The Mythic Mic Podcast

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where fated mates are complicated, monster legacies come with curses, and sometimes rejecting four powerful men only makes them more obsessed.

This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan are joined by team member Amara for a wildly fun conversation with author Morgan B. Lee about Blood Oath, the first book in the Cursed Legacies series, a why choose paranormal academy romance filled with monster descendants, fated bonds, secret missions, deadly cinnamon rolls, and one heroine determined not to fall for the men the gods chose for her.

Morgan shares her journey as a lifelong writer, from writing stories as a kid to publishing under a pen name, stepping away after a brutal review, and eventually returning with the spite, resilience, and determination that helped Blood Oath become a reader-favorite series. She opens up about failure, bad reviews, imposter syndrome, special editions, and why publishing your book is survivable even when the fear feels huge.

The conversation also dives into Everbound University, where descendants of monsters train, form bonds, and work to break the curses placed on them by the gods. When Maven arrives with a secret mission and every intention of staying invisible, the gods match her with the four most powerful men at the school. Her solution? Reject them. Their solution? Become even more obsessed.

🖤 What happens when a black cat heroine rejects the bond the gods chose for her?
🔥 Can four powerful men who barely get along work together for the woman they all need?
💀 And why is everyone obsessed with the nightmare prince who gives finger bouquets?

Whether you love why choose romance, paranormal academies, fated mates, monster descendants, obsessed men, dark humor, rejected bonds, or morally questionable fictional stalking, this episode is packed with chaos, honesty, and so many reasons to start Blood Oath.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Morgan’s lifelong love of writing and storytelling.
✨ Publishing under a pen name, facing a devastating review, and finding the courage to write again.
✨ Why bad reviews are survivable and why every beloved book has critics.
✨ Going from a difficult publishing experience to a bestselling why choose series.
✨ Morgan’s advice for writers, including keeping lists of ideas that spark excitement.
✨ Blood Oath, Everbound University, and the Cursed Legacies series.
✨ Monster descendants, divine curses, fated mates, and rejected bonds.
✨ Maven’s secret mission and why she cannot afford to be matched with the school’s most powerful men.
✨ Why Crypt became the fan favorite nightmare prince.
✨ Writing obsessed men, stalkery fictional romance, and why it works in fantasy.
✨ Character dynamics, black cat FMC energy, and men who need her even when she rejects them.
✨ Writing non-linearly, cutting slow scenes, and rewriting beginnings again and again.
✨ Reader expectations, bold DMs, and why not all happily ever afters need to look the same.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Morgan B. Lee – @Miss_Morgan__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.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where murdered kings make dangerously charming love interests, magical bonds come with deadly consequences, and the ghost haunting you may also be trying to steal your soul.

This week, host Bethany Amanda and Mythic Mic rep Teresa Diaz sit down with Cortney L. Winn, author of the bestselling fantasy romance Vesselless and its highly anticipated sequel, Merciless. 

Cortney takes us behind the scenes of her extraordinary journey from writing her first novel as part of a personal bucket-list challenge to unexpectedly publishing Vesselless on Kindle Unlimited and landing a traditional publishing deal with Harper Voyager only seven months later. She opens up about the bizarre circumstances that pushed her to publish before she was ready, how strong reader support attracted foreign publishing interest, and why indie authors are transforming the traditional publishing landscape.

We also dive into the gloriously original premise behind Vesselless: a reluctant heiress who can see spirits, a murdered king trapped between life and death, and a magical bond that turns the creature granting her power into her dangerous and devastatingly charming love interest.

Cortney reveals why she describes the book as “spicy Casper,” how Fourth Wing helped inspire her spirit-bond magic system, and why the entire series was constructed around one pivotal sacrifice at the end of book one. She also teases a darker, twist-filled sequel that begins the instant Vesselless ends, and apparently leaves no reader’s predictions, emotions, or hairline intact.

👻 What happens when the ghost sent to steal your soul becomes the person you cannot let go?
👑 Can an heiress trust the murdered king whose throne was stolen by her own father?
🖤 And what if the greatest heroes really do have a little darkness inside them?

