The Side Quest Book Club Podcast

One of us read all eight books. The other read one and isn't on the hype train yeWe break down what to know before you read DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL by Matt Dinniman — spoiler-free, with a marked spoiler gate for books two through eight.Slava gives book one an honest first-timer's grade, and Jonathan makes the case for the full series. We explain LitRPG for beginners, how the series started as a free web serial on Royal Road, and the cat-show job that inspired Princess Donut. We trace the death game genre from Stephen King's The Running Man and The Long Walk through The Hunger Games and Squid Game, and get into how Dinniman uses Patreon reader feedback to keep eight books moving.Stopped after book one? Tell us why in the comments. Kept going? Drop a line Slava won't understand yet.(00:00) - Intro: Is Dungeon Crawler Carl Worth It? (00:31) - Book One Review: A First-Timer's Take (03:56) - The Cat That Inspired Princess Donut (05:35) - What Is LitRPG? Explained for Beginners (06:54) - Royal Road Roots and the Game Show Layer (08:42) - Death Game Books: King to Hunger Games (13:22) - Spoilers: Why It Picks Up at Book Three (15:02) - Comedy With Real Darkness Underneath (16:15) - Why a Silly Premise Pulls You In (18:52) - How Dinniman Kept It Fresh for 8 Books (21:11) - Should You Keep Reading After Book One? —📺 SUBSCRIBEEpisodes Every Week🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: Wellerson Clemer — https://www.behance.net/wellersonclemer123Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #DungeonCrawlerCarl #LitRPG

72 agent queries, 64 rejections, and a Christian horror writer who isn't slowing down.Indie horror author Audra Kate joins us to talk Tomato Juice, her querying manuscript Festering Shadows, and writing horror as a person of faith.Audra Kate has 10 books out across self-publishing and indie presses, and she's querying her first adult novel, a zombie horror romance. She walks us through the query package, Query Tracker, comp titles, manuscript wish lists, and why agents now ask for your Instagram numbers. Then we get to the hard question: how a Christian writes possession horror, and why she sees horror as the genre best built to show light beating darkness. She also covers writing Tomato Juice through her family's grief, bridging the gap between R.L. Stine and Stephen King, and how to review a book you didn't like without gutting its author.Audra KateInstagram: @lets.get.lit.literatureTikTok: @lets.get.lit.literature(00:00) - Intro: A Christian Who Writes Horror (03:28) - From Poli-Sci Major to 10 Books (09:44) - Festering Shadows, a Zombie Romance (12:26) - 72 Queries, 64 Rejections (16:00) - Indie vs. Trad: Who Gets Respect? (17:47) - Build Your Platform Before You Query (21:19) - Publishing Is a Business (24:19) - Manuscript Wish Lists and Comp Titles (26:55) - Why Duologies Took Off (28:52) - Seven Years, No Finished Draft (32:04) - What Goes in a Query Package (34:07) - Query Tracker and Indie Press Calls (37:17) - How to Get an Agent's Attention (40:27) - The One-Star "Elder Abuse" Review (45:41) - How a Christian Writes Possession Horror (52:40) - Why Christian Fiction Feels Preachy (57:55) - Tomato Juice: Writing Through Grief (01:05:54) - When Her Grandpa Read Tomato Juice (01:07:55) - Folklore and Mythology in Her Horror (01:10:49) - Side Quest: Slava's Space Horror Pick (01:14:11) - Working-Class Monsters (01:16:43) - Side Quest: Struggle Meals (01:21:08) - Building a Bookstagram Without Burnout (01:24:53) - How to Write a Kind Book Review (01:28:25) - Bookstagram Needs to Touch Grass (01:34:11) - Where to Find Audra Kate —📺 SUBSCRIBENew episodes every week. 🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: Wellerson Clemer — https://www.behance.net/wellersonclemer123Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #AudraKate #HorrorBooks

Our guest had to put this book down for two weeks. Chapter 35 named the date.We close out PET SEMATARY by Stephen King with John, the listener who talked us into reading it — full spoiler discussion, final episode of four.John is the reason this book was on our list, and he's read it twice: once at 20, once as a father. We start with why it's the rare book you have to walk away from, then get into what actually makes horror work — the slow boil, and whether a story lands when it stops being about a burial ground and starts being about a man with no framework for death. Then forbidden knowledge and control, Judd as the Mephistopheles of Ludlow, whether the ground was discovered or built, who the real hero is, and what happens after the last page.Tell us the book someone talked you into reading in the comments.(00:00) - Intro: The Guest Who Picked This Book (03:11) - The Date That Stopped Him Cold (05:26) - Reading This With a Toddler Nearby (07:03) - Books That Actually Break You (12:29) - King Almost Didn't Publish It (13:36) - Side Quest: Movies That Made Us Cry (20:34) - Why This Became John's Favorite (21:55) - The POV Switch Nobody Notices (24:54) - What Makes a Good Horror Story? (27:24) - Horror and the Human Condition (31:39) - It's Not About the Burial Ground (33:25) - The First Crack in His Worldview (34:30) - The King Multiverse Connections (36:20) - Why Forbidden Knowledge Pulls Us In (38:33) - Knowledge Without the Suffering (42:46) - Made for Another World (45:24) - The Quick Fix That Ruined Everything (47:03) - All He Had to Give Up Was the Cat (48:21) - Judd as Mephistopheles (50:25) - Advice That Quietly Ruins You (53:06) - COVID and the Illusion of Control (54:55) - Three Lies We Live By (58:07) - What Is the Burial Ground, Really? (59:36) - Discovered, Not Created (01:03:06) - Steve Is the Real Hero (01:04:46) - What Happens After the Last Page (01:05:57) - Books King Planned vs Winged (01:07:57) - The Best Sentence in the Book (01:10:07) - King Got Hit by a Van (01:11:27) - Side Quest: Do You Smell Your Books? (01:13:46) - Final Thoughts The Side Quest Book Club Podcast is a weekly deep-dive book review for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans who love getting lost in worlds. Hosts Jonathan and Slava break down Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (including the Stormlight Archive), the works of Stephen King, and the best and most overlooked fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction.🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday: full spoiler discussions, world-building, character analysis, and book club arguments that make you want to re-read the book to prove Jonathan wrong. We take a break during summer but have a full catalog for you to listen to.What we cover:📚 Brandon Sanderson — Cosmere deep dives, Stormlight Archive chapter-by-chapter👑 Stephen King podcast — from IT  to The Mist, and everything in between🐉 Fantasy literature analysis — hidden gems, classics, and what makes great world-building🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.(00:00) - Intro: The Guest Who Picked This Book (03:11) - The Date That Stopped Him Cold (05:26) - Reading This With a Toddler Nearby (07:03) - Books That Actually Break You (12:29) - King Almost Didn't Publish It (13:36) - Side Quest: Movies That Made Us Cry (20:34) - Why This Became John's Favorite (21:55) - The POV Switch Nobody Notices (24:54) - What Makes a Good Horror Story? (27:24) - Horror and the Human Condition (31:39) - It's Not About the Burial Ground (33:25) - The First Crack in His Worldview (34:30) - The King Multiverse Connections (36:20) - Why Forbidden Knowledge Pulls Us In (38:33) - Knowledge Without the Suffering (42:46) - Made for Another World (45:24) - The Quick Fix That Ruined Everything (47:03) - All He Had to Give Up Was the Cat (48:21) - Judd as Mephistopheles (50:25) - Advice That Quietly Ruins You (53:06) - COVID and the Illusion of Control (54:55) - Three Lies We Live By (58:07) - What Is the Burial Ground, Really? (59:36) - Discovered, Not Created (01:03:06) - Steve Is the Real Hero (01:04:46) - What Happens After the Last Page (01:05:57) - Books King Planned vs Winged (01:07:57) - The Best Sentence in the Book (01:10:07) - King Got Hit by a Van (01:11:27) - Side Quest: Do You Smell Your Books? (01:13:46) - Final Thoughts —📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub 

Grief driven by madness, or madness driven by grief? We never settled it.We break down part three of PET SEMATARY by Stephen King — full spoiler discussion of the final act.Gage is back, and nothing after that goes well. We argue about how much the Wendigo actually knows and whether a word it says is true, whether a toddler can kill in cold blood, and why King arms a doctor with a scalpel and a bottle of morphine. Then the craft: why the tension in Pet Sematary never stops climbing when most authors peak and release, what separates horror that works from horror that doesn't, and why he almost left this manuscript in a drawer. Plus the connections hiding across his catalog.Tell us what makes good horror work for you in the comments.(00:00) - Intro: Gage Comes Back Wrong (01:04) - Creepy Kids and Why King Works (05:20) - Can We Trust the Wendigo? (08:45) - Side Quest: DARE Was an MLM (12:01) - Gage, the Wendigo, and Cold Blood (14:12) - Side Quest: Use Your Hands (16:03) - Gage Is Only a Shell (19:48) - Scalpels, Morphine, and Doctors (21:44) - The Wendigo Delays Rachel (24:03) - Tension That Never Stops Rising (27:02) - Horror Authors Who Do It Right (29:33) - What Makes Horror Actually Work (32:35) - Horror Needs Contrast (34:56) - Why King's Endings Get Ragged On (39:15) - Louis's Descent Into Madness (40:40) - The Book King Almost Didn't Publish (43:01) - Grief, Madness, or Both? (44:51) - What Happens to Ellie? (46:41) - Who's Actually Responsible? (49:18) - Ludlow vs Derry (51:46) - Ambiguity vs Spoon-Feeding (54:50) - Side Quest: Apologizing to Miéville (56:30) - Why Spec Fic Frustrates Us (58:05) - Final Thoughts The Side Quest Book Club Podcast is a weekly deep-dive book review for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans who love getting lost in worlds. Hosts Jonathan and Slava break down Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (including the Stormlight Archive), the works of Stephen King, and the best and most overlooked fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction.🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday: full spoiler discussions, world-building, character analysis, and book club arguments that make you want to re-read the book to prove Jonathan wrong. We take a break during summer but have a full catalog for you to listen to.What we cover:📚 Brandon Sanderson — Cosmere deep dives, Stormlight Archive chapter-by-chapter👑 Stephen King podcast — from IT  to The Mist, and everything in between🐉 Fantasy literature analysis — hidden gems, classics, and what makes great world-building🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts—📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub 

The author was too scared to publish this book. Here's what to know before you read it.Everything you need to know before reading PET SEMATARY by Stephen King. Spoiler-free up front, full spoilers after the warning.We start with the setup: Louis Creed moves his family to Ludlow, Maine, befriends his neighbor, Judd Crandall, and learns what waits beyond the deadfall at the pet cemetery. Then we cover the real events behind the book, including a family cat lost on a busy road and a toddler pulled back from it, and how Tabitha talked Stephen King into publishing it.After the spoiler warning, we walk through the book's three graves, argue over how much of the Wendigo's influence there is, and answer the question every reader asks: would you use the Micmac burial ground?(00:00) - Intro: What to Know Before You Read (00:30) - Spoiler-Free Plot Summary (03:34) - The True Story Behind Pet Sematary (05:01) - Why King Almost Didn't Publish It (06:53) - Spoilers: Grave One and the First Lie (08:19) - Would You Bury Your Pet There? (09:24) - Why Does Judd Share the Secret? (11:54) - Grave Two: Too Close to Home (12:58) - Would You Do It for Family? (14:20) - The Wendigo's Pull on Louis and Judd (15:34) - Grave Three and That Final Line (17:44) - Final Verdict: Is It Worth Reading? —📺 SUBSCRIBEEpisodes Every Week: [YouTube channel URL]?sub_confirmation=1🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: [EDITOR]Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #PetSematary #HorrorBooks

One of us argues the Wendigo doesn't need to be real for part two to work.Part 2 of 4 on PET SEMATARY by Stephen King. Spoilers through part two only.Jonathan calls this the scariest King book he's read, and not because of jump scares — it's dread, and it got worse reading it through fog on four hours of sleep. Slava counters that only one book has ever truly creeped him out, and it wasn't this one. We dig into the myth itself: the Algonquin folklore, documented cases of Wendigo psychosis, and Winona LaDuke's Wendigo economics. Plus the Timmy Baterman warning Louis ignores, whether Victor Pascow is a competing force, and why the exhumation is the tensest sequence in the book. Part three is next.(00:00) - Intro: The Scariest King Book Yet (04:42) - Books That Actually Creeped Us Out (07:56) - What Makes a Book Scary? (11:53) - Nitpick: Why Is Louis So Tired? (16:37) - The Fight With His Father-in-Law (19:56) - Digging Up the Grave (22:21) - When Did the Wendigo Get Louis? (25:05) - How Each Character Handles Death (28:58) - Hyper-Rationality Breaks Him (32:49) - Side Quest: Villains We Understand (34:11) - The Timmy Baterman Warning (37:08) - Louis Ignores Every Warning (38:23) - Wendigo Folklore Deep Dive (44:07) - The Wendigo Folktale, Read Aloud (46:45) - Power the Human Mind Can't Hold (47:52) - Victor Pascow, the Ghost Guide (52:14) - Monkey's Paw and Frankenstein (54:06) - Rachel's Race Home (56:25) - Why Did It Choose Louis? (01:00:20) - Do We Need the Exposition? (01:02:14) - Final Thoughts —📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: Wellerson Clemer https://www.behance.net/wellersonclemer123Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #PetSematary #StephenKing

