On this episode of Storybeater, Anthony and Andrew talk about the enduring appeal and endless adaptability of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', and how it explores themes of performance, authorship, and gender. 

In the second half of the show, they discuss "author as god" and how creating a fictional world exposes a writer's moral beliefs -- whether intentionally or unintentionally. The discussion includes L.A. Confidential. the redemption of Spike in Buffy, the damnation of Sherlock in Sherlock, and period values in period fiction.

In 'What I'm Writing', Anthony has an update on his novel progress, and Andrew talks about the challenge of writing five-page comic scripts.

In 'What I'm Reading', Anthony talks about the academic study of Steven Segal, and Andrew praises the madness of the Bong Joon-ho movie Snowpiercer.

You can find the Comic Survival Kit tumblr (not Comics Writer's Toolkit as we said in the show) at comicssurvivalkit.tumblr.com.

You can watch the 1980 BBC production of The Tempest, starring Michael Horden as Prospero, at YouTube. 

On this week's episode, Anthony and Andrew talk about GK Chesterton's 'The Man Who Was Thursday' -- comic satire, metaphysical thriller, and religious parable all combined in a story that still feels timely a century later.

Then the conversation turns to research, and how to strike the fine balance between doing enough and doing too much!

Finally, they talk about what they've been reading this week. Anthony talks about Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's spy thriller comic Velvet, and Andrew talks about his first encounter with the new Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition roleplaying game.

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