A Little Bite, A Lot of Fire - with P.H. Nix

P.H. Nix stepped into the studio and brought the chaos with her 🔥

We talk dark romance, taboo themes, morally gray characters, strong heroines, and what it’s like writing stories that completely consume readers. This episode is full of passion, laughs, and the kind of conversation dark romance readers LIVE for.

If you like your books dangerous, addictive, and impossible to stop thinking about… welcome home. 🖤

Follow along on Instagram @boundindarkink and @prettymamasbooks.
Until next time–Stay dark. Stay obsessed.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

You're listening to Bound in Dark Inc., where dark romance, obsession, and bookish chaos collide. I'm Alicia. Let's begin. All right. Thank you so much for coming on.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Of course, of course. All right. So let's dive in. Tell us about yourself and what you write.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

I hate talking about myself, but I know. Um I'm PH Nix. I am a dark romancelash horror author. Um I write books. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Yeah, I don't know what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

It's the weather.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Probably. I didn't even know it was gonna snow until I went outside this morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, it's it's been snowing here off and on all day.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Um, and I was like, they just said it was gonna be cold. Nobody said snow.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Right, that's what we said too. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Where are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Um, I'm near in like New London.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Oh, okay, okay, that's right. I feel like I remember asking these questions prior.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Yeah, yeah. All right. Um, so how long have you been writing? And what got you started?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

So professional, like going instead of like notes and such. Um, I started in two 2022.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Um, and I I started writing, I was alping for an author, and I just kept saying, Oh, this story would be fun if, and then I was like, if you have this many, this story will be fun if just write your own. Um so I I did, and my first attempt at it was um was not as pla as it needed work. I in my day job, I do uh like uh policy analysis. So my work is you know very technical, and um, so the critique group I was in, they were like, you need more feeling. And I was just like, all those years in school when they trained me not to be flowery, y'all want me to just describe everything now.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Yep. All right, and what was your motivation?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

I just I had stories that I didn't see that I wanted to read. Um, I think that's the other great thing is I read the genre that I write.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Um, and so I was I would be reading these books and they're phenomenal, but there'd always be like a hint of something missing. Um, and so I was just like, all right, here we are. And you know, thus far, while tropes and and such, they're it's hard to be like, you know, fully romance, enemies to lovers, right? Like, um, but how you play that trope out um to tell your story, I think, is is where the big difference happens for you know writers.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Yeah, yeah, of course. Like I agree because there's also good and bad ways to do certain tropes, yes. Yeah, okay. So do you feel that you've made it, or is there a specific goal or achievement that you need to reach before you go, like, damn, I really I made it?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

So I came in this with like, I just want to sell one book to to somebody that's not my family. Okay. Um so uh when my debut happened, I I was beyond shocked, right? Like I didn't skyrocket um like you see some people do, but I did far better than I anticipated. And um, and since then it's just been like kind of building momentum as as we go. And so I don't know that I have an actual pinnacle of success as much as it's just um when I can just do this as my as my passion always. Um I think that's I feel like that's when I'll probably be like, yes, this is it. You made it. You're right. I'm author now.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Okay. All right, awesome. What would you say is your favorite part of what you do?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Oh my gosh, the endless things. Um, I get to do all types of research on so many rabbit holes that that my brain decides to go down, and then I get to explore it on a page um and paint the picture that's in my head playing uh on like a loop where it's like, can you just hurry up and get this out so we can we can function doing something else? Right. Um, so I think that's I think that's really it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Is there any advice or guidance that you would share with someone who's just starting out?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Write your story. Um, you know, often as helpful as like voices are, sometimes there's too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak. Um, so I'd say write your story, just get the words out, and then you can go back and you can refine it, fine-tune it, let it grow, breathe live, take a break, come back. Um, and then just be aware of all the resources available to you and all the different avenues you have as a as an author. Um, there are a lot of things that I learned after that I wish I knew before. Um, and those are some, there's some like, you know, growing pains. Um, but you know, nobody really wants growing pains. So um it's just just be more, I guess, mindful um and aware of resources and avenues you can take while writing.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Okay, okay. Um, also it's funny that you mentioned that because the second part to this question is is there something that you wish someone would have told you when you were starting out?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yes. Well, don't scale up too quickly. Um, I think that's one of the biggest things for me. Like understanding the market, understanding like that part was fine. It was the book signings everywhere, how much book signings cost, the want to like have special editions and the pretty boxes that you see like the authors that you love have, and sometimes you push too hard and too fast, and then you have to spend a whole bunch of time making up for that um that overstep um the the cart before the horse, if you will. So I think that I think that's just one of the things that uh I wish I knew a little bit more, and that one the other one is that I could have totally pitched my audio book for like pick pitched my book for audio rights or something, and I didn't know any of these things because pulling in, they were just like, Okay, you have to pay for these things, and I was like, All right, and then um I got an agent, and my agent was like no, and I was like, Oh, it's too late now, but oh no, so now I know.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Right, okay. Um, so do you have a favorite trope as a writer?

SPEAKER_03 7:24

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Oh, that's hard. I don't know. Um I don't know. Like, I w I probably want to say like enemies to lovers, um just because I like that tension. So probably that.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Okay. And then what is do you have favorite trope as a reader?

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Bully, dark bully.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

And there are there any tropes that you feel are underrated or overrated?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I'd love to see more feminine rage. Like I'd love to see more uh, you know, badass FMCs out there that are just stick giving a middle finger to the patriarchy and all the nonsense that is the society today. I'd love to see more of that. I know it's a market that's growing now, like there's a far more um books that represent like some of the feelings of society. Um, but I definitely think it's it's a trope that could totally be explored more.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Have you read Daggermouth yet?

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Not yet. I have it on my Kindle.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Um and Nikita Bell, too. Um yeah, I was editing her episode the other day, and I just was like reminding myself all over again to her. Like, I write books about villainous women, do women doing villainous shit, and I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

I love it. I do.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Yeah. Alrighty. Um, so what books, if any, have influenced your writing and or helped get you into writing?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Ooh, that's good. Um, I'd say, like, so one of my like Roman Empires Um is the Hanford Prep series by Jay Bree. Um, and I think a big part of the reason why I was just, it's one of my favorites is like the tension and the way she built that series in a way that like each year was a different book, and that you know, there was like light to no spice in the beginning, and like I did not care, right? Like, I was just like, the story is so good, and so to be able to craft a story where people who can't, you know, if they're coming in for the romance part or the spicy part, are looking for um at least a medium blaze, um, and low heat, maybe um, I think I think that was definitely one of them, and then her other series, the Bond series, like the way she was able, like it was that transition from contemporary romance to um like fantasy romance. I think that's where we're gonna stick that because it had like a lot of like different tropes in one area. Like, I don't know how to explain it because it it's like they have the bond group, so it's almost like Faded Mates, but it has like some shifted traits. So it's like you don't know where to like land the book, but it was perfect wherever it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay. What do you wish more people understood about your work?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Um just uh like the feeling behind it. Like I love when my books emote um, like force people to emote reactions that they're not sure of. I love when they question, like when I write certain characters in a way that make you question, like, should I feel guilty about liking this person? Um I think that's really what it is. Like my books are meant to be um like watching either a TV show or a movie, and but they're also meant to like stir something in you um and make you feel whatever feelings you're feeling and also make you feel seen. Um and I think those are probably the two things that I wish people knew more about my writing.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Okay, awesome. Um, what is your writing routine?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Um if I'm steadily writing, I think my routine is is pretty simple. I just need something to munch a crunch on. Sometimes that's like um dry cereal, like popcorn, uh, and such. But I need I need to have something, and then my water, um, and then silence. Okay. Um, so yeah, and then I can just I can go um and I I don't I give myself grace because I write in in my day job, and so sometimes I'm just like I don't I don't know that I have the will to write it.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Write more, yeah. Okay. And what would you say is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Getting all the words out. Um, because it I often joke that I wish like the story could just be like the computer see what's in my head and it just and just be there, yeah. Yeah, yep. Um, because I I I as I don't as much as it doesn't seem, I spend a lot of time trying to make sure I'm crafting it and I can't move past certain points when my brain is like, this is not right. This isn't right. This isn't and so like when some people are like, oh, skip it, my brain's like, we can't skip this. Yeah, we gotta, we have to iron out all the details, and until the scene feels right, we can't move on. Um, so I think that's one of like most frustrating parts.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Yeah, that's fair, that's totally fair. Um, all right. Do you have any unique or quirky writing habits?

SPEAKER_01 14:04

I don't know. I kind of just do them. I talk to myself. Um, I will like I will literally be like, girl, what are you doing? And like just have real conversations with I do that like in real life, so it's nothing crazy, and then I will go on a rabbit hole tangent. Like I will be like, oh my gosh, I need to know more about like this weapon, and then I'll go to the page, like I'm looking on Google, and then I come and then I'm like, oh, but what is this? Look at this shiny thing. Um, and then I'll go down that rabbit hole. So I think that's the only other thing, and I don't know if that's good, bad, or indifferent.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Like it still works in my writing, but hey, I say if it works for you, it works for everybody because we don't know, right? It works in the background. Uh okay. Um, if you could give your 18-year-old self some advice, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Don't give a fuck.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Fair, totally fucking fair.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Um, yeah, I think that would absolutely would be what I told myself because I spent so much time trying to please other people.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Um, from family to friends to like partners. Um, I spent far too much time trying to to please people, and I feel like the day I recognized that I no longer needed to like do that was the first day of like real life for me.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

I love that. That is one of the best responses yet, I think. Oh yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, do you have scenes or drafts that just haven't made the cut in your books?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So I try and write as clean as drafts as possible. And I know a lot of people like will write something and then like we'll dump it somewhere else. I do I do that sometimes, but I do that in the sense of like I'm coming back to you and I feel like you need to be a part of something. I just don't know what that something is yet. Right. Um so I might take a chunk out of a chapter and put it in the back. Um, but I don't typically like I don't typically have like, oh, I wrote these 10 chapters and none of them worked. Um so okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

All right, and what would you say is your favorite time of day to write?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Ooh, anytime after 7 p.m.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Okay. All right, and um are you currently working on anything?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Uh I am. I have a release coming up in less than three weeks. Yes, less than three weeks. Um, and so as that's as at the start of this series uh happens with this book, I have to write the next book in this series and then the next book in distorted. So I have two projects that are before me, uh, both of which are so exciting um and in different ways. Uh so I'm I'm looking forward to like diving diving into both.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Okay. That's good. At least you're not feeling you're not sounding like you're feeling stressed.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

That's yeah, I've taken, I typically don't take as long of a break off as I did. Um, but it's been really, really good uh for like my creativity.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Yeah. Okay. Um oh, you know what? Actually, I'm gonna pause my questions for a second.

unknown 17:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

I well, that I have written down here because I feel like you have something else. Are you still running your other thing? Because I feel like you have something else that's going on right now that would we should definitely talk about.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Wait, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Your like fundraiser thing that you were doing. Oh, that happened already. Yeah, it's done. Okay, yeah, it's done.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I was like, wait, what did I do?

SPEAKER_02 18:20

No, because like that yeah, I was like, wait, we should talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

But yeah, no, uh, I we did we did do a fundraiser for um for Jamaica. Uh it was fantastic. I like I really appreciated how like the community supported um supported the cause um after that terrible hurricane. Right. Um, so we were able to raise almost five thousand dollars um through donations uh of an auction we hosted. Um, and so now it's the make sure everybody gets everything, make sure everybody ever pays for everything, and and making sure all those details are are in line. Parts of the things that I didn't really think about, um, it was like I was just like the auction, yay! Oh, we raised this money, and now I'm like, oh, we have to corral the people.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Okay, right, yeah, okay, okay. Thank you though. Yeah, I'm glad it was, I'm glad it went well. I know I kept posting it, especially because I think I saw Lucy Smoke posting it a lot too. Oh and I'm on her team, so that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Lucy's awesome. I love her, super freaking nice. Have you been to any signings?

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Um, I can't remember if I met her. So I went to um Sinners and Stardust, their debut year. Yes, 2024. I don't remember. Was she? I don't remember. I think she had to have been there actually because I got a shot glass.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yeah, she was there because I remember at the end during brunch, we were all just talking about how like fantastic everything went. And that was my debut signing. So like I joke all the time that I'm spoiled because it was the first one, and I've heard you know the different horror stories or like great stories. Um, and so to just come in to the dark collective, who is so so detailed and so caring, it was like, oh, and she was joking, she's like, Don't expect this everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

And I was like, okay, right, yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Um, so and I mean it's true, right? Like everybody's ability to do certain things is different, and everybody's way of running things um is obviously just different. And so um Sinners and Stardust is one of those signings where I'm there if they if they if they'll have me.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yep, yep, yeah. And then um I was at spellbound. Okay, so I was there too. Oh we know you were there, but I um I I got stuck at a table the entire weekend. It was it was a whole thing. I'm sorry, yeah, yeah. We don't have to talk about that, but it was the whole thing. I didn't get to meet a lot of people, but um, I'm excited this year to go back and you know have a blast.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

It's gonna be it's I love spellbound.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Do you want to go to the Amsterdam one?

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Uh absolutely I do.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Yeah, I I'm so excited. Yeah, that's so excited.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Um, again, like they're just Elva loved her. Amazing, love her so much. Yeah, love her so much. So, like any, there are just some people that like they're like Nick, and I'm like, whatever you need, I'm here.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Yeah, I love it. Okay. So if your books were ever cast as a movie, do you have people in mind you'd like to play your characters?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

No, and everybody like whenever I get this question, I'm like, honestly, I I've never like gone that far. Okay, I think, I think. In the moment, um, I don't like when I think of the storylines. Um, I'm like, I I need to sit down and like really do extensive research on like who has the ability to do this role. So I see them in it. I gotta get better at that because that question comes up and I'm always like, I don't, I don't have an answer. Uh-oh. Gotta do some research. I do. I'm just literally, I'm like, people are like, who would you cast? And I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Right. Okay. So therefore, the next one is even better. If your if your life got casted as a show or a movie, who would you choose to play yourself?

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Oh, that's really good. Who would I choose to play me? Um, oh my gosh, it would be like a dream for Jennifer Hudson to play me.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

I think I feel like I would love like it would just that's immediate immediately who I thought of.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Yeah, like just I she's phenomenal. Um, so yeah, her.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

All right. Are you a Twilight girlie? I am. So are we Team Edward or Team Jacob?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Team Edward.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

People are like, you want the shiny, shimmery thing. And I'm just like, I've always been a vampire girly. I I joke all the time that I am a vampire because I work better at night. Um, I like to be in the darkness, and it's like literally a running joke. Um, but I do. I love all things vampires. Like I've I've since I was young, I've just been kind of obsessed.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Okay. I'm actually I'm not shocked about the Team Edward part. I think I'm more shocked that you are like Team Edward 100% wholeheartedly. Yeah, the the recurring thing I feel like in my interviews so far have either been I was this, but now I'm Team Y Choose, or they're like, no, I'm Team Charlie because you know Team Charlie I'm Silver Fox.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Definitely, he definitely would be like, Yeah. Um, I think why I picked Edward is one Charlie is definitely hot, but like he was the dad. And so I was like, we're not doing a taboo romance. Oh right. So uh and then Jacob is Jake. I don't know, there was just it's not even bad because I love werewolves, which is why all of it, it's like, oh, the best of both worlds. Um, but I honestly feel like there was a there wasn't as romantic of a connection between the two of them. Yeah. Um, as I read the story. Like I know people wanted there to be one. I just don't think I felt I don't think I felt that through the pages the way that I think a lot of people did, which is a me thing, right? Like reading is objective. Um, but I think that's that's probably one of the reasons, right? Like, I feel like she friend zoned him pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Yeah, I agree. It was pretty quick. Yeah. Okay. Are there any topics or tropes that you would never consider putting into one of your books?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

I try not to do the miscommunication trope because it makes me angry.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Oh, me too. Oh, me too. I'm ready to throw my book across the fucking room sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Like, I try, I try really hard because I'm not a big fan. Now, listen, it does work in certain instances, right? And then I also tell people that miscommunication trope for me lands in the you could have said something, but you didn't, which is different than the I absolutely can't say something or else something bad will happen to you or someone else. Correct. I'm like, that's not miscommunication, that's protection. Yeah, if you if the two of you are just not talking to each other, I'm ready to like throw you both out the window.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. And then are there any topics or tropes that you refuse to read? Also, miscommunication tropes. Fair. I'm so amazed. Like, I expected because I feel like there's a lot of hate on like the pregnancy or accidental pregnancy, but I'm kind of shocked to see how little it comes up.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

I love the act.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

I like me too.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

I I do. I'm an omega girl, omega verse girly. Like, I just I I love it. I love the surprise pregnancies. I love the like blinded, like blur. Um, and so I know a lot of people don't like it. Uh, I do enjoy pregnancy and romance. I I'm in a I'm in one of the breeding groups.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

Like yeah, yeah, no, I'm like, give it to me. But other people, you know, a lot of people other people don't like it. I mean, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

I've heard like I've heard, you know, why for a lot of people, you know, like um, you know, I don't I I'm a mom all day or I'm a parent all day, and I don't want to like read about that, and that's fair.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah, yeah. So and I I definitely um it has to be done well too. Yes, because there are there are some bad ones out there, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Um thousand percent there are.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Because it would just was giving me a lot of issues with um like actually saving. There were like chunks that were getting missed, and I have to re-record, I have to completely re-record my episode with DEDs.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

So then I found this and it's been super great. And then today it wants to act up.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

I I feel like it's because it's so dang cold outside.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

I don't know, I'm kidding. I feel like outside is just like yeah, like earlier today, me and my husband had some errands to run, and like not I didn't want to, let me tell you. Um, but like we leaving the tax office, my car did not even want to start.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah, it's it's cold. Yeah, no, when I saw the warning and it was like negative 30 with the wind, I was like, I'm sorry, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 28:31

I think worse, and I'm like, no, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Yeah, quite literally. I was like, I thought I lived in Connecticut.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

We don't know hundreds of what's happening here.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Yeah. Okay. Well, now that this thing decides it's working again, I feel like this is one of my favorite questions ever.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

How would you describe your book and or series in one brutal sentence?

