The Hopeless Romantic

**Content warning: This episode contains spoilers for the movie *Annihilation* (as well as some spoilers for the book it's based on). The ending is in no way spoiled, but some plot elements are laid out. There are also spoilers for *The Picture of Dorian Gray*. Also, suicide is mentioned.** After two and a half years, forty episodes, many arguments with Skype, and lots of Overwatch references, The Hopeless Romantic is closing its doors! Join Austin and Amanda for this last episode before their next podcast, The Red Pen, launches later in 2018. Topics include how a performance of *The Picture of Dorian Gray* really packed a punch and made Austin think about queer history and contemporary queer romance; how the book and movie *Annihilation* gave Amanda a lot of feelings about themes in sci-fi; and take a detour to discuss how the hosts are cranky with the state of current discourse on Queer Twitter (and Tumblr). Also, don't miss out on Amanda's feelings of betrayal toward William Shatner, and how Anthony Hopkins is never allowed to betray her. The hosts want to thank the wonderful listeners and amazing guests they've been privileged to have. They hope you'll join them on their next venture. The Red Pen launches later this summer, and it features Austin and Amanda cutting up fiction to see what it's made of.

**Content warning:** This episode mentions the *Killing Stalking* manhwa, discusses problematic elements of dramas (such as non-consensual grabbing, stalking, kidnapping, and misogynistic behavior), mentions drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, fictional suicide in *Orphan Black*, underage relationships with regards to *Queer as Folk*, microaggressions and exclusionary behavior re: Pride events, fake suicides and hate crimes, and deals with a complex and potentially tender subject―that of pen names and pronouns in queer romance being policed. We also mention Santino Hassell. Austin and Amanda talk about stuff they've been consuming―including a strangely enjoyable but deeply problematic Chinese BoyLove drama―and also discuss gatekeeping and accessibility issues at Pride events. The last half of the episode is dedicated to the subject of pen names in queer romance, and how policing what pronouns someone uses in their author life can be harmful. Though there are genuine examples of people appropriating experiences for artistic cred and social capital and using that to cause real harm, we need to focus on the harm done and not what pronoun the person used while doing it.

**Content warnings: This episode references potentially triggering topics, including abusive relationships, gaslighting, murder, cannibalism, sexual assault, violence, incest, Real Person Fan Fiction, and age differences--a lot of triggers that constitute "dark" or "problematic" fiction. While we don't dwell on many of these subjects, they are referenced, and people may want to protect themselves accordingly. Also, there are mild spoilers for Hannibal and other pieces of media referenced.** Don't miss the very important announcement about the future of THR and our other podcast ventures! We have exciting news to share and want feedback from our listeners to give you the best experience possible. This episode, we head over to the Dark Side of queer publishing and fan fiction (and give you several more TED Talks). Austin and Amanda think that the widespread use of content and trigger warnings in fandom and queer fiction give readers the ability to curate their own experience and examine their reactions to fiction in ways that mainstream media doesn't typically allow for. Amanda talks about her own journey through dark media and how she's drawn and redrawn her own lines, and Austin does the same. Ultimately, both hosts believe there is no consensus as to what constitutes "good" fiction versus "problematic" fiction, that policing other people's engagement with media is impossible and reductive, and that humans are complicated and messy by nature.

**Content warning: This contains a trigger warning for a dead dog in Killing Eve and also mentions mild spoilers for the endings of *Time Was* and *Person of Interest*.** After repeated technical failure, Brooklyn Wallace finally manages to chat with Austin and Amanda about her upcoming black F/F romance *Sugar and Ice*. Predictably, the group is sidetracked by Cockygate, bad 1920s New York accents, Smokey the Bear's racism, and messy characters in F/F. Amanda Hollywood—Amanda Jean's brand-new and far superior successor—has high praise for *Killing Eve* and a murderous robot, and Austin has two book recommendations.

