We talked about:

• RWNZ conference
• Keynote speakers TL Swan, Jennifer Hilt, Nalini Singh
• Shannon Curtis on theme
• Aesop's Fables
• Stephen King's 'On Writing'
• 'The Lottery' & 'The Witch' - Shirley Jackson
• The Merchant of Venice
• Pride and Prejudice
• A Room with a View - E.M. Forster
• Willa Cather - My Mortal Enemy
• The Titanic

• The Word Loss Diet - https://amzn.to/4wVqAxI
• Filter words
• Narrative occasion
• The Retired Assassin's Guide to Amateur Theatrics
• Using RPG's as a way to create a story / world build
• Basque legends & words informing the story's cosmology
• Responsibility of an author to create a story that shapes your world
• A Christmas Carol
• Challenges of taking a story from one genre into another

Books & Stories mentioned:

- The Retired Assassin's Guide to Amateur Theatrics

- The Lottery - Shirley Jackson

- The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

- Chivalry - Neil Gaiman

- Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

- The Tiger Who Came for Tea - Judith Kerr

- Agatha Christie

Books & movies mentioned:

• The Famous Five - Enid Blyton
• Dorothy Sayers
• Sherlock Holmes
• Ngaio Marsh
• No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
• Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
• Agatha Christie
• Thursday Murder Club
• cat steals the show: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/15Wy9kj3bNE
• Dungeon Crawler Carl
• The Retired Assassin's Guide to Country Gardening
• Victoria's as-yet unnamed book!