SPEAKER_01 29:02

One brutal sentence. The people in power that are perceived perceived to be in power and not actually running things.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

I love it. I was like, wait, I have to thumb this up again.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

I love it. Um, I don't know. Probably you guys probably don't actually listen to podcasts, but I did um with did you meet Jenna at Spellbound and or Sinners? Jenna. Jenna Doyle?

SPEAKER_00 29:33

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Okay. So she writes like a lot of um motorcycle romance and um like even uh all female motorcycle, she has like some paranormal female motorcycle, but she has a um Midnight Summer's dream like retelling. Oh and so for hers, when I had asked her that she for her Midnight Summer's Dream one, it was um for all of you people, what what did she say? For all of those that wondered what happened when all the characters went into the woods.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Oh, that's really good.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

It was they had an orgy and I decided to write it. That's even better. And I was like, I love that. Like, that's the audio clip that I pulled for like the teaser for her episode. Because I was like, that is like epic.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

I love it, yeah. Okay. Um, did you have character inspirations?

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Yes. Um, so or like when I was doing Edgewood for Twisted, like when I sat down, I knew immediately that I wanted Wyatt and Owen to be Heath Ledger's joker. Um specifically Heath Ledger's, right? Like so um one uh big Heath Heath Ledger girly. That's a story for another day, but um, I just liked the duality and being able instead of having in one person to put it like the the mindset and the characteristics into two. Um and I I didn't really know who anyone else was gonna be, but I knew who those two were.

SPEAKER_05 31:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

So um most people were like, oh my FMC. No, no. Immediately I was like, we need we need some type of Joker personality in here. And why have one when you can have two?

SPEAKER_03 31:33

Right, right, exactly. Yeah. Okay. Uh what was your favorite chapter to write? Uh in in any book? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Okay, I'm gonna go with my latest release because I think I just I've had a bracking great time with it. Like I've loved every moment of Bloody Vengeance. Um, and I think my favorite chapter to write is probably one of the ones where it's just her and Brax banter back and forth. Like she's so snarky. Um, and he just his crypto just really like he just fires back. And so, like, I was actually making a graphic before we started. Um, and it was like she wait, what is I can't even remember what he said now. Um, I have it. A good thing I was I literally just did it, so I have it. Right. Um like wait, wait, what is it? Uh, here we are. When she's the grumpy to his sunshine, but the banter, but their banter is their foreplay. Yeah, yeah, like they are just they're hilarious. Um, Tati is badass as hell. She's a female assassin, um, and she's out for revenge. So, like, it's this the entire storyline was just like it was fast-paced, it was it was bloody, and I loved every moment of it.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

I love that. I love that. Okay. What was the ideal reader that you imagined?

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Someone as unhinged as I am?

SPEAKER_03 33:21

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Ah, goodness.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

So, what question and or questions do you wish that like more people asked you when you came on interviews?

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Um I don't know. I feel like I feel like I'm always caught off guard. Like somebody's like, and I'm like, dang, that's a really good question. I never thought of it.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Um I mean, I guess if there's anything, it's just, you know, sometimes the motivation behind um a certain book or series. Um particularly because like for certain books, it's just it's far deeper than uh for others, while all of them have some type of underlying um profound meaning to me. They're like my distorted series is just it's so different. Um, and I wish I could uh convey that more often than not.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

And then more into like you, not your your um author journey, but your reader journey.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Who are you as a reader?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Um unhinged. I'm looking for the I'm looking for the craziest storyline. It has to be dark. Um I I need close as close to morally black, maybe pitch black as possible, is why when I'm doing my own writing, I'm kind of like, this isn't that dark, and everybody's looking at me like, yeah, what are you talking about? I'm like, what do you mean? So um, yeah, I love I I disappear into the story and and I'm I don't come up for air until I'm done. Um I think that's the one sad thing about writing, is I don't read as much as I used to. And I miss it. So this year I've set a goal to make sure that I set time aside to just read.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Because I do, I miss it. Like it was the reason I started writing, and and so not to be able to be able not to do it is not it was not cool, man. I think I read three books last year, and that was the greatest tragedy.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Yeah. So yeah. So have you read AA Dark? Yes. Uh the Wetlock series is. Oh my god, I love it.

SPEAKER_04 36:10

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Yeah, that's what I was. I've been so like I know Dark Romance, like during the pandemic is when it exploded. I'd been reading Dark Romance before then. So um, when everybody was like, oh, and I'm like, yeah, I already read that. Right, right, yeah. That's fair. That's fair. Like, I'm trying to find something as darker, darker. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Got it, got it. Okay, so this might be hard for you if you said you've only read three in last year, but do you have a top read of 2025? Oh, okay. Because it was like they they were like, um how do I explain this?

SPEAKER_01 36:53

It was like more those books were all towards building my craft as an author. Um, yeah, you know, so it was um how to like how to write informed trauma writing, like things like that, right? And they're and they're great because they help build your skill set. Um like nonfiction, ew. Yeah.

unknown 37:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

So uh, and that and that was more painful because I read through like statute all day at work. And so, like to be looking through legal lease and then get off and have to go read something else instead of being able to be like, oh my god, here we go. They're gonna slam the person up against the wall, and we're gonna get we're gonna get all that pent-up rage out. Right, right. So yeah. Um, but I I do have dagger mouth, it's literally in my Kindle. I'm just finishing up um I'm finishing up my last read of of Bloody Vengeance, and then once that's done, I have every intention of disappearing and just reading the book.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Um, so do you have a top ten authors?

SPEAKER_01 38:06

I don't have ten off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Do you have a top five?

SPEAKER_01 38:11

I know I love Jay Bree. Okay, Rena Kent, B Reed, um, Hamill Jones. I think that's all I got right now off the top of my head.

unknown 38:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Fair. I know there's more. I know there's I know there's more. I just can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Well, sometimes it's like that. And also if you if you haven't really had a chance to read, it's kind of tough.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Yeah, it's been a yeah, a while, and I like the entire like third gen of of Rena Kent's story, like I'm just like, I'm so far behind. And I'm like, I all catch up, I hope one day.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

So that's how I feel about the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Yeah, that's also a serious commitment. I want to start it, but it's like I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Serious commitment.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

That is, am I sure I want to do that?

SPEAKER_01 39:09

It is a serious commitment. It's a great series, though. Like, I didn't finish it, but like it's so well written. Yeah, the plot is really good. Um, like I it definitely, definitely do it.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

Yeah, between that and Zodiac Academy, I'm like, those are gonna consume my life.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Zodiac Academy is definitely another one.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Good while.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Um I did the um I did the what am I looking for? The um oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

I read for from the Twisted Sisters, I did Kings of Quarantine, like that series. Gobbled that up, and it was over the pandemic, and then I gobbled up the other part of the Zodiac universe, I guess if you want to call it. Yep. Um, that's where I started, and apparently that's not where I was supposed to start, but that's where I did start. Okay. And when I think they only had three books out in Zodiac. I can't remember it was three or four. Because that was also the same time when they like I'd finished um I finished up the last book in that series, and there was the penitentiary one was just about to release or something, like was getting ready to release, and I was like, Oh, I gotta read that one, and then I ran out of time.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

So I mean fair. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Do you do audiobooks?

SPEAKER_01 40:46

I do. Okay, that's what taught me through grad school because I was like, I'm not reading anything else.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Oh my god, so fair. Do you have a favorite male or female or both?

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Narrator.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

I love the Bordeaux. Um, okay. Hence why I was like, please, please read my please be please be the narrators for my for my series. Um, I love the Bordeaux. I can't think of much of anyone else right now because again, it's one of those things where I'm just not not listening um as much as I'd like to. Um so I don't have I don't have names. Um fair.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

So okay, you're not reading anything right now, right? Because you're just my book.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Just your book, yeah. Not that that's a bad thing. That that just like right, right.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Like, oh, okay. All right. Um, so what events are you attending this year?

unknown 41:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

That you make I don't know if they can all be announced yet, but the ones that you can yeah, this year I can announce.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

I can't announce any of the ones for next year. Okay. Um, so I will be at Shadows and Seduction and NOLA next month, and I'm so excited because I finally get to taste like beignets for the first time in NOLA. Um so that I I don't know what else I'm doing, but I definitely know I'm getting beignets. Right. Um and then I will be at Sinners and Stardust, and then I will be at Spellbound.

SPEAKER_03 42:26

Okay. Yeah. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Oh, I do have a smaller signing um at a local at a local bookstore. Where?

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Um in April. Um Velvet Vows. It's in Middletown. Going hunting.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Uh yeah, Velvet Vows. Um they um it's a dark romance pop-up bookshop, but I I know that um that they uh Middletown is where like it's centrally located, so to speak. Oh okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

I lit I have learned that Connecticut has so many signings. There was one in Berlin today, and I was like, that is literally that's that's that's where I that's where I live. Why did I not know this existed? Um, so um I've been trying to get better um at knowing what local signings are are happening.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Yeah, it's crazy because like I work at a bookstore and people come in and they're like, Oh, I wish like there were more events. Which in like the New England area. And I'm like, There are so many in the New England area. Like there I'm uh Sinners and Stardust and Spellbound right there. You've got Two a year, like yeah. Um, yeah, so it's interesting that um oh my god, I forgot one of my signings.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

I knew there was something. I'll be at book harvest also in October. I was like, I am creating one. I was like this, I was like, oh, you're only doing three this year? That's pretty good. Oh my gosh, I forgot that book harvest. I will be at book harvest. Um and I'm excited about the going there as well because it'll be my first time in Chicago. So I think that's the other great part about like um being an author uh is being able to like go to signings in different places. Um so and we're road tripping down to NOLA. Okay. So I'm I'm looking forward to the ride because the the ride from uh from here to Miami when we went to um Sinners and Saints. Um I I came up with uh two fantastical ideas on the ride just because I was talking to um one of my PAs and we were just shooting the shit and I was like, oh my god, she said something about a road trip, and I was like, oh, and then the entire story was born. Um and I just have to write it.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

Okay. So maybe we'll have a NOLA road trip story.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

Yay, that's exciting. Spellbound tickets go and sale in a week.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Yes, on the 14th on Valentine's Day. I'm excited. I'm super, super pumped. Like I don't know. I don't really how to expect like just spellbound was such an experience. Um, and it was handled like the stupid, well, I won't say stupid fire alarm, because it was something that actually happened. Right, right. You know, and I was on the floor, and I guess next door to where everything happened. I don't oh my god, I don't know. I just knew like I was I left my room and I went to go left because I was like, oh, that's the closest staircase. And I was like, there is smoke and water coming out of the door. Oh no. I was like, I guess I'm going to the other side of the hallway.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Right, right. Oh boy. Yeah, that was that was a little nuts.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

Yeah, but they held it, they handled it very well.

SPEAKER_02 46:28

They really did.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Um, I appreciated that.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Yeah. Well, you know, Alba, she'll get it done.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

She she will.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

Yeah. That woman puts her mind to something, and that is that.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

I like when I'm thinking business model-wise, or like I'm thinking I like definitely one of the people where I'm just like, all right. I I I absolutely need to just pick your brain so I so I have a better business acumen for certain things, right? Like, there are just some people who are really gifted in certain areas, and Elva is just so talented in so many areas that it's it's exciting to like watch in real time.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Yeah, yeah. I love it, I love it, I love it. All right, so I think um we are pretty much done, other than um how can people find you?

SPEAKER_01 47:30

Yeah, so uh I am on Instagram, TikTok, threads, Facebook, I think Lemonate. I I don't go on that one very often. Um but primarily Instagram these days, because that TikTok is like a funky place right now.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

Yeah, yeah. A lot of people I know have like gotten rid of it completely.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Algorithms, it it's I mean, I still see a lot of the content creators that I enjoy, but like their views uh this algorithm is bad. Yeah, it it was it was terrible. So um Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

I I pissed off the Instagram gods somehow, and I'm like no semi-shadow banned at the moment. Oh no, yeah, like um they're not they're limiting who my account reaches, and it's no one new. And like I'm verified. So I was able to talk to like someone on the phone, and I was they weren't even able to tell me why. What like what went against their standards that caused this? They're like, oh, we don't know, just like watch what you post for like the next two weeks. And this happened like a couple days after I had posted my 2026 manifestations, and so I was like kind of upset, and so I'm like, so how funny is it that you know, just a couple days ago I post my 2026 manifestations, and it's you know, that I reach 5k followers this year, and now all of a sudden you guys are like, Oh, actually, you're not gonna be shown to anyone new, anyone else, you just you'll you're stuck where you're at.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

That's and they never you want to know what it is though, they never have a reason, right? Like they have the they have the bots looking, and the bots were like, Oh, this, and you're like, No, not this.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Right, right. And then like it tells me I can remove something, but all it keeps showing me is my bio. And I'm like, there's nothing, like, there's nothing wrong in my bio. I don't understand like why you're just constantly showing me my bio. What are you what are you trying to say? Like, I'm confused.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

What's what are you saying about my bio?

