undergroundlitsociety

Do you read seasonally? Does weather affect your choices in what you want to read? This was a burning question for Nicole so we chatted about how the changing seasons may or may not affect what we read. Patti Callahan Henry joins us to talk about Christmas books.

Books Mentioned in this Meeting: Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans Skipping Christmas by John Grisham Heidi by Johanna Spyri Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg My Family, A Symphony by Aaron Eske A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness A Perfect Love Song by Patti Callahan Henry When Light Breaks by Patti Callahan Henry

Show Notes (SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!) :15 Nicole introduces the show and why she's interested in the idea of reading during different seasons :53 Amy explains why she's a seasonal reader 1:32 Nicole doesn't get it 2:35 Amy tries to explain it again 4:43 Nicole talks about Harrowing Historicals and how it didn't add to her Halloween celebration 5:29 Amy explains how she likes to read Christmas books at Christmas time 6:48 Amy laughs. Again. 7:34 Nicole introduces Patti Callahan Henry 8:30 Patti talks about her new book, A Perfect Love Song and the rush of the season 10:53 Patti talks about writing A Perfect Love Song 13:26 Patti talks about stories and how they build 16:33 Patti and Amy discover a common bond 17:00 Patti shares some Christmas stories she's enjoyed and we chat the history of Christmas stories 25:18 Amy previews Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg 26:46 Nicole previews My Family, A Symphony by Aaron Eske 28:38 Nicole talks about reading A Discovery of Witches 31:00 Amy admits she's weather driven

As always, we can be contacted at undergroundliterarysociety@gmail.com

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So it's true. I love zombies. And I can't help but notice I'm not alone in this mad crazy love. To get the scoop on just why zombies are so popular and to get a glimpse inside the minds of the creators, Nicole and I chatted with Mira Grant, author of Feed, and Jesse Peterson, author of Married with Zombies and Flip This Zombie. Enjoy!

00:00 Zombies...Yay! 00:26 Zombies Are Amy's Favorite Monsters 01:30 Night of the Living Dead/ Amy Makes Zombie Noises 04:00 The Forest of Hands and Teeth 07:15 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the Appeal of Mash-ups 11:00 Zombies Are Not Sexy... Like Vampires 12:00 zombie Books Amy Has Read 14:50 Nicole Goes On ANd On About The Grossness of The Strain 17:45 Mira Grant tells us about Feed 18:49 What Attracted Mira to Zombie Culture 19:30 Blogging and Bloggers in Feed 22:30 Zombie Books That Have Been An Inspiration for Mira 22:40 Mira Tells Us Why Zombie Culture Is so appealing 26:22 jesse Peterson tells us About Married W/ Zombies 27:18 How Jesse Started Writing about Zombies 28:42 The Literature that Jesse into Zombies 29:40 What purpose do Zombies serve in current pop culture 33:13 Amy Makes Zombie Noises Again, and Nicole leaves them In

Books Discussed in this Podcast

Married with Zombies by Jesse Peterson Feed by Mira Grant The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters, Jane Austen Little Women and Werewolves by Porter Grand and Louisa May Alcott Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith Play Dead by Ryan Brown Dust by Joan Frances Turner Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry The Strain by Chuck Hogan & Guillermo del Toro The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead by Roger Ma Max Brooks' books about zombies

Movies and TV Discussed The Night Of Living Dead The Night of the Comet Zombieland Shaun of the Dead The Walking Dead

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November had a fantastic selection of books comes out and we showcase them in the eleventh meeting of the society! Additionally, we chat with Jillian Cantor about her book, The Transformation of Things.

We also discuss: Rescue by Anita Shreve How Music Works by John Powell Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry the VIII by Giles Tremlett The Autobiography of Mark Twain A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Book by Charles Dickens, Chuck Fischer Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch, and Beyond from New York's Favorite Neighborhood Restaurant by Neil Kleinberg, Diana H. Lahman, Michael Harlan Turkell

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Thanksgiving is a significant holiday in the United States but it rarely makes an appearance in literature. Nicole and I discuss some of the appearances it does make, the history of the holiday, and the way history is taught in the United States. We are also joined by Jennifer Vanderbes to talk about her book, Strangers at the Feast which is set on Thanksgiving Day in 2007

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The mother daughter relationship is one of the most compelling and explored topics in literature. Whether the mother or the daughter is adored, reviled, absent, whether the bonds are strong or fraught with tension, the ramifications on a life are often inescapable.

In this meeting of the Underground, Amy and I share some of the most memorable mother daughter relationships that we have encountered. We then talk to Susan Gregg Gilmore (The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove) and Margaret Dilloway (How To Be An American Housewife) about the mother daughter relationships that they have explored in their novels and the mother daughter pairs who have inspired them.

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A New York Times Article on self-publishing published in 2009 indicated that 480,000 titles were published or distributed in 2008. That is a staggering 40,000 books per month, and I imagine that the numbers have only gone up. The list of books that Amy and I put together is in no way exhaustive or exhausted (as I say in the podcast), but they are a few of the books that we were excited to see published in and around the month of October.

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There's nothing spookier this time of year than things that go bump in the night...or ghosts. We checked in with Karen Bence and Deborah Noyes about the popularity of ghosts and whether or not they believe. What they have to share may frighten you! Listen if you dare.....

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The popularity of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy has us wondering what the appeal is of these mysteries set in different locations and how can we get our hands on more. We took these questions to Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts and Swedish author Ake Edwardson. Their insights on just why the crime genre is a great one has us eager to read even more.

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