The Coode Street Podcast

Episode 471: Ten Minutes with Alaya Dawn Johnson

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 is Day 97 of ten minutes with ... and as the end approaches Jonathan is spending ten minutes or so talking with Nebula Award winner Alaya Dawn Johnson about reading and working during these strange times, moving to a new environment, the challenges in writing novels at all, and her powerful new novel, Trouble the Saints. 

Books mentioned include:

• Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
• The Wicked King by Holly Black
• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
• How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black
• Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
• The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

Episode 470: Ten Minutes with Premee Mohamed

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 exciting debut novelist Premee Mohamed about reading, writing, and working during the pandemic; the work of Alan Moore, Umberto Eco, and Amitav Ghosh; the experience of publishing her debut novel in 2020; and how it was to effectively collaborate with her younger self on Beneath the Rising and writing A Broken Darkness.

Books mentioned include:

• Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
• A Broken Darkness by Premee Mohamed
• Jerusalem by Alan Moore
• Chronicles of a Liquid Society by Umberto Eco
• Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

Episode 469: SF, 2020, and the Anxiety of Influence

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!

Episode 468: Ten Minutes with Tad Williams

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

Episode 467: Ten Minutes with Stefen Brazulaitis and Tim 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.

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. 

Episode 466: Ten Minutes with Ursula Vernon

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 by Alvin Schwartz 

Episode 465: Ten Minutes with Walter Jon Williams

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

Episode 464: Ten Minutes with Derek Künsken

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