Vulgar Geniuses

Filipina author, Cinelle Barnes, sits down with us to talk about her memoir 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. Cinelle's book documents her childhood in the Philippines as she was thrust from a life of luxury into that of extreme poverty due to the Gulf War. We also discuss the new book that features her as the editor, 𝑨 𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉, that chronicles Southern life...

We are back with another special edition of Tiny Bites as we recap episodes 3 & 4 of HBO's 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚. Leti buys a house haunted by a racist evil mad scientist. Atticus then teams up with his father to search for the missing pages of Titus Braithwaite which could unlock the greatest magic ever seen.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒆 by Hye-Young Pyun gives us Misery mixed with Diary of a Mad Black Woman realness. Oghi wakes up from a coma to find that his wife has died and his entire body is paralyzed after a horrible car accident. Only able to communicate through "yes" or "no" blinks, Oghi is now under the care of his grieving mother-in-law. All hell soon breaks loose once Oghi makes it home from the hospital as his...

Sundown towns and magical racists wizards are just a touch of what you will see in Misha Green's television rendition of Matt Ruff's novel 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚. Set in the 1950's, we meet Atticus (Jonathan Majors) a veteran solider on his way to Chicago to find his father who has gone missing while on a hunt to find out his dead wife's family legacy. He goes on a road trip with his uncle George (Cour...

AH Kim's novel 𝑨 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 speaks to the old age adage that "blood is thicker than water" no matter how many times siblings will stab each other in the back to prove it. This novel was full of sex, drugs and lies but missed the most important thing, a plot!

We bring back one of our favorite segments called Tiny Bites where we talk about literature found in television and film. This week we review Netflix's newest addition, 🅃🄷🄴 🄲🄻🄰🅄🄳🄸🄰 🄺🄸🅂🄷🄸 🄲🄻🅄🄱. This documentary, directed by Sue Ding, explores the most popular character in The Babysitter's Club series, Claudia Kishi. Ding sits down with some of the country's most influential Asian writers, artists a...

Colson Whitehead forces us to look through his magnifying glass disguised as his Pulitzer Prize winning novel 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒍 𝑩𝒐𝒚𝒔. His book demands us to wrestle with America's past, present, and our place in the future. Set in the 1960s, Jim Crow serves as the backdrop to trauma, police brutality, and an unjust system through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Elwood Curtis. Ripped-from-the-headlines, 𝑻𝒉𝒆...

On this very special episode of FORKS X FANGS we interview SJ Sindu, author of the novel 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒆𝒔. We talk with her about everything under the sun from her novel and upcoming works, celebrating Pride Month, and her favorite Sri Lankan dish that instantly transports her home. 

8 minutes and 46 seconds. That is how long Officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to George Floyd's neck.  No one could have imagined the level of outrage that sparked a revolution when George Floyd, a man from Minneapolis, Minnesota, was murdered by police during Memorial Day Weekend. As the world took to the streets in a united front for a call for justice, others found themselves protesting in oth...

In 2016 filmmaker Raol Peck released the Oscar nominated documentary 𝑰 𝑨𝒎 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑵𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒐 about James Baldwin, a black gay writer and activist who explored the topics of race, sexuality, and class during the Civil Rights Movement. Peck's film reveals to the world the unfinished manuscript from Baldwin called 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 in which he writes about his friends and civil rights activists, Medgar...

Grab a seat and a shot of the finest quarantine tequila you can find. The Vulgar Geniuses get nice and tipsy as they discuss the novel 𝑮𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆 & 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 by Silvia Morena-Garcia. The God of Death is awaken when an 18 year old girl opens a box where his bones have been locked away for years. Now these two must journey through Mexico to find his missing body parts to regain his godly form before...

On this episode of Forks X Fangs, we introduce a new segment called Brown & Black where we tackle issues regarding marginalized groups in literature.  Today I get to interview my partner in crime, Dennie Wang. In honor of Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month, we take a look at the importance of Asians seeing theirselves represented in literature.  

On this special edition episode of FORKS X FANGS we discuss the film 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒔. This film stars Sennia Nenua as Melanie, a gifted half human/half zombie child that sets on a journey to save humanity from apocalyptic destruction. The screenplay was written by M.R. Carey who also wrote the novel of the same name as the film.

Sex, lies, and gasoline. The novel "Little Fires Everywhere", by Celeste Ng, takes us on an exploration of what happens when strangers from two families step from behind their masks of lies and deception, stop being polite and start getting really messy. Dennie and Veronica sit down to a table of pancakes and maple syrup, as they peak behind the veil of Shaker Heights, and discuss the impact of ho...