Beyond The Page

The Thornkeeper’s summons is no mercy.

Within the cathedral vaults, Seventeen faces the man who buried her mentor, and knows her secret.

What begins as an interrogation turns into a dangerous negotiation. The throne watches, the trial waits, and the real game begins.

This week on Beyond The Page, we're taking a detour from fiction to dig into the rising controversy between human creativity and artificial intelligence. Where the future of writing, art, and creative labour is being rewritten in real time.

In Part 1 of "The AI vs. Authenticity Divide," we discuss the burning questions around market acceptance and legal ownership in 2025.

Don't miss Part 2 next week, where we l /episode/index/show/559cfca0-7fda-401b-83e2-3c509a6aaf25/id/38826625

The Trial of Sand grinds on, champions bleeding into the pit, while the crowd hungers for spectacle.

But Seventeen’s focus is elsewhere. She counts the dead, tallies the replacements, and wonders which houses profit from the shifting balance.

And through it all, the Thornkeeper does not look away. Kingmaker. High priest. Executioner. His attention fixes on Seventeen alone, and this time, he calls her name.

The waiting is over.

The Trial of Sand begins, throwing the masked champions into the arena, where blood and spectacle are the throne’s favourite currency.

Seventeen faces a lethal opponent whose lightning threatens to expose her for what she is not. To survive, she must mimic the power of the house she impersonates, or risk revealing the truth hidden beneath her mask.

Disqualified or silenced? Politics proves deadlier than the crawl.

The Hall of Masks grows restless. Lysandra Veil has been disqualified, and the champions are forced to wait as her replacement is summoned.

Tempers flare, powers clash, and alliances begin to take shape in the uneasy pause between trials.

Seventeen keeps her mask in place, but behind it, she wonders. Was Lysandra’s removal justice, or politics? And when the new Contestant Five finally arrives, one /episode/index/show/559cfca0-7fda-401b-83e2-3c509a6aaf25/id/38826640

She entered the wall crawl, found a corpse… and a locked passage with no way out.

In this episode of A Trial of Thorns, our heroine is faced with her first deadly consequence, and her first taste of the rot behind the crown.

With nowhere to run, and a body still warm beside her, she’ll have to think fast.

Question for you:What do you think she’s really here for? Sure, she's supposed to find the killer. Sure, the Trial’s rigged. But what pers /episode/index/show/559cfca0-7fda-401b-83e2-3c509a6aaf25/id/38826645

Seven champions. One crown. And a masked stranger who isn’t supposed to be there.

In this premiere episode of A Trial of Thorns, the gates open on a kingdom ruled by darkness, fear, and spectacle. The Thorn Trials, ancient, brutal, and cloaked in secrecy, are about to begin.

Each champion arrives with a claim. A purpose. A weapon.

But one of them isn’t who they claim to be.

And one is already dead!

If you think you know who the real contender is, think again.< /episode/index/show/559cfca0-7fda-401b-83e2-3c509a6aaf25/id/38826650

“Everyone wants the crown. Not everyone lives to claim it.”

Behind the walls of Elarion Citadel, seven champions have been summoned for the Trial of Thorns; a brutal, mysterious competition to determine the realm’s next ruler. Glory, power, legacy… they say the reward is worth the blood.

But someone isn’t playing by the rules.

In this fantasy-thriller audio series, one of the champions is not who they claim to be. Another is quietly killing off the competition /episode/index/show/559cfca0-7fda-401b-83e2-3c509a6aaf25/id/38826655

It all starts with the first line.

In this relaunch episode of Beyond The Page, host Lora Tia breaks down what makes a first chapter hook a reader, and what makes us quietly DNF and scroll on. From iconic opening lines to the emotional power of strong character work, this episode is part craft, part pep talk, and 100% rooted in the love of indie storytelling.

Want your indie book featured in a future episode? Submit here → https://bit.ly/btpfeedback

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