The Coode Street Podcast

The Coode Street Podcast episodes:

• 04.21.2024

  Episode 647: Oh no, not us again...

  Once again with no guest to give us focus, Jonathan and Gary return to rambling mode, spurred on by the observation that voting for the 2024 Hugo Awards is now open. This leads to our ongoing discussion of what the Hugo Awards...

  
• 04.14.2024

  Episode 646: Peter S. Beagle and a Life Filled With Story

  Peter S. Beagle joins Gary and Jonathan to discuss his new novel, I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons.

  
• 04.07.2024

  Episode 645: Jack Dann and Fifty Years of Wandering Stars

  Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe talked to award winning writer and editor Jack Dann about his anthology Wandering Stars and Jewish science fiction and fantasy on the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s publication.

  
• 03.23.2024

  Episode 644: Cozy books and a prickly writer

  This time out, Jonathan and Gary consider the meaning of "cozy" (or "cosy") SF and fantasy, and whether cozy horror is even a thing. We trace the term back to cozy mystery novels and Brian W. Aldiss’s characterization of certain...

  
• 03.04.2024

  Episode 643: All Time Top 5s

  Somewhat hesitantly, Jonathan and Gary return to the mics, sans guests, and somehow get into a discussion of various SFF listicles—partly because of Gary’s recent contribution to fivebooks.com of a list of five novels about science fiction. Why are such...

  
• 02.17.2024

  Episode 642: Premee Mohamed and The Butcher of the Forest

  This week Nebula and World Fantasy award winner, Premee Mohamed, joins Gary and Jonathan from somewhere in the wilds of Canada to discuss writing, reading, building a career, and her fabulous new novella, The Butcher of the Forest. We also...

  
• 01.28.2024

  Episode 641: Kelly Link and the love of books

  For our second episode of 2024, we’re joined by the inimitable Kelly Link, whose forthcoming first novel The Book of Love is already receiving stellar advance reviews (including one from Gary in Locus). Kelly explains how the novel evolved, it...

  
• 01.27.2024

  Eating the Fantastic: Episode 217: Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan

  All round good guy Scott Edelman was at the recent World Fantasy Convention, and took Gary and Jonathan out for lunch and a chat. That chat became the latest episode of Eating the Fantastic, Scott's terrific podcast. If you're interested, you can...

  
• 01.21.2024

  Episode 640: A new year begins. Shenanigans ensue?

  And just liked that, our end of year hiatus is over and the Coode Street Podcast is back! Gary and Jonathan return from their annual break and kick off a brand new year with discussions of recent news events in...

  
• 12.17.2023

  Episode 639: A Very Coode Street Gift Guide Roundtable 2023

  For the 2023 instalment of the Very Coode Street Gift Guide, we invited some old friends to share their recommendations of books read in 2023:  Alix E. Harrow (whose very worthy Starling House was a favorite, officially excluded from discussion...

  
• 12.11.2023

  Episode 638: Books that were off our radar

  The end of the year may be fast approaching, but this episode isn’t quite our usual year-in-review discussion (which will come up later), or our books-we’re-looking-forward-to episode. Instead, we spend some time musing about books we maybe should be looking...

  
• 11.26.2023

  Episode 637: A Quick One, While We Wait

  With plans for are promised chat with Elizabeth Hand and Alix E. Harrow on temporary hold, Jonathan and Gary share some pleasant memories of the World Fantasy Convention, muse about whether the nature of conventions has changed in the wake...

  
• 11.11.2023

  Episode 636: Jeffrey Ford, Kij Johnson and the Art of Narrative

  The 2023 World Fantasy Convention was held in Kansas City, Missouri over the weekend of October 26-29 2023. The convention was incredibly kind and generous and featured Jonathan as a guest of honour and Gary as a panelist. During the weekend...

  
• 10.01.2023

  Episode 635: On the nature of purpose in science fiction

  Responding in part to some issues raised by Niall Harrison in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Jonathan and Gary discuss the value and purpose of year’s best anthologies, whether it’s even possible to still represent such a diversified international...

  
• 09.10.2023

  Episode 634: Jack Dann and the Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History

  For this episode, Jonathan and Gary are joined by the distinguished novelist, editor, and scholar Jack Dann, whose new The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History: A Handbook on Craft, Art, and History has just been published by Bloomsbury Academic. Jack...

  
• 09.03.2023

  Episode 633: A classic ramble

  In a return to classic rambling form, Jonathan and Gary begin thinking about the waning months of the year, and the inevitable recommended reading discussions. Jonathan starts off by asking why we always seem to say it was a surprisingly good...

