S5 EP234 | From Poetry to the Cosmic Mystery of Yellow with Amy Pence

Two Bleeped words: k!ller, assa$$inated 

Hello My Happy People,

Today I am sharing my interview with award-winning poet and essayist Amy Pence. We discuss her body of work and her debut fiction novel, Yellow. After years of publishing poetry, she's taken the leap into long-form fiction with a story that blends cosmic mystery, Southern Gothic atmosphere, and the complexities of girlhood into a compelling and unforgettable novel. 

In this episode, Amy shares what inspired her transition from poetry to fiction, how her writing process evolved while crafting Yellow, and the experiences that have shaped her journey as a writer. It's a fascinating conversation about creativity, perseverance, and finding the courage to explore new literary ground. 

For more behind-the-interview information from this episode, read today's blog at BurckhardtBooks.com/blog.

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Transcript

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Dianne Burckhardt 0:01

You're listening to BookBanter with Diane Burkhart, your Book Talk podcast. Join me every Wednesday for real conversations with authors and publishing insiders, where you get to connect with the humans behind the books you love. Let's get on with our show today. Well, hello, my happy people. Today is August 5th, 2026, and of course I have got another fantastic author for you. Today's guest is an award-winning poet and essayist whose work has appeared in more than 100 literary journals. After publishing multiple poetry collections and writing across several genres, she is now taking the leap into long-form fiction. Today we talk about her debut novel, Yellow, where cosmic mystery, southern gothic atmosphere, and the complexity of girlhood come together. We also discuss her creative process and the experiences that have helped shape her journey as a writer. Now be sure to stick around until the very end of today's episode because I have got exciting updates about next week's guest, along with happenings that are going on with Burkhart Books and Bookbanter Productions. But that's enough blather from me for now. Let's get on with today's interview. Please welcome to BookBanter with Diane Burkhart, award-winning poet, essayist, and debut novelist, Amy Pence. Please tell everyone who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

My name is Amy Pence, and I am now a writer, full-time, or I should say maybe part-time. I also tutor part-time students in high school. So that's what I do now.

Dianne Burckhardt 1:44

I know you have written poetry and essays, you do hybrid work, and I'm really interested in whenever somebody has such like a wide interest in writing, what sort of things did you read when you were growing up?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Oh, that's a great question. Yes, I had an early love for reading. So some of the authors that I read, I mean, my favorite was Charlotte's Webb as a child. And then as a teenager, I'd have to say the diary of Anne Frank made a huge impact on me. Just that actually gave me a sense of a real person in history and just all of her, her imagination, her, you know, of course, the circumstances of what was happening to her. So, in a way, when I'm thinking about it, that idea of a real person, a biography, stirred something in me that I wanted to know more about history, more about how people lived in the past. So, and then, you know, other books like Where the Lilies Grow or something by the Cleavers. There were a lot of more that was about Appalachia. So there were a lot of books that I really liked that were more realistic fiction. And then I also liked some sci-fi like Ursula Lequin, Madeline Langle, uh, those those kinds of books.

Dianne Burckhardt 3:12

Oh, I love Madeline Langle. Yeah. Did you ever read Island of the Blue Dolphins?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

I did, yes. I love it.

Dianne Burckhardt 3:22

For years I did not realize that that was based on an actual woman. Oh, I didn't know that either. Yeah, it her story is fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Yeah. And and I also I did read so I read read some poetry early, not as probably not as much as fiction. So it wasn't until I was a teenager that I started writing poetry.

Dianne Burckhardt 3:44

Were there ever any influences that you were reading that got you into writing poetry, or was this something that just sort of evolved in your own life about expressing your own feelings?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I would say the second one. So, yes, I remember reading uh Sarah Teesdale. I I don't think that there were many in my high school, in high school, there was much of an attention focused on individual poets or contemporary poets. So I felt like it's just something that I would go to the library, and the library where I live didn't have a lot of poetry. But by the time I was in college, I was into Ann Sexton, uh Sylvia Plath. I guess Sylvia Plath I did find in high school. Yeah, so I would say it was in college mostly that I studied poetry. But I think it was more self-expression as a as a teenager.

Dianne Burckhardt 4:46

Whenever I was in high school, I liked writing poetry. I never really got extensively into reading a lot of poets, but for some reason I have always been madly in love with Pablo Naruda. Oh, yes, yeah. And I don't know why, I don't know what it is about his work, but I love it.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

It's it's so lush, you know, it's and and romantic, some of it.

Dianne Burckhardt 5:11

Yeah, a lot of his stuff is very deeply romantic. I do love that. Yeah, yeah. Beautiful. At what point do you remember going from being the person who enjoyed reading the books to being the person who is wanting to write the stories?

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Well, I I really do feel like as a teenager, I I did start thinking that I would love to be a writer. And as I said, my yeah, my way in was poetry. I I didn't know uh if it was possible to make a living. And of course, in these days it really wasn't possible. So but I did always have a dream of being a writer.

Dianne Burckhardt 5:52

Whenever you were thinking about being a writer, what did you envision? Was it a novelist or a poet?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Yeah, at a certain point I thought, oh, well, I'm I want to study the craft of poetry. So I really was thinking more of a poet, but I think it was always out there in the in my mind that if I could write a book of fiction, I would. But that came pretty late in my life that I started writing stories. That wasn't until my 40s. And by then I was a professor, and I was teaching fiction writing at that point to college students, and so I was writing along with them and then started, you know, more and more. And of course, I'd taken in graduate school, uh, because I went to graduate school in Arizona, University of Arizona, and got an MFA in creative writing. So I took some fiction writing courses, you had to. Um but my focus, my main focus at the time was poetry. But you know, I just I I think that poetry as a way into fiction served me well. So just appreciating words, you know, and and just that condensed format, I believe has become a little bit has become my style in terms of how I want to communicate, even in fiction. I I want the sentences themselves to be as magic as reading a poem, I hope.

Dianne Burckhardt 7:26

And I think you can usually tell a lot of times whenever somebody does have a background in poetry, because whenever you read their prose, it is lyrical.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yes, yes. And yeah, there's so many writers. My favorite right now is Nori Helene Bertino, and she's a speculative writer. She wrote Beautyland and just came out with a book of short stories. And I loved her writing, and then I found out later that of course she was wrote poet poetry first. So I there's just something about the pacing and the attention to just the right word that you go, whoa, that that was an amazing sentence. So I'm finding that a lot of the fiction writers that I really love were poets, you know, to begin with.

Dianne Burckhardt 8:17

So one of the things that I think you would be the perfect person to ask about, whenever you have had like so much experience, you've written so much, you got your MFA in creative writing, you were an instructor. How well do you think you were prepared by all of this experience to actually try to turn writing novels into a career?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

I was not.

Dianne Burckhardt 8:46

That was the answer I expected.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah. No, no, and I guess in a way, I always knew it wasn't about money or even fame. You know, it was for the love of writing. And I I think these days, if you get an MFA in creative writing, some programs turn your attention to actually making a career out of it, as you said, and and selling books and et cetera. But there was nothing in my program at the time. It was really the quality, the quality of the work and your dedication to the work. So even submitting poems wasn't something that we talked about. I have a friend that I'm still in touch with in graduate school who once she sat me down and told me, okay, this is how you submit poems, because she was doing it and getting published in in magazines. But I mean, that's before the internet. So it was how what's the procedure for submitting poetry? And nobody talked about it in classes. Oh, yeah. So we were totally illogical about approaching a career as a writer.

Dianne Burckhardt 9:59

Well, you know, I've talked to so many authors who say the best thing that ever happened to them was finding a mentor. Yes, somebody who had already done all of it who could guide them through how to go into the business of being a writer.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Yes, yeah.

Dianne Burckhardt 10:13

Because being a writer and being in the business of being a writer are two totally different things. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

And and because, you know, I've I've published five books of poetry, two of them were were chat books, and and then I so actually could say six, so four full-length poetry books and two chat books. And so poetry didn't really prepare me for fiction in terms of this is a whole different level in terms of publicity. So I, as a poet, you kind of think, oh, okay, well, if I get a nice crowd of 10 people at a bookstore, that'll be great. And if two buy the book, that'll be even better. But this, I realized, oh, this is a different level. So there's a there's a really amazing man here in Atlanta who he's now on his second novel. And I would say he's my mentor. So he's told me, if anybody offers you to read, do it. You know, and and he's just amazing in terms of how he's created an audience. So he's got an audience, he had an audience ready for his second book.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Because they were so thrilled by his first one. And he just does a lot of talks and readings and in conversation events. So he did two with me, and I just it was I was so happy. His name is Robert Gualtney, and I thank him for uh how he's he's been my mentor for Sing Down the Moon. Sing Down the Moon, yes.

Dianne Burckhardt 11:47

I just interviewed him two weeks ago.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Did you? Isn't he amazing?

Dianne Burckhardt 11:51

He was so much fun. I love him.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, yeah. Just and just so kind in terms of what he has, what he could share with me. Um, because yeah, you know, I was I was not prepared. I just thought, you know, if a few people show up for a poetry reading, I was happy.

Dianne Burckhardt 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

But you know, you you want people to come and buy the books.

Dianne Burckhardt 12:14

Yeah, that's that's always kind of what we hope for.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yeah, exactly.

Dianne Burckhardt 12:19

That's the hope. You describe some of your work as being hybrid work. Yeah, how do you actually define that? What makes it hybrid?

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Well, yellow began as a hybrid, but I have but I I wouldn't call it a hybrid. My book, Incandescent, was a hybrid, combines poetry, and there's a prose thread that grow goes through it. And it's actually uh written from the perspective of uh you find out at the end of a ghost. And so you don't exactly know what's happening, but there is a prose thread, and it's based on Emily Dickinson. So I also pulled in a lot of her poetry and her biography. For me, that's a hybrid where you can bring in a biography of a real person. Hopefully, in her case, I got the rights to use many of her lines that I wove into my poetry. And then I had a story that uh you had to read it from front to to back. It wasn't a standard book of poetry where you could just open it up in any place. So, and visually, my publisher and I, and that's poet Sandy Meek, uh, isn't it is an editor and publisher. She and I thought about how these threads would look visually on the page as well. So that's what I would call an hybrid.

Dianne Burckhardt 13:43

Well, I think something like that could actually help bring some people who haven't read poetry into discovering poetry.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

I think so. I, you know, and then that was, I couldn't say that was really my intention, but I think those who write hybrids really, you know, that there's a desire for a narrative thread, you know, and so that you're appealing to at least that idea that, okay, these poems I'm weaving into this full narrative thread. Yellow, I thought was going to be a hybrid. And so some of the sections or some of the chapters were written as poetry. And it was my partner when I was reading the book, and he'd say, Oh, that sounds a little different, or you're reading it aloud, because I read aloud a lot of the sections to him as I was writing. He said, You're reading it a little differently. And I said, Oh, it's a poem. And then he said, Oh, why? And so I actually went back and knowing that a lot of people are put off by poetry, changed a lot of those sections so that they're prose. It didn't take much. And it's funny how that reading voice changed. It has to change as well. So that this is prose. It may have poetic sentences, but I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't scare away the reader with, oh, what happened here? As I did with my partner. It was good to get that reaction and realize that that it can be off for some people, off-putting. So anyway, it was uh it was a good, it was a it was a great learning experience for me to just understand that the that that narrative thread has to be really clear.

Dianne Burckhardt 15:31

I like the fact that you're talking about reading your work aloud as you're going through your creation process. Because one of the things that I have found, especially for dialogue, is you can understand a different way if something lands correctly or not when you hear it spoken than when you just read it on the page.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yes. Yes, definitely. And I yeah, I just think reading aloud does several things. And yes, for dialogue, that's one of them. Does this sound natural? Would people actually talk this way? And then when you're reading aloud, you're seeing your omissions. What am I leaving out? And do I need to go back and and make certain things clear spatially, or you know, where are they? And sense, you know, the senses. Do I need to show this gesture? So yeah, reading aloud helps a lot. And I was so happy that my partner was, and I started writing it during uh COVID times. So we had a lot of time. So he was just thrilled to just okay, well, what are your next chapters? And just reading aloud, and then and then he was a good listener, and he'd say, Oh, well, I didn't, he'd have questions, I didn't understand such and such. Or he started thinking about the characters too. So we would, he'd say, Oh, let's spitball what would happen. And he's in the movie industry, so he knows more about scripts. And so that was really helpful to me too, is in terms of okay, let's keep this plot moving. You know, where where is it gonna go? What actions do I need to have? So it was great to get that viewpoint as well, as I was reading aloud.

Dianne Burckhardt 17:18

Speaking of yellow, you use Watergate and Skylab era as the backdrop for your novel. What was it that drew you to this time period?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Well, it's it was an interesting backdoor route to it. So yellow is the name for the yellow slime mold. So she calls it yellow, Z does, the the main character. But Thesarum polycephalum, which is the the full name of this organism, is a real thing. And I found a note in a book on meditation that it was discovered by a housewife in Texas in 1973. And so just that one little detail just sat in my mind for a few weeks. And I just thought, gosh, that's so interesting. Now I know that it was rediscovered, it's always been here. It was just, you know, what's this organism? And somebody actually paid attention to it and brought it to a lab and made the New York Times in 1973, and they didn't know what it was. It was an unclassified. And so what happened is that I just started looking up, okay, what else happened in 1973? And I was alive then. And so I remember I did have a really clear memory of the Watergate hearings and that summer of the Watergate hearings. And so I really built around this idea of 1973. And I at the time in my life, I was not interested in Skylab, but it became fascinating to me to look into Skylab and what that was like for the astronauts. And then I got, you know, a little dove deeper, and Pete Conrad became fascinating to me. So yeah, all the things around 1973, just, you know, Vietnam veterans are coming home. So that became another thread. It was almost like, you know, I can say it was a little bit like yellow, the way yellow as an organism spreads out. I was just watching, oh my goodness, it's all kind of spreading out. All these little threads are giving me more routes to take in the book. And I was really happy that those came together.

Dianne Burckhardt 19:43

I know growing up as someone, you know, who grew up in an artistic family, that colors can really evoke different emotions in people. Did you use the actual color of this as a way to invoke some different feelings or emotions in your story?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

It ends up that that happened. I have to say that I wasn't a big yellow fan. You know, it's not a color that I have in my house. I'm more of a blue fan. But I did see it started as I was writing visually. It every it kept coming into my sight. And so, you know, daffodils in spring, you know, yellow, I feel like evokes a lot of different emotions. There's brightness and springtime, but I think that there, you know, there's for some people it can be kind of negative in terms of I'm thinking of, you know, tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree, which was it's about courage, but it's also about loss, a little bit about loss. So yeah, I think that, but of course, she becomes an artist. So Z becomes a visual and performance artist. And so that yellow in in many ways was uh something I felt like for the character had a lot of meaning, less so for me, I guess.

Dianne Burckhardt 21:08

I also grew up in like the 70s, and one of the great like classic bee horror movies was The Blob. Yes. And whenever I was reading little bits about yellow, it like kind of invoked these sort of images. Did any of that ever come in for you whenever you were writing this?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

At the very beginning, yes, because you know, in the Paris Zoo, they have an exhibit and they call it Le Blaub. I actually have to go and see that exhibit. So yeah, it's the there's that creepiness to it as a well as well. And I did think about it a lot in the beginning, and I have to say that kind of went away the more I got into okay, this is an amazing organism. You know, it can solve puzzles, it seems to have consciousness. And so that really star, you know, all the negative things kind of fell away. But but there is that initial sense that it ooh, it's creepy. Uh and that becomes fascinating for Z as a young child and uh her her brother Clem. That's fascinating, that creepiness about it.

Dianne Burckhardt 22:21

Yeah, I remember when my sister and I were kids, her favorite toy was slime.

unknown 22:26

Oh yeah.

Dianne Burckhardt 22:27

And it, oh my gosh, it grossed me out so much. I couldn't stand the sound of it. I couldn't stand the feel of it.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Uh-huh.

Dianne Burckhardt 22:34

And she was always carrying that stuff around playing with it.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Oh, that's hilarious.

Dianne Burckhardt 22:39

Wow. And I think that's one of those things where, you know, you can imagine how something like this kind of an organism, some people would find fascinating and intriguing, and other people would just be turned off by it completely. I mean, it has such a range of emotions that it can invoke just by how it is composed. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

And, you know, then it shows us a little bit of duality, right? It's gross and it's fascinating. So that pulls into this idea of duality that I'm trying to explore a bit in the book. So why don't you go ahead and tell us the synopsis of yellow? Okay. Well, it's the summer of 1973 in Louisiana, Mettery, Louisiana, and then she also is in New Orleans when a young girl named Eliza, and she comes to be known as Z, she finds a slime mold in her backyard. She's enchanted by it. They share this bond. She shares this bond with this kind of magical organism. But then that same summer, that bond is shattered by an assault at the lake. So she really does spend the next almost four decades until she's she goes from 12 to her early 60s trying to recover that part of herself that was awakened by yellow. And it follows also the path of Clem, her younger brother, who becomes a seeker in New Orleans. And it pulls in because, as I was telling you in 1973, there was so much happening. I sort of follow those threads, the space exploration and Skylab, as well as the Vietnam Veterans Coming Home, the Watergate hearings, and those erase tapes. That's what makes a little bit of a multi-genre book, is that it doesn't really, I would call it speculative fiction, but it does have some of these other threads, including biography, the biography of the commander of Skylab, Pete Conrad, the biography of Einstein. So some of those things make it a little bit of a multi-genre book. And also we come back to the man who assaulted her, who was a serial killer. So there's a little bit of a mystery as well in terms of what happened with the young other young girls that he had preyed upon.

Dianne Burckhardt 25:17

Whenever you have a story like this that is so complex, how do you keep everything in line? I mean, are you a heavy plotter? Do you just sit down and start writing? What is your process?

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Well, this one really worked out for me in terms of no, I am not a plotter. And it and it worked out in terms of following the little the threads that I that I was following from 1973. So there was a point that I realized in the book that I better know what's happening at the end. So otherwise, because I I did I do have a practice novel that I worked on for 10 years, that it it fell apart. So it can fall apart if you're just a pantser going by the seat of your pants. It and that's what happened with with my first book. So this one I just thought, okay, so I've gotten to a point where I think I need to know the ending. And so I did have in my mind how it would end. And that was really helpful because it also follows many decades. So, you know, this could go on forever. But I realized, oh, okay, that's that's what's going to happen at the very end. And so I was at the midpoint, and then I realized, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna write towards that ending.

Dianne Burckhardt 26:41

Now seems like the perfect time to do our five quick questions that never turn out to be quick, but I just have too much fun doing them, so I'm not going to stop.

unknown 26:50

Okay.

Dianne Burckhardt 26:51

Sounds good. For yours, I was snooping on your Instagram this morning. And so we have four questions about that. And then the fifth question is one that we're asking everybody this season.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

Okay.

Dianne Burckhardt 27:02

So now, question one What did you think of Sing Down the Moon? Because I know you mentioned it on your Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Yeah, I thought it was almost like a tour de force in terms of how Robert created this barrier island vibe with these three main characters and a lot of characters on the outer edges of it. And he kept the ball rolling. I'll just say that I love the last 20 to 30 pages where it was a page turner, and you just thought, okay, now we're going to find out what really happened. So just that he kept all these things in balance, and it seemed to be almost a mythical world that he created. So that I liked the suspense.

Dianne Burckhardt 27:57

Yeah, and I like the names that he has for his characters too.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Mirabelle. And yeah, uh, very, very um poetic and he and very southern, too. So you can the southern gothic comes in.

Dianne Burckhardt 28:12

Question two. One thing I've noticed from talking to a lot of authors lately is that creating playlists for novels seemed to be coming a real trend. And you created one for yellow. What inspired the songs that you picked for this playlist?

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Well, actually, some of them inspired me. So at the in in 2020, when I was writing the book, the Italian composer, uh, and I'm not going to be able to say his name correctly, but in Enauti, E I, I'm I can't even spell it probably. Ludovicio Enauti time lapse was very or was on my playlist. And it just kept coming up. And I there were five or six that are on my playlist that just kept me writing. So I had almost a little bit of a ritual where I would sit, how I would sit, and the music that I would listen to. And that time-lapse album was very inspirational for me. So that's why there, you know, I didn't even write about all the ones when I wrote a little piece on it. But there are five or six that one called experience that gave me this, you know, just seeing Z writing about Z, you just get the idea of a whole life, you know, just in that one song. Uh, he he seems to capture what happens to people, you know, the the turmoil and the ecstasy.

Dianne Burckhardt 29:49

So I have to admit, this is a trend that I've been really enjoying. I think that it adds like such an excellent layer on top of the story whenever an author will pick songs like this for you to listen to while you're reading. I think it just really adds a whole other nuance to it that you wouldn't otherwise get. I mean, from anything else. Yeah, I love that too. Now, question three. What memory stands out the most for you when you think back on the women's march in Atlanta in 2017?

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Oh, um I participated in it. And what stood out was at one point I remember looking at the sidelines, and there was uh about 12 girls, young girls, and they were probably between nine and 11. And so maybe they were too young to march, but they all were holding signs, and I just it it gives me a thrill even now to think of them just you know feeling powerful in that moment and feeling like you know, we're doing this for you. Um, sadly, you know, uh, you know, but yeah, but but I think those nine to eleven-year-olds, you know, are doing what they need to do now. I think I just admire so much the young women of today who've gone way beyond us. So in terms of their, I feel like in in terms of their emotional life, in terms of how they are in the world, you know, that they are not going to be, you know, shamed. Uh, they're very strong. Many are strong. So, anyway, that's that's the little image that comes back to me and seeing young girls holding signs and feeling like, oh, yes, it's for it's for you. We're doing this for you. It's like that embodiment of hope.

Dianne Burckhardt 31:48

Yeah, yeah. It was a wonderful moment. Question four What is your favorite thing to make with fresh figs?

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Uh well, big jam. Yes. And they are right now uh plumping up in my front yard right now, the my my fig tree. So it's it's key time because the birds will get them if I do if I don't start picking them soon. Um they're they're a little early because of course everything's coming early. Uh usually it would be mid-August. And I can see, oh my gosh, it's uh late July, and here they come.

Dianne Burckhardt 32:32

So I have to admit, when I saw that you have a fig tree by your front door, I was so jealous. I love figs.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Yeah, oh, they're amazing.

Dianne Burckhardt 32:40

Yeah. So now your last question. Question five, we are asking every author this year the same question because we're creating a list that's going to go in our book banter magazine for holiday shopping this year. And that question is: what book to movie adaptation do you think is the best that you have seen so far?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Well, I just saw the Odyssey. And I have to say, because I tutored students in ninth grade for five years at a private school here, they had had to read the Odyssey. And I thought, oh my gosh, that's amazing. It was a three-hour and something minutes long, but it felt I was totally in that world. You know, I could tell that there were some flaws, uh, things that I just thought, oh, that's interesting that that he made that decision. But I think it was gorgeous and beautiful, and that he brought in all the key things. He did a little update with it, which was fascinating to me. Anyway, I it's funny how my threads are full of debate about his adaptation. But I have to say, wow, that that it was Matt Damon, I thought was amazing in it. Zenda as Athena was absolutely gorgeous in terms of her presence. So yeah, I would have to say the Odyssey was um at this point, just because I just saw my favorite.

Dianne Burckhardt 34:19

What is next for you? You mentioned that you're going to be going to Paris to do some research.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

I am. So what's next is I don't know if it's halfway through, but I'm working on a book about two sisters, Genesis and Eden, and their father, who's an autodidact, and their mother. I also bring in two real life characters. One was in the um was Kafka's lover, uh, Milena Jizenska, and she has a fascinating life. And the other one, the other real life person biography is Charlotte Corday, who was part of the French Revolution. She actually assassinated Marat. And I'm going to Paris because I have a scene in the catacombs. They are the two sisters are lucid dreamers. And so, as lucid dreamers, they each have their mentor, and one is Melena Jazenska, and one is Charlotte Corday. And so I've never been to the catacombs, and there's a scene in the catacombs, and I thought, you know, an excellent opportunity to maybe do a little research in Paris. That was that's our main goal, also to kind of track her movements in Paris the day that she's executed. I'm looking forward to that. So the the other little nugget there for this next book is the speculative fiction part is are they dragons? So sort of the are they dragon women?

Dianne Burckhardt 36:01

That's an interesting twist. Yes. Do you have a title for that one yet? Astonishment. Definitely going to be looking out for that. That sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

We'll see. You know, it's you, you it I'm as I said, I'm sort of halfway through, and I really have to see my way now to where is this gonna go?

Dianne Burckhardt 36:23

I'll be very interested to see where that goes too. Okay, okay, good. You will definitely have to come back whenever you get ready for that one to publish, and we will talk about that one too. Yay, okay. So now remind our listeners who you are and where they can find your work.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Okay. I'm Amy Pence, and you can find my work through my website, amipence.com. And yellow is available from Red Hen Press. It's, you know, you can get it at bookshop.org as well as other online carriers. You can find yellow.

Dianne Burckhardt 36:59

And of course, as always, we will have information in the description of today's podcast with live links so that everyone can find you and your work and go buy your book from bookshop.org.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Yes, thank you.

Dianne Burckhardt 37:11

So we're always big on promoting bookshop.org and indie bookshops anytime we have the opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Yes, good. Agreed. Thank you so much. This has been so much fun talking to you. Oh, thank you. This has been great. You you're a great host.

unknown 37:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Guided me right through.

Dianne Burckhardt 37:32

So there you have it, folks. That was my interview with the incredible Amy Pence. I have to say, after talking with Amy today, yellow has definitely moved up on my to be red list. It was already there, but after hearing her talk about the story, I am really looking forward to reading this as soon as I can. Unfortunately, my to be read pile has reached a point where I think I need to hire a reader. If only I had the budget for that. But I guess I should just be thankful that there are a lot worse problems that I could have than having too many books to read, right? If you would like to learn more about Amy and her debut novel, Yellow, or her other published works, be sure to check out the links in today's podcast description. Now, next week I'm looking forward to sharing my conversation with Nathan Jorgensen, because I am actually currently reading his latest novel, Otto's Portal, right now. Well, not right now. You know what I mean. I've actually been a little annoyed that I have been so busy I haven't been able to get to it faster. It's definitely one of those books that you do not want to put down. Unfortunately, if I want to keep bringing these shows to you on schedule, I do have to put it down once in a while, but I pick it up every opportunity I can because it has got me wanting more. I cannot wait for you to meet Nathan and hear our conversation because it was wonderful. So be sure to come back next Wednesday and you can hear it all for yourself. You can thank me for that later. Now, before I let you go, I do want to give you some news for Bookbanter Productions. We have just launched the BookBanter Podcast Community group on Facebook. And I would love to have as many authors and readers as possible join us there. Now, there are a few questions that you need to answer before you can be approved. It is a private group, but once you're in, you will find exactly what the name suggests: a supportive community built around books, authors, and readers. Authors are welcome to share their websites, book buy links, upcoming releases and marketing ideas. Readers are encouraged to share the books they're reading, recommend new authors, and talk about the stories they love. My hope is that the book banter podcast community becomes a place where writers and readers can come together and support one another and build friendships that benefits everyone. The one thing that I do want everyone to know is that this community is built on respect. We have a zero tolerance policy for bullying, harassment, name-calling, or personal attacks. There are no warnings. If someone isn't interested in contributing to a positive, supportive community, this group simply isn't for them. There are plenty of places on the internet for arguments. What I want to create is a place where people can enjoy talking about books, encouraging one another, and having fun doing it. And if that sounds like something you're interested in, I would love to see you there. Well, I think that is more than enough for today, folks, so you know what that means. It's that time. It's time to go forth and be really happy. And could jump on Facebook and join our community. Thank you for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe to BookBanter with Diane Burkhart on your favorite podcast streaming service. Because if you love books like we do, you do not want to miss a single episode of this podcast.