**Content warning: We discuss (though not in any detail) Amanda's current ear infection and a staph ear infection Austin had a few years back, as well as general health/medical stuff. Skip to 9:38 if this is a potential trigger or squick for you. There are also some spoilers for *The Ring/Ringu* and the video game *Until Dawn.*** (First off, apologies for Austin sounding like he recorded in a toilet. Podcasts are hard.) This episode focuses on craft, specifically on how Amanda and Austin wrangle their stories and write what they want to write—which involves tuning out the voice in their heads that tells them to make only Serious Fiction. But first, they chat recent life and medical shenanigans, Austin talks comics, Amanda gives fic recs and quizzes Austin on his rudimentary *Star Trek* knowledge, and there's a discussion of horror tropes and how to subvert them a la *The Ring/Ringu*.

**Content warning: This episode references sexual abuse and harassment, and generally a lot of toxic behavior and boundary crossing. None of it is explicit, but please take care of yourself if you might be triggered.** Austin and Amanda get serious and address racism, gatekeeping, abuse, amateurism, and other broken elements in queer publishing. Another major problem discussed is how a lack of boundaries can lead to those in the industry with power (authors, publishers, editors, etc.) transgressing against those with less power. There's some call-outs for publishers to pay fair wages to editors (including sensitivity editors) and some advice for authors to be wary of predatory contract clauses and author mills.

At the top of the episode, Austin and Amanda briefly address the ongoing revelations of misconduct and abuse within queer publishing. We stand with authors. Austin and Amanda go digging for comedy gold in ancient Harlequin blurbs, then get serious and talk about how damn hard beginnings can be. Amanda talks about what she typically finds missing in beginnings as an acquisitions editor. The hosts take a moment to address the diversity in romance publishing statistics released by The Ripped Bodice and chat current reads and Disneyland pipe dreams. Finally, it's Amanda's turn to have too many emotions over a D&D podcast.

**This episode contains spoilers for God's Own Country.** Celebrate Valentine’s Day two weeks late with the always-prepared THR! Amanda recommends a podcast and tells a story about how she wins friends and influences people, which is followed by the hosts struggling to contain laughter over romance titles generated by a neural network (the punishment for laughter is blurbing said titles). There's discussion about the emotions, authenticity, and sheep in *God's Own Country*, and then, at long last, Austin's crying journey through the Adventure Zone has come to its end. R.I.P. Austin.

**Warning for very mild spoilers for The Adventure Zone podcast. We warn in-episode and it's nothing earth shattering.** Austin and Amanda reminisce about their experiences at Read With Pride, which recently announced its end, and try to describe the Lynchian quality of the Seattle Public Library's fourth floor. There's also discussion of New Adult stories and how aromantic and asexual people may feel alienated by the levels of sex and romance in the genre, which sparks a bigger conversation about the benefits and drawbacks of queer romance as a catch-all space for LGBTQIA stories. Finally, Austin cries a lot about the Adventure Zone podcast and how it fulfills his needs for queer, romp-y speculative fiction, and Amanda is effusive about the McElroys in general.

**Content warning: part of this episode discusses a fictional relationship between a 17-year-old and a 24-year-old.** THR returns with a semi-revamped format! Austin and Amanda talk about the future of the show, delve into some of the realities of freelancing from their own experiences, and spend the last two-thirds of the episode talking about *Call Me By Your Name* and their wildly disparate reactions to it. (**Warning for book and movie spoilers.** There's a head's up in the episode when we get to spoiler territory as well.) Stay tuned after the credits for the oft-mentioned recording of the hosts and friends watching CMBYN's most infamous scene.

**Content warning: Austin and Amanda are tipsy/drunk in this episode again. Weird stuff happens. If drunkeness or people talking about being drunk (and hungover) bugs you, take care to skip this ep and we'll be back with another regular one soon.** THR celebrates its second anniversary with another infamous drunk episode! Or that was the plan, anyway. Austin and Amanda got a little too drunk and the material ranged between boring rambled stories and helpless wheezing about Beefman, *The Exorcist* TV show, The Couch Anecdote, and the origins of our friendship. We've hacked and slashed the best bits and stapled them onto a sober recording to flesh the whole thing out. We hope you enjoy, and thanks so much for sticking with us for two whole years.

**Content warning:** There's two pejorative terms/slurs for a promiscuous person (and a sex worker) mentioned in the episode. This episode tried its hardest to foil us: between meowing cats, barking dogs, ambient rain, and Amanda's recording mysteriously stopping at four minutes and forcing her to rely on a shoddy recording of the Skype call, it's a miracle we made it to the end. Our $10 Patron, Silas, prompted us to talk about media that has fed our creativity, and boy howdy did we have a lot to discuss. Somewhere along the way, we end up talking about why you shouldn't share a microphone, ever, various reactions to *Alien: Covenant*, and the pronunciation of "gaol."

Ginn Hale's newest book, *The Long Past*, is out as of 10/3/17! She joins THR to talk about writing and researching alt Westerns, world building, avoiding the whitewash of history, and also chickens. The episode has a chicken thing. Also discussed is the miracle of modern plumbing, writing religion when you grew up outside of religion, and yet more chickens.

**Content warning: this episode contains references to fisting, actor Kim Woo Bin's cancer diagnosis, and our typical NSFW irreverence.** Austin and Amanda bore the heat of summer in an enclosed space to bring you this episode of Hopeless After Dark. Hear them talk about Kdramas, deadlines, Doomfist, that time Amanda touched Harry Shum Jr but not in a weird way, and what books they've been reading lately. And check the full description for show notes!

Fantasy and speculative fiction is the topic of the day! Austin and Amanda throw around some loose definitions, give examples of their favorite queer fantasy (send Amanda more gaslamp manuscripts!). and writing fantasy with romance in it vs writing romance in a fantasy setting. They answer some questions from Twitter and wonder why people bother to transplant real-life oppression into fantastical settings. Austin and Amanda are big nerds who cry at *Lord of the Rings*, call out *Mass Effect Andromeda*, and demand more gay elves.

Co-authors of the upcoming *Heart of the Steal*, Avon Gale and Roan Parrish, join THR to chat about their cowriting process! They also talk about working with an agent, hideous hotel breakfasts, and how they got their starts in the queer romance industry. Amanda reveals she cries at every episode of *Friday Night Lights,* Roan is not a food snob, no one really knows how to write serial fiction, and we had to cut twenty minutes of material because Skype made us all sound like robot demons.

**Content warning: this episode (briefly) mentions fisting and choking, calls certain Overwatch characters Daddy, and generally features a lot of irreverent filth.** Welcome to Hopeless After Dark, a new subset of THR that isn't exclusively dedicated to queer romance. We reached out to Twitter to ask some of our listeners what they'd like to hear us talk about, and we tackled Overwatch and Austin's burgeoning obsessions, AUs of *Peter Darling* and the origins of *Coffee Boy*, and finally failed to create a *Captive Prince* coffee shop AU. We hope you enjoy our strange venture. If not, the next episode of THR will be back on brand.

**Content warning: There are a few mentions of racism and a mention of rape in this episode.** THR talks tropes! From their favorites (ask about Austin's love for cowboys and Amanda's for arranged marriage) to their least favorites, when a trope can be neutral, and when it can be potentially harmful. They also cover some tropes that intersect with or differ from those in fan fiction. Also, for some reason Austin attempts to say some stuff in German. Tune in to find out how that goes.

Co-host Austin Chant's novel *Peter Darling* was released in February, and Amanda and Austin break down the editing process over many months and three recording sessions. Hear them stress over deadlines, complain about talking whales and Hook's outfits, give props to the *Captive Prince* trilogy for various inspiration, discuss the versions of the book that weren't, and totally contradict themselves from session to session! The episode is an in-depth look at what it takes to bring a novel from first draft to publication. It does contain **spoilers** for the book.

Megan Derr, CEO of Less Than Three Press and a prolific author of high fantasy and spec, covers world building, including where she starts, info dump, winging it, dialog, and languages. She also talks about ace rep, including what she's looking for at LT3 and as an ace reader. The group also discusses how Amanda's got a ton of unread books on her Kindle, but Megan's seated atop a mighty hoard of books and definitely has her beat.