The Grind Podcast: Episode Two - Shoreline Of Infinity

Summary

The Grind Podcast: Episode Two - Shoreline Of Infinity

Release Date: January 24, 2016
Host(s): RJ Bayley, Gordon Johnstone
Special Guest: Noel Chidwick (Editor, Shoreline of Infinity)
Theme: Scottish Science Fiction, Creativity, Publishing, and the Renaissance of Speculative Work.

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Grind Podcast dives into Scottish science fiction culture, focusing on the creation, ethos, and ambition behind Shoreline of Infinity, Scotland’s only science fiction magazine. Hosts RJ Bayley and Gordon Johnstone converse with editor Noel Chidwick about the magazine's origins, its role in the Scottish creative renaissance, intersections of sci-fi and magic, and the evolution of speculative storytelling. The discussion is full of humor, personal stories, literary references, and passionate takes on creative community building in Scotland.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Shoreline of Infinity

[01:05-02:43]

• Noel Chidwick on the Magazine’s Mission:
  Shoreline of Infinity is primarily a science fiction magazine publishing short stories, interviews, reviews, columns, and poetry, with an international focus but a proud Scottish identity.
  Quote: “We don't want to be too parochial and be too Scottish. We want to be seen all around the world.” (Noel Chidwick, 03:56)
• Naming and Origins:
  The magazine title stems both from a music project (“Painted Ocean”) and the metaphor of Scotland at the edge of new creative possibilities, especially post-independence referendum.
  Quote: “It feels like we’re on the shoreline looking to see where we’re going to go...and we have Infinity in front of us.” (Noel Chidwick, 02:01)

2. Visual Identity & Artistic Direction

[02:43-03:50]

• Every issue cover is a seasonal tableau by artist Sarah Majeskovac, evoking classic comic book covers and intended as a collectible series: “We’ve actually commissioned her to do the covers for all this year’s magazines...winter, spring, summer, and autumn.” (Noel Chidwick, 03:12)

3. Community Building & Events

[04:14-08:48]

• The initial launch event, prompted by poetry editor Russell Jones, involved local poets, actors (Debbie Cannon, “the voice of the Edinburgh trams”), and even a unique science fiction cocktail.
• Regular monthly live gatherings started at Deadhead Comics under the title “Event Horizon,” combining readings, performances, and social connection.

4. Inspiration & The Scottish Sci-Fi Scene

[04:14-05:36]

• Scotland had no active sci-fi magazine for years; the energy of the 2014 independence referendum was a catalyst for starting Shoreline of Infinity.

5. The Magazine’s Creative Philosophy

[08:48-10:46]

• The team considered various paths (longer fiction, more music, publishing company), but focused on short stories and cross-disciplinary inspiration.
• Musical connections, namely Chidwick’s band Painted Ocean (described as “prog folk”), are tightly woven with the magazine’s ethos.

6. The Value & Blurring of Sci-Fi and Fantasy

[10:53-12:06]

• The editors embrace the intersection of science fiction with magic or fantasy, citing Charles Stross’ Laundry series and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld as prime examples.
  • Quote: “I love when things intersect...if you want to throw science fiction with something else, good! Mashup is great.” (Noel Chidwick, 11:08)

7. Technology: Prediction vs. Reality

[14:56-17:49]

• Reflecting on how far real-world technology has come (smartphones, streaming), guests note that few classic sci-fi works anticipated the all-in-one device.
  • “No writer...really predicted the smartphone as it is.” (Noel Chidwick, 15:29)
  • “We’ve all got a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in our pockets.” (Noel Chidwick, 16:37)

8. Creativity, Engagement, and the Post-Referendum Renaissance

[17:57-19:48]

• Discussion about the “mini-renaissance” in Scottish arts since the referendum, spurred by increased political and creative engagement.
  • Quote: “As soon as you become engaged in politics, you start to become engaged in general...got people creating again.” (Gordon Johnston, 18:11)
• The Internet is highlighted for changing consumption into participation: “It’s not a broadcast medium, it’s a creation medium as well.” (Noel Chidwick, 19:13)

9. On Paying Contributors

[20:07-21:19]

• Shoreline of Infinity’s philosophy is to pay all contributors, pushing back against “exposure as currency.”
  • Quote: “If I can take exposure to my supermarket and buy some food with the exposure, now we’re talking. Until that point, I’ll have some cash, thank you very much.” (RJ Bailey, 20:19)

10. Magazine Tone and Literary Preferences

[21:27-22:52]

• The magazine aims for reflective, character-driven, and sometimes humorous stories—“A reality with a twist of lemon.”
  • “We all like stories...what we're not a great fan of is good writing that doesn't go anywhere.” (Noel Chidwick, 22:59)

11. Personal Sci-Fi Influences & Classic Favorites

[23:25-24:32]; [32:17-35:23]

• Noel: Fascinated by parallel worlds, especially Stross’ work, the classic Andromeda bookshop in Birmingham, and Peter F. Hamilton’s sweeping, character-rich universes.
• Favorite Sci-Fi Story: “Pavane” by Keith Roberts—evocative alternate English history with powerful atmosphere.
• RJ: The Terminator films (especially T2) for their cultural impact and classic “cool” factor.

12. Sci-Fi and Social Reflection

[26:59-30:34]

• Sci-fi as a mirror of society’s hopes and anxieties—from the optimism of early space age stories to present-day dystopias.
  • Gordon: “It always reflects the society here and now...very difficult to find a sci-fi concept that isn't dystopian in some way.” (27:02)
• Superheroes post-9/11 as cultural comfort and symbolism.
  • Noel: “Well, it's infantilizing people, isn't it? We say we must have a superhero to look after us.”

13. Science Fiction’s Relationship with Real Innovation

[35:21-38:18]

• Chicken or egg? Sci-fi both predicts and influences real science. NASA engineers grew up with Star Trek.
• Discussion about private interests (Tesla, SpaceX) now driving innovation in a way that government funding once did.

