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FMK Lit is a podcast where hosts Neil and Claire read two romance novels, a straight one and a queer one, and then play fuck marry kill with the characters. It is a podcast built to celebrate the romance genre even as Neil and Claire turn their boozy, lit-crit eye towards problematic tropes and sometimes unworthy heroes. Themed episodes like “Modern Retellings of Jane Austen,” “Silver Foxes,” “Wedding Planners,” and “Cowboys” show how straight writers and queer writers tackle the tried and true tropes that prop up romance storylines, and hopefully open up a whole new world of reading to romance enthusiasts of all types. Claire and Neil laugh at crazy storylines, shake their fists at the patriarchy, rant about grammar, and sigh deeply at a well-earned kiss. Oh…and they cheer for lube always.

FMK Lit recorded its first episode on September 17th, 2017. Neil, Claire, and their producer extraordinaire, Christine, came together in Christine’s sunlit apartment to hang out with her foot-loving cat and try their hand at the podcast game. Five years later, we’re still recording. The initial premise of FMK Lit was that Neil was not a fan of romance novels, and Claire wanted to show him the joys of reading all that which induces giddy squeals. Neil rolled his eyes and dived in. Claire isn’t one to gloat (but she is the one writing this article so MAYBE she is), but Neil has since not only enjoyed reading many a romance novel, but may or may not have started writing his own. And for those brave writers out there who are interested in writing their own books, they might be interested in listening to the following episodes: “Interview with a Romance Novel Editor” with Kristy Lin Billuni aka The Sexy Grammarian, and “Romance How-To Guides.”

Through changes in day jobs, personal successes and failures, political upheaval, pandemics, moves across the country, and family emergencies, we’ve managed to continue to bring to our dedicated following a little bit of escapism. As FMK Lit heads into its sixth year, we are looking forward to continuing to plumb the depths of the romance world. There are so many more themes left to cover and so many things to talk about. Importantly, throughout the pandemic writers have kept working. They’ve self-published, they’ve submitted everywhere, they’ve dived head-first into fanfic, and so much more. Neil, Claire, and Christine are continually excited about how the genre grows and changes.

You can listen to FMK Lit on all the major podcast platforms, and you can get extended episodes where you hear Christine’s thoughts and updates on her cat, our fourth member, on Patreon at patreon.com/fmklitpod.

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