Realms Unknown

By: The Bugle
  • Summary

  • Fantasy, Sci Fi and speculative fiction, observed through the comedic lens of The Bugle. Become a Bugle subscriber to enjoy this show ad free and help us thrive.


    Please take our listener survey so we can do even better: http://bit.ly/realmsunknown-survey


    Expect reviews and supernova level hot takes on literature, gaming, films, TV, board games, and anywhere else you can experience space ships, clones and beautiful elves with massive weapons.


    A podcast from The Bugle. Hosted by Alice Fraser and friends. Also available as a video podcast.

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

    The Bugle, and Alice Fraser
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Episodes
  • 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


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    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 mins
  • Sentient plants // Joe Abercrombie // Kurt Vonnegut
    Apr 22 2025

    Host Alice Fraser and James Colley bring you episode 14 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    It's a mushroom / plant life / flora core / sentient forest special!


    • 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 14

    In this week's sci fi and fantasy/real world crossover news, is there life on distant planet K2-18B, and are dire wolves making a comeback?


    James has been enjoying The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie and Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges, while Alice has been dipping a toe into Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson.


    In this week's Trope on a Rope section, the forced 'here's six months earlier' flashbacks are annoying James and Alice really wishes that people would just wear appropriate headwear in the desert.


    Kurt Vonnegut's use of misogyny tarnishes James' otherwise love of the author, along with fatness being used as shorthand for evil of some sort.


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


    Hosts' books

    Alice Fraser - A Passion for Passion

    James Colley - The Next Big Thing


    What have you been into?

    The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

    Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges

    Mushroom Blues - Adrian M. Gibson


    Sub-genre deep dive: plant life / flora core

    The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

    War of the Worlds - HG Wells

    FILM Little Shop of Horrors

    Hyperion - Dan Simmons

    TV Farscape

    ‘Amnesty’ from Bloodchild and Other Stories - Octavia Butler

    TV/GAME The Last of Us

    The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett

    TV Seeds of Doom - Dr Who episode

    Blue Moon Rising - Simon R Green

    GAME Botanica

    GAME Strange Horticulture

    GAME Caves of Qud

    GAME Hollow Knight


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Find us on Bluesky!

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

    📧 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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    38 mins
  • The Last of Us // Admin and bureaucracy // Limb difference
    Apr 15 2025

    Host Alice Fraser, and Tom Neenan bring you episode 13 of Realms Unknown: your one-stop show for genre fiction tropes, news and recommendations!


    Please take our listener survey so we can do even better: http://bit.ly/realmsunknown-survey


    • All episodes are available in your podcast feed and on our YouTube channel
    • Support Realms Unknown by becoming a Team Bugle subscriber thebuglepodcast.com/donate
    • You can support 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 13

    In this week's news, Alice makes international front pages after she decides not to take a trip the US, Nanowrimo is cancelled (the organisation, not the event) and we may soon see more quality sci-fi from China.


    Tom has recently been enjoying the start of season two of The Last of Us, while Alice has been distracting herself from real-life dystopian futures by dipping back into the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik.


    Tom's trope on a rope for this week is the oil pit fire scene, used way too often, while Alice's is the antisocial heroine.


    In Mines of Urgh, Tom is looking for positive representations of limb difference, given that it's commonly used as a signifier for evil.


    And listener Jen convinces Tom so convincingly to read The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, that he orders the book during the podcast record!


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


    What have you been into?

    TV - The Last of Us

    Temeraire series - Naomi Novik


    Convince Me

    The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness


    Sub-genre deep dive: admin/bureaucracy

    TV Star Trek

    The Craft Sequence - Max Gladstone

    FILM Terry Gilliam - Brazil

    Vorkosigan Saga series - Lois McMaster Bujold

    FILM Alien Romulus

    TV Dr Who episodes The Sunmakers / Paradise Towers

    Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

    GAME Papers Please

    GAME Return of the Obra Dinn

    FILM Shin Godzilla

    Tyrant Philosophers series - Adrian Tchaikovsky

    Landover series - Terry Brooks

    The Traitor Baru Cormorant series - Seth Dickinson

    Dagger and Coin series - Daniel Abraham

    Terry Pratchett

    FILM Amazing Grace


    Mines of Urgh

    Star Wars

    Good Omens


    🔔 Subscribe, like, and comment!

    🦋 Find 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.

    Show more Show less
    37 mins
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