Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast
Podcasting about Michael Moorcock and traversing the million spheres.
Andy Darby is back to look at another of Mike’s 60s SF takes… THE SHORES OF DEATH. Replete with sexual deviancy, epic parties and a massive tool of a protagonist… it’s classic 60s Moorcock!
Check out Andy’s substack to read The Crow Feeder and pick up The Blade in the Angel’s Shadow.
With news that the Apple TV/Skydance Eternal Champion series is “DOA”, what better a time to talk to Chris Preyer, the man behind Elric: Chains of the Doomed One – a fan-film project. Chris lifts the lid on the joys and challenges of crafting and resourcing a passion-driven endeavour.
Follow Chris and the team’s progress on Instagram and check out Tim Hintsala’s armoury at Iron Ape Forge, Shai Winzer’s make-up at Tesh Techniques, and the haunting music of Altoscliff.
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.
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That re-bound Stormbringer RPG we talked about, put together from a knackered GW 3rd edition:
Complete with misaligned spine text…
But that binding will outlast me.
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.
But HATS!
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.
It also goes on for about three days.
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It’s Mike’s birthday… It’s Phil’s birthday… It’s our centenary…
For this one, we have a very special guest. It’s Michael Moorcock!
Also, me and Phil go to Morecambe blah blah blah… JOIN US!!!
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.
We are firmly in our Halloween groove. The eco-horror of Pisces Rising may have given us a light step into the season, but now we’re up to our necks in it and our choices for this year not only include the winner and one of the runners-up from this year’s patron poll, but we’re also taking a look at one that has featured on past polls but never reached the top…
William Hope Hodgson’s classic of weird fiction and cosmic dread… The House on the Borderland.
Author, editor and musician Allister Thompson is back for this one (check out his musical retrospective and his debut novel The Music of the Spheres), and this was a pretty deep reading (by my standards anyway). We also touch on Lovecraft and some musical interpretations, including one by Nostalgia and Borderlands by Tactile, an extract of which can be heard at the end of the show.
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Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast 