Monstrilio ft. Gerardo Sámano Córdova

0:20 A girlfriends, it's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way, I am still your host and you are still listening to Sustal, the podcast of paranormal folklore from Latin American and Hispanic cultures. Now right off the bat. As you may have seen in the title, we have a monstrous special guest today that I'm very excited about. But before that, if you are a best girlfriend on Patreon, then you have the option to watch the video version of this episode. And speaking of video, Sustal is now available on YouTube and YouTube Music, meaning that it will be available as a podcasts, So like every other podcast platform, new episodes will be populating on YouTube and all. Though video versions of the episodes will remain a Patreon exclusive.

1:11 The audio version of the episodes will be on YouTube and YouTube Music. But I will be making videos. It's something that I've always enjoyed doing, so you'll see some content on there that is public available to everybody. It might be Suster related, it might not be. I just want to have fun with it, and if you all have any ideas for me, please feel free to. Send them in. You can subscribe by visiting YouTube dot com, slash at Soustal Podcasts I am excited to. See you there. So moving on, I want to let you know that my guests today and I are hosting a giveaway, so stay tuned for more details on that later in the episode. And without further Ado, let me go ahead and introduce them.

2:02 Headaudo Samono Gordova is a writer and artist from Mexico City, living in Brooklyn. He's currently writer in residence at Fordham University. He got his MFA from the Helenzell Writer's Program at the University in Michigan. He has studied at Breadloaf as a work study scholar and fellow, and at the Tin House Summer Workshop. Hidatado is the author of Monsterilio, which is now one of my all time favorite books and I have it here. The book published in twenty twenty three, in case you haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, Monsdrilio is a thought provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty. His short stories have appeared in Catapult, The Common, Ninth Letter, Passages, North Chicago Quarterly Review, and others, and he is currently working on a second novel and fun Fact. He's been known to draw little creatures. Please Welcome to Susto Hirado Samono Gordova, head out of Though.

2:54 Hello, thank you so much for being here today. Hello, thank you for having me. So in case there is something that I maybe did not cover in that intro, is there anything else you would like to let the listeners know about yourself, I think. You covered a lot. Yeah right, yeah, I did my research. Yeah yeah, and I love it. Yeah. I don't think I have anything to. Add perfect, So we'll go ahead and get into the questions then before I ask real questions because we will be talking about your writing. But I'm very. Curious about these little creatures that you draw. Can you tell me more about that? Yeah, I mean I just like drawing, like doodling little creatures.

3:37 I have on Instagram for them. I used to draw them more often, but yeah, so it's just like I don't I don't think I'm like the best illustrator or drawer in the world, but I like doing them. Have like well, I can show. You like it Toto of a little octopus here that's so cute, and I have but but yeah, so, I mean I just like silly little creatures. I love that did you were you is doodling part of your writing process as well? Like for Monster Deelio, were you ever like doodling what you thought maybe m looked like.

4:18 Well there is if you have the book. Well it depends on what version is it is, but there's like an illustration I did of like Monsterlia when he's like a fury little creature. So yeah, I mean it helps me imagine things, so I will or I will like doodle maps or you know, like to get my to wrap my head around how these things. Are gonna look. But especially for Mons Tralia, it. Really helped kind of like visualize what the creature is. Also because mon Studio kind I evolved throughout the book, so it was helpful to have like a more visual place for me to go to and kind of like go from there and kind of like have an anchor, like a visual anchor. I'm a visual person, so it helps.

5:18 To have that. I feel like, yeah, I can definitely tell that you're a visual person in your writing in the way that you describe things. It's so like I could see them kind of like being built in my head. I'm a very visual person too, so I really really enjoyed not only on Stelio, but all of your writing. And I also like, I have this version of the book with this kind of like color blocking on it, and then yeah, little more Stelio peeking out. From the bottom. Yeah, I think is adorable. Which is funny, right, because this is truly a book about or one of the big parts of this book is he's this little monster that's kind of like created right out of this almost twisted kind of desperation to hang on to a loved one. And then I keep reading it, I'm like, he's cute. Yeah. But as you know, our our culture features storytelling, right, And I'm talking about like Latin America and Mexican culture, especially ghost stories. And I've heard you talk about these kinds of stories and other interviews, So I want to know how much of that came up in your upbringing and do you think it's contributed to your own storytelling.

