This month CM Lowry is talking to author Dan Sumption about Viriconium by M John Harrison in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Viriconium is actually a collection of books, now published as a single volume, of which 'Viriconium Nights' is Dan's favourite. These stories tell tales of the city of Viriconium, loosely based on the historic Roman town of the same name, which represents in some ways every human settlement that has ever existed
Dan reads a quote for us that gives us a good sense of the quasi-alternative reality and semi-mythical feel of the world that M John Harrison is creating.
A common theme through Harrisons stories is the doomed search for escapism - a drive to find some fantastical alternate reality while missing the beauty of the world around us.
Dan shares his favourite thing about the book - That no matter how often you re-read these stories they are never the same twice - the don't sit still - you'll always find some new nuance that you've not noticed before. Dan isn't keen on re-reading but has always been drawn back to reading these over the course of his whole adult life. Harrisons inclusion of lots of British folklore is always something that Dan really enjoys.
Dan shares some issues he has with the book - They are quite bleak and hero quests tend to end up in the characters just giving up. There are also very few strong female characters.
Chris asks …
This month CM Lowry is talking to author James Flanagan about Extremophile by Ian Green in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Extremophile is a bio-punk speculative sci-fi story written by Scottish author
Ian Green, who also wrote The Gauntlet fantasy series. Extremophile is billed as a breakneck biohacking thriller set in climate-collapse London.
James's discusses his love, and also hatred, of
Extremophile!
Extremophile is, at times, hard sci-fi as it deep dives into genetics and epi-genetics and is written by a genetic scientist. That said it is balanced by lots of action and even an energetic punk gig in the middle of the book.
James shares his favourite thing about
Extremophile
The characters - they leap of the page really well - and the way that the complexity of their lives weave together the main story.
SPOILER ALERT - James shares some specifics from the book for a couple of minutes that you might want to skip if you're planning to read the book
James also shares some things about the book that he doesn't like
The idea of writing without quotation marks for dialogue - in Cormac McCarthy style. This made it incredibly difficult for James to understand whether he was reading narrative or dialogue and who was saying what.
There are lots of different characters, with their specific points of view, and switching between those different perspectives across the course of the book can be quite difficult and also slow down the …
This month CM Lowry is talking to author Beatriz Seelaender about The Razor's Edge by W.S. Maugham in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Beatriz shares the reasons why she loves this book:
It's very humorous
It follows the story of a group of people over the years surrounding Maugham as the central character.
The meta-fictional paradox - Maugham discloses that this isn't really a novel as it's based on real people he knows and true stories he has experienced.
Beatriz shares a quote with us from Maugham's introduction in which he explains the peculiar methodology he employed in writing this novel.
Beatriz then shares with us some of the things about this book that really grabbed her:
The meta-fictional aspect of the writing - He isn't just an observer but actively involved in the dialogue
The humour - Maugham writes about the characters appealing to fictional people created by themselves or says things like 'she look at them all is if they were characters in a novel'. Maugham's writing is very fanciful.
It lives on the Razor's edge between fiction and autobiography which is fascinating and begs the question 'what are the properties of fictionality'
CM Lowry asks the question 'how we do know this is a novel and not a biography' and they discuss the fact that Maugham's life was very public and there has never been any real evidence that the people these characters are based on every really existed. Therefore it's most likely …
This month CM Lowry is talking to author Sara Norja about The Dark is Rising book sequence by Susan Cooper in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
The premise of The Dark is Rising, which is book two of The Dark is Rising Sequence, is that Will turns 11 and discovers he is an Old One. It's based on English folklore, centred in Buckinghamshire and set around Christmas time
Sara reads a quote for us and highlights the beautiful poetic prose that Susan Cooper uses throughout her work.
CM asks Sara what her favourite aspects of The Dark is Rising are
Sara details the fact that it manages to capture the essence of Christmas alongside being a bit creepy at times
Coopers use of British folklore and mythology such as the inclusion of the Wild Hunt, and some Welsh folklore in book five.
Sarah & CM discuss the five book arc of The Dark is Rising Sequence and how the characters are introduced and their storylines intertwine through the series.
Sarah discusses some of the problems she has with The Dark is Rising such as the use of the memory wipe trope and the overtly White Anglo-Saxon 1970's Buckinghamshire setting. It's perhaps to British-centric.
CM asks whether the dissonance between the Christian celebration of Christmas and the folklore and mythology is acknowledged and commented on within the book.
Sara shares some recommendations of other books to read if you enjoy The Dark is Rising
Robert McFarlane's …
Welcome to Episode 20 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Luke Stratton aka Limithron to discuss Pirates!
Luke answers the question 'What is a Pirate'
Dictionary definition - someone who steals things at sea
Pirate is a word that has been appropriated for all types of theft
Pirate has another layer of connotation - The word Pirate, somewhat like the word Knight, there is an aspect of this rogue being a sort of hero'
Chris asks 'why are pirates good for roleplay games'
Pirates are a really accessible character to play for first time roleplayers. They may not know what a Tiefling Bard is, or how to play one. Everyone knows how to talk like a Pirate and chase the usual tropes of treasure, love and rum!
Chris asks Luke if there are any challenges that people face in playing a Pirate
There is a line to walk - real Pirates were murders, racists, rapists & criminals. So there is a line between reality and the fantasy version of Pirates you need to be careful with and discuss with your players before starting a roleplay sessions.
Luke answers the question 'What other games do Pirates well'
Luke doesn't feel that there are many, if any, roleplay games that do Pirates that way he'd like them to be, hence why he created Pirate Borg. There are some great video games that do Pirates justice, such as Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Sid Meyers Pirates!