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Like, what? What is it?

SPEAKER_01 49:44

What what in here do you take issue with?

SPEAKER_02 49:47

And so I had wondered, like, because I'm on Lucy Smokes team, and so I was arc reading a book for her that's called Married to the Mafia. And so I was like, oh, maybe because you know, I have my current reads in my bio and there's mafia in like the book title or whatever. So I took my book, I took completely took my current read out of my bio, and then I submitted again when I was due for an appeal, and I I still got denied. And it was like, I'm like, okay, well, I guess I'm just gonna be forever in this loop because I don't know what you're what you say I'm I did wrong.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. So but they said like it'll just drop off after two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

They said, yeah, they were they're basically like, oh, we don't know exactly what you did. Just like be cautious and like just post like innocent like flat lays for the next two weeks. And I'm like, I am on authors teams that literally tell us, you know, like what they want us to post.

SPEAKER_04 50:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Um, so I don't foresee me being able to just post like boring flat lays for the next two weeks, but sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:55

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

Yeah. So and I had started a dark romance book club. Okay. Um, and I had started on Instagram, and then after like I got someone was like, Yeah, like your shadow band, and someone even shared my post and was like, Oh, this is why I pay to be verified. And like, I was like, uh, hey, I'm verified. So, like, I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

Did you miss the blue check?

SPEAKER_02 51:23

Like, what I paid for that blue check.

SPEAKER_01 51:26

How come you can't see it?

SPEAKER_02 51:28

Right, so yeah, so I had moved my uh my book club over to Discord just in case, like, if God forbid anything happens to my account, yeah, I still at least have put my book club going over on Discord.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Discord is far like less restrictive as well. Yeah, I just can't keep up. Like it it gives me anxiety. Yeah, all the all the notification. I just have to shut everything off and turn off everything because I'm just like, there's a lot happening here. Um, and I can't keep up.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

I get questioned all the time, like, why are you always saying do not disturb? And I'm like, you understand? I like I'm if I'm not reading or um like cashing a customer out or actively helping a customer, I'm generally listening to an audiobook.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

So I don't want the group chat interrupting my fucking audiobook every two seconds because this person and this person and this person, like, no, I don't want that. Then what's the point of my book? Because it's like up and then it's like just getting cut off every five seconds because someone else is talking.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

I turned off like in my car. You know how you have the notification that lets you know that a text message has come in. I turned that off. Yeah. I turned it off because it just one day it just kept going. It was annoying already, but one day everybody was just talking, talking, talking, talking. And it was like three of my text group texts, all of them decided that they were gonna converge upon the tech, and it just was I was like, I am done at the next light.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

I was like, Yeah, turn them off, leave me alone. I was like, I don't have my phone stays in do not disturb for this very reason. Exactly, exactly. And then one, my one friend, she's like an asshole, and she knows that, and she knows it, and she hits notify anyway. And then she'll be like, Yeah, I bet you're trying to listen to that audio, but huh? Notify anyway. And I'm like, girl.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

Oh, things only friends can do, right? Right. That's hilarious. Oh man. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

Okay, well, I don't maybe I'll see you at Spellbound. You will see me at Spellbound. Yeah, I was so um, I was supposed to go to um, I was supposed to go volunteer at RomanticyCon at the end of this month in LA.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

Oh, that would have been so fun.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Yeah, I was supposed to do that, but then everything happened, and just financially I just can't swing LA right now. I listen, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

So I try and tell people, I was like, oh, you think I make a I live in Connecticut.

SPEAKER_04 54:15

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:20

So yeah, hopefully I'm gonna go to Spellbound and then um next year I'm supposed to go volunteer at Heathens and Heartbreakers.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

Okay, I heard about the signing.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Is that one? It's in Texas, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:38

Yeah, I'm I I think it's on my list of like places to apply um to sign for. I just I had to last year, I think I did five or six signings, and it was just too much. Um, and so cut back the we cut back not this year because I had already signed myself up, but um for 2027. Um Sinners and Stardust is always an automatic, spellbound is always an automatic, um, but outside of that, I think I'm only doing one other signing and anything local-ish might consider.

SPEAKER_03 55:14

But okay.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

And you're you're indie, right? I am. Okay. I'm trying to keep track because um I can I've had like certain authors come into the bookstore too. Um, but they're a little because they're a corporation, so they're like a little less lenient about kind of who we can bring in. Um, but I've actually I've been just I've really been debating opening a bookstore.

SPEAKER_00 55:46

Oh, that would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 55:47

Yeah. I'm gonna go I'm gonna maybe open my own and it's gonna be strictly romance. Yeah. And you know, then I can bring whoever the hell I want.

SPEAKER_01 56:02

You can do your podcasts from there if you'd like to. Um I just think like I think this is one of the things that like are the is the hardest for me. Um especially in a society that pushes forth how important the First Amendment is and such and such. But there's just so much censorship. Um you know, I I I joke all the time. I'm like, I alright, I know this book's not gonna I'm not gonna make it because I uh said this or I did that. Right. And and it's I feel like it's a shame, right? Because they do, they do Trad does publish books that have all the the stuff in it. Um just they only make exceptions when I think it's most beneficial to them, as they should as a business, but I think just overall the way that you know indie authors and then throw in dark romance authors are um are treated is ridiculous, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

Yeah, yeah, I agree. So I wanna that's like what I wanna do. I wanna create, you know, a smaller, a smaller scale, more intimate, like accepting place where it's not, you know, it's just ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous, and the stigma around it is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

Yeah, it it really is. And you know, like I said, it's just I I'm learning. I when I started writing, I had no interest in Trad, right? Because I wanted to, yeah, I was like, oh, I read, you know, I read so many books on Kindle. Um when I had I, you know, I used to buy books in the in the dozens, but right.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

Times are hard, you can't buy that many books. Yeah, yeah. That's why like I I thrived off Kindle. So I want to make sure I offer that opportunity to other readers, like I had.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

But as time has gone on, I've seen like some of the benefits to having, and so I'm just like, oh, you know, um, but then people are like, hey, this this non-cod can't be in there, and I'm like, hmm, I guess I'm not gonna because it's in there.

