True Crime: Getting Your Books Wet, ACOTAR Updates and Writing Murder Respectfully
STACK with Jake and Ella
Hosts Jake and Ella transition from a lighthearted discussion about podcast awards and book mishaps to a deep dive into the true crime liter
Key takeaways
- The podcast has been shortlisted for awards by The Speakeas and Stage Media.
- Patrick Radden Keefe's 'London Falling' investigates the death of Zach Brettler and the influence of Russian money in London.
Main topics
- True Crime Literature
- ACOTAR Series Updates
Notable quotes
I think we went a bit off-piste and we thought we were going to do an episode on documentary style books and then somewhere along the way it transitioned into true crime.
Conclusion
The episode offers a thoughtful exploration of how literature can re-c
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:04) Hello and welcome to Stack, the books podcast that's here to help you fall in love and stay in love with reading. I'm Ella, I work in book publishing. Speaker 1 (0:11) My name is Jake, I'm a writer and I work in podcasts. In every episode we will be building a themed stack of books that we love and that we know you will too. This week's theme is true crime, which came out from, we did a shelf help section in our Books for Turbulent Times episode where we spoke about documentary style books. Speaker 2 (0:30) I think we went a bit off-piste and we thought we were going to do an episode on documentary style books and then somewhere along the way it transitioned into true crime and then we both got really nervous about doing it as an episode. Speaker 1 (0:42) We have clarified that neither of us really are into crime. Speaker 2 (0:45) But we're here now, we're here now and I'm excited about the books that I've got but before we talk about those, how was your week? Speaker 1 (0:52) My week was good because we have been nominated for an award! We are award nominees. Speaker 2 (0:57) I'm actually going to say, no, we're shortlisted. I think that's even better than nominated. We're shortlistees. Speaker 1 (1:01) Yeah, that is. That's the next stage on. How fantastic. Very Speaker 2 (1:03) pleased. So that's The Speakeas, which is run by the bookseller and Stage Media. And we are up against some good pods. What a lovely piece of Speaker 1 (1:11) news. Speaker 2 (1:11) Yeah, that's a really nice thing for season two. Speaker 1 (1:13) That's good news. I've actually then, today, had a horror show. Speaker 2 (1:17) Yeah, you told me something terrible happened to you, but you're going to save it for the pod. So I'm hoping this is in a lighthearted way. Here we go. Speaker 1 (1:23) So yesterday I went to a sauna and cold plunge on a boat. First Speaker 2 (1:27) of all, what a fantastic day. Speaker 1 (1:29) I had a lovely time. I felt amazing. I brought my book with me for on the way there. Okay, Speaker 2 (1:37) it's Speaker 1 (1:37) quite a wet activity to take a book to, but continue. Which is why, of course, I had prepared that I had a small liner that I would put on top of my towel and I'd put my book on top of that towel and the book would be okay. Speaker 2 (1:48) Yeah, sure. We've done everything to protect the book. Speaker 1 (1:50) Somewhere in the process of... going to the sauna, going to the pub, we now discover the book has got wet. And that is such a shame. And it doesn't look as bad on camera now, but it isn't what I want. And I'm very considerate. Those Speaker 2 (2:05) pages have gone very frilly. For the listener, the pages have gone frilly. Speaker 1 (2:08) I know. And I've tried to dry it today, but also keep it flat. But it's just... Look, it's so Speaker 2 (2:12) swollen. I'm so upset. Speaker 1 (2:14) I Speaker 2 (2:15) am sorry. But I do have to say, as soon as you said, I took my book to the sauna, I obviously didn't know where that story was going. And I did think, it's a bit wet. Speaker 1 (2:22) I think maybe it needs to be full in a plastic bag situation going forward. I Speaker 2 (2:28) think next time, dry yourself off, throw your towel in the bin. Speaker 1 (2:32) my own town yeah i Speaker 2 (2:34) think that's the only solution i Speaker 1 (2:37) just think why do terrible things happen to good people i'm so upset about it yeah Speaker 2 (2:41) i'm actually i'm glad it's not worse than i mean obviously it's terrible um but when you said something terrible happened to you it could have been worse i Speaker 1 (2:50) don't see how i don't Speaker 2 (2:51) see no no no no no that's no jake that's the worst thing that will ever happen to you to anyone Speaker 2 (2:58) Have you seen some of the info has now been revealed for the next Akatar books? Speaker 1 (3:03) The two that are coming out? Speaker 2 (3:04) What happened to you? Because you read the first one, then you were like, I'm going to read the second one. So I just want to check where we are. Speaker 1 (3:09) Oh, interrogation. I haven't made the decision. I haven't acquired the next book. I haven't thought about this. Speaker 2 (3:17) I think you're just not going to. And that's fine. I think that's probably the right decision based on you're quite lukewarm. It's not really your genre. Really not. Just free yourself from that. But I'm excited about it. And lots of other people are excited as well. So yeah, two books coming out in one in October and then the next one 12th of January. So having not had one in this series for I think five and a half years, we now have two within a