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We’re back from our hiatus! We spent the off-season training hard so we’d be better at *checks notes* Exy, the cool co-ed sport favored by characters in The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic. We were joined by Rachel and Adrienne of the podcast After Adult to read the first novel by this self-published superstar. Listen to this episode while doing your fake sports warmups. Good hustle!
Content warnings: This book contains child abuse, sexual assault, stigmatization of mental health care, and violence. Our discussion of it touches on these topics though not in graphic detail.
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: After Adult: Talking Fanfic with Worst Bestsellers
sports-themed-queer-ya-series-an-indie-hit.html">“Sports-Themed Queer YA Series an Indie Hit” by Jennifer McCartney
Boys In Our Books Q&A With Nora Sakavic
The Foxhole Court on Smashwords
Candy pairing: Adrienne says Japanese rice cracker candy, Kait says Raven’s Revenge, Rachel says candy cigarettes, Renata says a candy prepared by Bitterblue’s Graced chef for her nemesis.
Coming up next: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
In more precedented years, we’ve picked our favorite and least favorite books that we read each year outside of the podcast. But in 2020, we were too busy just trying to get through the year to do much recreational reading. Instead, Kait and Renata convened to discuss the top ten things that helped each of them make it through this year. Tune in to hear us discuss all of these things, and keep reading to see links and pictures!
Note: after this episode, we’re taking a short hiatus to attempt to recover from 2020. We’ll be back in February 2021!
Kait’s Top Ten 2020 All-Stars
10) Gem painting
9) Blackbird Doughnuts
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8) Stardew Valley
7) Jackbox Games
6) Murder shows
- My Favorite Murder
- Unsolved Mysteries
- Vanity Fair Confidential
- People Magazine Investigates
- Law and Order: Criminal Intent
- Criminal Minds
5) The Magnus Archives
4) crossing.com/new-horizons/">Animal Crossing
- ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Is the Game We All Need Right Now
- crossing-covid-coronavirus-popularity-millennials.html">Why Animal Crossing Is the Game for the Coronavirus Moment
3) Barclay/Indrid
- AO3 works in Barclay/Indrid Cold (The Adventure Zone)
- grace coming out of the void
- The Adventure Zone: Amnesty
- Why My TAZ Amnesty Ship is Superior to Griffin’s
2) The McElroys
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1) My nephew
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Renata’s Top Ten 2020 All-Stars
10) Old Wii Fitness games
9) Baby Yoda
8) Lady pop stars
- Taylor Swift – Folklore (and Evermore!)
- Kesha – High Road
- Lady Gaga – Chromatica
- Ariana Grande – Positions
7) Snail mail
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6) Who Weekly
5) The Golden Girls
4) Greb Comics
3) DC Comics shows
- Legends of Tomorrow
- CW Hire Me To Promote Your Shows Please
- Chosen One Of The Day: Beebo, Your Lord And Master
- How Legends of Tomorrow Is Subverting Toxic Masculinity At Every Turn
- Harley Quinn
- Harley Quinn EPs Talk The Evolution of HarlIvy and Plans For Season 3
- Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are Finally Getting the On-Screen Romance They Deserve in DC Universe’s Animated Series
- Gotham
https://twitter.com/renatasnacks/status/1296581572494336000
The Harley Quinn show reading its target comic book bro fandom for absolute filth. pic.twitter.com/OQrwEyA0T7
— Huck! The Herald Angels Sing! (@TylerHuckabee) February 22, 2020
2) crossing.com/new-horizons/">Animal Crossing
1) Animals generally, Duarte specifically
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- Bodega Cats of Instagram
- RuPaw’s Drag Race
- Gary the Cat
- Kitten Academy
- Manggo the Cat
- Cincinnati Zoo (feat Fiona the Hippo)
- Baby Chip and Mama Latke
- Possum Every Hour
- And every Best Listener who’s shared pictures of their pets listening to Duarte’s Corner 😻
PS: my Top Ten Best Books of 2020 are on the blog! And the Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2020, including my picks for MG and YA books, are here!
