Stories Across Borders

Daniel and Jon start their dive into the monolithic fantasy genre. They talk about the origins of the fantasy genre and the rise of modern fantasy and take a look at the surprisingly vast number of forms fantasy stories can take.

Listen to a reading of Daniel’s story, Procession by Sarah Kamal. Then, Daniel and Jon talk about the story and how it examines how people grieve and our grieving rituals.

Daniel is joined once more by Sarah R. New to discuss The Others, a 2001 film written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar. They break down the way the movie depicts and discusses death, loss and legacy.

Daniel and Jon discuss Daina O. Pusić’s 2023 film, Tuesday. They look at how this strange and quirky story manages to also be deeply honest and heartfelt about some extremely difficult subject matter in a way that strikes a chord with those who experience it.

Daniel and Jon discuss death in fiction - how we write fictitious deaths and the things our stories say about how we think and feel about death in reality.

After Jon reads Field Study - a short story written by Daniel, they discuss the political themes of the story. Daniel explains how his own thoughts filtered into the story and they break down how a story that isn’t about politics can still be very political and explore ideological themes.

Daniel and Jon delve into the bizarre madness of the Metal Gear video game franchise and discuss how behind all the convoluted plotlines and memes, there is actually some pretty sincere and intriguing commentary about political power games and the politics of war.

Daniel and Jon delve back into the world of Star Wars to discuss the internal politics of its evil empire and how it affects the lives of the people within it and the people who rebel against it. They also discuss how this reflects reality: how totalitarian, authoritarian regimes work and why empires always fall.

Daniel and Jon kick off a new and not at all controversial cycle theme: politics. They talk about the in-universe politics of settings, the real world political discussions we have through fiction and why your favourite story is probably a lot more politicised than you might think.

Jon reads Daniel’s short story, Everybody Needs a Hobby. Then, the two of them discuss how to make a truly despicable villain and the ways such characters might think.