Realms Unknown (The Bugle)

Alice Fraser presents the best (and occasionally worst) of Sci Fi and Fantasy, across TV & film, literature, gaming and anywhere you can get speculative.

Released weekly Wednesdays, we want your thoughts and feedback - realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

A podcast from The Bugle.

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

Alice Fraser brings your weekly enchantment, full of Sci Fi and Fantasy. This week's co-host is Tom Neenan.

We cover...

Astrobot - the cutest Sci Fi game there is? Rebecca Yarros and the rise of Romantasy. The return of Severance. A deep dive into 'Progression Fantasy'

Affiliate links to each book:

A Passion For Passion - Alice Fraser

A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

Dune - Frank Herbert

Dungeon Crawler Carl - Frank Dinniman

You fund what we do! https://www.thebuglepodcast.com/donate.

Featuring:

Alice Fraser

Tom Neenan

Produced by Chris Skinner and Laura Turner.

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

Realms Unknown is your gateway to the strange, the dark, and the mind-bendingly brilliant worlds of sci-fi and fantasy. Hosted by the incomparable Alice Fraser, with guest co-host Tom Neenan, this podcast takes a deep (and hilarious) dive into some of the genre’s greatest works—whether it’s the brutal landscapes of Grimdark, the existential horror of The Cube, the radical utopias of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, or the timey-wimey brilliance of Doctor Who.

Our store, with links to books we recommend is here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown

Support us directly: http://thebuglepodcast.com

Expect sharp insights, unexpected tangents, and plenty of laughs as Alice and Tom unravel what makes these stories so enduring (and weird). Produced by Chris Skinner and Laura Turner for The Bugle, Realms Unknown is your guide to the best and strangest corners of speculative fiction.

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

In this episode of Realms Unknown, hosts Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton dive into the latest news in pop culture and fantasy! Get the scoop on Buffy's return with Sarah Michelle Gellar, exciting Back to the Future updates, the new video game Atomfall, and a fascinating partnership between the Ministry of Defence and sci-fi writers.

They also shine a spotlight on the gritty world of Grimdark fiction, discussing epic books like Prince of Thorns, The Black Company, and Legends & Lattes. Eleanor shares her thoughts on the game Hobbs Barrow, while Alice recommends the TV series Pantheon.

In this episode’s Trope on a Rope, Eleanor breaks down the redhead trope in fantasy and sci-fi, touching on Gulliver’s Travels, Eddie Redmayne’s role in Jupiter Ascending, and Gimli from Lord of the Rings. Plus, Sandy convinces us to read Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold in the Convince Me to Read This Book segment!

Also, don’t miss our recommendations for what to do, watch, or read this week. Tune in for a packed episode full of insightful discussions, book and TV recommendations, and much more! Buy the books we cover in this episode in our affiliate store

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

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

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

In Episode 4 of Realms Unknown, hosts Alice Fraser and Jackie Kashian dive into the latest news in pop culture and fantasy! From Ian McKewan's new 'science fiction without the science' novel What We Can Know, to new seasons of Alice in Borderland and The Handmaid's Tale, to Natasha Lyonne producing and starring in the upcoming Basketful of Heads movie.

They take a deep dive into this week's sub-genre of cyberpunk, discussing books like Neuromancer, Mindstar Rising, and Ten Low. They discuss the similarities and differences with steampunk and Jackie recommends When Gravity Falls by George Alec Effinger, while Alice suggests Market Forces by Richard Morgan.

In this episode’s Trope on a Rope, Jackie bemoans the Marvel trope of a female character meeting their end off a cliff, while Alice recalls the scientists trying to save the world who panic and try to open the airlock. Meanwhile, listener Elyse makes the case for reading the Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries Pathfinder RPG book.

Also, don’t miss our recommendations for what to do, watch, or read this week. Tune in for a packed episode full of insightful discussions, book and TV recommendations, and much more! Buy the books we cover in this episode in our affiliate store.

🔔 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 Jackie Kashian.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

In Episode 5 of Realms Unknown, hosts Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan leap into the latest news in pop culture and fantasy! Hear what's coming up from Guy Gavriel Kay, Jim Butcher, Game of Thrones, Mila Jovovich, and ACOTAR.

They take a deep dive into this week's sub-genre of steampunk, making recommendations from film, books and games such as Mortal Engines, Cinder Spires, Bioshock Infinite, Howl's Moving Castle, and more.

In this episode’s Trope on a Rope, Tom explains the much-used prop of an epic city final battle featuring a column of light or energy, while Alice is baffled by sexy fights in films.

Also, don’t miss our recommendations for what to do, watch, or read this week. Tune in for a packed episode full of insightful discussions, book and TV recommendations, and much more! Buy the books we cover in this episode in our affiliate store.

🔔 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 Tom Neenan.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber. We offer extra shows, merch and warm fluffy feelings. Info: www.thebuglepodcast.com/donate 

Hosts Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner bring you two child-friendly World Book Day (UK) episodes of Realms Unknown this week, focusing on children's books from 0-10 years old.

