Ep. 45: Lit Recs: Disability Pride Month

Join Amanda and Kelsey as they dive into Disability Pride Month, serving up book recommendations that celebrate both protagonists and authors with disabilities. From sci-fi adventures to heartfelt romances, they explore diverse stories that deserve a spot on your reading list.

00:00 Welcome to Lit Vibes Only!

00:41 Follow Us on Social Media

02:19 BookTok Tea w/ Kelsey

09:31 Celebrating Disability Pride Month

13:28 A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

19:42 Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor'

26:15 Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonham Young

32:26 So Lucky by Nicola Griffith

38:15 Recap and Final Thoughts

Follow us on TikTok & Youtube @litvibesonlypodcast and on Instagram @litvibesonly_podcast. You can also email us at litvibesonlypodcast@gmail.com We'd love to hear from you!

See you on Mondays!

Transcript

Ep. 45: Lit Recs: Disability Pride Month

[00:00:00] Amanda: Welcome to Lid Vibes Only, where we lit the shit out of books we love and hate. I'm Amanda, the insightful, thrill seeker and historical fiction nerd. 

[00:00:15] Kelsey: And I'm Kelsey, the die hard romantic fantasy reader. I miss one word, unhinged. 

[00:00:23] Amanda: Dang it. 

[00:00:25] Kelsey: This is like my first time trying without the words, without the script in front of me, without the script.

[00:00:28] Kelsey: Yes, you did good. The unhinged, diehard romantic fantasy reader. There we go. There we go. Welcome. This is a lit Rex episode. But before we get into our recommendations. We wanna point you towards our socials. So you can find us on Instagram at Live Vibes only podcast and TikTok where we are so close to having a thousand followers.

[00:00:54] Kelsey: Yes, we are at Live Vibes Only podcast and on YouTube at Live Vibes only podcast [00:01:00] where you can find full length episodes. So if you wanna hear and see, I'm sorry. See me cry in our latest episode, not today's, but the last episode we. Please go check it out and tell us what you think. And then finally take two seconds, just two seconds to rate the podcast. Click that five star review. Yes, please. And if you have an extra minute to spare, you can also write a couple. Sentences about why you love and enjoy the podcast. Yay. Absolutely. And that helps other people see our podcast so much more. That is like the number one way to support us.

[00:01:39] Kelsey: Yeah. Beyond like social media. 

[00:01:41] Amanda: Yes. So promote. Yes, please. Yeah. Also, I was just thinking when you were like, oh my gosh, we're almost at a thousand. I'm like, this is coming up the second week of July, so I feel like. Oh yeah, definitely be. I'll definitely 

[00:01:51] Kelsey: be, yeah, beyond, be past a thousand at that point, maybe 15.

[00:01:53] Amanda: Ooh, let's dream big, shall we? Ooh. Yeah. But yeah, we have so [00:02:00] much fun on our socials, and again, so much is extra fun. Bonus bookish content. We do book reviews, we do whatever is like trending on book talk and it's fun. It's just a good time. Yeah. So come on over. Join us. 

[00:02:15] Kelsey: We have fun. 

[00:02:16] Amanda: And yeah, be a part of the Lit Vibes only community.

[00:02:18] Kelsey: Heck yeah. 

[00:02:19] Amanda: Yeah. So I heard, Kelsey, that you have some book talk tea for us, TikTok 

[00:02:25] Kelsey: Drama. Love it. It's an interesting one. One that hasn't truly been covered yet. Okay. In our drama segments. So, what happened? I think it was this week. It's very recent. Okay. Obviously won't be recent when this comes out, but nonetheless, it. So there was this Australian white man that is on book talk. Okay. And professes his love for smut and romantic. Okay. Okay. Or romance novels. And [00:03:00] because he's so popular and people love him. He ended up with a two book. Steal from like a publisher and people like to write a book.

[00:03:11] Kelsey: To write two books. To write two books. Yes. And oh yeah. And people are like up in arms about what the fuck? Of course this white guy is going to get a publishing deal just from his tiktoks. 

What? 

[00:03:26] Kelsey: And people are just like really infuriated about like the publishing like industry and how they're moving forward.

[00:03:34] Kelsey: So that is the first part of the drama. Wait. Okay. Let's pause here 'cause I have 

[00:03:37] Amanda: a 

[00:03:38] Kelsey: question. Yes. So 

[00:03:39] Amanda: he is not an author, he is a book talker. Yes. And because he had some comments to say about smut and like he's, he, they're asking him to write two books. Yeah. He has a deal. He has a publishing deal.

[00:03:54] Amanda: Don't, based on what? Has he even submitted a writing sample? Can he write? I don't think 

[00:03:57] Kelsey: so. I don't know. 

[00:03:59] Amanda: Just [00:04:00] liking something doesn't mean you can do it. I mean, I like to I don't know, watch people cook. I'm not a great sh I don't know and then one's be like, oh my gosh, like we need you to write a cookbook or do a cookbook.

[00:04:11] Amanda: Yeah. I don't understand. 

