Episode 91: Stacey Thomas (The Revels)

The Worm Hole Podcast

Charlie and Stacey Thomas (The Revels) discuss English Civil War era witch hunting which includes the methods, the propaganda, and the awful theatre of it all. We also discuss Stacey's inclusion of actual witches in her narrative, and Stacey's recommendations of Wolf Hall and A Little Life.

Witchfinder General James VI/I's Daemonologie Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life Bridget Collins' The Binding Stacey's episode on Witches Of Scotland I spoke to Amita Parikh in episode 72

Where to find Stacey online

Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

Where to find Charlie online

Website || Twitter || Instagram

Discussions

01:20 What made you want to tell this story of a man who is a witch, and his role in the judgement of witches? 02:23 Stacey's interest in James I and his favouritism of different male courtiers 04:22 The theatrical elements of the book 05:58 The torture of the accused 'witches' that led to fantasy stories being created 08:51 The influence of the printing press and propaganda pamphlets on the public's thoughts about accused women 10:02 About knot magic 12:09 The importance of having actual witches in the book and the impact of religion 14:32 Stacey's interest in taxidermy and Althamia's experience 16:41 Althamia's impact on the novel 17:54 The themes of grief and guilt in the book 20:51 Castor and Pollux 22:20 The writing style and narrative voice, and Stacey recommends Wolf Hall and A Little Life 25:24 All about Will and how he fits into the story 30:44 Is John Rush a witch?... And the fact he's left at large at the end 34:40 The initial execution scene did not originally happen... 35:57 Althamia says "Happy endings are beyond most people" and talks of proper endings - how does Stacey see The Revels in that sense? 39:15 Modern day apologies for witch hunters by the church 42:02 What Stacey's working on now (this turns into a lengthy discussion on debutantes and their publicity machines

With thanks to Jawnson.