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.

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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. 

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(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.

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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