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).
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. Elric is full of pith and vinegar for a change and we get a good look at him from a different perspective.
Excellent beverages are consumed along the way.
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!
Sweet, sweet synchronicity.
This presented an opportunity to celebrate both birthdays with a special, festive episode recorded in a four poster suite in the ancient 16th century Bagdale Hall Hotel in Whitby, the salt-bitten harboured, red-roofed jewel in Yorkshire’s Crown.
What’s more, some fine friends of the show sent along their messages to MM for inclusion.
So thanks Rob, Michael, Fred, Anthony, Asako Soh, David and The Pastor for your contributions. I’d like to think that in some cycle of existence MM may hear your words and feel the love.
The Pastor went the extra mile and sent a video of his salutation. As I could only keep the audio for the episode, here is his contribution in all its heavenly glory!
Thanks again Pastor!
So, many happy returns of the day to Phil, to Michael Moorcock, to anyone else who shares this day and anyone who just happens to listen to this on their birthday at any point in the future, from Earth 01 to Earth 16 or anywhere in the multiverse!
Finally, my gratitude to new patrons Malpertius and David, who join Fred and Norman in the ranks of Chaos Engineers. I’m always humbled that anyone would offer up their own sheckles to support this podcast. I hope I can repay your confidence.
Anyway, I hear the Song of the Swords. A transition approaches so… I’ll see you on the Moonbeam Roads!
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!
Thanks are once again due to Neil for his ace moral and technical support.
Note: The bulk of this was recorded before Episode One, so we’re already entering into the true spirit of Moorcock by complicating our own internal chronology.
Thanks to a great sugestion from a fellow traveller (@walfseo, you know who you are), I’ll now be posting in good time to let you know what we’ll be covering next.
So, with that in mind, dust off your copy of The Jewel in the Skull and get reading.
In epsiode 02 Natasha and I will be discussing Book One of The Jewel in the Skull (pages 7 to 39) and having a few tugs of Angostura Rum and some delicious Trinidadian cuisine!
If you can get your thoughts to me by Sunday 28th October I’ll include them in the outro!
Join Loz and I as we discuss the first published Elric story, The Dreaming City.
Loz is an old friend and fellow traveller of the moonbeam roads and will be a regular contributor.
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.
As discussed in the episode, be sure to check out the Stormbringer episodes of The Grognard Files (available at https://thegrognardfiles.com/tag/stormbringer/)
Thanks to Neil (@nelbert1 on twitter) for the ace support and Jonny Royale for the enthusiasm and positivity that ensured I got on and did this.
The music in this episode is by Giantkind, by kind permission of Loz & Neil!
The first, introductory episode of the Breakfast in the Ruins podcast. I explain my reasons for my obsession with Moorcock, and my partner Phil joins me for a drink and a chinwag.
Episode One proper will follow over the next couple of days. Meanwhile I’ll try to figure out how to embed players in wordpress!
See you on the moonbeam roads!
“When in doubt, Karl Glogauer would always return to Derry and Tom’s. He would walk down Kensington Church Street in the summer sunshine, ignoring the boutiques and coffee shops, until he reached the High Street. He would pass the first of the three Great department stores which stood side by side, stern and eternal and beautiful, blotting out the sky, and would go through the tall glass doors of the second store, Derry’s. The strongest of the citadels.”
Michael Moorcock, Breakfast in the Ruins
Thanks for joining me! Over the coming millennia I will be joined by a host of guests, travellers and mere passers-by to enjoy the gardens and ruminate on all things Moorcockian, and occasionally things bearing the distinct scent of the Million Spheres.
This is a fresh endeavour for me so please bear with me whilst I negotiate the moonbeam roads.
Follow @breakfastruins
“There was no more dangerous kind of madman than one who devoted a good brain and a courageous heart to unhealthy ambitions.”
― Michael Moorcock, The City in the Autumn Stars: Being a Continuation of the Story of the Von Bek Family and Its Association with Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, and the Cure for the World’s Pain
