To Maxx's delight, the darkness of Sinful Signings is behind us (Producer's Note: LOVE YOU, SINFUL BESTIES!!!), and now things can get back to normal, with "normal" meaning "the weird and goofy stuff," and few do weird and goofy like Bjorn Wilde! This week, Katie covers books 1-5 of Bjorn's stepparent taboo series, Taking The Step, and we lose our collective minds at the notion of an 18-year-old with a penis who's barely touched the darn thing!

Book Description

Shy eighteen-year-old Cam is ready to be a man…he just doesn’t know how. One thing he does know, though…he certainly doesn’t need his jocky, new step-dad Jason trying to teach him.

But when his mom gets called away on business, it’s Cam’s worst nightmare come to life as Jason plans a special guys’ week in hopes of getting his step-son to finally open up.

One-on-one bonding with his step-dad couldn’t possibly be further from Cam’s idea of a good time. This guys’ week, though, is destined to bring the two closer than they ever imagined.

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: naive adolescent MMC and taboo attraction.

TROPES: M/M Cis/Homosexual step-daddy romance, sexual awakening, virgin main character, rom-com heavy on the com, awakenings…just…awakenings.

TITILLATIONS: physical self discovery, masturbation, exhibitionism & voyeurism, mild dom/sub dynamics, homemade sex tape of your super-hot step dad, condom practice. (Suspend your disbelief, this 18 year old man has never touched his own junk before.)

So...What Are You Into?

Katie: The Lazarus Project and "The Doll People" by Sofia Isella

Carl: Pablo Torre Finds Out, the Criterion Channel, and FOIAball.

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

Producer's Note: we understand that this isn't a normal episode, and that you may not be interested in hearing us talk about Sinful Signings again. If you would like to hear about the giveaway, jump ahead to the 24:50 mark.

No book this week as we're blasting this one out far and wide for patrons and main liners alike! This week we're recapping Sinful Signings 2025, looking ahead to BOTH Sinful Signings events next year, talking about the future of the show, and we're hosting our first-ever giveaway!

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

Producer's Note: given the difficult nature of capturing live sound, this episode's volume levels are going to be higher than what you are used to.

For our first Sinful Signings in 2024, we interviewed New York Times bestselling author Brynne Weaver and had no idea how we could top that. Well, thanks to the amazing Sinful Signings team (thank you, Autumn, Desi, and David!), we were able to top it and then some with our first-ever LIVE episode! Katie and Carl were joined by narrator Lizzie Heard and a room full of smut lovers as Katie told the tale of Wicked Games by P.H. Nix and Celeste Night. Proceedings got more unhinged than usual, so strap in and bask in one of the wildest and darkest books we've ever covered!

Book Description

A black envelope with silver filigree, a house long abandoned by residents, and a tragedy covered up in the bayou. What did these three things have in common?

Harper

When I received an invitation to the House of Horrors at the once beautiful Toussaint Manor, unease had filled every fiber of my being. And like the dumbass I was, I still went. What I didn’t know was that once I stepped foot inside, I might not ever leave.

Minos

Harper Leigh was beautiful, but beneath her sweet facade, I knew that she was a snake, just like the rest of her friends. She had to pay for the pain she’d caused, preferably in blood.

Erebus

Once I caught sight of the woman with haunting eyes and midnight colored hair, I knew that she had to be mine. My brother wanted to punish her, but I wanted to keep her. That could only happen if she lived through our trials.

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: murder, torture, blood, gore, death, fire, mauling by alligator, violent and erotic horror, bloody revenge.

TROPES: Saw-like torture house, final girl awakenings.

TITILLATIONS: dubious consent/non-consent, suspension, binding w/ rope, double penetration, oral sex, anal sex, vaginal sex, penetration w/ a weapon (gun).

So...What Are You Into?

Lizzie: Her child!
Katie: Seekers Notes
Carl: "CPR" by Wet Leg and The Second Founding by Eric Foner

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

Our last pre-Sinful Signings episode is here and it is a WILD one! This week, Katie and Carl are joined by fellow Sinful Signings attendees Kelly and Branden of Blush Podcast, and they were game for Only Her by N. Slater. After the traumas inflicted upon Carl by last week's book (Producer's note: Still love you, Burd!), Katie felt like something sweet and sapphic was in order!

Book Description

Daniela has stolen my heart, my body, and my soul.
She’s mine.
Even if she’s the soon-to-be Queen of Kusovania.
Unfortunately, as a mere noble and Kusovania’s royal seamstress, my chances at remaining by her side are slim to none. Until I somehow find myself standing before the King, competing against other royals for Daniela’s hand.
I have nothing to offer except for my heart.
Hopefully, it’ll be enough.

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: monarchy and royalty, status and wealth, incredibly bitchy ex-girlfriends.

TROPES:  F/F cis/sapphic romance, royal romance, secret love affair, competition for her hand, anachronistic past-present setting.

TITILLATIONS: fingering, frottage, cunnilingus, use of a strap-on...all the best things lesbians do!

So...What Are You Into?

Kelly: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
Branden: Praise!
Katie: Hell Hole: the Fleshlight That Drained Me Dry by V.X. Cross
Carl: Games Done Quick

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

We are SO. CLOSE. To Sinful Signings 2025 (July 19-20 in Roanoke, Virginia), and the dark parade of attending authors covered on our show marches on with The Three Ring Scavenger by S. A. Burd. Katie has longed to cover one of of Burd's books on the show, and the wait paid off big time, as it led her to this bonkers tale of demons, gods, and vampires getting up to no good.

Book Description

A vampire and demon walk into a brothel, but they’re not looking for services. They’re looking for HER.
Being a business owner and whore house madam has kept Maude very busy since her husband’s grisly death. She doesn’t have time for games or interruptions, but fate rarely gives us what we expect. One moment she’s minding her own business; the next, two extremely good-looking men come to offer her immortality. Making deals with demons can be tricky—she should have read all the fine print, or at least asked more about HIM.
Now she’s faced with a vampire, a demon, and a god, all hiding in plain sight. What they ask of her will rock her to her very core. She needs to keep her head on straight and not let her new power—or the tempestuous god—seduce her.

Brief Descriptions of Long Books: Only Between Us by Ellie K. Wilde 

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: graphic violence, murder, blood and gore, vampires, demons, gods and sundry, consumption of all parts of the human animal, turn-of-the-century circus (and all associated ickiness), fatal injury to a main character, coercion and control of the main character, toxic interpersonal dynamics (that made Katie want to hurt main characters).

TROPES: F/M cis/het dark romance ft a human-turned-creature FMC and an incorporeal god currently inhabiting a male human body, historical romance (turn-of-the-20th-century, New Orleans, LA), three-ring circus, strong independent woman, literal man eater, Zeus but it's worse this time, “more like enemies who are lovers amirite?”

TITILLATIONS: masked man, horn play, mild BDSM dynamics, restraints, blindfold, use of superlatives "My Lord" and "Pet/Little One," bathtub, blood exchange, and intimate bloodletting.

So...What Are You Into?

Katie: "I Used To Be Young" by Miley Cyrus
Carl: Riding His Bike

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

This week, Katie caught Carl slipping and forgetting what Sinful Signings is all about. (Spoiler: the dark stuff.) Luckily, Katie read Their Goddess by Sabrina G. this week, and that was all the reminding that Carl needed! Tune in and you'll almost literally HEAR a man get whiplash from the tone shift!

Book Description 

Ethan and Syrus met online. Their true identities hidden behind a mask, but the chemistry they feel cannot be denied. What started as a few collaboration videos turned into lives together and spiraled into an in-person meet-up at a coffee shop.

One year later they're together.
They’re happy.
They’re in love.

However, there's a new girl at their coffee shop and neither can deny the pull they feel toward her or the familiar tone of her voice. Except Selena has a past, a past she's desperately trying to run away from.

Will her past come for her?
Will it come for them all?

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: past domestic violence & spousal abuse, stalking, abduction, threats made with a firearm.

TROPES: MMF menage Cis/Queer romance, gaming and streaming, masked man, baking, the boyfriends are boyfriends, coincidence or fate?

TITILLATIONS: power exchange, dominant & submissive dynamics, two brats - one dom, penetrative, oral, anal and vaginal sex, menage & double penetration.

So...What Are You Into?

Katie: Criminal Minds
Carl: Of Monsters and Mainframes

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

We know that Sinful Signings celebrates the darker side of the romance world, but sometimes you gotta lighten up and let a little sunshine in! That's exactly what we're doing this week with Concussion Protocol by Sinful Signings attending author Rebecca Rathe! Join us for this breezy and sexy tale of a hot nurse and his hunky, rugby-playing patient!

