Dissecting Dragons

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 13 - Man-Eating Monster to Flower-Toting Belle - the transition of Fairies in the Victorian Era

Episode 13: Man-Eating Monster to Flower-Toting Belle - the transition of Fairies in the Victorian Era

This week SFF authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside take a look at how the entities of 'Faery' changed from centuries of press as capricious, mischievous and sometimes malevolent 'others' in folklore, to the neat, pretty and minute bewinged coquettes that are most familiar today, during the Victorian era. Looking at the literature of the time including Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie and Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market as well as traditional folktales, the incident of the Cottingley Fairies and the art and ballet inspired by Shakespeare's rendering of fairies in Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Tempest, to the influence this has had on modern writers such as Holly Black, Sarah J Maas and Marissa Meyer. One thing is certain, the 'fairy' remains an elusive and shadowy figure in mythology, despite the centuries of propaganda.

Title Theme: 'Ecstasy' by Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 12: The Gender Bend - Does the Gender make the Story?

Episode 12: The Gender Bend - Does the Gender make the Story?

Up for dissection this week; just how intrinsic is character gender to a story in Speculative Fiction? Or to put it another way, if you swapped all the characters' genders, would you still have the same story? Taking 'Life and Death', Stephanie Meyer's reimagining of 'Twilight' as an example, SFF authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside examine just how successful the story is with the genders switched before bravely applying the same thought experiment to their own works - 'The Sons of Thestian' and 'I Belong to the Earth.' The results are...intriguing. Spinning out even further, the pair look at swapping sexuality in their characters and just what aspects of a character influence the dynamics of character interaction, as well as how this impacts on the story as a whole. Also up for examination in this thought experiment Frank Herbert's Dune, Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope and Peter Pan.

Title Music - 'Ecstasy' - Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 11: Teams, Trios and Fellowships - the importance of Friendship in Speculative Fiction

 Episode 11: Teams, Trios and Fellowships - the importance of Friendship in Speculative Fiction

This week Dissecting Dragons is very pleased to announce its third guest, Canadian writer, Ben Berman Gahn. Ben is the author of Wychman Road as well as being an avid reader of superhero comic books and graphic novels, which makes him the perfect person to dissect the themes of friendship in speculative fiction. Taking many examples from the Marvel universe - Daredevil and Foggy Nelson, Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto among them - and adding them to the petri dish with Star Trek, Lord of the Rings and Avatar: the last Airbender (to name but a few), SFF authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside settle in for a long look at why platonic relationships in Speculative Fiction are so satisfying, rich and, ultimately, important. 

Music: 'Ecstacy' by Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 10: Fight like a Girl - 'Strong' Female Characters in Speculative Fiction

Episode 10: Fight like a Girl - 'Strong' Female Characters in Speculative Fiction

This week's episode focuses on the phenomena of the 'strong female character'. Just what does that mean? And what exactly is a 'Mary Sue'? SFF authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside unpack what this concept really means with both its positive and negative connotations. On the slab for examination are Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, anime series Miraculous Ladybug, The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine and the hit TV series Teen Wolf, amongst others. (Someone also seems to have dragged Fifty Shades of Grey in like a cat with a dead bird so the Dragons might prod at that corpse a bit too...) Join for a long look at 'strong' female characters, Mary Sues, Sexy Lamps and Girls in Refrigerators. 

Title music: 'Ecstasy' by Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 9: From West to East - translating Speculative Fiction into Anime and Manga

Episode 9: From West to East - Translating Speculative Fiction into Anime and Manga

This week our intrepid fantasy authors, J.A.Ironside and M.E.Vaughan, invite you to join them in navigating the strange, hauntingly beautiful and occasionally murky and disturbing waters of Japanese Anime and Manga. The teaming petri dish includes  Kazuya Minekura's  Saiyuki, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle, Akira, Studio Ghibli and Full Metal Alchemist amongst many others. What makes Speculative Fiction and its myriad worlds as drawn by anime so bewitching? Tune in to find out.

