In many ways, good historical fiction ticks a lot of the boxes of good SFF. Readers become invested in richly imagined worlds which are unfamiliar enough to escapism but contain the seeds of their own experiences. Historical fiction also offers a number of other attractive benefits. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at what draws both readers and writers to hist fic. How can you make time periods that might as well be set on other worlds because they are so different to modern times, both authentic and accessible to modern audiences? How can you blend in meticulous research without info dumping? And how do you mingle historical fact with fantasy elements to enter one of the historical fiction sub genres? Drawing on their own work as well as examples by Phillipa Gregory, Hilary Mantel and Juliet Marillier, the dragons will lead you down the rabbit hole and back in time in this week's episode.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 413: Dragon riders & wolf speakers - the Animal Soul Bond in Speculative Fiction
Episode 412: By the Blade - the Evolution of Heroic Fantasy
Episode 411: Kitchen Heroes - Humble Protagonists who get Things Done in Speculative Fiction
Episode 410: In a Rural Dream - The Rise of Cottagecore
Episode 409: Pitched Perfectly - The Film was Better than the Book
Episode 408: There’s good news and...more good news - 2023 in review
Episode 407: Jingle Bell Rock - Storytelling through the medium of songs the Christmas edition
Episode 406: A Picture Says a Thousand Words - The Rise of the Graphic Novel
Episode 405: The Fairest of Them All - The Pursuit of Beauty as a Literary Device
Episode 404: It was Great Apart from the Ending - Beloved Fiction that Wobbled on the Dismount
Episode 403: The Old Family Business - Gangster Witches and Legacy Monster Hunters
Episode: 402 Of Gold and Hubris - Tracing the Origins of Rumpelstiltskin
Episode 401: Girls on Ice - a History of the Fridging Trope
Episode 400: Strange Fruit in the Gallant South - Exploring the Southern Gothic
Episode 399: This Set is Cursed - Strange Events Behind the Scenes at Horror Films
DD Episode 398: Joyous Companions Forever - examining the queerness of the vampire genre
Episode 397: The Beautiful and the Damned - examining the Queerness of the Vampire Genre
Ep 396: It Came from Out of the closet - The Queer Relationship with Horror
Ep 395: Weirdstones and Magic Keys - What makes a Children’s book a classic?
Ep 394: Divas Debutantes and Girls next door - the best and worst female main characters
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