{"podcast":{"title":"Sounds Like A Cult","slug":"sounds-like-a-cult-3798336","podcast_index_feed_id":3798336,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/soundslikeacult","website_url":"https://www.soundslikeacult.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/03799cba-bf30-11ef-bf8e-e3714d41411a/image/baca8fec6e9ed51eda6138497bbffee0.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Studio71","episode_count":227,"summary":"Putting the “cult” in culture… Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about the Royal Family? What about Disney Adults? Or spiritual influencers? Is Instagram itself a cult? We’re Sounds Like A Cult, an iHeart Radio Award-winning podcast that analyzes a different fanatical group every week to try and answer the big question: This ~sounds~ like a cult, but is it really? Created and hosted by New York Times-bestselling author Amanda Montell, co-hosted and produced by Chelsea Charles, Reese Oliver, and Iman Hariri Kia. For advertising opportunities please email PodcastPartnerships@Studio71us.com We want to make the podcast even better, help us learn how we can: https://bit.ly/2EcYbu4 Privacy Policy: https://www.studio71.com/terms-and-conditions-use/#Privacy%20Policy ","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T16:17:22.805307+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sounds-like-a-cult-3798336"},"episode":{"title":"The Cult of Fanfiction","slug":"the-cult-of-fanfiction","published_at":"2026-03-17T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sounds-like-a-cult-3798336/the-cult-of-fanfiction","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sounds-like-a-cult-3798336","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/mgln.ai/e/135/verifi.podscribe.com/rss/p/tracking.swap.fm/track/i7NUCPwi3tJP053nG6mP/traffic.megaphone.fm/STU9103878154.mp3?updated=1773687479","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/mgln.ai/e/135/verifi.podscribe.com/rss/p/tracking.swap.fm/track/i7NUCPwi3tJP053nG6mP/traffic.megaphone.fm/STU9103878154.mp3?updated=1773687479","summary":"Long before publishing executives \"discovered\" the internet, a very dedicated group of fans had already built their own literary universe complete with sacred terminology, power hierarchies, and enough drama to make the actual source material blush. This week, Reese and Iman sit down with the iconic Christina Lauren duo, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings (@christinalauren), to dissect fanfiction's glow-up from AO3 comment sections to genuine big business. We're getting into the culty dialect (slash, ship AU, canon, OTP), the plagiarism scandals, the parasocial power trips, and the Fifty Shades pipeline that proved E.L. James wasn't the only one who could monetize her Twilight feelings. Press play, culties, your kudos await. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia. Come see Sounds Like A Cult LIVE at The Bell House in New York on April 21st! Tickets at amandamontell.com/events Thank you to our sponsors! Join the loyalty program for renters at https://joinbilt.com/cult Take 20% off your first purchase with code CULT at https://LIQUIDIV.COM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Long before publishing executives \"discovered\" the internet, a very dedicated group of fans had already built their own literary universe complete with sa…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3642,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sounds-like-a-cult-3798336/episodes/the-cult-of-fanfiction/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sounds-like-a-cult-3798336/the-cult-of-fanfiction.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}