Breakfast in the Ruins
Friends old and new join me in Derry and Toms roof gardens to discuss the work and influence of prolific British fantasist Michael Moorcock, as well as other bits of 60s and 70s genre fiction that came to me via my Grandad in the 80s and informed my world view. Books, music, role-playing games, wrestling in Featherstone Library and many other digressions await.
Listen on:
Episodes
Friday Oct 20, 2023
Friday Oct 20, 2023
In this, the second blow of that one-two punch of GNS brain matter, Graham and I welcome Tara Paulsson to Derry and Toms to talk about her Dad and his work.
Tara will be at Tamworth Castle's Tales From the Darkside Week on Saturday 28th October and you can find details about 'An Ode to Guy Newman Smith's, 1970's Pulp Fiction Horror' and how to book at www.tamworthcastle.co.uk/darkside
You can find all of Tara's GNS content on Instagram, Youtube and soon the official website will be back up at http://www.guynsmith.com.
To get on the mailing list for the newsletter, email Tara at blackhillbooks@gmail.com
You can find Bamboo Guerillas on Spotify and Bandcamp and follow them on Instagram and TikTok
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Graham and Phil return to Derry and Toms to tackle our third adventure in the company of the mighty Professor Cliff Davenport in the first of a one-two punch of GNS-related early Halloween action.
Disturbing violence, saucy language and copious amounts of pus await the unwary traveller.
Be sure to check out Graham and the Duck Pond Sailors' latest release Urban Navigators.
There's much more to say on Guy and his extensive body of work so tune in to the next episode for a conversation with Guy's daughter Tara.
Friday Oct 13, 2023
Friday Oct 13, 2023
Phil returns to Derry & Toms to tackle the second Erekosë volume - Pheonix in Obsidian, also known as The Silver Warriors in the USA.
Misery, perversion and very metal methods of conveyance abound in this tale of an Earth in its final ebbs of existence.
JOIN US!
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Chris (AKA Dirk the Dice) returns to Derry and Toms to discuss Michael Moorcock's sort-of-memoir of his time in LA and wider California in Letters From Hollywood. Along the way we drink fusty northern beer, console one another about Pernod-soaked catastrophes in our salad days, wistfully recall the Moorcock/Tolkien Weekender and muse on what form it could take in the future (Dannus/Lud-in-the-Mist Premier Inn Takeover anyone?*).
You can find The Grognard Files on all good podcatchers and be sure to read the full Richard Glyn Jones blog post on New Worlds.
*#FUCKINGDANNUS
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Andy Darby shakes off the Monkey for an evening and drops by D and Ts to take a look at one of Moorcock's 60s SF tales, The Fireclown (later retitled The Winds of Limbo but I'm sticking with the original title for vaguely defined reasons related to being old and finnicky).
Strap in for a political thriller laced with astute observations on the natures of media and personality politics, the odd sprinkling of futurism and some oddly prescient sort-of predictions.
Check out Andy's brace of psychedelic, acid-laced adventures about a poorly-behaved Monkey taking on the illuminati, worm-holes and Lovecraftian horrors.
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Graham returns to Derry and Toms to pick up the chat regarding another Uncosy Catastrophe, on this occasion recommended by listener Paul Miles... 1985's The Fungus by Harry Adam Knight, a book that somehow passed us by despite being firmly in our wheelhouse.
Exploding landlords, extremely poor mission personnel choices, sweaty liaisons and deeply unfortunate children await in this tale of an England overwhelmed by scientifically boosted mycelium.
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Dave returns to Derry & Toms to pick up our thread with The Sword of the Dawn Book Two, the third instalment in Michael Moorcock's epic The History of the Runestaff.
Hawkmoon gets some swish togs but seems to have a real blind spot when it comes to fighting pirates. Meanwhile, D'Averc is... sort of there?
Don your wafters and JOIN US!
(and check out SÖNUS on bandcamp)
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
Miles of the Casual Trek Podcast returns to Derry & Toms as we turn flagellant and cast our eyes over the first in John Norman's GOR series (and the Cannon movie adaptation as a Brucey Bonus).
Publishers disdain it, booksellers sneer at it and the literary establishment would rather just not talk about it. But the GOR series still has a habit of popping up in the second-hand bookshops we frequent, because there are still millions of 'em kicking about probably. And there's even a Gorean subculture in Darlington!!!
But which side are we on?
The establishment (and at least one butcher in Darlington)?
Or
The other people that think it's saucy and cooooool?
LISTEN AND FIND OUT!
Spoiler: In the end... we're just with Oliver Reed.
CW: This podcast contains discussions about themes of sexual exploitation and slavery that are shot through the Gor novels.
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Monday Jun 19, 2023
For our latest exploration of multiversal gaming, friends of the show Dave and Steve bring games mastering knowledge and expertise to Derry and Toms (as well as a couple of afternoon libations of course).
Whilst we consider whether Stormbringer is the Moorcockian RPG to rule them all, we also yak about the lineage of the Stormbringer RPG (see terribly boring powerpoint slide below), gaming as shit-kickers, when games get too meta, cat character sheets, how to nail the dream realms, playing games in Littlewoods cafe, and memories of Oyster Stout (all bad).
You can catch up with Dave and Steve's gaming escapades at:
tentacledwhisperer.wordpress.com
and
cruisingforamusing36190591.wordpress.com
Also, I refer to Ted's Stormbringer modifications in the intro to this show and you can read his latest thoughts on the games application of Sorcerers and Summoning over on the Tomb of Tedankhamen.
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Goran Gligović stopped by Derry and Toms to discuss his art and influences, as well as his work on the recently kickstarted Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition, a Moorcock-influenced roleplaying game from The Merry Mushmen
We rove around the joint and, for possibly the first time, Excalibur gets a mention on Breakfast in the Ruins... how it took so long I honestly can't say. We also do a prize draw for some lucky Patron Demons!
Check out Goran's Patreon and his InPrnt store.
Breakfast in the Ruins
It had been a few years since I tried anything new hobby-wise and particularly anything t’interweb related beyond twitter and generally using it for all of the general reasons we use it (gifs, cat pics, buying things I don’t need etc).
However in recent years, whilst doing lengthy commutes, I found that podcasts had moved on somewhat from the type I’d been exposed to previously, with less of the ‘yuck yuck’ interactions between podcast hosts that felt the need to be artificially heightened, and more of a naturalistic and joyous approach to a specific subject matter that drew me in to feel part of the conversation.
Combined with this new found interest I’ve been needing a hobby and outlet for my creative energies, such that they are.
A few years back, for similar reasons, I started a blog (mentallicohullic.com), where I was able to have a good rant, but also link to the online articles I’d written for thequietus.com. I didn’t really keep that up with any regularity though, so it fell by the wayside, although it is still live.
Anyway, it struck me a while later that a sudden upsurge in interest amongst my friends in fantasy fiction, and particularly Michael Moorcock, had generated a number of conversations that I really enjoyed participating in. We were also having particular discussions about how to best model Moorcock in a table top role playing game. One night I started typing up some thoughts regarding my approach to it and, reading it back, it was written in a conversational style and for a split second the idea of a podcast themed around Michael Moorcock’s books and other associated art seemed appealing. A few sherries later I’d ordered a USB audio hub and a condenser microphone and the next day recorded a five minute podcast introduction as a proof of concept. I shared it with some like-minded friends and, following feedback, decided to give it a whirl.
Michael Moorcock as a subject seemed the natural choice, for reasons that may become apparent during the introductory episode. As you'll see as the show progresses, there's a reason why I call it 'Moorcock flavoured'.