Electronic

Episode 27 – All You Need is Love?

Happy Valentine’s Day (or Singles Awareness Day)! Seeing as the calendar reads February 14, we finally give up our pride, and our prejudice, and examine the idea of romance in fiction. In Story School, author Dawn Crandall shares experiences gleaned from

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Episode 25 – In Which We Techno-Babble

01001000 01100101…er, I mean, Hello! I write to you through the wonders of electricity, fiber optics, Pentium chips, and other things that work by magic AKA science. This episode, Nick and Tim examine how technology not only continues to change how stor

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Episode 22 – Fear As a Fun Factor

Ah, Halloween. This is that festive time of year when such cuddly, creepy, heart-warming, bone-chilling creatures as evil witches, blood-slurping vampires, rotting zombies, and gory chainsaw-wielding psychopaths grace the forefront of our popular culture.

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Episode 16 – Come, Let’s Play a Story Together!

Admit it. Sometimes when you’re reading a book, you wish you could jump in and spend some time in that world. This episode, Tim and Nick discuss formats in which you ARE the main character of a story—Choose Your Own Adventures, video games, and other form

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Episode 14 – The Frolics and Freak-outs of Fandom

Trekkies, MSTies, Browncoats, Twi-hards, Gleeks, Whovians, Deleteheads…. How does a story spawn its own subculture? Fanfiction writer Laura Fischer joins us to discuss what drives fans to create new fiction, art, and communities about their favorite sto

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Episode 12 – YA! A New Episode!

YA! Why are we so excited? Because everyone loves YA (young adult) books, and we have resident YA book expert Natasha Hayden with us this episode to discuss YA trends, explain why she enjoys YA books more than regular adult fiction, and give us her readin

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Episode 10 – I Need a Hero!

Strong. Noble. Honest. The hero grips sword in hand, righteous and determined, and sets upon his quest to right the wrongs of the world. Will he succeed? And why do we care? In our milestone 10th podcast, Tim and Nick discuss what makes a hero heroic, com

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Episode 9 – Once Upon A Time, Again

Are you buried under a mountain of continuity? Are you lost among a crowd of extraneous characters? Does your story stink to high heaven with the concerns of yesteryear? Don’t worry! Just REBOOT! This episode, THRILL as Nick and Tim discuss the reasons wh

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Episode 3 – From Boredom to Book

Two days late and a little long, but we finally have Episode 3 up and running! It’s a packed episode, too. We start with a discussion of time management (see how that worked out with our late podcast), and end up somewhere in Jim Henson and Pixar territor

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Episode 1 – Beginning at the End

This is it – the first official Derailed Trains of Thought podcast! Featuring your intrepid and intriguing hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden, we delve into the end of all things, or at least, the end of a few things. Along the way, we touch upon a long u

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