Running Press

I'd, I'd put, finished, uh, uh, my, my second book, Popcorn Disabilities.

That had gone out, and I had, was in the middle of working on my, my other book that I'd pitched to Running Press earlier in the year that was an original title.

And right as I started at the beginning of last year, they emailed me and they were like, "Hey, TCM has a, a s- a hole in their schedule for publication-

Uh-huh

As you know, she's been on the show a few times to talk about some of her other books, as well as co-host an episode, which was great.

Set inside a fictional movie palace and following a heroine she calls the fantasy version of herself, the book arrives on Running Press on October 6th, 2026, with a sequel already underway.

As always, I had a great time talking with Alicia, and I hope you have a great time listening.

Enjoy.

So, um, I had decided after TCM imports my last nonfiction film book, um, I'm sure I will return to fiction, but I decided, "Okay, I just have to try.

Otherwise, I'm always gonna regret it." And I didn't have any kind of sense that TCM would want a fiction book, 'cause they've never done fiction before.

I wasn't even really thinking of pitching it to the editor I'd worked with at Running Press, u- until we had coffee.

Her name's Cindy Supala, and she's really lovely, and she's only ever done nonfiction books.

I love cozy mysteries.

So I came up with this idea for a series, not thinking that TCM would want to release it or that Running Press would want to publish it, but just to write it for myself.

But then I had coffee with one of the editors from Running Press at the TCM Film Festival, and she just very casually asked me what I was working on.

And I said, oh, I'm going to write fiction and I'm going to write a cozy mystery series.

And she was like, I've been told to find Cozy Mystery Series.

So I was planning on just doing it myself and maybe going down the traditional publishing route of trying to find an agent and doing all of that.

But then I had coffee with Cindy Sapala, who's our editor for all the TCM books at Running Press.

And I didn't expect that she would be interested in a cozy mystery because she's only ever done nonfiction.

TCM's only ever done nonfiction.

And she was like, oh, that's exactly what I've been told to find is cozy mysteries because they are very popular.

And she said, send me your synopsis and a sample chapter.

And if I like it, I'll pitch it to Running Press.

She liked it.

Since then, he's been a senior writer and assistant editor at Crunchyroll, as well as a columnist and assistant editor at Cracked.com. He's also written for Wired, Vulture, Polygon, SYFY, Pace Magazine, Roger Ebert, Thrillist, and various other outlets.

His first book, Monster Kids, How Pokemon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All, was released by Running Press on October 4th, 2022. his book is out as of september 1st that's going to be the conversation of that's going to be the thrust of our conversation today is i am the knight the ultimate unauthorized history of batman the animated series that's published by saint martin's press and when he's not writing he can be found reading weightlifting and spending time with his lovely wife adorable son and absolutely wild australian cattle dog elmer morning how are you

yeah i'm doing pretty well how are you doing

Good.

Please tune in for episode 351 with Daniel Dockery.

who has been a senior writer and assistant editor at Crunchyroll, as well as a columnist and assistant editor at Cracked.com. His first book, Monster Kids, How Pokemon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All, was released by Running Press on October 4, 2022.

His book is now out as of September 1, and that is called I Am the Knight, the Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman the Animated Series.

And that episode airs on September 22 or 23.

So check that out.

And, uh, if you wanna hear more about Vincent Minnelli, I write about him quite a bit in my book Hollywood Pride, which is a book I did for TCM and Running Press about the LGBTQ+ history of Hollywood, both characters on screen and the artists who made it happen.

Excellent.

I've not read that, and I'm, I'm overdue, and I'm glad I'm, uh, I'm gonna put that on the stack for, uh, for next time.

Uh, and I was talking about a lot of foreign films, and then very nicely Ben Mankiewicz, when I joined TCM, said that I could host the TCM Imports section.

And I felt like a foreign film book was missing from the TCM library, and then I was approached by the editor, Sydney Sopala, who works at Running Press, to see if I would like to write a book for TCM, for the library itself, because my other books were for a different publisher.

And I said, "Yeah, I would love to write a book about foreign film," and so we came up with the idea of, you know, having it being part of the TCM Imports franchise and be called TCM Imports.

But the tricky thing was: How do I structure the book? You know, that, that was really what took me a long time to figure out.

But I decided after writing TCM Imports, I thought, "Okay, let me just put aside nonfiction for now, I'm sure I'll return to it, and really try my hardest to finish a book." I've started books and never finished them.

Mm-hmm.

And funnily enough, it coincided with, uh, Running Press actually looking for cozy mysteries.

Oh.