200. The Time War is Foreplay--"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

200. The Time War is Foreplay--"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

From Whoa!mance: Romance, Feminism, and Ourselves by Whoa!mance: Romance, Feminism, and Ourselves

February 27, 2026 · 1h 15m

About this episode

The episode explores the themes of love and desire in 'This Is How You Lose the Time War' and discusses the legitimacy of romance as a genre.

We dive into the exquisite love-letter architecture of This Is How You Lose the Time War and ask what happens when desire is literally written into existence. We linger on what it means to love with (or without) a body—across a multiverse full of potential and very real war crimes. Red and Blue, our sapphic leads, slip across timelines and into each other’s hearts in achingly human ways. But let’s say the quiet part out loud: romance does not need literary fiction to legitimize it. Distinct genres have distinct pleasures and emotional beats—that’s not a bug; it’s a feature. Excellent books exist within the genre, and outside it--maybe we just stop trying to collapse the publishing multiverse and let genre conventions function as intended? Come for the yearning and love letters, stay for the unapologetic defense of the kissing books. #RomancePodcast #SapphicRomance #ThisIsHowYouLoseTheTimeWar #EnemiesToLovers #EpistolaryFiction #QueerRomance #BookDiscussion #ScienceFantasyRomance Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Host: Whoa!mance

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Books & works: This Is How You Lose the Time War

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