14. Submission Info & Closing Thoughts

[39:19-41:51]

• Calls for submissions (especially steampunk). “We’re open just now for submissions…would love to see your stories.” (Noel Chidwick, 39:21)
• Praise and thanks to all contributors and supporters, including poetry editor Russell Jones and reviews editor Ian Maloney.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“It feels like we’re on the shoreline looking to see where we’re going to go...and we have Infinity in front of us.”
– Noel Chidwick (02:01)

“We all like stories...what we're not a great fan of is good writing that doesn't go anywhere.”
– Noel Chidwick (22:59)

“It’s not a broadcast medium, it’s a creation medium as well. A lot of people are creating that because they can and because they can, they do.”
– Noel Chidwick (19:13)

“If I can take exposure to my supermarket and buy some food with the exposure, now we’re talking. Until that point, I’ll have some cash, thank you very much.”
– RJ Bailey (20:19)

“I think that we’re going to look back on this time, kind of just post-referendum Scotland, and see it as a time of basically unparalleled creativity.”
– Gordon Johnston (18:10)

“No writer...really predicted the smartphone as it is.”
– Noel Chidwick (15:29)

“The magazine’s subtitle is ‘A reality with a twist of lemon.’”
– Noel Chidwick (21:59)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:05 – Introduction to Shoreline of Infinity and its scope
• 02:01 – Origin and meaning of the magazine’s name
• 03:12 – Cover art concept and artist commission
• 04:14 – Discussion of Scottish sci-fi landscape and roots in the 2014 referendum
• 06:42 – Behind-the-scenes on the launch event, leading to regular live events
• 10:53 – Philosophical openness to sci-fi/fantasy blending
• 14:56 – Reflections on the real-world technological revolution
• 17:57 – The creative renaissance post-referendum and digital creation
• 20:07 – Rationale for paying contributors, criticism of “exposure”
• 23:25; 32:17 – Personal formative sci-fi experiences and favorites
• 26:59 – Sci-fi as a societal mirror; the prevalence of dystopian themes
• 39:19 – Submission information and calls to writers

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Episode Takeaways

• Shoreline of Infinity is shaping Scotland’s re-emergent, globally connected sci-fi scene both in print and in person.
• The magazine and the wider creative community take pride in both Scottish roots and international reach.
• Cross-pollination between genres and disciplines (writing, music, art) is both embraced and actively encouraged.
• Even in the digital age of infinite “free” creativity, fair compensation for contributors is a founding principle.
• Contemporary sci-fi reflects the anxieties, hopes, and values of the moment—just as it always has.

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Further Engagement

• Shoreline of Infinity: shorelineofinfinity.com
• Submissions: Open via the web portal.
• RJ Bayley: Twitter @RJBayley, weekly radio show Sundays 7-10pm (Castle FM)
• Gordon Johnstone: Twitter @G_RJohn; follow @thegrindjournal for podcast updates.
• Comics, events, music: Painted Ocean’s music at paintedoceanmusic.com

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This summary captures the key content and spirit of the episode, skipping advertisements and non-content sections. For full experience and musical poetry, catch the entire podcast!

Transcript

[Narrator/Poet]

Do not fear the grind do not fear the grind do not fear the grind do not fear the grind the grind, the grind, the grind, the grind, the grind, the grind, the grind, the grind, the grind will set you free we mean you no harm we mean you no harm we mean you no harm we mean you no harm we mean you no harm we mean you no harm we mean you no harm we mean you no harm do not be alarmed.

[RJ Bailey]

Hello. Welcome to the second episode of the Grind Podcast. My name's RJ Bailey and I am joined, as ever, by the mastermind behind the Grind podcast, Gordon Johnston. How you doing?

[Gordon Johnston]

I'm pretty good, thanks.

[RJ Bailey]

Good.

[Gordon Johnston]

Feeling good about this one, as always.

[RJ Bailey]

Are you excited to talk about some science fiction?

[Gordon Johnston]

As ever. I mean, I will never, ever pass up the chance to talk about sci fi in any realm of life, to be honest.

[RJ Bailey]

Excellent, excellent. And our special guest today is Noel Chidwick. And you are the editor of Shoreline of Infinity, aren't you?

[Noel Chidwick]

That is correct. Yes, I am that beast.

[RJ Bailey]

And can you tell us just what Shoreline of Infinity is, please?

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, with pleasure. Shoreline of Infinity is a science fiction magazine. We produce mostly, publish mostly short stories. That's our basic modus operandis, if you like. But we also do interviews, we do book reviews as well, regular columns. And we've got a growing website as well, which features some of the content and some news and items as well.

[RJ Bailey]

And a great poem about Dalek on the website as well, which I enjoyed reading.

[Noel Chidwick]

Excellent. Well, our poetry. Who wrote that? Russell Jones will be delighted to hear that.

[RJ Bailey]

Can you tell us how you started with Shoreline? Actually, you know what, tell me about the name, because that's a question name.

[Noel Chidwick]

I also play the band called Painted Ocean and we've got a title for an album haven't recorded yet, which is going to be called on the Shoreline of Infinity. I haven't got around to using that yet. Well, when we came with the idea of doing the magazine, we thought, let's use the title of that instead. Because one of the great things about science fiction is it's a great way of playing around with ideas of where you are currently and looking to the future, different ways you want to go. Bad future, good future. And so I sometimes feel, and it says on the. On our website where we are currently, it feels like we're on the shoreline looking to see where we're going to go from now on. And we have Infinity in front of us. So that's really where we thought. That's a great link for the magazine. So yeah, absolutely.

[Gordon Johnston]

It's a beautiful, beautiful magazine.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, we're really.

[RJ Bailey]

This is a compliment. It very much reminds me of if you, you know, a nerd, you'll know Frank Quietly's cover, quite famous cover in comic books of All Star, Superman, Superman, Four Seasons, where he sat on a cloud. And it's a very. The composition is beautiful and it's very, you know, quite well known now. And it reminded me immediately of that. That's a classic, right?

[Noel Chidwick]

I mean, issue two.

[RJ Bailey]

Yes.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, we're very pleased with this. Actually. The artist who did the COVID it's Sarah Majeskovac and she's a lovely artist and we've actually commissioned her to do the covers for all this year's magazines. Excellent as a kind of a series. So that's even like a sort of winter scene, as your listeners can see. So I would have seen of a person or a creature in a spacesuit holding a mug of something, looking out over a sea of somewhere with probably snow falling. Nothing about science fiction that could be virtually anything.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

But it's vaguely wintry. And so the next covers are coming through will be spring, summer and autumn.

[RJ Bailey]

So that's amazing. I love that. Absolutely love it. That's a beautiful concept.

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, we're trying to encourage new writers very much. We have got Scottish writers now, as you say, but we also got writers from all over the world. And that's important because we don't want to be too parochial and be too Scottish. We also want to be proud that we are a Scottish magazine and we want to be seen all around the world. That's very much what we're very keen to do.

[RJ Bailey]

And you are Scotland's only science fiction magazine, aren't you?

[Noel Chidwick]

Yes. Oh, yes.

[RJ Bailey]

Which is quite a badge to wear.

[Noel Chidwick]

It's a strange badge to wear. When we were setting up the project, we did look around to see wow else was happening before we decided which way we were going to go. And we looked very hard to see what examples we could follow or base on or use as inspiration. And I've forgotten now exactly when it was, but the last Scottish science fiction magazine was many years ago. I'm sure people can tell me more precisely. A quick look at Wikipedia will probably do the job.

[Narrator/Poet]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

But it's so long ago that the people involved in it are not really involved in science fiction, I don't think anymore. So it was time was right for a science fiction magazine from Scotland. And we came out of it, really came out of the referendum in September 2014. I don't know if you two are here.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah, I was in the thick of it.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, well, I certainly was. And my partner, Mark Turner, who also drew the idea of the magazine. We're both very strongly involved in the referendum and all the energy that was created around the time and we felt what we do with this energy.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

So much energy is flowing through what was happening in the time, no matter which side you voted for or against. And just felt Scotland, which is a wonderful place to be. It's time really showed off what Scotland can do.

[Gordon Johnston]

I'm glad. Can you tell us a little bit about the events that you run everyone this out in Deadhead Comics?

[Noel Chidwick]

All right. Yes. Well, I mean, the story of the events is wonderful because we launched the first. First issue of Shawl Infinity in July last year and Russell Jones, I say, our poetry editor, just joined us and he's a poet himself, a very good poet, as you already attested, and a writer. And he came on board the magazine just at the point we're about to publish and he helped us get things going and he said, what are you going to do about a launch event? Well, Mark and I hadn't really thought too hard about that. And Russell, bless his cotton socks, I'll organize something for you. Brilliant.

[RJ Bailey]

Yeah, nice.

[Noel Chidwick]

And bless him. He did got a great show. He put on some with himself, plays all character to sort of lead us through the event. Got some poets to tell their stories and tell their poems. And we got Debbie Cannon to read one of our stories from the magazine. Debbie Cannon is an actress, Edinburgh actress, and you may well know her more likely as the voice of the trams.

[Russell Jones]

Oh, really?

[Noel Chidwick]

She's the one who announces your destination on the tram. That's fantastic. So we're great to have a story read by the voice of the trams. It's this lovely person, Debbie Cannon.

[Gordon Johnston]

That's fantastic.

[Noel Chidwick]

I have no idea. And also gave my band a chance for a play as well, so we've written some science fiction songs. So we topped and tailed the event with a couple of science fiction songs and after the event sold a few magazines and I mean, it was done. The Paradise Palms. Oh, yeah, lovely. Great venue. Very helpful and supportive. They invented a cocktail just for the event. Science fiction cocktail.

[RJ Bailey]

What was it?

[Noel Chidwick]

I didn't taste it. I was driving the green concoction. I never saw it. I never heard it. I saw a picture. I didn't see actually anyone drinking it, unfortunately. So they were great. But as we were sort of milling about afterwards and relaxing and a couple of people, I just really enjoyed Tonight. When's your next one? What do you mean? Well, connects. This issue will be out in a quarter of a six months time. No, no, in the event it's been really good fun, so. Oh, okay. And we thought why not?

[RJ Bailey]

The decision was made for you, it

[Noel Chidwick]

was made for us. And Gaff at Deadhead Comics, he heard about this and said, well, I've got a great venue for you. My shop would be perfect. So went along kind of. And he was right. It's a lovely wooden floor, nice space to perform in and people to mill around in. And within a space of two weeks thought, let's do this. And during the festival last year we put on an impromptu pop up event, I suppose, and we called it Event Horizon. And people came along, had a great time and we did some market research. Amazingly enough that. Okay, thanks very much for coming. Would you like another one? So we put out some forms and bits and pensions and would you like this to happen again? Absolutely. I never had such a positive response about something, so. And ever since then we've run it every month. Russell is the MC and helps coordinate the event while Mark and I get on with most of the work in the magazine. And coming up on the 28th of January, we have the Cthulhu Brothers performing.

[RJ Bailey]

Fantastic.

[Noel Chidwick]

And we're the backing band for them.

[RJ Bailey]

I have to ask you, what kind of music do you play in your band?

[Noel Chidwick]

I hope you want to ask that. Prog Folk is probably.

[RJ Bailey]

Can I hear some of this? I want to hear it. Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

We have a website, it's www.paintedoceanmusic.com and we've got a CD out.

[RJ Bailey]

Purchasable from the website.

[Noel Chidwick]

Purchasable from the website. Yeah, love.

[Narrator/Poet]

I look at Your Goats Farmer 1 is not quite right. Its eyes burn like hell.

[RJ Bailey]

I wanted to ask as well, you said like you were trying to figure out where, which direction you were going to go with the magazine in an alternate parallel dimension. What were the other routes? What were the other things that you were looking to explore? What could have been that never was?

[Noel Chidwick]

Oh, that's a good one. I mean, essentially it could have been looking to do something as a publishing company or maybe gathering new writers for longer fiction or it could be more music based as well. One problem I have, and Mark as well, we both interested in all sorts of things. Mark's the artist of the team. He did the back cover for the Shrine and he's now creating a comic version of this character for issue three. So he's a great musician as well. Irish, liked in all sorts of things. So we could have gone down that road as well.

[RJ Bailey]

How do you feel about When Sci Fi Meets Magic?

[Noel Chidwick]

Now what sort of example you're thinking

[RJ Bailey]

of when, you know, there's a, you know, a science fiction story that involves demons and more wizards or things like that. Now is that cool with you? Because I know some people never know.

[Narrator/Poet]

They should.

[RJ Bailey]

Not exactly.

[Noel Chidwick]

I'd love when things intersect. I mean, Charles Stross is the Laundry series. That's when magic and science fiction interacts. Oh, I'd recommend Charles Stross's Laundry series. Absolutely.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

And they're great. That's. That's exactly what you're talking about.

[Gordon Johnston]

Discworld as well.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, Discworld.

[Gordon Johnston]

That's all very sad.

[Noel Chidwick]

Who can't not love Discworld? Come on.

[Gordon Johnston]

Absolutely adorable.

[RJ Bailey]

I've never read Discworld and it looks. I thought it was firmly fantasy. You know, Rin Smith's got a nice hat, there's a chest with some legs. Yeah, it looks like. Actually, I played the video games.

[Gordon Johnston]

Actually, I used to love the video games. They're so good. I miss point and click adventures. Whatever happened to those? That's such a shame. They died out when they added three dimensions in video games. I just lost. That's not for me.

[Noel Chidwick]

No. But I think in the science fictional world, everything's up for grabs. I have absolutely no doubt problems with that. I like to say, like earlier, I like to be surprised. So if you want to throw science fiction with something else, good, good. Mashup is great.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

I asked that because I watched Doctor who and every so often I check social media and about, you know, 100 people have a fit all at once when they mention Time Lord magic and put them back to life. Like, that's not sci fi, that's fantasy.

[Noel Chidwick]

Absolutely. And I remember there's one, there's a David, what's his name was doing Doctor who. Yes. He sort of dribbles away as it's sort of timey, wimey, wibbly wobbly stuff. Yeah, that's fair enough.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah, yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

Move on, get with the story.

[Gordon Johnston]

I can't think of many times where I've seen sci fi magic collide.

[Noel Chidwick]

I'm just trying.

[RJ Bailey]

Yeah, it's a great film. Trashy, but a great film from the 80s called Evil Speak, set in a boy's military academy. And the outcast fat pudgy boy finds a computer and somehow this computer gets possessed by Satan and starts to like, this is a film. I don't want to spoil it for any listeners, but please seek this Out. I'm sure you will when I tell you there are man eaters. 18 devil pigs in the film at one point.

[Gordon Johnston]

Sounds incredible.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

In a boys military academy.

[Noel Chidwick]

That's what it should be.

[Gordon Johnston]

That's fantastic. What was your first like? Great sci fi love.

[Noel Chidwick]

All right, well let's go back a few years. Many, many years. You have to remember. I'm old enough to remember the Apollo missions. I actually saw Neil Armstrong on the moon through the television. Yeah. But I was there nine years old when it happened. So that sort of age. We were living a sci fi world. We were living a science fiction life. And I used to read science fiction from very early age. If I read 2001 when it came out, saw the 2001, the film came out and I've been reading science fiction since the age of eight or nine. John Wyndham, Asimov, all the classics, they were still alive in those days. Windham wasn't. Windham died in 60 something I think. But yeah. So as a teenager I just read every science fiction book I could lay my hands on. And in Birmingham in those days, in the 70s, we were blessed with a bookshop called Andromeda. Andromeda Bookshop run by a wonderful man called Rog Paton. And so every Saturday I'd be down there and there's a great little shop. Very sort of damp and smelly and dark but wonderful. I should spend hours and reasonably all through the old magazines down the basement. The 1940s, astounding and analog. Amazing. I've got a few of them aboard. And so yeah, I just lived and breathed science fiction as a teenager because we have the Apollo missions. They were so there. They were watching people actually on the moon. So I kind of thought by the time I reached the age I'm now, we'd be living on Mars and flying around the solar system.

[RJ Bailey]

Where, where are our jetpacks? Where's our.

[Noel Chidwick]

Exactly.

[RJ Bailey]

We're now past. Back to the future too, aren't we?

[Noel Chidwick]

Yes.

[Gordon Johnston]

It's funny, I think we spoke about this before but there's the idea that you know, where are our jet packs?

[Narrator/Poet]

Where's our.

[Gordon Johnston]

Where our mules and pill form and stuff. But it is a fairly sci fi world we live in right now. I mean the fact is. Yeah, in my pocket I carry all of humanity's knowledge collected.

[RJ Bailey]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

You know, on one vastly shareable network. It's not terrifying when you think about it.

[Noel Chidwick]

But the weird thing about that, I was thinking about that a few days ago. I don't think anyone in science Fiction has actually predicted the smartphone as it is. I've really been racking my brains to think of one writer or one book or a story that really Star Trek communicator is not quite there because he doesn't use the same device to access the information knowledge.

[RJ Bailey]

It almost seems quaint. Star Trek, yes. Like they were like in the 80s when you star Trek Next Generation out they're like they don't have physical buttons. It's all touch screens into the future. We only have computers as big as a room.

[Noel Chidwick]

It really is.

[Gordon Johnston]

You're right though. I can't think of anyone. I think maybe there's. They use lots of different devices cuz maybe that seemed more like impressive almost like this range of devices we have. Whereas obviously as you know the real world progressed more and more things were condensed into one. Yeah but yeah I can't think of it. There have been people who predicted rise of television and the Internet to a degree but not just one device apart from maybe the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Noel Chidwick]

That's. That's probably the only one I can think of. We've all got hitchhikers guide the galaxy in our pockets. That's the way I sometimes think of it. Yeah but Douglas Adams didn't think was a communication tool at the same time do everything with this device. I've got one in my pocket. You've got one in your pocket? Yeah, there all over the place.

[RJ Bailey]

It's amazing. I can watch, I remember, you know reading it in a newspaper like you know this technology report saying one day we're going to be able to watch the television on our phones and I'm going nah, not possible television. No no, no, no, too complicated. And there I am watching not, you know, several apps for all the different channels plus YouTube which is practically a television. The world's biggest television channel in the world. And not only that but I can then select it on my phone and then cast it to my television and control my television from my phone. The other day I signed to Spotify and I've got every single song ever written at the touch of my fingers. And I can beam it to three different devices in my house at any one time. So I can literally walk around my house and have the music follow me around the house. Yeah, I know, that's mad.

[Noel Chidwick]

It's wonderful technology. And what do you do you watch kittens juggling chainsaws. Become more of a Renaissance society aren't we? Really.

[Gordon Johnston]

I think it's. That's really interesting because I was Thinking about this the other day, I think that we're going to look back on this time, kind of just post referendum Scotland and see as time like huge and basically unparalleled creativity.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

Because people were given a voice ago.

[Noel Chidwick]

Engaged.

[Gordon Johnston]

Because as soon as you become engaged in politics, you start to become engaged in just general beats they liked more. You got people creating again. I think that was so, so important. I mean, regardless of how you feel about the outcome, it was undeniably a good thing because now we have so much more. Shoreline was happening because of it. The grind is continuing because of it. There's so many wonderful artists out there. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. It's like a. I think we're going through a mini renaissance.

[Noel Chidwick]

But I think this, I think the referendum was a bit of a catalyst that maybe made things accelerate that way. Because the way the Internet itself is going, we're all dabbling in all sorts of things and the Internet allows you to do that. One day you could be writing a story, the next day you could be writing a song. The third day you could be doing a bit of graphic and publish all the things on the website. And what some I think is amazing too about being in the. A science fictional world, the fear in my day was we'd all be sucking on what Harlan Ellison used to call the glass teat. You'd always sucking on the television. Just absorbing, just being given stuff.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

To read to and. And the television with that. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 4 filled one where he envisions walls covered in screens, just projecting in a television. And sure, our television got huge. But what's incredible is because the Internet is a two way process. It's not a broadcast medium, it's a creation medium as well. A lot of people are creating that because they can and because they can, they do. And that is fantastic. I mean there's so much good music around on the Internet. There's so much good writing, there's so much good artwork. There's too much of this good stuff.

[Narrator/Poet]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

I suppose you do get to a point where there's actually so much high quality content out there. Yeah. It kind of saturates the market and people are finding it more and more difficult to make money from creative pursuits. Because why would somebody pay them to do something when there's. There's an infinite amount of it for free?

[RJ Bailey]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

On the Internet.

[RJ Bailey]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

There's a danger though. I mean, it's one of the reasons why we set up the magazine the way we have done is one of our key philosophies is the contributors, the writers and the artists must get paid. Yeah, that's.

[RJ Bailey]

Yeah, I'm very pleased to hear that. It's horrific, isn't it, when people are saying, oh, but you'll get the exposure for it. You're getting even. Big web newspapers, national newspapers don't pay some of their online writers because you'll get to be in the Guardian. If I can take exposure to my supermarket and buy some food with the exposure. Now we're talking. Well, until that point is, I'll have some cash, thank you very much.

[Noel Chidwick]

Exposure is a currency. That's a great idea. 10 exposures for a bag. I should.

[Gordon Johnston]

I really wish I could call my landlords and go, hey, I don't have any money this month, but I'm famous

[Noel Chidwick]

on Twitter, so I'll tweet to all my followers what a great landlord you are.

[RJ Bailey]

Can I pay with lights?

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, maybe you're onto something here. Maybe there's a way of doing that. I don't know. But one day it is. Yeah. I mean, if you get a plumber to come and fix your toilet and you say, that's great, I'll tell the rest of the world what a good plumber you are.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

And thank you very much. Bye. Yeah, sure.

[RJ Bailey]

That'd quite rightly smash your face then.

[Noel Chidwick]

It would, yes.

[Gordon Johnston]

So do you have any particular sci fi worlds that you.

[RJ Bailey]

Is there a specific side of sci fi? Like just when I heard the very name. The name, it says something, doesn't it? It speaks of a more, you know, philosophical, conceptual kind of thing. Whereas if you call your magazine Starblade or something like that.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yes, Starblade, absolutely.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

It would speak of like, you know, military science fiction, forever war, it wouldn't it?

[Noel Chidwick]

Yes, yes.

[RJ Bailey]

You know, do you prefer a more, you know, thoughtful kind of.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, I think we do. I mean, we want people to use the magazines as a platform for sort of thinking through their ideas of how they. They perceive the world through the science fictional lens, if you like. I mean, our subtitle is A reality with a twist of lemon. And that also gives a bit. Don't be too serious or po faced about this. We want to like a bit of humor as well. And it's really sort of saying, well, in a strange world we live in currently, how do we cope with this and where is it going to. So if you've got a story that sort of takes that reality and gives it a wee tweak and gives a feel for how it could be either good or bad. Or take Dystopia as well as Utopia. And so, yeah, so a bit more thinking behind it and a bit more character driven as well. But above all, I think we all like stories. What we're not a great fan of, I think is good writing that doesn't go anywhere.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah. So do you have a favorite sci fi world, favorite fictional universe that somebody's

[RJ Bailey]

created or favorite series?

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, well, my favorite writer, I think in the moment. And actually I was. I left science fiction for a good many years, about 20 years actually, when I got married and had children and real life came along. So I sort of put a lot of those things on hold and I got back into it again about 12, 13 years ago when I came across Peter Hamilton. Peter F. Hamilton.

[RJ Bailey]

Oh, yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

Now, he's a fantastic writer of huge vistas of science, but his books are thick.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah, they are.

[Noel Chidwick]

Build houses with his books. They'll survive the holocaust, the dystopian, whatever destruction you want. But his great vision is that he's got a wonderful universe he's creating, some set in the future, but it always tells his stories through character's eyes. And he'll spend a couple of chapters introducing a new character and suddenly you see this whole universe is created through a different set of eyes. Oh, that's how you work from there. And so you've got lots of little short stories, if you like, all part of this great big vista. And most of his books really sit in that kind of. Of universes made up. And so that's. I love those big pictures, but they're seen through in human eyes.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

Stephen Baxter is another one like that, but he sees his world through the universe's eyes. So you don't get the same sort of person, but we're human beings, we're like stories.

[Gordon Johnston]

Exactly, yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

And when it's all said and done, there's entertainment we're trying to create here, even though the magazine so. And entertainment is done by stories. People tell stories and done that for thousands of years. It's like you're into currency.

[RJ Bailey]

The story, I mean, I was going to say I. I don't mind so much. Very conceptually driven stuff because I grew up like, absolutely loving and still loving, like Homer, you know, and. And, you know, the Aeneid and Iliad and, you know, Virgil and stuff. And a lot of that is the purely conceptual. Like that is a thing where there are battles, huge battles and characters are introduced purely so they can be killed. Literally. Literally. Paragraphs, if not Lines later, you know, So I don't mind that kind of stuff. And I do. I find myself drawn a lot to the kind of concepts of it. Like, I really like future war because I just love like the idea of, you know, you. The almost the real, the more plausible reality of using, you know, light speed and wormholes to get to a battle. And then because it's so like wildly uncontrollable start, battleships arrive like a century too late or they arrive like in the wrong time. And when they get there, the civilization they're attacking has actually become way more advanced and it's just like way more technology or, you know, or they arrive and the civilization is still in the stone age because they thought they'd be sick. You know. Is there any like, concepts that you are particularly drawn to, like time travel or dystopias or. Or cyborgs or nanotechnology?