6:22 Yeah? Absolutely, I mean, just like you said, like, our culture is steeped and kind of like the supernatural stories, ghost stories and just like general superstitions and stuff like that, which come up almost always in casual conversations, yeah, with family, with friends, and whether you believe them or not, because sometimes you're like, oh, that's kind of like impossible. But also it's part of the culture, so it's kind of like a state of where you accept them as part of things that are happening and not happening at the same time. So it's kind of like a like a system of belief in which you don't have to fully commit to being like, yes, there are ghosts, but at the same time you're like, yeah, there are ghost you know.

7:13 Like so I love that that there's like a like a more porous kind of way of thinking about the world in which is not everything is like super black and white, and it's like like weird things can happen, right, you're not completely shot off from it. And so and also like growing up and reading Latin American literature, Latin American literature is of course like steeped in magic a lot of the times, and so that also contributed to like my like how I was formed as a writer thinking.

7:56 I mean, I grew up thinking that literature had to be my way. Otherwise it wasn't like the literature literature obviously, like I learned later that there's all kinds of literature and there's realism and all of those things right. But. Like in my. Like for me, writing always kind of like tends to go towards somewhere magical or even if it's not fully magical, we're definitely that kind of like tests what the limits of what we perceive is, right, and so and I also think like it's a fun way. I mean, if you're gonna write stories for me, super fun to imagine things that probably couldn't happen. So so yeah, I think I think culture and also like the Latin American literature roots all influenced my right obviously.

9:01 Yeah, I heard you talk about in another interview this series of children's books. They're like kind of different, like reading levels in Spanish, And there was this one that you mentioned about, like this ghost Boy in This Mansion. And it made me think. Also I talk about this book, my listeners retired of hearing about it. But there's this book that I grew up reading. And I hadn't heard about the series that you mentioned until I heard you talk about it. But this book that I grew up with, it's it's called Stories that Must Not Die and it's a collection of folklore and fables from the Texas Mexico border. And this book was read to us in elementary. I have a copy of the book from like my second third grade classroom, and the stories in there. There's the story of Laona of a Latusa, the girl who downs with the devil.

9:51 And it's funny because, like you mentioned, our literature is so steeped in that magic, in that kind of paranormal world that even at an early age, it's in our classrooms along with like you said, when we're with family or friends, the conversation just kind of veers that way, which is my favorite part of any hangout obviously, is when you start telling those stories. Yeah, So in reading Mons Dilio, there were a lot of really really cool themes. I think, of course upfront, like was mentioned earlier, is you know it's that it's a story of like grief, acceptance and love and loyalty. And I know that this has been brought up in other interviews, but this is also a very queer book, which I love because I love the way that you write it and the way that you talk about it, where you're like, well, yes, these people they happen to be queer, and that's just like we exist right where we're out here, and so I love the way that it's written because it's never like and they're gay. It's just it's part. It's part of their lives, it's it's it's who they are. It's part of who they are. But also I think it's like, you do this really cool thing. And I don't know if this is how intentional this was. And I want to ask you to talk about the parallels between queerness and M's instincts slash nature, not only maybe with his own sexuality, but just like as a creature, as a being, his base instincts, because you've mentioned again in interviews the

11:22 connection being told between your wrong and being a monster and queerness, and you even asked what if a family had to love a monster? And that was when I heard you say that. I was like, WHOA, that's crazy to hear because I connected to that, and I connected to Monsterilio reading this book like being made to feel like a monster or a natural and just like on a personal level. And I've spoken about this very publicly before, but as someone living with HIV, I been living with HIV for over ten years now, I've had literally like people's physical reactions. They throw their hands back and they and they jumped back, right, So this again, in reading this, I was like, well, like I felt like a monster in that moment, and so reading this was like so basically all of that to ask you kind of your take on like being made to feel that way and its relationship to queerness.

