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. Jonathan is joined by Newbery Medal and World Fantasy Award-winning author Kelly Barnhill to discuss the joys of listening to audiobooks, the importance of reading gently, and much more. Books mentioned include: Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill The Ogress at the Far End of Town by Kelly Barnhill (coming next year) The Book of Delights by Ross Gay The Changeling by Joy Williams Washington Black by Esi Edugyan Terry Pratchett audiobooks LeVar Burton reads... (podcast ) What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah (read by Levar Burton)    

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 David Pomerico, the Editorial Director at HarperVoyager in the US, who talks about the pleasure of audiobooks, the importance of following your heart when choosing what you're going to read, and mentions some of the exciting new books he has coming out in 2021 and beyond. Books mentioned include: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction The Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers Wanderers by Chuck Wendig Weather by Jenny Offill      

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. The terrific Nnedi Okorafor joins Gary for an epic thirty-minute discussion on the challenges and rewards of having a lot of deadlines, comfort reading during the lockdown, what it’s like to discover that your daughter actually likes your novels, what Africanfuturism means, and various and exciting media projects, some of which must remain unannounced for the time being. Books mentioned include: Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor (forthcoming) Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor (forthcoming) Noor by Nnedi Okorafor (in progress) Tales From Moominvalley by Tove Jansson The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler      

This week, returning to our customary format of rambling aimlessly for an hour or so, Jonathan and Gary share observations on what we are learning from our series of Ten Minutes With... podcasts, how the current crisis may or may not be reflected in tomorrow’s SF, the increasing relevance of Kim Stanley Robinson and others who have addressed global issues in the Before Times, the question of whether SF serves more as a mirror or a lamp (to borrow and cheerfully misuse a phrase from M.H. Abrams’s classic study of Romantic literary theory), and. of course, what we’ve been reading and hoping to read in the next few months.

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 ten minutes or so with Hugo and Nebula-winning James Patrick Kelly, touching upon the challenges of reading during lockdown, the temptation to argue with the page while reading, the appeal of Raymond Chandler, and the virtues of listening to audiobooks and stories, including his own recent King of the Dogs, Queen of the Cats  (also available as an audiobook from his website). Books mentioned include: King of the Dogs, Queen of the Cats by James Patrick Kelly Mother Go by James Patrick Kelly Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho The True Queen by Zen Cho Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke The Black-Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black (John Banville) Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler      

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 the wonderful Nalo Hopkinson, who took a few minutes away from a busy semester of suddenly teaching online to chat about the pleasures of hydroponic gardening, catching up on TV shows like Supernatural and The Murdoch Mysteries, her own work on The New Decameron and DC Comics Sandman story House of Whispers, and Sharon Lewis’s film Brown Girl Begins, inspired by Nalo’s novel Brown Girl in the Ring. Books mentioned include: Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson House of Whispers (#s 1-22) by Nalo Hopkinson & Dominike Stanton How Long Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin A New Decameron: Stories for a Plague Year edited by Jo Walton, Maya Chhabra, & Lauren Schiller Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler, Damian Duffy, & John Je

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 one of our most important novelists, Kim Stanley Robinson, joins Gary for a chat that touches upon the challenges of maintaining a consistent narrative voice in longer works, Daniel Defoe and the origins of the historical novel, Stan’s own new monthly column for Bloomberg Green, and his forthcoming novel, The Ministry for the Future. Books mentioned include: Three Californias by Kim Stanley Robinson The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel Daniel Defoe: His Life by Paul R. Backscheider A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe   ]   

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 chatting with Kate Elliott, who calls in from her home high on a hillside overlooking the Pacific to talk about her love of reading history, Alexander the Great, the naval history of the Second World War, the importance of reading what works for you at a time like this, and her forthcoming novel, Unconquerable Sun. Books mentioned include: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great by A. B. Bosworth Æthelstan: The First King of England by Sarah Foot Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire by Anne F. Broadbridge Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James D. Hornfischer The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour by James D. Hornfisch

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 World Fantasy Award-winner Mary Rickert on being cautious during the lockdown, reading Dracula for the first time, the rewards of contemplating individual words and their etymologies, revisiting Ray Bradbury, and Mary’s own forthcoming work. Books mentioned include: You Have Never Been Here: New and Selected Stories by M. Rickert The Shipbuilder of Bellfairie by M. Rickert (forthcoming) Dracula by Bram Stoker House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski The Stories of Ray Bradbury by Ray Bradbury Thin Places by Kay Chronister      

Well, that was unexpected, wasn't it? After kicking off the Coode Street Podcast in May 2010 with no plans, no skills, and no technical knowledge, Gary and Jonathan race towards their 10th anniversary with no real plans, no skills, and pretty much no technical knowledge at all. And yet, despite being invited to desist on several occasions, they persist. Four hundred episodes. Enough rambling to get you across England and back again! Probably across Australia and back again. And along the way over 150 wonderful guests, some new friends made and old ones lost, a dubious proposition or two taken about the state of the science fiction and fantasy, seven Hugo Award nominations, and enough incredible memories to fill at least an hour of rambling and possibly a couple of lifetimes. Someone should write a book. So, with no fanfare but a lot of thanks, a guest-free 400th episode recorded in the time of Pandemic, with some thoughts on what might happen next, a short discussion of books being read, coming to you, as a

