Secrets of the Planet of the Apes, with Josh Friedman
The Planet of the Apes franchise spans decades and formats: it started as a French novel in 1963, and then jumped the Atlantic to become a long-running series of movies,…
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…
The Creativity Fallacy
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…
How To Write About Violence (with Fonda Lee and Lauren Beukes)
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…
Alien ecosystems and the algae menace
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…
Our Opinions Are Correct: Why Silicon Valley is doomed to misunderstand the future, with Dr. Joy Buolamwini
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…
our opinions are correct Podcast Episode 132: A Sense of Place with Jessica Johns
Sometimes, a story is set in a place that isn’t just a location. It’s a character. How do places come alive?
How to build a planet
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.…
What Makes a Story Feel “Fast” Or “Slow”?
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…
The Incredibly Strange Career of Anne Rice
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…