<v Speaker 1>Welcome back, you horny little rats. It's time to smut

<v Speaker 1>up and listen. Just a reminder for today's episode and

<v Speaker 1>all future episodes, our opinions are subjective. We don't advocate

<v Speaker 1>for kink shaming or author shaming. This is all in

<v Speaker 1>good smutty fun. Enjoy and don't forget to check out

<v Speaker 1>patreon dot com slash smut Up and listen to listen

<v Speaker 1>to the r slash smut podcast, where Riley and I

<v Speaker 1>will be doing blind reactions every Tuesday to Reddit eratica.

<v Speaker 1>Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special episode of

<v Speaker 1>smut Up and Listen. We are lucky enough to be

<v Speaker 1>here today with New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly,

<v Speaker 1>and Amazon Charts best selling author JT. Guysinger. She released

<v Speaker 1>her newest novel, Blackthorne, earlier this month, and she was

<v Speaker 1>kind enough to send us an arc for us to

<v Speaker 1>review and even nicer to hop on the podcast with us.

<v Speaker 1>So thank you so much, and we are so excited

<v Speaker 1>that you're here with us.

<v Speaker 2>Yes, oh, thank you for having me. It's so nice

<v Speaker 2>for you guys to want to chat about my work.

<v Speaker 2>I love it.

<v Speaker 1>Yes, Oh my gosh, we're so excited.

<v Speaker 3>I know, I will jump in and we're gonna start

<v Speaker 3>talking about the writing process and the journey. Okay, here

<v Speaker 3>we go take a couple of one. So my question is,

<v Speaker 3>I would love to know what the inspiration was behind

<v Speaker 3>the plot of the story. If it was just like

<v Speaker 3>a random shower thought or a dream one night, or

<v Speaker 3>you know, if you just wanted something out of the

<v Speaker 3>two characters and you just let your creative writing do

<v Speaker 3>the rest.

<v Speaker 2>It's so funny when people ask me what my inspiration

<v Speaker 2>is for things. It's like I kind of never really know,

<v Speaker 2>because it's always there's always something brewing up there in

<v Speaker 2>my little, you know, witch's cauldron in my brain, and

<v Speaker 2>I'll just start writing things down. I have a huge

<v Speaker 2>folder of ideas and stuff, and I think I'll probably

<v Speaker 2>die before I can write all the books that I

<v Speaker 2>have in my brain. But Blackthorn, so I. So I

<v Speaker 2>usually begin with just two characters and a conflict, and

<v Speaker 2>Blackthorn was a book that my new publisher was like,

<v Speaker 2>we want you to write a romance for us, and

<v Speaker 2>we're just gonna have you do whatever you want. And

<v Speaker 2>I said, okay, well that's fun. And my roots were

<v Speaker 2>in when I first published my first series, it was

<v Speaker 2>paranormal and then I went to contemporary. But I always

<v Speaker 2>have kind of slipped in some paranormal aspects with my writing,

<v Speaker 2>and this one, it just kind of started out like

<v Speaker 2>it was a small town romance and you know, it

<v Speaker 2>was kind of a quirky family and stuff, and then

<v Speaker 2>all of these weird things started happening. I think I

<v Speaker 2>have a cat hair. Okay, yeah, sorry, And so as

<v Speaker 2>I started writing the book, it started getting weirder and

<v Speaker 2>weirder and weirder, and so I just usually let my

<v Speaker 2>imagination run and then it turned out to be this

<v Speaker 2>really cuckoo book. I mean, I'm not the writer that is, like,

<v Speaker 2>I usually don't know what the end of the book

<v Speaker 2>is going to be as I'm writing, and I'm just

<v Speaker 2>kind of like, okay, let's go and let's see, and

<v Speaker 2>then I let my imagination run wild. And then my

<v Speaker 2>readers are like, what the hell was that? Like, I

<v Speaker 2>don't know.

<v Speaker 1>On that way, you are the queen of a crazy ending.

<v Speaker 1>I'm always like, what just happened at the end of

<v Speaker 1>your books?

<v Speaker 2>Well, I try and make it interesting. So if I'm

<v Speaker 2>if I'm writing and I get bored, then I'll have

<v Speaker 2>to scrap it, because I figure the readers are going

<v Speaker 2>to get bored too, you know, because you can really

<v Speaker 2>get bogged down and too much backstory or too much detail.

<v Speaker 2>I mean, I'm one of these people who I love

<v Speaker 2>to describe the interior of a room, and I've had

<v Speaker 2>so many readers just be like, Okay, that's enough about

<v Speaker 2>the wallpaper. Let's move on, you know. So I have

<v Speaker 2>to try and trade myself to keep the action going.

<v Speaker 2>But with this book, when I turned it into my publisher,

<v Speaker 2>she was like, okay, I really My editor was like,

<v Speaker 2>I really really like these certain aspects, but I want

<v Speaker 2>us to go darker and let's make it more funfable.

<v Speaker 2>And I was like, okay, I can do that. So

<v Speaker 2>then like the whole end of the book just became

<v Speaker 2>this fever dream of like what is even really going

<v Speaker 2>on here? And I turned it into it.

<v Speaker 1>She was like, yay, thank you. So yeah, it definitely

<v Speaker 1>was a fever dream at the end.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Yeah, So I knew I wanted it to be

<v Speaker 2>ambiguous where people were like what was real and what wasn't.

<v Speaker 2>I like doing that because then you have to go

<v Speaker 2>back and read, okay from the beginning, because you will

<v Speaker 2>forget all the little crumbs that I dropped and all

<v Speaker 2>the little weird things that are happening, and maybe you

<v Speaker 2>read something differently into it the second time around. So

<v Speaker 2>that's fun. Yeah.

<v Speaker 1>I love that, especially with pen Pal, because I wound

<v Speaker 1>up reading that twice for the podcast. There was so

<v Speaker 1>much stuff that happened. I was like, Oh my god,

<v Speaker 1>how did I not catch this before? That's awesome?

<v Speaker 2>Well, pen Pal, I knew the end of the story.

<v Speaker 2>I kind of had to know, so I uh that

<v Speaker 2>the inspiration for that book came from I was writing

<v Speaker 2>the third book in my Mafia series, the Queens and

<v Speaker 2>Monster series, and the main the heroine had been kidnapped

<v Speaker 2>by a Russian assassin and he took her to this,

<v Speaker 2>you know, his little cabin in the woods and oh hi, Riley, Sorry,

<v Speaker 2>that's okay. So yeah, so she was she was a

<v Speaker 2>book editor, but she started writing a book in during

<v Speaker 2>her captivity and there was one line that she says

<v Speaker 2>in Savage Hearts where she was like, oh, yeah, I'm

<v Speaker 2>writing a book about a woman who doesn't know that

<v Speaker 2>she's blank. And I won't give it away for anybody

<v Speaker 2>who hasn't read the book. But so that was the

<v Speaker 2>inspiration for pen Palain, a really good book. So I

<v Speaker 2>wrote that afterwards. That is so awesome.

<v Speaker 1>They're like tied together.

<v Speaker 2>Yes, they're tied together.

<v Speaker 4>Cool.

<v Speaker 1>So have you been writing since you were a child,

<v Speaker 1>and if so, what is the first story that you

<v Speaker 1>can kind of remember, even in childhood that you remember

<v Speaker 1>fully fleshing out and putting to paper.

<v Speaker 2>So I was always a reader. I came from a

<v Speaker 2>family of readers, and we were all super big book nerds.

<v Speaker 2>But my I used to tell stories, you know, as

<v Speaker 2>a as a really young kid, and my mother called

<v Speaker 2>them lies. But the first thing I ever wrote, the

<v Speaker 2>first story I ever remember telling, was our neighbor. I

<v Speaker 2>think I was five or six years old, and our neighbor.

<v Speaker 2>I told her that it was my birthday and that

<v Speaker 2>I wanted and it wasn't and that I wanted this

<v Speaker 2>certain like playset or whatever, and you know, I got

<v Speaker 2>in trouble for that. But yeah, so I've always been

<v Speaker 2>telling stories, but I didn't actually start writing until I

<v Speaker 2>was forty. I mean, I was just living my life

<v Speaker 2>and I was, you know, I had a business with

<v Speaker 2>my husband and everything, and I always wanted to write

<v Speaker 2>a book, which I think a lot of people, do

<v Speaker 2>you know, we feel like there's a story and us

<v Speaker 2>that we want to tell. And I thought, yeah, somebday

<v Speaker 2>I'll get to it. But I turned forty, and I

<v Speaker 2>just felt like that was a very big milestone for me. Anyway,

<v Speaker 2>And at that time, I was a big Twilight fan.

<v Speaker 2>And I had read an interview with Stephanie Meyer.

<v Speaker 5>I know, right, I loved we all are very big fans,

<v Speaker 5>but Jenna's the biggest fan.

<v Speaker 2>And well, I read an interview with Stephanie Meyer where

<v Speaker 2>she said that she was a stay at home mom.

<v Speaker 2>She didn't go to school for writing. She wasn't a

<v Speaker 2>journalist or anything like that. She had a dream one

<v Speaker 2>night and she woke up about a dream about this

<v Speaker 2>vampire that wanted to, you know, drink this girl's blood.

<v Speaker 2>And so she wrote the book and it ended up

<v Speaker 2>selling like, I don't know, one hundred and fifty million

<v Speaker 2>copies or something. And so I thought that was very

<v Speaker 2>inspirational that she could do that, just you know, and

<v Speaker 2>I thought, well, okay, I'm gonna do that too. If

<v Speaker 2>she can do it, I can do it. Right, She's

<v Speaker 2>just an average person, why not. I thought that was

<v Speaker 2>very inspirational. So I wrote my first book and I

<v Speaker 2>sold it to well, I got an agent, and I

<v Speaker 2>sold it to a publisher and it was the best seller.

<v Speaker 2>And I was just like, okay, I have a new career.

<v Speaker 1>So yes, the rest is history.

<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I love that.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, my god.

<v Speaker 5>My question is now that we kind of know you

<v Speaker 5>just get these ideas in your head and kind of

<v Speaker 5>jot them down when you actually sit down to write,

<v Speaker 5>do you have a writing routine, and if so, is

<v Speaker 5>it like your fun glass of wine into music or

<v Speaker 5>do you just like complete focus just jotting everything down.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm the complete focus girl. Like I could never

<v Speaker 2>write in a coffee shop, you know, or anywhere I

<v Speaker 2>have to. I get distracted very easily. And I okay, honestly,

<v Speaker 2>I get irritated by noise. So like, even if I

<v Speaker 2>can hear my husband somewhere in the house, I'm just like,

<v Speaker 2>So I put my earbuds in and I usually have

<v Speaker 2>the cat with me, and I close the door, and

<v Speaker 2>usually it's best for I'm not a morning person at all.

<v Speaker 2>But if I wake up early and I don't check

<v Speaker 2>my email or Facebook or anything, and I just go

<v Speaker 2>to the computer and I start to write, it seems

<v Speaker 2>like my brain is very clear. Then, so I try

<v Speaker 2>and write early in the morning and get at least

<v Speaker 2>a few hours in and then I'll go on and

<v Speaker 2>do other things then and then later in the evening,

<v Speaker 2>like this kind of time of day, I'll come back

<v Speaker 2>to what I wrote. But I like to I like

<v Speaker 2>to be alone and I like to have chunks of time.

<v Speaker 2>And it's actually really hard because you know, I'll have

<v Speaker 2>to leave my phone out of the room and things,

<v Speaker 2>because you if you start checking your notifications and all

<v Speaker 2>of that, you really can't get things done. And I'm

<v Speaker 2>not a very fast writer, so I have to I

<v Speaker 2>have to force myself to focus and just be in

<v Speaker 2>the zone and you know, like close the drapes and

<v Speaker 2>just be in this little room by myself, and that

<v Speaker 2>helps a lot. So cool.

<v Speaker 3>Your question, right, Oh oh, keep just looking at her.

<v Speaker 1>I know.

<v Speaker 4>So, what is like your favorite book that you've written,

<v Speaker 4>or the one that you enjoyed writing the most.

<v Speaker 2>I had a lot. I don't know if you guys

<v Speaker 2>have read Perfect Strangers, but I had a lot of

<v Speaker 2>fun writing that that was. It has a plot twist,

<v Speaker 2>the same kind of a smack your face plot twist

<v Speaker 2>like pen Pal does, but That was also the first

<v Speaker 2>time that I had done something like that, and I

<v Speaker 2>think it came out like in twenty nineteen. I think

<v Speaker 2>the reviewers were just like, what is this book? Like,

<v Speaker 2>you know, sometimes people are not expecting to have these

<v Speaker 2>random things happen in my books. Now I think they

<v Speaker 2>know a little bit better because they don't trust me anymore. Yeah,

<v Speaker 2>Perfect Strangers was fun and pen Pal was fun, but

<v Speaker 2>because I knew the whole time what was happening, it

<v Speaker 2>was a little heart wrenching for me to be writing this.

<v Speaker 2>You know, these love scenes and stuff, and I'm like, yeah.

<v Speaker 1>So, I mean definitely ever After.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean some people think it's I think it's

<v Speaker 2>a happily ever after. Some people disagree, So you know,

<v Speaker 2>it's up to the readers. Yeah, yeah, Okay, So.

<v Speaker 3>This is about book specific questions about Blackthorne.

<v Speaker 1>When you were just brainstorming.

<v Speaker 3>The whole idea, did you off the bat that you

<v Speaker 3>wanted to do like a dual point of view or

<v Speaker 3>did that kind of happen organically as you were writing

<v Speaker 3>and you just kind of were like, oh, I kind

<v Speaker 3>of want this enemy clever her trope and also get

<v Speaker 3>that second person's perspective.

<v Speaker 2>I wanted it to be completely from Maven's perspective because

<v Speaker 2>I wanted her to be a unreliable narrator. And my

<v Speaker 2>editor came back and said, I think we need a

<v Speaker 2>few chapters from Ronan because it'll give a little bit

<v Speaker 2>of backstory and a little bit more insight into the character. So,

<v Speaker 2>you know, normally I don't work so closely with an

<v Speaker 2>editor as I did on this one, but because I

<v Speaker 2>admire her so much and I think she has really

<v Speaker 2>good instincts, I was like, okay, I'm gonna let you

<v Speaker 2>you guide me here in this situation. But the first

<v Speaker 2>draft there was no Ronan. And then I'm like, okay,

<v Speaker 2>you know, it would be a good idea if we

<v Speaker 2>have some of him in here, and I think it

<v Speaker 2>helps the reader to know the male character a little

<v Speaker 2>bit more. But also it's tough because once you start

<v Speaker 2>getting into his head, you know, there's less mystery of

<v Speaker 2>what's going on, and this whole book is predicated on

<v Speaker 2>it's the mystery of what actually is going on in Solstice,

<v Speaker 2>what happened with the Grandma? Who are these aunts?

<v Speaker 4>You know?

<v Speaker 2>Are they good or are they bad? So there's a

<v Speaker 2>big mystery. So if I I thought if I put

<v Speaker 2>too much from Ronan's point of view, it would it

<v Speaker 2>would give too much away because he knows everything. Yeah,

<v Speaker 2>but he's also unreliable too, and I think by the

<v Speaker 2>end of the book, you're like, Okay, what actually happened?

<v Speaker 2>And is he was that all a dream sequence or what?

<v Speaker 3>So Yeah, when I got to the first Ronan chapter,

<v Speaker 3>I updated my good Reads percentage and I was like,

<v Speaker 3>I'm literally foaming at the mouth right right now.

<v Speaker 2>Like I was so excited. Well, you know, and I

<v Speaker 2>write that stuff and I'm just writing it, and I'm

<v Speaker 2>just I'm in my little room doing my little weird

<v Speaker 2>cave writing thing, and I'm just like, oh my god,

<v Speaker 2>this is going to be so weird if people are

<v Speaker 2>going to think I'm so weird. And I'm like, oh,

<v Speaker 2>but it's so good. You know, they're so good. We

<v Speaker 2>love the weird, Okaycause it's hard not to censor yourself

<v Speaker 2>as you're writing this stuff because and the longer I'm

<v Speaker 2>a writer, and the more that you know you get,

<v Speaker 2>you know, you have interviews and you read reviews and

<v Speaker 2>things like that, it's hard not to let all of

<v Speaker 2>that noise go into your head and affect the writing process,

<v Speaker 2>so I try and stay away from it, but I've

<v Speaker 2>learned a little bit to just let myself get weird

<v Speaker 2>and then at the end it's like, Okay, if it's

<v Speaker 2>too weird, you can take it out. But I never

<v Speaker 2>end up taking it out, So.

<v Speaker 1>Please never can handle the weird.

<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I have. I have like at sidebar question from that,

<v Speaker 4>since you mentioned reviews, do you ever feel like when

<v Speaker 4>you do read the reviews, it like changes how you

<v Speaker 4>view your book or like, you know, you see people's

<v Speaker 4>different perspectives on it, and have you ever been.

<v Speaker 2>Like huh yeah, like.

<v Speaker 1>Guys, ever, I think it's changed.

