Many sci-fi and fantasy worlds have incorporated their version of the sex industry into their world building. From the highly sought and exquisite companion to the lowly street walker trying to scape enough credits together to get off world, prostitution is rife in SFF. So is this a good thing, reclaiming sex and sex positivity? Is it exploitative, perpetuating bad steriotypes and encoraging a mindset of permissiveness toward the ill treatment of sex workers? Or is it merely a snapshot of life and human nature, falling into neither the positive or negative? This week the dragons delve into the sometimes seedy world of the SFF sex industry. On the slab this week - Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey, Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Firefly, The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora pierce and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 273: The Dark Descent into Hell - Tracing the Origins of Persephone and Other Underworld Goddesses
Episode 272: This is Not 1984 - Stopping Dystopia and False Utopia Spilling into Reality
Episode 271: Maintaining the Mood - How to Avoid Misusing Tone in Speculative Fiction
Episode 270: Its Complicated - the Highs and Lows of Relationships in Speculative Fiction
Episode 269: Making Friends and Influencing People - The Heroine's Journey in Speculative Fiction
Episode 268: He Growled, She Ejaculated - Reader Peeves and How to Avoid Them
Episode 267: The Beast Within - Exploring Characters with Darker Sides
Episode 266: That's Not Equality - When Sexism Dresses as Feminism in Speculative Fiction Part 2
Episode 265: That's Not Equality - When Sexism Dresses Up as Feminism in Speculative Fiction: Part 1
Episode 264 Challenging the System - How Magic Helps Us Deconstruct History, Politics and Social Issues
Episode 263: The Blade Itself - the Genesis of the Sword in History, Mythology and Speculative Fiction
Episode 262: Of Liking and Loathing - How to Hook Readers on your Characters
Episode 261: Reading the Classics - Hidden Meaning and Censorship in Stoker, Bronte and Shelley
Episode 260: Links and Linguistics - Why Word Choice Matters in Writing
Episode 259: Taking a Toxicity Reading - Criticism and Compromise in Speculative Fiction
Episode 258: Frills and Flirtations - What Clothing brings to Speculative Fiction
Episode 257: Peacekeepers to Punishers - The Police Force in Speculative Fiction
Episode 256: Assembling the Skeleton - Showing, Telling and Cutting Out Scenes in Speculative Fiction
Episode 255: The Trials and Triumphs of 2020
Episode 254: Blood on the Snow - The Darker Christmas Stories
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