Interview episodes

Folk horror – with Tori Bovalino

When the film The Blood on Satan’s Claw came out in 1971, reviewer Rod Cooper called it “a study in folk horror.” In 2003, when director Piers Haggard was talking to Fangoria magazine about his film, he also described it as a folk horror...

Genre mash-ups: romance and crime with Freya Marske

Twists and turns, red herrings and mistaken identities... are we talking about a mystery or a romance... or both? While mysteries keep us on our toes, propelling us towards uncovering the truth, romance narratives also play with the tension of the unknown. The...

Myth, magic and mothers – with Shauna Lawless

We often talk about a woman in a man’s world, but what does this really mean – and is it accurate? What is a man’s world? A place where women are excluded from performing certain roles or jobs? Or are shackled to others? Is it to do with the balance of power? What...

Feminism and noir with CL Polk

Private detectives with a dark past and a chip on their shoulder, a mysterious woman with a hidden agenda, and bodies piling up around them. You know what we're talking about: noir fiction. Although it is the films that are generally called noir, with their book...

Rogues – with Ren Hutchings

Some of our favourite heroes are characters who might be deemed less than heroic by society. Smugglers, reckless hot-heads, gamblers and gangsters – everything that law and order should squash at the earliest opportunity. Yet in fiction we can’t help loving them....

Oppression & survival – with Sunyi Dean

While World War 2 saw greater opportunities for women on the home front while so many working-age men were away at war, there are many more examples of hard times bringing curbs on women's rights. We only have to read the daily news to see it in action. But why is...

No trope is an island – with Foz Meadows

As you've hopefully worked out by now, we are big proponents of the need for diverse representation in speculative fiction. And while we are certainly seeing more LGBTQ+ relationships portrayed in the genres we love, there's still a long way to go. But what about...

Cyberpunk with Kimberly Unger

These days, 'punk' is added to a whole host of different genres, sub-genres, and words never before used to indicate book genres before. But there was once only one kind of literary punk: cyberpunk. Pioneered in the 1980s by authors like Pat Cadigan, William Gibson,...

Metaphor and social commentary with Saara El-Arifi

Please be aware that we discuss some fairly heavy topics in this episode, including addiction, violence against children, and racially motivated violence. Also, less serious in nature but full disclosure: I reference Star Trek really early in this episode. I was proud...