Welcome to the second installment of our SPOILER FILLED breakdown of Arcane Season 2! In this episode, Ghabiba and McKell discuss what makes us who we are through the lens of analyzing Arcane's characters.
You'll hear about:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Kalla Harris.
A full-time daydreamer, KALLA HARRIS has wanted to be an author since she was eight years old--although she's now traded her composition notebooks for a computer. When she's not writing high-stakes young adult books with lots of kissing, you can find her curled up with a good story, perfecting her mac and cheese recipe, or rewatching The Vampire Diaries (Hi, Damon!). Kalla resides in the Upstate of South Carolina with her husband.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to the first in a three-part series where Ghabiba Weston and Ruth McKell take a deep dive into the fantastic storytelling of ARCANE, Season 2.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter .
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Dr. Grace Nosek.
Dr. Grace Nosek is a long-time community organizer, storyteller, and sociolegal scholar focusing on environmental justice and democracy. She centers justice, joyful community, storytelling, civic engagement, and systems change in her work and scholarship. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, Grace researched novel strategies to inoculate youth against climate despair, and co-authored the City of Toronto’s Youth Climate Engagement Strategy. Grace’s research has been supported by Fulbright, Killam, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation scholarships, and she holds a BA from Rice University, a law degree from Harvard Law School, and a Master of Laws and PhD in law from the University of British Columbia. Her research, fiction, and non-fiction writing have been published and shared widely and she has been a frequent public speaker and media contributor.
In this episode, you'll hear:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.
In this episode, you'll hear:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Sheila Masterson.
Sheila Masterson is the author of six books, including the gothic fairytale romance SONG OF THE DARK WOOD, the emotional epic romantasy, THE LOST GOD Series, as well as its standalone spinoff, A LEGACY OF STARS. Her forthcoming dark fantasy romance, THE POISON DAUGHTER, publishes October 3, 2025, and features a vigilante who uses her poison kiss to murder abusive men in her community until she's unwittingly thrust into an arranged marriage with the only man immune to her magic. When Sheila's not busy stabbing beloved side characters and dreaming up new ways to make her readers cry, you can find her practicing yoga, drinking fancy cocktails with friends, or curled up reading books or tarot. She lives outside Philadelphia with a small army of underwatered houseplants that survive out of spite.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Heather Herrman.
Heather Herrman is the author of the adult horror novel, Consumption, and the Junior Library Guild selected Young Adult Novel, The Corpse Queen. The Lady or the Tiger, a new YA novel by Heather about a female serial killer in the Wild West will be available from Nancy Paulsen Books June 10, 2025.
In this episode you'll hear:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.
In this episode, you'll hear:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.
In this episode of Season 4 Part 2:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Daniel Habib.
Daniel Habib is an American-Lebanese author, teacher, and acclaimed filmmaker. A student of King, Barker and Ito, his prolific screenwriting career has birthed numerous successful series and feature films, earning both critical acclaim and commercial success. Today, he channels his dark gift into crafting thrilling and heart-pounding stories across various media formats.
In this episode:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.
In this episode of Season 4 Part 2:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing Legendary Eva Des Lauriers.Eva Des Lauriers is the author of the Young Adult romance, I WISH YOU WOULD, out with Henry Holt & Co (BYR) May 21, 2024. When she isn’t writing, you can find her wandering through the redwoods, staring at the sea, or pretending she’s in a music video. She lives with her family and her collection of kissing books in Oakland, CA.In this episode, you'll hear about
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.
In this episode of Season 4 Part 2, the Beasts:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Ruth McKell have the pleasure of interviewing Legendary Taylor Grothe.
Taylor Grothe is an autistic, nonbinary queer writer passionate about voice-driven narratives centering on strong, compelling femmes and enbies. A 2024 Nonfiction MFA Candidate in Fairfield University's Creative Writing Program, their work can be found in Coffin Bell, Bag of Bones Press, Haven Speculative, Shortwave Magazine, and various other places. They were a Round 9 Author Mentor Match adult mentor, the graduate Assistant Managing Editor of Brevity Magazine for 2022-23, one of the founding members of and the 2023-24 program coordinator for Round Table Mentor, and a host of Queer Author Talk (#QATalk) on X, formerly Twitter. They are scheduled to speak at StokerCon San Diego 2024, on the Modern Young Adult Horror panel. When not writing or playing cello, you can find them planting the garden alongside their two young children and spouse in the most haunted state in America, Connecticut.
In this episode, you'll hear:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.
In this episode of Season 4 Part 2, the Beasts:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing Legendary Maddie Martinez.
Maddie Martinez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her love of stories began with desert plumes and watermelon sunsets. She has a Bachelor's in Political Science from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Master's in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in Washington, DC. You can now find Maddie in New York City, filling her tiny apartment with an unwieldy number of books. The Maiden and Her Monster is her first novel.
In this episode:
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to a special FANGIRLING episode, in which your Beasts (Courtney and Ghabiba) discuss Season 1 of Arcane with the incredible Ruth Mckell.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Thank you for joining us on this mini series. We hope to do more. If you have special requests for future FANGIRLING topics, let us know!
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Alix E. Harrow.
Alix E. Harrow is the NYT-bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, Starling House, and various short fiction, including a duology of retold fairy tales (A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended). Her work has won a Hugo and a British Fantasy Award, and been shortlisted for the Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Southern Book Prize, and Goodreads Choice awards.
She's from Kentucky, but now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband and their two semi-feral kids.
Her writing is represented by Kate McKean at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
In this episode, Alix
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to a special FANGIRLING episode, in which your Beasts (Courtney and Ghabiba) discuss Season 1 of Arcane with the incredible Ruth Mckell.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Join us for final (for now) FANGRILING OVER ARCANE episode to discuss corruption arcs. Are you ready?
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston has the pleasure of interviewing legendary Gabriella Buba.
Gabriella Buba is a mixed Filipina-Czech writer and chemical engineer based in Texas who likes to keep explosive pyrophoric materials safely contained in pressure vessels or between the covers of her books. She writes adult romantic fantasy for bold, bi, brown women who deserve to see their stories centered. SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW is out now, DAUGHTERS OF FLOOD AND FURY coming your way July 2025. In this episode, you'll hear about
For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!
A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.
As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.
Be brave, stay beastly!