Dissecting Dragons

28/11/2025

Episode 461: The Girl with a Sword - strong female characters and the death of nuance

available for download now from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean, & Spotify.

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 how to best write your own female character, even with Romantasy putting a thumb on the scales. Under the microscope this week - Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables, The Hunger Games and many more.
https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/

21/11/2025

Episode 460: Folklore of the Forgotten - Mythic Creatures Born From Obsolete Jobs

available from Podbean, Spotify, iTunes & Googleplay

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 time and new technology. Why do with mythologise the mundane? What are the origins of folklore arising from old trades? And how can you use this in your writing? Find out in this week's episode.

Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.

14/11/2025

Episode 459: The Ghost in the Machine - Folklore Meets Firmware in Speculative Fiction

available for download now from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean and Spotify

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 in hand? Find out in this week's episode.
https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/

07/11/2025

DD ep 458 The Mummy Unwrapped - Bandaged Horror to Unlikely Romantic Hero

available for download now from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean & Spotify

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 to us today?

On the slab this week - Lok No 249 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Beetle - Richard Marsh, Ramses the Damned - Anne Rice and many more.
https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/

31/10/2025

Episode 457: The Graveyard Shift - Nightmares Sleep Paralysis & Dreamscapes in Folklore and Modern Horror

available for download now from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean and Spotify.

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 you can use sleep effectively in your own writing. (Aside from aiming for eight hours a night, that is!)
https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/

24/10/2025

Episode 456: Haunted Attics & Cursed Kitchens - the Paradoxical Terror of the Mundane

available for download now on iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean and Spotify

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.

https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/

On the slab this week: Rebekah - Daphne du Maurier, The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Scald Crow - Grace Daly and many more

Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.

17/10/2025

Episode 455: Tangle Bottles & Bone Charms - Everyday Magic in Folklore & Fiction

Available for download now from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean and Spotify

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 urban fantasy. So where does the magic of the mundane originate from? What is its logic? And how do you incorporate it in your own world building?

On the slab this week - October Daye - Seanan McGuire, Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Practical Magic and many more.
https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/

10/10/2025

Episode 544: The Uninvited Guest - Unseen Entities and Invisible Fear in Myth and Modern Horror

Avalianble for download now from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean and Spotify.

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 delve into how this trope hits the fear centres in the brain and how you as a writer can use it. On the slab this week - The Invisible Man - H G Wells, The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters, It Follows and many more.

Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.

03/10/2025

Episode 453: The Outsider - When the Gothic meets the Contemporary

available for download now from iTunes, Podbean, Spotify, Googleplay and Audible.

The dragons are back and 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 Dracula, Frankenstein & Jane Eyre, as well as Penny Dreadful, the Addams Family and Wednesday.

Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.

06/06/2025

Episode 448: Unbelievably Popular - why do bad books become best sellers?

available for download from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean, Audible and Spotify.

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 Madeleine delve into the roots of this question. Is it really a matter of opinion? Can you measure the fitness of a book based entirely on measurable considerations? Is it ever fair to call any book bad? Join the dragons as they interrogate their own beliefs on the subject.

Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.

23/05/2025

Episode 447: Wit & Readability - 250 years of Jane Austen

available for download from Googleplay, Podbean, Spotify and iTunes.

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 work.

Under the magnifying glass this week - 1995 Pride & Prejudice, Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility, Bridget Jones' Diary and many more.

Authors J.A. Ironside and M.E. Vaughan talk about books, films and all aspects of speculative fiction, from the nuts and bolts of writing it, to its (occasionally) obscure origins.

20/05/2025

Episode 446: Getting Your House in Order - Writing as a Career or a Serious Side Gig

available for download from iTunes, Googleplay, Podbean and Spotify

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 glamorous side of being a writer.

https://dissectingdragons.podbean.com/