Episode 21: Coming up on HGTV: Vampires - Crafting Edition! and an interview with STEFFANIE HOLMES!

Find yourself a bottle of limoncello and settle in for an interview with Steffanie Holmes!

We're gonna talk Pisces season, the Nevermore Murder Club and Smutty Book Coven (best series name ever? I think so), cocktails, and general shenanigans.

Affirmation:

I release my mistakes and open myself to new opportunities.

Resources:

Follow Steffanie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steffanieholmeswrites

Sign up (for free!) for Steffanie's Spookybat fan club: https://www.patreon.com/cw/SteffanieHolmesWrites

And buy all her books! https://www.nevermorebookshop.co.nz/

Find the Cracked Amethyst tarot deck: https://www.thecrackedamethyst.com/

Watch us on YouTube at https://youtu.be/WT_O6f4pOw0

Get the FULL interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6C5k24QKRvM

Follow the pod on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cliffhangersandcocktails/, check out our website at https://www.cliffhangersandcocktails.com/ and sign up for our newsletter!

Theme song: Chernoye Vedma by Ian Post

Don't forget to like, rate, review, subscribe, and share!

Thanks - the Caftan Coven

Limoncello Spritz (Energy: Cleansing and releasing negative emotions, lifting spirit, attracting luck and connection.)

Ingredients:

• 90 mL (3 oz.) Prosecco
• 60 mL (2 oz.) Luxardo Limoncello
• 30 mL (1 oz.) Club soda
• 15 mL (½ oz.) Fresh lemon juice (optional)

Garnish: Lemon slice 

 Directions:

1. Fill a balloon glass with ice. (Can also use a highball glass or large wine glass.)
2. In order, pour in Prosecco, limoncello, and fresh lemon juice (if using). 
3. Top with club soda.
4. Add citrus slice for garnish.

Watch us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@cliffhangersandcocktails

Visit our sponsor, the Paranormal Women's Fiction Bookclub, for a free monthly book at https://pwfbookclub.com/.

Follow the pod on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cliffhangersandcocktails/, 

Check out our website at https://www.cliffhangersandcocktails.com/ and sign up for our newsletter!

Don't forget to like, rate, review, subscribe, and share!

Thanks - the Caftan Coven

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome everybody to Cliffhangers and Cocktails Podcast with Amy Sissel. Hello! And me, Shea McLeod, both USA Today best-selling authors of paranormal women's fiction, among other things. And as always, this is brought to you by the Caftan Coven.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Today we're going to be talking with author Stephanie Holmes about her new series, Nevermore Murder Club, and the Smuddy Book Coven. We'll also be talking about the usual witchy things and some general shenanigans. And obviously, we'll be having a cocktail.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Of course, naturally. For science and for your benefit, we sacrifice ourselves for you all.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

God, we're givers.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

We really are.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

So, as always, we're gonna get started with our affirmation. Woohoo! Um, and today's affirmation is I release my mistakes and open myself to new opportunities. Yes, woohoo! And that is so good. It's so easy to get stuck on the ah, screw that up. Yes. And not and just like catastrophizing that and getting stuck in spiral and not moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Yes, yes, because then that like it throws you off track, you're just stuck in a negativity spin, and then you can't see the way forward. Like it blocks, it's sort of like blinders on a horse, and you can't see opportunities and possibilities around you. So today we're gonna talk a little bit about Pisces season energy. Woo! We talked some about like Pisces energy when we talked about, you know, when we had your birthday special, but we're still in Pisces season, which lasts from February 18th to March 20th. So I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit more about the energy of this season in general because it's a whole season. This is the final house of the zodiac, the final symbol of the zodiac.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Best for last. Mm-hmm. Woo-hoo! Yeah, go Pisces.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yeah, so Pisces. It's your birthday party. But for real. But for real. Um, so Pisces season energy, well, Pisces, you know, is obviously a water sign, as we talked about before. And Pisces season energy is kind of dreamy and empathetic and fluid, um, acting as sort of this final sort of reflective chapter of the zodiac. Um and, you know, Neptune is hang out around there right now and in this 2026 season, and uh, you know, and it's got real dreamy sort of uh energy going on. So it's it's it's a time to sort of slow down, to trust your intuition. The Pisces season is all about like intuition and trusting that intuition and embracing the deep emotions uh of the season. And I've been doing some of that through my my cre in my fictional viewing. I've been embracing some uh deep emotions and like getting really emotional and crying like a baby.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Um over you know I think if you go back to when we talked about um my personal Pisces traits, you'll find out that emotions are actually bad. It's okay to be deeply emotive as a Pisces, but it is also very important to put them in that little bottle, seal that cap, bury it.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

I I I I don't think that's true. Dea said so. I mean, there needs to be balance, obviously, to all things, but emotions are good. Emotions are matriarchal. And emotions are badass. So, but it's time to like also, this is a good time to foster creativity before we go into Aries season, which is you know, we're gonna talk about more about that in a in a future podcast coming up, but but um we're gonna foster and nurture that creativity that's gonna be launched during Aries season. And then it's also a period that's ideal for spiritual healing and emotional release and a boundary setting to bring you into this new zodiac year, this new cosmic year of that starts with uh Aries season uh on uh March twentieth. If you know, this is a just a good time to focus on those things. Apparently I've been doing a lot of emotional release lately. I don't know if you've been feeling this, but I've I've been feeling this, that there's been like this sort of heightened sense of awareness that allows for, you know, just what's going on in the world with each other, and it allows for sort of this deeper emotional connections. And I mean I you probably are gonna need to, you know, kind of you need to protect your energy, but like, so you don't feel drained or overwhelmed. But I've been finding that I've been making as I meet new people and stuff, I've been, you know, making some deeper emotional connections. And I feel I felt more connected to people this season, I think, than I have.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Well, I think for me, part of that is I am a Pisces, so this is a lot of this Pisces season, it's heightened for me, but like this is who I am, right? Like I'm always having that sense of awareness, and um, I do have to do a lot of work to protect my energy from being drained and being overwhelmed. Um, and it's a lot of work that I've done just in general over my life, but specifically over the last year, yeah, as I prepared to and then moved. Um, but yeah, it this is a time when it's like just extra for me. It's extra. But just it's extra me.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

So yay, everyone. Yay! Yay! Um, yeah, I don't I mean, I definitely I have awareness uh all the time, but it's on a much I think it's on a much lower simmer. Like it's not like I'm aware, but it doesn't touch me the way that it touches some people, and I think that's the Aquarian in me that filters that naturally, um, so that I don't get overwhelmed. Um I've been feeling it more than usual more than usual. But there's like just there's been a lot of there's been a lot of emotions, yeah. But but in in a lot of ways I felt really positive about it because I also I think it again, this is my Aquarian coming forth that while other people are doomsday scrolling and the sky is falling or you know, whatever. Um I'm just here going, I can see the better, you know? Yes, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Um, I just I I want to uh for a point of clarification, it's mostly just called doom scrolling. Yeah, but the idea of doomsday scrolling, I like it so much that that's what I want it to be now, and I wanted to call that out so that we can do more doomsday scrolling. Yeah, because even as I do love an apocalypse, you know it.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

I do know you love an apocalypse, and I also love a good apocalypse, you know? Um, there's something delightful about a good apocalypse, but yeah, even as it came out of my mouth, I'm like, this is wrong. This feels like the wrong phrase, and yet it doesn't at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

But I mean I was like, no, I need to, I need this to be part of our our um shared local.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Yes, I like it. I like it. Make a note, PA. Put this down. There's so many emotions just going around, you know, there's a lot of fear, there's a lot of negativity, there's a lot of and I'm and I'm feeling it more than I usually feel it. But at the same time, because I am an Aquarius and we're sort of like futurists, and we sort of can see like we kind of we do tend to naturally handle it with less emotion like obvious emotion and more like calm that I see the hope for the future, and I'm seeing what's going on in a lot of you know, I've I've actually kind of trained my algorithm so so I don't get as much uh of that, but but I'm seeing more and more people kind of rising up, you know, and it's just like I don't know. I see this future, I see a good, I mean I see an amazing future, and so I sort of focus on that and just be like, I don't have time for your negativity. I'm more of a doomsday scroller. I'm like, I don't like this, so I'm gonna go find some K-dramas to to talk about, you know, and it's not that I'm ignoring reality, it I am very aware of reality, but dwelling in it doesn't do me any good. Yeah, that's part of my boundary setting journey and my energy production, which is apparently more important to me during this season than I usually uh yeah, so I don't have to worry about that as much year-round as you do, clearly, but like because it's bananas right now, anyway.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Well, and I was looking, um, preparing to do this recording, uh-huh, and Shega takes care of our scripts most of the time. Um, and so I try to look at them before we start recording because I feel like that's a responsible podcaster knowing what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Well, sometimes you do deep dives on various things too, and find things that like I didn't find or I didn't have time to find, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

And that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

So I was I was reading this to prepare, um, and I was so I the next bullet point that she has in the script is something I'm so excited to talk about, y'all. Because and I'm gonna read this bullet point, verbatim. Okay, okay, and it says imagination runs high, encouraging artistic expression, vivid dreams, and exploring the subconscious. Parentheses, all caps, feeling this hard exclamation point. So many wack-a doodle dreams lately, period. End parentheses.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

That was my little contribution from myself. That was that was not in my research.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Is Pisces season, and this is something I feel like I should have looked into at some other point. Like, so do people tend to dream more vividly during Pisces season specifically? Is it because it's a water sign? Is it the sphere?

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Like I think my understanding from what I was reading was that yes, this season does encourage more vivid dreaming than other seasons. And and then of course, add to the fact that um we've got Uranus hanging out, which we talked about before. And it also encouraged Oh my god, here we go again. Okay, my inner 12-year-old now. Amy made my inner 12-year-old giggle. Okay, so yeah, so basically that is also it's the dreamer, right? So that's also affecting it. And I so I think I think Pisces season is in general, my understanding, more heightened, but then you add that on top of it, and it is even more so than even a typical Pisces season.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

I mean, are so I'm wondering then are Pisces, you know, on average, more vivid dreamers? Like, are you noticing an increase in vivid dreams in your subconscious? Um, or is this something that's not as typical for you year-round?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Oh, I I dream very vividly year-round. I I have very vivid dreams. I have the full I see in color, I can read in dreams, I see people's faces, I can touch, taste, um, smell in dreams. It's is that weird? Apparently it is. I thought I was normal. Apparently it's not. It's it's sounds normal to me.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

It's right. My dreams are normal sometimes, which is really boring. Yeah, like mundane. The other day I Chris woke me up and I would I was like, he's like, it's you gotta get up. And I'm like, but I am up. I got up. I got up like three hours ago. I did my stuff. I like up, I made coffee, and then I went to work. And that's when, as I was relating this, it started to get a little strange because then I realized that my job was vampire hunter. I mean, it out was like I had done my whole morning stuff. Yeah, yeah. And then sometimes I have like dreams that are so off the wall. Oh, yeah. Um, I usually remember them when I wake up. Yes, but lately I've been having the most bizarre dreams, and I just wake up with a like, what the actual I don't remember what happened, but it was weird. Kind of that's where I'm at right now.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

I will tell you, I always have very vivid, very weird bonkers dreams. I mean, they are batshit. I probably I can't imagine what like some kind of like psychologist would do with my head. But lately they've been even weirder and even more vivid to the point that I will wake up thinking almost that it was real. I watched Saturday Night Lives, Alexander Scar's. Alexander Scar's guy. Yeah, and his father came on and did like a little guest appearance, and I it was the funniest damn episode, but a like maybe a couple weeks after that, I had this or a week after that, I had this incredibly vivid dream that the two of them, Keenan from SNL, myself, I think you were there, and some other people, just random people. We were on a steamship that was being attacked by a kraken. That can happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

I mean Who hasn't had that experience in real life, honestly?

SPEAKER_02 14:58

I mean, honestly, yeah. Being on board a steamship, being attacked by a kraken with SN people from SNL and and and and the Skarsgards. Yeah, I mean and and they weren't movie actor Skarsgards. I want to be clear, they weren't the movie actor Skars, like real people, they were Vikings. Because apparently there were Vikings on steamships fighting the Kraken, and this was perfectly normal. Like we were even, as we are traveling along in this steamship, we're discussing how we need to be careful because we might be attacked by a kraken. Skykraken?

unknown 15:40

No.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Was it a flying steamship? No, no, no. It was like a steampunk. Oh, okay. Because I'm like steampunk. Right, no, no, no, no. Yeah, no, the big paddle.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Yeah, no, the paddle. The paddle. Okay. Yeah, the ones that they now chain up and turn into casinos.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So I Googled astrological signs and dreams. Oh, okay. And it says Pisces is often regarded as the most intuitive sign of the zodiac. As a water sign ruled by Neptune, the planet of dreams and spirituality, Pisces individuals have a natural connection to the unseen world. So their heightened sensitivity allows them to pick up on a subtle inner on subtle energy shifts both in their environment and within others. Because many Pisces people are deeply empathetic, they tend to have some of the most vivid dreaming experiences. Scorpio and Cancer also right up there. But then it also says over here that so Pisces, Scorpio, Cancer, and Aquarius is number four on that list of vivid dreamers. Okay. Aquarius dreams uh tend to be more forward-thinking and futuristic and highly inventive.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Well, they're highly inventive. That's the truth.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Intellectual. Did you say idiotic and intellectual? I didn't. I said chaotic.

unknown 17:05

Chaotic. They're definitely chaotic.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Whereas Pisces tend to have surreal and symbolic dreams that feel like entering another um dimension. Um ethereal, emotional. Um, water signs tend to have the deepest connection to the subconscious, so they do tend to have more vivid dreams. Um, and then because anyone that's got a Neptune situation or a moon situation happening, like Neptune is the is the Pisces planet. So um then we tend to have intense dreams as well. So if you've got a Pisces, Scorpio, cancer situation going on, you're gonna be because that's our water signs.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So those are verivid.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah, not in not in my top three.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Um well I do have our number four for dreams. Yeah, chaotic and not idiotic.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Yeah. They are definitely chaotic, they're definitely inventive, they do not feel like they do not feel dreamlike, like ephemeral, I mean uh ethereal or anything like that. No, they are incredibly vivid. It's like living in a movie. Only often they don't I mean they make sense when I'm dreaming them. Sometimes when I wake up, I'm like, what the hell? Well, I mean I mean, I took the right people to fight a kraken. You did. Mm-hmm. I mean, if you're gonna go fight a kraken, take some Vikings. Great.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Mm-hmm. Yes, so everything is a little wackadoo in our heads. Um because of Pisces season, not cause of anything else.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

No, not because no. No. Mm-mm. We need to stay grounded. We practice creativity through maybe other forms, not just like like painting and whatever. I've been baking, like the world is gonna run out of flour. Um visualized as far as I know, no, we're good. Okay, okay, okay. So, um, and you know, if worse comes to worst, I can always go out, collect acorns, and ground them up.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Well, I'm just saying, and the world better not, because like the economies of Western Europe have gotta be bread-based. So much bread.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Bread and pasta, right? Um, I I and I'm for that. This did I feel like these are my people. In fact, I know they're my people, that's where I came from. So uh originally. But uh, so I have a very fa I have a great fondness for bread. Um yeah, visualization, again, protecting your energy. Um, and I think it's really crucial, it's probably more crucial for Pisces, but it's crucial for all of us to spend time with those who nurture your spirit. People who, when you spend time with them, you just vibe and you just go away feeling refreshed. Hopefully both of you, it should be mutual, but um listen feel that way about myself. I mean, if it's yourself, spend time with yourself. I mean, I also feel that way about myself, but there are people that I enjoy spending time with case in point. Of course, and that do nurture my spirit, and I hopefully I nurture their spirit as well. And I have a few of those women in my life, they're mostly women. I have a couple of men friends, but they all live in Europe, bastards. Um, not bastards, they don't know about their parents, but like built-in European friends for when you're here. Exactly. I'm excited. People that I can visit when I go to like say the Netherlands, John. Um I don't think he can hear you. No, probably not. Probably not. But he did say that I'm welcome to visit him anytime. So I will be taking him up on that offer.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yes, I also like you, John.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Please let me visit too.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

I don't know John.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

I'm sure John John is fabulous. I'm sure that he will you will know John. I will, we will we'll have to have him visit us in Portugal too. I bet he'll like that. Bring him, tell him to bring bring his husband and come visit us. Um so listen, watch, read things that bring positivity, inspiration, and a feeling of well-being. Um and of course, we were talking about this a little bit that you're not watching some of the things that I'm watching. But I fell down a rabbit hole. You're not gonna watch it. Yeah. I fell down a rabbit hole on Netflix, actually, and I watched The Boyfriend, and it is a Japanese reality dating show for gay men. I say dating show, and that gives you the wrong impression because unlike our dating shows, which are fake. Really fake. What? I know. Um, this is real. Like these are real people. It isn't scripted. It's other than like very small segments where they do have little um things that they do, but uh like oh it's date day, you know, that kind of thing. Go on a date if you have a mutual whatever. So, and it's delightful and it's feel-good, it's like a warm, it's so warming and feel-good and delightful. And I binged two seasons of that, which is all there is, which made me sad. So then it was like, oh, ten dance if you like that. So I watched Ten Dance, which is also this one is a fiction Japanese drama based on the manga, where these one is a standard ballroom dancer, one is a um Latin ballroom dancer, and they want to compete in this big competition where you have to do both. So they're teaching each other their styles of dance, and of course they fall in love, and it's so sweet. And she's gagging. Hey, I like it, it's delightful, and then and then I watched Heated Rivalry, because you know. And I think I've been.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Because she likes love, you guys. I do like love.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

But this is like you don't want anyone to be in love and be happy.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Oh. I certainly um love movies that are like like groups of women who are just doing their thing, you know, like um half magic, which I highly recommend. Put it on the list. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

It is um I already told Shaya that my list means nothing.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

No, it means nothing. She watch she does what she wants. I'm Pisces. Mm-hmm. Um But anyway. I do what I want. I mean, for all there's the Great American Baking Show. I mean, like not the Great American, the Great British Baking Show. I mean, there's also Oh, I do like that. Yeah. So you like anything that like protects your energy, that brings in that, you know, that brings in that feel-good vibe to keep you I've been re-watching Buffy. Oh, yeah. I've been re-watching Brokenwood Mysteries, lots of murder.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

I feel like murder.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

But feel good. But I like demon murder. I mean, demon murder is good. So yeah, re-watching a show that brings you comfort, all of that sort of thing. Um, circling back to that actual bullet point. Right, of the feeling good and feeling of well-being and um a level of positivity that and that comes from that, and sometimes creativity as well, inspiration that you can get from those sorts of things. Like re-watching Nick and Nora movies for me is always inspiring. Yeah, I love Nick and Nora. Prioritize rest, or the universe will make you. Ask me how I know. How do you know? Because the universe made me. Oh that was a much simpler answer than I was expecting. Well, you know, when you have chronic pain, you're forced to rest, whether you want to or not. So um, I really highly recommend taking rest during this. This is a good season for having some some downtime and for sure. Renewing yourself for the season ahead. Because we're coming up on airy season.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Fiery. I tell you that I spent the two days over my birthday. I checked myself into a hotel all by myself. Um, the first night, the night before my birthday, I went and I sat at the hotel bar. I had like a cheese, uh, cheese and uh charcuterie plate. I got the Basque cheesecake. I don't like regular cheesecake that much, but Basque cheesecake is where it's at. I haven't had that yet.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Oh, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

And I just sat there, I listened to all the people who were stuck in Portugal because of the storms on the east coast of the US. Oh, being stuck in Portugal, how sad. They were cranky about it. And you know what? Unexpected overage on your vacation can be very stressful.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

It can be, yes, that's very true.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Um, and so I I don't want to judge them for being stressed about it. I just want to judge them for how they treated the staff.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Oh, absolutely. Being frustrated is no excuse to treat someone like bleep.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

But I sat there with my my bottle of wine and my book in the hotel bar the night before my birthday, I just drank alone. That sounds actually that sounds sad now that I say that loud. No, it wasn't awesome. I loved it. I went to my show room. I got upgraded to like this big room. Nice. And it had a shower in it, that's really nice. My apartment shower works. Yeah. And it's not terrible.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

It's a European shower, I mean.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Anyway, we're not gonna talk about how I feel about my apartment shower. Anyway, I took three showers in 48 hours just so I could get it all in. Um and then the night of my birthday, um, I had some friends come and drink drink with me in the hotel.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Fun! Fun, fun, fun, fun.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

I wasn't drinking alone both nights.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

I mean. You could if you're not.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

But that's what I did is I looked at kind of just took myself. Take yourself out for your birthday. Yeah, have that like feel good, that rest, that reset because I had just finished a book. And just being able to take that time, and I just read books. Nice. And the stuff that makes me feel happy. People were getting stabbed all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Like it was in the books, to be clear. Not in your hotel in Porto. Right, our final rest reset. Yes. And pay attention to your intuition. I think especially women do not pay attention enough to our intuition. It's something I'm learning to reconnect with because when I listen to my intuition, it's never wrong. It's never been wrong. I sometimes don't listen to it, and then I'm like, why didn't I listen to myself? Because yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Well, do you want to tell us a little bit about I don't know, our drink of the day?

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Oh, yeah, let's talk about that. So we're talking with Stephanie Holmes in a bit, and we are gonna drink one of her favorite potions. When I asked her about her favorite cocktails, she gave me two. She gave me a whiskey sour and the lemon cello spritz. Now, my co-host is not a big fan of whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Uh apparently sorry. Um, Stephanie does like whiskey sour as well. Yes, she does like whiskey sour.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

And I do too. I do not. But yes. So I went with the lemon cello spritz, so I thought it'd be really fun because I I love lemon cello also, and I have lemon, plenty of lemon cello. So um it's lemon season, y'all. It's lemon season in Portugal, y'all. Well, and I suppose California as well. It is not lemon season in Oregon. We don't really have a lemon season. It's not a thing we do. Not yet. Um, so the lemon cello spritz is it's really a kind of a fluid um uh potion for spell work. Um, it allows you to focus on everything from like clearing and banishing to attracting and focusing. So there's a lot of magical, it's very flexible, and it's great for like fast-acting spells if you need something to ask act a little faster. Or, and it's also good for like gathering. So, like if your coven is getting together, you're getting together with some girlfriends, you're getting together with I don't know. Maybe you need to lubricate your mother when she comes over. I don't know. I don't know you. You being the audience, not Amy. I know Amy.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Oh, I was like, do you know something that I do not?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

No, I that's no, not your mother, and not my mother. My mother does not lubricate, so with cocktails. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

I'm gonna be really clear. Strictly cocaine.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

I'm gonna tell her that. She will die. She will literally die. Okay. Um my mother is very much teetotaler, and there are no drugs. None. Absolutely no drugs. Mm-mm. Even if they were illegal, she wouldn't do drugs. She's very, she's very I was gonna say straight, but that's not the word we use anymore. What is it like? I don't know. I don't know. She yeah. Square. Square? No.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Square is good. Square teetotaler?

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Yeah. Yes. She's very 1960s. Teetotalers. Square. I love her to bits, but she does not do cocaine. Or cocaine. That's not what I heard on the streets. Oh my poor mother.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

She would die if she heard it. Sorry. I've never met Shea's mom. I don't know anything about her um drug problems or lack of it. I am just slandering an innocent woman right now.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Fortunately, my mother does not and never would listen to this podcast. Uh, so we're fine.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Um I don't think my mom does cocaine either. And for all I know, she does listen to the podcast, but I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

So hi mom.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

But maybe some people have a mother that does need some cocktail, some kind of boost. Yeah, cocaine. No. Cocktails. But with whoever you want to gather, whoever you're going to gather. This is a great gathering cocktail. So the ingredient the ingredients are uh two ounces lemon cello. And I'm also going to talk about a mocktail with this one really quick, too. So um we don't often like talk about mocktails, but we're trying to come up with some mocktail versions of the cocktails that actually taste good. I think uh Stephanie uses Luxardo lemoncello. I use I don't remember what brand I use, but whatever lemon cello is.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Mine is Luxardo, but next time I make it it'll be homemade.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Now that the lemons are in season. So you got two ounces of that. You got three ounces of prosecco. Um estimant. Mm-hmm. A one ounce of club soda. If you don't have club soda, which I did not, um, you can add a pinch of salt to uh fizzy water.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

And it will get a pinch of salt and an eighth a teaspoon of um baking soda, bicarb, to a liter of water and then put it in my um zoom stream. Oh so you can see. So I have a bottle of club soda.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

Cool, cool, cool, cool. Um, and then you can do half an ounce of fresh lemon juice. And some of the many of the recipes I found actually left the lemon juice out completely. And I actually decided that I would do that too. Well, I think the first time I made it when we were drinking with it with Stephanie. I think I did put lemon juice in. It was a little bit tart, too tart for me. So this time I've left it out completely and just done.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

And I squeeze I used half a lemon. Um fresh lemon. Oh half of a fresh lemon, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Um, it's whatever your level, because so obviously the more lemon fresh lemon juice you use, the more tart it's gonna be. If you're gonna go with a non-alcoholic version, you can sort of make basically instead of lemon cello, just make like a simple syrup, but with lemon, like a lemon syrup. And then you can add um like tonic water. I would do tonic water maybe instead of like just club soda because it'll replace that uh prosecco sort of um complexity, and and then of course you can also add um fresh lemon juice. So essentially you're creating like a really super fancy soda. You could also put in a little bit of bitters, maybe if you want to, if that's sort of your jam to kind of up that prosecco thing. But um, and you could also put if you wanted to kind of get more of the wine flavor, you put just a small, I mean small splash of white grape juice just to add a little tiny hint of that fruit. But I wouldn't go overboard or it's gonna like clash with the lemon.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah, yeah. Gotta be careful with your balancing that.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Yeah, yeah. But I just um this one today I made actually. I just did lemon cello, straight up lemon cello, and um and I just did a club uh a tonic water, actually. I didn't even put prosecco in this one.

unknown 35:17

No.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

I'll let it go because it's like early afternoon for you. But yeah, I I did the whole thing, so obviously.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Yeah, it was a little doing doing the whole thing was like a little bit just a little bit too much alcohol. And it actually tastes delicious, and it does kind of have the doing tonic water instead uh of just like sparkling water definitely gives it a lot of similar flavor to having the prosecco, or like it's not similar but compatible, if that makes sense. So um yeah, no, that is that makes sense, I think, for sure. Yeah, so it kind of gives you more complexity than simply just doing plain old sparkling water and just having essentially a lemon soda. So you can making this drink. Yeah. Oh, so go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

I was gonna say, um, making the drink, it's a really simple, simple drink. Um, it's just fill your glass with ice. Um, I like to use my big one glass here.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

And I don't have a glass like that. Um, so I'm just using a high like a highball glass.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Um, I think that the way, like if you're doing a gin and tonic glass, would be perfect for this. The way they make the big gin and tonics um for Europe. Yeah. Um, would be perfect. So you fill that with ice, you pour in your um ingredients, um, and then your lemon cello, your prosecco, your lemon juice, top with that little bit of club soda, the, and then add your citrus slice. Um, and uh that's what I did, and it's delightful.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

It is delicious.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Um, and we've talked a lot about what these ingredients are, the energy they bring to the table in the past. Um, lemons, of course, are purification, cleansing, protection. Sugar that comes from the lemon cello is sweetness.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Shockingly. Luck, attraction, and positivity, and then prosecco is that joy and that luxury, social connection, celebration. It adds that pop. Yeah. And obviously, you can use any sparkling wine. Um, I almost always use Espumont for my cocktails that require sparkling wine because that's the local sparkling. Like prosecco is Italian and Espumante is here. And then Club Soda is a dynamic, energetic, energetic. Dynamic, energetic substitute for water. It combines water with trapped carbon dioxide, the air element, and represents a blend of elements that can be used for that rapid, active clearing work that Sheya mentioned.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Yeah. So this is great.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Yeah. Um, I made a this drink when we did our interview with Stephanie, and I swear to God, I measured everything. And I made it again today, and it tastes different today. Exact same ingredients except for the club soda. Because I made a new batch of club soda today. Ah, okay. Like it's, I think this one has a little more bicarb in it than my first one. Um, so it's interesting because I can taste the bicarb a little bit more than this, and it really counteracts any sweetness that's in there. So it's a much tarter, even I mean, I added the lemon, but this is tarder than even the last version I made, and I think it's because there's a little more bicarb in my club soda than there was the first time. Because when you make your own stuff, like it doesn't take much to throw off that balance.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

Yeah, because you're not doing like big manufacturing where they have exact, they're super exact, every batch has to turn out like the last one kind of a thing. You're kind of flying by the seat of your pants doing stuff. Yep. No.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

I mean I'm measuring.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

I but still, like even I mean, but even when you measure dirty, just be a little bit because I accuse you of measuring with your heart. I only want to measure with my heart. But yeah, this is such a great, like if you're preparing to do this is a great, like if you're preparing to do a spell or a ritual. It's great to do this first, like to to do a rapid cleansing, like a banishing negativity. But it's also good, like, if you're trying to bring something in, whether that's abundance, whether that's uh, you know, followers on your Kickstarter campaign, or you know, whatever. YouTube channel. YouTube channel, and as subscribe. Subscribe, like, share, leave us a review, give us five stars, or you know, whatever. Um but uh but yeah, if you're if you're preparing to do some kind of uh this is more like if you incorporate it into those kinds of spells, like it's a great potion to incorporate into those spells and get some more rapid rapid response, if you will. And also it just tastes nice. It does, it's lovely, it's very refreshing. So it's it's a great summertime drink, but of course we are in the middle of winter, just I don't think it knows it out there.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

But we've had just a few sunny days in a row where the temperatures have gotten up into the 60s. Wow. And after like weeks and weeks of incredibly damaging storms um here on the uh in Portugal, all up and down the coast, it's been really nice to just have a break to let the rivers have a chance to like chill out. Because everything has been we're flooding and landslides and everything, so but we've had a few nice days. Wow. And it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Let's go actually talk to Stephanie Holmes, and she she has to say because I am all a flutter and I'm having definitely some fangirl moments here.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

She's not kidding, y'all. I'm not kidding because she's fluttering and fangirling. Yes, I am a fan girl. And the best part is Stephanie is from the future. She's from the future, too.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Well, you're from my future, but she's from both. Yes, she's further in the future. So let's go see what happens in the future, shall we? Stephanie Holmes is with us today, and I'm super excited because I love her book so much. And um Stephanie Holmes is the USA Today best-selling author of kooky, spooky, paranormal, cozy fantasy, and gothic romance. Her books feature clever, witty heroines, secret societies, and quirky villages where nothing is as it seems. Creepy old mansions and mysterious anti-heroes with dark eyes and even darker secrets. Oh, this is the best bio ever. Legally blind since birth, Stephanie received the 2017 Attitude Award for Artistic Achievement. Stephanie lives in New Zealand with her husband, a horde of cantankerous cats, and their medieval sword collection. Oh! I like you even more.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

I was very excited when I read your bio because I want to know more about the medieval sword collection, obviously. Because that's kind of who I am as a person, is somebody who wishes they had one.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

I was so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me and for and for loving the books. And it is about a um a heroine, Mina. Um, and Mina is going blind, and so she is fired from her her job in the fashion industry because I don't think she can do it anymore. Um, and she gets a job in a magical bookshop. Um, and the bookshop is kind of cursed, and it brings infamous fictional villains from classic literature to life. And so Mina is uh working, so so the bookshop is run by Heathcote from Bothering Heights, and he's like, this is the kind of lovable grump. Um and then and then upstairs on the upstairs flat is James Moriarty, and he runs as kind of criminal empire. So how and everyone's favorite character, there's Koth the Raven, who is a Raven shapeshifter from Ingrid on the Poe, and I actually have Wimate Little like Oh my god, that's so cute.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

Yeah, I love him too. Yeah, he's he's so adorable.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

He's everyone he's he's pretty much everyone's favorite of of the guys. Um but my favorite one to write is Moriarty because or Mori because he's just so he's just such a mischief.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

He is. I love him so much.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Yeah, he's both fun. Yeah, and so they're so they're why choose books and they're very so each there's ten books in the series. The series is complete, and each book is a little individual, sort of slightly supernatural murder mystery, and then there's like an overarching mystery, and then also it's the the story of the the four of them um getting together falling in love, so much fun. Um and I loved writing them so but you know I've written a lot of books, but basically when I started writing this, I felt like I had come home. Like this is this these you know this is the story I was meant to tell. Um, and I I'm also legally blind, so they're quite kind of personal to me. Um and so there are there are even there are now a couple of other series in the world as well. There's the Grimdale Graveyard series, which is kind of set set in the next town over, it's a very similar concept, um, except instead of cursed fictional heroes, um, the heroine falls in love with three ghosts from different historical periods that haunt her manor house. Um and then there is my my newer series, my newest series, um, which is the Nevermore Murder Club and Smutty Book Coven. Um this is set eight years after the end of those books when Minga um starts a book club, and they're kind of they're kind of like more traditional romances, so they're they're MF um and each book is a different member of the book club getting there happily ever after. But also there's also there's a Buna Mystery, also there's hot vampires. This is a like a vampire series.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Is there still smut? Please tell me they're still smut.

SPEAKER_00 45:52

Oh god, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Oh, yeah, worried for a second.

SPEAKER_02 45:58

But it's called the Smitty Smithy the Smitty.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

It has to be both, otherwise it's falls every time. Um fantastic. Yeah, and this is this is my first series that it's been traditionally published, so um, it's really exciting. So these these this is currently available in US bookstores. That's awesome. And and book two just came out.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Um covers are really great.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

I was admiring that.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

And the edging, the the edge uh art is so fun.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

Yeah, this I love that. Yeah, the publisher did these with um with um edges, they're gorgeous. And then this has just come out in Australia and New Zealand, but it's not gonna be out in the US until like later in the year.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Uh same. I do have a nights dagger, but that's as far as I got.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

We have a champagne saver.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

And what more than life do you need, really?

SPEAKER_01 47:05

We have to ask our most important question, when that is what is your favorite cocktail, mocktail drink that makes you feel happiness?

SPEAKER_02 47:14

I think I said a whiskey sour. Is it right? Yeah, you said a whiskey sour or a lemon spritz. Lemon cello spritz, yes. Yes, yes, lemon cello spritz, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

It's difficult to choose between the two of them, but those are my those are always my my go-to's. I'm having a lemon cello spritz.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

I'm also having a lemon cello spritz because in sad news, this is very sad news, and I want you all to grieve with me, I am almost out of whiskey. That is very sad. That is, yeah. I need to get to the link. I know, I know it's very well, I drank it all. That's the non-confusing part.

unknown 47:51

Yeah, that makes that.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

I I am having water because it is 9 a.m. here.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

I mean it's that seems like a good choice. I mean, it's only noon here, so I'm day drinking, but that's just how we roll.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

And it's 8 p.m. here, so I'm drinking at a perfectly normal time.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

You're you're you're the respectable.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

So why don't you tell us a little bit about your author journey? Um, when did you begin writing? And like when did you begin writing fantasy?

SPEAKER_00 48:24

Um, so I started, um, so like all writers, I have been writing since like forever. Um, you know, since I was a kid. I've always loved stories and stuff. Um, I actually wanted to be an archaeologist um or like a museum curator. I wanted to have this like little collection of Egyptian mummies that I kind of protected, like like they were my own thing. Um and um so I I went to university to study um uh archaeology and ancient history and hieroglyphs and cool stuff like that. And then I graduated and I tried to find a job and I basically really, really struggled to find work. And I experienced a lot of discrimination because um, like on the one hand, I kind of see the point like a blind archaeologist is a bit weird. Um, but on on the other hand, you know, especially in museums, there's a lot of work that I can do and can actually do better than other people for various reasons. Um, but you know, getting employers to see that is a very you know, is a very different challenge. And so I was I was having a rough time and I came home crying one day after like a particularly bad day, and my husband said to me, Well, you could kind of look at it one or two ways. You could sort of keep going and keep trying to like do this thing that you know you can do, but I know you can do, but you have to keep convincing people you can do. Or you can sort of say, Well, I've kind of done that. Like I had and it's true, I had done a lot of really cool um uh like I worked in a conservation lab and I done a whole bunch of like little volunteer work and stuff in museums. So I done oh the kind of he's right, I kind of I'd done it. Um and you said, Well, you know, what would be the next thing that you would like to do? And you know, what would be a thing that no one could tell you that you couldn't do? And I immediately thought, well, I would I would write a book. Um, yeah, I wanted to be a writer. But I wanted to be like I didn't just want to write a book, I wanted this to be my career. And so I spent kind of years trying to get publishers to publish my books and um things like that. And I started self-publishing in about 2013, and I used to do like very dark, very serious kind of science fiction fantasy stuff. Um, and I thought that's who I was as an author, because that's a lot of what I read, um a lot of horror and stuff. Um and um then I went to a party one day, and a friend was talking about Fifty Shades of Grey, uh, which had just turned it. Yes, and yes, and she had loved the books, and I had not I'd read one chapter and I had not loved the books, and I was I was like 23 and like full of my own bullshit. And so I was I was like um rubbishing them. And she annoyed at me for rubbishing these books she liked, and so she said something like it's not like you could write a book like that, meaning not meaning she didn't think I could write a book, but she didn't think I could write like a sexy book, so it's too like too like sweet and innocent. And I thought, what challenge exception accepting? Yeah, and I've I've like always read I I've always read romance, but I've always read predominantly kind of paranormal romance, and I've always called it fantasy, or like I didn't I didn't really articulate that it was sort of romance if that kind of makes sense. And I thought, no, I can I I'll write I can write a book like this. I love books like this. So I in secret in three weeks I wrote this like Fox so shapeshifters were real big at the time, so I wrote this uh but I'm not really into a werewolf, so I wrote this fox shapeshifter romance, um, which is absurd. Published it under a secret pen name, and I thought, well, like in six months I'll tell my friend um and we'll just like have a laugh. Um, but then it sold like a thousand copies in a week, and I had to Wow, that's amazing. Wow. Yeah, it was incredible. Um and so I sort of had to tell my husband kind of sheepishly that I'd like actually made some money self-publishing, but not from my super serious science fiction that I've been working on for a decade, but from this like smuty fox shapeshifter and valid that I'd written in three weeks. When you finished laughing his asshole, he said, Well, are you gonna write some more? And I was like, Yes, I am. Yeah, and and that was that was May 2015, the first book came out, um, under Stephen Holmes, and I have I basically spent a couple of a few uh a number of years writing a book book roughly every two months. Um and then I was able to quit my job in 2018, and um I've been able been able to slow down a little bit since then, and you know, Nevermore Bookshop in particular, um, that that was published in 2019, the first four books, and then one book a year after, but it didn't really take off until 2022. Um, and now that's my Nevermore Bookshop in the Nevermore world are like my best sellers by by far.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

Awesome. Wow. And you said in the bookshop mysteries there's ten and it's a complete series.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

Yep, ten books in Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, complete series, and then there's the Grimdale Graveyard Series, which is also complete, that's four books, and then there's the Nevermore Murder Club and Smarty Book Coven, which I have sold three books to the publisher. Yes, yeah, but it it's it's we're hoping it's gonna be four books long. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

That's exciting. Yeah. Um I guess we talked a little bit about Mina and how she came to be because I mean I disconnected with her so much because her journey of you know, having this diagnosis and then not just learning to accept it, but actually learning to thrive and live her life on her own terms was so meaningful to me. Her life just changed overnight, but I loved that she thought about like how can I do all the things I love but in a different way. And which was kind of something I had to learn to do. So I just really connected with her. So I'm so glad you wrote her.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

She was amazing. I'm sorry, I'm it it always I'm like, I'm I'm not crying. No, I'm crying. Um it um I get emails nearly every day now with stories exactly like yours, and that means the absolute world to me. Um, that Mina is like can be like a part of helping people kind of deal with the process of coming to terms with having a disability. It was quite deliberate when I wrote these books. I felt like it was time to kind of sort of talk about my story and my experiences through a you know, through a through a heroine and through through a main character. Yeah and I I really feel as though disability is something that is often not not addressed or not addressed very well in romance books. And I just I wanted to tell this I I wanted to tell a couple of stories. I wanted to tell a story about a woman who um a disabled woman who gets to have an amazing life and four not three hot villains. And um, you know, just really like um without without having to be healed, like I wanted to show that you can have an amazing life you know as a disabled woman and you can have all the things that you want. Um and you don't have to be you don't have to be healed, and you you know, you don't have to feel like you're less in, and that was really, really important to me. That was the whole kind of point of the series. Um and then also I wanted to kind of shh do show the uh the mourning process. Um because the first you know the first few books in particular, Mina is yeah, she's in the middle of uh having this um can this degenerative condition. Yeah. Um and so uh she's every every time she sort of comes to terms with what she can then see, she you know, her vision gets a bit worse and she loses things. And I didn't want to hide the fact that that is a like the morning journey is part of the journey that every person with a disability goes through. Um and I you know, so Mina's journey is a little bit different to mine because my condition I saw I was born, my condition is genetic, I was born with it. And I've always I've like always had uh um my um my low vision. Um but and so the process is different, but I saw you know, I saw how to go through a morning process basically when I from from the day I realized that I was different.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

Um and weirdly I remember that exactly. I remember one day I was about five or six years old and I was putting my glasses back in my glasses case, and I was thinking about why because my mum would always remind me of put your glasses back in my cake. And I was thinking about why my sister didn't have to do that. Uh-huh. And like no one else I knew had had to do that, and I started to kind of look around and realize that I was different from everyone else, and there were things that I could do, and just kind of from that day onward, there is a sort of a mourning process you have to you have to experience of of you know the things that you things that you will never be able to do. And every time you think you're over it, you you kind of come up with something else. Like, yeah, yeah. No, I didn't I wasn't thinking when I was um when I was young, like the very first job I wanted to have was I wanted to be a pilot. Um when I was very young. And you know, I I'm glad my parents never sat me down as like a seven-year-old or whatever, and were like, you're never gonna be a pilot. Um because you know that's a shitty conversation to have to have when you are you know w when you're like when you're a kid and you're gonna change, you know, you're gonna change your mind. Right. So you know, I was gonna be a dinosaur stuff.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

Well that's a gradual realization probably anyway. Yeah, exactly. Um you don't need to have that dashed right away.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Yeah, you exactly, you don't need to have that dashed. So they they never I I really appreciate it for that. They they never they were always just like just like full of your dreams, you know, and I I did, and I didn't get to be a pilot, um, but um I am I'm a full-time romance author, which is pretty dang cool. You know, it's it's it's even cooler, I think, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

I think so, plus way less liability insurance needed. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

Yeah, I just I think it's just so meaningful because there aren't many books out there with disabled heroines, and a lot of the ones that I have read, it always like starts with them fully accepting their their disability and everything is fine and dandy. Uh the ones that I've read, I'm sure there are ones that are not like that. And I I'm like it it was harder for me to connect with that than it was for me to connect with Mina, who was on a journey. And it was like, I just yeah, I think and I think it's so important because representation is important, and I I really do think I'm glad you get a lot of positive feedback. I because I think it I think it's really needed, and we're in a good place in the world right now where people want to see more of that, want to see heroines that reflect themselves.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

I have uh you have a question and a comment. Um that person. This is more of a comment than a question. Um, no, so I have not read your books other than um The Blurbs and then buying this book um Things for Nothing because I'm very excited about it. But with um with Mina and her journey um in into becoming uh blind, I one of the things that frustrates me when I read a lot of fantasy books where they do have somebody who's um disabled in some way, whether they're blind or deaf or whatever kind of disability, crazy. That's me. I'm crazy, I write crazy people. And um that there's always a magical cure.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

