Transcript of the BBC Radio Northampton interview
Radio DJ: Now, with all the interest in Star Wars over the past few months and certainly in the past week, it seems some science-fiction and fantasy story fans may have felt just a little bit left out. Not so in West Northamptonshire; in Badby over the weekend some thirty fantasy fiction addicts to discuss their favourite stories. We sent our own BBC Northampton's Anja Lichtarovich [wrong name!] to another world to find out just what was going on.

[cue space music]

Anja Lichterova [voiceover]: There are strange goings on in Northamptonshire. Particularly in the village of Badby. Stuart Langridge [Aq - me!]is the one responsible for transporting the youth hostel to another dimension.
Aq: A group of us who like the books of David Eddings, the fantasy author, have decided to meet up, come here, have a drink, enjoy ourselves for a weekend, talk about the books, talk about everything else.
AL: But who is the one they call David Eddings? [drawn out Twilight Zone style voice]
Aq: He's probably one of the most popular fantasy authors of recent times, his books go straight to the top of the bestsellers list when they're released.
AL: But why? What for? And what will they be talking about?
Aq: They're normally, um, quibbly points about the books, um, but they tend to grow into various other things; we talk about an awful lot. We're running a quiz this year as well, um, which was a success last time; we're debating going out and looking at the local vineyard.
AL: And how did these people get to know each other?
Aq: We actually met on the internet. There's a discussion forum called alt.fan.eddings and we're all regulars there.
AL: They have come from far and wide to discuss this other world.
Urgit: My name's Nigel from Australia, so, yeah; I came from Melbourne in Victoria, and basically, yeah, I just came over to meet everybody we meet on the newsgroup. It's a lot of fun. It's the humour, basically. I mean, I personally don't take this sort of book seriously, it's just a lot of fun to read.
Kamion: I'm Colin from Belfast. I simply love character interaction, I love the humour, I love the way nothing is taken seriously. It's a nice irreverent look at what can be a, sometimes a bit of a pompous genre.
Ce'Nedra: My name's Natalie, I've travelled down from Glasgow. Talking to people on the internet you really feel like you get to know them, I mean Nigel and I only met two days ago, and it's like we're best of friends already. And that also reflects in the books, in the books there's such good-natured bantering going on; in real life we do the same.
AL: Many say these men and women are truly sad. But they do not necessarily agree.
Aq: It's probably at least partially true. But it's not really even about the books any more. We've become a group of friends. We've all become very close.
AL: But what we must know is will they meet again, to live this place of dreams and mystery?
Aq: We've got another major event like this planned for next year, and there are various small ones going on around the country.
AL: So it's time now to return from one fantasy world to another. Back to the realm of BBC Northampton.