The Mythic Mic Podcast

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where mythological worlds collide, romance blooms in the most dangerous places, and every monster has a story.
This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara sit down with bestselling fantasy author Olivia Wildenstein to celebrate The Ice Beyond, the first book in her breathtaking new Empress of Thorns series.
Olivia shares her fascinating journey from self-publishing to hybrid publishing, the realities of navigating both indie and traditional publishing, and why perseverance—not overnight success—is the true secret to a writing career. We also dive into writing routines, perfectionism, character art, worldbuilding, and why some stories refuse to let go until they're told.
Then we explore The Ice Beyond, an epic Norse-inspired fantasy filled with wolf shifters, vampires, Valkyries, dragons, forbidden romance, devastating secrets, morally gray characters, and a heroine whose entire identity is shattered when she discovers everything she's believed about herself is a lie.
🐺 What happens when the family who raised you has been hiding the biggest secret of your life?
❄️ Can love survive when it was forbidden from the very beginning?
⚔️ And who are the real monsters in a world filled with gods, shifters, and ancient legends?
If you love Viking-inspired fantasy, morally gray heroes, mythology, dangerous monsters, sweeping romance, love triangles, and immersive fantasy worlds, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Olivia's publishing journey from selling ten self-published copies to becoming a bestselling hybrid author.
✨ The biggest differences between indie, traditional, and hybrid publishing, and why she now loves working in both worlds.
✨ Why perseverance matters far more than chasing trends or overnight success.
✨ Her writing process, perfectionism, self-editing habits, and why deadlines are both terrifying and essential.
✨ Character art, visual storytelling, and how seeing a world helps bring fantasy to life.
✨ Building The Ice Beyond from a simple vampire story into an expansive Norse-inspired fantasy universe.
✨ Reimagining Norse mythology with wolf shifters, Valkyries, vampires, dragons, and unforgettable monsters.
✨ Writing morally gray characters whose motivations remain a mystery until the very end.
✨ Why Olivia loves heroines who grow, stumble, and make mistakes instead of having all the answers.
✨ Forbidden romance, love triangles, and why readers secretly love emotional chaos.
✨ Advice for aspiring fantasy authors on finding your audience while staying true to your creative vision.
CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Olivia Wildenstein – @Olives21
✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️ This episode includes candid conversations about infertility and fertility loss, premature menopause, ovarian removal, unsuccessful IVF, hysterectomy, pregnancy and childbirth complications, loss of reproductive choice, death and grief, abortion, medical trauma, depression, and religious fear surrounding death and the afterlife. Please listen with care.
🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where heartbreak becomes a fatal curse, ancient towers preserve stories that empires could not erase, and healing begins when a woman finally chooses something entirely for herself.
This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with author Ova Ceren to discuss her Turkish fantasy novel, The Book of Heartbreak.
Ova shares her journey from growing up under intense academic pressure in Turkey to spending nearly twenty years in mathematics, computer science, and the male-dominated technology industry. She opens up about entering premature menopause, learning that she could not have another child, and how the resulting grief and loss of identity inspired her to leave behind work she did not love and pursue writing for herself. Ova, Sara, and Bethany also have a deeply personal conversation about infertility, failed IVF, hysterectomy, pregnancy complications, reproductive healthcare, and the grief that can accompany losing the ability or the choice to expand a family.
We also dive into The Book of Heartbreak, which follows seventeen-year-old Sare, a girl cursed to die whenever her heart breaks. After learning that her mother has died, Sare moves to Istanbul to live with her estranged grandfather and discovers that everything she believed about her family may be a lie. Ova discusses drawing inspiration from the thousand-year-old Byzantine myth of Istanbul’s Maiden’s Tower, writing heartbreak beyond romantic loss, creating a hopeful and humorous afterlife, and exploring identity, family wounds, religion, grief, and the memories that can make old pain feel suddenly new again.
💔 How do you survive grief when a broken heart can literally kill you?
🗼 What secrets connect Sare’s curse to Istanbul’s ancient Maiden’s Tower?
✨ And can she reclaim her life when the deepest wounds come from the people she trusted most?
This is a must-listen for urban-fantasy readers, lovers of mythology and magical Istanbul settings, anyone drawn to stories about complicated families, and readers seeking an emotional journey that honors grief while still making room for humor, hope, and healing.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Ova’s life in Cambridge, cycling, traveling, cooking, and searching for creative inspiration.
✨ Her ducks, chickens, allergic husband, and desire to give her son a life surrounded by animals.
✨ Creating a private garden library inside a former artist’s studio.
✨ Growing up in Turkey under intense pressure to perform academically, and entering computer science because she excelled at mathematics.
✨ Premature menopause, ovarian removal, and being told she could not have another child.
✨ Grieving the loss of a possibility even when she had not decided whether she wanted another baby.
✨ Feeling dehumanized by clinical conversations about fertility and reproductive health, and why reproductive loss deserves emotional support.
✨ Reclaiming identity after years of making choices for family, culture, and financial stability.
✨ How writing The Book of Heartbreak helped Ova survive a dark period.
✨ The structural similarities between editing fiction and debugging software.
✨ Ova’s advice to remain patient and never compare one publishing journey with another.
✨ Reimagining the Byzantine legend surrounding Istanbul’s Maiden’s Tower, and why the tower represents a piece of the city’s identity that history never erased.
✨ Exploring heartbreak as an enduring wound rather than a purely romantic experience.
✨ Creating a heroine who ultimately saves herself rather than relying on romance.
✨ Bureaucratic angels, an imaginative afterlife, and comparisons to Good Omens.
✨ Reimagining the afterlife as a hopeful space rather than one governed by shame and fear.
✨ Why old heartbreaks can return through memories, music, scents, and unexpected reminders.
✨ Choosing standalones so every book can explore a completely different world.
✨ Ova’s next Ottoman-inspired dark fantasy about a magical library and dangerous books.
✨ How religion, women’s autonomy, history, and identity continue to shape her fiction.
CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Ova Ceren – @ExcuseMyReading
✨ 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 gods wage impossible wars, monsters aren't always who they seem, and fantasy asks what happens when everything you've been taught is a lie.
This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with bestselling fantasy author Adalyn Grace to celebrate her stunning adult fantasy debut, The Wretched Divine.
Adalyn shares her incredible publishing journey, from writing wolf role plays on Neopets and working on The Legend of Korra at Nickelodeon to becoming the bestselling author behind Belladonna. We also dive into the realities of modern publishing, balancing creativity with the business of being an author, social media burnout, AI's growing impact on artists, and why writing what you genuinely love matters more than chasing trends.
Then we explore The Wretched Divine, an epic fantasy where a mortal knight becomes bound to both an angel and a demon in the middle of an ancient war. With an expansive magic system, unforgettable characters, anime-inspired action, and questions about morality, faith, and inherited beliefs, this is a fantasy that delivers both breathtaking spectacle and emotional depth.
⚔️ What if heaven wasn't as righteous as you believed?
😈 Can demons truly be monsters if the angels are just as dangerous?
🪽 And what happens when saving the world means binding your soul to both?
If you love epic fantasy, angels and demons, sprawling magic systems, anime-inspired storytelling, unforgettable twists, and fantasy that leads with worldbuilding while delivering incredible romance, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Adalyn's journey from Neopets role plays and The Legend of Korra to becoming a bestselling fantasy author.
✨ How Pitch Wars shaped her career and helped transform her writing before landing her first publishing deal.
✨ Writing All the Stars and Teeth in just three weeks while recovering from a serious accident.
✨ Why The Wretched Divine became the most difficult, and ultimately most rewarding, book she's ever written.
✨ The anime inspirations behind the novel.
✨ Building a massive angel-and-demon magic system where humans gain extraordinary powers by binding their souls to celestial beings.
✨ Why Adalyn intentionally wrote an epic fantasy that bridges romantasy readers into larger, more expansive fantasy worlds.
✨ The themes of morality, inherited beliefs, religion, and questioning who truly deserves to be called a monster.
✨ Her thoughts on romantasy, fantasy romance, YA versus adult publishing, and where she believes fantasy publishing is headed next.