King put this one in a drawer. He only published it to finish out a contract.Part 1 of 4 on PET SEMATARY by Stephen King. Spoilers through part one only — two of us are reading it for the first time.Slava has read it twice. Jonathan and Josh are going in blind, which means predictions, wrong theories, and one running joke that this is King's debut novel about neutering animals. We get into why he shelved the manuscript, the real Maine road that inspired it, whether Rachel's reaction to the pet cemetery is irrational or something the burial ground is doing to her, and Slava's theory about who Victor Pascow really is. Plus a long side quest on the AI slop problem in creative work — including the stuff we used to run in our own episodes and why we stopped. Part two brings the Wendigo.(00:00) - Intro: Spoiler-Free Plot Summary (02:14) - The Ending and Our Predictions (06:08) - The Book King Put in a Drawer (07:42) - Are Stephen King Books Actually Scary? (10:47) - Side Quest: Seances and Houdini (15:35) - The Creeds Arrive in Ludlow (17:25) - Rachel's Reaction to the Pet Sematary (19:05) - Two Ways of Facing Death (22:23) - Death, Religion, and King's Worldview (26:48) - Judd, the Father Louis Never Had (29:18) - Side Quest: We Lost Community (32:26) - Side Quest: What Parents Don't Teach (37:17) - Death After Death After Death (39:50) - Louis Lies About the Cat (40:51) - The Victor Pascal Dream (42:35) - Our Wendigo Theory (45:02) - Rachel's Backstory (48:32) - Watching Someone Die in Front of You (50:42) - How Part One Ends (52:39) - Side Quest: Open Loops and Cliffhangers (54:20) - Writing to Process Your Own Life (56:08) - Putting Yourself Into Your Characters (01:02:23) - Side Quest: Using AI to Write (01:05:43) - AI Is a Tool, Not a Shortcut (01:07:39) - Our Own Use of AI Slop (01:11:32) - Side Quest: Behind the Curtain (01:13:37) - Final Thoughts —📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #PetSematary #StephenKing

She built an author platform with a public money ledger and an e-reader she says rivals Kindle.We sit down with Jules, founder of thing.pub — the ARC and beta reader platform built for the author community.Jules walks us through the proprietary e-reader that carries almost any book's formatting into near-print visual fidelity, and the book showcase pages that give authors a customizable marketing hub — accent colors, genre and trope filters, representation tags, buy links, and QR codes for conventions. We get into the public financial ledger she built for full transparency, the human-verification process and protections against AI scrapers, premium cosmetic themes that fund the platform while keeping every core function free, and how to get on the waitlist. Closed beta is coming. Sign up at thing.pub and tag the author friends who need it.Jules' Platform: https://thing.pub(00:00) - Intro: Closed Beta & Bug Hunting (01:23) - The E-Reader That Rivals Kindle (02:53) - Custom Book Showcase Pages (05:10) - Premium Themes for Your Book Page (06:39) - Free vs. Paid & the Money Ledger (07:54) - How to Join thing.pub (09:44) - Vetted Pros: Editors & Artists (10:42) - Subscriptions & Cosmetics (11:40) - Final Thoughts The Side Quest Book Club Podcast is a weekly deep-dive book review for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans who love getting lost in worlds. Hosts Jonathan and Slava break down Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (including the Stormlight Archive), the works of Stephen King, and the best and most overlooked fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction.🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday: full spoiler discussions, world-building, character analysis, and book club arguments that make you want to re-read the book to prove Jonathan wrong. We take a break during summer but have a full catalog for you to listen to.What we cover:📚 Brandon Sanderson — Cosmere deep dives, Stormlight Archive chapter-by-chapter👑 Stephen King podcast — from IT  to The Mist, and everything in between🐉 Fantasy literature analysis — hidden gems, classics, and what makes great world-building🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts—📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub 

