This week I'm joined by Dr Ryan Denson, who really is the sea monster guy (though it's not on his socials yet). We talk about the ketos, the hippocamps, and Scylla and Charybdis, including why Charybdis in the Odyssey is just a whirlpool and never actually gets a body.

Ryan explains how a lot of these monsters started with real animals and with people simply not knowing what was 'under the sea' (excuse the pun). He also talks about how ancient peoples passed these stories around, and how the monsters took on the imagery of each culture that told them.

We also cover ghosts and necromancy, Leviathan and Beelzebub, Beowulf's sea monsters, and the aspidochelone, a Byzantine sea creature so big that sailors thought it was an island.

This episode reminded us that there is no 'true' myth, and that ancient peoples travelled a great deal more than we give them credit for. Hence the transference of ideas, and monsters.

You can find Dr Denson's book here: A Zoobiography of the Ancient Sea Monster: : Ancient Environments Ryan Denson Bloomsbury Academic - Bloomsbury

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We would love to hear from you.

Music: Intro and outro — Spirits of the Woods by Rotem Moav.

www.mythsgamesmeaning.com

If you enjoyed the show please buy me a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/jenahra1e

Follow us on instagram @mythsgamesmeaning

Rome is burning. The Four Horsemen are riding. And somehow that's the same story as a Fallout quest.

In this special episode: I sit down with writer Tom Nolan Kelly, co-founder of TIVA (True Indie Voice Art) "a collective of artists who create audio plays and give them away for free, funded entirely through Patreon and a 'pay what you want' system."

We dive into why the big audio platforms are quietly starving indie creators, why Book of Revelation apocalypse imagery is the secret engine of Pax Romana's Rome, and why the aqua vitae shows up as a plot engine in the most unexpected place: a Fallout quest.

Then we get into Tom's modding Oblivion and Fallout 3 as a kid, why Mass Effect is still the gold standard for choice and character attachment, and why Tom writes hopeful sci-fi.

And we close on the fight that matters most right now: AI, corporate greed, and what's left for voice actors when both come for their credits and royalties.

• Founding TIVA with Alix Wilton Regan. "A collective of artists who create audio plays and give them away for free," funded through Patreon and 'pay what you want'.
• How major audio platforms punish independent creators.
• TIVA Patreon, bonus material, and actually getting close to the actors behind your favourite games.
• Tom Modding Oblivion and Fallout 3 as a kid.
• The Four Horsemen and the Book of Revelations inside Pax Romana's vision of Rome's collapse.
• The aqua vitae: Fallout's Revelation quote and why "water of life" is the plot engine that really inspired Tom's work.
• Writing optimistic sci-fi.
• Mass Effect and what it can teach us about choice, diplomacy, and attachment.
• AI, corporate habits, and the unfair treatment of voice actors' credits and royalties.

You can find Tom's work and those of your favourite game actors at tivoice.art

And you can find more Myths, Games and Meaning at mythsgamesmeaning.com and on Instagram @mythsgamesmeaning.

We would love to hear from you.

Music: Intro and outro — Spirits of the Woods by Rotem Moav.

www.mythsgamesmeaning.com

If you enjoyed the show please buy me a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/jenahra1e

Follow us on instagram @mythsgamesmeaning

Medusa has been a monster, a warning, a victim, and a symbol. In this episode, Dr Dani Shalet is joined by Dr Gina Bevan, whose work explores pop culture, gender, queer narratives, and ancient myth. Together they trace Medusa’s shifting meanings across myth and modernity, exploring fear, seduction, repression, and the power of the gaze. Their conversation also considers how Medusa has become a figure of empowerment, reclaimed by artists, writers, and thinkers who see strength where earlier traditions saw only danger or desire.

We would love to hear from you.

Music: Intro and outro — Spirits of the Woods by Rotem Moav.

www.mythsgamesmeaning.com

If you enjoyed the show please buy me a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/jenahra1e

Follow us on instagram @mythsgamesmeaning