Breakfast in the Ruins

It's Threads Day! So what better excuse to have Dr Malcom Craig back in Derry & Toms to talk about NUCLEAR WAR, and particularly General Sir John Hackett’s The Third World War: August 1985 (1978) and its sequel The Third World War: The Untold Story (1982). As we're both gamers, and Malcolm has an academic interest in it too, we also get into it with GDW's Twilight 2000 RPG, arguably the ultimate expression of the speculative World War Three RPG genre. A game that transformed our Cold War fears into the participatory storytelling of the RPG format, and allowed players to wander the ruins of post-nuclear Europe while tracking ammunition, diesel fuel, rads, rations, and the collapse of NATO command structures in all the meticulous detail a teenage nerd could delight in. You can pre-order Cold City and Hot War 2e in print, or get the PDFs instantly, here, and read Malcolm's paper on Twilight 2000 by clicking below: When You Say, “Thermonuclear War,” I Think You Mean “the Call to Adventure”! The Twilight: 2000 Tabletop Role-Playing Game and the Postapocalyptic World’s Imaginary Spaces

SYNCHRONIUS NEWS! We're less than four weeks out from our first Moorcockian gaming weekend, Rolling in the Ruins 2026, and suddenly Elric RPGs are like buses! What great fortune then, that I had this RPG-related chat lined up with Marcus Bone, the guy behind https://stormbringerrpg.com/ and many other things, like: https://www.darkconspiracytherpg.com/ https://demonground.org/archives/299-2/ and https://unboundbook.org/ So much to talk about. Join us!

Dave returns to Derry & Toms to conclude our coverage of the 1973 Karl Edward Wagner anthology Death Angel's Shadow, featuring his anti-hero Kane. Some great stuff in here, but some rough stuff too, with references to sexual assault, so please beware that we will discuss it in both the original context, as we see it, and that of a modern reader. Two stories round out our journey with this Kane book, Cold Light and Mirage. Check out Dave's latest trip with SÖNUS, the single Sisyphus Stomp - the video is on YouTube - and you can pre-order new album The Planes of Torment (release date May 22nd).

In a blasphemous conjunction of the spheres, this year is the 60th anniversary of the publication of the novella Behold the Man in New Worlds issue 166 - and a few weeks ago patron Nick Hopkinson sent me the link to an article by Professor Rowland Wymer in Vol 52 no 2 of the Interdisciplinary Critical Journal Mosaic from June 2019, titled The Imitation of Christ: Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man. The conjunction was completed when the Professor agreed to hop in to Derry & Toms to talk about his article, his journey into SF and how he came to teach it, living and drinking in Hull and lots of other stuff along the way. We briefly talk about Russian SF too, so here I am talking to Ralph Lovegrove on his excellent Fictoplasm Podcast about Roadside Picnic.

Jason Atomic drops by Derry & Toms to talk about his journey from finding Moorcock and metal to creating Satanic Mojo comix, founding the Satanic Flea Market, becoming an avid book collector and illustrating the Alex Sanders Lectures, a brand new reprint of one of the first correspondent courses in witchcraft by the "King of Witches" with a commentary by Maxine Sanders. Head to Aeon Books to pre-order Occult Pop (get 20% off with the code POP20), and you can pick up back issues of Satanic Mojo here.

Allister Thompson returns to Derry & Toms to talk about his new novel, Birch and Jay: The Knowledge Seekers Part One. In a typically roving conversation, we get into his influences and intentions in writing about a climate apocalypse and aftermath, as well as other stuff, like bad War of the Worlds adaptations (again). This episode plays out with Why Did We Do It (The Last Ones) from Allister's tie-in EP and you can grab that along with his entire discography from Bandcamp.

Robert is back in D&Ts to pick up the trail of Oswald Bastable as he navigates the strange world of an alternative 1970s full of airships, anarchists and a nasty little fucker called Regan. We also navigate Mike's occasionally annoying propensity for retrospectively sticking a Von Bek in EVERYTHING. Get the Colossive Press Croydon Spaceport Fun Pack HERE and check out the details of our Rolling in the Ruins Moorcockian RPG two-dayer in Bradford in June. JOIN US!!!

Don returns to Derry & Toms to update us on his journey adapting The Dancers at the End of Time stories into a sprawling four-album suite and to talk about his epic musical memoir, One of the Spirits Burning (order from Stairway Press in the US and Jayde Design in the UK to get the limited edition CD included) You can find the Spirits Burning back catalogue on vinyl and CD all over the place (it's a big back catalogue), and the DatEoT albums at these links: An Alien Heat The Hollow Lands The End of All Songs - Part 1 The End of All Songs - Part 2 And if you need more of your Deep Fix: Live at the Terminal Cafe Alien Injection

Malcom Craig drops by Derry & Toms to talk about his work in academia, roleplaying games, his authorship of the first ever academic article on Twilight 2000, the "macho men with Uzis" sub-genre of RPGs, the upcoming reboots of his Cold City and Hot War games, and panicking as children about how high priority your neighbourhood was in terms of Soviet megatonnage. Mostly, though, we're talking about Malcom's reading recommendation - THE ROBOT BRAINS by incredibly prolific but largely unheralded British author Sydney J Bounds. JOIN US!

Dave is back in Derry & Toms as we finally turn our attention to Karl Edward Wagner and his towering dark fantasy anti-hero... Kane! We've been talking about doing some KEW for a while now, so what better time than a grim, miserable Yorkshire winter to tackle a chilly werewolf whodunnit. The story, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul, is the first of three in the collection Death Angel's Shadow, and we'll be back at some point in the future to look at the other two. As KEW also wrote an Elric/Kane crossover story called The Gothic Touch, we took a look at that too. Dave's band SÖNUS will release the first single from their new album on 14th February - Pagan Woman - and in the meantime you can join the countdown to the video and pre-save the single. New album Planes of Torment will follow in May and we'll keep you up to date on that too.

We're talking RPGs again, this time in the company of Tanya Floaker (Mum Chums, Lo! Thy Dread Empire, Solstice, Be Seeing You, a|state). Along the way we'll get into Tanya's history with Moorcock and genre fiction, gaming in Thatcher's Scotland, first steps into game design and the pending launch of their new Kickstarter for The Thunder Perfect Mind, launching 1st February 2026. If you're interested in reading more, and even getting a hold of early drafts, check out Tanya's itch.io page. We'll also look into what Tanya would do around the gamification of Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, the 12-part comic series. I like it. I like it a lot. In addition, friend of the show and long-standing patron Randall Gatlin calls in to talk about all of this Moorcock malarkey and reveals what may possibly be the coolest interaction with Mike and Linda I've yet come across. Join us!

Joe Banks braves the radioactive zone to join me on the Ferris Wheel and discuss the 1975 album by Michael Moorcock and The Deep Fix - The New Worlds Fair - the 50th anniversary edition of which is now available via thinklikeakey.com. Joe's latest book - ROCK and ROLE: The Visionary Songs of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator - is available now, as is his prior book - Hawkwind: Days of the Underground: Radical Escapism in the Age of Paranoia.

Derek AKA Imrryr joins me in Derry and Toms as we take a look at the Elric tale, The Jade Man's Eyes. Initially published in 1973 in Flashing Swords 2 and as a standalone novella by Unicorn Press, this story would later be heavily revised and repackaged as part of the fix-up novel The Sailor on the Seas of Fate. So plenty to look at, including unpronounceable names and this story's key place in Elric lore. Check out Derek's music in their guise as Imrryr over on Ampwall and Bandcamp and pre-order their upcoming release Carver 4 Mission Report.

We're back... we've crawled out of the ruins of our Christmas and New Year bottles to witness the fantastic world of 1973 through the eyes of Oswald Bastable. Robert MacMillan is my co-pilot for this journey as we have to look up what things are and marvel over Moorcock's invention of a genre that these days seems largely about gluing cogs to pith helmets, tea duels and "chap-hop". OR IS IT? I don't know tbh. But Bastable's journey from dependable Man of Empire to temporal adventurer starts here. JOIN US!

Another year, another Birthday Special... our sixth! It's Mike's birthday... it's Phil's birthday... it's the podcast's official state birthday... so what better than a silly, hastily assembled drunken quiz? No ? required... that was a rhe A chance for Loz to close the gap on Phil's epic quiz streak as well as to introduce a wild card in the shape of a third contestant! OK, fine. This wasn't the actual intent, but best laid plans and all that. Also, Simon Perrins drops in to elaborate on his frankly incontestable assertion regarding a British cultural icon and their place in the Multiverse. Simon is also responsible for the magnificent art for this episode, which is a pretty big clue if you're British and over a certain age. MOOOOR COCK-COCK-COCK refrain is from The Dewey Decibel System by BlöödHag

Andy Darby joins me as we take D and Ts on the road to eons-old Mars to explore mysteries, machinations and mild disappointments. Check out Andy’s substack to read The Crow Feeder and sign up to his website for updates and to receive a free e-copy of his latest novella.

Miles is back in Derry & Toms as we tackle another 60s Moorcock classic... The Ice Schooner. Lots to talk about here, and some pearls to clutch too, as we visit one of Mike's sweatiest rime-encrusted tales that, one way or another, remind us of our hometowns. And we talk about Doctor Who and Star Trek a bit too. Content warning: there is some discussion of SA that occurs in this book.  JOIN US! (and listen to the Casual Trek Podcast)

As voted for by our dear patrons, the subject for this year's Halloween Special is SLUGS! Shaun Hutson's breakthrough best seller has been on the poll list for three or four years, but 2025 was its year. So, join Graham, Phil and me as we evaluate Shaun Hutson's entry into that classic and most pulpy of British horror traditions, the Killer Critter novel. Also, we mull over whether four clefts are just too many, and get disappointed by our initially impressive socialist hero's basic levels of competence. Image by Simon Perrins!

