{"id":9767,"date":"2026-02-02T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/?p=9767"},"modified":"2026-02-01T23:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T04:26:16","slug":"episode-443-don-martin-talks-fandom-influences-podcasting-and-his-work-as-an-author-of-poetry-verity-vox-and-the-curse-of-foxfire-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/02\/episode-443-don-martin-talks-fandom-influences-podcasting-and-his-work-as-an-author-of-poetry-verity-vox-and-the-curse-of-foxfire-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 443: Don Martin talks fandom influences, podcasting, and his work as an Author of poetry, Verity Vox and The Curse of Foxfire, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>New York Times best-selling author Don Martin joins me on the podcast for a wonderful episode full of laughs, learning, and beautiful words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-libsyn wp-block-embed-libsyn\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"embedly-card\" data-card-controls=\"1\" data-card-align=\"center\" data-card-theme=\"light\"><h4><a href=\"https:\/\/oembed.libsyn.com\/embed?item_id=39958710\">Episode 443: Don Martin talks fandom influences, podcasting, and his work as an Author of poetry, Verity Vox and The Curse of Foxfire, and more<\/a><\/h4><p>New York Times best-selling author Don Martin joins me on the podcast for a wonderful episode full of laughs, learning, and beautiful words. We kick things off by talking about his podcast, Head on Fire. Don talks about how and why he started it, and what you can expect to find by listening or watching his episodes.<\/p><\/blockquote><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We kick things off by talking about his podcast, Head on Fire. Don talks about how and why he started it, and what you can expect to find by listening or watching his episodes. He interviews experts in overlooked fields, searching for answers to life&#8217;s biggest and smallest questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From there, we talk about some of his early fandom influences. From the X-Men, to a focus on the Animorphs series by Katherine Applegate. We discuss how his time spent with family in West Virginia and the history and stories that come out of Appalachia formed the foundations for his future work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don then talks about how he started writing poetry when he was 10-12.&nbsp; Under the guidance of his uncle as his poetry &amp; writing mentor, Don continued to develop and hone his craft. If you haven&#8217;t found a poet you like, Don says you just haven&#8217;t found the right one and recommends a number of poets and poetry to read. Link are at the end of the show notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then we talk about Don&#8217;s novel, Verity Vox and The Curse of Foxfire. As mentioned previously, Don talks about how the idea for the novel started with a real town and story in West Virginia. From there, Verity Vox can be described as Kiki&#8217;s Delivery Service meets Old Gods of Appalachia. We talk spoiler free about the book, and Don talks about how he infused the book&#8217;s town and characters with his personal history with West Virginia and the family that resides there. We also talk about what&#8217;s coming next for his work, and some projects that we hinted at are out now, including Hexes and Heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find Don at:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-by-don-martin wp-block-embed-by-don-martin\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"embedly-card\" data-card-controls=\"1\" data-card-align=\"center\" data-card-theme=\"light\"><h4><a href=\"https:\/\/bydonmartin.com\/\">By Don Martin<\/a><\/h4><p>No Description<\/p><\/blockquote><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bydonmartin\/\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bydonmartin\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@bydonmartin\">https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@bydonmartin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Verity Vox and The Curse of Foxfire &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4qf4FNL\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4qf4FNL<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don Martin&#8217;s catalog on Amazon &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3M1hixS\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3M1hixS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find Hexes and Heroes at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"embedly-card\" data-card-controls=\"1\" data-card-align=\"center\" data-card-theme=\"light\"><h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@hexesnheroes\">Hexes &#038; Heroes<\/a><\/h4><p>Share your videos with friends, family, and the world<\/p><\/blockquote><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find Head on Fire Podcast at:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@HeadOnFirePod\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@HeadOnFirePod<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;s Poetry Recommendations Include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clint Smith &#8211; Above Ground &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4t6Tvgx\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4t6Tvgx<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andrea Gibson &#8211; Lord of the Butterflies &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3NPX62t\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3NPX62t<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Franny Choi &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ogjzps\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ogjzps<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maggie Smith &#8211; Good Bones &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/49RmPjI\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/49RmPjI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maggie Smith &#8211; The Well Speaks Of Its Own Poison &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3M1gmJS\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3M1gmJS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Staceyann Chin &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/49YGVak\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/49YGVak<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beau Sia &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ann5qN\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ann5qN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taylor Mali &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ann5qN\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ann5qN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saul Williams &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ar4OsD\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ar4OsD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Danez Smith &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3NRul5G\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3NRul5G<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morgan Parker &#8211; Other People&#8217;s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kcF0DX\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kcF0DX<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maya Popa &#8211; Wound Is the Origin of Wonder &#8211;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3LPgj3Q\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3LPgj3Q<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Times best-selling author Don Martin joins me on the podcast for a wonderful episode full of laughs, learning,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast-episode"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/talesfromthefandom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Don.jpg?fit=1280%2C854&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8zDtl-2xx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9769,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9767\/revisions\/9769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talesfromthefandom.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}