Long before Twilight, and 26 years before Ol’ Abe Stoker had visions of Dracula, there was another drinker lurking in the annals of western lit. This week, Morgan and Isabeau explore the classic gothic vampire novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, a prototype for the prolific genre. Set in a shloss in the forests of Styria, Laura, our heroine, describes her lonely childhood through epistles and recounts the arrival of a peculiar stranger, the alluring and abhorrent Carmilla, as if conjured from a dream. But the novel’s languor is underpinned with anxiety as desire mixes with consumption, and questions of Carmilla’s origin prove all too familiar. It’s a sensual nightmare that revels in the repression of the Victorian Age, and may help explain our continued obsession.

Whoa!mance is part of the Frolic PodcastNetwork. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts.

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One could say this is a boner about blow jobs. But blow jobs are about so much more than just blow jobs. This is a boner about power. A boner about tropes. A boner dissecting the misnomer of a “right” penis. It’s a boner about what we do with boners, and why what we do with boners does and does not matter.

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Why bears? What is it about our ursine cousins that prompts such a curious and violent fascination? This week, Morgan and Isabeau turn these questions over anew with the graphic novel My Boyfriend Is a Bear by Pamela Ribon, illustrated by Cat Farris. What does pop culture’s fetishization of bears say about our sexual proclivities? Are bears just apolitical lumberjacks? And what right do we have to anthropomorphize animals in the first place? If Bear by Marian Engel proved too on the nose for its deftness at delineating sexual/power imbalances, cuddle up with this little teddy and start working on that winter belly.

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What are the rules of modern dating? For many this is an ethical or existential question, but for app developer Rhiannon Hunter, providing the correct answer could be the financial HEA of a lifetime. This week, Morgan and Isabeau tackle The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai, and put some overlooked institutional ducks in a row. Questions arise as to what a feminist dating app should look like; who, if anyone, does the NFL care about; and what your brand choice of mayonnaise says about your experience of heartbreak when used to fuck up the paint on an ex-lover’s car. Clear your schedules and lint roll a power suit for this one y’all.

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There’s a lot to be excited about with this one y’all. Not only is there now a bookshop in Tinley Park, IL dedicated exclusively to the genre, but Love’s Sweet Arrow: A Romance Bookstore was kind enough to host the inaugural live recording of Whoa!mance. A special thank you to all those who came through and contributed to the conversation on "Gorgeous” by Motzie Dapul, a selection from Start Here: Short Stories of First Encounters edited by Ronald S. Lim and Brigitte Bautista. Yr girls Morgan and Isabeau discuss bullies to lovers, the craft of brevity, and crowdsource the parameters of a sweet romance. All live, because that’s showbiz baby.

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This one's for all you toons creeping in on Fabio's turf. Morgan and Isabeau discuss trends in cover art, the ethics of disguising a novel’s heat, and the politics of reading a good ol’ fashioned clinch on the bus. So don’t bother covering up this boner, because we’re letting it all hang out.

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