Breaking the Glass Slipper – A podcast about women in speculative fiction

Breaking the glass slipper

Women in Speculative Fiction

Women have been creating and starring in science fiction, fantasy, and horror since the genre began. We are here to celebrate the wonderful contribution of women to speculative fiction. We are an intersectional feminist podcast and embrace all voices.

Breaking the Glass Slipper won Best Audio in the 2019 British Fantasy Awards and was nominated for a Hugo Award.

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About the podcast

Our episodes discuss trends and issues in speculative fiction across books, films, TV, and games, including interviews with industry experts.

Science fiction

Science and technology are the order of the day. Let’s explore the final frontier together.

Fantasy

The home of magic and dragons. The only limit is your imagination.

Horror

Be prepared for thrills and chills. This is no place for the faint hearted.

Epic episodes

Sometimes you will find us arguing amongst ourselves and for other episodes, we will bring on one or two special guests to throw the discussion open with diverse voices.

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Discussion

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Interviews

Who We are

The podcast was the brainchild of pop culture commentator Megan Leigh, who enlisted the help of fantasy author Lucy Hounsom and horror writer and romance editor Charlotte Bond to create the perfect podcasting dream team.

Charlotte Bond

Ghostwriter, author, commissioning editor and reviewer. In 2015, she became the commissioning editor for Gemstone Romance. She is also a reviewer on the Ginger Nuts of Horror website and a guest reviewer at Jane and Bex’s Book Blog. You can find her on her FaceBook page or follow her on Twitter @offred85.

Lucy Hounsom

Author of The Worldmaker Trilogy, the first book of which, Starborn, was shortlisted for the Gemmell Morningstar Award for best fantasy debut in 2016. She’s also a Waterstones bookseller and lives in Devon, UK with two cats and many dragons. You can follow her @silvanhistorian.

Megan Leigh

Writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work has appeared on Pop Verse, SFWA, SFF World, Pornokitsch, and Writers’ Workshop. She reviews books for the British Fantasy Society. Follow her @m_leigh_g.

Latest Episodes

You can listen to Breaking the Glass Slipper on most platforms, for instance: Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn, and via RSS Feed.

Summer holidays!

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We’re on holiday! But don’t worry, we will be back before you know it!

Writing horror comics with Corissa Grant

We have a lot of authors on our podcast, talking about their books, what inspired them, how they’ve written them etc. Quite often they’ll get drawn into the TV series or films that inspired them [*coughs* Star Trek]. But a medium we don’t often touch upon is comics...

The poetry of space – with Oliver K. Langmead

When we say the word “novel,” most of us think of a book written in prose, split into chapters and possibly parts. But every now and again, we come across novels that defy our expectations. Pratchett’s early work not only eschewed chapters - instead presenting the...

Secrets and killers with Kaaron Warren

A few decades ago, if you said the word “Gothic haunted house novel,” the phrase would very definitely have brought to mind something with a rambling Victorian mansion, tortured heroines, mad women in the attic, sombre men, and wailing ghosts. It probably wouldn’t...

Keeping it short – with Gianni Washington

A short story isn’t just a novel in miniature form. It isn’t even a shortened novella. It is a creature of its own devising. There’s only time for a snapshot of reality, and in the space of a few thousand words, you have to be able to draw in a reader, make them feel...

Secret societies & the occult – with S.T. Gibson

The literature of our past is littered with casual gender biases. You describe someone as a “witch” and the natural assumption is that they are female. But according to Diane Purkiss, while mostly women were accused in the English witch trials, in some of the...

The horror of space travel with SA Barnes

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” It’s an iconic tagline that can be applied to so many modern stories about space travel and exploration (except, perhaps, our beloved Star Trek). Obviously, space travel in real life can be incredibly perilous, but the perils of...

Religion, tradition, and history in fantasy with Andrew Knighton

Religion has been part of our society for centuries. Is it any wonder then that it can make up a large part of our fiction – from CS Lewis’s allegorical Chronicles of Narnia series to Anna Smith Spark’s Empires of Dust trilogy and the Loki books by Joanne Harris. But...

Yes, we’re also authors – with Lucy and Charlotte

We have a bit of an unusual episode for you today! While it is amazing that we have so many authors who want to come on the show – we feel truly honoured – we thought it was about time we returned to talking among the three of us, like it was when we first began the...

Obsessional love and vengeance with S.E. Porter

Love can last a lifetime, but revenge is forever... Love is a common driving force for novels, and it comes in many forms. It could be the pursuit of true love, or the quest to turn unrequited love into a passionate relationship. Often, it can be the loss of love that...

Our blog

Is audio content not your bag? No worries! Every two weeks we interview some of your favourite authors, editors, and content creators on our blog!

Read the blog