The Coode Street Podcast

Last year Coode Street sat down with people from all over the world to talk about what they were reading, what they were up to, and how they were coping with strange times. We did it every day, which we probably never will again, and along the way found out it was fun and interesting to check in for a short chat. We're continuing that during 2021. Ten Minutes with Jason Sizemore The first "Ten Minutes with..." chat for 2021 is with Apex Magazine editor and publisher, Jason Sizemore. Apex is an award-winning magazine that publishes fantastic fiction. It paused publication due to illness, but is back with exciting new material in 2021. During our conversation Jason discusses the future of the magazine, watching Deadwood for the first time, and the fiction of Mary Doria Russell.

Welcome to Season 12 of the Coode Street Podcast. This year we're repeating our commitment to bring you at least twenty-six hour-long episodes where our hosts, Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan, talk about science fiction and stuff with little or no coherent purpose, and occasionally interact with interesting people. There will also be additional episodes and bits and pieces, but they'll come in due time. John Clute and Science Fiction Repeating the Future This week we're delighted to be joined by the venerable John Clute, who talks to us from a weirdly deserted Camden Town in London, discussing the impact of World War I on the surprisingly large numbers of scientific romance writers of the 1920s and 1930s, some provocative ideas which John laid out in his 2017 Telluride talk "Those who do not understand Science Fiction are Condemned to Repeat It", including the notion of “techno-occultism,” what’s happened with space opera, generation starships, and apocalyptic literature, and what’s wrong with the idea of self-driving cars. As usual with John, there are a lot more ideas that pop up along the way. I suspect, on reflection, some of us are more optimistic about the future of science fiction and the world than this chat suggests, but we hope you enjoy it and want to sincerely thank John for making the time to talk to us.

Since we’re as anxious as everyone else to finally escape 2020, this one is likely to be Jonathan and Gary’s final episode of the year, unless we think of something irresistible. We start by reminding long-time listeners (or explaining to some for the first time) where the Coode Street name comes from, then honouring major figures we’ve lost in the last couple of weeks, including Ben Bova, Richard Corben, and Phyllis Eisenstein. Then, as usual at this time of year, we reflect on some of the important and/or overlooked books we’ve read, the continually widening diversity of the field, some of the major works from major writers that appeared in 2020, and the most pleasant surprises of the year. We wish you the best of holidays and hope to see you in 2021 when everything will be magically all better all at once. (Hey, we’re talking about SF here!)

We're getting to the end of an extraordinary year and it's almost time to shutter the podcast before a well-earned holiday break. But, before Gary and Jonathan close the door on the Gershwin Room for the last time for 2020, a special gift guide episode. There were no notes, no plans, no lists - just some off-the-cuff gift suggestions for the holidays.  We hope you'll consider your local independent businesses when choosing gifts for the holidays. They're a vital part of our communities. While this isn't the last time you'll hear from Coode Street in 2020, we would like to thank you all for listening and wish you and your loved ones a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season.  

Jonathan and Gary continue their irregular 2020 schedule with a conversation with Charles Coleman Finlay, who for more than five years has carried on the grand tradition of editing The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Sheree Renée Thomas, who picks up the mantle as new editor beginning with the March/April 2021 issue. We talk about the magazine’s distinguished history, the challenges of maintaining an iconic magazine in a radically changing short fiction field, and their own experiences as SF readers, writers, and editors.

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and book lovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Hugo and Nebula winner Charlie Jane Anders talks about some new books she’s been reading by Rebecca Roanhorse, Holly Black, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Darcy Little Badger, some past favourites including Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Katherine Dunne, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and her own forthcoming YA trilogy—as well as the differences between writing YA and adult fiction. Books mentioned include: Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse The Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Elatsoe by Darcy Little Badger Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1963–1973 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

After spending a few minutes chatting about what it’s like to live in a relatively safe but relatively sealed-off environment—something Jonathan can experience in Western Australia, but something SFF has occasionally touched upon—your intrepid hosts venture into the questions raised by Time magazine’s much-discussed list of "The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time,” with occasional reference to similar past lists in Michael Moorcock's Fantasy: The 100 Best Books and Locus magazine's All-Time Best Fantasy poll. We discuss what’s useful about such lists, what’s silly about them, and who are they really for? Who do they include and who do they exclude, and are they really ever anything much more than something to chat about with friends? As usual, we arrive at some definitively non-definitive answers.

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning writer Rebecca Roanhorse chats about living and working through lockdown in New Mexico, the appeal of epic fantasy, reading fantasy for pleasure and science non-fiction for work, her stunning new fantasy novel Black Sun, and her experiences working in the writers' room for an unnamed new TV show. Books mentioned include: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Hugo Award-winning Asimov’s editor Sheila Williams talk about the early days of the pandemic in Manhattan, the challenges of finding time to read anything other than the 800 submissions per month she sees at the magazine, her good luck to have travelled to Ireland and the Canary Islands just before the lockdown began, her new anthology in the Twelve Tomorrows series from MIT Press, and, of course, what she’s been reading. Books mentioned include: Entanglements: Tomorrow's Lovers, Families, and Friends edited by Sheila Williams The Wright Sister by Patty Dann Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renee Thomas Doomsday Book by Connie Willis A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Multiple award-nominated novelist Paul Park discusses reading the Book of Mormon in preparation for his new novel, the challenges of writing about a society with no recognition of gender (including the problem of pronouns), reading about the Dreyfuss affair, serializing a 14-part story on his Facebook page, and a possible new collection of short fiction. Books mentioned include: A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park A City Made of Words by Paul Park An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris The Odyssey by Homer  Emily Wilson (trans.)