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Here listening to

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All the Backlist, a

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weekly show about books

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that are not new.

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I'm your host, Danika Ellis. This is episode number

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448.5, and today I'm going to tell you about

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a couple of my favorite sapphic

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backlist comics. One

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is horror. One is sci-fi. They're both

0:29

pretty weird and wonderful, and

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I love them. I

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always find it a little

0:35

bit difficult to talk about

0:37

comics, because obviously it's a

0:39

very different medium than a

0:41

prose book. And

0:44

I am someone who is

0:46

very much text-based. I

0:48

have trouble with visuals, not just in

0:51

books, but in general. I don't

0:53

have a very visual mind. I can't

0:55

really keep pictures in my head very

0:57

well. And I

0:59

have trouble talking about the

1:02

artwork of comics, and that is

1:04

so much of what they are, obviously.

1:07

There is the story element, there's the

1:09

writing element, but I won't pick up

1:11

a comic unless I like the art.

1:14

But could I tell you what I like about the art?

1:17

Pretty rarely. I always feel

1:19

like in my

1:21

normal reading life I can talk about books,

1:23

depending on the book and depending on the

1:26

day, at a sort

1:28

of university-type level. I

1:30

went to university and talked about books,

1:33

I feel comfortable with that. But

1:35

when I'm talking about comics, I feel

1:37

like I'm about six years old just

1:39

talking about how I like that the

1:42

colors are bright. So

1:44

I feel a little bit limited by that. I

1:47

also want to talk about comics because they

1:49

are one of my favorite things to read. And

1:52

recently I have really started

1:54

to incorporate them more into

1:57

my reading life, especially

1:59

between books. They're almost a

2:01

palate cleanser for me. And

2:04

they're also kind of my cheat

2:06

with the library is I check

2:09

out way too many books from the library, and

2:12

I'm trying to stop putting so many

2:14

books on hold and I know I'm not going to read

2:16

them all and I get really overwhelmed. But

2:18

if it's a comic, if it's a graphic

2:20

novel or manga, I think,

2:23

well, I can squeeze that in. That's

2:25

going to be so quick to read. I can just read that in

2:27

between all my other books. So I

2:29

end up with just stacks and

2:32

stacks of comics and I

2:34

do really get to them most of

2:36

the time. So they are taking

2:38

over my reading and

2:41

I am really enjoying that. Before

2:44

I talk about two of my favorite

2:46

graphic backlist comics, I want

2:48

to mention that 2024 is

2:51

the 10th year of the read harder challenge.

2:54

If you haven't heard about it before, we

2:56

do this every year and there

2:58

are 24 tasks that are

3:01

meant to expand our reading horizons,

3:03

diversify our TBRs. And

3:06

if you want to get recommendations for each

3:08

task, you can sign up to the read

3:10

harder newsletter because it's 24 tasks. It

3:13

is definitely not too late to sign up. You

3:16

can catch up. A lot of them are

3:18

really quick like reading a manga. You

3:21

can do that, catch up, be on track to

3:23

finish and also you don't have to finish. But

3:25

you should sign up to the newsletter.

3:28

We'll keep you informed about not only

3:30

read harder but other cool reading challenges,

3:32

readathons and everything you should

3:34

know about the bookish internet. Cool things

3:36

happening all over. If

3:38

you become a paid subscriber, you

3:41

get even more recommendations plus community

3:43

features. I have been

3:45

writing the read harder newsletter and moderating

3:47

the comments and I love this community

3:50

that's built up around it. You get

3:52

to hang out with other passionate like-minded

3:55

readers in a cozy and

3:57

supportive corner of the internet. Also

3:59

you get weekdays. The owners of my

4:01

dogs be who is a

4:04

ridiculous ball at Bell south

4:06

of the that the selling

4:09

theater and you can visit

4:11

butcryit.com/read harder to sign up

4:13

that's a crap.com/read harder. Today's

4:18

episode is brought to you by Avon

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Books. Friends. I got a debut.

4:22

Clear Victorian romance it kills Lesbian bridge

4:24

team a good parent trap so don't

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want you like your best friend by

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him or all been is set in

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eighteen Fifty cent in we find be

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anxious debutante s sweating bullets because she

4:35

needs to marry a rich man or

4:37

she and her mother will be out

4:39

on the street. but it doesn't take

4:41

long for her new best he going

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to hatches skyn uma rather than surrender

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best the courtship they should set up

4:47

grandfather and best newly widowed mother and

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let them get married. Instead because like

4:52

how hard can pair trapping widowed X

4:54

lovers be? But the trouble with a

4:56

matchmaking is sometimes you accidentally fall in

4:58

love with your best friend in the

5:00

process. like who has a right way.

5:03

We've all been there though. What you

5:05

like a best friend is Emma are

5:07

all the and exciting the abuse romance

5:09

it's perfect for fans of Cat Sebastian

5:11

Alexandra Bill for an Netflix Britain As

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I mentioned before it makes you pick

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it up and thanks again to even

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book for sponsoring this episode. Today's.

5:24

Episode is brought to you by Avon Books.

5:26

After breaking up with her long time famous musician

5:29

boyfriends or a deal, it's where decides that hiding

5:31

out in the small town in the mountains might

5:33

be the perfect remedy for. A broken foot, We

5:36

have a frozen. Not run out

5:38

the apartment or her rather else is

5:41

a teenage son Amos fiercely protective of

5:43

his family and distrusting of strangers' growth

5:45

and grumpy roads initially keeps Little Miss

5:47

Sunshine or at a distance. But over

5:50

days and weeks long hikes and fireside

5:52

chats or breaks down as walls and

5:54

an unbreakable friendship blossoms into a once

5:57

in a lifetime love. Pick Up! All

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Roads lead here by Marianas a Potter's

6:01

Many of the Potter is one of

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the top most beloved authors, but she

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built up an audience long before that.

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With her engaging, sober and romances that

6:11

are full of big emotions and feelings,

6:13

this is the first time All Roads

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Lead Here will be traditionally published. Some

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makes your check it out and thanks

6:20

again to Avon Books are sponsoring this

6:22

episode. The.

6:25

First settle I want to talk

6:27

about his eat the Rats by

6:29

a Sarah Galea pious back and

6:31

Roman teed off This. I think

6:33

will be the perfect book to read

6:35

on Halloween. But you can really be

6:37

at any time. It is about

6:40

Jellies who is meeting her boyfriends

6:42

family which is always stressed saw

6:44

and it's more stressful because he

6:46

is very wealthiest. families are a

6:48

lot there, she is not and

6:50

she really wants to impress time

6:52

She is on her way to

6:54

becoming a lawyer. she's going to

6:56

be in that world pretty soon

6:58

and she has try to learn

7:00

how to blend in and when

7:02

she gets there she says well

7:04

that out of place She. Becomes

7:06

friends with the of families

7:08

nanny power but. Puddle.

7:10

Seems to be trying to

7:12

warn her as she said

7:14

stay away from her at

7:16

but also maybe from the

7:18

family. She says that being

7:20

seen with the help is

7:23

not going to assist her

7:25

standing in the society and

7:27

than as she is explaining

7:29

this to Jelly, the baby

7:31

picks up what seems to

7:33

be a human. Jawbone on the

7:35

Beach started playing with that. If

7:37

you saw Box of the ask

7:40

you it might be surprised. As

7:44

the shirt or thick novels so

7:46

I don't wanna spoil anything. But

7:48

I think you can probably guess

7:50

that the rich community is eating

7:52

people that is. Revealed.

7:54

Pretty quickly, but the way

7:57

it handled. is really interesting

7:59

Again, I'm not going to spoil it, but

8:02

it's just very capitalistic,

8:05

very almost

8:08

believable. It does not seem like

8:10

that much of a stretch, honestly.

8:13

This is an over-the-top,

8:15

gruesome, funny, anti-capitalism queer

8:17

graphic novel. I

8:19

love this from beginning to end.

8:21

I definitely fell for Petal, who

8:24

wears a loud and queer t-shirt

8:27

and tells Joey that, yes, she knows

8:29

how awesome she is. So

8:31

that was definitely a pull.

