In this, the second blow of that one-two punch of GNS brain matter, Graham and I welcome Tara Paulsson to Derry and Toms to talk about her Dad and his work.
Tara will be at Tamworth Castle’s Tales From the Darkside Week on Saturday 28th October and you can find details about ‘An Ode to Guy Newman Smith’s, 1970’s Pulp Fiction Horror’ and how to book at www.tamworthcastle.co.uk/darkside
Graham and Phil return to Derry & Toms to tackle our third adventure in the company of the mighty Professor Cliff Davenport in the first of a one-two punch of GNS-related early Halloween action.
Disturbing violence, saucy language and copious amounts of pus await the unwary traveller.
It’s a rare sunny day here in Bradford after a week of relentless rain and overcast. It feels decidedly autumnal in that crisp, golden-hued fashion.
It’s been a busy week too with some brisk activity in Derry & Toms, although you may not know it as it’s been three and a half weeks since our Letters From Hollywood episode. That’s largely down to external events and me fudging up a recording and having to do some head-scratching regarding ways of rescuing the audio.
And then, after figuring out what to do, realising that it took just ten minutes to correct.
If you know… you know… and if you don’t… you spend many hours thrashing around in the mire.
But at least I know now. I just hope I don’t forget by the time it happens again. Which I probably will.
Anyway, this just means we’ll have a bumper second half of October with three episodes landing between now and Halloween!
In the next day or two… The Phoenix in Obsidian AKA The Silver Warriors (Part One)
Then… CRABS ON THE RAMPAGE
And finally, as selected by the patrons… DOMAIN
As well as getting some podcasts recorded, we’ve had a lovely month in terms of support with new patrons arriving on the Donblas from as far afield as Lithuania, Australia, Finland and Israel.
And our new Patron Demon from Lithuania, Marius, sent me some truly marvellous images of Lithuanian Corum editions.- The Knight of the Swords (translated as Kalavijų Rikis) and the remaining Swords trilogy entries collected as Kalavijų Valdovai (Sword Rulers).
Even better, as well as these striking covers they feature some rather gorgeous internal B&W art…
Thanks for sending those over Marius (and also thanks to Jason Atomic over on Instagram who by some strange coincidence sent some of these the same week).
In other news, Chris AKA Dirk the Dice appeared on our Letters From Hollywood episode and in the outro I mentioned that he had a very special guest lined up for his next instalment of The Grognard Files. That show is now live and it features none other than Mike himself and, as you would expect from that podcast and Chris as a first-rate host and interviewer, it’s excellent. Check it out.
That’s all for now, I’m back to topping and tailing our new episode.
Chris (AKA Dirk the Dice) returns to Derry and Toms to discuss Michael Moorcock’s sort-of-memoir of his time in LA and wider California in Letters From Hollywood. Along the way we drink fusty northern beer, console one another about Pernod-soaked catastrophes in our salad days, wistfully recall the Moorcock/Tolkien Weekender and muse on what form it could take in the future (Dannus/Lud-in-the-Mist Premier Inn Takeover anyone?*).
Andy Darby shakes off the Monkey for an evening and drops by D and Ts to take a look at one of Moorcock’s 60s SF tales, The Fireclown (later retitled The Winds of Limbo but I’m sticking with the original title for vaguely defined reasons related to being old and finnicky).
Strap in for a political thriller laced with astute observations on the natures of media and personality politics, the odd sprinkling of futurism and some oddly prescient sort-of predictions.
A quick update this time whilst I’m waiting for some processing to complete on the latest pod (and listening to the newly remastered Hawkwind platter, Sonic Attack on the trusty Sound Burger as I type).
In the Patron Poll for the subject of our Halloween Special it looks like James Herbert’s Domain has an unassailable lead, leaving me kicking myself as it’s about twice the length of all the others. It is a page-turner though and last year we introduced a new sort of precedent when, following The Fog’s triumph in the poll, we did The Devils of D-Day anyway. So currently The Cats by Nick Sharman is in final place so maybe we’ll do that later in the year. It looks mercifully short. Probably a one-shit book in fact.
Either way, I’ll leave the poll up for another week or so, should there be any late gambits that drastically alter the field.
On the skinny book front, I’ve had another suggestion fly in from left of field and a one-shit book suggestion at that…
Snowcastles by Duncan McGeary. It looks gloriously rubbish. Therefore it has made the to-do list. Which is growing longer by the week.
Right, processing is complete. Back to editing. There was a time when a monthly episode was the norm but this year we’ve had a more productive spell, reaching close to two per month at times. I don’t want to let that slip too much so I intend to have this latest show out in the next day or four. Furthermore, despite recent developments in the realms of real life (and thanks for the lovely messages on that front by the way, they were highly appreciated), this is a passion project that is going to continue until I stop enjoying it. Or you do. Or both.
As you know’ll if you’re a listener, this podcast was founded on the back of my early journeys through genre fiction as prompted by the books I’d see on, and later receive from, Pops’s little coffee table. It was these wonderful, colourful, garish titles that informed my reading habits for the next 40 or so years. Right up until today in fact.
But I was already a reader. And that was down to one person. My mam.
One of my favourite memories of childhood is coming home from primary school on a lunch time and, along with my two older sisters, sitting rapt as Mam read us the next chapter of The Hobbit. Then she would send us back to school, fed and read, with heads full of trolls and goblins and Middle Earth.
For almost all of my 51 years on the planet, books have been an intrinsic part of my being and that’s down to Mam.
Pops may have influenced my tastes further, but Mam MADE me a reader. In fact she made readers of us all, including STIMBOTCLASSIC, whom she wed in 1967.
Having spent a lot of time back at the family home this last couple of weeks, it struck me how similar our places look.
Books everywhere. On shelves. In piles. On chair arms with bookmarks.
She was reading Shikasta by Doris Lessing again, but it wasn’t alone. It was with a couple of others in her to-read/being read piles, alongside some notes she’d made about her garden, her other great pastime.
I barely remember a conversation of ours that didn’t feature at least some mention of what we were reading, or going to read. Phil had even suggested she appear on Breakfast in the Ruins, we just needed to pick a book.
Our last conversation was about what she wanted for her birthday.
Book vouchers.
Only yesterday I glanced at my birthday presents from her and dad from just five or so weeks ago.
Books.
In every way though, she herself was the gift that kept on giving.
So I’ll keep on reading. And remembering. Because she gave us everything.
And I’m sure, over in the Undying Lands, she’s reading right now.
Graham returns to Derry and Toms to pick up the chat regarding another Uncosy Catastrophe, on this occasion recommended by listener Paul Miles… 1985’s The Fungus by Harry Adam Knight, a book that somehow passed us by despite being firmly in our wheelhouse.
Exploding landlords, extremely poor mission personnel choices, sweaty liaisons and deeply unfortunate children await in this tale of an England overwhelmed by scientifically boosted mycelium.
Hawkmoon defends Castle Brass by Rodney Matthews 1976
Dave returns to Derry & Toms to pick up our thread with The Sword of the Dawn Book Two, the third instalment in Michael Moorcock’s epic The History of the Runestaff.
Hawkmoon gets some swish togs but seems to have a real blind spot when it comes to fighting pirates. Meanwhile, D’Averc is… sort of there?
Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast 