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Ali Baker and a guest discuss children's fantasy fiction. The guest chooses a favourite for Ali, and Ali chooses a complementing contemporary book. Jokes and the occasional swear word may ensue. Please contact fantasybookswap@gmail.com, @fantasyswap on Twitter or https://www.facebook.com/Fantasybookswap. Ask questions, make comments and join in the discussion!
Episodes
Sunday Jul 28, 2024
Sunday Jul 28, 2024
Ep 39- Writeopolis v Fantasy Book Swap, but no dance-off
In today’s episode, I am joined by Scott K. Andrews and Kit Power from the Writeopolis podcast. We have a lovely chat, and then Fantasy Book Swap proper starts at 12 minutes in.
Scott’s choice: The Devil on the Road by Robert Westall
Ali’s choice: Unraveller by Frances Hardinge
The Lodestar award finalists- scroll to the bottom of the page.
My copy of The Devil in the Road. Note the cat’s eye, and the gibbet with the executed witch’s body.
Children of the Stones on YouTube, and the trailer for the adaptation of Red Shift
Robert Westall’s official website
Frances Hardinge’s official website
Frances Hardinge conference, Saturday 11th July 2026, Aston University, Birmingham.
A Wikipedia summary of Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Wild Swans
A list of Joan Aiken’s Wolves books
Find out more about Scott here, Kit here and join the Writeopolis patreon here.
Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.
Until next time, bye!
Tuesday Jul 09, 2024
Tuesday Jul 09, 2024
Firstly, huge apologies for the delay in this episode, which was recorded live at EasterCon, Levitation 2024. Life got in the way.
Tade Thompson’s Bluesky: @tadethompson.bsky.social
Tade’s award-winning novel Rosewater is the New Scientist’s July book club pick.
Tade’s pick: The Masters of Solitude by Marvin Kaye and Parke Godwin. It’s out of print, but widely available second hand with absolutely dreadful covers like this and this, the Conan in Space one.
Ali’s pick: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.
Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.
Until next time, bye!
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Ali’s choice: The Boggart by Susan Cooper. Ali’s edition with cat tax.
Esther’s choice: Like a Charm by Elle McNicoll
Elle’s novel A Kind of Spark was adapted by CBBC. Several members of the cast are neurodiverse.
Information about dyspraxia here
Esther and Ali mention a lot of books and other media! Hilary McKay’s Casson family books, Terry Pratchett’s Only You Can Save Mankind, the spinning room in Poltergeist, You’re Wrong About… podcast on the Amityville horror and the CBC podcast on the satanic panic.
The history of Castle Stalker with photos
Greyfriars Bobby monument and the story
Candlemakers Row. I think the red shop is the bookshop.
Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh which features in Lari Don’s book First Aid for Fairies. It’s an injured centaur that Helen looks after first.
Romance book recommendations
Thanks so much to Esther! Find out more about Glasgow 2024 Worldcon here.
Thanks for listening! Thanks to Steve for the production assistance. Steve’s band, The Late Returns, are playing a gig supporting Bone Records at The Brunswick, Hove on Friday! Unfortunately, it’s sold out. Thanks to Danny for the idents and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.
Follow me on Instagram and Bluesky @alisonbaker01.
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Kit’s choice: The Tripods by John Christopher
Ali’s choice: Wildspark by Vashti Hardy
Kit reads his essay on The Tripods on his podcast feed
The British Fantasy Society award shortlist
Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.
I have signed up for Ko-Fi. For the month of September I have pledged to walk for 30 minutes a day in aid of the Trussell Trust, who both provide food banks and campaign for the end of food poverty. If you’d like to support me, please donate at https://ko-fi.com/alibb. I will post a screenshot daily from my Active 10 app onto my Instagram, and on 30th September will share how much I am donating!
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Juliet’s choice: We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome. There is a small display related to the Swallows and Amazons at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, in the Lake District. It’s not far from Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s house near Ambleside.
Ali’s choice: The Strangeworlds Travel Agency: The Edge of the Ocean by L. D. Lapinski. I talked to Phil Dyson about the first book in the series, way back in episode 2!
Find links to Juliet’s social media and information about their books from their website. Check out their short fiction via the link, and also their non-fiction writing: I love this essay on capitalism in worldbuilding.
I talk about the amazing South Riding by Winifred Holtby. Read it; it’s an amazing piece of writing with an strong sense of place.