12:23 Right, absolutely, I mean I think while a lot of what you just said is exactly how I was thinking about it, those moments, those moments of reaction that come from people that are like oh my god, what you know? Or you know or even more subtle moments, right, Like not everything has to be like h so dramatic, but like moments that you feel other or like you don't belong and you can't like really speak about who you are, right because it's not what people expect or it's or it feels like especially when younger, like if you were like, oh, but I'm gay or whatever, it's like why do we have to deal with this now? Right?

13:09 Like people were like, you. Know, like. Trying to not engage with it or something, but it's like, well but it's who I am, right, It's not nothing to be so like reserved or not wanting to engage. So, I mean, I think all of those things and I think queerdom has always been linked to monsterdom in some way. I think like from the idea of like queer people really engaging with monsters and kind of like when when there's a monster in like a book or a movie, like queer people almost always identify with the monster rather than like the heroes or whatever, you know, like because there's like an innate feeling of how society has like made us feel that we don't belong and that's exactly how monsters feel right when they come into like the world.

14:10 So I thought being a monster or like Monsterlia actually being a monster, and actually not, he in my mind, he doesn't dislike being a monster. He just made to feel that he should dislike being a monster because if he shouldn't, you know, eat. Or whatever, you know. But he himself is not. He's not. He's not hating that part of himself. And so it's that part of like being like do I listen to everybody else and kind of conform to what they want of me because it's less dangerous obviously, like monsterrealia is taken to like like an extreme degree, right, But it's the same idea of like do you lessen yourself to kind of like not ruffle any feathers and so other people are comfortable and not you, or do you like accept that you are who you are, even if other people think you're a monster, and you just kind of own it and be like, yeah, welcome, Maybe I am a monster, but I don't care, you know, that type of thing, and so that I think it's absolutely related to a queer experience, and so I was very interested in that. And I was also very interested in that the characters like their actual like expressions of queerness in sets and rheumantic relationships and all of that, those are

15:41 not challenged because I wanted that part of the world to be to be just natural and be like, oh, in this world, that's not an issue or that's not something that jumps out at anybody. But there's definitely the link to queerness in how monstream you always perceived in the world and how he thinks of himself. That kind of like acceptance for want, like self acceptance. I'm kind of like just deciding why you want, how you want to navigate the world. Right, Yeah, I love that. I love that you said that he he doesn't dislike that part of himself, and maybe I am a monster.

16:23 And I feel like that is a point in so many people's lives, I think, just in general, but especially for people that I certainly have met that point a long time ago where I was like, you know what, Yeah I am I am a monster? Now what like what are we going to do about it? And so and I love that part of in this book because, like you said, said, of course it's in this exaggerated kind of situation, but it was so cool because I can see that in his development when we get to his kind of point of view and he's talking about how he like unhinges his jaw and it feels good, and he does it when he's alone because because it does feel good, but he's away for you know, I guess from other people looking at him or judging him.

17:06 And so yeah, I really I love that idea of yes, I am a monster, So where do we go now? Yeah? And so in reading your work, aside from one Stelio, I saw recurring themes of like what people would call body horror or gore death and transformation and sex. And you seem so connected on what people may describe as like on a primitive level or primordial or like base human instincts. However, I also see those things coupled with love and romance and beauty, And I was talking to my boyfriend earlier about that and how I feel like, like, in a issue eighty one of American Short Fiction, you have a short story in there, a selfle pointed safe keeper of beauty and the way that you talk about I'm just going to read a sentence here. It says, when I try, I only picture his exposed organs, a purplish beating heart, his ballooning lungs, bulging eyes, exposed teeth perfectly crooked, and the fibers of his muscles wound tight enough to hold him upright. It just feels like I can, like again, I see these I see these organs like popping into my mind building this person. But it feels like a faberge egg. I don't know, It's like it's

18:37 like nice and pretty and like the way that it's kind of like structured in your writing. So yeah, I wanted to hear you speak about the connection between those things, and. Just like, how do you do it? How are you able to like talk about these things in honestly truly like a beautiful way? Oh? Thank you, and I also thank you for reading A Self Appointed Safekeeper of Beauty because that's a very recent story and I love it. Thank you. So yeah, I mean, I'm very interested obviously in the physical and so Australia deals a lot with hunger, and I think hunger in very many different senses, right, like literal hunger and like sexual desire and all of that.

