The Coode Street Podcast

Episode 670: Why is some work overlooked

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 fresh look, including Tanith Lee, Michael Bishop, Lisa Goldstein, Tim Powers, Michael Moorcock, Graham Joyce, and others. We also touch upon the notion of formula in SF and fantasy, and end with some of our current reading.

Episode 666: In which we discuss what to do with books

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 the thrill of discovering a classic SF idea for the first time—even if it might seem old hat to veteran readers—and the beginnings of our discussion about year-end recommended reading lists, and what they really mean.

Episode 669: On the importance of books and the beginning of a new year

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-century from the perspective of 2025.  We only got partway through his list, which included novels by Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Octavia Butler, M. John Harrison, Margaret Atwood, Susanna Clarke, Gene Wolfe, Cixin Liu, and Robert Charles Wilson; collections by Kelly Link, Margo Lanagan, and Jeff Ford; anthologies by Sheree R. Thomas and Gardner Dozois—the last of which leads to a discussion of the durability of space opera as a defining SF theme. Plenty of stuff to argue with this week!

Episode 669: On the importance of books and the beginning of a new year

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-century from the perspective of 2025.  We only got partway through his list, which included novels by Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Octavia Butler, M. John Harrison, Margaret Atwood, Susanna Clarke, Gene Wolfe, Cixin Liu, and Robert Charles Wilson; collections by Kelly Link, Margo Lanagan, and Jeff Ford; anthologies by Sheree R. Thomas and Gardner Dozois—the last of which leads to a discussion of the durability of space opera as a defining SF theme. Plenty of stuff to argue with this week!

Episode 666: In which we discuss what to do with books

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 the thrill of discovering a classic SF idea for the first time—even if it might seem old hat to veteran readers—and the beginnings of our discussion about year-end recommended reading lists, and what they really mean.

Episode 668: The Year in Books with James Bradley and Ian Mond

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 have kept lists, but we did not. Ian did, though, and so that's provided to you with our thanks to him.

• Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
• Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea by C.D. Rose
• The Repeat Room by Jesse Ball
• State of Paradise by Laura van den Berg
• Changes in the Land by Matthew Cheney
• Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer
• Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum
• The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
• City of Dancing Gargoyles by Tara Campbell

Episode 667: Jo Walton and the most iconic books of the 21st century

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 classic reader's workaround that allowed her to name a lot more than ten books.

That caught Locus reviewer Niall Harrison's attention and lead directly to us inviting Jo to join us for a delightful and really interesting conversation on the subject.

While we hope you enjoy the podcast, we have to mention their were some audio difficulties. We've done the very best we can to make everything work, but we do apologise for any audio issues you experience while listening to the episode.

Episode 665: Joe Monti and the State of Things

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 ranging from Cixin Liu and N.K. Jemisin to William Gibson and Ursula K. Le Guin.

As always, Joe’s broad experience as publisher, agent, and bookseller provides some unique insights as to what’s going on and we think makes for fascinating listening as we move towards the end of the year.