This week Marlon and Jake venture into fantasy: the imagined worlds of dead writers—from quests and dragons to magic carpets and pregnant kings. As they dive into the works of the giants of traditional fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they discuss the influence both writers had on Marlon's own fantasy epic, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which was inspired by the epic traditions of Africa and writers like D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola. They debate how reading fantasy as a child differs from reading it as an adult, wonder why there aren't more female characters, and lament how fantasy is still mostly read by boys and men. From The Hobbit to Ursula K. Le Guin, the two have some very real takes on the make-believe. So tune in.

Select titles mentioned in this episode:

The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

The Longships by Frans G. Bengtsson

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola

Forest of a Thousand Daemons by D.O. Fagunwa

The Lake Goddess by Flora Nwapa

The Sagas of the Icelanders

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by J.R.R. Tolkien

Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin

Dune by Frank Herbert

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James