The Exploress

In this bonus episode, let's revisit the tragic story the Titanic, but focus on the women aboard. Who were they? What was it like, to ride on this infamous luxury liner? What did they see and feel, that fateful night?  As always, you'll find show notes for this episode, includng images and a list of my research sources, at my Exploress website . If you want to support the show, you can do so over...

Season 4, Episode 8. Season 4 is taking an intermission for the moment; I hope to have us traveling back to the 1920s soon. Until then, I've got something fun for you: a chat with the wonderful Genn McMenemy and Jenny Williamson of Ancient History Fangirl about their new book,  Women of Myth . It's a beautiful compendium of stories from all around the world about a diverse cast of heroines, goddes...

Season 4, Episode 7. In this episode, we're jumping back to 1910s Chicago, which is the setting for my friend Krystal Marquis's New York Times and Indie bestselling novel  The Davenports . This heartwarming historical romance introduces us to four young Black women navigating life at the turn of the century, falling in love, taking risks, and carving their own paths through the world. I loved talk...

Season 4, Episode 6. The 1920s was the decade of speakeasies, gin joints, illicit nightclubs, and cabarets. Today we'll meet the many women brewing their own moonshine, and doing serious jail time. We'll meet the bootleggers, smugglers, and rum runners like Gertrude Lythgoe, the queens of the speakeasies, like Texas Guinan and Belle Livingstone, and Pauline Morton Sabin, the woman who eventually h...

Season 4, Episode 5. Women were a big reason why the prohibition of alcohol became a constitutional amendment in 1920s America. Today we'll learn about the history of the saloon and dry laws, the politics behind the Volstead Act and the 18th Amendment, and why women were at the forefront of the temperance movement. We'll meet Anna Gordon and Frances Willard, the Presidents of the Women's Christian...

Season 4, Episode 5. Join me for a fun-filled interview with my friend and fellow debut author, Lyssa Mia Smith, whose novel, REVELLE, came out last month. Described as MOULIN ROUGE meets THE GREAT GATSBY, it's one the fantasy-romance fans amongst you don't want to miss. Much like my novel, NIGHTBIRDS, it takes a lot of inspiration from history, and I loved this chat about magic, courtesans, and a...

I am thrilled to share a juicy snippet of the NIGHTBIRDS audiobook with you, listeners! Please enjoy the prologue and first chapter, brought to life by the incredibly talented Saskia Maarleveld. You can buy the full audiobook wherever they're sold. My novel, NIGHTBIRDS, comes out TODAY! It is a 1920s-tinted YA Fantasy about a world with a prohibition on magic, and a group of girls called Nightbird...

Season 4, Episode 3. I'm thrilled to be in conversation with Amie Kaufman, fellow author, friend, and co-host of my other podcast, P ub Dates , about taking inspiration from history and weaving it into fantasical worlds. Her novel, The Isles of the Gods , and my own both take certain aspects of the 1920s and use them as springboards into fictional exploration, but we've used our sources in very di...

Season 4, Episode 2. The flapper is the most iconic lady of the Roaring Twenties. We'll learn about her signature bobbed hairdo, what makeup she was rocking, and how Coco Chanel inspired the dresses she'd wear. We'll meet the two most notorious flappers of the age, Zelda Fitzgerald and Lois Long, and how they spent their time drinking, smoking, making out in cars and dancing to jazz in cabarets. W...

Season 4, Episode 1. Let's time travel back to the 1920s! But first, we're going to revisit a vintage Exploress episode that explores something momentous that happened in the year 1920, when American women finally won the right to vote. You can pre-order my novel, NIGHTBIRDS , wherever print, ebook, or audiobooks are sold! If you do, make sure to claim the exclusive Nightbirds pin by February 27th...

Season 3, Episode 28. Queen Elizabeth I ruled for 45 years as the Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess, and Gloriana, and her reign is now referred to as the Golden Age, or the Elizabethan Age. Today we'll be hearing from Bess herself as she talks us through her top tips for a successful queenship. We'll learn about how she was able to reign as an unmarried woman, why she refused to marry at all, the man...

Season 3, Episode 27. Survived. Join Henry VIII's sixth and final queen, Katherine Parr, as we explore what education looked like for women in Tudor England. We'll discover where girls studied, what subjects they learned, and how many of them could read and write. We'll also learn about the extraordinary life of Katherine Parr, and how she became the wife that survived by leveraging her education....

Season 3, Episode 26. In this episode, Queen Catherine Howard is going to be our guide as we explore all things sex for Tudor women. We'll walk through the era's expectations and understanding of a woman's virtue, how a lady might keep from getting pregnant should she choose to risk her reputation, and what happens if a woman gets pregnant out of wedlock. It's bound to be steamy, and…let's be hone...

Season 3, Episode 25. What connects a sorceress, a murderess, a mistress and a French king? Let's find out in this special Halloween bonus. For this episode's show notes, including a transcript and tons of images, go to The Exploress website . To support the show, become a patron . To find out more about Elizabeton Norton's fanstastic work, check out her website.

Season 3, Episode 24. Murder, mystery, and WWII code girls: oh my! Join me as I chat with Ellie Marney, the New York Times bestselling author of the new YA historical novel  The Killing Code . Atmospheric, compulsive, and deliciously dark, it's the perfect book to kick off the spooky season, and it'll introduce you to a slice of women's history you might not know that much about. Ellie joined me t...

Season 3, Episode 23. Like most royal women, Anne of Cleves - English king Henry VIII's fourth wife - didn't have much choice when it came to whom she married. It was considered her "duty" to honor the needs of her family and her kingdom over whatever her own might be. But what about everyone else - the non-royals? Did they get to pursue their hearts more freely? Let's take a walk with Anne of Cle...

Season 3, Episode 22. Join me as I sit down with author Sylvia Barbara Soberton to talk about a Tudor queen's ladies-in-waiting: who they were, what they did, and what kind of impact they had on the women they served and the court at large. As always, there are lots of ways to support the Exploress: tell a friend about the show, leave a review wherever you listen, become a patron , or have a brows...

Season 3, Episode 21. English King Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, will take us on a journey through one of the most important jobs and greatest perils women faced in Tudor England: fertility and childbirth. We will explore getting pregnant, staying pregnant, and getting through the delivery ordeal in (we hope) one piece. For this episode's show notes, including a transcript and tons of ima...

Season 3, Episode 20. Will the real William Shakespeare please stand up? The Shakespeare authorship debate started with a woman named Delia Bacon, and since then, thousands of anti-Stratfordians have become obsessed with using literary analysis and ciphers to search for hidden meanings within the Bard's plays, in a quest to prove that Shakepeare was merely a pen name. Names like Edward Vere, Chris...

Season 3, Episode 19. I had the privilege of interviewing Jennifer Kranz, the producer of The King's Wife, a musical that reimagines the relationship between Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Come behind the scenes with me on this still-developing musical, which gives us a heartfelt, feminist version of the story of two of Tudor England's most infamous queens, and find out what it takes to make...

Season 3, Episode 18. I enjoyed my chat with our special guest from Fashion with Anne Boleyn so much that I've decided to publish it in full. Natalie gives us such an interesting glimpse into what life was like for Anne Boleyn at the Tudor court, and into her ultimate downfall. So let's dive in. Find out more about Natalie's work and her upcoming book at her website , or On The Tudor Trail . Make...

Season 3, Episode 17. Let English king Henry VIII's most fabulously fashionable queen, Anne Boleyn, be your guide as we glide through the halls of the Tudor court exploring why fashion was so important in Tudor England, especially for female members of the royal family, and how women used dress to achieve some of their most important aims. We will cover Tudor headgear, jewelry, textiles, symbolism...

Season 3, Episode 16. Religion lives at the heart of Catherine of Aragon's story, and at the center of Tudor life.  Let's continue our journey with our queen as she finds herself faced with a divorce crisis and the English Reformation. How will it change things for women in England? And how will Catherine of Aragon use her moral authority to fight for what she knows to be true? For show notes, sug...

Season 3, Episode 15. Religion lives at the heart of Catherine of Aragon's story, and at the center of Tudor life.  Let's walk beside this regal queen and find out what role it played in her life and tumultuous times. These episodes aren't going to be straight birth-to-death biographies. Instead, the six wives of Henry VIII are going to be our guides as we dive into different aspects of womanhood...

I'm excited to announce the new podcast I'm making with my friend Amie Kaufman. It'll take you behind the scenes on the making of our books, The Isles of the Gods and Nightbirds , which are both coming out in 2023. Think of it as your backstage pass to our characters, our worlds, and all the stories of their making. I can't wait to introduce you to my debut novel full of magic and intrigue, histor...