From the Minotaur to xenomorphs to the undead, monsters and their ilk have long been a staple of the sci-fi and fantasy genres. But what exactly is it that makes a monster? Guest John Wiswell joins us to discuss how monsters in fiction often reflect not only our primal fears, but also the people that society seeks to Other. When monsters reflect what a real or fictitious society values and doesn't value, what sorts of things do writers need to consider when placing monsters in their world?
In this episode, we explore how, while monsters can sometimes just be plot obstacles for Our Heroes to overcome, they can also be coded -- intentionally or as a matter of unconscious bias -- in the same ways that disability, poverty, non-heteronormative sexuality, and other marginalized populations get coded. We also pull apart the idea of recontextualizing monsters: As is often said of Frankenstein and his creation -- who's really the monster? Who's the true beast?
[Transcript TK]
Our Guest: John Wiswell is an American science fiction and fantasy author whose short fiction has won the Locus and Nebula Awards and been a finalist for the Hugo, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards. His debut fantasy novel, Someone You Can Build a Nest In, will be released in spring 2024 by DAW Books.
John's work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com, LeVar Burton Reads, Nature Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, the No Sleep podcast, Nightmare Magazine, Cast of Wonders, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and other fine venues. His fiction has been translated into Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Romanian.
He graduated Bennington College in 2005, and attended the Viable Paradise 17 workshop in 2013. He has multiple disabilities including a neuromuscular syndrome, and thinks healthy people's capacity to complain is very funny. He finds a lot of things very funny and would like to keep it that way.
He is frequently available for interview and for talks at conferences. He has done panels at places such as Worldcon, the Nebula Awards, and the World Fantasy Convention.
He posted fiction daily on this blog for six straight years, and has left every embarrassing and inspiring word of it up to read for free. If you'd like to see a writer develop style, it's all there. You can point and laugh. He probably can't hear you.
Episode 49: An Immodest Proposal
Episode 48: That Belongs in a Museum, ft. MARINA LOSTETTER
Episode 47: The Timey-Wimey Episode
Episode 46: Join in If You Know the Chorus, Ft. C. L. CLARK
Episode 45: Let’s Be Diplomatic
Episode 44: Old MacDonald Had a Dragon
Episode 43: Getting There is Half the Fun, ft. KATE ELLIOTT
Episode 42: Life, Worldbuilding, & Everything, ft. STINA LEICHT
Episode 41: Myths, Legends and Other Lies of History ft. Marie Brennan & Alyc Helms (M.A. Carrick)
Episode 40: The Sacred and the Profane, ft. K. B. WAGERS!
Episode 39: Episode 39: Three-pourri
Episode 38: Writing the Dark Side ft. ANNA STEPHENS
Episode 37: Names Are Hard -- A Deep Dive into WFM’s Shared World
Episode 36: Toil and Trouble
Episode 35: The Circle of Life
Episode 34: The Reluctant Worldbuilder (ft. MIKE CHEN)
Episode 33: Disability and Inclusion ft. ELSA SJUNNESON
Episode 32: There’s No Place Like Home ft. ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA
Episode 31: Living by the Sword ft. MICHAEL R UNDERWOOD
Episode 30: Fantasy Race and Avoiding Fantasy Racism ft. K. TEMPEST BRADFORD, K.S. VILLOSO, and SARAH GUAN!
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