We loved the book, we were in awe of the author, and we spoke with fluid eloquence (relative to previous podcasts!) about our love and awe. There’s so much here: characterization, colonialism, theology, and even a good sense of humor. With all the rich detail contained in this novel it took our longest podcast yet to even begin to wrap our arms around it. Many thanks to Cheryl Morgan for helping to clean up the audio!

Lord urged Burnham not to be modest about the fact that she has spent over three years researching Egan’s fiction. With her knowledge of Egan’s entire fictional universe(s), she prevented Lord from making assumptions based on the snapshot of a single short story. They acknowledge that they omitted some of Egan’s best work because they chose stories available for free on the internet:

“The Planck Dive”

Lord feared this unapologetically Caribbean book would be too challenging for readers lacking the historical and cultural context, but Burnham took to it like a duck to water and offered some important insights from the point of view of a non-West Indian and a genre reader.

Click here for a reading and interview with Erna Brodber, and links to other interviews, reviews and resources. Dr Brodber won the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize in 2017 and has received several awards for her work throughout her career.

Welcome to your authentic Crossing the Gulf experience! In one of our favourite discussions to date, Karen and Karen summarise, assess, dissect and digest the multiple-award-winning short story “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™” by Rebecca Roanhorse. This richly layered and nuanced story rewards on so many levels. We provide perspectives from our own experiences, alternating roles as insider and outsider.

Reference is made to the film The Thirteenth Floor (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteenth_Floor)

Running out of time for Ted Chiang during Episode 1 proved an advantage as Lord and Burnham spent Episode 3 comparing and contrasting his work with Greg Egan’s “Crystal Nights”.

Lord first encountered this Mittelholzer ghost story in secondary school English Literature. Published in 1955, it is one of the classics of the Caribbean literary canon and a perfect start to any discussion of Caribbean speculative fiction. A ghost/thriller novel, it sparks discussions ranging from the craft of writing to expressions of racism and misogyny. A new reprint is now available from Peepal Tree Press.