Stories Across Borders

For the season finale, Daniel is joined by prolific fantasy author, Joel Glover. Joel reads two poems set in his setting, The Nine Realms of Reality. The two then discuss Joel’s series of stories sharing the setting’s name and all the reasons fantasy stories are awesome.

Daniel and Jon do what must be done in a cycle on fantasy stories: an episode on the story that shaped the genre for decades to come. They discuss how The Lord of the Rings effectively birthed fantasy as we know it, how it differs in subtle ways from contemporary fantasy stories and its thematic and tonal complexity.

Daniel and Jon examine the infamous Dark Souls franchise and take a look at it’s deep worldbuilding, unique storytelling and emotionally compelling (surprisingly optimistic) themes.

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.