✨ AI, social media, fan expectations, and the growing pressures facing today's authors.
✨ The shocking ending of The Wretched Divine and why readers won't stop talking about the final chapters.
CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Adalyn Grace – @AuthorAdalynGrace
✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

Have ARCs gone from a bookish perk to a part-time job?
Welcome to another episode of Off The Shelf, our monthly segment where we dive into bookish trends, deep dives, hot takes, and all things fantasy!
In this Off the Shelf episode, host Britt is joined by Mythic Mic team member Amara and special guest Megan to unpack the increasingly competitive world of advanced reader copies, publisher influencer programs, NetGalley, street teams, and the book reviewer hustle.
From figuring out how to actually get physical ARCs to managing NetGalley ratios, follower counts, engagement, publisher emails, and the very real pressure to say yes to everything, the conversation explores what it takes to be an ARC reader today. The group also gets into the complicated side of street teams, including when supporting an author starts to feel like unpaid labor, what authors and readers owe each other, how to handle an ARC you didn’t enjoy, and why chasing every opportunity can quickly kill the thing that started it all: your love of reading.
We’re asking:
Do you really need thousands of followers to get ARCs?
Are street teams a fun way to support authors or unpaid labor for readers?
What should you do when you receive an ARC and hate the book?
How do you chase bookish opportunities without burning yourself out?
If you’ve ever wondered how people get those coveted physical ARCs, destroyed your NetGalley ratio by requesting everything in sight, joined one too many street teams, or simply wondered whether the ARC hustle is still worth it, this episode is for you.
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 surviving the apocalypse is hard enough without adding forbidden magic, trauma, and a found family you never expected to need.
This week, Host Bethany Amanda sits down with author K.L. Speer to discuss Bones and Fangs, a post-apocalyptic romantasy series where civilization has collapsed, magic shouldn't exist, and one woman possesses a healing power that could make her invaluable or turn her into something others will exploit.
Kelsey also shares the incredible story behind Bones, from writing it simply because it was the story she wanted to tell to watching readers embrace its unconventional mix of dystopian fantasy, romance, and mental health representation, and eventually having the originally indie-published series picked up for traditional publication.
🦴 What happens when your greatest gift is also the thing that makes you a target?
🖤 How do you learn to trust again when survival has taught you not to?
🔥 And who can you become when surviving is no longer enough?
If you love adult dystopian fantasy, post-apocalyptic worlds, romantasy, found family, rare magic, complicated heroines, emotional character arcs, survival stories, and enemies-to-lovers, this episode is for you.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Kelsey's lifelong love of storytelling, the fantasy adventure she started writing at twelve, and how finally finishing Bones turned a story she'd written purely for herself into an unexpected publishing career.
✨ The incredible indie-to-trad publishing journey that followed Bones.
✨ Why Kelsey believes authors should write the stories they genuinely want to read instead of chasing whatever is currently selling.
✨ Creating a survivalist post-apocalyptic world without zombies, where governments have disappeared, humanity survives inside scattered strongholds, raiders roam outside their walls, and magic is virtually nonexistent.
✨ Building Bones as a heroine with a mysterious healing ability in a world without powers, and exploring what happens when something capable of saving people also makes its owner vulnerable to exploitation.
✨ Writing a heroine shaped by trauma who doesn't magically become “fixed."
✨ How a tabletop RPG first introduced Kelsey to the character of Bones.
✨ The return of dystopian fiction for the generation that grew up reading The Hunger Games and Divergent, and why Kelsey believes adult readers are now searching for darker, more mature versions of the stories they loved growing up.
✨ Expanding the story in Fangs with grief, complicated family dynamics, sibling reconciliation, deeper character development, and an ending Kelsey promises gets absolutely bananas.
✨ Why readers should have Fangs ready immediately after Bones, Kelsey's unapologetic love of cliffhangers, and her warning that the ending of Book Three, Ashes, might actually take readers out.
✨ Expanding what was originally planned as a trilogy into a four-book series, and the other stories already tempting Kelsey, including a 1930s paranormal romance and a pirate story that accidentally became much bigger than expected.
CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 KL Speer – @Author.KLSpeer
✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.