We visit the very far future and a quite degenerate Earth in this month’s episode. We also look at what sort of choices are made when dividing up a long book into smaller chunks for publication.

The Rocketeer started life as a serialised comic before become a bestselling graphic novel before becoming a fun movie. There have been other incarnations of the story but these are the two I love the most. Find out why in this month’s episode.

Iain Banks’s fifth novel is one of my favourites by him, with or without the M. It’s a witty, clever and utterly charming story of a guy who decides to use music as a way of fitting in to his life and succeeds beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

Stephen Baxter’s 1997 novel Titan is occasionally eerily prophetic, sometimes quite depressing, but always a great read. I love it for his incredible near-misses on what the future looked,like and for the amazing story it tells.

The Fey was one of the last multi-volume fantasy epics that I managed to successfully engage with until the conclusion. It’s also a wonderful fantasy soap opera that succeeds in ways that so many others fail. Like a lot of 90s fantasies it tries for a sense of realpolitik rather than inspiring awe and wonder, but it manages to invite you into its world nonetheless. And, violent and grim though it might be, it’s a wonderful way to lose yourself for several hours at a time.

Spotswood is a 1991 movie starring Anthony Hopkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Tony Collette and Russell Crowe. It’s a charming, clever, touching film about helping other people.

I only read it for the first time in 2021 but it’s been one of my favourite stories for many more years than that due to an excellent BBC adaptation that I had on video… although without the title sequence. Some notes… Saturday Night Clive was a magazine-style show hosted by Clive James… Tom Chabon was in the excellent Blakes 7 episode Countdown, where he played the brother of Avon’s dead girlfriend… Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas was one of the subjects of Episode 6.

This quartet of fantasy novels appeared during the 1980s and has been begging for a sequel ever since. It’s witty and gripping, making it a perfect piece of entertainment for me. You’ll also have to excuse my voice in this episode as I was grappling with a dose of flu making me sound like The Hoarse Lord #sorrynotsorry

Nancy Springer and R. A. MacAvoy are names that aren’t spoken about these days as much as I wish they were. They produced many wonderful books and I take a look at two of them here.

Michael’s Shea’s 1982 World Fantasy Award-winning novel is an absolute gem. It’s funny, grim, scary and horrific - frequently all in the same sentence. It’s a brilliant look at eldritch horrors existing side-by-side in a richly-painted fantasy world.