Our Episodes
Power through a gendered lens with Menna Van Praag
It has long been obvious that our world's power structures are set up to benefit men, so how does women's power play out in our narratives? What happens when women are suddenly given a power they are usually deprived of? Menna Van Praag joins us to discuss power in...
Cosmic horror with Premee Mohamed
Cosmic horror is an unhelpful term by itself. HP Lovecraft himself is quoted as saying that: The fundamental premise [of cosmic horror is] that common human laws and interest and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.' But Wikipedia...
Back to the 80s: Ladyhawke
The three of us are children of the 80s and like many of our generation, we love to revel in nostalgia. For us, this has meant revisiting some of our favourite fantasy films of that decade: Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride… and now Ladyhawke. Ladyhawke...
Onscreen representation of women with Kate Madison
Here on BtGS, we regularly discuss how female characters in SFF are depicted on-screen. From the infamous bikini armour to simply being absent from male-centric narratives – women have had their fair share of problematic portrayals. But is the tide turning? Joining us...
Rethinking the Badass with Alex Acks
https://twitter.com/katsudonburi/status/1218249179220172800?s=20 There needs to be a serious fucking cultural conversation about the storytelling desire to turn everyone into an edgy badass that thinks all problems are best solved with violence and what the...
Reinventing the Fairytale with Brigid Kemmerer
Beauty and the Beast is amongst our best-known fairytales, enduring and enchanting in equal measure. But beneath its romantic exterior lurks a darker story, one that various writers have explored over the years. For the first episode of 2020, we are joined by...
Bonus: RJ Barker and Micah Yongo (live)
A bonus Christmas episode for you all! Back in December 2018, Charlotte was asked to interview RJ Barker and Micah Yongo at perhaps one of the most beautiful bookshops in Britain – the Bradford Wool Exchange branch of Waterstones. In the interview, Micah talks...
Re-imaginings with Christina Henry
If you love a story, you love reading it over and over again. But you can also get joy out of reading someone’s reinterpretation of it. When authors decide to take old stories that we know and love and turn them into something else, it can breathe new life into...
Writing and adapting Orphan Black with Madeline Ashby
When our favourite television series come to an end on our screens, it doesn't always mean goodbye. Firefly was revived with Serenity and Buffy the Vampire Slayer found a second life in a celebrated comic series (and yes, this happens for more than just Joss Whedon...