Book Shambles With Robin And Josie

Author JB Morrison, who you might know better as Jim Bob, frontman of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, joins Robin and Josie in the studio this week. They talk about moving from songwriter to novel writer and his new memoir In the Shadow of My Former Self which is out very soon. Plus there's chat of Cormac McCarthy, Jean Rhys and Status Quo. Because of course there is. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

A Book Shambles / Science Shambles crossover. Robin is joined in studio by Professor Gina Rippon and Dr Julia Shaw to talk about their new science books, The Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience That Shatters the Myth of the Female Brain and Making Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side. They dive into topics like the lack of women in STEM, the myth of the male and female brain, false memories, why we are all capable of doing awful things, toxic masculinity, prison libraries and much more. Subscribe for free to the Science Shambles podcast to get the full episode. Support the podcast, and the Cosmic Shambles Network by pledging at patreon.com/bookshambles

The final episode we recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, Robin and guest co-host Sarah Kendall are joined by solar physicist and author Professor Lucie Green. Recorded right after Alan Moore's episode from last week, Lucie fact checks Alan's graphic novels and then chats about building satellites in sheds, Judge Dredd regrets, space based poetry, speed reading Tina Fey and her own book about the sun. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. 15 bonus minutes await pledgers this week.

Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, Robin is joined by guest co-host Sarah Kendall and Alan Moore. They chat about where real science has influenced Alan's works, why Trump's election might be a result of too many superhero films and the best motorway services in and around Milton Keynes.Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. There's a whole twenty extra minutes of Robin, Alan and Sarah this week.

Kate Davies debut novel, In at the Deep End, comes out this week. Josie read an advanced copy and fell in love with it so we got Kate into the studio to chat about it with her and Robin. Not only that, she came armed with a list of her favourite books divided into categories! So the three of them dig into the best sexy, queer and funny books from Zadie Smith to Diana Athill, Stephen Fry and beyond. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

This week Philippa Perry joins Robin as co-host and they chat with writer and performer Rebecca Peyton. They talk about the process of working with editors, psychotherapy, the joy of a good sad book and the work of Joseph Heller, Min Jin Lee, Joseph Conrad and more. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

This week's episode is a comics special as Robin is joined in studio by our resident comics expert, comedian Nat Metcalfe and Tom Oldham of Breakdown Press. They chat about Douglas Dixon, Ken Reid, Lando and why too many comics these days are starting to read like storyboards for a future Netflix series. As always there's an extended version for Patreon pledgers and this week features and extra 15 minutes. Support us at patreon.com/bookshambles

For pretty much as long as we've been producing Book Shambles, Josie has been recommending everyone read the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. She even had the first book on her cape in Cosmic Superheroes. So with the My Beautiful Friend series just coming out we thought we should do a Ferrante special with Josie and two other mega fans. So joined by Sara Pascoe and Tania Edwards, they dig into her work and many other tangents. Fair warning though, spoilers abound. Support the CSN at patreon.com/bookshambles and get extended episodes of Book Shambles. Over 20 minutes extra in this week's episode!

A triple podcast crossover this week as Vitriola's Michael Legge subs in for Josie Long and our guest is The Allusionist's Helen Zaltzman in the studio with Robin. They chat about favourite showbiz memoirs and diaries, Scientology books and the time Iggy Pop stage dived at an eleven year old and landed on his face. Extended edition for Patreon supporters as always. Become one at patreon.com/bookshambles

Geneticist, author and broadcaster Dr Adam Rutherford joins Robin and Josie in the studio this week to talk about many things including his latest book, The Book of Humans. They chat about the peril of writing books that will go out of date, bad misuses of genetics, who was racist even by Victorian standards and Adam tries to remember the difference between The Odyssey and The Iliad. Extended version available exclusively to our Patreon supporters. Become one at patreon.com/bookshambles

