It's Mental Health Awareness Week and as usual the dragons are coming at the subject from a slightly different angle. Fiction has - not to put it indelicately - misunderstood, misrepresented and often exploited mental illness. SFF authors Jules and Madeleine delve back into the origins of this rather toxic trope in gothic fiction. Just why was 'madness' such a popular component of the gothic novel? What was the relationship between madness and nature? And where did this chain of association begin? On the slab this week - Frankenstein - Mary Shelley. Dracual. Bram Stoker, The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte, Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte and of course, Edgar Allen Poe.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 310: Villainesses and Dense Heroines - the Reverse Harem Trope in Speculative Fiction
Episode 309: False Prophets and Unwanted Messiahs - Examining the White Saviour Trope in Speculative Fiction part 2
Episode 308: False Prophets and Unwanted Messiahs - Examining the White Saviour Trope in Speculative Fiction Part 1
Episode 307: Good News Everyone! - 2021 the Best Bits
Episode 306: Japes and Tricks and Festive Diversions - Traditional Games Played at Yule and Christmas
Episode 305: Skulls and Sheets and Winter Puzzles - The Origins of the Riddle
Episode 304: What If Examining Storytelling by Changing the Pivot Points in Speculative Fiction
Episode 303: Wicked Queens and Nefarious Princes - The Evolution of the Disney Villain
Episode 302: My Only Love Sprung from My Only Hate - the Enemies to Lovers Trope in Speculative Fiction
DD Episode 301: Everyone was Kung Fu Fighting - Martial Arts as a Storytelling Tool in Speculative Fiction
Episode 300: How Not to be a Bad Art Friend - Professionalism and Empathy in Writing
Episode: 299: Who Watches the Watchmen - Gatekeeping in Speculative Fiction
Episode 298: Long Pig & a Nice Chianti - Cannibalism in Fact and Fiction
Episode 297: Of Human Evil - Serial Killers in Fact and Fiction
Episode 296: A Young Priest and An Old Priest - Exorcism in Fact and Fiction
Episode 295: White Ladies and Ghostly Cavaliers - A Selection of Britain‘s Most Haunted Buildings
Episode 294: Crying Boys and Unhappy Mummies - More Cursed Objects in Fact and Fiction
Episode 293: Goblin Fruit and Faery Cobblers - The Horror of Getting What You Truly Want in Speculative Fiction
Episode 292: With Friends Like These - Reunions Reprises and Encores in Speculative Fiction
Episode 291: Absent Saints and Cruel Caretakers - How Parents Shape Characters in Speculative Fiction part 2
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