Ep 62 Mystical Reads of the Mountains with Ashley Blooms 9-30-20

2020-09-30

I can always count on my husband, a huge sci-fi and fantasy reader to keep me up to date with some of the newest and most exciting authors in that genre. And when one of them is from our home state of Kentucky, you can be doubly sure Carrie and I will quickly ask for an interview. Our guest this week, Ashley Blooms, grew up in rural Kentucky, was a John Grisham Writing Fellow at the University of Mississippi and worked for Tor.com, an online magazine that published a wide range of sci- fi/fantasy short stories, commentary, and pop...

Our guest this week, Ashley Blooms, grew up in rural Kentucky, was a John Grisham Writing Fellow at the University of Mississippi and worked for Tor.com, an online magazine that published a wide range of sci- fi/fantasy short stories, commentary, and pop culture. Her debut novel, Every Bone a Prayer, was published last month, has been recommended by NPR and Buzzfeed and has received praise from some of my favorite authors like Silas House and Alix Harrow. Ashley wants to make a space in Appalachian literature for more fantastical stories and not only the literary realism that is usually that trademark of the subgenre.

As a survivor of trauma and abuse in her own life, Ashley has created the 10-year-old protagonist, Misty, with unique sensory gifts that help explain what trauma feels like, how it changes a person, and how to move forward beyond it.

Ashley talks to us about why the Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine made her want to tell stories of her own, how she uses trigger warnings to give control back to the reader, and why she doesn’t categorize her book as magical realism even though it combines reality with fantastical elements.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine
2- What You are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte
3- Every Bone a Prayer by Ashley Blooms
4- The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
5- The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
6- Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
7- Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
8- The True Story of Lyndie B. Hawkins by Gail Shepherd
9- Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in 19th Century America by Anne Braude
10- Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism by Barbara Weisberg
11- Brothers Sinister series by Courtney Milan
12- The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; Translated by Jack Zipes
13- It's Great to Suck at Something: The Exceptional Benefits of Being Unexceptional by Karen Rinaldi