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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...
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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!
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Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
12 SEP 2026 · Gary's book choice:https://www.hive.co.uk/product/peter-dickinson/the-changes-trilogy--the-devils-children-heartsease-and-the-weathermonger/17459728 Ali's book choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/padraig-kenny/tin/21921464https://www.instagram.com/p/DdJ1D2XtRyK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjVqHVo0nq0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Homehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Roboticshttps://britishfantasysociety.org/tag/sff-tv/https://gjcouzens.weebly.com/https://www.facebook.com/gary.couzens.9 Buy Me a Coffee
19 AUG 2026 · Ali’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/michael-de-larrabeiti/the-borribles/15805985 Taj’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/elen-caldecott/the-blackthorn-branch/26980877https://raggededgeproductions.co.uk/sample-page/audio-work/ebbs-and-flowshttps://research.lancaster-university.uk/en/publications/zog-episode-the-great-gnome-games/https://vector-bsfa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vector294-small.pdfhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sus_law Media mentioned in this episode https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7xwwr2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wnAjYDVObshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6fJmjt84zZiTh5wcoWV7RkUyzmU5swBLhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vynTmqiizoghttps://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/ to follow the route from Angel to Farringdon that Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger walked to Fagin’s den. https://www.hive.co.uk/search/keyword?keyword=Three%20Men%20in%20a%20Boat&productType=0t and https://www.hive.co.uk/search/keyword?keyword=The%20Wind%20in%20the%20Willows&productType=0s are two classics of leisurely life on the river. Former guest Sandra Bond’s https://www.sandra-bond.com/three-men-in-orbitrelocates Jerome K. Jerome’s characters in space! https://www.hive.co.uk/product/joseph-conrad/the-heart-of-darkness/14254267 by Joseph Conrad https://www.hive.co.uk/product/richard-adams/watership-down/15844517 by Richard Adams https://www.hive.co.uk/product/jenny-nimmo/the-snow-spider-trilogy/22441456 by Jenny Nimmo https://www.hive.co.uk/product/alan-garner/elidor/26676 by Alan Garner https://www.hive.co.uk/product/roshani-chokshi/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/21772421I thoroughly recommendhttps://www.hive.co.uk/product/sarwat-chadda/the-ash-mistry-and-the-savage-fortress/11382058as another brilliant use of Indian traditional stories for children’s fantasy. The https://www.hive.co.uk/product/r-k-narayan/mahabharata/11397864 and https://www.hive.co.uk/product/daljit-nagra/ramayana/16135720 are key texts that are the basis of spiritual practices that originated in India https://www.hive.co.uk/product/michael-symmons-roberts/edgelands/148327 by Paul Farley and Michael Symonds Roberts https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/arts/people/tajinder-hayer My Buy me a coffee link http://buymeacoffee.com/alibaker68eÂ
26 JUL 2026 · Annie’s choice:https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/198719.The_Girl_with_the_Silver_Eyes Ali’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/frances-hardinge/the-lie-tree--the-10th-anniversary-edition-of-the-costa-award-winning-gothic-fantasy/31669304https://web.archive.org/web/20070927025901/http://cbcbooks.org/cbcmagazine/meet/wdroberts.html Annie has just got back from https://2026.finncon.org/ where her husband, multiple award-winning author https://adriantchaikovsky.com/y was a guest of honour. https://rosebud.fi/2024/ If you’re ever in Helsinki you should definitely visit. Annie talks about https://xan-van-roojen-site.webflow.io/, a South African writer who lives in Finland, and their use of music while writing. My vote for a new National Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAzS4enbvjI&list=RDcAzS4enbvjI&start_radio=1 I listen to a lot of Philip Glass music when writing. It calms my brain. This is the beginning of his opera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji6LTT6tLpQ&list=PLgZD-wYM2ETQtXCBMtFMGM32DY22jLohM, which I was lucky enough to see staged in Leeds in the mid-90s. The Girl with the Silver Eyes reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nswae1s320k, a Disney live-action film. https://www.hive.co.uk/product/armistead-maupin/tales-of-the-city/29592576 Shockingly I misremembered the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice. I will retire my English Literature degree. In my defence, I'm a Victorianist. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. My earworm this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoHg8Ve9-ow&list=RDUoHg8Ve9-ow&start_radio=1 from Little Shop of Horrors https://www.alnwickgarden.com/the-garden/poison-garden/https://maelstromlarp.org/https://www.hive.co.uk/product/e-j-swift/the-coral-bones--the-breathtaking-novel-shortlisted-for-every-major-science-fiction-award-in-the-uk/29454158 has been on my TBR list for an embarrassingly long time. You can find out more about Annie and her research https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/music/staff/3067/dr-anne-marie-czajkowskiand hear some of her music on Adrian Tchaikovsky and Emma Newman’s https://starshipalexandria.com/ podcast, where Adrian and Emma take it in turns to select a favourite piece of speculative fiction and discuss it. Fantasy Book Swap has recently been shortlisted for a https://britishfantasysociety.org/the-british-fantasy-awards-2026-shortlists/! Thanks so much to anyone who nominated.Â
5 JUL 2026 · Elen’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/alison-uttley/a-traveller-in-time/17048303 Ali’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/phil-hickes/the-haunting-of-aveline-jones/24902164 Elen’s recently-published text book: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/elen-caldecott/writing-for-young-people--critical-readings-and-discussions-on-craft/32252596 Alishttps://www.hive.co.uk/product/denis-judd/the-private-diaries-of-alison-uttley--author-of-little-grey-rabbit-and-sam-pig/24050505https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babington_Plot Books mentioned in this episode: https://www.hive.co.uk/product/penelope-farmer/charlotte-sometimes/14493378 https://www.hive.co.uk/search/keyword?keyword=Tom%27s%20Midnight%20Garden%2065th%20Anniversary%20Edition&productType=0https://www.hive.co.uk/product/mary-norton/the-borrowers/15845404, https://www.hive.co.uk/product/sf-said/tyger/28466126. The book by Joan Aiken that I couldn’t remember is https://www.hive.co.uk/product/joan-aiken/in-thunders-pocket/142219. We didn’t talk about the awful adaptation from 1978. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxTMYYPglHo Elen’s book The Short Knife won the Tir na n’Og award in 2021. Hear her reading the chapter and talking to Nikki Gamble https://elencaldecott.com/extras/ Elen teaches at https://research.lancaster-university.uk/en/persons/elen-caldecott/ and https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/elen-caldecott/ universities. She is one of the managing editors of https://ojs.library.lancs.ac.uk/lj/index on writing for children. You can follow her on https://bsky.app/profile/elencaldecott.bsky.social and https://www.instagram.com/elen_caldecott/. Fantasy Book Swap has recently been shortlisted for a https://britishfantasysociety.org/the-british-fantasy-awards-2026-shortlists/!  Thanks so much to anyone who nominated.  Â
6 JUN 2026 · Hello friends! Fantasy Book Swap has been nominated for a https://britishfantasysociety.org/the-british-fantasy-awards-2026-shortlists/ for Best Audio- Non-Fiction. The others in the shortlist are: https://www.breakingtheglassslipper.com/, a previous winner and Hugos nominee https://www.thefolklorepodcast.com/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0010x7c It is an honour to be on the shortlist with such amazing creators, some of whom I hope to meet at the awards at https://britishfantasysociety.org/events-2/fantasycon/fantasycon-2026/ in October!
17 MAY 2026 · Chris’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Brian-Jacques/Mossflower/7246157 Ali’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Pil-Van-Martin/The-Spick-and-the-Span/31031037, https://carnegies.co.uk/writing-longlist-2026/https://carnegies.co.uk/writing-longlist-2026/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaways_of_the_Flying_Dutchmanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf_YcoPYtC0https://warriorcats.com/books. I met https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherith_Baldry, one of the Erin Hunter writers, at Glasgow WorldCon. https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Anthony-Horowitz/Stormbreaker--The-explosive-first-book-in-the-bestselling-spy-series-thats-sold-over-21-million-copies-for-fans-of-actio/17229290; https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Charlie-Higson/Young-Bond-SilverFin--20th-Anniversary-Edition/31389639https://alisonrbaker.wordpress.com/2026/04/25/the-redwall-cookbook-by-brian-jacques-illus-christopher-denise/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356999437_The_Other_Side_of_Redwall_Medieval_Othering_and_Binary_Oppositions_in_The_Outcast_of_Redwallhttps://theconversation.com/was-tolkien-really-racist-108227https://redwall.fandom.com/wiki/Cluny_the_Scourge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1rKYmVig5A&list=PLUIixndCOJ8xChAPuEiCnYuG08IS6ICg7https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Robin-McKinley/Spindles-End/11546962https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damage_Control_(comics) a TV show was in development but never made. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4839262/https://patrickness.com/book/the-rest-of-us-just-live-here/ is the story of the other students of the high school infested by zombies and vampires, not the chosen ones; the ones who just want to graduate before school blows up again. https://www.bona-books.com/ Follow Chris on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/chrismccartney.bsky.social
3 MAY 2026 · Stewart Hotston is https://www.bsfa.co.uk/. Stewart’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Tad-Williams/The-Dragonbone-Chair--Memory-Sorrow--Thorn-Book-1/19200055 (First in the Dragonbone Chair trilogy. https://www.instagram.com/p/DX4IBP5DV0e/https://www.tadwilliams.com/books/ Ali’s choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Julie-Kagawa/Shadow-Of-The-Fox/21837210. https://www.instagram.com/p/DXw06DPjXvm/ https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/M-R-Carey/The-Girl-With-All-The-Gifts--The-most-original-thriller-you-will-read-this-year/15748496. A novel about a child, but not a children’s book. Aliette de Bodard’s essay https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/aliette-de-bodard-on-motherhood-and-erasure/. Anna Smith https://www.flametreepublishing.com/a-sword-of-bronze-and-ashes-special-edition-isbn-9781787589995.html is one of the few fantasy books where a mother is the protagonist. Catherynne M. Valente’s excellent https://www.catherynnemvalente.com/the-refrigerator-monologues addresses the phenomenon of fridging women characters as a plot device and motivation for male superheroes. Stewart recommends https://www.stonetemplelibrary.com/, https://www.davewragg.com/books/ and Neal Stephenson’s https://www.nealstephenson.com/baroque-cycle/ for interesting takes on mythology and folklore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-SUoHmpRdM adapted from https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Wu-ChengEn/Journey-to-the-West/8196414. Zen Cho’s novelette https://zencho.org/books/the-order-of-the-pure-moon-reflected-in-water/. Historical C-dramas are very big on yearning glances. Stewart is currently watching https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/82788167. Stewart recently read https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Alaya-Dawn-Johnson/The-Library-of-Broken-Worlds/29075940. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/american-library-association-the-most-challenged-books-of-2025-b2961130.html. https://clpe.org.uk/research/clpe-reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-childrens-literature-3 https://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/long-way-go-1268152 EasterCon is the British SFF fan-run con that travels around the UK. https://easterconglasgow.org/ Find Stewart online! https://easterconglasgow.org/,https://bsky.app/profile/stewarthotston.com, http://www.nerds-feather.com/. https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Stewart-Hotston/Project-Hanuman/31881213
11 APR 2026 · Emily’s choice: https://www.tamora-pierce.net/books/briars-book/ Ali’s choice:  https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Darcie-Little-Badger/A-Snake-Falls-to-Earth--Newbery-Honor-Award-Winner/30616976https://eastercon.fandom.com/wiki/Eastercon_Wiki Emily was on a panel celebrating the centenary of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_McCaffreyhttps://bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/?_gl=1*17x3219*_ga*MTA0Mzc5NjA0OS4xNzc1OTIxNjU3*_ga_NB70H7NPT8*czE3NzU5MjE2NTYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzU5MjE2NTYkajYwJGwwJGgw Tamora Pierce’s books have been challenged and removed from libraries. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/bannedbooksweek/If you want to read to support authors, please bear in mind that LGBTQ+ authors and authors of colour are more likely to be under threat of having their books  removed from libraries and schools. See the list of books https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/school-book-banning-escalates-in-the-uk-as-greater-manchester-secondary-school-censors-scores-of-books/ where a librarian has lost her job and is unlikely to work with young people again. For more information on the effects of book banning on authors, listen to https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes/2024/4/18/fascism-and-book-bans-with-maggie-tokuda-hall Food in SFF- https://adoctorofmanythings.wpcomstaging.com/category/i-cook-these-things-so-you-dont-have-to/She found https://stefaniemolinasantos.com/2019/12/10/tamora-piercemas-the-first-adventure-and-cooks-cherry-tarts/https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Stephen-Graham-Jones/The-Buffalo-Hunter-Hunter/32384794 has been nominated for several awards. https://www.stephengrahamjones.com/ is also a Native American (Blackfeet) author who writes mostly in horror. I also really enjoyed Monoquill Blackgoose’s https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Moniquill-Blackgoose/To-Shape-a-Dragons-Breath--The-First-Book-of-Nampeshiweisit/28555317 Darren Chetty’s https://www.academia.edu/28762595/_You_Cant_Say_That_Stories_Have_To_Be_About_White_People_ from Nikesh Shukla (Ed) The Good Immigrant. This book was published by Unbound, which has collapsed. The amazing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronella_Breinburg who was born in Suriname, not the Caribbean. Thank you as always for listening, sharing and engaging!
22 FEB 2026 · Anna’s book choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Alan-Garner/The-Moon-of-Gomrath/15167  Ali’s book choice: https://lizziehuxleyjones.com/#Vivi. Sadly, I have just found out that Knights Of publishers have gone out of business, so Vivi’s trilogy is out of print. Hopefully you will be able to find them at online second hand book stores.  https://britishfantasysociety.org/meet-anna-smith-spark/  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3471674-breadhorse. https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Alan-Garner/Boneland/14795930, which I intend to read.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceffyl_D%C5%B5r, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Hunt, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afanc. Rhianna Pratchett’s podcast on British mythology, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tgpb, discusses water demons in episode 3.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herne_the_Hunter. Herne features in https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/John-Masefield/The-Box-of-Delights/31648586, https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Susan-Cooper/Silver-on-the-Tree--The-Dark-is-Rising-sequence/24078959 and (foreshadowing!) https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Tad-Williams/The-Dragonbone-Chair--Memory-Sorrow--Thorn-Book-1/19200055.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angharad_Golden-Hand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhiannon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epona, who has nothing to do with Sulis/ Aquae Sulis/ Bath.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_horse- a May Day tradition, originally associated with Morris dancers. The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwydis a Christmas tradition, first referenced in the early 19th Century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelert; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelert#Gelert.27s_grave. https://booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/may-we-recommend-nina-beachcroft/. Anna discusses Cold Christmas, which is thttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Christmas, Nina Beachcroft’s home county- and mine, though I grew up near Watford rather than Hertford.  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/picture/2026/feb/13/television-made-easy-for-phone-scrollers-stephen-collins-cartoon  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalet_School- there are 58 books in the original series, but it was incredibly difficult to read them in order in the 1970s and 1980s! I encountered the wonderful https://scrivenersbooks.co.uk/ when in Buxton for https://novacon.uk/. It’s a wonderful place, and that perfect shop for stumbling over that elusive third book in an out of print series!  I remembered https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13843.The_Hounds_of_the_M_rr_gan and Aliette de Bodard on https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/aliette-de-bodard-on-motherhood-and-erasure/- Aliette talks about this blog on the https://www.breakingtheglassslipper.com/2019/06/06/representations-of-motherhood-with-aliette-de-bodard/.  https://seananmcguire.com/wayward.php
11 SEP 2025 · Robert's choice: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54 Ali's choice: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/James-Tynion-IV/Wynd-Book-One-The-Flight-of-the-Prince/24960402 Robert is 1/4 of wonderful Bona Books! https://www.bona-books.com/projects/wrath-month Return to Oz (1985) trainer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7DWx9xL23Y: relive your childhood trauma! I still can't find the Arena documentary, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mCiYKjTTWU Robert's favourite Oz retelling is https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Gregory-Maguire/Wicked--the-bestselling-book-that-inspired-the-movie/30562828 Mine is https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Geoff-Ryman/Was/17385767https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoDhhLgobt4https://www.boom-studios.com/ For other episodes on "race/ ethnicity" in fantasy, https://alibaker68.podbean.com/e/ep-24-look-into-my-eyes-with-russell-smith/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMvnsRleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFoQnN1bnprQnJHM1RCNnIzAR48asiOPDxeA8LEnqWAr-QpdWADiNhItcyzITsJ96RW8Qv4fqbx6hQrQDKmfQ_aem_lQNNKAnFmAuI4_pSlHfiOw with Russell Smith; for queerness in fantasy, https://alibaker68.podbean.com/e/ep-35-a-confusion-of-susans-with-juliet-kemp/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMvn6VleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFoQnN1bnprQnJHM1RCNnIzAR48asiOPDxeA8LEnqWAr-QpdWADiNhItcyzITsJ96RW8Qv4fqbx6hQrQDKmfQ_aem_lQNNKAnFmAuI4_pSlHfiOw with Juliet Kemp. Follow Rob on https://bsky.app/profile/robwillb.bsky.social and https://www.instagram.com/robwillb/https://www.instagram.com/bonabooksltd/ https://www.instagram.com/fantasy_book_swap_podcast/ for gorgeous images from Wynd and more!
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...
show more
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!
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Information
| Author | Fantasy Book Swap |
| Organization | Fantasy Book Swap |
| Categories | Books |
| Website | - |
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