Natalie Jayne Clark is a neurodivergent writer and poet based in Perth, Scotland. The view as she writes is the ever-changing vista of trees and clouds lining the top of Kinnoull Hill. Her debut novel, a darkly funny sapphic crime tale called 'The Malt Whisky Murders', is out now and is nominated for best debut at Bloody Scotland 2025. It was great fun chatting with Natalie and hearing how a 2.5 minute pitch at Bloody Scotland's Pitch Perfect competition led to a pre-emptive book deal and an age...
Aug 22, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 24Ep. 20
We all know the old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" - but the trouble is, many people do! That's why trad publishers spend lots of money on designers for book covers! We discuss the difference a good and a bad cover can make, how self-published authors can make covers like the pros, and how to push back on trad publishers if the cover they suggest isn't working. Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-publ...
Aug 20, 2025•22 min
Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Scotland and England. After collecting an unreasonable number of degrees from various universities in the UK and the US, she moved to Edinburgh where she lives with her husband and children. She is the author of Meet Me in Another Life (2021) and the time-travel romantic comedy Love and Other Paradoxes (2025). We had great fun chatting with Catriona in our studio, and hearing about how she ...
Aug 15, 2025•46 min•Season 24Ep. 19
Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel Whether you are just starting our or are established, feedback can be invaluable for a writer. When should you seek feedback, and how can you find reliable people to provide feedback? And if you are giving feedback, what is useful and what isn't? We discuss it all on this week's Drafting Notes! Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) disc...
Aug 13, 2025•22 min
David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize–winning American playwright, screenwriter, director, novelist, and essayist, born November 30, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. He is renowned for his breakthrough in theater during the 1970s with works like American Buffalo and Sexual Perversity in Chicago , later earning the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross. His distinctive writing style—sharp, staccato dialogue, often referred to as "Mamet‑speak"—redefined modern theatrical and cinematic storytelling. Bey...
Aug 08, 2025•52 min•Season 24Ep. 18
Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel On this week's Drafting Notes, inspired by the publication of Tariq's book, The Midnight King, we are talking book launches. How important are they? Do they make a difference to sales? And what happens for the author after the book has been launched? Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to t...
Aug 06, 2025•17 min
Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube MK Hardy is the pen name for two geeky women living and writing together in Scotland. Their debut Sapphic Gothic Horror, The Needfire , comes from Solaris in the UK in July 2025 . They were mentees in the Pitch Wars 2020-21 programme, and mentors for Queery Fest 2022. They are organisers and facilitators for Scotland’s Cymera Festival . We had great fun chatting with Morag and Erin, hearing about how they first came to write together, and t...
Aug 01, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 24Ep. 17
It's one of the most common pieces of writing advice: Write what you know. But what does it really mean? Does it mean that if you're from a small village, you shouldn't write about people in big cities? If you're a man, you shouldn't write about women? We think it's a bit more nuanced than that, and that the phrase is often misunderstood. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments! Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefu...
Jul 29, 2025•22 min
M. H. Ayinde was born in London’s East End. She is a runner, a lapsed martial artist, and a screen time enthusiast. She is the Sunday Times bestselling author of epic fantasy novel A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST (Orbit UK/Saga Press). Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine, F&SF, Fantasy Magazine, and elsewhere, and she was the 2021 winner of the Future Worlds Prize. She lives in London with three generations of her family and their Studio Ghibli obsession. We had great fun chatti...
Jul 25, 2025•51 min•Season 24Ep. 16
Intisar Khanani is an award‑nominated American fantasy author and former public‑health consultant. Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, she spent her childhood moving around—living in five U.S. states and time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—before settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters. Her writing career began with the self‑published YA fantasy Thorn and has since expanded into acclaimed series such as The Dauntless Path and The Sunbolt Chronicles. Her latest work, Debts of Fire , ...
Jul 23, 2025•58 min•Season 24Ep. 15
J.R. Dawson's debut, The First Bright Thing, is a Golden Crown award winner. Her shorter works are in places such as F&SF, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, and Lightspeed. Dawson lives on Dakota land in Minnesota with a loving spouse and three dogs. She is a professor at Drexel University's MFA program. Her second novel, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World , is a loose sapphic retelling of Orpheus, and releases from Tor in July 2025. We had great fun chatting about how s...
