Where I Left Off

The Aftermyth with Author Tracy Wolff

• Kristen Bahls • Season 3 • Episode 1

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Thanks to Author Tracy Wolff and the team at Simon & Schuster. In this episode, we talk about her newest release The Aftermyth. 

Tracy's Links:

Books Mentioned:

For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.

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For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back. I'm Kristen Balls, and you're listening to Where I Left Off, a Bookish Podcast. And today I'm joined by New York Times best-selling author, Tracy Wolf, and you may know her from the Crave series, Ethan Frost series, Shake and Dirty series, and many more. Today we're talking about her upcoming middle grade fantasy novel, The Aftermath. Thank you so much for joining me today, Tracy.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thank you so much for having me, and thank you for like knowing Ethan Frost and Shake and Dirty. Those are two series that are like really near and dear to my heart because Shake and Dirty was the first one I ever, first time I ever got on the USA Today list, and Ethan Frost was the first time I ever went on the New York Times list. So um, thank you for knowing those. Most people are always like, oh, she's the author of Crave, which is true.

SPEAKER_00:

Books, you have a very extensive backlist.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I'm old, so I've been writing a really long time. That's what I'd say anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

So the first question that I always ask every author because they just always have the best recommendations. And we were just talking about local bookstores before this, so I know that you obviously read a lot. Uh, but what are you currently reading right now? I cannot think of the name.

SPEAKER_02:

I can do you know the author who wrote The Dead Romantics? Yes. There you go. I am reading her the one about the songwriter. Oh, yes, um, a novel love story. Yeah, see, it's a gosh, she always says, sorry, I am so bad with titles these days, but I am really, really enjoying that book. Um, I wrote um, It Happened on a Sunday, which was, you know, about um football player and a pop star who did a lot of her own writing. And um anyway, I was just I'm like, oh, let's pick up a songwriter book. And I'm uh most of the way through that and I'm really enjoying it.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, good. I have it on my shelf, but I haven't gotten there yet. But the seven-year slip is like one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that is a really good one. I actually really loved The Dead Romantics and obviously Mate by um Ellie Hazelwood. I read very recently, and I really, really enjoyed that as well. I just actually went back and reread um one of my old comfort reads by an author named Nelini Singh, who I love. Her, she has this whole um paranormal romance series called the Side Changeling series, and I love, love, love it.

SPEAKER_00:

And I just went and reread um my favorite book in the series called Caressed by Ice. Nice. Do you typically reread it like once a year or just kind of whenever the mood strikes?

SPEAKER_02:

Not necessarily that one. She has a book of short stories. I love two from that series that I read a lot. They tend to be my bathtub reading, or yeah, if I've had a hard day or a long day, and I just want something that I know so well that you know what I mean? I'm not gonna be like shocked and really like invested, you know. Like I'm obviously invested is one of my favorite books, but you know, it's not the same thing as a brand new book where you're like, oh my god, I don't know what's gonna happen. So yeah, she's my when I when I want to break or when I want to treat myself, I I pick up one of her books.

SPEAKER_00:

So what can you tell us um about your current work in progress?

SPEAKER_02:

My current work in progress? It's actually the follow-up to the aftermath, is the one I'm working on right now. And I'm also working on um Sweet Chaos, which is the follow-up to the Sweet Nightmare, Sweet Nightmare, the spin-off to the Crave series. And um, what can I tell you about them? Sweet Chaos is so much fun. It's a siren and a dragon are the two main characters. The dragon's the girl, the sirens the boy. And they are leading me on a very, very merry chase. And uh as for Aftermooth 2, I am so incredibly excited about it. Um it's uh we're we're taking out, I can't tell you the myth we're taking out. I can't tell you much about it without doing spoilers for the first book. So um I'm just really having fun expanding that world and that kind of thing. And then of course I have um I have a new project that I'm not allowed to talk about yet. So yeah, it's adult and fantasy and fun.

SPEAKER_00:

And on the second book in the aftermath series, do you know how long uh the series is going to be?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, we don't know for sure how long the series is gonna be, but I wanted to span um all the way through from her first year. The the premise of the school, right, is she goes to this dark academia boarding school, um, kind of run by and and dedicated to the Greek gods. And there's five halls that they get sorted into. Um, one is Zeus, one's Poseidon, one's Hades, Athena, and then Aphrodite. And my girl thinks she's going to be an Athena girl, is like a long line of Athena, Athena's, right? Her parents were Athenas, her grandparents were Athena's, her great-grandparents were Athena, her brother is an Athena, and then she gets there and she is not an Athena. And she is devastated, and she spends a long time trying to figure out how to get there before she realizes that the hall she was sorted into, which is like Athena's the like super studious, super like, you know, um long thinking, logical hall, and she gets sorted into the party hall, and she's found out she finds out by the end that maybe the party hall is where she belongs after all. So it's she's there six years, and originally we were planning on six books, one for each year, but the second book is ending up being the second semester of the first year. So that may throw it off a little. We'll see, we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_00:

I was gonna say there is a lot of one, so that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02:

There is a lot, right? It happens. This is my kryptonite as a writer is writing a book in a long span of time. I feel like I used to be able to do it, but I don't know. In the last probably the last 20 books I've written, they all take place in in really relatively short periods of time. And I think the aftermath is um is only a a few months, a couple months really. But I think that was like having to go in and stretch it a little bit. Yeah. So anyway, we'll see, we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_00:

We're gonna take her from 13 all the way up through 18. And how do you balance working on multiple projects at once, especially when some are in different series?

SPEAKER_02:

I say I'm working on both of them, but I'm only writing one right now and brainstorming and and thinking about the other. I usually can usually I can only really write one at a time because my brain doesn't really work that way, but I can brainstorm and pause, you know, think about and and do all the stuff for one. I can publicize another and then be working on a third. It's kind of how it's and so right now I'm in the really like laying out, I've got like act one and act three done of the second aftermath book. And you know, now we're working on like how to shore up the middle and what I want to do in there. I'm a fabulous editor for the aftermath series. She's amazing and so fun to work with and so fun to brainstorm with. So it's a lot of fun. And then in Sweet Chaos, I'm writing, and then I am and I'm in the middle of publicizing the Jackson Flamella called uh signal fire.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that's a lot um at once, but that makes sense that you're kind of in different stages, so it doesn't feel like you're actively like drafting multiple things at once.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I don't think I could, I don't think I could do that. I don't think I don't think my brain doesn't work that way. Like when I'm in a book, I'm in it and I'm dreaming about it and I'm living it like 24-7 and I'm writing, well, you know, when I'm really in it, I'm writing a lot of hours every day. And so yeah, there's no room for another book, kind of in that deep intense stage.

SPEAKER_00:

Totally makes sense. Talking a little bit more about the aftermath specifically, did you approach writing middle grade differently than how you worked with the Crabe series in YA or even in your adult books? Whether that kind of came from the tone, the themes, or like the overall structure?

SPEAKER_02:

I actually think the structure, the tone and the theme are pretty Tracy Wolf, you know? Um, obviously, like there's a difference in in language, there's a difference in maybe complexity a little bit. And uh we've got we're starting the beginnings of a love triangle with um with two of the boys, uh, the Zeus boy and the Hades boy, of course. Very different, uh, Sullivan and Kirrian, but it's obviously going to go much slower and much differently than it would in in any of my other, you know, young adult or adult romances, right? Like we're we're hoping maybe around book five Digir Up for a Kiss or something, you know? So it's gonna be a really slow, like kind of a thing. But um Did I approach it differently? I think no, because I think Aftermath has a lot of the themes that are really near and dear to my heart. They have the theme of feminine power and the fact that there's all different kinds of ways for a girl to be strong. It doesn't have to be one kick down a doorway, you know what I mean? And it can be like she's like the best nurturer in the world and she's like the best cheerleader. Or it could be um she gets up one more time than she gets knocked down. Or, you know, it can be all kinds of different ways that the women are strong. And and that I think kind of flows from my work, no matter whether you're talking about a 13-year-old girl like Penelope and her best friend Fifi, um, or whether you're talking about, you know, a woman in her 20s or her 30s. But I also think that it's got a lot of the things that I love. Characters are my favorite thing in the whole world. And I had so much fun bringing the characters of Aftermath to life. Penelope, who's the main character, um who's named after Odysseus's wife, which is why her name is Penelope Weaver, because Odysseus's wife was a weaver. Um, Fifi, her best friend, Arjune, her other really good friend, Kiryan and Sullivan, who I mentioned. Her Muse is one of my favorite secondary characters that I've ever written. She's like a hot mess. Like everybody, the premise of the school is right, you need to complete, besides going through six years of school, you have to complete 12 labors, and everybody gets their own 12 labors. And you have to complete 12 labors to be able to graduate at the end. And you get them from your muse, and your muse is kind of there to help you out through the six years and all of that. And her roommate Phoepee gets the most fantastic, most on top of it muse ever. And, you know, she's sitting there waiting for her muse, and I'm not gonna say her muse's name because it'll ruin things, but she's sitting there waiting for her muse to show up, and her muse finally shows up, completely has no idea what's going on because she's never done this before. She's like the biggest pleather-wearing mess in the history of the universe, caffeine addicted muse ever.

SPEAKER_00:

And her labers are all messed up and have like stains on them.

SPEAKER_02:

That was my favorite thing. Like the coffee stained labors that are all incredible. Like Phoebe's show up in this beautiful frame and they hang it in a place of honor. And she's like, Oh, is that what this is? And yeah, I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun with her. And um, yeah, just making really terrible things happen to Penelope all the way through was a lot of fun. And then um, I dedicated the book actually to my best friend and college roommate. And I did it because I think as I was writing it, I don't think I didn't consciously set out to do this, but I totally wrote her relationship and my relationship. She is absolutely Penelope, and I am absolutely Fifi in in our relationship and how it goes. But it was like so much of like those first days of getting to know each other and and all of those things. And I was like about halfway through the book, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm writing, I'm writing Jen in me. It's uh so yeah, it's kind of a love letter to my best friend too, which is is uh, you know, it's lovely, I think. A lot of fun to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

It's always fun when you can put personal touches in. I love that.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Yeah, I think all my books have have personal touches. There's a lot of me in in each of them. And they, you know, it may be twisted or it may be, you know, turnaround or something, you know, a detail may be off. And obviously, I don't unfortunately live in a fantastical, magical world. A lot of it kind of ground and just different experiences that I've had.

SPEAKER_00:

And what do you think that middle grade readers are kind of looking for right now? And how does this series really speak to them?

SPEAKER_02:

I think that's the question, right? Like middle grade right now is is kind of a a difficult market to kind of put your finger on. A lot of these kids kind of started school in in the uh in the pandemic and and all of that. But honestly, I was a high school and college and for two very brief years, middle school teacher. No, I guess it was three, three years, I was a middle school teacher of English as I was working on my um graduate degrees. And um anyway, one of the things I noticed and that had always really, really bothered me is that by the time I got them in eighth grade or in ninth or twelfth grade or in college, and I'm teaching English, right? They would groan every time I brought up, like, oh, we're gonna be starting a new book, we're gonna be was it it was really troubling to me because I remember I I have three kids and I remember like the and I remember myself even story time in kindergarten was the most fun ever or first or second grade, right? We loved it when the teacher would bring out a book and read us and we'd all gather around. So it always bothered me, like what happened between kindergarten and first grade and eighth and ninth grade that made kids, so many kids, turn off reading. You know what I mean? And and it's why I've always wanted to write a middle grade novel, uh, because I kind of wanted to, I wanted to like figure this out because it it hurts my English teacher heart and my writing heart, you know? And in Simon and Schuster, I found like the most incredible partner in kind of helping me try and reach out to these middle school or middle grade, you know, audience and and hopefully, hopefully grab them and give them something to get excited about. But the themes in general, like I said, it's about like being strong, it's about being authentic. It's okay to be who you are. Yeah, you could be different. Yeah, you might be different than your family. Yeah, you might be different than the other kids in class. You might, you know, whatever that thing is that that you kind of feel a little ashamed about at that age, because then, you know, when you feel like you're not fitting in and middle school and all of that, that's actually one of the greatest parts of your strength, right? And the cool one, and is often one of the coolest things about you. And I think you just need to own that difference and own the authenticity of it and and live there because it's it's such a beautiful thing. And uh, those are those are a couple of the themes that I was I was getting at. It's a Pandora's box retelling, less of a retelling and more of a we're taking on the myth of Pandora's box. And it's because it's always bothered me. If you think about that myth, Pandora was created by two male gods, right? To punish two male titans for something that they did. Now she didn't do anything, but that's how she came into being. And then she's the one who, when she literally opened the jar that she was given along with the gift of curiosity, has now gone down, you know, for millennia as you know, the bad person who opened the box and let all the bad stuff into the world. I'm like, I'm so sorry. Who created the box? Who did all that? You know, like let's think about how this works actually. And so this was kind of my uh my shot at and history being written by the winners, and very often those winners are men, right? It's kind of my shot at her story and retelling things how maybe they should have been, or how they would have been if they weren't colored by, you know, centuries of male patriarchal, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and Penelope, with the help of uh Fifi and everyone else, is able to kind of have that realization and find out a piece of the story that maybe she wouldn't have thought quite happened like that before.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, exactly, absolutely. And as we get deeper into it, as we um start working on, you know, as we're working on another myth, actually several other myths are kind of coming together in the second book. This is something I think, you know, it's so important, I think, in the world that we live in to understand that we don't have all the pieces, or that maybe some of the pieces we have just aren't true. Just the idea that we flip it, you know, we go, we scroll through Instagram and what's AI and what's not AI, what's fake, what's not fake. I think more than ever, understanding that we don't have all the parts of a story or all the pieces of a puzzle and and knowing that we have to go out and find them if we, you know, want to be actually well read or like up on whatever subject it is that we're talking about, because there's so much misinformation all the way around.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, using our own discernment and not just accepting whatever is in front of us.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, using our own discernment and not just accepting um what we've been told or or any of that. And I think that that's um another thing that that Penelope and her friends, you know, and as the series unfolds, as we learn a lot more secrets that O Ray just barely hinted at in aftermath, I think we're gonna realize just how how deep a conspiracy and how deep some of the lies go in the series of what they were taught to believe versus what's actually true.

