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 Stormbringer RPG fan and GM Andrew Beck so I roped him in to reflect on gaming, whether Newcastle Brown is really beer and some other stuff. Mostly gaming though.
Join us!
That re-bound Stormbringer RPG we talked about, put together from a knackered GW 3rd edition:
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Halloween is rampaging towards us and, following some technical issues, we managed to get our Halloween Special recorded and in the can…
SABAT!
And Holy shit. It was not what I expected, but I’ll keep my powder dry on that one. Thoughts of Phil, Graham and me coming up in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile though, I had a great time discussing The House in the Borderland with Allister – a book I’ve loved for a long time and one that is indelibly marked by my memories of Pops and some of those conversations we shared after my Nan passed away and I spent long evenings with him and his recollections of all sorts of things, some whimsical and light, others drenched in the grief, loss and trauma that a widower of his age and generation had inevitably suffered due to his place in time.
Also, and this was a last minute addition to the slate, it was great to welcome Loz back to the Derry & Toms kitchen to drink daft booze, eat haggis and talk about another horror novel that’s failed to make the grade in the patron polls this past couple of years… Slimer!
I’m not sure horror is Loz’s bag, but we had fun either way. When you listen to that one be sure to stick with it to the end because we did watch Proteus, but I put that bit of chat after the end music for some reason. I was going to leave it out, because we were a bit battered by the time we recorded that segment (and you can tell) but I thought “bah whatevs” and just bunged it on the end.
In other news, a package arrived at D&Ts today… a mysterious package c/o Dan Charnley AKA Dan’s Monsters…
Some ghost stories, a couple of westerns including an Edge volume (always meant to check one out), a bit of Survivalist action and… THAT BEAUTY PICTURED ABOVE!
Many thanks for that Dan, it now has pride of place alongside my signed Ebola Hunter photo from Wakaliwood.
It just occurred to me earlier that by the time our Sabat episode goes out on Halloween, we’ll have knocked out five episodes this month. Probably our busiest-ever period, but none of it Moorcock-related (other than talking generally about Bastable with Robert). Therefore, in November, we’ll be going back to the well and picking up some of our dangling threads with a return to Corum, the finale of The Coming of the Terraphiles and possibly some other bits and bobs, and then it will be December!
And that means another birthday episode that might… just might, by some coincidence… end up being episode 100.
Yes, our centenary approaches.
I wonder if we can crowbar in something special for that? Well, mayhap we can and mayhap we can’t…. we’ll just have to see. I’m nothing if not disorganised and terrible at planning, so it might just finally be part two of Phoenix in Obsidian or something.
Finally for today, if you don’t subscribe to Jim Kirkland’s Dreaming City Books newsletter, Pursuit of the Pale Prince, you absolutely should. There are some great updates in this latest instalment, one of which I referred to in the Slimer episode, but there’s more to see too, including details of a new Monsieur Zenith trilogy, the Bob Haberfield art shop and more.
Take care all, and see you in a week or so for Sabat (uuurgh… Sabat).
Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast 