Return of the Mars Attacks! Tingle ft. Special Guest Athena of @bookish.archaeologist
Jan 09, 2024Season 1Episode 24
Caroline Smith and Meredith Walker
Have you ever stumbled upon a book in a genre you swore wasn't for you, only to find yourself devouring page after steamy page? That's exactly what happened with us, and we couldn't wait to share the laughs and gasps on today's episode of Sister Shit. Wrapped in a cozy blanket of humor and nostalgia, Meredith and Caroline, with the delightful addition of Bookstagram star Athena, navigate the spicy waters of smut literature. We're peeling back the covers to reveal what sets it apart from romance, why it's more than just written pornography, and how the pandemic spun our literary tastes into uncharted territories.
This week, grab your favorite cup of tea—or a glass of wine, we don't judge—and join us as we reminisce about how the "Ice Planet Barbarians" provided an unexpected escape during lockdowns. Athena, our own underwater archaeologist and book influencer, shares her insights on the genre's evolution. And we don't skate around the "Fifty Shades of Grey" fervor; instead, we're dishing out candid anecdotes that might just have you blushing or nodding in agreement. It's the chapter where the lines between fantasy and reality blur, and where niche literary interests blossomed into robust online communities.
Ready for a recommendation or two? We've got you covered like a well-loved dust jacket. From the sultry heat scale that measures the spice level of your next read, to contemporary smut that will have you locking the door and turning down the lights, our treasure trove is open for plundering. Whether you're a die-hard fan of enemies-to-lovers or you're hoping for extra sizzle in your non-steamy favorites, we're sharing our top picks and guilty pleasures. So, pop in those earbuds and let's get candid about the books that have our hearts racing and our minds thoroughly entertained.
Have you ever stumbled upon a book in a genre you swore wasn't for you, only to find yourself devouring page after steamy page? That's exactly what happened with us, and we couldn't wait to share the laughs and gasps on today's episode of Sister Shit. Wrapped in a cozy blanket of humor and nostalgia, Meredith and Caroline, with the delightful addition of Bookstagram star Athena, navigate the spicy waters of smut literature. We're peeling back the covers to reveal what sets it apart from romance, why it's more than just written pornography, and how the pandemic spun our literary tastes into uncharted territories.
This week, grab your favorite cup of tea—or a glass of wine, we don't judge—and join us as we reminisce about how the "Ice Planet Barbarians" provided an unexpected escape during lockdowns. Athena, our own underwater archaeologist and book influencer, shares her insights on the genre's evolution. And we don't skate around the "Fifty Shades of Grey" fervor; instead, we're dishing out candid anecdotes that might just have you blushing or nodding in agreement. It's the chapter where the lines between fantasy and reality blur, and where niche literary interests blossomed into robust online communities.
Ready for a recommendation or two? We've got you covered like a well-loved dust jacket. From the sultry heat scale that measures the spice level of your next read, to contemporary smut that will have you locking the door and turning down the lights, our treasure trove is open for plundering. Whether you're a die-hard fan of enemies-to-lovers or you're hoping for extra sizzle in your non-steamy favorites, we're sharing our top picks and guilty pleasures. So, pop in those earbuds and let's get candid about the books that have our hearts racing and our minds thoroughly entertained.
Speaker 1:
Okay, all right, hello.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Sister Shit.
Speaker 3:
Welcome back Second Tuesday of the year.
Speaker 2:
We're going to do that all year. Just keep naming the number of the Tuesdays. All right, let's start over Ready One, two, three, hey, welcome to Sister Shit. I'm Meredith, I'm Caroline and we're super excited you guys are here. I'm sick, so I'm really sorry about my voice.
Speaker 3:
And I we're on Zoom, so my, my quality shit. So we just got have. We have great sound quality tonight.
Speaker 2:
Okay, but we also have a really exciting thing to share with you guys tonight.
Speaker 3:
Yes, we have a Whenever you're listening to this. We have a guest with us who is a dear friend and she's amazing and has so many interesting things about her, but tonight we're talking about smart we sure are.
Speaker 2:
So buckle up, ladies, and maybe turn it off If you're not comfortable talking about romance and not romance. Straight up Second Tuesday Okay.
Speaker 3:
They had to listen to us talk about anal glands, so I'm pretty this is a different kind of anal topic, so one is scientific.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so welcome to the stage, athena.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, athena.
