As a wise man once said, we are all concerned about the future, because that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives. Kim Stanley Robinson certainly is, and his magnum opus The Ministry For The Future tackles the biggest threat to the future: looming climate change, and the things that prevent us from tackling it (spoiler: it's capitalism). This near-future hard SF book takes a look at what might be done, at least in Robinson's mind; is it plausible or practical, or does he have the wrong idea? Either way, it's certain: future events such as these will affect you in the future.

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(c) 2026 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.

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When times are dark and evil stalks the land, it means it's time for a knight in shining armour to ride to the rescue! What what happens when it's the 20th century and knights in armour are hard to come by? You build one, of course! The 1970s kid's adventure Sir MacHinery has a robot taking on the role of gallant saviour on a noble quest against the forces of darkness through a wacky misunderstanding, in a breezy romp that reflects where pop culture was at at the time.

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(c) 2026 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.

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In which we bring our look at the works of Terry Pratchett to a close...

*you see because Terry Pratchett famously utilizes footnotes for both jokes and to expand upon the lore.

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Halloween is spooky season, and what's spookier than...THE DEVIL?!? Yes, Phil continues his journey through the interconnected universe of Anne Rice with a look at two of her most cosmic books, ones that eventually delve into theology and the problem of evil. A must-listen entry for Demon Lovers everywhere!

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Additional Music: "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach

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The towering names of Weird Pulp Fiction: HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard and...Clark Ashton Smith, the perpetual Larry to their Curly and Moe, ever overshadowed by his two contemporaries a century later. But Smith, of course, deserves a look on his own merits. In this episode we're joined by our friend Will "Filbi" Staples to talk about Smith's cycle of medieval fantasy stories set in the "witch-haunted" country of Averoigne.

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Well that's a grim title for a goofy episode...but it is part of our Discworld series, after all, and in particular it's our episode on the books Pratchett wrote about Death, the Grim Reaper, the End of Things. He's a nice guy when you get to know him, really! We're once again joined by James "Ing" English (Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/u3109397 ) to talk about the briiiiight siiiide of death (whistles)

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Additional Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens

(c) 2025 Adam Prosser and Philip Rice. Music (c) its respective creators.

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Sometimes a bear is just a bear. And sometimes the bear is the avatar of the ineffable divine, serving as a sign that it's time to reconquer your lost empire. The trick is knowing which is which. We attempt to solve this conundrum in the latest WMU?!? on Richard Adams' Shardik, a fantasy novel--or is it? About a bear who is a god--or is he? So many questions. Can we at least know if he pees in the woods?

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Additional Music: "The Pines of Rome" by Arturo Toscanini

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