Breaking the Glass Slipper

The title of this episode is taken from Will R. Bird’s memoir of World War 1, a title which also inspired that of Katherine Arden’s novel set amidst the horror of the Great War. When it comes to writing about war, past authors have glorified it with moments of pathos. Who can forget the stirring […] The post Ghosts have warm hands – with Katherine Arden first appeared on Breaking...

Welcome to our first episode of 2024. Yes, the title’s a quote from our incredible guest. As a podcast dedicated primarily to speculative fiction, we rarely find ourselves taking a deep dive into history. But the growth in popularity of both myths and retellings is bringing with it a new focus on historical periods, and […] The post Beneath the skin of the earth – with Nicola Griffith...

Modern fantasy owes much to J.R.R. Tolkien, including his problematic colonialist views and othering of cultures and races different from his medieval European-inspired setting. Many authors since then have used ‘historical accuracy’ as a defence against a lack of diversity in their similarly inspired settings. But even if we gloss over the fact that this […] The post Othering an...

We love our folk horror. The genre has been growing in popularity these past years, and it’s not hard to see why. Writers take pastoral settings such as windswept hills or rugged sea coasts and imbue them with a sense of deep isolation. Throw in a community that seems at first utterly safe and then […] The post Community and isolation – with Jennifer Thorne first appeared on Breaking the Gla...

Welcome to our Halloween episode! Romance has always been big business and these days there are plenty of subgenres. Despite its popularity, however, some snobbery still exists, often dismissing romance as “women’s fiction.” But if romance is really so terrible, why does it sell so well? Are the female characters in these books still the […] The post Romancing the necromanc...

It’s October, so we’re officially allowed to talk about Christmas. Sure, we’ve got Halloween first, and that’s a celebration we should all be enthusiastic about, but take a look at what books are being pushed by bookstores, Amazon, and even supermarkets, and you’ll find that Christmas stories are starting to creep in. You could say […] The post The dark half of the year – with Lili Hay...

We often take for granted the role language plays in communicating our favourite stories. And here in the west, there exists an unspoken expectation to be able to consume those favourite stories in English. The necessity and importance of translation is a given. Writers producing work in English but for whom English is their second […] The post The power of language – with Jelena Dunato and...

We’re honoured to have Isabel Cañas join us on the show as she talks us through not only her fabulous new novel, Vampires of El Norte, but also her experience of breaking into publishing as a Mexican-American writer and the pressure on marginalised creators to produce something “fresh”. Mentioned in this episode: Isabel Cañas is a […] The post “Something a little monstrous”...

In the preface to Les Fleurs du mal, Baudelaire indicated that boredom is the truest suffering, andthis idea later became central to the fin de siècle movement, an era of decadence in which artificemasqueraded as, or was even elevated to the status of, art. The Belladonna Invitation by Rose Bigginis a Gothic exploration of the […] The post The poison salon – with Rose Biggin first appeared o...

When it comes to science fiction – and particularly dystopian science fiction – doctors are either the saviours of humanity with their invaluable medical knowledge, or they are the villains, using a lack of rules to exploit the vulnerable for their own questionable ends. But why is that? Is it a case of power corrupts? […] The post Medical hive minds – with Hiron Ennes first appeared on Brea...

Folklore and fairy tales can sometimes be inextricably bound up with religion. In the Grimms’ own collection of fairy tales, the Devil turns up and so do angels. ‘The Peasant in Heaven’ as well as ‘The Devil and his Grandmother’ were included alongside more famous tales such as ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Rumpelstiltskin’. With the current appetite […] T...

For this week’s episode, Lucy and Charlotte thought they’d take the opportunity to talk about something they have a passion for: folklore. In particular, the ballad of the Singing Bone, which is Aarne Thompson index number 780.  To give it its full name, the Aarne Thompson Uther (shortened to ATU) index was created to try […] The post The singing bone – with Lucy Holland & Charlo...

It’s a standard rule of writing that if you want your protagonist to look heroic and competent, you’ve got to get a powerful and menacing antagonist. In the past, writers have used AI as an overwhelming and hostile force, while others have chosen gods. But Emma Mieko Candon has taken the unusual step of pairing […] The post The AI apocalypse with Emma Mieko Candon first appeared on Breaking...

I went a little bit left-field with the introduction to this episode, but I was weirdly excited by the fact that there was a major event in politics on the day I’d planned to discuss politics on the podcast! So please just bear with me, I promise it is all related to speculative fiction! On […] The post Politics and tropes in fantasy with Andrea Stewart first appeared on Breaking the G...

In this episode, I am really excited to talk about a book I was invited to read last year. The premise drew me in immediately – the last of humanity fighting to exist above an inhospitable earth – the only thing keeping them safe is their city built and maintained by plants magically manipulated by […] The post Embracing rage in speculative fiction with Kritika H. Rao first appeared on Break...

Speculative fiction is no stranger to exploring issues of colonialism, particularly in science fiction, from first contact stories to wars over territories. While many such stories are extremely black and white, the realities of colonialism are far murkier. A colonial mindset shapes not just the colonised but also the coloniser, often in unexpected ways. It […] The post The realities of colo...

Horror works best when it’s relatable. The best protagonists in a horror story are those that are just like us: they’re sensible, trying to scrape by, possibly raise families, and make the most of life. We empathise with people we understand. Cassandra Khaw is no stranger to the average Joe (or average Jane) as a […] The post After the end – with Cassandra Khaw first appeared on Breaking the...

Fairies and fairy stories have fascinated us for centuries. They have been present in British art and literature certainly from the 1600s, with the earliest mention being dated as the 13th century. But what if, in the early 1900s, the world was fully aware of and accepting of the existence of fairies? What if academics in Oxford […] The post Away with the fairies – with Heather Fawcett first...

The Arthurian legends are named for one man, but the tales associated with the legend involve an extensive cast: Merlin, Nimue, Guinevere, Lancelot, Uther, the Lady of the Lake, Ygraine, and many more. The women within the Arthurian legends have often been side-lined in favour of their more masculine counterparts, but they offer a far […] The post The women of Arthurian legends with Juliet E...

We all know the classic line from Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” As much as we might want, and strive for, a wholly equal world, it is an unlikely reality for humans. We are too flawed, too greedy, too competitive, too selfish. Speculative fiction has certainly […] The post The myth of a fair society – with Lavanya Lakshminarayan first appe...

We typically feature female creators on this show who write cracking female or marginalised characters, but in this episode, we talk to author Grady Hendrix, an author adept at creating female protagonists both believable and relatable. From his first book, Horrorstör, to his most recent novel, How To Sell A Haunted House, he has placed […] The post Haunted houses – with Grady Hendrix first...

If you haven’t stumbled across one of the many popular xianxia dramas on your favourite streaming service, we might have to ask if you’ve been living under a rock. Shows like The Untamed have become global sensations – and we have to admit that at least 2 out of 3 of us were swept up in its wake. Sharing […] The post Exploring Xianxia – with Mia Tsai first appeared on Breaking th...

We all know that the original versions of fairy tales are so much darker than the sanitised ones that got handed down to us by the moralistic Victorians. Some authors choose to create a story in a fairytale setting that is as brutal as the original tales themselves. But what about a tale that tries […] The post Loving monsters – with Roshani Chokshi first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipp...

Having started out writing a neighbourhood newspaper which she sold to buy candy and comics, Jane Yolen is now the author of over 400 books for children and adults. Jane has also worked as an editor, written poetry, and was described by Newsweek as “the Hans Christian Anderson of American children’s literature.” We are honoured […] The post A lifetime of writing – with Jane Yolen first appea...

Many of us grew up reading the myths and legends from Ancient Greece and Rome. We followed Herakles as he succeeded at one impossible task after another; we cringed when Orpheus turned round at the last moment so that Eurydice fled back into the underworld; we grinned when Odysseus outsmarted the cyclops, Polyphemus. But behind […] The post “But what if a woman wrote this?” – with Claire Nor...