John is back in Derry & Toms to talk about another novelisation, but we're taking a break from Blakes 7 to focus on another early 80s obsession of ours...

Well. Two. They just happen to combine to glorious effect in the classic slice of Daily Mail wet dreamery that is Who Dares Wins. Therefore, we get to watch it again for the 8,000th time and discuss it alongside its novelisation, The Tiptoe Boys, by James Follett.

Some other bits that pop up along the way include:

• Nissan Almera ads from the 90s

• The Bullshitters

• Chas n' Dave as protest rockers

Be sure to check out Trystan Mitchell's work at The Bigfoot Studio

We're finally back to finish our reportage on Phoenix in Obsidian (AKA The Silver Warriors).

It's an epic tale of anguish and self-pity on an earth where the sun has dimmed, the moon has crashed down to simply be called Moon and the menace known as the Silver Warriors have extreme problems figuring out the point of polearms. How will Count Ulrik Skarsol endure...?

Loz is back alongside Phil for this one and we have a D8 Wandering Beer Table to boot.

Bob Haberfield: The Man and His Art is published by Jayde Design and available from there and the Bob Haberfield Web Shop.

 

Seeing as John and I had such a good time with Trevor Hoyle's first Blakes 7 novelisation and series watch-a-long, we thought sod it... let's do another.

And this time... it has Servalan, plus:

• Roy from Eastenders...
• Glynnis Barber...
• Woke blasters...
• Big Ron Tarr...
• TRAVIS!!!

IT'S GOT THE LOT!

Loz returns as we head up to the Roof Garden to ruminate over Corum's endless jawing with a slightly dubious sorceror in The Knight of the Swords Book Two.

Multiple varieties of pants are considered along with a couple of actually palatable beers. Progress I say!

It's Halloween, so Phil and I enjoy some spooky old fashioneds and engage with the horror of James Herbert's 1974 debut novel, The Rats!

It's got the lot. A creepy hero... out of order tramps... vicious critters... and an abundance of thigh references!

 

STAY SAFE!!!

Finally, the Spheres align and Hussein and I manage, after ten months, to get it together and look at Phase Two of The Final Programme.   We talk about Mike's uncanny prescience, wrestling in Featherstone Library, and Hussein rags on sci-fi again. It's a fun time all round.   Also, GAC reaches the village of Treybach. Foxes may be abroad.

We're back, and this time Phil joins me at Derry and Toms to conclude our coverage of The Eternal Champion.

Turns out Erekosë is just a horny jock. Who knew?

We also find that if you're being peer pressured into genocide you just need a bath, dinner and an intervention... it's just so relatable! 

We're back at Derry and Tom's and unfortunately so are the challenging porters.

REJOICE as we finally get around to covering Corum...

SIGH as we continue to fail to avoid weird beer...

DESPAIR as our energy levels dip in the second half...

GASP at chapter two of The Journal of Gerard Arthur Connelly...

Phil, Loz and I celebrate an all too brief interlude in lockdown life to drink weird porters and muse upon Moorcock’s treatment at the hands of tabletop role-playing games.

Phil taunts us with her syrupy beer avoidance skills, two-man canoes get far too many mentions and Loz gatekeeps Moorcock RPG play (the rotter).

Also, The Journal of Gerard Arthur Connelly debuts with chapter one.  There are 5 more to come (and if I don’t get pelted with rottent tomatoes I may write more).

Tash returns from her exile in Sri Lanka and finally we get together after a four month Covid delay to finish The Jewel in the Skull.  Stand by as we flatten the curve!

REEL at the variable sound quality as my Tascam once again has to do some heavy lifting.

MARVEL at the disagreements over the last few chapters.

HOWL at Tash's toilet allocation of an all new (to me) classification of a certain type of fantasy novel.

SHOEGAZE to the mellow sounds of Breakfast in the Ruins by the mighty Giantkind.

We're back.

The Eternal Champion continues on his crusade to defeat the enemies of humanity and further proves himself an absolute duffer with the ladies.

Phil reveals a penchant for watching extreme violence against Ewan McGregor and Channing Tatum.

I wring my hands at the horror of it all.

JOIN US!

We're back in Derry & Toms roof gardens to mull over 1970's The Eternal Champion, the novel debut of Erekosë/John Daker.

It's got everything. Bad pronunciation, silly names and nudity.

Phil returns to the co-host chair, we drink an old old-Fashioned or two and draw comparisons between Noonos and Grimsby, adding that ancient port-town to our list of mildly insulted settlements.

Loz is back as we conclude our coverage of the 1972 Moorcock novel Elric of Melniboné.

Join us as we are horrified by a challenging beer and Loz offends Scunthorpe (as well as narrowly avoiding a date with Dannus). As usual we struggle with pronunciation and saying The Ship That Sails Over Land and Water.

With news that the Apple TV/Skydance Eternal Champion series is "DOA", what better a time to talk to Chris Preyer, the man behind Elric: Chains of the Doomed One - a fan-film project. Chris lifts the lid on the joys and challenges of crafting and resourcing a passion-driven endeavour.

Follow Chris and the team's progress on Instagram and check out Tim Hintsala's armoury at Iron Ape Forge, Shai Winzer's make-up at Tesh Techniques, and the haunting music of Altoscliff.

Natasha is back with me as we continue our deep dive into the first Hawkmoon novel, The Jewel in the Skull.   MARVEL at Tash's brutal takedown of mothers-in-law...   SIGH at the rambling non-sequiturs...   GASP at Tash's salty sailor talk...   WONDER at the gradual breakdown of recording discipline...   WEEP at the continual intrusion of traffic, crisp packets and leather furniture...

Loz is back with me at Derry and Tom's as we dive into Straasha's ocean depths to prize open the mysteries below and discuss (most of) Book Two of Elric of Melniboné.

Excellent beverages are consumed along the way.

After a degree of arm-twisting and one false start, Hussein finally gets his head into a sci-fi/fantasy book and agrees to tell the tale!   We cover the first Phase of The Final Programme, the introduction of Jerry Cornelius into the Multiverse of Michael Moorcock.   Hussein marvels at the wonders of psychedelic 70s scifi covers and I keep mixing up my Perssons and my Brunners.

One of the twitter gang tipped me off a few weeks ago that December 18th is Michael Moorcock's birthday. It took a while for the penny to drop, but when it did and my brain was penetrated by the copper and grub of ten thousand grasping fingers, I was taken aback for a second.

December 18th is also my brilliant and long-suffering partner Phil's birthday, so I made her read something because CONTENT!

So happy birthdays all around!!!

Loz is back with me at Derry and Tom's as we tackle the 1972 novel Elric of Melniboné.

We have a few drinks and muse upon Elric's early pre-wanderer, Stormbringerless years on the Ruby Throne of Imrryr.

We also ponder the news of a possible Elric TV show and attempt to get comfortable on Lord Shark's Ostentatious Couch (spoiler, we don't).

Natasha and I discuss Book One of The Jewel in the Skull. It's got it all!

Moorcock discussion?   Check!

Moorcroft?   Sure, why not!

Bagging small English towns?   Check!

Dogs wagging tails?   Check and check!

NOW IN THC SOUND!

Note: The bulk of this was recorded before Episode One, so we're already entering into the true spirit of Moorcock by confusing our own internal chronology.

 

 

Join Loz and I as we discuss the first published Elric story, The Dreaming City.

In this, the first full-blooded episode of Breakfast in the Ruins we take a look at the first published story featuring (arguably) Michael Moorcock’s most enduring creation, the moody albino warrior-sorcerer-emperor-wanderer Elric.

All music in this episode is courtesy of Giantkind.

 

A short, primer podcast episode that will set the scene for the series. Inspired by the books given to me by my grandad in the early 80's, helped out by friends old and new, we'll discuss the books of Michael Moorcock and others and the way they shaped our tastes in fantasy fiction and charged our imaginations then and now.

All music is in this episode is courtesy of Giantkind.

 

Tom Murphy of Colossive Press drops by Derry and Toms to discuss The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. Plus, Bryan Talbot joins us so we can quiz him about his early career and the origins of Arkwright!

For the first time in several years I recently managed to make it to one of the UK's premier RPG gatherings, GROGMEET, a joyous celebration of roleplaying games hosted by Dirk of The Grognard Files. And this time... I TOOK PHIL... so we decided, 'what the fluff!' and recorded our reflections on a cracking weekend and, into the bargain, I also gamed with Andrew Beck so I roped him in for a chat too.

Dave, frontman of Space Rock Colossus SÖNUS, is back in Derry and Toms to tackle the final volume in the first Hawkmoon saga... The Runestaff (AKA The Secret of the Runestaff).

Huon's tongue is flicking, Meliadus is plotting and Hawkmoon is SULKING ABOUT BOATS!

It's 2025, but we're tying up some 2024 business with Miles and finally rampaging to the potentially multiverse-shattering conclusion of Moorcock's Doctor Who novel The Coming of the Terraphiles.

They came. They went. The hat mystery was solved and the multiverse saved, and we still don't really get what went down.

But HATS!

We're back for our last show of 2024 and it's dropping in that weird 'between time' when I'm sick of festive food and just craving a tin of beans, but also wondering how much Yorkshire pud I can fit on my plate when my NYE appetite returns. And because Episode 101 has emerged through a haze of mince pies and sherry and our 18th viewing of Krampus, it's a lazy, boozy one that features a hastily conceived, tenuous theme.

It also goes on for about three days.

JOIN US!

It's Mike's birthday... It's Phil's birthday... It's our centenary...

For this one, we have a very special guest. It's Michael Moorcock!

Also, me and Phil go to Morecambe blah blah blah... JOIN US!!!

Simon Perrins is back in Derry and Toms to pick up the third instalment of the first Corum trilogy. Many delights await as Mike puts his foot down on drawing together the threads of this first ten years of Eternal Champion cosmology and, as usual, Jhary wears some nice threads.

JOIN US!

Steve Aylett, Moorcock's favourite modern absurdist and one-man genre, drops by Derry and Toms to talk about his work, satire and his latest novel The Book Lovers (available Dec 2nd 2024).

This was a real treat for me as I've been a fan of Steve's since happening across Lint in a King's Cross bookshop nearly 20 years ago. Since then he's continued to amuse and alarm with a whole range of writings and claims.

In his own words:

"My writing has been described as dreampunk, slipstream, bizarro, cyberpunk, new weird.  I call it satire.  I'm an aspie, a synaesthete and, despite all I've done, miraculously invisible.  I love books. I'm very interested in permaculture, perennial veg and ecobuilds. I'm tall and resemble some sort of hen." 

It's our summer holiday special - and it was Phil's Choice. She reminded me that we had such a great time with The Devils of D-Day and the film of Masterton's novel The Manitou that we should read Graham Masterton's Revenge of the Manitou.

So we did... and we're going to talk about it.

And watch Grizzly.

JOIN US!

For this almost-delve into Moorcock's dark and inspired quest fantasy The Warhound and the World's Pain, I'm joined by author, playwright and Games Master David Griffiths. Inevitably, we ended up going down various routes in a wide-ranging conversation including Target Books (again), Moorcock and other inspirations, roleplaying games and, eventually, The Warhound and the World's Pain, which is getting a fresh coat of paint thanks to Joe Monti and Saga Press and their brand-new hardcover Von Bek collection (releasing in December). We will follow up on this in the next few weeks with a deeper delve.

We also discuss Dave's latest play, inspired by the events that led an under-sexed weirdo to produce the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, The Hammer and Helena.

This is the latest of Dave's plays to be staged by Arts Groupie, a Liverpool-based Community Interest Company. Check out their website for more details, including Dave's take on the Dickens classic ghost story, The Signalman.

The patrons spoke and this year's full-bore Halloween Special is Sabat - The Graveyard Vultures (and more) by Guy N Smith...

It's fair to say that this one was challenging, and not just because our hero is a massive wanker. There's more... much more...

Content warning for sexual violence and exasperated hosts.

In this, our third (?) Halloween episode for 2024, we tackle the book Loz describes as, "crass, bluff and gittish"!

It's SLIMER... our second experience of Harry Adam Knight action on Breakfast in the Ruins and it certainly was a book. Interesting developments on the 'base under siege by weird monster' are brought low by some of the unfortunate tropes of the genre at the time. Still, fortunately, the D6 Wandering Beer Table made a welcome return and generally we rolled rather well!

Content warning for sexual violence (in the book, not between me and Loz) and really shitty characters.

Our last look at Harry Adam Knight was our 2023 Uncosy Catastrophe read of The Fungus

We are firmly in our Halloween groove. The eco-horror of Pisces Rising may have given us a light step into the season, but now we're up to our necks in it and our choices for this year not only include the winner and one of the runners-up from this year's patron poll, but we're also taking a look at one that has featured on past polls but never reached the top...

William Hope Hodgson's classic of weird fiction and cosmic dread... The House on the Borderland.

Author, editor and musician Allister Thompson is back for this one - check out his musical retrospective and his debut novel The Music of the Spheres. We also touch on Lovecraft and some musical interpretations, including one by Nostalgia and Borderlands by Tactile, an extract of which can be heard at the end of the show.

JOIN US!

In this bonus fix-up episode, I meet up with our pen-pal Robert MacMillan in a coffee shop in Bradford to set the scene for our journey into the worlds of Bastable… this wasn't our initial plan. Still, life intervenes in strange ways sometimes and we follow the moonbeam roads as we must.

As well as Moorcock, we talk about 1980s coach holidays to Palamos, VHS tracking, Bond, Who conventions, Pontins Prestatyn, the literary merits of Lawrence Durrell and all sorts of other things.

It's October already so it's time for Graham to return for our traditional Halloween period of exploring killer critter features and, from time to time, discovering new author rabbit holes to tumble down. This time, it's PISCES RISING by NEL stalwart Peter Cave and his one-time collaborator Margaret Wredden.

Fantastic creation myths combine with brutal deaths, drinking bitter in a pub in Lowestoft, and a sadly underfeatured octopus called Bluey.

JOIN US!!!

From the North he came, to seek knowledge and fortune. Cast out by his tribe for offending Ulfr, God of the Wastes, he is driven by mirth, restrained by melancholy.  One day he will return to make offerings to the Bear Druids, particularly Mewler the Claw. She thinks he’s an idiot but owes him a debt.

Memories of Krangg, The Iron Bear

Clarky is back in Derry and Toms to talk Conan knock-offs, and pool our thoughts on an all-Barbarian game and how to resolve the inevitable "Pah! My hand-tailored sandals are more northern than you, you weakling southlander habadasher!" type conflicts.

We get into Thongor and Brak mainly, but also a touch of Kothar and a mild dusting of some other characters whose names I've forgotten.

One of them had a halberd though.

JOIN US

"Dishonesty hollows a man, like the bog bug hollows out a tree. Don’t be that tree. It’s dry, useless and dusty, although it does burn ok."

Krangg, 134th of Ogbok's Moon, 13423

New traveller Liam Jones drops by Derry & Toms to discuss one of his favourite things... Victorian Invasion literature... as we tackle the Moorcock-edited anthology Before Armageddon, a collection of Victorian and Edwardian imaginative fiction.

Liam also teaches me about the Parisian dandy criminals, the Apaches! (Who I must now write into my next game...)

Very cool!

At some point we'll take a look at volume II - England Invaded

Dave is back in Derry & Toms to talk about some stories that were as formative for him as they were for me back in our teens... The Robert E Howard Conan stories, The Phoenix on the Sword and The Scarlet Citadel.

Dave also gives us an update on the latest SÖNUS news and we delve into some of the murkier aspects of the pulp of the time. But mostly we enjoy the head smashing and the surprisingly textured and erudite version of the Cimmerian in those first two stories.

Although this is our first Conan focused episode, Phil and I did look at The Tower of the Elephant way back in the early days in our first Happy Birthday Michael Moorcock episode back in December 2019.

How time flies...

Pig-bombs, priests in daisy dukes, dressing down the Theocrat of Pan Tang and getting torn apart by dogs are just some of the highlights as I’m joined in D&Ts once again by Steve Round to talk Stormbringer gaming and this time he’s brought the whole damn party.

The wandering beer table returns and, as a reward to the gang, we debut an all-new lazily assembled table of rubbish demon-bound quest goodies.

So join Steve, Chloe, Sara, Roddy, Jay, Richie and Ceirun as we board the Merciful Servant and reflect on what it takes to save the Young Kingdoms from the overbearing and stagnant forces of Law!

Content warning: The Void campaign is Moorcockian and therefore spicy. And Steve tries a smoked beer. Horrific!

You can find the full write-ups of The Void campaign and more on Steve’s blog – Cruising For a Musin

Dave returns to Derry & Toms to combat creeping fascism and technical issues, all whilst concluding our epic reportage on the final volume in The History of the Runestaff - THE RUNESTAFF (AKA The Secret of the Runetaff).

GUYLINER

UPSETTING FATES

PORNOGRAPHIC THRILLERS

And more....

Check out SÖNUS on bandcamp and buy their gear.

And take a look at Gates of Londra

Miles is back to carry on our deep dive into Mike's Who/Multiverse mash-up and also talk about Ncuti's first run, the Timeless Child arc, writing Who fiction, engaged Tom vs couldn't give a hoot Tom and loads of other stuff no doubt.

Join us!

And be sure to check out the Casual Trek Podcast too.

Allister Thompson returns to Derry and Toms as we hurtle back to 1918 and brave the cold waters of the Atlantic to take a look at The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, subject of Michael Moorcock's sole filmed movie script (along with James Cawthron of course).

Expect discussions about mysterious island tropes, personal propensities to cannibalism, dodgy theories of race and C Thomas Howell!

Allister's latest release (at time of posting this at least) is Apocalypse Man by Khan Tengri and it includes a nice Moorcockian track too.

FINALLY!

After all this dancing around the subject of Michael Moorcock writing for the iconic Doctor Who IP and talking Alien and Quatermass and Blake's 7, Miles joins me in the Cloister Room as we just about get to The Coming of the Terraphiles...

Just about...

But with our tendency to go off on tangents AND 61 years of Doctor Who to consider perhaps it was inevitable that this would be a multi-part deal. Anyway, join us as we talk about Timelords, edgy 90s Who novels, 12p swiss rolls and much more besides... even a bit of Moorcock here and there.

LISTEN TO THE CASUAL TREK PODCAST

Join my co-conspirator John and me as we board the Civil Administration ship London where our brutally oppressive crew sets the speed to Time Distort 5 and makes for Cygnus Alpha where we will all suffer for our crimes!

En route, we'll have plenty of time (between beatings and summary executions) to discuss Trevor Hoyle's novelisation of the first four episodes of Terry Nation's Blake's 7 and the series itself. And some other stuff.

Sadly, we chose a book that features NO SERVALAN WHATSOEVER. But we still talk about her...

 

Andy Darby is back in Derry and Toms to talk about his all-new novel, The Blade in the Angel's Shadow!

Enochian madness, brutal sieges, swordplay and the machinations of the Elizabethan court all combine to give our heroine a hard time, some gnarly powers and a profound ethical dilemma.

It's available from all good stockists now...

Andrew Nette returns to Derry and Toms as we continue to muse over some formative telly, novelisations and other stuff but on this occasion to talk about Nigel Kneale's enduring and iconic character Professor Bernard Quatermass (and a load of other digressions, naturally, including brief musings on a favourite mercenary war flick). We roam around the original Hammer films, the impact of Quatermass on the zeitgeist and, most specifically, the 1979 serial and its novelisation by Nigel Kneale himself.

HUFFITY-PUFFITY PUFF!!!

Check out Quatermass III on Bandcamp

In our continued deliberations about tackling Michael Moorcock's Doctor Who novel The Coming of the Terraphiles, several questions about the pitfalls of writing for established IPs have arisen, and a pressing one is:

What happens when Trumpton and British politics intrude upon the Alien universe?

We investigated so you don't have to, so join Miles Reid-Lobatto (writer and co-host of the Casual Trek Podcast) and SF Starship artist and designer Ian Stead AKA Biomassart as we look at what makes the Alien IP tick and how some recent books have tackled it. Mainly Alien: Colony War. But also Alien: The Cold Forge. Which we probably should have talked about more, because it's great.

You can read my 2012 feature on Alien 3 here (just don't start any more flame wars you Colonial Marines fans you).

Loz returns to Derry & Toms to talk about the remaining tales we haven't covered that complete Michael Moorcock's The Weird of the White Wolf.   Elric tests some early chat-up lines in While the Gods Laugh, Moonglum finally shows up in The Singing Citadel and Loz bares all (though not his nipple) in a grievance-filled tirade against neopolitan ice cream.   JOIN US!