The second episode, looking at books for older children, will be out on Thursday 6 March!

In the regular news section, they touch on Doctor Who and Pokémon Go while detouring down memory lane, recalling He-Man, Thundercats and The Trap Door.

Chris is pleasantly surprised to be enjoying the Amazon series The Rings of Power, having not taken to The Hobbit off-shoots of Lord of the Rings. While Alice is enjoying the gentle calm of toddler books such as Kuma-Kuma Chan by Kazue Takahashi and Grug by Ted Prior.

In this episode’s Trope on a Rope, Alice wonders where tropes of boys being ballerinas, or girls wanting to play soccer are still relevant in a more inclusive age.

Chris and Alice recommend a number of books they've enjoyed both as children and as parents, which you can find listed below and can buy in our Bookshop affiliate store. Bookshop supports the local and independent book stores in your area.

Age 0-5 books

The Tiger Who Came To Tea - Judith Kerr

Not Now Bernard - David McKee

I Want My Hat Back - Jon Klassen

The Gruffalo, Zog, The Smeds and the Smoos - Julia Donaldson

Cautionary Tales for Children - Hilaire Belloc

Meg and Mog - Helen Nicholl and Jan Pienkowski

Age 5-8 books

Isadora Moon and Mirabelle series - Harriet Muncaster

Age 8-10 books

The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

The 13 Clocks - James Thurber

The Stormkeeper’s Island - Catherine Doyle

Also, don’t miss our recommendations for what to do, watch, or read this week. Tune in for a packed episode full of insightful discussions, book and TV recommendations, and much more!

🔔 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 Chris Skinner.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber. We offer extra shows, merch and warm fluffy feelings. Info: www.thebuglepodcast.com/donate 

Hosts Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner bring you the second of two child-friendly World Book Day (UK) episodes of Realms Unknown this week, with today's focusing on children's fantasy and science fiction books for ages 12-17 years old. Part 1, which looked at books for 0-12 years old, is available in your podcast feed and on YouTube. 

Before diving into the many great books in this episode, Chris and Alice recommend some music with a sci-fi/fantasy twist, with Janelle Monáe's 2010 album The ArchAndroid being enjoyed at the family dinner table for Chris, and Alice enjoying the storytelling of LayLow's TRINITY album, released in 2020.

In this episode’s Trope on a Rope, Alice brings the use of parental neglect to the table, preferring the loving and engaged parenting in books like The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, while Chris bemoans beings magically being able to just learn a language at a speed unfamiliar to a Duolingo user like himself.

Chris and Alice then enthuse over a number of fantasy and sci-fi books that shaped them as teenagers, which you can find listed below and can buy in our Bookshop affiliate store, which supports your local bookshops.

Age 12-17 books

Loving and engaged parents

The Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik

Sibling adventures

Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

Narnia series - CS Lewis

Gillian Rubinstein - Space Demons

The Storm Keeper’s Island - Catherine Doyle

Why teenagers should read fantasy

Phillip Pullman - His Dark Materials

Phillip Pullman - The Ruby in the Smoke

Phillip Pullman - The Book of Dust

Sabriel series - Garth Nix

Lioness series - Tamora Pierce

Terry Pratchett - Mort

Terry Pratchett - Eric

Galax-Arena - Gillian Rubinstein

Short stories

Dangerous Women - George R R Martin & Gardner Dozois

More to explore

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Dune - Frank Herbert

🔔 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 Chris Skinner.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 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 8 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 8

In this week's news, as Paapa Essiedu has been cast as Snape in the new TV adaptation of Harry Potter, Alice and Tom discuss the racial considerations of the casting and how this might play out within the characterisation. Also, Bong Joon-ho's new film Mickey 17 starring Robert Pattinson intrigues them both, as does it being a Warner Bros production.

Metaphysical libraries are the focus of the sub-genre deep dive this week - with a whole library full of examples and recommendations to explore - see the affiliate store.

We also have Trope on a Rope, with certain commonly-used phrases the source of ire this week. And find out which significant public figure popping up in Iron Man 2, Star Trek Discovery, The Simpsons and Rick and Morty makes Tom uneasy.

FILMS

Mickey 17

Timestalker

TV

Harry Potter (HBO)

Dr Who - Silence in the Library + Forest of the Dead episodes

GAMES

The Last of Us Part II

BOOKS

The Library of Babel - Jorge Luis Borges

Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett

The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins

Thursday Next series - Jasper Fforde

The Book that Wouldn’t Burn - Mark Lawrence

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend

Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik

Service Model - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

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

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

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

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 realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 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
• You can support your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store

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

🔔 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 Tom Neenan.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

🔔 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 James Colley.

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

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

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

🦋 Find 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 realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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!

• Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows
• Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber thebuglepodcast.com/donate
• Help 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 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

🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

🦋 Find us on Bluesky!

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

📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

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