It's a surprise Friday episode from Damien Levi to coincide with the official publication date of Hoods Landing, the debut novel from his guest, Laura Vincent.

There's lots to learn about Hoods Landing, but Laura and Damien also get into what it means to let go of your book, ask why there are so many vape shops, decide they both actually like Auckland and lament bad writing.

Some links you may be interested in from this episode include ⁠a link to purchase Hoods Landing⁠, Laura's food blog hungryandfrozen.com, Jean Teng's Cringe, Emma Gleason's Crust, folu's unsackable and Laura's Instagram.

Damien can be found on ⁠Instagram⁠.

The local loser theme song is composed by Karen Hu.