We're joined on today's edition of The Future is Bleak by Nathan Bransford, a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd.

Topics covered:
The challenges of being an agent
The joy of words
The Amazon Kindle
Writers on the web

If, after listening, you want to know about Mr. Bransford, you can visit his website here.

To watch the Bleak House Books team talk about the publishing industry on Youtube, go to one of these two choices:

Benjamin LeRoy, Publisher

or

Alison Janssen, Senior Editor

We sat down with Lee Lofland, author of the book Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers  to get insight about his time in law enforcement and the writing world.

Lee Lofland is a veteran police investigator who began his law-enforcement career working as an officer in Virginia's prison system. He later became a sheriff's deputy, a patrol officer, and finally, he achieved the highly-prized gold shield of detective. Along the way, he gained a breadth of experience that's unusual to find in the career of a single officer.

This September marks the three year anniversary of Bleak House Books being acquired by Big Earth Publishing. We reflect on how much has changed, how much has stayed the same, and how things were in the distant past.

And for those of you who want to know more about Bleak House Books Senior Editor, Alison Janssen, we've got nearly a half hour's worth of question and answer.

Enjoy!

It's the second edition of Rollin' with Narco Polo as Bleak House Books' podcasting intern, Narco Polo, interviews another author. This week it's Cameron Rogers, author of The Music of Razors.

In nineteenth-century Boston, a young doctor on the run from the law falls in with a British confidence artist. Together–and with dire consequences–they bring back to the light something meant to be forgotten.

A world away in London, an absent father, haunted by the voice of a banished angel, presents his daughter with an impossible friend–a clockwork ballerina.

For two centuries, a bullet-removal specialist has wielded instruments of angel bone in service to a forgotten power . . . and now he vows to find someone else to shoulder the burden, someone with a conscience of their own, a strong mind, and a broken will. For a hundred years he has searched for the perfect contender, and now he has found two: a brother and a sister. Walter and Hope. Either will do.

Last night something stepped from little Walter’s closet and he never woke up. Now he travels the dark road between worlds, no longer entirely boy nor wholly beast, but with one goal in mind: to prevent his sister from suffering the same fate as he. Only the creature he has become can save Hope. But is it too late to save himself?

For more on Cameron, visit his website at www.cameron-rogers.com

With Deputy Sheriff Editor Alison out of the office and celebrating at Thrillerfest, Ben is left to his own devices. Thankfully, the delightful Eric Stone was able to stop by the palatial Bleak House manor to update people on his new novel Flight of the Hornbill and how traveling the world has influenced his writing.

www.ericstone.com

Summer intern Narco Polo interviews Australian author Will Elliott about his novel The Pilo Family Circus. This is the first installment of Rollin' With Narco Polo. We hope you enjoy.

This week we'll be introducing a new segment on select episodes of The Future is Bleak. Summer intern and inquisitive reader Narco Polo will be interviewing authors from all over the publishing world. So that you can better understand her line of questioning, we've decided to give her a ten minute introductory podcast. Here then, is that podcast.

Enjoy.

Alison is back from Deutschland and the podcast resurgence continues at full speed.

We're joined by Libby Fischer Hellmann, author of this spring's EASY INNOCENCE, and editor of last year's CHICAGO BLUES.

According to the Chicago Tribune, "Libby Fischer Hellmann has joined an elite club: Chicago mystery writers who not only inhabit the environment but also give it a unique flavor." While the Trib was referring to Libby's award-winning amateur sleuth series featuring Chicago video producer Ellie Foreman, her fifth novel, Easy Innocence, promises to do the same.

For more, visit http://www.hellmann.com

Ben is joined by Victoria Blake, publisher of Underland Press. Join us as we discuss the challenges facing small publishing houses, what makes a good book, and just what the hell a "wovel" is.

From the Underland Press website (www.underlandpress.com)--

WE LIKE STORIES that scare us. We like the macabre-monsters and magic and men with nothing to lose. More than anything, we like to be intrigued and entertained.

UNDERLAND PRESS was started to bring the best of the world’s scary and strange stories to life and to light.

CALL IT THE NEW WEIRD, or fantasy, or dark fantasy. Call it what you want. We like reading by flashlight under the covers at night. We want to make books you can’t put down.

