We Know How to Read

Welcome to our TROPE-tastic summer series! This series will follow what is a trope, why do we use tropes, are tropes good or bad, how do they impact book marketing, the reader experience, and some tropes you just can't avoid. This week we are focusing on the 'What' is a trope: a word completely synonyms in the community at this point, but what is it? Find out on this week's episode! 

Welcome back to our Stacks on Stacks series, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SOS"...

We love fanfiction, we love fiction, but do we love fanfiction turned fiction? What are the implications on publishing rights, the community space, and over all the impression fanfiction is giving others. We concluded our series with a more critical view on the rise of fanfiction turned fiction, how that impacts fanfic readers and non, plus more. The series really reflects on how important fanfict...

Did you know you are reading fanfiction? Some of these we all know and love to talk about BUT some of these were a complete surprise. We discover fandoms that have left the fanfiction world, breaking the 4th wall into trad publishing, and now are on the bookshelves today. We love them, we hate them, and we are excited to see fanfiction outside of the community because say it louder for those in th...

We went to Imaginarium Book Festival!! We are excited to share our stories, author meet-and-greets-, book hauls, and more with you all. This is our second year and for sure an annual trip for us! We met so many wonderful authors, said hi to author friends, and made new friends. Imaginarium was a blast with many laughs and memorable moments we wanted to share with you.

We are fans of fanfic! If you all didn't already know that! This mini-series of three episodes focuses on fanfiction turned fiction and the impacts of fanfiction culture, fiction publication, the ethical side, and more. This week we are doing a brief history of fanfiction, terms, words directly taken from Internet writing culture, and how they are making their way into mainstream fiction. Our Stac...

Welcome to our first Stacks on Stacks episode, a once-a-month book club. We started this to help us conquer that never-ending TBR, talk more with you, and abbreviate it as “S.O.S.” because yes send help! We will never finish our TBR at this rate!! We announce our “SOS” read at the beginning of each month, inviting you to read, listen, and talk with us on Instagram or Discord about that month's "SO...

The spice is right! We have saved some of the spiciest content for last! With each week we have been turning up the heat to end on a five-chili pepper kind of episode. Omegaverse and shifter romance is not something to take on lightly! When is comes to mates, multiple partners, and all sorts of kicks this episode gets dark and dirty real quick! It's been fun talking about the spicier side of readi...

What's better than one man? THREE! Welcome back to our third episode of The Spice is Right! This week we we dive head first into our particularly favorite subgenre of spice: Paranormal, Why Choose, and Fantasy!  Especially the aliens, fae, minotaurs, and more! The less human the better for us! This is your warning now that this season will be talking about explicit sexual content, all trigger warn...

The darker the better, right?! Welcome back to our second episode of  The Spice is Right! This week we are talking about all those red flag men we love to hate. Especially the billionaires, mafia, motorcycle gang, and the bad boys. This is your warning now that this season will be talking about explicit sexual content, all trigger warnings associated with the categories, and lots of sexual comedy....

Welcome back to The Spice is Right! You guessed it We Know How to Read is getting spicy! We are starting our newest season all about spice, romance, and all 50 shades of grey. This is your warning now that this season will be talking about explicit sexual content, all trigger warnings associated with the categories, and lots of sexual comedy. This week we are focusing on Contemporary romance, peri...

The fun begins! We go over all the special released chapters for House of Flame and Shadow as well as talk about the future for this series and the others. Enjoy our long-winded thoughts and theories on the SJM multiverse!

All good things must come to an end and rounding out of the Spring season of They Know How to Write the very talented Kate Dramis joins us this week! Inspired by a dream about a woman calling down lightning to save a friend,  The Curse of Saints is Kate’s debut fantasy novel and the first in the trilogy. We had so much fun chatting with Kate this week and her book is truly amazing, add this fantas...