[00:04:14] Kelsey: So there's that side of things where people are just like, the publishing industry is like racist. And they're focusing in on like this popularity of this white man. Yeah. But on the flip side of things, the other conversation that is being had is that we're the ones that did this.

[00:04:32] Kelsey: The consumers are the ones that completely made this man popular. It's true. And why a publisher would be interested in giving him book deals because they know he's popular. Right. And so, oh, well, he's already well known by this community, this specific community that we would be targeting.

[00:04:49] Kelsey: Yeah. Oh, we'll give him a book deal that will go well. 

[00:04:53] Amanda: Of I Yeah, that, that logic is so sound. It makes so much sense because it's a for-profit, right? They're trying [00:05:00] to make a buck. But I still am so confused because again, can this man actually write? Does he I write I don't, no. 

[00:05:08] Kelsey: What do they ask him if he wanted to be an author?

[00:05:10] Kelsey: Well, yeah, of course. I think so. And I guess he has gone on various videos or interviews or something. Okay. And said he has book ideas in his head. 

Okay. 

[00:05:23] Amanda: Oh, okay. I, yeah. I'm just like so befuddled over here. I've just never heard of this happening. It'd be different if he was like an author, an indie author who's like trying to promote his work.

[00:05:34] Amanda: And they're like, we got you. We'd love to publish your stuff. Versus someone who's never published anything and isn't technically, hasn't written anything, I don't think. Right. But has some ideas, like whatever that means. Yep. I mean, and you and I have had conversations about this 

[00:05:49] Kelsey: Yeah.

[00:05:49] Kelsey: Just 

[00:05:49] Amanda: regarding like kind of this white male thing where it's like I have big ideas and therefore, they should be, you know, fulfilled, celebrated, and fulfilled. And it's like no, there's more to it than just [00:06:00] having an idea, 

[00:06:00] Kelsey: right? 

[00:06:01] Amanda: Can you actually actualize this in reality? And

[00:06:04] Amanda: Get it from idea to like actual deliverable. Right. It's not enough to just have an idea. Oh, but in 

[00:06:10] Kelsey: this case it is. 

[00:06:12] Amanda: Yeah, I can understand why this is causing Yeah. Outrage. But yeah, I mean, to your point, like he's popular because people like his stuff. Yeah. So it can't be too outraged.

[00:06:24] Amanda: I'm like, you put him in that position.

[00:06:25] Kelsey: And I didn't know who this was before, like learning about this drama, which is funny. What's 

[00:06:30] Amanda: the book? Talkers? What's his name? I wonder if I was just gonna look at I was like, I wonder if I've encountered him in my scrolling. I'm sure I probably have.

[00:06:39] Amanda: Although, I 

[00:06:39] Kelsey: don't know. Okay. He just he does not look familiar to me. Oh, okay. Wait. Luke Bateman. Oh, he's an XNRL. Star. I, he's Australian, so I don't know what NRL is. Is it like an Australian reality show of some kind? No, I think that is 

[00:06:57] Amanda: like 

[00:06:57] Kelsey: a sport. 

[00:06:59] Amanda: Oh, is it [00:07:00] rugby? I thought maybe, yeah, maybe it's like the National Rugby League.

[00:07:04] Amanda: Yeah, I know Rugby's a thing.

[00:07:06] Amanda: Okay. Oh yeah. It says that he's, it says that he's a rugby player or was a rugby player, so that's what it must be great.

[00:07:13] Amanda: Yeah. Apparently he opened a book talk account in less than a week, had a hundred thousand followers. Which, 'cause he was like interested in smut. Well also because he had some. Name recognition already as a rugby player. You know, he wasn't a complete no body. So that also makes sense.

[00:07:29] Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, I wish we could just wake up one day and have a hundred thousand followers. That would be lovely. That would be great.

[00:07:35] Kelsey: Yeah, so some of the comments right, are to our points was he a writer at all before this? Yeah. Because if not, he'll probably just. Tell them his ideas and a ghost writer or these days, AI perhaps will do the actual work.

[00:07:48] Kelsey: And then one thing I saw a comment defending him saying people are being racist towards him. Ma'am, this is a white man, have the same energy for POC. [00:08:00] Oh. Yeah, that's pretty wild. Another person, Abby Weber, I have lots of ideas in my head and have written a little bit of them in notebooks, scattered all over my house.

[00:08:11] Kelsey: Where's my advance? 

[00:08:15] Amanda: It's so true though, and I know like we are not on the same page about this because for example, with what was at powerless, you know, that was Uhhuh also kind of a, you know, someone who was really being into book talk and use that to promote their work and

[00:08:29] Kelsey: Yeah. But she specifically, Lauren Roberts specifically was writing a book.

[00:08:33] Amanda: No. What I was gonna say what I was gonna say is. In my personal opinion, I know we disagree. Yes. But like the quality of that book wasn't great. So just imagine a book talker who was like different, no writing experience, just you know. Yes. I don't know. I'm just like, this is gonna be something else.

