This week, we're talking ghosts, magic, and the macabre with Victoria Schwab. Writing as both Victoria (for YA) and V.E. (for "adult"), Schwab has a deep and compelling catalog of amazing books. Most recently, she's spooking the middle grade crowd with City of Ghosts and thrilling fans of her runaway success Vicious with its sequel, Vengeful. She's also returning to the Shades of Magic world with The Steel Prince, a comic book prequel from Titan Comics. Busy much?

On this episode, Shiri and I talk to Victoria about her early career, finding (and making) a creative routine that works for you, keeping the process vibrant by writing across genres and audiences, scaring kids, and telling stories across media. We also talk about the arbitrary divides that categorize books for different age groups and why stories twinged with fantastical elements are so much fun. Hint: They show us a world vastly more interesting than our own.