19:25 And I think, I mean, for me, like the body is very important, and we as humans are not just exercises, like intellectual exercises. We come in a body, and a body is like a lot you know, like both great and also awful a lot of the times. You know, like you have to deal with a lot of. Stuff, and you can also like get a tremendous amount of pleasure and joy from your body. And so. In my stories, I like or like in my writing, it just comes naturally to kind of like see the body and kind of like feel present, like flesh presence, I guess. And I also think sometimes with mons Tralia, I'll read like a review or something it's like, oh, it's great, but they didn't need to have sex in it or never, which is like yeah, I did you know.

20:27 It's like talking about all these things about desires and hungers and like things that you want for yourself, and sex is a big part of that for a lot of people, and so and I think for my characters it is in different ways. But that expression of body is very important. And also because a core thing for Monsterlio the character is his body changing, right, and so for other people, so people comments on it, you know, directly or indirectly. There's a lot that people want to do to his body, good and bad. And so it's like, but it's my own and what does that mean, right, and how do I express that? And also his instincts and his desires are in his body, right, and so it's not separate. And so for me writing about bodies and about physicality and what you call like primordial things, it's very important. I love thinking about like what makes us human, like beyond like reason and all of that, like more like the more biological and animalistic things that we have, and how we build upon that, like beliefs and structures and systems that help us and sometimes or

21:59 many times hinder us from experiencing the world. But it all starts in being like creatures of flesh and blood, and you know, and so I think for me it's super interesting to think about bodies and what we hold before we start making stories or like reasoning about them. And then that just the position into what we like maybe leave or not believe, and what we can create or not create. And so yeah, I think it's super interesting. And obviously, as I said in Montsreela, it was super interested in hunger, and hunger is one of those like primary or primorial things that we all have, right and as in society or like in our societies, we're taught to kind of like always mitigate hunger or control it, right, literal hunger, like don't need that much, like you know what you eat. You know, like there's a whole industry and like sayd Collier around like eating. But also sex, obviously sex is super controlled and super it's like such a topic for humans, which is super interesting, right, And so those things for me are super really really interesting and something that I that I explore often in my writing.

23:31 Yeah, I love it. I also want to give a shout out to another of your short stories, The Smiling Man, which was in the twenty twenty four Fall issue of The Columbia Review. God that story was just so good, and again just mention of like hunger and the Flesh, and I kind of like, I wrote my notes here, and so I'm curious about your your idea on this, because this is something that everyone can read right now, and I highly encourage it. But I wrote here that there's this thing, this monster that takes pieces of you, and not everyone can see it, and even if it starts to take pieces of them, they cannot always see it. And sometimes it rids you of them entirely, and you try to tell people about it, but then they don't understand, so then you keep it to yourself, and then someone finally can see it and they can help you fight it.

24:22 And I honestly I got teary eyed when I read it because I was like, this is a beautiful romance story. This is a rolling story. And I think maybe on like the surface, someone would see some of the words and hear some of the descriptions or what's happening, they'd be like, no, this is a scary story. And I mean, I think it can be both. But I thought it was just such a beautiful story about love. When I got to the end of it, and I was like holding back tears because it was so so good. So I don't know, I would just like to see if you would like to say anything about The Smiling Man. Yeah, oh well, thank you again for reading it. And I love that story a sorry. I wrote a long time ago and it has gone through like many revisions, but I really like it, and you're absolutely right. It is to me also like a romance story. It's a love story, right, and I wrote it that way, and it's it's like a or you could say it's like a horror story with a happy ending like that. So yeah, I mean, and I think it's all about physicality. I think that that's one of those stories that I wrote, and I was really really thinking about bodies and like consuming and what it means and also why you owe yourself or what you owe to somebody else, right, And

