Twenty five years ago China Mieville 's second novel, Perdido Street Station , introduced the world to the fantastical city of Bas Lag. It went on to win the Arthur C Clarke and British Fantasy awards, and be nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Tiptree, and Locus awards among others. Perdido Street Station was followed by two further novels set in Bas Lag, The Scar and Iron Council and then Mieville turned his attention to other worlds. Today China joins Gary and Jonathan to chat on t...
Aug 12, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 692
In this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of our most exciting writers, each of whom has a new book out in August. Charlie Jane Anders’ Lessons in Magic and Disaster offers a wonderful combination of witchcraft, academia, and generational family tensions, while Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle features a team of robots trying to establish a noodle shop in a San Francisco recovering from California's devastating war of secession with the rest of the U.S. We touch upon everything from writing i...
Jul 29, 2025•59 min•Ep. 691
We're almost embarrassed to admit it, but it’s been ten years since we last chatted with Silvia Moreno-Garcia , shortly after her first novel Signal to Noise had been published. Now she’s back, talking about an excellent new novel The Bewitching . Along the way, we touch upon several of her other novels, including the bestselling Mexican Gothic , Silver Nitrate , T he Seventh Veil of Salome , The Daughter of Doctor Moreau , and others. We also discuss her relationships with writers from Lovecraf...
Jul 06, 2025•56 min•Ep. 690
Even though we know that some past episodes have probably spent too much time talking about awards, our latest chat begins with some thoughts on—well, awards. With Nebulas, Hugos, Shirley Jackson, Ignyte, World Fantasy, etc., there are just too many to ignore. We soon drift off into other topics. Gary is looking forward to hosting a panel discussion at the Locus Awards, and is fascinated by Kemi Ashing-Giwa’s 2023 novel The Splinter in the Sky , which leads into a discussion of how space opera-l...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 689
This week we are joined by an old friend of the podcast, the distinguished Canadian novelist Guy Gavriel Kay, whose wonderful new novel Written on the Dark is out this month. As always, we not only touch upon some details of the novel— which takes place in Kay’s own version of an alternate 15th century France, featuring a Parisian tavern poet loosely based on the historical François Villon—but on the perennial question of Kay’s unique mix of history, fiction, and the fantastic. This leads to a b...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 688
This week it’s just Jonathan and Gary again, in what some listeners might view as an either a classic ramble or a series of rabbit holes from which we never fully escape. We start with a discussion of some current trends such as cozy fantasy and SF, romantasy, and dark academia, noting that these had all been around for decades before getting their present labels, and briefly consider Paul Kincaid’s contention that “coziness” seems antithetical to what SF really does. We later touch upon what we...
May 21, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 686
This week Jonathan and Gary are joined by Silvia Park to discuss her exciting debut novel, Luminous, which started life as a children's novel and connects to the Reactor/Tordotcom novelette " More Real Than Him ". We chat about artificial intellligence, writing about robots and how we use them as surrogates in fiction, different perspectives on fiction and how Luminous might be read by US and Korean audiences. As always, we'd like to thank Silvia for making time to talk to us and hope you enjoy ...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 687
In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of Tachyon Publications , we invited publisher Jacob Weisman to join us in a fascinating exploration of the independent publisher whose list of authors includes classic tales from Stanley Weinbaum, A.E. Van Vogt, and even Mary Shelley, as well as major work from contemporary writers like Peter S. Beagle, Patricia McKillip, Michael Swanwick, Terry Bisson, Jane Yolen, Ellen Klages, Eileen Gunn, Joe Lansdale, Nalo Hopkinson, James Morrow, Lavie Tidhar, an...
May 08, 2025•59 min•Ep. 684
This week Gary and Jonathan are joined by long time friend of the podcast, Joe Abercrombie. We last spoke to Joe during the pandemic when he was working on The Age of Madness series. He joins us this week to discuss his brand new novel The Devils , which launches a new series and a new set of characters. As always, we'd like to thank Joe for making time to join us, and we hope you enjoy the episode. Pre-order The Devils in the UK Gollancz (UK Publisher) Waterstones Waterstones Special Edition WH...
May 01, 2025•58 min•Ep. 683
With Peter Beagle's 86th birthday upon us, we thought we'd re-share a discussion we had with him last year about writing and story. We wish Peter a happy birthday and hope you enjoy the discussion! Sunday Apr 14, 2024 This week we are joined by the legendary author of The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle, who discusses his new novel I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons ( published next month by Saga Press & Gollancz), as well as his storied career, his pals from childhood, influential writers such as ...
Apr 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 682
As we try to return to some sort of regular schedule, we’re delighted to welcome back Joe Monti, vice president and editorial director of Saga Press, to discuss the current state of the publishing business, the effects (if any) of the current economic stresses, and what to look forward to in the coming months (Joe is particularly optimistic about SF and space opera). Along the way we touch on the trend toward glitzy “special editions” of new novels, and various corners of the publishing world, f...
Apr 20, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 681
With apologies for an unplanned hiatus, during which Gary traveled to Florida to attend the International Conference on the Fantastic , we’re back with a discussion that touches upon awards (again, but briefly), SF writers who are also good nonfiction writers, books whose 25th anniversary is this year (including Perdido Street Station ), tribute anthologies such as Jonathan’s forthcoming Revolution in the Heart, and, of course, what we’ve been reading.
Mar 31, 2025•51 min•Ep. 680
This week’s episode features a few news items, but as usual you have to listen closely to find them among our usual free-association digressions. Awards season is underway. Nominations/and or votging for the Nebulas, Locus Awards, and Hugo Awards (once again we are eligible in the Fancast category, and Jonathan in the Editor Short Form category) is underway, and just closed for the BSFA Awards. There's also, news from a major distributor in the US that may mark the beginning of the end of the ma...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 679
Each year, we sit down and look at the year ahead and, inevitably, end up discussing the books we are looking forward to. This year we invited long time friends of the podcast Charlie Jane Anders and Ian Mond to join us. During a lively conversation it became clear that, no matter what else is happening in the world, there's a lot of wonderful work coming out in 2025, and this only scratches the surface of it. As always, our thanks to Charlie Jane and Ian for making the time to join us. As promi...
Feb 02, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 678
For those who might have been hoping our 2025 podcasts might get a little more focused and coherent, our apologies. Following up on several discussions on social media about how to learn about overlooked but deserving novels (mostly fantasy), we speculate on the factors that help a book or author gain and keep some sort of traction. Reprint programs like the Gollancz Masterworks or Tor Essentials might help, but we mention a handful of authors who have written wonderful work that is worth a fres...
Jan 19, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 677
This week’s episode is mostly about books—how do you get them, where do you put them, and how to get rid of them when you need to. You’d think that questions such as the best way to shelve books would be pretty uncontroversial, but apparently that’s not always the case. We also touch upon the differences between collectors, acquirers, and accumulators, and how books can radically fluctuate in value depending in part on the author’s reputation. But, being us, we also digress into such topics as t...
Jan 10, 2025•57 min•Ep. 676
For our first episode of 2025, we touch upon novels we've been reading for the new year, including Charles Stross’s 13th Laundry novel/collection A Conventional Boy and Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried, as well as the frustrations of reading books on deadlines—as opposed to wallowing in them at leisure, and some non-SF writers we like. Gary then mentions how hard it is to gain perspective on novels of the past year, and suggests looking instead at important books of the entire past quarter-c...
Jan 10, 2025•57 min•Ep. 675
For our first episode of 2025, we touch upon novels we've been reading for the new year, including Charles Stross’s 13th Laundry novel/collection A Conventional Boy and Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried, as well as the frustrations of reading books on deadlines—as opposed to wallowing in them at leisure, and some non-SF writers we like. Gary then mentions how hard it is to gain perspective on novels of the past year, and suggests looking instead at important books of the entire past quarter-c...
Jan 06, 2025•57 min•Ep. 674
This week’s episode is mostly about books—how do you get them, where do you put them, and how to get rid of them when you need to. You’d think that questions such as the best way to shelve books would be pretty uncontroversial, but apparently that’s not always the case. We also touch upon the differences between collectors, acquirers, and accumulators, and how books can radically fluctuate in value depending in part on the author’s reputation. But, being us, we also digress into such topics as t...
Dec 24, 2024•57 min•Ep. 671
For our year-end review of 2024 books, we’re joined once again by fellow Locus reviewer Ian Mond and distinguished critic and novelist James Bradley. As usual, we mention a lot of authors and titles, and probably forget to mention many deserving others. But you’ll no doubt find some suggestions you hadn’t thought of, and some of our usual digressions about familiar questions of genre, literary ambition, and books that at least some of us think have been overlooked. Ian's list We probably should ...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 673
At the end of October Reactor published their list of The Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st Century , which attempted to list the best/top/favourite science fiction and fantasy books of the past 25 years. Two weeks later Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy award-winning writer Jo Walton published a follow-on piece on Reactor , On Selecting the Top Ten Genre Books of the First Quarter of the Century , where she discussed how she went about picking her contribution, while finding a cla...
Dec 08, 2024•58 min•Ep. 672
Long time friend of the podcast Joe Monti, who was recently promoted to Vice President, Associate Publisher, and Editorial Director at Saga Press, and is now officially a "Big Cheese', stops by for a wide-ranging chat about the impact of the pandemic and other events on the affordability of books; trends in recent science fiction, fantasy and horror and why science fiction may be set for something of a comeback; the influence (or lack thereof) of awards on book sales; and touches on authors rang...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 670
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic The Dispossessed , we sit down for a chat with award-winning biographer and writer Julie Phillips, author of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon and The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Body Problem . Julie is currently at work on the authorized biography of Le Guin, and her insights from her research and her many discussions with Le Guin—not only regarding Th...
Oct 27, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 669
For our first October episode, we try out another new opening, touch upon the recent catastrophic weather in Florida and the hazards of attempting near future SF in a rapidly changing world, with Norman Spinrad’s Russian Spring as one example. After a brief digression (what else?) on novels that extrapolate political decisions more than technological change—like the two novels that preceded the movie Dr. Strangelove , we touch upon the question of whether J.G. Ballard may catch the current zeitg...
Oct 13, 2024•55 min•Ep. 668
As we gear up for the inevitable year-in-review discussions, and the annual semi-hiatus between the fall and spring convention sessions (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), we return to our familiar questions of canon and influence, noting that while some books seem to drop out of the discussion within months of being published, others,like Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game , continue to generate responses despite controversy. From that, we not-quite-seamlessly segue into a discussion of Harlan ...
Sep 29, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 667
In this episode we are delighted to welcome the extremely talented Emily Tesh , who managed the rare achievement of winning a World Fantasy Award for her first novella Silver in the Wood and a Hugo Award for her first novel, Some Desperate Glory. We touch upon some works that figure in Emily’s approach to science fiction and fantasy, including Orson Scott Card's Ender’s Game and a children's SF novel from the '90s that she wishes someone would remember the title of (if you know it, let us know i...
Sep 15, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 666
With the Glasgow World Science Fiction Convention behind us, and with Gary back in Chicago and Jonathan back in Perth, our faithful podcasters pick up the task once again. This week we are delighted to welcome long-time friend of the podcast, Nalo Hopkinson, who joins us to discuss her brilliant new novel, Blackheart Man , and her soon to be released short story collection, Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions . As always, our thanks to Nalo for making the time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy t...
Sep 07, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 665
The Forever War, the debut novel from US writer Joe Haldeman, was first published by St Martins Press in 1974. It was shortlisted for the Locus Award, and was awarded the Hugo and Nebula Awards as Best SF Novel of the year. It went on to become recognised as an essential classic of the science fiction field, was listed as #1 in the Gollancz Science Fiction Masterworks, and has never been out of print. On a Saturday afternoon at the recent Glasgow World Science Fiction Convention , Jonathan and G...
Aug 13, 2024•57 min•Season 14Ep. 664
With the Glasgow WorldCon just around the corner, Gary and Jonathan turn their attention to plans for the event. In addition to panel appearances, there'll be a special live recording of The Coode Street Podcast where we are joined by Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman, and John Scalzi to discuss 50th anniversary of the publication of The Forever War. Since rambling is unavoidable, there is also a brief discussion of how newer readers discover older SFF texts and writers, both in terms of short fiction ...
Jul 21, 2024•51 min•Ep. 663
We're delighted to welcome a distinguished pair of guests, the legendary Michael Swanwick and writer and critic Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, whose book-length interview Being Michael Swanwick explores Michael’s entire career, and whose debut novel Equimedian has been described as a love letter to the SF of the '70s and '80s. As usual, we wander a bit, discussing not only Michael's life in SF, but how stories are generated, SF and the mainstream, influential editors, what it means to have a career these d...
Jul 14, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 662