Dozens of agent queries, mostly form rejections. So he took his fantasy novel to Substack.We sit down with Rob Mortell, author of the indie fantasy TALES & TREASURE, for a full author interview.Rob explains how a quirky bard named Vatis, a bards guild, and bard tourneys became the spine of a four-year discovery-writing project. We get into soft magic versus Sanderson-style hard magic, a haunted Fangorn-style forest he invented mid-draft, why he wants fewer morally gray protagonists, and why he can't stand first-person present tense.Then the publishing side: six months of querying, serializing the finished book chapter by chapter, releasing a lost prologue and cut bard stories, and what changes in book two, BARDS & BARGAINS: three POVs and a more traditional plot.Rob MortellBook: https://a.co/d/5yYruJVWebsite: https://storiesofemre.com/Substack: https://robmortell.substack.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/robmortellwrites/(00:00) - Intro: Meet Indie Author Rob Mortell (01:15) - From Dr. Seuss to the Quirky Bard (04:06) - Book It and Becoming a Storyteller (05:31) - Why Stories Make Us Human (08:40) - From Sports Journalism to Fiction (10:02) - Bards Guilds and Bard Tourneys (12:18) - Putting Himself in the Antagonist (14:22) - Is Magic Real? Soft vs. Hard Magic (15:52) - Side Quest: Are Dragons Real? (17:52) - Pantsing and Stories That Never Stuck (21:36) - The Fantasy Trope He's Tired Of (24:29) - Keeping Characters Fresh (25:47) - Overrated Writing Advice (29:59) - When the Author Steers the Story (32:50) - How a New Character Is Born (34:57) - Why He Hates First Person Present (36:49) - Querying Agents and Handling Rejection (42:01) - Finding a Writing Group (44:02) - The Indie Author Community (45:23) - Serializing a Novel on Substack (48:43) - The Lost Prologue and Cut Chapters (50:11) - What's Coming in Bards and Bargains (52:27) - Life After the Trilogy (55:02) - His Biggest Flaw as a Writer (57:04) - Indie Authors Worth Reading (59:26) - Where to Find Rob Mortell —📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #TalesAndTreasure #IndieFantasy

Why did The Hunger Games take off in the West when Battle Royale never did?We close out SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins with a full look at the world of Panem — and whether this one makes a good movie.Evan and Jules are back for the finale. We start with the four-year gap between the book and the first movie, and what we were all doing in 2008 instead of reading it. Jules argues that Kishotenketsu is why Eastern storytelling didn't cross over. Jonathan argues the dystopian boom traces back to 9/11. From there: the plagiarism question, Harlan Ellison versus James Cameron, and why every writer is afraid of copying something by accident. Then the prequel itself — what it actually adds, what Plutarch sacrificed, and whether Francis Lawrence can make the movie better than the book.(00:00) - Intro: Jeff Hayes as Princess Donut (01:14) - Is Dungeon Crawler Carl Built on D&D? (05:44) - Side Quest: Mario, Disco Elysium, BG3 (12:22) - Side Quest: Rules-Heavy DMs vs. Story (15:26) - Why the Dungeon Feels Real (20:01) - Side Quest: Monopoly Grudge Matches (22:14) - A Waffle House in the Dungeon (25:11) - Do Modern References Age Badly? (30:45) - Are the NPCs Real People? (35:20) - Earth Has Joined the Server (37:20) - Every Character Wants Something (40:22) - Side Quest: When to Cut a Character (44:04) - How Carl's POV Builds the World (47:46) - Does Carl Have Free Will? (50:35) - The Dungeon as Reality TV (55:22) - Who's Really Running the Dungeon? (57:34) - Live-Action, Animation, or Claymation? (01:02:41) - Why Peacock Bet on an Indie Author (01:05:32) - Side Quest: Must Authors Finish Series? (01:09:41) - Side Quest: Consistency Over Motivation (01:15:26) - Side Quest: When Fans Fund the Next Book (01:22:56) - Side Quest: How Our Podcast Grew (01:26:02) - Showrunners and Jeff Hayes as Donut (01:28:22) - What Will Each Episode Cost? (01:34:03) - Final Thoughts —📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub #SunriseOnTheReaping #HungerGamesThe Side Quest Book Club Podcast is a weekly deep-dive book review for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans who love getting lost in worlds. Hosts Jonathan and Slava break down Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (including the Stormlight Archive), the works of Stephen King, and the best and most overlooked fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction.🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday: full spoiler discussions, world-building, character analysis, and book club arguments that make you want to re-read the book to prove Jonathan wrong. We take a break during summer but have a full catalog for you to listen to.What we cover:📚 Brandon Sanderson — Cosmere deep dives, Stormlight Archive chapter-by-chapter👑 Stephen King podcast — from IT  to The Mist, and everything in between🐉 Fantasy literature analysis — hidden gems, classics, and what makes great world-building🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts—📺 SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@sidequestpodcast🎧 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSIONAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/asidequest🌐 JOIN THE GUILDOfficial website / Quest Log: https://www.thesidequestpodcast.com/💬 FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURESInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesidequestpodcastTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@sidequestpodcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/WAPRX9Hbq🎬 CREDITSHosts: Slava and JonathanEditing: CharacterNorth6081 — https://www.instagram.com/parasss.__Music: HoliznaCC0Distribution: Transistor.fm — https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/?via=slavaSide Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.Some links above are referral links. If you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.#SideQuestBookClub