The Coode Street Podcast

In recent weeks Coode Street has discussed the national SF scenes in the United Kimgdom, Australia and China. This week we are joined by Peter Halasz and Hugo and Nebula Award winning author Robert J Sawyer, both long-standing advocates of Canadian science fiction, to discuss what's happening in SF/F north of the US border.  We'd like to thank both Bob and Peter for joining us in what was a very spirited and energetic discussion. Next week: Kameron Hurley!  Till then, we hope you enjoy the episode.

Following on from our recent conversations about British and Australian Science Fiction, this week we invited Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award winning author and translator Ken Liu to join us to discuss translating fiction, his experiences with Chinese SF and his forthcoming translation of Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem (which Gary officially has recommended as a Coode Street Recommended Book). We'd like to thank Ken for joining us in what proved to be an extremely interesting conversation. Next week: Canada! Till then, we hope you enjoy the episode.

This week Gary and Jonathan, aware that the Festive Season and more are in front of us all, sit down with the most recent 'Forthcoming Books' issue of Locus and do their best to assemble a quick, on-the-fly list of books we're looking forward to from October through to May next year. As Gary and Jonathan both say on the podcast, the list has been quickly assembled and certainly misses many worthwhile books. Still, it's a start.  Here's the list. These are books we'll be reading, discussing and possibly recommending in coming months.   October 2014Bacigalupi, Paolo, The Doubt Factory, (Little, Brown, nvl-ya, hc) Bear, Greg, War Dogs, (Orbit US, hc) Carroll, Jonathan, Bathing the Lion, (St. Martin's, hc) Gibson, William, The Peripheral, (Penguin/Putnam, hc) Leckie, Ann, Ancillary Sword, (Orbit US, tp) Newman, Kim, The English Ghost Story, (Titan, tp) Nix, Garth, Clariel, (Hot Key Books, nvl-ya, hc) November 2014Baxter, Stephen, Ultima, (Orion/Gollancz, hc) Herbert, Frank, Frank Herbert: Collected Stories, (Tor, cln, hc) Sherman, Delia, Young Woman in a Garden, (Small Beer Press, cln, tp) Williams, Sean, Crashland, (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, hc)  December 2014Ellison, Harlan, The Top of the Volcano: The Award-Winning Stories of Harlan Ellison, (Subterranean Press/Edgeworks Abbey, hc) January 2015 Morrow, James Galapagos Regained (St Martins, hc) Walton, Jo, The Just City, (Tor, hc)  February 2015Abercrombie, Joe, Half the World, (Ballantine Del Rey, hc) Gaiman, Neil, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Discoveries •(HarperCollins/Morrow, cln, tp) Link, Kelly, Get in Trouble, (Random House, cln, hc) McAuley, Paul, Something Coming Through, (Orion/Gollancz, hc) Park, Paul, Other Stories, (PS Publishing, cln, hc) March 2015Robson, Justina, The Glorious Angels, (Orion/Gollancz, tp) Wilson, Robert Charles, The Affinities, (Tor, hc)   April 2015Bacigalupi, Paolo, The Water Knife, (Little, Brown UK/Orbit, hc) Baxter, Stephen, Remembrance: A Xeelee Collection, (PS Publishing, cln, hc) Bray, Libba, Lair of Dreams, (Little, Brown UK/Atom, hc) Liu, Ken, The Grace of Kings (Dandelion Dynasty) (Saga, hc) McDonald, Ian, Mars Stories, (PS Publishing, cln, hc) McDonald, Ian, Only the Best of Ian McDonald, (PS Publishing, cln, hc) May 2015Ashby, Madeline, Company Town, (Angry Robot US, tp) Blaylock, James P., Beneath London, (Titan, tp) Okorafor, Nnedi, The Book of Phoenix, (DAW, hc) Rajaniemi, Hannu, Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction, (Tachyon Publications, cln, hc) Robinson, Kim Stanley, Aurora, (Little, Brown UK/Orbit, hc) Invitation:  As Gary and Jonathan mention on the episode, please feel free to add your own recommendations in comments here or at jonathanstrahan.com.au/wp.

Sure that we were on to something, we decided to follow up last week's discussion of the State of British SF with Paul Kincaid and Nina Allan with a discussion about the State of Australian SF with editor/publisher Alisa Krasnostein of Twelfth Planet Press and bestselling Australian SF writer Sean Williams.   While there is always more that could be said about trends, particular publishers, or individual writers, a fairly-wide-reaching conversation did manage to cover a lot in a little over an hour.  The podcast also includes some recommendations for books we think you should check out if you're interested in current Australian SF. As always, we would like to thank our guests Alisa and Sean for making the time to be on the podcast, and hope that you enjoy the episode. See you next week!

This week something special. Following on from conversations at the London Worldcon and articles by Martin Petto * and others, Gary and Jonathan are joined by Nina Allan and Paul Kincaid to discuss the state of British science fiction. Are we having breakfast in the ruins, or is there hope to be found on the bookshelves? Mentioned during the podcast, Gwyneth Jones's first new novel in six years, The Grasshopper's Child (now available from electronic retailers). Pick up a copy (it's cheap!) and discover or rediscover this marvelous writer. As always, our thanks to our guests. We hope you enjoy the podcast. *Correction: Martin Petto's name was spelled incorrectly in this post. Apologies for the error.

Time to get back to the conversation and put the wonderful LonCon experience behind us. With episode 201, Jonathan and Gary sit down to continue their ongoing discussion of science fiction, fantasy and other stuff. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode.

The first episode of the three time Hugo Award nominated Coode Street Podcast went out to the world on Saturday 8 May 2010. There was no intention to start a regular podcast, or an ongoing conversation with and about science fiction, but that’s what happened.  In the four years since we recorded that first episode little has changed except, we hope, a tendency to ramble a little less. The recording is still rough and ready (alas), and the conversation is still off the cuff and unprepared (happily).   To celebrate the extremely unlikely event that we were recording our 200th episode, we decided to do something special. We invited our good friends Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg and Jo Walton to join us in conversation at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention.  A lively and interesting conversation was had, in what we think is one of our best ever episodes. Our sincere thanks to Stan, Bob and Jo for making their time available and being a part of our celebrations.  Our special thanks to Liz Batty, Niall Harrison and the Loncon3 tech team who provided the space for nearly 200 listeners to watch the event, and who recorded it far better than we ever could.  And an extra thanks to Sophie (aka Miss 12), who helped me to introduce this episode.  Finally, a deep and heartfelt thanks to you, our listeners, who keep us recording this crazy thing ever week. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast. More next week! On to episode 300!

And we're back!  After traveling for far too long and having had a wonderful time in London at what may have been the biggest and best WorldCon ever, our intrepid commentators are back on Coode St pondering (at length, alas!) what made Loncon a success, the Hugo Awards results, and the future and purpose of SF (of course!).  As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast. Next week: Episode 200!!!!

With Loncon3, the largest WorldCon in history disappearing into the rear-view mirror, convention guest of honour John Clute joins Gary and Jonathan on the podcast to discuss fantastika, the mission of science fiction, the SF Encyclopedia and much more. In the run-up to episode 200, recorded live in London, we'll probably have a wrap-up episode shortly. Till then, our thanks to John for joining us and, as always, we hope you enjoy the podcast!

With our intrepid hosts preparing to head off to Europe for a sojourn in France before attending WorldCon in London (the biggest Worldcon ever!!), it seems like everything is happening in the gap between now and then. To fill the moments, a new episode(!) where Gary's time at Readercon, the Shirley Jackson Awards, the World Fantasy Awards and more (not much more) are discussed. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast.