Troped Out Typo Productions

Thriller writer May Cobb joins us for a discussion about the complicated women in her novels who break their seemingly perfect lives, how readers weigh the misdeeds of a flawed female character against those of a murderer, and why her stories are set in East Texas.
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Welcome to the latest episode of TROPED OUT PODCAST—a podcast where we interview your favorite (and future favorite) author’s about all things tropes! Today we are chatting with domestic suspense author May Cobb!
May Cobb grew up in the piney woods of East Texas where MY SUMMER DARLINGS, THE HUNTING WIVES and BIG WOODS are set. After college, she moved to San Francisco where she studied Victorian Literature for my Master's, and gravitated towards that era's detective novels, known as "sensation novels", such as Wilke Collins' THE WOMAN IN WHITE. She then lived in Los Angeles for a few years where she worked for filmmaker/writer Ron Shelton and his wife, the actress Lolita Davidovich.
Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Rumpus, Austin Monthly, and Texas Highways Magazine.
Check out May’s full bio on her website, www.MayCobb.com
The podcast is kicked off by asking what May is reading and loving. May is reading Eliza Jane Brazier’s GIRLS AND THEIR HORSES, which May describes as DALLAS meets BIG LITTLE LIES (which sounds amazing).EJ is plowing through Sylvia Moreno Garcia’s backlist (bc she is a huge MEXICAN GOTHIC fan). Up now is VELVET WAS THE NIGHT.Emma says she read MY SUMMER DARLINGS this past summer on the beach and it was the perfect landscape to read about these women in this small Texas town doing horrible things to each other.Emma is currently listening to WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS by Kate Alice Marshall. She is also on the wild ride of Alice Feeney’s ROCK PAPER SCISSORS.Emma says that May Cobb writes toxic friendships so well. They are women that have everything outwardly—but they are determined to blow their lives up.Emma asks what is that is so fun to read about toxic female friendships.May says she thinks its just so fun because women’s relationships are so complex with layers that you can really dig in to.EJ compares messy relationships to the show YELLOWJACKETS. Emma and May are also huge fans. We discuss the cliffhanger of season one and what the writers were thinking (do they know where things are going or at this point, are they winging it?).Emma asks May if she has a favorite mean girl from any movie or book or show?May likes the character in the movie Heathers. None of us can think of the actress’s name. oh well! As May says, to be blonde and in Hollywood!EJ asks May about her favorite hot mess character.May loves a storyline where the woman gets to play the role that is traditionally male. Where they do messy things for no reason other than they want to.Emma asks May if she’s ran into anyone that has given her the “why are your characters so unlikeable” BS.May has stories! She says people are always way more scandalized by the fact that her characters sleep around, than by the murders.EJ says that MY SUMMER DARLINGS  is fascinating because the male character knows exactly how to play the women. It is like he moves into town and knows the exact moves to make these women do as he wants. But he never coerces them. It is fascinating that the female characters on the hook, but the male character is not. May agrees. May says that each of her characters are at a crossroads when this man comes into their lives and begins tearing things apart with manipulation. She asks, who among us, if we were in any of these women’s positions, wouldn’t at least have the thought?EJ says that the lure of the male character is so charismatic he made her think of a vampire character.Boredom is the downfall of wealthy people in small towns. When you can’t go to the opera—you create your own drama.Emma says that May’s stories definitely have a strong sense of place—they are Texas to the bone. Was this intentional or did

Welcome to the latest episode of TROPED OUT PODCAST—a podcast where we interview your favorite (and future favorite) author’s about all things tropes! Today we are chatting with Science Fiction author, Malka Older! 
Malka Older is a writer, sociologist, and aid worker.  Her  science-fiction political thriller INFOMOCRACY was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post. She is also the author of the sequels, NULL STATES (2017) and STATE TECTONICS (2018), and the full trilogy was nominated for a Hugo Award. She is also the creator of the serial NINTH STEP STATION and lead writer for the licensed sequel to ORPHAN BLACK, both currently running on Realm. Her short story and poetry collection AND OTHER DISASTERS came out in late 2019. Her short fiction and poetry can be found at WIRED, Future Tense, Leveler, Sundog Lit, Reservoir Lit, Inkscrawl, Rogue Agent, Tor.com, Fireside Fiction, and others. She has written opinion pieces for the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, and NBC Think.
Em kicks things off by asking Malka what she is reading and loving lately and Malka came prepared! Malka is reading and loving: John Scalzi’s KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY, Cherie Priest’s FLIGHT RISK, THE TOWN OF BABYLON by Alejandro Varela, THE LEFT HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON by Garth Nix, KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourne, Emily Wilde’s ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAERIES, Richard Osmond’s THURSDAY MURDER CLUB series, and Melinda Lo’s A SCATTER OF LIGHT, MERU by S.B. Divya, and finally Annalee Newitz’s THE TERRAFORMERS.EJ comments that Malka’s list covers a wide range of fiction—she wonders if Malka has books that are on her id list and Malka admits that she really loves different takes on Sherlock Holmes stories (so she wrote one!).EJ asks Malka what it is that makes a Sherlock-themed book so distinct. Malka explains that she thinks it has to do with the mystery being the focus—not the crime or gore or horror. There is a cerebral aspect that is always present in a Sherlock-style mystery.Malka says that there is something about neuro-divergence—when you have a character who thinks very differently than everyone around them and is fine-tuned particular approach. Having a flipped approach to how you observe and deduct. Also the relationships. Typically in a Sherlock-style mystery, you will have a relationship between two people (sometimes coded as neurodivergent and neurotypical—but not always). The story unfold between the partners and we can observe the contrast with how they approach the case.
EJ asks Malka about Narrative Disorder—a disorder that is present in Malka’s book Infomacracy. Malka explains how she came up with the concept of Narrative Disorder and how she folded it into the story. Malka explains how there is a hunger for narratives—an addiction really. When coming up with the idea and concept of Narrative Disorder, she thought of how in the future we would feed this addiction.Malka has a new release titled THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES. Malka tells EJ and Em about her newest book. It is a holmes-ian inspired novel. It is a fun comfort read for a murder mystery. It has dark academia vibes, and also long train rides, rainy weather outside with cozy indoor spaces. And it is set on Jupiter, after mankind has ruined Earth AND Mars.EJ has gathered from reading Malka’s other books, that one of the signatures of a Malka Older book is how incredibly international they are. How there is always a wide range of cultures present. EJ asks how she implements this feeling to Jupiter.Malka explains her process for creating that same feeling in a book that takes place with Jupiter transplants. Short answer—yes—she pulls it off perfectly! Em speculates that there are a ton of ideas and stories in Malka’s mind and asks how Malka decides which idea to attack and grown into a novel?Malka does have tons of ideas, and when she begins she knows characters and ideas—

Who doesn't love a rotten, stabby, unapologetic female character? Oh, according to publishing it might just be us, but we take a moment to revel in it with thriller author Layne Fargo. And, we also take a moment to enjoy the mini-trend of the moment: female cannibals. No one is sorry about it in the least.

We kick off season two with the author of Seton Girls with a conversation about the difference between young adult and adult literature, how to tackle the tough stuff with teens, and what we love to read during the spooky season of October.

We close out our first season of episodes with USA Today Bestselling romance author Brighton Walsh. Listen for highlights from her year of reading reverse harem stories, why enemies to lovers has become her favorite trope to write, the trope she can't stand, and more.

In this episode, K. A. Doore shares about zombie camels, the underuse of desert environments for fantasy worlds, and the origins of her LGBTQIA+ book recommendation series on Twitter.