Episode 129 features Beth Tabler, editor of both the quarterly issues of Grimdark Magazine and also Before We Go Blog, Beth is much more than just an editor.
She’s a writer, no matter how much she protests, she is in fact a writer, she’s also a master gardener, list completionist, and so much more…
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
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00:00:00:17 – 00:00:29:16
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer dot com. The old religion is important but heavy reading. As many stages as there were special moments in the 2024 tour de France. And if you haven’t checked out Joey yet, what’s stopping you? This is The Palmer Files episode 129 with Beth Tabler, an editor and reviewer and blogger who is in fact a writer. We discuss what it means to be a writer, the gateway to writing that is, reading, being hard on oneself, plus lists and crossing things off them.
00:00:29:16 – 00:01:09:55
Agent Palmer
Landscape architecture, gardening, retaining a hobby, dealing with loss, self-care, fanfiction, and much, much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show.
00:01:10:00 – 00:01:29:07
Agent Palmer
Hello and welcome to The Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic, also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 129th episode is Beth Tabler, editor of both quarterly issues of Grimdark magazine. And also, Before We go, blog. Beth is much more than just an editor. She’s a writer. No matter how much she protests, she is in fact, a writer.
00:01:29:20 – 00:01:50:10
Agent Palmer
She’s also a master gardener list completionist and so much more, as you’ll hear soon. But before we get there, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all related ways to contact my guest, Beth and myself in the show notes. You can find Beth’s work on before we go Blogger.com or Grimdark magazine.com.
00:01:50:20 – 00:02:05:38
Agent Palmer
Don’t forget you can see all of my writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com. And of course, email can be sent to the Palmer Files at gmail.com. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
00:02:05:43 – 00:02:14:28
Agent Palmer
Best I every good story starts at the beginning and you do a lot with the written word. So did you always want to be a writer?
00:02:14:30 – 00:02:23:01
Beth Tabler
Oh well, the thing is, I’m not really a writer. So much is what I’m an editor and I write reviews.
00:02:23:01 – 00:02:26:54
Agent Palmer
And you’re a writer. No no no no, I’m no I it is.
00:02:26:54 – 00:02:29:45
Beth Tabler
So hard for me to be like, oh, yeah, I’m a writer, but you.
00:02:29:54 – 00:02:41:58
Agent Palmer
But okay, but so, so okay, I’m going to, I’m going to I’m going to break this down for you. The way it was broken down for me. Right. For the for over ten years, I have put out a weekly blog post.
00:02:42:02 – 00:02:43:08
Beth Tabler
Yes.
00:02:43:13 – 00:03:07:20
Agent Palmer
In order to create that blog post, I must write that blog post. And there are movie reviews and book reviews and, album reviews and op eds and editorials and this, that and the other thing and stories. But those are all written, and I am a writer as a specific, for specificity. I’m a blogger, but you are a writer.
00:03:07:34 – 00:03:15:32
Agent Palmer
And also you could never be a good editor if you weren’t also a writer and a reader. But yeah, you need all those skills.
00:03:15:36 – 00:03:24:24
Beth Tabler
Okay. That’s fair. Like before I opened up, before we go to making it into a team, I had written 2000, blog posts.
00:03:24:29 – 00:03:32:38
Agent Palmer
But and and so and so you deign to say like, but I’m not a writer. I’m just a blogger. Like, I don’t.
00:03:32:38 – 00:03:36:54
Beth Tabler
Know, it’s like I would feel like I was a writer if I had like a book.
00:03:36:58 – 00:03:42:48
Agent Palmer
Okay. So. Okay, okay. Short story. Do you have a book now? Okay. So as.
00:03:42:53 – 00:03:49:12
Beth Tabler
I’m, I hopefully won’t be an editor on a book 2025.
00:03:49:16 – 00:04:09:46
Agent Palmer
I’ve, I’ve been on a book of poetry, which was fun, and I hope to be another one upcoming as I cook my poet into gear for the next one. But I just have to ask then, like during those 2000 blog posts, how many times did someone come up to you and say, when are you writing your book? Because it’s so.
00:04:09:46 – 00:04:11:01
Beth Tabler
Something so.
00:04:11:03 – 00:04:23:42
Agent Palmer
Okay and what did you so so here’s the question because I know what my answer was and still is. What was your answer? Hi Beth, it’s nice that you have a blog. When are you going to write a book? What’s your answer?
00:04:23:47 – 00:04:30:29
Beth Tabler
I always say, oh no, no, no, I just I just write online. I don’t I want to have a book planned.
00:04:30:34 – 00:04:31:19
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:04:31:24 – 00:04:54:22
Beth Tabler
And but you know, I have lots of ideas and stuff, but I have a lot of stuff going on and it takes it takes a lot of dedication and a lot of mental fortitude to sit down, to write something like a book and right now I don’t have, I don’t have the mental energy to do it. Maybe in 2025.
00:04:54:27 – 00:05:01:17
Agent Palmer
I would argue that it takes a lot of mental fortitude to sit down and write something new all the time.
00:05:01:20 – 00:05:01:51
Beth Tabler
All the.
00:05:01:51 – 00:05:03:09
Agent Palmer
Time, because.
00:05:03:14 – 00:05:04:48
Beth Tabler
I read all the books.
00:05:04:53 – 00:05:33:42
Agent Palmer
On it. It’s just one of those places where my stock answer was, when I have an idea for a book, maybe I’ll write it. But like up until then, like I and I, I’ve had creators on, I’ve had authors on, I’ve had, filmmakers on I always tell them that, like, I don’t envy them because, like, this podcast comes out twice a month, sometimes three, depending on how weeks go.
00:05:33:42 – 00:05:58:18
Agent Palmer
But it’s every other week. And the the blog is weekly. Six times a month I get to succeed in something and hit publish, and they’re like toiling away at 50,000 words to try and get one thing published in a year, right? Like I’ll take my six victories in a month to year one in a year. It’s fine.
00:05:58:22 – 00:06:00:33
Beth Tabler
It’s fine. That’s fair.
00:06:00:38 – 00:06:21:07
Agent Palmer
So I mean, you don’t feel I mean, look, given the the places you and I are, we’re always on to the next thing. But like, we can always look back and go, but, but I did these seven things today or this week or this month as opposed to like, well, I got three chapters done, but nobody’s going to read them for four months.
00:06:21:07 – 00:06:22:07
Agent Palmer
Like.
00:06:22:12 – 00:06:31:28
Beth Tabler
I’m. So I’m one of those people that is incredibly hard on themselves. I’m always pushing to like, do more.
00:06:31:33 – 00:06:34:44
Agent Palmer
Is it more or better? It’s more or better.
00:06:34:49 – 00:06:59:33
Beth Tabler
It’s well, that’s a difficult question because it it goes to what I think would be better, not what other okay, symmetrically. Yeah. But like, you know, trying to experience more do more okay. Yeah. And so I’m, I’m my own worst critic. So like oh 2000 blog posts. Well that’s cool.
00:06:59:38 – 00:07:08:46
Agent Palmer
Like aren’t we all though, like anybody in the creative space I don’t. Have you met a creative that’s not that’s like, oh, I just love everything I do and I’m my own best friend.
00:07:08:59 – 00:07:15:33
Beth Tabler
Oh no, oh no, that’s I’m slime.
00:07:15:38 – 00:07:34:31
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I mean that’s yeah, I, I am always pleasantly surprised because one of the things I build into my process for the blog and the podcast and for almost every project I do is space, draft, drafted, put it on a shelf, edit it, put it on a shelf, come back and listen to it in a day, a week.
00:07:34:42 – 00:07:58:04
Agent Palmer
You know how however much time. And I am always surprised because like the first draft or the recording, like it’s no secret. Like when you and I are done with this episode, I will be like, yeah, it’s all right. When I get done with the edit, I will feel better about it. And by the time I get, I listen to it for like writing the cold open and the close, I will be like, oh, that was actually a good episode.
00:07:58:08 – 00:08:20:28
Agent Palmer
But like, that’s a that. That is every blog post. You know, the first draft is like, I mean, I have a beginning, middle and an end, but it’s not good. And then there’s the editing process and it’s better. And like I always go, but it’s I need that time, whatever that space is in between those things in order to get myself over the mental hump.
00:08:20:33 – 00:08:24:29
Beth Tabler
Like, like let it sit. Yeah, yeah. Gotta let it sit a little bit.
00:08:24:29 – 00:08:26:40
Agent Palmer
Or like bread. Let it rise either way.
00:08:26:45 – 00:08:42:15
Beth Tabler
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Like bread just kind of just kind of let it be for a little while. Yeah. Yeah I, I, I get that totally. There’s a couple times when I’ve done interviews and stuff, you know, it’s difficult to hear yourself unless you’re, you’re, you’re used to it.
00:08:42:26 – 00:08:58:52
Agent Palmer
It took me I mean, the example I give everybody is that, let’s say, we record for 90 minutes. I can edit it in less than 2.5 hours, which is about one and a half to two times the speed, because there are edits to do.
00:08:58:57 – 00:08:59:39
Beth Tabler
Sure.
00:08:59:43 – 00:09:16:29
Agent Palmer
That’s now okay. My first episode took me three days for a like a 90 minute recording, cuz it was like edit for five minutes. Sick of my voice leaving the house. I’m just I’m getting out. I’m getting as far away from that as possible.
00:09:16:34 – 00:09:19:38
Beth Tabler
Why didn’t anybody tell me I sounded like this?
00:09:19:43 – 00:09:34:28
Agent Palmer
I don’t think it was how I sounded. It’s just like I don’t need to hear me, which I guess. Why did I start the podcast if I don’t want to listen to me? But it’s a whole. Yeah, it’s. We grow. It’s fine. Yeah.
00:09:34:33 – 00:09:49:54
Beth Tabler
But I’ve had lately. Okay. Had listening to myself, I’m like, oh yeah, that was that was a pretty good point. I actually I said something useful and it was a good interaction. Okay. Went five years ago that would not have happened, but I would just be cringing.
00:09:49:54 – 00:10:02:31
Agent Palmer
But that’s fine. But if you if you listened to like 20 minutes okay. And you had three great points and missed a follow up, what are you going to remember when it’s all done right?
00:10:02:32 – 00:10:03:17
Beth Tabler
You missed the follow.
00:10:03:17 – 00:10:05:42
Agent Palmer
Yeah yeah yeah. Yep okay.
00:10:05:47 – 00:10:17:19
Beth Tabler
Blog post. But she go through it. It’s wonderful. Great opening closing. Get it up there. You find a spelling mistake. Of course you use the wrong type of two or there something.
00:10:17:19 – 00:10:17:40
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:10:17:48 – 00:10:20:13
Beth Tabler
And now you think everybody thinks you’re a moron.
00:10:20:28 – 00:10:34:38
Agent Palmer
Yeah I feel I feel like, you know, it’s one of those things where, like, I’m okay. It shows I’m human. Which I guess is now more important than ever.
00:10:34:42 – 00:10:36:10
Beth Tabler
Right. Yeah, yeah.
00:10:36:10 – 00:11:11:16
Agent Palmer
And, and that’s fine. But I’m also like, you know, did I get my point across, like, I know that and I’ve read books. I think one of the reasons and you have to be like this, you have to be one of the reasons I’m a little bit easier on myself on some of those things is because I’ve read published books, hardcovers, paperbacks are the worst because, you know, it’s already been looked at again after the hardcover, but I’ve seen grammatical spelling, whatever in printed books, and I’m like, I’m just a one man blog.
00:11:11:16 – 00:11:14:38
Agent Palmer
It’s fine. Like it’s okay.
00:11:14:42 – 00:11:20:55
Beth Tabler
When I like when I do spiff, though. Zippo is, the self-published fantasy blog off.
00:11:21:02 – 00:11:21:40
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:11:21:45 – 00:11:42:34
Beth Tabler
Okay. You get 30 stories to go through or 30 books to go through. And unless it’s really gratuitous, I tend not to latch on to that as a, a judging factor because, like, we’re human, like. Well, and these are people who are doing themselves.
00:11:42:38 – 00:12:15:33
Agent Palmer
And it’s you. I mean, as we all started, it was a second or third job, you know, it was it was my writing from 11 a.m. to one a 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. after the kids were down, or I was done with my work or whatever. And I still have to get up in the morning like I, there are so many creative things that people are trying to build in their whatever free, small, free moments they have that I’m willing to give people the past.
00:12:15:38 – 00:12:28:57
Agent Palmer
However, it’s got to grab me I don’t like. I can forgive your your your grammatical thing, but like, if I don’t like it, I’m, I’m it’s although I say that and I haven’t not finished a book yet.
00:12:29:02 – 00:12:29:52
Beth Tabler
Are you kidding.
00:12:30:07 – 00:12:35:00
Agent Palmer
I, I’ve hate read at least two books in the last decade.
00:12:35:05 – 00:12:43:05
Beth Tabler
I love I love that hate read. I’ve got a couple that I hate read too. Just just want to get done and chucked it across the room.
00:12:43:05 – 00:13:11:21
Agent Palmer
I mean, and it is a thing where, like, there are only two negative book reviews on my site, and part of that look, I have a friend who’s like an editor to me in that it’s another pair of eyes before I go to publish, because you almost need another pair of eyes. Yeah, he’s my main one and he he like, I feel like it was like every holiday and birthday wrapped into one.
00:13:11:21 – 00:13:24:39
Agent Palmer
When I gave him my most recent negative review. And he’s like, you don’t write enough negative things. And I’m like, yes, but I’d rather put positive things into the world. I don’t want to focus on it. This was just so bad I couldn’t keep silent.
00:13:24:50 – 00:13:45:00
Beth Tabler
I had I have a rule about that for recurring, like not every book is going to be for every person. So when I’m reviewing a book and it really didn’t sit with me, I will call out whatever positives I can find to balance out the negatives that I see, because somebody is going to read the review and be like, well, that sounds good to me.
00:13:45:00 – 00:14:01:28
Beth Tabler
I’m going to read that book. Yeah, I don’t, because some bloggers do like really, really like flamboyantly bad reviews and go after the author. And now I know I don’t I don’t do that.
00:14:01:28 – 00:14:22:03
Agent Palmer
I, I believe, I truly believe, because I have a consulting career, basically because the blog and the podcast don’t make any money. However, they are passions and I still enjoy doing them after 10 in 5 or actually more than ten. And when I look after the long period of time that there’s been, I still want to do it.
00:14:22:03 – 00:14:43:09
Agent Palmer
And that’s more important to me than anything else. But I truly believe if I really wanted to make money at it, I could start writing incendiary reviews and I can start editing like they used to. So like, I sound brilliant and you shout like I can do whatever I want. I just choose to be good because yeah, it feels better.
00:14:43:16 – 00:14:44:41
Agent Palmer
I don’t.
00:14:44:46 – 00:15:14:03
Beth Tabler
I don’t, I know I’m with you, okay? I’m with you. I could we could do that. Some sites do that and you know, it grabs people and but I don’t want to do that I and you know authors, authors. This is a baby. You know, blood, sweat and tears. Yeah. I’m going to, even if I don’t like a book, I want to respect that they have created something, you know, 12 to 1 a.m. for five years.
00:15:14:03 – 00:15:20:37
Beth Tabler
Yeah, I, I respect that I’m not going to trash them because it gets me more clicks. It’s just shitty.
00:15:20:42 – 00:15:33:48
Agent Palmer
Yeah. No, it is. So before I want to get back, though, because we completely buried the lead here. Did you always want to be a writer? And, no. I’m not. No.
00:15:33:48 – 00:15:39:58
Beth Tabler
Okay. Actually, no, not at all. So I’ve always been a reader. Okay. My, I come from big reading household.
00:15:39:58 – 00:15:41:19
Agent Palmer
The gateway to writing.
00:15:41:30 – 00:15:49:06
Beth Tabler
Oh, yes. So, so I was I was a big time reader. And at age 11, I discovered Stephen King.
00:15:49:10 – 00:15:51:55
Agent Palmer
Okay, okay.
00:15:51:59 – 00:15:54:58
Beth Tabler
I have actually leaves behind me. I’ve got the king Bo.
00:15:55:03 – 00:16:23:04
Agent Palmer
I’m. And I know I’m not one of them, by the way. Like, I know somebody I talked to was like, you’re, there are like, three kinds of readers. There’s someone who discovered Stephen King too young. There’s someone who discovered someone else, and then there’s a Group three, which is me, by the way. But like, I that wasn’t me, but I it it begs the immediate question of if you found Stephen King at 11 and you’re still a reader now, have you been a reader the whole time?
00:16:23:17 – 00:16:23:42
Beth Tabler
Yes.
00:16:23:47 – 00:16:56:06
Agent Palmer
Okay. Because that makes you almost a unicorn, because, like, I feel like my story of, like I was a reader up until about 13 or 14, 15. And in that time I did take on like the classic Arthur C Clarke and Tolkien. And then around high school and college, I stopped, reading completely, and I started up again in my late 20s, early 30s, and I turned myself back into a reader.
00:16:56:11 – 00:17:14:14
Agent Palmer
And, you know, anybody who’s followed my blog knows, like, there’s a lot of book reviews there. And that’s kind of when it continued. And now I’m a reader again. But if you’ve been going the whole time, like I, that’s impressive to me. Like I’m almost into all of that because everybody has ebbs and flows.
00:17:14:17 – 00:17:38:57
Beth Tabler
Well, I’ll tell you. So I started it. Stephen King yep. And that got me interested in Dean Koontz, because Stephen King is always next to Dean Koontz. Yeah, in the library. You know, they’re like all contemporaries. And I’m like, oh, I like Dean Koontz. And that got me started on other horror authors. Okay. Which got me started on Dark Fantasy, which got me started like it was a it was a it.
00:17:38:57 – 00:17:43:30
Agent Palmer
Was a slow roll, but it did it did kind of evolve into other things.
00:17:43:35 – 00:17:47:49
Beth Tabler
And I’m really into lists like I love crossing stuff off of lists.
00:17:48:04 – 00:17:49:25
Agent Palmer
I mean.
00:17:49:30 – 00:17:55:02
Beth Tabler
So for longest time I carried okay, you might see my geek. I’m going to show you my games.
00:17:55:03 – 00:17:56:28
Agent Palmer
Okay?
00:17:56:33 – 00:18:16:23
Beth Tabler
Okay. So I’m going to show you, but I’m going to talk about. Yeah, yeah. All right. So I have a book of books okay. And as I go along I would go through and try to read all of that like the canonical list of best science fiction. Okay, I try to go through because there’s a reason why they’ve been selected.
00:18:16:23 – 00:18:43:14
Beth Tabler
Gotcha. And every time I did that, I would learn something of why one of those books and selected some classic science fiction. Yeah, you know, protest science fiction, women, science fiction, or, you know, going into fantasy, all the different types of fantasy and it educated me. Okay. So that was my 20s and my 30s, and now I’m in my 40s, and now I’m doing the blogging and I’m doing the editing.
00:18:43:14 – 00:18:46:57
Beth Tabler
So it was a really great place to it’s.
00:18:46:57 – 00:18:48:31
Agent Palmer
A great baseline wholly.
00:18:48:31 – 00:18:50:10
Beth Tabler
To where I am now. Yeah.
00:18:50:15 – 00:18:58:03
Agent Palmer
And I, I am I only do you read other stuff. You’re not just in fantasy and horror like you’re reading.
00:18:58:06 – 00:18:58:58
Beth Tabler
I read authors. Okay.
00:18:59:02 – 00:19:18:54
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Because I, I keep saying this and eventually maybe it’ll happen. But like, Clive Barker is as close to horror as I get. Okay, that’s fairly great. No, you know, that’s right. But I’m not into the rest of it, which was, a shock to a friend of mine who I used to watch horror movies with. And I was like, I just like hanging out with the crew.
00:19:19:03 – 00:19:49:24
Agent Palmer
I didn’t really give a crap about the movie. Like, it’s whatever. But I it’s one of those things where when you talk about the list, it reminds me of, And this is a geek trait, I believe. Nerd, geek. Whatever. It’s the completionists in all of us, like, I there are Clive Barker’s now, my current one, but, like, actually, I have a few concurrent ones, but like, there are a list of authors I can name off that I read.
00:19:49:25 – 00:20:16:23
Agent Palmer
I was like, I’m going to read all of his stuff in the order it was published, because I’m sure I will see the transition in his writing. And I feel like we’ve all we’ve not everybody’s maybe you or me and has done it with multiple authors, but I everybody’s done it with like un author or maybe, you know, more contemporary, like you find a band you like and you go back and you listen to their first, there’s like their discography in order, right?
00:20:16:29 – 00:20:41:59
Beth Tabler
So you can see their transition. Yeah. Yes, I do that. I actually have a name for the one I’m on right now. I call it The King’s Quest. Okay, okay. Because I have started at the very top of Stephen King’s writing. Yeah, everything that he has ever published, and I’m trying to read through everything he has ever published since the 70s, actually late 60s, every short story, every article.
00:20:42:04 – 00:20:49:52
Beth Tabler
And it’s fun because I got to the cocaine years. Okay. I it’s really crazy.
00:20:50:03 – 00:21:19:30
Agent Palmer
I, I, I, I haven’t done it with anybody that prolific. Not not in terms of writing like I’ve, I’m listening to a bunch of artists, albums all the way through right now from the 60s through, because I wanted to see how they bounced off each other and how they, move through each other. And Zappa is the one that’s been the most fun because he’s the one that he pushed as many boundaries as possible.
00:21:19:30 – 00:21:42:44
Agent Palmer
But I’m in the early 90s, and Zappa doesn’t seem to care what time it is. Like some of these albums are really good, but they could have been out in the 70s 80s or like they could have been released posthumously. Like he doesn’t care. And I feel like it’s my lesson. Takeaway from that lesson is like, you don’t have to care.
00:21:42:56 – 00:21:52:52
Agent Palmer
It can be 2024, it can be 2030, right? Make what you want. No one cares. It’s completely fine.
00:21:52:57 – 00:21:57:07
Beth Tabler
I, I listen to the Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums.
00:21:57:12 – 00:21:58:09
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:21:58:14 – 00:22:22:02
Beth Tabler
So did you I did, I did because I wanted to learn about. Well, I wanted to hear all the great music. Okay. I love music. So, you know, so I went through and listened to from what, the 20s. I think they started at the 20s and then moved through blues era. Yeah. You know, and wheels through and you know, that was it went to the late 90s when I, when it stopped.
00:22:22:07 – 00:22:23:13
Beth Tabler
So I list all I.
00:22:23:13 – 00:22:34:41
Agent Palmer
Mean, if I wanted to be that guy, I could be like, that’s fine. That’s where music ends anyway. But I won’t do that, I won’t, I will. I didn’t say that. I didn’t say anything about that guy. It’s fine.
00:22:34:45 – 00:22:38:31
Beth Tabler
00:22:39:26 – 00:22:50:52
Agent Palmer
All right, so, you’re you’re a reader as your gateway to writing. Yeah. When did you finally, like, decide, like, oh, maybe I should attempt this.
00:22:50:56 – 00:23:19:06
Beth Tabler
So the name I have, I’m the editor of grimdark magazine. I’m one of the the editors. Head editors. And I’m editor of the, monthly court quarterly magazine. Okay, okay. And also, I have my own site before we go blog, and that’s where I have, you know, 20 some odd bloggers that submit articles and stuff underneath me when I first started.
00:23:19:10 – 00:23:43:04
Beth Tabler
Before we go was a nod to my lists. Okay, so before I go, you know, let’s read before I, you know, before I die, let’s read, let’s cook. And I had a life list and I would go through and I would do, you know, a life list item. And then I would talk about it. Okay. And that was going along.
00:23:43:05 – 00:24:04:00
Beth Tabler
And, you know, I do want a week or whatever. And then I started, like, I read this book, I’m going to talk about this book, and then I read this book, I’m going to talk about this book. It just and then and then December came along and it was, you know, blog 30 days straight, like 30 days, fresh blogs.
00:24:04:05 – 00:24:18:55
Beth Tabler
I could do that. So I did that. Well, then, Jim, I’m going to do that again. So I did that and it just sort of kept going, keep going. And so, Before We Go blog became a book site from that.
00:24:19:00 – 00:24:19:54
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:24:19:59 – 00:24:23:26
Beth Tabler
Yeah. And it’s, you know, but originally it was a list site.
00:24:23:31 – 00:24:26:21
Agent Palmer
I think it might still be a list site.
00:24:26:26 – 00:24:33:16
Beth Tabler
Yeah. Well, well, it was, it was very much a list site. Like I walked a mile backwards for fun.
00:24:33:23 – 00:24:38:59
Agent Palmer
Okay. Did you fall like. I don’t know if I could do that. No, I don’t.
00:24:39:01 – 00:24:50:30
Beth Tabler
Apparently in the rest of the world, that’s actually an exercise. Like that’s an exercise. That’s a people compete doing that is actually really backwards. Yes, I yeah.
00:24:50:35 – 00:24:52:28
Agent Palmer
I did you do it by yourself.
00:24:52:30 – 00:24:53:02
Beth Tabler
No.
00:24:53:02 – 00:24:54:08
Agent Palmer
You had a friend.
00:24:54:12 – 00:25:07:44
Beth Tabler
I had some friends of mine. They went with me. Okay. I’m going to like oh I’m going to go walk a mile backwards. So we went to the park and there was a pond and there was a running trail, and we just.
00:25:07:49 – 00:25:17:48
Beth Tabler
Had such a great memory because it was so funny. And it was fun, you know, it’s, Yeah. So we walked a mile backwards. I had a whole bunch of stuff like that.
00:25:17:53 – 00:25:24:00
Agent Palmer
I mean, do you do you get a chance? I mean, you’ve got a lot of hats and things going on right now.
00:25:24:02 – 00:25:25:00
Beth Tabler
No.
00:25:25:05 – 00:25:29:35
Agent Palmer
Do you, do you want to go back to that, that initial list?
00:25:29:40 – 00:25:41:46
Beth Tabler
No. I mean, what I still want to do stuff for fun like that. I don’t want to I don’t want to do blogging of that. Okay. That’s fair. It’s just I I’ve got to be realistic with myself.
00:25:42:01 – 00:25:56:09
Agent Palmer
Well, so here’s a question. Is this new, like five years like years ago, it would if I had asked you that question, would you have been like, of course I’m going to get back to that list for the blog. And now you’ve grown like, is that now or now?
00:25:56:09 – 00:26:00:26
Beth Tabler
As soon as it became as soon as it became a book site, that’s where I was all in.
00:26:00:39 – 00:26:01:17
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:26:01:22 – 00:26:02:45
Beth Tabler
I jumped in with both feet.
00:26:02:59 – 00:26:15:11
Agent Palmer
Okay. When would you have started it as a book site like from the get go, or did you need that kind of gentle like, I did this thing and I want to write about it. And then if I.
00:26:15:12 – 00:26:39:45
Beth Tabler
Needed that, okay, I needed that. Like I needed to write about something that I was comfortable and I could be funny about and then transition, okay, to writing and interviewing. You know, that was that was something that came a little bit later, like I was putting out the blog post. I’m like, well, I think that I could interview somebody that I could, I could do it.
00:26:39:49 – 00:26:41:54
Beth Tabler
What what are they going to say? No. Okay.
00:26:41:59 – 00:26:47:21
Agent Palmer
So it’s so when you do the interviews, is it Q&A in text form sometimes.
00:26:47:22 – 00:26:54:54
Beth Tabler
Okay. I’ve done both. I’ve done both interviews on YouTube. Okay. Video interviews. And I’ve done a lot of Q&A in text form.
00:26:54:57 – 00:27:20:38
Agent Palmer
Okay. Because I the, the, I guess what you could call the early version of the Palmer files was something I put on the blog as interrogations, which was emails back and forth of me asking you questions and you answering them and me giving you like I usually set it up as it’s like three rounds. So like I get some follow up, and maybe a third follow up.
00:27:20:38 – 00:27:37:34
Agent Palmer
And then I would take God, this podcast is so much easier than this. And then I would take all of the Q and A’s and follow ups, and I would try and put them in an order that made conversational sense. When you’re reading it, it’s not completely like, what’s your favorite color? What kind of food do you like?
00:27:37:34 – 00:27:53:29
Agent Palmer
Like it was just so like it kind of bounced based on wherever the conversation was going, which is not the easiest thing in the world. And then I’d send it to them and I’d be like, I rewrote a couple of these questions so they can go from one to the next. And I did about 13 or 14 of them.
00:27:53:44 – 00:28:13:15
Agent Palmer
But now that I’m telling you this and thinking about it like, oh my God, this like, why didn’t this podcast is so much easier? Like that? It was so much extra. But like, you’re right, there is a point when you start out well, you’re like the worst that they can say is no.
00:28:13:20 – 00:28:16:57
Beth Tabler
Yeah, no. But but they get something from me.
00:28:16:57 – 00:28:17:50
Agent Palmer
Oh sure.
00:28:17:55 – 00:28:41:05
Beth Tabler
You know, if I can offer if it’s mutually beneficial, there’s no reason not to do it. I mean, unless they don’t have time or whatever, I make it as easy as possible. Mutually beneficial. It’s free. Yeah. You know, so that’s that’s kind of the, the, the mental energy I put into it in the beginning.
00:28:41:10 – 00:28:46:14
Agent Palmer
And did you have a any journalism benefit background in.
00:28:46:25 – 00:28:54:45
Beth Tabler
I’m actually a landscape architect. Okay. And, and a master gardener like that’s that’s my background. But wait.
00:28:54:45 – 00:28:58:12
Agent Palmer
Hold on. Did you always live where you live now?
00:28:58:17 – 00:28:58:42
Beth Tabler
No.
00:28:58:42 – 00:28:59:16
Agent Palmer
Okay, good.
00:28:59:16 – 00:29:26:27
Beth Tabler
Because I am born and raised here, and I went to, you know, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Okay. And I got my landscape architecture degree, and I was a expert on, Zurich landscape, you know, but when, like 2008, when the big recession happened, I lost my job. Like every other person who worked in construction, and I have a family, and I had to figure out something to do.
00:29:26:27 – 00:29:36:20
Beth Tabler
So I moved up and stayed on my friend’s couch looking for jobs. Everybody wanted to hire me. Nobody could.
00:29:36:24 – 00:29:37:31
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:29:37:36 – 00:29:54:07
Beth Tabler
And so I took work at Ikea for, benefits because they offer benefits for part time. Okay, so I kept us in health insurance and my husband went to school, okay. And we lived on their couches until we could get ourself back on our feet. But we lost everything.
00:29:54:16 – 00:30:12:54
Agent Palmer
So the only reason I bring it up is because I think of and this is my East Coast naivete, and I get it, okay? I wear it proudly, I guess. But like when I think of Vegas or even Nevada, I go, well, how can you be a master gardener there? There’s not.
00:30:13:00 – 00:30:38:18
Beth Tabler
Oh yeah. Yeah. So you kind of, you kind of think, okay, so like there are biomes, there are. Okay. Intricate systems of plants and stuff. Even in the desert, you know, there are beautiful architectural plants, okay. And you can do things with those plants. You just have to change your, your, your frame of what you want it to look like.
00:30:38:32 – 00:30:44:42
Agent Palmer
Okay? It doesn’t have to all be grass based. No, you can’t grass here. I mean yeah that’s right.
00:30:44:42 – 00:30:54:30
Beth Tabler
No, no, no, I totally get it. It’s just it just you can make really beautiful things. You just have to think about it a little different. It’s way more architectural and structural looking.
00:30:54:32 – 00:30:57:28
Agent Palmer
Do you get to have any of this as a hobby?
00:30:57:28 – 00:31:00:01
Beth Tabler
Yeah, well, it’s a hobby now because I can’t do it anymore. But it’s.
00:31:00:01 – 00:31:04:02
Agent Palmer
Still it. But it is still a hobby. Like you still have some time for this.
00:31:04:02 – 00:31:05:36
Beth Tabler
Well, I garden now.
00:31:05:36 – 00:31:09:06
Agent Palmer
Okay. I guess that’s close enough to making the rest of it.
00:31:09:06 – 00:31:29:48
Beth Tabler
I mean, I don’t want to go back to landscape architecture, okay? I think I was ever really happy in landscape architecture because. Because, like, the design was cool. Okay. Designing is cool. Actually working in a construction field sucks, especially as a woman. I got to be honest. And I maybe it’s different now, but it was like an old boys club.
00:31:29:52 – 00:31:33:05
Agent Palmer
I can’t imagine it doesn’t feel like it’s changed.
00:31:33:10 – 00:31:45:19
Beth Tabler
Yeah, I had one time where, they asked me if I could hire a stripper, for the construction team because they had a big win and they wanted me to hire. They wanted me to find them a stripper.
00:31:45:24 – 00:31:46:26
Agent Palmer
Okay. Like.
00:31:46:30 – 00:32:10:21
Beth Tabler
It’s just. And, like, smoking cigars. And I’ve had people ask me, you know, are you going to go get the coffee? Which is. Yeah, it’s just it’s the assumption. Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with being, you know, an assistant or whatever. It’s just the assumption that I automatically would be there to, to do that. This is hard. And I was just dumb.
00:32:10:27 – 00:32:11:50
Beth Tabler
It’s fucking dumb. So.
00:32:11:55 – 00:32:21:59
Agent Palmer
But you are. But now in the editorial writing, internet space, you are happy. Like, I mean, I’m.
00:32:21:59 – 00:32:22:26
Beth Tabler
So.
00:32:22:26 – 00:32:29:24
Agent Palmer
Happy. It’s this is like. But you wanted to be a master gardener like that was at one time.
00:32:29:29 – 00:32:43:21
Beth Tabler
No, it’s still. I wanted to be a master. I got my master gardener, five years ago. Okay. And I got my master gardener up in Portland because, I moved up to Portland to look for work.
00:32:43:29 – 00:32:44:03
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:32:44:08 – 00:33:11:00
Beth Tabler
Like I’m a mess. Completely different. I can’t back down. Yeah. Completely different. I came back down because my my father was dying, and I wanted to have my my daughter around him and me around him and his less, you know, year of life. So we came back down. But yeah, it was I just wanted to garden. Looks like just wanted to I like gardening.
00:33:11:05 – 00:33:27:45
Agent Palmer
I mean, I just there’s a part of me and this is a, theme that runs through the whole show. No matter who I’m talking to, that always feels like my heart grows three sizes. When I talk to somebody is busy. Is you that still has a hobby.
00:33:27:50 – 00:33:30:58
Beth Tabler
Oh, yeah, like I have. I have a couple hobbies, but but.
00:33:31:02 – 00:33:47:12
Agent Palmer
But to find anyone with a non monetized hobby these days feels like a rarity. Like it feels like. I can’t believe you’re not doing gardening on YouTube. Why don’t you turn that into a stream? You know, I’m saying.
00:33:47:26 – 00:33:48:42
Beth Tabler
You’re missing out on gardening.
00:33:48:45 – 00:34:01:37
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it’s just it’s just, I just it’s just, I. I just like the idea that there’s something for you. So it allows me to ask this very important question. Do you do any reading just for you?
00:34:01:42 – 00:34:02:09
Beth Tabler
Yes.
00:34:02:09 – 00:34:02:56
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:34:03:01 – 00:34:20:44
Beth Tabler
Matter of fact, this year, actually. So I lost my, I lost my uncle in May 2023. I lost my father in June of 2023, and then I lost my aunt in September of 2023, roughly.
00:34:20:55 – 00:34:22:12
Agent Palmer
But bad year all around.
00:34:22:12 – 00:34:52:40
Beth Tabler
Bad year that just. And it was all the same generation. I just died one after another and I got to a point where, like, I had to take care of me. Yeah, I’ve got to read stuff that I want to read because otherwise I’m going to have a panic attack. Like, I just I can’t I had to step away from pushing, revealing stuff that like, I didn’t pick.
00:34:52:44 – 00:34:53:30
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:34:53:35 – 00:35:02:05
Beth Tabler
You know, because I had to I had to read the fluffiest, dumbest books I could possibly find, like fluffy smut.
00:35:02:05 – 00:35:07:28
Agent Palmer
Yeah, whatever. Whatever. You’re what you. Whenever your candy is, that’s what you needed. And that’s fine.
00:35:07:33 – 00:35:37:24
Beth Tabler
And I just. And and I’m a grim, dark lover. Like give me dark. Yeah. Give me, give me the, the gray soul a fantasy and I, I can’t I saying can I get, can I get vampire love please. And I sort of started coming out of that now, you know, it’s still I was very close to my dad, so it’s still very hard.
00:35:37:29 – 00:35:50:48
Beth Tabler
Right now, I’ve been reading a lot of, fanfiction and then delving into fanfiction a bit because I found that a lot of the authors that I had interviewed got their start in fanfiction.
00:35:50:53 – 00:35:51:26
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:35:51:31 – 00:35:56:11
Beth Tabler
A lot of them did I or the Royal Road I it’s called the Royal Road.
00:35:56:18 – 00:36:02:29
Agent Palmer
I feel like there’s a lot of misconceptions about me. In fact.
00:36:02:34 – 00:36:03:36
Beth Tabler
There’s that law.
00:36:03:41 – 00:36:28:51
Agent Palmer
But if there’s one thing I know about it and I’ve only read little bits and pieces here and there, it’s that that’s equal to the published stuff in terms of they spent from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. trying to piece this together, even if it’s like a paragraph at a time or on breaks at work or whatever.
00:36:28:51 – 00:36:43:43
Agent Palmer
Like that. Those are whatever you think of them. It’s just like all the other books out there. They’re labors of love, and you have to respect the process. You don’t have to like the end result, but you have to respect the process.
00:36:43:48 – 00:37:00:01
Beth Tabler
Yeah, I agree with you entirely. I’ve been on I’ve been reading a lot of Harry Potter. I don’t necessarily like Harry Potter as a bunch of fantasy books. I kind of it’s a little too cutesy now for me.
00:37:00:01 – 00:37:24:18
Agent Palmer
I’ve never I’ve, I’m look, I’m, I’ve never read them. I’ve watched half of one of the movies like, it’s one of the things I missed completely. I think, I guess this was when I was the snob. Like, you and I are similar of age, so we were older at that point, and I guess having been a younger Tolkien reader, I would be.
00:37:24:18 – 00:37:27:54
Beth Tabler
Talking tattoo, by the way. Yes.
