April 30, 2020
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.
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April 29, 2020
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.
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April 28, 2020
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.
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April 27, 2020
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 always, from the socially-distanced Gershwin Room, high above a temporarily shuttered Motel Six, with thanks to each and every one of you.
April 26, 2020
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.
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April 25, 2020
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:
And not mentioned, but advised: If you can, try to find the time and space to read a little poetry every day.
April 24, 2020
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.
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April 23, 2020
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:
Things to watch mentioned include:
- Tiger King
- Peaky Blinders
- NOS4A2 (Season 2)
April 22, 2020
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.
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April 21, 2020
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.
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April 20, 2020
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.
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April 19, 2020
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.
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April 18, 2020
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:
April 17, 2020
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.
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April 16, 2020
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.
In this episode, Gary spends ten minutes with the brilliant writer and critic Gwyneth Jones, whose study of the work of Joanna Russ is nominated for a Hugo Award in the Best Related Work category. We touch upon a classic case or two in psychoanalysis, the early life of novelist George Sand, the reissue of the 'Bold as Love' books in Gollancz's Masterworks series, and of course Joanna Russ and the formative days of feminist SF.
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April 15, 2020
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, Jonathan calls up long-time friend of Coode Street, Ian McDonald, to talk about how current events are impacting reading and working, piracy at sea, research, romance, and his long-awaited (by Jonathan) next novel, Hopeland. There might even have been a moment of congratulations for Ian's recent Hugo nomination for the Luna series!
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April 14, 2020
Ten minutes with... sees Coode Street presenters Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe talk to readers and book lovers from around the world about what they're reading and what's getting them through this strange time.
Today Gary talks to Fran Wilde, fresh off her nominations for a Hugo Award for her story "A Catalog of Storms" and a Lodestar Award for her novel Riverland. We talk a little about Riverland, what’s she’s currently reading (or re-reading, in some cases for her MFA classes at Western Colorado University), the value of poetry in times of stress, and her own forthcoming work.
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April 13, 2020
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 this strange time.
For this episode, Tade Thompson takes time out from his much-appreciated and crucial hospital work to chat with Gary about his recent Hugo nomination for The Wormwood Trilogy, the current situation, what he’s reading and recommending, and a bit on what we can look forward to.
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April 12, 2020
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 this strange time.
This time out, Gary spends ten minutes with Liz Williams. Her new novel, Comet Weather, is one of his favourite novels of this spring. They touch upon the traditions of British magical fiction dating back to Arthur Machen and discuss the work of Robert Holdstock and Graham Joyce, while Liz makes the very good point that no one should be corona-shamed into spending their time reading Proust unless they really want to read Proust.
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April 11, 2020
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 this strange time.
Today, Gary spends ten minutes with Lavie Tidhar, the World Fantasy Award-winning author, discussing his current reading, what he’s looking forward to, and his own rather wonderful reinvention of Arthurian legends,By Force Alone, which was published in the UK last month and is due out this summer in the US (given the ongoing revisions of publishing schedules).
Books mentioned include