Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast

Jess Rothschild is a podcaster and journalist, one of the founding writers at Autostraddle, and her latest project is a documentary podcast called Finding Fire Island, about the history of Fire Island, Cherry Grove, and the Pines. Her prior work includes The Cult of Soul Cycle, and I love BOTH of these productions. Jess has been writing online longer than I have, and we talk about internet history, the process of making a podcast documentary, and what it’s like to have all your neighbors tell their most juicy, gossipy stories to you. For work.

Finding Fire Island is a unique historical record, and I hope you’ll listen or watch.

Please be advised that you can’t talk about gay history in the US without talking about the AIDS epidemic and the loss of so many people, so this episode is a little poignant at times.

You can find Jess Rothschild on Instagram @JessXNYC.

Links ahoy!

Finding Fire Island
The Cult of Body and Soul
Hulu – Black Twitter: A People’s History
Hot Takes and Deep Dives – Jess’s podcast
Caitlin Whyte – Jess’s Sound Designer
Them
Autostraddle
Dads & Daddies
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We are back in the early 90s, when the mullets were epic and the covers were sumptuous. Come on back to July 1992 with us as we explore the ads & features of the 100th issue of Romantic Times Magazine!

This issue contains some FASCINATING retrospective looks at romance, cover art, and more, and I think it is one of the primary sources cited for some of the more common stories I’ve heard about romance.

Were you a Borders, B. Dalton, or Waldenbooks reader, or another bookshop entirely?

Don’t forget – you can watch this episode on YouTube with the visuals on screen, or look for the visual aids at SBTB!

We also mentioned:
The sandals from Keen I mentioned in the outro.
Lucynka’s posts on SBTB about pulp romance
Marysville Public Library: Nora Roberts Go Fish (Facebook video)
Lake Villa District Library: Nora Roberts Challenge (Tiktok video)

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Dylan MarcAurele is the writer and composer behind The Heated Rivalry Unauthorized Musical Parody, and I am extremely excited to share this interview with you!

We’re going to talk about writing musical theatre, his writing process, and how long it took him to write this musical (you won’t believe it).

He also talks about the actors and how the show came to be – it’s delightful. Musical theater and romance have a lot of similarities I hadn’t considered, and I learned so much from this conversation – I hope you love it, too.

I also have some questions from author Kirsty Greenwood, who I saw the musical with, as she is also a massive musical theater fan. Thank you, Kirsty!

You can find Dylan MarcAurele at his website, DylanMarcAurele.com.

We also mentioned:

Pop Off Michelangelo
Lewis Loves Clark
The Real Housewives of New York Parody Musical
Playbill: Heated Rivalry Parody Musical to Release Cast Album

And of course, you can find tickets to The Heated Rivalry Unauthorized Parody Musical at their website.

...
Special thanks to the sponsor for this week's episode: A Hard Habit to Break by Siera London.
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It’s RT Rewind time again! This month, we’re going back to July 1992 to check out the new releases reviewed in…the 100th issue of Romantic Times magazine! Yup, the cover is memorable, and so are the book covers.

We discuss:
Cover models! Who would be the cover model for subgenre specific magazine issues?
Nostalgia! Are the tag lines on the cover both references to cigarette ads?
Reviews! There are some absolute classics in this issue, including Outlander.
Reading slumps! There are so many people in one, including me.

Do you like to listen to your favorite podcasts on YouTube? Come hang out with us there, and you’ll see the book covers, images, and faces we make at each other.

We also mentioned:
Hollywood Demons: “Stephen Collins, America’s Dad” (HBO) (TW/CW Discussion of CSA, CSAM)
A clip of Scaachi Koul and Rob Anderson discussing Stephen Collins from the documentary (Facebook Reel)
“Are You Afraid of the 90s?” Rob Anderson’s comedy special (YouTube – free)
Rob Anderson’s website, Heartthrob-Anderson.com
Whatcha Reading? July 2026 Part I

Music: purple-planet.com
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The re-release of The Luckiest Lady in London has arrived, and Sherry Thomas joins me to talk about the writing of that book more than 13 years ago, how romance and historicals have changed, and how this book is a reflection and subversion of another very, very famous historical romance.

Plus, she gives us recommendations of her favorite historical romance authors and some of their books.

Note: we had some connectivity issues, so sometimes the edit sounds a little abrupt. If you’re watching the video, the video does freeze while the audio continues. My apologies.

You can find Sherry Thomas at her website, SherryThomas.com. She’s on Bluesky, on Instagram @writersherrythomas, and on Facebook as AuthorSherryThomas.

Music: purple-planet.com

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