We lots of specials and time specific episodes towards the end of 2018, so we've yet to put out the final episode we recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe, so here it is! Robin is joined by comedian and author Mark Watson and the new writing team Ambrose Parry, comprised of crime writer Christopher Brookmyre and anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman. They chat about the differences between writing crime and historical fiction, stand up and novels and the best way to seek revenge against high school bullies in your books. Support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles and get extended editions of each episode

It's part two of our multi guest end of year special where we chat to all sorts of performers from our Christmas shows about the best things they read this year. In this all-star special there's recommendations from Robin Ince, Josie Long, Brian Cox, the Octavia Poetry Collective, Ben Moor, Chris Lintott, Suzi Gage, Suzie Imber, Hannah Fry, Grace Petrie, Matt Parker, Chris Stokes, Dr Karl, Helen Czerski, Kat Arney, Ronnie Le Drew and Melinda Burton! Support the show at the network at patreon.com/bookshambles

Each year we catch up with as many different people as we can at our Christmas shows to talk to them about their books of the year and this year is no different. In Part 1 we chat with Robin Ince, Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie, Sophie Scott, Jo Neary, Ginny Smith, Dean Burnett, Gecko, Hannah Critchlow and Philip Ball. Loads more to come next week too. Thanks for listening in 2018. Big plans for 2019. Support us at patreon.com/bookshambles

Robin AND Josie are back in the studio together for a brand new batch of Book Shambles episodes. The first guest is Ariane Sherine, author of the new book Talk Yourself Better. They chat about her new book, and the experiences that led to it, plus look at Twitter, PD James, Lyne Reid, Tank Girl and much more. Support the show on Patreon (patreon.com/bookshambles) to hear extended episodes of the show each week. NB - This episode contains a discussion about abuse

Recorded live at the launch of Robin’s book ‘I’m a Joke and So Are You’ at Kings Place in London, this episode features some stand up from Robin and Josie, a performance from Grace Petrie, a conversation with Philippa Perry and an extended chat with Stewart Lee about comedy. Enjoy! Support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

Robin is joined once again by guest co-host Natalie Haynes to chat to Jason Heller, the Hugo Award winning author of new book Strange Stars which looks at sci-fi's influence on the music of 70s. So there's plenty of chat about Bowie, Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and more. An extra ten minutes of chat this week for Patreon supporters to enjoy this week too so if you'd like to join them, head to patreon.com/bookshambles

Robin and Josie took to the stage at the London Podcast Festival in September for an episode of Book Shambles. Their guests were scientists and authors Professor Mark Miodownik and Dr Kevin Fong. They chat about their own upcoming books, books of bad science, unfortunate barbecuing incidences, Josie's return from her daughter's birth and debate whether peanut butter is a liquid or not. Live at the Festival we recorded for around 90 minutes, and if you'd like to hear the uncut version of the live show, you can do just that by becoming a Patreon supporter at patreon.com/bookshambles

Robin and author and cartoonist Martin Rowson just happened to be in Toronto at the same time so they recorded a Book Shambles Extra in a hotel room. Martin's got three books out of this year, including his graphic novel of The Communist Manifesto. They chat about that, the state of satire, politics, cartooning and much more. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/bookshambles

When we originally announced we were doing a Book Shambles Live at QED Con in Manchester we were supposed to be joined by Mercury 13 and aviation legend Wally Funk, but sadly she had to pull out due to last minute illness. So joining Robin is author of Wally Funk's Race for Space, Sue Nelson and doing his best Josie Long impression, co-host for this week is Dallas Campbell. They chat about women in space, books that have not quite predicted the future so accurately and, of course, the great Wally Funk. Get an extended version of this episode, plus many other goodies, by supporting the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

Another episode we recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe, Robin is joined by the great Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and countless other classics. They chat extensively about the late Harlan Ellison, his life and work, as well as Neil's own views on creativity and looking back on his own work. There's also chat of Gene Wolfe, Alan Moore and much more besides.  Patreon supporters of The Cosmic Shambles Network will get an exclusive extended edition of this, and all other episodes. Pledge at patreon.com/bookshambles Image courtesy Helen Crimmins.