Breakfast in the Ruins

Halloween Special 2022 - THE FOG (James Herbert)

Phil and Graham return to Derry and Toms to gas about James Herbert's second novel, 1975's The Fog. One year on from The Rats he's back terrorising London and the south-east, this time with a rampaging combination of mutated disease and spooky weather condition. He also baffles and amuses us with protracted sexy-times, which was de rigueur for Herbert at this early stage in his career. Also, I can only apologise to any German listeners for reasons that will become apparent.    Behold the crapness of the cover of my Pan edition in the middle. NEL were streets ahead in the cover stakes, particularly that pop art design.   This episode is played out by Brayna's Creed, the second track from the upcoming Journal Vol II, available via N Λ Ṇ D   Our banner art, avatars and logos were created by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and check out his store.   Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.

Me and the Monkey - Chronicles of the Monkey God Vol. I

Andy Darby joins me in virtual Derry and Toms to talk his tales of the Monkey God, Moorcock, and lots of other stuff including reminiscences about Johnny Seven, Lion annuals, Commando comics, Mme. Blavatsky, My First Two Thousand Years and tripping in Amsterdam.   You can pick up Vol I and The Paddington Incident now and Vol II releases on 5th November. There are QR codes with the illustrations in Vol 2 and The Paddington Incident that link to audio sections narrated by Andy, and you can connect with him on Goodreads.   Brayna's Creed, the second track from the upcoming Journal Vol II is available via N Λ Ṇ D   This episode is played out by the title track from The Dreaming City III by Immryr. At the time of recording (and at the time we released The Black Corridor) this was the latest release from Imrryr but, characteristically, there is another available for pre-order already. Check out One Flesh, One End.   Andy's reading recommendations: C J Cherryh: Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth, Exile's Gate Madeline Miller: Circe, The Song of Achilles, Pat Barker: The Silence of the Girls, Natalie Haynes: A Thousand Ships, Conn Iggulden: Conqueror series (these are just fucking epic!) Tim Willocks: The Religion (awesome!), The Twelve Children of Paris (awesome 2!) Ben Aaronovitch: Rivers of London series Jonathan L Howard: Johannes Cabal series Catherynne M. Valente: Deathless Kim Newman: Anno Dracula Karl Edward Wagner: Kane series Chris Carlsen: Berserker series Stewart Gordon Suaine and the Crow God Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory, The Bridge Walking on Glass, Clive Barker: Weave World

The Black Corridor

  Derek AKA Imrryr joins me in Derry and Toms to discuss this choice piece of 60s SF courtesy of Moorcock and Hilary Bailey, as well as his new(ish) The Black Corridor inspired album and his latest variation on his ongoing Elric-related project The Dreaming City III. Then Graham calls in from his weird shack* in the woods to add his tuppence ha'penny worth and his thoughts on collaborating with ＮΛＮD to interpret this novel as a musical suite.   Speculations on a grim future...   Musings on a grim present...   Bleak experimental electronica...   Politics...   We leave it all hanging out.     Imrryr's The Black Corridor cover art is by Mark Jarell    Check out ST 37's track The Black Corridor from their Glare album.   John's new book of poetry, When the Banshee Howls, is available for pre-order.   Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store.   Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.   *Japanese RV   NOTE: This episode was originally uploaded with a sound error. This has been corrected.

The Mad God’s Amulet Book Two

Dave (AKA SÖNUS) is back in Derry and Toms to pick up the second and concluding part of our quest for The Mad God's Amulet.   Join us as we discover the greatest NWOBHM band to never exist... THE MUTANT WAR JAGUARS OF ASIACOMMUNISTA... and Lord Shark's Ostentatious Couch returns.   Things mentioned in the show include Gates of Londra - a must have if you dig your industrial black metal with a Moorcockian twist.   Imrryr's latest release The Dreaming City III is out now featuring Dave and Allister Thompson AKA The Gateless Gate.   Massive thanks to Dave Dempster for the Maegan Lemay poster. Check out her web and store page.   Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store. Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.

Moorcock and RPGs Part V - Stormbringer Redux!

Ted AKA @tedankhamen joins me in Derry and Toms for the second leaf of our Summer diptych musing on Moorcock, gaming and whatever else enters our eyeline.   Some choice cuts in here including miniature bashing, Tolkien (again), a shock Strongbow appreciation story, chaosium-isms... but mostly some good, chewy thinking on modelling Moorcockian worlds and cosmology. I also bang my BoL drum again.   Be sure to have a good delve around Ted's blog Tomb of Tedankhamen.   Ted also mentioned Lasers and Feelings by John Harper. Lots more good stuff on his itch.io   You can check out the Tentacled Whisperer of Secrets Discord by making an offering to... THE TENTACLED WHISPERER... or just check out his profile. He's pretty lax on gatekeeping for an ancient deity of unspeakable power.   Steve's Stormbringer game recaps are on his blog.   Check out and subscribe to Jim Kirkland's newsletter and read his spoiler-free review of The Citadel of Forgotten Myths.   Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store.   Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.

Moorcock and RPGs Part IV - Sandboxing the Multiverse

We're back in Derry and Toms to talk gaming again, this time with CLARKY THE CRUEL. Dave gets shocked by the crap number of TV channels we had in the UK as kids, Clarky tells us about his sandboxing adventures beyond the ultraworld, and I get inspired. And we digress. Obviously.   You can find Clarky's Dissecting Worlds podcast archive and all of his game logs on his blog (including entires by yours truly describing the action from the perspective of post-apocalypse fiction powerhouse Roy Saveloy.   Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store. Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden. We also mention Jason's podcast, the Nerd's RPG Variety Cast.

The Art of Bob Haberfield (1938 - 2021)

After 40 years of obsessing over the Mayflower covers of Bob Haberfield, Dave and I get to wig out and talk to Ben Haberfield about his Dad's life, art and the gestating project to celebrate the breadth of his work in the form of two art books. You can keep up with Ben's work at bobhaberfield.com and follow him on Instagram. Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store. Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.

The Winds of Gath (EC Tubb) - an Old Pier Bookshop Special

Phil returns to Derry & Toms as we visit Morecambe's (and perhaps the world's) premier second hand book vendor to select a candidate for the first ever Old Pier Bookshop Special. We choose, or rather are chosen by, The Winds of Gath by EC Tubb - first in a 33  book series spanning three decades that charts the adventures of Earl Dumarest of Terra. In honour of old school SF we drink old school beers. Well, I do. Phil drinks fancy wine. But we meet in the middle when the mysterious books of booze box appears for the first time in D&Ts. JOIN US! Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store. Chapter 13 of The Journal of Gerard Arthur Connelly was scored by N Λ N D. Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.