S06.09: Sports Romance with Jessica Luther
It’s another sports interstitial! We’re talking sports, balls & sports balls with the brilliant Jessica Luther, sports romance lover, podcaster, and author of Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape and Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan. Everyone came to this one with their own strategy, so we’re talking everything from beach volleyball to hockey, surfing to F1. Of course, we talk about Beckham, but surprisingly, we don’t even say Jurgen Klopp one time.
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Notes
Welcome Jessica Luther. You can read her books, Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape and Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan, or listen to her (on hiatus) sports podcast Burn it All Down. Her dissertation is about Retha Swindell and the first integrated women’s basketball team at UT, and she recently wrote about the 50th anniversary of "The Battle of the Sexes."
WNBA stuff we talked about: Teresa Weatherspoon is the new head coach for the Chicago Sky, Allie Quigley and Courtney VanderSloot, Dawn Staley supporting her players, and the WNBA pandemic bubble, and that dumb man who thinks a high school boys basketball team could beat a WNBA team, which by the way dumb men have been saying this about the WNBA for a long time.
Football stuff we talked about: Taylor Swift has caused a spike of interest in the NFL, the SNL skit with the football players, women on TikTok getting their husbands to say that Taylor Swift is putting Travis Kelce on the map, the real life football cupcake shop in Austin, and why it’s a dumb idea to use betting apps on your phone.
MNBA stuff we talked about: That tall man who plays for the Spurs is Victor Wembanyama and he’s 7’4” and it’s honestly quite startling! Bobby Knight was a terrible man. Jen’s too cheap to pay $300 a seat for a Bulls game.
Hockey Stuff we talked about: the openly homophobic NHL banned pride tape this year, and even though they rescinded the ban, it’s still pretty awful for queer players and fans, the Blackhawks abuse scandal.
Racing stuff we talked about: The Racy Books Podcast, F1 racing, Lewis Hamilton, Drive to Survive on Netflix, and NASCAR in Chicago. An important addition: a reader contacted us and let us know about Robbie Wickens, a race car driver who suffered a spinal cord injury in an Indy Car race and has returned to racing.
Soccer stuff we talked about: Ted Lasso and the Beckham documentary on Netflix.
the Books we talked about
Sponsors
Elle Kennedy, author of The Graham Effect,
available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books,
and at your local independent bookstore
and
Isabel Morin, author of The Whole Truth,
available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books,
and at your local independent bookstore
and
Avon Books, publishers of A Holly Jolly Ever After,
available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books,
and at your local independent bookstore
S06.04: Sweater Weather: Romance Novels with Fall Vibes
This week is full ✨vibes✨ and we’re not sorry about it. By request, we’re doing a “Romances for Sweater Weather” which aren’t spooky for Halloween and aren’t (mostly) snowbound romances, but are just…full of apple cinnamon, pumpkin spice, fuzzy socks feelings. We’re talking about sports, about crunching leaves, about small towns, about pumpkins and about elections, so it must be fall here on the pod. Light that fire, put on that cable knit sweater, and get to reading. We’ve got you sorted.
Our first read along of the season will be Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo or from your local indie.
If you want more Fated Mates in your life, you are welcome at our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.
Show Notes
Check out Louisa Edwards’s chef romances. The first is called Can’t Stand the Heat.
We like a man in a cable knit sweater. So sue us.
Katy, Texas is home of a lot of football and a lot of book banning.
We don’t really have any opinion about Taylor Swift’s new boyfriend, but his mom seems great.
Books Mentioned This Episode
Sponsors
Ava Miles, author of The Paris Roommates,
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
and
Avon Books, publisher of Nisha Sharma’s Tastes Like Shakkar
available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books,
or your local independent bookstore
and
Kelly Washington, author of Claiming the Heart of Vraithe
available at Amazon, or with a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited
11.5: Sports Romance with Jenny Nordbak
Are you a sports ball fan?! Do we have romances for you! We’ve got the brilliant Jenny Nordbak from The Wicked Wallflowers podcast back for a sports romance interstitial! Listen to us chat about why we love sports books, the alpha, competence porn and books by Kennedy Ryan, Tamsen Parker, and Naima Simone!
Next week, it’s (FOR REAL THIS TIME) MacRieve week with Sierra Simone! We’re so excited, and Sierra is the perfect guest for this sex-driven book! Get MacRieve at Amazon, B&N, Apple Books, Kobo, or from your local Indie.
Show Notes
Welcome back to our guest Jenny Nordbak from the Wicked Wallflowers podcast!
Everyone loves a trip to the hairdresser.
Here's a list of the RITA finalists, and a link to Jen's new twitter account which tracks her reviews of the finalists.
Author Bronwen Fleetwood crunched a bunch of RITA data from the past 20 years, which is how we know there are more winners named Susan (and Elizabeth, Barbara, Karen, Jennifer, Ann, Jill, Linda...) than WoC finalists.
Famously, the Hugo Awards also struggled with recognizing the best books in their field.
Here's what we are talking about when we talk about how PoC are underrepresented in publishing.
Um, actully Sarah, Ulysses is a twitter thread.
This week, Sarah told a pretty solid competence porn story about her neurosurgeon on Twitter.
Kennedy Ryan has been on the Wicked Wallflowers podcast. Twice.
Content warnings for Long Shot.
Adriana Herrera, author and friend of the Pod, recently wrote a very important piece for the Smart Bitches about how to portray sexual assualt in romance.
Why the Ray Rice elevator video is important.
Jen's written about the whiteness of hockey romances for The Book Queen. Don't believe Jen? Back in 2012, commenter #11 left a plea for more hockey romances on this Smart Bitches post. I bet they are happy now.
Susan Elizabeth Phillip's Chicago Stars series is a romance classic.
There's no crying in baseball.
Jen reviewed all of Tamsen Parker's Snow and Ice Games series.
Olympics atheletes are busy, y'all.
6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon was an amusing 90s pop culture game.
Tennyson is a romance heroine and a famous poet.
Listen to Naima's interview on the Wicked Wallflowers.
Fumbled is a new football romance by Alexa Martin, and it deals with CTE.
Get ready for MacRieve.
