The Coode Street Podcast

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Jonathan fires up Skype and calls Hugo and Nebula award winning writer, poet, and critic Amal El-Mohtar, whose novella This Is How You Lose the Time War (co-written with Max Gladstone) has been sweeping all of the awards this year, to chat about reading, working and living during the pandemic, the pleasure of reading graphic novels, and some great new books. Amal's poem "A Final Knight to Her Love and Foe", appears in The Book of Dragons.   If you live in the US and are over 18 you can enter our sweepstakes to win one of ten copies by following this link! Books mentioned include: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Dance on Saturday by Elwin Cotman The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans The Wicked + T

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Over the past decade Daniel Abraham has become famous as half of James S.A. Corey, creators of The Expanse, but in addition to creating incredible space opera and great television, Daniel has crafted some of the best science fiction and fantasy of the past decade. Today he talks to Jonathan about reading, writing, and working during the pandemic, working for television, the work of Tim Powers and Carmen Maria Machado, and much more. You can listen to an excerpt from Daniel's story, "Yuli", right now and if you live in the US and are over 18 you can enter our sweepstakes to win one of ten copies by following this link! Books mentioned include: Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey Last Call by Tim Powers In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado The Plague by Albert Camus

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Jonathan fires up Skype and calls sunny New York to talk to the fabulous Nebula Award-winning author of The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander, about reading, writing and living during the pandemic, the comfort of reading somewhat grim nonfiction, and her contribution to The Book of Dragons. You can listen to an excerpt from Brooke's story, "Where the River Turns to Concrete", right now and if you live in the US and are over 18 you can enter our sweepstakes to win one of ten copies by following this link! Books mentioned include: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick Cadillac Desert: The American West and I

Flying in the face of both good judgment and common sense, Jonathan and Gary return once again to the question of canons in science fiction and fantasy—a discussion which has widely re-emerged in recent weeks as a result of controversies over the Hugo Awards presentation at ConZealand. Are canons lists of books that people actually need to read, or are they ways of defining and celebrating your own reading communities? Are they useful at all? Are publishing programs such as the Gollancz Masterworks or the Tor Essentials trying to impose a particular idea of canon, or simply to make certain works widely available for those who might be interested? Are there multiple canons for multiple interest groups, or does each reader form their own canon? Would it even be possible to start thinking about works published since 2000 in terms of this discussion? As usual, we have strong opinions without really deciding anything much.

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Gary chats with A.T. Greenblatt -- this year’s short story Nebula winner for "Give the Family My Love" -- about the pleasures of escape reading even in normal times, listening to romances, mysteries, and memoirs, the graphic novels of Marjorie Liu and Neil Gaiman, the Murderbot stories of Martha Wells, and serious walking as an inspiration for fiction.  Books mentioned include: Educated by Tara Westover Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou The Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda The Sandman by Neil Gaiman et al.

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Legendary fan, publisher, and critic Cheryl Morgan talks with Gary about some favourite new and forthcoming books; the comfort in watching classic TV and movies; watching Doom Patrol and Black Panther; Sam Jordison and Galley Beggar Press; her own fanzine Salon Futura and Wizard’s Tower Press, and being a sensitivity reader for trans characters and issues. Books mentioned include: The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo Mordew by Alex Pheby The Green Man's Heir and The Green Man's Foe by Juliet E. McKenna  The Tales of Einarinn series by Juliet E. McKenna The Aldabreshin Compass series by Juliet E. McKenna untitled forthcoming collection by Aleksandar Žiljak

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Hugo-nominated biographer, Analog contributor, and novelist Alec Nevala-Lee talks with Gary about his current research for a biography of R. Buckminster Fuller, who was a good friend of Arthur C. Clarke but also once gave a lecture at a Hubbard organization in the early 1950s; Alec’s own fascination with the cultural history of the 1960s, the evolution of futures studies, and the comfort to be found in returning to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales, and the metafictional “grand game” that has evolved from them. Alec’s first collection, Syndromes, is available now as an audiobook original from Recorded Books. Books mentioned include: Syndromes: Science Fiction Stories by Alec Nevala-Lee Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlen, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Scie

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Jonathan calls up newly minted Hugo Award winner for Best Novel, Arkady Martine, to talk about reading, writing, and working during the pandemic, how influence on writers is often quite different from what a reader might expect, the current state of space opera, her next novel, and a new novella coming late next year from Subterranean Press. Books mentioned include: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine Rose House by Arkady Martine (forthcoming) Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler Dead Astronauts

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. World Fantasy Award nominee Molly Gloss joins Gary to chat about listening to fiction on her commute to the horses, taking some solace in novels with pastoral settings (including SF), the eerie feeling of reading Sarah Pinsker's A Song for a New Day at the very beginning of the lockdown, recent reprints of her classic novels by Saga Press, her long friendship with Ursula K. Le Guin, and her award-nominated retrospective collection Unforeseen. Books mentioned include: Unforeseen: Stories by Molly Gloss The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss Wild Life by Molly Gloss Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker The Horseman by Tim Pears This is Happiness by Niall Williams

