresleycole.com/)
• Gena Showalter (https://genashowalter.com/)
• Tail and Claw by Nancey Cummings (https://nanceycummings.com/tail-and-claw/)
• Lark Green (https://www.authorlarkgreen.com/)
• Cate C. Wells (https://www.catecwells.com/)
• Ashley Bennett (https://ashleybennettauthor.carrd.co/)
• Ruby Dixon (https://rubydixon.com/)
• Lyonne Riley (https://www.lyonneriley.com/)
• Susan Trombley (https://susan-trombley.com/)

Amy, EJ, and Stacy are back for 2024! And we’ve got more bookish topics on our brains. A hard truth about the book world is that nothing good lasts forever. That also goes for our favorite series and authors. So, let’s unpack that and dig into some of our favorite authors who have left or pivoted.

Authors and Series we mentioned:

• Erin Raegan’s Pythen series : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42052148-pythen
• Celia Kyle’s Warlords of Atera : https://www.goodreads.com/series/267591-warlords-of-atera
• Mary Auclair : https://www.maryauclair.com
• Amanda Milo : https://amandamilo.com
• Regine Abel : https://www.regineabel.com/
• Kimberly Lemming : https://linktr.ee/kimberlylemming
• N. Canceres : https://authorncaceres.com

Artist we mentioned:

• Inked Alpha : https://www.deviantart.com/inked-alpha

Where to find ARCs:

• Edelweiss Plus : https://www.edelweiss.plus/
• BookSirens : https://booksirens.com/
• Booksprout : https://booksprout.co/
• Author Newsletters
• Netgalley : https://www.netgalley.com/
• Mocks and 🐔 : https://discord.gg/6CqNQBwP5E

It is dark! The holidays are upon us! We have books to recommend getting through now and into the first blossoms of spring.

Stuff we mention in the order we mention it is on our website here.

Music is called "Undead Bride" by Pagefire https://soundcloud.com/nerdymetalhead202/undead-bride

Not every book is for everyone. The trick to being a happy reader is knowing and accepting your limits. In this episode Amy, EJ , and Stacy talk about navigating content warnings and personal limits as readers and content consumers in general.

Part of this was instigated by two well-written articles from Bookriot.com and Tor.com, which are linked below. It is a generally common issue though for a lot of the Internet community to not look after their needs and behave responsibly. That’s not okay. So let’s talk about it!

Stuff We Mention

• On Dead Dogs and Other Reading Dealbreakers by Molly Templeton (https://www.tor.com/2023/10/05/on-dead-dogs-and-other-reading-dealbreakers/)
• The Importance of Knowing And Sticking to Your Own Bookish Limits by P. N. Hinton (https://bookriot.com/knowing-your-bookish-limits/)
• The Orc Sworn Series (https://finleyfenn.com)
• Playground by Aron Beauregard (https://www.amazon.com/Playground-Aron-Beauregard-ebook/dp/B0BHKP1QKL?nodl=1&dplnkId=5861d7d7-05c8-4f24-b68c-52bee3a25e74)
• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068705)
• Claimed and Tamed Series by M. L. Marian (https://www.goodreads.com/series/333981-claimed-tamed)
• Steel Bones Motorcycle Club by Cate C. Wells (https://www.catecwells.com/steel-bones-motocycle-club)
• The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate by Cate C. Wells (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59046399)
• Bob’s Burgers TV Show (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1561755/)
• The Kraken Series by Tiffany Roberts (https://www.goodreads.com/series/222835-the-kraken)
• Gabriel the Drag Queen (https://bio.site/justgabriel)

Music is called "Undead Bride" by Pagefire https://soundcloud.com/nerdymetalhead202/undead-bride

We talk about explicit sh*t on this podcast. We got the cute little explicit mark on every episode and everything! You could say we’re pretty knowledgeable about racy stuff in books.

So that means we all three can appreciate the difference between spicy erotic orc dick written by and for mature adults and educational nonfiction material created with young people in mind.

Not everyone can though. This Book Panic has come across our radar enough and affects us just enough that we’re devoting a whole dang episode to it.

Apologies for the lack of smut in this episode. More is coming! We’re calling this our “special episode”

Warnings for this episode include discussions about sexuality shaming, racism, and sexual abuse. Do not feel obligated to listen if you are not in a mental space to do so.

Quick update! There are Texans fighting this trend! (https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/education/article282842338.html)

Support the Texas Freedom to Read Project: https://www.txftrp.org

View the whole list of stuff we reference on our website: https://talesfromtheorcden.com/2023/12/01/the-great-book-panic/

Music is called "Undead Bride" by Pagefire https://soundcloud.com/nerdymetalhead202/undead-bride