The Readirect Podcast
Shifting the conversation back to books. Hosted by Abigail Freshley and Emily Rojas.
The Readirect Podcast
Book Talk #5: Manacled, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Problematic Authors & Reading Recap!
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It's a jam-packed Book Talk episode today, as we have A LOT to discuss.
First, we're talking Manacled, the Dramione story that rivals the original Harry Potter series. Emily may have gone on a deep dive into more Draco/Hermione pairings, and is also recommending Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love. To avoid Manacled spoilers, skip to 18:20.
Then we're talking recent problematic author Cate Corrain's review-bombing & subsequent lost book deal. And how not to write an apology note.
Finally, we're skimming over Gyspy Rose Blanchard's new "book", and looking forward to the day she actually releases her real memoir. Until then, this will suffice, we suppose.
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @readirectpodcast! Catch you on the flippity flip.
The Redirect Podcast
Speaker 1Welcome to the Redirect Podcast . My name is Abigail Hewins and I'm Emily Rojas .
Speaker 2The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books . We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in real lived experiences .
Speaker 1On today's episode , we're catching up on all things books , including fan fiction , recent reads and Gypsy Rose Blanchard's new book .
Speaker 2But first , if you enjoyed the podcast , we would just humbly ask that you can support us in a few simple ways . First , you can leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts and let us know that you love the show .
Speaker 1We'd also love for you to follow us on Instagram at Redirect Podcast . And finally , if you really , really love the show , we'd love for you to share it with a friend . By far , sharing our show with a friend is the best way to help us grow this community of book-loving nerds . Okay , let's dive in . So much to discuss . So much to discuss today . So little time . Where should we start ?
Speaker 2I don't even know Well okay , let's pick up .
Speaker 1How about this ? Let's start with this . Let's pick up on a conversation that we started in our last episode , where I told you that I had read Manicold . And then I said , emily , please read Manicold . And we didn't talk too much about it because I didn't want to create lots of spoilers . But now you've read it . And for those who want to read it but haven't yet , maybe skip ahead a few minutes , I think we should just like get into it and have like a moment .
Speaker 2I agree , yeah , so Manicold spoilers abound . I'll try to put in the show notes when we stop talking about it so you can come back in at that time . Yeah , I read it . I read it and .
Speaker 1First of all , it's like 1100 pages or something .
Speaker 2That's what I was going to say , like I did not realize , because I read this book in like two or three days . According to Goodreads , it has 1900 pages . I'm sure that's it's . You know , probably not quite that long , but it's long . It's long because I've now seen people print and bound , bind their own versions , and it's a quite a thick book .
Speaker 1Which , by the way , listen , do not purchase a print and bound , printed and bound copy of Manicold , because that is illegal . Yeah , unfortunately , and you're going to ruin the fan fiction for everyone else . Please don't purchase it , or you know who will take legal action ? She will , too . She will .
Speaker 2She totally will . I feel confident about it .
Speaker 1So , okay , if you didn't listen to our last episode and you don't know what Manicold is , just a little context it is a Dramini or Jericho and Hermione fan fiction , but it really isn't . It's more than that . It's more than that .
Speaker 2It's very dark , it is very about war and also , like the Handmaid's Tale , so , there's lots and lots of trigger warnings about it's basically as if the good side did not win as quickly the war between Voldemort and the Order , and they're still fighting years later . But things are kind of really really dark for them , and Jericho is obviously on the bad side , hermione's on the good side and , yeah , it's inspired by Handmaid's Tale , so you can see where the darkness comes .
Speaker 1I mean very , I mean sexual assault , all that kind of stuff .
Speaker 2Torture , but I mean it is , and I don't say this lightly and obviously JK Rowling has done enough to ruin her legacy on her own .
Speaker 2So this but this is not biased by this she could never have written something this good Like this to me and I've seen a lot of people talk , I've seen a lot of people talk about Hermione as a character in the books and how this really kind of makes more sense to her character , Because this in this book she really has split from her friendship with Ron and Harry .
Speaker 2I mean , it's still there but it's very , very tenuous and it kind of makes sense Like she is always doing stuff for them in the books and like doing their homework and like taking the risks and putting herself on the line , and it's like there's never any like full circle moment for that for her , where she gets kind of the things I think she deserves , and so it makes sense to push it to this extreme . If the war continues on that , she's like no longer able to be friends with them and they have these ideological differences and she's the one still like sacrificing herself with no recognition . So I thought , yeah , I feel like JK Rowling didn't . Even now I love Hermione's character even more . You know , she did her dances .
Speaker 1Like well , so in this world , hermione decides to become a healer and study healing because the dark side is like developing all of these curses , and so she's like well , somebody knows how , it's going to need to know how to heal these . And when she decides to become a healer , that kind of like causes this rift between her and Ron and Harry , like not that they don't like that she's a healer , but it's kind of like , looked down upon , like it's not the same , Like she's not fighting .
Speaker 1And I think another thing that was kind of like a subtext of this was because Hermione wasn't with them hunting the Horcruxes . They never , they didn't find them because she wasn't there basically directing everything and being the brain power . And there's a moment in the book where they're like Hermione is waiting back at like the headquarters for like it's during a battle and she's waiting to receive patients that need to be healed and she realizes that Harry is a Horcrux and she goes to him and she's like hey , like you're a Horcrux , like you're going to have to die . So she's still the one who figures that out . But also because she wasn't there before they hadn't found an additional Horcrux what was the last one ? Like , oh , umbridge's necklace .
Speaker 2Yes , yes , that was the final .
Speaker 1Yeah , so they missed because in the in the original story , hermione also helps figure that out . So because she like it really like uplifts her character to be like she was necessary . She was so necessary and she ended up being necessary in this world too , because the work that she did with her through , like her relationship with Draco and like the deal that she made with them , unbeknownst to Harry and Ron and like everybody in the order except for Snape and Moody and Kingsley , was that you know , she would like basically belong to him . I guess with it's the first of that he could be a spy , and so she really ended up being extremely integral part , but she didn't but , even in this world she got no glory .
Speaker 2Yes , even at the end Right .
Speaker 1And let's just talk about the end After like she and Draco are able to like go live their life on this island . Whatever they have a daughter , the daughter ends up after school like moving to Britain and is in like a bookshop and is reading this book about the second wizarding war . And at the end is a picture of Harry , ron and Hermione and it said Hermione Granger was an inactive member of the Order of the Phoenix . She did not fight . Please , jesus , god , god .
Speaker 2You don't understand if you have not read Manicold and again I think you should . But if you haven't , and I understand if you don't , again it is very dark , trigger warnings or if you haven't read Harry Potter , it might be a little hard to follow some parts . But you don't understand the journey this , this book , takes you on . So to set it up even further , you start off the book kind of mid action and Hermione has no memories of the ending of the war and basically Voldemort has one and she has no recollection of how did that happen ? How did I get to this point ? She's kind of to protect herself , to protect her memories from Voldemort finding them out because he can read minds . She's kind of completely walled them off even from herself .
Speaker 1And then about halfway through . I think was really cool because it's like a wizarding world extreme to something that human beings do with traumatic memories , that we sometimes shut them off until we're ready to process them . But she was shutting off these memories to protect them from the like because she's like the last one . She's , besides Snape , the last far she knows . Yeah , she's the last one , she's the last surviving member of the Order of the Phoenix , so she probably has intelligence that she's locked away , but she has no idea what they , what the memories are .
Speaker 2And then about halfway through you get like 30 chapters of flashbacks filling in all the details and I have to say I love that as a trope , when the main character doesn't know what's going on and you're kind of finding out with them , like I just really enjoy that . So that was crazy . So you've been through all this trauma and then you get all these flashbacks that explain like certain things that were happening or put things in a different light , and then you're back to the present day . You go on this whole journey and then you end with that sentence being the final sentence and she did not fight . But you know now all that she did , all that she sacrificed her body , her soul , her mind . She like she put it all online and then for the history books to say she did not fight .
Speaker 1And you know what . This is also just like a story about women , like in in wars , in big moments in history , like doing the quiet work , like sometimes like the less flashy , less glorified work , but sacrificing so much . Like holding things down at home , holding things like holding down a budget , holding down childcare and work and , you know , inspiring . Like you know these big , like male figures in history , like who was the person that they went home and talked to about like strategy , every president in the United States moment won't probably most of them but have gone home and talked to their wives and been like , okay , what should I do ? Like you know what I'm saying . Like , but they don't get the glory . And I was like , yeah , that hit me hard in this .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Where Hermione did this very self-sacrificial work . Yeah , it got zero praise for it and meanwhile , the dudes who were sitting next to her , who looked so successful because of what she was doing , because of what Draco , the intelligence that she earned from Draco they look like they did so much .
Speaker 2They got all the credit .
Speaker 1And she just has to live with that .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 2It's just oh something you think I think , like in general this may make me sound like a bad person , but I think it really made me rethink how I think even our society looks at . Like nurses in war . Like you do kind of think , oh , like it's not the same as the people who are on the front lines , or you know what I mean . But I'm like now I'm reading this , I'm like , no , it's worse . Right , like there's a part where she talks about no matter what Hermione's talking to , like Ron and Harry , I think , and she says even if you win the battle , all I see is the loss . Like , even when you guys have a victory , I still get injured or dead or dying people that I have to take care of , and I thought that was so profound of like , yeah , the people I mean obviously I've always respected nurses , I'm not saying like I didn't but you do kind of think like , oh , the people fighting the battles , that's like up here , and then you know , below them , that's the trauma of being a medical staff .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's like almost worse , yeah , and so I thought that was a really interesting part where she was saying that , like , all I see is the losses , you know no matter when or lose , and I thought you know that was really profound . And this writing is insane . I can't even talk about it .
Speaker 1Yeah , and then , like the , because of all the loss that she sees through being a healer , that is what inspires her to really push the order to use some dark magic to , because she's like we're not winning this war . But you know , harry is super , super against that , and so Harry leads a whole order to be super against that , and so she ends up using some dark magic in the moments when she finds herself in a battle situation , which is another way she gives of herself , because this story also really like builds out the idea that dark magic is corrosive to you and that it will harm you , and even just using a little bit of dark magic can , like , pretty much forever change you , yeah , and so she had full knowledge that using dark magic would change her , but she was willing to do it anyway , which I thought was really cool . I mean , one thing I will say about Manicold is it is a fanfiction , so it's basically unedited . So , yeah , it could be a third , shorter at least probably .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1But it's perfect . Yeah , it's still amazing and I think like to reduce it to a Dramani fanfic is just does not like do justice .
Speaker 2I think this has really changed my perspective on fanfiction and you guys can go listen to our fanfiction episode . We both have enjoyed fanfiction . Obviously we love Pita's games , as we've talked about , but I've always kind of thought of fanfiction as being like , oh , like if you wanted an alternate ending or if you wanted , like , if you were hoping certain characters would get together , like if you hoped Draco and Hermione would get together , then you could go write your own world where that happens , kind of like a way for you to just like live what you wish would have happened or explore an alternate possibility . But this Manicold , and now I have another one that I've read since then .
Speaker 2Another Germany talk about another Germany .
Discussion About Fanfiction and Book Recommendations
Speaker 2It has changed my perspective because it's like this , honestly , is a work of art , and I understand why it's illegal to make money off fanfiction , but I wish there was a way , because I would give Sinlan you , the author of Manicold , I would give her at least , you know , 10 bucks or something on a Patreon to have read this , you know , and it's just insane that she put so much work into it . Honestly , I think it is better than any of the Harry Potter books . Yeah , it could use some editing , but the concept , the writing , the like foreshadowing , and then the kind of coming in and filling in those questions you had , I mean the world building , because this is so . It's such a departure , you know , even though it does continue the books , it's completely different , you know .
Speaker 1So , anyways , so I am all in in the first third of the book . Where was your journey on it ? Like , were you putting things together ? I mean , obviously there are like hints like friendship . Okay , trigger warning . Trigger warning about sexual assault and rape .
Speaker 1But just skip ahead if you don't want to listen to this . But you know , because Draco has to like try and impregnate Hermione . This is , it seems , traumatic for both of them . Like , obviously it's very traumatic for her , but in a sense he is also being assaulted because he's because he knows that Voldemort is going to he also has no choice in that . He knows he's going to read Hermione memories .
Speaker 2And so he's in a sea of .
Speaker 1Draco didn't obey . So Draco is forced to non consensual , like into a non consensual situation with Hermione and he doesn't want to because he loves her and he doesn't want to torture her . So yeah , all those layers , and so there's a glimpses of that in the first core and first third . And she , like her mental process is that he just doesn't like her and is like not attracted to her in any way , or yeah , I don't know like where were you ? The first third of the book .
Speaker 2I mean , I feel like I obviously knew because it is a germany thick that there was going to be some kind of redemption for him . But I did . I did think like in the first third , in the present day or whatever . I thought there's no way she's going to redeem this for me , like there's just no way .
Speaker 2I thought she was going to try , but I was like there's just no way , because it's just so horrifying all the stuff he's doing , like even if he does love her or like her or they had some kind of I don't know . I wasn't sure , and I wasn't sure either if it would be like in the future he would fall for her , or if he had already in the past .
Speaker 1You know what I mean .
Speaker 2Like I couldn't tell .
Speaker 1Well , because then the first third of the book , the first start of the book . You don't know , the flashbacks are gonna happen .
Speaker 2You don't know , there's gonna be flashbacks , so I thought maybe somehow he would fall for her and then they would work together or whatever . To you know .
Speaker 1And then you think there's no way that that can be redeemed .
Speaker 2There's no way . Cause that's what I thought too . I was like okay , well , if he falls for her later . You can't erase the fact that he told her and then sleep her , but then she does . Unfortunately , she does .
Speaker 1She does and that's what everyone I've talked to about this , and I said this to my friend , nikki , who recommended to me because she was texting me like I finished it , like where are you ? And I was like I'm in the first third . Honestly , I'm having a hard time , like how could he ? Ever be redeemed , like I don't know how I'm ever gonna get there . And she was like you just have to trust me . Just , you wait , just have to trust me . So yeah , so yeah , I love that for us . Yeah , I love it .
Speaker 2I'm not kidding . It is a lengthy book and I literally I have not felt that way in such a long time where I couldn't stop reading it , like I was staying up late which I don't do Like I was staying up to like 11 or 12 to read this , getting up early in the morning , reading it during my lunch break , like I could not stop . So I have not felt that way in a long time . And then that did lead me to another Jermaine Fanfig which I think is the perfect palette cleanser .
Speaker 2It's called Draco Malfoy and the Mordifying or Deal of being in Love . Oh , I've heard of that one . Okay , tell me about it . Yes , it's another popular one . This one is like if that one is everything that bad that could have happened . This one's like everything good that could have happened in Harry Potter . So it's essentially canon .
Speaker 2But in this world Tonks and Lupin lived and Draco like really redeemed himself , and also Narcissa , his mom , his dad dies but him and his mom , like I guess , were , you know , under the influence , had no choice and then wanted to come to the good side . So Draco's an horror , and so are Harry and Ron , and they all work together . And Tonks is like the head horror , she's like in charge of them all . And Hermione is a healer also in this world , which I just think is it tracks . It makes more sense for her .
Speaker 2You know she's a healer and a muggle doctor . So she has earned a doctor , an MD , oh , in the muggle world , and she has , you know , pursued education in the wizarding world and so she kind of has used , like she does work in both . She's like a surgeon in the muggle world and she's also a healer for the wizarding world and she does research that kind of combines both things , and so she has made some kind of scientific discovery that you don't know what it is . She it's like top secret . But because of this the ministry of magic is worried that someone might be after her or trying to stop her from making this discovery or whatever . So she has assigned an horror to protect her and Draco is assigned to watch her .
Speaker 2And it's just so . It was so fun honestly , and even the author said like this is like a mostly happy book , but there are some . There's like a few scenes . Of course there's this tension of like who's after her , but it's resolved very quickly . It's mostly just like they have to go to all these like magical sites for her research . She needs like certain specific magical artifacts , like on certain days she has to collect them . So you know they have to traipse around Europe together . It's just really fun and I liked this too , because I know this isn't always popular , but I actually really liked Hermione and Ron together .
Speaker 2I thought like they're different but that doesn't always mean it's a bad thing , but in this world they got engaged like immediately after the war and ended up ending things pretty amicably because you know they just wanted to go different directions in life and I really liked that , cause it's like , okay , they had a really they still are really good friends . The trio is still intact in this world . But you know , it does kind of make sense that maybe the world that Ron wants to live in post war and they're 17 years old when the war ends and they just , you know , like maybe it doesn't make sense that they end up together forever after that , like maybe it does make sense that they would grow once the war is over . They don't have as much in common or vision of their future .
Speaker 2So I thought that was actually really nice and I liked that the trio was still like they're still really good friends , they have drinks all the time and Draco's able to somewhat get along with Ron and Harry . I just thought it was a really nice .
Speaker 1So if you read the quote , then you're depressed . I'm totally gonna read this now .
Speaker 2Again , this is 200,000 words and I looked up like the average novel . This is longer than the average novel , so it's another long one , but I read it in like two days against . Okay , I'm on a streak , but I think , yeah , this is like the anecdote to Manicold If you wanna keep reading Dermany but you don't wanna be depressed , this is a really fun book . Okay , 10 out of 10 .
Speaker 1I'm there , I'm there .
Speaker 2I'm gonna read it . Go get it .
Speaker 1Five stars . I love that . Oh my gosh , I need a little inspiration . I have so , technically , I read Manicold last year . It's because I finished it on New Year's Eve , so hold on , I'm on my wrong Google drive . I'm looking at my reading log here Trying to see what I have read this year . Did I talk ? Had I read ? Leave the world behind when we recorded our last episode .
Speaker 2Okay , no , so this is I had just read it , yeah .
Speaker 1Okay , so this is another pickup where I caught up with you . I read it , I gave this is a five star book for me . Wait , and you ? I don't think you had finished it all the way . Yeah , I hadn't .
Speaker 2I didn't like love it . It was a three star for me , really Okay . But I do see why you liked it . I think I just was . Maybe I had the wrong expectations going in . But yeah , tell about why you liked it so they can have the opposite perspective .
Speaker 1Yeah . So as a refresher , leave the world behind is a book about a family mom , dad , a teenage son and a tween daughter and they are leaving Brooklyn , where they live , to go to like somewhere around Long Island for like a quick vacation . They go and while they're there there's like a they find out there's like a blackout in New York city . But like right after they find that out like they lose their self-service and wifi . And then that night the owners of the home actually show up and are like hey , there was a blackout in the city and we don't want to go back to our apartment . Like sorry , can we stay here ? And it's like kind of awkward and it really the book just covers the next like three days of them just kind of cohabitating , trying to figure things out and like if you're someone who needs a lot of resolution , this book isn't for you .
Speaker 2Not it .
Speaker 1Because this book is actually and this is what I loved about it this book was not about the disaster and what happened in the world , and it's not going to like . You get tiny glimpses of like things that may have happened , Like what is actually going on . Is it a war , Is it like a pandemic ? Is it a biological web ? Like ? You just actually don't know and you never know .
Book and Movie Reviews
Speaker 1The book is about the process of what's happening in each of these characters , like hearts and minds , during this time and how they interact with each other , how they come together or push each other away . And one of the things I really loved about this book was all of the little details that you get about the characters , their history , their thought process , Even from like , like , to use an example , when the mom is like at the grocery store when they first arrive on their vacation , she goes to buy all the you know vacation groceries .
Speaker 1The way that she's thinking about buying the groceries is narrated in the book Like if there's healthy options , she'll buy it . If there's a green option , like she's gonna buy it . And like the way that she picks out a nectarine . Like it sounds so mundane , but it really gives you this glimpse into each of the characters and builds these really rich worlds for each rich worlds for each of them and then builds this tension when the owners of the home show up , who are black they're like older black people and the family is white the tension that exists between them and then like how they're gonna work together .
Speaker 1And in the quote there's like in the forward of the book , it's a . There's this quote , it's a song lyric and it says love goes on like bird song , as soon as possible after a bomb , and I feel like that really encapsulates what this book is about and I loved it . I watched the movie on Netflix too . There was a lot of differences , but the cast is killer and I think it's worth reading and watching not just watching because you're gonna get a different experience from just watching the movie .
Speaker 2Yeah , I need to watch the movie and see what if I like it better or for sort of the same , I think you might watch it better , I think .
Speaker 2I . My problem was I saw the trailer for the movie and I think I said this in the last episode , but it just makes it seem more like it's some kind of like paranormal , maybe multiple realities , because they just show the black couple ringing the door and being like this is our home , and then I felt like the family was like no , this is our home . So I didn't understand that it was like a vacation house . So I was just I think it was maybe just different expectations for what I was getting into , but I didn't hate it , I just like didn't love it , so it's just kind of meh .
Speaker 1Okay , I'm glad you liked it Very enough If you're interested in some kind of thriller , like speculative , I mean the thing that I would say that this book will kind of stick with you like yeah , also the movie was produced by the Obamas . I didn't even know they . Yeah , so Michelle and Barack Obama executive produced this movie , which kind of scares me because I'm like what do y'all know ? You don't even say like they know a lot and they wanted to produce this movie Like what are you trying to ?