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. This time out, Gary talks with PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Karen Joy Fowler, about the challenges of concentrating in times of stress, but also the value of collective co-operation and respect for scientific evidence and the question of whether the current situation might encourage us to think more broadly about our responsibilities as co-inhabitants of this planet. Books mentioned include: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Eye of the Whale by Douglas Carlton Abrams The Widowed Warlock by Helen Sanders Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes (short story at Tor.com) The Overstory by Richard Powers Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy     

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 for ten minutes (okay, more like 17 minutes) with Paul McAuley, author of some of the most engaging and provocative series of the past few decades, including the Confluence, Quiet War, and "Jackaroo novels and stories, and whose newest novel is the epic War of the Maps, which combines hard-SF ideas with a classic quest narrative. Books mentioned include: War of the Maps by Paul McAuley Bone Silence  by Alastair Reynolds By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar The Once and Future King by T.H. White I Have Waited, and You Have Come by Martine McDonagh The Long Drop by Denise Mina The Big Sky by Kate Atkinson Tropic of Kansas by Christopher Brown The Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis by George Monbiot An Ecotopian Lexicon 

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 it's ten minutes with SF Grandmaster and Hall of Fame inductee Joe Haldeman, who chatted with Gary from his Florida home, discussing what it’s like to be an official Grand Master, the value of reading SF print magazines, the different kinds of trilogies, and the appeal of graphic novels. Books mentioned include: The Worlds trilogy, Joe Haldeman The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell      

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 Gollancz Publishing Director Gillian Redfearn and bestselling writer Joe Hill, who join the conversation live from their secret volcano base on the northeast coast of the United States to discuss the importance of stepping outside every day and just being in the world, the pleasures of reading Joe Abercrombie, Claire North, and others, and much more. Books mentioned include: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson Preludes and Nocturnes: The Sandman by Neil Gaiman et al. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett The Goldsboro Books Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fellowship Things to watch mentioned in

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 Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee Christopher Rowe to discuss the great agricultural SF novel, the pleasures of Kim Stanley Robinson’s one comic novel, Garth Nix's fabulous Angel Mage, and much, more more. Christopher's new story "The Parable of the Tares" has just been released by Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination as part of its Us in Flux series. CSI has also released a Conversation with Michael Bell about the inspiration for the story. Books mentioned include: "The Parable of the Tares" by Christopher Rowe Us in Flux: Conversations by Christopher Rowe & Michael Bell Telling the Map by Christopher Rowe Angel Mage by Garth Nix Escape from Kathmandu by Kim Stanley Robinson    

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 Gary chats with World Fantasy Award-winning Sofia Samatar about the great German writer W.G. Sebald, returning to formative books in times of stress, the literary prehistory of robots as explored in her wonderful story "Fairy Tales for Robots", and her upcoming story "The New Book of the Dead" in Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories. Books mentioned include: Tender by Sofia Samatar The Rings of Saturn, Austerlitz, and Vertigo by W.G. Sebald, The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper Silver Road: Maps, Essays and Calligraphies by Ali Kazim    

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 Charles Stross, bestselling author of the Hugo award-winning Laundry Files series and the critically acclaimed Accelerando, to discuss working in the time of pandemic, whether authors are the people to turn to for reading recommendations, his upcoming work and return to space opera, and much more.  Books mentioned include: Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross Invisible Sun by Charles Stross The Unspoken Name by Alison Larkwood Middlegame by Seanan McGuire The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

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 Cory Doctorow talking about reading and writing in the time of pandemic, what a practical utopia might actually be, the utopian novel he's working on right now, what books he has coming out in the coming year, and the pleasures to be had from listening to Terry Pratchett books. Books mentioned include: Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow Poesy the Monster Slayer by Cory Doctorow (art by Matt Rockefeller) Little Brother & Homeland by Cory Doctorow Afterland by Lauren Beukes Or What You Will by Jo Walton Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener King Rat by James Clavell Terry Pratchett audiobooks

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. This time Jonathan spends ten minutes with the fabulous Martha Wells, whose Murderbot Diaries first appeared in 2017 and quickly went on to become one of the most popular and beloved series of recent times, winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards along the way. Martha discusses working in time of lockdown, upcoming work (including a new short story, "The Salt Lick" coming from Uncanny), and the joys of reading. Books mentioned include: Network Effect by Martha Wells Echo in Amethyst by Sharon Shinn Finna by Nino Cipri Stormsong by C L Polk Jade War by Fonda Lee The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch The City We Became by N K Jemisin The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi Null Set by SL Huang Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

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 Alastair Reynolds spends ten minutes talking with Jonathan about unexpectedly sunny weather in Wales, the challenges of focussing on reading and work at the moment, the immersive pleasures of diving into an enormous book by Neal Stephenson, and much more. Books mentioned include: Bone Silence by Alastair Reynolds Anathem by Neal Stephenson The Best of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas Made to Order by Jonathan Strahan Comet Weather by Liz Williams