The Coode Street Podcast

This weekend in San Antonio, Texas the 71st World Science Fiction Convention is in full swing. Parties are being held, discussions had, panels attended and science fiction celebrated. In amongst it all, Ellen Datlow is being toasted as Guest of Honour, a richly deserved recognition of the amazing contribution this nine-time World Fantasy and five time Hugo Award winner has made to the science fiction and fantasy field. As a run-up to the weekend, Gary and Jonathan sat down with Ellen to discuss editing, anthologies, her career, and many other things in a frank conversation. The connection to Ellen's Manhattan pied-à-terre was erratic, so much editing was necessary. The sound quality is fine, but there are one or two spots where the editing may be noticeable. Our apologies for that, and our sincere thanks to Ellen for being part of the podcast.   Next week, most likely, a podcast from WorldCon. Till then, we hope you enjoy the episode.

This week Jonathan and Gary are joined in the Gershwin Room by Sofia Samatar, author of the brilliant debut fantasy novel A Stranger in Olondria, which was published by Small Beer Press this April. In a wide-ranging discussion, we look at the origins of  A Stranger in Olondria, re-encountering genre fiction, the power of language and how we encounter it, and much, much more. As mentioned in the podcast, you can read more of Sofia's fiction here:Dawn and the Maiden (Apex Magazine, 2013) Selkie Stories Are for Losers (Strange Horizons, 2013) Another new story is coming up shortly at Lightspeed, and a sequel to A Stranger in Olondria is in the works. As always, we would like to thank Sofia for taking the time to join us, and hope you enjoy the podcast.

A little late due to technical issues, but here is Episode 155 of The Coode Street Podcast. This week we asked master storytellers Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages to join us in the Gershwin Room to discuss the writing life, short fiction, collaboration and their forthcoming Tor.com novella "Wakulla Springs". As always, our sincere thanks to Andy and Ellen for taking the time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode!

With WorldCon looming in the near future and news of the World Fantasy Awards just around the corner, award-winning writer and critic James Bradley joins Jonathan and Gary in the Waldorf Room to discuss the best in recent science fiction and fantasy. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast! 00:00 Introduction 01:50 On Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Lord of the Rings and consolation in modern fantasy. 16:10 Arthur C Clarke Award winner Chris Beckett's Dark Eden. 18:00 On Paul McAuley, Evening's Empires, and the mission of modern science fiction. 33:00 On the movies Oblivion and Pacific Rim. 36:00 Climate change, recent science fiction and Patrick Flanery's Fallen Land. 43:00 On Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam 53:00 On Graham Joyce's The Year of the Ladybird.

It was another typical day in the office for the Coode Street team. Having taken the time and made the effort to ascend to the Gershwin Room (there are a LOT of stairs), having avoided the temptations of the Tiki Lounge, having decided not to simply spend their time gossiping, Gary and Jonathan instead turn their attention to pressing issues like Sharknado and modern SF, whether British SF is more political than its US counterparts, and the growning prominence of non-Anglo SF with a minor sidestep into what it is to be an insider in the SF field. Naked attempts to persuade readers to buy new books are truncated by the sudden termination of the podcast due to Jonathan's PC crashing. Fortunately they were close to done. Still, they hope you enjoy the podcast and remain, now as ever, the mullahs of Coode St.

After all of the excitement of broadcasting from ReaderCon with Rob Shearman and Howard Waldrop, Gary and Jonathan turn back to more typical discussion of matters science fictional in an all new podcast that, as always, comes to you live from the Waldorf Room. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast.

The great Lost Podcasts of 2012 are a part of Coode Street Podcast lore. A sad and painful memory of four wonderful conversations ever lost to perfidious technology. This week one of the participants in those conversations, brilliant short story writer Robert Shearman, and living legend Howard Waldrop, join Gary and Jonathan in a special podcast recorded in Boston at Readercon 24. Much is discussed about the art of the short story, changes in contemporary culture, and more. As always, we hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast!

This week the Coode Street Podcast, or part of it, is on the move! With Readercon 24 in full swing, Gary has travelled to Burlington, Massachusetts and has corralled award-winning author of Little Big and the Aegypt sequence, John Crowley, and long-time friend of the podcast Peter Straub to take part in a fascinating discussion of genre and other things. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast! 00:00 Introduction (flawed) 02:00 Discussion of reading and being influenced by early science fiction from the '50s and '60s, and the path from there to reading literature. 12:40 On how genre works and what makes the SF ideational space function. Mention of Bob Shaw's classic "Light of Other Days". 19:00 Peter discusses writing about fear, reading Ballard, and other influences. 30:00 On reading work as science fiction, including mention of John's novel The Translator. 35:00 On how writing SF/F is accepted to day in a way that it was not before. 40:00 Peter discusses his novel In the Night Room. 43:00 Story McGuffins and the death of the author. 50:00 Sequels, Lin Carter, book signings. 58:00 A brief discussion of what's next from Peter and John. As discussed in the podcast, you can order the 25th Anniversary Edition of Little Big, or just check it out.

In what is definitely the latest official instalment of the Coode Street Podcast, Gary and Jonathan sneak past the Jerome Kern Memorial Habachi Stand and settle down just near the Richard Rogers Habachi Grill to discuss many things. In an incredible development, this time the Production Gnomes of Coode Street have been able to produce a rough running schedule for the episode. Rejoice! 00:00   Introduction 05:00 Discussion of Kim Stanley Robinson's new novel Shaman, Werner Herzog's film Cave of Forgotten Dreams and prehistoric fiction. (This bit's shorter than you'd think it would be). 13:00:  Locus Awards winners, and Gary drops names. 30:00   Richard Matheson. 38:00   The Year in Fiction to Date (including our favorites and must reads of the year so far [though not really "must", just "we like it a lot and you might too"] 1:13:00 End Please let us know in comments about your favorite books of the year too! Next week we hope to be reporting in from Readercon. Until then, as always, we hope you enjoy the podcast!

As any regular listener knows all too well, hotel wifi is an unreliable friend.  With Gary away in Seattle at the Locus Awards weekend, we recorded this "safety" episode to make sure you'd have your weekly Coode Street fix,  It was recorded on June 23, and amongst other things we discuss the very sad recent deaths of Iain M. Banks, Jack Vance, and Parke Godwin, all of whom made significant contributions to our field  As always, we hope you enjoy this latest ramble.