This is the first of a series looking at secondary worlds that exist as known fiction inside a primary, fictional world. In this episode Ralph tackles Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, and talks to Becky Annison about her game When the Dark is Gone.
Show Notes
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
When the Dark is Gone, a game by Becky Annison, part of the Seven Wonders anthology
Synopsis 00:56 // Themes and remarks 05:38 // When the Dark is Gone with Becky Annison 14:00 // end bit 44:05
Music Credits
All of the music in this podcast was composed and performed by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive). This episode included Is That You Or Are You You? from Reappear, Cylinder Three, Cylinder Four and Cylinder Nine from Cylinders, and Another Version Of You from Thoughtless.
For our second seasonal episode Ralph and Liz discuss Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising as part of the worldwide #thedarkisreading hashtag.
Show Notes
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
Elizabeth Lovegrove and Ralph Lovegrove
- Synopsis 00:35
- Themes 10:50
- Comparisons with The Box Of Delights
- Winter and isolation
- Myth and prophecy
- Time travel
- Transformed landscape
- RPG bit 22:55
- Ralph’s idea: The Dark Is Rising meets The Hunger Games meets Power Rangers/Chronicle
- Liz’s idea: The Dark Is Rising without the supernatural
- Dialect
- Alas Vegas and Yet Already
- Last words 34:30
Music Credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
Just in time for Christmas, Ralph and Liz discuss the book and TV series of the children’s fantasy The Box of Delights by John Masefield.
Show Notes
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
Adapted for the BBC by Alan Seymour
- Synopsis 01:05
- Themes 10:15
- Pagan myth vs. warring magicians
- Sapphire and Steel vs. Dr Who
- The RPG bit 25:05
- Night Witches, Malandros, Tales from the Loop
- A Taste for Murder
- Monsterhearts
- The Just City by Jo Walton
- Coming soon: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Music Credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
This episode Liz, Ralph and guest Rhiannon Lassiter experience a magical awakening in Margaret Mahy’s The Changeover
Show Notes
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
Rhiannon Lassiter, Elizabeth Lovegrove, Ralph Lovegrove
- Synopsis 2:55
- Themes 6:30
- RPG bit 22:40
- Liz’s game 22:45
- Rhi’s game 26:55
- Ralph’s idea 30:57
- Closing 42:36
Music Credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
In this seasonal special, Ralph interviews John Cocking and Peter Williams, authors of Beyond the Wall.
Show Notes
Ralph Lovegrove with John Cocking and Peter Williams of Flatland Games.
About Flatland Games 00:30 // Reading background 01:35 // Fantasy and D&D 04:40 // Swallows and Amazons 05:40 // Aiming for a roleplaying experience 07:05 // The lone wolf hero in fiction and RPGs 08:30 // The World of Darkness 10:45 // A shout out for Dragon Warriors 18:35 // How Beyond the Wall came to be 20:45 // What is the “D&D experience”? 24:30 // A four year-old’s perspective on system matching 25:55 // The lingua franca 29:30 // The playbooks and layers for other D&D 31:05 // BtW’s spells (and Ars Magica) 33:10 // Design — what came first? 36:25 // BtW and Appendix N 41:40 // Other fiction properties that should be RPGs 43:00 // Your favourite Eternal Champion (Ralph blathers a bit here…) 44:50 // Stormbringer RPG 48:30 // US-UK cross-cultural 49:20 // Flatland Games’ other offerings (Action Movie World, Wizard’s Museum Construction Kit) 52:20
Music credits
“Cylinder Eight“ and “Cylinder Nine” from Cylinders by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
This episode Liz, Becky and Ralph hang around long after they should have moved on, chatting about Kill the Dead by Tanith Lee.
Show Notes
Kill the Dead by Tanith Lee
Elizabeth Lovegrove and Becky Annison with Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis 00:30 // Comments 02:15 // Sabriel 19:15 // RPG bit starts 21:10 // Liz’s game 21:20 // (Ralph’s superhero WaRP) 23:00 // (Lights, Camera, Action!) 28:10 // Becky’s Game 34:40 // Witch: the Road to Lindisfarne 35:15 // The Mountain Witch 38:10 // Ralph’s Game 40:10 // Wraith 43:20 // (it takes two, baby) 46:35 // Did we like it? (plus other works: Elephantasm, Night’s Master, Don’t Bite The Sun) 47:50 // The Blake’s 7 connection 51:00
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
We pitch 7 books for future consideration.
Show Notes
Mo Holkar, Josh Fox, Elizabeth Lovegrove, Ralph Lovegrove
The books:
- Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
- No Good Men Among The Living by Anand Gopal
- Factoring Humanity by Robert Sawyer
- The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
- The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker
Mo’s bit (Vonnegut) 00:40 // Josh’s bit (Gopal, Sawyer) 08:10 // Liz’ bit (Chambers, Austen) 17:50 // Ralph’s bit (Stapledon, Barker) 25:30
Other Stuff
The Chaucer Twitter Feed
M. John Harrison’s essay on the Great Clomping Foot of Nerdism from Warren Ellis’ blog (original can be found via Wayback Machine)
Music credits
“I can’t imagine where I’d be without it” and “Another version of you” both from Thoughtless by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
In this special holiday episode Dave, Tim and Ralph talk about Jack Vance’s exceptional fantasy trilogy Lyonesse.
Show Notes
The Lyonesse Trilogy by Jack Vance
Ralph Lovegrove with special guests Dave Morris and Tim Harford
Synopsis 00:45 // The RPG Bit 28:33 // Skulduggery and The Dying Earth 29:12 // Dragon Warriors 34:56 // Pendragon 56:53 // Whitehack 69:41
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
We’ve split our “season finale” into two separate episodes, the first of which is a bit of an experiment — it’s quite short and a solo recording which I did a while ago. But, it’s thematically linked to the next episode, which will follow shortly.
Ralph muses over the liminal fantasy genre and M. John Harrison’s The Course Of The Heart.
“Liminal Fantasy” 00:35 // Synopsis 00:45 // RPG bit 04:05 // Changelings 04:50 // Tarot Tales and The Horse Of Iron 07:55
Music credits
“Cylinder Four“ from Cylinders by Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive
This episode Liz and Becky discuss Kelly Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld and talk about pack mentality
Show Notes
The Women of the Otherworld (series) by Kelly Armstrong
Elizabeth Lovegrove and Becky Annison with Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis starts at 00:40, RPGs at 16:05
Games
Bite Me! by Becky Annison is a Powered by the Apocalypse Game debuting at the Revelation convention in Sheffield on 25th and 26th February 2017
Other games Ralph mentioned in a desperate attempt to be relevant to the conversation: Werewolf (White Wolf publishing) // Buffy and Angel (now OOP, Eden Studios) // Ghosts of Albion (Eden Studios)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
(chriszabriskie.com bandcamp free music archive)
