Episodes

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 on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

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 with Leah Moore first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

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 Aliya Whiteley first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

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 from FantasyCon 2018) first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

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 appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

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 Slipper.

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 Slipper.

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 appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

Lucy and Charlotte talk to horror writer Catriona Ward about the art of the horror novel and her books Rawblood and Little Eve. For full episode notes, visit www.breakingtheglassslipper.com

A Lucy and Charlotte Special! After the success of our Labyrinth episode, we thought we’d have a bit of fun and take another look at one of our favourite films: The Dark Crystal. If you haven’t seen this cult Henson classic, The Dark Crystal tells the story of Jen, the last – or so he […] The post Revisiting The Dark Crystal first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

A Charlotte and Lucy special! After the success of our Labyrinth episode, we thought we'd have a bit of fun and take another look at one of our favourite films: The Dark Crystal. How does it hold up after 36 years?

Today, the blunt reality of inequality and unequal distribution of wealth is more prevalent than ever. Our society is split into the haves and the have nots – the 1% and the 99%. A few individuals tend whole orchards of magic money trees; their extreme wealth is itself a form of magic. In her Dark […] The post Magic, Wealth and Power with Vic James first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

Social inequality and the unequal distribution of wealth is more prevalent than ever and it's a subject that sits at the heart of Dr Vic James' fantasy trilogy. We talk to her about power plays and politics, female ambition, naughty aristocrats, class division, reclaiming the bitch and our fascination with family drama. Full episode notes are available at www.breakingtheglassslipper.com

While Charlotte and Megan geeked out about Star Trek (sparing poor Lucy who puts up with enough of that) when discussing women’s jobs in science fiction, in this episode, all three of us shine a light on female careers in fantasy. We have found that few women in fantasy novels have professions before the story begins. Instead, […] The post Women’s jobs in fantasy first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

Having already looked at women's jobs in science fiction, we decided to turn our critical gaze to fantasy. Fantasy fiction tends to mimic the world that we know, whether historical or contemporary, but alters it in ways that can either be subtle or all-consuming. If you can believe that dragons exist in an alternative world, why can’t you believe that there might be women with skills independent of the men around them? Full episode notes are available at www.breakingtheglassslipper.com

Sometimes the sheer number of sub-genres and niche areas within the SFF world can feel completely overwhelming. What do they all mean? Where does one thing become another? One of the most confusing – and most commonly talked about – sub-genres is Grimdark. Other than it being grim and dark, what defines it as a […] The post Grimdark with Anna Smith Spark first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

We spoke with author Anna Smith Spark, Queen of Grimdark, to try and get to the bottom of what exactly Grimdark is. "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." Full episode notes, including texts mentioned in the episode, can be found at www.breakingtheglassslipper.com

With equality of pay and the drive to get more women in top executive jobs reaching the headlines in our current era, does the world of the future have women in the same roles they occupy now, or do they have them in traditionally male-dominated jobs? #SorryNotSorry for the ten minutes plus of Star Trek talk. This […] The post Women’s jobs in science fiction first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

With equality of pay and the drive to get more women in top executive jobs reaching the headlines in our current era, does the world of the future have women in the same roles they occupy now, or do they have them in traditionally male-dominated jobs? We celebrate the wonderful women who are shattering the glass ceiling in one of our favourite genres, from doctors, mechanics, and military leaders, there are some truly inspirational and badass women working hard in science fiction. Full episode n...

We started this podcast to highlight the issues around the representation of women in genre fiction. But women aren’t the only ones who suffer at the hands of harmful tropes, poor characterisation, and limiting traditional gender roles. In this episode, we discuss the men-folk. While they may tend to get the majority of ‘screen time’ […] The post Toxic masculinity first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

We started this podcast to highlight the issues around the representation of women in genre fiction. But women aren’t the only ones who suffer at the hands of harmful tropes, poor characterisation, and limiting traditional gender roles. In this episode, we discuss the men-folk. While they may tend to get the majority of 'screen time' across all genre fiction mediums, they don’t always have it easy. Predominantly, tropes around male characters promote ideas of masculinity that are impossible to l...

Ghost literature written by women in the 19th century was more about social commentary than pure entertainment, argues academic Melissa Edmundson Makala. Charlotte positively geeks out with Melissa about her book, Women’s Ghost Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Gothic Literary Studies). Many of us will know the big names in women’s gothic literature, writers like Mary Shelley […] The post Women’s ghost stories with Melissa Edmundson Makala first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.

Ghost literature written by women in the 19th century was more about social commentary than pure entertainment, argues academic Melissa Edmundson Makala. Charlotte positively geeks out with Melissa about her book, Women's Ghost Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Gothic Literary Studies). Full episode notes are available at www.breakingtheglassslipper.com

We’ve all encountered them – characters who can do anything. They have physical and mental abilities beyond every other character in that world, perhaps even abilities that no one else in the world has in any capacity. They are so good-looking there are no words to properly capture their beauty. Everyone one they meet instantly […] The post Idealised characters and Mary Sues first appeared on Breaking the Glass Slipper.