Episode #33 - 13th September of the Weird Tales Radio Show is available now on all the usual podcasts platforms, including Spotify. The show contains the first part of a major interview Brendan Keane on Celtic Revivalism, the Occult and the Irish Dimension. We also have news of the latest haunting: the Ghostly Nun of Fawkham Green – don’t look in the attic, that’s where her skull is stored! And we remember the curious tales of the New York Straw Hat Riot. No, really, people did take to the streets over wearing straw boaters out of season!

Episode #31 - 30th August of the Weird Tales Radio Show podcast sees that start of a new series of interviews on neo-paganism today and we ask if the United States is now the most heathen nation in the Western world. We also have news on the latest hauntings and, in our Don’t Try This At Home slot, we have the perfect recipe for creating mummies.

Here's the playlist (for those who are interested) for my Late Lunch show on Smart Radio earlier today (Wednesday 29th August)...

* U2 - Beautiful Day
* Foo Fighters - Learning to Fly
* Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line - Meant to Be
* David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
* Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line
* Rose Royce - Car Wash
* Eagles - Hotel California
* George Ezra - Shotgun
* Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
* Oasis - Live Forever
* The Stranglers - Golden Brown
* Rolling Stones - Mixed Emotions
* Rod Stewart - You Wear it Well
* Keith Urban - Good Thing
* The Undertones - Teenage Kick
* Jethro Tull - Living in the Past
* Carly Simon - You're So Vain
* Roxy Music - Out of the Blue
* Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
* Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
* Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London
* Little Red Kings - Chaperone
* Nik Kershaw - Wouldn't it be Nice
* Maroon 5 with Cardi B - Girls Like You
* The Vagaband - Something Wicked This Way Comes

Diary Date: 2pm - 4pm (BST) today (Wednesday) The Late Lunch on Smart Radio with Charles Christian. Your weekly serving of cool tracks for fast times.


Listen on:
Desktop/laptop: http://www.smartradio.org.uk
Apple iOS App: Smart Radio GY
Android App: Smart Radio GY
TuneIn Radio App: Smart Radio GY 
+ SONOS, Alexa, etc

Americana? Yes, Americana music including alt-country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, blues and Celtic flavoured tracks. (And don't let your autocorrect swap out the final "a" for an "o" – it's music not black coffee!) More news to follow but I'm shortly going to be launching an Americana radio show PLUS this site will have a section dedicated to Americana music and posts will include links to music videos. Oh yes, and I'll also be covering new releases so if you've an album you'd like mentioning, please get in touch.

Last week saw the announcement of the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the Science Fiction Book of the Year for 2018 – and the winner was Dreams Before the End of Time by Anne Charnock. (And please ignore the dopey Guardian headline that it's a novel about pregnancy - it is so, so much more).

So well done Anne – and congratulations and commiserations to the five other authors shortlisted for the award, namely Jeff VanderMeer with Borne; Omar El Akkad with American War; Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar; Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill; and Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed.

On a personal note, this year's Award marked the end of my two-year stint as a judge for the Clarkes – all judges can only serve a maximum of two years on the jury, which neatly ensures the Awards remain open and avoid any inbuilt bias. And, I have to say it was an eye-opening experience for me.

I'm an old guy and my taste in science fiction is relatively conservative – I like rockets, robots, and aliens. (Although post apocalyptic dystopias always bring a smile to my face – and I have a fondness for the late Iain M. Banks' Culture novels.) However the Clarkes are a revelation in terms of the scope, scale and range of novels now being produced that push the boundaries of the traditional definition of "science fiction".

As the author Nina Allan commented "I have always been of the opinion that this is the kind of science fiction that the Clarke Award should be seeking out and promoting, and I was delighted to see Dreams Before the Start of Time turn up on the shortlist for this reason."

If you don't do anything else this summer, treat yourself not just to Anne Charnock's Dreams but also all the other books on the shortlist. Sea of Rust is a must for fans of robots – and also for anyone concerned about the risks of unfettered AI (artificial intelligence).

This was another intriguing aspect of many of the books nominated this year (and last) including those in the shortlist, in that they are not mere escapist fantasies set among the stars but instead deal with contemporary issues and concerns, including climate change, the patriarchy, bioengineering etc.

In other words they are books that both entertain and also make you think. Relax, they all manage to deliver their "message" in a non-preachy, not-ramming-it-down-your throat tone.

My work here is done and I don't envy the task of next year's judges because being on the Clarkes jury is no easy task. This year (and last) we had approximately 100 books to read – and some of these books are huge wrist-breakers. (Fall asleep reading one of these in bed and it could break your nose.) These we then whittled down to an informal long-list – and with five judges each long-listing 12 books each, that could mean anything from 35 to 50 titles.

These were then reduced to the final shortlist of six – kill you darlings indeed! – before the final winner was chosen. And, as they used to say in the old Highlander movies "There can be only one" – the Clarkes go for one outright winner with no second or third places.

It's been great fun, thank you for opening my eyes, and thank you for having me on board as a judge for the last couple of years. 

This evening on Park Radio's Waveney Valley... when it was show (6pm-to-8pm) I'll be talking to local history enthusiast and curator of the popular Diss & District Memories Facebook group Nick Woods about aliens, spies, fearsome fires, murder, mayhem, Steampunk and the Plague. No really!

We'll also be playing some of the tracks from over the past 50 years that were Number #1 in the charts (or "Hit Parade" as we used to call it) this weekend.

You can find Park Radio at 107.6 & 105.2 FM as well as listen online at www.parkradio.co.uk

For any requests, shout-outs, or dedications text me at 07786 738172 or via Twitter to @ChristianUncut.