Author and game designer Tone Milazzo joins me in Derry & Toms as we look at another work by the late, great Robert Sheckley, his first novel Immortality Inc. Last time we talked about Sheckley with Derek, I had the distinct sense that we would be going back for more… and this turned out to be an apt choice, with this podcast being released during October, because it's a Halloween episode by stealth! Tone’s website is tonemilazzo.com and you can find out more there about his novels, Picking Up the Ghost and The Faith Machine, and his RPG The King in Giallo.

Bryan Talbot returns to Derry and Toms to talk to about Alice in Sunderland, Grandville and his upcoming release, The Case of Stamford Hawkmoor - and we get a special guest appearance from Dr Mary Talbot too! Also, James Robertson calls in to talk about his two decades and more working on Bryan's website, being green in an increasingly grey world and all sorts of other stuff along the way. My co-host for this ep was Tom Murphy, and thank goodness for Tom as all of my technology had half a foot in Earth 749.

Simon is back to finish our look at the final instalment in the first Corum trilogy... The King of the Swords... and, as it runs ramraid style into the conclusion of The Vanishing Tower, we roped in Miles too, because he'd only recently read it! This is another pivotal book in Moorcock's oeuvre, and for this podcast, because it means that the second sequence of eternal champeen books we've managed to complete in the last six years. Yes... This pod has been going for six years. Crikey! Miles is one half of the team behind the Casual Trek Podcast. Simon, as well as being behind lots of the visual stylings of Breakfast in the Ruins, is also the co-host of Can I Pod With Madness... and they have a Patreon Page!

THIS EPISODE: I'm joined in Derry & Toms by Powys Media's Mateo Latosa and, via ringer (Phil), Patricia Sokol, to talk about Space 1999 and the 20-plus-year efforts of Powys Media to keep the show alive via novelisations and original stories. I was very lucky to receive a copy of the incredible (and impressively girthed) Space 1999 Year One Omnibus c/o Mateo. A handful are still available, and you can grab a copy here. JOIN US!!!

John is back in Derry & Toms to talk about another novelisation, but we're taking a break from Blakes 7 to focus on another early 80s obsession of ours... Well. Two. They just happen to combine to glorious effect in the classic slice of Daily Mail wet dreamery that is Who Dares Wins. Therefore, we get to watch it again for the 8,000th time and discuss it alongside its novelisation, The Tiptoe Boys, by James Follett. Some other bits that pop up along the way include: Nissan Almera ads from the 90s The Bullshitters Chas n' Dave as protest rockers Be sure to check out Trystan Mitchell's work at The Bigfoot Studio

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 this one and we have a D8 Wandering Beer Table to boot. Bob Haberfield: The Man and His Art is published by Jayde Design and available from there and the Bob Haberfield Web Shop.

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... But in 1975 they took a big swing (and commercially a miss), resulting in an incredible film about the seedy underbelly of the music business that turned 50 this year. It spawned a fantastic novelisation too, courtesy of the late John Pidgeon and published by Panther, that ranks up there with the sweatiest, grittiest NEL pulps of the mid-70s. So we talk about that too. JOIN US!

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 more Lionel Fanthorpe, see here (and thanks to Ben Haggar for the link).

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 Festival

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 of nostalgia watch Episode 1 with an introduction from Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe.

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 Winzer's make-up at Tesh Techniques, and the haunting music of Altoscliff.

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 too.

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 conceived, tenuous theme. It also goes on for about three days. JOIN US!

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 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.

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, the D6 Wandering Beer Table made a welcome return and generally we rolled rather well! Content warning for sexual violence (in the book, not between me and Loz) and really shitty characters. Our last look at Harry Adam Knight was our 2023 Uncosy Catastrophe read of The Fungus

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. 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. JOIN US!

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, Pontins Prestatyn, the literary merits of Lawrence Durrell and all sorts of other things.

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 Lowestoft, and a sadly underfeatured octopus called Bluey. JOIN US!!!

From the North he came, to seek knowledge and fortune. Cast out by his tribe for offending Ulfr, God of the Wastes, he is driven by mirth, restrained by melancholy.  One day he will return to make offerings to the Bear Druids, particularly Mewler the Claw. She thinks he’s an idiot but owes him a debt. Memories of Krangg, The Iron Bear Clarky is back in Derry and Toms to talk Conan knock-offs, and pool our thoughts on an all-Barbarian game and how to resolve the inevitable "Pah! My hand-tailored sandals are more northern than you, you weakling southlander habadasher!" type conflicts. We get into Thongor and Brak mainly, but also a touch of Kothar and a mild dusting of some other characters whose names I've forgotten. One of them had a halberd though. JOIN US "Dishonesty hollows a man, like the bog bug hollows out a tree. Don’t be that tree. It’s dry, useless and dusty, although it does burn ok." Krangg, 134th of Ogbok's Moon, 13423

New traveller Liam Jones drops by Derry & Toms to discuss one of his favourite things... Victorian Invasion literature... as we tackle the Moorcock-edited anthology Before Armageddon, a collection of Victorian and Edwardian imaginative fiction. Liam also teaches me about the Parisian dandy criminals, the Apaches! (Who I must now write into my next game...) Very cool! At some point we'll take a look at volume II - England Invaded