The Hobcast Book Show

There are so many challenges that publishers face as it is, so is it possible to also tackle the environmental impact of creating books too? Our guest this week, Stuart Debar of UK independent press, SRL Publishing, believes it is. In fact, he argues that publishers have a duty to publish in as sustainably as they can, from choice of paper stock for their print copies, planting trees to offset those felled to create that paper, or ...

Why become an independent publisher? It can't be the hours? Or the pay. So what motivates people to enter the industry? That's a question we put to our guest this week, Joe Chadwick, author and creator of Essex-based micro-publisher Crescent Swan Publishing. Joe set up the company in order to publish his first novel, The Briarmen in 2021, and with that experience behind him, he signed his first author, Tim Franks, who appeared on t...

We're heading Stateside again this week on The Hobcast Book Show to meet our guest, C McGee. By day, he's Professor Caleb Husmann, teaching political science at William Peace University in North Carolina, and by night he's C McGee, author of satirical mystery, Owen O'Shea - Stay-At-Home Dad, Wannabe Detective. As Caleb explains to us, once his dreams of becoming a professional soccer player ended, he needed a new challenge, one tha...

Would you ever consider writing a chapter from the perspective of an octopus? Our guest this week, New York-based author Tim Maleeny certainly has, but as he explains in this episode of The Hobcast Book Show, he'll consider anything if it entertains his readers. Tim is the author of the Cape Weathers Mysteries series; the latest novel Hanging the Devil was published in 2023, and deals with the murky world of international art deali...

It's been something of a mad week for us at The Hobcast Book Show. We've been on the road with our annual visit to the London Book Fair at Olympia, and spent two days in Dorset discussing books with bestselling author Rachel Maclean. Somehow we've also found time to speak to Hobeck Books author Stacey Murray ahead of the release of her first novel for us, the brilliant psychological thriller The Thief of Joy. Stacey sets her story ...

We're thrilled to be joined again by one of the true stars of the UK independent crime fiction scene - JD Kirk. In the past few years he's developed a huge following for his work, especially the best-selling DCI Logan crime thriller series - with 19 books to date. His year to come looks busy, to say the least, with 5 novels scheduled and three screenplay adaptations of his romance series for a leading Hollywood studio. How d...

It's perhaps not a thought widely shared, but we think that William Shakespeare is one of the English language's original crime authors. You don't have to look far into his canon for murder mysteries, whodunnits, revenge thrillers or even the odd domestic noir. The Bard has certainly proved an inspiration for our guest this week, author Guy Hale who releases the first novel in his latest series, this week. The Croaking Raven is set...

Our guest this week on The Hobcast Book Show rarely takes no for an answer. Author, journalist and podcaster Paul Waters sees a 'no entry' sign as a challenge to be overcome rather than a deterrent. Take, for instance, how he produced the first live foreign radio show in communist Cuba by somehow smuggling in a satellite dish through the airport. And how many Hobcast guests can claim to have cooked a meal for Pele? Paul draws on hi...

The world seems ever more divided and fractured at present, with discordant voices drowning out appeals for reason and peace. Our guest this week, author Miriam Halahmy, is an ardent campaigner for peace, particularly in the Middle East. Miriam is a prolific author of middle-grade and young adult fiction tackling difficult subjects such as the Holocaust, enforced migration and drug abuse. Her most recent book, A Boy From Bagdhad fo...

As authors, it's sometimes easy to lose track of how accessible our writing actually is. We often assume that whatever we write, as long as it makes sense and is grammatically correct, it will be easy to follow and enjoy. Our guest this week, author Tim Franks, begs to differ. As a former teacher working with the phonics system of teaching children to read, he recognised that many books written for that audience weren't as accessib...

Since we began The Hobcast Book Show just over three years ago, we've spoken to a number of former police officers turned authors. All of them have fascinating stories to share, and valuable insights into how to mix the reality of policing with the need to tell a good story. Our interview with thriller author Roger A. Price follows that tradition. A former Detective Inspector, with a thirty-one police career and extensive experienc...

We first met our guest on this week's Hobcast Book Show at the London Book Fair in 2022, and we're delighted to have the chance to speak at length to Daniella Blechner, author and founder of Conscious Dreams Publishing. Daniella has dedicated the past few years to enabling a huge range of authors to bring their stories and ideas to print. For instance, there's 7 year-old Tiana-Rose-Akoy-Arrey, whose debut children's book, My Afro, ...

The appeal of the works of Jane Austen never diminishes. As each new TV or film adaptation comes out, so a new generation discovers the enduring magic of Austen's world, even two centuries after her death. Austen wrote six novels, with Pride and Prejudice her most celebrated. Our guest this week, Linda O'Byrne, has written six novels that take Austen's world twenty years into the future, each focusing on the lives of the young wome...

It's tempting to approach every new year with refreshed focus and aspirations, and we're no different here at The Hobcast Book Show. But let's be realistic. 2023 was a year of major upheaval in the creative industries with the growing impact of generative AI, combined with a cost of living crisis, and rising production costs. So can we look forward to a year of positive changes in 2024? Our guest this week is Derek Thompson, prolif...

Happy New Year from The Hobcast Book Show team. This week we pool the collective talents of three Hobeck Books authors to look in depth at police procedurals. Why do they remain enduringly popular? What are the challenges of remaining on top of the latest investigatory techniques and science? How do you ensure your writing remains credible but also engaging for the reader? To answer those questions we're joined by three brilliant H...

To mark Christmas, we've brought together three wonderful Hobeck authors for a special festive edition of The Hobcast Book Show to discuss how humour and crime fiction can work together. Joining us are A B Morgan, Sue Shepherd, and Jennie Ensor, who've all wrestled with the conundrum of how to marry humour and murder together. What line do you have to dance as an author? Are there subjects that are taboo? How do you avoid upsetting...

Among all the noise in the media and politics about the impact of mass migration, it's perhaps easy to lose sight of the human aspects of the situation. Our guest this week, Helen Matthews, writes psychological suspense novels which deal with the darker side of human nature. Her first novel, recently republished as Girl Out of Sight, explores the issues and themes of modern slavery and exploitation. As Helen explains, she supports ...

On this week's show, we meet Natalie Chandler, the author of two bestselling psychological thrillers, Believe Me Not and What We Did for Headline Accent. Natalie shares with us her author journey, from re-writing Roald Dahl stories as a child through to using the opportunity of lockdown to finally finish and polish her first novel. Natalie credits the input of her tutors on a Curtis Brown creative writing course for helping her to ...