  
• 08.13.2023

  Episode 632: Wole Talabi and Shagidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon

  This week Hugo and Nebula nominee Wole Talabi joins Jonathan and Gary for a wide-ranging discussion celebrating the publication of his wonderful first novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon and his Hugo Award-nominated novelette, "A Dream of Electric...

  
• 07.23.2023

  Episode 631: Awards, debut novels, and science fiction at the moment

  After Gary enjoyed a weekend at Readercon, we’re back with another one-on-one ramble that covers topics from the proliferation of SF awards (and what they really might be for), to some recent and forthcoming books we’re excited about (including Kemi...

  
• 07.09.2023

  Episode 630: Kij Johnson and the Nature of Story

  After an unplanned hiatus, we’re back with the wonderful Kij Johnson, who will be a guest of honour at this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Kansas City this coming October. Small Beer will publish a new collection of Kij's work,...

  
• 06.03.2023

  Episode 629: Ursula Vernon and A Story with Good Bones

  In this episode, Jonathan and Gary have a long overdue extended discussion with the wonderful Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher), whose excellent horror novel A House With Good Bones appeared in late March, and whose thoroughly original imagining of the...

  
• 05.20.2023

  Episode 628: Sarah Pinsker and Lost Places

  Returning after a brief hiatus, Coode Street welcomes the wonderful multiple award-winning Sarah Pinsker, whose new collection Lost Places has just been published by Small Beer Press, and includes the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning “Where Oaken Hearts do Gather.” We...

  
• 04.23.2023

  Episode 627:Kelly Link for the love of a good book

  This week, Jonathan and Gary talk with Kelly Link, whose new collection White Cat, Black Dog is already showing up on bestseller lists. It's her first themed collection, with each of the seven stories linked to a particular fairy tale. We...

  
• 04.10.2023

  Episode 626: Awards season, British criticism and more

  It’s awards season again (or maybe still), so Jonathan and Gary take a moment to remind everyone of the deadlines for nominating candidates for Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, and Nebula Awards, and to discuss briefly a proposal to add a...

  
• 03.06.2023

  Episode 625: Kelly Barnhill and the Mind of a Writer

  This week Jonathan and Gary are joined by World Fantasy and Newbery Award winner Kelly Barnhill, whose When Women Were Dragons was one of last year’s outstanding fantasy novels. We talk about her just-published The Crane Husband, which powerfully combines...

  
• 02.19.2023

  Coode Street 624: On short fiction

  We are always casting around for inspiration. After getting ChatGPT to provide a new introduction for the podcast, Gary and Jonathan kick off a discussion about the health of the short fiction field, the scope and variety of short story...

  
• 02.05.2023

  Episode 623: The 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List

  This week, in our more-or-less annual discussion of the Locus Recommended Reading List, we are delighted to be joined by Locus Editor-in-Chief Liza Groen Trombi. We talk about the purpose of the list, how it has changed over the years, how...

  
• 01.22.2023

  Episode 622: More about space opera

  It's not been that long since they last discussed it, but this week Jonathan and Gary return to the question of space opera, new space opera, and what contemporary SF authors might make of the concept. Is space opera the core...

  
• 01.08.2023

  Episode 621: Coode Street’s Books for Look Forward to in 2023

  To kick off 2023, Jonathan and Gary share their lists of the books that they’re looking forward to reading in 2023. They mention a lot of forthcoming titles, ranging books from old masters like Peter S. Beagle, Howard Waldrop, Joanna Russ,...

  
• 12.24.2022

  Episode 620: A Very Coode Street Advent Bonus: M. Rickert

  There's Christmas and then there's Krampus. Here at Coode Street, there's nothing quite like a little bit more, and as a very special holiday bonus Gary sat down with the wonderful M. Rickert to talk about what she'd been reading,...

  
• 12.23.2022

  Episode 619: And Happy Holidays to all!

  And that's a wrap. Time to hang up the headphones and take a short break. The Coode Street Podcast is going on hiatus for the remainder of 2022 and will return early in 2023. Just before the Gershwin Room closes for...

  
• 12.23.2022

  Episode 618: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Elizabeth Hand

  And so we come to the final episode of the 2022 Coode Street Advent Calendar. Gary sits down to chat with a dear friend of the podcast, Elizabeth Hand, about what she's been reading, what she'd recommend, her holiday recommendations,...

  
• 12.22.2022

  Episode 617: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: N K Jemisin

  Way back in March 2020 we sat down with N.K. Jemisin to talk about her then-new fantasy novel, The City We Became. It was great. Then we had a whole pandemic, so we thought we'd check in to see how...

  
• 12.21.2022

  Episode 616: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Tochi Onyebuchi

  We spoke with Tochi Onyebuchi back in 2020 as part of "Ten Minutes with...", when his award-winning novella Riot Baby was still new in the world. Since then Tochi's been busy but has still managed to deliver another incredible novel,...

  
• 12.20.2022

  Episode 615: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Nghi Vo

  Although Nghi Vo published her first short story all the way back in 2007, it's only been in the last five years that she's really grabbed everyone's attention, first with the 'Singing Hills' cycle of novellas, then with her stunning...

  
• 12.19.2022

  Episode 614: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: John Clute

  There are friends of the Podcast, and then there's family. We've been talking to the great and glorious John Clute -- writer, critic, encyclopedist, and more -- since 2010. Whether it's been about events at the SF Encyclopedia, happenings in SF,...

  
• 12.19.2022

  Episode 613: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Naseem Jamnia

  Depending on where you are in the world the weather is either turning chilly or it's becoming warm and sunny, but either way, it's not long till the end of our Advent Calendar. Today Gary talks to Naseem Jamnia about...

  
• 12.17.2022

  Episode 612: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: John Kessel

  John Kessel has long been a favourite of the podcast. We spoke to him in July about his major new retrospective short story collection, The Best Short Fiction of John Kessel, so it's no real surprise that he's part of our...

  
• 12.16.2022

  Episode 611: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Neon Yang

  With a week left to go in the Advent Calendar, Jonathan sits down with Neon Yang to discuss what they've been reading, what they've read that they'd recommend, their holiday recommendations, and their exciting debut novel, space opera The Genesis...

  
• 12.16.2022

  Episode 610: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Richard Butner

  The Coode Street Advent Calendar rolls on through December and today Gary sits down with Shirley Jackson and Locus Award nominee Richard Butner to discuss what he's been reading, what he'd recommend, his holiday reads, and his wonderful new collection,...

  
• 12.14.2022

  Episode 609: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Lavie Tidhar

  We're halfway through December and more than halfway through our Advent Calendar. Today Gary sits down with one of the most interesting and diversely creative writers working in science fiction today, Lavie Tidhar, about his new novels Neom and Maror,...

  
• 12.13.2022

  Episode 608: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Sarah Tolmie

  Gary K. Wolfe talks to Sarah Tomie about her new novella.

  
• 12.12.2022

  Episode 607: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Christopher Rowe

  Jonathan Strahan talks Christopher Rowe

  
• 12.11.2022

  Episode 606: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: C S E Cooney

  Jonathan Strahan talks to novelist CSE Cooney.

  
• 12.10.2022

  Episode 605: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Alix E. Harrow

  The Advent Calendar rolls on  as we move through the holidays towards year's end. Today Jonathan calls up good friend of the podcast and all-round wonderful person Alix E. Harrow to talk about what she's been reading (lots!), what she'd...

  
• 12.09.2022

  Episode 604: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Charlie Jane Anders

  Gary K. Wolfe talks to Charlie Jane Anders.

  
• 12.08.2022

  Episode 603: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Stephanie Feldman

  With the Coode Street Advent Calendar now in its second half, Gary sits down with the terrific Stephanie Feldman, the author of Who Will Speak for America? and  Angel of Losses, to talk about what she's been reading, what she'd recommend,...

  
• 12.07.2022

  Episode 602: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Kelly Robson

  As we get towards day 12 and the halfway mark of the Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls up Canada and talks to the always fabulous Kelly Robson about what she's been reading, what she'd recommend, what she's working on, and her...

  
• 12.06.2022

  Episode 601: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Liz Williams

  Gary K Wolfe talks to Liz Williams as pat of the Coode Street Advent Calendar.

  
• 12.05.2022

  Episode 600: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Guy Gavriel Kay

  It's fitting that the tenth day of the Advent Calendar, which is also the 600th (!!) official episode of The Coode Street Podcast, should feature a dear friend, Guy Gavriel Kay, who chats with Jonathan about what he's been reading...

  
• 12.04.2022

  Episode 599: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Rachel Swirsky

  Gary K. Wolfe talks to Rachel Swirsky on Day 9 of the Advent Calendar.