Time 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 another way, all fiction is time travel fiction. All stories rely on time read more…
2020 Update
Unfortunately due to, well, life, and things that are far, far outside my control, I won’t be getting the next WTTE episode out today (14th) as planned. Things will return as soon as possible thought and I have 3 new episodes in the works. Most likely I’ll just skip this read more…
Christmas Bonus Episode: A Victorian Christmas Ghost Story
Normal episodes will resume in the new year but, in the mean time, I have made a very special Christmas episode. The Christmas before last I released an M.R. James story, following a Christmas tradition of ghost stories going back to Victorian times. So, I’ve decided to do it again, read more…
Ep 39: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar 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 read more…
Ep 38: Children’s Picture Books
Unlike modernist poetry or Shakespearean drama, when it comes to children’s picture books, 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 read more…
Ep 37: The Golden Age of Piracy
Pirates have been around, for a very long time. 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 read more…
Ep 36: Blood, Death, and Varney the Vampire
There 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 read more…
Ep 35: Jekyll & Hyde (Transcripts)
Transcripts below for Episode 35: Jekyll & Hyde. Full show notes are on the main page here. You can listen below or on your favourite podcast app. Transcript I’m Conor Reid, with Words To That Effect. Stories of the fiction that shapes popular culture. In the summer of 1888, in read more…
Ep 35: Jekyll and Hyde
For most people today, I think it’s fair to say, the story of Jekyll and Hyde is a rough outline of a tale, a fairly straightforward allegory of the potential dark side within us all. Read Robert Louis Stevenson’s original novella, however, and you immediately realise there is so much read more…
Season 4 Trailer
Season 4 is here! The new season of Words To That Effect will launch next Tuesday, 15th October. Have a listen to a short trailer of what’s to come. If you’re not caught up, now’s the time to listen to any or all of the previous 34 episodes. Have a read more…
Upcoming Live Shows!
In exciting news, Caroline Crampton (of the podcast Shedunnit) and I are teaming up for a joint live show at the Dublin Podcast Festival and PodUK! The title is yet to be confirmed – what do you think: Shedunnit to that Effect or Words Dunnit Either way, I’m very excited read more…
Bonus Episode!
Season 4 of WTTE is coming very soon. In the meantime, as promised, there is a bonus episode waiting for you over on Patreon: “A Brief History of a Hollow Earth” This is exclusive bonus content for patrons of the show so the only way to find out if there read more…
Ep 34: The Art of the Short Story
There 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 read more…
Ep 33: The Noun of Nouns (The Rise of Modern Fantasy Literature)
What is Fantasy Literature? What do you think of, when you think of the genre of fantasy? Whether it’s fiction, TV, cinema, 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 read more…
Ep32: Golden Age Detective Fiction
An 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 drawing room with the read more…