The Welcome to Spirits podcast of Boosy Dive into Mythology, Legends, and Folklore.

Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world.

I'm Amanda. And I'm Julia. And this week we are joined drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.

And I'm Julia. And this week we are joined by the inimitable Sasha Coward, an author, an educator,

a escape room designer. We can probably do eight episodes with you about all the cool things you do.

But more to the point, you are a queer person who loves

myths and legends and you're publishing a book all about them. So we knew it was a crossover

that must happen. Absolutely. Thank you for making me sound so interesting. That's really flattering.

Yeah, and thank you for having one of the show. It should be a really fun chat.

To get us started, Sasha, can you tell people about the book?

Yeah, so I've just written my first book called Queer as Folklore.

I'll be really honest, the pun on the title, Queer as Folklore, came first, and then I basically wrote a book around it.

But it's about looking at folklore,

mythology, monsters, myths and legends from an LGBTQ plus perspective. So lesbian, gay, bisexual,

trans, queer and all the other identities that fall under that spectrum. So it goes, the book goes chapter by chapter with a

different mythical creature. So from unicorns, vampires, mermaids, witches, all the way through to

modern folklore. So I include superheroes, robots and aliens as being examples of contemporary

folklore and looks at it through that lens.

I guess for me, the reason for writing this book is I'm a queer person and like many queer

people, I'm obsessed with myths and legends and have been since I was a child. I've noticed that

I'm definitely not alone in that. So if you go to a gay pride parade anywhere in the world, you will see mermaid fancy dress,

you will see unicorn horns, you will see fairy wings, you will see animal tails,

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