<v Speaker 2>Someone is talking about my work is good for me,

<v Speaker 2>even if it's bad. Because some of my most controversial books,

<v Speaker 2>like Penpal, there was a lot of negativity on one

<v Speaker 2>side with that, but you know, all it did was

<v Speaker 2>help my sales. So I was like, okay, because people

<v Speaker 2>and it's okay for people to have very passionate, even

<v Speaker 2>negative opinions about your work. It means that you're at

<v Speaker 2>least affecting them in some way. I never want someone

<v Speaker 2>to put down one of my books and just be

<v Speaker 2>like yahn, you know, at least at least if they

<v Speaker 2>hate it, they had some kind of a reaction to it,

<v Speaker 2>and there's actually it's because I'm pushing, you know, all

<v Speaker 2>these different buttons. But when I first started out writing,

<v Speaker 2>I would I would take these reviews, bad reviews, to heart.

<v Speaker 2>But you can't do that because I'm really just writing.

<v Speaker 2>I'm telling a story, and I'm kind of almost just

<v Speaker 2>telling myself a story. And I do want to connect

<v Speaker 2>with the readers, and I want to write books that

<v Speaker 2>are going to be memorable, because there are so many

<v Speaker 2>cookie cutter books that are fine and it's fine as

<v Speaker 2>entertainment and that we can enjoy and you can put aside.

<v Speaker 2>But I really want to have something that sticks in

<v Speaker 2>your mind. So if a reader is, you know, unhappy

<v Speaker 2>with it, that's actually okay. Yeah.

<v Speaker 1>And reading is so subjective. I don't think there's no

<v Speaker 1>clear cut good or bad books, right. It's all dependent

<v Speaker 1>on who's reading it.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And so I just figure, like, Okay, if I

<v Speaker 2>get a one star review on whatever, it's like, Okay,

<v Speaker 2>that's not my person, that's not my reader. And it's

<v Speaker 2>actually good because if they're articulating what it is that

<v Speaker 2>they didn't like, and someone else reads that and they

<v Speaker 2>figure Okay, well I actually don't like that too, and

<v Speaker 2>they don't read the book, well, then they've done another

<v Speaker 2>person of service, and then I'm not going to get

<v Speaker 2>another one star review just because of that. So it's

<v Speaker 2>all good.

<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, It's a privilege to get good reviews and bad

<v Speaker 2>reviews and all of it is just part of it.

<v Speaker 2>So I try and keep an arm's length distance from

<v Speaker 2>that and not let it affect me because I know,

<v Speaker 2>I know what I'm trying to say, and you know,

<v Speaker 2>like you said, any kind of artists, you can't please everybody.

<v Speaker 2>So you have even amazing rock bands or even amazing

<v Speaker 2>movies or whatever, they have their fans and they have

<v Speaker 2>their detractors. So it's all good.

<v Speaker 1>And I was going to be sorry, Charlotte. I was

<v Speaker 1>going to ask you how you felt about one star reviews,

<v Speaker 1>but then I saw your TikTok and you recently posted

<v Speaker 1>a TikTok of one star reviews, and I was like, oh,

<v Speaker 1>she doesn't care about one star reviews.

<v Speaker 2>You know, I think, well, look, we all are human

<v Speaker 2>with you know, feelings. But I also, like I said,

<v Speaker 2>I am able to distance it from myself a little,

<v Speaker 2>like these people don't know me. As a person, and

<v Speaker 2>they're not. It's not They're just critiquing the work and

<v Speaker 2>what they don't like about it, which is totally legitimate,

<v Speaker 2>and I feel like that's that's what book reviews are

<v Speaker 2>for and movies so people can talk about it, right

<v Speaker 2>and they can decide what they want. But some of

<v Speaker 2>these one star reviews are so damn funny and they're

<v Speaker 2>so they're so mad, and I just start giggling when

<v Speaker 2>I read them because it's like, oh my god, because

<v Speaker 2>this is your taking this way too seriously, therap.

<v Speaker 1>But it's been there's been some one star reviews that

<v Speaker 1>I've read where I'm like, this makes me want to

<v Speaker 1>read the book. Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

<v Speaker 4>Somebody can tell me they hate a book and I'm like, oh,

<v Speaker 4>give it to me, Yeah, I want.

<v Speaker 1>To read it.

<v Speaker 2>This is the reasons why. And you're like, yes, yes, yeah, yeah,

<v Speaker 2>it's all fair.

<v Speaker 1>So obviously, in an ideal world, Blackthorn gets a movie.

<v Speaker 1>What is your ideal fan cast for Maven Ronan and

<v Speaker 1>more specifically Q, because I want you to know more

<v Speaker 1>about Q.

<v Speaker 2>It's funny because I don't I don't ever do fan

<v Speaker 2>casting in my head of like, who these people are.

<v Speaker 2>I don't have mood boards of, you know, certain actors

<v Speaker 2>or whatever they are, because I don't know. I don't

<v Speaker 2>base it on anyone. So to me, it's just when

<v Speaker 2>I start writing the book, I'm just getting to know

<v Speaker 2>these characters, and I start like the first twenty percent

<v Speaker 2>is just me sussing out who is who and what

<v Speaker 2>they are. So I don't have a picture in my

<v Speaker 2>mind of who these characters are. And people always want

<v Speaker 2>to know, well, who would play this or who would play that?

<v Speaker 2>I'm like, I don't know. Usually my answer is I

<v Speaker 2>wouldn't want it to be somebody super famous that's going

<v Speaker 2>to bring some kind of preconceived, you know whatever notion, like, Okay,

<v Speaker 2>it can't be Henry Caville, it can't be Jason Momoa, like,

<v Speaker 2>it has to be somebody that you can lose yourself

<v Speaker 2>in the character as you're watching it. So I don't know.

<v Speaker 2>You guys will have to tell me.

