

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

May 17, 2020 • 13min
Episode 421: Ten Minutes with David Thomas Moore
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.
Jonathan spends ten minutes or so chatting about living, working, and reading during this Great and Terrible Pause with Rebellion/Solaris Commissioning Editor David Thomas Moore (and a special guest who popped into the room for a little while) and they touch on some wonderful books and the challenges of the time.
Books mentioned include:
Beyond the Empire by K.B. Wagers
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
Beneath The Rising by Premee Mohamed
Weave the Lightning by Cory L. Lee
Made to Order edited by Jonathan Strahan
Special Guest's Bonus Recommendation
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

May 17, 2020 • 1h 1min
Episode 420: Not Locked Down, Locked Up
It’s been two weeks since Jonathan and Gary sat down to chat for the podcast. In the interests of social distancing, they’ve had a replica of the Gershwin Room built a socially responsible distance away from the original so they can talk safely. This time out they chat about science fiction, what they're reading, a theoretical fictional clade that encompasses the work of Philip Jose Farmer, Jack Chalker and Lavie Tidhar, and more.
As always, we hope you enjoy the episode and would encourage you to consider donating to Locus or supporting Fran Myman's Patreon.

May 15, 2020 • 11min
Episode 419: Ten Minutes with Kelly Robson
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 talking to the spectacular Kelly Robson who is in the very centre of the centre of the universe in Toronto and they talk about reading and working during these strange times, finding favourites like Octavia Butler a little too intense for the moment, and how the sequel to Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach might be turning into a novel.
Books mentioned include:
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
Monkey Work" by Kelly Robson
"La Vitesse" by Kelly Robson (in The Book of Dragons)
Symphony in C: Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything by Robert M Hazen
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

May 14, 2020 • 18min
Episode 418: Ten Minutes with Joe Monti
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 Saga Press editorial director Joe Monti who has worked with some of the best writers and artists in science fiction and fantasy and has worked as a literary agent and as a book buyer for a major book chain. In a serious mood, they talk about the impact of the Great and Terrible Pause on book publishing, what Joe has been reading, and what he's publishing.
Books mentioned include:
The Vlad Taltos Series by Steven Brust
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
The Down Days by Ilze Hugo
The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Machine by Elizabeth Bear
The Residence by Andrew Piper
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

May 13, 2020 • 14min
Episode 417: Ten Minutes with Alyx Dellamonica
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 sits down with Alyx Dellamonica to talk about writing Dealbreaker - the sequel to their L.X Beckett novel Gamechanger - how living through the pandemic sometimes feels like being stuck in Brendan Fraser's 1999 movie Blast from the Past, the wonders of science, and the comfort of fine crime novels.
Books mentioned include:
Gamechanger by LX Beckett
Nature Obscura: A City's Hidden Natural World by Kelly Brenner
The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) by Tana French
The Aud Series (The Blue Place, Stay, & Always) by Nicola Griffith

May 12, 2020 • 13min
Episode 416: Ten Minutes with Brian Evenson
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.
The distinguished "literary horror" icon Brian Evenson chats with Gary about his relationship to genre, whether or not it’s a good idea to read catastrophe fiction in a time of catastrophe, the rewards of reading Gene Wolfe and rereading Algernon Blackwood, and his own forthcoming story collection, The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell.
Books mentioned include:
Last Days by Brian Evenson
Catastrophe and Other Stories by Dino Buzzati
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe
A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe
Incredible Adventures by Algernon Blackwood
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

May 11, 2020 • 15min
Episode 415: Ten Minutes with Rick Wilber
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.
Gary is joined by science fiction's dean of baseball stories Rick Wilber, whose most recent collection is Rambunctious: Nine Tales of Determination, to discuss the virtues of Kim Stanley Robinson, the appeal of Korean baseball or the minor leagues, and why baseball has such a strong appeal for mainstream literary novelists and writers from the United States.
Books mentioned include:
Rambunctious: Nine Tales of Determination by Rick Wilber
Three Californias by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Resisters by Gish Jen
Enemy Rising: The Cursed Chronicles by C.J. Fisher
The Night Soldiers novels by Alan Furst

May 10, 2020 • 19min
Episode 414: Ten Minutes with Elizabeth Hand
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.
The multi-talented Elizabeth Hand joins Gary for a discussion of writing in different genres and the good fortune of having readers who follow you from one to the other, the pleasures of returning to Tolkien or to classic ghost stories, the delights of the TV series The Detectorists, and her upcoming noir crime novel, The Book of Lamps and Banners.
Books mentioned include:
The Book of Lamps and Banners by Elizabeth Hand
"The Owl Count", in Conjunctions 74: Grendel’s Kin
Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
"The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" by Stephen King

May 9, 2020 • 13min
Episode 413: Ten Minutes with Joe Abercrombie
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.
As the great and terrible pause grinds on Jonathan spends ten minutes or so talking to Joe Abercrombie about reading for research, Shelby Foote, westerns, some books he's reading, and his own new books, A Little Hatred and The Trouble with Peace.
Books mentioned include:
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie
Lionheart by Ben Kane
Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy by John Julius Norwich
The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote
Journal of the Gun Years by Richard Matheson
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

May 9, 2020 • 13min
Episode 412: Ten Minutes with Michael Swanwick
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.
Another quiet afternoon, so Gary spends ten minutes with multiple Hugo-winning Michael Swanwick about Karl Schroeder, Roger Zelazny, Duke Ellington, collaborating with Gardner Dozois, and Michael’s own remarkable trilogy of genre-mixing stand-alone novels.
Books mentioned include:
The Iron Dragon’s Mother by Michael Swanwick
The Postutopian Adventures of Darger and Surplus by Michael Swanwick
City Under the Stars by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
Stealing Worlds by Karl Schroeder
Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny