Shows
Behind the BeefA generational Angus story with Peter CollinsIn this episode of Behind the Beef, we are joined by Peter Collins, who hails from central Victoria. Peter has connection with the Angus breed that spans his entire lifetime. Peter is principal of the Merridale Angus Stud, which alongside the seedstock operation also includes a commercial cattle enterprise and a 350-cow dairy. Peter is a current Angus Australia board member and is a member of Angus Victoria. He has had a long affiliation with the Angus Youth program, continuing to support the Roundup annual through his Merridale Aspiring Breeder Award. He was awarded the Ste...2024-02-2843 min
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 97 - Lin Yi-han and Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise with Jenna Tang‘Starting to write a suicide note would be too melodramatic. If she wrote it, it would only contain one line: This love makes me so uncomfortable.’In the ninety seventh episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are passing the gates of Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (房思琪的初戀樂園- fáng sī qí de chūliàn lèyuán), an all-too-real #MeToo novel by the late Lin Yi-han, centred around the titular girl and the cram school teacher who abused her all through her teens. Reflecting with me on the troubling nature of the text and the dark realities it hol...2023-10-131h 55The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 94 - Li Er and Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree with Dave HaysomIn the space marked ‘pregnant’, the machine had quite clearly printed the word ‘no’In the ninety fourth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are entering election season. The heroine of Li Er novel Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree (石榴树上结樱桃 - shíliú shù shàng jié yīngtáo) is defending her seat, and that will mean enforcing various policies (including a certain one child policy) while keeping the people sweet. Canvassing with me on this one is the translator, spitting dog himself Dave Haysom.-// NEWS ITEMS //LISTICLE: Paul French’s TrChFic beach r...2023-08-101h 21The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 90 - The Dream of the Red Chamber with Annie Qu‘I felt that in action and in lore, one and all were far above me; that in spite of the majesty of my manliness, I could not, in point of fact, compare with these characters of the gentle sex’Share your feedback by email: thetranslatedchinesefictionpodcast@outlookAs this show draws only ten episodes short of its ascent to heavenly hiatus, let us call down from those lofty vapours a sad and beautiful tale, a story of a stone, The Dream of the Red Chamber. Musing with me in the aristocratic compound is another host: Annie Qu...2023-05-282h 01The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 88 - Dorothy Tse and Quarantine with Natascha BruceHow would I explain to my friend that my creations belonged to a totally different woman?In episode eighty eight of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are isolated in Hong Kong, experiencing Quarantine and all of the strange dreams that come with it. Are you me? Am I you? Do I wish I were you? Do you wish you were me, talking to Natascha Bruce, the razor-sharp translator of Dorothy Tse, about time, desire, and bottomless holes – is that your magic wish?-// NEWS ITEMS //Wang Xiaobo’s Golden Age fina...2023-04-281h 34The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 87 - Li Peifu and Graft with James Trapp‘This kind of “respect” can be a slow-acting poison. When a person gets used to being “respected”, that’s when she is in danger’In the eighty seventh episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are undertaking hard Graft. Betraying little more than a glance askance, Li Peifu shows us how corporate, state, and personal interests fuse all too comfortably. Guanxi-grinding with me is humble translator and noted Sweeney-enjoyer, James Trapp.-// NEWS ITEMS //READ: Massachusetts Review publishes Chiou Charng-Ting’s Raining Zebra FinchesWATCH: Book club discussion of Jia Pingwa’s...2023-04-061h 36The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 86 - Chen Qiufan and Quantum GenocideThe U.S. fleet stationed in the Persian Gulf hadn’t had time to react. Now it, too, was in flames.In the eighty sixth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are committing Quantum Genocide. Granting our 2019 chat a sequel, Chen Qiufan & I discuss the demonic wildcard of his 10 stories in AI 2041 (an idiosyncratic blend of fictional and non-fictional speculation co-authored alongside tech god Kai-fu Lee). California burns, the 1% are slaughtered like dogs, and a new dark age commences. Boot up, log in, and accelerate.-// NEWS ITEMS //Read: Ho...2023-03-191h 39The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 84 - Han Song and Hospital with Michael Berry and Mingwei Song‘Generation after generation, people have lived in this massive sick ward we call the universe ’In the eighty fourth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are lost deep inside Hospital, the first entry in an abyssal trilogy by show favourite Han Song. Old-time wardmates Michael Berry and Mingwei Song are here too, groaning in the darkness.-// NEWS ITEMS //Tencent’s Three Body Problem series arrives… on Youtube!A podcast interview w/ Yan Ge & Jeremy Tiang on Strange Beasts of ChinaBookshop.org puts out a Lunar...2023-01-271h 53
Do You Comma Here Often? PodcastChatGPT - Angus and Astrid - Do You Comma Here OftenChatGPT - at this moment in time English teachers have nothing to fear if students use ChatGPT when trying to write creative writing assignments. As you'll soon hear.Listen as I read out the short story Angus and Astrid: Friendship in my "sexy" Scottish brogue.. Written using the new AI writing tool ChatGPT.I'd like to say that i put in just a few prompts and suggestions and this is what it generated but in truth I spent way too much time trying to get it to tweak it and finesse it yet...2023-01-2008 minThe Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 83 - Bai Cha and My Cat Hates Me with Jemma Stafford‘I am clearly an exemplary specimen of a cat, but lately I’ve been pondering something: what does a human do to be regarded as exemplary?’’In the eighty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are getting garfed on by My Cat Hates Me, the webcomic-turned print book by Bai Cha. Keeping the menagerie in line on this episode is Jemma Stafford, translator of the book and also quite a number of video games. So don your catboy ears, say ‘miaomiao~’, and brace yourself for a heady dosage of internet animal culture.-// N...2023-01-141h 32
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 82 - Wang Anyi and The Sanctimonious Cobbler with Lehyla Heward‘If you lived in one of the lanes of Puxi, the moment you stepped out your door, you would find yourself in the thick of urban life in all its boisterous variety.'In the eighty second episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are paying a visit to The Sanctimonious Cobbler (骄傲的皮匠 / Jiāo'ào de Píjiàng), a novella by Wang Anyi which can be read in By the River: Seven Contemporary Chinese Novellas. Wandering with me down the longtang to cast an eye across the little affairs and petites affaires of shopkeeper Shanghai is friend of the...2022-12-182h 20
All The Dirt Gardening, Sustainability and FoodAngus Stewart Grow More With Less WaterAngus Stewart plant breeder and author chats with Deryn about his new book he wrote with his daughter Emma "Future Proof Your Garden" Environmentally suitable ways to grow more with less.2022-12-0251 min
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 81 - Xiu Xinyu and The Stars We Raised with Yen OoiA star’s coming of age was the process of slowly getting uglier.In the eighty first episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, writer/researcher Yen Ooi and I are gazing up at The Stars We Raised (逃跑星辰 / táopǎo xīngchén), a short story by Xiu Xinyu featured in the all-women + nonbinary anthology The Way Spring Arrives. Once more, a Chinese science fiction story is taking us down to the countryside for melancholy reflections on the pains of growing up. Yen and I dig into the pains of publishing too, from gender to generation and from style...2022-11-202h 02
Foolproof BitesCameron Angus MackayCameron Angus Mackay is a reporter, journalist and producer based in Scotland. He works for BBC Radio Scotland and The Big Light Podcast Network, creating live and pre-recorded audio content. Last year, Cameron reported from COP26 - the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow - on a podcast called COP26 Daily. The show won the silver award for Best Daily Podcast at the 2022 British Podcast Awards in July. Links to Cameron's audio work, including the BBC Radio Scotland piece he described in his reflection, are available on his website. Go to, cameronangusmackay.com for more.W...2022-10-2805 min
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 80 - Chiou Charng-Ting and Raining Zebra Finches with May Huang‘In the same spot where Father died, the dead body of a deer lay prostrate in the rain.’In the eightieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, it’s Raining Zebra Finches (斑胸草雀 / bān xiōng cǎo què). Blame for this troubling meteorological occurrence falls upon Taiwanese author Chiou Charng-Ting; it’s her story. Under the weather with me is her translator, May Huang. In our discussion we’ll be testing the limits of our earthly knowledge and dreaming of other philosophies. When nature stops hiding and springs the inexplicable upon us, where else is there to turn?...2022-10-241h 16
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 79 - Mu Ming and Express to Beijing West Railway Station‘History is nothing more than a complex construction of records and observations’In the seventy ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction podcast, we’re riding the Express to Beijing West Railway Station (开往西站的特别列车 / kāiwǎng xī zhàn de tèbié lièchē), and I’ll be buying my ticket from none other than the author herself, Mu Ming. En route we’ll be passing by the scenic works of William Blake and Christopher Nolan, and pondering whether Shakespeare and Lu Xun would make good Netflix writers (see Patreon feed). Long-time TrChFic listeners will also already know all-too-well: you’re going to h...2022-10-082h 10
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 78 - Gu Hongming and Bonnie Prince Tuan with Lee Moore‘Then each Boxer lad who loves fighting and fun, let him follow the bonnets of bonnie Prince Tuan’In the seventy eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are riding to war behind Bonnie Prince Tuan, a poem by a Chinese Scotiaphile that draws a parallel between two sets of rebels: the Jacobites of the Scottish highlands and the Boxers of northern China. Here to lend some Boxer brawn to my Jacobean jesting is Lee Moore of the Chinese Literature Podcast – a show that has already devoted an episode to this madness.-...2022-09-251h 42
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 77 - Yan Lianke and Lenin’s Kisses with Piotr Machajek“You can give me your empty words if you like; I’ve come to fill out the forms permitting us to withdraw from society.”In the seventy seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are turning our cheek to Lenin's Kisses (受活 / shòu huó) by Yan Lianke. Yes, I’m finally dealing with him – and not alone. Piotr Machajek is here to show me how to Liven, as we look into the pros and cons of entering and retreating from a society that just cannot leave things be.-// NEWS ITEMS //Wang Xiaobo’s...2022-08-212h 03
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 76 - Huang Fan and Zero with The Hugonauts“Unmasking a universally accepted lie or overturning an irreplaceable idol will produce something akin to a mental collapse.”In the seventy sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are hitting Zero (零 / líng). Joining me on deck are The Hugonauts, as we navigate a dystopian world that might be a postmodern riff on 1984 by amorphous author Huang Fan, or might be something far more sinister. All seasoned rebels know: sometimes you crash the system, and sometimes the system crashes you.-// NEWS ITEMS //READ: Cao Kou’s The Wall Builder, translate...2022-08-061h 35
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 75 - A Yi and The Curse with Jeffrey Kinkley“Are you going to let your son die for nothing?”In the seventy fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are surviving The Curse (杨村的一则诅咒 / yáng cūn de yī zé zǔzhòu). My partner for this investigation is literary Sinologist Jeffrey Kinkley. What exactly are we dealing with here? A tale of a backfiring curse, or a backfiring society? For realist writing to penetrate our often nightmarish world and scratch The Real, does it have to get weird first? Detective K and I are on the case. Don’t expect comforting answers.-// NEWS ITEMS...2022-07-232h 11
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 74 - Zou Tao and The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain with Timothy GouldthorpThere is a saying that accurately describes Young Master Zhou’s state of mind: “Willing to die beneath the flower and linger as an amorous ghost”In the seventy fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are dallying with The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain (狐狸緣全傳 / húlí yuán quánchuán). Arriving just in time to save us from the spirit’s wiles is translator Timothy Gouldthorp. Straighten your tails, grab a Taoist 不可以色色 bonk stick, and line up for battle as the creatures of the forest (rabbits included) take on the gods!-// NEWS ITEMS //See A...2022-07-021h 29
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 73 - A Que and Farewell, Doraemon with Eero Suoranta‘This cartoon will never end’In the seventy third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, Eero Suoranta and I are saying Farewell, Doraemon (再见，哆啦A梦 / zàijiàn, duōlaAmèng). This is the second time a story by A Que has appeared on the show, and I feel that I now know the writer’s soul: tender in spirit, thoughtful in action, of limpid and eerie atmosphere, and shy about everything except postmodern intertextual showmanship. Pass with us through a loop in time hidden in a lonely river, to drown in nostalgia (from the Greek nostos ‘return home’ + algos ‘pa...2022-06-072h 43
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 72 - Han Song and My Country Does Not Dream with the London Chinese Science Fiction Group‘Because of sleepwalking, over one billion Chinese people have awakened’In the seventy second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast I’m facing down a bleak reality: My Country Does Not Dream (我的祖国不要做梦 / wǒde zǔguó bù zuò mèng). But I’m not doing it alone! The London Chinese Science Fiction Group have deployed a team of Han Song aficionados (and one critic) to console my exhausted brain as the daytime hours fall away, revealing a sombre somnambulant city behind the city: Beijing.-// NEWS ITEMS //Article in Sixth Tone: Infinite Scroll: The Mak...2022-05-051h 57
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 71 - Feng Jicai and A Looking-Glass World with Daniel Li'All the magic lay within their own bodies'In the seventy first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are stepping into A Looking Glass World (单筒望远镜 / Dāntǒng Wàngyuǎnjìng). This is our second encounter with Tianjin’s bard Feng Jicai, and our first (sort of!) with his publisher-in-translation, Daniel Li of Sinoist Books.-// NEWS ITEMS //Generations of Voices in Chinese Literature: a panel hosted by The World of ChineseNew Sino-SF just dropped: New Voices in Chinese Science FictionShenyang in translation: Roug...2022-04-242h 08
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 70 - The Adventures of Ma Suzhen with Paul Bevan‘There is never anything so difficult that it cannot be resolved’In the seventieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are taking part in The Adventures of Ma Suzhen (马素贞复仇记 / Mǎ Sùzhēn Fùchóu Jì). From the backwaters of Shandong to the criminal dens of Shanghai, stout man of Oxford Paul Bevan leads me on a quest for vengeance that is little known in the west, yet part of an entire extended universe of Sinophone multimedia culture.-// NEWS ITEMS //PODCAST: Sabina Knight on Daoism, Confucianism & Anti- War PoetryINTER...2022-03-261h 32
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 69 - Xue Mo and The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes with Sarah Lam and Nicola ClaytonYou couldn’t get to grips with fate, but the enemy you could see and touch was your own bodyIn the sixty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are riding with The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes, one of the stories contained within the Selected Stories of Xue Mo (雪漠小说精选 / Xuěmò Xiǎoshuō Jīngxuǎn). Two women are joining me on this trek: audiobook producer Nicola Clayton and voice actor Sarah Lam. In this tale we get material, we get Buddhist, we get into self-help, and we get really close to death...-...2022-03-091h 39
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 68 - Amang and Raised by Wolves with Steve BradburyIn-your-face. I want more in-your-face, if you please.In the sixty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are being Raised by Wolves (狼養的 / Láng Yǎng De), just like Amang and her translator Steve Bradbury. Revel in trash. Bound down a mountain. Take a ride on a nuclear sub. Argue furiously in favour of your preferred adverb. Do all these things, and you will channel the spirit of the wolf.-// NEWS ITEMS //READ: Tiffany Troy talks to author Sheng Keyi about Death FugueLISTEN: Sinica’s Kaiser K...2022-02-211h 29
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 67 - Lo Yi-Chin and Faraway with Jenna TangMaybe I would only begin to understand these things when I became fatherless too, having no-one to lean on, the bitter solitude of not knowing what you ought to say before the worldIn the sixty seventh of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are going Faraway (遠方 / Yuǎnfāng) with Lo Yi-Chin. Lighting lamps with me as time, memory, and family dissolve into an indistinct fog is the writer, translator, and mega-linguist Jenna Tang.-// NEWS ITEMS //Paul French is back on British radio with A Chinese Odyssey: Artists, Poets and Ex...2022-02-122h 09
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 66 - Ba Jin and Hong Kong Nights with Luo TianqiThe rocking of the boat created the illusion that all the lights were movingIn the sixty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are adrift in Hong Kong Nights (香港之夜 / Xiāng Gǎng Zhīyè), as fleetingly recollected by Sichuan’s long-surviving left-anarchist writer, Ba Jin. Joining me in the constellations is fellow Sino-lit podcaster Luo Tianqi – here to talk about revolution, regret, and responsibility. Grab a seat on deck, comrade, brush up on your Bakunin, and let go of your transient identity as sights become sounds, and sounds become sights.-// NEWS ITE...2022-01-242h 11
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 65 - Ge Fei and The Invisibility Cloak with Giray Fidan and Rauno SainioThe best attributes of anyone or anything usually reside on the surface, which is where, in fact, all of us live out our livesIn the sixty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are swathing ourselves in The Invisibility Cloak (隐身衣 / Yǐnshēn Yī). Languishing with me in the peace and pain of relative obscurity are Giray Fidan and Rauno Sainio, two translators of the book’s author: Ge Fei, an imperceptible fabulist and three-time subject of this very show. I still haven’t figured him out, and I’m sure he’d be glad of it.2022-01-051h 33
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 64 - Chen Qiufan and Coming of the Light with Francesco Verso‘Suppose the universe is a program. Everything that we can observe is the result of the machine-executable code. But the cosmic microwave background can be understood as the record of some earlier version of the source code.’In the sixty forth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we bear witness to the Coming of the Light (开光 / Kāiguāng), penned by the shaman-consulting Google graduate himself; it’s Stan, it’s the man, it’s Chen Qiufan. And hark – what’s this? Waves and photons in the shape of noted publisher Francesco Verso surge from the underscreen to punct...2021-12-141h 28
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 63 - Murong Xuecun and Dancing Through Red Dust with Harvey TomlinsonIn my innocent youth, I was a paragon of virtue, but after wandering for so long in the red dust of this world I had joined the forces of evilIn the sixty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are Dancing Through Red Dust (原谅我红尘颠倒 / Yuánliàng Wǒ Hóngchén Diāndǎo), a nightmarish lurch through the PRC (il)legal system dreamed up by the Shandong webnovelist-turned-dissident Murong Xuecun. Presiding over the court with me is Murong’s esteemed translator, editor, publisher, and friend: Harvey Tomlinson. What have judges to do with the Jinpingmei? What has lo...2021-11-232h 11
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 62 - Liu Cixin and The Wandering Earth with Jairo MoralesBefore us stood the long abandoned skyscrapers of Manhattan, the Sun's weak light casting their long shadows across the quiet ice of the New York Harbor. In my tipsy haze, tears began to gush down my cheeks.In the sixty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are setting sail on The Wandering Earth (流浪地球 / Liúlàng Dìqiú), drawn up and captained by Liu Cixin himself. Calling into the show from the Peruvian Engine Bunker is Jairo Morales. We get deep into postnationalism, censorship, cultural transmission, and the sublime spectacle of the utter annihilation of our plane...2021-11-012h 33
Take a SeatJenn Stewart, Johnston CarmichaelJenn Stewart from Johnston Carmichael is in the hot seat this week as we delve into what's involved in her role, what she loves about our local area and advice that can be passed on from things learnt in the world of work during the current situation and before. Johnston Carmichael's Dundee accountants and advisers offer a range of services tailored to your business and personal financial needs including; tax planning, audit, restructuring, bookkeeping, employment tax and pension & succession planning to name but a few.
To learn more, visit https://johnstoncarmichael.com2021-10-3109 min
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky HarmanI loathe reason. Reason is the sort of rubbish you can indulge in when life is sweet, like love and honour. I totally reject it.In the sixty first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are opening The Book of Sins (冒犯书 / Màofàn Shū), by edgelord-with-a-conscience Chen Xiwo. Playing common-sense counterpoint to my doom-laden interpretations of the text is its translator, Nicky Harman. Here’s what we deal with: pain, incest, and the political uses of shock, horror, and offensiveness. Are you sure about this? You can delete this episode now. Do you choose to hit play?2021-10-101h 54
The Translated Chinese Fiction PodcastEp 60 - Chan Ho-kei and Second Sister with Michelle DeeterJust as Nga-Yee thought everything was going back to normal, Siu-Man stepped from the window of their twenty-second-story flatIn the sixtieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are solving the case of Second Sister (網內人 / Wǎng Nèi Rén), penned by crime connoisseur Chan Ho-kei. Logged on with guest-level access and ready to follow the trail wherever it leads is 3-time visitor to the show Michelle Deeter. In the events that follow we hack into moral frameworks, digital archives, memory glitches, and urban navigation.-// NEWS ITEMS //Gŵyl Haf & B...2021-09-262h 06