Realms Unknown

By The Bugle

Fantasy, Sci Fi and speculative fiction, observed through the comedic lens of The Bugle. Become a Bugle subscriber to enjoy this show ad free and help us thrive.

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FAQs about Realms Unknown:

How many episodes does Realms Unknown have?

The podcast currently has 34 episodes available.

Realms Unknown episodes:

September 02, 2025 Paladins // Grady Hendrix // Star Wars: Starfighter
Joining Alice Fraser this week is Realms Unknown firm favourite Tom Neenan (The Mash Report, The Hauntening).

📚 Buy recommended books here! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

NEWS
FILM Star Wars: Starfighter
FILM K-Pop Demon Hunters

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN INTO?
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls - Grady Hendrix
Horrorstör - Grady Hendrix
My Best Friend’s Exorcism - Grady Hendrix
Clockwork Boys - T. Kingfisher
The Wonder Engine - T. Kingfisher

TROPE ON A ROPE
FILM Mulan
Game of Thrones - George RR Martin

DEEP DIVE - the paladin
Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold
FILM Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
TV Doctor Who - Revelation of the Daleks
COMIC Die - Kieron Gillen

MINES OF URRGH
Rapunzel

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
42min
August 29, 2025 Big news next week
For complicated reasons we've taken a week off. Enjoy our many shows, and hang on for something exciting!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
1min
August 19, 2025 Bodies // Summer of Horror // Befuzzled kings
Joining Alice Fraser this week is the mighty Tom Neenan (The Mash Report, The Hauntening).

The subgenre deep dive this week looks at bodies / good use of embodiment - such as body swapping in Altered Carbon or Cronenbergian body horror. Tom espouses that 2025 has seen the greatest summer for cinematic horror in recent memory, discusses the trope of befuzzled kings leaving a trail of chaos in their wake, and feels a bit eurrgh about campery being shorthand for villainy.

📚 Buy recommended books here! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

NEWS
FILM Red Sonja

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN PUTTING IN YOUR BRAIN?
FILM 28 Years Later
FILM Bring Her Back
FILM Weapons
FILM Together
Swordheart - T Kingfisher

TROPE ON A ROPE
Befuzzled kings and the chaos they leave in their wake
Looking in the mirror, pulling at something and creating a Cronenbergian horror

SUB GENRE DEEP DIVE - bodies
FILM Looper
FILM Together
TV Doctor Who - The Invisible Enemy
TV Doctor Who - Into The Dalek
FILM Tusk
PODCAST Smodcast
Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C. S. Lewis
Ghost In The Shell
Dune - Frank Herbert
TV Alien: Earth
FILM Ex Machina

MINES OF EURRGH
Campery to mean villainy
FILM Jupiter Ascending
TV Twilight
FILM The Little Mermaid
FILM The Lion King
FILM Robin Hood
FILM The Fifth Element

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
39min
August 12, 2025 Interesting POVs // Romance // Dave Bautista
Alice Fraser is joined this week by Jen Prokop from the Fated Mates romance podcast, so expect a lot of romance recommendations and tropes!

The subgenre deep dive looks into interesting uses of POV, and Jen is uncomfortable with the increasing use of violence in romance books but enjoyed the romance elements in recent films Superman and Sinners.

📚 Buy recommended books here! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

NEWS
Who Is Elara Voss?
FILM Highlander
TV Outlander
Epic Games secures legal win against Google

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN PUTTING IN YOUR BRAIN?
Superman
Sinners

TROPE ON A ROPE
Jack Reacher series - Lee Child
The Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

SUB GENRE DEEP DIVE - single POV
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemison
Not Your Sidekick - C.B. Lee
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
The Baby Dragon Cafe - A.T. Qureshi
The Baby Dragon Bakery - A.T. Qureshi
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

MINES OF EURRGH
Girls and their dragons
Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
Jack West Jr series - Matthew Reilly
American Gods - Neil Gaiman

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Jen Prokop.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
34min
August 05, 2025 Time loops // Bring Her Back // Time loops
Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan are your guides for this week as they traverse through manner of sci-fi and fantasy recommendations, tropes and news!

