We're doing a live podcast at Goldfinch Books in Alton on Monday the 6th of July, with the brilliant Claire Fuller.

Come and join us!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKETS TO SEE US LIVE AT ALTON ARTS FESTIVAL!!!

So what do we have in today's episode?

An absolute treat, that's what.

Philippa Perry, agony aunt, psychotherapist, artist, self-help-book writer and now cosy crime author.

How the heck does she do it all? She must be either:

A) Some sort of magic fairy-person.

or B) An amazing human being.

Have a listen and I'll let you decide.

We talk about:

Failing and rejection.

How to develop meaningful relationships with your family and friends.

Writing for fun.

Cats.

Making your main character a sorta-kinda-loosely-based-but-actually-quite-similar version of yourself.

and of course Philippa's excellent new cosy crime novel, Shrink Solves Murder.

You can buy that here:

Buy Shrink Solves Murder

But also don't forget to buy the book that has changed Jon's life the most (in a good way!) :)

The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

Hell... buy 'em all... they're all great!

All the books!

OK. Is that it?

No!

It's HYPEWRITER, Silly. And this week we've got the opening of a hardboiled detective novel called No Saints Only Killers by Luke Deckard. (Released on the 10th of June)

Details below!

Luke's podcast Cinema Sleuths

Website: lukedeckard.com & Facebook

Photo of Philippa by Pal Hansen

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OK, so you've written something.

Well done. *light applause*

That's nice.

But the next stage - getting it out into the world... that's a really tricky bit.

However... one sure fire way of doing that, if you can't persuade some other mug to do it for you, is to blummin'-well slap on some grease paint, don some tights and perform it yourself, on what we call...

... the stage.

Well that's what Jon and his wife Katie did with their play How to be The Perfect Couple.

A project you may remember from earlier episodes (Such as S1 Ep10 - 30mins in - where Jon first reveals the logline of the show.)

And now....

Will you look at that!

Years later, the play has finally come to fruition and a tour is in progress.

If you like the sound of it, you can catch Jon & Katie at:

Alton Arts festival 10th July:

https://wegottickets.com/event/696218

Also at Buxton Fringe on the 14th 15th & 16th of July:

https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/descriptions2026.html

And at Seven Arts in Leeds on the 12th of September:

https://www.sevenleeds.co.uk/event/how-to-be-the-perfect-couple-2/

Have a listen to the episode and learn how it all went down, including the rather meta reveal of how Jon & Katie managed to stay a couple during the process.

And while we're on the subject of relationships..... we should mention Relate. If anyone's struggling with a relationship… and a massive amount of people do… there are amazing resources available.

Relate offer relationship counselling at a reduced rates depending on household income. As well as other things like… sex therapy, family counseling, online courses and toolkits… all sorts. Life’s hard enough! Don't just muddle on - Relate might be able to help.

https://www.relate.org.uk

And here are the books Jon & Katie recommend: (We promise you won't regret reading these!)

Getting the Love you Want

The 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work

Philippa Perry's The Book You Want Everyone You Love to Read:

Also a massive THANK YOU! to Aaron Courts! Steve Salisbury & May King! David Lucas! and of course Kristof Mikes-Liu. We love you all.

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Oh, you've listened to this episode already and you'd like to cross our palm with gold?

Well, you're in luck.... Simply click HERE to show your appreciation in a pecuniary fashion

And speaking of fashion - take a look at our merch HERE

and THANK YOU!

Now... onto the less grubby business of writing...

and this week we're lucky enough to be joined by the excellent Gareth Rubin, a writer whose career caught our eye recently from, of all things, an article about pensions!

What do writers do about pensions when your income is so unpredictable?

Well... that introduced us to Gareth... who it turns out isn't just interesting about pensions!

No, seriously. I know that seems crazy, but it's true.

He's written some books that are right up our street. Books within books within books within books, tête-bêches, an officially estate-sanctioned Sherlock Holmes book, a choose your own adventure-type murder mystery! OK... now you can see why we had to talk to him.

Check out Gareth's website:

https://www.garethrubin.com/

Buy Gareth's books here:

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Gareth-Rubin/188678671

But that's not bloody all. Of course not!

Because our HYPEWRITER feature is BACK.

and this week we're celebrating the rather splendid Simon John Parkin.

Support a fellow writer by buying his excellent book of short stories (all 999 words!)

HERE’S Simon’s info - and he’s @sparkin.lit on instagram - That's a follow!

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