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Episodes
Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.
Episodes
Friday Nov 25, 2022
Friday Nov 25, 2022
The advent of streaming television services has meant that more video content has been required and with that demand, has come a more specific requirement for less mainstream, more niche material. This has been great for SFF fans who now face an embarrassment of riches which cater to their very specific trope preferences. However, the half empty side of this is that beloved speculative fiction which has previously only been available in book form, is now being adapted for TV series...and not all series are created equal. This week the dragons tackle the big question this raises: do adaptations have a duty to be accurate? And moving on from SFF and why you might chose to not partake or an adaptation of your favourite book, is there a responsibility to not take liberties with historical adaptations? Under the microscope this week: Interview with a Vampire, The Woman King, Braveheart, His Dark Materials and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Nov 18, 2022
Friday Nov 18, 2022
Everyone has their own trope bugbears which have more to do with personal taste than anything else, and that's fine. The dragons are no different. However there are some tropes which just fundamentally don't work - at least not if you're going to cut corners. Either they result in shoddy worldbuilding or poor story structure or they're just so ick that they knock the reader out of the story. That's not to say that they can never work but you do have to be careful how you handle them. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at some of the worst offenders and best examples of the same trope done right, in sci-fi and fantasy. On the slab this week - Star Trek Discovery, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Virtual Sexuality and many more.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Nov 11, 2022
Friday Nov 11, 2022
Not to be confused with 'framing devices' such as a narrative within a secondary story, 'Framing' is a type of narrative enhancer which can be used to add tone or flavour to a scene. This week, Jules and Madeleine look at how specific scenes and even whole plots can be gently adjusted using this technique, especially when it comes to movies and TV. Why might you wish to use framing? How can it be used to as a subtler form of political or social messaging? And what happens when it goes wrong? Find out in this week's episode. On the slab this week - The Witcher, She-Ra Princesses of Power, Dead End: Paranormal Park and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Nov 04, 2022
Friday Nov 04, 2022
This week the dragons are delighted to welcome back Laura Laakso, author of the paranormal crime/ urban fantasy series Wilde Investigations. The main character of the series - Yannia Wilde - suffers from a chronic illness, which means that her exploits in magical London, solving mysteries, are always a bit more challenging. It also makes Laura the ideal person to join Jules and Madeleine for this discussion. Like many aspects of representation, chronic illness is sometimes conflated with being the entirety of a character which does more harm than good, as does some ill researched or thoughtless inclusion of chronic illness or disability. This episode is a lively discussion of exactly what you can do to create more realistic chronically ill characters and why you might want to include one in your work. Aside from which, SFF can be the perfect place to explore the subject. Under the microscope this week: The Fault in Our Stars, the Goonies, Wilde Investigations and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Oct 28, 2022
Friday Oct 28, 2022
Finishing up their spooky season specials and taking inspiration from previous years 'cursed objects' episodes, this week the dragons take a look at 'cursed' places. A handful of tame hauntings will not qualify a place as 'cursed' under this definition. Oh no. A single lonely ghost sighting won't fit. The places Jules and Madeleine discuss in this episode have an ongoing pattern of centuries of hauntings, strange happenings, UFO sightings, as well as a long a bloody history of violence and atrocity. Join the dragons for a curated (though by no means exhaustive) selection of the most afflicted places in the UK.
At around the 75% mark, we briefly discuss 'murder tourism' and a certain serial killer's house. While we do not go into graphic detail, we also don't dance around the topic. If you're not in a good place to listen to that discussion, maybe put this one on the backburner and enjoy one of our back catalogue of episodes instead.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Oct 21, 2022
Friday Oct 21, 2022
Continuing their spooky season, this week the dragons tackle one of the best known monsters of all: the vampire. Generally regarded as more of an Eastern European creature, rather than a UK monster, it might surprise the listener to discover that there are many accounts of vampires in UK and Irish folklore. They appear in Medieval chronicles and Irish sagas. And there are still stories and reports being made in the UK up to the present day. Grab a your drink of choice and settle in for a deep dive in to the blood drinking fiends of Britain and Ireland.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Continuing with their spooky theme for October, this week the dragons take a look at another six UK and Irish cryptids. From the origins of werewolves in Ossary leading to the Tipperary wolf-man, to the bizarre Bat-beast of Kent, to a genuine cryptid which may have fed legends of the Scottish Cait Sith, this episode is a wild ride through folkloric imagination with a few creepy tales thrown in.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Oct 07, 2022
Friday Oct 07, 2022
It's October and you know what that means! Tis the season to be spooky! In line with their usual policy of providing Hallowe'en themed episodes during October, the dragons are delighted to start with a look at some of the UK and Irelands least known and strange cryptids. This week discover one of Nessie's other loch dwelling 'cousins', discuss the likelihood of 'Owlman', and explore two possible candidates for the title of UK Bigfoot, as well as many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Friday Sep 30, 2022
Friday Sep 30, 2022
The dragons are once again delighted to welcome Hamish Steele, author of popular comics/ graphic novels Deadendia and Pantheon, and creator of hit Netflix series Deadend: Paranormal Park, to the show. (And with some exciting news too!) This week Jules and Madeleine take a look at that peculiar but appealing phenomenon in long running TV shows - the musical episode. As a long time lover of musicals and a creator of just such a musical episode, Hamish is ideally situated to wade in on the discussion. Tracing the 'lineage' of the trend from cult classics like 'Fame' (1980) through a few very dicey attempts in the 80s and early 90s, before the sub-genre was cemented by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this dissection looks at why a musical episode might be appealing, why it can make or break a show with your audience, and why sometimes it doesn't work. Under the microscope this week: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Deadend: Paranormal Park, Ally McBeal, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic.
Friday Sep 23, 2022
Friday Sep 23, 2022
This week the dragons bring you another episode in their 'fairy tales in focus' series. Puss in Boots is incredibly popular, especially with children, and unlike many fairy tales, it contains no real moral. So just where did this story originate and what do its characters symbolise? The Perrault version is by far the best known, but even he struggled to paste a 'lesson' onto the story, so in what ways did he misunderstand the subversive nature of the story? Find out as Jules and Madeleine trace the tale's origins back to Italy and from there across Europe, Asia and Africa. On the slab this week: Pixar's Puss in Boots, A Tale of Two Castles - Gail Carson Levine and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling cynic