The Coode Street Podcast

Worldcon 76 in San Jose, California this past August was a busy time. Thousands of science fiction and fantasy writers, readers, artists, publishers, and fans of every stripe travelled across the country and, in some cases, around the world to celebrate the best in SF. We had a fine time while we were there and managed to record four special episodes. This second one sees us sit down with award-winning writers and long-time friends of Coode Street, Karen Joy Fowler and James Patrick Kelly, to discuss Clarion, Clarion West, and what it was like to be a student and an instructor at one of the most important writing workshops in the SF/F field. As always, our thanks to Karen and Jim, and we hope you enjoy the episode!

We (Gary and Jonathan) went to WorldCon 76 in San Jose a week or so ago, or at least we were around while the convention was on and engaged in activities that overlapped with the convention. It seemed like a great convention. We had a great time. All the people we know who were there had a great time. We'd like to thank all of the organisers, the programmers, and the people who ran a great Hugo Awards.  Our congratulations to all of the winners and especially to the team at Ditch Diggers who picked up the Best Fancast award. A shout out too to the people who came to our Kaffee Klatch, which went surprisingly well. This week a quick-ish episode, our first back together in a month or two. We talk Hugo winners, cannon, and other stuff. If you love a ramble, this ones for you. And we will work on that list for you. Promise!

We've been away for a long time. A very long time. We're sorry and we'll try not to do that again. While we were away, we went to San Jose, California for the 76th World Science Fiction Convention. During the convention, we recorded four new episodes that we will be sending out over the coming weeks. The first is a discussion with Hugo Award winner and friend of the podcast, Jo Walton. Jo has a new book out, An Informal History of the Hugo Awards, which expands on a series of posts on Tor.com looking at the Hugos from 1953-2000. The book is wonderful and the conversation is interesting. As always, our thanks to Jo and we hope you enjoy the episode. Oh, we recorded this in Jonathan's hotel room in San Jose. Every effort has been made to filter out the damned airconditioning unit that was rumbling away outside.

With our customary meticulous planning, we manage this week to veer from the topic of what causes you to bounce off a particular book—or to keep reading—to the Clarke Awards, which will be announced in a few weeks (Gary volunteered to be on the Shadow Jury this year), to the question of how mainstream writers handle science fiction or fantasy elements in their fiction, and then to the issue of why many excellent British or Australian writers have either failed to gain much traction in the U.S., or in some cases seem to have lost the traction they once enjoyed.  In other words, we had no idea where we were going until we got there. 

This week Gary and Jonathan spend some time discussing the work and legacy of Gardner Dozois (1947-2018), who died recently. A friend and colleague, Gardner was also a brilliant writer, a perceptive critic, a skilled story doctor and possibly the most influential editor in the history of science fiction. His three novels, several short story collections, and well over a hundred anthologies will stand the test of time, with the 35 volume The Year's Best Science Fiction and his nearly 20 years as editor of Asimov's Science Fiction standing at the heart of his legacy. He was also kind, supportive, and enormously good fun. He'll be sorely missed by everyone who knew him.

This week’s episode ranges from a discussion about the growing importance of novellas and their advantages both for readers and writers, the difficult question of which story you might pick to introduce a new reader to a favourite author, the importance of distinctive voices in both short fictions and novels, the upcoming 87th birthday of the great Gene Wolfe, and James Cameron's new TV documentary on SF, which features appearance from several SF writers and critics, including Gary. Then Jonathan springs on Gary the question of what his favourite book is, so Gary tossed it right back to Jonathan. We both came up with answers that date back to our respective childhoods. In addition to Gene Wolfe, some of the authors mentioned include R.A. Lafferty, Ted Chiang, Margo Lanagan, Kelly Link, Robert A. Heinlein, T.H. White, Sam J. Miller, Kate Wilhelm, Ursula Le Guin, Andy Duncan, Howard Waldrop, Catherynne Valente, Jeffrey Ford, Lavie Tidhar, John Varley, James Patrick Kelly, Alec Nevala-Lee, and Joseph Heller. In other words, another ramble.

This week, the always bustling Coode Street Motel battles technical difficulties, sound dropouts, and other gremlins of the Skypesphere to welcome Sam J. Miller, whose Blackfish City is just out, and whose young adult novel The Art of Starving received great notices last year. We discuss balancing his day job as a community organizer with his fiction, the genesis of his new novel in a couple of earlier short stories, the writers who made him want to become one, the arbitrary nature of classifying stories as SF, horror, fantasy, YA, etc., and even the choice of pronouns in describing particular characters. As always, our thanks to Sam and we hope you enjoy the episode.

Gary was looking through the books that seem to tumble endlessly through his front door for review and came across a new edition of David R. Bunch's classic story collection, Moderan, which is set to be re-released by New York Review Books this coming August with an introduction by Jeff VanderMeer.  It led to a conversation about to whether there's an art to re-reading books, how you should go about republishing classic books, and much more.  We also snuck in an apology or two at the very end of the episode. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. See you next week (in all of our lo-fi glory).

This week, Jonathan and Gary discuss the parameters of climate-influenced SF, the usefulness or not of the term 'cli-fi' (with increasing numbers of SF works set all or partly in the Arctic or Antarctic) and, inevitably, the beginning of the awards season, with the Aurealis and Ditmar awards, the BSFA awards,  and the nominees announced this past weekend for the 2018 Hugos. Who is being celebrated on the ballot, and which works were we surprised to see omitted? As always, we hope you enjoy the episode! Correction and apology During this episode we use the incorrect gender pronouns for Yoon Ha Lee. We used she/her when we should have used he/him. We apologise unreservedly for this, and will be sure to correct it in future episodes.

Gary is back from the International Conference on the Fantastic in Orlando, where he chatted quite a bit with guests of honour John Kessel and Nike Sulway while managing to not attend some very interesting talks and panels. We touch upon the problems of identifying an SF audience in today’s fluid environment, and the feeling of some older writers that their books may be no longer part of the overall discussion. But is there an overall discussion anymore? Has the SF readership atomized into so many different readerships, some more vertical than horizontal, that even when senior writers are still being read widely, it’s difficult to find out who those readers are.  Have we gotten to the point of “everyone their own canon,” where only a handful of books each year make it into the general discussion of where SF is headed?