What is the measure of a true hero? What a society consideres heroic can say a lot about their values, needs, and ethos -- but it's also something that can shift a lot over time and from location to location. Is heroism about physical strength? Strength of faith? Strength of heart? Or is it about cunning and cleverness? Guest John Wiswell joins us to discuss the worldbuilding implications of hero-building.

Classical heroes, folk heroes, superheroes -- all of these stories reflect something about the cultures that tell the tales. What actions does the hero take that makes them heroic? Is it defeating monsters -- or is it tweaking the nose of authority? How important is the quest itself to defining the hero, and how much is down to a society's concepts of morals and ethics? And in an age where mythological retellings are having a real moment, also look at what recontextualization of famous heroic stories can open up about the original tales and reveal about what we value now.

[Transcript for Episode 159]

Our Guest: John Wiswell is a Nebula-winning and Locus-winning author who lives in the middle of the woods. His debut novel, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN, was released from DAW Books in the U.S. and Arcadia Books in the U.K. in April 2024. John's work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com, LeVar Burton Reads, Nature Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, the No Sleep podcast, Nightmare Magazine, Cast of Wonders, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and other fine venues. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His fiction has been translated into ten languages.

He graduated Bennington College in 2005, and attended the Viable Paradise 17 workshop in 2013. He has multiple disabilities including a neuromuscular syndrome, and thinks healthy people's capacity to complain is very funny. He finds a lot of things very funny and would like to keep it that way.

He is frequently available for interview and for talks at conferences. He has done panels at places such as Worldcon, the Nebula Awards Conference, and the World Fantasy Convention.