It's fair to say that 2025 has been an unusual and surprising year so, driven largely by events in the United States. Almost as soon as we record our news section for The Hobcast Book Show, it fast becomes out of date as President Trump signs a new executive order or publishes his latest social media post. Upheaval in America is nothing new of course, but for our guest this week, author and film maker Denise Ohio, current challenges hold strong echoes with an event she has spent many years researching and publicising, the 1916 Everett Massacre. It's the subject of Ohio's documentary Verona: The Story of the Everett Massacre which took twenty years to make. It tells the story of the events of Sunday 5th November, 1916, when members of a union, the I.W.W arrived on the dock at Everett to support the striking shingle weavers who'd been on strike for five months. When violence broke out, several men lay dead or dying. It's become a celebrated event in the struggle for free speech in the United States, but as Ohio tells us, events were far more complex than that - so much so - she has now embarked on writing eight novels telling the stories of some of the people involved. This is a fascinating and thought-provoking interview that draws parallels between today's events and the struggles of the past.

Also this week, we discuss how the closure of crowd-sourced publishing pioneers Unbound will leave some contributors out of pocket, and is it ever write to microwave a mug of coffee?

Verona: The Story of the Everett Massacre

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