25:53 also I think so the Smiling Man like that idea. So when I was very young, well young it like I don't know, maybe like eight or nine or something, I got like a really nasty like stomach virus or something, and so I was I had like a really high fever and I was delirious for a while, and my mom says, I said, like I was seeing like a man with a hat in the room. I can't I can't really remember that because I was sick, I guess, but but that stuck with me, right, And so in that story, there's like a man with a hat in a room, and that's the Smiling Man. So that's where that comes from. And also obviously it reminds me of like the Babba Duke or you know, other creatures like that.

26:56 Or I said, no. Name from Spread It Away, No Face, no face. Yeah, So like creatures like that it reminds me of. And so it's like a very mysterious presence that you don't know if it's good or evil, or if it's going to help you some or like really like destroy you. And so I was like really interested in that. And as you know we talked about I love creatures, and so I love thinking about what they can do or not do or what they mean. Oh my god, yeah, I just I was. I love that story so much. It's so so good, and I'll be linking these things also in like the episode descriptions so people can go read them because yeah, so speaking of the Smiling Man. In another interview that you did, you told a story and I thought that at first that they were related, but I'm hearing out that they're not.

27:57 But you told a story of when you were with your family living in San Luis, Potosi, that your sister claimed to see a man in her room, and so I was wondering if that had inspired this story at all in the story of the Smiling Man. But it's a different, i think, equally horrifying story you're seeing this man. But I mean for the listeners, if you could tell that story about what your sister saw, and if you have any other scary stories or encounters with the paranormal, we would love to hear them. Right, So. Maybe it did actually, like maybe in one part of my mind that also inspired those Smiling Man, you know, like it's like a collection of things that inspire you, and like you never know exactly who are you're pulling from, but probably like that's there.

28:49 So we were living in Sandy, Potosi. We only lived there for a year, and for those people that don't know, it's like a city more towards the north of Mexico, and we lived a little bit away from like the actual city. We lived like in an other part that it's it's called a Florida, and it's kind of like a little bit secluded, and it was it's very like there's a lot of trees in like a state that is more deserted. So it was like nice, and we lived in a big house, but most of the time, because my dad had to be working away during that year, it was mostly my mom, my sister, and I living there, and so it just felt as kids, it just felt like it was haunted or something.

29:47 I don't know. It just like like everything felt like very solitary in a where And I think my sister, she's older, and I think she like lived like she was more in tune to those things. I don't know, but like there was one night that she started screaming in the middle of the night and she's like, oh, there's a man in my room. And so we all came to her room and we brought like the dog in and everything, and so like just because like we didn't know if like there was actually wasn't man or like because when we got to her room there was no one, but we didn't know if like maybe he had escaped. There's I mean, we had no idea what was going on, And so we brought the dog in and we were like through the household together with the dog, and when we got to her room, he started barking at the closet and we were like, oh my god, you know, like Jesus, like they must be there or whatever. But we opened it and there was nothing, but like the dog kept barking. And so well that night we alls like slept together, and you know, but yeah, like my sister my mother like said they saw like, you know, in Mexico, like they say like bruques, which is those like balls of light that like shoot around. They saw a bunch of those in that house. I don't remember seeing like anything myself, but it definitely was a scary.

31:20 It definitely felt haunted, you know. And so yeah, I mean like, uh yeah it was. It was definitely that house that had some sort of procence or energy or whatever it was. But it definitely was something. And so yeah, I mean, and so it's what like we were saying at the beginning, like you believe and you not believe, but you kind of like believe, you know, because it's like, well you felt it and you know, and there's something right, and so those experiences kind of like stay with you. And also living in stat we're supposed to see, which is like an older city. Well Mexico City is sold too, but like there's more diversity, but like it just felt more rooted, maybe in ghosts something.

32:17 Yeah, did you all did your family build that house or did you like it was already there and you moved into it, Like do you know any history of it? I don't know. Now, my parents built that house, uh, and we were supposed to move there fully, but it just didn't work out and we had to move away from Saint Louis. But but yeah, but like that area I think more I mean, like I think someone in my family said like it had to be built, like it was built on top of like a. Burial site or like.

32:58 But I don't know if that just like what they feel or if there's any truth in that, but it feels that area that had so I can't so like La Florida, that area where we lived, it was built by I can't remember exactly who, but it was like a family that that came and they kind of like wanted to have like a more like foresty type place, so they kind of like made it like artificially in a way made it. But it kind of like grew and it had like these huge beautiful trees that had been living there for years and years. So so it was kind of like an oasis where maybe there shouldn't be an oasis.

33:45 I don't know. So it had like. From its inception, it had like an artificiality that it's very interesting. But by the time we moved there, it was like an old time and like all the trees had taken root and it's like a very beautiful thing. But it was also like different from the rest of the state. I'm kind of like made up in a way. So that's interesting, I think. So I don't know. Yeah, maybe like this, this disturbance to the land, you know, CAUs something to show up and retaliate. Yeah. So, as was mentioned in your bio earlier, you are working on your next novel. Can you share anything about your next novel.

34:34 It's it's almost there, it's not yet completed, but hopefully very soon. So yeah, I mean I think, I don't know, it's it's weird. I think it kind of I don't think like monstre La is like full on horror horror, you know, but he definitely has horror elements, and I think this new novel does. I mean it also kind of like takes on like elements of the supernatural or what it means to be like a different creature and things like that, but it's not. But it's also not horror horror, and so yeah, I mean it's also family in a different way. So like, yeah, I mean I'm excited about I don't know, I haven't said anything very specific, but.

35:39 But yeah, no, no, I'm into it. I'm into the mystery. And also I think you gave us just enough. I'm also very excited about it. I just thought of something too, and I wanted to ask you to speak to the listeners about it in another interview. I did a lot of research, by the way, for this game. Yes, I can see. I love it. Thank you so of course. And I mean also just I love hearing you talk about your process and your writing and and so you part of that process you spoke about in writing once to Leo that you spoke to I think people, or you listened to shows or podcasts or I'm not exactly, but you consumed something about like grief. Because the way that you talk about grief in this book is it's so good and I feel like a lot of horror uses grief or uh yeah, a lot of people that write about grief they use horror basically as like the vehicle or the analogy. And I've had the other interviews on here that have done something similar, but it's so interesting to see how everyone does it, and especially in once Cdelio, I think it was an amazing take on grief, and so I wanted to ask if you could share your process on like the research that you did to write about that.

36:53 Yeah. I mean, I think grief comes up comes up a lot in horror just because horrific itself. Yeah, you know, so it makes sense. It's like they go hand in hand. And I think. So personally, I haven't suffered like a loss is big, you know, like losing a child, and I don't have kids or anything, so like, I don't know the experience personally, but I did. I listened to two testimonials from people that have lost children, and I think what you get from those is that everybody kind of like lives it in very different ways. And I think that's what also like led me to think of different voices in the in the in the book, just because everybody kind of has like their own way of dealing with such a horrific.

37:54 Event, and then. You pull on your other like your own personal experiences with grief, right, Like, maybe it's not exactly that, but in a way, in different ways, we all have dealt with grief and so just kind of like tapping into those feelings. I'm kind of like it was very interesting to explore from different point of views, just because it allowed for grief to take different forms and to to kind of like understand that there's no right.

38:37 Or wrong way to do it. And also for Maggos, I think. I love Maggos. I know, like not everybody loves Magos, but I do. And she takes She's the most active I think of all the characters in the book, and she kind of like takes maybe not the best way, but she takes the reins of life, you know, like she's not gonna let anything like come in between her and what she wants or what she thinks she wants or what she thinks. It's supposed to happen. So she she does a lot to kind of reshape her world, and that to me is super interesting. And I think whereas Joseph is more passive in his grief, in the way. It's like he's just kind of like letting it like go through him and kind of like letting it take its course, maybe not a more traditional way.