SPEAKER_02 58:24

Yeah. It's like I feel like I don't know, I feel so I'm not an author, obviously, so I don't know the ins and outs and all the like legalities in the back end of it. But I feel like other than the option to go into certain like corporation bookstores or like box stores, I don't know. I guess I don't know as a reader or whatever, um, like how big of a benefit it would be being trad versus um indie. Because like Chantel Tesser, for example, she's she's indie. Yeah. And she's been offered a million times to go trad and she refuses. And in one of her um newest like uh newsletters after Chaotic released, she's like, you know, all these trad authors had like reached, I mean, uh trad publishers had reached out to me. And when I like basically turned them down, they were like, oh, well, you know, you'll never like hit these lists being an indie author, but she just hit New York's Times bestselling list with Chaotic as an indie author. They lie. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:47

So it's like the thing about Tri that makes it so frustrating is they're looking for they're looking for the indie author that has that big, that big fan base because it helps on their end, right? You already have a built-in fan base. Yep. Um, we don't have to build up that presence for you. You already have one, right? One of the things that you know people have said, they're like, well, you need to have you know more of a presence. And I'm like, listen, I got into writing because it was a solitary thing. Now you're telling me I have to be more social.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:17

Right. Not everyone wants to just get away from that. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:22

What do you mean I have to be more social? Yeah. Um, so I just I it's I think it's one I just it one I always wonder, and uh to be honest with you, it's some for some it's the but you get a you get an advance and that allows you to live to be able to like become a full-time author. Um, so I think I think there's this dance um that you have to play, because there are hybrid authors. I know there's plenty of hybrid authors that some of their stuff is trad, some of their stuff isn't trad. Yeah. Um, and you know, so I was just like, oh, that could be you know interesting. And then um, and then just the like idea. I don't know if I necessarily want trad as much as I would like, I think would be so freaking awesome if like somebody picked up my series and decided to make it a TV show. Yeah, yeah. I think that would be fun, yeah. Right. So uh and I'm an episodic writer, right? Because I each chapter to me is like uh maybe uh one TV show or two chapters is a TV show. I'm like I paste my chapters to be like their episodes. Okay. And that's just because that's how my brain works. I'm just like, yeah, all these things, and then they all connect to a larger piece. And um, so I would I think I would probably pass away. Like I would expire, right? Right. If somebody was like, hey, we'd love I would, I would, I'd expi I wouldn't have any words, honestly. So I feel like that's more of like what I'm going for, but I also know that sometimes the way you get there is through Trad, right? Like they pick you up, right, blow up, and then boom. Um so but I'm hoping the opposite problem. So uh because it there it like you you do have to give up some of your your creative license, not a lot, well, maybe not a lot for some like in some instances, right? But as an indie author, you also have a strong um ability if they came to you with your built-in fan base to be like, I already have a fan base that actually likes this stuff, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

Right, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

Um whereas somebody starting out is kind of like, oh, okay, I just those boxes, I've always hated boxes, man. Yep. So don't back baby into a corner. Like that's why my brain goes.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

Exactly. Nobody puts baby in the corner. Yeah, like what are you doing? Yeah, that's not where she goes.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:59

Exactly. No, so but I do if you do open the bookstore, that would be fantastic. We need more dark romance bookstores in Connecticut. I only know of like three, yeah. Um, and so it would be fantastic to have more of them. Um, because I think it will also bring in more dark romance authors, which would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:18

Yeah, yeah, I agree. I've been like all over the place with what I want to do. Let me let me tell you. Like last year I was manic for like three nights straight, and all I could think of was like starting my own book signing, and I had that stuck in my head for like three days, and then I had started like creating a punchline and like naming it, and then I was just like, uh, I don't know if that's where I want to go with this right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:50

And then and now I have the podcast, which I love. Um, but the bookstore, I'm just like, I want to do it. And my coworker who works with me at the bookstore now was like, yeah, let's like open a coffee bookstore, like a coffee shop slash bookstore, like together. And I was like, uh, love you, girl, but you're about to move out of state either this year or next. So I'm not, I'm not going into anything with you if you're maybe leaving. Like I'm not, I'm not doing that. Um, but yeah, that's like, so I've been like bouncing back and forth for a week or two now and different ideas. Like, do I want to do it strictly books, or do I want to do it books and coffee, or do I want to do it books and like maybe I can pair up with a local bakery in the area wherever I open it to like offer something like that, or um, you know, I've just kind of been bouncing ideas for that for that aspect of it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:52

Yeah, and I think you know, the the great part about it is that you don't have to have all the answers right now. Yeah. Right? Like you can you can continue to noodle on it, and it doesn't mean you have to have the bookstore within a year. Right, right. You just gotta plan it out and make it happen. Because I I have a bookstore idea in my head. Um, and I'm I have no time for that right now. Right, right. So so, but the goal is one day to be able to do something like that. But then you have to remember, like less and less people are reading books, like physical books, not reading books, but like physical books.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:29

Right. So then it's like, okay, so I opened a bookstore, but then it's like I need to offer like the special editions and like what everyone wants. Because other than that, like at this point, physical books, at this point, like I feel like most for most people, not all, but you know, for a good majority of people, I feel like physical books are just shelf trophies at this point. That's what they are to me. And so they yeah, and so they just want, you know, the not just a a paperback, but like. The spread edges or the the different things.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

Uh I just, you know, I like the physical book because I've always had physical books, but I recognize because I used to do Audible and refused to do Kindle because I was like, I'm not reading my book online. Right, right. Yeah. I only want the physical book. Yep. What I learned quickly is like Audible against series after they've all been published more times than not.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:25

So while you're waiting on the next book in the series to come out, I finally one day was like, all right, I'm gonna bite this bullet. And I went, I was like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:35

Yeah, it's like no world changing, like never going back. Yeah, I don't know what I was waiting for.

unknown 1:06:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:43

Um, but and so you know, it's helpful because again, I don't I I can't buy 10 to 12 books anymore, have a kid. Um, having the physical books, I I just they are they look really nice on your shelf. Um, and I say this as somebody who just got a new bookshelf for Christmas because I'm I have stacks of books. Because when I go to a book signing, I have zero control. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm like, oh, this is pretty. Oh, that's pretty. Yep, oh, this is my favorite one of my favorite authors. And you know, like, so I I kid you not, and then I do trade-sies with some authors. Um, and and so like I have I just there are stacks of books everywhere in this room, right? Um, and I finally was like, I I think I need another person. I listen, like the trophies. I just like I go in and I'm like, yeah, you can only buy like two, and then four books later, I'm like, well, you know, money so you can spend some money. Right, right, yeah, yeah. So um, I think that's what because you know, I just go and everything just looks so so pretty. I know. I know pretty. I don't even really know what this is, but it's pretty.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:55

I need the one thing that I have such FOMO over is not grabbing anything from Nikita. Oh, wait, she was there? Yeah, Nikita Bell was area.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

Oh, okay, okay, okay. I thought so. Nikita Bell is different. I there's also an author named Nikita. Oh, okay. Just Nikita, right. Yeah, I was gonna say, I feel I feel like I thought she lived in Australia, so that's dope she was here. I'm gonna have to look up Nikita Bell, though, because I I'm I'm also terrible with names.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:25

She is the author near uh the author illustrator. She designed, I think she uh was the author, uh not the author. I'm pretty sure she was the illustrator of the author badges. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:40

So she's not an author, she's an um she is an author.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:44

Okay. She's an author illustrator. And her table was like in the second row. It was very bright. Um, she had like a car, because she she illustrates the chapter pages of her books and she illustrates all of her like cover uh cover. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:03

Yeah, find her. Maybe I'm spelling her name wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:06

It's N-I-K-K-I-A-T-A.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:10

N-I-K-K-I.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:13

Yeah. Her episode went live this week, actually, on Wednesday.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:17

Okay. Yeah. Find her. I'll have to. I'm not familiar. So I'll have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:26

Yeah, her books. Because she draws them. I need them. They're amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:33

I think people who can do that are so freaking talented. I I did my own design for um a temporary print run of Bloody Vengeance. And it's just so fun because everything is in like the fluorescent colors. And I'm just like, you're so pretty. But also, this took a lot of work. Yeah, right. I had to go create the thingy in Canva, make sure it was the right like thingy, whatever. Like, there's just so many things I'm just like, oh, okay, thank thank goodness for you. I tell her to just do a quick search on any social media platform out there, and it's not just writing, right? It is it AI has a thousand percent permeated the entire market and it's saturated, like it's to the point, right? I I say this right because I when you start, everybody's like, Oh, you need to have a vision board on Pinterest and da-da-da. So I spent time putting stuff together, and Pinterest images are how I used to make my videos. Um, like I'd use pictures from there. Okay. Um, and then and this was 2022, right? There was no big AI anything, right? Um and then I think about 2024 is when AI just made this surge to the front, and then people were finding out that AI was stealing their stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:55

And I say this as somebody who's a part of one of those lawsuits because at least three of my books were used without permission. Oh no. Um, and so it is frustrating to to be like, oh crap. So, right, and a lot of places weren't labeling things because they weren't they weren't required to, and now they are think thank fuck. Right. Because um, you know, you get better and better at seeing what is AI. Yeah, but some AI is really, really good. Yeah. Like re I mean, like you, unless somebody told you it is, you wouldn't know. Right. Um, and so I think I think what happens is that people are like, oh, I can save some money. And I get the wanting to save some money. Uh, believe me, I'd love to also save some money. Right, right. Um, but I just don't think for me as a person, like as a like it wouldn't sit in my and sit in my soul problem. Yeah. Well, yeah, but for some people it doesn't matter. And and the the reality of it is as much as as she probably will get a backlash, she'll still have a fan base. Right. Because how many AI books are number one in their in their categories? Yeah. So um it's hard because there's no real there's no real repercussion, yeah. Right. Yeah, it doesn't end someone's career, right? If anything, it catapults them um into the limelight. Yeah, so it's that it's that terrible dance. Um, but I I understand. I understand the why. Just you gotta pick a choice. Yeah. Some people don't like that. So um, but I appreciate you having me on.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:45

Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:46

Thank you. This was you know, if you ever need me to come back, I you know where to find me. Yeah. Um, and yeah, like I I'm really grateful. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:56

Thank you so much for coming. I'm glad it finally was able to happen. My boss earlier, he was he'd text me and he was like, Hey, anyway, you could like work six to nine tonight because uh it's still snowing in Rhode Island and I don't know if Greg can make it in, our other co-manager. He's like, So, like two and a half hours of work is worth four hours overtime, right? And I was like, I mean it is, but like I've already rescheduled with pH next like fucking four times.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:22

So like please no, it would have been fine if you had to. I'm like one of those people where it's like, listen, life comes first and life comes fast. Like you have will have all the intentions, and then life's like or not, and so you kind of just have to yeah, it's not a great time, but yeah, but yeah, I'm I'm sorry to hear that. Like I was just like, oh no. When like you you don't even have like we could put a whole hands, yeah. Um, so um, but I I do appreciate you um you know reaching back out and and being able to coordinate this. Um I recognize that a lot goes into it.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:09

This has been Bound in Dark Inc with Alicia. You can find me on Instagram at Bound in Dark Inc. and Pretty Mama's Books.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:18

Until next time, stay dark, stay obsessed with I was excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:23

I was like, I didn't even get a chance to talk to her, and she filled it out, and this is fucking awesome. And then the the honestly, people were filling them out like crazy after spellbound, but now they're like slowing down a lot. So I was like, I was gonna um have my episodes go weekly, but I was just like, if I do that by the end of February or March, I'll have nothing because like I haven't had anyone else that wanted to come on. So for now, we're gonna leave it at bi-weekly.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:54

Yeah, if you if you um share your form with me again, I can drop it um with a few of my author friends who I'm sure would love to be on your podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:04

Yeah, I'm I'm waiting for so Poppy Jacobson is yeah, I know. She uh she at Spellbound 2024, she had wrote this is I have to tell ever.