And I have not read your book series, but it doesn't sound like this is a journey to a magical cure. No. Okay, good. Yes, I don't I feel like that's so dismissive of a journey to be like, and now magic made it better.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Yeah, spoiler alert, no magical cures in any of my series. Um, the the disabled people remain disabled, everyone remains blind. Um, and that was a very important because that's the thing that annoys me a lot is magical cure or like a superpower that takes away the disadvantages that your having no vision would give you. There's I I had used to I used to do a little bit of like sensitivity reading, but I quit because it made me too angry. Um and yeah, I read a lot of books where there would be a blind heroine, but she would like hero, and they would see through the eyes of animals. So they would like be able to like flip their consciousness over to somehow and and see you through the eye. And to me, that always struck me as like a way of the writer basically getting or getting out of the challenge of having to write a blind character. Um and it was yeah, to me, it feels like you you want to make a you want to write a disabled character, but you also you also can't, like you also don't want to. And so um, and this is kind of the same thing with a magical cure that makes me angry.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:50

Okay, yeah. Yeah, it just yeah, it says to me if you tell me that it is a magical cure book, I will cut out the part where it makes me angry.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:59

And I've got other books with um blind characters as well. The um the Grimdale series, one of the ghosts is blind, and I have one series where which has a blind hero in Fergie. Um, and she ends up um spoiler alert, she ends up like running a crime empire. Um I love her Yeah, she's she's a complete she I I love her I loved writing her because um like one thing I I like is I like being able to write sort of different characters. So, you know, you know, people who have they might have the same conditions or that these are all blind characters, although they all have a different kind of blindness, um, but they all have very different experiences of the world and they're all very different. Um you know, there's no one type of blind person, um, and so they all have very different personalities. And Fergie is like this total badass, and I am not like that at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

I think you might be a total badass.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:00

I think so. I think there might be more badassy than you're letting us know. After all, you do have a medieval sword collection. I have seven words here: Nevermore, Murder Club, and Smuddy Book Coven. This is my favorite ever of all time series title. So tell us more about like what inspired the series and you know, let us the setting, the main character, let it tell tell us a little bit more about this book.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:30

So basically, when I started, uh you know, basically I finished the Nevermore and the Grindale series, and I knew I wanted to write a new series in the Nevermore world, but uh you have to kind of I need you to have an in. And I thought, well, what if I yeah, I set it up so that it's a little bit later in time and Mina starts this book club and then I bring I can bring in a whole bunch of new characters. Um and each book will be about a different book club member. And then I so I have been obsessed with vampires for a long time. And because they're amazing. And I it is bananas to me that I've got this far through my career, so I've got I'm up to like 57 books or something. Wow. And I've never written a vampire book really. Um and I'm like, it's time to change that. So I'm like, this is my I'm gonna indulge myself utterly, and this is gonna be a vampire series. So this is I kind of bring in this sort of vampire mythology, this this kind of vampire sort of subworld into the bookshop world. And book one um is um this one is Fang oh no, yeah, it's Fangs and Nothing. That's right. Um so that is about um so we've got we've got this vampire, Alaric, and he's uh 500 years old. Um he's grumpy, he's reclusive, he lives in this castle, like just outside of the village. because the village is in uh is in England. So his castle is here. So he lives in this castle just outside the village. And he's been living near by himself um with only his um his what they call Thrall, which is like a human um who kind of looks after him um through for for centuries. And what he does is he just he gets obsessed with different like artistic hobbies. And so he spent like one century teaching himself how to do tapestries and then he was obsessed with ceramics and then he you know he made a lot of swords and he does a lot of art and he just he had like a teddy bear phase and he has done everything. And so his castle did he say teddy bear? Yeah he is teddy bear teddy bear is a teddy bear phase so yeah um so he has done every like craft and like arty thing that you can possibly imagine and his castle is completely full of all of these like discarded half finished hobbies. And his mother is coming to visit I think he sounds like very ADHD yeah like that sounds very familiar yes it's very relatable um and I I'll tell I'll I'll I'll tell you in a set kind of where where this where this came from um and so his mother is coming to visit so he needs to declutter the castle. So he hires Winnie who is a very sunshiny very human professional organizer to come in and declutter his castle. Oh boy and Winnie's new to the village and she joins the book club and at the same time there's basically this vampire murderer who's going around killing people and they're trying to the book club are like always get involved and like they meddle in like village affairs. So they're they're like trying to solve the mystery and they think they think Alaric might be the killer and um at the same time um Winnie and Alaric end up having to pretend to be like fake engaged when his mother arrives um so that Al Alaric doesn't have to marry this other this this woman his mother wants to marry and it's I love fake engagements. Yeah it is it is so much fun is I love this book so much. And the story behind this this is is that um so my husband was we've been talking about putting like a little extension on our house and my husband wants extension because he wants to build an indoor train set and he can't build the indoor train he can't put the basically sorry can't put can't put the indoor train set in his music room because that's filled with drum kit we can't put it in the workshop because it's filled with tools for all of the various hobbies can't put it in his office because that's filled with his like um like DD stuff we can't put it in my office because it's filled with books. We can't put it in our bedroom because that's where my my poll is we can't put it in the living room because I've started relearning Egyptian hieroglyphs so the living room's covered in the hieroglyphs textbooks.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:23

And so we're putting it attention and this is like a craft room stream.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:30

I like it so much and and so one of us says to the other one well it's a good thing that we're not vampires because you know two growing adults we've like can't we can run out of room in our house. And um that just like suddenly I just had the idea the whole concept of this book and Alaric as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:58

But imagine if you had a castle how epic that model train system could be yeah it could take over the whole dungeon and just like trains everywhere oh my gosh that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:14

I love it it's like at the extreme it's like Vampires Extreme crafting edition yes I would watch that on HGTV 100% so hard.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:24

I would watch that so hard yes and and like Winnie is really Winnie is a really fun character and she has like this organizing system that she has called like the Winnie Win system and um she's trying to help them you know organize the stuff and I just it's it's delight yeah it's a delightful book um and it's very cozy and it's very fun and it's it's also it's also spicy and there's this wonderful like through thread of this these female friendships with the book hub. And that that was a big part of kind of why I wanted to write this series is I wanted to show really like celebrated female friendships so that's why so um what are your what are your plans for this year 2026? I know you've got um your book two in in the in the book Smuddy Book Club series that's coming what's already out you said in um in some countries the US won't be getting it for a while yeah um yeah because my so my public so I'm with Simon and Schuster um atria books which is a big imprint a big kind of commercial fiction imprint that they have and they've been amazing but I am with the Australian of that which that my books come out Australia New Zealand UK first and then the US later which is the opposite of everyone else which is a little bit but anyway. So I yeah so I've just done book two's book launch over here um but that will come out kind of in the later half of the year in America and I'll do with some more kind of stuff around that. I'm just currently finishing up edits on book three and handing back and I've you know I've kind of handed it in and they've come back and they've been like we we sort of we knew the ending wasn't really working um but I needed some help to figure out yeah how how to make it end and we've we've figured it out so now I just have to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:27

And then we're going back to them in the hopes to um sell them book four. Okay. Um and so if um if they accept that which I I you you never know but I think they will because they've been very very happy with how the how it's been going. And then book four will finish the series um and then after that I will probably do a couple of little stand I've got little standalone things in my head. Um and um basically there are nine members of the book club and every member is going to get a book or a series um but they're just not all gonna be in in in in the same series. Oh okay gotcha yeah um and then I've got a lot of other stuff so I'm I'm coming to the States in a couple of months for a polycom I'm very excited about nice and I'm off to Florence in Italy for a Italian signing because my Italian books do really well um which always fun uh that is uh Rhea uh Rhea Florence in October yeah October the third where can people find out more about you?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:46

