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Season 3, Episode 6:  "How to Give Your Muse Wiggle Room"
with Mimi Matthews and Gail Carriger

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We're excited to bring you Mimi Matthews and Gail Carriger.

Mimi Matthews is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of historical romances. Her critically acclaimed works include The Siren of Sussex, a 2023 RUSA Reading List shortlist pick for Best Romance; Fair as a Star, a Library Journal Best Romance of 2020; Gentleman Jim, a Kirkus Best Book of 2020; and The Work of Art, winner of the 2020 HOLT Medallion and a 2021 Daphne du Maurier Award nominee.

Mimi’s novels have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Shelf Awareness, and have been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Oprah Daily, NPR, PopSugar, Goop, Paste Magazine, BookPage, Book Riot, and BuzzFeed. They have been translated into eight languages. 

When not writing historical romance, Mimi authors nonfiction books and articles on all aspects of nineteenth century history—from animals, art, and etiquette to fashion, beauty, feminism, and law. Her nonfiction history books (A Victorian Lady’s Guide to Fashion and Beauty and The Pug Who Bit Napoleon) are published by Pen and Sword Books UK. Her articles are available at various academic and history sites, including the Victorian Web and the Journal of Victorian Culture, and can also be found at BUST Magazine.

Gail Carriger writes books that are hugs, mostly comedies of manners mixed with steampunk, urban fantasy, and sci-fi (plus cozy queer joy as G. L. Carriger). These include the Parasol Protectorate, Custard Protocol, Tinkered Stars, and San Andreas Shifter series for adults, and the Finishing School and Tinkered Starsong series for young adults. Also nonfiction: The Heroine’s Journey. She is published in many languages, has over a million books in print, over a dozen New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, and starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, and Romantic Times.

Her first book, Soulless, made Audible’s Best list, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book, an IndieBound Notable, and a Locus Recommended Read.

 

She has received the American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Prix Julia Verlanger, the Elbakin Award, the Steampunk Chronicle‘s Reader’s Choice Award, and a Starburner Award. She was once an archaeologist and is fond of shoes, cephalopods, and tea. Get early access, specials, and exclusives via her website gailcarriger.com

Read Along!

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A BookBub Best Romance of Winter 2024!

Fortune favors the bold—but is a confirmed spinster daring enough to loosen the reins and accept a favor from the wicked gentleman who haunts her dreams?


Lady Anne Deveril doesn't spook easily. A woman of lofty social standing known for her glacial beauty and starchy opinions, she's the unofficial leader of her small group of equestriennes. Since her mother's devastating plunge into mourning six years ago, Anne voluntarily renounced any fanciful notions of love and marriage. And yet, when fate puts Anne back into the entirely too enticing path of Mr. Felix Hartford, she's tempted to run...right into his arms.

No one understands why Lady Anne withdrew into the shadows of society, Hart least of all. The youthful torch he once held for her has long since cooled. Or so he keeps telling himself. But now Anne needs a favor to help a friend. Hart will play along with her little ruse—on the condition that Anne attend a holiday house party at his grandfather's country estate. No more mourning clothes. No more barriers. Only the two of them, unrequited feelings at last laid bare.

Finally free to gallop out on her own, Anne makes the tantalizing discovery that beneath the roguish exterior of her not-so-white knight is a man with hidden depths, scorching passions—and a tender heart.

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Saving the unwilling with song, one planet at a time.

New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger brings you the thrilling conclusion to her Tinkered Starsong trilogy in which the true purpose of the divinity is revealed at last.


Can a group of performers take on an entire alien species? Do they want to, if the price of the truth is their own popularity and the safety of billions?

Phex, Missit, and their pantheons are the most popular gods in the galaxy and the aliens will stop at nothing to keep them singing. But with great fame comes great responsibility. As Phex finally understands the consequences of the music he produces, he is forced to choose between being a god and destroying humanity.

If you could sing peace into the bones of the universe, would you? Even if no one wanted salvation?

"A tapestry that is simultaneously witty, charming, exhilarating and downright fun." - fantasyliterature.com (Soulless)

Ender's Game but make it Kpop in the final installment of the Tinkered Starsong trilogy (follows Divinity 36 and Demigod 12) in which the mystery of the Dyesi is finally uncovered.

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The Book Club

What'd you think about the episode?

Have you read the books discussed in this episode?

What authors would you like to hear on future episodes?

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