Title Music: 'Ecstasy' by Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 8: Bugbears of Battle - Inciting Violence in Speculative Fiction

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 8: Bugbears of Battle - Inciting Violence in Speculative Fiction

This week SFF authors J.A.Ironside and M.E.Vaughan draw on their own considerable experience in martial arts in examining what makes a fight scene work and what some of the common error and traps writers fall into when writing violence are. On the slab for dissection are Netflix originals of the Marvel Universe 'Daredevil' and 'Jessica Jones', the cult favourite 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'The Lord of the Rings'. Meanwhile riffling through the pages of some of the best writers of fight scenes, we have Mark Lawrence's 'Broken Empire' trilogy, Tamora Pierce's 'Song of the Lioness Quartet' and Joe Abercrombie's 'The Blade Itself'.

Keep your guard up and get into your best fighting stance for an episode that pulls no punches.

Title music: 'Ecstasy' by 'Smiling Cynic'

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 7: Tatooine to Tudor England - the trappings of Historical and Speculative World Building

Episode 7: Tatooine to Tudor England - The trappings of Historical and Speculative World Building

This week Dissecting Dragons is delighted to introduce its second guest author, historical fiction and non-fiction writer, Matthew Willis. Matt is the author of the maritime historical-fantasy 'Daedalus and the Deep' and is in a great position to talk about both sides of this weeks topic - world building in historical fiction and SFF.

Together with their guest, fantasy authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside throw both of these umbrella genres under the lens, looking at what makes world building work  (or not) and whether or not there is any difference between world building for Speculative fiction versus Historical fiction. Among the books and TV shows examined are George R.R.Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, Pavane by Keith Roberts and Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

Title music - 'Ecstasy' by 'Smiling Cynic'

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 6: Merlin, Mordred and Morgana - Magic in Arthurian Legend

Episode 6: Merlin, Mordred and Morgana - Magic in Arthurian Legend

There have been countless re-tellings and re-imaginings of Arthurian myths and legends over the centuries - most recently a spate of films, plays, musicals and TV series have appeared. SFF authors J.A.Ironside and M.E.Vaughan delve into the history behind the myth, pulling out well known strands of the stories and looking at where and how these stories originated and were changed. With a particular look at 'magic' within the Arthurian legend, our intrepid authors discuss the Fenian Cycle and Fionn mac Cumhaill, from Irish myth, and the Briedei Cycle from pre-Celtic Scotland in comparison to Arthur and his court as it became known in the middle ages and renaissance. Also under the microscope this are BBC TV series 'Merlin', the 1981 film 'Excalibur', Mallory's Le Morte d'Artur, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and The Once and Future King by T.H.White.

Title music: 'Ecstasy' by Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 5: Sci-Fi Westerns, Fantasy and Opera - Humankind's Conquest of Space

Episode 5: Sci-Fi Westerns, Fantasy and Space Opera - Humankind's conquest of Space.

SFF and speculative fiction authors, J.A.Ironside and M.E.Vaughan, take on the tricky subject of exactly what classifies science fiction. From dystopian futures to space colonies to AI, sci-fi reflects the times in which it is born but everyone seems to have a different opinion on what constitutes sci-fi. Looking at Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, the original Star Trek, Frank Herbert's Dune and the now ubiquitous superhero movie (thank you Marvel and DC!), our intrepid authors boldly go where many have gone before, but few have ever returned with satisfactory answers. 

Title Music: 'Ecstasy' by Smiling Cynic

Dissecting Dragons - Episode 4 - Witches, Brooms and Spells: Enchanting and Entrapping Children in Fiction.

Special Guest Episode!

Dissecting Dragons: Episode 4 - Witches, Brooms and Spells: Enchanting and Entrapping Children in Fiction.

Witches have had a bit of a makeover in children's fiction - not least of whom are the Witches and Wizards of J.K.Rowling's creation - but just how did witches change from holding out poisoned apples and enticing unwary children into houses of gingerbread, to representing personal power, a sense of responsibility for others and, above all, being aspirational characters for children?  Fantasy authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside will be discussing all this and more in this week's episode with their first ever guest star, James Nichol. James is a children's author whose book The Apprentice Witch is due for release 7th July 2016. Together the three authors cover The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy, Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones, the Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett and, of course, Harry Potter. 

Title music: 'Ecstasy' bySmiling Cynic