few months of each other. She revealed the titles on Call Her Daddy. Speaker 1 (3:45) Yes, I did see that. That is so Speaker 2 (3:47) glam. Speaker 1 (3:48) Pretty modern. Love Speaker 2 (3:49) that. That's really modern, actually. Well done, Sarah. They're really different lengths. So the one coming out this year is about 350 pages. The one coming out in January is 928 pages. They're not exactly the same price, but they are very similar prices. So you're getting a lot more bang for your buck on one of them. Speaker 1 (4:12) You'd really think that you could have spread that out across two. Speaker 2 (4:15) These are the next books in the Akatar series. A Court of Thorns and Roses, for anyone not in the know. But she's starting a new story, which is the Valkyrie Cycle. Speaker 1 (4:26) As I say this, this is Speaker 2 (4:27) the kind of thing where I'm like, oh, for a non-fantasy reader, you are going to start to just tune out. Yeah, my brain's going, Speaker 1 (4:32) do-do. Yeah, Speaker 2 (4:33) don't worry. What's that called? Muzak. You can play Muzak in your head. So these are two books. They're going to be four... Speaker 2 (4:41) movements in the Valkyrie cycle the next book is movement one in the Valkyrie cycle then the next book after that is movements two and three so Speaker 1 (4:52) it's just Speaker 2 (4:52) a lot to get your head around isn't it and I really don't like the word movement here because I just think of bowels Speaker 1 (4:58) Yeah, I hate you added that in. Sorry. It's book six and seven, but it's movement one, but it's not a movement per book. There's so much going on. It's also book six Speaker 2 (5:06) and seven, but it's novels five and six because there was a novella that somehow everyone's counting as a book. It's really confusing. The titles are A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody. I am definitely going to read them. I think it would probably be okay to move away from the A Court Of titles at this point. It's getting a bit chaotic. What we in the fandom are excited about is which characters they're going to follow. So the two sisters, Feyre and Nesta, have had their love stories. told and then there is one more sister called Elaine or as I call her Elaine the pain who we still need to find out what happens to her thinking about Elaine the pain from Tracy Beaker of course I really don't like her as a character but I thought that about Nesta and then at the end of her book I thought I'm so glad that I'd spent that time in that world so I'm sure Sarah will convince me. I feel very passionately that I don't want Elaine to end up with Asriel because I love Asriel and I don't like Elaine at this moment. Then there are some other characters, Emery and Gwyn, who we'd like to hear from. Basically, I'd love people to tell me in the comments who we're rooting for Asriel. That's my main interest in this is who we want him to end up with. I would like him to end up with Gwyn. Can I ask Speaker 1 (6:26) two questions? Speaker 2 (6:27) Yeah, you dare. Speaker 1 (6:28) Number one, what are the Avatar fans called? Speaker 2 (6:30) Great question. I'll call them Akatar heads. Speaker 1 (6:32) And dare I ask, where does the paperback fit into this schedule of releases? Speaker 2 (6:37) I'm going to guess they will come out towards the end of next year. Speaker 1 (6:43) Yeah, maybe they come together or something. Speaker 2 (6:45) This is controversial and no reflection on how I feel about the series, but I'm going to wait for paperback. Speaker 1 (6:52) So I'm Speaker 2 (6:53) excited. I'm talking about it now on the pod. I want to hear from people to tell me it's great. But I'm also like, books cost money to produce. Authors deserve to be paid well for their time as creators. But two books close together that are £25 plus. I'm on that leave. So I'm going to wait for paperback because it will be like, people will be talking about them nonstop. being cross about things and I just think why don't I just wait for that hubbub to die down and then I'm going to read them and enjoy. Speaker 1 (7:25) Ella will be reporting back in December 2027. Just Speaker 2 (7:29) bringing you the hot takes and that's why we're shortlisted for awards. Speaker 2 (7:36) Okay, you ready to talk about true crime? Speaker 1 (7:38) I am. I guess I am. Are you? Are you Speaker 2 (7:40) nervous? I'm nervous. Speaker 1 (7:42) It's a trickier theme than we normally do. We're normally quite wrongful. Speaker 2 (7:46) And I think this is possible to get it wrong or to talk about things in a way that is upsetting for people. I think so often there is such a focus on perpetrators and not a focus on the victims and... quite salacious and quite gratuitous in terms of that storytelling so there's quite a lot in the genre that I don't like I expect that neither of us have picked books that treat the genre in that way although who knows excited to hear if you're gonna get us cancelled is that the same for you or did you feel quite straightforward I think Speaker 1 (8:21) so I didn't want to do all non-fiction so I think it was like fiction was harder because so much because when is Speaker 2 (8:27) it true crime and when is it crime yeah Speaker 1 (8:29) yeah because they're making it up Stop writing about that horrible thing. Why have you made that horrible thing happen to that person? Speaker 2 (8:35) Yeah. With Speaker 1 (8:36) fiction, it's harder to think about the kind of books that are doing