The Coode Street Podcast

Welcome to the third episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. Patricia A. McKillip’s KingfisherThis month Tiptree Award winning writer Nike Sulway and Coode Street co-host Gary K. Wolfe join Jonathan and Ian to discuss Kingfisher, the latest novel from World Fantasy Award and Mythopoeic Award winner Patricia A. McKillip. It’s a lyrical, funny, and sometimes challenging novel about family and destiny described by its publisher as follows: In the new fantasy from the award-winning author of the Riddle-Master Trilogy, a young man comes of age amid family secrets and revelations, and transformative magic. Hidden away from the world by his mother, the powerful sorceress Heloise Oliver, Pierce has grown up working in her restaurant in Desolation Point. One day, unexpectedly, stranger

On our 270th episode, we immediately distracted ourselves from our planned topic of catching up on news, awards nominations, etc., and instead rambled on about various matters of literary influence, of writing sequels or revisionist fictions based on the works of writers ranging from Arthur C. Clarke to H.P. Lovecraft, and other topics neither of us clearly remember.  We did get around to discussing the latest round of awards nominations, celebrating the Grand Mastership of C.J. Cherryh, and finally trying to figure which if any SF works seem relevant to the current U.S. presidential campaign. And with the Hugo nominations closing this month, we shamelessly shill for your vote. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. More next week!

Welcome to the second episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel.  Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the SkyThis month Coode Street co-host Gary Wolfe joins us to discuss All the Birds in the Sky, the second novel from Hugo Award winning author Charlie Jane Anders. It's a warm, humane, funny, and genuinely engaging novel described by its publisher as follows: From the editor-in-chief of io9.com, a stunning novel about the end of the world--and the beginning of our future... Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn't expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one's peers and famil

Last year, at the World Fantasy Convention held in Saratoga Springs, a panel was presented on 'Creating the Fantasy Canon'.  The panel description was: There are some books we all agree on as fundamental to the genre, but can we agree on a canon of twenty stories? Our panelists will discuss which twenty books are essential reading for understanding the genre and how this list has changed over time. Jonathan from the Coode Street Podcast was cast in the role of moderator, and the panelists for the discussion were John Clute, Michael Dirda, Yanni Kuznia, Gary Wolfe, and Ron Yaniv. The conversation that unfolded was energetic, thoughtful and entertaining, and even if it didn't resolve the question, it nonetheless was something we at Coode St thought you might enjoy. The Coode Street Podcast team would like to thank the administrators of the World Fantasy convention for permission to present the panel here, and would specially like to thank sound expert Paul Kraus for his hard work on making sure the recording wa

This week we are joined by World Fantasy Award Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and long-time friend of the podcast Peter Straub, to discuss his brand new short story collection Interior Darkness, writing, genre, music, and much, much more. As always, we would like to thank Peter for making the time to join us on the podcast and hope you enjoy the episode.

This week we are joined by multiple award-winning editor and publisher Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld magazine, discussing his provocative October 2015 editorial concerning the state of short fiction venues in SF, the question of whether so many venues dilutes the quality of fiction in the field or simply broadens its base, and how conditions today compare with the SF world of the 1980s as described by Mike Ashley in his magisterial history Science Fiction Rebels: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1981 to 1990, which both Jonathan and Gary are currently reading. As always, our sincere thanks to Neil for making time to appear on the podcast. We hope you'll enjoy the episode!

Tonight we discuss, as we do all too often, the beginning of the awards season, as well as the sometimes problematical Hugo category of Best Related Work, the question of authors who are so prolific that new readers may feel intimidated, and some of the parameters of who and who should not be covered in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series of books, of which Gary has recently assumed editorship. As  always, we hope you enjoy the episode.

Welcome to the first episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a new monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself This month James, Ian, and Jonathan discuss The Thing Itself, the latest novel from British Science Fiction and John Campbell Memorial Award winning author Adam Roberts.  The Thing Itself is a powerful and engaging novel described by its publisher as follows:  “Adam Roberts turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters' The Thing.  Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book - by the philosopher Kant.  As a storm brews and

For our first podcast recorded in 2016, beginning our sixth year, we discuss the remarkable career of David G. Hartwell, the role of editors in shaping science fiction, the forthcoming Hugo Awards nominations and MidAmericon, the World Fantasy Convention, and the significance of science fiction of the the 1980s—both as it appeared then and as it appears to us now. We spoke to David Hartwell for Episode 158. 

Continuing the series of podcasts we recorded in Saratoga Springs at the World Fantasy Convention, we sat down with distinguished fantasy writers Glen Cook and Steven Erikson, discussing the genesis of Cook's influential Black Company and Dread Empire series and other novels, and Erikson's hugely popular Malazan Book of the Fallen. In addition to their approaches to character and world-building, they offer insights into how Steve's background in archaeology influenced his work, and what it was like for Glen to live with Fritz Leiber many years ago. Our thanks to Glen and Steve for making time in their busy schedules as guests of honour at WFC2015 to sit down and talk to us for the podcast. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. 

Two of the powerhouse writers of their generation, bestselling fantasy novelist Scott Lynch and award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Elizabeth Bear, sat down with us in a noisy hotel room in Saratoga Springs, New York to discuss their mutual love affair with the genre, their shared awareness of the history of the field and how it influences their work, and much more. We would, of course, like to thank Scott and Elizabeth for making the time to sit down with us during what was a busy World Fantasy Convention weekend. Coode Street remains on hiatus. Next week a final podcast from Saratoga, where we talk with convention guests of honor Glen Cook and Steven Erikson.

One of the highlights of the 2015 World Fantasy Convention in November was when Gary and Jonathan got to sit down with Guest of Honor Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and io9 editor-in-chief Charlie Jane Anders to discuss their respective careers, their experiences working in science fiction and fantasy as women, and much more. This episode was recorded live on 6 November 2015 in from an enthusiastic audience and was recorded by Paul and the WFC team, and made possible by Peter Halasz. Our sincere thanks to Quinn, Charlie Jane, and everyone at WFC. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode!

Welcome to the first of Coode Street’s seasonal hiatus episodes. This November Gary and Jonathan were in Saratoga Springs for the World Fantasy Convention. Over the weekend they recorded several conversations that will come out over the coming weeks. In this first podcast, they sit down with living legend Gene Wolfe to discuss his latest novel, A Borrowed Man. The publisher describes the book like this: A Borrowed Man: a new science fiction novel, from Gene Wolfe, the celebrated author of the Book of the New Sun series. It is perhaps a hundred years in the future, our civilization is gone, and another is in place in North America, but it retains many familiar things and structures. Although the population is now small, there is advanced technology, there are robots, and there are clones. E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person. He is a clone who lives on a third-tier shelf in a public library, and his personality is an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human

Welcome to the final episode of the Coode Street Podcast to be recorded for 2015. This week  Gary and Jonathan are joined by award-winning writers and critics Charlie Jane Anders and Nisi Shawl in the Gershwin Room to discuss more of the best science fiction and fantasy books of the year. As with last week, you'll need to listen to the episode to hear what’s recommended, but there are a good handful of familiar books and few surprises that you may want to hunt down before the year is done. We would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to listen to the podcast, for the feedback you've sent in throughout the year, and for your support of Coode Street. We'd also like to thank Charlie Jane and Nisi for making the time to appear on the podcast this week. There will be some new episodes coming up that were recorded back in November, which we hope you enjoy too, but we’re on holidays for a while, relaxing and enjoying the season. We wish all of you the happiest of holidays. See you in 2016 fo

The year is fast running out, but with the holiday season approaching Gary and Jonathan invited award-winning writers and critics Paul Kincaid and Adam Roberts to join them in the Gershwin Room to discuss a small sampling of the best science fiction and fantasy books of the year. They also discussed some of the most interesting and important trends in science fiction during 2015. What books are recommended? Well, you'll need to listen to the episode to get the full list, but there are a good handful of familiar books and few surprises that you may want to hunt down before the year is done. As Jonathan says towards the end of the episode, whether this is the final Coode Street recorded for 2015 (we do have several others recorded for you and there may be a special second best of the year episode) or not, we would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to listen to the podcast, for the feedback you've sent in throughout the year, and for your support of Coode Street. We'd also like to thank

With the year coming all too quickly to a close, this week we are joined by distinguished veteran editor Jim Minz, who discusses his career from his University of Wisconsin days to working for Tor Books in Wisconsin and New York, Ballantine Del Rey, and currently Baen Books in North Carolina. We touch upon the various market segments of different subgenres of SF and fantasy, the various ways in which Baen and its market may have been misunderstood, the role of women editors in SF, and various other matters related to the SF publishing industry over the past two or three decades. As always, we'd like to thank Jim for making the time to talk to us, and hope you enjoy the episode! 

This year isn't over yet, but we can just see the end of it over the horizon. Back in Chicago and Perth after their visit to Saratoga Springs, Gary and Jonathan sit down to deliver a classic rambling discussion of science fiction, fantasy and other stuff. They discuss the World Fantasy Awards, lifetime achievement and much more.  As always, we hope you enjoy the episode!

And we're back with a new episode!  This week, from the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, we are joined by the genuinely iconic Pamela Sargent, author of many novels including The Shore of Women and editor of the legendary Women of Wonder anthology series, and Suzy McKee Charnas, author of the classic feminist SF series The Holdfast Chronicles and the equally classic The Vampire Tapestry, for a lively discussion of the changing role of women in SF since the 1970s and digress as usual into some fascinating byways and memories. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast! 

This week, in our continuing series of discussions about the experiences of women writers in the science fiction field, we are fortunate to be joined by Eleanor Arnason and Linda Nagata.   Linda, whose Going Dark appears next week from Saga Press is the third volume in her trilogy that began with the Nebula-nominated The Red, began publishing novels twenty years ago with the nanotech series that started with The Bohr Maker, still available from Mythic Island Press.   Eleanor, winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. award for her classic novel A Woman of the Iron People, is currently completing a collection of her popular Hwarhath stories and has most recently published a collection of her Icelandic fantasies, Hidden Folk.  We touch upon the problems and opportunities presented by self-publishing, working with small presses, and whether women SF writers might more readily disappear from the collective memory of SF readers.  As always, we hope you enjoy the episode.

This week Gary and Jonathan are back in the Gershwin Room, killing time and talking about Jonathan's new anthology Meeting Infinity, which we discuss in some detail. It leads on to a conversation about our perceptions of 'the alien' and 'the other' in science fiction (and how that has changed over time), and quite a lot more in what is a classic Coode Street ramble. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. More next week!