This is a must-listen for fantasy romance readers, ghost-boyfriend enthusiasts, aspiring authors, special-edition collectors, and anyone desperate to know what comes next after the ending of Vesselless.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Cortney’s journey from serial hobby collector to bestselling fantasy romance author.
✨ How a bucket-list challenge (and one very specific Google search) led her to write her first novel.
✨ Publishing Vesselless on Kindle Unlimited with almost no launch preparation.
✨ The unexpected path from indie publishing to a Harper Voyager book deal.
✨ How foreign-rights interest helped Cortney find her literary agent.
✨ Why indie authors are changing traditional publishing expectations and negotiations.
✨ Working with book boxes and the special editions readers have gone feral over.
✨ Cortney’s advice for aspiring authors on consistency, self-belief, and becoming comfortable with discomfort.
✨ Writing at four in the morning while balancing school, motherhood, wedding cakes, and a newborn.
✨ The inspiration behind Vesselless and its spirit-bond magic system.
✨ Why ghosts won out over zombies as Cortney’s supernatural love interest of choice.
✨ What readers can expect from the darker and more unpredictable Merciless.
✨ Why Cortney describes book two as one enormous plot twist.
✨ Ghost beliefs, delayed banter comebacks, tattoo-worthy quotes, and rapid-fire chaos.

Plus, Bethany and Teresa reveal an upcoming giveaway with Moonlight Book Box featuring its highly coveted special edition of Vesselless. So keep an eye on The Mythic Mic Podcast’s social media pages for details!

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Cortney Winn – @CortneyLWinn

✨ 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 death is hereditary, gods walk among us, and the greatest battle is deciding who you want to become.

This week, host Bethany Amanda is joined by Mythic Mic Rep Teresa for an unforgettable conversation with bestselling author S.A. Barnes about her addictive dark academia romantasy, Death's Daughter.

Stacey shares her fascinating publishing journey from writing a terrible first novel and landing her first book deal with Disney to becoming one of today's leading voices in science fiction horror before making the leap into romantasy. We also discuss working in a high school library, writing across multiple genres, and what it's like seeing Death's Daughter transformed into one of FairyLoot's most stunning special editions.

Then we dive into Death's Daughter, a fresh urban fantasy where Jocasta is trying to live a normal college life except she's also the daughter of Death. When her estranged father unexpectedly names her his successor, she's thrust into a dangerous supernatural world of rival deities, impossible choices, forbidden attraction, and the terrifying question of whether she can escape the legacy she was born into.

We also discuss morally gray magic, urban fantasy, supernatural romance, messy characters, chosen family, and why Stacey believes readers deserve stories that are both thrilling and deeply human.

💀 What if Death named you his heir?
🖤 Can you outrun the darkness that's part of who you are?
✨ And what happens when choosing your future means defying the gods themselves?

This episode is perfect for readers who love dark academia, urban fantasy, mythology, supernatural romance, morally gray heroines, and stories with Buffy and Supernatural vibes.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

✨ Stacey's publishing journey from YA to horror to romantasy.
✨ Working in a high school library and inspiring young readers.
✨ The inspiration behind Death's Daughter.
✨ Building a supernatural world hidden inside our own.
✨ The daughter of Death trying to reject her destiny.
✨ Magic, mythology, and dangerous family legacies.
✨ Why urban fantasy deserves a comeback.
✨ Behind the scenes of FairyLoot's gorgeous special edition.
✨ Writing across horror, fantasy, and romance.
✨ What readers can expect from book two.
✨ The future of the Death's Daughter series.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚S.A. Barnes  – @AuthorStaceyKade

✨ 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 to the first episode of Banter & Books, a new monthly Mythic Mic segment where Amara and a special guest share spoiler-free reviews of the books they cannot stop thinking about!

For the inaugural episode, Amara is joined by fellow Mythic Mic team member Britt to discuss dragon bonds, sassy skeletons, morally questionable angels and demons, magical murder investigations, workplace comedy in a villain’s lair, and the books capable of breaking even the most stubborn reading slump.

They dive into Ashwalker by S.M. Gaither, Hopeless Necromantic by Shiloh Briar, The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace, and This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara. They also revisit two unforgettable favorites: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer and Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent.

Along the way, Amara and Britt debate whether Ashwalker delivers what they wanted from Fourth Wing, celebrate golden-retriever angels and Ben Barnes-coded love interests, compare never-ending TBRs, and determine which books earned five stars, five flames, a plethora of feathers, or simply immaculate vibes.

Whether you are deciding which fantasy book to pick up next or just want to listen to two friends enthusiastically add to each other’s TBRs, this spoiler-free episode is for you.

BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE

• Ashwalker by S.M. Gaither (Check out our interview with S.M. Gaither here)
• Hopeless Necromantic by Shiloh Briar (Check out our interview with Shiloh Briar here)
• The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace (Our interview with Adalyn Grace drops September 16th so stay tuned!) 
• This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara
• Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
• Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent (Our interview with Carissa Broadbent drops August 5th so stay tuned!) 

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 gardens can become portals, beetles can steal the entire show, and sometimes grief blooms into something magical.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with author J.K. Ross to discuss A Throne in Bloom, a whimsical and heartfelt romantasy filled with portal magic, living plants, bee rides, found family, a fallen fae prince, and one very unforgettable bejeweled beetle named Peeble.

J.K. shares how her lifelong love of storytelling began in childhood, continued through journalism, and eventually led her to writing fiction after the loss of her grandmother. She opens up about how A Throne in Bloom was written in honor of her grandmother, whose own magical garden helped inspire the world of the book. What began as a deeply personal story of grief became an unexpected publishing journey, complete with a street team, reader excitement, and a series that grew into something far bigger than she originally imagined.

The conversation also dives into J.K.’s fast and unusual querying experience for her new project, Stygian Academy, a dark gothic fantasy featuring phoenix shifters on a volcanic island academy. J.K. discusses researching agents, writing a bold query letter from the voice of her character, and approaching publishing with confidence, business sense, and a willingness to do things her own way.

🌸 What happens when a girl inherits her grandmother’s house and falls through a portal into a magical garden realm?
🪲 Can a sassy beetle sidekick become the most important person in the room?
🌿 And what if saving the realm from rot means discovering this may not be the first timeline where everything went wrong?

Whether you love portal fantasy, whimsical romantasy, magical companions, found family, fallen fae princes, reader-driven chaos, or books that feel like Thumbelina, Alice in Wonderland, Ferngully, and Epic all collided in the best way, this episode is full of heart, humor, and wildly creative worldbuilding.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Growing up in Arkansas and building a creative life rooted in family, travel, and imagination.
✨ Journalism, TV production, and writing other people’s stories before turning to fiction.
✨ Writing A Throne in Bloom as a tribute to her grandmother, and how grief, memory, and a real-life garden inspired the magical garden realm.
✨ J.K.’s whirlwind querying experience and signing with an agent in three weeks.
✨ Stygian Academy, phoenix shifters, volcanic islands, and writing something completely different.
✨ Why being an author is part writing and part business.
✨ Developing thick skin, handling criticism, and refusing to give away your energy.
✨ J.K.’s visual writing process, world bibles, magic systems, politics, religion, and character planning.
✨ Inviting readers and street team members into the creative process.
✨ Portal fantasy, living foliage, magical bees, rot spreading through the realm, and multiverse timelines.
✨ Found family, grumpy sunshine, morally gray fae, sassy sidekicks, and chaos-making characters.
✨ Dr. Pepper addiction, warm soda memories, and the unexpected details readers latch onto.
✨ J.K.’s next creative obsession, including a pirate mermaid series designed to feel different from everything else.

🪲 Plus: European travel, African safari dreams, character art addiction, Dungeon Crawler Carl inspiration, plants versus zombies, Dr. Pepper memes, Peeble stickers, and why sometimes the sidekick you add on a whim becomes the soul of the story.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
📚 JK Ross – @AuthorJKRoss

✨ 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 rom-com chaos comes with real estate disputes, fake marriages come with health insurance, and sometimes the most ethically flexible person in town is someone’s grandmother.

This week, Mythic Mic officially introduces two new co-hosts to the team, Amara and Britt, who are stepping behind the mic for a hilarious and heartfelt conversation with author Ellie Palmer about her upcoming romantic comedy, Married with Benefits.

Ellie shares her journey from recovering theater kid to romance author, including how playwriting helped shape her love of dialogue, banter, vulnerability, and messy characters who still deserve their happy endings. She also opens up about writing Four Weekends and a Funeral while recovering from her own mastectomy, finding her voice in contemporary romance, and building stories that balance comedy, grief, vulnerability, and hope.

The conversation also dives into Married with Benefits, a small-town marriage-of-convenience rom-com about a scrappy sculpture artist with chronic migraines, bad health insurance, a million jobs, and a cabin she thought she owned. When the land around her house is willed to a handsome architect she immediately clashes with, the two strike a very practical deal: he gets access to the property, and she gets health insurance through marriage. What could possibly go wrong?

💍 What happens when a marriage of convenience is less about scandal and more about surviving the American healthcare system?
🏡 Can two people share a cabin, a property dispute, and a whole lot of tension without falling for each other?
🔥 And what if the kooky grandmother stealing the show is the most ethically flexible person in town?

Whether you love small-town rom-coms, marriage of convenience, chronic illness representation, messy heroines, electric banter, HGTV-worthy renovations, or side characters who deserve their own fan club, this episode is full of heart, humor, and so many reasons to add Married with Benefits to your TBR.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Ellie’s journey from theater kid to romance author.
✨ Why vulnerability, performance, and storytelling are deeply connected.
✨ Writing rom-coms inspired by 90s and 2000s romantic comedy chaos.
✨ Messy characters, hijinks, and why romance promises a happy ending.
✨ Ellie’s path to publication and writing Four Weekends and a Funeral.
✨ Writing breast cancer gene mutation representation and post-mastectomy recovery.
✨ Working with Putnam and finding the right publishing fit.
✨ Married with Benefits and its modern marriage-of-convenience twist.
✨ Chronic migraines, underinsurance, and the reality behind the health insurance plot.
✨ Kooky grandmothers, ethical flexibility, card shark energy, and light kleptomania.
✨ Writing chronic illness representation with care, research, and sensitivity readers.
✨ HGTV inspiration, Tiny House Hunters, cabin renovations, and hidden Easter eggs across Ellie’s books.
✨ What Ellie is working on next, including a travel-inspired rom-com with Before Sunrise vibes.

🏡 Plus: Bravo love, 90 Day Fiancé chaos, crochet fails, audiobook narrator admiration, theater kid energy, Patty LuPone dream casting, and why “ethically flexible” might be the new morally gray.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Amara – @Bored_Military_Wife
👤 Britt – @BrittBooksit
📚 Ellie Palmer  – @ElliePalmerWrites

✨ 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 to the first episode of Off The Shelf, a new monthly segment where we dive into bookish trends, deep dives, hot takes, and all things fantasy! 

In this first episode, Mythic Mic cohosts Britt, Sara Santillan, and Amara discuss whether all romantasy is starting to blend together and what authors can do to set themselves apart and entice readers to pick up their books. 

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 enchanted rosebushes lead to other realms, cursed princes come in groups of four, and sometimes the villain wants to join the love story too.

This week, host Sara Santillan and Mythic Mic rep Teresa Diaz sit down with sister writing duo Elizabeth Helen to discuss their bestselling fantasy romance series, Beasts of the Briar.

Elizabeth and Helen share their journey from aspiring teenage authors and early traditional publishing attempts to building a devoted indie readership and becoming successful hybrid authors. They reveal how writing a why-choose Beauty and the Beast retelling purely for fun changed their careers, and why embracing their humor, passions, and strangest ideas helped the series connect with so many readers.

We also dive into the world of Beasts of the Briar, where bookstore employee Rosalina O’Connell travels through an enchanted rosebush and becomes trapped with four cursed Fae princes. The sisters discuss creating a relatable heroine, balancing multiple romances and character arcs, and adding unexpected twists to beloved tropes, including “who did this to you?” times four, one-horse and one-bath scenes, and boyfriends who may also fall for each other.

Elizabeth Helen also takes us inside the darkness awaiting readers in Stolen by Shadows, teases the emotional seventh and final book, and introduces Her Dark Empire, their upcoming epic romantasy inspired by Dune and Revenge of the Sith, featuring rival chosen ones, living storms, and a princess who might actually agree to join the dark side.

🌹 What happens when the woman searching for four princes’ fated mates begins falling for them herself?
👑 Can a villain consumed by darkness still become part of the family he desperately wants?
🖤 And why choose one Fae prince when an entire enchanted court is waiting?

This is a must-listen for why-choose romance readers, Beauty and the Beast fans, lovers of sprawling fantasy series, and anyone who believes epic fantasy could always use more kissing.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Elizabeth and Helen’s twelve-year journey through traditional, indie, and hybrid publishing.
✨ Writing books as sisters and maintaining one cohesive storytelling voice.
✨ How Dungeons & Dragons influenced their characters, villains, and collaborative process.
✨ Why writing Beasts of the Briar without expectations helped the series find its audience.
✨ Creating Rosalina as a relatable heroine rather than a traditional fantasy warrior.
✨ Four cursed Fae princes, six magical realms, and a seven-book romance.
✨ Why-choose relationships, MM romance, and the many dynamics within the central group.
✨ Putting unexpected twists on popular tropes.
✨ The surprisingly complicated logistics of writing multi-character spicy scenes.
✨ Their best advice for aspiring authors: be too stubborn to quit.
✨ What awaits Rosalina, Caspian, and the princes in Stolen by Shadows.
✨ The emotions and fairytale inspiration behind the seventh and final book.
✨ Her Dark Empire, fallen chosen ones, living storms, and joining the dark side.
✨ Favorite princes, fairytales they want to retell, current reads, and rapid-fire chaos.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚Elizabeth Helen  – @Author.Elizabeth.Helen

✨ 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 firefighters bring the heat, love stories can still surprise you in your 30s, and sometimes the hardest rescues are the ones happening inside your own heart.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with author and editor Sarah Waterman to discuss Knocked Down, book two in her Station 8 series, a sexy and emotional firefighter romance about trauma, friendship, healing, wedding chaos, and two people learning whether love can survive the weight they both carry.

Sarah shares her lifelong relationship with writing, from creating stories as a child to using words as an outlet for grief, anxiety, fear, and everything too complicated to say out loud. She also opens up about founding A3W Editorial, leaving corporate burnout behind, becoming a freelance editor, and turning a sudden layoff into the momentum she needed to create Fix the Right Thing First, her editing craft guide for writers.

The conversation also dives into Knocked Down, which follows Wren and Jason, two longtime friends caught in the emotional orbit of a wedding while navigating the feelings they have tried not to name. Jason is a firefighter, former Marine, and man living with PTSD who believes he is too broken to deserve Wren. Wren, meanwhile, has to decide how to love someone who is hurting without losing herself in the process.

🚒 What happens when the best man and maid of honor have years of unresolved feelings between them?
❤️ Can love be healing without becoming the only thing that saves someone?
🔥 And what if the most powerful romance is the one that feels painfully, beautifully real?

Whether you love sexy firefighters, adult romance, friends-to-lovers tension, found family, emotional healing, wedding proximity, or stories about characters in their 30s who still have big, messy, meaningful lives ahead of them, this episode is heartfelt, honest, and deeply relatable.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Using writing as an outlet for grief, anxiety, fear, and emotional processing.
✨ Building A3W Editorial and becoming a developmental and copy editor.
✨ Turning social media writing advice into Fix the Right Thing First.
✨ Publishing quickly, doing the cover and formatting herself, and proving she could do it.
✨ Why Sarah is honest about not “doing it all” and the importance of support systems.
✨ How her husband became her business partner, beta reader, editor, and biggest support.
✨ Advice for aspiring authors, including finding your people and building writing community.
✨ The Station 8 series and the firefighter romance world Sarah created.
✨ Under Fire, the viral rescue premise, and the start of the series.
✨ Knocked Down, Wren, Jason, and the emotional arc of book two.
✨ Writing characters in their 30s with real lives, careers, grief, and baggage.
✨ Researching trauma, invisible wounds, and the reality that PTSD does not always look the same.
✨ Writing adult communication, avoiding caricatures, and making the romance feel real.
✨ Why millennial authors are bringing older protagonists into the spotlight.
✨ Future Station 8 books, Hannah’s story, possible spin-offs, and familiar faces to come.

🚒 Plus: Midwest life, Cape Cod dreams, soccer mom surprises, editing indie authors, writing groups, sexy firefighters, kitchen dramas, biker gang stories, and why romance in your 30s deserves just as much heat, heart, and happily ever after.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
📚Sarah Waterman  – @sarahwatermanbooks and @a3w_editorial

✨ 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 beautiful books become works of art, fandom turns into careers, and every special edition tells a story long before you open the first page.

This week, host Bethany Amanda is joined by co-host Amara for a behind-the-scenes conversation with Max, co-founder of Faentasy Designs, to uncover how some of the most stunning special edition books come to life.

Max shares how a lifelong love of fandom, fantasy, and commissioned artwork evolved into one of the fastest-growing special edition companies in the book community. We dive into everything from choosing the right books and collaborating with authors to working with artists, designing covers filled with hidden Easter eggs, and why passion for the source material matters more than following trends.

We also discuss the realities of running a special edition business, why Faentasy Designs chose a non-subscription model, the explosion of Bookstagram and BookTok, the future of collector editions, and why supporting human artists will always be at the heart of everything they create.

📚 What does it actually take to create a special edition book?
🎨 How do artists hide story clues inside every design?
✨ And why are special editions becoming just as collectible as the stories themselves?

This episode is perfect for readers who love special editions, sprayed edges, book art, collecting, fantasy, and getting an exclusive look behind the curtain of the publishing world.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

✨ How Faentasy Designs got its start.
✨ Turning fandom into a business.
✨ Choosing which books become special editions.
✨ Working directly with authors and artists.
✨ Designing covers filled with hidden Easter eggs.
✨ The complete special edition production process.
✨ Why Faentasy Designs refuses to use generative AI.
✨ The rise of BookTok, Bookstagram, and collector culture.
✨ Why non-subscription models benefit readers.
✨ Plushies, standees, and bookish merchandise.
✨ Upcoming special editions and future projects.
✨ Advice for aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚Faentasy Designs  – @Faentasydesigns

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