Ten minutes with... is a regular series of short podcasts presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Gary kicks of the second series of Ten Minutes with by spending a few minutes with Hugo and Nebula-nominated K.M. Szpara discussing the appeal of audiobooks, young-adult mysteries and horror stories (and their value in learning about plotting), what it’s like to launch a novel at the very beginning of the lockdown, and his own forthcoming work. Books mentioned include: Docile by K.M. Szpara First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara (forthcoming April 2021) Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson In the Hall with a Knife: A Clue Mystery by Diana Peterfreund Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas

Well, without really planning it, we had a bit of a hiatus. It seems like recording over a hundred episodes in a row left us - or at least Jonathan - with the need for a little break, but we're back! We think.   With the Virtual ConZealand not quite over, Gary and Jonathan sit down to talk awards, congratulate the award-winners, talk about inclusiveness and the need for a fresher take on the genre, thank the ConZealand team and shout out to coming conventions, and more. Oh, and thank the World Fantasy Awards for a very unexpected nomination! Thank you!   As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. We should be back soon with more!  

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Jonathan spends ten minutes or so chatting with Sarah Monette about living and writing during the pandemic, her alter ego Katherine Addison, the comforts of immersive reading and true crime, and the recurring attraction of the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the world of his famous detective. Books mentioned include: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison (forthcoming) The Anatomy Murders by Lisa Rosner Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People by Tim Reiterman The Baby Farmers: A Chilling Tale of Missing Babies, Shameful Secrets and Murder in 19th Century Australia by Annie Cossins      

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Jonathan spends ten minutes or so calling up Orange Country, California to talk to World Fantasy and Philip K. Dick Award winner James P. Blaylock about reading and writing during these strange times, the allure of crime novels, what's up with Langdon St Ives, his new novel-in-progress, and a lot more. Books mentioned include: The Gobblin' Society by James P. Blaylock River's Edge by James P. Blaylock Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand Freddy's Book by John Gardner Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman The Easy Rawlins Novels by Walter Mosely The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens City of Fallen Angels by Paul Buchanan      

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. With the Ten Minutes with... series complete as a daily thing, Jonathan fires up the computer and calls Hugo and Shirley Jackson award winner Peter Watts to discuss how this apocalypse is only a tiny taste of the real thing, how he's coping with working and reading right now, Jevon's Paradox, the value of depressive realism, and a lot more. Books mentioned include: Peter Watts is an Angry, Sentient Tumor by Peter Watts "Incorruptible" by Peter Watts  Stealing Worlds by Karl Schroeder Gamechanger by L.X. Beckett        

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. One of England’s finest novelists, M. John Harrison, talks with Gary about the paradoxical insights of the poet Charles Simic, the essays of Olivia Laing, the early John le Carré novels, and his own new novel and forthcoming story collection. Books mentioned include: The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison Settling the World: Selected Stories 1969-2019 by M. John Harrison Things That Never Happen by M. John Harrison The Monster Loves his Labyrinth: Notebooks by Charles Simic Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing The Early George Smiley novels by John le Carré      

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Legendary Grand Master Jane Yolen shares with Gary some delightful personal news, as well as her advice to aspiring authors on how the lockdown can be seen as a gift to writers, the pleasures of "munchie" writing like Cat Valente or Gregory Maguire, the short stories of Theodora Goss, and Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mysteries. Books mentioned include: The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire Carlotta Carlyle series by Linda Barnes      

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Gary spends a few minutes with Jack Skillingstead and 2021 WorldCon Guest of Honor Nancy Kress talking about reading science; Jane Austen, Star Trek, and the comforts of an orderly world; the appeal of Hollywood biographies; and revisiting old favorites like Philip K. Dick, Robert Bloch, and Roger Zelazny. Books mentioned include: Sea Change by Nancy Kress The Eleventh Gate by Nancy Kress The Chaos Function by Jack Skillingstead Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Mitford The Ragman's Son by Kirk Douglas

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winner Kij Johnson joins Gary to talk about learning to keep focused during odd times, taking comfort in Defoe, Laurence Sterne, and horror stories, and the perks of doing historical research for a novel-in-progress set in the American Midwest in 1913, and how her "Apartment Dweller’s Guide" series of stories really needs to be a book. Books mentioned include: The River Bank by Kij Johnson A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe Short stories by Clark Ashton Smith The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' by William Hope Hodgson The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne      

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today is Day 97 of ten minutes with ... and as the end approaches Jonathan is spending ten minutes or so talking with Nebula Award winner Alaya Dawn Johnson about reading and working during these strange times, moving to a new environment, the challenges in writing novels at all, and her powerful new novel, Trouble the Saints.  Books mentioned include: Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black The Wicked King by Holly Black The Cruel Prince by Holly Black How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön      

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Today Jonathan spends ten minutes or so talking to exciting debut novelist Premee Mohamed about reading, writing, and working during the pandemic; the work of Alan Moore, Umberto Eco, and Amitav Ghosh; the experience of publishing her debut novel in 2020; and how it was to effectively collaborate with her younger self on Beneath the Rising and writing A Broken Darkness. Books mentioned include: Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed A Broken Darkness by Premee Mohamed Jerusalem by Alan Moore Chronicles of a Liquid Society by Umberto Eco Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh