Anyone who’s ever written fantasy has faced this problem: You have hit the point of conflict in a story where problems can no longer be worked out with witty retorts or a magic spell. The orcs are at the gates, the peace talks have broken down…that’s right—you’re going to have to write a battle scene. In this episode, we talk to Suzannah Rowntree, author of How to Write a Fantasy Battle: Basic Medieval and Modern Military Tactics for Authors, The Watchers of Outremer Series, and other historical fantasies, about how to get a battle right.

Show Notes:

• Suzannah's Bluesky: suzannahrowntree
• Suzannah's Instagram: suzannahsnaps
• Suzannahrowntree.site
• How to Write a Fantasy Battle: Basic Medieval and Modern Military Tactics for Authors
• Western Warfare In The Age Of The Crusades, 1000-1300 by John France
• Byzantine flamethrower
• Battle of Antioch (1098)
• Battle of Hattin (1187)
• Seventh Crusade
• Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds and the Medieval Surgeon by Piers D. Mitchell
• Magistra Hersend
• Godfrey of Bouillon
• The Rebellion Of Count Hugh Of Jaffa
• 
  

Happy Halloween! We're talking about WITCHES! A staple of fantasy, horror, and Broadway musicals, witches can be anything from a murderous presence in the woods to the friendly neighbourhood Wiccan who revives your dying African violet. So let's get our witch on!

Show Notes:

• Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
• Spirited Away (2001)
• VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Helpless"
• Barbie-Yaga Dream Hut
• Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, "Baba Yaga: Everyone's Favorite Witch From Folklore" Part 1 and Part 2
• Baba Yaga: The greatest 'wicked witch' of all?
• The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
• Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici
• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
• "Love Potion No. 9" by the Clovers
• The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
• Season of the Witch (2011)
• Bewitched (1964-1972)
• The Good Witch (2008)
• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2020)
• Charmed (1998-2006)
• 
  

You guys had so many science questions that our resident scientists couldn't answer them all in just one episode! In this episode, Rob & Jon Mound tackle important questions such as time travel, the mutability or lack thereof of the laws of physics, and dragon taxonomy. Also, why we are not going to Mars.

• Show Notes:
• The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
• The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
• The Time Machine (1960)
• Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee
• The Walking Dead
• World of Warcraft corrupted blood incident
• Game of Thrones dragons
• Coelacanth
• Unusual anal fin offers new insight into evolution
• Tiktaalik
• Total Recall (1990) terraforming Mars scene
• Spaceballs (1987)

Keep the conversation going, or ask the Science Bros more questions by joining our Discord or Facebook group!