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.
Incredible as it may seem, we are just about midway through 2023 already. We’re just a few hours out from our traditional midyear repose so of course the rain is falling here in Bradford and the weather forecast suggests that is to continue throughout our break at our destination of… Morecambe. But who cares when you have the sea and some decent hostelries and restaurants to haunt right?
We will end up back in the Old Pier Book Shop, so the fact my to-read pile continues to grow rather than diminish (despite a break from work) is just another pillar of my existence that I long since ceased to fret over. Until it falls on me of course and I’m trapped under it for the winter, surviving only on the scraps Phil feeds me to keep me alive to appreciate the irony of my cosmic retribution.
It remains to be seen whether we will undertake another Old Pier Book Shop Special – that will entirely depend on whether the fates decide to throw two copies of something interesting in our paths – but no doubt it will throw up some goodies that I fail to resist.
In other news, at times on the show I’ve mentioned that my taste in Hawkwind tends towards the earlier 1970s material and that I’ve never really held the album The Chronicle of the Black Sword in particularly high esteem. As a result, several of you have pointed me towards Hawkwind’s Live Chronicles album as a superior representation of the material – so having picked up an audio technica sound burger recently that allows me to play vinyl on my desk as I’m doing other bits and pieces I’ve been bashing through a whole load of albums I’ve picked up in the last couple of years that I still haven’t got round to spinning. I may well share my thoughts on that sometime soon.
Perhaps it’s worthy of an episode… we’ll see.
Our last show, Tales From Strange Cupboards was our latest swing at the world of Moorcockian roleplaying games and in a few weeks I’ll be running a game of Black Sword Hack Ultimate Chaos Edition – my first GMing effort of 2023 – so I’ll report back on that too in a couple of months.
Anyway, I need to sort my reading pile out for our jollies and finish editing the latest show so I shall depart and get my head down into it (and we’re off to a poetry and whisky night at Bradford Cathedral shortly – part of the Bradford Literature Festival itinerary) but meanwhile, be well out there. All power to our friends that are fighting and protesting to keep their heads above water not only here in the UK, but all around the world.
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:
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.
We’re almost a couple of weeks past the last episode, a terrific discussion with Goran Gligović, and since that was uploaded he’s released yet another Eternal Champion creation. The triptych has become the FOUR who are One with the addition of Erekosë.
May there be many more.
In other news, The Woods of Arcady has landed in bookshops and on door mats and in my case it will have to join the long queue. I still haven’t read The Whispering Swarm. I do have a bone to pick with Tor though.
That first edition hardcover of The Whispering Swarm is gorgeous. This Woods of Arcady first edition is just so bleh. And the dimensions are larger. Is it too much to ask that we just have some unity of design?
It’s almost egregious as not being able to get the final Pyat novel in my favoured jacket and format (and even then the publisher managed to screw up the spine on Jerusalem Commands).
Sigh.
Maybe I just have too much time on my hands at the moment.
Anyway.
In other book news, I saw recently that it was the fifth anniversary of the death of Christopher Stasheff, author of the Rod Gallowglass Warlock novels (amongst other things). Stasheff is another author that I do not think I would have ever discovered without Pops throwing books at me throughout the 80s. None of my like-minded friends ever mentioned them (although I did throw a couple at my mate Mike back in the day and he dug them) so I suppose they must be a bit niche even amongst fantasy circles. I suspect that may have been down to the mixture of tones involved. Some pretty hard violence in the first couple of novels can swing wildly towards a very light and humorous approach in short order, but I have fond memories of the two Pops gave me. King Kobold and The Warlock Unlocked were originally books two and three in the series but after a prequel, Escape Velocity, was published along with some revisions to King Kobold (issued as King Kobold Revived) to bring it in line with the wider and growing series they became books three and four.
As tends to be the case here at STIMBOT Towers, I have three paperback copies of King Kobold kicking around so if there’s any interest in hearing more I may add it to the itinerary. Otherwise, I’ll revisit it for the first time in probably 35 years for my own gratification.
On the subject of the itinerary it did get slightly derailed due to recent developments but we’re back on track now and we haven’t had any significant gaps in releases thanks to the camaraderie and engagement of my various interlocutors (thanks M Broome) over recent months allowing a good pace of production. And coming up we have:
GOR (already in the can)
The Sword of the Dawn Part Two
The Queen of the Swords Part Two
The Fire Clown AKA The Winds of Limbo
Beyond Armageddon
THE FUNGUS
Luther Arkwright Vol 01
Nine Princes in Amber
and
Part VI of our ongoing discussions about Moorcock in the context of role-playing games (still need a snappy title) – it’s in the can, undergoing final edits and out this coming Monday. Fair warning, one of my companions for that show is worried it may be a bit dry and that we didn’t get nearly pissed enough by half to make it all sexy. All I’ll say is that I talk for a good five minutes about a powerpoint slide I created. So I’ll leave it to the jury to decide.
On top of all the above Loz and I still haven’t decided on our next subject matter (it may well be Gentlemen of the Road), and Hussein and Tash remain on the hook but playing hard to get. And Phil might just get around to reading The Phoenix in Obsidian/The Silver Warriors at some point too so we can crack on with the Erekosë saga at long last.
That’s all for this report other than to say thanks pards for all of your kind words and encouragement this past few weeks.
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!
Breakfast in the Ruins 