Two Chairs Talking

David and Perry discuss recent awards in the Horror genre; Perry talks about a recent Australian novel, a podcast, and some fantasy novellas; and David talks about fascinating non-fiction books he's recently enjoyed. The horror, the horror... (05:53) The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (00:37) Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (00:33) The Invisible Man (screenplay) (00:40)...

Perry and David take the Hugo Time Machine on an expedition to the year 1966, the year when Dune won the Best Novel award The Big Jab (01:48) 2021 Locus Awards shortlists (04:11) Hugo Time Machine 1966 (01:20:06) Worldcon in 1966 (01:08) First Nebula Awards (02:50) Marque and Reprisal by Poul Anderson (08:36) Stardock by Fritz Leiber (04:59) The Day of the Great Shout by Phillip Jose Farmer (07:55...

David and Perry talk about television and movies. Perry discusses several films nominated for this year’s Academy Awards, and David talks about The Flash television series and a short film based on the work of Terry Pratchett. Letters of Comment (05:25) From Szymon Szott (02:08) From Candice Fox (01:27) Meeting Garry Disher (01:26) Hugo ballot (10:51) The Flash Season 5 (07:35) Zack Snyder's Justi...

Perry and David celebrate their 50th episode of the podcast, and talk about the books they have read recently in the crime and thriller genre. Game of Thrones anniversary (01:14) Hugo Ballots coming (00:50) Worldcon date change (03:19) Game of Thrones book publication date (00:20) Letter of Comment - comfort reading (03:04) Crime Fiction (00:17) Gathering Dark by Candice Fox (10:18) Consolation by...

David and Perry look at Australian literature, ranging from a book about bushrangers written in serial form in 1882 to modern science fiction. Reading overload (00:30) Comfort reads (01:50) Hugo Award nominations (02:47) Nebula Awards short list (07:58) Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (00:05) The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (00:17) Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (00:22) The Midnight Bargain...

Perry and David talk about a diverse selection of books they've been reading lately, and Perry talks to Dr. Lucy Sussex about the best books she read last year. NASA naming of Perseverance landing spot (02:00) Nebula Awards (06:25) Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (04:53) Cross-cultural influence of The Beatles (01:41) Website Galactic Journey - http://galacticjourney.org/ (08:48) The Midnight Li...

David and Perry discuss a recent book and television series they have both enjoyed and then move on to talk about some of their volunteer activities outside podcasting. David interviews Alex Cabal, the Editor in Chief of Standard Ebooks. Hugo Nominations deadline (05:27) The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John (07:40) The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) (08:12) Volunteering (01:28) Perry's Work for Au...

Perry and David revisit the scene(s) of the crime, discussing books in a variety of sub-genres within the crime/thriller category. Vale Yvonne Rousseau (02:21) Locus Recommended Reading List 2020 (05:31) Doing Crime (01:58) Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Crosby (04:40) The Spy Of Venice by Benet Brandreth (05:44) The Survivors by Jane Harper (06:13) Waiting For Elijah by Kate Wild (06:37) The Four Ju...

David and Perry talk about the books they've been reading lately, ranging in length from novellas to a nine-volume, almost million-word opus written entirely in the form of letters. And a rather damp theme emerges... World SF Convention and Hugos (04:24) Clarissa Harlowe by Samuel Richardson (05:35) The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (10:48) The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mande...

Perry and David wind up their discussion of the best books they read in 2020 and roll on to talking about their best movies and television seen during the year. David's Top 10 books of 2020 (04:51) Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman Normal People by Sally Rooney We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Truth by Peter Temple The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Ma...

David and Perry look back at the books they read during 2020 and pick their favourites in a variety of categories. David's reading during 2020 (03:59) Perry's reading during 2020 (08:58) David's Best SF read for the first time (04:19) Perry's Best SF read for the first time (06:31) David's Best SF read again (02:15) Perry's Best SF read again (03:25) David's Best Fantasy (03:04) Perry's Best Fanta...

Perry and David discuss the fine art of tsundoku and then fire up the Hugo Time Machine yet again to return to the year of 1965, when Fritz Leiber's "The Wanderer" won Best Novel Hugo. Tsundoku (01:42) Hugo Time Machine~1965 (01:01:38) The Whole Man by John Brunner (07:26) Davy by Edgar Pangborn (08:47) The Planet Buyer by Cordwainer Smith (11:57) The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber (07:40) Other possibl...

David and Perry return to their love of crime, and discuss both newly released titles in the genre and some old classics. The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (10:08) The Survivors by Jane Harper (08:40) A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre (08:28) The Searcher by Tana French (15:05) Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith (04:39) Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson (05:38) Resurrection Bay b...

Perry and David discuss their recent reading, ranging over a wide range of genres. Coronavirus state of play (02:53) Internet Archive looking for donations (01:43) World Fantasy Awards (02:04) Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender (00:57) Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (00:23) Read After Burning by Maria Dahvana Headley (00:33) Crime Writers Association Awards (03:02) Good Girl, Bad Girl by...

David and Perry visit the Eastern Block and discuss novels by Stanisław Lem and the Strugatsky brothers, and the films based on two of their books. Ebooks or paper books? (05:02) Going East (00:30) Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (20:00) Solaris (movie) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (12:20) Solaris (movie) directed by Steven Soderberg (14:15) Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (11:48) Stalker...

Perry and David have fun talking about BIG objects in science fiction, from flying cities to spheres totally enclosing stars. Megastructures (06:36) Cities in Flight by James Blish (06:05) Feersum Endjinn by Ian M. Banks (04:32) Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (00:39) Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (00:23) The Web Between the Worlds by Charles Sheffield (03:28) Eon by Greg Bear (06:14)...

David and Perry discuss the centenary of the coining of the word ‘robot’, the winner of the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and take the Hugo Time Machine whizzing back to the year 1964. R. U. R. by Karel Čapek (03:44) Arthur C. Clarke Award (03:09) The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (02:28) Hugo Time Machine~1964 (01:17:03) Glory Road by Robert Heinlein (02:59) Witch World by Andre Norton (06:35) Dune...

Perry and David talk about novels which blur the boundaries between genres: literary novels with strong elements of fantasy or science fiction. We can call them "genre adjacent" fiction. Children of Men by P. D. James (00:23) Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (00:52) Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (04:34) A Superior Spectre by Angela Meyer (08:28) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (07:3...

David and Perry farewell John Bangsund, a stalwart of the Australian science fiction community; and look at three movies directed by Terry Gilliam: Time Bandits, Brazil and 12 Monkeys. Vale John Bangsund (09:12) Terry Gilliam (41:07) Time Bandits (11:26) Brazil (14:36) 12 Monkeys (09:26) La Jetée (04:24) Windup/Next Episode (02:00) Image: Jonathan Pryce in the movie Brazil. Photo reproduced here f...

Perry and David return to a life of crime! Well, reading about crime, anyway. They discuss: Under the lockdown (01:41) Corrections (06:10) Kim Huett's articles on the history of the Hugo Awards. What we've been reading (01:14) The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey (06:48) The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey (00:25) The View from Chickweed's Window by Jack Vance (06:05) Beat Not the Bones by Char...

David and Perry discuss the ConNZealand convention and the 2020 Hugo Awards and then take the Hugo Time Machine back to the interesting year of 1963. A state of disaster (01:42) ConNZealand 2020 (12:55) 2020 Hugo Awards (10:20) Hugo Time Machine~1963 (01:15) Novels Hugos 1963 (36:27) Sword of Aldones by Marion Zimmer Bradley (07:39) Sylva by Vercours (07:54) Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper (06:28) F...

Perry and David talk about what they've been watching lately and discuss: Coronavirus news (01:32) Ad Astra (09:33) Yesterday (09:13) The Mandalorian - Disney Plus (07:58) Tales from the Loop - Amazon (15:21) The Old Guard - Netflix (14:08) Graphic novels as source for movies (01:35) War of the Worlds - SBS/Canal Plus (01:37) Illustration from The Mandalorian is copyright Disney Corporation, used...

David and Perry talk about their recent reading, both good and bad; and special guest W. H. Chong talks about Ghost Species by James Bradley. Coping with the pandemic (01:20) Locus Awards (04:38) Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (07:55) Astounding by Alec Nevala-Lee (04:49) Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller (00:43) The Second Sleep by Robert Harris (03:30) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. M...

Perry and David are joined by Dr. Lucy Sussex to talk about alternate history novels. In particular, they discuss those alternate timelines in which the Axis powers won the Second World War. COVID-19 Restrictions (00:26) How libraries are dealing with the pandemic (03:08) Restrictions at aged care facilities (00:52) Great time to catch up on books and TV (00:21) Alternate History fiction (02:33) B...

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Brian Robert Middlemiss (20 July 1930 - 5 June 2020). David and Perry talk about the shorter fiction nominees for the 2020 Hugo Awards, and then take the Hugo Time Machine back to 1962, when Stranger in a Strange Land won Best Novel. Dedication to Brian Middlemiss (03:26) Awards season (00:46) Nebula Awards (01:40) Locus Awards (02:10) Hugos 2020 Short Fi...