Shows
The Greatest MatterIntroducing: This House Will Devour YouIf you're a fan of The Greatest Matter, here's another Irish podcast I think you'll enjoy. Have a listen to the trailer here! You can find out more about This House Will Devour You at Citeog Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2025-02-1002 min
The Greatest MatterBest of HeadStuff 2024Happy New Year HeadStuff Listeners!As a special New Year’s treat, we’ve compiled the very best moments from all our HeadStuff shows into one episode. Relive the laughs, surprises, and unforgettable moments of 2024!To find your favourite HeadStuff shows go to the timestamps below.This is a HeadStuff Podcast produced by Hilary Barry. Edited by Claire Patena. Hosted by Hilary Barry and Jack Kelly.1:40 - The Lovely Show 4:55 - Young Hot Guys 6:24 - Listen, I’m, Delicious 8:00 - The G Spot 10:11 - The Baby Tri...2025-01-0130 min
The Greatest MatterA Sensation at Dublin ZooThe season finale of The Greatest Matter and everything is at stake as Frances and Margaret find themselves once more faced with murder in the Phoenix Park. The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor Reid*The show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com2024-12-101h 02
The Greatest MatterThe Other Side (Interlude)A familiar scene, from a very different place.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor Reid*The show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFor a deep dive into all things The Greatest Matter, go to TheGreatestMatter.com where you’ll fi...2024-12-0308 min
The Greatest MatterAn Underground SocietyMargaret and Lombroso are invited to a secret society meeting, while Frances makes some discoveries of her own.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor Reid*The show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFor a deep dive into all things...2024-11-2624 min
The Greatest MatterInterrogationsFrances and Margaret learn something they are not quite ready to believe.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFor a deep dive into all things The Greatest Matter, go to...2024-11-1935 min
The Greatest MatterOur Way of Thinking (Interlude)Burton learns some disturbing details about Col Godley's investigations.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFor a deep dive into all things The Greatest Matter, go to TheGreatestMatter.com where...2024-11-1207 min
The Greatest MatterA Revelation at the OperaFrances and Margaret attempt to track down Lombroso, but Grimshaw’s soldiers are also in pursuit. Burton has a life-changing encounter at the opera.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFo...2024-11-0531 min
The Greatest MatterShot While Trying to EscapeFrances and Margaret receive a welcome tip off in their murder investigation, while Chief Inspector Burton has plans for his chief suspect. The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFor a d...2024-10-2928 min
The Audio Browser1: A Criminologist in Dublin Podcast: The Greatest Matter (LS 31 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: 1: A Criminologist in DublinPub date: 2024-09-24Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationA renowned criminologist gives a talk in Dublin. A body is found in the Phoenix Park. A detective is called in. A writer and a journalist stumble unawares into a story much bigger than they ever could have imagined.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Stu...2024-10-2838 min
The Greatest MatterAn English Game (Interlude)Frances and Margaret catch up over a game of tennis, but Margaret has some worrying news.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.comFor a deep dive into all things The...2024-10-2207 min
The Greatest MatterPithecanthropusMargaret receives some unwanted guests, while Frances goes undercover at a doctor’s surgery. Lombroso uncovers far more to Kate Carey’s sáances than he ever suspected.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go to HeadS...2024-10-1529 min
The Greatest MatterA Gathering of SpiritualistsLombroso attends a séance. Frances and Margaret's visit to Dublin Zoo is not quite the day out they'd planned. Chief Inspector Burton pays a visit to the morgue.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you can support the podcast, go t...2024-10-0831 min
Words To That EffectThe Greatest Matter: A Victorian Gothic Crime TaleThis is it, my brand new audiodrama, The Greatest Matter. There's murder and mystery, crime and conspiracy, gothic and ghosts - if you are a fan of Words To That Effect, I think you are going to like this! You can listen to all the episodes and subscribe/follow at TheGreatestMatter.com or by simply typing "The Greatest Matter" into your podcast player of choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2024-10-0639 min
The Greatest MatterAn Incident in the Phoenix Park (Interlude)A man takes a walk in the Phoenix Park and is not quite sure who, or what, he's stumbled upon.(This is a short, mini-episode before events continue in next week's episode)The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows, and details on how you...2024-10-0105 min
The Greatest MatterA Criminologist in DublinA renowned criminologist gives a talk in Dublin. A body is found in the Phoenix Park. A detective is called in. A writer and a journalist stumble unawares into a story much bigger than they ever could have imagined.The Greatest Matter was written & directed by Conor ReidIt was recorded at The Podcast Studios, Dublin and produced by Hilary BarryEditing, Sound Design, and Original Music by Conor ReidThe show is a HeadStuff Podcast. For more on the network, all the great shows...2024-09-2438 minWords To That EffectWTTE 2024 Update & Announcing: The Greatest MatterSo it's been a while! Here's a quick update of what's been going on over at WTTE HQ, including an announcement of my brand new audiodrama: The Greatest Matter. You can have a listen to the trailer and, if you like what you here, subscribe to the show wherever you're listening now. All the details at thegreatestmatter.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2024-09-2106 min
