Spoil Me

I'm starting on a new book this week, Hounded by Kevin Hearne, which is part of the Iron Druid series. It's got a lot of that Dresden Files flavor, but with a different attitude towards magic and towards supposedly mythical beings than the world Jim Butcher has created.
Atticus is a couple of millenia old and he's sick of this bullshit. He's been running from faeries for a long-ass time, and keeps getting jumped, and keeps uprooting his life and starting over somewhere new just because they're on his trail. But this time, the faerie thugs sent to take him down are not motivating him to run away; instead he's decided that he's going to make a last stand and face off with the god that he's pissed off, once and for all.
Of course, there's a catch. He's only still alive because the Morrigan, goddess of death and battlefield carnage, has decided that she doesn't like the god who is after Atticus much herself, and she's keeping him alive out of spite. Which is kind of my favorite thing? But she's not the only goddess of death out there, and there's still a chance that one of the others might come for Atticus, in time.
This was a lot of fun, and many thanks to Aaron Schwartz for commissioning it!
If you'd like to pick up a copy of Iron Druid, you can do that here! https://amzn.to/2PeecU7

Oh boy I'm so excited about this one, y'all. A book about a young girl and a vampire where the vampire is NOT a sexy love interest whom she finds impossible to resist? I never thought I'd see the day!
This episode covers up until the very end of Part 1, and it's quite a little rollercoaster. We find out that Rae comes from a family of magic-handlers, and that she hasn't used her abilities in a long time (it's not totally clear to me why not, but it seems to have something to do with baggage about her dad and needing to keep it secret from her mom). She's able to get out of her shackles, and then decides that she can leave until her Vampire Friend (VF) is also free.
Which leads to her discovering some of the most powerful magic yet: she can touch him, and make it possible for him to walk in sunlight unharmed. WHOA THAT IS A BIG DEAL HELLO.
I have no idea what's going to happen now that she's safe at home. Bo is going to have to find her, right? DON'T YOU DARE HURT YOLANDE, BO!
Major thanks to Rosalie Oceanna-Kolb for sponsoring this entire book! If you would like to read along, you can pick up a copy here: https://amzn.to/2vKX9BS

I'm back with the next episode of Veronica Mars, and this episode is the one with Paris Hilton in it and I was not ready for that although maybe I should have been. Because LA.
This episode is a good one to use as an example of how to suss out what tone a show is going to go for. I wasn't sure what kind of investigative show Veronica Mars was going to be; would it be a procedural, where we follow along with every step and every Aha! moment, or would it be more like a Poirot and make sudden leaps to wild conclusions, leaving the audience behind, or something else? The answer seems to be as close to a procedural as a story about a high-school student is likely to get, along with sometimes a leap that the audience gets to see without Veronica. For example, we watch as Logan pieces together that his girl has been cheating on him before Veronica really understands the truth, and I found that interesting.
In the end, this episode tricked and surprised me, and I like that. Paris didn't ruin it! Who knew? And I still wanna know WHO KILLED LILY?
Thanks so much for commissioning this episode, Megan, and I can't wait to bring you next week's show!

I cannot tell you how excited I am that Tristen commissioned the next episode of So You Want To Be A Wizard, because I was dying to find out what they had brought back with them after that strange spell went awry, and I was not disappointed.
Y'all. Meet Fred.
I am so surprised that I never even heard of this series before, considering how wild some of the concepts are in this book. I mean, I cover so many fantasy book and TV series that dip into the realm of the magical, how had nobody told me about these before? These kids summon a white hole! NAMED FRED! Like, what?
Also they get some help from a couple other wizards who seem to know how to fix Fred's burping problem, and yet neither one of them asks what the World Gates are, and I take issue with that.
There's already another episode of So You Want To Be A Wizard recorded for next week, so stay tuned!

Alright, so I'm pretty stoked because this is the first project for Spoil Me! that a sponsor has let me know they intend to have me cover in full. So if you're someone who likes following along with what I'm covering, but you haven't seen totally sold on investing your time in anything for Spoil Me! so far, I recommend using my link to pick up a copy of this book: https://amzn.to/2MZp8UQ
So far, this book is a great example of how to get me to believe in an alternate reality/timeline of supernatural events set in our world. That may seem simple, but it's really not an easy thing to pull off while still seeming natural and direct rather that unnecessarily convoluted, so props to Robin McKinley for that. Also, I'm a big fan of how scared she made her main character. RELATABLE.
I am really interested to see where the story goes from here. Why is this vampire in what amounts to a vampire oubliette? What did he do? And who is Bo? Because Bo sure seems like an asshole.
Thanks so much to Rosalie for commissioning this episode! If you're like to join me on Crowdcast for future episodes, you can find events at either https://www.unspoiledpodcast.com/events or https://www.facebook.com/unspoiledpod/events

It's finally happening, y'all! There were a lot of folks who were interested in getting me to cover Veronica Mars, and it was the first thing that got talked about when I announced the new Spoil Me! project. So here we are with the first episode!
Okay, so first thing's first: many people have assumed after hearing that I'm not a huge fan of The Good Place that it's because I don't like Kristen Bell. This is very far from the truth; I loved her when she guested on Parks & Rec, I just didn't think she was well-cast in The Good Place because I don't buy her as an ill-mannered, borderline clueless asshole. But as Veronica Mars? Yeah, she's the perfect kind of asshole for this role.
Don't get me wrong, I don't really think Veronica is an asshole. But I think people who don't know who she is and everything she's been through might see her that way, because her trauma has caused her to put up a wall that makes her seem abrasive and distant. Kristen Bell is a great person to bridge two very different characters: the sweet and wholesome highschool girl dating a socially powerful jock, and the cynical loner with doucheray vision and a distinctly Slytherin streak.
I'm really enjoying this show. Thanks so much to Nancy for sponsoring it, and if you'd like to join us for the next live Crowdcast you can see the events on either https://www.facebook.com/UnspoiledPod/events or https://www.unspoiledpodcast.com/events and add it to your calendar!

Hey you gorgeous souls! I'm here with an episode of Spoil Me! sponsored by Devin Mathews, who requested the first 50 pages of So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane. If you're interested in picking up a copy, you can find it here! https://amzn.to/2OqsD7l
This was an unexpected pleasure, and I'm so delighted to find out that there are many fans of this series in the UNspoiled! fandom who were excited to see this commissioned. I'm really into the whole idea of a brand new method of employing magic, and this is certainly a style that I haven't come across much in my personal reading.
Thanks so much to Devin for the commission, and if anyone wants to join the Facebook group to organize commissions, you can find it here: www.facebook.com/groups/spoilmepod
See you next week with the first episodes of Veronica Mars!

Thanks so much to D'Nique Gonzales for commissioning this episode.

This is my first foray into Octavia Butler's work, and she really knows how to paint a terrifying picture. I did a live, on-camera read of the chapters this episode, and it wasn't easy to just read through some of the sentences in this opening section without stopping for a breather. The descriptions of poverty, violence, and hopelessness really are upsetting. Jesus Christ.

If you haven't read this book, you can get a preview by listening to me read these chapters and decide if you want to pick up the book yourself and follow along.

Thank you again for your support, D'Nique, and for being my very first commission!

Purchase the book: https://amzn.to/2uUF97s
Commission an episode: http://www.unspoiledpodcast.com/shop
Join the Facebook group for commissions: http://www.facebook.com/groups/spoilmepod