"At home" used to be what people wrote on a card if they were inviting you round for drinks. Now it means the very opposite of conviviality, and politicians have been using it as a mantra to ward away the plague du jour.
There is no law of reason, though, that demands you stay locked up in your room. SARS-Cov-2 is a droplet-borne infection, like its cousin the common cold, not an airborne pathogen like chickenpox or measles. As long as you stay at a reasonable distance from other people (at least two metres) and wash your hands frequently, the virus has no chance.
So if you're out for a walk or a run or a drive and there's nobody to talk to -- or the only people to talk to are the ones you've been cooped up with for weeks on end already -- here are some podcasts to ensure your imagination can soar even if the authorities think you ought to be under house arrest.
Top of my must-tune-in list is Improvised Radio Theatre With Dice, in which Michael Cule and Roger Bell-West discuss all things game-nerdy. To dip in a toe, try this episode, "Unmutated, More or Less", about Powered by the Apocalypse games.
Talking of things apocalyptic, and with an added pinch of matters macabre & eldritch and a smidgen of the generally unnameable, spin the dial to The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which our genial hosts describe as "a podcast about Call of Cthulhu, horror films, weird fiction, and roleplaying in general." There are over a hundred and fifty episodes just waiting to slither into your ears and decorticate your brain. Here's a good one on "Folk Horror" that I'm sure will give me some ideas for Legend games.
Meanwhile there's wall-to-wall HPL at the H P Lovecraft Historical Society, run by Sean Branney, Andrew Leman, and Kevin Stidham. You can wander their virtual halls in a state of aporetic ecstasy, discovering treasure upon treasure until time has no meaning, but if you're disturbed by the encroaching shadows and the things that scuttle just beyond the range of vision, grab a few of the Voluminous Podcasts in which your hosts read and discuss one of Lovecraft's many, many, many letters. Here's a good one: "A Comedy of Vain Desire", addressed to his lifelong friend Rheinhart Kleiner.
Jeff and Hoi host the Appendix N Book Club to discuss the literary roots of Dungeons & Dragons, specifically the novels that Gary Gygax recommended in the eponymous appendix. I don't play D&D, but I like hanging out with these guys and they always have plenty to say that you'll find inspiring. Frequently I'll start out an episode thinking, okay, I read this book years ago, or I started it and gave up, but I'll hear their thoughts on it anyhow -- and then by the end I'm raring to read it again. You could start anywhere. How about this one on Roger Zelazny's Jack of Shadows?
If literary is your thing, you'll already know about Ralph Lovegrove's Fictoplasm podcast, in which he takes a novel and talks about both the story itself and the potential for mining roleplaying ideas from it. In this Lyonesse episode, Ralph is joined by me and Tim Harford.
Oh, and mentioning Tim brings me to his Cautionary Tales, which blend storytelling and drama to draw vital lessons from some of the great calamities of history, from shipping disasters to a mix-up at the Academy Awards. Why not start where I did, with the story of the ill-fated R101, in "The Deadly Airship Race"? (And for added insights listen to Slide Rule, Nevil Shute Norway's account of the building and test flights of R101's sister ship.)
Thanks for this Dave; I will check those podcasts out !
ReplyDeleteIn the spirit of Lockdown camaraderie, can I suggest by way of books to read, the collected short stories of Robert Graves.
Within these pages we find the narrator of "Goodbye to All That" now living as an 'adopted native' in 1950s Mallorca, just as the first tide of tourism starts to swamp its venerable shores.
Many of the stories are highly reminiscent, in style and tone, of the excellent "Binscombe Tales" (to which your blog kindly introduced me). The supernatural elements are not, perhaps, quite as 'on the nose' - but they are there !
I wish you good health, just as RG raises a toast at the conclusion of many of his Mallorcan tales, with a fine glass of Binisalem Red.
Thanks for the tip, John. I've read a few of Graves's short stories and I think they're just the thing for whiling away some lockdown time. Amazon seems to be functioning fairly well at the moment so with luck I'll get my copy in a few days. Stay safe!
DeleteDon't hold you're breath, Dave. I've got to wait until May for my John Whitbourn books. All the second hand ones have arrived though, so I won't lack for reading material.
DeleteI did have a pang of guilt ordering books in the current climate. However, as Boris was talking about sending a letter to every house in the country... It never did arrive. Must have sent it second class.
We are running a bit low on bog roll, Andy, so I hope Boris's letter arrives soon.
DeleteIf he decided to stockpile them instead, Dave, he's shown more insight than people have given him credit for.
DeleteIn any case, I'm sure you've got a Dan Brown lying around somewhere (a multi-textured joke).
You're in luck, Dave. Boris's letter came through today. The accompanying leaflet may chafe a bit though.
DeleteIn all seriousness, really hope he recovers soon.
I don't even think Boris has read the law, Andy. His letter was full of inaccuracies and in fact I found the same grammatical error in the letter as in the leaflet. Almost as if -- is it possible? -- he didn't even write it himself.
Delete£5 million well spent then, Dave. My wife chucked it earlier, so would you care to give me the summary highlights?! You'd need more than two metres if you were downwind of one of my teeth rattling sneezes!
DeleteI shouldn't really criticise punctuation, stones in glass houses and all that. That said, I must admit any sentence starting with So and anything with , and in it, doesn't quite sit right with me!
Johnson's main error concerned the law, Andy. He said in the letter that we're allowed outside once a day for exercise. That's not the law, it's just the whim of ministers. The law is that you can go outside for exercise as and when you want to. Trust this government to go Big Brother at the drop of a hat.
DeleteWrt grammar, the phrase "ensure you are at least two metres apart from anyone outside your household" is not the work of a Balliol Greats scholar, who would surely put either "two metres away from anyone" or "ensure when outside that you all stand at least two metres apart."
I see what you mean, Dave. On the plus side, my Dan Brown joke now reads cleverer than originally intended!
DeleteIf I hadn't already recycled Boris's letter, Andy, I could have had a crack at rewriting it in the style of Dan Brown. Perhaps it's better for everyone's sanity if I don't.
DeleteSomebody who was way smarter/foresighted about pandemic than you'd ever have expected? US President George W. Bush. Check it out:
ReplyDeletehttps://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013
Trump makes even Dubya look good!
Delete...sure Teapot Dome was bad and Hoover wasn't great during the Great Depression, but at least they weren't Trump...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if one day we'll see a President so bad that we say, "Trump was better". It's hard to imagine, but with the way the world is going I'm not betting against it.
DeleteCirca 3 years ago, I was in Spain and got talking to a lady who was on the HS2 project (I don't know how senior). She tore strips off me, which my friends found highly amusing, when I suggested the money may be better spent on the NHS and other infrastructure projects. To quote Alan Partridge, Needless to say, I had the last laugh.
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