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, I mean, I'm very fond of Paradigm World. It's one of my favorite ones because I just like the idea of being able to shift. I mean, Charles Stross's books on the call, Laundry Farms. Is it? No, no, sorry, I don't have hands. Oh dear. Sorry, Charlie, I forgot to name your series. But anyway, the. His parallel worlds where he just jumps from one earth to another one. I just love those concepts, being able to sort of jump and see alternative versions of the Earth or alternative versions of yourself. It's good about this concept of infinity, I think. And it's always been fascinating to me the idea if there are infinite universes out there, Infinite infinity is a rather large number. And there's not an infinite number of this interview going. Happening. But it's just incredible. You think about that. If that's the. If the parallel universe's theory is true, there's just an infinite number of universes. It just. It just means there's such a potential there for any. Any science fiction writer. You just. Just fill your boots, get on with it. Exactly.

[Gordon Johnston]

The thing I love about sci fi as well is it always reflects this society here and now.

[Noel Chidwick]

Oh, yes.

[Gordon Johnston]

If you watch. I suppose that's more likely in science fiction television and film. You can see like the idealism from sci fi in the 50s. Yeah. And how they thought we're gonna have colonies on Mars and the moon and everything. But then as, you know, time goes on and as the Cold war progresses, things start to get a little bit more sinister. It's like you have Star wars with this like very Third Reich style.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

You know, Empire. Exactly. And then as you like up to sort of modern day, it's very difficult to find a side icon that isn't dystopian in some way. I think that just reflects the general attitude that things are a bit grim at the moment. You know, they're actually not as.

[Narrator/Poet]

Well.

[RJ Bailey]

People say the last, you know, black and white war was World War II, don't they? Where there was definitely goodies and definitely baddies.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

And there were. There wasn't any kind of, like, much argument about should we be stopping the Nazis? Should we not be stopping them?

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, it's always a question to test. How are you really a pacifist? Would you have fought against Hitler? Yes or no?

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

And well, at that moment, pacifists are around because there's no. No one bad enemy point at and say, we must get rid of all those.

[Gordon Johnston]

That's very true.

[RJ Bailey]

But as the wars progressed, Vietnam, you know, had an effect not just on, you know, 1970s films like Taxi Driver and things like that, but also science fiction. You know, everything became a gray, muddy area.

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, Forever War by Joe Holden was. Was based on his experience of his attitude towards the Vietnam War.

[Gordon Johnston]

That's a really good book.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

And now what? I'm sorry, it's happening again. One of the most popular, the most popular science fiction of the day. Superheroes, yes, Are a reflection of, you know, after 9, 11, all of a sudden, you know, America especially needed these guys, this someone to jump out of the sky in a brightly colored costume, you know. You know, a costume.

[Noel Chidwick]

The costume's important.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah, yeah.

[Noel Chidwick]

You can't save the world without wearing a costume.

[RJ Bailey]

This identifiable image, like, coming like this very defined character coming out of the sky, knocking someone senseless, tying them up, but having the restraint to give them over to the police and then disappearing again, you know, again, that's like a reflection of the time about us needing a hero, needing intervention by these mythic guys.

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, it's infantilizing people, isn't it? We say we must have a superhero to look after us. It really is. I'm sorry, we don't really have that in this world currently. We've got to do it ourselves.

[Gordon Johnston]

I know, that's really interesting point. I think Marvel in particular is quite guilty of this. I enjoy the Marvel films.

[Noel Chidwick]

I enjoy them too. Good grief. They're good fun.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah, they're just like.

[RJ Bailey]

Really?

[Gordon Johnston]

It is. You're right. It's kind of quite tantalizing the idea that. I mean, a lot of it is basic propaganda for the military. You know, it's saying we have to have Massive military budgets because, you know, aliens might come from another dimension. You need your Captain America's, you need your Thors, you need your Iron Men and stuff.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

And the way it's filmed is very, very evocative of things like 9 11, like the first Avengers film when half New York's in rubble.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

There's dust everywhere.

[Narrator/Poet]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

And it's all done in slow motion with dramatic music. Is exactly how they memorialize 9 11. And so it's deliberately evocative and it's to show that in the Marvel universe, you have the Avengers, but in the real world you have the U.S. military, you know, and they are the people who you should be depending on to avenge things. I think it's maybe.

[RJ Bailey]

I don't agree here whatsoever. How is it infantilizing it at all? I mean, people know the difference between. Between a man in a nice cool pointy hat and a scalloped cape coming out of the sky. I mean, I don't think it's because

[Noel Chidwick]

I think it's simplifying the situation. I mean, it's good versus bad. Here's the goodies. You're the goodies, we're the goodies. They're the baddies. Must kill these baddies and it doesn't work out in this world.

[RJ Bailey]

Well, I don't think it's. I don't think it's. Say it's saying this is what real life is. What it's doing is providing you a, you know, no more. No more a black and white conflict than Star wars or something like that. You know, I don't think. I don't look at it and go, oh yeah, I should support the military or something. In fact, you know, I personally think Batman is the greatest fictional character ever created. And him is a very anti authoritarian guy who works outside of the law. And there's. And then, you know, there's certain elements of the law that works with him in clandestine ways. And in a way it's kind of. He subverts the law. He does what like the. The government, the powers that be cannot do because they're ineffective and in many ways corrupted in cahoots with the gangsters themselves.

[Noel Chidwick]

Oh, no. I think you've picked the one character that probably is. Isn't infantilizing things. Batman is the. Is the probably the best character, but the opposite that is Superman, who's definitely is so super, the he can save the world by just spinning it backwards so we as a race or as individuals, as people don't have to join them at all. We just make whatever mess we like. Superman will come and repair it all for us. That's the infantilizing aspect of it.

[RJ Bailey]

What's your favorite science fiction story ever?

[Noel Chidwick]

Crikey.

[RJ Bailey]

On any medium.

[Noel Chidwick]

I'll tell you what it is. And it's a story that I go back to quite regularly. It's Keith Roberts Pavan.

[RJ Bailey]

Right.

[Noel Chidwick]

It's a short story. It's an alternate world and it's really set in a sort. It's the first. The book's called Pravana as well. There's a whole series of short stories. That's the first one. It's well worth getting.

[RJ Bailey]

And how are people spelling that if they want to Amazon or P A

[Noel Chidwick]

V A, N E. Cool.

[RJ Bailey]

And I'm writing.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah. And it's a wonderful wee story. It's set in alternate Britain with the Catholic Church is still holding sway and therefore technology is held back a wee bit. And everyone. It's sort of 19th century. It's pre steampunk almost, or pseudo steampunk because the main character's driving a traction engine through the Dorset countryside, just delivering goods from London. And it's a very simple tale, but the atmosphere evokes is wonderful. You're just there and you get from one short story, it's about 10,000 words, I'm guessing, evokes a whole universe. And that one 10,000 piece, that's a glorious short story.

[Gordon Johnston]

I'm a huge fan of any sort of alternate reality, alternate history sort of thing outside of it. So same question to you then. What do you think?

[RJ Bailey]

Oh, well, I'm a film guy. I think it would have to be. Can I say Terminator 1 and 2?

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, absolutely.

[RJ Bailey]

Because, yeah, I just think that's just the coolest concept ever, you know, and as much as I enjoy, you know, the concepts and the ideas and the what if, I also think sci fi gives us the ability to just create the coolest things ever. Things that you just go, that is the bomb. You know what I mean? And like, there's enough cooler than a killer cyborg coming back in time. And then, can you imagine? I mean, I'm so upset. I was born in the era. I was born, you know, can you imagine before the Internet, before spoilers, before anything. You know, you watch the trailers for Terminator 2 and they didn't give anything away. They just said, oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger's come back with a shotgun. Can you imagine being in the cinema? And then Arnold Schwarzenegger starts protecting the child. You never, you know, the ultimate killer.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

Defends this little boy and you're like, my God, he's the good guy.

[Narrator/Poet]

What?

[RJ Bailey]

That's a, that's a twist on par with Luke. I am your father. You know, I think that's amazing, right? Absolutely amazing. Double one, two as well. James Cameron, he knows what he's doing.

[Noel Chidwick]

Absolutely.

[RJ Bailey]

He knows what he's doing. And there was that battle between old technology and new technology. Like almost like Arnold is an analog robot in a way. There are joints and bits versus like new technology, how unstoppable that is. And you know, it's almost like it represents the erosion, you know, what, what was amazing in 1984, in 1991 is old hat technology, you know. Quite quaint.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

I just, I love it.

[Noel Chidwick]

I mean also the question of who came, who came, who comes first? The science or the scientist or the science fiction? Because in that way what people who nanoretical running NASA currently, they were all watching Star Trek in the city.

[Russell Jones]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

And it's amazing that that will have an effect on how people think about science and how it's. For a long time, maybe actually for a long time, science fiction is quite utopian. And you know, like the original Star Trek was really quite, you know.

[Noel Chidwick]

That's right. It's era of the 60s and the things are much more love and peace.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

And the next gen even they had a third an emotional counselor on the bridge.

[Gordon Johnston]

Back then NASA was, you know, receiving a lot of funding. But then as things got bleaker and bleaker, you know, suddenly NASA had its budget cut to almost nothing. Although recently it just got a huge, huge amount of money to do just basically cool stuff.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

So maybe that's a reflection of people think people are starting to value space exploration again.

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, actually I'm thinking seriously about going to Mars for the first time in a generation.

[Gordon Johnston]

The thing is, it's always when governments take a step back and private interest steps in. That's when usually whenever there's a new scientific development like telecommunications, it gets to a certain point where governments research it, fund it and create it. And then for one reason or another, they usually have to stop because there's social issues to get along with this. When private interests get involved, that's when suddenly there's huge leaps forward. Like when Tesla got involved with cars and the automobile industry, you know, it kind of. It reached a point where not much was happening. You know, we have cars that get faster and faster, bigger and bigger. You put TVs in and stuff. But you needed like some like mental billionaire to come in and just start doing amazing kind of utopian, idealistic things

[RJ Bailey]

just because it's kind of dark, isn't it?

[Gordon Johnston]

Yes, it really is. And it would be the same as space exploration.

[RJ Bailey]

Do you think it's important we spend this money going into space?

[Noel Chidwick]

Oh, I think so, yeah. I think it's very important that humankind gets out there and explores the universe. It's not that much money, really, on the scale of things.

[Gordon Johnston]

No.

[Noel Chidwick]

If we sort of stop buying Trident and other things like that, it's actually

[Gordon Johnston]

the money that we spend on nuclear weapons to make sure that, you know, nobody can call and tell us the winner at the end of a war. We could have a colony on the moon, or we could have a space elevator shipping things into orbit. Because as soon as we can do that and build things in space, that's when space travel becomes not only affordable, it becomes the cheapest option. You can build things in space and bring it back down and cost less, which is incredible.

[RJ Bailey]

The teacher told me in school that if the Egyptians had not been conquered, the rate that they were advancing in technology, we'd have been on the moon by the time we, in this reality had developed steam trains.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yes.

[RJ Bailey]

Like, they were that far advanced before they were, you know, wiped out.

[Narrator/Poet]

Through the steam ahead and the noise of old machines, a strange hand beckons.

[Noel Chidwick]

I mean, steampunk is lovely, isn't? It's a gorgeous concept of the Victorian era, where we still. We're doing wonderful things with the steam and brass and leather flying around the world and the planet's just using power of steel. I love those concepts. If anyone wants to write a steampunk story for the magazine, do send it in.

[RJ Bailey]

Where can people submit?

[Noel Chidwick]

Well, you come to our website. There's a submissions page on our website, which is www.shorelineofinfinity.com, and there's a submissions page there. And we're open just now for submissions. We only open for certain windows because we recorded a magazine and we every so often we get a huge pile of stories we have to go back and read through. So there's. We're open for submissions just now, so we'd love to see your stories. I've got a soft spot for steampunk.

[RJ Bailey]

Just saying, even some diesel funk in there, which is a genre I recently.

[Noel Chidwick]

Oh, is that right?

[RJ Bailey]

No idea about. How does that differentiate from 1940s to 50s? Kind of, you know, you think it's smellier? Big chrome trains from the 50s love that kind of aesthetic. Do you know that film got panned? It didn't deserve to sky captain in the world of tomorrow.

[Noel Chidwick]

Oh, it's a lovely film, isn't it?

[Gordon Johnston]

That's been universally.

[Noel Chidwick]

I was the only one who saw that.

[Gordon Johnston]

No, I absolutely loved it.

[Russell Jones]

I thought.

[Gordon Johnston]

I mean, it was all very wooden. The acting was meant to be.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yes, I thought that was very stylistic. It was lovely.

[Gordon Johnston]

Stunning film to watch.

[RJ Bailey]

The ships had flapping wings.

[Noel Chidwick]

Yeah, exactly.

[Gordon Johnston]

I thought that was so good, but I.

[RJ Bailey]

That's Diesel punk.

[Noel Chidwick]

I Absolutely.

[Gordon Johnston]

It's. I know exactly what you mean. Like big chrome trains.

[Narrator/Poet]

Yeah.

[Gordon Johnston]

Those utopian sort of gardens.

[Noel Chidwick]

Low angles as well. A bit Russian sort of style. Stylized artwork. Inspired. Yeah, absolutely love that. That's a very underrated film, that, isn't it?

[Gordon Johnston]

It really is. I honestly don't know why. It's just been so. Just too different.

[RJ Bailey]

Too different.

[Gordon Johnston]

It was, I think. Yeah, yeah.

[RJ Bailey]

Maybe they went in a throwback, punching each other.

[Gordon Johnston]

That's probably it.

[RJ Bailey]

And just so listeners know, if you find, you know, I mean, there is the option to buy digitally on the. On the website of Shoreline of Infinity, but the physical copies are really nice piece of, you know, publishing. Lovely.

[Noel Chidwick]

Listen to this.

[Gordon Johnston]

How can anybody not buy that?

[Noel Chidwick]

And the smell. Can't be the smell of a freshly printed.

[RJ Bailey]

Let me tell you, they look like a big company comic book quality.

[Russell Jones]

If you.

[RJ Bailey]

If you went into Waterstones, you could forgive you. You know, you'd be forgiven thinking that was a comic book published by Wildstorm or something like that. They look, you know, they are a nice quality product. So £4, it's only four times a year. It's just about. Only over 20 quid. How much do you spend on a pint of beer? You know what I mean? Two pints of beer in Edinburgh as a fiver. Don't have two pints of beer. Don't have a hangover. Have a nice book instead.

[Noel Chidwick]

And we're also. What I would like to do is say a big, very big thank you to all the people who've helped us with the magazine. That's a very important thing. Absolutely. This couldn't happen without a lot of help from all sorts of people. Mark and I started the idea off, but everyone talked about it. Really excited and very supportive. Mike Colder of Transreal was very good in the early days. I went down to his shop a few times and bothered him about science fiction, giving me some ideas. So he's very helpful. Alan McGilvery we spoke to a few times. Duncan Lunan's been a great help, but very supportive. Ken MacLeod has been great. He's been very helpful in a few ideas and things, but we really want to say it wouldn't have really happened as we've got to where we are now. People like Russell have joined us, Russell Jones, who's come along and just fitted in so well with the team, and Ian Maloney. We're very excited about having Ian Maloney is a great writer. He's now our reviews editor and his work will be in issue three. I recommend his stories. He's a sort of horror, kind of

[RJ Bailey]

thorough horror, kind of my cup of tea.

[Noel Chidwick]

So there you go, Ian Maloney. So we're very grateful for his support. It's really helpful. Thank you very much for inviting me onto your little podcast and I'm looking forward to hearing it.

[Gordon Johnston]

Well, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks very much for joining us.

[Noel Chidwick]

Thank you. Thank you.

[RJ Bailey]

Well, thank you very much for listening to the second episode of the Grind podcast with our special guest, Noel Chidwick. Thanks very much for getting all this together and organizing it. Mr. Gordon Johnson as well.

[Gordon Johnston]

It's been a pleasure. And we'll be back next month with yet another podcast.

[RJ Bailey]

What's going on in your life? What can we check out in the meantime?

[Gordon Johnston]

Oh well, the Grind is doing a ton of stuff at the moment. Lots of very exciting and top secret plans. You can check us out on Twitter hegrindjournal. You can check us out on Facebook, the Barren Wasteland that is also at the GrindJournal. And do keep an eye on us because we are going to announce a whole year's worth of plans in the next couple of weeks and it's going to be very, very exciting.

[RJ Bailey]

Very exciting indeed. If you want to hear more of my waffling, you can do every Sunday. It's now a three hour R.J. bailey rock show. That's from 7pm till 10pm at night time. Forgot that extra hour there immediately after I said it. I'm also now going to be hosting a live evening of metal music. If you are in the Edinburgh area every month at the Banshee Labyrinth. It'll be the Unsigned Sessions Monthly Metal every Monday. Keep an eye on Facebook on the 98.8 Castle FM page. That's also where you can find out where and when my show is on and how you can access it on FM or online. Also, you can give me a follow on Twitter J Bailey RJ B A Y L E Y thank you very much.

[Gordon Johnston]

Thanks very much.

[RJ Bailey]

Good.

[Gordon Johnston]

Yep. Excellent.

[RJ Bailey]

Cool. I've been talking so much that my mouth is now as dry as a post apocalyptic waste time. Thank you for downloading and listening to the Grind Podcast. Your cooperation in this matter is valued. If you would like to advertise on or sponsor the Grind Podcast, please send an email to thegrindjournalmail.com it would be very much appreciated if you would leave a review for us on itunes, Stitcher or whatever other Omnigood approved podcatcher you use. By doing so you can help spread the word of the Grind and so bring order and unity to this reality. All is good Omni Good.

[Russell Jones]

I was only 13. On my first flight from Earth to Mars what a sight to behold the sunshine. With acres of silver sail to capture the light. Born on the solar wind in the Earth to moon race Sunshine. Sailing on the wind from the sun. Silver sails floating in the sun. In a glimmering gown Diana swirled through

[Noel Chidwick]

the crown

[Russell Jones]

and gossamer too turned while all about. But Santa Maria couldn't tackle the breeze her golden winds crumbled and slowly she sank sun jabber sailing on the wind from the sun sun jabber Silver sails floating in the sun. Far in the lead

[Noel Chidwick]

were Diana and

[Russell Jones]

Go Somehow when the message came through from the Mercury base, a violent solar storm was blowing their way. The race was halted Ships abandoned with haste Sunshine. Sailing all the wind for all the sun. Floating in the sun. The two ships are sailing now far beyond Mars the races present over as they reach for the star. Sailing on the wind from the sun. Silver sails floating in the sun Sunshine. Sailing on the wind from the sun. Silver sails floating in the sun Sam.