[00:08:50] Kelsey: Was it entertaining? But it's, yes, it was. Was it? It Great writing. This is such a 

[00:08:55] Amanda: marketing ploy. It's such a marketing p ploy. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. [00:09:00] 100%. Yeah. To have this ex rugby player now. Romance smut writer. Like I just, wow, that was good tea. Thank you. So that piping hot book talk theme.

[00:09:13] Amanda: Absolutely. And something that hadn't come up before. I know this is definitely a different dynamic than we've encountered, but listeners, if you have thoughts, be sure to chime in. Oh, please let us know. This is pretty wild, in my opinion. And I will be curious if and when those books get published, what exactly the responses.

[00:09:30] Amanda: Absolutely. But moving into the heart of the matter for today. Yes. This is July's. Lit Rex episode, and I'm ashamed to say that I actually did not know July was Disability Pride month until I started doing some research for this episode. I mean, obviously we have June, which is Pride month, and that gets so much recognition and everyone knows.

[00:09:53] Amanda: And then I feel like because of that, July just kind of gets completely overshadowed. Yeah. And I think just [00:10:00] again, speaks to the erasure of folks with disabilities in general. Well, yeah. So we're here to celebrate that community today and celebrate authors definitely. And their stories, which I'm super excited about.

[00:10:10] Amanda: But as always, a little bit of background before we dive into that. So, on July 26th, 1990, that was when the ADA the Americans with Disability Act was signed, which honestly is insane that 1990, right? 1990. That is quite recent. Y'all. And for those who don't know, the a DA is a federal law that prohibits

[00:10:33] Amanda: discrimination against people with disabilities in pretty much all areas in a last for public accommodations. And so what happened is that same year Boston held like the first disability pride day to celebrate this kind of momentous occasion. And it wasn't until 2015, July of 2015. That the entire month was officially celebrated as disability pride month, and it also marked, you know, the 25th [00:11:00] anniversary of the signing of the ADA So a really special moment. And then I just have this quote from the American Bar Association that I really loved and I think encapsulates a lot of what this month is about. So, quote, disability pride month celebrates disabled persons embracing their disabilities as integral parts of who they are, reclaiming visibility in public and interacting fully with their disabilities out in the open and rejecting shame and internalized ableism.

[00:11:24] Amanda: It is a time for the disability community to come together, uplift and amplify one another's voices and be heard. Disability pride has been described as accepting and honoring each person's uniqueness and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity, unquote. And so, yeah, during this month there's a wide range of events and activities that are held across the country to raise awareness of disability issues to promote inclusion. And overall to just celebrate the diversity and resilience of the disabled and disability community. So yeah, really [00:12:00] excited to get into the recs. I will also say for myself, as I was thinking about Books to Recommend for this month, I very quickly realized I have read Little to no books.

[00:12:11] Amanda: That have, oh, you know, disabled characters that are at least that are the primary, you know, protagonists. Sure. I've read books where there might be a side character but I really haven't read a lot. Like I've read a fair amount of books with folks who maybe are are neurodivergent or struggling with mental health issues.

[00:12:27] Amanda: I read a lot of those books. But when we're talking about, especially more physical disabilities Right. 

[00:12:31] Amanda: Chronic illnesses, things like that, I'm like, oh, I haven't really read a ton, so. Yeah. Yeah. Both of my books I have not read, but I am very excited to read. Oh, surprised. Yeah.

[00:12:40] Kelsey: Okay. So yeah. Same with me actually. One book I have yet to at all read, but the second one I have started reading and Okay. Love it so far. Oh my gosh. Oh, that's 

[00:12:50] Amanda: right. You mentioned it in the previous episode. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:52] Kelsey: But it's the same day, so I haven't gotten further into that book. Okay.

[00:12:59] Kelsey: All right. [00:13:00] Do I start or you start? Yeah, go for it. So we did something different this time around where we actually because it does take a lot of time to come up with and write a bio for the authors. And you're like digging in different spots Yeah. On the internet, compiling information.

[00:13:16] Kelsey: Yeah. Yeah. And so we wanted to try out what AI would. Support us in creating these robust, like bios for the authors. So, we are taking a step at that. Yeah. My first recommendation is going to be occur, so dark and lonely by bridged Kemmer camera. 

[00:13:36] Amanda: Wait. Wait, what? Take a look. Ke again.

[00:13:40] Amanda: It's Kemmerer. Keer. Kemmerer. Yes. Bridged kemmerer. Keer. It's a tricky one. It's, no, I completely agree. That's why I'm 

[00:13:49] Kelsey: laughing. It's a mouthful. So, here is that bio. So Bridged is a New York Times bestselling author, renowned for her emotionally [00:14:00] resonant. Young adult fantasy and contemporary novels. Born on January 11th, seventeen, nineteen seventy eight.

[00:14:08] Kelsey: My God, in Omaha, Nebraska. She spent her early years moving across the United States before settling near Anna Polis, Maryland Annapolis.

[00:14:19] Amanda: Huh. 

