"And when you give people the option to kind of live inside the head of a different character … if you're doing your job, and you make it a character that they can see themselves in and they can empathize with, and then you kind of throw these things at them. And then it just changes the way that people think about something."

For the Throne is the stunning conclusion to the Wilderwood duology that invokes familiar fairy tales with sharp prose and epic world-building, and it's out now. Hannah joins us on the show to talk about what draws readers to retellings, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a gateway to all fantasy, writing fanfiction and what she does with all those candles, The Foxglove King, her dream cast, what she's reading and watching right now and much more with guest host Kat Sarfas.

Featured Books:

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

For the Throne by Hannah Whitten

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Hunter by Kerrigan Byrne

Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford

This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Kat Sarfas, and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A full transcript of this show is available here.