Maureen Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of of several YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Suite Scarlett, The Name of the Star, and Truly Devious: A Mystery. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), and The Bane Chronicles (with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan).

This week is a new MAILBAG episode, where I--along with a very special guest--will answer listener questions! Joining me today is Marie Lu is is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy, The Young Elites trilogy, the Warcross duology, and more. Her newest book, a historical YA fantasy called The Kingdom of Back, comes out March 3!

Miranda Popkey, essayist and debut author of Topics of Conversation. Miranda and Sarah get into her experience as an entry-level editor in publishing, and all that taught her about the industry, as well as her choice to get her MFA.

Chani Nicholas is a Webby award-winning astrologer, and the New York Times bestselling author of You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance. Chani talks about how writing horoscopes, with their inescapable deadlines, helped her develop her writing skills; how our astrology zeitgeist moment is part of yearning for the roots of what makes us human; and she reads the hell out of Sarah and her chart.

Stuart Gibbs, New York Times bestselling author of the Spy School series, the FunJungle series, the Moon Base Alpha series, and The Last Musketeer series. His newest series kicked off in 2019 with Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation. The newest FunJungle book, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks, is out March 24, and Spy School Revolution will come out in fall 2020.

Courtenay Hameister, debut author of memoir Okay Fine Whatever: The Year I Went From Being Afraid of Everything to Only Being Afraid of Most Things, and former host, co-producer and head writer of Live Wire Radio.

Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award nominated author of the Shatter Me series, as well as A Very Large Expanse of Sea. The final book in her Shatter Me series, IMAGINE ME, hits shelves March 31, 2020.

Libba Bray, author of New York Times best-selling series A Great and Terrible Beauty, Printz award-winner Going Bovine, and genuinely terrifying historical paranormal The Diviners, and more. The episode originally released on Nov 3, 2014, and Nov 6, 2014.

Tim Baltz, comedian and actor, co-created, co-wrote, and starred in Shrink, and can now be seen on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. He has also appeared in Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and Drunk History.

Amanda Montell, debut author of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, joins Sarah to talk about socio-linguistics, and her upcoming book Mindfuck: The Secret Language of Cults (Spoiler: You’re Already Using It).