Right!  Rip the decorations down, shape up and let’s get serious.  Party time’s over (but it was a good one, wasn’t it?).  It’s a new year and arguably a new decade – we’re all business tonight on Litopia After Dark, sorting out the troubles of the publishing business, telling you which predictions for this decade are worth listening to, and warning you about the latest cunning ruses to part authors from their hard-earned royalties.

As always, we’re vastly international, with Donna Ballman from Florida, Martyn Daniels and Dave Bartram from the UK, and newcomer Rob Daniel all the way from Western Australia.

Topics covered on tonight’s show include:

• Sword swallowing hypnotist Hannibal Helmurto accidentally puts himself into a trance after practicing in front of a mirror
• New year’s resolutions – for other people
• Messages in fiction – does finding your own truth mean foisting your beliefs on your readers?
• Ten year predictions – who’s got it right?
• Farrar, Straus & Giroux go to the dark side
• Why does school turn children away from creative writing?

This week’s titles for the Commissioning Meeting are:

DONNA
“Grandfather’s Love Pie”
Miriam Gaines

ROB
“The Goat-gland Transplantation: As Originated and Successfully Performed by J. R. Brinkley, M. D., of Milford, Kansas, U. S. A., in Over 600 Operations Upon Men and Women”
Sydney Blanshard Flower, 1867-

MARTYN
“The Glugs of Gosh”
Clarence James Dennis, 1876-1938

DAVE
“The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights”
Mary Hartwell Catherwood, 1847-1902

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