This week the dragons are delighted to welcome Lorraine Wilson as a guest. Lorraine is the author of multiple pieces of short fiction and the debut dystopian thriller with dark folk fantasy elements - This is Our Undoing. Her main character faces an impossible choice throughout the novel which makes Lorraine the perfect person to join this episode's discussion.
All characters must at some point make decisions - there wouldn't be much plot in a book if they didn't. But what happens when you make all a character's choices equally bad? How does this trope vary across genres and why do we find it so compelling? Join Jules and Madeleine as they dig into the many ways an impossible choice can be used to drive a story. On the slab this week: Dune - Frank Herbert, The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson, Sophie's Choice, This is Our Undoing - Lorraine Wilson and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 123: From the Deep - Mystery, Suspense and Sea Monsters in Historical Fantasy
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 122: Baby Doom - The Stork Visits in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 121: If We Were Villains - What Shakespeare has to say to a Modern Audience
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 120: Bards, Troubadours and Skalds - The Musician Archetype in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 119: Love Conquers All - Power Couples who destroyed the Story
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 118: You Fancy Me Mad - Renfield, Lear & Ophelia: Madness in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 117: Dinosaurs and Mega Cryptids - Man-made Monsters in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 116: Cliches are Cliche for a Reason - Why Tropes aren't bad, but Some Tropes need to Die
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 115: Clothes Make the Man - Cross-dressing in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 114: Queer Eye for the Straight Story - Reading Speculative Fiction through a Queer Filter
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 113: Decoy Ducks & Red Herrings - Sayings, Urban Legends and Aphorisms
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 112: Spies, Traitors & Turncoats - Informants in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 111: Larger than Life - The Fictional World of Giants
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 110: Saying What You Really Mean - The Importance of Theme in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 109: Into the East - Fantasy Settings Tolkien Never Used
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 108: It Must be the Weather - How Nature Reflects Art in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 107: The Balance of Power - Sexism and Sexual Harassment in the Publishing Industry
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 106: Kali-ma, Inanna & Anath - The Creator-Destroyer in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 105: The Book Hangover - Fictional Worlds that won't Let You Go
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 104: Bones, Boyd and Cottle - The Physician Archetype in Speculative fICTION
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