[00:14:20] Kelsey: Maryland. Before transitioning to a full-time writing career, Bridget worked in the finance industry. Okay? So she is best known for her curse breaker series, which begins with a curse, so dark and lonely, which by the way is.

[00:14:36] Kelsey: Completed. It is a completed trilogy. Oh, lovely. Okay. I love that. And Amanda Uhhuh. It's a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Oh, okay. Done. 

[00:14:47] Amanda: I'm absolutely reading this. I'm so excited. This novel 

[00:14:49] Kelsey: features Harper, a protagonist with Cerebral Palsy, a character inspired by one of, the author's, childhood Friends the book received [00:15:00] critical acclaim, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was recognized for its thoughtful portrayal of this disability.

[00:15:07] Kelsey: Her other , notable works include the Defy the Night Series, the Forging Silver Into Stars Trilogy, and. Contemporary novels, like Letters to the Lost and more than we can tell. 

[00:15:20] Kelsey: Say her name again. Kemmerer ER's Writing is known for its complex characters and exploration of themes such as identity, resilience, and social justice.

[00:15:31] Kelsey: Oh, currently she resides in Baltimore area with her husband, sons, and Pets. When not writing camera. Camera Uhhuh enjoys weightlifting and often shares her fitness journey with readers. 

[00:15:45] Amanda: Oh, fun. I love that. So 

[00:15:47] Kelsey: we got some more in depth information about her. And yeah, I thought that was great. So, an insight into the actual novel, A curse of Dark and Lonely I just said the main [00:16:00] character has Cerebral palsy. And this was , first published in January of 2019. So it's like an older trilogy. And I'm so curious if Book Talk was at all. When did TikTok come out? Actually, oh, I don't even know. I don't know. 

[00:16:15] Amanda: Like when it really took off. Yeah. Was it pre or post pandemic?

[00:16:19] Amanda: It was pre. Okay. But I don't know 

[00:16:22] Kelsey: how much before. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe okay. Yeah. But it like really skyrocketed during the pandemic. Okay. So I'm curious if this was a popular book talk or in Instagram, like Yeah. Book. Because I literally never hear about it. Yeah. But it's possible that it was.

[00:16:39] Kelsey: Popular when it came out. It is 494 pages. Like I said, it's a completed trilogy, so you have no waiting. Love that If you get into and dive into the series it has a fierce, no nonsense heroine. With. Cerebral palsy, who saves the day. Love that., It's a dark, slow burn. Which I love [00:17:00] romance that develops with emotional depth.

[00:17:03] Kelsey: Okay. A magical world filled with high stakes, curses, and court intrigue. Also a New York Times bestseller, which was her first breakout work. Being on the New York Times bestsellers list. And then also one. I dunno how to say this word. Oh yeah. Isn. Yeah. Is in glass. Is glass in glass.

[00:17:19] Amanda: Uhhuh 

[00:17:20] Kelsey: Teen Reed Glass Award, which is selected by middle school students in New Hampshire. Oh, 

[00:17:25] Amanda: that's so cute. Cool. Yeah, so they get to choose the books. Love that. Oh, that's so cool. I would love 

[00:17:30] Kelsey: actually to have a book award for like within my school community. I think that would be so fun. 

[00:17:38] Amanda: Yeah. And have a little.

[00:17:40] Amanda: Yeah so the students would get to come together and vote on books maybe that they've, yeah. Right. Yeah. I think that's really cool. Then like gift that to the author, you know, that would be so fun. Like a little Reader's choice award. Yeah. That you do view your school. I love that actually. And also just to add, because I looked it up while you were talking about this.

[00:17:56] Amanda: Oh yeah. It looks like it has a 3.96 on Oh yes. Good reads, which is [00:18:00] not too shabby. Yeah. I also just added it to my TBR while you were, 

[00:18:04] Kelsey: which so surprising because you never add my books. To your DVR? That's 

[00:18:08] Amanda: not true. 

[00:18:09] Kelsey: You are less 

[00:18:10] Amanda: likely to? I'm less likely, but I did, you know, like I said, I have been reading through the.

[00:18:15] Amanda: A guitar series. I'm gonna be reading a cord of Silver Flames this summer and I will be reading Throne of Glass, so, oh yeah, we're totally getting Get 

[00:18:22] Kelsey: into the throne of Glass. Yeah. Are you committing to the entire series of Throne of Glass or the first book of Throne of Glass? 

[00:18:28] Amanda: I think I'm, you know me, I have commitment issues.

[00:18:30] Amanda: I'm gonna read the first book and see how I feel and see if everyone is right about me liking this series. And then, yeah, if I'm into it, I will. Stay the course, but there's a lot of books in that series, right? Isn't there? Like many? There's nine. Yeah, I was gonna say there's eight or nine, and some 

[00:18:45] Kelsey: of them are really long.

[00:18:46] Amanda: The last four are like really long. Oh, okay. Well, we'll see. We shall see. But. 

[00:18:52] Kelsey: The third book in the trilogy. So there's seven books in the trilogy and the, there's a prequel. Wait, 

[00:18:58] Amanda: seven books in the series? [00:19:00] Yes. 'cause it wouldn't be a trilogy, but there were seven, 

[00:19:03] Kelsey: did I say series?

[00:19:04] Kelsey: What did I say? You said there's seven books in the trilogy and I'm like, oh, seven books in the series. And then a prequel, but the prequel. Can be reads, the one 

[00:19:14] Amanda: you can read in different spots. Yes. Yeah. And I 

[00:19:16] Kelsey: think that you should read the prequel like third or second. Okay. Yeah. We'll decide that later.

[00:19:23] Kelsey: Okay. Maybe we'll reach out to our fandom and be like, how should Amanda read this? Do we 

[00:19:27] Amanda: have a fandom? Do you think we like, have like fans of this podcast? The lit vibes only fandom actually, at some point we're gonna call you all the literati like that is in the works. So just get ready for that. Okay.

[00:19:40] Amanda: Thank you for going first and kicking that off. Yeah. So, my first book, which is like top of my TBR, I'm so excited to get into it is Death of the Author by Nitty a Pho. And she is. 

[00:19:52] Kelsey: I love this author. Have you ever stuff 

[00:19:55] Amanda: before? I 

[00:19:55] Kelsey: have read 

[00:19:56] Amanda: Binti, 

[00:19:57] Kelsey: I wanted to tell you. Okay. Okay. Not this book, but [00:20:00] ti.

[00:20:00] Kelsey: Yeah. Okay. 

[00:20:01] Amanda: That makes me super excited. Yeah, because she. Well, as you'll hear in a moment, she's amazing. And so well awarded and yeah, incredible. So she's Nigerian American and she's primarily known for working in the genres of African futurism, speculative fiction, which ugh, I love speculative fiction.

[00:20:17] Amanda: Yeah. And also a genre that she's coined, which is African Judaism, which is very cool. She was born in April of 1974 and hello is also from Ohio. Oh my gosh. That's wild. She was born in Cincinnati. I was born in Columbus, so Hello Netty. And she was raised in the Midwest, in the Chicago area by her Nigerian immigrant parents.

[00:20:40] Amanda: She went on to get her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at, or Urbana Champagne and I think I said that right. And then went. On to also get her master's degree in journalism from Michigan State. And I, ugh, I'm from Ohio, so gross, Michigan State. And then went on to get her PhD in English, [00:21:00] also at the University of Illinois Illinois, sorry.

[00:21:03] Amanda: This time in Chicago. And her work really is a combination of a variety of things. So African culture, African mythology, and science fiction. So a very cool mix. And she's particularly known for. Centering marginalized voices particularly, right? Characters with disabilities and she's often drawing from her own experiences with both paralysis and mobility challenges.

[00:21:28] Amanda: So can very much speak to this from the I perspective. She has published so many. Books. So many acclaimed books, including Who Fears Death Lagoon, the book of Phoenix. And as Kelsey was referencing, benty, which is a trilogy. And she's also written the ADA series, which starts with Ada Witch.

[00:21:48] Amanda: And very cool. I loved this. She's also been a contributor to comic books, including Black Panther, long Live The King and Sheri. Ooh. For Marvel Comics. And I've read the Black Panther comics. [00:22:00] Oh, fun. So not all of them, obviously, but I've read the ones that Taana Hassi Coates wrote, which so cool. Yeah.

[00:22:04] Amanda: And so, you know, through her stories, she is really working to challenge these conventional narratives in speculative fiction by, again, broadening. The diverse identities right within this genre. And reimagining what the future might look like specifically through an African lens, which is so freaking cool and just makes me think of Wakanda.

[00:22:27] Amanda: She is the winner again of so many basically every. Awards you can win. As like a sci-fi author, she has won. So she's won the Hugo Award, Nebula World Fantasy Locus and Lo star Awards. And her debut novel, which was Zara, the win seeker, won the very prestigious woolly ska prize for literature.

[00:22:46] Amanda: So again. She's literally done all the things. Yeah. And then very cool. Fun fact. One of her books who fears death is actually currently being developed into a TV show with HBO 

Ooh. And 

[00:22:58] Amanda: in, in regards to her personal [00:23:00] life, she lives with her daughter and her female. Her female, her family. Good gracious. In Phoenix, Arizona.

[00:23:06] Amanda: Okay, so the book that I'm gonna be focusing on, like I said, is Death of the Author. It is a brand spanking new book. It came out in January of this year. Oh, okay. And so I, I'd seen it and kind of heard rumblings about it, but again, I wasn't familiar with the author, so I'm glad I have even more of a reason and impetus to read this book.

[00:23:25] Amanda: It has a 4.07 Good Reads rating, so a strong Good Reads rating. 448 pages and falls into the sci-fi kind of fantasy genre.

[00:23:36] Amanda: And this book was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. And in the book we follow the story of a young woman named I wanna say it's Zulu, it's spelled ZELU. So Zulu or Zulu.

[00:23:47] Amanda: She is a disabled young woman who her disability is paraplegia and it was a result of an accident that she had as a child. I believe in the book it says that she fell out of a tree. But she loves to write, like [00:24:00] that's the thing that she wants to do. And unfortunately for her, she is in a family of overachievers and are expecting their kids to go on to become, you know, doctors, lawyers, engineers, et cetera. And writing isn't really seen as a viable, lucrative career. Yeah. But she persists and while she's at her sister's wedding, this really like lavish wedding in the Caribbean. Her life kind of completely falls apart.

[00:24:21] Amanda: She ends up losing her job during that week. Her latest novel is rejected by the publishers that she's been working for. And so she's just like forget this. I'm just gonna write a book for myself that I would really enjoy. And so she decides to like step outside of what she normally does, and she writes this sci-fi book called Rusted Robots, and it's set in the far future.

[00:24:42] Amanda: Human civilization is pretty much over and done with. The world is basically inhabited by AI and Androids and there's like this conflict like this. Raging war between AI and Androids, the book into becoming this huge success, like propels her into literary stardom. And so essentially the book basically follows kind of.

[00:24:59] Amanda: [00:25:00] The fallout from that, the aftermath. Like how it changes her life and for both, for better and for worse. And so this is very much a book within a book because you're obviously reading about Za Lou's story or Zulus story. But then you're also interacting with this book that she's written. So it's kind of switches between both, which is very cool.

[00:25:18] Amanda: I love that. Okay. It's very meta. And then the other cool thing that I came across as I was. Preparing for this episode is that because it also has a lot of commentary on the publishing world. There are some connections to Yellow Face. Which is another book that we've covered on the podcast at the end of last year.

[00:25:35] Amanda: And so I loved that connection. It made me even more excited to read this book. And overall, right. This book is really focusing on the main character's quest to, to be heard, to find herself as well as diving into kind of this larger idea of the ways in which storytelling can shape our world and have an impact on our world, like the power of stories and storytelling, which I'm obviously a firm believer in.

[00:25:59] Amanda: [00:26:00] So that's that book. Like I said, I'm super excited to read it. I wanna jump into right now, but of course I have three other books that I need to get through first. But I'll definitely be reading it this month to celebrate disability Pride Month. Can't wait to get into it. 

[00:26:14] Kelsey: Yay.

[00:26:14] Kelsey: Okay. So the book and author I'm highlighting is quite a popular one. I saw a lot on TikTok, which is out on a limb by Hannah Bonham young and hannah is a USA today and Amazon bestselling Canadian author, oh, celebrated for her emotionally resonant romance novels that center her diverse, disabled, marginalized, and lgbtqia plus characters. Nice. Her stories skillfully blend swoon worthy love arcs with the complex messy realities of life. Offering readers heartfelt narratives that are both inclusive and authentic.

[00:26:56] Kelsey: She's originally from Ontario, Canada. Hannah now [00:27:00] resides near Niagara Falls with her childhood friend turned husband. Oh, that's so cute, Ben. And they have their two children, a feisty orange cat named Higgins, I guess, which is a nod to Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso and a sleepy bulldog. You know, I have never met an .

[00:27:20] Kelsey: Orange Cat that isn't feisty. Like they're very well known for being like 

[00:27:25] Amanda: Yeah. Intense. It's like you can't Yeah. It's like they come together in a package. Yep. 

[00:27:29] Kelsey: Yeah. And like tabbies are always like really loud. And then black cats are like kind of mysterious and then like energetic, but then.

[00:27:38] Kelsey: I actually had a friend that had a black and white cat. And honestly, that cat's personality trumps like all of the cats I've ever encountered. Is it just super extra? I really loved it. I don't know. Oh, okay. She was really, no, she was like really soft and chill and like Aw. Yeah. She was so cute.

[00:27:55] Kelsey: Loved her. I love it. Anyway she, the author [00:28:00] acknowledges living on. The traditional territory. Territory of the, oh God, I should have looked this up.

[00:28:09] Kelsey: Ani. I bet. Like I've heard these tribes before. Yeah. Ani and Anishinabe peoples, so, I'm so sorry if I butchered the first name. But Hannah's writing journey began in childhood crafting poetry and stories inspired by her love for books like Anne of Green Gavels. Yay. Did you ever Green Gables?

[00:28:31] Kelsey: Is it Gables? 

[00:28:31] Amanda: Yeah. Anna of Green Gables. Oh my gosh. Classic. Love it. I 

[00:28:34] Kelsey: never read that one. Her breakout novel was Next of Kin, which introduces readers to Chloe and Warren, two strangers who cohabitate to gain guardianship of their younger siblings. And the novel features a deaf character and explores themes of found family and healing from trauma and building on the success Hannah released next to you and out on a limb and out of the woods, which is [00:29:00] her most recent book.

[00:29:01] Amanda: Okay.

[00:29:01] Kelsey: And each delving into complex. Complex relationships and personal growth, notably out on a limb features a protagonist, which is the book I'm going to be highlighting with a limb difference, which reflects Hannah's commitment to authentic disabled ability representation. But not only that, Hannah herself has a really similar limb difference to the character in, out on a limb, which, the intro to that book, oh my gosh, was, I was like immediately drawn in. I was like, are you serious? No. And it just made me connect so much more to her characters knowing that it was her lived experience. 