Please do like, review and recommend! It does satisfy my vanity- but it’s also great to know that people enjoy what I do. And it helps to bring in new listeners.
Thanks as always to Steve Vapour-Trails for production assistance and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss. Why not check out Steve’s radio show, Vapour Trails on Radio Lewes?
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Trip’s choice: Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
Ali’s choice: How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
The full list of Magic Shop books here
Cressida Cowell’s Wizard of Once books and new book, Which Way to Anywhere have more diverse casts.
My now 14-year-old as Hiccup when he was 5. He cosplayed Hiccup at his first Eastercon.
The note that Mr Elives gives Jeremy and the magical librarian Hyacinth Priest from the US edition of Jeremy Thatcher. Illustrator: Gary A. Lippincott.
How To Train Your Dragon, the book within the book.
For more information about research into boys and reading, I recommend Boys Don’t Try? by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts. It’s available as an e-book as well as a paperback.
I recommend the audiobook of How To Train Your Dragon, read by David Tennent. Try using your local library app to borrow it!
Trip’s social media links here and Bona Books here
As always, thanks to Steve Vapour-Trails for production assistance. Check out his latest show on Radio Lewes!
Tuesday May 23, 2023
Tuesday May 23, 2023
Episode 33- A refreshing lack of Wizard Dads with S.J. Groenewegen
SJ’s choice: Andra by Louise Lawrence, with the ABC TV cover
Ali’s choice: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
SJ’s website: https://www.sjgroenewegen.co.uk Pre-order The Disinformation War here
@nyssa1968 – twitter
Reachingforthevoid - tumblr
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781913380809/ - links to pre-orders/orders for the Disinformation War, out on 13 June.
SJ will be at Super Relaxed Fantasy Club on 13 June at Star of Kings, London, for readings and Q&A. https://www.facebook.com/groups/srfclondon/about
1990 was the dystopian TV series SJ couldn’t remember the title of, not 1991. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075469/
Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985
Edited by Andrew Nette and lain McIntyre © 2021 PM Press ISBN: 9781629638836
Mentions Andra on a few pages, including the TV series. It quotes Kari Sperring about Louise Lawrence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Wu_(TV_series) the TV show on SBS in the late 1980s in Australia.
The Untamed was my first Chinese drama show, and Ali kept thinking of it when reading Iron Widow.
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Kari’s choice: The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell
This is the edition that Kari has
We talk about the illustrations, by Ralph Thompson: Kookaburra and Wombat
Ali’s choice: Abyssinia by Ursula Dubosarsky
A doll’s dress at Rouse Hill Farm Estate, New South Wales
Other books mentioned in the episode
Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague
Ruby Ferguson’s Jill books and sequels by Jane Badger, righting the wrongs of Jill being exiled from the world of ponies
The Follyfoot books by Monica Dickens. Please enjoy the brilliant TV show theme tune!
K.M. Peyton’s Flambards, which was also televised
Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books
Mary O’Hara’s My Friend Flicka
Rumer Godden’s Miss Happiness and Miss Flower
Helen Clare’s Five Dolls series
Kari on Facebook and website. Buy her new book!
Saturday Nov 05, 2022
Saturday Nov 05, 2022
Kate’s choice: The House of Arden by E. Nesbit
Ali’s choice: Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
The Mahabharat has been dramatized twice for TV. This is the one I watched in the 1980s.
If you want to read the other great Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana, I recommend this graphic novel version told from Sita’s perspective.
A new biography of Edith Nesbit was published in 2019.
The House of Arden was dramatized for BBC radio in 1989. You can buy an audiobook collection of Nesbit adaptations here.
Follow Kate on Twitter at @katepreach and @fantasybookclu3, and on Instagram, where she posts pictures of her artwork and cats @kate.towner.
Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails and Jack Sadler-Johnson.
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
A bumper episode of 1 hr 20!
Matt and Nina from Even the Trunchbull come to mine, after I guested on their podcast discussing Joan Aiken's Nightbirds on Nantucket and the lovely picture book Peggoty Po.
Matt and Nina’s book: Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson
Ali’s book: City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda
Book covers- compare Slaves of the Mastery with The Hunger Games
The cover that would have put Matt off, which reminded me of Stephen Pearson’s classic posters
Follow Even the Trunchbull podcast on Twitter @Trunchbullpod, on Instagram @eventhetrunchbull and follow at your favourite podcast emporium, and look out for Nina's new podcast with Dave Pickering, The Podgoblin's Hat!
Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.