39:37 I don't know if that even is the thing, but but that was very interesting to me. Also, like that justaposition of people understanding. And also for Monsterdio, there's a grief in because Monstudio is not Santiago, but he feels. Like there's there's. A process that he has to go through, which to me felt a little bit like grief of like letting go either he had to let go of him being a monster, like hiding that for or letting go of his family in a way, and just like their expectations and all of that, and that it's also kind of like a loss.

40:18 And so yeah, I mean I think. And grief is such a Poachent engine right for for a narrative, So yeah, I mean, it's it's not something I would always want to do, like because it's a lot, but I also tried for the book to have levity because I think grief is also not all suffering, right, Like there's moments it's weird and layered. Yeah, And also grief is a lot about love, right, that's where it stems from. Because if we didn't love things or people, we wouldn't grieve for them. So I wanted it to be really about love.

41:12 Yeah. Wow, thank you so so much, and thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it absolutely. Yeahs. As mentioned earlier, we are doing a giveaway together, which I'm very excited about. So if y'all are interested in winning a signed copy of Monstiglio, you can do so by following both head Out at at Hello dot Samanito and myself on Instagram. I will make a post and I will tag head Out of the on there so you can follow both of us of course, like the post and tag one of your girl friends in the comments so that we can choose a winner from there. And if you all cannot wait to win a copy, I highly suggest running out and picking one up if you haven't yet. It is an amazing, amazing book. I truly enjoyed it, and I truly truly enjoy all your other writing as well, which again I'll be linking in the description so that people can read that before we go.

42:11 Can you please let people know where they can find you and your work? Yeah, so you can follow me on Instagram at Hello dot somni too, or you can visit my website which is dot com and I have like links to my stories and two upcoming events even though I don't have any right now, but like there will be. Some hopefully. And so yeah, and other interviews I've done and things like that, so you can check that. Out, all right. Thank you again so much for your time today. Thank you for having me of course, of course anytime. Welcome back, girl friends. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode. Again, if you have not had a chance to go and pick up a copy of Monsterlio, I highly highly cannot recommend it enough. It is such a good book I didn't even show on camera earlier. You can see my little tabs here if you're watching the video so you can check out more of his short stories.

43:23 I'm linking the two that we spoke about in the episode description. And again, if you would like to answer the giveaway, you need to follow both of our accounts on Instagram, like the post and then tag a girlfriend in the comments. And we are giving away a signed copy of Montsterdelio. So very excited about that. Again, please subscribe to Sustal's YouTube. That's YouTube dot com slash at sustal podcast, which is the handle for every social media platform for Sustal, where you can follow for any and all updates on the shows and giveaways. And as always, if you would like to hear your own story on a Letters from the Beyond episode, please visit the link at my link tree that linktr dot ee slash susto and you can submit your story there or by visiting sustal podcast dot com. As always, if you would like to support the show, the easiest way to do so is by engaging wherever you are listening, liking, subscribing, leaving positive ratings and reviews, leaving comments, sharing with your own girl friends, and if you would like to support with money dollars, by signing up to be a Patreon where you can listen to episodes early and ad free, and depending on your tier, you can get the video versions of the episodes. You can do so by visiting Patreon dot com slash Sustal podcast. A big shout out to this episode's patrons. You are Liza, Sadie Rachel, Alejandra Luth, April, Djosette, Sam Mandy Jules Laurigenie, Monica desire c Ashes, Nedesa, Rachel Asusena, Marlene Chata, Laney desire A, Carla Archergado, Vanessa, Mariza Nieves, Manormal, Iris, Mad,

44:57 Floored and Selina. Thank you all so so much or your support you keep this little on cityle all going and thank you to everybody for listening. I will talk to you in the next one and until then not hostas. Bye.