The Writer and the Critic

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, start off with a brief but somewhat sad announcement before moving straight into a discussion of this month's books: Confessions by Kanae Minato [4:45] and White Tears by Hari Kunzru [42:00].

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:17:10 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion next month's are two debut novels:

• How to Bee by Bren MacDibble

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin with an admission: Ian was wrong! He got the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize wrong! He got the longlist for the National Book Award wrong! What is he even doing talking about literature at all? Nevertheless, the two books on the slab this month remain The Fisherman by John Langan [9:00] and By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente [42:25].

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:12:25 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion next month's are two horror/dark novels:

• White Tears by Hari Kunzru

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

This month on The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin by announcing the two patron-voted books which will be featured in the upcoming Patron's Choice episode in September. There is also some discussion of the recently announced Man Booker longlist because IAN WAS RIGHT and both the novels featured THIS month are on the list! Those novel are of course The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead [11:30] and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid [1:01:00].

For readers interested in spec-fic-skewed novels in a similar vein, Ian highly recommends the following:

• Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:47:40 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion on next month's Patron's Choice episode are:

• The Fisherman by John Langan

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, announce the list of nominated books for the upcoming Patron's Choice episode in September. If you're a Patron with voting rights, get thee to the Patreon website to access the poll and choose which book you'd like them to discuss. The two books on the slab this month are two Finnish novels, City of Woven Streets by Emmi Itäranta [13:40] and Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff [43:35]. There is some relatively spoiler-free discussion about the similarities between the two beginning at [7:30].

• Brit Mandelo's review of Maresi on Tor.com

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:24:45 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion next month are:

• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin with a brief chat about the recent Continuum 13 convention and highly recommend their listeners check out the fabulous Guest of Honour speeches which are now available for viewing online:

• Likhain's Continuum 13 Guest of Honour Speech

They then move on to discuss the two featured books for this month: Hurricane Heels by Isabel Yap [7:10] and Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Charles Tan [41:40].

Listeners might also like to read the following related articles/interviews:

• Hurricane Heels: How It Happened by Isabel Yap

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:27:45 for final remarks. Also, the annual Patron's Choice episode is coming up in a couple of months, so please check out the Patreon website to see if you are eligible to nominate books for The Writer and the Critic to discuss. Next month, Kirstyn and Ian will be looking at two Finnish novels:

• Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff    

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin by talking about the recent Aurealis Awards - in particular the categories of Best Horror Novel and Best Fantasy Novel, the winners of which have been chosen for this month's discussion. The full list of Aurealis Award winners can be found on the official website.

The novels for this episode are: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (Best Fantasy Novel) [22:00] and The Grief Hole by Kaaron Warren (Best Horror Novel) [57:30].

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:33:30 for final remarks. Next month, Ian and Kirstyn are reading short fiction again with an anthology and a collection of interconnected stories:

• Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Charles Tan

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, are looking at two Australian speculative fiction novels. But first, they would like to congratulate all winners of the Aurealis Awards and also thank people for nominating this podcast for a Ditmar Award. So much bookish love! After a brief discussion of awards -- very brief, they promise! -- they turn to the books at hand: Crossroads of Canopy by Thoraiya Dyer [8:10] and The Swan Book by Alexis Wright [53:40].

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:38:00 for final remarks. Next month, Ian and Kirstyn have chosen two recent Aurealis Award winners to discuss:

• Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (Best Fantasy Novel)

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, discuss the two chosen novels pretty much concurrently. Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor and Rosewater by Tade Thompson are both alien invasion novel set in Nigeria and the conversation around them begins at 3:20. Please note, due to some technical difficulties there were a couple of audio dropouts mid-discussion ... Kirstyn and Ian blame the aliens!

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:13:45 for some brief final remarks, including a recommendation to check out SavidgeReads on YouTube. Simon Savidge is smart, funny and delightfully bookish! Next month, the two books up for discussion will be:

• The Swan Book by Alexis Wright

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

This month on The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, plunge straight into discussing the two chosen books, Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck [2:50] and The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo [47:00].

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:32:10 for some brief final remarks, including an impromptu lesson about gaslighting. The two books up for discussion on the next episode are:

• Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

This month on The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, plunge straight into discussing two short story collections, Bødy by Asa Nonami [2:30] and Ghost Summer: Stories by Tananarive Due [48:15].

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:33:00 for some brief final remarks. The two books up for discussion on the next episode are:

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!