Animal MCs are a genre all of their own. These books exist for both children and adults, and never really go out of fashion in the SFF community. In these narratives if humans play a role at all, it is a marginal one and they do not provide the main conflict for the story, which is always between the animal characters themselves. This week Jules and Madeleine delve into the world of animal protagonists. What makes these stories so enduring? Why are animal MCs linked so often with political or religious satire in fiction? And what are the advantages of using anthropomorphised animals as main characters?
On the slab this week - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham, The Deptford Mice by Robin Jarvis, Redwall by Brian Jacques and many more.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 181: Of Their Time - the Changing Faces of Diversity and Prejudice in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 180: 10,000 - A Celebration of Dissecting Dragons
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 179: Truth, Lies & the Big Misunderstanding - Honesty and Deception Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 178: Of Course, This Means War - Narrative Conflict in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 177: Of Good and Evil - Depictions of Morality in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 176: Fact vs Fiction - Blending the Real with the Fantastical in Historical Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 175: Winter is Here - End of Thrones
Dissecting Dragons:Episode 174: We All Deserve to Die - Killing Off Characters the Right Way in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 173: Endgame - The Legacy of the MCU
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 172: Crowning Glory - The Significance of Hair in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 171: Inner Landscapes - The Transformative Character Arc in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 170: Maps, Footnotes and Dedications - When Authors go the Extra Mile
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 169: Sly, Cunning and Cuddly - Fantastic Foxes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 168: Woke is My Brand - The Trouble with Toxic Twitter
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 166: The Problem of Susan - Wayward Children in Fantasy Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 165: What We Really Want - The Tropes We Love in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 164: The Language of Flowers - Botanical Folklore in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 163: Into the Woods - Mythical, Magical and Malicious Forests in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 162: Bring Out Your Dead - Sickness and Pandemics in Speculative Fiction
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
The War of the Worlds
The Federalist Papers
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends