Puppy Play
In this episode, we re-examine the saga of the notorious Sad Puppies. What happened? What ripple effects did it have on the sci-fi/fantasy community? Did we learn anything from this? Should we learn...
View ArticleCinderella Is Not a #Girlboss: The Problem With ‘Feminist’ Fairytale Adaptations
We like folklore, and we like feminism. So why not combine them? A lot of writers do. Feminist retellings of old fairy tales are very popular. We have girlboss Cinderella starting her own business,...
View ArticleJohn Langan on Cosmic Horror
Bram Stoker Award-winning author John Langan joins us to talk about cosmic horror, his novel The Fisherman, upstate New York, how much money writers make (none), and how hard it is to get published...
View ArticleHeadClog in the Operator: Leo “LaserFrog” Wichtowski
Leo “LaserFrog” Wichtoski is currently streaming Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8pm GMT. Previously he created the “Leo Takes A Look” series for the video game website kotaku.com and the video poetry series...
View ArticleHeadClog in the Operator: Tux & Fanny: The Game Creators Albert Birney &...
Albert Birney is a Baltimore-based filmmaker. He has directed/co-directed four feature films: The Beast Pageant, Sylvio, Tux & Fanny and Strawberry Mansion (playing in select theaters February...
View ArticleA Guide to Squeecore
In 1936, anthropologist Ralph Linton said, “The last thing a fish would ever notice would be water.” It’s difficult to see the medium that encompasses everything around you, especially when you’ve...
View ArticleRite Gud: A Guide to Squeecore—Transcript
Thanks VERY much to Rite Gud listener @gynoidgearhead for taking this on, but we now have a transcript of the “Guide to Squeecore” episode. Rite Gud – S01E48 “A Guide To Squeecore”...
View ArticleRite Gud: A Bear-y Special Episode
We finally reached our Patreon subscriber goal, so you know what that means! It is time to talk about Bear, Marian Engel’s 1976 Canadian novel about a mousy librarian who falls in love with a bear....
View ArticleRite Gud: The Squeequel
Recently, JR of the Podhand joined us to discuss a phenomenon we’re calling squeecore—a style of quippy, fluffy, moralistic, fannish, centrist, Joss Whedon-esque speculative writing that touts itself...
View ArticleMore than the Sum of its Parts: Writing Beyond Tropes and Easter Eggs
When a book comes out, the publisher or the author will often promote it by describing it as a list of tropes, identities, and references. “Here’s my new novel, A Groan of Stone and Bone. It has...
View ArticleA Tribute to Garth Marenghi, World’s Greatest Author/Visionary/Dreamweaver
In this very serious episode, we honor the most important writer of the 20th century, a man forty years ahead of his time: author, visionary, dreamweaver plus actor, Garth Marenghi. Literary...
View ArticleA Rite Gud Minifesto
The changing of the guard in the early 2000s and the euthanization of the reactionary Sad Puppy movement in the early 2010s should have ushered in a new era of speculative fiction, an era of creative...
View ArticleNever Bring a Pen to a Sword Fight
They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but it is way easier to kill a guy with a sword than with a pen. We love art–it’s important to us and it’s meaningful and a worthwhile pursuit–but art...
View ArticleTales From the Slush Pile
When you send a short story to a magazine, it probably doesn’t go directly to the editor. Instead, it ends up in what’s called the slush pile–the pool of unsolicited work waiting for review. Who...
View ArticleInternet Fiction
The internet is a huge part of our lives, but putting it into our fiction can be difficult. Many writers leave it out of their stories entirely. Others try to incorporate it into their work with...
View ArticleWriting Beyond Limits with Naben Ruthnum
Writers are often under pressure to follow rules, to write to the market, to carefully fit themselves into a safe cultural and commercial niche. You have to stick to one genre, and follow the standard...
View ArticleSpace Racism, Oppressed Wizards, and Other Marginalized Fantasy Allegories
Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror have always used speculative elements to express political ideas. HG Wells wrote War of the Worlds as a reaction to British colonialism, Tolkien explored his feelings about...
View ArticleHow To Start a Magazine for Fun and Absolutely No Profit
Writer, podcaster, editor, and mall explorer Kurt Schiller joins us to discuss how he started his magazine, Blood Knife. Since its inception a few short years ago, Blood Knife has become a notable...
View ArticleWriting Beyond the End of History
Sci-fi and fantasy are imaginative genres that can show us new, impossible worlds. Sometimes, they offer us escape from our dreary lives. But there’s one thing contemporary SFF can’t seem to escape....
View ArticleNo Plot Just Vibes
In fiction, a plot is the sequence of connected events that make up a narrative. These events aren’t random things that happen–there’s a relationship between them, usually a causative one. Generally,...
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