We're joined by Shannon Wolf, a British writer and poet currently making her home in the U.S., who picked this episode's book after hearing us on a previous episode ask, hypothetically, whether there might be a novelization of the movie Legally Blonde. Shannon, a superfan of the film, knew it was actually based on a novel, though the story of that novel's publication is a bit of a twisty one. And while Amanda Brown's book lays out the basic plot and character arcs that we all know and love from the film, the tone of the novel is a lot less cheerful and winning.

You can learn more about this episode's guest, and her work, at her website: https://helloshanwolf.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight

We're joined by Amy Butcher—author, most recently, of Mothertrucker—who tells us about the outsized influence Jo Ann Beard's work has had on her own writing, including her decision to write creative nonfiction in the first place. We also dig into some of the difficult genre questions posed by Beard's work. Is it fair to call a piece nonfiction when so much of it involves the invention of another person's interior life? What does the term "essay" really encompass? And do these genre distinctions really matter?

You can learn more about this episode's guest, and about her books, at her website: https://www.amyebutcher.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it, we're releasing two bonus episodes a month to our Patreon subscribers, for only $5: https://www.patreon.com/BookFight