Radio 831: A Romance Podcast
A weekly discussion of everything romance—from the novels and the tropes to the book-to-screen adaptations and, of course, the drama of it all—with hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall. Brought to you by the romance publisher 831 Stories.
Episodes
Monster Romance 101, Rosie Danan on Vampires in Villain Edit, and SeaWorld Goes Dark Romance
Welcome to a Monster Romance Extravaganza! Kicking it off, Sanjana gives Tyler a crash course in the subgenre, explaining the allure of aliens and lake monsters—and why freakishness is part of the appeal. Then Villain Edit author Rosie Danan joins to talk vampires, reality TV, blood play, and finding tenderness in a non-human love interest. Plus: Sanj and Tyler react to SeaWorld’s
Our Dream Adaptations Slate, Iman Hariri-Kia on Social Media in Romance, and Why the Genre Needs More Risk
Sanjana and Tyler reveal their dream romance adaptation slate, from non-Austen historicals to the paranormal franchises Hollywood is sleeping on. Then Once in a Timeline author Iman Hariri-Kia joins to talk about writing contemporary love stories that lean into influencers, apps, and the infinite scroll. Plus: a listener voicemail gets Sanj and Tyler chatting about reader expectations, publishing
The State of Romance Criticism, Rioghnach Robinson on Fictionalizing Criticism in Bad Words, and Best Sex Scenes of the Month
Sanjana and Tyler dive into romance criticism, the newsletters keeping it alive, and why even a good hater should be devoted. Then Bad Words author Rioghnach Robinson joins to talk about turning book criticism into a whole (extremely compelling!) enemies-to-lovers plot. Plus: the best sex scenes Sanj and Tyler read this month, from Scandalized to a stalker romance involving a multi-tasking hockey
Ali Hazelwood on The Love Hypothesis Hitting the Big Screen
Our hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall are talking all things The Love Hypothesis with contemporary-romance queen Ali Hazelwood this week, from the book's leap from page to screen to what it's like to hand your characters over to Hollywood and become forever associated with one very famous fake-dating experiment. Plus: Ali's influences, thoughts on messy people behaving badly, and how her relat
Sports Romance Needs New Material, Lily Herman on Formula 1, and a Listener Voicemail
Sanjana and Tyler kick off the show imploring sports romance to look beyond hockey—and then Lily Herman joins to talk about why Formula 1 is perfect genre fodder. Plus: a VM from listener Danielle gets Sanj and Tyler into the tropes and choices that can turn them off a book, along with their DNF philosophies. Also, reminder: We love voicemails! Reach us at 833-831-LOVE. The sports rom
Let Mary Bennet Be a Freak, Nikki Payne on Austen's Imprint on Romance, and Sense and Sensibility Double Homework
It's an all-Austen episode: Sanjana formally pitches The Other Bennet Sister, arguing the show works because it lets Mary Bennet stay a genuine weirdo instead of “yassifying” her. Then Nikki Payne joins to talk Jane Austen: her Clueless-into-Emma origin story, why Sense and Sensibility reads more like a philosophy argument than a romance, and her theory that you can always tell when th
The State of Goodreads, Alexandra Romanoff on YA vs. Adult Romance, and Our Fall Romance Forecast
Sanjana and Tyler bravely enter the Goodreads discourse: the good, the bad, the entertaining. Then Alexandra Romanoff—author of 831’s Big Fan, Square Waves, and Vacation Self trilogy—joins to talk about moving from YA to adult romance, writing sex across genres, and whether teenagers can really get a happily ever after. Plus: The books and movies our hosts are most excited for th
The Sex Purge Movie Is Actually Good, Rachel Lynn Solomon on Celebrity Romance, and What We Consumed This Month
Sanjana and Tyler saw One Night Only, and, listener, they loved it. More on that before Business or Pleasure and Extracurricular author Rachel Lynn Solomon joins to talk about the fantasy and complications of celebrity romance. Plus: what our hosts read and watched in August (shoutout Scandal). The One Night Only verdict: Give yourself over to the premise, support theatrical rom-com releases, and
The State of Celebrity Romance, Lit Agent Ariele Fredman on What’s Next in Romance, and Our Q3 Internet Boyfriends
Why is it that some celebrity romances feel genuine and others feel like fake news? Sanjana and Tyler dig into the authenticity of it all before UTA literary agent Ariele Fredman joins to chat about what romance publishers want right now and what may be coming next. Then, Sanj and Tyler crown their Q3 Internet Boyfriends. Celebrity romances mentioned: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Matty Healy an
"Realistic" Is the Wrong Word, Adrie Rose on Sex Workers in Romance, and The Pairing Homework
Sanjana airs a pet peeve—the "didn't feel realistic" critique—and she and Tyler make the case that exaggeration is one of romance's best tools. Then Adrie Rose, a former sex worker and editor of the book of essays I Hate My Job, joins to talk about how the genre handles sex workers (not well) despite being kind of obsessed with writing them. And: Sanj completes her Tyler-assigned homew
Open-Door vs. Closed-Door Romance, Kate Goldbeck on Writing Under Reader Surveillance, and a Case for Cheating
Bring the steam: Sanjana and Tyler advocate that sex scenes count as character work and that too many books miss that opportunity. Then Kate Goldbeck—the author of You, Again and Daddy Issues—stops by to talk about what it's actually like to write romance in an era of chronically online readers and, well, Threads. To close things out, Sanj and Tyler make the case for messier, sillier p
The Case for Bad Sex Scenes, Riss M. Neilson on Disability in Romance, and What We’ve Consumed This Month
Hear us out: An awkward sex scene can actually be better than a frictionless one. Take the examples Sanj and Tyler cite from Business or Pleasure and Act Your Age, Eve Brown! Then, Riss M. Neilson shares her experiences writing chronic illness and disability and delivering romance to characters who deserve love and steam. Plus, a what-we’ve-consumed-this-month roundup ending with a wildly ba
A Close Reading of an Emily Henry Profile, Naina Kumar on Rom-Com DNA, and the Yearner Hall of Fame
Why an Emily Henry interview now? Sanjana and Tyler dig into Bloomberg’s recent piece on the author, where she discusses Hollywood adaptations and delivers the all-timer line: “A lot of actors think that it’s less humiliating to pretend to be a Beatle than it is to pretend to be in love.” Then: Naina Kumar joins to talk about heyday rom-com movies as novelistic underpinning
ReelShort Romance, Tritney on C-Dramas and the Bathtub Loophole, and Sherry Thomas Homework
Are you on the vertical-video bandwagon? Or perhaps you’ll be more persuaded by another phenomenon, the C-drama, once you’ve heard @tritney’s take on the Chinese romance boom that has finally hit America. (Of course, she brings her starter-pack picks for anyone who wants to see some of the best eye-acting in action.) Then: Sanjana assigns Tyler Sherry Thomas's Private Arrangement
World Cup as Meet-Cute Fodder, KT Hoffman on Romance and Baseball, and a Bull Durham and Fever Pitch Doubleheader
Sanjana and Tyler open by making the case that the World Cup is a 48-country meet-cute machine (see: kilted Scotsmen throwing women over their shoulders in Boston bars). Then KT Hoffman joins to talk baseball in romance: why the minor leagues are more romantic than the majors, why slow-burn and baseball are basically the same thing, and what it takes to write queer and trans joy into sports. And:
Office Romance Recap, Lyla Sage on Cowboys and Small-Town Romances, and The Idea of You Reading Assignment
Tyler and Sanjana kick things off this week with their take on Netflix’s Office Romance: The Brett Goldstein–Jennifer Lopez movie that features Betty Gilpin delivering one of the great rom-com best-friend performances in recent memory. Then Lyla Sage joins to talk about cowboy romance: fantasy vs. reality, writing about rural communities with actual texture in this political moment, an
In Defense of Age Gaps, Anna Maria Volkova on Games and the Russian MC, and What We've Been Reading
Sanjana takes the stand as the self-proclaimed number one age-gap defender, arguing that the trope is really about power, that demanding moral instruction from romance is a fundamentally conservative impulse, and that “reverse age-gap” is not a thing. Then debut novelist Anna Maria Volkova joins to talk about Games, her romance about an economics grad student and a Soviet-born Wall Str
BookTok Thoughts, Julia Turshen on Cookbooks and Romance, and Pride Picks
Let’s dive into the BookTok discourse, shall we? Specifically, how algorithms work and why dismissing the community tends to say more about the dismisser than the community. Then debut romance novelist (and longtime cookbook author) Julia Turshen joins to talk about her 831 Stories novella Down to Earth, why food is the fastest way to put a reader in a room, the formula that cookbooks and ro
The J.Lo-Brett Goldstein Situation, the Dark Romance Conundrum with Nisha Sharma, and Our Thoughts on Off Campus
Is it off-screen chemistry, or is it just good marketing? Hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall open with the Brett Goldstein and JLo Office Romance press tour—and what it means when a man manifests his lifelong crush into a co-starring role. Then scholar and author Nisha Sharma joins to talk about her research on dark romance and reproductive coercion, including how the genre’s relati
Publishing Cadence, NYC Romance with Tia Williams, and Favorite Books Set in the City
It's a New York state of mind on Radio 831. Hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall open with a conversation about publishing cadence in romance: Why readers want to be fed constantly, what category publishing and self-pub have to do with it, and what it actually means when an author takes their time. Then Tia Williams joins to talk about her new novel, The Missed Connection, and writing New York Ci
Romance World-Building, Adriana Herrera on Historical Trailblazers, and All-Time Summer Reads
Sanjana and Tyler open on a question that cuts across every romance subgenre: What does authenticity in world-building actually require, and when does getting it wrong take readers out of the story entirely? Sanj brings her Corn Laws knowledge and a therapist-in-training's eye; Tyler brings ten years of fashion editing and very strong opinions about brand-dropping. Then author and publisher Adrian
Romance Adaptations, Rivals Season 2 with Tarah DeWitt, and Internet Boyfriend Nominations
It's summer adaptation season, and hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall are taking stock: what Heated Rivalry got right, what People We Meet on Vacation got wrong, and what lessons studios are going to take from both. Then author Tarah DeWitt joins to break down the first episodes of Rivals Season 2, including: the moral complexity, the question of whether any sex scene can truly be called gratui
Yearning, Wuthering Heights with Betty Corrello, and a Backlist Reading Assignment
Welcome back to Radio 831, where hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall make the case that yearning isn’t just trending—it’s a defining orientation toward life. Then they chat with author Betty Corrello to dig into what Wuthering Heights is actually doing in the canon: Is it a love story, is it camp, and what has romance inherited from Cathy and Heathcliff anyway? Plus: Sanjana gi
Origin Stories, the Rules of Romance with Jen Prokop, and Summer’s Anticipation Index
Welcome to Radio 831, where hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall share their romance origin stories and make the case for why romance is fiction's most underestimated genre. Then they sit down with Jen Prokop, co-host of the Fated Mates podcast, to break down what actually makes a romance a romance: the HEA, the theory of change, the unspoken rule that love has to make you better. Plus: what our
Welcome to Radio 831: A Romance Podcast
Everyone is talking about romance, and hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall are here to delve into why. Each week on Radio 831, they dig into the books, tropes, adaptations, drama, and discourse shaping the conversation, exploring what our obsession with love stories says about how we actually live. Expect genre deep-dives, expert discussions with authors and superfans, and strong opinions on eve
Introducing Radio 831: A Romance Podcast! Plus, a Grab-Bag Speed Round
It’s been about a year since we’ve been in your ears, and we’re so excited to share some news! Coming May 7, this feed will be the new home of the Radio 831 podcast: Your weekly dose of all things romance. It’s a production of iHeartPodcasts hosted by Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall, two brilliant, funny, knowledgeable people we love having in our ears. It’s a half-ho
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