Episode 181: Eileen Gunn, questionable practices and the purposes of science fiction

Episode 649: Nghi Vo and The Brides of High Hill: This week, we’re joined by the wonderful Nghi Vo, whose The Brides of High Hill is out this week. It’s the fifth of her ongoing “Singing Hills” sequence of novellas about the peripatetic Cleric Chih and their sharp-tongued companion hoopoe, Almost Br... by The Coode Street Podcast

56 min listen

Episode 648: Genre, marketing, and more: This week Jonathan and Gary start out with something resembling a topic: the proliferation of subgenres, movements, and marketing categories in SF and fantasy: from the evolution of space opera in SF to the rise of epic fantasy (and Ballantine’s earl... by The Coode Street Podcast

65 min listen

Episode 647: Oh no, not us again...: Once again with no guest to give us focus, Jonathan and Gary return to rambling mode, spurred on by the observation that voting for the 2024 Hugo Awards is now open. This leads to our ongoing discussion of what the Hugo Awards do and do not represent... by The Coode Street Podcast

61 min listen

Episode 646: Peter S. Beagle and a Life Filled With Story: 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 Press & Gollancz), as well as his storied career, his pals from childho... by The Coode Street Podcast

61 min listen

Episode 645: Jack Dann and Fifty Years of Wandering Stars: On the fiftieth anniversary of his groundbreaking anthology Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy, we’re joined by the terrific author and editor Jack Dann. During our conversation, we mention his new collection Islands... by The Coode Street Podcast

55 min listen

Episode 644: Cozy books and a prickly writer: This time out, Jonathan and Gary consider the meaning of "cozy" (or "cosy") SF and fantasy, and whether cozy horror is even a thing. We trace the term back to cozy mystery novels and Brian W. Aldiss’s characterization of certain British writers of th... by The Coode Street Podcast

67 min listen

Episode 643: All Time Top 5s: Somewhat hesitantly, Jonathan and Gary return to the mics, sans guests, and somehow get into a discussion of various SFF listicles—partly because of Gary’s recent contribution to fivebooks.com of a list of five novels about science fiction. Why are s... by The Coode Street Podcast

62 min listen

Episode 642: Premee Mohamed and The Butcher of the Forest: This week Nebula and World Fantasy award winner, Premee Mohamed, joins Gary and Jonathan from somewhere in the wilds of Canada to discuss writing, reading, building a career, and her fabulous new novella, The Butcher of the Forest. We also discuss th... by The Coode Street Podcast

60 min listen

Eating the Fantastic: Episode 217: Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan: All round good guy Scott Edelman was at the recent World Fantasy Convention, and took Gary and Jonathan out for lunch and a chat. That chat became the latest episode of Eating the Fantastic, Scott's terrific podcast. If you're interested, you can hea... by The Coode Street Podcast

83 min listen

Episode 641: Kelly Link and the love of books: For our second episode of 2024, we’re joined by the inimitable Kelly Link, whose forthcoming first novel The Book of Love is already receiving stellar advance reviews (including one from Gary in Locus). Kelly explains how the novel evolved, it conne... by The Coode Street Podcast

59 min listen

Episode 640: A new year begins. Shenanigans ensue?: And just liked that, our end of year hiatus is over and the Coode Street Podcast is back! Gary and Jonathan return from their annual break and kick off a brand new year with discussions of recent news events in science fiction, how our thoughts about... by The Coode Street Podcast

54 min listen

Episode 639: A Very Coode Street Gift Guide Roundtable 2023: For the 2023 instalment of the Very Coode Street Gift Guide, we invited some old friends to share their recommendations of books read in 2023: Alix E. Harrow (whose very worthy Starling House was a favorite, officially excluded from discussion becau... by The Coode Street Podcast

77 min listen

Episode 638: Books that were off our radar: The end of the year may be fast approaching, but this episode isn’t quite our usual year-in-review discussion (which will come up later), or our books-we’re-looking-forward-to episode. Instead, we spend some time musing about books we maybe should be... by The Coode Street Podcast

55 min listen

Episode 637: A Quick One, While We Wait: With plans for are promised chat with Elizabeth Hand and Alix E. Harrow on temporary hold, Jonathan and Gary share some pleasant memories of the World Fantasy Convention, muse about whether the nature of conventions has changed in the wake of the pan... by The Coode Street Podcast

57 min listen

Episode 636: Jeffrey Ford, Kij Johnson and the Art of Narrative: The 2023 World Fantasy Convention was held in Kansas City, Missouri over the weekend of October 26-29 2023. The convention was incredibly kind and generous and featured Jonathan as a guest of honour and Gary as a panelist. During the weekend we grabb... by The Coode Street Podcast

49 min listen

Episode 635: On the nature of purpose in science fiction: Responding in part to some issues raised by Niall Harrison in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Jonathan and Gary discuss the value and purpose of year’s best anthologies, whether it’s even possible to still represent such a diversified international ... by The Coode Street Podcast

64 min listen

Episode 634: Jack Dann and the Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History: For this episode, Jonathan and Gary are joined by the distinguished novelist, editor, and scholar Jack Dann, whose new The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History: A Handbook on Craft, Art, and History has just been published by Bloomsbury Acade... by The Coode Street Podcast

53 min listen

Episode 633: A classic ramble: In a return to classic rambling form, Jonathan and Gary begin thinking about the waning months of the year, and the inevitable recommended reading discussions. Jonathan starts off by asking why we always seem to say it was a surprisingly good year fo... by The Coode Street Podcast

61 min listen

Episode 632: Wole Talabi and Shagidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon: This week Hugo and Nebula nominee Wole Talabi joins Jonathan and Gary for a wide-ranging discussion celebrating the publication of his wonderful first novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon and his Hugo Award-nominated novelette, "A Dream of El... by The Coode Street Podcast

69 min listen

Episode 631: Awards, debut novels, and science fiction at the moment: After Gary enjoyed a weekend at Readercon, we’re back with another one-on-one ramble that covers topics from the proliferation of SF awards (and what they really might be for), to some recent and forthcoming books we’re excited about (including Kemi ... by The Coode Street Podcast

62 min listen

Episode 630: Kij Johnson and the Nature of Story: After an unplanned hiatus, we’re back with the wonderful Kij Johnson, who will be a guest of honour at this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Kansas City this coming October. Small Beer will publish a new collection of Kij's work, The Privilege of ... by The Coode Street Podcast

66 min listen

Episode 629: Ursula Vernon and A Story with Good Bones: In this episode, Jonathan and Gary have a long overdue extended discussion with the wonderful Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher), whose excellent horror novel A House With Good Bones appeared in late March, and whose thoroughly original imagining of t... by The Coode Street Podcast

63 min listen

Episode 628: Sarah Pinsker and Lost Places: Returning after a brief hiatus, Coode Street welcomes the wonderful multiple award-winning Sarah Pinsker, whose new collection Lost Places has just been published by Small Beer Press, and includes the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning “Where Oake... by The Coode Street Podcast

55 min listen

Episode 627:Kelly Link for the love of a good book: This week, Jonathan and Gary talk with Kelly Link, whose new collection White Cat, Black Dog is already showing up on bestseller lists. It's her first themed collection, with each of the seven stories linked to a particular fairy tale. We also touch... by The Coode Street Podcast

75 min listen

Episode 626: Awards season, British criticism and more by The Coode Street Podcast

61 min listen

Episode 625: Kelly Barnhill and the Mind of a Writer: This week Jonathan and Gary are joined by World Fantasy and Newbery Award winner Kelly Barnhill, whose When Women Were Dragons was one of last year’s outstanding fantasy novels. We talk about her just-published The Crane Husband, which powerfully com... by The Coode Street Podcast

73 min listen

Coode Street 624: On short fiction: We are always casting around for inspiration. After getting ChatGPT to provide a new introduction for the podcast, Gary and Jonathan kick off a discussion about the health of the short fiction field, the scope and variety of short story collections ... by The Coode Street Podcast

63 min listen

Episode 623: The 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List: This week, in our more-or-less annual discussion of the Locus Recommended Reading List, we are delighted to be joined by Locus Editor-in-Chief Liza Groen Trombi. We talk about the purpose of the list, how it has changed over the years, how books or ... by The Coode Street Podcast

67 min listen

Episode 622: More about space opera: It's not been that long since they last discussed it, but this week Jonathan and Gary return to the question of space opera, new space opera, and what contemporary SF authors might make of the concept. Is space opera the core narrative of SF, as Jona... by The Coode Street Podcast

58 min listen

Episode 621: Coode Street’s Books for Look Forward to in 2023: To kick off 2023, Jonathan and Gary share their lists of the books that they’re looking forward to reading in 2023. They mention a lot of forthcoming titles, ranging books from old masters like Peter S. Beagle, Howard Waldrop, Joanna Russ, Gene Wolfe... by The Coode Street Podcast

63 min listen

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Episode 181: Eileen Gunn, questionable practices and the purposes of science fiction

Episode 181: Eileen Gunn, questionable practices and the purposes of science fiction

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