CLICK HERE FOR BB Elsin’s writing page (recordings from the SS&P Saturdays sessions)
Fantasy novelist, short story author and poet, BB Elsin says:
Heroes and Traitors is the result of an unusual journey for me. I came to novel-writing late in life, as a response to mental and physical health challenges. It owes a lot to the patience of generous writing tutors, supportive friends, and two wonderful local writing groups who refused to let me give up.
As a business academic and author of several non-fiction books, I assumed that the leap to creative writing would be straightforward. I was spectacularly wrong. The learning curve proved almost as steep as my PhD—perhaps steeper in some ways. “Show, don’t tell” became my nemesis, especially as part of my autism profile is that that I process the world literally.
My passionate interest in the English Civil War and England’s brief republic drove my world-building, and I drew characters from across early modern Europe including a foreign hero-General, a deposed queen, a national father-figure, a spymaster and a veteran who wants to hold them all to account. They are faced with a totally new post-war world, trying to find a way forward. If you want to find out how well they get on, please read it!
BB Elsin can be found at:
Below are the recordings from the panels BB has kindly taken part in…
The 5pm: Science-fiction (SF), fantasy (F) and horror (H) panel, the eighth panel of the 25 Jan 2026 Festival …
#1 Monday 2nd February 2026: the moderators from the 25 Jan 2026 Festival returned to talk about themselves and their writing ~ BB Elsin, David Wake, Denise Beddows, Donna Morfett, Lee Benson with Morgen Bailey moderating. Below is the recording… enjoy!
#4 Monday 2nd March 2026 authors Andrea D Woolhead ~ BB Elsin ~ Denise Beddows ~ Graeme Cumming joined Morgen to talk about characters
#5 Monday 9th March: BB Elsin ~ Graeme Cumming joined Morgen for settings
#9 Monday 6th April: beginnings ~ with BB Elsin ~ Denise Beddows, Esther Chilton
On Monday 13th April 2026, we (BB Elsin, David Wake, Jill Todd, Karl W Newton, Meriet Duncan, Morgen) talked about the saggy middle of a novel
T&T #15 ~ Tuesday 19th May: the therapy of writing ~ BB Elsin ~ HJ Reed ~ SJ Banham ~ hosted by Self-Pub Fest founder Morgen Bailey
T&T #17 ~ Tuesday 26th May: poetry ~ BB Elsin ~ hosted by Self-Pub Fest founder Morgen Bailey.
And do watch Morgen’s chat with Beth about her writing journey:
The recordings on this website are free to watch but we’re raising money for local book-related charities and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.