00:37:27:59 – 00:37:49:02
Agent Palmer
Okay. But having been a younger Tolkien reader, I went, I don’t need your your, your your boy wizard and I’m cool. And it just kind of avoided now people tell me I like them and I don’t think I wouldn’t, at this point, it’s just I got enough other books to read. Sure, I’ll get to them when I get to them, but,
00:37:49:07 – 00:38:20:17
Beth Tabler
The last books, the last. Because the last book is really good. Okay. Is excellent. Because it matures, I can read the last book, but I can’t, I can’t I don’t like her for her politics either, so I tend not to support monetarily if I don’t, because it’s the only power I have. Yeah, right. You know, but I read I know the characters really well, so I read when they become adults.
00:38:20:17 – 00:38:56:24
Beth Tabler
Okay, I read, I read a book manacled. And this is like when I think this is one of the most famous fan fictions out there. Okay. Manacled. I actually bought arc of her. I got a hardcover. It is it easily top five best books I’ve ever read? Okay. Easily. And that’s that’s trad. Indie. Everything okay? It’s just has this immense depth of character that that the Harry Potter books don’t have.
00:38:56:29 – 00:39:04:08
Beth Tabler
But she made into this great. It’s it’s three books all smashed into one.
00:39:04:13 – 00:39:09:39
Agent Palmer
How how often do you read outside your comfort zone? And,
00:39:09:53 – 00:39:20:51
Beth Tabler
Not for they try to. Not so much now. Okay. But I try to read outside my comfort zone because I’m always looking for something that’s going to affect me.
00:39:20:58 – 00:39:21:51
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:39:21:56 – 00:39:30:55
Beth Tabler
You know, that’s going to leave me with something like, leave me with a feeling I’ve discovered lots of really great authors that way.
00:39:31:08 – 00:40:00:50
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I up for me it all. I’ll a lot of the recent like books that have had a profound impact on me and I guess is to be expected. I’m very much a mini me of my father to, to, to to a large degree, not a copy, but, yeah, when he got rid of when he was downsizing their their library, I asked the most dangerous question you could ask.
00:40:01:04 – 00:40:10:29
Agent Palmer
I didn’t ask what books should I keep? I asked, what books should I read? And so I ended up with, like, all of them because, like, it’s like.
00:40:10:36 – 00:40:11:44
Beth Tabler
You should got.
00:40:11:44 – 00:40:37:08
Agent Palmer
Them. Yeah, yeah, we should. You should read all and so there have been some within that collection, that I’m like, this is amazing. And look, my father, is from a generation that grew up. He’s a boomer. So, like, they got some amazing authors in the 60s and 70s that. Yeah, I, I read some of these books and I go.
00:40:37:13 – 00:41:02:31
Agent Palmer
This is profound and it’s amazing. And no one will ever write like this ever again. And I, I there’s a part of me, I’m not trying to be elitist when I say that. I just feel like the the temperature of the world from like 60 to 80 and everything in between was such that if you wanted to be a creative and you had a story to say, you didn’t have to acquiesce to anything.
00:41:02:36 – 00:41:10:35
Agent Palmer
If it was a good story. And I think even now, you have to acquiesce a little bit, even if it’s a good story.
00:41:10:40 – 00:41:34:57
Beth Tabler
Now, that’s only that’s only you find that only in, trad, okay. Because you don’t find that in indie publishing. Because indie publishing, I can publish whatever the hell that they want, and they can, you know, it depends on if it’s going to get picked up, but they can publish what they want. I, which is one of the best parts of indie indie fantasy and science fiction horror books.
00:41:35:02 – 00:41:38:00
Beth Tabler
But, because they let it all hang out, it is.
00:41:38:05 – 00:42:00:55
Agent Palmer
It is overwhelming, though. Like, because I, I don’t know what the statistic is, but it’s like when you talk about indie publishing, it’s like how many millions of books are going to come out in a year that just traditional books there’s a lot of publishing to, but like, it’s just the tonnage of sifting through. And thankfully there are blogs like yours that will help sift through some of it.
00:42:01:02 – 00:42:07:46
Agent Palmer
But even your blog can only sift through so much of it, like you’re still not covering.
00:42:07:51 – 00:42:29:16
Beth Tabler
We have. We had to close our requests because, I mean, I would get requests. If I have my requests open, I would easily get 20 requests a day, 20 different book requests a day. Yeah. From authors. And that’s, you know, more power to them. That’s how you get your foot in the door. Yeah, but I am we’re just people.
00:42:29:29 – 00:42:30:27
Agent Palmer
You.
00:42:30:32 – 00:42:36:53
Beth Tabler
Know, we’re people with jobs and you know, who just like to be a part of this community and you.
00:42:36:53 – 00:42:41:07
Agent Palmer
Need to eat and sleep. I mean, there are other things other than like.
00:42:41:12 – 00:42:47:48
Beth Tabler
Sleep and and, you know, I occasionally like to hang out with my husband.
00:42:47:53 – 00:42:52:27
Agent Palmer
Who’s that stranger still typing in the other room, I think.
00:42:52:30 – 00:43:08:59
Beth Tabler
Yeah. Like it’s. Yeah. So we’ve had to close, we’ve had to close a request down. And it has become just what whatever they want to read and I trust I trust them to go for whatever they want to read and they have their own voices.
00:43:09:01 – 00:43:35:15
Agent Palmer
Okay. So this is, very, I guess it philosophical, but it comes from the blog perspective. I if at all possible, we’ll try and write a review, whether it’s a book from 1965, movie from 1972, or a movie from 2000. Sure. I will always try and write it in a spoiler free way.
00:43:35:20 – 00:43:37:06
Beth Tabler
Yes, me too.
00:43:37:11 – 00:44:00:31
Agent Palmer
I. I find that there are plenty of people that are like, but you don’t get to talk about the thing. And I’m like, that’s what talking to somebody else who’s already read it is for. That’s not what my review is for. Also, I go in as dumb as humanly possible. I don’t read the dust jackets. I don’t read the book covers.
00:44:00:35 – 00:44:10:33
Agent Palmer
There have been times when trying to figure out what spoiler free means, that I will read those things, and I go, and that I can’t believe you spoiled that thing.
00:44:10:38 – 00:44:11:31
Beth Tabler
Yeah.
00:44:11:35 – 00:44:29:42
Agent Palmer
On the dust jacket. What is happening? Yeah, but is that like, you try and make sure everybody keeps it as spoiler free as you want? Anybody that reads your review and takes your advice to have the same great surprise.
00:44:29:47 – 00:44:55:41
Beth Tabler
Yeah. So that’s one of the things that, you know, I don’t have a lot of rules because like I said, I like people have their own voices. So they all know as because they’re all heavy duty readers themselves. Okay. Yeah. They’re not trying to spoil the action. Very occasionally, if they have to spoil something, it’s a spoil tag and they’ll have a it’s blacked out.
00:44:55:45 – 00:44:56:48
Beth Tabler
You can click on it if you.
00:44:56:49 – 00:44:58:01
Agent Palmer
Okay. All right.
00:44:58:06 – 00:45:21:31
Beth Tabler
We try to protect that as much as possible. But the way that I write reviews is that stories are usually told in three acts, right. Yep. You know, so I will talk about the first act. I will allude to the second act. And I will talk very generally about the third act very, very generally. Okay. You know, the feelings I got after reading the third act, but I won’t give spoilers away.
00:45:21:32 – 00:45:44:52
Beth Tabler
Okay. And that seems that seems to work, you know, because I’m giving basis of information. Usually the first act is already covered in the, the blurb. Yeah. You know, and then then going into the second act, I might talk a little bit about the characters and stuff just so people get an idea of what’s, what’s going on with this book, and then that’s it.
00:45:44:57 – 00:45:51:19
Beth Tabler
Yeah. You know, I don’t want to I don’t it’s not an essay on the book. It’s a how I felt about the book.
00:45:51:23 – 00:45:51:41
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:45:51:52 – 00:45:57:24
Beth Tabler
You know, I wrote an essay about the book to be completely different.
00:45:57:28 – 00:46:02:19
Agent Palmer
All right, so before I let you go, I want to ask a name.
00:46:02:23 – 00:46:03:33
Beth Tabler
Yeah, it’s been an hour.
00:46:03:33 – 00:46:11:49
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I want to ask the most dangerous question I can ask you. Okay? Because I can only think there’s one very dangerous question to ask you.
00:46:11:53 – 00:46:13:14
Beth Tabler
You can ask me what my favorite book is.
00:46:13:14 – 00:46:26:32
Agent Palmer
No, I was going to ask you to suggest, like, three books to the listening order. Just just three random ones. Doesn’t have to be. Anything you’ve read in the last year could be something you read 20 years ago, but just three book suggestions.
00:46:26:36 – 00:46:37:15
Beth Tabler
All right, so let me think here. I’ll give I’ll give three general ones. Okay. I just interviewed Matt Denman. Do you know him? Do you know Matt? Gentlemen, the.
00:46:37:15 – 00:46:38:54
Agent Palmer
Names you’re familiar?
00:46:38:59 – 00:46:44:08
Beth Tabler
Yeah. He wrote, dungeon. Dungeon crawler. Carl.
00:46:44:10 – 00:46:45:21
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:46:45:26 – 00:47:13:05
Beth Tabler
He and and the best. And it became the best audio series I ever heard. Ever. Okay. It’s his series, their six books so far. If you can listen to them, they’re some of the greatest thing you will ever hear. Okay? Just. It’s just amazing, all right? It’s like, like, if you had the darkest grim, dark and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy smushed together, that would be the series.
00:47:13:11 – 00:47:46:23
Beth Tabler
Okay, okay. So definitely that, for indie authors, I always tell people that I am the head of a fan club. Okay, but there’s something called bitterness, which it’s a series by Dirk Ashton. Okay. And they’re amazing. He went did he did years of research on all of the different, deities from cultures around the world. And he took that information and he created a giant war with all these different deities coming together.
00:47:46:30 – 00:47:47:12
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:47:47:17 – 00:47:56:42
Beth Tabler
And, you know, you have something like American Gods. Yeah, but this is this is not that. This is way more epic, okay, than American Gods. American Gods is more like.
00:47:56:51 – 00:47:57:36
Agent Palmer
It’s a little.
00:47:57:41 – 00:48:13:38
Beth Tabler
Urban. Yeah. Urban fantasy. This is not okay. This is like straight up saying it’s amazing. Let’s see, let’s see the horror. One of my favorite horror series is by Michael Grant. Who who’s actually Sean Maguire.
00:48:13:43 – 00:48:14:43
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:48:14:48 – 00:48:28:39
Beth Tabler
Really prolific fantasy writer. And it’s, you’ll appreciate this as a blogger. Okay. I did, I’ll show you. It’s, the News Flash series.
00:48:28:44 – 00:48:29:37
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:48:29:42 – 00:48:54:51
Beth Tabler
A good friend of mine actually went to and got all of them for me and got them all signed for me, which is a nice present. In the future, a virus gets out, people catch it, they turn to zombies. But that would sound kind of stupid, except it gives, like, a real idea of how people react in that situation.
00:48:54:56 – 00:49:23:08
Beth Tabler
Okay, it was more realistic and the news and stuff lies to everybody. So the truth comes from bloggers, people on the ground because they don’t have it. They just start telling the truth. Yeah. And it’s, you know, ten years in the future of what the world looks like after the bloggers have told real truths and how that has shaped society, like how the bloggers become actual news people.
00:49:23:08 – 00:49:50:58
Beth Tabler
And it’s and there’s a story around it and it’s fantastic because Sean Maguire is I don’t know how many Hugo Award she has, but she’s a great author and this is just her in her, horror horror realm. I just I love that series. There’s so many. I mean, I’m surrounded by cold books right now, but those are three that, I really liked that I really like.
00:49:50:58 – 00:50:03:23
Beth Tabler
They’re all series. I think the first one.
00:50:03:28 – 00:50:24:47
Agent Palmer
So now that you’ve arrived here at the end, having more than a few book recommendations and self-serving leave from myself and Beth, two websites full of even more recommendations, I want to ask you what you’re reading. And here’s the thing about that question it’s not loaded. Like Beth, who has been through a lot, she’s given herself a break and found her candy reading, as it were.
00:50:25:01 – 00:50:48:09
Agent Palmer
Things that she reads just to feel good. I personally count reading as candy, regardless of the material. And as I write this, I’ve just finished the most contemporary nonfiction read I’ve done in the last few decades, and I still consider it candy. Perhaps that’s, you know, because I fell out of reading, but I’m just happy to be back in it, even after I’ve been doing so for over a decade.
00:50:48:15 – 00:51:10:02
Agent Palmer
So what are you reading? Let me know. But before I go, let me ask you one additional question. Are you in touch with your family’s oldest generation? Beth documented the recent loss of three from the same generation in her family. I have one such great grand family left, and I admittedly am not in contact like I should be.
00:51:10:07 – 00:51:33:04
Agent Palmer
The point is, these things aren’t forever. I still cherish memories from my direct grandparents, none of whom remain, and the great grandparents I was lucky enough to have any time with when I was old enough to remember it. It doesn’t have to go that far back, though, does it? When was the last time you spoke to your parents, uncles, aunts, or even chosen family of close friends?
00:51:33:08 – 00:51:54:50
Agent Palmer
I’m not talking about text. I’m talking about a coffee, a meal, or a phone call. Don’t wait until they’re gone to remember them. Remember that they’re here now and enjoy whatever time you have. We’re all busy, so make the time. I promise you won’t regret it. And you probably won’t forget it either. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 129.
00:51:54:50 – 00:52:14:27
Agent Palmer
And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact Beth and myself in the show notes. You can find Beth’s work on before we go Blogger.com or Grimdark magazine.com. The music for this episode was provided by Henno Heitur.
00:52:14:39 – 00:52:26:17
Agent Palmer
Email can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com. And remember, you’re home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.
00:52:26:22 – 00:52:40:53
Unknown
And you?
00:52:40:58 – 00:52:58:52
Unknown
Be.
00:52:58:57 – 00:53:08:31
Unknown
Me?
00:53:08:36 – 00:53:11:05
Agent Palmer
All right, Beth, you have one final question for me.
00:53:11:10 – 00:53:23:17
Beth Tabler
I do. So you asked me what? Three books that I would recommend to people. Yes. Right. I want to know what three books you would recommend to people because you’re just as big a geek as I am.
00:53:23:22 – 00:53:49:40
Agent Palmer
I knew this was. You know, when I asked the question, I knew I knew that. Okay. So, let’s see. All right. I think I will say it like it would be easy for me to say, like, these are the authors I’ve been reading through and like, I’ll pick one from each, but I don’t want to do that because it feels too cheap.
00:53:49:45 – 00:53:54:09
Agent Palmer
I will say,
00:53:54:14 – 00:54:15:10
Agent Palmer
I have to I have to look at my shelf. I, one of the books, one of the authors I’ve been reading through is Douglas Coupland. And, he one of the smaller books he did. I’m. I don’t remember the illustrator he worked with, but he did, and I, I did review this one on the blog.
00:54:15:15 – 00:54:20:37
Agent Palmer
But he did a book called Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People. And it is.
00:54:20:37 – 00:54:22:53
Beth Tabler
Basically I saw that on your blog.
00:54:22:55 – 00:54:48:54
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it’s it’s basically a children’s book for adults. It’s a crayon that wants to, like, hurt the teachers in the school. He lives, that kind of stuff. And it just it’s kind of when we talk about needing, like, candy. As far as content to consume, this was the best I’d have consumed in a long time.
00:54:48:58 – 00:54:51:50
Beth Tabler
So I’m going to go read it now. Yeah, that’s right up my back.