<v Speaker 5>I think after seeing the previews for Frankenstein, Jacob Elordius,

<v Speaker 5>Frankenstein should be cute.

<v Speaker 2>Isn't he amazing?

<v Speaker 4>Though?

<v Speaker 2>I mean, I didn't even know who this actor was,

<v Speaker 2>and I saw like, I can't wait to see that movie.

<v Speaker 2>But yeah, so if Guermo del Toro can direct, that's

<v Speaker 2>all I want.

<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Giermo, if you're watching.

<v Speaker 5>Gmo is my man, he's clearly listening to smut up

<v Speaker 5>and listen.

<v Speaker 2>So I.

<v Speaker 4>Feel like he'd be perfect this book tip.

<v Speaker 2>And he you would make it even better than I

<v Speaker 2>can never even dream about it. I'd be like, you

<v Speaker 2>take it, you do it. I'll be hearing going yes.

<v Speaker 1>Right is sexy?

<v Speaker 2>Then depends on what your type is. Right, true should

<v Speaker 2>be sexy. I mean you never know. It's all the casting,

<v Speaker 2>like does he have that whole you know, look, I

<v Speaker 2>don't know.

<v Speaker 3>Definitely, he's definitely a real freak.

<v Speaker 2>I mean, let's face the whole family or freaks. But

<v Speaker 2>then the whole thing you're like or are they like?

<v Speaker 2>Are they I don't know?

<v Speaker 1>Rightturing, I was picturing Hilda and Zelda as the anties.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, in my head, Yeah, I loved him. I

<v Speaker 2>know you could go in any which direction.

<v Speaker 4>I'm really yeah yeah, right, what made you decide to

<v Speaker 4>make the ending a big and is it open to

<v Speaker 4>interpretation or is it a supernatural story?

<v Speaker 2>It is open to interpretation unless I do a sequel,

<v Speaker 2>and that it will, you know, everything will have to be.

<v Speaker 2>But I think if I did do a sequel, I

<v Speaker 2>would take it from the daughter's point of view. I

<v Speaker 2>think I would take it from this point of view

<v Speaker 2>and she would be a little bit older and it

<v Speaker 2>would go from there. So I wanted to leave things.

<v Speaker 2>I like to leave things open and unanswered because it's

<v Speaker 2>kind of like life, like there are no there are

<v Speaker 2>no hard answers. Yeah, so you got to make it

<v Speaker 2>up for yourself.

<v Speaker 4>Sometimes I love that, and then sometimes I'm like, just

<v Speaker 4>tell me, tell me, just tell.

<v Speaker 2>This one. This one I was deliberately, especially with the

<v Speaker 2>epilogue that you see from the detectives that kind of

<v Speaker 2>made it even like, okay, wait, now there's a fox

<v Speaker 2>over there that's looking at weird, you know. So then

<v Speaker 2>I like to have usually either the house is a

<v Speaker 2>character in and of itself, or the season is a

<v Speaker 2>character too, Like you know, it's Halloween and it's all

<v Speaker 2>spooky and everything. I like to get all that stuff going,

<v Speaker 2>so I'm really sure what's happening.

<v Speaker 1>We did discuss that in the episode yesterday too, where

<v Speaker 1>I was like, there was so much stuff happening before

<v Speaker 1>outside of the house. There's no way that the ending

<v Speaker 1>isn't supernatural but open to interpretation.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, I mean I have I have my you know,

<v Speaker 2>I mean, I know it's real and yeah, but right, yeah,

<v Speaker 2>but maybe you will with the sequel. We'll see if

<v Speaker 2>there's a sequel. I don't know, somebody.

<v Speaker 3>I know.

<v Speaker 2>I'm like, if that's done and I'm going on to

<v Speaker 2>something else, and I'm bored with it, So I don't know.

<v Speaker 3>I feel like you tied it in like a nice

<v Speaker 3>pretty bow, but you also left it like open, so

<v Speaker 3>we can that door can be like wedged right open

<v Speaker 3>and you can continue on. Yeah, it can be a standalone,

<v Speaker 3>but it can also definitely be part of a series.

<v Speaker 2>Do you think penn Pal could be a sequel?

<v Speaker 1>Yeah, she said, immediately write it right now.

<v Speaker 2>In fact the art please. Yeah, I'm just asking. I

<v Speaker 2>think you write it.

<v Speaker 1>We'll read it, Yeah, we will.

<v Speaker 5>My question was kind of along the same lines as Riley's,

<v Speaker 5>but you may answer. Can you give us one example

<v Speaker 5>where it was reality and where it was skewed perception

<v Speaker 5>for Mateman, Like, was one particular thing actually the carbon

<v Speaker 5>monoxide or was it.

<v Speaker 2>Or was it not carbon monoxide? And it was the house, right,

<v Speaker 2>So the house itself is a third Well, I don't

<v Speaker 2>know how many characters we have, but but the theories are, Okay,

<v Speaker 2>it was carbon monoxide poisoning, or they're witches, and or

<v Speaker 2>the house itself is an evil entity, right, so those

<v Speaker 2>are all kind of like, who's really the main player here?

<v Speaker 2>I don't know if you guys ever read the Haunting

<v Speaker 2>of Hill House. It's a really good older story and

<v Speaker 2>it hits I mean, it's spooky, and so it's it's

<v Speaker 2>kind of like that where the house has its own

<v Speaker 2>wants and desires, and so because this house is like

<v Speaker 2>generally generationally I can't even say that word right now,

<v Speaker 2>is the one It's been around for a long time, right,

<v Speaker 2>and it's had it's housed all these generations of women

<v Speaker 2>who've been persecuted. So like, is the house itself just

<v Speaker 2>absorbing the energy? And I don't know, Yeah, I can't

<v Speaker 2>tell you.

<v Speaker 5>I got an extra theory, and I really like the

<v Speaker 5>extra theory, so kind of gone with that now.

