A LITTLE TOO QUIET: THE FERNDALE LIBRARY PODCAST

This week, romantasy author Kristen Vale, who writes queer cozy fantasy romcoms filled with sweetness & spice, joins us to talk about her latest, A Spell of Heart & Havoc. We talk about how she got started, how romance novels can re-regulate our nervous systems in a wild world, the benefits of escaping into the fantasy genre, building compelling characters, and the importance of libraries & independent bookstores supporting indie authors! 

This week, one of our youth librarians interviews Leslie Priscilla, an educator, advocate, and founder of Latinx Parenting, discussing her new book, 'Chancla: Healing Our Families, Ourselves, and Our Culture Through Nonviolent Parenting,' which came out last month. We also talk about how this book is available to borrow from our library's Parent/Teacher section, located in our Youth Area for parents/caregivers. 

Priscilla is a certified parent coach, family life educator, and the founder of Latinx Parenting, a bilingual organization and movement dedicated to children's rights, intergenerational healing, and ending corporal punishment in Latine families. 

This week, our co-host Mary Grahame welcomes two professors she studied under during her undergrad years: Dr. Anne E. Duggan, Ph.D. (from Wayne State University) and Dr. Julie Koehler, Ph.D. (currently at Michigan State University), the co-editors of Women Writing Wonder: An Anthology of Subversive Nineteenth-Century British, French, and German Fairy Tales. We talk a lot about fairy tales, and especially about the stories collected in the anthologies they've worked on, which feature under-recognized 19th-century texts by women authors who subverted traditional fairy-tale tropes in many ways, challenging the perception that marriage is mandatory and exploring class, race, and female agency.

 

Brittney Arena is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of A Dance of Lies. Her latest, To Dance With Death, completes the Edge of Glass duology, as she looks forward to next year's Prince of Night. After a challenging health journey, Arena turned to writing—not only as a coping mechanism but as a means of exploration, transporting her to new worlds wherever she was, and allowing her to indulge her deep appreciation for all subgenres of Fantasy.  

 

https://www.brittneyarena.com 

When a first date between a doomsday prepper and a nerdy film professor goes horribly, zombie-apocalypse-level wrong, the mismatched pair team up on a road trip to safety in this delightfully feral rom-com. 'Doomsdate' is the latest from Laura Piper Lee, and we were so excited to have her on the podcast, not long after her recent visit to Love & Other Books!

Laura is super charming, definitely irreverent, very down-to-earth, and occasionally PG-13 with her language, which made for a hoot of an episode. You don't want to miss it, because we talk about quite a piquant variety of topics, most of which are covered in her excellent rom-com novels! 

https://www.laurapiperlee.com/ 

Mazey Eddings is a bestselling author, dentist, and (most importantly) stage mom to her cats. She's made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. Her latest, 'You Won't Forget Me,' is a dazzling sapphic romance about fame, friendship, and falling for the one person you were never meant to. We talk about rock romances, the fun of meet-disasters, and the legacy of the romance genre! https://www.mazeyeddings.com/