Discussion episodes
Virgins and villainesses (part 2)
It’s a bit of a long one this week. Get the three of us together and we can’t shut up about female villains! While I might be biased, I have to say that this is one of our best episodes yet, with Lucy spouting such gems like ‘speaking of psychos…’ and ‘I mean, Gary...
Virgins and villainesses (part 1)
Have you ever noticed that the women who have sex are often the first to die, while their virginal counterparts tend to last through to the bitter end? This week, Lucy, Charlotte, and I discuss the beginnings of this trope and its inherent sexism, along with a few...
Labyrinth
This Monday marked the 30th anniversary of Labyrinth’s release (in the US). In these three decades, the entire world has been captivated by the story of teenager Sarah and her adventures in the labyrinth. The film is dark, imaginative, and strangely relatable for such...
Samantha Shannon on the imagination of the child
Today’s episode is an interruption to our previously scheduled episode, an interview with Ben Peek. Fear not, we will post the interview next time. In the meantime, a controversy amongst the SFF community was recently sparked by a British educator when he posted a...
Writing gender
When you set out to write a novel or short story, do you find yourself naturally writing a male protagonist? What about peripheral characters, do you unconsciously refer to them as he? Gender is an inescapable part of character development. An author must choose what...
Gender inequality in ‘best of’ lists
Welcome to the brand new podcast, Breaking the Glass Slipper. There are so many wonderful women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror but they are often overlooked. We ask why gender inequality continues to pervade best of lists and where the bottleneck may...