Imaginary Worlds

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky | Daylight Media

Episodes 309
Avg. Duration 31m
Activity Highly Active
Apple Rating 4.8 (1,999)
Since Sep 2014
Latest Episode Jun 2026

Outreach Signals

Open to Sponsors Features Guests

Publishing Details

Schedule
Every 2 Weeks
Format
Episodic
Consistency
83%
Hosting
feeds.megaphone.fm

Contact & Outreach

About This Podcast

Imaginary Worlds sounds like what would happen if NPR went to ComicCon and decided that’s all they ever wanted to cover. Host Eric Molinsky spent over a decade working as a public radio reporter and producer, and he uses those skills to create thoughtful, sound-rich episodes about science fiction, fantasy, and other genres of speculative fiction. In this award-winning podcast, Eric talks with filmmakers, screenwriters, novelists, comic book artists, game designers, and anyone who works in the field of make-believe about how they craft their worlds. He also talks with academics and fans about why we suspend our disbelief, and what happens if the spell is broken. Imaginary worlds may be set on distant planets or parallel dimensions, but they are crafted here on Earth, and they’re always about us and our lived experiences.

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Recent Episodes

How Folklore Spirited Anime Away

Jun 03, 2026 37m

Anime and manga are a global phenomenon, and their popularity continues to grow. Many of these stories are populated by supernatural beings called yōkai. Even though yōkai can be portrayed as ghosts,…

The Father of Sword and Soul

May 20, 2026 37m

Charles R. Saunders loved Tarzan as a kid, but he was also repulsed by the racism in those books since Charles was Black. So he created a counter narrative about a warrior named Imaro who lived in a…

Many Faces of Jekyll and Hyde

May 06, 2026 39m

Pop culture has been full of Jekylls and Hydes: Bruce Banner and The Hulk, Norman Bates and Mother, Walter White and Heisenberg, The Nutty Professor and Buddy Love. They all echo the archetype that…

Holmes and Watson: True Crime Podcasters

Apr 22, 2026 43m

John Watson is a former army doctor who became a true crime podcaster when he met a consulting detective named Sherlock Holmes. You can hear about the cases they’ve solved in the podcast Sherlock…

Celebrating 300 Imaginary Worlds

Apr 08, 2026 40m

Imaginary Worlds has reached another milestone – 300 episodes! We already celebrated the 200th episode and the 10th anniversary of the show, but in those episodes, we mostly kept the spotlight off…

Puppeteering Project Hail Mary

Mar 25, 2026 38m

When I interviewed Andy Weir in 2021 about his novel Project Hail Mary, he told me that the movie adaptation was already being planned starring Ryan Gosling. The big question was how would they bring…

How D.C. Fontana Helped Star Trek Live Long and Prosper

Mar 11, 2026 37m

Gene Roddenberry’s name is synonymous with Star Trek, but he relied on a team to bring his vision to life. Most of his writers were men with one exception, the trailblazing Dorothy Fontana.…

Absolute Reimagining of DC Comics

Feb 25, 2026 42m

Imagine if Bruce Wayne had no money, if Superman grew up on Krypton and came to Earth with emotional scars, or if Wonder Woman had been raised in Hell. Welcome to the Absolute Universe – a dark…

Sinners Gives Hoodoo Its Due

Feb 11, 2026 40m

Sinners got a historic 16 Academy Award nominations, which was remarkable for a film with vampires. But the film is also a rich exploration of race, religion, culture and music in 1930s Mississippi.…

Scarlet Hollow Draws a Picture of Success

Jan 28, 2026 37m

Scarlet Hollow is a successful indie video game – and that’s no small feat. It’s been a long journey, and the game is made almost entirely by two people: Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias of Black…

Making History with Assassin's Creed

Jan 14, 2026 36m

Darby McDevitt is a narrative director and writer at Ubisoft . He’s worked on multiple games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which spans time periods from Ancient Greece to Victorian England. But…

Say No to Santa World Tour: An Audio Drama

Dec 17, 2025 41m

In my annual audio drama, I interview several folklore figures who are synonymous with the holiday season outside America -- but they’ve been overshadowed by the cultural juggernaut of Santa Claus.…

Searching for Cryptids

Dec 03, 2025 40m

When I was growing up, Bigfoot appeared regularly on the covers of supermarket tabloids, so I assumed he was a joke. But I’ve discovered that he’s part of a larger and even stranger world of cryptids…

This Animated Life

Nov 19, 2025 40m

As longtime listeners know, I worked in the animation industry before switching careers and going into broadcasting. Today’s episode features a trio of conversations that trace the history of…

Bringing Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein to Life

Nov 05, 2025 34m

When director Guillermo del Toro asked Tamara Deverell to be the production designer on his film adaptation of Frankenstein, she had a good idea of what he wanted. Del Toro had been dreaming of…

Creature Double Feature

Oct 22, 2025 41m

In honor of the spooky season, we present two monstrous origin stories --Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We know when these books were written in the 19th century. But what…

Music of a Forbidden Planet

Oct 08, 2025 35m

In the 1950s, the avant-garde music scene in New York and the movie studios of Los Angeles might have seemed like opposite ends of a cultural spectrum. But they came together (and blew apart) when…

The Battle to Make Star Wars

Sep 24, 2025 37m

Movies that change cinema often come from outsiders – whether it’s Orson Welles making Citizen Kane or George Lucas making Star Wars a.k.a. Episode IV: A New Hope. The excellent graphic novel Lucas…

Lifting the Curtain on Theatrical Effects

Sep 10, 2025 34m

I’ve covered digital and practical effects in film and TV, but creating special effects for live theater is a whole other challenge. J&M Special Effects has been up to the task for 40 years.…

The Shark That Ate Hollywood

Aug 27, 2025 47m

I didn't want the summer to end without joining in on the 50th anniversary celebrations of Jaws. I spent summers on Cape Cod as a kid, where I often heard that Jaws was filmed nearby on Martha's…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Imaginary Worlds have?

Imaginary Worlds has published 309 episodes since September 2014, covering topics in Arts, Fiction.

Is Imaginary Worlds still active?

Imaginary Worlds is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 31m.

How do I contact Imaginary Worlds for sponsorship or guest appearances?

Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Imaginary Worlds, including email and social media links.

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