<v Speaker 3>Okay, now we're just in our little random set of

<v Speaker 3>question section. If you have built multiple settings and whole

<v Speaker 3>worlds under your pen name, knowing how far your reach

<v Speaker 3>has grown and how much your readers connect with it.

<v Speaker 3>If given the chance, would you choose to still go

<v Speaker 3>by J. T. Geisinger or would you change it?

<v Speaker 2>You mean, change it to a different name, your.

<v Speaker 3>Real name, whatever, like whichever. Now that you know, like

<v Speaker 3>you know how far your reach has gone. If you

<v Speaker 3>knew from the very beginning that you would be a

<v Speaker 3>New York Times bestselling publisher, do you think you would

<v Speaker 3>still use a pen name or your real name.

<v Speaker 2>I would definitely use a pen name, and I would

<v Speaker 2>make it simpler. So Guy Singer is actually my real

<v Speaker 2>last name, so it's like that's not even really a

<v Speaker 2>pen name, and it's like I'm married into that name,

<v Speaker 2>so nobody knows how to pronounce it.

<v Speaker 4>You know.

<v Speaker 2>I would have made it something easy, like stone or

<v Speaker 2>just something super simple, because it's way and it looks

<v Speaker 2>easier on it, it looks better on a book cover.

<v Speaker 2>And yeah, so if I had to give advice to

<v Speaker 2>a wrioter starting out, definitely take a pen name, especially

<v Speaker 2>because people are cuckoo and I get the weirdest stalkers.

<v Speaker 2>I mean, you would not imagine the stuff that people

<v Speaker 2>will send me and they'll try and find me and

<v Speaker 2>all this other just because I wrote some character that

<v Speaker 2>they're obsessed with, and to me, it's like, you know, you, guys,

<v Speaker 2>you realize this is fake and made up, right, It's yeah,

<v Speaker 2>it's made up. It doesn't exist, but people get so

<v Speaker 2>crazy about it. So yeah, I would definitely I would

<v Speaker 2>be like, I don't even know, maybe I would if

<v Speaker 2>I really had it to do all over again. I

<v Speaker 2>think I would never show my face and I would

<v Speaker 2>be a name that you didn't know if there was

<v Speaker 2>a gender or a race or what the identity was.

<v Speaker 2>It would be completely neutral. And I would probably, like

<v Speaker 2>if I was going to do an interview like this,

<v Speaker 2>I would probably like just have some kind of a

<v Speaker 2>sticker over my face and like the voice like in

<v Speaker 2>the Witness Protection. Yeah, I think it's very important to

<v Speaker 2>it's nice to connect with your readers, but you can

<v Speaker 2>do that in a way that's not, you know, physically present.

<v Speaker 2>But yeah, I don't know. Yeah, so i'd go with

<v Speaker 2>a different name. Very cool, that's really awesome, totally fair.

<v Speaker 1>So, if time and money were not an issue, what

<v Speaker 1>would be your ideal setting to just sit down and

<v Speaker 1>write for like an entire week.

<v Speaker 2>Well, it's funny that you say that, because sometimes when

<v Speaker 2>I'm on a deadline and I really need to focus,

<v Speaker 2>I will go away. So when I lived in southern California,

<v Speaker 2>I would drive up to Santa Barbara and I would

<v Speaker 2>stay for a couple of weeks at this little place

<v Speaker 2>called the Spanish Garden Inn. And it was quaint and

<v Speaker 2>it was small, and I would lock myself in there

<v Speaker 2>and I would finish the book because and I would

<v Speaker 2>just get room service. And when I would check out,

<v Speaker 2>they would be like, We've never had anybody spend so

<v Speaker 2>much money from my gosh, I'm thank you or you know.

<v Speaker 2>Now that I live up in the Tahoe area, sometimes

<v Speaker 2>I'll go to Lake Tahoe and I'll just stay there

<v Speaker 2>for a week. So for me, it's where would I

<v Speaker 2>go now? I mean, I don't know. I would just

<v Speaker 2>go somewhere. I love room service, So anywhere that has

<v Speaker 2>a you know.

<v Speaker 5>Hotel, five star room service.

<v Speaker 2>With a view. I like to look out and see something,

<v Speaker 2>you know. Yeah, so it doesn't matter where it is

<v Speaker 2>in the world. But alone with room service, Yeah, that

<v Speaker 2>would be my thing.

<v Speaker 3>To go to the pepper Mill. They have a little pool.

<v Speaker 3>It'll be a great pepper miller, immaculate.

<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I love it.

<v Speaker 2>Going off of food.

<v Speaker 5>If you can only eat one food item for a

<v Speaker 5>whole year, what would you pick?

<v Speaker 2>I mean, why, it's got nutrients, it's got like you know,

<v Speaker 2>I don't know. Yeah, one food item for a whole year,

<v Speaker 2>like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yeah yeah, pizza, probably locos.

<v Speaker 2>I do love a good taco, yeah, yeah, nothing healthy

<v Speaker 2>like yogurt no.

<v Speaker 1>No, yeah, imagine yogurt for a whole year.

<v Speaker 4>I couldn't.

<v Speaker 2>You just because.

<v Speaker 4>Yeah, see what is your favorite movie and your like.

<v Speaker 1>Favorite genre of movies or yeah, of movies.

<v Speaker 2>Okay, so I have a couple. I love The Princess

<v Speaker 2>Bride because it's just such a cute, you know, it's

<v Speaker 2>very sweet. And I love The Notebook because it made

<v Speaker 2>me cry and it's and it's a it's a real

<v Speaker 2>good love story. Yeah, and Ryan Gosling is just you know, yes,

<v Speaker 2>I just like him. There's something about him. My husband's

<v Speaker 2>like really and my favorite genre for movies, I mean,

<v Speaker 2>I love I love romance. I love to watch romances.

<v Speaker 2>So my husband likes actual movies. So there's always things

<v Speaker 2>blowing up and people getting killed, and I'm like, where's

<v Speaker 2>the love story? You know, if there's not some love story.

<v Speaker 4>I don't.

<v Speaker 2>I'll just get up and leave because it's just like,

<v Speaker 2>why do you like death so much?

<v Speaker 1>You know? My husband with a Jason State, I'll.

<v Speaker 2>Read him every once in a while a little snippet

<v Speaker 2>of my book. I read him this one portion of

<v Speaker 2>Blackthorn where it's like when can I even say it?

<v Speaker 2>I think it's the Greenhouse. Oh yeah, and you know

<v Speaker 2>there's like some comparison to a French bottle of wine.

<v Speaker 2>And I read read to my husband and he's like,

<v Speaker 2>what is wrong with you? They don't get it? To me?

<v Speaker 2>I thought it was really good and he's like, oh

<v Speaker 2>my god, it's discussed. Oh my god.

<v Speaker 1>I liked it.

<v Speaker 3>It made me lol, Like I was laughing out loud

<v Speaker 3>when I read that part.

<v Speaker 2>I loved it. I brushed his teeth.

<v Speaker 1>He was just like, during our episodes, we'll make Riley

<v Speaker 1>read excerpts of like the wildest sex scenes in the books.

<v Speaker 5>And we've made her read that one.

<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and she's like, one of my questions is going

<v Speaker 1>to be what made you choose to use the term

<v Speaker 1>wet hole?

<v Speaker 2>Yeah?

<v Speaker 4>I was.

<v Speaker 1>I forgot I was going to ask that because that is.

<v Speaker 4>Like, yeah, I always like I always want to ask

<v Speaker 4>like what makes like what makes you choose like tight

<v Speaker 4>ring of muscle, wet hole stuff like that.

<v Speaker 1>I love it.

<v Speaker 2>After writing so many sex scenes. So I've written thirty

<v Speaker 2>five novels and they're all they all have romance and

<v Speaker 2>love scenes and whatever. Before both of my parents passed away,

<v Speaker 2>I was a little bit more poetic about it. It

<v Speaker 2>was a little bit more not his throbbing member, but

<v Speaker 2>a little bit more you know, oh yeah. And then

<v Speaker 2>I mean, I don't know if it's bad to say,

<v Speaker 2>but I feel like once they both passed away, I

<v Speaker 2>felt this like, oh, I'm just they're not going to

<v Speaker 2>read it, so I'm just lose. And there's only so

<v Speaker 2>many ways that you can say these things, and so

<v Speaker 2>depending upon the character and how how they would perceive

<v Speaker 2>it or say it, you know. So like my Mafia

<v Speaker 2>guys and in the Queen's Monster series, they're just saying

<v Speaker 2>all the words and it's really super raunchy. And after

<v Speaker 2>a while, I just like, if I'm if I'm in

<v Speaker 2>a mood, if I'm writing a sex scene and I'm

<v Speaker 2>in a mood, I'll just be like oh yeah, and

<v Speaker 2>again and again, I tell myself if it's too gross,

<v Speaker 2>at the end. You can always edit it out, but

<v Speaker 2>I ye just leave it in because I'm just like whatever,

<v Speaker 2>they're gonna like it or they're not going to like

<v Speaker 2>love it.

<v Speaker 1>Yes, I mean it. He did suck his own come

<v Speaker 1>out of her bow hole, so yeah, that real wild

<v Speaker 1>with it.

<v Speaker 2>The part of my husband was just like sex scene.

<v Speaker 2>He's like, I'm going to die.

<v Speaker 1>He's like, you don't want me to do that, do you?

<v Speaker 2>I mean, he doesn't even want to know what goes

<v Speaker 2>on in my books. He would He's like, you're disturbed.

<v Speaker 2>I read not too so you know, I I you know,

<v Speaker 2>I get all these ideas like, oh, pretty good, but

<v Speaker 2>you have to be in the right moment and the

<v Speaker 2>character has to feel correct, you know, for you to

<v Speaker 2>do that. And some people love it and other people

<v Speaker 2>just like, you know, what's funny, most people don't get

<v Speaker 2>offended in my books at the sex scenes. They'll get

<v Speaker 2>offended if I'll say something because there's a church scene

<v Speaker 2>in Blackthorn too, where she goes into the church, you know,

<v Speaker 2>and there's like Jesus's head falls off the crucifix and

<v Speaker 2>and there's there's discussions about Mary's. People get more offended

<v Speaker 2>about that than they really rawchy sex. So yeah, so

<v Speaker 2>everybody has their trigger, right.

<v Speaker 1>It was so ambient and spooky. I thought you did it.

<v Speaker 4>So well, Yeah you did because I was scared. I said,

<v Speaker 4>absolutely not.

<v Speaker 2>That would be a good like a Gearmo del Toro scene.

<v Speaker 5>Yes see, he would probably have like the Virgin Mary,

<v Speaker 5>like have like blood coming down her eyes or something

<v Speaker 5>too like h.

<v Speaker 2>I mean, I don't know. Yeah.

<v Speaker 1>So our final question would be what is currently on

<v Speaker 1>your TVR and also what books would you consider your

<v Speaker 1>own personal five star reads?

<v Speaker 2>On my TBR, Naima Simone wrote a book or published

<v Speaker 2>a book recently called Huntsman and I think it's a

<v Speaker 2>retelling of uh is it Robin Hood. It's a retelling

<v Speaker 2>in one of them, but it sounds like a sexy yeah,

<v Speaker 2>and she's really cute and sweet and I love her.

<v Speaker 2>And on my TVR. I'm so bad with books because

<v Speaker 2>when I'm writing something, I try not to, especially try

<v Speaker 2>not to read romance because I don't want to get

<v Speaker 2>in my brain and come out. But yeah, what was

<v Speaker 2>the other part of the question my.