Yeah. 

[00:29:41] Kelsey: And beyond writing, Hannah enjoys living room dance parties with her kids and.

[00:29:46] Kelsey: Curating elaborate cheese boards. She's active on Instagram at author Hannah, BY. And shares updates on her website, Hannah BY [00:30:00] rights.com. And so you can find her in those places and she has an upcoming novel, people watching that's set to release in September of 2025 this year. Right. So that's exciting.

[00:30:11] Kelsey: All those things, like I normally would probably not like, have gotten that much in depth information looking on the internet about this person. So I'm really grateful. That you had this idea, Amanda, to use chat, GPT. Oh my gosh, yes. But this part I looked up these bits of information so it is a contemporary romance. It was published in July, 2023, so fairly new still. But like recently, it was probably late last year that it was like really circulating momentum again. Yeah. It is 384 pages, so pretty typical for a romance. And has a 4.28 rating. Whoa. Oh, for romance? Romance, wow. I'm really enjoying it so far and I think it's going to be really incredible. Awesome. But the. Tropes. I'm not like [00:31:00] entirely like they are not my typical tropes that I really love. Okay. So there's a surprise pregnancy in the storyline.

[00:31:08] Kelsey: Okay. But there's also instant love. Okay. And then. I haven't gotten there yet, but there's also friends to lovers and forced proximity. 

[00:31:17] Amanda: Oh, interesting. Okay. 

[00:31:18] Kelsey: Bo and Wynn are the main characters, so it's Winifred and Robert. Okay. Is where the be comes from. Okay. The novel balances, heartfelt Moments with.

[00:31:29] Kelsey: Witty banter and humor making for an engaging and emotional read. This book, one L magazine's Best Books of the Year. Okay. And has very authentic disability representation. Yeah. Again, drawing from her own disability and her lived experience. Yeah. And so, that was super compelling to hear at the very beginning.

[00:31:51] Kelsey: Getting with the authors. Know. Loved that. Yeah. So definitely don't skip that part. Yeah. If you're going into this read, 

[00:31:58] Amanda: that's amazing. I love that. Yeah. [00:32:00] I love when. Authors find ways to work in their own experience into their novels. Especially if it's an identity that we don't often see represented.

[00:32:08] Amanda: Right. In the literary world yeah. That's fabulous. I, again, I don't read a lot of romance, but I might have to read that one. I think you would like it to be honest. I mean, I'm also just intrigued by the fact that it has a 4.28 rating. I'm like, okay, there's something here. When it, especially for romance.

[00:32:26] Amanda: Okay.

[00:32:26] Amanda: So my second book is So Lucky by Nicola Griffith, and Nicola is a British American author, which is so great. 'cause I feel like so many of the authors we've been featuring today are like Nigerian American, British American, Canadian, American. We've got folks from all over. Love that. She's British American and she is really well known for her contributions to so many of the genres I love, which is speculative fiction, historical novels, and crime thrillers.

[00:32:57] Amanda: All in one. Yeah. The only thing [00:33:00] is, I will say before I go. Farther is one of her books, Hild which is a historical fiction novel. I couldn't read it. I started and it was just not for me. Okay. So that's my only experience with this author, but I am curious about this particular book 'cause it's very different.

[00:33:16] Amanda: Anyhow, she was born in Yorkshire, England. In September, 1960 and she initially was pursuing a science degree at the University of Leeds, but she left before she finished her degree. And then in 1988, which is the year I was born she attended the Clarion Writer's Workshop at once again, Michigan State.

[00:33:38] Amanda: Ugh, Michigan State. State University where she met her future wife, which is so great. Who's also a writer, Kelly Eskridge. And she went on to later earn her PhD in creative writing from Anglia Ruskin University in 2017. She has written a bunch of different things. Her literary works include nine novels, which are [00:34:00] ammonite.

[00:34:00] Amanda: I know a slow river. I don't know how to say this, but it looks like the odd Turgen series, which includes the blue place stay and always. Hild, which is the book I just referenced. So Lucky, which is the book I'll be talking about today. Spear and Minnewood Mini Wood. Minnewood. How do we say that?

[00:34:15] Amanda: I don't know. Griffith's writing really dives into themes of gender, sexuality. And identity. And as with most of the writers that we're featuring today, she is known for incorporating disabled characters into her narratives because she wants to reflect her own lived experience as someone with multiple sclerosis.

[00:34:36] Amanda: And actually, which is very cool. In 2016, she co-founded hashtag Crit with Alice Wong, which is a platform specifically for disabled writers. So love that she's making space and creating space for other writers that are similar to herself. She again, is an incredibly well awarded, very acclaimed author and has garnered [00:35:00] numerous.

[00:35:00] Amanda: Accolades, including the Nebula Award, world Fantasy Award and six Lambda Literary Awards. And this is so cool. She actually lives here in Seattle Oh wow. With her wife and very cool, you know, continues to both influence. Inspire others through her writing and through her advocacy work as well. So just sounds like a love, a local author, A stellar, yes.

