Episodes
Saturday Mar 25, 2023
Pop Culture Fantasy + Jennifer Estep Interview
Saturday Mar 25, 2023
Saturday Mar 25, 2023
Vibe Check
Gwen has a lot of upcoming travel and is moving! She is glad to have gotten over her recent cold. Danielle had a lot of things to do over the last week and wonders why everything happens at the same time. She also finished reading all 20+ trade volumes of the Lumberjanes series with her daughter!
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Main Discussion
Let’s talk fantasy! The differences between Paranormal and Fantasy are vast, but also not quite as different as we thought. Hopefully you can make sense of what we mean.
Danielle and Gwen both like fantasy on the screen more than on the page. The world building must be seamlessly built into the story, and, above all, it has to make SENSE.
PS Danielle is a huge Tolkien nerd and this clip of Stephen Colbert out-nerding James Franco lives rent free in her mind.
TV RECS
Danielle: Pushing Daisies, Shadow & Bone, Once Upon a Time, Merlin, The Magicians
Gwen: The Mayfair Witches, Westworld, The Good Place, House of Dragon/Game of Thrones
MOVIE RECS
Danielle: Lord of the Rings, Encanto, Labyrinth, Willow, Dark Crystal, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Princess Bride
Gwen: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Last Unicorn, Everything Everywhere All at Once
BOOK RECS
Danielle: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Mila Vane, The Kingmaker Chronicles series by Amanda Bouchet; Authors I have not read but people LOVE: Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, G.A. Aiken
Gwen: Rachel Caine’s The Great Library series (start with Ink and Bone), Ruby Dixon’s never-ending Ice Planet Barbarians; Abigail Owen’s new Dominion series (start with The Liar’s Crown)
GAME RECS
Gwen: Ascension deck building, Dragonlance tie-in game and new guidebook
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Interview with Jennifer Estep
CONQUER THE KINGDOM, now available!
https://www.jenniferestep.com/
Upcoming releases: HEART STRINGS (May 9), GOOD ENEMIES (July 18), SPIDER & FROST (September 26)
Jennifer has been watching Ghosts on CBS!
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Goals/Comfort & Joy
Gwen wanted to drink more water, and thanks to her cold, she did! This week Gwen wants to clean out her desk drawers before moving. Danielle turned in her pass pages for ACCIDENTALLY IN LOVE (8/8/32). She is determined to write 15,000 words a week through the end of March to finish this WIP.
Gwen is finding comfort in watching Vegas tourism videos ahead of her trip with her husband!
Danielle loves any and all grocery store bakery cookies.
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EMAIL US!
Thoughts or questions? Email us at podcast@freshfiction.com.
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Find us on the Socials!
Gwen Reyes
Danielle Jackson
Fresh Fiction
Wednesday Feb 22, 2023
Escaping with Intent to the Highlands with Rochelle Billow
Wednesday Feb 22, 2023
Wednesday Feb 22, 2023
Vibe Check
Yr girls are busy this week with work, writing, and life. But we are getting prepped for Rihanna (and the Super Bowl). Gwen made Death by Chocolate Trifle from scratch, including this Chocolate Pudding and these Outrageous Brownies. Danielle has a plan in place for the next few months of her author newsletter.
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ESCAPISM WITH INTENT
Danielle’s Recs: Movies: Under the Tuscan Sun, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Brooklyn, The Holiday, Toy Story 4, Wild/Eat Pray Love/Julie & Julia; TV: Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso, Virgin River; Books: Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn, The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller, After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez
Gwen’s Recs: TV: The Peripheral, Poker Face, The White Lotus; Book: Flirty with Fifty by Jane Porter; Board Games: Pandemic, Takiedo
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Interview with Rochelle Bilow
https://www.rochellebilowwriting.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rochellebilow
https://twitter.com/BilowRochelle
Rochelle recommends the Olive & June Mani System and the color Caramel Budino
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Goals/Comfort & Joy
Last time, Danielle wanted to get to 20,000 words in her WIP, and she is at 16,000! Now she needs to spend some time on her pass pages for ACCIDENTALLY IN LOVE. Danielle has been eating all the Girl Scout Cookies, and encourages everyone to buy cookies from Troop 6000, which has scouts in NYC’s homeless shelter system: https://www.girlscoutsnyc.org/en/whatgirlsdo/gs-troop-6000.html.
Gwen wanted to fill out her conscious spending plan and has... not. But it is open on her internet browser! This week, Gwen needs to drink more water to help with hydration because it is so dry and cold right now. Leftover Chocolate Pudding is bringing her very much joy right now!
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EMAIL US!
Thoughts or questions? Email us at podcast@freshfiction.com.
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Find us on the Socials!
Gwen Reyes
Danielle Jackson
Fresh Fiction
Sunday Dec 26, 2021
Everything We Loved in 2021!
Sunday Dec 26, 2021
Sunday Dec 26, 2021
Vibe Check
Danielle and Gwen both can’t sleep and are very tired. No one at Fresh Fiction told Danielle about her book’s cover reveal and it went really well; the cover of THE ACCIDENTAL PINUP is now out in the world! Gwen made two new recipes ahead of the holidays: beef pot roast stew and apple cranberry sauce.
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Our Faves of 2021!
Danielle’s Faves
TV: Only Murders in the Building, Ted Lasso, Virgin River Season 3, Insecure, Dickinson
Movies: Raya and the Last Dragon, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, In the Heights, Passing (Danielle mentioned a Reddit thread and Salon article about the book Passing by Nella Larson, how it relates to The Great Gatsby, and how perhaps Gatsby was passing, too)
Books: Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson, The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise Williams, Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola
Gwen’s Faves
TV: Tuca & Bertie season 2, Rick & Morty, Succession, Hacks, White Lotus, Insecure, Ghosts
Movies: King Richard, Tick, Tick, Boom; Malignant, Candyman, Barb and Star Go to Del Mar
Board Games: Fort, Abandon All Artichokes, Accension Realms Unraveled
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2021 “SENIOR SUPERLATIVES”
The Media that Saved You
Gwen: Podcasts and reality TV
Danielle: Graphic novels
Something That Made You LOL
Danielle: Nailed It! On Netflix; this clip of Prince Harry and Prince William doing obstacle courses set to Do You Remember
Gwen: Noodle the Pug
Under the Radar
Gwen: Bo Burnham’s INSIDE
Danielle: We Are Lady Parts on Peacock (Premium)
Wild Card
Danielle: Romancelandia Stickers
Gwen: Alba Botanicals Natural Vegan Jelly
What We Want to See in 2022
What we hope to see in entertainment in 2022
Gwen: History, but not just what we’re already used to
Danielle: Diverse stories, more voices represented, and more HAPPY content.
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Goals/Comfort & Joy
BIGGEST GOAL FLOP FROM 2021
Gwen: Drinking water
Danielle: Re-reading Austen
BIGGEST GOAL SUCCESS FROM 2021
Danielle: Anything writing related
Gwen: Uncrossing my legs at my desk
BIG GOAL or INTENTION for 2022
Gwen: Creating and finishing something
Danielle: ENJOY releasing a book!
GOALS FROM LAST WEEK:
Danielle: Finish The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante by the end of the year—ALMOST DONE!
Gwen: Finish Christmas shopping—YES!
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Gwen’s New Goal: Enjoy the next two weeks of traveling
Danielle’s New Goal: Book 2 Revisions, round 1.
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EMAIL US!
Thoughts or questions? Email us at danielle@freshfiction.com.
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Find us on the Socials!
Gwen Reyes
Danielle Jackson
Fresh Fiction
Friday Oct 22, 2021
A Riches of Witches + Lana Harper!
Friday Oct 22, 2021
Friday Oct 22, 2021
Vibe Check
We want to hear from you! For our Thanksgiving episode, we want our listeners to tell us what to talk about! Email podcast@freshfiction.com with your ideas/requests/topics/questions and we’ll yammer on about it at the end of November.
Gwen has made a ton of soup. She is really proud that she had a game night with some of their new friends, and played Abandon All Artichokes, Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, and Clank. Danielle has a wild plan to finish her current WIP and maybe (possibly) write another book before the end of the year...
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Main Discussion
We both love witches and the broad scope they cover in entertainment. We both hold the 1996 film THE CRAFT close to our hearts. And we loved the trajectory of a character like the Wicked Witch of the West, who we grew up with in The Wizard of Oz, then saw the flip side of in WICKED by Gregory Macguire, and again with the musical.
Gwen’s recs: Hocus Pocus, The VVitch, Tara and Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fear Street 1666, Lore Podcast, American Horror Story (Coven and Apocalypse), and Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid
Danielle’s recs: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Scarlett Witch from WandaVision, The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, Witch Please by Anne Aguirre, Big Witch Energy by Kelly Jamieson, Alexis Daria’s Audible original: What the Hex, Witches of Brooklyn series by Sophie Escabasse (middle grade), Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis (YA)
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Recs from LANA HARPER
Lana has written in different genres! Be sure to check out all of her books on her website: https://www.lanapopovicbooks.com/
Lana’s Favorite Pop Culture Witches: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Magicians, True Blood. Danielle mentioned the Wicked Witch of the West but also brought up Gregory McGuire’s WICKED and the Broadway Musical; Gwen brought up Hocus Pocus and American Horror Story: Coven. Then we all remembered Practical Magic and The Craft!!
Lana finds immense comfort in perfume! She’s also enjoying The L Word: Generation Q and For All Mankind.
Look for Lana’s next witchy romance, FROM BAD TO CURSED, in Spring 2022.
Follow Lana on Twitter, @LanaPopovicLit, and Instagram, @LanaLyte. For more info, go to her website: https://www.lanapopovicbooks.com/.
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Goals/Comfort & Joy
Gwen made so much soup with the stock she made last week! This week she wants to wake up by 6:30am. And she finally got a cozy “shacket,” aka a Plush Shirt Jacket from Costco.
Danielle turned in her copyedits! This week she wants to start prepping for NaNoWriMo. And she made Double Chocolate Coffee Addict Cookies by Sweet & Simple Kitchen.
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EMAIL US!
Thoughts or questions? Email us at podcast@freshfiction.com.
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Find us on the Socials!
Gwen Reyes
Danielle Jackson
Fresh Fiction