2025 has felt like a bit of a slog for many people - including, at points, the dragons. But despite that, and despite some longstanding terrible events in the News, lost of amazing things have happened this year. As has become tradition, Jules and Madeleine take a look a selection of 'good news' items from 2025 - including developments in science, technology and medicine, wins in conservation and environmental preservation and even a bit of culture. Join us for an upbeat discussion of the best b...
Jan 02, 2026•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 466
On the surface, you probably wouldn't immediately think of time travel when you think of Christmas stories, and yet there is a distinct connection which is hard to deny. Nor does it date to when Dr Who regularly began to deliver Christmas special episodes - it goes far further back than that. For the final episode in this year's festive selection, the dragons dive into why Christmas is the perfect setting for a time travel story. From liminal spaces where impossible deliveries take place in a si...
Dec 26, 2025•57 min•Ep. 465
Every enduring Christmas story has a villain woven in somewhere - whether that's King Herod in the nativity or Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch of Hans Gruber in Die Hard. Whether the audience is rooting for huge redemption arc or waiting for the bad guy to take a nosedive off the Nakatomi Plaza, there's something about a festive story that uniquely lends itself to a good villain. This week Jules and Madeleine delve into what makes a good Christmas villain; where do they come from? (The answer is su...
Dec 19, 2025•59 min•Ep. 464
Sliding towards the festive season, Jules and Madeleine take a look at gifts. Everyone loves a present, right? But what does a present actually signify? Are they always good things or can they be sinister or manipulative? From fae gifts to mystical burdens, the dragons take a deep dive into the sort of present you can't exchange for something else on your xmas list. Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dec 12, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 463
'Ugly' is a subjective term, of course. Tastes vary and opinions are heavily influenced by how we perceive someone or how much we like them. However, there are plenty of characters in speculative fiction who even on the page do not fit the parameters of being conventionally physically attractive. When those books are translated to the screen, often the 'it' actors of the moment are cast in these roles because they are often great characters. And this is where the cognitive dissonance sets in. So...
Dec 05, 2025•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 462
Moving slightly away from spooky season and weird folklore, the dragons are clocking in with a writing episode. At the moment, Romantasy is the biggest whale splashing around in the sea of fantasy, partially drowning out other subgenres (at least temporarily). While romantasy is a lot of fun, it's caused further changes in the 'strong female character' trope which are less fun. This week, Jules and Madeleine revisit the subject, looking at what really defines 'strength' in character terms and ho...
Nov 28, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 461
How many jobs and professions have existed over the centuries which we now no longer know anything about? Who thinks about warreners and coopers? Fowlers and knocker-ups? And yet this now unnecessary work lingers in surname origins and in the strange tales that grow up around these jobs. This week, still feeling semi spooky and continuing their recent folklore deep dive, Jules and Madeleine take a look at the urban myths which sprang up and are still springing up, around jobs made obsolete by ti...
Nov 21, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 460
Still in the spooky zone, this week Jules and Madeleine take a look at the fascinating phenomenon of folklore being created in real time. There have always been parallels between technology and superstition, magic and science. As technology moves further into the non tangible realm of digital space, ghosts and other entities have begun to echo this shift. So what exactly is the part that folklore plays in this? Are all our ghosts going digital? And why do such disparate subjects actually go hand...
Nov 14, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 459
As far as the dragons are concerned it's still spooky season and this week, they are featuring one of the most beloved 'universal monsters' - the Mummy. From Ancient Egypt to Victorian obsession to post war film era, the Mummy has been a symbol for secrets and forbidden knowledge, often reflecting discomforting truths back at us. Jules and Madeleine take a look at why this is a universal monster - what are its origins? When did it first start appearing in fiction? And what does the creature mean...
Nov 07, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 458
Sleep - something so mundane we do it around eight hours out of every twenty-four - makes a great vehicle for horror. Judging by folkloric record and cross cultural points of similarity, it's been part of horror for millennia. From old hag syndrome to nightmares to the simple but essential necessity of being unaware and vulnerable for blocks of time, sleep is it's own carnival of terror. This week Jules and Madeleine delve into why, tracking through folklore into modern horror and looking at how...
Oct 31, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 457
This week's spooky season offering dives past the whole haunted house experience to go deeper. What if the haunting was more specific? An attic or cellar is well known trope, but what about a playground? A nursery? A clock or a mirror? What do those things say about the state of the main character's mind in storytelling? And what exactly is the quiet terror of the mundane more effective than dripping gore and howling monsters? Jules and Madeleine tackle these questions and more. On the slab this...
Oct 24, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 456
It's time for episode three of the dragons' spooky season extravaganza and don't be deceived by the title. Folk Magic can go to some pretty dark places... This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at a magic system that relies on mundane objects and folk knowledge. In fact this type of magic is, on the surface, so mundane that many people would argue that it's more superstition than a magic system. It forms a backbone in many folk horror and dark fantasy stories and even creeps into sci-fi and ...
Oct 17, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 455
Continuing their spooky season, this week the dragons pose a question: what's more frightening? The object of terror can see or the entity you can't? A fear of non tangible threats is baked into the essential human make up - we would hardly have survived to evolve as we have if our ancestors had not had the capability to 'what if' about predators concealed in shadows or long grass. This is reflected in fairy tales, folklore, gothic fiction all the way up to modern horror. Jules and Madeleine del...
Oct 10, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 454
The dragons are back just in time for spooky season. They are naturally kicking off their favourite season with a new slant on and old favourite subject - the Gothic. But what exactly do 'outsiders' have to do with Gothic literature? As it turns out, quite a lot. Jules and Madeleine take a joyful autumn romp through this little mentioned but essential ingredient of the genre from it's literary inception up to its quirky, spooky modern day equivalent. On the slab this week classics such as Dracul...
Oct 03, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 453
Approximately ten years ago, both dragons signed their first publishing contracts. Since then it's been a riotous series of highs and lows and new adventures - including the creation of this podcast. This week, Jules and Madeleine look back over the last decade. Would they have written their first books the same way if they'd been writing them now? What is the relationship between writing and creativity and where does creative inspiration come from? Where do they see themselves going in their wr...
Aug 08, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 452
Part Two of a Two Part Episode Continuing on from last week's examination of how depictions of the work place in fiction have transitioned over the decades from daily grinds where hard work will reward the worthy to places where you can find fun and family (if you're a team player) to recent depictions of bleak office hellscapes where baffled, exploited employees are required to perform a series of increasingly bizarre and senseless tasks (Severence - we're looking at you), this week Jules and M...
Aug 01, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 451
Part one of a two part episode Sci-fi and fantasy have portrayed many workplace settings over the decades - engineers and pilots on space craft, for example, or fairy smiths and kitchen witches in fantasy. However while fantasy has been leaning into the idea of leaving unfulfilling work and finding a perfect cosy profession, sci-fi has been delving into the nightmare of the bad workplace. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at the common criticisms and fallacies of the workplace highlight...
Jul 25, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 450
Disney, purveyors and creators of magical family friendly (mostly) entertainment have existed through an interesting and checquered 9 decades. The company is responsible for some of the most beloved fairytale retellings and pioneered the animated feature film. However, it's not all magic kingdoms and pixiedust. As with all multi billion dollar corporations, there's a dark side. The company has shapeshifted several times over the decades and interestingly, it seems to be undergoing a change again...
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 449
Have you ever picked up a book, full of anticipation, only to quit 100 pages in? Or maybe you read the whole thing and were left annoyed and baffled when you reached the end? Welcome to the baked in cognitive dissonance of the bookish community. Uber hyped books can turn out to be...bad. Not just bad in your opinion but objectively bad when employing the metrics of writing skill, storytelling and production values. So why exactly are they selling millions of copies? This week, Jules and Madelein...
Jun 06, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 448
If you've noticed all the celebrations, new editions of Austen's work, new adaptations and not a few arguments over issues which seem to amount to 'who's the biggest fan?' then you may have an inkling that it is a major Jane Austen landmark this year. Celebrating the 250th year since Jane Austen's birth, the dragons have decided to do their own thing and judge a pageant of Jane Austen adaptations in film, TV, theatre and book form, in an effort to find their own favourite adaptation of Austen's ...
