Host Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan (The Mash Report, The Hauntening) bring you episode 18 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

This week, we're looking at experiments in form!

Episode 18

This week's news features the Highlander remake moving to Amazon, Sinners continuing to tear up the box office, and the sad introduction of AI-narrated audiobooks.

Hear what Alice and Tom have been enjoying recently, which tropes they love or hate, then take a deep dive with them into early sci-fi and fantasy, and hear the things that they used to love but now make them feel a bit urrrgh.

Host book

Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

News

FILM Highlander remake

FILM Sinners

What have you been into?

FILM Sinners

The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells

Trope on a rope

Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett

Sub-genre deep dive: experiments in form

The Book of Good Times - Hank Green

The Ship of Theseus - VM Straka

This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

SCP-3008

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Subcutanean - Aaron Reed

PODCAST - The Last Post

PODCAST - Revolutions

WEBCOMIC - xkcd

WEBCOMIC - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

PODCAST Beef and Dairy Network

PODCAST Welcome to Night Vale

Convince Me

The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness

Redshirts - John Scalzi

The mines of urrrgh

FILM Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

FILM Wall-E

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton bring you episode 17 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

This week, we're looking at early sci fi and fantasy!

Episode 17

This week's news features the Apple TV+ series Foundation, a surprisingly sexual story about E.T. and how Margaret Attwood receiving an entertainment award may distract from similarities with current issues.

Hear what Alice and Eleanor have been enjoying recently, which tropes they love or hate, then take a deep dive with them into early sci-fi and fantasy, and hear the things that they used to love but now make them feel a bit urrrgh.

Host books

Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

Eleanor Morton - Life Lessons From Historical Women

News

TV Foundation

FILM E.T.

What have you been into?

The Lost World - Arthur Conan Doyle

Dinotopia - James Gurney

The Daughters’ War - Christopher Buelman

The Edge Chronicles - Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Sub-genre deep dive: early sci-fi and fantasy

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Last Man - Mary Shelley

FILM Elysium (diversion)

Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Jules Verne

From the Earth to the Moon - Jules Verne

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - Alan Garner

Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift

GAME: The Landlord’s Game

The Odyssey - Homer

One Thousand and One Nights / Arabian Nights

Le Morte d’Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory

Lud in the Mist - Hope Mirrlees

The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

The mines of urrrgh

FILM Ghostbusters

Tintin

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Alice Fraser and fellow writer, podcaster and comedian Andrew Hunter Murray (QI, Private Eye, There's No Such Thing As A Fish) bring you episode 16 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

This week, we're looking at heroes operating outside of the law in sci fi and fantasy!

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• Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.

Episode 16

In this week's news roundup of sci-fi and fantasy in the real world, there's an actual working bionic hand, actor Issa Rae says she could never fall in love with a chatbot, and there's also book news of an alien abduction Rom-Com!

Andrew has been enjoying the latest Star Wars series Andor and the Japanese epic kaiju film Godzilla Minus One, while Alice has been deep into reading Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen.

We, of course, bring you tropes galore! Hey, remember though, guys - humans are messy and you're going to love this back story about girls cross-dressing as boys to become attractive to other girls.

Alice's mines of urrgh this week is Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree, and they wonder should you edit on the fly while reading to your child and should books have newer editions without the discomfort?

Host books

Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

Andrew Hunter Murray - A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering

News

Never Let Me Go / Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

I Got Abducted By Aliens And Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-com - Kimberly Lemming

What have you been into?

Andor

Godzilla Minus One

Wake of Vultures - Lila Bowen

Sub-genre deep dive: heroes operating outside of the law

Firefly

The Expanse

Alien series

Sleeper Beach - Nick Harkaway

Sabriel - Garth Nix

Judge Dredd

Hot Fuzz

Peter Pan

Jungle Book

Taltos - Steven Brust

V For Vendetta - Alan Moore

The Watchmen - Alan Moore

Minority Report

Star Wars

Trope on a rope

The World's End

Independence Day

Men In Black

Mad Max: Fury Road

Rings of Power

The mines of urrrgh

The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Andrew Hunter Murray.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner bring you episode 15 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

This week, we're looking at actual parenting in sci fi and fantasy!

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• Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.

Episode 15

In this week's sci fi and fantasy news, the new trailer for Predator: Badlands is pretty fantastic and horror movie Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan is doing huge things at the box office.

Chris had a really joyous time watching the stage production of Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro, and enjoyed bingeing the TV series Paradise. Alice has been laid on her back reading A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett and The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso.

Chris isn't keen on the trope of the thick cockney-sounding low level bad guys, and Alice notes the trope of kids being aged up and dropped back into the plot later on, or even people having previously undeclared secret children!

Alice's mines of urrgh this week is the comic book Phantom which she enjoyed as a child, but has not dated well unless you're particularly keen on white saviour complex.

For all of the books mentioned in the sub genre deep dive this week, please see the lists below!

Alice's book

Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

Chris' podcast

Mildly Informed

News

FILM Predator: Badlands

FILM: Sinners

What have you been into?

THEATRE (/FILM) My Neighbour Totoro

A Drop of Corruption - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Last Hour Between Worlds - Melissa Caruso

TV Paradise

Sub-genre deep dive: parenting

TV Raised by Wolves

MANGA Lone Wolf and Cub - writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima

TV Sweet Tooth

Heir to Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier

GRAPHIC NOVEL Saga

FILM Beasts of the Southern Wild

GAME God of War

Tehanu - Ursula Le Guin

Broken Earth trilogy - N K Jemisin

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Thud - Terry Pratchett

The mines of urrrgh

COMIC - Phantom

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Alice Fraser and James Colley bring you episode 14 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

It's a mushroom / plant life / flora core / sentient forest special!

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• Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.

Episode 14

In this week's sci fi and fantasy/real world crossover news, is there life on distant planet K2-18B, and are dire wolves making a comeback?

James has been enjoying The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie and Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges, while Alice has been dipping a toe into Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson.

In this week's Trope on a Rope section, the forced 'here's six months earlier' flashbacks are annoying James and Alice really wishes that people would just wear appropriate headwear in the desert.

Kurt Vonnegut's use of misogyny tarnishes James' otherwise love of the author, along with fatness being used as shorthand for evil of some sort.

For all of the books mentioned in the sub genre deep dive this week, please see the lists below!

Hosts' books

Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

James Colley - The Next Big Thing

What have you been into?

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges

Mushroom Blues - Adrian M. Gibson

Sub-genre deep dive: plant life / flora core

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

War of the Worlds - HG Wells

FILM Little Shop of Horrors

Hyperion - Dan Simmons

TV Farscape

‘Amnesty’ from Bloodchild and Other Stories - Octavia Butler

TV/GAME The Last of Us

The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett

TV Seeds of Doom - Dr Who episode

Blue Moon Rising - Simon R Green

GAME Botanica

GAME Strange Horticulture

GAME Caves of Qud

GAME Hollow Knight

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and James Colley.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Alice Fraser, and Tom Neenan bring you episode 13 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

Please take our listener survey so we can do even better: http://bit.ly/realmsunknown-survey

• All episodes are available in your podcast feed and on our YouTube channel
• Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber thebuglepodcast.com/donate
• You can support your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store
• Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.

Episode 13

In this week's news, Alice makes international front pages after she decides not to take a trip the US, Nanowrimo is cancelled (the organisation, not the event) and we may soon see more quality sci-fi from China.

Tom has recently been enjoying the start of season two of The Last of Us, while Alice has been distracting herself from real-life dystopian futures by dipping back into the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik.

Tom's trope on a rope for this week is the oil pit fire scene, used way too often, while Alice's is the antisocial heroine.

In Mines of Urgh, Tom is looking for positive representations of limb difference, given that it's commonly used as a signifier for evil.

And listener Jen convinces Tom so convincingly to read The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, that he orders the book during the podcast record!

For all of the books mentioned in the romance in sci -fi sub genre deep dive this week, please see the lists below!

What have you been into?

TV - The Last of Us

Temeraire series - Naomi Novik

Convince Me

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Sub-genre deep dive: admin/bureaucracy

TV Star Trek

The Craft Sequence - Max Gladstone

FILM Terry Gilliam - Brazil

Vorkosigan Saga series - Lois McMaster Bujold

FILM Alien Romulus

TV Dr Who episodes The Sunmakers / Paradise Towers

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

GAME Papers Please

GAME Return of the Obra Dinn

FILM Shin Godzilla

Tyrant Philosophers series - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Landover series - Terry Brooks

The Traitor Baru Cormorant series - Seth Dickinson

Dagger and Coin series - Daniel Abraham

Terry Pratchett

FILM Amazing Grace

Mines of Urgh

Star Wars

Good Omens

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Alice Fraser, and romance critic Jen Prokop from the Fated Mates podcast (space episode), bring you episode 12 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

Please take our listener survey so we can do even better: http://bit.ly/realmsunknown-survey

• All episodes are available in your podcast feed and on our YouTube channel
• Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber thebuglepodcast.com/donate
• You can support your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store
• Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.

Episode 12

In this week's news, rumours abound that Meryl Streep could be cast as Aslan in Greta Gerwig's forthcoming Narnia films, and Alice and Jen discuss Simon & Schuster's rebrand and 'Simon Maverick' audiobook imprint.

Jen has recently been enjoying mafia romance such as The Kings of Italy series by Mila Finelli and the Perfectly Imperfect series by Neva Altaj.

Alice's trope on a rope for this week is people being granted immortality and being pissed about it, while Jen takes issue with fake dating.

In Mines of Urgh, Alice has a problem with her beloved The Dragonriders of Pern and then Jen sees how the heteronormative style of books of a past era, such as Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward show us how far gender and sex have come in recent years.

For all of the books mentioned in the romance in sci -fi sub genre deep dive this week, please see the lists below!

What have you been into?

The Kings of Italy series - Mila Finelli

Perfectly Imperfect series - Neva Altaj

These Summer Storms - Sarah MacLean

Romance in sci-fi

Shards of Honor / Barrayar / A Civil Campaign - Lois McMaster Bujold

Fiasco - Constance Fay (read Jen's article here)

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

This is How You Lose the Time War - Max Gladstone

The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson

Winter’s Orbit - Everina Maxwell

Ringworld - Larry Niven

Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky

Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey

The Kushiel’s series - Jacqueline Carey

Aurora Blazing - Jessie Mihalik

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Jen Prokop.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please take our listener survey so we can do even better: http://bit.ly/realmsunknown-survey

Hosts Alice Fraser and James Colley bring you episode 11 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!

• All episodes are available in your podcast feed and on our YouTube channel
• Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber. We offer extra shows, merch and warm fluffy feelings! thebuglepodcast.com/donate
• You can support your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store
• Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series at the bottom of these show notes.

Episode 11

In this week's news, Edgar Wright has finished filming his remake of The Running Man, while set images from The Odyssey, starring Zendaya and Tom Holland have been released.

James has been enjoying The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, Alice has been reading The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone, and they both loved Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

In this week's Trope on a Rope section, James wonders if anyone has seen the 'Filbert report on Liberia'? and Alice notices all of the noir detectives getting the shit beaten out of them.

The 'Convince Me' section sees listener Joyce Ketterer give the big pitch to the Tiffany Aching series of books by Terry Pratchett.

And take a plunge in the deep dive sub-genre submarine, as James and Alice rattle off all manner of evil corporations in the worlds of film, games and books.

News

FILMS

The Running Man

The Odyssey

What have you been into of late?

BOOKS

Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley

Max Gladstone - The Craft Sequence

Hyperion - Dan Simmons

Convince Me

Terry Pratchett - Tiffany Aching series

Terry Pratchett - The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin Abbott Abbott

Sub genre submarine - Evil corporations

TV

Futurama

FILM

The Fifth Element

Tank Girl

Alien

Judge Dredd

BOOKS

Thursday Next series - Jasper Fforde

Murderbot series - Martha Wells

Hit - Delilah S Dawson

GAMES

Portal

Fallout

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and James Colley.

