Jeremy Szal: I Grew Up With The Book | Mark Stay’s Creative Differences ep20

Jeremy Szal tells us how he has grown as a writer while creating the Common Trilogy, an epic space opera with ‘messy, difficult emotional conflicts’. 

WE ALSO DISCUSS: 

Tips for writing short stories

And his experiences of Worldcon in China

And much more!



Or watch it on Youtube…


LINKS


Jeremy’s website
Tickets for the live show with Julie Wassmer

Ghost of Yotei
Stardew Valley
Attack on Titan
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Marty Supreme
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky (this is an affiliate link and I can earn commission if you use it)
Strength of the Few by James Islington (this is an affiliate link and I can earn commission if you use it)
Beastars (manga) (this is an affiliate link and I can earn commission if you use it)
Mono (band)
Sigur Ros (band)
Oasis (band)
Small Prophets
SPECTATORS BY Brian K Vaughan and artist Niko Henrichon

A huge thanks to Emily Stay-Newton for production assistance, to Kai Stay-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 Rule That Drives Book Sales…

Someone in publishing went on a business course in the early 2000s and got very excited by one particular principle…😁

The Crow Folk is Five Years Old…

Crikey, is it really five years since my little book was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world?



Me, Ben Aaronovitch, British Library, 30th March…

This promises to be fun! I’ll be chatting to Ben Aaronovitch about Stone Sky at the actual British Library on 30th March. Get your tickets here.

Join me and JULIE WASSMER for a LIVE recording of the podcast

As part of the Escalate Arts Literature Festival, I’m going to be interviewing bestselling author and screenwriter JULIE WASSMER at the Staines Library Hub on Saturday 14th March, 2026 from 3-4pm… and we’re recording it for the Creative Differences podcast! And you can join us live!

Julie wrote for Eastenders for over 20 years and is the author of Whitstable Pearl mysteries, which is now a hit TV series starring Kerry Godliman, and I can tell you from past experience that Julie is a brilliant guest, so generous with advice and very funny: you don’t want to miss this! 

Join us in person…



Who Am I, anyway…?

Who is this Mark Stay person, anyway? A quick hello/introduction to any news followers after that libraries vid went a bit popular…

Authors Get Money When You Use the Library

Did you know that every time someone borrows a book from a library in the UK or Ireland that the author gets money?! Guess who just got his PLR statement!

A Quick Tour of My Notebooks

Here’s a tour of my “live” notebooks…

Book Dedications: Where do they come from (part two)

Those little dedications authors put at the start of their books: why do we do it? What do they mean? Here’s a quick tour of my Witches of Woodville books…

You can find all these books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/the-village-bookshop/

The End of Gods Unboxing Video

It’s here! THE END OF GODS is out today! And what better way to celebrate its publication, than a simple unboxing video. One in which I use actual magic!



Here are all the buy links…







Video Credits:

No Ai was used in the making of this video.

Camera, Sound, Edit & VFX: Kai Newton-Stay

Assistant Director: Emily Newton-Stay

Author’s Unfortunate Helper: George Stay

Music: Dom Currie

Staff crafted by Merlin Boorman

End of Gods cover art by Alejandro Colucci

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

MARK: I’ve done a few book unboxing videos in my time, but this is the first one where I’ll be using actual magic.

I commissioned this magical staff — a replica of one used by Rosheen Katell in THE END OF MAGIC — it was made by a man called Merlin…

Yes, really — who has only just now revealed to me that it actually works…

George!

(George drops the box with the books)

Merlin told me that the staff opens portals to magical experiences and that includes boxes with books. He’s given me a ritual which I am now going to recite from a safe distance.

EdWil… sonSim… onSpan…

TonLi… saRog… ersJu…

lianBarr-i… AnSains… buryAle… jandro…

Colucci!!

(George coughs)

I guess we’ll just have to put a graphic up…

Anyway, The End of Gods is available from all good bookstores, of course, if you want a signed copy you can come to my online store… the address will be scrolling across the bottom there…

GEORGE: Dad…

MARK: Yes?

GEORGE: I can’t see…

MARK: Thumbs up. You’ll have to wait for the audiobook…