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In today’s episode, Alex sits down with husband-wife powerhouse Dalton and Emily Bequette. With a meet-cute as beta readers, it is no wonder they went on to take their love beyond the page with their upcoming YA fantasy novel (out July 29th), FLAMEHEART. Emily is a high school English teacher, where she works to instill an appreciation for reading and writing in her students. A blue-collar man, Dalton works in heavy machinery, which allows him to brainstorm plot points and get his audiobooks in.

Listen as they discuss their meet-cute, how they manage to sound like the same person via their writing when not switching POVs, FLAMEHEART’s origin story, and what their characters have taught them about themselves that they didn’t know before the writing of this book.

Due to character limitations, please find a full version of the show notes with applicable content warnings and links on our website at: https://www.tarakross.com/podcast-1

→ Connect with Emily and Dalton on their Instagram or visit their website

→ Pre-order Flameheart HERE

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In today’s episode, Alex and Tara have a thought-provoking and wisdom-filled discussion with John Kenney, author of three novels and four books of poetry, including LOVE POEMS FOR MARRIED PEOPLE. His first novel, TRUTH IN ADVERTISING, won the Thurber Prize for American humor. He is a long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine’s Shouts & Murmurs column and currently lives in Larchmont, NY.

Listen as they discuss what it’s like writing a darkly humorous book about death, the beauty and healing in confronting grief, the importance of writing realistic characters and stories, why he wanted to write fiction after being in advertising for years, who inspired the characters of I SEE YOU’VE CALLED IN DEAD, and how short fiction can help our long-form stories.

Due to character limitations, please find a full version of the show notes with applicable content warnings and links on our website at: https://www.tarakross.com/podcast-1

→ Connect with John on his Instagram or visit his column on The New Yorker's website

→ Buy I SEE YOU’VE CALLED IN DEAD HERE

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In today’s episode, Alex talks with Ai Jiang, the author of multiple award-winning short fiction and the highly anticipated A PALACE NEAR THE WIND (releasing April 15th). Ai is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian, currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop's 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun, and I AM AI.

Listen as they discuss who Ai’s literary heroes are, her experimental storytelling inspiration and why A PALACE NEAR THE WIND utilizes a more traditional story structure, how she challenges herself as a writer to avoid getting stuck in old habits, and how to stay true to art in a literary landscape that is favoring the use of AI and fast-fashion esque publishing models.

Due to character limitations, please find a full version of the show notes with applicable content warnings and links on our website at: https://www.tarakross.com/podcast-1

→ Connect with Ai on her Instagram or visit her website

→ Pre-order or Buy A PALACE NEAR THE WIND HERE

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Tara's Instagram