In any other normal year, right about now we would be on our annual expedition to the quieter parts of Scotland, wandering around in the drizzle, engaging in some open-air therapy, visiting our favourite whiskey spots to test drams and hot cheese scones, and consuming my own body weight in lorne sausage. I say mine only because Phil is too unsophisticated to appreciate it. Or deep fried scotch pies.
Pffft.
But no, the plague continues to rampage and arrived literally next door to us last weekend. After coming down with symptoms in the week we went along for a test a couple of days back and how very dystopian it all feels. A university car park converted into a one way system and blokes in G4S jackets (which because of my history suggests security/prisons) barking orders at people, shouting “DON’T OPEN YOUR WINDOWS”. The first fella asked us if we were prepared to administer our own tests so, as nurses, we said yes and drove on to Station Two (a little security hut and gazebo).
After the second fella strapped two test kits to my wing mirror then retreated we were directed to Station Three (a parking bay) where a third fella shouted instructions at us through the window.
Shortly after this I was suddenly thinking of an old, schmaltzy and by moderns standards a bit weird cartoon called Love is…
Love is… laughing hysterically at your partner as she raucously gags and weeps trying to deep throat a swab for 20 seconds!
Fortunately I was able to return the favour as at my turn I proceeded to engage in exactly the same gagging and coughing, plus a sudden bout of uncontrollable sneezing, which she naturally found hugely satisfying.
What a palaver.
Anyway, the tests came back negative (SO HURRAH) but we’re still down with some bloody ‘normal’ bug (so hurrooh).
Meanwhile, Loz and I have done our homework for The Knight of the Swords Part Two and will be recording over the next few days. Hussein has got the taste for this online recording shiz and is gearing up with new kit for The Final Programme Phase Three and Phil and I have selected a book for a Halloween spesh that we’ll bang out next weekend.
Also Tash and I have settled on a subject for a new and occasional foray into… ONE SHIT BOOKS! Tash coined the phrase back in The Jewel in the Skull Part Three and we’re gonna run with it. Stand by to hear our rum-soaked musings upon DANNUS and the DARK STRAITS OF REGLATHIUM.
Coming to you in one fifth of an Ium or something (it’s been a couple of mygs since I looked at the glossary).
It’s true, it’s a whole year since we uploaded Episode 0 – An Introduction to Breakfast in the Ruins.
Baffling really.
As one gets older the years fly by ever more fleetingly but this one, for a variety of reasons, really has been a headlong flash of some weird combination of events that were hitherto unforeseeable. Politics, a pandemic, lockdowns, chronic lack of trouser wearing… it’s had it all!
In another way though last summer, when I first started gestating the podcast idea properly, seems half a lifetime ago. I’m so pleased I chose that specific time to kick all of this off, because if I hadn’t had this to escape into from time to time, and if I hadn’t had the positive social networks of like-minded folk that have sprung from this, it would have been a tougher year.
So listeners, thanks for listening.
Patrons, thanks for your support.
Simon P, thanks for all of your terrific work, including the above.
Take care, stay safe and I’ll see you on the moonbeam roads.
In 10 days this podcast will be a year old! In all honesty, it kind of crept up on me and had I been more prepared I’d have prepped something special. As it is though, managing to record Phase 2 of The Final Programme with Hussein after a nine month gap feels pretty special as it is, given the events he’s had to face this year. We’re committed to getting Phase 3 out there in the next month or so too.
Reading Jerry books again has made me realise just how much I love 60s/70s urban decay and societal collapse and griminess in my fiction. That’s even extended to my games (image above is the Copper Hill Estate from my Unknown Armies campaign of several years back – I really must bring that back some day).
This week we’re welcoming a new patron to the fold. Welcome Ben, we’re delighted to have you aboard. The Blind Steersman is hosting drinks and canapés on the poop deck at 7 sharp. Which 7 isn’t clear yet but be prepared either way.
We’ve also had some additional support from friend of the show Anthony Perconti. Anthony has been a great encouragement for us over the past year and he produces fab articles on a variety of books, most recently see http://threecrowsmagazine.com/turin/. Follow him on twitter @AnthonyPerconti.
In other news, Jim Kirkland is closing in on publishing his book on Elric collectibles and Simon Perrins has once again come up trumps with an ad for BitR to be included, but we’ll keep that under wraps for now (although if you follow us on instagram you may well have seen it already). We’ll keep you posted on progress and as soon as Jim has it out you’ll hear it here first.
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?
Phil airs her dirty drawers and we find that if you’re being peer pressured into genocide you just need a bath, dinner and an intervention… it’s just so relatable!
After some unfortunate events transpired to delay us, Hussein and I finally got to recording The Final Programme Phase Two. We tested the technology, recorded online and, barring a slight hiccup at my end that was mitigated by using Zoom’s recording feature as back up, it all worked swimmingly.
The Eternal Champion Part Three (with Phil) is recorded too and I’ll be editing that this evening with the intention of getting it out tomorrow, with TFP pt 2 following over the next week or so.
Now I’ve figured out online recording and it actually worked (and by this I mean I figured out how to get a nice, rich(ish) recording rather than rely on a zoom recording function which has all the quality of a decent phone call), I’ll be looking to get more in the diary.
Those of you on Twitter and/or Instagram will have seen the poll that has identified The Warhound and the World’s Pain as Phil’s next reading homework and we’ll make sure we get to that in the next few weeks. I haven’t read it since the 80s, but my copy is the same one I took to Pops for reading material when he was in hospital approaching the end of his time. Quite apt really. Pops was gone many years before podcasts were a thing but without him I would never have been in the position to do this podcast so that will have some additional resonance for me. This is all really in his honour.
Autumn is upon us (or Fall for our American pards… interestingly I learned from the grey fees only a few days ago that the British nomenclature of Autumn is only a fairly recent thing (century or so) and prior to that we said Fall too, but I digress) and temperatures are plummeting up here int’ Bratfud ‘ills. Also the plague continues to ravage the land, resulting in local lock-downs being extended and national restrictions being implemented and seemingly changed about every 37 seconds. I write this on a Friday and I suspect by Monday it will be mandated that we may not leave our bunkers lest we don full rubber suits and gimp mask accoutrements to nip round corner for all remaining bags of wine gums to restock the kitchen apocalypse box (or, at a push, sports mixture).
Given that in-person recording seems to have fucked off again for a while (Phil and I excepted of course) I’ve dusted off the online recording manual I wrote* after trial runs with Hussein (see previous Patron extra) and Loz (see pending patron extra… well you can’t yet but you will soon) and we’ll be giving that a ruddy good going over to keep our steady, some might say languid, pace up. Hussein will be back in the saddle shortly, provided he stops causing mini-civil wars in the North-West of England. Loz and I will be coordinating a selection of stupid beers so we can crack on with part two of The Knight of Swords, and Phil and I will be shortly knocking out the final part of our look at The Eternal Champion. In the ‘to be pursued further’ pile, we also have the possibility of another ‘side-scursion’ into the realms of brutal WW2sploitation and a first dive into the realms of Moorcock-infused prog rock in the company of a true expert. So many pies, not enough fingers, or hours in the day.
Meanwhile, we’re spending this weekend in the entertainingly uneven seaside town of Skegness, the only place I’ve ever found a bucket and spade shop that also sells crossbows. They don’t know it yet but my intention is to co-opt my travelling companions into an impromptu game of Stormbringer and record it. I’ll let you know how that goes and if they don’t tell me to bury my head in the Skeggy dunes or take a crossbow to me, I’ll upload that next week as another patron exclusive.
Reet, as they say somewhere or other here in the North, I hear a transition approaching. Before I get whisked away, thanks again to Simon Perrins for another refreshed version of the BitR logo!
Take it easy pards, I look forward to setting you a table at the Terminal Cafe. Andy
So, Bradford remains on localised lockdown for at least another week. Meanwhile the second of two shows we managed to record in that brief spell when Loz was able to visit has hit the…
Airwaves?
T’interwebs?
Grey fees?
It’s done nicely so far too, continuing the upward trend of downloads and listeners and taking the record for activity in the first 48 hours for an individual episode.
In sadder news, I was due to record The Final Programme Phase Two remotely with Hussein this week but yesterday he lost his uncle to Covid19. This coming so soon after losing his dad in March is a real blow. He’s doing it tough at the moment but he’ll be back and just like before he’ll have plenty of groovy insights to share.
On a slightly different note, I found out at the back end of last week that I’d been quoted and referenced in a Danish book of literary criticism. This is a rare thrill for me and all the more exciting and mysterious because I don’t read Danish. I instantly ordered a copy though and it’s a gorgeous tome. The chief side effect of this is that it’s nudged a Wheels of Terror episode that little bit closer and I already have a willing co-host.
There have also been some developments regarding the potential for a couple of shows looking at Moorcock’s relationship with music and Hawkwind in particular. I’m looking at a couple of very tasty collaborations with some esteemed and learned Hawkwind specialists. More on this soon.
Right, that’s about it for tonight.
Stay safe pards, and I’ll see you on the moonbeam roads.
