For Signal 2025 Judges
Listener Discretion Advised.
Live at the Ripped Bodice Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY
In February 2025, a month famous for love, Zipless recorded an episode of the podcast in front of a live audience at The Ripped Bodice (one of the country’s first all-romance bookstore) in Brooklyn, NY.
Joined on stage by fellow romance novel narrators Samantha Brentmoor, Gideon Frost, and Robert Hatchet, Allie and friends broke down the art of romance narration, how artistic performance can affect meaning and storytelling, and how they all approach the wide range of tropes and spice levels in the books they narrate.
From Chaucer’s 12th century courtly prose to a ‘meet-cute’ scene by up-and-coming romance author Kate Cole (written especially for this episode), the four talented actors on stage brought stories of love to life. And in the spirit of sharing the love out loud, Allie called on budding narrators from the audience to come up to the mic and give us their best shot at sultry.
What better place to explore the language of love than in the most iconic romance bookstore in town?
And a few audience members took their best shot at sulty…
Romance novels account for nearly a quarter of all adult print fiction sold in the United States.
Allie Martina, a professional romance novel narrator, explores how the language of romance is shaped by writers and narrators, and asks what is it about forbidden love, age gaps, and steamy sex scenes that women find so timelessly appealing.
And with more and more women listening to romance novels, it also matters how these books sound.
Can narration, depth of a male voice, or artistic performance affect a romantic scene?
Can the romance novel take words long considered shameful and flip them into words of empowerment?
In interviews with bestselling romance authors Evie Dunmore, Sara Cate, Sierra Simone, Stephanie Archer, Xio Axelrod and more, Zipless explores how romance novels change and reflect women’s lives on and off the page.
And in one-of-a-kind performances, professional romance novel narrator Gideon Frost joins Allie in exploring how innovative sound design can directly impact the hearts and minds of an audience.
