Episodes

Friday May 23, 2025
Episode 447: Wit & Readability - 250 years of Jane Austen
Friday May 23, 2025
Friday May 23, 2025
If you've noticed all the celebrations, new editions of Austen's work, new adaptations and not a few arguments over issues which seem to amount to 'who's the biggest fan?' then you may have an inkling that it is a major Jane Austen landmark this year.
Celebrating the 250th year since Jane Austen's birth, the dragons have decided to do their own thing and judge a pageant of Jane Austen adaptations in film, TV, theatre and book form, in an effort to find their own favourite adaptation of Austen's work.
Under the magnifying glass this week - 1995 Pride & Prejudice, Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility, Bridget Jones' Diary and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday May 16, 2025
Friday May 16, 2025
Making a living from writing comes with practical considerations which the actual creative process doesn't prepare you for (probably). This week Jules and Madeleine delve into how to be a healthy creative ( spoiler alert: sleep is really important), what you need to consider when planning your finances, what legal considerations you need to bear in mind and a variety of other issues which writers often blithely ignore. We know. We did.
Join the dragons as they talk candidly about the less glamorous side of being a writer.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday May 09, 2025
Friday May 09, 2025
Part 2 of a 2 part episode.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday May 02, 2025
Friday May 02, 2025
The dragons are back! Join us for an exciting season delving into new writing topics and speculative fiction takes.
This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at the 'nice guy' trope. While the term is relatively new, the character type is not, cropping up in Shakespeare, Austen and even in folklore. While this was a character archetype introduced originally to balance the over-muscled, over-sexed and under-brained macho male lead of the seventies and eighties, writers took their collective eye off the ball and things went south pretty quickly. So what is a 'nice guy' and why does something so innocuous sounding carry so much collective dirt? Find out in part one of a two part episode.
On the slab this week: Friends, Little Women - L M Montgomery, Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday Dec 27, 2024
Episode 443: 2024, the Real Life Experience - A Year in Review
Friday Dec 27, 2024
Friday Dec 27, 2024
As we bid adieu to 2024, the dragons are once again looking back on a year of news. There have been some definite low points, however there has also been a lot of good news this year which may have gone unremarked. Jules and Madeleine are redressing that balance with a selection of good news stories, scientific discoveries and reminiscences on their favourite books and films of the year. Join us for a hopeful episode as we gear up for taking 2025 by the horns.
(This is the last episode of 2024 but we will be back in February after a short break)
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday Dec 20, 2024
Friday Dec 20, 2024
It's that time of year again: frantic last minute shopping, swearing at rolls of Sellotape, covering fir trees with bling....and the dragons emerge with a festive folkloric offering that adds a bit of shadow to the season.
This year Jules and Madeleine take a look at the strange relationship between Christmas and witchcraft. If that sounds implausible, stick around - there is a bizarre logic behind it. As with many folkloric traditions, the Christmas witch goes back centuries but some of the modern iterations bring a new level of horror to the tradition. We remember Father Christmas but forget Perchta. We tell stories about St Nicholas but forget St Lucy and her alter Ego, Bloody Lucy. And just who led the wild hunts during Saturnalia and later the twelve days of Christmas? Find out in a special festive episode.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
There are few phrases as bedight with dubious associations as 'for a modern audience'. In terms of storytelling, are we saying that the original story was flawed? That tends not to go down well with fans of the original. Or, conversely, does the phrase mean that a modern audience is somehow incapable of engaging with the original and needs to have the material dumbed down? Despite the trickiness of the situation, there has been an upsurge in reboots and remakes lately with even more scheduled for release in 2025. This week the dragons delve into why that is and whether it's a good use of storytelling muscles or not?
On the slab this week: Fright Night, Road House, Disney Live action and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday Dec 06, 2024
Episode 440: The Devil's Music - the Occult, Rock'n'Roll and Storytelling
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Friday Dec 06, 2024

Friday Nov 29, 2024
Episode 439: It Grows in Darkness - Mushrooms in Horror and SFF
Friday Nov 29, 2024
Friday Nov 29, 2024
From devices of comedy to alien antagonists to symbols of deep seated corruption, mushrooms and fungi make strangely appropriate side characters. They are used as set dressing, as indicators of other realms and as terrible weapons. Appropriately, they have woven tendrils so firmly through fiction that it's pretty much impossible to work out when they first entered storytelling cannon - potentially it was when storytelling pre-dated written language. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at these strange beings, examining how they have been used in a variety of genres and how you might want to use them in your own writing.
Under the microscope this week - The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson, What Moves the Dead - T Kingfisher, The Last of Us, The Girl with All the Gifts - M R Carey and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Friday Nov 22, 2024
Friday Nov 22, 2024
On a lighter note this week, the dragons delve into a well loved trope which has its origins in folk and fairy tales, shifting and adapting for audiences over the centuries to reflect the socio economics of the time. The clever servant-foolish master dynamic is one which is still enjoyed today, balancing inequalities of social position, wealth and status with intellect, cunning and personability. The trope is a shapeshifter - played for laughs, delivered straight and used as supporting story. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at why.
On the slab this week - The King's Knight, Blackadder the 3rd, Jeeves and Worcester and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic