Hosted by John Richardson · 🇺🇸 us · EN-GB · 61 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Richardson’s Rubicon is a speculative fiction podcast. Each episode dives into worldbuilding, strange ideas, creative failures, surprising successes, and the deeper questions behind imagined worlds. Writers, worldbuilders, and curious listeners will find honest conversation, dark humour, and thoughtful insight into how stories take shape. Season Five focuses on the art of speculative storytelling and the minds that create it.
John Richardson hosts Richardson's Rubicon, a arts show with 61 episodes published.
Matt Witten joins me to talk about 51% , his speculative thriller set in a near-future America where corporations own everything, including people. We dig into one of the book’s strongest ideas: a privatised justice syst
My first vampire-themed author conversation on the show. In this episode, I speak with Sara A. Freites, author of the Rise of Midnight series, a YA fantasy that puts a human girl inside a hidden vampire society with its
Meteor impacts slam into North America and the crisis doesn’t stay on the ground. In this episode I’m joined by sci-fi author Ryan McGinnis to talk about Terrestrial, a dual-thread disaster story split between scientists
In this episode I’m joined by author Nathan Ogloff to talk about a deceptively powerful worldbuilding constraint: what happens when there’s no oil. (Or coffee, as it happens). Nathan’s Sapien Empire is set after the wors
What happens when magic is illegal, but survival depends on it? 🎙️ I’m joined by Melinda Kucsera to talk about Curse Breaker Enchanted, a fantasy world where magic is punishable by death, an enchanted forest has rules o
In folk horror, you know it’s getting serious when the locals would rather see a house burn than let an outsider move in. 🔥 I’m chatting with Jack Callaghan about Wyrd Water, set in the Lake District in 1979. We dig int
Bob Freeman joins me to talk about the H2 Lift Ships series, a comic science-fiction setting built around solar-sail cargo ships, hydrogen lift, semi-sentient bioGels, and a trading civilisation that has to manage withou
In a world where mercy comes with a bill, things get interesting fast. 🎙️ This time I’m joined by Travis Kuffel, author of Unleashed and the Tales of Ganden setting. We talk about why Baksa Ranger Cadel risks his standi
Trying to build an epic world or magic system without it collapsing into waffle? In this episode I talk to Mave Hathaway about The Breaking, book one of the Dodsfell Chapter. We get into belief, power, social control, ma
What if Charles Babbage’s mechanical computers had actually worked, and by 1896 London was already stumbling into an early information age? I’m joined by Tim Standish, author of The Sterling Directive. His version of lat
What would it take to build a society that looks calm on the surface, but stays that way by controlling what people are allowed to imagine? In this episode I’m joined by sci-fi author Macaulay Christian, creator of the A
In this episode of Richardson’s Rubicon, I’m joined by Evan Kidwell, author of Timeaous Spark and the Luck Curse. Evan’s world is built around a brutal sorting system: students are put through the Trials to force powers
What makes a 16-year-old aspiring actress the right protagonist for a multiverse story? Because performance, mimicry, and knowing when to lie or tell the truth become survival skills when your world treats speech as dang
This week on Richardson’s Rubicon, I’m joined by author Mike Oppenheim to talk worldbuilding through pressure and consequence, using his novel The Curse of Cortez as the case study. We dig into a deceptively simple engin
Ever wondered what an audiobook narrator hears in your worldbuilding? In this episode of Richardson’s Rubicon, I’m joined by Liza Jacob, a voice actor and award-winning audiobook narrator (with a career path that started
This week’s episode of Richardson’s Rubicon is one you won’t want to miss. I’m joined by Dr. Larry Smith, author of 2084: The Neuroxone Conspiracy, a dystopian medical thriller set in a near-future where addiction has be
What happens when the universe sends… cats… to nudge humanity in a better direction, one “paw biscuit” at a time? 🐾 In this episode I’m joined by Momoko Uno, author of the sci-fi comedy Hello Humans, where an Intergalac
✨ Four Horsemen. Romance. A peace treaty between humans, angels, and demons. It works better than it has any right to. In this episode of Richardson’s Rubicon, I’m joined by J.F. Monroe, author of The Legendary Guardians
What happens when a retired schoolteacher finds himself transformed into his game avatar, chased by wolves, and trapped in a fantasy world? Well, that’s just the beginning of the adventure with New Rock series author Ric
B Marcus Walker joins me, John Richardson, to talk about building cultures and societies in fantasy without drowning the reader in lore. We dig into Brian’s “less is more” approach, why outsider viewpoints can be the cle
Bob Freeman
1 appearance on this show
Evan Kidwell
author of Timeaous Spark and the Luck Curse
1 appearance on this show
Aurora Winter
award-winning author of Magic, Mystery, and the Multiverse · Same Page Publishing
1 appearance on this show
Mike Oppenheim
Authorized Explorer of Life, Death, and Storytelling
1 appearance on this show
Liza Jacob
voice actor and audiobook narrator
1 appearance on this show
Larry Smith
author of 2084: The Neuroxone Conspiracy · Tokyo Electron US Holdings Inc.
1 appearance on this show
Momoko Uno
author of Hello Humans · Omni Wellness NYC
1 appearance on this show
J.F. Monroe
author of The Legendary Guardians trilogy
1 appearance on this show
Richard Sparks
British comedy legend turned indie fantasy author
1 appearance on this show
John Richardson
lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management · ONE Sotheby's International Realty
1 appearance on this show
Dr. Sarah Marshall
author of "Play A Dust in My Soul" · Marshall's Haute Sauce
1 appearance on this show
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Richardson's Rubicon is hosted by John Richardson. The show is categorised under arts (books) and has published 61 episodes.
Richardson's Rubicon has published 61 episodes.
Richardson's Rubicon regularly covers arts, books. It sits in the arts category, with a books focus.
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