The Fresh Fiction Podcast

She Took a Surf Camp at 50-Something to Write This Book — Mary Ellen Taylor on THE SKY BENEATH HER

Samantha Tennant sits down with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary Ellen Taylor to talk about her newest women's fiction novel, The Sky Beneath Her. Set on North Carolina's Outer Banks — nicknamed the Graveyard of the Atlantic — the book weaves between 1942, when a ship full of desperate passengers crosses U-boat-patrolled waters knowing they may not survive, and the present day, where a scuba diver who lost her mother at sea is finally forced to return to the water. Mary Ellen opens up about the history book that sparked the story, why she signed up for surf camp in her 50s, her seven-draft process, and the revelation that arrived mid-cookie-bake. She also teases her next book — a California-set story rooted in the early 1970s — and shares that The Sky Beneath Her is the June Amazon First Reads pick (free for Prime members, $1.99 for everyone else).

Steamy Regency, Morally Gray Men & the Busty Bodice Club — Kathleen Ayers on Writing Romance That Stays With You

Bestselling Regency and Victorian romance author Kathleen Ayers joins Samantha Tennant to talk about leaving a 30-year career in media sales to follow a dare from her best friend — and ending up with a romance career she never saw coming. Kathleen shares how classic gateway novels like SWEET SAVAGE LOVE and THIS LOVING TORMENT shaped her love of historical fiction, why morally gray men are still the most irresistible heroes in any era, and what it was really like to write alongside authors like Cathy Maxwell and Jenna MacGregor for the Busty Bodice Club anthology. She also opens up about her process as a self-described pantser, the one fictional character who refused to stop talking to her, and why she will never apologize for being an unapologetic Ruby Dixon super-fan. Plus: Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets, Nine Inch Nails concert tees, and the mysterious ancestor named Barbara who just disappeared from the family records.

Ivy Cassidy on House of Spells and Secrets, Biddy Early, and Writing Without Rules

Ivy Cassidy — national bestselling author of more than 40 novels — joins Samantha Tennant to talk about her most ambitious book yet: House of Spells and Secrets, a sweeping historical fantasy rooted in the real legend of Biddy Early, the last woman tried for witchcraft in Ireland. Ivy shares how she balanced research with storytelling, why she set the book in 1971, and what it finally felt like to write completely outside genre rules. Plus: Fresh Fiction Facts, pen name Easter eggs, and a tribute to a beloved voice in the book community, Piper J. Drake.

Gregg Hurwitz | Orphan X, Anti-Hero & the Art of Keeping a Killer Human

The line that launched the entire Orphan X series — and Gregg Hurwitz joined us on the Fresh Fiction Video Book Club to talk about what it means, 12 books in. From mind control cult research to his debut novella The Delivery, this is a conversation you don't want to miss. Link in bio.

From Courtroom to Regency Ballrooms: Janna MacGregor on Writing, Mentorship, and Body Confidence

Janna MacGregor joins Samantha Tennant to discuss her story in the Busty Bodice Club anthology, The Curves for the Secret Duke — a Regency romance with fake marriage, friends to lovers, and a secret-duke twist she rewrote from the ground up. They also talk about the anthology's collaborative process, writing full-figured heroines in the Regency era, and how Janna's legal training shaped her approach to craft.