They discuss time loops in sci-fi, the tropes of hypersexualised futures and post-coital never-nudes, and whether prison 'relationships' belong in the mines of urrggh!

📚 Buy recommended books here! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

NEWS
FILM Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
FILM Spider-Man: Brand New Day

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ENJOYING?
FILM Sinners
FILM Bring Her Back

TROPE ON A ROPE
Hypersexualised futures
FILM Blade Runner 2045
FILM Showgirls
FILM Starship Troopers
FILM The Fifth Element
Never nudes in sexy scenes
FILM Sex and the City

SUB GENRE DEEP DIVE - time loops
FILM Groundhog Day
Strange Life of Ivan Osokin - P. D. Ouspensky
TV The Twilight Zone ‘Shadow Play’
FILM Edge of Tomorrow
TV Russian Doll
FILM Happy Death Day
FILM Happy Death Day 2 U
TV Doctor Who - Eve of the Daleks
FILM Source Code
FILM Twelve Monkeys
FILM Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The Dark Tower - Stephen King
PLAY Ghost Stories
FILM Triangle
TV Doctor Who - Heaven Sent
TV Dark

MINES OF URRGH
Bourne series - Robert Ludlum

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan are your guides for this week as they traverse through manner of sci-fi and fantasy recommendations, tropes and news!
🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
37min
July 29, 2025 Arthurian legends // Perfume // The Dark is Rising
Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton are your guides for this week as they traverse through manner of fantasy recommendations, tropes and news!

They discuss Arthurian legend in fantasy (and some sci-fi), David Bowie's tights in Labyrinth, and audible sharpness (*insert your own sword noise here!*)

📚 Buy recommended books here! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

NEWS
FILM The Odyssey
TV Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ENJOYING?
Perfume - Patrick Süskind
The Emperor’s Blades - Brian Staveley
The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam - Megan Bannen

TROPE ON A ROPE - audible sharpness
FILM Robin Hood

SUB GENRE DEEP DIVE - Arthurian legends
The Once and Future King - T.H. White
FILM The Sword and the Stone
FILM Star Wars
FILM Harry Potter
TV Merlin (Sam Neill)
FILM Monty Python and the Holy Grail
PODCAST Camlann
TV The Rottentrolls
TV Sir Gadabout - The Worst Knight in the Land
FILM The Green Knight
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
POEM The Dragons of Dinas Emrys - Pendaran
TV Merlin (BBC)
COMIC Camelot 3000

MINES OF URRGH
FILM Labyrinth
Avalon series - Marion Zimmer Bradley

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
36min
July 22, 2025 Disguises // Superman // Quantum Leap
Come journey into Realms Unknown with Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan for a whole world of sci-fi and fantasy recommendations, tropes and news!

We discuss the use of disguises in genre fiction, the hot commie summer, and ominous portents that have double meanings.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ENJOYING?
FILM Superman
Buffalo Soldiers - Maurice Broaddus

TROPE ON A ROPE - ominous portents that have double meanings
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Deadly Education - Naomi Novik

SUB GENRE DEEP DIVE - disguises
FILM Snow White
FILM Superman
A Court of Thorn and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
TV Quantum Leap
TV Foundation
FILM Smile
FILM Smile 2
TV Doctor Who - Terror of the Zygons
TV Orphan Black
Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Song of the Lioness series - Tamora Pierce
TV Secret Invasion
FILM Mission: Impossible series
TV Doctor Who - World Enough and Time

MINES OF URRGH
FILM Johnny Mnemonic

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
37min
July 15, 2025 Red Sonja // Medieval Fayres // Funny Fantasy
Come journey into Realms Unknown with Alice Fraser and podcasting legend Chris Skinner for a whole world of sci-fi and fantasy recommendations, tropes and news!

We discuss medieval fayres (jousting, anyone?), K Pop Demon Hunters and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Our Trope On A Rope is characters who learn to fight way to easily, and then the one who can land the lucky punch with zero training.

We also get the ick thinking about Red Sonja.

Our genre deep dive is comedy in speculative:
All Discworld Books
Rick and Morty
Red Dwarf
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
All My Friends Are Superheroes
Gideon The Ninth

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Laura Turner. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min
July 08, 2025 Redemption Arcs // Comics // Resident Alien
Come journey into Realms Unknown with Alice Fraser and US comedian and podcaster Jackie Kashian for a whole world of sci-fi and fantasy recommendations, tropes and news!

NEWS
Isles of the Emberdark - Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Elantris - Brandon Sanderson
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

WHAT ARE YOU INTO?
GAME Clank!
GAME Lords of Waterdeep
Sabriel - Garth Nix
Lirael - Garth Nix
Abhorsen - Garth Nix
Sinister Booksellers of Bath - Garth Nix
Dragonsong - Anne McCaffrey
Dragonsinger - Anne McCaffrey
Dragondrums - Anne McCaffrey
The Dolphins of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
A Forbidden Alchemy - Stacey McEwan
COMIC The Uncanny X-Men - Gail Simone
COMIC Ironwood - Bill Willingham
COMIC Jack of Fables - Bill Willingham
COMIC Oglaf - Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne
COMIC Giant Days - John Allison

TROPE ON A ROPE
COMIC Thunderbolts
COMIC Lucifer
COMIC Secret Six
COMIC 100 Bullets
COMIC The Boys

DEEP DIVE - redemption arcs
The Chronicles of Severian the Torturer - Gene Wolfe
The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Illusions - Richard Bach (Messiah story)
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A Heinlein (Messiah story)
MOVIE Thunderbolts*
MOVIE Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
COMIC - Lucifer
TV Lucifer
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett
Hogfather - Terry Pratchett
TV Resident Alien
COMIC Irredeemable - Mark Waid
COMIC Incorruptible - Mark Waid

MINES OF URRGH
FILM You’ve Got Mail
FILM Pillow Talk
FILM Casablanca

📯 Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
💰 Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
📚 Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Jackie Kashian.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min
July 01, 2025 Flintlock fantasy // 28 Years Later // Culturepunk
Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan bring you episode 24 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

Episode 24
This week's news covers the Squid Game USA spinoff, Disney suing AI image generator Midjourney, and a mother suing Disney after a Stormtrooper scared her child, causing injury. Hear what Tom and Alice have been enjoying recently, men slaps and silly old women with health issues are the tropes on the rope this week and they venture into the 'mines of urrgh'. The sub genre deep dive is flintlock fantasy - combining gunpowder-era warfare with magic!

And hear the EXCLUSIVE breaking news as Tom coins what may be a brand-new genre - culturepunk. You (possibly) heard it here first!

Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

News
TV Squid Game USA

What have you been into of late?
FILM 28 Years Later
Gods of Blood and Powder - Brian McClennan
FILM M3GAN 2.0

Sub genre deep dive - flintlock fiction
TV Sharpe
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - K. J. Parker
The Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne - Brian Staveley
GAME Dungeons & Dragons Spelljammer
TV Shadow and Bone
Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo
The Cardinal’s Blades - Pierre Pevel
The Phoenix Guards - Steven Brust
Five Hundred Years After - Steven Brust
GAME Assassin’s Creed

Mines of Urrgh
FILM 28 Years Later
FILM Severance
FILM Predator
FILM Snow White

Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast
Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate
Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!
🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!
Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.
📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]
🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
42min

FAQs about Realms Unknown:

How many episodes does Realms Unknown have?

The podcast currently has 34 episodes available.

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