Episodios

  • Translated works // Under The Skin // Bikini armour
    Jun 17 2025

    Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan bring you episode 22 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    Episode 22

    This week's news respectfully looks at buff geek Henry Cavill's forthcoming Highlander movie, and Tom and Alice dive into all manner of good things sci fi and fantasy. This week's deep dive is all about translated works!


    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

    Alice Fraser - Calm World: Introduction to Meditation

    Tom Neenan - Zeroes - David Reed


    News

    FILM Highlander

    APP Zombies! Run!


    What have you been enjoying?

    FILM Under The Skin

    Under The Skin - Michael Faber

    Behooved - M. Stevenson


    Trope on a rope - bikini armour / warrior maiden vagina chokehold

    Jill Bearup - Just Stab Me Now


    Sub genre deep dive - sci fi and fantasy in translation

    The Odyssey

    The Iliad

    Beowulf - Maria Dahvana Headley

    Beowulf - Seamus Heany

    Asterix & Obelix

    The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem

    The Melting - Lize Spit

    ANIME Neon Genesis Evangelion

    TV Dark

    The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko

    FILM The City of Lost Children


    Mines of Urrgh

    FILM Elysium

    FILM Mountainhead

    Mr Men - Roger Hargreaves


    Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast

    Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate

    Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

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    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    40 m
  • Deep Dive: Tamora Pierce
    Jun 11 2025

    Alice is joined by Chris Skinner to discuss the work of Tamora Pierce. They also chat about Murderbot and Sarah J Maas - is Romantasy sexy enough?


    Search for Chris’s show Mildly Informed in your pod feed now.


    Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast

    Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate

    Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    36 m
  • Neurodivergent heroes // Murderbot // Guillermo del Toro
    Jun 3 2025

    Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan bring you episode 20 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    This week, it's all about neurodivergent heroes in sci-fi and fantasy!


    Episode 20

    This week's news features Guillermo del Toro's new Frankenstein movie, the new Predator: Killer of Killers movie and is gravity proof that life on Earth is actually a simulation?


    Hear what Alice and Tom have been enjoying recently, which tropes they love or hate, then take a deep dive with them into early sci-fi and fantasy, and hear the things that they used to love but now make them feel a bit urrrgh.


    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion


    Tom Neenan - The Hauntening

    Tom Neenan Is Not All Men


    News

    FILM Frankenstein

    FILM Predator: Killer of Killers

    FILM Mountainhead


    What have you been into?

    TV Rick and Morty

    Blood Song - Anthony Ryan

    Witch King - Martha Wells


    Sub-genre deep dive: neurodivergent heroes

    Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

    TV Bones

    Temperance Brennan series - Kathy Reichs

    A Drop of Corruption - Robert Jackson Bennett

    TV Star Trek

    TV Red Dwarf


    The mines of urrrgh

    FILM Passengers


    Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast

    Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate

    Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    46 m
  • Gender // Scholomance // Honor Harrington
    May 27 2025

    Host Alice Fraser and author Patrick Lenton bring you episode 19 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    This week, we're looking at gender!


    Episode 19

    This week's news features The Wheel of Time getting cancelled, Lilo and Stitch doing surprisingly well at the box office, and a fantasy author caught using AI to write in her own style!


    Hear what Alice and Patrick have been enjoying recently, which tropes they love or hate, then take a deep dive with them into early sci-fi and fantasy, and hear the things that they used to love but now make them feel a bit urrrgh.


    Host books

    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

    Patrick Lenton - In Spite of You


    News

    TV The Wheel of Time

    FILM Lilo and Stitch


    What have you been into?

    Scholomance Trilogy - Naomi Novik

    Blood over Bright Haven - M.L. Wang

    TV Andor


    Trope on a rope

    TV Charmed


    Sub-genre deep dive: gender

    The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

    The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin

    Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie

    The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells

    The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan

    TV Rings of Power

    TV Xena: Warrior Princess

    Ethan of Athos - Lois McMaster Bujold

    The Honorverse - David Weber

    TV Deep Space Nine

    Terry Pratchett Discworld series

    Lady’s Knight - Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

    The Bright Sword - Lev Grossman


    The mines of urrrgh

    Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson

    Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley


    Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows https://www.youtube.com/@BuglePodcast

    Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate

    Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/RealmsUnknown


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Patrick Lenton.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    44 m
  • Sinners // Experiments in Form // Guards! Guards!
    May 20 2025

    Host Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan (The Mash Report, The Hauntening) bring you episode 18 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    This week, we're looking at experiments in form!


    Episode 18

    This week's news features the Highlander remake moving to Amazon, Sinners continuing to tear up the box office, and the sad introduction of AI-narrated audiobooks.


    Hear what Alice and Tom have been enjoying recently, which tropes they love or hate, then take a deep dive with them into early sci-fi and fantasy, and hear the things that they used to love but now make them feel a bit urrrgh.


    Host book

    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion


    News

    FILM Highlander remake

    FILM Sinners


    What have you been into?

    FILM Sinners

    The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman

    The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells


    Trope on a rope

    Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett


    Sub-genre deep dive: experiments in form

    The Book of Good Times - Hank Green

    The Ship of Theseus - VM Straka

    This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

    SCP-3008

    Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

    Subcutanean - Aaron Reed

    PODCAST - The Last Post

    PODCAST - Revolutions

    WEBCOMIC - xkcd

    WEBCOMIC - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

    PODCAST Beef and Dairy Network

    PODCAST Welcome to Night Vale


    Convince Me

    The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness

    Redshirts - John Scalzi


    The mines of urrrgh

    FILM Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

    FILM Wall-E


    Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows

    Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate

    Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Tom Neenan.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    46 m
  • Early sci-fi and fantasy // Foundation // Ghostbusters
    May 13 2025

    Host Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton bring you episode 17 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for speculative fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    This week, we're looking at early sci fi and fantasy!


    Episode 17

    This week's news features the Apple TV+ series Foundation, a surprisingly sexual story about E.T. and how Margaret Attwood receiving an entertainment award may distract from similarities with current issues.


    Hear what Alice and Eleanor have been enjoying recently, which tropes they love or hate, then take a deep dive with them into early sci-fi and fantasy, and hear the things that they used to love but now make them feel a bit urrrgh.


    Host books

    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

    Eleanor Morton - Life Lessons From Historical Women


    News

    TV Foundation

    FILM E.T.


    What have you been into?

    The Lost World - Arthur Conan Doyle

    Dinotopia - James Gurney

    The Daughters’ War - Christopher Buelman

    The Edge Chronicles - Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell


    Sub-genre deep dive: early sci-fi and fantasy

    Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

    The Last Man - Mary Shelley

    FILM Elysium (diversion)

    Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne

    20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Jules Verne

    From the Earth to the Moon - Jules Verne

    The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - Alan Garner

    Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift

    GAME: The Landlord’s Game

    The Odyssey - Homer

    One Thousand and One Nights / Arabian Nights

    Le Morte d’Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory

    Lud in the Mist - Hope Mirrlees

    The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson

    Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke


    The mines of urrrgh

    FILM Ghostbusters

    Tintin


    Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows

    Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber https://thebuglepodcast.com/donate

    Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Eleanor Morton.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    40 m
  • Andor // The wrong side of the law // Sleeper Beach
    May 6 2025

    Host Alice Fraser and fellow writer, podcaster and comedian Andrew Hunter Murray (QI, Private Eye, Austentatious) bring you episode 16 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    This week, we're looking at heroes operating outside of the law in sci fi and fantasy!


    • Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows
    • Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber thebuglepodcast.com/donate
    • Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store
    • Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.


    Episode 16

    In this week's news roundup of sci-fi and fantasy in the real world, there's an actual working bionic hand, actor Issa Rae says she could never fall in love with a chatbot, and there's also book news of an alien abduction Rom-Com!


    Andrew has been enjoying the latest Star Wars series Andor and the Japanese epic kaiju film Godzilla Minus One, while Alice has been deep into reading Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen.


    We, of course, bring you tropes galore! Hey, remember though, guys - humans are messy and you're going to love this back story about girls cross-dressing as boys to become attractive to other girls.


    Alice's mines of urrgh this week is Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree, and they wonder should you edit on the fly while reading to your child and should books have newer editions without the discomfort?


    Host books

    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

    Andrew Hunter Murray - A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering


    News

    Never Let Me Go / Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

    I Got Abducted By Aliens And Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-com - Kimberly Lemming


    What have you been into?

    Andor

    Godzilla Minus One

    Wake of Vultures - Lila Bowen


    Sub-genre deep dive: heroes operating outside of the law

    Firefly

    The Expanse

    Alien series

    Sleeper Beach - Nick Harkaway

    Sabriel - Garth Nix

    Judge Dredd

    Hot Fuzz

    Peter Pan

    Jungle Book

    Taltos - Steven Brust

    V For Vendetta - Alan Moore

    The Watchmen - Alan Moore

    Minority Report

    Star Wars


    Trope on a rope

    The World's End

    Independence Day

    Men In Black

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    Rings of Power


    The mines of urrrgh

    The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Andrew Hunter Murray.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    43 m
  • Parenting // My Neighbour Totoro // Raised By Wolves
    Apr 29 2025

    Hosts Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner bring you episode 15 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    This week, we're looking at actual parenting in sci fi and fantasy!


    • Subscribe to The Bugle YouTube channel for episodes of all of our shows
    • Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber thebuglepodcast.com/donate
    • Help your local bookshop by buying the books mentioned in the show in our Bookshop affiliate store
    • Explore the list of all books, games, films and TV series below.


    Episode 15

    In this week's sci fi and fantasy news, the new trailer for Predator: Badlands is pretty fantastic and horror movie Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan is doing huge things at the box office.


    Chris had a really joyous time watching the stage production of Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro, and enjoyed bingeing the TV series Paradise. Alice has been laid on her back reading A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett and The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso.


    Chris isn't keen on the trope of the thick cockney-sounding low level bad guys, and Alice notes the trope of kids being aged up and dropped back into the plot later on, or even people having previously undeclared secret children!


    Alice's mines of urrgh this week is the comic book Phantom which she enjoyed as a child, but has not dated well unless you're particularly keen on white saviour complex.


    For all of the books mentioned in the sub genre deep dive this week, please see the lists below!


    Alice's book

    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion


    Chris' podcast

    Mildly Informed


    News

    FILM Predator: Badlands

    FILM: Sinners


    What have you been into?

    THEATRE (/FILM) My Neighbour Totoro

    A Drop of Corruption - Robert Jackson Bennett

    The Last Hour Between Worlds - Melissa Caruso

    TV Paradise


    Sub-genre deep dive: parenting

    TV Raised by Wolves

    MANGA Lone Wolf and Cub - writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima

    TV Sweet Tooth

    Heir to Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier

    GRAPHIC NOVEL Saga

    FILM Beasts of the Southern Wild

    GAME God of War

    Tehanu - Ursula Le Guin

    Broken Earth trilogy - N K Jemisin

    The Road - Cormac McCarthy

    Thud - Terry Pratchett


    The mines of urrrgh

    COMIC - Phantom


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Follow us on Bluesky!

    Produced by Chris Skinner and Ped Hunter. Hosted by Alice Fraser and Chris Skinner.

    📧 Got questions, feedback, or suggestions? Email us at realmsunknown@thebuglepodcast.com

    🌐 Visit thebuglepodcast.com to support us and find more!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    39 m
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