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photo credit: nicasaurusrex

People are getting dumber, the world is sinking into entropy and signs of decline and fall are all around. So why are we bothering with Litopia After Dark this week? Well, someone has to sort it out!

The Queen’s English is on the endangered list. Katie Price (the UK glamour model aka Jordan) has a book in the running for a major award - her publsiher admits that even they don’t know how much of it she actually wrote herself - if any! Disney have turned our beloved Famous Five into a Hollywood cartoon. Enid must be spinning in her grave. Clearly, we’re all doomed.

Also, Bret Easton Ellis didn’t care then and doesn’t care now, comic books stultify the imagination and kids read Heat magazine in preference to Jackie Wilson. Yet more proof, if it were needed, that the end is nigh.

This week, here to contemplate the last rays of sunlight over intellectual Armageddon, are Dave Bartram, Beverly Gray and Richard Howse. Our special guest this week is best-selling children’s author MG Harris.

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photo credit: Fifi LePew

This week, Litopia After Dark boldly goes where no podcast has gone before (note the effortless Roddenberry reference!) as we consider Arthur C. Clarke’s legacy and ponder the literary merit of SF: geek fodder or classic fiction?

We also nominate a children’s author to (literally) shoot out of the sky - and the Encyclopaedia Britannica goes luxury… but do we love it enough?

Also, on the show this week… happiness is overrated… Sebastian Horsley is banned from the USA… employees are gagged… and it’s Mac! No it’s PC! No Mac! PC! Mac!

Finally, we enquire where old books go to die and give you the sure-fire success formula for writing your non-fiction blockbuster… so don’t say we never do anything for you.

Joining Peter on the panel are Beverly Gray, Dave Bartram, Donna Ballman, Richard Howse and Eve Harvey. And if you missed the party in the uStream chat room (8pm GMT on Friday) - where were you? Come and join in next week!

Links mentioned in the show…

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photo credit: take4_67

Litopia After Dark this week is plunging further into the murky depths of the literary world than we have ever been before, as we deliberate the question - Vice: is it any good?

We look at the sin of shoplifting books, the evil-doing of downloading e-books and the depravity of failing to return library books. And as we plummet, the panel discuss literally pitching your work and the wrath that may result… the sloth of Thesaurus use… the lust of the madam memoir.

By the time we’ve settled at the bottom of the pit, all that remains is the question of literary vice - naughty or nice?

The deviant panellists this week are Dave Bartram, Donna Ballman and Eve Harvey. And you should have been in the chatroom at 8pm GMT on Friday, it was wicked!

Links mentioned in the show…

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photo credit: Simon Davison

LITOPIA AFTER DARK this week takes a fascinating direction as we discuss one of the biggest and most important questions facing writers and publishers today - how will books be sold in the future? Also, The Litopia Effect - how our discussions are influencing the world of literature as yet another story of fake memoirs hits the headlines. Plus we are all, literally, stereotypes… Jacqueline Wilson publicly disapproves of herself… and writers - mad, bad and dangerous in power?

To discuss these topics in depth are Donna Ballman, Beverly Gray, Dave Bartram and Richard Howse. Our special guest this week is columnist, power-blogger about all things literary and Managing Editor of The Book Depository, Mark Thwaite (with comments from Lola and Marnie).

Of course, you’ve missed the opportunity to comment as we broadcast live on Ustream (8pm GMT Friday) but there’s always next week.

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photo credit: amish_shah

This week’s LITOPIA AFTER DARK recklessly plunges into the wild and wacky world of the WOTY (listen to the show to find out!) during which we learn more than we ever thought we’d want to know about micro-groms, man-flu, smirting and whaletails –to name but a few.

We also look at the latest developments in the lawsuit brought by JK Rowling and Warner bros against the author of publisher of the unofficial Harry Potter encyclopaedia… ask what future is there for publishing trade magazines… ponder alternatives to the Mozart Effect… and ask What Your Bookshelf really Says about you.

The main discussion tonight is about “If I Knew Then What I Know Now – The First, Best Writing Advice I Ever Had”.

Our panellists tonight are Donna Ballman, Dave Bartram, Beverly Gray and Carolyn Soutar. As always, the show is recorded in front of a live audience via UStream, where there’s an opportunity to make comments during the programme.

Links mentioned in the show:

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