Jul 18, 2025•55 min•Season 24Ep. 14
Carlo Lucarelli is an acclaimed Italian crime writer, journalist, screenwriter, and television presenter. He is best known for his detective novels, including the De Luca Trilogy and the Inspector Grazia Negro series, which have been widely translated and adapted for screen. Alongside his fiction, Lucarelli has hosted popular true crime TV shows in Italy and remains a prominent voice in Italian cultural life. His latest English-translated novel, The Darkest Winter , is out now. We had a really i...
Jul 16, 2025•48 min•Season 24Ep. 13
Laura Shepherd-Robinson is the award-winning, Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling author of four historical novels. Her books have been featured on BBC 2’s Between the Covers and Radio 4’s Front Row and Open Book. Her fourth novel, The Art of a Lie, is out now. We had great fun chatting with Laura and hearing how she decided to move from working in politics to writing, and learn about the research that goes into her novels. We also talk about planning, the effect of awards and more! Links: Bu...
Jul 11, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 24Ep. 12
Watch this episode as a full video episode on our YouTube channel! Sarah Pinborough is a New York Times bestselling and Sunday Times Number one and Internationally bestselling author who is published in over 25 territories worldwide. Having published more than 25 novels across various genres, her recent books include Behind Her Eyes and Insomnia, both of which have been adapted for TV. Her latest book, We Live Here Now, is out now. We had a really fun chat with Sarah, hearing about what she has ...
Jul 09, 2025•41 min
Amelia Blackwell has a master’s degree in Creative Writing, a corn snake called Colin, and a deep love of the works of Jane Austen. Although the Boleyns appear in her family tree, it’s through marriage, not blood, which is probably just as well. Georgiana Darcy’s most persistent suitor in her novel A Crime Through Time , Baron John de Halighwell, takes his name from one of Amelia’s distant great-grandfathers, who lived in a mansion that even Lady Catherine de Bourgh would admire. She has previou...
Jul 04, 2025•55 min•Season 24Ep. 11
Novelist and TV showrunner Jonathan Lee is the author of four novels, including High Dive and The Great Mistake . He is creator, executive producer & lead writer of the BBC/ Netflix drama series “The Bombing of Pan Am 103”. Other TV projects include originating and executive producing the documentary series “Who Killed Jill Dando?” (Netflix, 2023), a Top 10 show on the streamer in 47 countries. We enjoyed chatting with Jonathan and hearing how his experience as an editor taught him to be a b...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 24Ep. 10
Beth Lewis is the author of five novels so far, including her debut, THE WOLF ROAD. My latest novel, THE RUSH , came out in the UK on 10th June 2025 and is out in the US on the 7th October. It was July’s Goldsboro Books Prem1ere Book Club pick and a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. We had a great chat with Beth, hearing about the influences that went into writing The Rush, and how she researches her historical fiction. Plus, we talk about how westerns have romanticised the period and erased the part ...
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 24Ep. 9
Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel D. V. BISHOP writes the award-winning Cesare Aldo historical thrillers, published by Pan Macmillan. A writer of many narrative forms, his love for Italy and the Renaissance meant there could only be one setting for his crime fiction. He has previously guested on the main podcast way back in Episode 69. His latest book in the Cesare Aldo series, Carnival of Lies, is out on 26 June 2025. We had great fun chatting with David and hearing about his...
Jun 25, 2025•42 min
Watch as a full video episode on YouTube! Subscribe to Adventures in Publishing-land's own feed for future episodes or watch on YouTube! Welcome to the very first episode of Adventures in Publishing-land! Join us as we discuss some of the biggest (and strangest) stories in publishing over the past few weeks. This week: 00:17 Intro 01:32 The Unbound Saga continues 15:19 Authors hounded off social media - is it worth it? 24: 41 Literary Estates and copyright - how long should it last? 38:05 James ...
Jun 23, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Rattle , her debut novel, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. It received widespread critical acclaim from authors and reviewers. She has since written bestsellers The Collector, The Neighbour, When I Was Ten and Into the Dark in which she introduces DC Saul Anguish, a brilliant young detective with a dark past . Fiona lives w...
Jun 20, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Season 24Ep. 8
Jane Johnson is a novelist, historian, and publisher. She is the UK publisher of many bestselling authors, including George R.R. Martin. She has written for both adults and children, including the bestselling novels The Tenth Gift and The Salt Road . Her latest book is Secrets of the Bees. We really enjoyed chatting with Jane and hearing how it was working with the Tolkien estate and bringing us the version of Lord of the Rings we all now know and love, as well as how she came to found the Voyag...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 24Ep. 7
Michael Cordy's debut novel, The Miracle Strain/Messiah Code , was published in over twenty-five languages and reached the top five in the Sunday Times Bestseller List. Disney bought the film rights for $1.6 million. Another five novels followed: Crime Zero/The Crime Code , The Lucifer Code , The Venus Conspiracy , The Source and The Colour Of Death . All were published in the UK by Bantam Press and Corgi, and translated into several languages. Warner Bros optioned the film rights to The Source ...
Jun 13, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 24Ep. 6
Watch as a full video on our YouTube channel! Networking. It's a word that is very corporate and as a result off-putting to a lot of writers, but can it help? What are the best ways to go about it, either in person or online? And what shouldn't you do (learn about Marco's "Don't Be A Dick" rule...) Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!...
Jun 11, 2025•19 min
C.L. Taylor is the nine times Sunday Times bestselling author of eleven gripping stand-alone psychological thrillers: THE ACCIDENT, THE LIE, THE MISSING, THE ESCAPE, THE FEAR, SLEEP, STRANGERS, HER LAST HOLIDAY, THE GUILTY COUPLE, EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE and her newest book, IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND , published on 5th June 2025. We loved chatting with Cally and hearing perhaps the most unique story ever about how she got her agent, why she moved into writing psychological thrillers, and how she has d...
Jun 06, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 24Ep. 5
Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel! It's often assumed that writing novels and short stories use the same skill sets, but is that really true? What can writing short stories teach you about writing novels and vice versa? Should you always start out writing short stories? We discuss all this in the latest episode of Drafting Notes! Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) di...
Jun 04, 2025•19 min
Kate Foster worked as a national newspaper journalist for more than twenty years before becoming an author. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. Her previous novels include The Maiden , which won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The King’s Witches . The Mourning Necklace is her third novel. We had a great chat with Kate, hearing about how taking a writin...
May 30, 2025•59 min•Season 24Ep. 4
Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel! On this week's Drafting Notes, we are discussing that issue that every writer needs to deal with: Rejection! How do you handle it? Is there ever a point in your career where you don't have to deal with it (spoiler: no). And what are our thoughts on being resilient when you receive those rejections? Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (M...
May 28, 2025•23 min
Stuart MacBride is the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae and Ash Henderson novels. He’s also published standalones, novellas, and short stories, as well as a slightly twisted children’s picture book for slightly twisted children. His latest book, This House of Burning Bones, is out now. Despite some technical difficulties (explained at the start!) we enjoyed chatting with Stuart and hearing about how he loves the thrill of the blank page and how every story starts with him ...
May 23, 2025•57 min•Season 24Ep. 3
Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Andrew Hunter Murray is a writer, broadcaster and comedian. He co-hosts the award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, which has received 500 million downloads and toured the world. He also writes jokes and journalism for Private Eye magazine, hosts the Eye's podcast Page 94, presents BBC Radio 4’s Friday night comedy The Naked Week, and spent 14 years writing BBC2’s QI. His first novel, The Last Day, was a Sunday Times Top ...
May 16, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 24Ep. 2
Julian Simpson is a London-based writer and director known for his work across film, TV, and audio, including on Spooks, Hustle, Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, and Doctor Who. He’s also the co-founder of Storypunk and the creator of acclaimed audio dramas like The Lovecraft Investigations. He is currently running a Kickstarter for the next chapter of The Lovecraft Investigations, focusing on 20th Century occultist, Aleister Crowley. We had great fun chatting with Julian and hearing about how he firs...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 24Ep. 1