00:54:52:05 – 00:55:13:54
Agent Palmer
It’s just it’s and it’s it’s an afternoon. But anybody who takes my suggestion to get that book, I really suggest that you treat it like, a real book and that you read one story a day, let it simmer it like it. I read it in an afternoon, and then I picked it up again because I was like, I want to read this again.
00:55:13:54 – 00:55:19:03
Agent Palmer
It’s fun. Just read like a story a day, like, let it simmer. It’s it’s really good.
00:55:19:05 – 00:55:20:31
Beth Tabler
That’s okay.
00:55:20:33 – 00:55:22:04
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:55:22:08 – 00:55:24:56
Beth Tabler
Patrick Rothfuss actually did something very similar.
00:55:24:56 – 00:55:34:08
Agent Palmer
Okay. Hold on, hold on. So the name of the wind has been on my shelf, and I haven’t read it yet for like two years.
00:55:34:08 – 00:55:35:33
Beth Tabler
Now.
00:55:35:38 – 00:55:41:17
Agent Palmer
And I, I will, I will, I will get to name of the wind at some point. But like everybody.
00:55:41:17 – 00:55:43:26
Beth Tabler
Tells, one’s not out. So.
00:55:43:30 – 00:55:44:32
Agent Palmer
So I have time.
00:55:44:46 – 00:55:49:43
Beth Tabler
You have? Yeah. Pumpkin time.
00:55:49:48 – 00:55:52:46
Agent Palmer
All right. But he wrote, an adult child’s.
00:55:52:46 – 00:56:17:09
Beth Tabler
Book I wrote. It’s, there’s two of them. This is the adventures of Princess and Mister Whipple. It’s cool because every picture, like, as you go through it, you start to realize something’s off here. Okay? What is it is off here. Something is real off here. You know, and it seems really, you know. Oh, look, they’re dancing through the the fields and stuff.
00:56:17:13 – 00:56:32:28
Beth Tabler
Except there’s blood on some rocks, okay? And, you know, and then if you look at that, Pablo bazooka loopy his his damage to my soul. No. So. Great.
00:56:32:32 – 00:56:32:54
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:56:32:54 – 00:56:33:46
Beth Tabler
So that’s okay.
00:56:33:51 – 00:57:01:28
Agent Palmer
So that’s one, Two. I think I’m going to go with a thinker. And that was, The Mages by Jonathan Fowles or John Fowles. This was a book that I was, it was a roller coaster for me. For the first two thirds of the book, I had no idea what I was reading. Like, I was kind of enjoying it, but I had no idea.
00:57:01:28 – 00:57:26:38
Agent Palmer
And then in the last third, it just kind of all comes together and it’s like, that’s amazing. But like, I was, I felt so it’s like it’s it’s true. Like it’s straight fiction. Like it’s not horror, it’s not fantasy, it’s just fiction. But like for that first two thirds, you’re you’re just along for a ride basically. And you have to be willing as a reader to let go like, no, you’re not.
00:57:26:40 – 00:57:47:21
Agent Palmer
He’s not going to answer all your questions like then the answer to your question is not 10 or 50 pages away. You have to wait. And it’s it. It ended up being like, because a friend of mine was asking me, like, what are you reading? I was like, oh, I’m reading the Magus, and I’m like a half way through, and I don’t know what I’m reading yet.
00:57:47:26 – 00:58:15:53
Agent Palmer
I it it might that might be why I liked it so much, because he was like, I had to let go. He’s not going to answer your question in the next chapter. There’s no it’s not like that. It’s just a like the slowest burn of a book I’ve ever read. And then I feel like I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of my favorite books, like one of my desert island books and that is Galilee by Clive Barker, which was the first Clive Barker I read.
00:58:15:58 – 00:59:04:24
Agent Palmer
And that is his, it’s like probably the most romantic horror thing you’ll ever read. I feel like, I’m not quite sure, but it is, it it’s it’s just kind of like this expansive, amazing tale. But it is one novel, and I appreciate that. I know we talked a lot about series and I can go off on series myself, but just the fact that it’s just, here’s this one book, you know, and look, when you talk about Barker, like, I feel like you have to mention the Great and Secret show, but that’s got available as a second book, and it’s like, maybe there’ll be a third book, maybe there won’t be.
00:59:04:24 – 00:59:23:53
Agent Palmer
Technically, the subtitles of both of those books is book the book, the, book of the Art one and book of the Art two or something. I might be getting that wrong. It might be the art one, and. But I’m okay. The Galilee was was, that was my introduction. And then I kind of went down the Barker route completely.
00:59:23:53 – 00:59:27:58
Beth Tabler
Did he? Hellraiser like the mythos behind Hellraiser?
00:59:28:03 – 00:59:29:02
Agent Palmer
He did. Yeah.
00:59:29:07 – 00:59:32:01
Beth Tabler
Okay. Yeah. Like Pinhead and,
00:59:32:05 – 01:00:06:53
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Although if you I will, I will say, because, Galilee is very, subtropical. There’s like Louisiana and some island hopping. If, if you’re a fan of Old Hollywood, though, along a similar vein, Cold Heart Canyon by Clive Barker is probably also up there for me. So those are I. I actually have a reread of Cold Heart Canyon coming so I can write about it for the blog, because I read it before the blog, and it’s one of those few rereads I’m doing.
01:00:06:53 – 01:00:14:23
Agent Palmer
But, those are the three. I think it would be Galilee, the mages, and highly Inappropriate Tales for Young people.
01:00:14:28 – 01:00:18:28
Beth Tabler
So a question about the mages. Yeah. All right. So you love.
01:00:18:33 – 01:00:19:56
Agent Palmer
Magus.
01:00:20:01 – 01:00:30:14
Beth Tabler
Okay. Yeah. You liked that book, you didn’t know what was going on, and he was not going to tell you what was going on to the end. So what are your thoughts on ism?
01:00:30:19 – 01:00:32:17
Agent Palmer
I don’t know, I don’t know.
01:00:32:22 – 01:00:33:32
Beth Tabler
You have you haven’t.
01:00:33:41 – 01:00:33:50
Agent Palmer
I.
01:00:33:50 – 01:00:59:42
Beth Tabler
Haven’t. So it’s one of those Melanson Alisan, it’s one of those series where you you don’t know what’s going on. I haven’t attempted it, but it’s one of the great pieces of fantasy all right now. And it’s difficult to get into. And you’re not going to know what’s going on until you get to the the end. Okay? If it all comes together, I feel like.
01:00:59:42 – 01:01:03:01
Beth Tabler
And there’s some 15 books or something, it’s really chromatic.
01:01:03:11 – 01:01:15:53
Agent Palmer
I mean, I, I, I so I will say this a lot of my reading because I am reading the things in my house is from last century at this point.
01:01:15:58 – 01:01:18:56
Beth Tabler
Same. So don’t say less but.
01:01:19:01 – 01:01:38:51
Agent Palmer
But it but it is like a lot of it is 1960s and 70s. Like I’m not just on the other side of the year 2000. I’m well before I was alive, you know, in a lot of the things I’m reading. So I don’t know much for contemporary stuff.
01:01:38:55 – 01:01:49:07
Beth Tabler
Well, it’s mid I think it’s mid 90s. Okay. So it’s not it’s not hugely contemporary. It’s just it’s I know it’s kind of a litmus test for some people.
01:01:49:07 – 01:02:08:46
Agent Palmer
I feel like it’s, you know, what to to that account. I think I’d be okay with it. Although I need to I need some resolution at the end of the book. You like, you can’t hook me for 15 like, books and then give me all the answers in 16. Like, that’s not I’m not, I’m not I’m not signing up for that.
01:02:08:54 – 01:02:19:06
Beth Tabler
But I would I would really love to read your post on like, I’m the first book. I don’t know what I just read.
01:02:19:10 – 01:02:22:41
Beth Tabler
This was like a marathon of reading, trying to get through it.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).