Ficsation

S.S. Fitzgerald joins Daniel to talk about Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and the enormous multimedia franchise the novel spawned. They discuss how the books differ from their movie adaptations, how the sequels and additional content have contributed to the world of Jurassic Park (and which ones are good or not) and how Crichton’s work left a lasting impact on Shaun’s own writings.

Author Ian Salavon joins Daniel to discuss the tabletop roleplaying game, Torg: Eternity - how it works, the wild but sincere worldbuilding and also the things it has in common with Ian’s writing style.

Joel Flanagan-Grannemann joins Daniel to delve into a more obscure part of Star Wars media, the radio play adaptations of the original trilogy from the 1980s and 1990s. They discuss how they expand on the characters, provide additional context to the movies and how listening to a good audio performance can improve your writing.

Daniel is joined by fellow author, Jan Miklaszewicz to discuss The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. They delve into the original book, the acclaimed film adaptation Blatty also wrote the screenplay for and the sequels to both. They look into why The Exorcist inspired so many other stories and why the classic holds up to this very day.

Daniel is joined by horror writer Sarah R. New to discuss Inside No. 9, a black comedy anthology series created by the legendary Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

To kick off Ficsation’s new season, Daniel is joined by author Saffron from BOOKED and Indiosyncrasy. They discuss It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it’s great characters (who are terrible people) and it’s surprisingly timeless comedy. Check out BOOKED here: https://open.spotify.com/show/4pYbOV8gK76sOg5CwsNkEL Go to Indiosyncrasy here: https://linktr.ee/indiosyncrasy

In the finale of the first season, Jon takes over as host and Daniel gets the chance to talk about one of his fixations. In this case, Tim Minchin’s dramedy Upright. They discuss how the show combines an irreverent tone with outlandish humour and very real dramatic beats and characters. They also gush about the killer soundtrack as an added bonus. Content Warning: Upright deals a lot with issues involving mortality and suicide.

Andy and Daniel talk about the intriguing worldbuilding of the Dorsai books, how it has inspired generations of science fiction writers and how its storytelling and characters are infused with intriguing philosophy.

Daniel is joined by his Stories Across Borders co-host to talk about iconic 90’s/early 2000s cartoon, Courage the Cowardly Dog. They discuss how the show explored various fears, and often surprisingly dark storylines, in a way that was both educational and palatable for children. Content Warning: Courage the Cowardly Dog often touched on very real phobias and traumas, even if they were presented in a kid-friendly manner. We do touch on these things in the episode.

Daniel is joined by the Brockton Bay Chronicles’ Keith for a break in the formula. They discuss Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey - both the original Carl Sagan version and the Neil deGrasse Tyson remake - and how the show uses storytelling to foster an interest in history and the sciences.

Eva Langston talks to Daniel about Gillian Flynn’s novel-turned-film, Gone Girl and why she counts it among her fiction fixations. They discuss the deep layers of characterisation and theming in the story, as well as the masterfully executed plot and its big twist.

Marv_Missy introduces you to the weird world of Kingdom Hearts, a game franchise mixing Disney with Square Enix JRPGs. She unravels the franchise’s twisted timeline, expounds upon why Kingdom Hearts III makes her mad and does a pretty good job of convincing Daniel it might be worth giving the franchise a chance.