We dig into this week’s allegations of fraud in the agent world, as well as the problems with this year’s WorldCon. Both topics serve as a means of asking a larger question: on the front end of publishing, what are all our structures actually built on? The truth is that, between agents and authors looking to pair up before any publishing money gets involved, so much of this industry runs on integrity and trust. That presents opportunities, but it also makes the writing world susceptible to fraud in ways that can be destructive to the whole ecosystem. We talk about ways to combat that, along with examining notions of prestige, reputation, and power in the “wild west” of publishing.