The Mythic Mic Podcast

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🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Leena Kazak – @LeenaKazakBooks

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where sometimes the morally gray assassin is becoming good while the soft-hearted heroine might be headed in the opposite direction.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with author Samantha Nell to discuss Soulfire, the first book in the Godsfire series, a romantic fantasy filled with elemental magic, dream walking, reluctant allies-to-lovers, a mystery villain pulling the strings, and a magical fire gifted by the gods.

At the heart of the story are Taryn, an assassin beginning to question the person he's become, and Airess, a half-Elven nobleman's daughter destined to marry an evil prince. When their paths collide, they're forced to flee together through a world where Fae command the elements, Elves wield light and shadow, and dreams can become something far more powerful.

🔥 What happens when a morally gray assassin starts moving toward the light while the heroine begins moving toward the darkness?
🌙 What if you could train your mind to walk through dreams and turn those experiences into magic?
🖤 And can you uncover the villain when they're telling part of the story themselves?

If you love elemental magic, dream walking, reluctant allies-to-lovers, assassins, morally gray characters, one bed, one horse, opposites attract, hidden villains, deadly magic, and characters whose moral arcs might be crossing in very unexpected ways, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Samantha's journey from writing Wattpad stories as a teenager to finally finishing and independently publishing her debut novel.
✨ Creating the gorgeous Soulfire cover before the first draft was even finished and hiding story clues throughout its artwork.
✨ Navigating indie publishing, building an author platform, and generating early buzz through character art and social media.
✨ Taryn, an assassin questioning his morally gray past, and Airess, a half-Elven noblewoman facing an unwanted marriage to an evil prince.
✨ Why Samantha chose reluctant allies-to-lovers instead of traditional enemies-to-lovers and how Taryn and Airess grow in very different directions.
✨ Turning Samantha's real lucid dreaming experiences into the dream-walking magic of Soulfire.
✨ The mystery villain POV that lets readers watch someone pull the strings without discovering their identity until later in the story.
✨ The Godsfire behind the series and how each installment will explore a different magical fire gifted by the gods.
✨ What's coming in Book Two, including new POVs, new worlds, political intrigue, more fighting, more magic, and more reveals.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Samantha Nell – @nellbooks

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where arranged marriages become political weapons, deadly magic refuses to stay controlled, and the feared warlord may be the safest person in the room.

This week, host Bethany Amanda and Mythic Mic Team Member Amara sit down with fantasy author Rebecca Robinson to discuss The Serpent and the Wolf, The Wicked and the Damned, and her Dark Inheritance trilogy. 

Rebecca shares her journey from high school administrator and lifelong writer to traditionally published author, including balancing deadlines with a full-time career and family. She opens up about finding peace in an imperfect work-life balance, writing at a sustainable pace, spending nine months on submission, and proving that authors can still rise from the traditional query slush pile.

We also dive into The Serpent and the Wolf, where Vasa is married into a rival nation while fighting a deadly magic she cannot control. Her new husband needs a wife to secure his political future and offers to help her master her power in return. Rebecca discusses arranged marriage, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers tension, one-bed proximity, complicated political systems, found family, and writing enemies who oppose one another without treating each other cruelly. She also teases how The Wicked and the Damned forces Vasa to return to the place that harmed her and tests everything she learned about love, safety, and herself.

🐺 What happens when the violent warlord from every whispered warning turns out to be a green flag?
🔥 Can Vasa control the magic threatening her life without surrendering her freedom?
👑 And can an arranged marriage survive when love collides with political ambition, trauma, and rival nations?

