Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Fantasy Fan Reads podcast. We are thrilled to announce the newest bookish podcast under the Fantasy Fan Girls media network. What you're about to hear is the first little bit of this brand new podcast, Fantasy Fan Reads, which is hosted by the delightful Jess of Lost Books of Jess. Each episode is all about celebrating the joys of reading through cozy coffee conversations, author interviews, and so much more. These first few episodes of Fantasy Fan Reads will be having little snippets posted on the Fantasy Fan Girls feed, where you're listening to our beautiful voices right now. If you want to listen to the full episode, you can do so over on the Fantasy Fan Reads podcast feed. Link is in the show notes. Be sure to follow the Fantasy Fan Read podcast feed and hey, it's on YouTube too. New episodes drop every single Tuesday. Give the podcast a follow on Instagram at fantasyfanreads. So without further ado, and with all of your follow buttons hit, we hope you enjoy this snippet of Fantasy Fan Reads. Hey there, how are you? Welcome to the Fantasy Fan Reads podcast where we gather as friends to chat about our shared love of all things reading. I'm Jess, an avid lifelong reader and lover of cozy conversations. So go ahead, grab yourself a cup of something wonderful and come on in. Today's episode is a super exciting one for me because I'm joined by Gretchen Pau Fox, author of the Shattered Crown trilogy, including Smoke and Scar, Splintered Kingdom, and the upcoming conclusion to the trilogy, Shadow and Sun, as well as the Terrestrial Duology. How the heck are you doing today, Gretchen? I am amazing and all the better because I'm getting to chat with you. Yay, I'm so excited. Gretchen, this is such a dream come true for me because I mean, I know you know this, but you were my first arc or advanced reader copy that I'd ever read in my journey, like on bookish social media. So like Smoke and Scar will always have like a spot in my heart, I swear. Oh my gosh, it means so much to me. I like I'm still so thrilled that you are willing to give it a chance based off of my little like, hey, Jess, I love your content. Hope that like I wrote this book. I think that you might like it. I went back to that first DM the other day and I was like, oh my gosh, where it all began. Right, our origin story. Just a quick heads up for everyone listening as we get started. This episode will be mostly spoiler free for Gretchen's books, but there will be a few questions at the end of the episode that head into spoiler territory. I'll be sure to give you a warning before we spill the tea. Fantasy Fan Reads is also the newest podcast in the Fantasy Fangirls Media Network. And as a new show, your support means the world. Please give us a follow at Fantasy Fan Reads on social media, rate and review the podcast and spread the word to your friends. Plus, if you want to help support every show under the Fantasy Fangirls Media Network, you can join the Fantasy Fan Club for exclusive content, early access and ad free episodes, live Q&A's, book club, private discord, community events and so much more. Go on over to fantasyfangirls.com slash fan club for more information about the fantasy fanatics and deep divers tiers and benefits where you get all show access. Oh, now that's out of the way Gretchen. I got to know. So much exciting stuff. I got to know because I want to talk to you a little bit as a reader also here. Aside from being an amazing author, are you reading anything right now? What's in the blanket? Reading all the things. I have a very long car trip recently on my way to a book con. And so I started tourist season by Bryn Weaver on audio, which is outstanding. Like I'm having the absolute best time and it's actually making me pretty excited for my long car ride home because I get to finish the book. So that is what I'm reading on audio and on my eyeball read. I am fortunate enough to be reading an early copy of Stormbreaker by Nisha J. Tule, which is her upcoming release. So I've got a little bit of like hilarious, you know, dark romcom happening, a little bit of like the fantasy of my heart, like all the things. Oh, my gosh, I'm a little bit jealous about that. Vance reader copy because I love her other books so, so much. Oh, my gosh. Me too. That's so good. Oh, that's what a dichotomy of stories. I like to have a little bit of a little bit of everything, you know, opportunity story lover. All right. When you read, I'm a warm beverage lover. So I like to ask everyone this question. What's your go to cozy beverage Gretchen? I am a dirty chai gal. So I really love, you know, a mug of chai with like a shot of espresso and a splash of milk. Usually is a dirty child with espresso, right? Exactly. Exactly. So dirty chai means chai with espresso. I mean, you got to get your caffeine. Exactly. I always need like a little extra boost of caffeine, you know, we're doing all of the things we've got. And book stuff happening, kids stuff happening, like, you know, got to, got to stay perky. I don't even know which one is more tiring. Honestly, what do you feel like you could flip a coin every day and it would just depend on like how the kids are being and how the book book world is being. Like they are always like neck and neck in the race to exhausting me more. Right. Oh, my gosh, that's the darn truth. Love of. Well, yeah, of course, I mean, we're not here to judge. I mean, I'm the same. But yeah, you know, it's a little sapping of energy occasionally in like a positive way. Oh, my gosh. Well, if you could have that dirty chai with any two book characters, could be from your books, could be from other people's books. Who are you drinking dirty chai with? Wow, what a question. I can definitely think of quite a few characters from my own books that I would love to get a coffee with and just like chat with. However, I really think that it would be super fun to get to like pull some of my favorite characters, obviously, from books that I've read. And I think that like it would be hilarious if I could like get Carrie and Swift from Quicksilver and like Max and Tarja Sparley from Daughter of No World, like at my table together and just like see what happens. Like talk about gardening a little bit, maybe between the two of them. And both of them would have like wildly different takes on every subject. I think it would be amazing to just like witness because you've got, you know, like Grumpy Max over on one side and like, you know, Plant Daddy, Carrie and like with his quips on the other. I think that this would be really fun, like making a TV show, you know? It would either be perfect or they would be throwing the dirty chai at each other. And I feel like there's no in between. One thousand percent. Either way, I would be sitting there like. Like fan girl, it's fine. Exactly. Like just sipping my chai and enjoying the show either way. All right. Last question before we dig into some like more personal ones. For the whole personal, for you, who am I kidding? How does reading and the book world in general bring you joy? Like what is the joy of reading for you? Oh my gosh. I mean, how much time do we have to talk about this all night? I received endless joy from both the just the act of reading, right? Of diving into new stories, new perspectives, meeting new characters. All of the things that they say, right? You live a thousand lives as long as you can read it in a book. And then also, you know, as an extension of the experience of actually reading, I have found such a wonderful community in like the bookish world. Yeah. You know, I talk occasionally about, and I'm sure we'll probably get into this later, but like the origins of my writer career started a very long time ago, actually, like right at the onset of self publishing becoming a thing. I published my very first book back in 2012. And so just like back then, bookish social media, book talk, bookstore, and like they did not exist. Like, you know, none of this was there. And so I just feel like I have a lot of perspective on how amazing it is to so easily be able to connect with other bookish people online to, you know, for indie authors to be able to like connect with other readers and other authors and stuff, just like this, this amazing like platform that didn't exist back then. I get endless joy from the connections that I've made with readers and authors, like through social media, you know, people such as yourself being able to just know that I have this huge network of people in which we all share a very, you know, big common love. And there's really something very joyous about that. And I got to see it in person at this book con that I was at this past weekend, you know, and stuff like that. So truly, like the benefits and the joy that I get from all aspects of this world, it's innumerable. That's so amazing. It's so funny you bring up that social media has kind of changed through your writing journey and your bookish journey, because so many people speak negatively about social media, like it's rotting our minds. And OK, there's some truth to that, but the connection cannot be beat. Like the people that we have access to, like you and I would have never known each other and never spoken if it weren't for Instagram. And there's something to be said about that. And I'm so glad. I mean, I know there's negative things and hateful messages that happen. And like we can't discount those, but there's so much good too in the connection we now have. There's so much good. And I mean, obviously, there's always going to be multiple sides to everything. And everyone's experience is going to be varied. But I do think that it's important to look for the light through the clouds and stuff like that. And remember, I am an OG believer in the kinds of friendships and relationships that can be fostered online. Because before social media really blew up, I was very heavily involved in the blogging world. And that was kind of like a different iteration of what we have now. And some of my best, most lifelong friends came out of connections, just like literally from my comments section on posts and stuff like that. I can say the same thing has continued to happen because of social media. And these are very much like real life connections, even if we haven't met in real life in person yet. You know, I would still consider these people like some of my closest friends. And I've been very lucky to have some really amazing advocates for my stories because I connected with them online and stuff like that. Even when I get super frustrated with like the latest round of drama or seeing some bad actors out there or whatever, I try to remind myself that there's like a lot of good to outweigh to that. There is. There is. I would totally agree with you. You mentioned a little bit in that about how your writing journey has kind of ebbed and flowed some. You first published in 2012 and now you're back in the scene with this trilogy. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Like what was the writing journey like for you? How did you get here? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've always been a voracious devourer of stories. I've always loved the written word. Like I said, I had like a blog and I was very into writing. I knew that I wanted to write stories and it kind of came to a head when I was finally motivated to write my very first book, Tara, which is like a upper YA dystopian book. And, you know, I wrote it and I self published it and I was lucky enough to have it actually like gain a little bit of a following. And then just, I actually can't really identify exactly what it is that happened. Life, life happened. I got a new job that like took a lot of my creative energy because it was very like creatively fulfilling day job. I met my boyfriend, then husband, we got married, we had kids and just like I blinked and it was 12 years later. And I had never, and I never like I didn't write anything else. I didn't publish anything else. And I, you know, finally kind of coming back around to just like not being able to ignore the call of the muse anymore. I also found out like because of the pandemic that I had like undiagnosed ADHD my entire life and like, you know, thankfully all of my coping mechanism just dissolved. Able to kind of have like a moment where I like learned a lot more about myself and how I work. And finally, when I started feeling the call to write again, I was able to really lean into it this time and acknowledge some things that I know about myself and the way that I need to, you know, maintain my own momentum and my own love of the craft and love of storytelling. And it really has just taken off from there. I wrote the second book, the sequel to my first book and just kind of like tie that up in a nice little bow. And then I dove right into writing Smoke and Scar. I mean, it's gone beyond my wildest dreams. Really. I just really wanted to tell this story and test my chops at fantasy writing because that has always been such a huge, huge part of my love in terms of like what I read and the other media that I consume. And I've been so fortunate that other people have fallen in love with, you know, Aliria and Cedric and the characters and allowed me to kind of continue pursuing this. And now I am a full-time author. So like the journey was a bit long and winding. I felt a lot of shame over this kind of like decade long gap in my journey and a lot of like, what would it have been like or what would my life have been if I hadn't, you know, dropped off or anything like that? But I also know very much that like if I hadn't taken this exact route and come back at this exact time, I wouldn't have written this exact book in these circumstances and been able to, you know, get the readership that I have and make the connections that I have. So all's well that ends well, you know, despite the twisty path. I don't know. I'm like enthralled by your answer because I feel like you really hit something there too, like in a millennial women, maybe, especially this feeling that you can't start something again or can't start something late. Like we, you know, you go to high school, you go to college, you pick your job and then you just stay on this path, right? And it's scary sometimes to drop off from something or pick it back up. I feel like your journey is such a testament to like, it's never too late to say, I'm called back to that. I want to do that again. And I'm just so proud of you. Like, I'm just so excited for everybody reading your stories. No, we're not crying on the internet tonight. Yeah, I know, it's fine. Lock it in. No. Oh, my insides feel ooey and gooey and oh, so warm. We love Jess. If you want to listen to the rest of this episode, head on over to the Fantasy Fan Reads podcast feed where you'll find all of the full episodes of Fantasy Fan Reads. Link is in the show notes. And hey, since you already listened to this episode or a little snippet of this episode, why don't you head on over to the podcast feed and rate the show five stars? It is one of the best things you can do for every podcast, but especially baby new little baby podcasts. Also be sure to follow Fantasy Fan Reads podcast feed so that you stay in the know every single Tuesday when episodes drop and give the show a follow on Instagram at fantasyfanreads. Thank you so much for listening. Bye bye. Bye.