The epic finale is finally here! We are wrapping up this adventure with nonstop action. The teams are all converging on the Crystal Palace. Bryce and Hunt fighting for the world, Ruhn and Lydia saving her sons, Hel battling the forces of Asteri. The whole time Bryce is tearing apart and making their world whole again. Tag along for the epic finish and return in TWO weeks for our theories, predicti...

Welcome Nicole Northwood to the podcast! She writes fantasy and fairytale romance stories for adults that are atmospheric, intimate, and alluring. Nicole was amazing to have on the show to share all the fun times she had writing In Flames, The Kestral Chronicles, Book 1, and her future projects. It was a load of laughs, nerds just being nerds, and more. 

Part Three the Ascent - into what? Well, buckle up because we dive into this section head first! The world is unstable, Bryce is opening portals again! Tharion is owning up to the consequences of his own actions, and so is Ithan, but Sathia and Hypaxia help them out. Ghosts are rising from the dead, and the plan is forming on how to ultimately end the Asteris' reign, but only time will tell!  

Welcome AJ Vrana to the pod this week! AJ Vrana is the author of the Indie Author Project-winning Chaos Cycle Duology, the 2023 Ontario Author Project Winner in Adult Fiction, and all an absolute blast to have on the show! Her duology and short stories brought us together at the infamous Imaginarium conference where we met. Rich with folklore and paranormal intrigue, The Hollow Gods is an atmosphe...

This is a long one but what an epic adventure it is! The gang is back together and their journey is only just beginning as they are piecing together how to destroy the Asteri. Like always Bryce is being a BA, Hunt is Hunt, Ruhn is making us swoon and Lidia is caring the plot.  Ultimately the most important question in this episode is are you Team Caves or Team Archives? 

Welcome Aurora Ascher a New York Times and USA Today bestselling fantasy & paranormal romance author. Dreams do come true when it comes to making this interview happen! Aurora recently published Sanctuary of the Shadow The Elemental Emergence Series - Book One, a fantasy new adult romance. Aurora shared with us her musical upbringing to trad publishing vs self publishing and much much more! We...

We are back! This episode like always is full of our chaotic rambles and thoughts while reading probably one of the best get away/ rescue scenes ever written! Lidia is carrying this story through like a champ! We literally dive into the depths of these pages and find some sweet morsels of information and THE PLOT thickens as our characters learn shocking new information about each other. Plus our...

Our spring They Know How to Write continues with another amazing author, Sara DeLaVergne! What is even more special is TODAY (Feb. 27) is also the release day for Son of Shattered Souls: Book Two of the Shattered Trilogy!! Congrats to Sara on publishing her second novel! Go check out her fantasy series featuring forgotten gods, magic, forbidden love, and much much more! We talk about Daughter of S...

What an info dump in the most delicious way!! Megan and Natalie can agree this section of the book just might be their favorite part - so far! Bryce, Azirel, and Nesta are learning about Pyrthian's history and how it intertangles into Bryce's world back home. While Ithan and Tharion are battling their inner demons, but Ruhn, Hunt, and Baxion are fighting literal demons in the form of parasite Aste...

Introducing our Spring debut novelist Thea Claire, to start our season 12 They Know How to Write Author Interviews! Thea Claire is a storyteller at heart. A North Texas native, she loves to write about strong characters creating beautiful lives for themselves and those around them. Go Find Less is a curvy girl love after loss a second chance romance! But there is more! This is the first in a serie...

It's officially been one week since House of Flame and Shadow has been out and we couldn't wait any longer to overshare our thoughts - that's why this episode is so long - sorry guys! Spoilers only for the first 17 chapters to include: recap events in these chapters that we wanted to share with you, and much more like chaotic rambling and jumping to conclusions! Join us on our Discord every Book C...

SPOILERS! We are diving head-first into all of our unhinged, well-thought-out theories and predictions for all the characters in the upcoming House of Flame and Shadow release! This episode is long but we have so much to cover before Jan. 30th. Enjoy the crazy train ride into our inner SJM theories and join us on our Discord to talk more about these delulu predictions and more!