Episodes
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1.6, Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow
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...
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3.5, In Conversation with Ted Chiang: "The Great Silence"
Most people may know about Ted from “The Story of Your Life” which was filmed as Arrival, but his reputation with readers and writers as a top tier craftsman of the short form was well established before then. We had the pleasure of asking Ted some questions about a short (very short!) piece of…
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1.5, Discussion of Greg Egan's "The Planck Dive" and Others
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…
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3.4b. In Conversation with Kij Johnson
“The Privilege of the Happy Ending” Rounding off our triad of podcasts about the end of the world as we know it, we are honoured to welcome Kij Johnson to discuss her apocalypse-themed fantasy story (with strong hints of science fiction!) “The Privilege of the Happy Ending”. The research, the...
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3.4a In Conversation with Daryl Gregory
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” Even better than reading an excellent story is discussing with the author how and why they wrote it! We are so pleased to have Daryl Gregory with us to discuss the nuances, secrets and personal touches in his apocalypse-themed science fiction story “Nine Last Days...
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3.4, The Everyday Apocalypse
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” by Daryl Gregory and “The Privilege of the Happy Ending” by Kij Johnson Apocalypse now, or some day soon when we least expect it? Karen and Karen compare and contrast two very different stories with a common theme – the end of the world as we know it. But…
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1.4 Broadber, The Rainmaker's Mistake
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…
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3.3, Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience (TM)
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...
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1.3, Ted Chiang and Greg Egan's Crystal Nights
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”.
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1.2, Edgar Mittelholzer’s My Bones and My Flute
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...
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Wrinkle in Time Discussion, Book and Movie
When a dearly loved but challenging book becomes a movie, where do you set your expectations? Karen and Karen discuss the alchemy of transmuting text to screen and the choices that must be made if the story is to not merely translate, but flourish. We also talk about how much the book meant to us...
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1.1, "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang
We’ll be discussing contemporary hard sf and Caribbean speculative fiction over the course of our new, twice-monthly podcast. We spend most of this first episode discussing “Exhalation” and the collection Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang.
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Black Panther Discussion
A Marvel movie, an afrofuturistic dream, a box office phenomenon… and more? We take a side step from page to screen to comment on the many ways that Black Panther works, and works well. A few things are mentioned during the podcast that you may want to read about in greater detail: Ytasha…
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About this show
In SF Crossing the Gulf, award-winning author Karen Lord (Barbados) and critic Karen Burnham (Michigan) discuss international speculative fiction--stories, novels, movies, and more.
Hosted by
Karen Burnham
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