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.
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Episodes
Saturday Dec 18, 2021
Saturday Dec 18, 2021
Another year down and this is our third show celebrating Mike Moorcock and Phil's birthdays. It's also the Breakfast in the Ruins podcast's second birthday... sort of.
Loz joins me in Derry & Toms to reflect on two and a bit years of podcasting against the strangest of backdrops. Plus the wandering beer table returns, for both good and ill.
JOIN US!
Clarky's multipart Tenerife campaign as discussed on the show is detailed on his excellent site. My in-character (as Roy Saveloy) chapter write-ups are here and here.
Tuesday Dec 14, 2021
Tuesday Dec 14, 2021
After the Halloween Special we couldn't stay away. Phil needed to know how the Crabs came to be. Where did they come from? What do they want?
So we read Crabs Moon and discovered the answers to none of these questions. But we did have a hoot and we were joined by Graham (aka @opensussex AKA Apkallu of Enmerkar AKA DECADNIDS) to have a couple of beverages, discuss Crabs Moon and to talk in general about the late Guy N Smith, his diverse writing career. We also raised a glass to the man too as this show lands close to a year after his passing.
We reference a Guy N Smith interview from the excellent The Collected Pulp Horror by Justin Marriott and Will Errickson.
Guy's daughter TARA has re-energised the GNS Twitter and Instagram accounts.
We play this show out with Proditol from the album The Black Corridor by DECADNIDS vs ＮΛＮD.
***warning: unlike Night of the Crabs, Crabs Moon contains references to sexual violence and we do talk about them so please proceed with caution and look after yourselves - this month's Patreon funds have been donated to The Survivor's Trust - please do look them up and consider donating***
Friday Nov 19, 2021
Friday Nov 19, 2021
Andrew Nette, journalist, writer and lover of all things pulp, joins me in Derry and Toms to talk about his new book Dangerous Visions and New Worlds Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985 . In this deep dive into the progressive, sexy explosion of challenging stories we wander off on various tangents including an Australian viewpoint on pulp and genre fiction, the wonders of the publisher NEL (New English Library), Jon Pertwee Doctor Who (again), long dead bus drivers and Rollerball!
We also touch on PS Publishing's Midnight Movie Monographs.
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
The patrons have spoken.
This year's Halloween Special looks at the classic New English Library killer critter classic, Night of the Crabs by Guy N Smith.
Death...
Destruction...
Rumpy pumpy...
Knobhead crabs...
It has it all. And sorry to Rhyl (again).
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Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his new store.
Our avatar is by Wyrmwalk. Follow him on Instagram.
Monday Oct 04, 2021
Monday Oct 04, 2021
Hussein is back in Derry & Toms to triumphantly conclude our epic coverage of The Final Programme.
We talk parties... get older... and add Rhyll to the list of towns we've offended... but damn it we got through it!
The best news is that Hussein WILL return again.
This show is played out once again by Ｎ Λ Ｎ Ｄ with the new track Gallery of the Lost.
DIG IT!
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
We're back in Derry and Toms Once again via the Ladbroke Grove counter-culture scene, this time in the company of journalist and author Joe banks as we talk about his book Days of the Underground: Radical Escapism in the Age of Paranoia. We yak about Hawkwind, Moorcock, Target Books and other digressions.
Joe's website is daysoftheunderground.com.
John Coulthart's website is www.johncoulthart.com
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Check out our Patreon for exclusive updates and content.
Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his new store.
Our avatar is by Wyrmwalk. Follow him on Instagram.
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
Musician and author Allister Thompson navigates the frozen Northern Wastes (Canada) to join me in Derry and Toms and talk about Moorcock, music, writing and, most importantly, his debut novel The Music of the Spheres.
We also run our first competition (sort of) and The Singularity repeatedly attempts to shut down our groove.
Check out the new N Λ Ṇ D album Journal and the DECADNIDS vs N Λ Ṇ D collaboration The Black Corridor
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out our Patreon for exclusive updates and content.
Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his new store.
Our avatar is by Wyrmwalk. Follow him on Instagram.
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Grognard Files host Dirk the Dice joins me at Derry and Toms to investigate Wizardry and Wild Romance, Moorcock's critical appraisal of the field of heroic fantasy/sword and sorcery .
Inevitably there's some salty talk, most of it from MM himself, and beverages are consumed via the D6 wandering stupid beer table.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out our Patreon for exclusive updates and content.
Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his new store.
Our avatar is by Wyrmwalk. Follow him on Instagram.
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Friday Jun 11, 2021
In search of Moorcock-tinged sonic experiences and the stories behind them we pack up and hit the road on a coast to coast trip across the USA to talk Mike, space rock and bleak electronica in the company of SÖNUS and Imrryr.
As usual we go off beam a bit.
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Check out our Patreon for exclusive updates and content.
Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter.
Our avatar is by Wyrmwalk. Follow him on Instagram.
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
In the third and final part of our Moorcockian RPG triptych Rob (aka OldShabbyGamer), host of the Confessions of a Wee Tim'rous Bushi podcast, joins me at Derry & Toms to talk Moorcock, D&D, when a beer is not a beer, and Tolkien!
Graham, Neil and Norman also drop by to talk Stormbringer 3e, ploons, shit sailors & what would make our own ideal Moorcockian RPG. It's a really Deep Fix. No prizes for guessing who provides the soundtrack!
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'.