Friends old and new join me in Derry and Toms roof gardens to discuss the work and influence of prolific British fantasist Michael Moorcock, as well as other bits of 60s and 70s genre fiction that came to me via my Grandad in the 80s and informed my world view. Books, music, role-playing games, wrestling in Featherstone Library and many other digressions await.
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Dave is back in Derry & Toms to talk about some stories that were as formative for him as they were for me back in our teens... The Robert E Howard Conan stories, The Phoenix on the Sword and The Scarlet Citadel. Dave also gives us an update on the latest SÖNUS news and we delve into some of the murkier aspects of the pulp of the time. But mostly w…
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Moorcock & RPGs Part VII - Reflections on The Void
2:26:00
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Pig-bombs, priests in daisy dukes, dressing down the Theocrat of Pan Tang and getting torn apart by dogs are just some of the highlights as I’m joined in D&Ts once again by Steve Round to talk Stormbringer gaming and this time he’s brought the whole damn party. The wandering beer table returns and, as a reward to the gang, we debut an all-new lazil…
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The Coming of the Terraphiles - Part Two
1:47:20
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Miles is back to carry on our deep dive into Mike's Who/Multiverse mash-up and also talk about Ncuti's first run, the Timeless Child arc, writing Who fiction, engaged Tom vs couldn't give a hoot Tom and loads of other stuff no doubt. Join us! And be sure to check out the Casual Trek Podcast too.By STIMBOT5000
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Allister Thompson returns to Derry and Toms as we hurtle back to 1918 and brave the cold waters of the Atlantic to take a look at The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, subject of Michael Moorcock's sole filmed movie script (along with James Cawthron of course). Expect discussions about mysterious island tropes, personal propensities to…
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(The Coming of) The Coming of the Terraphiles
1:43:25
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FINALLY! After all this dancing around the subject of Michael Moorcock writing for the iconic Doctor Who IP and talking Alien and Quatermass and Blake's 7, Miles joins me in the Cloister Room as we just about get to The Coming of the Terraphiles... Just about... But with our tendency to go off on tangents AND 61 years of Doctor Who to consider perh…
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Join my co-conspirator John and me as we board the Civil Administration ship London where our brutally oppressive crew sets the speed to Time Distort 5 and makes for Cygnus Alpha where we will all suffer for our crimes! En route, we'll have plenty of time (between beatings and summary executions) to discuss Trevor Hoyle's novelisation of the first …
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The Blade in the Angel's Shadow w/ Andy Darby
1:10:56
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Andy Darby is back in Derry and Toms to talk about his all-new novel, The Blade in the Angel's Shadow! Enochian madness, brutal sieges, swordplay and the machinations of the Elizabethan court all combine to give our heroine a hard time, some gnarly powers and a profound ethical dilemma. It's available from all good stockists now...…
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Andrew Nette returns to Derry and Toms as we continue to muse over some formative telly, novelisations and other stuff but on this occasion to talk about Nigel Kneale's enduring and iconic character Professor Bernard Quatermass (and a load of other digressions, naturally, including brief musings on a favourite mercenary war flick). We roam around t…
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ALIEN: When IPs collide (Colony Wars and Cold Forges)
2:01:45
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In our continued deliberations about tackling Michael Moorcock's Doctor Who novel The Coming of the Terraphiles, several questions about the pitfalls of writing for established IPs have arisen, and a pressing one is: What happens when Trumpton and British politics intrude upon the Alien universe? We investigated so you don't have to, so join Miles …
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Loz returns to Derry & Toms to talk about the remaining tales we haven't covered that complete Michael Moorcock's The Weird of the White Wolf. Elric tests some early chat-up lines in While the Gods Laugh, Moonglum finally shows up in The Singing Citadel and Loz bares all (though not his nipple) in a grievance-filled tirade against neopolitan ice cr…
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New Edges For Old Heroes w/ Oliver Brackenbury
1:19:21
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Oliver Brackenbury returns to Derry & Toms to talk about the next phase of his excellent mag New Edge Sword and Sorcery. Moorcock talk, uncovering and unleashing a golden age hero anew and copious amounts of caffeine and lemsip dominate. JOIN US. Be sure to check out the Backerkit link for New Edge Sword and Sorcery issues 3 and 4 and Oliver's podc…
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Derek AKA Imrryr returns to Derry and Toms to talk about fellow New Yorker Robert Sheckley, the late master of SF satire and absurdist parables, and his rather unusual and wigged-out 1975 opus... Options. Spoiler... it's out there... AND I LOVE IT! All of the Imrryr catalogue is available via Bandcamp, including merch, and when I get the links for …
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So it turns out there's a 'Britain is Fucked' novel about Hawkwind tonning around in a van fighting ghosts and squares with guns that shoot their music AND that happens to feature Moorcock as a tertiary character with a saucy house computer. WHO KNEW??? Well, some of you did obviously... but I didn't until my mate Yarks sent me a copy for my birthd…
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Snowcastles - A (Belated) One-Shit Book for Xmas
1:19:45
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Clarky the Cruel returns to Derry and Toms to revive the One-Shit Book (books that could potentially be read on one visit to the throne) format as we look at SNOWCASTLES by Duncan McGeary. We consider wizard contracting standards, when barbarians aren't barbarians and just what the hell is under Greylock's fur...? We don't read the sequel but we do…
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Birthday Special 2023 - w/ Joe Monti of Saga Press
2:34:12
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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…
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Simon Perrins (artist, graphic designer and co-host of Can I Pod With Madness) returns to Derry and Toms 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 o…
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Memoriam & Other Realms of Chaos with Karl Willetts
1:11:44
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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, Bolt Thrower, Warhammer and his three rules of beer… Memoriam's latest release is Rise to Power and it and their back catalogue are avail…
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Halloween Special 2023 - James Herbert’s DOMAIN
2:10:20
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Miles and Phil brave nuclear Armageddon, mutant rats, zoom meltdowns and horrific rabies treatment to join me in Derry & Toms and check out our patron-selected Halloween double-bill of James Herbert's Domain and Bruno Mattei's Rats: Night of Terror. So paint your windows white, lock the dogs and cats outside, get safely ensconced in your inner sanc…
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The Legacy of Guy N Smith - a Conversation with Tara Paulsson
1:03:17
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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…
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CRABS ON THE RAMPAGE (Guy N Smith Re-revisited)
1:31:54
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Graham and Phil return to Derry and 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. Be sure to check out Graham and the Duck Pond Sailors' latest r…
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Phoenix in Obsidian (The Silver Warriors) Part One
1:18:32
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Phil returns to Derry & Toms to tackle the second Erekosë volume - Pheonix in Obsidian, also known as The Silver Warriors in the USA. Misery, perversion and very metal methods of conveyance abound in this tale of an Earth in its final ebbs of existence. JOIN US!By STIMBOT5000
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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 i…
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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 natu…
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The Fungus by Harry Adam Knight - an Uncosy Catastrophe
1:26:13
1:26:13
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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 u…
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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? Don your wafters and JOIN US! (and check ou…
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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 po…
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Tales From Strange Cupboards - Moorcock and RPGs Part VI
1:35:33
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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 terrib…
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Black Swords & Storyboards - a Conversation with Goran Gligović
50:56
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Goran Gligović stopped by Derry and Toms to discuss his art and influences, as well as his work on the recently kickstarted Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition, a Moorcock-influenced roleplaying game from The Merry Mushmen We rove around the joint and, for possibly the first time, Excalibur gets a mention on Breakfast in the Ruins... how it to…
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Simon returns to D&Ts to look at the first part of the second volume of the adventures of Corum, Prince in the Scarlet Robe and tell us all about his new(ish) podcast Can I Pod With Madness (available wherever you consume your pods). Beer mistakes and dodgy audio can't dampen our enthusiasm for some fantastic world-building and the first true appea…
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The Fortress of the Pearl Part Three
1:37:38
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Loz returns to Derry & Toms to brave the final gate (and the depredations of the beer slate) as we conclude our re-read of Michael Moorcock's 1989 Elric novel The Fortress of the Pearl. Expect revisionism (both textual and personal), rose-tinted reflections on the dole, a beer challenge best described as cyclopean and some RPG-focused grumbling as …
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The Final Programme Phase IV - The Last Days of Man on Earth
1:22:48
1:22:48
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We're back in Derry and Toms in the company of Joe Banks to take a look at Robert Fuest's 1973 film take on Moorcock's The Final Programme (AKA The Last Days of Man on Earth). As is traditional we roam around, but mostly we evaluate The Final Programme as both an adaptation and as a work that stands (or falls) on its own merits, and Joe has a start…
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Andrew Nette returns to Derry & Toms to look at the legendary UK publisher of horror, science fiction and alarmingly violent but sociologically savvy pulps -New English Library. NEL looms large on my shelves but I've never delved into their bikersploitation output... UNTIL NOW! Rum content ahead as we talk about the publisher, the key players behin…
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Allister Thompson, musician and author of The Music of the Spheres, is back in Derry & Toms to talk about the scientific romance and hardcore disco prog phenomenon that is... The War of the Worlds. We look at our entry points into WOTW fandom, the original 1897 classic by HG Wells, a number of adaptations and spin-offs, and the one adaptation that …
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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. Join us as we discuss this …
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James Herbert’s The Dark - The Nature of the Uncosy Catastrophe Part One
1:52:17
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Graham and Miles join me in Derry & Toms to delve into more James Herbert disaster action and muse over the glut of uncosy catastrophes coming out of the 70s paperback boom to answer Aldiss's dismissal of the British sci-fi apocalypse novels of the 60s. We talk about The Dark and touch upon some other examples we've been picking up. As trailed in t…
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Oliver Brackenbury drops by Derry & Toms to give us the low down on New Edge Sword & Sorcery, his new anthology magazine heading to Kickstarter around about the time this show goes out. We talk about the magazine as well as numerous things including the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy at Toronto Public Library, Oliver's …
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The Fortress of the Pearl - Part Two
2:15:28
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Loz returns to Derry & Toms to pick up our coverage of The Fortress of the Pearl, muse on Elric's 'nice guy' characterisation, grumble at Jack Three-Beaks, coo over weird sky descriptions and suffer the depredations of the returning D6 wandering beer table. In other news I was delighted to be a guest of Jeff and Hoi on the Appendix N Book Club. Be …
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The Devils of D-Day 2: Manitou Boogalou
1:26:12
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After falling foul of birthday libations first time around, we're back to finish our exploration of Graham Masterton's The Devils of D-Day. The Seven Tests return, Dan McCook still isn't owning his fundamental rookie error, the Official Secrets Act counts for sweet FA and it turns out Eloise is the MVP of this whole story. We also watch a movie! Su…
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Moorcock, Art & Comics II - Saga of the Man Elf
1:19:34
1:19:34
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Simon is back in Derry & Toms to carry on our chinwagging and this time we're joined by Guy Lawley, author of Saga of the Man Elf. This 1989 five issue Trident comics run is my most highly treasured Moorcock-related comic and Guy tells us how it came to be, how Mike gave it his blessing, and how he worked and moved through UK comics and fanzines. W…
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Birthday/Xmas Special 2022 - The Devils of D-Day (Part I)
1:34:22
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Another year has flown by and we return to Derry and Toms for our fourth annual Phil and MM birthday special and celebrate another year on the planet. This time by reading some patron-selected festive horror! Tanks, demons, onion soup, calvados and freezing weather all combine to create a truly seasonal challenge for a horny cartographer. This is a…
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Moorcock, Art & Comics (and more) PART I
1:55:06
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Simon Perrins joins me in Derry and Toms to discuss Moorcock, art, comics, Tolkien, TV adaptations, role-playing games, tortured poet musicians we adored in our youths and generally go totally fugazi. Simon is the man behind our banner art, logo, Gerard Arthur Connelly portraits and pretty much our entire visual identity. Follow him on Twitter and …
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Halloween Special 2022 - THE FOG (James Herbert)
2:10:59
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Phil and Graham return to Derry and Toms to gas about James Herbert's second novel, 1975's The Fog. One year on from The Rats he's back terrorising London and the south-east, this time with a rampaging combination of mutated disease and spooky weather condition. He also baffles and amuses us with protracted sexy-times, which was de rigueur for Herb…
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Me and the Monkey - Chronicles of the Monkey God Vol. I
1:19:53
1:19:53
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Andy Darby joins me in virtual Derry and Toms to talk his tales of the Monkey God, Moorcock, and lots of other stuff including reminiscences about Johnny Seven, Lion annuals, Commando comics, Mme. Blavatsky, My First Two Thousand Years and tripping in Amsterdam. You can pick up Vol I and The Paddington Incident now and Vol II releases on 5th Novemb…
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Derek AKA Imrryr joins me in Derry and Toms to discuss this choice piece of 60s SF courtesy of Moorcock and Hilary Bailey, as well as his new(ish) The Black Corridor inspired album and his latest variation on his ongoing Elric-related project The Dreaming City III. Then Graham calls in from his weird shack* in the woods to add his tuppence ha'penny…
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Dave (AKA SÖNUS) is back in Derry and Toms to pick up the second and concluding part of our quest for The Mad God's Amulet. Join us as we discover the greatest NWOBHM band to never exist... THE MUTANT WAR JAGUARS OF ASIACOMMUNISTA... and Lord Shark's Ostentatious Couch returns. Things mentioned in the show include Gates of Londra - a must have if y…
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Moorcock and RPGs Part V - Stormbringer Redux!
1:11:23
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Ted AKA @tedankhamen joins me in Derry and Toms for the second leaf of our Summer diptych musing on Moorcock, gaming and whatever else enters our eyeline. Some choice cuts in here including miniature bashing, Tolkien (again), a shock Strongbow appreciation story, chaosium-isms... but mostly some good, chewy thinking on modelling Moorcockian worlds …
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Moorcock and RPGs Part IV - Sandboxing the Multiverse
1:13:05
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We're back in Derry and Toms to talk gaming again, this time with CLARKY THE CRUEL.Dave gets shocked by the crap number of TV channels we had in the UK as kids, Clarky tells us about his sandboxing adventures beyond the ultraworld, and I get inspired. And we digress. Obviously. You can find Clarky's Dissecting Worlds podcast archive and all of his …
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The Art of Bob Haberfield (1938 - 2021)
1:12:02
1:12:02
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After 40 years of obsessing over the Mayflower covers of Bob Haberfield, Dave and I get to wig out and talk to Ben Haberfield about his Dad's life, art and the gestating project to celebrate the breadth of his work in the form of two art books. You can keep up with Ben's work at bobhaberfield.com and follow him on Instagram. Our banner art and logo…
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The Winds of Gath (EC Tubb) - an Old Pier Bookshop Special
2:18:47
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Phil returns to Derry & Toms as we visit Morecambe's (and perhaps the world's) premier second hand book vendor to select a candidate for the first ever Old Pier Bookshop Special.We choose, or rather are chosen by, The Winds of Gath by EC Tubb - first in a 33 book series spanning three decades that charts the adventures of Earl Dumarest of Terra.In …
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The Mad God’s Amulet - Book One (Hawkmoon)
1:52:34
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Dave AKA SÖNUS returns to Derry and Toms to dive into the fast-paced and very metal, yet weirdly just OK-ish first part of The Mad God's Amulet, second in the Hawkmoon sequence The History of the Runestaff. As always, digressions await the unwary traveller as well as ostentatious coughing and just excellent pants. JOIN US! Follow us on Twitter and …
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