Stories Across Borders
Stories Across Borders is Daniel’s fiction-focused podcast where he, along with his various guests, discusses stories told across a wide range of different mediums. The podcast follows a cyclical format where each set of four episodes follows a theme.
The first episode will always be a more general discussion based on the theme. The next two will focus on specific examples of that theme. The final episode in a cycle features a reading of a story - usually one written by Daniel himself for the episode - and follow-up discussion.
Stories Across Borders is also available on Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Season 2: Episode 8 - Digging
Jon reads Daniel’s short story, Digging. Then, the two of them discuss how the story relates to the theme of positivity - in particular, how positivity can actually breed conflict and character development in a story.
Season 2: Episode 7 - Space Boy
Daniel and Jon discuss Stephen McCranie’s Webtoon, Space Boy. They examine how it uses positivity to explore heartfelt, emotional and often surprisingly dark story elements in a meaningful way while touching on both healthy and unhealthy forms of positivity in-universe.
Season 2: Episode 6 - Forrest Gump
Daniel and Jon discuss how Forrest Gump handles positivity. They examine the strengths and flaws of its philosophy and examine the idealism and romanticism in the story.
Season 2: Episode 5 - Positivity
Daniel and Jon begin their next cycle with a discussion of positivity in stories. In particular, they focus on just how important a story’s positive aspects are for driving the plot forward and adding emotional weight.
Season 2: Episode 4 - City of Cycles
In the last of Daniel and Jon’s episodes on time travel, Jon reads Daniel’s short story, City of Cycles. The two of them then break down the story and discuss why Daniel made the writing choices he did and how City of Cycles relates back to things discussed in the previous episodes.
Season 2: Episode 3 - Predestination
Daniel and Jon continue their cycle on time travel stories with an episode on the 2014 film, Predestination. They examine the unique way the movie tells a tragic and mind-boggling story through paradoxes and linear time travel.
Season 2: Episode 2 - Higurashi/Re:Zero
Daniel and Jon take a look at a pair of Japanese series that both feature time loops very heavily. Through their discussion, they explore the types of stories that time loops are good for telling and why those stories are so impactful. They also get to geek out about some of their personal favourites.
Season 2: Episode 1 - Time Travel
Daniel and Jon return from their break with the first episode of both a new season and a new cycle. This time around, they discuss one of the oldest plot devices in science fiction: time travel. What are the different types of time travel story and what are they good for?
Episode Twenty-Five: Star Wars KOTOR
Daniel is joined once more by Jay and Jon to finish both their special cycle of episodes on Star Wars but also season one of the podcast with a look at the Knights of the Old Republic games. They examine themes of redemption, when you should and should not be heavy-handed in your storytelling and the narrative impact of deconstructing and questioning the philosophy of your own universe.
Episode Twenty-Four: Star Wars TV
Daniel, Jay and Jon discuss Disney’s interwoven Star Wars television series. They investigate some of the complaints the fanbase have raised and take a look at the many things they do right in expanding the worldbuilding of the universe and bridging the gaps between movies.
Episode Twenty-Three: Star Wars Sequels
Daniel returns with Jay and Jon Coenan to continue the special Star Wars cycle of episodes. This time around, they take a look at the much maligned sequel trilogy and examine why it left a sour taste in the mouths of much of the fanbase as well as the things it actually did right.
Episode Twenty-Two: Star Wars Prequels
Daniel, Jay and Jon return once again to a galaxy far far away to discuss the once-maligned and now memed Star Wars prequel trilogy - The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. They discuss how these films deepened and greatly expanded upon the mythos and philosophy of the Star Wars universe and attempted to tell a much more layered and complex story than that of their predecessors.
Episode Twenty-One: Star Wars Original Trilogy
May is upon us and that means it’s Star Wars month. In this episode Daniel, Jon and Jay go back to the beginning - that’s not the beginning of the timeline - and examine the original trilogy of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. They discuss all the things that make Star Wars great and the way the original movies laid down the foundations for an ongoing multi-media universe.
Episode Twenty: Smiling into the Dark
To conclude the cycle on genre blending, Daniel and Jon take a look at Smiling Into the Dark, a short story written by Daniel and break down why he wasn’t particularly happy with the end result, what could be done to improve it and what elements should be kept the same.
Episode Nineteen: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Daniel and Jon explore the genre blending madness that is Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s 2022 film, Everything Everywhere All at Once. They unpack the philosophy and themes of the movie while attempting to unravel the chaotic, yet masterfully interwoven, mess of genres it embodies without unravelling themselves.
Episode Eighteen: Everything’s Gonna Be Okay
Daniel and Jon discuss Josh Thomas’ dramedy, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. They look at how it makes use of juxtapositions to highlight the beauty, tragedy and insanity of human existence and explore how it does representation right.
Episode Seventeen: Genre Blending
Daniel and Jon talk about playing Frankenstein with genres, how and why writers combine different genres together and how some genres even struggle to function independently of another.
Episode Sixteen: Raising the Stakes
Listen to Daniel’s short story, Raising the Stakes and a follow-up discussion where he and Jon examine friendship dynamics between villains and how change and loss affects a group.
Episode Fifteen: Eleceed
In this episode, Daniel and Jon focus on Eleceed, a Korean action webcomic created by Jeho Son and ZHENA. They explore the various friendship dynamics on display in the story and analyse how organic feeling friendships can elevate a story and change how it feels to the audience.
Episode Fourteen: Life is Strange
Daniel and Jon discuss graphic adventure game, Life is Strange (2015). They discuss how the friendships portrayed within impact the story for better and for worse and examine how to handle toxic relationships in a narrative.