Iman Hariri-Kia

This is Sounds Like a Cult, a show about the modern-day cults we all follow.

I'm Iman Hariri-Kia, author of Female Fantasy, and Once in a Timeline, which is out today.

[horn sounds]

And I'm Amanda Montell, author of some other books that don't matter today.

Wow.

Ah.

Iman, could you talk a little bit about your relationship to the influencer snark subculture and what it has to do with your brand-new book that's out today?

So first of all, I will say that I am also really stressed to be doing this episode, despite the fact that I pitched it, because I asked quite a few content creator and content creator-adjacent friends if they would want to discuss this episode with me, and every single one had the same response, which is that they are so happy that we're talking about this, but that they were terrified to go on the record to comment on it, which kind of begs the question, are we going to end up [laughs] on influencer snark subreddits?

And so we did that.

We got a great early blurb from Iman Hariri-Kia, who's wonderful and just a gem.

And she, I think the quote is something like, you know, a West Wing love story with heated rivalry storytelling? Sign me up.

And it was just a perfect blurb.

I'm your host, Reese Oliver, Sounds Like a Cult's resident rhetoric scholar.

And I'm Iman Hariri-Kia, author of Female Fantasy, The Most Famous Girl in the World, and 100 Other Girls.

Every single week on this show, we discuss a different group or guru that puts the cult in culture, from dance moms to roller derby, to try and answer the big question.

This group sounds like a cult, but is it really? [upbeat music] And if so, which of our cult categories does it fall into? A live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out.

...

Once in a Timeline by Iman Hariri-Kia.

Probably totally butchering that name.

Iman Hariri-Kia.

We'll go with that.

Um, this was an ARC that I read.

...

Iman Hariri Kia?

Um, I was- No.

It's like kind of-

I'm the only girl.

But it was Iman Hariri Kia who texted me when she was reading Free Falling.

It's a real female fantasy.

Everyone should read it.

Book that was your most recent five-star read.

FEMA Fantasy by Iman Hariri-Kia.

Nice.

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson.