

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 20, 2020 • 15min
Episode 424: Ten Minutes with Eileen Gunn
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.
Nebula-winning author, editor, teacher, and workshop leader Eileen Gunn talks with Gary about the pleasures of researching old myths, legends, epics, and folktales, the skill of Julius Lester in retelling stories in a new voice originally popularized by Joel Chandler Harris, and how the lockdown can actually help to enhance your social life.
Books mentioned include:
Questionable Practices: Stories by Eileen Gunn
A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales by Julius Lester
The Mahābhārata
The Golden Bough by James Fraser

May 19, 2020 • 17min
Episode 423: Ten Minutes with Theodora Goss
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 Gary is joined by novelist, poet, scholar, and teacher Theodora Goss, whose trilogy The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, one of the more delightful fantasy series of the past few years, concluded last fall with The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl. We touch upon the story behind her narrative poem in The Book of Dragons, narrative poetry in general, the literature of monsters, relearning Hungarian, and the appeal of detective stories, Daphne Du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Veronica Mars, and nature nonfiction.
Books mentioned include:
The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club by Theodora Goss
Snow White Learns Witchcraft by Theodora Goss
Medusa's Daughters: Magic and Monstrosity from Women Writers of the Fin-de-Siécle edited by Theodora Goss
Abigail by Magda Szabo
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Monster Theory Reader edited by Jeffrey Weinstock
On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

May 18, 2020 • 13min
Episode 422: Ten Minutes with Robert Shearman
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 to talk with World Fantasy Award-winning writer, poet, and playwright Robert Shearman about the joys and surprises of reading all one hundred and nineteen chapters of The Count of Monte Christo (including the bits with the opera and copious drug-taking); reading Peanuts and especially enjoying the bits before Snoopy becomes a total jerk; dealing with tragedy and grief through fiction; his incredible, quixotic and brilliant new book; and actually surviving in this Great and Terrible Pause.
Books mentioned include:
We All Hear Stories in the Dark by Robert Shearman
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas
The Complete Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
The Complete Saki

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


