Esbat: A Bookish Podcast

Elle and Regi are joined by Hannah Selector to discuss Bonnie Quinn’s The Man With No Shadow. They dive into internet folklore, liminal spaces, new internet horror and old urban legends.

You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites and Hannah Selector @hannahselector, and check out her website hannahselector.com

AK Faulkner joins Elle and Regi to talk about JK Pendragon’s To Summon Nightmares. A novella that packs a punch, and leads to a proper good rant, as well as topics of horror, LGBT+ representation in horror, and the MCU’s strange tactic of presenting villains who…have some very good ideas, actually.

You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites and AK Faulker @PoopRaven.

Content Warnings: Transphobia, Gender dysphoria/transmedicalism, homophobia, death/gore, domestic abuse, discussions of guns & US gun culture, police, nazism

Elle, Regi, and Sandra Ruttan discuss Lore, by Alexandra Bracken, touching on retellings, the gods in the modern day, and how YA novels can be just as, if not more, brutal than their adult fiction counterparts.

You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites and Sandra via @dark_dispatch

Content Warnings: Violence/murder, sexism and misogyny, biogtry

The first host only episode! Elle and Regi try something different, and discuss a wider topic - Retellings! Spoiler: They love them! Whether it’s playing Hades or watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? and, of course, reading the wide variety out there, they can’t get enough! Featuring a brief, special appearance from Elle’s other half…

You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, and Regi @Regicwrites.

Content Warnings: Kidnapping/abduction/rape

Discussions of racism on the podcast with Heather picking Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark, a book in which the KKK summon literal demons, as if they weren’t evil enough already. You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites, and follow Heather @HSquared_13.

Content Warnings: Racism: blatant and microaggressions, trafficking/kidnapping

Elle, Regi and Dai discuss Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless. In this episode, they talk about the current hostility in the UK towards trans people, as well as touching on other topics explored in the books, including fascism and racism. You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites, and follow Dai @PrepareToDai.

Content Warnings: anti-Semitism, fascism, racism, rape, self-harm, suicide, transphobia, trauma, cults, murder of a sex worker.

Laurel picked Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado to discuss. Elle, Regi and Laurel talk about the use of body horror in fiction, especially in regards to women’s bodies, as well as folklore and urban legends and how Machado uses these to emphasize the inherent horror in being a woman. You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites, and follow Laurel Hightower, @HightowerLaurel.

Elle and Regi sit down with author S.H. Cooper to discuss Laurel Hightower’s Whispers in the Dark. They discuss the portrayal of women in fiction, as well as how Hightower conveys a blended family unit and why it’s so effective. You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, Regi @Regicwrites, and follow S.H. Cooper @MsPippinacious

Elle and Regi talk about their intentions with the podcast, why they started it, and what sort of things they’ll be discussing. You can follow us on Twitter @EsbatBookish, Elle @ElleTurpitt, and Regi @Regicwrites. If you are interested in reading Elle and Regi’s work, A Woman Built By Man is available in paperback and Kindle now!