Speaker 2:
Have you.
Speaker 3:
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:
Books to Graham is bookisharchaeologist Do you want to explain that really fast, because she's also a real life archeologist, which I think is like the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yeah. So I do underwater archeology and I'm obsessed with books, so let's do this together and she is deep in the book talk world.
Speaker 2:
So if you follow her. She's a little bit famous?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, she is. She went viral. Viral to the point that, like people recognized her one time.
Speaker 4:
That one time.
Speaker 2:
I mean listen, it's more than anyone, more than I. It's very exciting. Okay, we have a little Q&A. Last week's episode was a little, as our cousins put it, meandering, so we're going to try to be a little more structured. It is 2024. We are grown adults who can do big things.
Speaker 4:
We can do it Sometimes.
Speaker 2:
A Q&A for Athena. The first question is will you please define SMUT for our listeners? For anyone who doesn't know what it is oh, okay.
Speaker 4:
So SMUT is like we all grew up seeing, like the romance covers, and you know the traditional Fabio is with some model on a cover somewhere. So it's like that, but more descriptive typically, and it can be darker leaning, like there can be some taboo topics, but typically it's just more descriptive romance scenes.
Speaker 2:
So what'd you say? So like romance cannot be SMUT, but SMUT can be romance. Like romance, couples fall outside of the umbrella.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, there's like romance, that's like we call it fade to black or closed door romance, where the couple or typically it's a couple in a traditional romance just two people. That changes once you get to SMUT, but they kiss, they have you know kind of a romantic moment and then they go behind closed doors and you don't get the details.
Speaker 2:
Interest.
Speaker 4:
For SMUT. It's more like open door romance, like you get first row. Very descriptive terminology of everything that's happening. Okay.
Speaker 2:
Would you just would you say that SMUT is porn. Yes, yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4:
It's like a reading porn book and there's definitely like levels to that For sure. But yeah, I would say it's definitely more porn leaning.
Speaker 2:
Okay, I know, like if that's something that's like offensive or like the SMUT world, if they're like no, no, no, it's not visual, so it's not porn, or porn can.
Speaker 4:
No, I think a lot of people that in the SMUT reading community would agree that it's women specifically, but a lot of people can enjoy, you know, that sort of thing where it's, you get to picture it yourself. You don't have to see it necessarily, you can picture it.
Speaker 3:
And do you like know that people are like safe because they're not real? Yeah, because they're not real, I know.
Speaker 2:
Exactly, I yes, 100%, yeah, I think.
Speaker 4:
I think them not being real kind of gives you more of a range to create these scenarios that you might not be comfortable in in real life or comfortable watching or any of those.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, well, and like, more interesting in that, like one book you recommended to Caroline, who then recommended to me, was like based in Greek mythology. So it's like on a set. On a movie set, it would be really poorly done, whereas like when it's in writing, you're like creating. It's like with any writing, you're like creating a world.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, you can have more fantasy and it doesn't air towards cheesy as much as it was. If you know you could see the things happening. Right, I don't really want to see two elves, you know, like that kind of ruins the whole vibe that's going on there.
Speaker 2:
The glue on their like pointy ears is like coming off. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:
It's not quite the same feeling.
Speaker 2:
Okay, Caroline, do you have? I think we're going to alternate questions. What's your next question?
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So next question which I am so excited to talk about is kind of the like evolution of a smart and you already mentioned it, which I'm really glad about like the Fabio days and how it's like changed so much and I was talking about it with Meredith earlier of like it used to be like housewives just like, or at least that's what the like.
Speaker 3:
The stigma was was like oh, it's just lonely housewives like reading it in secret. And now it's like we are straight up listening to this in our office at work in our headphones and like with no shame.
Speaker 1:
And so.
Speaker 3:
I think, just like talking through that evolution and what that's looked like since you've become a part of the summit slash book talk community.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, I think obviously, like we've talked about is. You know, when we were growing up in the 80s, the 90s, it's the Fabio covers that we always saw, whether it was their mom or aunts or whoever it was reading those books, and you're kind of like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that person is reading that. Like how scandalous. And then you get older, especially, I think, as you know, times change and things have just become more acceptable to talk about, like sex. Sex is definitely more just generally talked about in in society than it was when we were kids.