Per the request of our wonderful Patreon patrons, our editor Becca joined us to discuss the anti-drug cautionary tale Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (aka Beatrice Sparks). Reading it in 2020, we’re not sure what’s harder to believe: that this ever deterred anyone from using drugs, or that anyone ever believed it was actually the diary of a human teenager. We’re grateful to our patrons for supporting us, and just as grateful that we’ve never been invited to any parties where someone slipped LSD into our soda.
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: Paul F. Tompkins – “Go Ask Alice”
toast.net/2014/04/25/fake-lines-from-go-ask-alice/">“Lines From Go Ask Alice That, In Hindsight, Should Have Tipped Me Off That This Was Not A True Story” by Daniel Lavery
“The Book That Defined My Teen Anxiety Turned Out to Be a Lie” by Sloane Tanen
“A Queer Reading of Go Ask Alice” by Frankie Thomas
Amazon review of Go Ask Alice by the author of Drugs Make You Un-Smarter
Candy pairing: Becca says any candy that isn’t secretly acid, Kait says pot gummies, Renata says orange yeast rolls.
Coming up next: Bests of 2020.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
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Like a newborn vampire, we’re always thirsty for more supernatural teen drama around here. We turned to a finely-aged vintage, The Awakening (Vampire Diaries #1) by L. J. Smith, and we were thrilled to be joined by Lily Sparks (@lilyroro), author of non-vampire, but still high stakes, YA novel Teen Killers Club. Join us as we extoll all the ways L. J. Smith’s teen vampires are cooler than Stephenie Meyer’s teen vampires, including the best take on a love triangle we’ve ever seen in our storied history.
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: Carmilla (YouTube series)
Candy pairing: Kait says Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, Lily says a vanished spicy-sour candy of her youth, Renata says mini Milky Way Midnights.
Coming up next: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
We read a semi-fictional, semi-self-published, completely bonkers book about the inner workings of the reality show Model Muse which is, of course, legally distinct from the long-running reality show America’s Next Top Model. Bestselling author and ANTM superfan Mackenzi Lee joined us to discuss The Wig, The Bitch, And The Meltdown by Jay Manuel.
Readers advisory: Here.
“The real reason Jay Manuel from ‘ANTM’ made his debut novel fiction, not a memoir” by KC Ifeanyi
“Jay Manuel’s Truth is Out There” by Rich Juzwiak
“Jay Manuel’s satirical ‘America’s Next Top Model’ novel angers Tyra Banks’ by Carlos Greer
banks-crazy-moments-on-americas-next-top-model.html">“The 15 Craziest Tyra Banks Moments on America’s Next Top Model” by Kelsea Stahler
“The real reason why Jay Manuel left America’s Next Top Model” by Brent Furdyk
Coming up next: The Awakening (Vampire Diaries #1) by L.J. Smith.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
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It’s spooky season, so we revisited a classic of our childhoods: Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. It was a nice change of pace to read a competently-written book, so we had to spend most of our time raging against the poor parenting on display in this book. Our guest Rebecca Mahoney (@cafecliche)’s debut novel, The Valley and the Flood, comes out in February 2021, so listen to this episode while pre-ordering your copy! PS: Sorry for some extra sound issues on this episode. It was a ghost probably?
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: Wait Till Helen Comes movie trailer
Candy Pairing: Kait says a candy apple, Rebecca says Tootsie Roll pops, Renata says sour apple Jolly Ranchers.
Coming up next: The Wig, The Bitch, and The Meltdown by Jay Manuel.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
We read The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking For Love on Reality TV by Colton Underwood with our special guest Rebecca Kim Wells (@RebeccaWriting), Bachelor fan and the author of Shatter The Sky and Storm The Earth. If you didn’t already know (or guess from the title), Colton was a contestant on The Bachelorette and later a Bachelor who famously told the world via reality television that he was a 26-year-old virgin. Colton brought a lot of baggage to the Bachelor mansion so we have much to unpack!
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: Episode 04 – I Didn’t Come Here To Make Friends
Episode 04.5 – I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends, Part 2
“Cassie Randolph Says COVID-19 Had ‘Nothing to Do with’ Colton Underwood Split” by Robyn Merrett
“Meet Alex Dillon, the Boston woman who dressed as a sloth on ‘The Bachelor’” by Kevin Slane
“The 15 Best Looks From Colton’s ‘The Bachelor’ Season Premiere Are So Damn Cute” by Theresa Massony
Candy Pairing: Kait says fundraiser candy for a football team, Rebecca says Three Musketeers, Renata says the cherry on top of a Steak N Shake milkshake.
Coming up next: Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
There’s a lot that’s bad about 2020, but hey, we’ve made it to our 6th anniversary! We are feeling extremely #blessed that Stephenie Meyer saw fit to release Midnight Sun just in time for this momentous occasion. Even so, we indulged in some day drinking with our very first guest Carrie to get through this book. We’re planning to record a sober Q&A follow-up episode, so if you have questions about the book that were left unanswered by our tangent-filled episode, please email them to us at worstbestsellers at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening to us for six years (?!)
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes:
In a small effort to give back to the real people whose culture Stephenie Meyer appropriated as part of her saga, we donated $76.98 out of our @Patreon funds, the amount we spent on 3 copies of MIDNIGHT SUN, to the Quileute Tribal Council’s fund. https://t.co/ktT2ylkhkJ pic.twitter.com/jyBpvdYNmn
— Worst Bestsellers (@worstbestseller) August 14, 2020
Quileute Move to Higher Ground
Worst Bestsellers Drinking Game
Episode 107 – 4th Anniversary Twilight Spectacular
Episode 40 – Twilight Life and Death
Griffin and David Present The Phantom Podcast
Candy Pairing: Carrie says candy corn pumpkins, Kait says Twilight-branded Sweethearts, Renata says green apple Skittles.
Coming up next: The First Time by Colton Underwood.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
Think of the saddest thing you can imagine. No, sadder. Make it fifty times sadder. Okay, you are in the vicinity of comprehending the levels of tragedy porn Wally Lamb has packed into his novel I Know This Much Is True. Because life in 2020 wasn’t already sad enough, and because some of us love Mark Ruffalo, we brought Arielle back to discuss this peak 90s Oprah’s Book Club pick. Content warnings for just about every imaginable potential trigger. We are serious!
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: “‘This will happen’: Mark Ruffalo moved mountains to make HBO’s new Emmy hopeful” by Meredith Blake
“Why I Almost Stopped Watching ‘I Know This Much Is True’ After the First Episode” by Rebecca Chamaa
obc-complete-list-01a.pdf">Oprah’s Book Club: The Complete List
Candy Pairing: Arielle says Torrone, Kait says your favorite candy that’s been stomped into the dirt, Renata says generic fundraiser candy.
Coming up next: Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
Did you ever wonder what Special Agent Dana Scully was like as a teenager? Did you assume she was probably really into taking classes at her small town’s extremely popular New Age shop? No? Well, she was, and meanwhile also the government was doing some kind of shadowy experiments with unknown goals. That’s according to The X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, an X-Files YA prequel novel by Jonathan Maberry. We’re confused as to why this book was published in 2017, but since it was, we read it with Kait’s True Believer cousin, writer Nicole DeGennaro.
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: “X-Files Origins: Inside The Mind of Young Fox Mulder With Author Kami Garcia” by Chris Longo
“X-Files Origins: Author Jonathan Maberry on Young Dana Scully’s Path To Belief” by Chris Longo
The Montauk Project on Wikipedia
This chocolate-covered Brussels sprouts prank is pure evil genius
Candy Pairing: Kait says some dirt, Nicole says Mit-Mats (knock off Kit-Kats), Renata says carob chip cookies.
Coming up next: I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
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