About this episode

This episode features a triple author interview discussing themes of grief, trauma, and the writing process with Mai Nguyen, Lindsay Wong, and Laurie Frankel.

In part one of this week’s triple author interview, literary agent Carly Watters sits down with Mai Nguyen to discuss her deeply personal novel ‘ Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead’ . Mai shares the heartbreaking real-life loss that inspired the book and how writing fiction became a vessel for processing grief. They dive into the challenge of portraying “bed-rotting” grief on the page, balancing darkness with humor, and why a funeral home setting became the perfect device to move the story—and the character—forward. The conversation also explores envy in grief, the taboo of infant loss, and how community and connection can bring someone back to life. Part two pivots to Carly Watters chatting with Lindsay Wong about her genre-bending novel ‘ Villain-Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies’ —a dark, hilarious story blending horror, history, and autofiction. Lindsay breaks down the book as a story of choicelessness, intergenerational trauma, and what women sacrifice to survive under capitalism and cultural expectations. They dive into corpse marriage, villain hitting, and how myth and reality collide to explore power, class, and rage—especially for women who aren’t allowed to express it…

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