As avid readers and bibliophiles, Madeleine and Jules will pretty much tackle anything, no questions asked. As writers however, and especially as SFF writers, they all too often run aground against the literary merit debate. Said debate is that true literature which is worth reading should be hard, it should require effort to read and digest. Ultimately, literary fiction is more worthwhile than genre fiction. This week the dragons delve into the origins of this argument - where did literary fiction originate as a term? What is the genre divide? Who decides which is which? - as well as taking a look at the roots of the history of the novel and side trip through the disreputable origins of SFF, before confronting their own prejudices and snobberies over types of fiction. On the slab this week - The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell, The Book of Strange New Things - Michell Faber, The Night Circus - Erin Morgernstern, When the Moon was Ours - Anna-Marie McLemore and Sing Unburied Sing - Jesmyn Ward.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Ep 394: Divas Debutantes and Girls next door - the best and worst female main characters
Episode 393: Unlikely Rebels - the Moral Outlaw Trope
Episode 392: An Awful Lot of Walking - Mastering Pacing in Speculative Fiction
Episode 391: Lost in the Woods - Tracing the Origins of Hansel and Gretel
Episode 390: Let the Games Begin - Why the Competition Trope is so Popular in Speculative Fiction
Episode 389: Beautiful Misery - The Hunger for the Afflicted Woman in Fiction
Episode 388: A Conflagration of Authors - AI, Audiobooks and Infringement
Episode 387: Complicated Runes and Ineffable Power - Hard Versus Soft Magic Systems in Speculative Fiction
Episode 386: The Art of Not Fitting In - A collection of Not Like the Other Girls Trope Observations
Episode 385: Both is Good - Examining Bisexual Representation in Speculative Fiction
Episode 384: Appearances Can be Deceiving - The Hidden Power of Modern Fairytales
Episode 383: Gaslit Magic and Immortal Monsters Hunters - Incorporating Strong Historical Elements in UF
Episode 382: Part of Your World - Tracing the Origins of The Little Mermaid
Episode 381: Hard Times in Magic & Logic - Examining the Parameters of Hard Scifi and fantasy
Episode 380: Will He Escape those Dastardedly Clutches - Why Cliffhangers Are a Bad Idea
Episode 379: Exuding Menace 101 - How to Create Menacing Villains
Ep 378: Separated by a Common Language - Examining the Differences between UK and US Urban Fantasy
Episode 377: Bringing in Dessert - Serving Up Delicious Endings Against Desperate Odds
Episode 376: In that Time In that Place - the Monomyth and Other Storytelling Modes
Episode 375: The Batcherlorette - Bookish Edition
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