Speaker 2yeah , are you trying to warn us ? Yeah , yeah , honestly , of all the the disaster scenarios , I will say like a blackout probably freaks me out the most because you think about how much we rely on technology and that was actually the most creepy part to me of this book is they have no idea what's going on and they have no way to know because there's no TV , there's no cell phones , like they have no access to information , and that would be like the worst thing because like , okay , is this just happening here ? Is this a global thing ? Like you really have no way to know , so very freaky .
Speaker 1The movie endeavors to answer more of those questions .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's was my understanding based on some things I saw . So I will say a quick shout out to two more books where we move on to Gypsy and other topics . I read Dial A for Anties , which you recommended I believe on the pod what you sent it to me , but I think you talked about it . I mean , yeah , it's on point .
Speaker 1I'll quickly . I'll just say , before you give your review it was cute . Do I think it's like the best book I've ever read in my life ? No , but yeah , it was fun . Okay , what did you think ?
Speaker 2I thought it was fun , but I have to say I cannot with the , the trope . I think it's becoming more of a genre where someone accidentally kills someone and then like they have to get away with it . It stresses me out so much and that is the premise of this book . Yeah , I really actually liked the book . I thought it was really fun .
Speaker 2I liked the characters , but I was like couldn't this just be about like their family and their crazy wedding planning business and her falling in love with this guy , or like she used to love him old loves , whatever Like I would have preferred that , because the idea that they murdered someone and and and this is a spoiler , but so just do 30 seconds ahead if you don't want to hear this but they actually .
Speaker 2She thought she killed him and then they put him in the freezer and then he was actually still alive and then he died that part I was like you guys didn't thoroughly check that out , because that is so messed up to think he woke up in there . I mean he wasn't a good guy , but I don't feel like he deserved to be murdered . You know . Like no , I mean no one deserves to be . Maybe that's true exactly , but like I felt like it just didn't . I to me . I read the Finley Donovan series kind of a similar premise , but that one , I feel like , did a little bit of a better job of making you like okay with the murdering part , this part , I was like I could never get over it . I was like she deserves to go to jail .
Speaker 1I'm sorry , I don't want her to get away with this , like maybe it's manslaughter or whatever . Yeah , look , I kind of agree with you on that point .
Speaker 2The thing I loved about it was cute and fun .
Speaker 1The aunties were so funny . Yes and great fun characters and , if you liked it , there is a sequel . Uh-huh . Does it also involve ? Murder I think it might .
Speaker 2Exactly . But I did think , like , honestly , if she had just written a book about the aunties , about their wedding planning business , I would be all in because it was really fun . But it was fun . And then I also read last one , dark Matter , by Blake Crouch .
Speaker 1Oh , this is a definite so good .
Speaker 2I love Blake Crouch so he's kind of like very I don't know . He has like a unique style . So I think either you like him or you don't . But I love Blake Crouch and this one is it's giving Midnight Library , but more science-y , because basically the main character , jason .
Speaker 2He goes out to a bar to meet up with one of his friends one night and he's just gonna go for like an hour , one drink and on his way back a masked abductor knocks him out and he , when he like , eventually he's interrogated by this guy , then he's sent away , he wakes up and he is in another world , a parallel universe essentially , or something , and he doesn't know , he doesn't . His life is completely different and basically the turning point between his life and the one he ends up in is in his life , his , you know , 15 or whatever . Years ago his girlfriend came to him and said she was pregnant and in his life he chose to stay with her to raise a kid , to kind of give up his scientific research and just become a professor , to keep this child and raise a child in the world he wakes up in . He ended things with her . They didn't keep the baby and he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to science , and now is like this prestigious scientist has made these ground-breaking , you know , research advances , I don't know . And his wife he's not with his wife anymore , like it's always . Life is so different , and so he's kind of like trying to figure out what's going on , figure out where he is , figure out like what happened , who sent him here .
Speaker 2And , yeah , it's really good if it's very sciency again , if you like the science side of science fiction . I really liked it , though , and I thought , you know , it was all . I didn't know how it's gonna resolve , but it really did in a nice way and I don't know . It's yeah , like I said , it's like the midnight library , but more sciency and like a better scientific explanation of , like what if you made different choices in your life and you know , would you go back and do the same thing or would you make a different decision ? And I don't know .
Speaker 2It's just it was really good so and I think what I like about Blake Crouch is all of his books have like really large implications to the world as a whole , but also they're really just like about family and relationships that you have and you know , I think it's like intimate but also like sweeping , so I really like this one .
Speaker 1Yeah , I love that that sounds really good . Yes , and that's it , the sciency bit like I think I have . I think I maybe like that more than I think I do . Yeah , so yeah , cool look into it .
Speaker 2I'll give it a shot , but first I'm gonna give the other one a shot , the Draco mouth way in the in the mortifying ordeal of being a book author is let me , let me get the author to give her credit . Is this self-care also like ? Should I write a Germany fan because I get it now ? I never understood the Draco Hermione shippers , but I'm all in with you guys . It does make more sense than her and Ron like he could just be good , you know , if he could just not be evil . It does make logical sense for them to be together , so I'm all in keep me posted on your ideas .
Speaker 1Maybe I can help you workshop some of them . I will , okay , um , okay . So next on the docket we either have , I'll let you choose . We can either talk about Gypsy Rose's new book , kind of question mark , or we can talk about the tea with Kate Crane and let's go with the tea .
Speaker 2Okay , let's go the tea . You can tell me about that and then we can mutually discuss Gypsy Rose at the end .
Speaker 1Okay , so I'm gonna read you the first two paragraphs of this Washington Post article about this , to kind of set this stage for you , and then we can kind of go through some of the very specific pieces of this tea . So okay , I'm so ready .
Speaker 2I love drama here we go .
Author Accused of Fake Reviews
Speaker 1A first-time author lost her book Deal Monday after readers and fellow authors accused her of creating fake Goodreads accounts and repeatedly trying to sabotage other writers books through negative reviews . Kate Crane , the author of the sci-fi fantasy novel Crown of Starlight , which would which was to be published in May 2024 , has faced backlash over the past week after literary fans on Twitter and TikTok accused her of review bombing fellow authors for months by using several fake accounts to post scathing reviews on Goodreads , the popular Amazon-owned review site . After some writers claimed that an unnamed author was writing one-star reviews for books written by debuting authors of color , authors and their readers tracked the fake Goodreads accounts back to Corraine , who gave her own books glowing reviews . The discussions surrounding the controversy led by Delray Books , an imprint of Penguin Random House , to announce Monday that Corraine's book would not be published next year . They said , quote we are aware of the ongoing discussion around author Kate Corraine . Crown of Starlight is no longer on our 2024 publishing schedule and she was also dropped by her agent , who said that they parted ways . So no .
Speaker 2How stupid do you have to be ? Okay , I think making fake accounts to give your own book good reviews . That's embarrassing , maybe not the best , but it's okay . We would all understand that . But then review bombing other authors , especially authors of color . Specifically , what compels someone to do something like ?
Speaker 1that they were other debut authors too , other debut women of color authors .
Speaker 2How does that help you ? Because the thing about reading is that the more people read , the more people read . There's no like if one author succeeds it's not taking . Sometimes it is taking away from other authors . I recognize that . But in this type of situation , like if people are into reading and they read your book and they read other people's books , like they can read both books . You know what I mean .
Speaker 1Like we don't have to push other women down to succeed .
Speaker 2No , it's not going to help you If someone else fails . I guess that's what I'm trying to say . If another author fails , that doesn't mean they're going to come read your book , so what does that ?
Speaker 1do , and so yeah , and like you said , if she had just been found out for , like , creating fake accounts to boost her own book , that would be embarrassing but it wouldn't be cancelable .
Speaker 2Yeah , like I think you would just be over that . It would be like oh okay , that would just be stupid , it would just be like that's interesting .
Speaker 1So she posted a long quote , unquote apology . Should I read it ? I do . I need to hear this .
Speaker 2I know it's going to be bad .
Speaker 1All right and when ?
Speaker 2I say apology .
Speaker 1Big air quotes . So , dear friends , family readers , fellow authors and members of the publishing community , since June 2022 , I've been fighting a losing battle against depression , alcoholism and substance abuse , the full scope of which I've hidden from everyone in my life out of shame and misguided belief with the right medicine or enough therapy I could beat it . No for the audio . Emily is shaking her head . In late November 2023 , I started a new medication and on December , still no apology , just for two paragraphs and no apology . And on December 2nd 2023 , I suffered a complete psychological breakdown . During this time , I created roughly six profiles on Goodreads and , along with two profiles I made during a similar but shorter breakdown in 2022 . I boosted the rating of my book , bombed the ratings of several fit fellow debut authors and left reviews that range from kind of mean to downright abusive . Two of those authors , molly X Chang and Danielle Jensen , are fellow Delray authors . Camilla Cole and Bethany Baptiste just happened to be on the wrong Goodreads read list at the wrong time . I felt no ill will towards any of them . It was just my fear about how my book would be received , received running out of control . My memories of this are extremely fuzzy , so it's possible there are a couple of other authors ? If so , please know I take full ownership of what I did to you as well . I'm sorry , or then you'll ever know . There's nothing I can say to erase what I did to you .
Speaker 1When I was slapped on the wrist by Goodreads and vague tweeted by a handful of people , I panic that my secret was about to get out and , rather than taking responsibility for my actions , I tried to cover my tracks . Still in the middle of this breakdown , I made up the words sloppy as chat with a non existent friend who was supposed , who was supposedly to blame , and sent fake apologies for the actions of said friend . So she blamed this on a friend , which only made things worse . I betrayed the confidence of my agent , my pub team , my readers , my friends , and betrayed my own deeply held values . I also dragged one of my dearest friends and felt that debut authors into the mud with me when she came to my defense . I'll leave her name out of this so as to not pull her even deeper . However , if she wishes to come forward , I apologize to her publicly as well .
Speaker 1Let me be extremely clear . While I may not have been sober or sound mind during this time , I accept responsibility for the pain and suffering I caused , and my delay in posting this is due to spending the last few days offline while I go through withdrawal , as I so sobered up enough to be brutally honest with you and myself . I know some of you won't forgive me and I recognize that you're not required to . She still hasn't said sorry , I'll be rich . I've noticed that I'll be reaching out to everyone directly impacted . That may take time , since I'm checking into intensive psychiatric care and rehab facility T , which means I'll mostly be off social media as I need to get 100% to the program if I want it to stick . All I can do going forward is to try and live my life in a way that shows that these people , these aren't empty words . Yours is so much love and though of most heartbreak . Kate Crane Wow .
Speaker 2That's all I can say .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Like , look , here's the thing . I am very empathetic for anyone struggling with substance abuse , alcoholism , anything like that mental health issues but there are also a lot of people with mental health issues who don't do bad things . There's like this . So just forget all that deal with that in your private life and just say I'm sorry , Like there is no excuse . I shouldn't have done this , I'm embarrassed , I'm sorry .
Speaker 1That's all I have to say , Even though she I mean , I don't know , I guess like even though she said I'm not blaming this on my substance abuse she mentions the substance abuse a lot , to the point where it kind of is way more than the apologizing it makes it more of to blame and like right . You know , part of the seven steps of AA is like making , is like reconciling and making amends for the things that you've done . But you know you take responsibility for that . It's not like yeah you did it .
Speaker 1You know your alcoholism or your addiction or whatever caused it or like , contributed to it Anyways . So one of the authors that was a victim of this review bombing . So I'll read this little excerpt from the Washington Post but the people of color targeted by Corraine noticed that her letter was not a proper apology to the debuting authors who suffered a result of the negative reviews .
Speaker 1She gave them on her fake Goodreads accounts . I'll be waiting for that apology , wrote Bethany Baptiste , the author of the upcoming book the Poisons we Drink , who is among the people review bombed by Corraine . So yeah , shout out to all of the internet sleuths . They're the ones who really broke the story .
Speaker 1And there is a public Google doc that has screenshots of all of the review bombing that she did and going on to these lists where her book was list , downvoting all of the other books and upvoting her book no that's so bad , that's so bad .
Speaker 1So this is one of the reviews that she wrote for herself to boost her own book . I love this book so much that I regret reading it because now nothing on my TVR sounds interesting by comparison . Idk what prompted Kate Corraine to write this , but they're a f***ing genius . And then , on the same fake account , she left this review for Fourth Wing , which is not written by a woman of color , but it's just right underneath it , so I'll read it . This was so bad , I'm actually writing a review about it . It's terrible . Everyone who says otherwise is on drugs . Girl , you're on drugs .
Speaker 2I'm literally I'm sorry , that's terrible . I hope she genuinely does get the help she clearly needs . But yeah , that wasn't an apology and I also don't love that there's no acknowledgement that obviously was mostly women of color . That's not great . That came from somewhere and that should have been acknowledged of . Like hey , I specifically was targeting people who already do not get a fair shot in the publishing world and are underrepresented . You're punching down .
Speaker 2Yeah , that sucks Like the Fourth Wing one . Whatever , what is that even going to do ? It's one of the most popular books in the world right now . So you know fine . But people who are debut authors , who are trying to just probably make ends meet , like you are , I don't like that .
Speaker 1This is one of the reviews she left for one of the fellow Delray debut authors . One star , I think . Delray spent half a million dollars on this when they could have spent half a million dollars on anything else . Sorry , not sorry . It's terrible , that's cruel , like as a fan like as a reader , I would like , I would never leave a review that .
Speaker 2First of all , I have never given a book one stars . Even books I've hated because I'm like you know you wrote a book that takes something . You know there's something good here . And second of all , if I'm going to leave a negative review , first of all I try I really don't try to leave negative reviews in public places or whatever Like . Maybe I'll put it on my Instagram , but that's just personal . I don't think it's bad if you do , but I at least try to say like here's what I liked , here's what I didn't like . Like . That to me is just a mean . Like you said , it's just mean . It's not even a constructive .
Speaker 1It's not like oh , I wish that it was a little faster the pace . It's not like it's just saying this is trash .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So another one she left . This book promises an interesting story . Unfortunately , it fails to live around several fronts . First , I found the writing to be repetitive and flowery at times . There's a lot of telling and not showing . In the first chapter , the blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . But yeah , this is legitimately awful and everyone who liked it should be ashamed of themselves . That's the kind of these are the kinds of reviews .
Speaker 2Boo to this lady . Get the help you need and then come back with a real apology , because this is not it .
Speaker 1We didn't actually say , like , I apologize and you know . So maybe what we should do to , you know , make up for her being just such a piece of , is read one of the books of the authors that she like oh , that would be good . Yeah , let's read the Poisons we Drink by Bethany Baptiste and discuss it . Okay , Because doing this we should . Let's see .
Speaker 2Love .
Speaker 1Potions is a dangerous business . Rooing has painful , debilitating side effects , and getting caught means death or a prison sentence . But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark , sentient magic within her . Why ?
Speaker 2not ? Yeah , that sounds good .
Speaker 1Let's just give it a shot , and if we don't like it , we won't be that mean .
Speaker 2We will at least be honest .
Speaker 1We'll be honest .
Speaker 2We'll be honest .
Speaker 1Anyway , I just had to share that .
Speaker 2All right .
Gypsy Rose's Book and Life Trajectory
Speaker 2Finally , speaking of hot takes , gypsy , rose Blanchard released a new book quote , unquote . I'm going to use their quotes for the book . I'm upset I pay 999 . I don't recommend paying for this book .
Speaker 1Basically it should have been like 499 , because it's not should have been free . It's because it's a sorry teaser for her real book , and so what it does is it like mirrors the chapters of what will be coming in the real book , but instead of putting any content , it is excerpts from bone conversations that she had with the person who's actually writing her book . Right , get on the notes that are going to go into the book . So it's just transcripts of phone conversations with her .
Speaker 2It's essentially her notes that she's going to use to write her actual book , allegedly this year and like little paragraphs for context , spliced here and there .
Speaker 2But no , and I do this is my fault , because I was suspicious . I thought to myself surely someone would have given her a book deal . Why is this only available on Kindle ? Why isn't there a hard copy or at least a paperback ? You know , like I'm sure someone would have given her . I mean , she's everywhere right now . So I should have known and I should have done some more research . But if you , like me , thought this was an actual book , we are wrong . So I'm sure we were planning on devoting this whole episode to this book , but obviously there's not that much talk about . I mean , you know it's going to be a full book coming and I'm sure we will do a full episode once that that actual book is released . But again , this is like the footnotes , or the bibliography it is .
Speaker 1it's basically the outline , and . I mean there were bits of tea in this , in this line , where I was like hold the phone , like things about her mom that I didn't know , things about her relationship with Nick I didn't know , I didn't realize that she was engaged to another guy while in prison , before her marriage to her husband , ryan , who she also met in the married while in prison .
Speaker 1I think it's been so it's been really interesting , not so much as a participant but as someone who's just been watching the discourse online about Gypsy Rose . I like everyone being like what an icon . But also like , yeah , this is a person who still needs a ton of help and this is a lot at once . It's a lot of notoriety and fame at once . She's like in her 30s but had had had very few life experiences . In her little book novella thing , you know , she kind of compares being in prison to like going to high school and like trying out different clicks and trying to figure out her identity . Like this is a , this is an adult woman who either has never just been on her own and if she stays- in this marriage she never will be .
Speaker 1Yeah , so we just need to take care I think in general like .
Speaker 2I think I don't see it ending well . Yeah , right , as it goes right now . I hope for her , much like I hoped for , you know , the corn kid , for anyone who receives a lot of attention at once that they will quickly fade away and that she can live a normal life . Unfortunately , I don't know if that will happen , but I just don't think it's probably good to put this much attention on someone who has had a very traumatic life and , again , like you said , has never really been free to make her own decisions ever in life . So you know , and the one decision she made was essentially to kill her mom . So I don't know that this is like the best scenario we're putting her in . But yeah , if you are really , really into gypsy and you want to get a head start on the book , I would recommend it , but otherwise I would say just hold off .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm sure a book will be forthcoming that will probably be more interesting to read than transcripts of her conversations , you know she mentions a few things about , like in the phone calls with Melissa Moore , who's her writing partner , I guess , about .
Speaker 1you know what she wants to do when she gets out , and some of the things she talks about are wanting to become an advocate for children who are in abusive situations or , you know , to try and pass better laws so that you know doctors can maybe do more . You know when they think that they may be seeing like mistreatment or something like that .
Speaker 1So I hope that that's true and I hope that she's able to funnel some of this tragedy into you know , one of the things that really stuck with me that I highlighted in the book was that she said that she wasn't able to get therapy while in prison because the penal system thinks that she's well enough , like she's not unwell enough to get therapy , which I was like . Yeah , excuse me this , what are we dealing with here ? What are you talking about ?
Speaker 2Is she the pinnacle of mental ?
Speaker 1What are we talking about right now ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Um . So I hope that she you know what . Here's what I hope for her book . I hope that actually she delays it like a year or two years . She goes to therapy , she stabilizes her life and then , from that perspective , she writes a book that is reflective on her life from like more informed and like healed .
Speaker 2Yeah , I agree , I agree , I think that's a better call . And I mean she says in this book that her book's coming out in 2024 . So that seems like I don't know . I feel like books are normally announced with a pretty good lead time , so I wouldn't be surprised if it does get pushed back at least a little . So I kind of hope it does like you said and she can write from a more like an outside perspective or I don't know , like more removed from the situation . Because right now it's like okay , you're just fresh out of jail , like you need time to think and process and adjust , to stabilize and heal . But I was just wondering about this overwhelming .
Speaker 1That would all be at once . Yeah , I can't go from being imprisoned your whole life basically to being in prison , which felt like a lot of freedom for her , honestly .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1You know , for a lot of people prison feels like a lack of freedom . For her it was like I got to have a job . Yeah like I , like you know , talk to people she had friendships walk she went , oh , she learned , like she she got an education like yeah , maybe , maybe like prison , actually , like she's the first person that prison has ever actually worked for . Yeah you know what I'm saying , Like mostly our carceral system is a really bad is bad . Like yeah maybe she did need limited freedom at first , because I think so
Aftermath of Disturbing Abuse Case
Speaker 1, yeah .
Speaker 1If she had just gotten off free , like do you remember that horrible , horrible story about the parents who like a really big deal , like seriously abused their kids and like the they were not educated ? They were like chained up and one of the teenage daughters got out and like found the place . She couldn't spell , couldn't read .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1Yes , well , like most of those . So some of the quote unquote kids were actually over 18 . They were like in their 20s , and so they weren't . They couldn't be in the foster care system , and so they were just like put into the world released and it ended really badly for a lot of them Like yeah did not have any education or skills or ability to socialize and were not successful in the world . So yeah , maybe we , you almost need that .
Speaker 2If you're in that situation , you need some kind of prison , but transition . So yeah , definitely , anyways .
Speaker 1All right Well that's it . We will be back on Gypsy Rose's book , should she decided to publish one . Yes , and we will . We will discuss it with lots of grace and yes , or we will , or we will attempt to . Yeah , all right , well , is that it ? That's it .
Speaker 2All right , we'll catch you guys in two weeks . Bye , catch you on the flip and it flip .