The Coode Street Podcast

Well, it's time to head back to the socially distanced Gershwin Rooms in the geographically distanced Coode Street Motels Six for Gary and Jonathan to spend an hour or so talking about science fiction and the world. Today conversation starts with a continuation of the idea that this is a Golden Age of science fiction, what characteristics might make up that age, whether you can identify great works of 21st Century SF, new work by M. John Harrison,Hugo voting opening online, and much more.  As always, we hope you enjoy the episode!

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 twenty minutes with the bestselling creator of Osten Ard, Tad Williams, discussing living and working during the pandemic; researching archaeology, science, and neolithic England; the work of Hilary Mantel and the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall,  and his own forthcoming work, including a new Osten Ard short novel. Books mentioned include: The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams Empire of Grass by Tad Williams The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams (forthcoming) The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel      

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. And now for something completely different. During the Ten Minutes with ... series we've talked to writers, editors, artists, agents and publishers. Today a conversation -- with apologies for a little patchy audio -- with two booksellers who bring a similar attitude to what appear to be different sides of the bookselling game. Stefen Brazulaitis is an award-winning bookseller and owner/proprietor of the respected independent Perth bookstore, Stefen's Books, while Tim Thomas is the owner/franchisee of Dymock's Books in Subiaco. Both love books, both are genuinely passionate about selling books, both have wonderful but different bookstores, and both have different stories to tell. 

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 and Nebula Winning author and artist Ursula Vernon, along with her alter ego for adult readers T. Kingfisher, chats with Gary about the comfort of reading historical romances and horror fiction that doesn’t seem too close to home, the classic fantasy of Robin McKinley and Terri Windling, and the sometimes arbitrary distinctions between adult and kids’ literature, especially given the occasional disconnect between who buys the latter and who reads it. Books mentioned include: The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (forthcoming) The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher Swordheart by Ursula Vernon The Damar Series by Robin McKinley Deerskin by Robin McKinley The Wood Wife by Terri Windling Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

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. Nebula winner and recent Worldcon Guest of Honor Walter Jon Williams talks with Gary about hiding from COVID and the sun in rural New Mexico, a rare science fiction novel that deals with elder care, the appeal of E.R. Eddison and other pre-Tolkien fantasies, the hardboiled fiction of David Goodis, researching on Wikipedia, and the next book in his Praxis space opera series. Books mentioned include: Quillifer the Knight by Walter Jon Williams The Accidental War by Walter Jon Williams Fleet Elements by Walter Jon Williams Plum Rains by Andromeda Romano-Lax Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s by David Goodis      

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 Derek Künsken about how he's been dealing with these strange and difficult times, what he's been reading and would recommend, the fiction of R. Scott Bakker and Isaac Asimov, an enormous X-Men re-read, some terrific recent comics, and more. Books mentioned include: The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken The Quantum Garden by Künsken The House of Styx by Derek Künsken The Prince of Nothing Series by R. Scott Bakker The Robot Series by Isaac Asimov House of X by Jonathan Hickman Immortal Hulk by Bennett Ewing      

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. Multiple award winner Sam J. Miller joins Gary to discuss judging this year’s Neukom Award (with its intimidating list of finalists), catching up with some favourite writers of colour, finally getting around to a classic, the remarkable narrative skills of William Gibson, and Sam’s own forthcoming ghost story novel, The Blade Between. Books mentioned include: The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller Jr Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson Ulysses by James Joyce Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon The Novels of William Gibson      

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 with bestselling, multiple award-winning author of Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente, who joins him from an island of the northeastern coast of America, to talk about reading, writing and working during these strange times and trying to do so with an infant in the house, the work of Hank Green and Jenny Slate, her love of Dune, her upcoming short fiction, the return of Tetley Abdnego, and much more. Books mentioned include: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente A Perfect Host by Catherynne M. Valente A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green Little Weirds by Jenny Slate Station Eleven by Hilary St. John Mandel Dune by Frank Herbert The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie Exhalat

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 and World Fantasy Award-winning G. Willow Wilson chats with Gary about what living in Seattle has felt like during the plague time and the city’s characteristically progressive politics, the fascination of listening to Proust on Audible, the remarkably prescient writing of James Baldwin and the literary innovations of William Makepeace Thackeray, and what it’s like to write in the Sandman universe after having been enthralled by it when younger. Books mentioned include: The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson The Dreaming: Waking Hours by G. Willow Wilson & Nick Robles The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin A Rap on Race by James Baldwin & Margaret Mead Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray      

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 talks with writer, professor, critic, editor, and Shirley Jackson Awards board member F. Brett Cox about the Jackson Awards, the early days of punk, Andy Duncan, Elizabeth Hand, the mysterious Jack Parsons, Anthony Boucher, Daniel Defoe, the Strugatsky brothers, Octavia Butler, and Brett’s own short fiction (including new story "Bend in the Air" in Patricia Bray & S.C. Butler's Portals). Books mentioned include: The End of All Our Exploring and Other Stories by F. Brett Cox Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture by Grace Elizabeth Hale Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe Ro

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 about ten minutes or so talking to Nebula Award-winning writer P. Djèlí Clark about reading, writing, and working during these strange and difficult times, what he's been reading and what you might read, his novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (and accompanying story "A Dead Djinn in Cairo"), his upcoming novel, and much, much more. Books mentioned include: The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden A Handful of Earth, a Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler by Lynell George      

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 international bestselling writer and creator of the Riftwar Cycle, Raymond E. Feist, about Shakespeare; reading, writing, and working during this strange and difficult time and; briefly, that time he saw The Beatles.  Books mentioned include: King of Ashes by Raymond E. Feist Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist (forthcoming in 2021) Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt      

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 Adelaide to chat to one of Australia's best and most adept writers of speculative fiction, Sean Williams, about reading, writing and working during the pandemic, what he's reading, what he'd recommend, what he's working on, and his terrific new middle grade novel, Her Perilous Mansion. Books mentioned include: Her Perilous Mansion by Sean Williams Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers Deeplight by Frances Hardinge Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Songs for Dark Seasons by Lisa L. Hannett      

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 calling farthest Brisbane to talk to national treasure and author of the Obernewtyn Chronicles, Isobelle Carmody, about reading and writing during the pandemic, the creative challenges of writing, what she's been reading, and much, much more. Books mentioned include: Evermore by Isobelle Carmody Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon Grass by Sheri S. Tepper Raising the Stones by Sheri S. Tepper Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins The Jack Reacher Series by Lee Child The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination by Urs

Left once again to their own devices, Jonathan and Gary turn to the question of what was science fiction’s real golden age—not in terms of overall literary history or the old cliché that “the golden age of science fiction is twelve,” but rather what seemed like a golden age in terms of reading habits: when you fell in love with SF, how the genre continued to be rewarding during that time, and what was especially important about it. For Jonathan, that looked more like the 1980s, while for Gary it was basically the 1950s. Both agreed, however, that the current era might itself be seen as a golden age, for many reasons.

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 more (somewhat more) talking to Adam Roberts about the joys and challenges of reading every single H. G. Wells book ever written (there were a lot!), being a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, reading and writing during these strange and difficult times (even when you usually stay in a bit), and much more. Books mentioned include: H G Wells: A Literary Life by Adam Roberts Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts (forthcoming in 2021) The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow‎ Ghost Species by James Bradley The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie The Devil's Blade by Mark Alder By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar Paradise Lost by John Milton    

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 is joined by award-winning author and ILM filmmaker Gregory Norman Bossert to talk about how the changes facing the movie industry may actually help new voices and new forms, the appeal of not-quite-classifiable stories of the New Weird and other contemporary movements, a new anthology in support of the nonprofit RAICES, podcasts and movies, and his own new short fiction. Short fiction mentioned includes: "The Night Soil Salvagers" by Gregory Norman Bossert (Tor.com, July) "Dear Boy" by Gregory Norman Bossert (Weird Fiction Review #10) "The Hearts of All" by Gregory Norman Bossert (Black Static #73) "Zima Blue" by Alastair Reynolds (and its TV adaptation on Love, Death, and Robots) Books mentioned include: The Unnamed Country by Jeffrey Thomas The Punktown series by Jeffrey Thomas

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 Stoker and British Fantasy Award winner Usman T. Malik to discuss living in Lahore during the current times, how it impacts reading, writing and the ability to work, classic horror, the tales of your culture, and much more. Books mentioned include: The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights (in 3 vols) translated by Malcolm Lyons  The Merman and the Book of Power: A Qissa by Musharraf Ali Farooqi      

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 with multiple award winner Aliette de Bodard about reading and writing during these difficult and distracting times, the joys of reading romance novels, pirates and the South China Sea, and much more. Books mentioned include: The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China by J. Antony Robert She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan Lord of the Last Heartbeat by May Peterson      

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 takes ten minutes or so to talk with Hugo and British Fantasy Award winner Zen Cho about reading and writing during the time of the pandemic, the comforts of British wartime children's stories, Murderbot, the perennial attraction of Jane Austen, and her upcoming novella, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. Books mentioned include: The Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho The True Queen by Zen Cho The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian  The Skylarks' War by Hilary McKay The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells The Novels of Jane Austen