The Coode Street Podcast

There really wasn't much excuse, except that our two heroes found themselves in the Gershwin Room with no idea at all about what they would discuss and so, with apologies, they ended up discussing awards again.  It wasn't intended, the discussion is being had elsewhere anyway, and solemn promises have been made that it will not happen again (at least for a while). If, however, this doesn't put you off, then sit back and relax while Gary and Jonathan discuss just what the point of awards is anyway and whether there's anything left to say about science fiction.

This week we invited award-winning writer and anthologist Nalo Hopkinson to join us in the Waldorf Room to discuss her writing career, science fiction and fantasy, her upcoming visit to Australia as Guest of Honour at Conflux: The Australian National Science Fiction Convention, and her new novel Sister Mine. We'd like to thank Nalo for being a wonderful guest and, as always, hope you enjoy the podcast.

This morning Lonestarcon, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention, released the 2013 Hugo Awards Ballots.  The Coode Street Podcast was nominated for Best Fancast, and we would like to thank everyone who nominated us. As part of the Hugo Awards discussions, we invited fellow nominee and Coode Street regular Kij Johnson, to join us in the Waldorf Room once more to chat about the ballot, the nominees, and all things Hugo. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast.

Returning from a brief hiatus, this week the Coode Street team avoided the Gershwin Room, instead heading down to Florida for the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, where Gary persuaded Joe and Gay Haldeman to join us on the podcast to discuss The Forever War, the writing life and the soon to be published retrospective short story collection, The Best of Joe Haldeman.  As always, we'd like to thank Joe and Gay, and hope you enjoy the podcast.

Back from Gotham and certain celebrations, Gary joins Jonathan in the Gershwin Room to discuss the newly released Tiptree shortlist, Hugo nominations, and to start what will be a continuing discussing of grimdark fantasy. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast!

In amongst life's many demands, the intrepid Coode Street team, madly humming the theme to the Muppet Show, once again ascended to the Waldorf Room to take in the view and to discuss science fiction's many pleasures. This time they touch on a new collection of Algis Budrys reviews, Benchmarks Continued, recently published by Ansible Publications, criticism generally, and the newly released Nebula Awards ballot. As always, they hope you enjoy the podcast!

This week Gary and Jonathan are joined in the Waldorf Room by the fabulous Cecelia Holland, leading historical novelist and author of Floating Worlds among many, many other fine books, to discuss writing, fantasy, and historical fiction. The podcast features a close to spoiler free  discussion of River of Stars, the excellent new novel from Guy Gavriel Kay which is due out in April.  We'd also like to point out that there will be detailed reviews of  f River of Stars from both Gary and Cecelia in the April issue of Locus. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast!

Once again, with almost no preparation, we head up to the Gershwin Room and end up discussing reviewing, digital texts, and other related issues. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast.

This week the Coode Street team headed back to the Waldorf Room high in the Coode Street Motel Six to discuss the annual Locus Year in Review issue, the publishing industry, and other matters.  We also briefly discuss two forthcoming novels, Guy Gavriel Kay's River of Stars and Charles Stross's Neptune's Brood. The Locus Recommended Reading List is online, as is the annual Locus Poll and a list of links to recommended short fiction.  As discussed during the episode, both Gary Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan work for Locus and were actively involved in compiling the recommended reading list.  You can subscribe to Locus here. The Year in Review issue is available as the start of a subscription or as a stand-alone issue. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast!

Back to the Waldorf Room where, in troubled times, the Coode Street podcast team meet to discuss publishing artifacts as framing devices, Bruce Sterling's new book, awards eligibility and possibly other stuff.  We even shamelessly mention that this podcast is eligible for Hugo Award nomination (you have been warned). As always, we hope you enjoy the digression.