The Coode Street Podcast

With our customary meticulous planning, we manage this week to veer from the topic of what causes you to bounce off a particular book—or to keep reading—to the Clarke Awards, which will be announced in a few weeks (Gary volunteered to be on the Shadow Jury this year), to the question of how mainstream writers handle science fiction or fantasy elements in their fiction, and then to the issue of why many excellent British or Australian writers have either failed to gain much traction in the U.S., or in some cases seem to have lost the traction they once enjoyed.  In other words, we had no idea where we were going until we got there. 

This week Gary and Jonathan spend some time discussing the work and legacy of Gardner Dozois (1947-2018), who died recently. A friend and colleague, Gardner was also a brilliant writer, a perceptive critic, a skilled story doctor and possibly the most influential editor in the history of science fiction. His three novels, several short story collections, and well over a hundred anthologies will stand the test of time, with the 35 volume The Year's Best Science Fiction and his nearly 20 years as editor of Asimov's Science Fiction standing at the heart of his legacy. He was also kind, supportive, and enormously good fun. He'll be sorely missed by everyone who knew him.

This week’s episode ranges from a discussion about the growing importance of novellas and their advantages both for readers and writers, the difficult question of which story you might pick to introduce a new reader to a favourite author, the importance of distinctive voices in both short fictions and novels, the upcoming 87th birthday of the great Gene Wolfe, and James Cameron's new TV documentary on SF, which features appearance from several SF writers and critics, including Gary. Then Jonathan springs on Gary the question of what his favourite book is, so Gary tossed it right back to Jonathan. We both came up with answers that date back to our respective childhoods. In addition to Gene Wolfe, some of the authors mentioned include R.A. Lafferty, Ted Chiang, Margo Lanagan, Kelly Link, Robert A. Heinlein, T.H. White, Sam J. Miller, Kate Wilhelm, Ursula Le Guin, Andy Duncan, Howard Waldrop, Catherynne Valente, Jeffrey Ford, Lavie Tidhar, John Varley, James Patrick Kelly, Alec Nevala-Lee, and Joseph Heller. In other words, another ramble.

This week, the always bustling Coode Street Motel battles technical difficulties, sound dropouts, and other gremlins of the Skypesphere to welcome Sam J. Miller, whose Blackfish City is just out, and whose young adult novel The Art of Starving received great notices last year. We discuss balancing his day job as a community organizer with his fiction, the genesis of his new novel in a couple of earlier short stories, the writers who made him want to become one, the arbitrary nature of classifying stories as SF, horror, fantasy, YA, etc., and even the choice of pronouns in describing particular characters. As always, our thanks to Sam and we hope you enjoy the episode.

Gary was looking through the books that seem to tumble endlessly through his front door for review and came across a new edition of David R. Bunch's classic story collection, Moderan, which is set to be re-released by New York Review Books this coming August with an introduction by Jeff VanderMeer.  It led to a conversation about to whether there's an art to re-reading books, how you should go about republishing classic books, and much more.  We also snuck in an apology or two at the very end of the episode. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. See you next week (in all of our lo-fi glory).

This week, Jonathan and Gary discuss the parameters of climate-influenced SF, the usefulness or not of the term 'cli-fi' (with increasing numbers of SF works set all or partly in the Arctic or Antarctic) and, inevitably, the beginning of the awards season, with the Aurealis and Ditmar awards, the BSFA awards,  and the nominees announced this past weekend for the 2018 Hugos. Who is being celebrated on the ballot, and which works were we surprised to see omitted? As always, we hope you enjoy the episode! Correction and apology During this episode we use the incorrect gender pronouns for Yoon Ha Lee. We used she/her when we should have used he/him. We apologise unreservedly for this, and will be sure to correct it in future episodes.

Gary is back from the International Conference on the Fantastic in Orlando, where he chatted quite a bit with guests of honour John Kessel and Nike Sulway while managing to not attend some very interesting talks and panels. We touch upon the problems of identifying an SF audience in today’s fluid environment, and the feeling of some older writers that their books may be no longer part of the overall discussion. But is there an overall discussion anymore? Has the SF readership atomized into so many different readerships, some more vertical than horizontal, that even when senior writers are still being read widely, it’s difficult to find out who those readers are.  Have we gotten to the point of “everyone their own canon,” where only a handful of books each year make it into the general discussion of where SF is headed?

