Interview episodes
Magic, Wealth and Power with Vic James
Today, the blunt reality of inequality and unequal distribution of wealth is more prevalent than ever. Our society is split into the haves and the have nots - the 1% and the 99%. A few individuals tend whole orchards of magic money trees; their extreme wealth is...
Women’s ghost stories with Melissa Edmundson Makala
Ghost literature written by women in the 19th century was more about social commentary than pure entertainment, argues academic Melissa Edmundson Makala. Charlotte positively geeks out with Melissa about her book, Women's Ghost Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain...
Fighting oppression with Paige L Christie
Last year, Lucy was lucky enough to read an author review copy of Paige L Christie's debut novel, Draigon Weather. She immediately fell in love with the story and what Paige was trying to achieve. We have previously had Paige on the blog answering our 'five questions'...
Jeanne Cavelos on teaching genre writing
Every few years I see articles pop up in my news feed debating the merits of creative writing courses. Can you teach writing, they ask. Writing is a skill just like any other – you might not be able to imbue someone with a sense of imagination, but you can show them...
Fantasy, nostalgia, and working for hire with David Tallerman
It is very rare for Charlotte and I to agree. When we do, there's great celebration over at BtGS headquarters. David Tallerman's trope-inverting, Dungeons and Dragons inspired series The Black River Chronicles, is one of these rare gems (you can read my review here)....
Where are the tampons? with Tiffani Angus
In this episode, Charlotte and Lucy talk to writer and lecturer Tiffani Angus. They discussed the estrangement of women's bodies in apocalyptic fiction and the trends Tiffani discovered in her research on the subject. While there is a lot of genre fiction written...
Christian mythology in fantasy with Jeannette Ng
Charlotte takes the lead in this episode, where we chat to Jeannette Ng about her use of Christian mythology in her debut novel, Under the Pendulum Sun. From using relatively unknown elements of Christianity to developing alternate patriarchies to highlight the...
Interview with RJ Barker
Regular listeners will already be familiar with the fabulous RJ Barker who joined us live at Nine Worlds to discuss realistic characters. This week, Charlotte interviews RJ about writing female characters, his favourite genres, and writing characters with...
Subverting social norms with Adrian Tchaikovsky
Most science fiction and fantasy focus on humans - or at least societal structures that are recognisable from within cultures on Earth. Given that genre fiction is meant to be one of unlimited imagination, why do we find it so difficult to imagine societies where...