The Coode Street Podcast

Coode Street Roundtable 2: Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky

Welcome to the second episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. 

Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky

This month Coode Street co-host Gary Wolfe joins us to discuss All the Birds in the Sky, the second novel from Hugo Award winning author Charlie Jane Anders. It's a warm, humane, funny, and genuinely engaging novel described by its publisher as follows:

From the editor-in-chief of io9.com, a stunning novel about the end of the world--and the beginning of our future...

Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn't expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one's peers and families.

But now they're both adults, living in the hipster mecca San Francisco, and the planet is falling apart around them. Laurence is an engineering genius who's working with a group that aims to avert catastrophic breakdown through technological intervention. Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the world's magically gifted, and works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world's every-growing ailments. Little do they realize that something bigger than either of them, something begun years ago in their youth, is determined to bring them together--to either save the world, or plunge it into a new dark ages.

A deeply magical, darkly funny examination of life, love, and the apocalypse.

We discuss the novel in detail, including how the story develops and ends. If you're keen to avoid spoilers, we recommend reading the book before listening to the episode. If you don't already have a copy, All the Birds in the Sky can be ordered from:

• amazon.com
• amazon.com.au
• amazon.co.uk

We encourage all of our listeners to leave comments here and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible.

Next month

The Coode Street Roundtable will return at the end of March with a discussion of a book to be announced shortly.

Episode 269: Creating the Fantasy Canon

Last year, at the World Fantasy Convention held in Saratoga Springs, a panel was presented on 'Creating the Fantasy Canon'.  The panel description was:

There are some books we all agree on as fundamental to the genre, but can we agree on a canon of twenty stories? Our panelists will discuss which twenty books are essential reading for understanding the genre and how this list has changed over time.

Jonathan from the Coode Street Podcast was cast in the role of moderator, and the panelists for the discussion were John Clute, Michael Dirda, Yanni Kuznia, Gary Wolfe, and Ron Yaniv.

The conversation that unfolded was energetic, thoughtful and entertaining, and even if it didn't resolve the question, it nonetheless was something we at Coode St thought you might enjoy.

The Coode Street Podcast team would like to thank the administrators of the World Fantasy convention for permission to present the panel here, and would specially like to thank sound expert Paul Kraus for his hard work on making sure the recording was as good as it is.

As always, we hope you enjoy the episode!

Episode 268: Peter Straub and Interior Darkness

This week we are joined by World Fantasy Award Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and long-time friend of the podcast Peter Straub, to discuss his brand new short story collection Interior Darkness, writing, genre, music, and much, much more.

As always, we would like to thank Peter for making the time to join us on the podcast and hope you enjoy the episode.

Episode 267: Neil Clarke and Short Fiction

This week we are joined by multiple award-winning editor and publisher Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld magazine, discussing his provocative October 2015 editorial concerning the state of short fiction venues in SF, the question of whether so many venues dilutes the quality of fiction in the field or simply broadens its base, and how conditions today compare with the SF world of the 1980s as described by Mike Ashley in his magisterial history Science Fiction Rebels: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1981 to 1990, which both Jonathan and Gary are currently reading.

As always, our sincere thanks to Neil for making time to appear on the podcast. We hope you'll enjoy the episode!

Episode 266: Prolificity and Academia

Tonight we discuss, as we do all too often, the beginning of the awards season, as well as the sometimes problematical Hugo category of Best Related Work, the question of authors who are so prolific that new readers may feel intimidated, and some of the parameters of who and who should not be covered in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series of books, of which Gary has recently assumed editorship.

As  always, we hope you enjoy the episode.

Coode Street Roundtable 1: Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself

Welcome to the first episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a new monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel. 

Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself

This month James, Ian, and Jonathan discuss The Thing Itself, the latest novel from British Science Fiction and John Campbell Memorial Award winning author Adam Roberts.  The Thing Itself is a powerful and engaging novel described by its publisher as follows: 

“Adam Roberts turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters' The Thing. 

Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book - by the philosopher Kant. 

As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.” 

The Thing Itself has been reviewed by Locus Online and Tor.com. You can order copies of the book from:

• amazon.com
• amazon.com.au
• amazon.co.uk

We encourage all of our listeners to leave comments here and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible.

Next month

The Coode Street Roundtable will return at the end of February with a discussion of Charlie Jane Anders's second novel, All the Birds in the Sky. 

Episode 265: David Hartwell and the beginning of 2016

For our first podcast recorded in 2016, beginning our sixth year, we discuss the remarkable career of David G. Hartwell, the role of editors in shaping science fiction, the forthcoming Hugo Awards nominations and MidAmericon, the World Fantasy Convention, and the significance of science fiction of the the 1980s—both as it appeared then and as it appears to us now.

We spoke to David Hartwell for Episode 158. 

Episode 264: Glen Cook and Steven Erikson

Continuing the series of podcasts we recorded in Saratoga Springs at the World Fantasy Convention, we sat down with distinguished fantasy writers Glen Cook and Steven Erikson, discussing the genesis of Cook's influential Black Company and Dread Empire series and other novels, and Erikson's hugely popular Malazan Book of the Fallen. In addition to their approaches to character and world-building, they offer insights into how Steve's background in archaeology influenced his work, and what it was like for Glen to live with Fritz Leiber many years ago.

Our thanks to Glen and Steve for making time in their busy schedules as guests of honour at WFC2015 to sit down and talk to us for the podcast. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode.