Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast

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.

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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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Hey, where are you going? Get in the time machine – we want to bring you back to March 2009 to check out the ads & features from Romantic Times Magazine.

We’ve got:
Snippy letters to the editor!
Covers that look like shaving cream ads for women
Reading in a recession
Folks explaining steampunk!
Pop vs. Soda
And you’ll find out what words are used in an acrostic of “pandemic.”

TW: In the middle you’ll hear from Editing Sarah – which is when I interject additional info into the episode while I’m editing it – for about a minute and a half. There is some gross fatphobia and mean terminology in that section. Skip ahead when I start reading the paragraph about 30 seconds.

And you can watch this episode on YouTube to see all the images as we discuss them. You are most welcome to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you would like!

We also mentioned:

“When Your Friend Goes Steampunk” by Key & Peele (YouTube)
Booklender.com
BookMooch.com
Paperbackswap.com
“‘Girls’ EP Inks Deal With HBO, Developing Comedy With Mike White” by Lesley Goldberg, December 2, 2013, Hollywood Reporter
“‘Mr. Romance’ woos New Regency” by Michael Fleming, December 16, 2008, Variety

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Jo Piazza is my guest this week to discuss her new book, The Parisian Heist. This book is a dual timeline story weaving together a 1990s heist at the Orsay museum with the story of Jo van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh’s sister in law, who is the reason we know who Vincent is today.

Along the way we talk about
DNFing books
Stealing art
Mythologizing artists usually men
And how many women do nearly everything half scared.

You can find Jo Piazza – and her book tour! – at her website JoPiazza.com. Her podcast is Under the Influence.

And you can hear her discussing her book Everyone is Lying to You in Episode 677. Everyone is Lying to You with Jo Piazza.

We also mentioned:
Anthony Amore, Director of Security and Chief Investigator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Gardner Museum Theft
The Red Wheelbarrow Bookshop, Paris
In the Café: Agostina Segatori in Le Tambourin, Van Gogh Museum
A Crab on its Back, Van Gogh Museum
Bookcase Books, Jo Piazza’s pop up bookstore, on Bookshop.org

Music: purple-planet.com
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