One RPG that …
Welcome to Episode 19 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Dave Semark and Matthew Tyler-Jones to discuss Social Conflict
Dave & Matthew tell us about how the embarked on their journey into podcasting, inspired by the Free League game Coriolis and how that lead to them building a relationship with Free League and becoming freelance designers, not only working with Free League but also with Modiphius, Monolith, Firelock and other games publishers.
CM Lowry asks the question: What is Social Conflict?
Matthew makes the point that most systems don't have rules for social conflict. Dice are used for pretty much everything else, but social conflict is dealt via conversations between the players and GM.
Matthew states that social conflict is at the very heart of all roleplay aspects of gaming, the parts where you are playing your characters as opposed to rolling dice.
CM Lowry makes the point that having the ability to win or lose at conversation can be quite daunting for players, especially those who find it hard to express themselves, debate or converse at length
Friendships were made and lost around the table, because players took it personally when their character lost an argument.
Dave makes the point that the player / player character dynamic is a strange thing and it's important to be able to, as a person, disconnect ourselves from our characters so that we don't get to hot under the collar.
CM Lowry and Dave discuss the different approaches to …
This month CM Lowry is talking to author Cécile Cristofari, about The Accursed Kings book series by Maurice Druon in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
The Accursed Kings is series of Historical Fiction books about the Capetian Kings in France. These books are based on the legend that this dynasty were cursed by the Grand Master of the Knights Templar while King Philip the Fair burned him at the stake.
Cécile & CM have a fun chat about opposing views on the role and importance of France and England in European History
Cécile reads a quote for us, which she has translated herself from the French language copy of
Le Roi de fer (The King of Iron), book one of the series, which was first published in 1955. It gives us a wonderful example of how incredibly vivid Druon's writing is.
Cécile shares her favourite thing about the book - that even though it was written about the middle ages, it was filtered through the history of the time - Druon used this historical narrative to encourage the French people of the 50's as they were busy trying to rebuild their country and society after the 2nd World War. The book has layers - it is both about French history and the Monarchy, and also about modern times and the corrupting nature of political power.
CM Lowry asks Cécile has the book is as a story since it's 2000 pages as therefore has the …
Welcome to Episode 18.5 of ‘What Is Roleplay?!
This episode we are joined by Samuel Poots for a special Narrative Worldbuilding Actual Play
This is a follow up to Episode 18, where Samuel unpacked the idea of Narrative Worldbuilding. Stream
here
Worldbuilding is an important cornerstone of all writing and especially important when writing roleplay games - the process of designing an environment for the story or the game you are creating.
Samuel & CM Lowry work together to build a sci-fi world in which anthropomorphic badgers have cybernetic arms that are owned by private corporations.
Samuel uses the following touch points to flesh out this world:
Environment - What are the environmental challenges, what is the climate like etc.
Culture - How do people respond to this environment? What do they bring to this space and how has this environment shaped them?
Friction Points - What are the politics of the people within the culture, how is this not a monoculture
Details of Intrigue - The granular details - items, specific NPCs, historical events that have shaped the world
Listen as Samuel & CM establish the setting, factions and storyline for our renegade lumberjack badger who lives in the air vents of a corporate owned orbiter that travels from planetoid to planetoid, stripping them of all valuable resources. Rebel and fight back against the evil Galactic Union ... and don't forget your data-slate!
Links to things we discussed:
Games:
Jim Henson's Labyrinth The Adventure Game
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Mutant: …
This month CM Lowry is talking to author Stephen Hart, about Blue Moon Rising by Simon R Green in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Stephen points out that Simon R Green is somewhat unknown, dispite being a New York Times Bestseller, and is most widely known for writing the novelised version of the classic Kevin Costner film 'Robin Hood: Price of Thieves'. The royalties from this enabled Green to clear his mortgage and so he is now able to live off the income from his creative endeavours
Blue Moon Rising was Green's first Bestselling novel and is part of a wider series of fantasy novels set in The Forest Kingdom.
Stephen loves this book due to the characters - they are very real, and the heroes are brave and winsome, even in the face of insurmountable odds and opposition from friends and family. Prince Rupert in particular is intriguing as he knows the quest he's being sent on is a death sentence and yet he does it for the good of the Kingdom.
Another reason that Stephen loves this book is that it is a serious book that has a lot of humour in it. It's not a comedy, but there is an amazing sense of humour written into it. The interactions between characters are so true to life and that makes for some very fun reading.
Green does really well at creating characters that the reader will have empathy for. Even his monsters …
This month CM Lowry is talking to author Judith Mortimore, about The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard in ‘This Book I Read...’
Topics covered include:
Judith reads veraciously and found that
The Hands of the Emperor stood out so profoundly that she went off and read everything else by Victoria Goddard
The Hands of the Emperor is about a bromance, a plutonic relationship between two male characters, The Emperor and His Secretary. It's a cosy, joyful and lyrical story about loneliness, friendship and a meeting of cultures.
Goddard's writing style makes for ease of reading, Judith had just completed a re-read that only took her 14hrs to cover all 700 odd pages!
The beauty, tension and deeply involved relationship between The Emperor & The Secretary
Judith's favourite think about The Hands of the Emperor is how different it is - I doesn't conform to any of the writing structures that are enforced upon authors. She also enjoys how delightful the characters are - they are utterly real and relatable.
The Hands of the Emperor takes place in a world that has experienced some sort of cataclysmic event, known as The Fall, but that is not a somewhat idyllic place where there is a lot of kindness. This places the book within the Cosy Sci-fi sub-genre of science fiction writing.
Judith highlights a couple of small issues with the book, some her own and some brough up by others. Some people feel it is a …