The Greatest MatterThe Greatest Matter TrailerIntroducing The Greatest Matter, a Victorian Gothic crime tale. Episode 1 launches on September 24th!This is a HeadStuff podcasts. To support the show and get the entire season in advance, ad-free, and for lots of other bonuses, become a member of HeadStuff+ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2024-09-1801 minWords To That EffectWTTE Season 6 UpdateUnfortunately there aren't going to be any new episodes for a little while but have a listen to this short update letting you know what's going on at WTTE and where things are heading next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-07-0104 min
Words To That EffectDungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons plays a huge part in fiction and popular culture more generally, but it is often overlooked or misunderstood. In this episode I gather together an experienced Dungeon Master and some complete novices (including myself) to play D&D for the first time. Joining me to explore this new world is academic, and life-time D&D fan, Professor Curt Carbonell, who has recently published a book on the subject. WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a member of H...2022-05-1932 min
Words To That EffectRobin HoodFrom medieval ballads to the poetry of John Keats, stage productions to children’s songs, novels to comic books, silent movies to glorious technicolour, Disney classics to Kevin Costner blockbusters to Mel Brooks parodies to gritty reimaginings and lots, lots more, Robin Hood is certainly one of the most recognisable characters in all of western popular culture.
Joining me to explore the legendary outlaw is Prof Valerie Johnson, from the University of Montevallo, Alabama.
WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a me...2022-04-3032 min
Words To That EffectThe Origins of the GothicWhat does the word "Gothic" mean to you? Gothic cathedrals and castles? Gothic fiction? Teenage goths dressed in black? Horror and the supernatural? This episode explores the origins of the gothic and one man's lasting influence on this most important of genres.
Joining me as my gothic guide is Prof Dale Townshend, Professor of Gothic Literature
at Manchester Metropolitan University.
WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a member of HeadStuff+. Go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com
For full transcripts, links...2022-03-3127 min
Words To That EffectA Word To That Effect: Serendipity (Bonus Ep) A Word To That Effect is a new series of bonus mini-episodes about a single word or phrase with a distinctly literary origin. This week: serendipity. WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a member of HeadStuff+. Go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com For full transcripts, links, references, and more the home of the podcast is wttepodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-03-2208 min
Words To That EffectA Word To That Effect: Cliffhanger (Bonus Ep)A Word To That Effect is a new series of bonus mini-episodes about a single word or phrase with a distinctly literary origin. This week: cliffhanger! WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a member of HeadStuff+. Go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com For full transcripts, links, references, and more the home of the podcast is wttepodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-03-0809 min
Words To That EffectThe Sensation NovelSensation fiction was a hugely popular genre in the 1860s. The novels were sensationally popular, but they also caused a sensation, with their plots of bigamy and murder, forgery and blackmail. In so many ways the influence of sensation fiction can still be felt today. WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a member of HeadStuff+. Go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com For full transcripts, links, references, and more the home of the podcast is wttepodcast.com2022-02-2234 min
Words To That EffectArthurian RomanceKnights in shining armour, damsels in distress, castles, chivalry and courtly love, heroic quests, dragons. King Arthur, Camelot, Merlin, the Knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail. Think of King Arthur and the medieval romance and a huge number of images and tropes and cliches spring to mind. Where does all this come from? WTTE is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. You can support the show and get bonus content and more by becoming a member of...2022-02-0829 min
Words To That EffectA History of DragonsDragons have been around for a very long time. They are one of the very few mythological creatures that have become absolutely central to popular culture; everyone knows what a dragon is. There are other important and well-known mythological creatures, but none are as ubiquitous as dragons, which can be found in Europe and the Americas, in classical and Biblical traditions, in ancient Indian tales and across Asian mythology. So where do dragons come from? Why are they so common across cultures, and what do they mean to us to...2022-01-2531 min
Words To That EffectSeason 6 PreviewWords To That Effect is back! Find out what's coming up on Season 6, launching on Jan 25th Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-01-1803 min
Words To That EffectUnderwater WorldsThere is a complex and fascinating relationship between humans and the ocean, how people and cultures across the world know and understand the sea, whether through myths and legends, through trade or fishing, exploration or entertainment. This episode explores one particular aspect of all this - our relationship with the undersea, what lies beneath the surface of the oceans. It is the 4th place in a loose miniseries of literary locations: Antarctica, the desert, the forest, and now the undersea. From early myths and legends to the naturalists of th...2021-07-2131 min
Spice BagsFood + FictionAt Spice Bags, we are as much book geeks as food geeks. However, what is the role that food plays in books, and how do words serve to whet our appetite? In this special pre-season, collaboration episode we hope to do just that!
With fellow HeadStuff podcaster Conor Reid, whose literary podcast, Words to That Effect, has always been a favourite listen of ours, we examine some of our best-loved novels and food excerpts.
We discuss a sexy Sicilian detective, Stephen King, 17th-century Spanish picaresque and the Japanese magic-realist Haruki Murakami. Most importantly, we unpack the d...2021-06-131h 04
Words To That EffectFiction & FoodHow do we use fiction in food? What does a character's choice of food reveal about them? Do you simply have to go and make a dish when it's described beautifully in a book? On this very special episode, a collaboration with the wonderful Spice Bags podcast, we discuss everything from 17th century Spanish literature to contemporary American horror, Italian detective novels to Japanese magical realism. Grab yourself a glass of Amarone and have a listen! Support the show and get lots of bonus content by becoming a member...2021-06-111h 06
Words To That EffectGothic ForestsThe forest is a place we have very mixed feelings about. Forests can be calm and peaceful, full of ancient and natural beauty. Until they’re not. The forest, in so many ways, is a place we fear. They are dark and dense and overgrown, all too easy to get lost in. They hold secrets and mysteries, and creatures we’d rather not meet alone, far from home. And if the monsters of the forest don’t get us, then the forest itself will. The stran...2021-04-3025 min
Words To That EffectDesert FictionsHow do we imagine and portray the desert? And what does it say about us and our relationship to each other and, crucially, to the planet we live on? In this, the second in a loosely connected series on places in fiction and popular culture, I chat to Dr Aidan Tynan about deserts in fiction and philosophy, from Mad Max to Burning Man, Nietzsche to Baudrillard, Cormac McCarthy to China Miéville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-03-3130 min
Words To That EffectArsene Lupin In 1905 in Paris, the publisher Pierre Laffite had an idea. His new journal Je Sais Tout had just launched and he was looking for an author who could do for his magazine, what Arthur Conan Doyle’s phenomenally popular Sherlock Holmes had done for The Strand magazine, in London. He turned to the writer Maurice Leblanc and one of the most memorable and successful characters in French popular fiction was born: the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Lupin is cunning, sophisticated, quick-witted, a master of disguise, always one step ahead of the police, and a th...2021-03-0925 min
Words To That EffectRobotsRobots as high-tech labour-saving devices, and as usurpers of human jobs. Robots as distinctly Other and as dangerously indistinguishable from humans. Robots as a means of questioning what it is to be human, and highlighting the ethics behind the creation of artificial life. To help me explore all of this I chatted to a roboticist who also writes about literature, and a literature professor who has worked and published extensively on robotics. Support WTTE by becoming a member of HeadStuff+ For links, references, full transcripts a...2021-01-2835 min
Words To That EffectAnnouncement: WTTE & HeadStuff+A quick update episode on the new HeadStuff membership platform, HeadStuff+Have a listen to find out more about what's on it and how you can join (although the joining bit is very straightforward - just click here). I'm really excited to be a part of this and I hope if you are a regular listener and would like to support the show, and the network it is a part of, you'll consider becoming a member. Plus you get a load of extra stuff so it's win-win really! ...2021-01-2004 min
Words To That EffectFictions of Antarctica The continent of Antarctica was only discovered two centuries ago, even if it had long been theorized. It's a place shrouded in mystery with no human history and no permanent residents. It’s a land of superlatives: the coldest, the windiest, the driest continent. It is a grand scientific experiment, a habitat for animals, with spectacular icescapes luring tourists and scientists alike. And it’s somewhere that exists in the popular imagination in a multitude of ways, often contradictory and, it must be said, frequently confused with the Arctic. There’...2020-12-2228 min
Words To That EffectAlternate HistoryIn one sense alternate history is a very specific kind of story - sometimes seen as a subgenre of science fiction, more often as a genre onto itself. But in a broader sense alternate history is something we are all interested in. We all think about what might have happened differently in our live and in the wider world, we all feel relief and regret. What if? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2020-12-0827 min
Words To That EffectWeird WesternsIn a way it’s maybe strange that the western is such a prominent genre. It's seemingly connected to a very specific time and place: the mid-to-late 19th century American west. And yet we are all so familiar with the many tropes of the western: cowboys and Indians, shootouts and saloons, cattle rustlers and sheriffs, tumbleweed and canyons? The western has a particular hold on the popular imagination, partly for reasons of historical and cultural influence, but ultimately because of its supreme adaptability, its capacity to mingle and merge with other genres. The weird wes...2020-11-2424 min
Words To That EffectMashups, Remixes, and FrankenfictionRemix, mashup, sample, adaptation, parody, homage, knock-off. The lines between these, and so many other similar terms, are not always very clear. In one sense, all culture is a remix, nothing exists in a vacuum. On the other hand, some people may take a dim view of lifting almost the entire text of Pride & Prejudice and republishing it with additional zombie action. Which is where Seth Grahame-Smith’s best-selling 2009 classic, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, comes in. For lots more details, links, transcripts, and more, head to the Words To...2020-11-1026 min
Words To That EffectSeason 5 PreviewWTTE is back! Season 5 launches on Tuesday 10th November. Find out what's coming up this season.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2020-11-0402 min
Words To That EffectWords Dunnit (WTTE + Shedunnit Live)Last year Caroline Crampton (of Shedunnit) and I teamed up to create a joint live show, called Words Dunnit: a 200-year history of detective fiction in an hour. We performed the show live at the Dublin Podcast Festival in November 2019, and then again at Pod UK, in Birmingham, in Feb of this year. We had a lot of fun making and performing it, so here it is in full. For notes, links, pictures and more head to the WTTE website Support the show on Patreon! ...2020-04-031h 02
Words To That EffectLost BooksThere are countless great works of literature we have tantalizing glimpses of, works we know existed but are, as far as anyone can tell, lost to history. Huge swathes of ancient Greek literature, for example, or a lost Shakespeare play based on the story of Don Quixote. And then there are the works we rescue. Kate Macdonald, at Handheld Press, specialises in finding and reprinting lost classics, works that have fallen out of print but deserve another chance and a new audience. In this episode I chat to her about lost literature, the intricacies o...2020-03-1123 min
Words To That EffectThe Missing LinkSasquatch. Bigfoot. The Abominable Snowman. Yeti. The Yowie, the Yeren, the Almas Ape-men, cave men, wild men. The Missing Link. The idea of the missing link came about in the mid-19th century, with the rise of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. In 1859 Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, and it was radical, revolutionary, and highly contentious. The problem, though, was that the mechanism by which it all worked wasn’t reall...2020-02-2623 min
Words To That EffectRomance NovelsMills and Boon to bodice rippers , Johanna Lindsey to Nora Robers (and a little bit of Fabio) Why read romance novels?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2020-02-1127 min
Words To That EffectTime Travel TalesTime travel fiction is a small subgenre of science fiction. Science fiction is a small subset of all the many genres and types of literature. Time machines and time travellers are a niche interest.
And yet, in many ways, all fiction is time travel fiction.
On this week's episode I chart the history and development of time travel, with Prof David Wittenberg, from utopia to hot tubs.
Support the show on patreon and get bonus episodes and more
For full show notes, links, transcripts and more head to wttepodcast.com
2020-01-3023 min
Words To That EffectEdgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs is no longer a familiar name. Like many other authors, the fame of his greatest creation, in his case Tarzan, has long eclipsed his own.
But Burroughs was far more than the creator of Tarzan.
He was an early pioneer of science fiction, a master of the pulp fiction magazines of the early 20th century, an author whose books, across his lifetime and beyond, sold tens of millions of copies. He was also, among a bewildering array of other things, a journalist, a soldier and war correspondent, a businessman, and even a real es...2019-12-1020 min
Words To That EffectChildren's Picture BooksUnlike modernist poetry or Shakespearean drama, when it comes to children's literature, everyone has an opinion. Most of us are exposed to kids' books in some shape or form and, crucially, 100% of us have been children.
For an academic working with children's literature, this can have its rewards and its frustrations. "Yes! I love that classic childhood book too!". But also: "Sorry, I don't know why your child doesn't like this one particular book"
This week I'm joined by Dr Jane Carroll to chat about the children's picture book. How do text and image work together t...2019-11-2625 min
Words To That EffectThe Golden Age of PiracyPirates have been around for a very long time. In fact, as far as the historical record seems to show, they have been around for as long as there have been property and boats.
What is it that attracts us to pirates and why have we got such a well-developed set of pirate tropes? We all have the same picture when we think of pirates: peg legs and eyepatches, parrots and pirate accents, walking the plank, buried treasure, the jolly roger.
Prof Manushag Powell joins me to discuss the Golden Age of Piracy, pirate literature, and...2019-11-1224 min
Words To That EffectBlood, Death, and Varney the VampireThere is no pop culture monster more written about, more critiqued and analysed, more portrayed and adapted and reimagined, than the vampire.
So this episode is not about most vampires. There are no discussions of Dracula or Nosferatu, no True Blood or Twilight or Buffy, no Anne Rice or Stephen King, no Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee.
