The Writers’ Gym Podcast

Dr Rachel Knightley is joined at the Writers' Gym by best-selling adult and children's author, Sue Bentley. 

Sue Bentley has written a number of books for adults. Currently with JoffeBooks, written as Sue Bentley, are 'We Other' - dark fae and folk-horror. And  'Second Skin' - shape-changing with dragons. Sue's first love, both to read and write, has always been anything darkly gothic with elements of horror. She found inspiration in titles by Anne Rice, Tanith Lee, and early Holly Black, amongst many others. 
 
Sue was first published as Cleo Cordell, and wrote 7 historical erotic novels for Black Lace, Virgin Publishing's imprint. Writing as Susan Swann, she wrote 3 contemporary erotic novels and, a collection of erotic short stories for X-Libris (LittleBrown).
 
Sue also writes for children aged 5-9. Writing as Sue Bentley, her Magic Kitten, Magic Puppy, Magic Ponies, and Magic Bunny series are worldwide best-sellers. She has contributed to existing children's series, as Lucy Daniels for Animal Ark, Daisy Meadows for Rainbow Magic, and Kate Bloom for Fairies of Starshine Meadow. 
 
Going forward, and back to her roots, she's writing as Sue. C. Bentley. Her darkly disturbing Gothic novel 'Flesh Endures' - immortality comes at a price - is to be published this coming Autumn. (Sue's first venture into indie-publishing with Troubador.) Another recently completed novel, The Making - lushly gothic and with elements of body horror, set in Victorian Northamptonshire - is currently out for consideration. 
 
https://www.suebentley.co.uk/
 
If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on instagram: @jointhewritersgym

Finishing the first draft is a massively important thing to celebrate. But it’s also the point we’ve reached the base of the mountain that looked smaller and easier from a distance, and now looks bigger than it’s ever going to. Dr Rachel Knightley shows paths to move through the next stage, from overwhelm, to possibility and celebration.

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on instagram: @jointhewritersgym

Dr Caroline Sharples, author and historian 

Dr Rachel Knightley is joined at the Writers' Gym by non-fiction author and senior lecturer, Dr Caroline Sharples.

Dr Caroline Sharples is a historian of modern Germany, with longstanding research interests in memories of National Socialism and representations of the Holocaust. She has held the post of Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Roehampton in 2017.

Caroline is the author of West Germans and the Nazi Legacy (Routledge, 2012) and Postwar Germany and the Holocaust (Bloomsbury, 2016); and co-editor, alongside Olaf Jensen, of Britain and the Holocaust: Remembering and Representing War and Genocide (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). She has a particular fascination in the post-execution fate of Holocaust perpetrators, writing several essays on Allied policymaking regarding the Nazi corpse and perpetrator burials, commemoration and exhumation. It is against this background that she turned her attention to the much-mythologised fate of Adolf Hitler himself, seeking to explore just why the demise of the Nazi dictator has fascinated public audiences for so many decades. The resulting book, The Long Death of Adolf Hitler: An Investigative History constitutes the first cultural history approach to this topic.

Caroline is passionate about public engagement and finding new ways to talk about her research. She has penned blogs for ‘History Matters’ (a site run by the University of Sheffield to explore the historical context behind contemporary news headlines or significant anniversaries) ; and magazine articles for History Today and Aspects of History. Most recently, she was commissioned to write features for both The Big Issue and The Daily Telegraph in connection with her Long Death of Adolf Hitler book and has featured on several leading podcasts, including BBC History Extra and the New Books Network.

Instagram: @carol1ne_louise

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on Instagram: @jointhewritersgym

Rachel explores the link between creativity and anxiety: how the fears we write in our own minds can be used to propel us towards the things we want to create. Meaning we can learn not just more about what we can handle, but what are characters are capable of too.
 

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our websites at www.writersgym.com, www.rachelknightleycoaching.com, and follow us on instagram: @jointhewritersgym @rachelknightleycoaching

Dr Kim Fleet, prize-winning author and Writers’ Gym member
 
Dr Rachel Knightley’s guest at the Writers’ Gym is prize-winning published author, developmental editor and book coach, Kim Fleet.  

Dr Kim Fleet's work in indigenous land rights in Australia inspired her first two novels, Sacred Site and Featherfoot. She then turned to crime closer to home, and wrote the series of novels Paternoster, Holy Blood and Devil's Chimney set in Cheltenham and featuring feisty private investigator Eden Grey. Over eighty of her short stories have appeared in magazines in the UK and Australia, including People's Friend, Woman's Weekly, Take a Break and That's Life Fast Fiction. She has won or been shortlisted in over twenty literary competitions, including the Asham Award. She's written twenty-four articles on social history, genealogy and well-being for magazines including Discover Your Ancestors, Family Tree Magazine and Planet Mindful. She also wrote two monologues for the End of the Line podcast about women who choose not to have children. Kim has an MA and PhD in Anthropology, and MAs in English Literature and Screenwriting. She enjoys gardening, patchwork, exploring old buildings and reading historical true crime.

Instagram: @KimFleet
Substack: Outpacktopaperback.substack.com 
Website: drkimfleet.co.uk

If you enjoyed listening to the Writers' Gym Podcast, head to our website at www.writersgym.com and follow us on instagram: @jointhewritersgym