So, this is a bit of an unusual episode. Normally, we get an author on to discuss their new book. But today we have three authors talking about a brand new non-fiction book they’re part of, and two of them are your hosts! The book in question is Writing the Magic, the fourth in an […]

For many writers, history can be both an inspiration and a source of plot. No one is going to call a fantasy writer out for “making it up”. With historical fiction, however, you have to be more careful – there are always a bunch of readers out there ready to spot anachronisms. But some writers […]

Zombies first shambled onto our cinema screens in the 1932 film White Zombie staring Bela Lugosi. Early incarnations involved voodoo reanimation and lacked the whole brain-eating aspect. (There’s a really interesting article by Carnegie Mellon University that charts the early history of the zombie). But let us jump to what modern audiences consider a zombie. For that, […]

Part of a murder mystery’s charm is the narrative movement from chaos to order. The natural balance of justice is overturned and it’s up to ordinary people – rather than the law – to fix it. The uncovering of clues, red herrings, the many suspicious characters – all of these are essential to a good […]

Fairy tale retellings are always popular. Fairy tales are some of the first stories we learn as children. As well as being entertaining, they are instructive. Don’t stray from the path. Don’t trust wolves, or men. Fill your pockets with stones, not breadcrumbs. If you’re going to steal some herbs for your pregnant wife, be […]

It seems like these days you can’t go into a bookshop without seeing a display of romantasy books. It’s a broad term that applies to everything from secondary fantasy worlds with devilishly handsome princes to witches running cafes and falling for the leader of the coven. You can also get every flavour of spiciness under […]

We live our lives burdened with responsibilities, and expectations of how we should act. Those expectations are placed on us by society, by family, and even by ourselves. However, fiction allows us a space in which to examine what would happen if we stepped outside those expectations. What if, for example, we weren’t dutiful children […]

We are back for 2025! We took a hiatus during the second half of 2024 due to our lives becoming that much busier. But loving what we have built with the show over the almost 10 years we’ve been running (!) we wanted to find a way to continue with BtGS. To that end, we’re […]

We're on holiday! But don't worry, we will be back before you know it!

We have a lot of authors on our podcast, talking about their books, what inspired them, how they’ve written them etc. Quite often they’ll get drawn into the TV series or films that inspired them [*coughs* Star Trek]. But a medium we don’t often touch upon is comics & graphic novels, even though some of […]

When we say the word “novel,” most of us think of a book written in prose, split into chapters and possibly parts. But every now and again, we come across novels that defy our expectations. Pratchett’s early work not only eschewed chapters – instead presenting the reader with continuous prose divided by section breaks – […]

A few decades ago, if you said the word “Gothic haunted house novel,” the phrase would very definitely have brought to mind something with a rambling Victorian mansion, tortured heroines, mad women in the attic, sombre men, and wailing ghosts. It probably wouldn’t have brought to mind a little old lady baking scones and conducting […]

A short story isn’t just a novel in miniature form. It isn’t even a shortened novella. It is a creature of its own devising. There’s only time for a snapshot of reality, and in the space of a few thousand words, you have to be able to draw in a reader, make them feel for […]

The literature of our past is littered with casual gender biases. You describe someone as a “witch” and the natural assumption is that they are female. But according to Diane Purkiss, while mostly women were accused in the English witch trials, in some of the Scandinavian countries, men were in the slight majority. In fact, […]

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” It’s an iconic tagline that can be applied to so many modern stories about space travel and exploration (except, perhaps, our beloved Star Trek). Obviously, space travel in real life can be incredibly perilous, but the perils of space in fiction have moved beyond the worry about […]

Religion has been part of our society for centuries. Is it any wonder then that it can make up a large part of our fiction – from CS Lewis’s allegorical Chronicles of Narnia series to Anna Smith Spark’s Empires of Dust trilogy and the Loki books by Joanne Harris. But with so many religions the […]

We have a bit of an unusual episode for you today! While it is amazing that we have so many authors who want to come on the show – we feel truly honoured – we thought it was about time we returned to talking among the three of us, like it was when we first […]

Love can last a lifetime, but revenge is forever… Love is a common driving force for novels, and it comes in many forms. It could be the pursuit of true love, or the quest to turn unrequited love into a passionate relationship. Often, it can be the loss of love that spurs a hero or […]

The title of this episode is taken from Will R. Bird’s memoir of World War 1, a title which also inspired that of Katherine Arden’s novel set amidst the horror of the Great War. When it comes to writing about war, past authors have glorified it with moments of pathos. Who can forget the stirring […]

Welcome to our first episode of 2024. Yes, the title’s a quote from our incredible guest. As a podcast dedicated primarily to speculative fiction, we rarely find ourselves taking a deep dive into history. But the growth in popularity of both myths and retellings is bringing with it a new focus on historical periods, and […]