Book Description

A sweet and spicy short story by Rebecca Rathe

He's a ten, but he's my ex-boyfriend's straight teammate and my patient.

Rugby Player & Nurse
Ex Boyfriend's Friend
Bi Awakening

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: vomit, blood, and gross stuff that happens in the ER, character with a head injury, medically induced altered state (loopy from the meds), questionable medical ethics, mild violence.

TROPES: M/M cis/homosexual romance, sports romance (rugby player,) medical romance (ER nurse,) ex-boyfriend’s coworker, bi awakening, caring for the injured.

TITILLATIONS: oral sex, anal sex, “moment of weakness that turns out to be so much more.”

So...What Are You Into?

Katie: Gold Diggers: the Secret of Bear Mountain
Carl: Murderbot

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

Sinful Signings 2025 is on the horizon (July 19th-20th in Roanoke, Virginia), so things are getting dark here at Smutco Industries! We're kicking off our coverage of the dark romance genre with a book that came highly recommended by patron/dear friend Katie Hurd; Draga & the Savage: Dragobete by Jenny Allen. The spice may be on the low end, but the passion is INTENSE!

Book Descirption

Luminita
As a woman in medieval Romania, the inability to control my fate quickly grew from annoyance to a festering wound. Even as a Durand, who can rip the soul from a man, I have no place in power because I am female. When I left my home in Kotor, I vowed to prove the world wrong. Then I stumbled across a true mystery who eventually called me Draga, Beloved.

Aaron
After seven thousand years of life, I thought I'd uncovered all of life's secrets. Blood was my only joy as a vampire. When the Mongol's Golden Horde descended on us in 1241, I seized the opportunity to indulge myself amongst their atrocities. That is until a chance encounter earned me the name Salbatic, the Savage, and forever changed my life.

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: dark themes, violence, gore, & murder, on-page death of a minor, attempted sexual assault, depictions of war and devastation, drug use: both consensual & non-consensual, vampires (blood, blood letting, blood consumption).

TROPES: F/M cis/heterosexual dark romance ft. vampiric characters, historical romance (medieval eastern Europe), only one bed, romance NOT a love story.

TITILLATIONS: ritualistic sex, blood play and violence, sex outdoors, power struggle.

So...What Are You Into?

Katie: Doctor Who
Carl: Monster Prom 4 - Monster Con

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

This week, Katie and Carl continue to gush about their time at Monsterotica Book Con, including how delighted they were to meet B.C. King and Phantom Dame, co-creators of Cold Nights In A Warm Cave, the book we are covering this week. Join us and marvel at how quickly this book goes from sweet to silly to spicy in the blink of an eye!

Producer's Note: there is a tone at the 29:55 mark to indicate this week's Brief Descriptions of Long Books.

Book Description

Olivia, a fearless homesteader on the edge of civilization, is on a mission to establish a partnership with a notoriously isolationist enclave of bear folk. She sets off in search of the mythical caves, but when an unexpected blizzard snows out the road home, her only option is to find shelter within the enclave itself.

Winter has come early, and for the fifth year in a row, Vetch has failed to find a hibernation partner. Bracing for a season of cold, lonely nights, he heads into the woods, hoping to forage some comfort food, but to his surprise, he finds an entirely different kind of snack: a plump, juicy human woman.

The nights may be cold, but for two lonely souls in a firelit cave, things are heating up.

Triple T's

TRIGGERS: isolation (self-imposed), dangerous winter weather nearly kills our FMC, the subsequent illness nearly kills our FMC, mortification nearly kills our FMC.

TROPES: F/M Cis/Het romance ft. human FMC and Bearman MMC, snowed in, only one bed, nursed back to health, plus-size romance (e’rbody’s big), wife guy, makeover scene, pregnancy.

TITILLATIONS: BIG size difference, stretching and stuffing, dangerous blow jobs, excessive fluids, sex in public.

Brief Descriptions of Long Books: Once & Forever Kings series by Jonathan Hawker

So...What Are You Into?

Katie: "The Deep Blue Okay" by Self Esteem and "The Song (Love Is All)" From O'dessa
Carl: Doom: the Dark Ages

BONUS LINK: O'dessa trailer

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Music: "Storytime" by Mated Fates

Katie and Carl Mizell are Smutco Industries. Together, they create Cheap Smut, a podcast for people who would never let anyone see their Kindle library. Each week, Katie explains the plot of a cheap, smutty book ($4.99 or less) to her husband Carl, who has little to no idea what the book is about.