Speaker 4:
I would think and I'm not going to lie, covid had a really big impact on this. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, like a lot of people stuck in their houses, they can't meet other people, they started turning to other forms of getting excitement and entertainment. And during COVID is when ice planet barbarians became like really, really big. So for those that don't know what it is, it's aliens. These human women crash land on an alien planet. There's massive, eight foot tall, blue aliens and they're all super hot, which is what I think there's a Mars attack tangle here.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, I think this is my book.
Speaker 4:
Exactly that's all I thought about when you guys were talking about this, like so that that freeze blew up during COVID, and so I think COVID really brought out at least in the book talk community and the bookstore Graham community like how let's be honest with what we're reading and kind of just everyone got super stoked about it and more accepting of the fact that we could be sexual and we can have these ridiculous urges and like we want to read these books. We know they're not real.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, but isn't it women. I remember like and I guess I was I just graduated high school and I bought on a church trip because I didn't know what it was about. I mean I like vaguely did, but I had no idea that it was scandalous.
Speaker 2:
I bought the first 50 shades but it was like we went on like a Walmart run at church camp to get like candy and Caroline bought, I walked past it and I was like, oh my gosh, people have been talking about this book, so I bought it and everyone like totally shit on me.
Speaker 3:
And I think I read the first chapter and then was like I guess I'm not going to read this, did you?
Speaker 2:
not read? Did you not finish it?
Speaker 3:
I didn't, but it wasn't just because of that. It's the writing is so bad yeah. I have to use like the word areola and I just couldn't get on board with that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yeah, there's. There's a lot of issues with that series, but that's also jumping into the deep end of romance books. That's definitely airing more towards the darker romance, definitely more descriptive romance. So like for a first time, yeah, I don't know if I recommend it for someone who wants to dip their toe into. Yeah, I don't think that's much, yeah For sure.
Speaker 2:
My one of my favorite memories from college is my friend drunkenly reading an excerpt from that and like a thick Irish accent to like the whole room. That sounds amazing. And that's the only time I like I'd never read the book, but I was like man, this is the only way I want to listen to this. And then years later we watched the movie together because neither of us had read the book. And at the end we turned to each other and she was like Meredith, I think we just watched porn together. I was like I know, I think it too.
Speaker 4:
Anyway, one of my favorite I swear this is related Christmas ornaments is my grandmother got me an ornament of Santa in his sleigh reading a book and it's called 50 Shades of Red. Don't think she got the joke, but I did and I thought it was hilarious and I always put it front and center on my Christmas. That's amazing.
Speaker 3:
That was.
Speaker 4:
Nana.
Speaker 2:
Sweet Nana.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, so I was like I'm not gonna say anything about it, but I love it, thank you.
Speaker 3:
I love that. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:
Oh man, Okay, my so is. When did you get into SMUT during COVID with everyone else, where you were already kind of reading it and you were like, oh my gosh, this is my time to shine?
Speaker 4:
I think, yeah, I definitely started reading more darker romance, probably in high school, but it wasn't. It wasn't anything like what it eventually grew into, like I think writing styles and descriptions and like what's acceptable has definitely changed since I was in high school. Obviously so, but I definitely started leaning more towards the the SMUT-I books in high school, for sure, Okay, but I just didn't know that. You know what to call it, or I was really ashamed of trying to. I couldn't really. I guess I could Google it in high school. There, google was around, but you know, like it wasn't really something that you know people talked about and there wasn't really an online community that I knew about, so I didn't know how to. I didn't go to my local library and go excuse me, ma'am, what kind of SMUT-I vampire books do you have?
Speaker 2:
Exactly, yeah, I know I do feel like so many niche interests like really blossom during COVID, like so many. Everyone found their people yes.
Speaker 3:
Better or worse Is that when you started like your Instagram was during COVID, or was that later?
Speaker 4:
No, I actually started my Instagram the two months after we moved here, so the after we my, my fiance and I moved to South Carolina. So I just started falling in love with books again. Just in general. The Accord of Thorns and Roses series kind of jumped, started me back into reading and realizing how much I loved reading and then, yeah, just kind of spiraled from wildly out the control.
Speaker 2:
So fun. I love it.