8:34

If you like the title in the cover, you're going

8:36

to love this book. And

8:39

I read it in one sitting, and I

8:41

wish that I had a ton

8:43

more in this series, because it's

8:45

just so ridiculous and fun. And

8:49

that is Eat the Rich by

8:51

Sarah Gailey, Pius Bach, and Roman

8:53

Titov. My other book I wanted

8:56

to talk about is Motor Crush,

8:58

Volume 1 by Brendan Fletcher,

9:00

Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr.

9:03

I read this back in 2018, and

9:06

somehow I have not read the second

9:08

volume, and I need to, because I

9:10

really enjoyed this one. It

9:14

is a sci-fi comic.

9:17

It is set in a world

9:19

where Domino, the main character, races

9:21

by day in motorcycle races. That

9:24

is the main source of entertainment

9:26

in the society. She's tracked by

9:29

a floating camera, which also is

9:31

constantly interviewing her. And

9:33

by night, she races gangs,

9:35

where there is no limit

9:38

to what you can do to try to win

9:40

the pot. And on

9:42

the cover, she is holding a, I think

9:46

it's a plank, maybe a baseball

9:48

bat with a bunch of nails

9:50

nailed into the end. So

9:52

you can see the kind of vibes of

9:54

those races. And

9:57

Other people are racing for

9:59

Crush. Which is a

10:01

sad the sense that the boosts

10:03

their engines and also maybe a

10:05

motorcycles can get addicted to in

10:07

the since As I said kind

10:09

of weird. But really wonderful. But

10:12

Domino needs crash to let so

10:14

she's got a lot of incentive

10:16

to try to win at these

10:19

races. I thought Domino was a

10:21

great characters. His little rough around

10:23

the edges. his prickly by Ethan

10:25

see how. That sort of

10:27

a cover for her vulnerability.

10:31

She has some questions about

10:33

her parents' heads and her

10:35

background and why she can

10:38

consume a stimulant that is

10:40

meant for engines. But her.

10:42

Adoptive father has been

10:45

keeping secrets about that.

10:47

And we have move back

10:49

and forth between the high

10:51

paced motorcycle race as both

10:53

the gang races and the

10:55

official ones and her introspective

10:57

journey of trying to figure

10:59

out. Who she as, what

11:02

she is and the having

11:04

difficulty. Relating with the people

11:06

around her with these secrets

11:09

about her. I

11:11

really likes Lola who is

11:14

Dominos ex girlfriend who's a

11:16

curvy, his family man

11:18

with hot pink hair who's

11:21

a mechanic. They. Burrow

11:23

Pat because Lola. Can understand

11:25

by a Domino was so reckless

11:27

because she didn't know about her.

11:29

Dependence on. That

11:32

they still obviously really care about each

11:34

other and I make a good team.

11:36

So I'm excited to see if they

11:38

get together in Volume Two, or where

11:40

the. Story goes, Maxed and I am.

11:42

We and indo put volume to on

11:45

hold right now. I doubt I'll why

11:47

I haven't read it. Yeah, That's.

11:49

It for me at this time of

11:52

feel free to give me any recommendations

11:54

of. beer on a weird

11:56

queer graphic novels because i'm

11:58

always looking for more. Thank

12:01

you so much to our sponsor. Thank

12:03

you to our audio editor, Caitlin Brame,

12:05

and thank you for listening. For

12:07

more Rect or general bookishness, check

12:09

out bookriot.com. And

12:11

don't forget to check out our full

12:14

staple of podcasts at bookriot.com slash listen,

12:16

or just search Book Riot on your podcast

12:18

player of choice. You can

12:20

find a list of the books I

12:23

mentioned today in the show notes by

12:25

visiting bookriot.com/all the books. Remember,

12:27

if you're a fan of all the books

12:29

and all the backlist and you want to

12:31

show us some love, please leave us a

12:33

rating or review on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

12:36

We sincerely appreciate your review and they help

12:38

other book lovers to find us. If

12:41

you want to find me you can

12:43

do that at lesbrary.com for my book

12:45

blog, or you can follow my book

12:47

Riot newsletters are queer shelves and

12:49

read harder. In the meantime,

12:52

happy reading. Transcribed

13:03

by https://otter.ai