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

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. He interviews experts in overlooked fields, searching for answers to life's biggest and smallest questions. 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. Don then talks about how he started writing poetry when he was 10-12. Under the guidance of his uncle as his poetry & writing mentor, Don continued to develop and hone his craft. If you haven't found a poet you like, Don says you just haven't found the right one and recommends a number of poets and poetry to read. Link are at the end of the show notes. Then we talk about Don'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's Delivery Service meets Old Gods of Appalachia. We talk spoiler free about the book, and Don talks about how he infused the book's town and characters with his personal history with West Virginia and the family that resides there. We also talk about what's coming next for his work, and some projects that we hinted at are out now, including Hexes and Heroes. You can find Don at: Verity Vox and The Curse of Foxfire - Don Martin's catalog on Amazon - You can find Hexes and Heroes at: You can find Head on Fire Podcast at: Don's Poetry Recommendations Include: Clint Smith - Above Ground - Andrea Gibson - Lord of the Butterflies - Franny Choi - Maggie Smith - Good Bones - Maggie Smith - The Well Speaks Of Its Own Poison - Staceyann Chin - Beau Sia - Taylor Mali - Saul Williams - Danez Smith - Morgan Parker - Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night - Maya Popa - Wound Is the Origin of Wonder -

You can listen to 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 online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

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 is an episode from Tales from the Fandom by David Ginsburg.

This episode is 01:02:13 long.

This episode was published on Feb 2, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Tales from the Fandom when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.