

The Coode Street Podcast
Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
Discussion and digression on science fiction and fantasy with Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 17, 2020 • 14min
Episode 519: Ten Minutes with Stephanie Feldman
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.
Crawford Award winner Stephanie Feldman joins Gary to talk about the unexpected complexities of virtual Kindergarten; writing about young adult characters and their attraction to the unknown; the appeal of short fiction by Daphne Du Maurier, Joan Aiken, and Angela Carter; the rewards of reading nonfiction; and her recent story "The Staircase" (published in the July 2020 issue of F&SF).
Books mentioned include:
The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken

Sep 16, 2020 • 10min
Episode 518: Ten Minutes with Andrea Stewart
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 Jonathan spends ten minutes or so chatting with exciting debut novelist Andrea Stewart about living and working through the pandemic, the pleasures of reading, exciting new books by Kerstin Hall, Megan O'Keefe, and Lisbeth Campbell, and her own book, The Bone Shard Daughter.
Books mentioned include:
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Star Eater by Kerstin Hall
Inherit the Flame by Megan E. O'Keefe
The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell

Sep 15, 2020 • 12min
Episode 517: Ten Minutes with Jane Routley
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 Jonathan is joined by Aurealis Award-winning writer Jane Routley and they chat about how Jane's coping with the Melbourne shutdown and with being an essential worker, enjoying and participating in the New Zealand Worldcon, reading the Hugo nominees, watching The Umbrella Academy, American Gods, Tales from the Loop, and lots more.
Books mentioned include:
Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and others
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
Fly Trap by Frances Hardinge
A Memory of Empire by Arkady Martine
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

Sep 14, 2020 • 17min
Episode 516: Ten Minutes with Annalee Newitz
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.
Science journalist, novelist and Hugo Award-winning podcaster Annalee Newitz joins Jonathan to chat about living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area during the pandemic, the joys of modern science fiction, their novel-in-progress The Terraformers, and much more.
Books mentioned include:
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Titles mentioned include:

Sep 13, 2020 • 19min
Episode 515: Ten Minutes with Ellen Kushner
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-winning author, editor, narrator, and radio personality Ellen Kushner chats with Gary about moving back to New York; ordering favorite children’s and YA books from independent bookstores; reading Edward Eager, E. Nesbit, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Joan Aiken; the brilliance of Frances Hardinge; group reading Shakespeare with friends online; the University of Glasgow’s new fantasy study center; and odd historical genres like “silver-fork novels.”
Books mentioned include:
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Night Birds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken
Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
The True Queen by Zen Cho
Silk & Steel: An Adventure Anthology of Queer SF&F with High Femmes & Dashing Women edited by Janine A. Southard (forthcoming)

Sep 13, 2020 • 50min
Episode 514: Alix E. Harrow and The Once and Future Witches
For the first time since way back in March when they chatted with N.K. Jemisin, Jonathan and Gary are joined by a guest.
This time the wonderful Alix E. Harrow, author of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy nominated The Ten Thousand Doors of January and the forthcoming The Once and Future Witches joins Jonathan and Gary to chat about reinventing fairy tale materials for the modern age, the recent resurgence of novels about witches, the difference between secret histories (as in her earlier novel) and alternate histories (as in the new one), using fantasy to address social and historical issues such as women’s suffrage, and her short fiction including "A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies".
As always, our thanks to Alix for making time to join us, and we hope you enjoy the episode. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode of "Ten Minutes with..." and will see you back here in two weeks with another special guest!
Books mentioned include:
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow (due Oct 15)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Sep 11, 2020 • 18min
Episode 513: Ten Minutes with Candas Jane Dorsey
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-winning author, poet, and educator Candas Jane Dorsey talks with Gary about teaching writing online, how her communications students seem to be better motivated in recent years, the appeal of detective stories (which John Gardner included among "moral fictions"), why middle-aged women read Jack Reacher novels, and her own forthcoming series of mystery novels and forthcoming YA novel.
Books mentioned include:
The Adventures of Isabel: An Epitome Apartments Mystery by Candas Jane Dorsey
Ice and Other Stories by Candas Jane Dorsey
Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey
A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey
Crimes and Survivors by Sarah Smith
The Vanished Child by Sarah Smith
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsin Muir
On Moral Fiction by John Gardner
Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child

Sep 10, 2020 • 13min
Episode 512: Ten Minutes with Micaiah Johnson
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 Jonathan chats with exciting debut novelist Micaiah Johnson about the strangeness of lockdown in Nashville, struggling to work in the early stages of quarantine, the pleasures of listening to creepy horror audiobooks, her early memories of reading genre fiction, and how she found her way to writing book that became The Space Between Worlds.
Books mentioned include:
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Sep 9, 2020 • 20min
Episode 511: Ten Minutes with Cecelia Holland
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.
Widely respected historical novelist (and very occasional SF or fantasy writer) Cecelia Holland talks with Gary about the smoky conditions in northern California, the joys of doing research, her own new novel about Mongol invasions in the Middle East, and the small comforts of reading favourite poets like W.H. Auden, Richard Howard, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Books mentioned include:
Heart of the World by Cecelia Holland
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson
Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer
Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

Sep 8, 2020 • 25min
Episode 510: Ten Minutes with Chaz Brenchley
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 Jonathan fires up Skype to talk to Chaz Brenchley about the strange challenges of these times, the comfort to be found reading crime and mystery novels, living and working a short walk from SETI and NASA in Silicon Valley, combining girls school novels and steampunk (and the accompanying Mrs Bailey's Recipes for Medium), taking control of his own publishing, his new short story collection and more.
Crater School
Chaz has been working on a series of English girls' boarding-school stories set on Mars. You can sample the Charter School on his website and read more on his Patreon.
Books mentioned include:
Everything in all the Wrong Order: The Best of Chaz Brenchley by Chaz Brenchley (forthcoming 2021)
Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear
Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe
Dr. Siri Paiboun Series by Colin Cotterill
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
The Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series by Laurie R. King
Slough House Series by Mick Herron