Instead, there is a single vampire, one you may well never have heard of. A vampire that, in Victorian times, was far more popular than even Charles Dickens at the height of his fame. A vampire that established many of th...2019-10-3028 min
Words To That EffectJekyll & HydeFor most people today, the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has been reduced to a fairly straightforward allegory of the potential dark side within us all.
But if you read Robert Louis Stevenson’s original tale, a short 80-odd page novella, you immediately realise there is so much to this masterpiece of 19th century fiction. There are so many reasons the story has become embedded in popular culture. It has everything: dreams and reality, psychology and medicine, good and evil, degeneracy and criminality, sexuality and self-identity, blackmail, murder, addiction, religion. Have I missed anything?
For...2019-10-1524 min
Words To That EffectSeason 4 PreviewSeason 4 returns on Tuesday 15th October. Have a listen to what's in store!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2019-10-0802 min
Words To That EffectThe Art of the Short StoryThere are the celebrated authors: Checkov, Joyce, Mansfield, Munro. There are the big questions: “What makes a truly great short story?” “Where does the form originate?” “What can short stories do that other forms of literature can’t?”
But before any of this, there’s a question that’s not that easy to answer at all:
What is a short story?
This week I’m joined by Dr Paul March-Russell, Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent, and author of The Short Story: An Introduction and Colin Walsh, an award-winning short story writer from Galway...2019-06-0434 min
Words To That EffectThe Noun of Nouns (The Rise of Modern Fantasy)What do you think of, when you think of the genre of fantasy?
Whether it’s fiction, TV, cinema, or games, are there certain elements you need to have for something to be considered fantasy?
Well, you might say fantasy is medieval, or at least set in a time of swords and sorcery.
Or that fantasy has to be epic in scale; there are always grand and noble characters.
Or maybe fantasy has to be set in an imaginary world.
Or, at the very least, there should be some magic.
But...2019-05-2122 min
Words To That EffectGolden Age Detective FictionAn English country estate. A detective pacing the room, explaining how they have solved the crime, revealing the solution to a puzzle and the clues which were there all along.
It’s so easy to parody this scene because it’s so familiar.
It’s Reverend Green in the billiard room with the candlestick.
It’s a shocking murder in a cosy English village or the country estate of a well-off family…where everyone is as suspect.
It’s the locked room mystery, where the puzzle is always the centre of the story.2019-05-0735 min
Words To That EffectSteampunk, Pt 2 (Even Greater London)One way of thinking about steampunk is to divide it into two parts – the steam and the punk.
The steam is the Victorian element: the fascination and engagement with the 19th century – whether satirizing or poking fun at Victorian conventions and ideas, dealing with problematic aspects of empire and colonialism, celebrating the people and places, or utterly rethinking the science and technology of the era.
The punk, on the other hand, is very much about building collaborative communities in resistance to contemporary capitalist consumer culture and technology. It’s about maker culture and a DIY aesthe...2019-04-2333 min
Words To That EffectSteampunk, Pt1 (Fetch Me My Fighting Trousers)Note: This episode is Part 1 of a double episode on steampunk.
There are cultures, and subcultures, and sub, sub, sub
cultures.
There’s science fiction, there’s alternative history,
there’s steampunk.
There’s hip hop and there’s chaphop.
There’s an anachronistic Victorian gentleman wearing a pith helmet with an orangutan butler, dissing a fellow chaphop artist for parodying, rather than engaging with, the genre.
What, you may quite reasonably ask, is going on?
Well, over this episode, and the next – because this is part one of...2019-04-0931 min
Words To That EffectTravels in Four-Dimensional SpaceWe have no problem thinking mathematically about four-dimensional space.
Where a 3-d cube has 8 vertices, a 4-d hypercube has 16 vertices.
Where a cube has 6 faces, like a dice, a 4-d hypercube has 24 faces.
The problem is imagining what that actually looks like. We live in a three-dimensional world. We can’t see a fourth dimension. We simply can’t imagine what a 4-D world would look like.
However, that doesn’t mean that lots and lots of people haven’t tried to, in a huge variety of ways: mathematicians and physicists, philosop...2019-03-1127 min
Words To That EffectPulp Fiction (Amazing Stories of the Sisters of Tomorrow)If you want to understand how we ended up with anything from Star Wars to Star Trek, Superman to Batman, intergalactic travel to microscopic worlds, profound meditations on the nature of being human to thrilling tales about Martian princesses, you have to look at pulp fiction.
Argosy, Blue Book, Adventure, Black Mask, Horror Stories, Flying Aces…there was a lot of it.
The 1920s and 30s was the age of pulp fiction, the time when genres truly became genres. Science fiction, detective stories, war stories, horror, westerns, fantasy. Everything. All those categories that we use to divide up...2019-02-2526 min
Words To That EffectPost-Apocalyptic FictionWhat would happen if humanity ceased to exist?
Well, assuming, of course, that earth itself has not been destroyed in this hypothetical apocalypse, the world would continue quite happily without us.
People have long speculated about what would happen in the weeks, months, and years after the end of humanity. There is an obvious perverse pleasure in seeing the world we have destroyed, and continue to destroy, getting its revenge. There’s a misanthropy in this type of speculation, what’s sometimes called “catastrophe porn”, but there’s also a humble recognition that ultimately we are, as hu...2019-02-1130 min
Words To That EffectUnwrapping the Egyptian MummyIn the 19th century, a very popular form of entertainment was the mummy unwrapping party. Yes, you could go to a private or public event at which an ancient Egyptian mummy would be unrolled and examined. Bandages would be passed around, touched and smelled, ancient jewellery would be admired, and a the dead body of an Egyptian would be revealed at the end.
So, how did this bizarre and macabre spectacle come to be? Where did the Victorians get all these mummies? Were they all comfortable with this gruesome spectacle?
Are we happy, today, to...2019-01-2825 min
Words To That EffectDinosaurs (Palaeontology to Pyjamas)In 1842 a Victorian anatomist looked at some unusual fossils and, noticing they had something in common, he decided we needed a word to describe these strange creatures. He called them dinosaurs.
Cut to the present day and there are dinosaur films, TV shows, books, songs, toys, and anything else you can possibly think of. Dinosaurs are beloved by children across the world, they form the centrepieces of internationally renowned museums, and there is nobody who doesn’t have an idea of what a dinosaur looks like.
How did we get here?
Episode 25 of Words To Th...2019-01-1425 min
Words To That EffectSeason 3 PreviewWords To That Effect is back! Season 3 kicks off next Monday, Jan 14th. In the meantime, have a listen to a preview of what's in store for the season.
The music heard in this episode was "Polydrug" by Forrests. You can check out their music here
Words To That Effect is a member of the Headstuff Podcast Network. You can listen to previous episodes, and lots of other great podcasts here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2019-01-1002 min
Words To That EffectWTTE Live at Liberty HallWords To That Effect is back! Episode 24 is a recording of September's live show for the Dublin Podcast Festival.
This episode is a story about a long-forgotten nervous disease. But it’s also a story of science and culture, psychology and mental health, feminism and creativity, war and masculinity. It's about ghost stories, science fiction and cowboy novels...
Featuring live music composed and performed by Ken McCabe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2018-12-3135 min
Words To That EffectAdaptation (How Does a Book Become a Film?)The book is always better than the film.
Or so they say.
But there are obviously quite a few problems with this, as there tends to be with any sweeping generalisation. For some, the book is always better than the film, because books are just better than films, which is something I would mostly agree with. Fiction creates and draws us into a world entirely inside our own imagination. At its best, fiction is far more immersive and engaging than a film can ever be.
But, of course, there are plenty of truly fantastic fil...2018-07-3126 min
Words To That EffectTwo Announcements and an UpdateNo episode this week unfortunately, but I do have two exciting announcements. Have a listen and find out!
More at wttepodcast.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2018-07-1603 min
Words To That EffectBook Clubs: Revolution and PoliticsThe Rick O'Shea Bookclub is Ireland's largest bookclub. It has 17,000 members and is growing fast. Book clubs have never been more popular. But where did they begin, and what role have they played in literary history?
Quite a large role, it turns out: culturally, politically, and commercially.
In this episode I talk to Rick O'Shea about the success of his bookclub, and to Prof DeNel Rehberg Sedo and Dr Amy Prendergast, two experts in the history of books clubs and reading groups.
More at wttepodcast.com/bookclub
Support Words To That Effect at...2018-07-0231 min
Words To That EffectThe Invention of TimeTime, as we understand it today, was only really invented in the Victorian era.
We take it for granted today that our phones and watches and other devices are accurate to the second.
That time zones are clear and fixed – when it’s 3pm in Dublin, it’s also 3pm in London, and 4pm in Paris or 10am in New York. We don’t think twice about the fact that a train can be scheduled to leave at precisely 11.04 and, when it arrives, passengers will be clear as what time it is at their destination
We know...2018-06-1819 min
Words To That EffectDomestic NoirWhy Are There So Many Crime Thrillers With 'Girl' in the Title?
Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, Luckiest Girl Alive, Final Girls... There's no shortage of crime novels with 'girl' in the title since the huge success of Gillian Flynn's 2012 thriller Gone Girl. But what do these novels have in common, what explains their success, and why are classified as domestic noir?
Domestic Noir is a term first applied to fiction of this type by the author Julia Crouch, and it has stuck. Crime novels concerned with the female experience, with the ordinary lives of...2018-06-0426 min
Words To That EffectClimate Change Fiction (Utopia, Pt2)This week's episode continues on from the last episode. So, if you haven't listened to that, head on over to Episode 18 first. From the history of utopia in the last episode, we move to the future of the planet and the climate change fiction that addresses it.
“For me, utopianism is the creative attempt by a group of people to respond to the great challenges of any age and to do so in a way that’s visionary, it’s not limited, it’s not following a set recipe that has an end point, it’s an open ended futur...2018-05-2125 min
Words To That EffectWhat Is Utopia? (Utopia, Pt 1)This is a story of three journeys, by three people, in three very different times. But each of the journeys ends in the same area in the west of Ireland. And each journey is founded on a search for a more perfect world, a search for utopia.
Episode 18 (part one of a two-part episode on utopian literature) explores the utopia in fiction and in reality, in the past, present, and future. What is a utopia exactly and why do we create them? Are they idle dreaming, pointless thought experiments, fantasy worlds we can never reach? Or do utopias s...2018-05-0730 min
Words To That EffectThe 10% Brain MythDo we use only 10% of our brain capacity? (Hint: No)
“It is estimated that most human beings only use 10% of the brain’s capacity. Imagine if we could access more of our cerebral capacity?" This is the central question of the 2014 Scarlett Johannson film, Lucy. And it is not exactly an original idea. Exploring the extraordinary powers gained by accessing the untapped potential of our brains is a ubiquitous trope in popular culture. It's the premise of the Bradley Cooper film Limitless (and the more recent TV version), and the idea appears in TV shows from Star Trek to He...2018-03-2617 min
Words To That EffectTranshumanism, Fiction, and ImmortalityThis is an episode about who we are as humans. And, more importantly, where we are going. About a future in which technology and biology have merged in ways that are in equal part fascinating and terrifying. A future of unparalleled technological ingenuity, but one with deeply problematic ethical concerns.
It’s a future that sounds like science fiction because, in some ways, it is. But it’s a world that’s being designed right now.
Transhumanism is a social movement which aims to use technology to push out the boundaries of the human condition. It aim...2018-03-1232 min
Words To That EffectThe Scarlet Pimpernel & Baroness OrczyThe Scarlet Pimpernel is a character now long disconnected from his origins in a 1903 novel. The Pimpernel is a mysterious Englishman who uses elaborate disguises to heroically rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution. Naming himself after a small red flower, the enigmatic hero's identity is known only to a select few. In reality, he is a wealthy English aristocrat, Sir Percy Blakeney.
The Scarlet Pimpernel has appeared in films, TV series, stage plays, spin-offs and parodies. He is, in fact, the original masked hero - the prototype for Batman, Zorro, the Lone Ranger...2018-02-2625 min
Words To That EffectWeird Fiction & HP LovecraftThe American writer H.P. Lovecraft wrote weird fiction. His work is both weird, in the conventional sense of the word, and Weird, in a more specific sense. His tales are not typical horror stories, but instead invoke a type of cosmic terror, a slow realization that humanity is an insignificant afterthought in a vast universe of indescribably horrific creatures. Protagonists tend to write their stories on the verge of madness, or just before they commit suicide, having uncovered an unspeakable truth. His writing is all about atmosphere, not plot.
Lovecraft has been enormously influential on the...2018-02-1226 min
Words To That EffectSeason 2 PreviewA preview of what's to come on Season 2 of Words To That Effect. There will be utopias, immortality, secret superhero identities, weird fiction and lots more...
For a full description and all the links, head to the Words To That Effect website
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2018-02-0603 min
Words To That EffectThe Ghost Stories of MR JamesThis week’s episode is a Christmas Special. It’s a collaboration with the disturbingly good horror podcast, Down Below The Reservoir. The result is an episode about the ghost stories of MR James, followed by an audio-drama production of “Lost Hearts”, one of James’ classic tales.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-12-1832 min
Words To That EffectThe Horrifically Complicated History of Zombies Whether we like it or not, the zombies are coming for us all. Films, books, computer games, comics and TV shows. From historical and mythical zombies to claims to have proven the scientific truth behind zombification. From the gruesome, cannibalistic monsters of horror, to the harmless creatures of children’s playground games. There are zombie flash mobs and parades, zombie cocktails and drinks. There’s zombie capitalism and zombie corporations. And, of course, the zombie apocalypse.
Episode 12 of Words To That Effect explores the complex cultural history of zombies, from the cane fields of Haiti to the Hollywood scree...2017-11-2724 min
Words To That EffectCesare Lombroso & The Born CriminalCesare Lombroso was an Italian doctor and psychiatrist and he was one of the first people to really consider “criminality” a subject worthy of scientific study. His ideas were groundbreaking and, despite that the fact that he was unbelievably, spectacularly wrong, he is often referred to as the “father of criminology”.
In this episode I am joined by Prof Christine Ferguson to discuss crime and criminals, science and literature, from Dracula to Jekyll and Hyde. Why were Lombroso’s ideas so appealing? How are they connected to our own views on crime today? What if you really could tell a cri...2017-11-1319 min
Words To That EffectThe Endless Influence of Robinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe’s influence has been so powerful that this single work of literature has spawned an entire genre: the Robinsonade. This is the name given to those Crusoe-like stories which involve shipwreck, a desert island, and encountering a strange new society or person There are thousands upon thousands of books and films, plays and poems, tv shows and comic books which take up the Robinson theme.
Defoe’s novel has left a lasting, powerful, complicated, and often dangerous myth in the popular imagination.
In this week’s episode I talk to Dr Ian Kinane about Crusoe...2017-10-3021 min
Words To That EffectImaginary Countries and the Ruritanian RomanceWriters make up imaginary countries all the time, and for a variety of reasons. It’s relatively straightforward to slip in a familiar-sounding name into a part of the world your reader or viewer may not be too familiar with.
Livonia, Wallaria, Tazbekistan…They could be countries, right? But there’s one name in particular which stands out. It is the imaginary country, and the inspiration for an entire subgenre. This is the country of Ruritania.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-10-1616 min
Words To That EffectA Lawyer, an Author, and a Murderer The case of William Edward Hickman went to trial in Los Angeles in 1928. The accused was charged with the gruesome murder of a 12-year-old girl, and he faced the death penalty. The trial was reported all across the U.S. because it was the culmination of a horrific tale of murder and kidnapping which had gripped the entire nation.
This is the story of a murder which encompasses psychiatry, heredity, and a world-famous writer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-10-0213 min
Words To That EffectOverpopulation from Malthus to ManilaA baby girl was born in a hospital in the Philippines, on 30th October, 2011. However, unlike all the other children born that day, the arrival of Danica May Camacho was witnessed by a crowd of photographers and journalists. The world’s media were gathered in a hospital in Manila because this little girl was the 7 billionth person on earth.
“Overpopulation” is a word that gets used and abused in a variety of ways. But while much of the discussion around it may seem like a relatively modern concern, especially given how quickly the world population is currently growing, as a co...2017-09-1816 min
Words To That EffectNeurasthenia, Cowboys, and FeministsIn 1881 an American neurologist named George Miller Beard published a hugely influential book: American Nervousness. In it, he laid out the symptoms, cures, and implications of what he called “neurasthenia”, essentially what one might call nervous exhaustion. If you read books or newspapers from the 1880s right through to at least the 1930s you find numerous accounts of neurasthenia. Characters in fiction are constantly suffering from it. Every newspaper ran ads claiming to cure the disease. But what was it exactly, and why was it called the “national disease of America”?
This week I’m joined by Prof Brendan Kel...2017-09-0418 min
Words To That EffectCanals on MarsFor as long as humans have been looking at the night sky, the planet Mars has fascinated us. But while astronomers had charted the movements of the planet for hundreds of years, there had never been a chance to see the planet in any detail. Then, in 1877, everything changed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-08-2116 min
Words To That EffectWhat is Popular Literature?What is popular literature? Walk into most bookshops and you will find fiction categories like “Crime”, “Science Fiction”, and “Horror”. You will also tend to find a section called “Literature”. But how does a book get placed here? Is there really such a thing as “Literature” (with a capital “L”)?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-08-0616 min
Words To That EffectIrish Science FictionWhat is Irish Science Fiction? Ireland is not, it is fair to say, the first country that springs to mind when you think “science fiction”. When aliens land on Earth, we tend to assume they’ll land in New York, or London, or Tokyo. Definitely not Dublin or Cork.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-07-2018 min
Words To That EffectArthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and SpiritualismSherlock Holmes is the most rational and scientific detective of them all. So why did his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, passionately believe in ghosts, fairies, and telepathy? Arthur Conan Doyle Arthur Conan Doyle is now best remembered as the creator of Sherlock Holmes. In fact, his creation has long taken read more...
The post Episode 2: Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Spiritualism appeared first on Words To That Effect.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-07-1017 min
Words To That EffectInvasion Fiction, William Le Queux, and Fake NewsWhat is invasion fiction? Who was the mysterious William Le Queux? Why did a group of famous British authors secretly meet at the outbreak of World War I? And what did “fake news” look like a century ago? Episode 1 of Words To That Effect explores the power of read more...
The post Episode 1: Invasion Fiction, William Le Queux, and Fake News appeared first on Words To That Effect.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-06-2515 min
Words To That EffectIntroductionAn Introduction and a Preview.
Welcome to Words To That Effect, a new podcast that tells stories of the fiction that shapes popular culture. This is a short introduction to the podcast, telling you a little bit about the format, the guests, and what you can expect...
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2017-06-2203 min