The Coode Street Podcast
A podcast discussing science fiction and fantasy literature. Hosts Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe engage in wide-ranging conversations about the genre. They cover books, authors, trends, and news in the sci-fi and fantasy world.
Episodes
Episode 728: Alix E. Harrow and The Slantwise Histories
Time certainly flies. Although it has been nearly four years since we last chatted with Alix E. Harrow, she has quickly become one of our very favourite guests. This week we are delighted to welcome her back. Her novel The Everlasting is currently nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy awards, and her excellent first collection of short stories, The Slantwise Histories, will be published i
Episode 727: Ray Bradbury's Million Year Picnic (with Jeffrey Ford and Kelly Link)
Can you believe a storyteller? Ray Bradbury was a consummate storyteller who, in the introduction to his 1950 short story collection The Martian Chronicles, offered a possible origin story for the work.
He had, he recalled, been 24 years of age when he read Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg Ohio, a collection of stories about small-town life. The book inspired him to wonder if he could do something
Episode 726: Jonathan's busiest year ever
In this week’s episode, we sort of turn the tables on Jonathan to discuss the art of assembling anthologies, and in particular no fewer than four books he has coming out over the next few months: Revolution in the Heart: Stories Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Book of the Dead, Vaster Than Empires:, Speculative Fiction of the Eternal and the Ephemeral , and The Locus Best Science Fiction &
Episode 725: Amal El-Mohtar and the Seasons of Glass and Iron
This week, Jonathan and Gary are joined by multiple award winning writer and critic Amal El-Mohtar, whose first story collection Seasons of Glass and Iron appeared earlier this year, and whose novella The River has Roots has won Nebula and Locus awards for 2026.
We talk about our favorite stories in the collection, a diverse range of writers including Patricia McKillip, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hope Mirrle
Episode 724: On Jane Yolen, small presses, and more
Many podcasts far more professional than ours have offered discrete segments covering different topics, so this week we decided to carefully organize the episode—wait, no we didn’t; we’re just rambling again. But we do begin with a small tribute to Jane Yolen, both a great writer and a great friend, which leads into some musings on how reputations are made and sustained. We then touch upon the rec
Episode 723: Molly Tanzer and the Nature of Art
Jonathan and Gary are delighted to welcome the wonderful Molly Tanzer, whose new novella And Side by Side They Wander is just out this week.
Although it involves apparently benign alien visitors, a post-apocalyptic post-United States, corporate overreach, and a fair bit of space opera, the novella's main focus is art, who really owns it, how we interact with it, and whether even a molecularly exac
Episode 722: Jeffrey Ford's Pandemonium Waltz
Jeffrey Ford's eight full length collection, Pandemonium Waltz, was published by Lethe Press back in February. Ever since we've been meaning to sit down with him to discuss the new book, his approach to short story writing, how he assembles short story collections, and more.
We're delighted to have had the chance this week, to discuss the book, how retirement in rural Ohio is reflected in some of
Episode 721: On Ballard, biography and books
This week, Jonathan and Gary sit down and talk some new and forthcoming books, including our mutual choices for favorite book of the year so far.
Gary starts by describing a book which he just finished and found particularly moving: The Illuminated Man: Life, Death and the Worlds of J. G. Ballard, Christopher Priest and Nina Allan, which he says reads more like a novel than a biography, with Pries
Episode 720: Alexandra Pierce, Ian Mond, and The Totally Temporary Book Club
With Gary away at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Florida, and celebrating his 80th birthday (!!!!!), Jonathan sat down to chat with Alexandra Pierce and Ian Mond about why we read books, why we talk about and review them, and three great new books from 2026 that we loved.
Along the way, we talked about Johanna Bell's The Department of the Vanishing, S.L. Huang's The L
Episode 719: Ishiguro, Dinniman, and genre expectations in story
As usual, Jonathan and Gary raise a number of thorny questions about reading SF and fantasy, and resolve none of them.
Beginning with Jonathan’s account of his recent reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, we speculate on what sort of expectations we bring as readers to novels in which the interiority of the characters is privileged over the SF elements, whether a novel can do both, and whet
Episode 718: Michael Swanwick and The Universe Box
Today Jonathan and Gary are joined by Nebula, World Fantasy, and five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick to discuss the origins of some of his stories, the life and craft of the professional writer, and his extraordinary new short story collection, The Universe Box.
As always, our thanks to Michael for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the conversation!
Episode 717: Activism, reviewing, books to look forward to, and a little about the weather
As always, the Coode Street Motel Six bestrides continents, so after briefly comparing notes on the weather in Perth and Chicago, Gary and Jonathan get down to it and chat about the subjects of the moment.
How do you talk about books and what was the weather like?
The importance of settings in fiction, especially regarding climate and weather, and the broader question of whether readers can ev
Episode 716: Dystopias, cozy fiction and other dilemmas
There are snowstorms blowing where Gary is and Jonathan can see rain falling outside in Perth's midsummer, but the Motel Six has been safely relocated and the Gershwin Room is open once again.
Conversation starts off, perhaps incoherently, with dystopias and dystopian fiction, segues to Travis Baldree and the somewhat misdescribed notion of cozy fiction, and then wanders here and there before Jona
Episode 715: The one we recorded in between recording the other ones
Jonathan and Gary kick off 2026 with no guests, but with the sort of wide-ranging ramble that some listeners seem to enjoy, and that others probably gave up on years ago. We talk about some books due in the new year, especially story collections by Samantha Mills, Amal El-Mohtar and others, how story collections can contribute to an author’s career, and whether it’s necessary to read the stories i
Episode 714: The Year in Books with James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Alex Pierce
For our year-end discussion of 2025 books, we’re joined by Locus reviewers Ian Mond and Alex Pierce, and distinguished critic and novelist James Bradley. As usual, we mention a lot of authors and titles, and probably forget to mention many deserving others. But you’ll no doubt find some suggestions you hadn’t thought of, and some of our usual digressions about familiar questions of genre, literary
Episode 713: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 25 - E. J. Swift
E.J. Swift's sixth novel, When There Are Wolves Again, is one of the standout science fiction novels of 2025. For the final instalment of the Coode Street Advent Calendar for 2025, Jonathan chats with Emma about what she has been reading and would recommend, the writing and publication of When There Are Wolves Again, her holiday reading, and what she has coming up next.
As always, our thanks to Em
Episode 712: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 24 - Ursula Vernon
It's December 24, the final day of Advent, and Coode Street has just two more episodes to go before our holiday break. Today, Gary and Jonathan chat with Ursula Vernon about her writing alter-ego T.Kingfisher, about what she's read lately and would recommend, her recent work like Hemlock & Silver, What Stalks the Deep and Snake-Eater, her holiday traditions, and what she's been working on and
Episode 711: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 23 - Tochi Onyebuchi
World Fantasy and Ignyte winner Tochi Onyebuchi joins Gary for a brief but wide-ranging discussion that touches upon his genre-hopping 2025 novel Harmattan Season, his fascinating Internet memoir Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet, the virtues of Roberto Bolaño and Dostoevsky, and Tochi’s own work in progress.
As always, our thanks to Tochi for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjo
Episode 710: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 22 - James S.A. Corey
Today Jonathan and Gary spend some time talking to Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write together as "James S.A. Corey", about what they've been reading, what they'd recommend, their seasonal reading and viewing, and their upcoming new novel, The Faith of Beasts.
We also touch upon progress on Daniel's third Kithamar novel and their ongoing project to write an entirely new novel right before you
Episode 709: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 21 - Francis Spufford
As both the Advent Calendar and the year move slowly towards a close, Gary and Jonathan chat with Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill, Light Perpetual, and the wonderful Cahokia Jazz about what he's been reading, what he'd recommend, his holiday reading traditions and his incredible novel, Nonesuch.
As always, our thanks to Francis for making time to talk to us today. We hope you enjoy the epi
Episode 708: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 20 - Becky Chambers
For Day 20 of the Coode Street Advent Calendar, Gary and Jonathan talk to Hugo Award winning author of the Wayfarer series, Becky Chambers, about what Becky's been reading and would recommend, holiday reading and viewing traditions, publication of the Monk and Robot, and a brand new novel that should be out in 2026..
As always, our thanks to Becky for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy t
Episode 707: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 19 - Natalia Theodoridou
Gary talks with World Fantasy and Nebula Award winning writer Natalia Theodoridou, whose Bluebeard-inspired Sour Cherry was one of this year’s outstanding debut novels.
We touch upon reading Samantha Harvey’s Orbital and whether or not it’s SF, the brilliance of Vajra Chandrasekera, Natalia’s own first novel, his short fiction, and his current writing plans.
As always, our thanks to Natalia for m
Episode 706: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 18 - Ray Nayler
With December and the Advent Calendar heading towards their conclusion, Gary and Jonathan chat with recently minted Hugo Award winner Ray Nayler about what he's been reading, what he's been working on, his recent novel Where the Axe is Buried and his upcoming novel, Palaces of the Crow, before talking about ghost stories and year end traditions.
As always, we'd like to thank Ray for making time to
Episode 705: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 17 - Alastair Reynolds
It's Day 17 of our Advent Calendar and today Gary and Jonathan chat with Alastair Reynolds about the 25th Anniversary of Revelation Space, his new short story collections, and his latest novel, Halcyon Years.
We also touch on his favourite books of the year, what he's planning, and his favourite seasonal reads.
As always, our thanks to Al. We hope you enjoy today's episode.
Episode 704: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 16 - Kim Stanley Robinson
It's been a minute since we last spoke to Kim Stanley Robinson on the podcast, back in 2020 when The Ministry for the Future was new in the world. So today, Gary and Jonathan took some time to chat with Stan as part of the Advent Calendar about what he's been doing (a lot), what he's been reading (a lot!), and what he has coming up.
Our discussion touched on first major nonfiction book, 2022's The
Episode 703: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 15 - Michael Swanwick
For the 15th day of our Advent Calendar Gary chats with Nebula and five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick about what he's been reading, how he celebrates the holiday season, what he's had out in the past year and his exciting new short story collection The Universe Box.
As always, we'd like to thank Michael for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.
Episode 702: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 14 - Wole Talabi
For the 14th day of Advent, Jonathan is joined by Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominated writer, Wole Talabi, to discuss the books he's been reading, what he'd recommend, his brand new novella "Descent" and the Sauútiverse, and his forthcoming second novel, The Fist of Memory.
As always, our thanks to Wole for taking the time to talk to us. We hope you all enjoy the chat.
Episode 701: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 13 - Theodora Goss
For Day 13 of the Advent Calendar, Gary chats with Theodora Goss all the way from Budapest. They talk about re-reading Patricia McKillip, other favorite reading, and Dora’s excellent recent story collection Letters from an Imaginary Country, as well as her Athena Club novels and what it's like to write fantasies drawing from and commenting on other classic fantasies.
As always, our thanks to Dora
Episode 700: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 12 - Nnedi Okorafor
For this episode, Gary chats with the very busy and very talented Nnedi Okorafor, who has had quite a year with the publication of major new novel Death of the Author; One Way Witch, the second novella in her She Who Knows trilogy; Space Cat, a children’s book starring her own cat Periwinkle; and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025, which she co-edited with John Joseph Adams.
We ch
Episode 699: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 11 - James Bradley
For Day 11 of our Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls up long-time friend of the podcast, acclaimed writer James Bradley, to discuss what he's been reading lately, his fabulous new novel Landfall, whether he revisits any favourite books or movies at this time of the year, and what he's been working on.
As always, our thanks to James for making the time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.
Episode 698: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 10 - Emily Tesh [REISSUED]
As we approach the halfway mark of our Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls Emily Tesh, Hugo Award winning author of Some Desperate Glory and co-host of reigning Hugo Best Fancast Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, to discuss the podcast she hosts with Rebecca Fraimow, her year in reading, her wonderful novel The Incandescent, and what she's working on now.
Episode 697: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 9 - Paul McAuley
For Day 9 of the 2025 Advent Calendar, Jonathan and Gary called Paul McAuley to discuss the books he's been reading and would recommend, holiday traditions, what he's had out recently, and his exciting new novel, Loss Protocol, which is due out in February.
As always, our thanks to Paul for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.
Episode 696: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 8 - Isabel J. Kim
With our provider struggling a little following the various Cloudflare issues of late, Gary and Jonathan call up Nebula and BSFA Award winner Isabel J. Kim to talk about what she's been reading, her holiday favourites, what she had out in the past year, and the upcoming publication of her debut novel Sublimation next year.
As always, our thinks to Isabel for making time to talk to us today. We hop
Episode 695: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 7 - Aliya Whitely
Today Jonathan sits down with British SF Award winner and Arthur C. Clarke Award, BFA, and Tiptree Award nominee Aliya Whiteley to talk about what she's been reading and would recommend as the holidays get underway, as well as her recent collaboration with Oliver K Langmead, and her upcoming novel The Misheard World.
As always, our thanks to Aliya for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy t
Episode 694: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 6 - Nancy Kress
Day 6 of the 2025 Coode Street Advent Calendar sees Gary and Jonathan taking a moment to catch up Hugo and Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress about what she's been reading, her most recent short story collection, and the new fantasy novel she has coming in 2026.
As always, our thanks to Nancy for making time to talk to us, and we hope you enjoy the episode.
Episode 693: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 5 - Adrian Tchaikovsky
As we move towards the end of the first week of our 2025 Advent Calendar, Gary and Jonathan take a moment to sit down with Adrian Tchaikovsky to talk about what he's been working on, what he has coming out, and what holiday recommendations he might have.
Adrian is the author of the brilliant Tyrant Philosophers series, which has been a highlight of the past couple of years, among many other wonder
Episode 692: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 4 - Martha Wells
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk about what they’re reading now, their favourite holiday reads, what they had out this year, and what they’
Episode 691: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 3 - China Mieville
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk about what they’re reading now, their favourite holiday reads, what they had out this year, and what they’
Episode 690: Kij Johnson on Gaming, Storytelling and the Nature of Farce
In amongst the hurly burly of the end of the year and putting together the Coode Street Advent Calendar, Gary and Jonathan found time to sit down with long-time friend of the podcast (and most frequent guest!) Kij Johnson.
We last spoke when Kij's most recent short story collection, The Privilege of the Happy Ending was published. Since then, Kij has been busy working on writing and developing r
Episode 689: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 2 - Arkady Martine
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk about what they’re reading now, their favourite holiday reads, what they had out this year, and what they’
Episode 688: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 1 - Nina Allan
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk about what they’re reading now, their favourite holiday reads, what they had out this year, and what they’
Episode 687: Jetlagged and tired, we ramble
The World Fantasy Convention was held in Brighton, England two weeks ago. Gary and Jonathan both attended, so we shouldn't be surprised that they were jetlagged and not making to much sense when they recorded this ramble a week ago. As always, we hope you enjoy it!
Episode 686: Kemi Ashing-Giwa and The King Must Die
Our guest this week is the remarkable Kemi Ashing-Giwa, whose new novel The King Must Die is out in November. We talk about science fantasy—or whether genre labels mean much at all to the new generation of writers—her own influences, her well-received first novel, the space opera The Splinter in the Sky, and even her current scientific work on mass extinctions and the loss of her family home in th
Episode 686: Ken Liu, Technothrillers and AI Dreaming
This week we have a lively conversation with the remarkable Ken Liu, whose new thriller All That We See or Seem introduces a new protagonist, the gifted hacker Julia Z, in a tale that explores the growing role of AI, the possibility of a technology of shared dreams, a variety of near-future surveillance tech, and some pretty fearful players with even more fearful schemes. A dramatic shift from his
Episode 685: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and the Anthropic AI case
In a rare shorter episode, we chat about the late and much missed Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, with whom Jonathan and Gary had strangely similar encounters some years ago, and her early career as an SF writer before her decades-long success with her Saint-Germain series of vampire novels. That leads, briefly, to considering midlist vs. niche authors, before we get into some of the odd features of America
Episode 684: On stories, awards, and reading
With Gary recently returned from Worldcon in Seattle, we chat a bit about the Hugos (mostly avoiding second-guessing the results), which leads to some discussion of the differences between Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards.
Jonathan raises an intriguing question about the novella category, with its rather reductive word-length definition of the form. But what, other than length, really disti
Episode 683: China Mieville and 25 Years of Bas Lag
Twenty five years ago China Mieville's second novel, Perdido Street Station, introduced the world to the fantastical city of Bas Lag. It went on to win the Arthur C Clarke and British Fantasy awards, and be nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Tiptree, and Locus awards among others. Perdido Street Station was followed by two further novels set in Bas Lag, The Scar and Iron Council and th
Episode 682: Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz
In this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of our most exciting writers, each of whom has a new book out in August. Charlie Jane Anders’ Lessons in Magic and Disaster offers a wonderful combination of witchcraft, academia, and generational family tensions, while Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle features a team of robots trying to establish a noodle shop in a San Francisco recovering from Califor
Episode 681: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Bewitching
We're almost embarrassed to admit it, but it’s been ten years since we last chatted with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, shortly after her first novel Signal to Noise had been published. Now she’s back, talking about an excellent new novel The Bewitching. Along the way, we touch upon several of her other novels, including the bestselling Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate, The Seventh Veil of Salome, The Daught
Episode 680: Talking science fiction
Even though we know that some past episodes have probably spent too much time talking about awards, our latest chat begins with some thoughts on—well, awards. With Nebulas, Hugos, Shirley Jackson, Ignyte, World Fantasy, etc., there are just too many to ignore.
We soon drift off into other topics. Gary is looking forward to hosting a panel discussion at the Locus Awards, and is fascinated by Kemi A
Episode 679: Guy Gavriel Kay and Written on the Dark
This week we are joined by an old friend of the podcast, the distinguished Canadian novelist Guy Gavriel Kay, whose wonderful new novel Written on the Dark is out this month.
As always, we not only touch upon some details of the novel— which takes place in Kay’s own version of an alternate 15th century France, featuring a Parisian tavern poet loosely based on the historical François Villon—but on
Episode 678: Nearly 15 years of rambling...
This week it’s just Jonathan and Gary again, in what some listeners might view as an either a classic ramble or a series of rabbit holes from which we never fully escape. We start with a discussion of some current trends such as cozy fantasy and SF, romantasy, and dark academia, noting that these had all been around for decades before getting their present labels, and briefly consider Paul Kincaid
Episode 677: Silvia Park and Luminous
This week Jonathan and Gary are joined by Silvia Park to discuss her exciting debut novel, Luminous, which started life as a children's novel and connects to the Reactor/Tordotcom novelette "More Real Than Him".
We chat about artificial intellligence, writing about robots and how we use them as surrogates in fiction, different perspectives on fiction and how Luminous might be read by US and Korea
Episode 676: Jacob Weisman and 30 Years of Tachyon
In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of Tachyon Publications, we invited publisher Jacob Weisman to join us in a fascinating exploration of the independent publisher whose list of authors includes classic tales from Stanley Weinbaum, A.E. Van Vogt, and even Mary Shelley, as well as major work from contemporary writers like Peter S. Beagle, Patricia McKillip, Michael Swanwick, Terry Bisson,
Episode 675: Joe Abercrombie and The Devils
This week Gary and Jonathan are joined by long time friend of the podcast, Joe Abercrombie. We last spoke to Joe during the pandemic when he was working on The Age of Madness series. He joins us this week to discuss his brand new novel The Devils, which launches a new series and a new set of characters.
As always, we'd like to thank Joe for making time to join us, and we hope you enjoy the episod
REPEAT: Episode 646: Peter S. Beagle and a Life Filled With Story
With Peter Beagle's 86th birthday upon us, we thought we'd re-share a discussion we had with him last year about writing and story. We wish Peter a happy birthday and hope you enjoy the discussion!
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
This week we are joined by the legendary author of The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle, who discusses his new novel I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons (published next month by Saga
Episode 674: Joe Monti and the State of Play
As we try to return to some sort of regular schedule, we’re delighted to welcome back Joe Monti, vice president and editorial director of Saga Press, to discuss the current state of the publishing business, the effects (if any) of the current economic stresses, and what to look forward to in the coming months (Joe is particularly optimistic about SF and space opera).
Along the way we touch on the
Episode 673: Much Ado About March
With apologies for an unplanned hiatus, during which Gary traveled to Florida to attend the International Conference on the Fantastic, we’re back with a discussion that touches upon awards (again, but briefly), SF writers who are also good nonfiction writers, books whose 25th anniversary is this year (including Perdido Street Station), tribute anthologies such as Jonathan’s forthcoming Revolution
Episode 672: We've probably forgotten something important
This week’s episode features a few news items, but as usual you have to listen closely to find them among our usual free-association digressions.
Awards season is underway. Nominations/and or votging for the Nebulas, Locus Awards, and Hugo Awards (once again we are eligible in the Fancast category, and Jonathan in the Editor Short Form category) is underway, and just closed for the BSFA Awards. Th
Episode 671: Books We're Looking Forward to in 2025
Each year, we sit down and look at the year ahead and, inevitably, end up discussing the books we are looking forward to. This year we invited long time friends of the podcast Charlie Jane Anders and Ian Mond to join us.
During a lively conversation it became clear that, no matter what else is happening in the world, there's a lot of wonderful work coming out in 2025, and this only scratches the s
Episode 670: Why is some work overlooked
For those who might have been hoping our 2025 podcasts might get a little more focused and coherent, our apologies. Following up on several discussions on social media about how to learn about overlooked but deserving novels (mostly fantasy), we speculate on the factors that help a book or author gain and keep some sort of traction. Reprint programs like the Gollancz Masterworks or Tor Essentials
Episode 666: In which we discuss what to do with books
This week’s episode is mostly about books—how do you get them, where do you put them, and how to get rid of them when you need to. You’d think that questions such as the best way to shelve books would be pretty uncontroversial, but apparently that’s not always the case. We also touch upon the differences between collectors, acquirers, and accumulators, and how books can radically fluctuate in valu
Episode 669: On the importance of books and the beginning of a new year
For our first episode of 2025, we touch upon novels we've been reading for the new year, including Charles Stross’s 13th Laundry novel/collection A Conventional Boy and Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried, as well as the frustrations of reading books on deadlines—as opposed to wallowing in them at leisure, and some non-SF writers we like.
Gary then mentions how hard it is to gain perspective on n
Episode 669: On the importance of books and the beginning of a new year
For our first episode of 2025, we touch upon novels we've been reading for the new year, including Charles Stross’s 13th Laundry novel/collection A Conventional Boy and Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried, as well as the frustrations of reading books on deadlines—as opposed to wallowing in them at leisure, and some non-SF writers we like.
Gary then mentions how hard it is to gain perspective on n
Episode 666: In which we discuss what to do with books
This week’s episode is mostly about books—how do you get them, where do you put them, and how to get rid of them when you need to. You’d think that questions such as the best way to shelve books would be pretty uncontroversial, but apparently that’s not always the case. We also touch upon the differences between collectors, acquirers, and accumulators, and how books can radically fluctuate in valu
Episode 668: The Year in Books with James Bradley and Ian Mond
For our year-end review of 2024 books, we’re joined once again by fellow Locus reviewer Ian Mond and distinguished critic and novelist James Bradley. As usual, we mention a lot of authors and titles, and probably forget to mention many deserving others. But you’ll no doubt find some suggestions you hadn’t thought of, and some of our usual digressions about familiar questions of genre, literary amb
Episode 667: Jo Walton and the most iconic books of the 21st century
At the end of October Reactor published their list of The Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st Century, which attempted to list the best/top/favourite science fiction and fantasy books of the past 25 years.
Two weeks later Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy award-winning writer Jo Walton published a follow-on piece on Reactor, On Selecting the Top Ten Genre Books of the First Quarter of
Episode 665: Joe Monti and the State of Things
Long time friend of the podcast Joe Monti, who was recently promoted to Vice President, Associate Publisher, and Editorial Director at Saga Press, and is now officially a "Big Cheese', stops by for a wide-ranging chat about the impact of the pandemic and other events on the affordability of books; trends in recent science fiction, fantasy and horror and why science fiction may be set for something
Episode 664: Julie Phillips and talking about Ursula K. Le Guin
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic The Dispossessed, we sit down for a chat with award-winning biographer and writer Julie Phillips, author of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon and The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Body Problem.
Julie is currently at work on the authorized biography of Le
Episode 663: How science fiction responds
For our first October episode, we try out another new opening, touch upon the recent catastrophic weather in Florida and the hazards of attempting near future SF in a rapidly changing world, with Norman Spinrad’s Russian Spring as one example.
After a brief digression (what else?) on novels that extrapolate political decisions more than technological change—like the two novels that preceded the mo
Episode 662: Rambling to the end of the year
As we gear up for the inevitable year-in-review discussions, and the annual semi-hiatus between the fall and spring convention sessions (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), we return to our familiar questions of canon and influence, noting that while some books seem to drop out of the discussion within months of being published, others,like Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, continue to generate r
Episode 661: Emily Tesh and Some Desperate Glory
In this episode we are delighted to welcome the extremely talented Emily Tesh, who managed the rare achievement of winning a World Fantasy Award for her first novella Silver in the Wood and a Hugo Award for her first novel, Some Desperate Glory.
We touch upon some works that figure in Emily’s approach to science fiction and fantasy, including Orson Scott Card's Ender’s Game and a children's SF nov
Episode 660: Nalo Hopkinson and Blackheart Man
With the Glasgow World Science Fiction Convention behind us, and with Gary back in Chicago and Jonathan back in Perth, our faithful podcasters pick up the task once again.
This week we are delighted to welcome long-time friend of the podcast, Nalo Hopkinson, who joins us to discuss her brilliant new novel, Blackheart Man, and her soon to be released short story collection, Jamaica Ginger and Other
Episode 659: Joe Haldeman and The Forever War (Live in Glasgow)
The Forever War, the debut novel from US writer Joe Haldeman, was first published by St Martins Press in 1974. It was shortlisted for the Locus Award, and was awarded the Hugo and Nebula Awards as Best SF Novel of the year.
It went on to become recognised as an essential classic of the science fiction field, was listed as #1 in the Gollancz Science Fiction Masterworks, and has never been out of p
Episode 658: A resumption of normal service
With the Glasgow WorldCon just around the corner, Gary and Jonathan turn their attention to plans for the event. In addition to panel appearances, there'll be a special live recording of The Coode Street Podcast where we are joined by Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman, and John Scalzi to discuss 50th anniversary of the publication of The Forever War.
Since rambling is unavoidable, there is also a brief d
Episode 657: Being Alvaro and Michael
We're delighted to welcome a distinguished pair of guests, the legendary Michael Swanwick and writer and critic Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, whose book-length interview Being Michael Swanwick explores Michael’s entire career, and whose debut novel Equimedian has been described as a love letter to the SF of the '70s and '80s.
As usual, we wander a bit, discussing not only Michael's life in SF, but how stori
Episode 656: Stop us if you've heard this one before
For any listeners who have missed our longstanding tradition of almost unfettered rambling, we turn our attention this week to the questions of how and why certain novels and writers seem to hold up better than others, how younger readers can enjoy some older classics while completely tuning out others, and the difference between books that celebrate old traditions as opposed to books that seek to
Episode 655: Kaaron Warren and the Underhistory of things
Multiple Aurealis, Ditmar, and Shirley Jackson award winner Kaaron Warren joins us for this week’s episode, along with old friend of Coode Street and fellow Locus reviewer Ian Mond, mostly to discuss Kaaron’s wonderful new novel The Underhistory, how it does or doesn’t align with traditional genre categories, and what such categories mean anyway. Ian explains his notion of literary horror, and Kaa
Episode 654: Paolo Bacigalupi and the Road to Navola
The distinguished Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Locus Award winner Paolo Bacigalupi joins us this week to talk about his forthcoming historical fantasy Navola, as well as the challenges of shifting from a focus on environmental SF to epic fantasy, the liberation that comes from being able to invent a world (and partly a language) that echoes Florentine history without being bound by it, the imp
Episode 653: Lev Grossman and The Bright Sword
We’re delighted to welcome to Coode Street Lev Grossman, bestselling author of The Magicians trilogy, to discuss his major new Arthurian novel The Bright Sword, which appears from Viking in July.
We touch upon earlier versions of Arthurian fiction by T.H. White, John Steinbeck, Bernard Cornwell, Nicola Griffith, and others, the balance between historical research and pure fantasy invention, the de
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