We’ve got some good ones: Contemporary alt-lit master Brian Evenson’s latest-a story that started its life as a limited-edition detective novella set in a sect of self-mutilators; world-renowned fantasist Jeff VanderMeer’s new Ambergris novel, the third novel set in a world where nothing is what it seems; newcomer Will Elliott, a writer whose demonic clowns caused the critics to swoon and readers to demand more when they first saw print in Australia and Britain; the husband-and-wife team called Escober, a best-selling export from the Netherlands brought to America for the very first time; and rising star Kealan Patrick Burke doing the world’s firstever wovel, sponsored on Underland Press’ groundbreaking website.

Publishing whizbang Alison Janssen is out of the office and in Germany to discuss international book matters. Can one half of the team pull off a podcast with all of the wit and charm you've come to expect from The Future is Bleak? We don't know either, you'll have to tune in and judge for yourself as Ben talks with J.D. Rhoades, author of the popular Jack Keller novels.

BEA recap, more award nominees, and a discussion of a thunderstorm. What more does it take to waste your time?

Alison and Ben are back to talk about carnies, commercial endorsements, animal turf wars, and Book Expo America. Thirty minutes you'll never have back.

Also, it's the debut of the new The Future is Bleak theme song.

The Sunday night Rumor Mill is churning out publishing gossip. Roving Bleak House Books entertainment correspondents Buck Steele and Lady Alexa Montclair bring you exciting dirt from the seamier side of the publishing world.

We're back! We've got Edgar Award week updates. And we also have plenty of filler. It's thirty minutes you'll never get back.

Bumper Music--"Bottle Rocket Battles" by The Reputation

Alison joins the show for the first time in months and hijinx ensue. Those of you who enjoyed the old days of the podcast are in for a treat. Those of you who are looking for substance? Sorry.

Tasha Alexander, author of And Only to Deceive, A Poisoned Season, and the forthcoming A Fatal Waltz (May 2008 from William Morrow) joins us for another late night and spontaneous podcast. We discuss her books, her writing process, and what she learned along the way going from unpublished writer to critically acclaimed author.

Biography of Tasha Alexander--
Tasha Alexander attended the University of Notre Dame, where she signed on as an English major in order to have a legitimate excuse for spending all her time reading. Following graduation, she played nomad for several years, eventually settling with her family in Tennessee. When not reading, she can be found hard at work on her next book.

Her first book, And Only to Deceive was called "a memorable debut," by Booklist. We think she's pretty cool, too.

*Bumper music* Carmelita as covered by G.G. Allin

After nearly two months of sanctions, fines, and not being able to find the time, we're back with a brand new podcast and it's a special edition of THE FUTURE IS BLEAK. Join us as Ben talks to Bill Cameron for the first time. What's so special about that? Bleak House is publishing Bill's next book Chasing Smoke this fall and the two men have never spoken a word to one another.

Will they be able to communicate? Will they get along? Tune in to find out.

BUMPER MUSIC: "Hold Up" by Marisa Kasriel

We're back and we're demystifying things about Bleak House Books.

Alison rejoins the program to talk about whatever it is we talk about and then later on when the show really starts, there's an interview with Edgar Finalist Craig McDonald.

*bumper music* Your Ex-Lover is Dead by Stars

Anthony Neil Smith joins Ben to discuss his writing life, the new book (Yellow Medicine), and a bunch of other stuff that's worth listening to as the podcast train gets back on the tracks and gets serious momentum.

Nathan Singer (author of A Prayer for Dawn and Chasing the Wolf) joins Ben to discuss Nathan's new book, In the Light of You (June 2008). You'll also get to hear Nathan's take on writing, a sample of his live performance with his band Voice in the Cage, and the heartwarming feel good story about how one man got plucked from the slushpile.

New York Times bestselling author John Connolly had this to say about In the Light of You--

"Incendiary and moving, deeply relevant and searingly honest, it [In the Light of You] deserves to catapult Nathan Singer into the list of America's best young novelists."

Noticeably absent from today's discussion is Deputy Sheriff Editor Alison, as she is getting ready for tonight's big season opening roller derby bout, where she will take on the persona of her alter-ego, Mel Ignant.

Welcome to the Future is Bleak 2008. Plenty of coverage of our spring lineup and a big announcement. We're glad to be back and we're glad you're here.

*bumper music* "Wishes by Ex-Members

In the name of full and total transparency, today's guest is Catherine, a new Bleak House intern. This is actually her job interview turned into a podcast. We'd maybe exchanged fifty words before conducting the interview. This is what happens when Alison is out of the office and I'm left to do the programming.

Alison will be back (thank God) soon enough that you won't have to sit through many more Whim of Ben podcasts.