<v Speaker 1>Tv your own personal five stars romance wise or just anything?

<v Speaker 2>Well, I generally like books where everyone is dead at

<v Speaker 2>the end. So I like books that have a really

<v Speaker 2>emotional experience for me, that's what makes you remember these books.

<v Speaker 2>So The Road by Cormick McCarthy, it's a dystopian novel

<v Speaker 2>the World, and it's a man who's walking through a

<v Speaker 2>burned out in America with his young son. At the

<v Speaker 2>end of that book, I mean, that's like one of

<v Speaker 2>the books that wanted me made me want to be

<v Speaker 2>a writer because the language and the way that he

<v Speaker 2>and then the end you're so devastated. So that book too.

<v Speaker 2>One of the books I read with in the last

<v Speaker 2>year that was it's a monster smut romance that I

<v Speaker 2>thought was so good. It's called The Lady of Rooks

<v Speaker 2>Grave Manner.

<v Speaker 1>We've done that one.

<v Speaker 2>Oh right, this is so creative and it's very sexy

<v Speaker 2>and it's all over the place and there's all these

<v Speaker 2>men and I'm like, pretty good.

<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that one was like banging the whole time, right.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it was different, it was unusual, and it was

<v Speaker 2>a little bit like it felt historical sort of, you know.

<v Speaker 2>But yeah, I really like that that book. But yeah,

<v Speaker 2>there's I'll have to send you my list of like

<v Speaker 2>all the stuff because I won't remember, right, now I shall.

<v Speaker 4>Look it up.

<v Speaker 2>There's a lot of good books to be read. I

<v Speaker 2>feel like you just can't.

<v Speaker 1>Get so it's not depressing.

<v Speaker 2>Yes, yeah. If you guys listen to books or do

<v Speaker 2>you read them physically? I mostly reading both, Okay, I

<v Speaker 2>mostly reading.

<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I listened to books, like while I'm working all

<v Speaker 3>day long, I'll like listen to audiobooks and then when

<v Speaker 3>I get home, I physically read, like I'm always reading.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I feel audio books you can do it anytime.

<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I can't really listen to them because most of

<v Speaker 4>the time the narrators do not sound how I want

<v Speaker 4>them to sound.

<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a it's a real struggle.

<v Speaker 4>Yes, yeah, so I just read it myself.

<v Speaker 2>It's fair. Was the last books that I produced too

<v Speaker 2>that were like, I'm just like, it doesn't sound right,

<v Speaker 2>and so just ye, story is wrong.

<v Speaker 1>But yeah, what was the last book you read? Rightly?

<v Speaker 1>Don't do her dirty like that, because I know what

<v Speaker 1>it is and she gave it five stars.

<v Speaker 4>I did give it five stars. It was called Suck

<v Speaker 4>Mommy's Piss Flaps.

<v Speaker 1>It was fair to the tbr Oh yeah, one.

<v Speaker 2>For you guys. Okay, as we're all ladies here, have

<v Speaker 2>you read All Fours by Miranda July. No, No, it's

<v Speaker 2>really interesting. It's a little bit older than your guys's age,

<v Speaker 2>but it's a woman who's having like an early midlife

<v Speaker 2>crisis and she's a writer and she accepts an offer

<v Speaker 2>to go to New York and like, I don't know

<v Speaker 2>if she's doing some publication tour whatever. She lives in California,

<v Speaker 2>so she's like, I'm gonna drive. I just feel like

<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna drive. She has a husband and a young

<v Speaker 2>son at home. So she makes it like an hour

<v Speaker 2>outside of LA and she stops at a gas station

<v Speaker 2>and the guy who's like cleaning her windshields, she's like,

<v Speaker 2>she gets a hotel, and the rest of the book

<v Speaker 2>is her having this crazy midlife crisis with this gas

<v Speaker 2>station attendant. It's so good. It's like this it's almost

<v Speaker 2>I don't know if it's like feminist, you know, literature

<v Speaker 2>or whatever it is, but she's having an absolute meltdown

<v Speaker 2>and a sexual awakening at the whole time. I could

<v Speaker 2>not look away. It was a train wreck of a book.

<v Speaker 2>It was so good and so well written from a

<v Speaker 2>woman's perspective of like what you go through with your

<v Speaker 2>sexuality and with being a mom and just wanting to

<v Speaker 2>get away from your whole life. And then she just

<v Speaker 2>does for a week, and she lies to her husband

<v Speaker 2>the whole time. She's like, oh yeah, now I'm in Colorado,

<v Speaker 2>but she's in this hotel room.

<v Speaker 4>Oh my gosh, that sounds so good.

<v Speaker 2>That sounds immediately out of it, or you'll just be

<v Speaker 2>like this woman is terrible, which she is really really good.

<v Speaker 4>So I.

<v Speaker 1>Well, thank you so so much with us, Yes, and

<v Speaker 1>anybody who's listening. If you need like a romantic, spooky

<v Speaker 1>ambient read Blackthorn by JT. Guysinger check it out. It

<v Speaker 1>is so good, so.

<v Speaker 2>Good, little twisty thank you, thank you. Okay, we'll have

<v Speaker 2>a good rest of your night.

<v Speaker 4>You too.

<v Speaker 1>It's been a pleasure meeting you. Yes, thank you so much.

<v Speaker 2>JT. Thank you.

<v Speaker 1>Bye, Okay, next time, see you bye bye. All right. Well,

<v Speaker 1>if you liked this episode, make sure you rate, review,

<v Speaker 1>and subscribe, Follow.

<v Speaker 3>Us on Instagram at smut up and Listen podcast, and

<v Speaker 3>on TikTok at smut up and Listen.

<v Speaker 4>Tell your friends but not your mom, and we'll see

<v Speaker 4>you later. You have morny little rats.

<v Speaker 2>Bye.