In this episode we talk contemporary fiction with Nick Earls. Nick has all the special titles attached to his name that an author could hope for like ‘award winner’ and ‘best seller’. Having written 28 books and counting, plus holding a Phd on contemporary novella craft and publishing, he is the perfect guy to help us figure out what on earth this genre is and why we should care about it. We also talk about how the publishing industry has changed in the last 25 years, what it was like to receive the worst review ever at the worst possible time, and how COVID has changed the face of launching books.

Nick’s top contemporary fiction recommendations include:

Mammoth by Chris Flynn

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

And

After the Carnage by Tara June Winch

Nick’s latest book Empires is out now, via Penguin.