Well, that was back into harness with a bang. Today was all me all the time on Women’s Outlook.

The first hour was all about books we had read over the holiday period. Several of the team were in on the discussion, and mostly they are not SF readers, and we made room for their choices too. The second half hour, however, was mainly SF-focused. Paulette had been reading The Radleys by Matt Haig, which is a very funny book about a family of suburban vampires determined blend into normal society by restraining their natural urges. I have a few reservations about it, but the central theme of the book is how Mr. & Mrs. Radley have avoided telling their children the truth about their nature, and how this leads to tragedy. That led us into discussing Mortal Fire, by Elizabeth Knox, which also has parents manipulating children at its core, and then to Hild by Nicola Griffith which may be an example of justified parental dishonesty.

You can listen to that first hour here.

The second hour saw us discussing a forthcoming conference about Women & Alcohol. I was quite nervous about this as I had no idea what tack the studio guests would take. I had visions of getting a health fanatic who thought that all alcohol consumption was wrong, or a Daily Malice reader who wanted to force women back into the home and make them financially dependent on their husbands so that they can’t (easily) drink. Thankfully my two guests, Patsy and Sabitha, were very sensible and level-headed and I think we had a good conversation.

You can listen to the second hour of the show here.

One of the changes we have made this year is that we are going to have more music in the shows. Paulette brought in some music today, but I chose the tracks. I was delighted to be able to play Carole King, Amy Winehouse and Dusty Springfield. For February, which is LGBT History Month, I’m going to be in charge of the music choices. I want to have all LGBT artists. That should be fun. Definitely on the list are Sylvester, Labi Sifre and Tracy Chapman. Oh, and Josephine Baker. Might have some white folks too. Can’t do it without Cyndi Lauper. But suggestions for more LGBT POC musicians would be appreciated. Please remember that we are heavily regulated for language so we can’t play anything sweary.