Author's Afterword

Charlie and Phoenicia Rogerson (Aphrodite) discuss the latter's mythological comedy, an incredibly unique book about the Greek goddess of love which sports an ensemble cast of many narrators in an Ancient Greek theatre fashion, a variety of different modes and effective mediums of writing including interrupting footnotes, and more sexual references than Zeus himself could produce. Please note that this episode includes necessary mentions of mythological regular and sexual violence and swearing. General references: Pausanius says in his Description of Greece, chapter 19.2: "Now the shape of it is square, like that of the Her­mae, and the in­scrip­tion de­clares that the Heav­enly Aphrodite is the old­est of those called Fates." Disney's Hercules Books mentioned by name or extensively: Bram Stoker: Dracula Phoenicia Rogerson: Herc Phoenicia Rogerson: Aphrodite Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games Release details: recorded 12th September 2025; published 22nd December 2025 Where to find Phoenicia online: Website || Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:41 Why Aphrodite? Changes made, and the Fates 07:01 Phoenicia's interesting writing style for her book, full of slang 09:47 Phoenicia's version of Zeus 12:25 The importance of humans in the mythology, how the gods rely on them, and how it's humanity who creates and furthers the story 16:14 Starting to discuss the different narratives and continuing on with the importance of humans to mythological stories 21:22 Phoenicia's favourite mythological character 22:37 Changing Cadmus' story to include dragons rather than serpents 23:57 The different written styles and multi-media writing Phoenicia uses, starting with the paragraph of one repeated word, and continuing on with the footnotes before talking about the way she allows reader interpretation 33:56 The chapter that is simply a list of the dead 36:34 The choice on when to change narrators 37:56 How the novel was planned 39:58 Did Phoenicia consider bringing her version of Prometheus back? 45:23 The ending, moving from Greek gods to Roman gods, in particular Aphrodite 47:03 Talking book cover knitwear 48:53 Brief notes about Phoenicia's next book

Charlie and Elodie Harper (Boudicca's Daughter) discuss the Iceni women history didn't deem important enough to give us names for, working with morally grey relationships for which there are no answers, and, in all this context, Ancient Britain and Ancient Rome. Please note that there is mention of rape and violence in this episode. General References: Butser Ancient Farm Books mentioned by name or extensively: Elodie Harper: The Wolf Den trilogy Elodie Harper: Boudicca's Daughter Release details: recorded 27th August 2025; published 8th December 2025 Where to find Elodie online: Website || Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:28 Why Elodie wrote about Boudicca's daughters; how Elodie approached the story in terms of responsibility; and the basics of the history that is known 09:04 Working with and including ancient texts that talk about Boudicca 11:05 Weaving Solina's almost completely fictional and Paulinus' somewhat factual stories together 15:19 Solina and Paulinus' mirrored experiences and the importance Elodie placed on Solina being both a cultural victim and aggressor 18:40 Solina and Paulinus are both from non-Roman cultures - Iceni and Etruscan; and Paulinus' Etruscan goddess, Nortia 21:35 Elodie's choice to kill off Solina's younger sister 25:15 Paulinus' decision not to tell Solina, effectively until the end of the book, about the brooch she left in Britain 27:18 Was it important that Solina stayed in Rome at the end? 31:15 Senovara, the Easter egg from Elodie's The Wolf Den trilogy, and Pliny, who Elodie had already written about in that trilogy, written in Boudicca's Daughter from a different perspective 36:55 Elodie's choices for Nero's wife, Poppaea 38:56 The sold slave, Ressona - what does Elodie think happened to her 39:53 Especially given Elodie's choices in terms of morally grey aspects, how does she hope readers will view the story? 42:11 Very brief notes on Elodie's next book (at the time of recording she wasn't allowed to say) Photo credit: Paula Majid

Charlie and Juhea Kim (A Love Story From The End Of The World) discuss Juhea's fantastic largely environmental and philosophical short story collection. This is a book that looks at the problems with our present as well as the possible futures that may result from them. General references: Rocky Groundhog Day In The Mood For Love Kpop Demon Hunters Books mentioned by name or extensively: Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy Juhea Kim: A Love Story From The End Of The World Juhea Kim: the Divine Comedy Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master And The Margarita Release details: recorded 29th August 2025; published 24th November 2025 Where to find Juhea online: Website || Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:25 The ordering of the stories in A Love Story From The End Of The World. We then go on to discuss the last story in the book and environmentalism 05:56 Looking at the theme of time and using metaphors 12:59 The ending of the first story, Biodome, the film adaptations, and the way Juhea ends her stories on a more general scale 19:45 Notting Hill (the story in the second person) and Juhea's writing of that point of view 24:07 The story Mountain Island and its themes of consumerism and pop idols 29:05 The philosophy, the question of god, in the stories as per two quotes from Juhea's book 37:14 What Juhea is writing now, a novel called The Divine Comedy Photo credit: Nola Logan

Charlie and Clémence Michallon (Our Last Resort) discuss Clémence's epic multi-thousand-a-day writing streak and how she cuts sentences that don't work, often not replacing them, also Charlie's discomfort with the idea of the morally grey aspect of the novel and Clémence's thoughts that we think of morality in the context of the book/show, and fictional pets staying alive beyond the pages. Please note that the book under discussion is about a murder. Books mentioned by name or extensively: Clémence Michallon: The Quiet Tenant Clémence Michallon: Our last Resort Tyler Keevil: Your Still Beating Heart Release details: recorded 8th August 2025; published 10th November 2025 Where to find Clémence online: Website || Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:51 All about the title itself - Our Last Resort 04:07 The inspiration for the book 08:59 Talking about narratives and perspectives, which includes Clémence noting her previous book, The Quiet Tenant 11:41 The importance of using and including detail about the cult that is a part of Our Last Resort's in-the-past timeline 14:09 Did Clémence always known that Frida would be the person who'd committed the original murder? And how Clémence completely redrafted her novel 19:36 Clémence's use of italic text for particular categories of Frida's thoughts 22:38 Clémence likes the second person! 24:03 Clémence's chapter headings - the X day, and, in the past narrative X years ago 27:58 The effective themes of family and siblings in the book, including in the cult 32:34 What can we see happening in Frida and Gabriel's futures? 36:02 ...And then we discuss what might happen to Frida's dog beyond the last pages and get into a discussion on pets and death in fiction 39:25 Annie and the morally grey questions Charlie has about that character's choices 46:04 Joan, the local retail employee who becomes the first non-cult person Frida and Gabriel meet and who we find out later was killed off the page 47:18 Both of Clémence's books are being adapted for television! 48:21 Asking Clémence about how she goes about cutting sentences that don't work, as per Charlie's research 52:19 What Clémence is writing now Photo credit: Gabrielle Malewski

Charlie and Nikki May (This Motherless Land) discuss her childhood in Lagos and moving to England, various ways Nikki's story changed over time (quite a lot!), the Nigerian women's relay team of 1992, and the upcoming TV adaptations of both This Motherless Land and Wahala. Please note that there is some swearing in this episode. General references: About the Nigerian Women's Relay team win at the 1992 Olympics Rocks (2019) Nikki made the shortlist of the Nigerian Prize for Literature Books mentioned by name or extensively: Enid Blyton: The Famous Five (series) Jane Austen: Pride And Prejudice Jane Austen: Emma Jane Austen: Mansfield Park Nikki May: Wahala Nikki May: This Motherless Land Release details: recorded 29th July 2025; published 27th October 2025 Where to find Nikki online: Website || Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:50 Being inspired by Jane Austen and Mansfield Park and introducing the way that the book is inspired by Nikki's own life 05:27 Expanding on how this book is inspired by Nikki's childhood in Lagos, Nigeria, and later move to England 08:52 About Nikki's brother, to whom This Motherless Land is dedicated 09:56 Talking about the Ikoyi club in Nigeria Nikki's family was a part of 11:03 The story changed so much during the writing! We discuss a few different areas - Liv, romance, JoJo 16:10 Somewhat like Funke, Nikki changed her name when she moved to England. We also discuss switching between Nigerian English and British English 20:33 Funke's father's grief 23:42 Brief discussion on how Jane Austen's sister couldn't attend her funeral 24:53 Easter eggs - carnation milk, and differences with food between the nations in this context 27:39 Could Liv have been believed about Kate? 29:27 The story beyond the pages and brief info about both This Mother Land's and Wahala's TV adaptations 33:40 Making each book different 35:30 What Nikki is writing at the moment; discussing ageism and the difference between men and women in that context 39:53 About Billy the parrot 41:06 Nikki's dogs and doing a combined dog and plot walk

Charlie and Jim C Hines (Kitemaster) discuss how his story developed over a number of years, including wonder and physics reasoning in the book, his excellent study of grief (and humour in that context), and his unique and choices in regards to the book world's belief system of an afterlife. Please note there is some very mild swearing in this episode, as well as discussions of cancer and death. Please also note, on a very different subject, that there are spoilers for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe as well as Serenity (Firefly) and, sort of, for Star Wars: A New Hope. I doubt anyone but me will mind, but I'm including the info regardless. General references: Cancelled Fable Legends game Jim's link-to-all-posts on his poses as women on the covers of fantasy books Jim's post about the physics of the kiteships 17 Again Books mentioned by name or extensively: C S Lewis: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe Jim C Hines: Slayer Of Old (referenced as Unchosen Ones) Jim C Hines: Kitemaster Jim C Hines: Fable: Blood Of Heroes Jim C Hines: Magic Ex Libris (series) Jim C Hines: Goblin Quest Release details: recorded 23rd June 2025; published 13th October 2025 Where to find Jim online: Website || Instagram || Facebook Where to find Charlie online: Instagram || TikTok Discussions 02:03 Struggling to come up with Kitemaster's summary 02:33 Selling the book 04:27 The parts of Kitemaster that have remained over the time Jim had been writing the story 06:44 Jim's work on the physics of how the kiteships would work 09:38 The grief in the book 13:35 Including Ossa, Nial's grandmother, who accompanies her in the form of a spirit kite, and discussions of how she would be the sum of her entire life's personalities and ages 21:11 Vikaan and Xao 26:02 Working with the cloud sky serpents and dragons, the god-like nature of the latter 28:36 World building 33:27 Everyone holds Nial's wrist! 35:25 Working with humour when you've got a theme of grief 41:38 The fictional old oral history texts Jim includes 42:58 The importance of Jim's characters to him 46:02 Queen Kavaya's thread conclusion 47:39 Could there be other stories in this world? 49:17 Jim's next book, now called Slayers Of Old

Charlie and Julie Kagawa (Fateless) discuss video games, working with fate and destiny, Julie's brilliant world building and magic system, and the decisions she made about where to end the book. General references: Charlie and Julie's pre-show chat (which is the reason Charlie knows Julie meant Final Fantasy X) My episode with Samantha Sotto Yambao is 122 Books mentioned by name or extensively: Julie Kagawa: The Iron Fey Julie Kagawa: The Blood Of Eden Julie Kagawa: Talon Games mentioned: Assassin's Creed D&D Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X-2 Guild Wars 2 Hitman Prince Of Persia Splinter Cell Tomb Raider Release details: recorded 19th May 2025; published 22nd September 2025 Where to find Julie online: Website || Instagram || Facebook || YouTube (Minecraft channel) Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:35 The video game inspirations (this becomes a longer discussion) 06:09 Writing the main characters 09:36 The fatechasers as a people 11:38 Working with an ensemble cast of characters 14:34 How Julie came to choose when to reveal the details of being fateless to the character 16:39 Writing the slow burn romance 18:56 Julie's awesome world building and unique magic system 22:22 Raithe's world and what we might learn about it in book two 24:07 Kovass' religion and how Julie worked with different sects of it 27:33 On Julie's decisions as to killing characters off 29:45 Choosing where to end this book 32:29 More about book two

