The Coode Street Podcast

After a week off, we return to discuss just how science fictional the recent American elections are, whether political science fiction has ever had much impact on social attitudes or public policy, what if anything SF has to offer to the disenfranchised, and the representation of women and minorities as characters as well as contributors in recent anthologies like Jonathan’s Bridging Infinity. We...

This week, from the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio, Gary is joined by Hugo-winning  David Levine  (Arabella of Mars) and Andre Norton-winning  Fran Wilde  (Updraft, Cloudbound) to discuss various matters from Regency interplanetary adventures to bone cities to where SF titles come from,and balances between SF, fantasy, pulp traditions, and YA elements in SF’s emerging new eclecticism....

The Coode Street Podcast stumbles towards its three hundredth episode with another discursive chat between co-hosts Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe. Topics this week include Bob Dylan, the Nobel and accepting awards; baseball in science fiction; and other stuff which, if we were honest, we might admit we don’t remember. Nonetheless, time was spent and we hope you enjoy the episode. Next week, W...

This week we sit down with Crawford Award winning author Kai Ashante Wilson to discuss his fiction, his career and the pros and cons of being a late starter. We focus on his multiple-award nominated novella " The Devil in America ",  Sorcerer of the Wildeeps , and his new book, the just-released and highly recommended  A Taste of Honey . As always, our thanks to Kai for making the time to join us....

After last week's experiments with audio ended up in a lost recording, this week we turned to more traditional methods to make sure we'd be bringing you a new episode this week.  For about an hour, Gary and I discuss the new Best Series category for the Hugo Awards (in great and possible inaccurate detail(, trends in alternate history, and some new books that we've been reading. We also mention ou...

In the final of our conversations recorded during MidAmericon 2, the 74th World Science Fiction Convention, in Kansas City, we sit down with Hugo and Nebula winner  Jo Walton  and Tiptree Award winner  Eugene Fischer  for a wide-ranging and insightful discussion that touches not only upon their own fiction, but of the kind of reading that helped shape it, from Victorian literature to the SF of the...

This week we are joined by Hugo and Nebula Award winning author  Connie Willis  to discuss her new novel, Crosstalk , which is just out in the UK from Gollancz and will be out in the US early next month. The publisher describes Crosstalk like this: Briddey is about to get exactly what she thinks she wants... Briddey is a high-powered exec in the mobile phone industry, overseeing new products from...

This week we are joined by the estimable  Alastair Reynolds , celebrating the publication of his new space-pirate adventure tale  Revenger  and his collaboration with Stephen Baxter, The Medusa Chronicles.  We also discuss the attraction many SF readers and writers have for maritime adventures, the influence and heritage of Arthur C. Clarke (as well as Asimov and Heinlein), the impact of cyberpunk...

When Gary and I were in Kansas City for MidAmericon 2, the 74th World Science Fiction Convention last month, we were fortunate enough to sit down with a handful of really interesting people.  One of the highlights was getting to chat with the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon award nomination author of  “Waters of Versailles” ,  Kelly Robson . In what was a really enjoyable conversation, w...

Welcome to the seventh episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. With James busy with housemoving and such, we're joined by award-winning critic Gary K Wolfe. Lavie Ti...

Over the past several years we've been fortunate to record episodes of the Coode Street Podcast in front of a live audience. One of the highlights of MidAmericon 2, the 74th World Science Fiction Convention  was when we got to sit down with convention Guest of Honor  Michael Swanwick  and award-winning author  Kij Johnson  to discuss the craft of short fiction. Our discussion focusses entirely on...

This week, in a quick episode recorded between hiatuses, we are joined by Locus Editor-in Chief Liza Groen Trombi to discuss the upcoming WorldCon, how Locus approaches covering the event, and books we've read recently and liked, and books we're looking forward to. As always, our thanks to Liza for making the time to be on the podcast and we hope you enjoy the episode.

After our longest hiatus so far, Jonathan is back from Italy and Gary is back from Readercon, and we ramble on about such questions as whether modern SF can be characterized as optimistic or pessimistic, how some stories survive as influences despite their obvious flaws, whether modern SF holds on to some of its cherished myths even when they no longer seem feasible, what we’re reading these days,...

Welcome to the sixth episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. Madeline Ashby’s Company Town This month we discuss  Company Town , the fourth novel from  Madeline Ashb...

Before Coode Street goes on hiatus for a few weeks when each of us travel to various exotic realms, we address a question which Jonathan raised about new editions of work by Clifford Simak and Tom Reamy—namely, what happens to the work of older writers in a world in which the midlist has all but disappeared? How do writers “read back” in the genre—or do they need to at all? How do writers as diver...

This weekend Gary and Jonathan found time amongst their growing commitments to grab an hour or so and sit down over a microphone and discuss the World Fantasy Awards life achievement award, its rules, its recipients, and some people they feel might be considered for the award.  We also have announced that we will be taking an intermittent hiatus during July and August. There will be an episode thi...

Welcome to the fifth episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. Guy Gavriel Kay’s Children of Earth and Sky This month we discuss Children of Earth and Sky, the latest...

We nearly did it. We nearly stayed on topic… This week, we reminisce briefly about six years of the Coode Street Podcast (an anniversary we overlooked a few weeks ago), and then segue, after a few brief diversionary rambles, into a discussion of the books we are both looking forward to in the next six months or so, touching upon new books by Angela Slatter, John Crowley, Peter Beagle, Jeffrey Ford...

We don't often do this, but in recognition of Harlan Ellison's 82nd birthday we thought we'd republish the episode from 2015 where Gary and Bill Shafer talked to Harlan about The Top of the Volcano: The Award-Winning Stories of Harlan Ellison . Although Jonathan wasn’t able to join us on this one,they got into some fascinating stories about Thomas Pynchon, Octavia Butler, Harlan’s famous house (in...

Winter is coming. Well, in Perth. An early storm huffed and puffed and knocked the power out part way through a ramble on awards and longevity (or something). We persevered. The power came back up and we rambled on.  This is an old-style episode about nothing much. If that's your thing, then have at it! As always, we do hope you enjoy it. And we're planning for MidAmericon!

This week writer, editor and now publisher  Jack Dann , a long-time friend of the podcast, joins Jonathan and Gary to discuss his role in launching new small press publishing imprint  PS Australia  and his forthcoming anthology, Dreaming in the Dark. In a wide-ranging discussion, we touch on the plans for the new imprint, the state of the market for short fiction, the state of the Australian genre...

Welcome to the fourth episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley ,  Ian Mond , and  Jonathan Strahan , joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. Paul McAuley's Into Everywhere This month Coode Street co-host Gary Wolfe joins us to discuss Into...

As we head into our third straight week without a guest on the podcast, we confront our lack of organisation with a smile and a nod. We actually sat down and planned what we'd discuss on this episode, then Gary brought up something else entirely immediately after the intro and off we went.  Following the sad news that Prince had died, we spent some time discussing science fiction and popular music...

This week’s ramble touches upon a bunch of issues, from Hugo nominations and awards (of course) to what it takes to be called a major science fiction writer, the need for more translations of non-English language science fiction, the advantages and disadvantages of “fix-ups,” “story suites,” and collections of linked stories, and whether SF has developed a kind of informal hierarchy favoring Ameri...

Following last week's announcement of DragonCon's new Dragon Awards, we once again return to the topic of awards proliferation; begin our discussion of Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's massive new Big Book of Science Fiction (we hope to talk to them about the book closer to its release); look at how anthologies might have changed over the past fifty years; touch on the recent trend toward revisiting and...