Episode 54: Frost Giants to Snow Queens - the Frozen Heart of Speculative Fiction

 

Extremes of cold, ice and snow all form the backdrop to many myths, legends and fairy tales. So much so that even in modern speculative fiction the archetype seems to have crept in. So what is it about ice and cold? What do they often unconsiciously represent in a narrative or in a character? This week SFF authors M.E.Vaughan and J.A.Ironside venture into the frozen north of the imagination to find out. Preserved in the permafrost awaiting dissection - classic fairy tales like Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Snow White, as well as depictions in myth ad legend such as the norse 'Fimblewinter', and modern interpretations in 'The Thing' and Fortitude'. Join us for a chilly trip into the human subconcious.

 

Title Music: 'Ecstasy' by Smiling Cynic