📧 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.

Hosts Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan bring you episode 10 of Realms Unknown with all the latest genre fiction based news and recommendations.

• All episodes are available in your podcast feed and on our YouTube channel
• Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber. We offer extra shows, merch and warm fluffy feelings! thebuglepodcast.com/donate
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Episode 10

In this week's news, we look at the cinema release of Snow White, Wheel of Time on Amazon, and The Electric State on Netflix - starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

Hear why Tom is enjoying re-reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, what he thought of the film Opus, and what drew Alice to reading The Unorthodox Chronicles by James J Butcher.

In this week's Trope on a Rope section you can hear the various examples of a 'special little boy' and why Tom has issue with it, and Alice discusses the trope of being able to sense someone walking into a busy room.

Take a plunge in the deep dive sub-genre submarine, as Tom and Alice totally recall the various memory modification based books, films, TV shows and games.

And Tom opens up an interesting conversation about the representation of little people on screen.

News

FILMS

Snow White - cinemas

The Electric State - Netflix

TV

Wheel of Time - Amazon

What have you been into of late?

BOOKS

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

The Unorthodox Chronicles - James J Butcher

FILM

Opus

Trope on a rope

TV Daredevil - Disney+

Sub genre submarine - Memory modification

FILMS

Bourne Identity

Total Recall

The Prestige

Companion

TV

Dollhouse

Severance

Altered Carbon

The Shining Girls - Apple TV

Dr Who episode Mawdryn Undead

BOOKS

We Can Remember It For You Wholesale - Philip K Dick

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie

Reasons to be Cheerful - Greg Egan

The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes

Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold

GAME Soma

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Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

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Hosts Alice Fraser and Henry Fraser bring you episode 9 of Realms Unknown with all the latest genre fiction based news and recommendations.

• All episodes are available in your podcast feed and on our YouTube channel
• Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber. We offer extra shows, merch and warm fluffy feelings! thebuglepodcast.com/donate
• You can support your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store

Episode 9

In this week's news, Terry Brooks is to retire from writing the Shannara series books, with Delilah S. Dawson taking over as the new author, Sarah J. Maas’ publisher launches new sci fi and fantasy imprint, Bloomsbury Archer, and Naruto has become the most watched anime on Netflix.

Henry has been enjoying Miles Cameron, with the Cold Iron trilogy and Artefact Space duology coming highly recommended. But the real big recommendation this week - from both Henry and Alice - is for everyone to marvel at the incredible archery skills of Lars Anderson on YouTube.

Post-apocalypse (specifically post-technological and post-AI-collapse) fiction books are the focus of the sub-genre submarine deep dive - with a whole library full of examples and recommendations to explore - see the affiliate store. There are also games such as Horizon Zero Dawn and story-based fitness apps like Zombies Run and The Walk to explore.

We also have Trope on a Rope, with Henry questioning the 'blood brothers' hand cuts, and Alice's trope gripe is female protagonists supposedly not reading the really quite obvious signs from their admirers.

TV

Shannara Chronicles

Naruto

Blue Eye Samurai

YOUTUBE

Lars Anderson: A new level of archery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEG-ly9tQGk&

GAMES

Horizon Zero Dawn

Zombies Run - story based running app

The Walk - story based fitness app

BOOKS

WHAT ARE YOU INTO OF LATE?

Miles Cameron - Cold Iron trilogy (Masters and Mages)

Miles Cameron - Artefact Space duology

POST-APOCALYPSE/POST-TECHNOLOGICAL/POST-AI-COLLAPSE

Dune - Frank Herbert

Shattered Sea trilogy - Joe Abercrombie

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M Miller Jr

Sun Eater series - Christopher Ruocchio

Anathem - Neal Stephenson

Elder Race - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Bee Speaker - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Hungry Gods - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Cold Fire trilogy - CS Friedman

CONVINCE ME

Sum: Tales from the Afterlife by David Eagleman (sent in by Thomas Craven)

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment with your thoughts or recommendations! We’d love to hear from you!

Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Henry Fraser.

📧 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.