SPEAKER_00:

Interesting. I'm thinking of a couple questions right now that I can't wait to get some more answers to in the following books. So are there any magical creatures or powers or kind of any of the rules that you had the most fun creating? And of course, you know, you're going off of a myth that is already there and taking liberties from that. So that kind of might have shaped some of it a little bit.

SPEAKER_02:

One of the things I actually really loved the world building in this. I said it in the Berkshires in like north, you know, western Massachusetts. And it's just such a beautiful, beautiful area. And um, there's all these little side farm stands and donut stands. And I thought, wouldn't that be like like a really fun thing to like kind of interject in? So like bringing that that in and playing with Prometheus, right? Who is one of the titans that was meant to be punished by Pandora, um, and and playing with that in there. And then also the name of the campus is an Aximander's. And Aximander was uh one of the very, very first Greek philosophers. He discussed or thought about a lot of concepts um that have kind of worked their way into modern life. Um most prominently, maybe the idea of infinity. Like that was his. And so as I as I was thinking about the the Greeks and what they prized and what was important to them, I was thinking how much logic and and all of that really kind of first really started really coming out um in in the Greek era. And so it's that the campus is actually shaped like a Rubik's Cube, right? And it shifts every night. And so in the morning when you wake up, there's one side of the of like the Rubik's cube in front of you, it'll tell you where those are. And based on knowing that, you have to figure out where everything else is. And if you don't figure it out, um, you're gonna be late for class, or you're not gonna know where the cafeteria is, or you're not gonna know where the library is. And uh so and every day it's or you won't even be able to get home to your dorm, you know, like all of that. And then that was that was really fun. And in the middle, in the beginning, I don't think this is a spoiler. Um, as I was shifting it around on on poor Penelope, right? I'm like, okay, so if we shift it and she's here, like there's all these waterfalls in the Berkshire's right, and I have a waterfall on campus, and suddenly it's uh I'm like, but wouldn't it be upside down? Well, how do I tackle an upside down waterfall? What do I do in an upside, you know, and what that would look like. So all kinds of just really fun, fun things like that. And um, as uh as we get into the second book, um I I want to play with um well I I don't think this is a massive spoiler. I want to play with the constellations and stuff, so many of which the ancient Greeks named.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, okay, that makes sense. I'm I'm thinking of like how that would work and trying to piece some things together. So I'm interested to point out. But with um with these intense like magic systems and the world building, how do you keep track of it kind of throughout a series, especially if there are books in between? Do you have like a spreadsheet or does it just all stay in your brain? I say there's a series Bible.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm about to put one together for Aftermath. Actually, I'm kind of in the middle of doing that right now, and right now it's all on paper. So whether that's going to be translated into a spreadsheet or whether it's just going to live in a notebook forever, I mean, I don't know. But yeah, and and for me, it's more because a lot of the stuff lives in my head rent-free. So it's not like, oh, how does the RubyScape work or how does this? But it's what color are this minor character's eyes? Or, you know, what did I say? What colors are like we didn't really get into Poseidon Hall, for example, in Aftermath. But I named I gave them colors and I had to go back and like, what colors were those again? You know, stuff like that as I'm getting into book two that I I need to remember. So my my stuff, my series Bible usually contains stuff like that versus, oh, it's a Rubik's cube. Well, yeah, I know that. I'm not gonna forget that, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

That would be hard if you ever um have a map at the beginning of the book because it's never gonna say the same.

SPEAKER_02:

I will tell you, I actually to be able to do it myself and keep it all straight, I bought a Rubik's cube and I labeled it. I don't have it, I don't have it here. Um, but I labeled each um each square with like what it was, and then I would just twist them around and be like, oh, that's okay what it was. That's what it looks like today. Okay, so that means that this is here and this is there. Yeah. So like literally to be able to even visualize it, I had to do that physically so that I could keep track of where I put everything at any given moment.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm visual, so that would make sense for me, being able to actually see where everything is on campus that day. And what friendships or rivalries in the book were especially fun to write? Because I know that there was that whole rivalry between Penelope and Rhea that was really intense at times.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that's just gonna get darker and deeper and worse. Oh my gosh, Rhea, she's not my favorite character. Um, yeah, I had a lot of fun, obviously. I I mentioned before, I had a lot of fun writing Penelope and Phoebe. They were so much fun. I actually really had a lot of fun writing Penelope and PT. I think their relationship, um, it didn't take up a lot of bandwidth in the book, but I think that it it did some real heavy lifting for her. And I really enjoyed that. I also enjoyed um Raya, the dynamics of of what happens with Paris and Penelope because of Raya and how that's gonna go into book two and what we're gonna do with that. And I also really enjoyed, I really enjoyed writing the dance and um all the different well, whatever hall she's sorted into, the dynamics of all the kids there and how um Penelope kind of is learning to like negotiate that because they're so different than anybody she's ever hung out with before, and so different than anything she expected was gonna happen for herself. So yeah, that was a lot of fun in general. But also Kiryan. I love Kyrian.

SPEAKER_00:

I can see that. And I'm true. Uh he's my favorite right now.

SPEAKER_02:

Is he? Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love Kyrian. And his story, which I've already kind of got mapped out all the way through, is really, really interesting. I love his role in like the underworld. He's a 80s boy. Um, and I'm super excited to explore the underworld more because I I really love um some of the ideas for that. Um, I don't want to give spoilers away, but I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm excited. And I'm watching Gilmore Girls right now, and so he definitely reminds me of Jess a little bit.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that at all. But yeah, that all black, oh yeah, Jess was always my favorite. So that's not a shock, I don't think. I like a bad boy.

SPEAKER_00:

They're always fun, they're always fun to read. They're so fun. And then when they have like when they're actually like really decent people, yeah, that's like the best part. I was gonna say he always comes in whenever Penelope needs him most. So even though he has a harder shell exterior, I can definitely tell that his interior is, you know, a little bit sweeter.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he's a good guy. He does have a hard shell, but he's a good guy, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I'm interested to see how everything works out with Paris, especially especially something he did in the latter half of the book and how Paris, man, yeah, repair things and when he's gonna kind of get get a clue a little bit.

SPEAKER_02:

Right? I mean, come on, dude. Sisters before all evil girls, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

So, what is your favorite qualities about Penelope and as you're kind of writing her and discovering a little bit more about her character?

SPEAKER_02:

I love how she always has a plan, even when it gets completely screwed up in every way possible. And uh, and I admit I uh yeah, I messed her plans up a lot. I love that she she always has a plan. I love it. Um, and then she's always like think trying to think 10 steps ahead. And then somehow in the middle of it, like something comes up that was not even like she thought she thinks she's thought of every single possible thing that could happen. And then suddenly, whoops, there's there's a lot of snakes. Or whoops, there's an upside down waterfall, or whoops, did I just fall through a trapdoor to where? Yeah, I I I love how industrious she is. And and I actually love how even in, you know, even in like her the darkest issues and the darkest times in the book, she's a really good person. I tend to write characters who are kind, you know. I write really awful characters too, but I tend to write, I think, characters that want to leave the world a little better than they found it, and who try to treat everybody around them with kindness because I think that's so important, especially again in the world that we live in, treating people well. And we see what it looks like when, like, let's say Paris or Rhea or whatever, we see what it looks like when people don't follow that rule. The fact that even when things are bad, Penelope always tries to do the right thing and always tries to um tries not to hurt anyone.

SPEAKER_00:

I was gonna say she definitely never falters even even when Paris says some unkind things about her specific hall that she is sorted into, she doesn't feed into that and you know, really has PP's back and her halls back and doesn't, yeah, doesn't let that get to her.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, because like it's really easy, right? When you're with a a group of people and they're talking trash about something, it's really easy to go along with it or just you know, stay silent. And I think that I think that that's not who Penelope is. Penelope's like, wait a minute, that's not true, that's not cool. She'll say it, she'll say what she thinks, even if it's gonna ruffle some feathers. If it's right.

unknown:

True.

SPEAKER_02:

And if you're being mean, she's gonna tell you about it. As will Fifi.

SPEAKER_00:

Very true. In a sassier way, but she doesn't know.

SPEAKER_02:

Phoebe is sassy. Pee Fee is is super sassy. Um, I I said she's mean, but she's actually sassier than I am. But uh yeah, Fifi is a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00:

And if your series was adapted to film, what do you think would be the coolest scene to see on screen?

SPEAKER_02:

I think either the field classroom scene when they're in the field, I think that would be really fun. And I think the underworld scene um with all those books and the snakes. I think that would be a lot of fun too.

SPEAKER_00:

I agree. Both of those would be really, really interesting. And it would be cute to see them um decorate the apple.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, yeah, that is one of my favorite scenes in the whole book. That is one of my favorite scenes because it's that moment where Penelope's like, oh my gosh, maybe, maybe it's okay to bend a world a little bit if I'm not hurting anybody. Maybe it's it's kind of fun. And she has this moment where she's like, This is like she she finds camaraderie, right? She finds friendship and she gets to, you know, yeah, I love I love the apple. I love the apple. It was a lot of fun to write.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and she kind of accepts where she's at, and instead of trying to get to the next stage, she just enjoys it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, she just takes it out. She lived in that moment, right? Which is something um, something my partner tells me I have trouble with, right? Is the ability to like live in the moment. I'm all I'm always planning the next thing or trying, you know, whatever, whatever. Just like, can we just take a moment and just breathe and just enjoy where we are? We're like, look, we're here, look at this amazing thing that's happening. And I'm like, yeah, it's really amazing. But you know what would be even more amazing? Three steps down the road. So yeah, having her have that moment where she's just really in it and like, hey, this is fun, and she's not worried about anything else. Yeah, I love that moment.

SPEAKER_00:

And is there anything else you would like readers to know about the aftermath?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, um, we covered that it's uh dark academia, boarding school, Greek gods. Um, we're gonna take on different myths in each book. Um, some myths more than others, and and um like the book book two is gonna deal with with several, I think. Yeah, it's a lot of fun, actually. Um my my sons are all older now. They're um in college and one's actually graduated already. And um, and they actually really, really love the book. They said it was the most they I have one son who reads just about everything I write. And I have one son who's read maybe he read the Crave series, he read a few other things, and they all think like this is the most fun, mom. And I could tell you were having a lot of fun when you wrote it. It is. I mean, it's got it deals with some heavy topics, but I think it's I think it's a good time. I hope it's a good time.

SPEAKER_00:

And it takes the myths and it makes them very approachable. And I learned some things that I didn't know um kind of past just learning, like, yeah, the groundwork in school. So that was interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

That's exciting. Thank you.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for listening to Where I Left Off, a bookish podcast. You can visit Tracy's site through the link in the show notes, and you can purchase her novels anywhere books are sold. The aftermath releases February 3rd, 2026.