May 23, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 447
Making a living from writing comes with practical considerations which the actual creative process doesn't prepare you for (probably). This week Jules and Madeleine delve into how to be a healthy creative ( spoiler alert: sleep is really important), what you need to consider when planning your finances, what legal considerations you need to bear in mind and a variety of other issues which writers often blithely ignore. We know. We did. Join the dragons as they talk candidly about the less glamor...
May 16, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 446
Part 2 of a 2 part episode. This week, Jules and Madeleine return to the 'nice guy' trope. A trope that probably started with good intentions but soured quickly. Can this trope affect perceptions in real life? If so, how far does that go? Can you write a genuinely nice guy? And what is the 'nice guy renaissance'? On the slab this week: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harker & Blackthorn and many mor Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
May 09, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 445
The dragons are back! Join us for an exciting season delving into new writing topics and speculative fiction takes. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at the 'nice guy' trope. While the term is relatively new, the character type is not, cropping up in Shakespeare, Austen and even in folklore. While this was a character archetype introduced originally to balance the over-muscled, over-sexed and under-brained macho male lead of the seventies and eighties, writers took their collective eye ...
May 02, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 444
As we bid adieu to 2024, the dragons are once again looking back on a year of news. There have been some definite low points, however there has also been a lot of good news this year which may have gone unremarked. Jules and Madeleine are redressing that balance with a selection of good news stories, scientific discoveries and reminiscences on their favourite books and films of the year. Join us for a hopeful episode as we gear up for taking 2025 by the horns. (This is the last episode of 2024 b...
Dec 27, 2024•42 min•Ep. 443
It's that time of year again: frantic last minute shopping, swearing at rolls of Sellotape, covering fir trees with bling....and the dragons emerge with a festive folkloric offering that adds a bit of shadow to the season. This year Jules and Madeleine take a look at the strange relationship between Christmas and witchcraft. If that sounds implausible, stick around - there is a bizarre logic behind it. As with many folkloric traditions, the Christmas witch goes back centuries but some of the mod...
Dec 20, 2024•52 min•Ep. 442
There are few phrases as bedight with dubious associations as 'for a modern audience'. In terms of storytelling, are we saying that the original story was flawed? That tends not to go down well with fans of the original. Or, conversely, does the phrase mean that a modern audience is somehow incapable of engaging with the original and needs to have the material dumbed down? Despite the trickiness of the situation, there has been an upsurge in reboots and remakes lately with even more scheduled fo...
Dec 15, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 441
Music has a peculiar relationship with the supernatural, and no branch more so than the occult. Certain musical genres have a long association with the devil, both in folklore and urban legend. But why is that? Where did those stories originate? And how has this shaped modern horror and SFF? This week the dragons dive into Rock'n'Roll to unravel the devil's music. On the slab this week - The Infernal - Kim Wilkins, We Sold Our Souls - Grady Hendrix, Evil in Me - Brom and many more. Title music: ...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 440
From devices of comedy to alien antagonists to symbols of deep seated corruption, mushrooms and fungi make strangely appropriate side characters. They are used as set dressing, as indicators of other realms and as terrible weapons. Appropriately, they have woven tendrils so firmly through fiction that it's pretty much impossible to work out when they first entered storytelling cannon - potentially it was when storytelling pre-dated written language. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at ...
Nov 29, 2024•56 min•Ep. 439
On a lighter note this week, the dragons delve into a well loved trope which has its origins in folk and fairy tales, shifting and adapting for audiences over the centuries to reflect the socio economics of the time. The clever servant-foolish master dynamic is one which is still enjoyed today, balancing inequalities of social position, wealth and status with intellect, cunning and personability. The trope is a shapeshifter - played for laughs, delivered straight and used as supporting story. Th...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 438
It's no secret that the dragons are fans of musicals, so they should be delighted by all the film adaptations of popular stage shows, right? Well, that's not entirely the case. There are a variety of reasons why a stage production may not work as a film and vice versa, not withstanding any internet drama that blows up in the wake of an adaptation. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at why these adaptations can fall flat. Under the spotlight this week: Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beast...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 437
