In this Birthday Special double-bill of salutations, Joe Monti (editorial Director at SAGA Press) drops by D&Ts to engage in day-drinking, Moorcock talk and chew the fat about editing amazing fantasy and various other bits n’ bobs. Also, Joe gets Crabs.
Then Phil and Loz join me for a serious* roundtable. Whilst we drink mucky booze and engage in a hastily and lazily bashed together but closely contested Moorcock-related quiz, Phil disses my gourd, Loz dumps on steampunk and a particularly challenging beer punches us in the temple (thanks Ash).
Simon Perrins (artist, graphic designer and co-host of Can I Pod With Madness) returns to D&Ts so we can finally conclude our re-read of the second Corum adventure, The Queen of the Swords.
Between wading gods, crackles from beyond the veil and other interventions from the old gods of chaos, we managed to get through books two and three of this adventure intact. So join us for small talk about Moorcock, fighting fantasy books, Loz’s Lovecraft formula and our favourite close-harmony choir of chaos oddballs…
The artist whose name we couldn’t remember, responsible for the Berkley edition covers as above, is David McCall Johnston.
Simon is, of course, the geezer behind the visual identity of BITR too. Find him on Instagram and check out his store.
Also, have a look at Karmanal of Zert by Blaze Atoms – Here’s some info from their bandcamp page (sadly I can’t find any evidence of their “Swords & Space Wizards” demo – if you know of it… LET ME KNOW):
“This is an instrumental, almost completely mixed preview of the version of “Karmanal of Zert” that will appear on the upcoming “Swords & Space Wizards” demo in early May 2016. This recording is completely unadvertised and uploaded solely so Michael Moorcock himself can hear it. So if you found it, good job. 🙂
lyrics
all music conceived, composed and arranged by Aaron DiDonato
all guitar, bass, and drums performed and recorded by Aaron DiDonato
lyrics (when vocals are added) adapted from the chapter “The Frozen Army” in the book “The Queen of the Swords” by Michael Moorcock (1971)
Looming in the distance Over the valley now, come the hopping things Bouncing, several-legged creatures Multiversal nomads, indestructible beings
Knowing not of mortality Pledging no allegiance to Law or Chaos Knowing not true existence Having no souls
The Karmanal of Zert are coming The Karmanal of Zert, yeah, are coming for you The Karmanal of Zert are coming
Here they come – look up and see
They lope down the slopes of the hills Seeking the Champion Eternal they’ve been sent to kill – to kill Altering the fates of untold civilizations On untold planes of existence – parallel dimensions of the Earth
Massive fangs clash, huge eyes roll Many tentacles lash, fighting for Cosmic control Doing the bidding of the Chaos Lords While in another time and plane they are fighting for Law
Fighting for no purpose, no sought-after end Fighting indifferent to consequence
The Karmanal of Zert always sing before they feast – always The Karmanal of Zert always sing before they feast – hear them sing
Maim Slay Feast
The Queen of the Chaos Swords’ laughter fills the sky
Maim Slay Feast
The Queen of the Chaos Swords’ laughter fills the sky As the Eternal Champion prepares to die
Prepare to die
Hear the Karmanal of Zert sing Hear them, hear them (repeat)
Power up your voxcaster, recite a litany of protection and light a lho stick as beer lover, wargamer and death metal LEGEND Karl Willetts braves the Immaterium to warp over to Derry and Toms and discuss Memoriam, becoming the vocalist in Bolt Thrower, Warhammer and his three rules of beer…
Memoriam’s latest release is Rise to Power and it and their back catalogue is available at all good stockists.
I also wistfully recall my first exposure to Bolt Thrower with the epic and massive game changer for British metal… Realm of Chaos
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.
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?
Miles of the Casual Trek Podcast returns to Derry & Toms as we turn flagellant and cast our eyes over the first in John Norman’s GOR series (and the Cannon movie adaptation as a Brucey Bonus).
Publishers disdain it, booksellers sneer at it and the literary establishment would rather just not talk about it. But the GOR series still has a habit of popping up in the second-hand bookshops we frequent, because there are still millions of ’em kicking about probably. And there’s even a Gorean subculture in Darlington!!!
But which side are we on?
The establishment (and at least one butcher in Darlington)?
Or
The other people that think it’s saucy and cooooool?
LISTEN AND FIND OUT!
Spoiler: In the end… we’re just with Oliver Reed.
CW: This podcast contains discussions about themes of sexual exploitation and slavery that are shot through the Gor novels.
For our latest exploration of multiversal gaming, friends of the show Dave and Steve bring games mastering knowledge and expertise to Derry and Toms (as well as a couple of afternoon libations of course).
Whilst we consider whether Stormbringer is the Moorcockian RPG to rule them all, we also yak about the lineage of the Stormbringer RPG (see terribly boring powerpoint slide below), gaming as shit-kickers, when games get too meta, cat character sheets, how to nail the dream realms, playing games in Littlewoods cafe, and memories of Oyster Stout (all bad).
You can catch up with Dave and Steve’s gaming escapades at:
Also, I refer to Ted’s Stormbringer modifications in the intro to this show and you can read his latest thoughts on the games application of Sorcerers and Summoning over on the Tomb of Tedankhamen.
Dave AKA SÖNUS returns to Derry & Toms and we pick up the exploits of Dorian Hawkmoon and his amusing companion Huillam D’Averc in The Sword of the Dawn, third volume of Moorcock’s epic The History of the Runestaff.
Meliadus gets miffed, Hawkmoon’s stoicism is tested, D’Averc gets naked and Count Brass is bored shitless.
Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast 