The Hopeless Romantic Podcast

03/21/2022

“YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY: A New Weird Horror Anthology to Benefit Trans Youth in Crisis Now available for preorder. https://t.co/9qn2FXCwHB”

05/29/2018

Episode 38 is up, featuring a big announcement about THR's future and our upcoming ventures.

The rest of the episode is dedicated to the nuance of liking problematic media, and how it's impossible to come to a consensus of what's "good" media vs "bad."

**Content warnings: This episode references potentially triggering topics, including abusive relationships, gaslighting, murder, cannibalism, s*xual assault, violence, in**st, Real Person Fan Fiction, and age differences--a lot of triggers that constitute "dark" or "problematic" fiction. While we do...

05/15/2018

Episode 37, Meet Nasty, with author Brooklyn Wallace, is up! We had a blast and talked about her upcoming F/F novel, did bad 1920s accents, dished on Cockygate, and Amanda flailed all over how good Killing Eve is.

Amanda Jean delights in wrestling manuscripts for her day job, worships at the altar of tropes, and has never met a villain or s*xy alien she doesn’t like. Austin Chant writes books about gay magic and toxic masculinity, likes his q***r stories with a slice of anguish, and kinda wants to be a pira...

04/10/2018

Episode 36, Chekhov's War, is up!

https://thehopelessromantic.simplecast.fm/89ab0e98

We talk wrangling stories, avoiding the urge to write Serious Fiction, Amanda's hankering for Kirk/Spock, Austin's latest comics reads, and horror tropes. (And mind the content warning at the top of the description!)

**Content warning: We discuss (though not in any detail) Amanda's current ear infection and an staph ear infection Austin had a few years back, as well as general health/medical stuff. Skip to 9:38 if this is a potential trigger or squick for you. There are also some spoilers for *The Ring/Ringu* an...

03/28/2018

Episode 35 is in part a response to recent revelations of abuse within the industry, but overall it's about how to maintain boundaries, how important it is to not abuse power, and also a dive into deep-seated issues (racism, gatekeeping, underpayment, amateurism, etc).

**Content warning: This episode references s*xual abuse and harassment, and generally a lot of toxic behavior and boundary crossing. None of it is explicit, but please take care of yourself if you might be triggered.** Austin and Amanda get serious and address racism, gatekeeping, abuse, amateurism,...

03/13/2018

Episode 34 is up!

https://thehopelessromantic.simplecast.fm/fcf656bb

The tone of the episode is Very Goofy, with us riffing on old blurbs and generally being our irreverent selves, but we do tackle diversity stats and issues with story beginnings. More importantly, at the top of the episode we took a moment to address the recent revelations of abuse and predatory behavior within the industry; we stand with the victims and we believe the victims.

At the top of the episode, Austin and Amanda briefly address the ongoing revelations of misconduct and abuse within q***r publishing. We stand with authors. Austin and Amanda go digging for comedy gold in ancient Harlequin blurbs, then get serious and talk about how damn hard beginnings can be. Aman...

02/27/2018

Episode 33 gets semi-emotional about God's Own Country, recs a podcast, and involves a lot of laughter over romance titles generated by a neural network.

**This episode contains spoilers for God's Own Country.** Celebrate Valentine’s Day two weeks late with the always-prepared THR! Amanda recommends a podcast and tells a story about how she wins friends and influences people, which is followed by the hosts struggling to contain laughter over romanc...

02/13/2018

Episode 32 is up! We chat about the end of Read with Pride Northwest, the prevalence of s*x in NA books, and our feelings about the Adventure Zone podcast.

**Warning for very mild spoilers for The Adventure Zone podcast. We warn in-episode and it's nothing earth shattering.** Austin and Amanda reminisce about their experiences at Read With Pride, which recently announced its end, and try to describe the Lynchian quality of the Seattle Public Library's....

01/30/2018

We're back with a new format! This episode talks about the future of THR, the ups and downs of freelancing, and Call Me By Your Name (spoilers, but we warn before we get into that).

**Content warning: part of this episode discusses a fictional relationship between a 17-year-old and a 24-year-old.** THR returns with a semi-revamped format! Austin and Amanda talk about the future of the show, delve into some of the realities of freelancing from their own experiences, and spend th...

12/06/2017

A little while ago, I decided I wanted to write a trans fairytale, so I jotted down a list of my favorite classics and started daydreaming about injecting them with q***r content. Peter Pan rose qu…

11/25/2017

Our two-year anniversary episode features a bunch of silly inebriated content, a couch anecdote, a TV show recommendation, and a hearty thank you for sticking with us.

**Content warning: Austin and Amanda are tipsy/drunk in this episode again. Weird stuff happens. If drunkeness or people talking about being drunk (and hungover) bugs you, take care to skip this ep and we'll be back with another regular one soon.** THR celebrates its second anniversary with another…

10/25/2017

Check out Austin's new release!

Caroline’s Heart is out today! It’s a q***r southern historical fantasy novella about a witch, a resurrection spell, and a cowboy caught in the middle of supernatural forces beyond his …