Breaking the Glass Slipper

Alternate history narratives – regardless of whether they have overt fantasy or sci-fi elements – are ultimately ‘what if’ narratives. This is the same basic principle underlying all speculative fiction, so it is no wonder they made such good bedfellows. Have you ever thought about writing an alternate history story or wondered what’s involved? Good […] The post Alternate histories wit...

Much of W. B. Yeats’ poetry is inspired by the rich mythological fabric of Ireland. This is the land of the Sidhe, the banshee, the merrow. But the island itself has a character, an identity, in the geographical, historical and metaphysical sense. So, in homage to our host country, we’ll be talking about the place […] The post Islands in speculative fiction: Live from WorldCon first appeared...

From ancient mythology and religious texts to Star Trek and Harry Potter, trinities – or trios – have always been a common motif. Why is the power of three so potent and what tropes do we tend to see?  To help us delve into this subject, we have enlisted the help of an author of […] The post Trinities with Jen Williams first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper .

In 1979, one of the most seminal sci-fi films ever made was shown for the first time on the big screen. Ridley Scott’s Alien is a dark, disturbing and downright terrifying addition to the Hollywood Hall of Fame. 2019 marks 40 years since Alien was born (or possibly ripped from a stomach), so we thought […] The post Alien at 40: The making of a feminist icon first appeared on Breaking the Gla...

Today’s episode was inspired by an article that appeared on The Guardian with the headline ‘Picture book bias worsens as female characters stay silent.’ The piece was based on research into books published in the last year, showing that most picture books ‘present a white and male-dominated world to children.’ A child is 1.6 times […] The post The importance of...

I don’t want the future to be female. I want it to be for everyone. Lisa Yaszek In a fascinating episode that covers everything from telepathic matriarchies to lesbian vampire fiction, academic Lisa Yaszek chats to us about the history of women writers in science fiction. Why are so few remembered? What did they write? […] The post Women write Science Fiction – with Lisa Yaszek first a...

In our last episode, we had author Aliette de Bodard on to discuss the absence of mothers in speculative fiction. One explanation put forward was the focus of chosen one narratives – these stories rely on the protagonist achieving something great, against all odds, and usually alone (or supported by a small group, rarely, if […] The post The problem with the chosen one first appeared on Brea...

We were inspired to speak to Aliette about representations of motherhood in speculative fiction after reading her excellent essay ‘On Motherhood and Erasure‘. There’s no denying that mothers are demonstrably absent from most speculative fiction. Whether they died ‘off-screen’ or simply have no tangible presence in the narrative, there is a gaping hole in our […]...

With a new film adaptation of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, and the upcoming 60th anniversary of the publication of The Haunting of Hill House, we thought it was high time we turned our attention to the wonderful Shirley Jackson. To help us on our journey of […] The post The enduring legacy of Shirley Jackson – with Catriona Ward first appear...

Here at Breaking the Glass Slipper, we love the 1987 film The Princess Bride. I mean, who doesn’t? It is endlessly quotable, tongue-in-cheek, and full of great characters. Unfortunately, only a couple of those characters are female and the way they’re represented…well, let’s just say our inner feminists are wincing. Is it ok to still […] The post The Princess Bride fi...

Sometimes it is fun to call the shots on this show – and this week (while Lucy was away on holiday!), I decided to indulge a personal favourite subject of mine: time travel. My love of time travelling tales has been life-long, from Back to the Future (obvs) to Kindred, there’s so much scope for […] The post Time travel with Kameron Hurley first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper .

We like to think that fantasy is a limitless exploration of our imaginations, but in reality, fantasy fiction is limited by the cultural experiences of the author. As a result, what most of us are exposed to are a very narrow set of ideas about fantasy and magic – those from a Judeo-Christian tradition.  When […] The post Cultural Traditions of Magic – with Zen Cho first appeared on Bre...

The representation of transgender people within genre is a subject we’ve wanted to explore for a while now on this podcast. All too often, trans and non binary people are absent from speculative fiction, or if not absent then poorly represented. Why is this and what can be done to improve the situation? Cheryl Morgan […] The post Transgender representation in SFF with Cheryl Morgan fir...

In this episode, we discuss all things reproduction. That’s right: sex, pregnancy, birth – the whole shebang around creating new life and what it means to a woman’s position, as represented in genre fiction. We (supposedly) have a biological drive to propagate our species… as a result, it’s natural that a certain preoccupation with procreation […] The post Sex! Pregna...

Women aren’t the only minority to suffer from poor as well as a lack of representation in genre fiction. Among other minorities struggling to have their voices heard are people of colour, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQI community.  In this episode, we spoke to prolific science fiction and fantasy author Marissa Lingen, whose credits […] The post Representations of disabil...

While we were all winding down from Christmas, Charlie Brooker and the Black Mirror gang were getting ready to mess with our minds yet again. December 28th saw the release of the one-off interactive Netflix special ‘Bandersnatch’ to mixed reviews. But no one can deny it was an interesting experiment, combining elements of video games, […] The post Choose your own Bandersnatch fir...

The holiday season comes with all kinds of traditions. From special desserts to the annual family bust-up. Whether you like a feel-good story at this time of year or something a little more spine-tingling, there’s magic enough for everyone. In this episode, Charlotte and Megan explore their Christmas fears, the sexiest muppets, and the depths […] The post Seasonal scares first appeared...

I had the undeniable pleasure of chatting to UK comics writer Leah Moore. From growing up with comics royalty to a career spanning two decades, Leah has written for existing franchises, adapted novels to comics, and created original new properties. And perhaps most importantly, Leah has written many well-rounded, interesting female characters, something we need […] The post Writing comics wi...

What is speculative fiction and what can it offer the world? Aliya Whiteley’s work has been described as “stark, poetic and forthright”, and certainly not easily classified. We talk to her about how established ideas of gender can be challenged, the questions she explores in her fiction, the relationship her books have to the natural […] The post Layers and landscapes with...

Alternate episode title: Magic goat sword (it will make sense if you listen!) If you’re planning a murder, always have a koala with you! Works of fiction are rarely confined to a single genre, especially when it comes to speculative fiction. There are sci-fi westerns, historical fantasies, and comedy horrors. Many science fiction, fantasy, and […] The post Unravelling mysteries (Live f...

We spend a lot of time on this podcast talking about how authors are subverting or downright overturning classic SFF tropes. But there are still merits of entrenched tropes, after all, tropes became such because they were enjoyable and worked, so people reused them. It’s often said that grimdark is popular because it rejects good […] The post John Gwynne on traditional fantasy tropes first a...

Writing better female characters is covered in a lot of writing advice. Many of these pieces will preface their comments with sarcastic comments like ‘Women are people too, duh’. This sort of statement, I think, should make the topic a moot point – not how to write better female characters but how to write better […] The post Writing (female) characters first appeared on Breaking the Glass S...

Redshirts. No sooner are they introduced than they are killed. The tension rises, there are beads of sweat on Kirk’s brow… now the audience knows the peril is real. These stock, disposable characters exist in a story solely for the purpose of being disposed of – kidnapped or killed, etc, to push the protagonist into […] The post Disposable characters first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slip...

Award-winning horror writer Catriona Ward joins us to discuss this most exciting and compelling of genres. Why are we so moved by horror? Why do we willingly throw ourselves into the twisted worlds it conjures? We don’t have to look far to find it: horror surrounds us every day and our own bloody history is […] The post Catriona Ward & ‘the liminal space between certainties’ first appe...