Charlie and Maggie Stiefvater (The Listeners) discuss the lesser-known history of the US hosting Axis diplomats in luxury hotels, the arrangements made to swap diplomats one for one, including disability and mental illness in such a story, Maggie's main character's dachshunds and their relationship to the man they never let pet them, the era-aligned game that Maggie created, and much more. General references: Shiver (film adaptation) Charlie's conversation with Elaine Chiew is episode 111 Amelie Big Fish Books mentioned by name or extensively: Maggie Stiefvater: Shiver Maggie Stiefvater: The Scorpio Races Maggie Stiefvater: The Raven Cycle Maggie Stiefvater: The Listeners Release details: recorded 1st May 2025; published 8th September 2025 Where to find Maggie online: Website || Instagram || Facebook || TikTok Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 00:01:41 How the book started 00:08:01 The history and hotels in terms of Maggie's interest. Lots of info here! 00:13:08 How Maggie created the characters; whether there's been a change in her process of 'thieving' 00:16:30 Creating June and her role as 'Hoss' 00:20:51 June and Tucker together and in the context of the sweetwater 00:25:43 Are the sweetwater or Avalon hotel characters? 00:28:57 The letters Maggie bookends the story with, and then we move on to Pennybacker and the dachshunds and Edgar 00:38:12 411 00:41:18 Disability and labels in the book, including Sandy and Maggie's decisions in regards to his story thread 00:50:04 Edgar beyond the pages 00:51:55 The arrangements during WW2 where diplomats were exchanged between the powers 00:57:49 What did Pennybacker have to say about the Swiss that he said he'd tell June? 00:59:11 The game of Winnet! 01:03:46 Present news about the Shiver film adaptation 01:04:39 Brief info on what Maggie's next adult novel Photo credit: Stephen Voss

Charlie and Emily Slapper (Everyone I Know Is Dying) discuss her phenomenal book that looks at a young woman spiralling from mental illness. This involves discussing romantic relationships when one is depressed, the affect of parents, the affect of society, and not using labels. General references: I spoke to Samantha Sotto Yambao in episode 122 Books mentioned by name or extensively: Emily Slapper: Everyone I Know Is Dying Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar Release details: recorded 16th April 2025; published 25th August 2025 Where to find Emily online: Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:25 The inspiration, films that only scratched the surface 03:25 Emily's surprising answer to the question of what research she did 04:14 Talking of the nod to The Bell Jar 04:41 And to the question as to Emily's books in a drawer, and about Emily's original career plan 07:02 The first line and responses to Iris as a character 10:01 On not labelling Iris 11:10 The importance of writing fiction about mental illness 12:39 Including discussion on how society affects us 14:48 George and his role 18:00 Patrick and his role 20:24 The impact of Iris' parents and upbringing on her 24:44 Emily's choices as to the ending 28:30 How should we feel about Sara? 31:50 On privilege or the lack of it 33:05 Patrick's life beyond the book 34:58 The way Emily incorporates the passing of seasons 38:28 Emily's second book

Charlie and Michael Stewart (Black Wood Women) discuss the persecution of Irish people in the 17th century, the loss of and possible reintroduction of wolves in Britain, and 17th century hippies. Please note that there is discussion of drugs in this episode. General references: The Bronte Writing Centre Books mentioned by name or extensively: Elizabeth Fremantle: Honey And The Sting Ian D Rotherham: Yorkshire's Forgotten Fenlands Michael Stewart: King Crow Michael Stewart: Walking The Invisible Michael Stewart: Black Wood Women Michael Stewart: Surrounded By My Enemy Stacey Thomas: The Revels Release details: recorded 14th April 2025; published 11th August 2025 Where to find Michael online: Website || Instagram Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok Discussions 01:25 The inspiration for Black Wood Women. We continue on the subject of wolves and their loss and reintroduction 06:50 What having three narratives allowed Michael to explore 08:29 The persecution of Irish people in the 1600s 11:08 Michael talks about the 1600s communities that we might today call hippy 16:14 World building, making it all so real 19:19 The language of the novel - a mix, Charlie found, of old and new 21:54 On Michael's witches taking substances 23:52 Michael's interest in ravens 29:14 The men, particularly Johanne the Swedish wolf hunter who Charlie reckons is more witch than anything else 34:53 Was the questioning in Black Wood Women of what was going on with witch accusers drawn from the history? 39:31 More about Alice 42:16 About the ecology in the book and how this relates to our present day 45:28 Is it difficult writing such a dark book? 50:19 What Michael's writing now, Surrounded By My Enemies