The world’s humblest heroes, from plumbers to tardigrades
Inspired by The Super Mario Bros Movie, we're talking about a humble class of heroes whose lives are devoted to infrastructure maintenance and repair. There are heating engineer rogues and…
Inspired by The Super Mario Bros Movie, we're talking about a humble class of heroes whose lives are devoted to infrastructure maintenance and repair. There are heating engineer rogues and…
What does it mean to be a creator at a time when creativity is completely commodified? In this episode, we talk about the status of the author, and how audiences…
Battles and smackdowns are a key part of many science fiction and fantasy stories — but how do you do them right? Do you have an obligation to show the…
All of us live embedded in webs of life known as ecosystems, and that can get pretty creepy -- or astonishingly beautiful. Inspired by the mind-blowing new animated series Scavengers…
Silicon Valley markets itself as the place where futures are born, and yet tech corporations have no real understanding of where our civilizations are headed. We are wrapping up our…
Sometimes, a story is set in a place that isn’t just a location. It’s a character. How do places come alive?
We’re going to tackle a few very small questions in this episode, like how to build a planet from scratch – and then, how to build governments on that planet.…
People talk about “pacing” all the time when it comes to storytelling — but what does “pacing” mean? How do you make a story feel like it’s moving faster or…
Anne Rice is best-known for her Vampire Chronicles, which began in the 1970s with her novel Interview with the Vampire. But did you know she also wrote bestselling BDSM erotica…
It’s time to talk about the politics of kaiju. With the new Godzilla vs. Kong movie stomping our way soon, we’re discussing the long history of giant monsters in pop…