Breakfast in the Ruins

We're finally back to finish our reportage on Phoenix in Obsidian (AKA The Silver Warriors). It's an epic tale of anguish and self-pity on an earth where the sun has dimmed, the moon has crashed down to simply be called Moon and the menace known as the Silver Warriors have extreme problems figuring out the point of polearms. How will Count Ulrik Skarsol endure...? Loz is back alongside Phil for th...

It's our summer holiday special - and it was Phil's Choice. She reminded me that we had such a great time with The Devils of D-Day and the film of Masterton's novel The Manitou that we should read Graham Masterton's Revenge of the Manitou. So we did... and we're going to talk about it. And watch Grizzly . JOIN US!

Dave returns to Derry & Toms to combat creeping fascism and technical issues, all whilst concluding our epic reportage on the final volume in The History of the Runestaff - THE RUNESTAFF (AKA The Secret of the Runetaff). GUYLINER UPSETTING FATES PORNOGRAPHIC THRILLERS And more.... Check out SÖNUS on bandcamp and buy their gear. And take a look at Gates of Londra

Miles is back to discuss another of Moorcock’s 1960s SF titles, arguably the most influential of the lot when considering the origins of the Multiverse. This may require some thoughtful, in-depth analysis. Instead, we talk about caffeine, giro spending habits of the 1990s and racist space dogs for close to two hours. JOIN US! Listen to the Casual Trek Podcast

Joe Banks , author of Hawkwind: Days of the Undergound , is back in Derry and Toms to enthuse about a film that was, for me, a shock revelation about one of Britain's most misunderstood bands. Not only were Slade a hard rocking act whose reputation as a live act belies their popular image as a slightly goofy glam rock fixture from early 70s Top of the Pops that invade our ears every bloody Xmas......

New guest co-host, author, gamer and podcaster Adrian Tchaikovsky joins me in Derry and Toms to look at Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth and discuss Vance's particular approach, his influence on Moorcock, and that mordant lyricism that defined numerous elements of the fantasy genre. Check out Adrian's podcast with Emma Newman, Starship Alexandria - latest episode is on KJ Bishop's The Etched City. For...

Sometimes we don't have time to read a book. Sometimes we just wanna gas about ace things. This is one of those times so... Hawk the Slayer... featuring: MORE Big Ron... ACTUAL Warren Clarke... SMOKY woods and DISCO.... and EVERYONE that's ever been on British telly EVER! Listen to The Casual Trek Podcast Support Dave and the crew with their production of The Hammer and Helena at the Edinburgh Fes...

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 .

Graham is back in Derry & Toms to talk about his debut novel THE WOODLICE, as well as his influences, method, finding inspiration in Guy N Smith's Writing Horror Fiction, microdots, dogging and regrets over that vintage Amstrad PCW 8512... the one that got away. The Woodlice is available from UK   and US  amazon stores. Fortean TV was released a couple of years ago by Network DVD - for a dose...

Seeing as John and I had such a good time with Trevor Hoyle's first Blakes 7 novelisation  and series watch-a-long, we thought sod it... let's do another. And this time... it has Servalan, plus: Roy from Eastenders... Glynnis Barber... Woke blasters... Big Ron Tarr... TRAVIS!!! IT'S GOT THE LOT!

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...

Tom Murphy of Colossive Press  drops by Derry and Toms to discuss The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. Plus, Bryan Talbot  joins us so we can quiz him about his early career and the origins of Arkwright!

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 Andrew Beck  so I roped him in for a chat to...

Dave , frontman of Space Rock Colossus SÖNUS , is back in Derry and Toms to tackle the final volume in the first Hawkmoon saga... The Runestaff (AKA The Secret of the Runestaff). Huon's tongue is flicking, Meliadus is plotting and Hawkmoon is SULKING ABOUT BOATS!

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 con...

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!!!

Simon Perrins is back in Derry and Toms to pick up the third instalment of the first Corum trilogy. Many delights await as Mike puts his foot down on drawing together the threads of this first ten years of Eternal Champion cosmology and, as usual, Jhary wears some nice threads. 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 writin...

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 ge...

The patrons spoke and this year's full-bore Halloween Special is Sabat - The Graveyard Vultures (and more) by Guy N Smith... It's fair to say that this one was challenging, and not just because our hero is a massive wanker. There's more... much more... Content warning for sexual violence and exasperated hosts.

In this, our third (?) Halloween episode for 2024, we tackle the book Loz describes as, "crass, bluff and gittish"! It's SLIMER... our second experience of Harry Adam Knight action on Breakfast in the Ruins and it certainly was a book. Interesting developments on the 'base under siege by weird monster' are brought low by some of the unfortunate tropes of the genre at the time. Still, fortunately,...

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...

In this bonus fix-up episode, I meet up with our pen-pal Robert MacMillan  in a coffee shop in Bradford to set the scene for our journey into the worlds of Bastable… this wasn't our initial plan. Still, life intervenes in strange ways sometimes and we follow the moonbeam roads as we must. As well as Moorcock, we talk about 1980s coach holidays to Palamos, VHS tracking, Bond, Who conventions, Ponti...

It's October already so it's time for Graham  to return for our traditional Halloween period of exploring killer critter features and, from time to time, discovering new author rabbit holes to tumble down. This time, it's PISCES RISING by NEL stalwart Peter Cave and his one-time collaborator Margaret Wredden. Fantastic creation myths combine with brutal deaths, drinking bitter in a pub in Lowestof...