[00:35:24] Amanda: We love a local author. It sounds like she's just a stellar human being. So, so Lucky is a slightly older book. It was published back in May in 2018. It has a 3.64 rating on Good Reads, and it is very short. It is under 200 pages. 180 pages. So I feel like this is something I could Wow. Very short, probably it through pretty quickly.

But 

[00:35:43] Amanda: I love this as well. She won the Washington State Book Award for fiction Oh. In 2019 for this autobiographical novel. And so again, we love a local author, someone who's in our neighborhood. So yes, like I said, it is an autobiographical novel. So what [00:36:00] that means is a lot of the story is informed by her actual lived experience, but it's not 100% factual.

[00:36:07] Amanda: Right?

There's

[00:36:07] Amanda: you know, changing to, to name circumstances, et cetera. 

But 

[00:36:11] Amanda: essentially it tells the story of this woman named Mara Elli, who is an incredibly successful career woman. She actually is the head of a multimillion dollar AIDS foundation, and kind of similar to the character in the first book that I was talking about, in a very short, 

there's a theme here.

There's a 

[00:36:28] Amanda: theme here. In a very short span of time, a lot of bad things happened to her. So in the span of a week, she loses her job. Her marriage ends and she's diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Oh. So just like when it rains, it pours for this woman. And this is , you know, a particularly difficult situation for Mara because she, is this incredibly ambitious, driven top of, her game career woman who is always able to solve whatever is thrown at her.

[00:36:54] Amanda: And she's finally in a situation where she's like I don't know how to get past these things. I don't know how to overcome these challenges. They [00:37:00] seem insurmountable. And so, she really is. Struggling with that over the course of the novel. One of the things that Nicola really wanted to do in this book was to expose, quote, the savagery of the experience of being disabled and chronically ill in America, unquote.

[00:37:16] Amanda: And that's directly from her website. And, you know, as folks who live in the United States, we know all of the. Immense issues with our healthcare system, with our health insurance system. And so she's very much, you know, tapping into a lot of that in her book. And overall, this book is looking at themes of self-love, self-identity, and obviously resilience in the face of all of these challenges.

[00:37:41] Amanda: Yeah. And setbacks. So again, another book that I'm really excited to check out, like bonus points, again, that it's a local author. And again, I don't. I've never read a book actually with a character who has multiple sclerosis. Just like I've never read a book with a character who has paraplegia.

[00:37:59] Amanda: Right. [00:38:00] So again, I'm really excited to continue to expand. My perspective and my understanding of folks who are living and experience that's different from mine. And yeah, I think these are both gonna be really great reads. Yay. So, yeah. Yeah. So do you wanna quickly recap your two books, Kelsey?

[00:38:20] Kelsey: Yes. Oh my gosh. You might have to help me with this name again. 

[00:38:24] Amanda: Kemmerer Keer. 

[00:38:27] Kelsey: Okay. My first recommendation was a curse, so Dark and Lonely by Bridget Kemmerer. And the second was out on a limb by Hannah Bonham. Young. 

[00:38:37] Amanda: Yep, you got it. And my two were zep of the author by Nitty Koor and so lucky by Nicola Griffith.

[00:38:46] Amanda: So definitely we encourage you to check these books out as always. We have a range of genres here, right? Absolutely. So, so if you're into romance or fantasy or contemporary fiction sci-fi, there's something in here for everyone. And we do that [00:39:00] really intentionally so that yeah, everyone can find something that works for them.

Yeah. 

[00:39:04] Amanda: And then, yeah, just to wrap things up, as always, if you are not yet following us on socials, please make sure do it. To do that.

[00:39:11] Kelsey: join the fun. 

[00:39:12] Amanda: Yeah. Come, interact, come hang with us. Have conversations. It's. I've said this in a previous episode, but we literally get so incredibly excited when people comment on our videos and we can just chat about books.

[00:39:25] Amanda: Yes. And all the things that we love about the book world. So come do that. So we're on Instagram at Lit Vibes Only podcast. We are on both TikTok and YouTube at Lit Vibes only podcast. And. As always, if you have not taken those two seconds to rate and review we strongly encourage you to do that as soon as this episode ends.

[00:39:46] Amanda: As soon as you hear that closing music right, hop into your Apple Podcast or Spotify app. And hit that five star button. And if you have a little bit of extra time to jot a sentence or two, let us know your thoughts. And [00:40:00] also, right, this podcast is yes for us, but it's also for you guys . And if you have suggestions on things you'd love to see us do, or things, books you want highlighted, looks you want us to cover like that.

[00:40:12] Amanda: The place to do it so you get have a say in shaping what this podcast looks like. Yeah. Which is incredible. So yeah. Don't let that opportunity pass you by. But yeah, we're so grateful that you joined us today. We hope that you enjoy these books. Let us know if you read them and love them.

[00:40:26] Amanda: And otherwise, we'll see you next Monday. Bye. Bye.