Page One - The Writer's Podcast

We're on a short break from Page One, but enjoy this episode from our sister show, Narrative Damage.

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube

New York, 1993. In the sweltering heat of late summer, four mismatched operatives are activated by Delta Green to take part in Operation Blister II. Three young children have gone missing and Delta Green believe it is linked to an old mansion in the Red Hook area of the city. Will our agents find out what happened before the Unnatural threat strikes again?

Narrative Damage is a TTRPG podcast that asks authors to put down their pens, pick up the dice and tell stories together.

Cast:
Benedict Anning, author of Atomic Coffin - Agent Meridian
Tariq Ashkanani, author of The Hollow Boys - Agent Midnight
Nicholas Binge, author of Abyss - Agent Mercator
David Goodman, Author of Solitary Agents - Agent Myriad
With Marco Rinaldi as The Handler

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are © Narrative Damage excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

"From The Dust" written by Dennis Detwiller and published by Arc Dream Publishing.

Opening Credits music - The Legacy of Hades by Jok'a'Face (Code: VRTXXQOXR8HQPELK)
Background music - Monument Studios

Chapters
00:00 Start
00:35 Intro
02:30 Opening credits
04:16 Player introductions and chat
06:57 The investigation begins...
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube

Wes Browne lives within the Kentucky River Basin in Madison County, Kentucky. He has practiced law as a criminal defense attorney, prosecutor, and public defender in Appalachia for over 25 years. He's also a coach, a poker player, and helps run his family's pizza shops. His book They All Fall the Same won the 2025 Weatherford Award for Fiction, becoming the first crime novel to earn the distinction. It was also named one of The Best Books of 2025 at mid-year by Book Riot, one of 2025's Biggest Mysteries and Thrillers by Goodreads, one of 2025's Best Books by Read or Dead, and is a Libro.fm Bookseller Pick. His 2020 debut Hillbilly Hustle was named one of Merriam-Webster's Best Lockdown Reads.

We had a great time chatting with Wes and hearing how he always harboured ambitions of being a writer despite his diverse career choices. We hear about how his work as a criminal lawyer helps inform his stories, and why he wants to write stories set in Appalachia.

Links:
Buy We All Fall The Same now
Follow Wes on Instagram
Visit Wes' website

Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Listen to authors telling stories together on our sister show, Narrative Damage

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube

Diana Beaumont is a literary agent with DHH Literary Agency. She started agenting with Rupert Heath Literary Agency in 2011 before moving to TAG and Marjacq Scripts. Before that she was senior commissioning editor at Transworld. Diana was chosen as one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars of 2012, was a nominee for RNA Agent of the Year 2019, and was shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year 2022 at the British Book Awards. Her list comprises 'smart commercial' fiction and non-fiction and includes a wide range of bestselling and prize-winning authors in the UK and internationally.

We loved having the chance to chat with Diana, learning about how she moved from editing to becoming a literary agent, hearing about what her day-to-day as an agent is like, and talking about what catches her attention in queries. In particular, we have an in-depth discussion about what to include (and not include) in the query letter, and also talk about whether social media is important for querying authors, and why the publishing market seems so difficult right now.

Links:
Diana's page at DHH Literary Agency
Follow Diana on Instagram

Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Listen to authors telling stories together on our sister show, Narrative Damage

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on Bluesky
Follow us on Threads

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of AIPL, there isn't even a mention of AI! Instead, we talk about how a recent change to Agent ethics guidelines in the US are questionable at best, discuss how publisher's PR promises are often empty (and whether anything could be done to stop that), and dive into a debate about whether memoirs should be fact-checked or should be left to be almost fictional in some cases...

00:00 Intro
01:06 From the Slush Pile - Listener Comments
11:03 Pay to Play? US Agents Ethics Row
18:35 Marketing Myths - Publishing's Empty Promises
27:33 Memoir or Myth - Does Truth Matter?
43:32 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
50:20 The Final Chapter - Entertainment Catch-up

Links:
DGB resign from the Association of American Literary Agents
Who holds publishers to their promises?
Earl Spencer apologises to Piers Morgan for error in memoir
Fact checking doesn't apply to memoirs, says ex-Bloomsbury boss

What happened in the failed execution of Christa Pike?

Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more! Find all our shows here!

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch this as a full video interview on YouTube

CL Hellisen, formerly published as Cat Hellisen, is a South African author living in Scotland who writes speculative and fantasy fiction across adult, young adult, and middle-grade genres. Their published works include When the Sea is Rising Red, House of Sand and Secrets, and Beastkeeper, along with numerous award-winning short stories featured in publications such as Tor.com and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Their latest novel is The Shape of Monsters.

We had a great time chatting with Cat, hearing about world-building in secondary world fantasy and navigating the ups and downs of changing literary agents. We also talk about the reality of securing an audiobook-first deal before landing a print release, the craft differences between short fiction and novels, and we get some interesting anecdotes about writing routines, dealing with industry tropes, and keeping motivated through awards and release days!

Links:
Buy The Shape of Monsters now
Follow CL on Bluesky
Visit CL's website

Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Listen to authors telling stories together on our sister show, Narrative Damage

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on Bluesky
Follow us on Threads

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.