Speaker 3:
Okay, so I was going to ask like and this goes sort of with that question about the Instagram of like what the different categories are within contemporary SMUT, and like also I feel like you were talking about earlier the like fade to black. I don't know, and maybe you can walk us through some of those like different, like the verbiage that's used in the community, and then I, we also want to know like the Like have your interest, like is it typical that as you're reading at your interest, just like get weirder and more niche as you're Reading that all the different books.
Speaker 4:
Yeah. So all the second question yes, for sure, because when you first start reading you know sort of dark romance. It can be something that is like 50 shades of gray, which now I would consider An inaccurate portrayal of a true BDSM relationship, which I learned as I continued to read BDSM leaning series. So it definitely changes and adapts as you realize, kind of what you're interested in. And are you into aliens, are you into elves? There's there's like a weird range of things and there are books literally for all of it.
Speaker 4:
So the basic there's closed-door romance, which is there's kissing in in the script in the book and then there's that really hobby lobby checkout with like yeah, yeah exactly, there's probably at least, and they have to get married first if it's a hobby, yeah exactly so.
Speaker 4:
There's like that sort of series and then I have a Specific spicy range, so like if they only kiss, that's like one chili pepper rating. And then if they kiss but there's a little bit more action, that's maybe a two. If they have sex on the page at least one to three times, that's a three chili pepper. But if it starts getting like there's a he's wearing a mask, there's really dirty talking, there's, you know, kind of a taboo relationship. There's everything from stepbrother to my brother. Mafia, exactly. Not that I ever read any mafia romance.
Speaker 2:
I have a whole list, if anyone's interested, it's her. Oh, I didn't know that that's so neat. Yes, yeah, I love mafia romance. That's funny, I've read interesting 100.
Speaker 3:
How many books did you read?
Speaker 4:
specifically mafia romance yeah there's a lot of mafia romance this year because I stopped reading the last three months, I probably got to about 90 to 100.
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, are they all Smut.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, typically like especially this, the last couple years, last three years, if there's not some sort of romance I have a really hard time connecting with the characters. Yeah, I was just in. I call it, you know, like just smut mode or like really deep in the smut hole, like I'm just so far down there. Just leave me down there, I will crawl out eventually. Maybe I.
Speaker 3:
I recommended a book to her recently and she was like, yeah, I'll add it like to the list, but I don't know if I'm gonna read it.
Speaker 4:
Which is funny because I mean obviously I have to read a lot of nonfiction books just for my job in general Swing wildly to the other side.
Speaker 2:
It makes sense, yeah, okay, so what do you Recommend like? What's the book you recommend for a listener who, like, wants to dip the tip into the genre?
Speaker 4:
Just the tip I would say Sorry, I'm looking at my books behind me really quickly. If you enjoy sort of the mafia romance, each book there's it's only a couple like a man and a woman, so there's no extra people involved. Just get overly complicated it that way. Runix RUNYX she has a series called the dark verse and their mafia romance. So they do get darker as they go, but I think she does a really wonderful job of writing Flawed characters that you fall in love with and complex storylines and also really great smut that is not so crazy and like really uncomfortable. Yeah, so I think that's a really good place to start. Or Janna Darling she writes motorcycle club romances. So what you who like sons of anarchy or something like that?
Speaker 3:
There's a book for everything. Yeah, literally have one called what's the coronavirus one.
Speaker 4:
Romancing the coronavirus. I think I haven't read that one.
Speaker 1:
No but, homegirl is in love with the virus?
Speaker 3:
Oh no.
Speaker 2:
Okay, remember one with the actual Virus someone wrote back to Gen Z being obsessed with Shrek. Someone wrote a romance novel where Shrek is the Daddy.
Speaker 3:
It's called get in my swamp.
Speaker 2:
No, it's not, I'm pretty sure it is. It's called get in my swamp.
Speaker 4:
I think it is stop it like if there is a, if there is something that you like, whether it's movies or genre or something super weird, no judgment, I can guarantee you. There is a book on Amazon Prime. Amazing, you can get on your Kindle or on your phone.
Speaker 2:
Amazing so I just finished sorry or no, no, go ahead.
Speaker 3:
I was gonna say I just finished the First of the twisted series by Anna. What's her last, anna? Yes, yes, I just finished it today actually, and I would say that those I don't know, maybe they're too much for some people, but I would say they're like a good little dip your toes in.
Speaker 4:
I totally agree, and those are more like brother's best friend, sort of more contemporary, something that you could actually see yourself living through, instead of a mafia romance.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah, and this one had like a little crime.
Speaker 2:
It wasn't like the one I tried to read Caroline, that was like no really based in 2011.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, wait, please tell us about it what were why did you know that it was based in 2011?
Speaker 2:
I randomly picked this book. I just like Google, I like looked for like a magazine website, like best steamy novels for the summer and I just picked this one. I cannot remember the name of it, I do know, or the author, but the girls whole Character was like she just like loved to bake and she was blonde and curvy and she didn't even care about her curves Because she just like loved cupcakes so much which like cupcakes are.
Speaker 3:
So why are cupcakes? So 2011? I were just what was happening and I still love cupcakes, but like I, that's what everyone was, like he was so fit and like she just he didn't like.
Speaker 2:
She just like didn't even care about working out. Like he was just so fit and it annoyed her that he was just like so hot. It was so annoying, I hated it. I couldn't read it.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, there are. There are definitely a lot of books like that and that leads me to my next question.
Speaker 2:
actually, kind of can her up to ask it? Yeah, okay, what are some? You know how everyone on Instagram are doing like Two thousand and twenty four ends and outs like this is in and these are out, like what are things like cliches in, like, like plot cliches, character qualities, that like are out for 2024.
Speaker 4:
That is a really good question. The thing is and one thing that I love about the reading community is that everyone's tastes are so widely varied. For you. Yeah, for me, the things that I think are on the way out are things that I've just never really been interested in. Yes, Like when I read a mafia romance. I don't read it for any dose of reality. I don't like it when there's a surprise pregnancy.
Speaker 3:
Isn't that like your least favorite trope You're?
Speaker 4:
like oh done, yeah, that is typically if that happens, especially early on in the book, and I haven't connected the characters yet. I will just I won't finish that book because I'm reading a mafia romance.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I'm not trying to take care of a baby?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, exactly who is like? Oh, a baby, this is so steamy. Yeah, that's weird.
Speaker 4:
I know a lot of people really love the idea of you know, a hardened man turning all gooey at the end.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I thought you were not different kind of hardened.
Speaker 4:
Like. I think that's definitely where a lot of it comes from, but for me that's not really something that I can connect with and it's no, it's just me out my parent all day long.
Speaker 3:
I don't want a surprise pregnancy interrupting my smut.
Speaker 4:
Exactly so. There's stuff like that. I never used to like the friends to lovers, I always like the enemies to lovers. But sometimes friends to enemies to lovers is really good, like best friends growing up, and then there's a misunderstanding and they become enemies for a little bit Like 13 going on 30. Yeah, you know something like that, but with a lot more smud in it.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so, okay, I have a fun question. Sorry, I cut you off. No, no, go for it, but I just saw this thing where I don't remember where I saw it, but it was like if there was a book I mean a movie or a book I guess that doesn't have any steamy scenes, but you wish it did.
Speaker 1:
What would it be?
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, we have 10 minutes yeah someone give us money so we could pay for Zoom yeah.
Speaker 4:
Okay, well, lord of the Rings would be oh, okay, no, there's not, like, any women in the fellowship apart from you know. Like not in the fellowship there are women, obviously.
Speaker 2:
But there are very hot fairy people. Yeah, whatever they are.
Speaker 4:
I would be super down for some of that, although I guarantee you there are fan written fan fiction out there. This is purely coming from middle school Athena Pirates of the Caribbean as well.
Speaker 3:
Oh my gosh, yes, we're here in.
Speaker 2:
Nightly.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yes, yeah, I was deeply obsessed with both of those series.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, those are good.
Speaker 3:
That's a good one, that's yours, Caroline. I'm thinking. I'm thinking Do you have one?
Speaker 2:
I can't think of it. I wish I was prepared.
Speaker 3:
I know I should have thought about that before I asked the question. Maybe, mr.
Speaker 2:
Napkinhead and, oh yes, the holiday.
Speaker 3:
Wait, yeah, that would be pretty good, I would not have thought about that.
Speaker 4:
I watch that every year.
Speaker 2:
I know I watch this year. Actually I'm giving myself a little break.
Speaker 3:
I didn't watch it this year either, because I also needed a break.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, oh my gosh, no, I watch it at least twice a year.
Speaker 3:
It's very good. I think of someone I love seeing on screen that I mean lately it's been Daddy Jeremy Allen White.
Speaker 2:
Oh, the bear, I was gonna say I'm specifically watching Shameless for that reason so I'm getting my dose.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, I mean the bear. I wouldn't be mad about. You know a little bit of.
Speaker 2:
I wouldn't either Bear.
Speaker 3:
I wouldn't be mad about more action with Roy and Keely.
Speaker 4:
I also wouldn't mind that.
Speaker 3:
I mean I don't want it in the show because the show's good enough without it, but if there was like a fan fiction, I wouldn't be mad if there was some fan fiction about it.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, I can guarantee there is somewhere, we just have to find it.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's true. I think I that's your next mission.
Speaker 4:
Yep, I got to. I'll get back to you in 30 minutes.
Speaker 2:
After reading so many of these books would you ever write? Try to write one.
Speaker 4:
Bring a writer. Have I tried to write 10 different books over the last couple of years?
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, I have.
Speaker 4:
Do I ever get past the beginning phase, where my favorite part is always like creating the characters and their stories, and then, once I have to actually put their scenes down on the page?
Speaker 3:
It's like Sims. Yeah, I wanna make the characters I was just gonna say that Build the house.
Speaker 2:
I don't wanna play Bad Rose, bad Rose, bad Mother low.
Speaker 4:
Yes, exactly, mother. Low the whole thing. And then, yeah, that's I have. When I used to work at my previous job, we would be on the boat, you know, for eight hours a day, and I would have probably two hours at least where I wasn't doing anything. And so I have notebooks of oh book ideas notebooks Like three notebooks full of ideas, Will they?
Speaker 3:
ever turn into anything. I think you.
Speaker 2:
I could totally see you one day writing a book, me too.
Speaker 4:
I would really, really love to. And actually when I was between jobs, I was like that's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna take this time, I'm gonna write a book. I didn't do any of that. So you did sew a dress, so I sewed multiple dresses and then I also gave up on that.
Speaker 2:
So the beginning is the best part. It is. It really is. Unless you read a book, I can't tell you how many?
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yeah, that's. You know. The middle, middle, late Middle, is the best part.
Speaker 3:
I have so many like open hobbies that have never been finished in my cabinet right now, so yeah, yeah, I hyper fixate and then you know, a month later I get onto something else.
Speaker 4:
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
One last question to finish us out, because I am genuinely curious about this Is saying a smut book just as bad as saying like? What's the Spanish word for house, casa, casa, house, like, is it like, is, can you like? Do you just say?
Speaker 3:
Like the mojo-dojo-casa house. Yes, are you?
Speaker 2:
just reading, like I'm reading smut, or is smut book acceptable?
Speaker 4:
I would say smut book is acceptable, purely because someone saying I'm reading a book doesn't mean that they're reading smut. But if someone's like, I guess if someone was like eating queso and they said I'm eating queso cheese.
Speaker 2:
I know that's what I'm saying is like oh, no, okay, I'm not saying.
Speaker 4:
I guess, I'm sitting, try tea, like obviously try and teach, Because it's a type of book. Yeah, it's like a genre, like if someone said I'm having I was trying to make like a queso, like a meat queso, instead of like I don't know. I don't know where I'm going at this.
Speaker 2:
Okay, that was a really plain question to end with, but Every time. I say smut book, I'm like I wonder if I'm annoying people that are like tried and true in this community.
Speaker 4:
No, I think it's good to add that qualifier. Like it is, it's a smut book. It's because it could be fan fiction, it could be a book, it could be a comic book. There's comic books, you know. There's like a wide range of things that I would consider smutty material. Okay. So, I would never get annoyed or think that that was a made a phrase thing.
Speaker 2:
Noob.
Speaker 4:
I would never think that that was weird. So Okay, great.
Speaker 3:
Caroline, do you have any?
Speaker 2:
final questions.
Speaker 3:
I don't think so. I'm just thank you so much. We've been talking about doing this for so long.
Speaker 2:
I know.
Speaker 3:
I'm glad we finally got to do it it was so fun Me too. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2:
You're welcome Everyone follow Athena. The bookish, the bookish archeologist, or just bookish.
Speaker 4:
Just bookisharcheologist, archeologist with the A.
Speaker 2:
Okay, the archeologist, yeah. On Instagram and TikTok.