That’s What Friends Are For with Wade Rouse
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bestselling memoirist Wade Rouse shares about his first novel, That’s What Friends Are For, inspired by “The Golden Girls.” In crafting humorous story lines about four gay friends in later life, Wade explores complex issues ranging from prejudice and discrimination to loyalty and love. We spoke about the book live at Zibby’s Bookshop.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens. |
| 0:44.8 | Today's episode with Wade Rouse was filmed at Zivvi's Bookshop, where I had the opportunity |
| 0:50.3 | to interview Wade live in person in front of the fabulous Santa Monica community |
| 0:55.4 | that regularly attends our events. |
| 0:58.2 | Wade Rouse is the author of That's What Friends Are For. |
| 1:02.1 | Any Golden Girls fans out there? |
| 1:03.8 | Anyway, this book is amazing. |
| 1:05.7 | Wade is an internationally best-selling author of 13 books. |
| 1:09.6 | He writes under two names, his own name, |
| 1:11.7 | Wade Rouse, and his grandmother's name, Viola Shipman, and has written many fabulous books. |
| 1:18.1 | I have had him on my podcast before. Some of his other books under his name include America's |
| 1:22.9 | boy, a memoir, also Magic Season, a son's story, both of which were absolutely beautiful. Under |
| 1:30.5 | Viola Shipman's name, he has written many other books, including the Page Turner, the Wishing |
| 1:36.9 | Bridge, and a Wish for Winter, among many other titles. I'm really excited to have had him in the |
| 1:43.7 | store and just think he's pretty |
| 1:46.1 | awesome. Welcome, Wade. Thank you so much for coming on Totally Butch. I'm so excited to have |
| 1:51.0 | you back. Thank you. I adore you too. In fact, this is what friends are for. Right. |
| 1:55.9 | Exactly. And we're done. |
... |
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