Where do we send them?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:48

Um probably um so probably most active on Instagram um which is um Stephanie Holmes Rights um and I also have a fan club um and it's called the Spooky Bat fan club and that is where I run that on Patreon um so patreon.com slash Stephanie Holmes Rights and um I run that a little bit differently to other authors so the bulk of my Patreon content is free. It's basically kind of like a little almost like a little blog um and I I post like a lot of bonus scenes a lot of what we call ephemera um one of the things I do in my books a lot is like chapters will start with little text messages or there'll be like chat conversations or um uh menus from restaurants or um um newspaper articles just kind of like sort of random little um and I read a lot of that kind of content as like bonus content which is quite fun. Um so I do a lot of that I do a lot of like personal updates and like reading lists and what I recommend and um just kind of like behind the scenes stuff um like you know pictures from Paris and kind of telling stories about that sort of thing research and stuff. Um and so that's most of that's free um but there is a there's a couple of paid tiers. There's one if you want to get like exclusive um special edition books every few months. There's one for authors um and there's one where we so I'm writing a secret 11th Nevermore book um which is basically book one rewritten just from the guys point of views um because I love those things. Yeah it's really fun because the series the bulk of the series is written only from Mina's point of view. The final book is written from all three of them point of views but the bulk of the series is only Mina and so I thought it'd be really fun to rewrite book one from the guy's point of view and there's like a little secret story that is going on in the background that Mina has no idea about um and and so that's been really fun to kind of put that together. Um yeah so um so if you join the little that that's like the smallest here you get a chapter of that little secret book every month and yes and you get art copies and and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:31

So cool. Awesome well we'll be sure to put all of those links in the show notes uh along with um links to get your books and all that and I'm very very excited to read Things for nothing I really hope I really hope you guys enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:55

Oh I'm sure I will not worry about enjoying that positive that I will enjoy that thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us and I know work with the challenges of our huge time differences because like you guys are almost 24 hours apart like 21 hours apart or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:17

Something like that yeah like she's in she's in my future I'm from the future yeah it's pretty good it's pretty good day today so you people excellent I can't wait yes thank you so much for joining us I am real so happy to be able to talk to you this is just really really fun I think it's been heaps of fun and thank you so much for having me it's yeah it's always I love I love doing these it's always heaps of fun uh yeah welcome back everybody um oh my goodness that was amazing I enjoyed having her on the pod so much and I'm gonna fan girls some more yeah okay y'all the stuff that happened pre-record like before the recording even started on that I think Shayna is a fan is all I'm saying I'm I'm a big fan I am a big fan I love love I mean honestly she is her writing is delightful and uh I I just I couldn't put it down I binged through that whole series and I am really excited I got I got the Fangs what is it fangs for nothing um things for nothing Fangs for nothing is on my Kindle as we speak so that's awesome yes well okay so Oracle time yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I have okay so we're still in February and um so this is the perfect deck so this was a this was a deck that I backed on uh Kickstarter called the cracked amethyst and of which looks awesome looks awesome which of course amethysts are the February word stone and the it comes in a lovely box it's uh got the title in the front it's got it's basically like a starry night sky below it are some hills it's got a sort of like these little mush like it's see the dark trees and these little mushrooms don't worry they're like glowy purple down here and they're green up there. They're not real they won't hurt you I love the inside of these boxes so you can see over here the starry sky with the moon and then inside the box is this little wreath of like flowers and moons there's keys and keys yeah it's so cool that's so cool so cool oh and then these rocks down here they're like standing stones that have little symbols on them like sometimes it's hard to know which way to move stuff. One's a crescent moon one's a flame one's a pentacle and one's a ram symbol is that Aries Aries and it's by Jessica Bott who I believe is up in Canada and if you go to wwwthecraftamethist dot com you can see this deck and some of her other decks. So it's in the show notes links in the show notes so here is I already pre-shuffled this deck um I have not used this deck until today this is the first time and so the back of the deck is a dark green with that same wreath of flowers with um some stars and crescent moons and keys that's so cool I love the keys I know isn't that fun I love that um very witchy um I'm not sure what the flowers are I think they're possibly daisies or something of that ilk so here we go it's been shuffled I just flipped the deck and I'm gonna pull this over ooh king of cups so this is fun okay so this is like an alchemist studio if you will in the background there's like some like runes well there's a there's a window showing the night sky there's a uh like a board with some runes scratched on it there's a a mug in the front with water what or some blue liquid in it and and there's a couple of candles some blue liquid oh my god it's an electric lemonade from a interview with Jennifer Hart coming in two weeks to a podcast station near you exactly there's a couple of candles in and then there's like you know those alchemy or those science sets where they've got all those cool little uh bubbles of of glass bubbles filled with liquids you know kind of simmering away and all different colors so it's a really cool little little uh thing called the King of Cups and I I'm gonna have to look this up because this symbology I've never seen this symbology with the King of Cups before isn't it I mean other than obviously the cup in front represents the cup wisdom understanding experienced learned ample research understands the theory practiced creative practical and experienced seems like magic is actually just alchemy interesting and I don't really know what that means for uh so let me pull up a King of Cups meaning because as we all know I have the worst memory ever. It represents mastery over the realms of emotion creativity and the unconscious when this card turns up in a tarot reading you have gained control of your feelings and can accept them without allowing them to get the better of you even when life throws you a curveball. What are we talking about today? I know right I am telling you every time every time we post something that just absolutely makes sense so you can draw on your emotional maturity and stability to help you navigate these challenges you don't need to let things get to you you can steer clear of the drama instead of choosing an emotion and instead choose an emotionally balanced and calm approach. If you're being challenged personally right now the King of Cups suggests that you need to remain emotionally mature when faced with negative energy from others. Be firm on personal boundaries stating what is and is not acceptable on an emotional level this king is level headed and in control of his emotions he uses his intellect to make smart decisions and does not let other circumstances or winds sway him from his central beliefs and morals. Stay true to your emotions and feelings and do not allow others to steer you off course and make you watch shows that you don't want to watch I never do that. I make a lot of promises to be clear now y'all know my secret yes now we all know and so we know when she says she's she's gonna you know add that to the list she's lying yeah I'm lying so um the King of Cups embodies the perfect balance between the executive and the heart not only are you able to assess and manage a situation logically but you can also draw upon your intuition remember we're supposed to be listening to our intuition and understanding of human interactions. As a leader you care as much about achieving your goals and objectives as you do about making sure everyone's happy and engaged along the way. And if you sense that logic and emotions are out of balance draw on the energy of this king to realign yourself. I'm gonna go down here.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:13

Well and that's so perfect for Pisces season really because Pisces is a lot about looking for that balance like walking that line and we talked about that in um my birthday episode which was a couple weeks ago um about just being a Pisces and how that very much is all about finding that balance.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:33

Absolutely I I think that this is again knocked it out of the park totally and I do love this deck it's really it's it's very interesting. What's it called again?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:47

It's called the cracked amethyst I love that yeah thanks for joining us today everybody don't forget to subscribe um like share rate us review us um if you have questions comments whatovs you can hit us up in our Instagram DMs I check every couple days I'll get back to you immediately and of course if you want to be on the pod and you or you know somebody who you think should be on the pod you can email us at um thefigurescocktails at gmail.com or you can again hit us up on our DMs on Instagram and I delighted to talk to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:30

Excellent and uh be sure to sign up for our newsletter if you want to get reminders about the podcast uh and of course all the links to everything will be in the show notes. We'll see you next time.