With nominations for the 2018 Hugo Awards closing shortly, Jonathan and Gary headed to the Gershwin Room to discuss nominating for the Hugos, the recent proposal to change the name of the young adult (not a Hugo) award and to discuss at length their respective nominees for the 2018 World Fantasy Awards.  Towards the end of the podcast, Jonathan and Gary became aware of the sad news that Kate Wilhelm had died, and spend some time remembering one of the most important SF and mystery writers of the 20th century. We don't usually get to this, but in a rare moment of organisation, we're providing a combined copy of Jonathan and Gary's draft World Fantasy ballots below. These will change (they're drafts) but it may serve as a useful pointer to some good reading etc. As always we hope you enjoy the episode. More next week!   World Fantasy Awards 2018 Life Achievement Gardner Dozois Howard Waldrop Novel Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, John Crowley (Saga) Wintertide, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com) The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss (Saga) A Skinful of Shadows, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan; Amulet) The River Bank, Kij Johnson (Small Beer) The Night Ocean, Paul La Farge (Penguin) The Changeling, Victor LaValle (Spiegel and Grau) The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, Philip Pullman (Knopf; Fickling UK)   Long Fiction The Twilight Pariah, Jeffrey Ford (Tor.com Publishing) Mapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com Publishing) Agents of Dreamland, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Tor.com Publishing) Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing) Mightier than the Sword, K.J. Parker (Subterranean) The Process is a Process (All its Own), Peter Straub (Subterranean)   Short Fiction “Probably Still the Chosen One“, Kelly Barnhill (Lightspeed 2/17) "This is Our Town", John Crowley (Totalitopia) “Come See the Living Dryad“, Theodora Goss (Tor.com 3/9/17) “The Faerie Tree“, Kathleen Kayembe (Lightspeed 11/17) “The Smoke of Gold Is Glory“, Scott Lynch (The Book of Swords) "The Resident", Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties) "Sidewalks", Maureen F. McHugh (Omni) “Carnival Nine“, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17) "The Lamentation of Their Women", Kai Ashante Wllson (Tor.com)    Anthology The New Voices of Fantasy, Peter S. Beagle & Jacob Weisman eds (Tachyon) Black Feathers, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Pegasus) Mad Hatters and March Hares: All-New Stories from the World of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Ellen Datlow ed. (Tor) The Book of Swords, Gardner Dozois, ed. (Bantam; HarperCollins UK) The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories, Mahvesh Murad & Jared Shurin, eds. (Solaris US; Solaris UK)   Collection You Should Come With Me Now, M. John Harrison (Comma) Dear Sweet Filthy World, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean) Wicked Wonders, Ellen Klages (Tachyon) Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf) Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers, Tim Powers (Baen) Tender: Stories, Sofia Samata (Small Beer) The Emerald Circus and Other Stories, Jane Yolen (Tachyon)   Artist Rovina Cai Kathleen Jennings Gregory Manchess Victo Ngai Omar Rayyan   Special Award, Professional Irene Gallo, for Tor.com Publishing Joe Monti and Navah Wolfe for editing Saga Press Jonathan Oliver for editing at Solaris The Locus Publications editorial team for Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Fields   Special Award, Non-professional Scott H. Andrews for Beneath Ceaseless Skies  

When Carmen Maria Machado's debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was shortlisted for the National Book Award it went to the top of everybody's "to read" piles. A smart, sensitive and thoughtful look at issues to do with sex, gender, violence and horror, it proved to be one of the very best books of 2017, and one that's sure to hold everyone's attention through 2018. This week Carmen was kind enough to join Gary and Jonathan on the podcast to discuss her work, her reading and writing life, and much more.  Our thanks to Carmen for making the time to talk to us. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode.

Every year Gary and Jonathan sit down and start talking about "awards season", a short period in the science fiction year that runs from February to November where we take time out to recognise all of the excellent work published in the preceding year.   This year they're getting to the job late, having already missed the announcement of the Crawford, the BSFA, and the Stoker ballots. Still, just in the nick of time, they take a moment to discuss possible 2018 Hugo Awards nominees, or at least possible fiction nominees, along with some encouragement for listeners to read, watch, and listen widely, and then nominate what they loved.