035. Megan Erickson, Hope in Dystopia: Guardian by Emmy Chandler

Megan Erickson (USA Today bestselling romance author) is my guest, and we talk prison planet romances, which can briefly be summarized as “forced proximity on steroids.” The romance worth reading is Guardian by Emmy Chandler, the first in a series of prison planet romances. 

Discussed: Morality, The Trolley Dilemma, Consent, Humanity.

CW: in this episode we discuss consent, sex work, threat of sexual violence, and violence.

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Guest Host: Megan Erickson

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meggiejoknows/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeganErickson_

• Website: https://meganerickson.org

• Ella Maven: https://www.ellamaven.com/

We Read Guardian by Emmy Chandler

Modern romance canon: Kristen Ashley: Sweet Dreams

Books/Media/Mentions:

• Hold by Claire Kent

  • https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24582265-hold?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=vHtVIw6XdD&rank=1

• The Gamers series by Megan Erickson

  • The one Andrea read and remembers fondly: Changing His Game m/f romance

  • Tied to Trouble: m/m romance

• Netflix film: 13th

  • 13th is a 2016 American documentary by director Ava DuVernay. The film explores the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States;"[3] it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime.

• Sonali Dev: spoke at Baltimore Book Festival about how romance novels aren’t the journey of finding someone to love, it’s about the journey to discovering you’re worthy of being loved.

  • https://sonalidev.com/

• Disney “I Want” Songs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22I_Want%22_song

  • Tangled is a great movie - Disney-fied version of Rapunzel 

• Reese Witherspoon’s Glamour Speech “What do we do now!?” 

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKKRBnpDpBY

• I mentioned episode 14 with Funmi B when we were discussing characters, and black heroines in particular, “not needing to be fixed.” You can listen to that full conversation here: we read Equivalent Exchange by Christina C. Jones.

Listener contributions:

• Kini Allen: for her continual ribbing of that one time I pronounced Gif like Jiff

• What are prison planet romances about? Contributors: Katrina Jackson, B. and her Books, Marisa Elaine Getas, Jess <3, Christina.us.uk, Jayne Hendry.