This is a must-listen for romantasy readers, arranged-marriage and slow-burn fans, lovers of political intrigue and found family, and anyone who wants enemies-to-lovers without cruelty between the central couple.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Rebecca’s life as an author, mother, high school activities director, and fearless home cook.
✨ Planning proms, rallies, homecomings, and student events while building an author career.
✨ Why writing 500 words a day can still produce a complete novel within a year.
✨ Choosing financial stability while continuing to pursue writing as her greatest passion.
✨ What happens during the year between turning in a manuscript and publication.
✨ Why the second Dark Inheritance manuscript had to be divided into two books.
✨ Querying traditionally and becoming a self-described “slush pile baby.”
✨ Landing her dream agent while seven months pregnant.
✨ Spending nine months on submission before selling the series to Saga Press.
✨ Why indie success is rarely as sudden or effortless as it appears from the outside.
✨ Vasa’s rage, trauma, uncontrolled magic, and arranged marriage into a rival nation.
✨ Writing a democratic and oligarchic political system instead of another monarchy.
✨ Building a fantasy map by throwing snacks onto poster board.
✨ How salt, rivers, and geography shaped the world’s nations and political structures.
✨ Writing enemies who genuinely oppose one another without emotional cruelty.
✨ Arranged marriage, reluctant allies, slow-burn romance, and one-bed tension.
✨ Why love from others can sometimes help someone begin learning to love themselves.
✨ The egotistical new lord Rebecca had to rewrite because she found him far too attractive.
✨ Green-flag heroes, toxic fictional men, dragons, audiobooks, and rapid-fire chaos.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Rebecca Robinson – @RRobinsonWrites

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where sometimes the monster in the classics department isn't the professor who literally eats people.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with author and medieval scholar Taylor Grothe to discuss Lethal Kiss, a dark academia horror romance blending Jennifer's Body energy, Nordic folklore, murder, monsters, queer romance, and one deeply sinister university.

At the center of the story are two professors: Marcella, an ancient Nordic revenant hiding centuries of trauma and a need to feed, and Lacey, an autistic mortal professor desperately fighting for tenure in a system seemingly designed to keep her from succeeding. When they discover a body on the top floor of the classics department, they're dragged into the festering underbelly of their university, where some of the monsters are supernatural and some definitely aren't.

🩸 What happens when one of your professors is literally an ancient monster?
📚 What if the darkest part of dark academia isn't the supernatural horror at all?
🖤 And can falling in love make horror even more terrifying?

If you love dark academia, queer horror romance, ancient monsters, Nordic folklore, feminine rage, morally gray characters, murder, academic corruption, forbidden knowledge, literary horror, camp, gore, and romances between women who have absolutely been through it, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Taylor's journey from medieval scholarship and studying Arthuriana and Nordic saga to leaving academia and becoming a published author.
✨ The realities of changing literary agents and why Taylor believes authors should remember that an agent is ultimately a business partner.
✨ Moving from YA horror into adult fiction and why writing for adults had always been Taylor's long-term goal.
✨ Lethal Kiss, a Jennifer's Body-meets-Ninth House dark academia horror romance about two professors, a dead body, and a university crawling with monsters.
✨ Creating Marcella, an ancient Nordic revenant inspired by medieval saga and Beowulf, and Lacey, an autistic professor fighting for tenure while carrying religious trauma.
✨ Using supernatural horror to explore the corruption, misogyny, elitism, and systemic problems Taylor encountered within academia.
✨ Why Taylor believes romance doesn't soften horror but can actually make the horror more intense.
✨ Going completely full throttle with gore, camp, unhinged winter formals, and a final showdown Taylor describes as “crazy bananas.”
✨ The deeper themes of trauma, self-acceptance, and learning that what happened to us can shape us without having to define us.
✨ What's next, including the gothic fantasy Monstrous Beautiful Things and a deeply unsettling spore-horror story filled with grief, mushrooms, and things that definitely should not be happening.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Taylor Grothe – @TaylorLGrothe

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Wanda Hellmund – @WandaHellmund

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

Have tropes become more important than the actual story?

Welcome to another episode of Off The Shelf, Mythic Mic's monthly segment where we dive into bookish trends, deep dives, hot takes, and all things fantasy!

In this Off the Shelf episode, host Britt is joined by Mythic Mic team members Amara and Teresa Diaz to unpack the rise of trope-driven reading, BookTok marketing, microtropes, and the increasingly blurry line between using tropes to describe a book and using them to sell the entire story.

From enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity to fated mates, slow burns, miscommunication, cinnamon-roll love interests, and shadow daddies, the conversation explores why readers gravitate toward familiar tropes and whether knowing them upfront helps or hurts the reading experience. The group also gets into whether trope lists can accidentally spoil a book, why the same trope can feel completely different depending on the writing, and whether authors are starting to feel pressure to build stories around whatever trope is currently trending.

We’re asking:

• Have tropes become their own genre?
• Do trope lists help readers find books they’ll love or spoil too much of the story?
• Are authors feeling pressured to write toward popular tropes?
• Can the right book make you love a trope you normally hate?

Along the way, Britt makes the case for “diet enemies-to-lovers,” Amara champions fated mates and cinnamon-roll heroes, Teresa defends the much-maligned miscommunication trope, and the group debates everything from Fourth Wing, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City to Swordheart, Ashwalker, and Dungeon Crawler Carl.

If you’ve ever picked up a book solely because it promised enemies-to-lovers, immediately rejected one because of a trope you hate, wondered whether happily-ever-after is technically a spoiler, or found yourself asking whether the trope is supporting the plot or becoming the entire plot, this episode is for you.

CONNECT WITH THE MYTHIC MIC TEAM

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
👤 Britt – @BrittBooksit
👤 Amara – @Bored_Military_Wife

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where sometimes getting murdered is only the beginning of your villain origin story.

This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Amara sit down with author Matteo Franco to discuss The Undertow of Evelyn Graymore, the first book in the Hearts of the Drown series, a dark paranormal romance Matteo describes as The Little Mermaid in reverse meets Jennifer's Body with the paranormal vibes of Twilight.

After Evelyn Graymore is murdered by a powerful billionaire and thrown into the Puget Sound, her rage summons an ancient ocean entity who offers her another chance at life with a catch. She's transformed into a siren who must feed on the darkness inside corrupt men's hearts while hunting down the man who killed her. There's just one more inconvenient rule: if she falls in love, the person she loves will die.

🌊 What if The Little Mermaid came back from the dead looking for revenge?
🩸 If a siren only kills terrible men, is she really the villain?
🖤 And what happens when falling in love could literally kill the person you love?

If you love sirens, feminine rage, morally gray heroines, revenge stories, forbidden romance, paranormal romance, horror, shadow daddies, golden retriever love interests, forced proximity, deadly bargains, and women who refuse to stay dead, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Matteo's journey from fine art and dreams of filmmaking to writing stories that blend horror, fantasy, and romance.
✨ Why Matteo describes The Undertow of Evelyn Graymore as reverse Little Mermaid meets Jennifer's Body with darker Twilight vibes.
✨ Writing feminine rage, morally complicated women, and a story that asks whether Evelyn is actually the villain at all.
✨ Evelyn's murder, the ocean entity who answers her rage, and the Faustian bargain that transforms her into a siren hungry for the darkness inside corrupt men.
✨ The forbidden romance at the heart of the story and the devastating rule that falling in love could kill the person Evelyn loves.
✨ Siren lore, revenge, visceral horror, and Matteo's cinematic approach to creating an atmospheric world readers can see unfolding like a movie.
✨ Building a massive reader community before publication and why Matteo believes readers connect with authors who feel like people rather than billboards.
✨ The unexpected Instagram connection that led to Matteo signing with his literary agent without ever entering the traditional query trenches.
✨ Why genre blending is opening new doors for readers who love romance and fantasy but might never normally pick up horror.
✨ What's next, including Book Two of Hearts of the Drown, an upcoming gothic botanical horror romance, and even more psychological horror to come.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Matteo Franco – @Matteofrancoauthor

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where ancient legends are real, lost treasures are waiting to be found, and some tombs are better left undiscovered.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with author Natalia Hernandez to discuss The Lost Guardian, an Indiana Jones-meets-The Mummy adventure inspired by real Peruvian history, Incan mythology, ancient curses, deadly riddles, and the mystery surrounding the lost tomb of the last Incan emperor.

Santiago is a timid, history-obsessed archaeology student who grew up listening to his grandfather's stories about ancient Incan legends. But when his grandfather dies, Santiago discovers that those stories were never just myths. He's the last in a long line of guardians sworn to protect the location of the tomb of Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor, whose legendary resting place may contain an unimaginable fortune in stolen gold and treasure. Now, Santiago must follow a trail of ancient clues to find the tomb before dangerous enemies reach it and unleash a devastating curse upon the world.

Luckily, he's not alone. Enter Ali, a gun-wielding, martial-arts-trained adventurer who's much more comfortable with danger than Santiago. Together, they'll navigate ancient mysteries, uncover hidden history, and embark on a journey that challenges everything Santiago thought he knew about his family, his heritage, and himself.

🏺 What if Indiana Jones met The Mummy in a treasure hunt inspired by real Incan history?
💀 What happens when the last guardian of an ancient emperor's tomb discovers that the legends he's spent his life studying are real?
⚔️ And what if the badass action hero is a woman, while the man she's protecting is a history-loving cinnamon roll?

If you love Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Tomb Raider, Atlantis, archaeological adventures, ancient civilizations, lost treasures, deadly curses, historical mysteries, powerful heroines, cinnamon-roll heroes, and fantasy adventures inspired by real mythology, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Natalia's multicultural upbringing across Turkey, Romania, Poland, and Guatemala and how discovering her Latin American heritage shaped her storytelling.
✨ How a vivid dream, a viral TikTok with 1.7 million views, and thousands of curious readers launched Natalia's career as an author.
✨ Why Natalia chose independent publishing after encountering pressure to make her stories less queer and less Latin, and how that journey led to her traditional publishing debut.
✨ The Lost Guardian and its Indiana Jones-meets-Atlantis adventure inspired by the real history of Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor.
✨ The mystery of Atahualpa's lost tomb, the treasure stolen by Spanish conquistadors, and the ancient curse threatening to be unleashed.
✨ Santiago, a gentle, nerdy archaeology student who discovers he's the last guardian of a secret passed down through generations.
✨ Ali, the gun-wielding, martial-arts-trained heroine who flips traditional adventure-story gender roles and keeps Santiago alive.
✨ Ancient riddles, hidden maps, Incan mythology, and the real historical artifacts and locations that inspired the book's puzzle-box mystery.
✨ Natalia's research trip to Peru, including ancient aqueducts, stone forests, petroglyphs, and the history that helped bring the adventure to life.
✨ The importance of authentic cultural representation, advocating for accurate character artwork, and refusing to water down identity for publishing.
✨ What's coming next in the series, including a new adventure in the Peruvian Amazon featuring a fan-favorite professor Natalia affectionately calls "Indiana Juanis."

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Wanda Hellmund – @NataliaHernandezAuthor

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where sometimes the child stolen by the fae grows up to become a little chaos bunny instead of an evil queen.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with author Ann Aguirre to discuss The Hocus Pocus Handbook, a cozy fantasy romance filled with found family, grumpy/sunshine romance, he-falls-first pining, a road trip through Faerie, misfits challenging the powers that be, and one delightfully chaotic heroine.

Thea is the mortal child on the other side of a changeling story: stolen from the human world and raised among the fae. Now an outsider with a unique place in the Winter Court, she's determined to help the wild fae and create a little well-intentioned trouble along the way. Enter Kerboros, her tightly controlled, isolated opposite, and a romance Ann designed to feel like a cup of warm tea on a cool fall day.

🍂 What happens to the human child stolen away in a faerie changeling story?
✨ What if love and found family are the only things standing between a heroine and her evil queen era?
💕 And what happens when a chaos bunny meets the ultimate grump... who falls first?

If you love cozy fantasy, faerie courts, found family, grumpy/sunshine, he falls first, pining, chaotic heroines, opposites attract, magical road trips, misfits, fall vibes, and stories that feel like a warm drink on a cold day, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Ann's childhood dream of becoming an author, including the unforgettable moment Shel Silverstein helped her realize writing could actually be a career.
✨ Why Ann rejects “write what you know” and believes writers should give themselves permission to imagine beyond their own experiences.
✨ The twenty-year journey from her first novel and rejection as a teenager to finally becoming a traditionally published author.
✨ The Hocus Pocus Handbook and Ann's twist on changeling lore: what happens to the mortal child taken away and raised in Faerie?
✨ Creating Thea, a chaotic-good outsider whose upbringing and adoptive father's love may have saved her from becoming an evil queen.
✨ The grumpy/sunshine, he-falls-first romance between social chaos bunny Thea and tightly controlled, isolated Kerberos.
✨ Discovering she'd chosen the completely wrong love interest and rewriting the entire first act once the characters set her straight.
✨ Thea's tender relationship with her adoptive father and Ann's belief that the people we choose as family are every bit as real as the ones we're born into.
✨ Building a completely original fae realm and exploring Thea's complicated role as both an outsider and someone valuable to the Winter Court.
✨ Why Ann hopes readers finish the story feeling seen, safe, happier, and a little more restored than when they started.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Ann Aguirre – @Ann_Aguirre_Author

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.