Sweeping pandemics turn up often in fantasy and sci-fi, whether they form part of the back drop or the main thrust of the plot. There is something about a plague that captures the imagination and short cuts our survival circuits in a way that other natural disasters - Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanic eruptions - just doesn't touch. So what is it about a good pandemic that grips us? From post apocalyptic fiction discussing the dual nature of morality, such as Stephen King's The Stand or Kirkman, Moore and Adlard's The Walking Dead, to epic fantasy looking at the creation of anti heroes, such as Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series or Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis, a deadly plague hits our deepest fears where other acts of god just don't reach. This week the dragons take a tour through pandemics in speculative fiction, starting with the history and epidemiology of The Black Death and The Great Plague in Europe, following the scars that exist on our racial memories even today and following the trail to its conclusion in SFF. A wild ride and not for the squeamish!
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 8: Bugbears of Battle - Inciting Violence in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 7: Tatooine to Tudor England - the trappings of Historical and Speculative World Building
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 6: Merlin, Mordred and Morgana - Magic in Arthurian Legend
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 5: Sci-Fi Westerns, Fantasy and Opera - Humankind's Conquest of Space
Dissecting Dragons - Episode 4 - Witches, Brooms and Spells: Enchanting and Entrapping Children in Fiction.
Dissecting Dragons Episode 3: Deus Ex Machina - it was all a Dream - When Writers let you down.
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 2: Tainted Love - of triangles, love potions and the Happily Ever After.
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 1 - Rags to Rebel Leaders - the re-emergence of the fairytale
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