Vickie Lan

Speculative Sandbox

Arts EN ↓ 130 episodes

Join Vickie Lan and unpack the tropes that make fiction fun! Speculative Sandbox is for entertainment purposes only. This is a volunteer-run program. Opinions expressed by individuals on the podcast are their own. Cover image photographed by J.D. Fitzgerald. Episode cover images and zoom backgrounds feature royalty-free images from Canva and Pexels. Audio provided by Anchor and Transistor.fm

Author

Vickie Lan

Episodes

5. Chasing Utopia: The Horrors of Perfection 06.04.2022 44:44

Thomas More coined the term "Utopia" in his 1516 book of the same name, but is it really the ideal place to live? Author Jacob Devlin joins Vickie Lan in a discussion about fictional utopian societies, what makes them wonderful at first glance, and what makes them terrifying once you read between the lines. 

4. The Immortality Dilemma: Legacy building gone wrong 30.03.2022 1:00:51

Ghostwriter and editor Leslie Hinson joins Speculative Sandbox on the search for immortality. Like Dorian Gray and his aging portrait, how do different characters avoid death? How does legacy building ensure our future? And what happens when someone else takes control?

3. Cautionary Tales: Dystopian Societies 23.03.2022 52:07

Not all Dystopian societies are terrible...right? Guest writer Brad Allis joins me in a discussion of the dystopian trope, why we love to read and write them, and their small silver linings (if any!) 

2. Am I the Drama? Problematic Protagonists 16.03.2022 1:00:25

Good protagonists, evil protagonists, evilly good protagonists? Author Matthew C. Brown joins Speculative Sandbox in a chat about complex protagonists, the appeal of evil characters, and how story telling has evolved as our interactions on social media take center stage.

1. Introduction: A podcast for speculative fiction writers 09.03.2022 13:42

What is speculative fiction? What can you expect from this podcast? Who am I? Learn all this and more in the introductory episode of Speculative Sandbox.