Author: MarkStayWrites

Author, screenwriter, and award-winning podcaster.

Jeevani Charika: Doing Funky Things | Mark Stay’s Creative Differences Episode 16

Jeevani Charika writes award nominated romantic women’s fiction and romcoms. She’s written books on how to write romcoms, and sustaining a career as a writer and she also has an amazing YouTube channel teaching authors how to use Canva to make marketing graphics. Her latest book How Can I Resist You is out now! 

We Discuss: 

What she’s learned from her love of Korean dramas 

How ‘writing tighter’ has been good for her prose style 

How oversleeping led to a breakthrough in her career 

Why she enjoys doing funky things with Canva and much more… 

LISTEN NOW

Or watch on Youtube…

LINKS 

Jeevani’s website: http://www.rhodabaxter.com

Jeevani’s Canva Tips Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/@jeevanicharika

Jeevani’s Substack: https://substack.com/@canvatips4author

What’s Giving Us Joy… 

A Merry Little Ex-mas (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81735104

T Kingfisher’s books with the Paladins (I earn commission if you click on this link): https://amzn.to/49ZV358

A Mind of My Own, Kathy Burke (I earn commission if you click on this link): https://amzn.to/4ovrNGJ

Cole Haddon’s 5am Storytalk: https://colehaddon.substack.com

50 Years of Shit Robots: https://shows.acast.com/fifty-years-of-shit-robots

Film Stories: https://filmstories.co.uk/category/podcast/

Pluribus: https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/pluribus/umc.cmc.37axgovs2yozlyh3c2cmwzlza

A huge thanks to Emily for production assistance, to Kai Newton for the edit, and Dominic Currie for the jingle. 

Support the show 

Visit https://markstaycreativedifferences.com/

Join The Green Room: https://ko-fi.com/markstaywriter/tiers

Buy my books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/#bookshop

And there’s more about me at: https://markstaywrites.com/

The End of Gods is here! … sort of…

It’s here! It’s done! The End of Gods is ready to read… sort of.

First of all, my apologies for the lack of news and delays. If you follow me on social media, you’ll know that I’ve had an odd few months. My mum died suddenly and my daughter got married in close succession. My life was a low-budget Richard Curtis romcom (one wedding, one funeral) and it created what Faye Bright might call, ‘A right bloody palaver!’

But the good news is that The End of Gods is ready!

The bad news is that it’s Christmas.

Does that make me Scrooge? Not exactly, but it does mean that the Royal Mail is struggling to deliver parcels on time, and book printers are rushing to get books from major publishers into the bookshops.
There could not be a worse time to publish a paperback novel. I would not want to publish it now and promise delivery for Christmas. It’s just too stressful for all concerned.

So here’s what I’m going to do…

The paperback of The End of Gods will be officially published on 8th January.

‘Boo!’ I hear you cry. ‘Hiss! Down with this sort of thing!’

Hang on a minute, because here’s the good bit…

The eBook version is available right now.

‘Hmm, okay,’ you say, narrowing your eyes. ‘But I really wanted a paperback.’

So, here’s the deal…

If you pre-order the paperback of The End of Gods from me, you will receive the eBook version for FREE!

‘Ooh, how does that work?’ you might ask, not unreasonably.

Simply pre-order the paperback edition of The End of Gods (or the whole trilogy) from my online store, and you will receive a link to download the eBook version. You will be able to choose from a Kindle version, an ePub version (for Kobo, Apple etc) or a print PDF version.

Here are the terms and conditions, it might help if you say it in that sped-up voice that they use on podcast and radio ads…

Offer only applies to orders for The End of Gods paperback (or the End of Magic trilogy paperback bundle) – either signed and unsigned editions – made via the Witches of Woodville online store only. Not applicable to orders made via any other retailers. The customer will be sent a link to download an ebook file of The End of Gods (or the whole trilogy if they order the paperback bundle). They will be able to select from Kindle, ePub (Apple, Kobo, Google etc) or a print-ready PDF. 

Offer expires at 23:59 GMT, 1st January 2026.

How does that sound? There are buttons below that will take you directly to my store where you can pre-order the books. From me. Exclusively (I’m not putting anything up on Amazon etc till January because they don’t like authors giving stuff away for free unless they can, too).

Hope that all makes sense and thank you all for your patience.

Happy reading,

Mark Stay

Readers in the USA🇺🇸 and Europe🇪🇺: because of Trump’s tariffs and Brexit (neither of which I voted for!) shipping physical products is challenging. If you’re desperate for a signed copy, please reply to this email and I’ll see if we can figure something out.

PRE-ORDER BUTTONS…

PRE-ORDER THE END OF GODS PAPERBACK AND GET A FREE EBOOK
BUY THE END OF GODS EBOOK RIGHT NOW!
PRE-ORDER THE END OF MAGIC TRILOGY BUNDLE AND GET A FREE EBOOK
BUY THE END OF MAGIC TRILOGY OMNIBUS EDITION ON EBOOK RIGHT NOW!

Gavin G Smith on the Creative Differences Livestream

Gavin Smith is the author and co/author of 14 books, a couple of novellas and multiple short stories. His books include (but are not limited to) Veteran and its sequel War in Heaven, the Age of Scorpio Trilogy, the Bastard Legion Series and Spec Ops Z. As well as having written for Black Library, Gavin wrote the novelisation of the Sony Pictures Bloodshot movie and Marvel’s Original Sin series.

Within the games industry he has worked with Yoozoo, Ubisoft, DPS Games and CCP. In addition, he has optioned several film scripts.

And his new book ALIEN CULT is murder mystery noir set in the ALIENS universe and I can’t wait to discuss it with him!

Join us live: TUESDAY 9TH DECEMBER, 8PM GMT

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

Or on Youtube…

Things People Say to Authors at Comic Cons, 2025 Finale…

How about a final round of Things That People Say to Authors at Comic Cons for 2025…?

Pernille Hughes: Lock Yourself in a Room | Mark Stay’s Creative Differences Episode 15

Pernille Hughes is the author of TEN YEARS, PROBABLY THE BEST KISS IN THE WORLD and PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE; novels brimming with warmth, wit and unforgettable characters. And now she’s back with her new novel A COPENHAGEN SNOWMANCE, which is here to herald in Christmas. Yes, I said the C-word! What of it??

WE DISCUSS:

Discovering your voice

Hygge

Hero drafts

Finding your tribe

Writing on HRT and why you should lock yourself in a room with a glass of wine when writing… and much more!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

LINKS

Pernille’s website: http://www.pernillehughes.com 

Writing Regency England by Jayne Davis: https://www.jaynedavisromance.co.uk/writing-regency-england/

What’s Giving us Joy…

Celebrity Traitors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebrity_Traitors 

Slow Horses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Horses

The Great Pottery Throw Down: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Pottery_Throw_Down

Ludovico Einaudi: https://ludovicoeinaudi.com/ 

Vitamin String Quartet: https://www.vitaminstringquartet.com/

Mr MC Grammar: https://www.mrmcgrammar.com/ 

Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin: (I earn commission if you click on this link) https://amzn.to/4paxDP1

Christmas at the Scottish Lodge by Donna Ashcroft: (I earn commission if you click on this link) https://amzn.to/48zsM3V

Cressida McLaughlin, The Secret Mistletoe Promise: (I earn commission if you click on this link) https://amzn.to/49Af4yT

Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson: (I earn commission if you click on this link) https://amzn.to/4og65Gy

Alan Partridge: How Are You?: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002hcb7/how-are-you-its-alan-partridge 

Katherine Priddy: Matches: https://www.katherinepriddy.co.uk/home/ 

A huge thanks to Emily for production assistance, to Kai Newton for the edit, and Dominic Currie for the jingle. 

Support the show

Visit https://markstaycreativedifferences.com/
Join The Green Room: https://ko-fi.com/markstaywriter/tiers
Buy my books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/#bookshop
And there’s more about me at: https://markstaywrites.com/

Another Round of “Things People Say to Authors at Comic Cons…”

I just got back from setting up at this weekend’s London Film and Comic Con and reckon it’s time for another round of…

For more details of where I’m going to be in the near future, click here.

Jeevani Charika on the Creative Differences Livestream

Jeevani Charika (‘Jeev’) writes award nominated romantic women’s fiction and romcoms. She also writes under the name Rhoda Baxter.
She is a ‘resting’ microbiologist – she used to study Rhodabacter species, which is why her other pen name is Rhoda Baxter. She lives in Yorkshire in the UK, where she enjoys eating cake, playing with Lego and, when she’s run out of excuses, writing.
She has a YouTube channel teaching authors how to use Canva to make marketing graphics and her latest book How Can I Resist You is out now!

Join us on TUESDAY 18th NOVEMBER, 8PM GMT

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

Or on Youtube…

Cabin at the Movies Saturday 1 November 2025

Local novelist and screenwriter Mark Stay joins me for this latest edition of Cabin at the Movies to choose his favourite horror movies. They include…

Cabin at the Movies Saturday 1 November 2025

Return of the Nigerian Prince Redux: Beware Book Club and Book Review Scams

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a rising and extremely prolific marketing scam that I’ve been able to trace back to operators in Nigeria. 1,560 more …

Return of the Nigerian Prince Redux: Beware Book Club and Book Review Scams

End of Gods update: the copy edits are in!

The copy edits are in! And yes, I know I’ve probably made that Richard Curtis joke already, but what do you want? It’s early. Here’s me with a gravelly voice with the update…