Episode 206: An Interview with a Vampire Fan, Murray Leeder

After Anne Rice’s death on December 11, 2021, Geek4 alum, Murray Leeder posted a thoughtful Facebook reflection (such things can exist) on Rice, her work, and being a former fan. She was, he notes, “the first author [he] ‘fell out of fandom’ with.” (see Murray’s post below).

He describes his early fascination; his participation in the then-infant online fan communities. He talks about his loss of interest.

Murray’s words, engaging and thoughtful as always, got me thinking about forgotten fandoms, loss and nostalia for things that we left behind. Or left us. It provided me an opportunity to invte Murray back on Geek4 and talk about not only Rice and her influence (not only on him, as a fan, but as perhaps the most signifcant figure shaping vampire lore since Stoker) but also an example of a forgotten fandom - one that, for some reason or other, slipped away. .

It was great conversation about Rice, her legacy, and coming to terms with lost loves.

Episode 205: Seeing Red (Dwarf) with Alistair Cornwall

On this episode, I'm joined by Alistair Cornwall to discuss his love for the long running science fiction comedy series, Red Dwarf. Ali is the co-host of Film Guff (with former Geek4 guest, Cev Moore), the podcast that offers low brow talk about low rent movies. In addition to space sitcoms, he has a wide variety of geeky interests. Everything from gaming Batman, car racing, and Funko Pops. And I learn a bit about British soup vending machines, which sound horrifying.

You can follow Alistair’s YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/c/cornwolf

Twitter - @Corn_Wolf  and follow FIlm Guff at FilmGuff.com and your podcatcher  of choice Ali also hosts Codec Moments, a podcast about gaming and Just Send It, a podcast about motorsports.

You can follow me on Twitter  @mwboyce  and Instagram @mwboyce and follow my website michaelwboyce.com/geek4

You can follow the podcast on Twitter @geek4pod and on Instagram @geek4pod

If you listen on Apple Podcast and like the show, hit the subscribe button and consider leaving a 5 star review. The more reviews we have, the more we show up in searches. Somehow. I don’t know how. Alogthrims, I suppose. Whatvever those are.

Or, tell a friend. Word of mouth is still an effective advertising tool.  

I respectfully acknowledge that I live in and work on Treaty One Territory and in the traditional homeland of the Métis nation.

Episode 204: poetic license with Steve Bell and Malcolm Guite

I recently had the opportunity to host a public conversation with Steve Bell and Malcolm Guite about art and literature and the intersections with faith. Steve is an award winning singer-songwriter-storyteller from Winnipeg, MB. Malcolm is a priest and poet from the UK. These two friends have an infectious love of stories and songs and poetry. I knew that, if I got them talking about the art that influenced them and how they developed as artists themselves, I just needed to stay out of their way.
We talk about Shakespeare and Keats, Bruce Cockburn and Coleridge, and staying connected in the pandemic. I loved every single second of this conversation. At a time when most of us “feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread,” to quote Tolkien, this conversation was life giving.

I’m grateful Steve and Malcolm allowed me to share out talk on Geek4.

Check out Steve’s music, including his pandemic Loft Sessions, on his Youtube page and follow him on Instagram @signpoststeve and Twitter @signpoststeve

You can follow Malcom on Twiiter @malcolmguite and watch his “Spell in the Library” series on his Youtube page.