Episodes
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Episode 734: In which not a lot of sense is made
This week we touch upon some old questions about science fiction, including the notion of the publishing “ghetto” and whether it still exists in the form that SF writers used to complain about, with mainstream bestsellers drawing freely on SF tropes. Then we ask whether writers like Emily St.…
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Episode 733: Wole Talabi, The Fist of Memory and the Importance of Connectedness
This week, with Gary in Oakland for the 2026 World Fantasy Convention, we’re delighted to welcome Wole Talabi back to Coode Street to discuss his new novel, The Fist of Memory, a fascinating blend of science fiction, African cosmology, political intrigue, and first contact. We talk about bringing...
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Episode 732: Reading, genre and more
As we move into October and the end of the year begins to come into view, we sit down to talk about whether the SF ghetto still exists, especially after M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and whether SF itself has become thoroughly integrated into...
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Episode 732: Reading, genre and more (reissue)
As we move into October and the end of the year begins to come into view, we sit down to talk about whether the SF ghetto still exists, especially after M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and whether SF itself has become thoroughly integrated into...
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Episode 731: Cadwell Turnbull and a change of perspective
Coode Street picks up our recent conversation about short fiction with James Patrick Kelly and Michael Swanwick with Cadwell Turnbull, whose excellent short fiction collection All the Hidden Places is one of the highlights of the year and is out this month. As always, our conversation wanders a...
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Episode 730: James Patrick Kelly, Michael Swanwick and The Book of Bots
This week’s episode is a wide-ranging discussion of robots and AI in fiction, and particularly in the work of our two distinguished guests: James Patrick Kelly, whose The Book of Bots is just out from Fairwood Press, and Michael Swanwick, whose The Universe Box appeared from Tachyon earlier this...
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Episode 729: Garth Nix and Massif
It's been far too long since one of our favorite guests, Garth Nix, has visited us on Coode Street, but with the forthcoming publication of his adult science fiction novel, Massif, it’s a great opportunity to catch up with one of the world’s leading fantasists. We talk about the different...
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Episode 728: Alix E. Harrow and The Slantwise Histories
Time certainly flies. Although it has been nearly four years since we last chatted with Alix E. Harrow, she has quickly become one of our very favourite guests. This week we are delighted to welcome her back. Her novel The Everlasting is currently nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy...
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Episode 727: Ray Bradbury's Million Year Picnic (with Jeffrey Ford and Kelly Link)
Can you believe a storyteller? Ray Bradbury was a consummate storyteller who, in the introduction to his 1950 short story collection The Martian Chronicles, offered a possible origin story for the work. He had, he recalled, been 24 years of age when he read Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg Ohio, a...
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Episode 726: Jonathan's busiest year ever
In this week’s episode, we sort of turn the tables on Jonathan to discuss the art of assembling anthologies, and in particular no fewer than four books he has coming out over the next few months: Revolution in the Heart: Stories Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Book of the Dead, Vaster Than...
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Episode 725: Amal El-Mohtar and the Seasons of Glass and Iron
This week, Jonathan and Gary are joined by multiple award winning writer and critic Amal El-Mohtar, whose first story collection Seasons of Glass and Iron appeared earlier this year, and whose novella The River has Roots has won Nebula and Locus awards for 2026. We talk about our favorite stories...
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Episode 724: On Jane Yolen, small presses, and more
Many podcasts far more professional than ours have offered discrete segments covering different topics, so this week we decided to carefully organize the episode—wait, no we didn’t; we’re just rambling again. But we do begin with a small tribute to Jane Yolen, both a great writer and a great...
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Episode 723: Molly Tanzer and the Nature of Art
Jonathan and Gary are delighted to welcome the wonderful Molly Tanzer, whose new novella And Side by Side They Wander is just out this week. Although it involves apparently benign alien visitors, a post-apocalyptic post-United States, corporate overreach, and a fair bit of space opera, the...
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Episode 722: Jeffrey Ford's Pandemonium Waltz
Jeffrey Ford's eight full length collection, Pandemonium Waltz, was published by Lethe Press back in February. Ever since we've been meaning to sit down with him to discuss the new book, his approach to short story writing, how he assembles short story collections, and more. We're delighted to…
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Episode 721: On Ballard, biography and books
This week, Jonathan and Gary sit down and talk some new and forthcoming books, including our mutual choices for favorite book of the year so far. Gary starts by describing a book which he just finished and found particularly moving: The Illuminated Man: Life, Death and the Worlds of J. G.…
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Episode 720: Alexandra Pierce, Ian Mond, and The Totally Temporary Book Club
With Gary away at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Florida, and celebrating his 80th birthday (!!!!!), Jonathan sat down to chat with Alexandra Pierce and Ian Mond about why we read books, why we talk about and review them, and three great new books from 2026 that we...
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Episode 719: Ishiguro, Dinniman, and genre expectations in story
As usual, Jonathan and Gary raise a number of thorny questions about reading SF and fantasy, and resolve none of them. Beginning with Jonathan’s account of his recent reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, we speculate on what sort of expectations we bring as readers to novels in which the...
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Episode 718: Michael Swanwick and The Universe Box
Today Jonathan and Gary are joined by Nebula, World Fantasy, and five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick to discuss the origins of some of his stories, the life and craft of the professional writer, and his extraordinary new short story collection, The Universe Box. As always, our thanks to...
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Episode 717: Activism, reviewing, books to look forward to, and a little about the weather
As always, the Coode Street Motel Six bestrides continents, so after briefly comparing notes on the weather in Perth and Chicago, Gary and Jonathan get down to it and chat about the subjects of the moment. How do you talk about books and what was the weather like? The importance of settings in...
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Episode 716: Dystopias, cozy fiction and other dilemmas
There are snowstorms blowing where Gary is and Jonathan can see rain falling outside in Perth's midsummer, but the Motel Six has been safely relocated and the Gershwin Room is open once again. Conversation starts off, perhaps incoherently, with dystopias and dystopian fiction, segues to Travis...
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Episode 715: The one we recorded in between recording the other ones
Jonathan and Gary kick off 2026 with no guests, but with the sort of wide-ranging ramble that some listeners seem to enjoy, and that others probably gave up on years ago. We talk about some books due in the new year, especially story collections by Samantha Mills, Amal El-Mohtar and others, how...
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Episode 714: The Year in Books with James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Alex Pierce
For our year-end discussion of 2025 books, we’re joined by Locus reviewers Ian Mond and Alex Pierce, and distinguished critic and novelist James Bradley. As usual, we mention a lot of authors and titles, and probably forget to mention many deserving others. But you’ll no doubt find some…
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Episode 713: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 25 - E. J. Swift
E.J. Swift's sixth novel, When There Are Wolves Again, is one of the standout science fiction novels of 2025. For the final instalment of the Coode Street Advent Calendar for 2025, Jonathan chats with Emma about what she has been reading and would recommend, the writing and publication of When...
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Episode 712: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 24 - Ursula Vernon
It's December 24, the final day of Advent, and Coode Street has just two more episodes to go before our holiday break. Today, Gary and Jonathan chat with Ursula Vernon about her writing alter-ego T.Kingfisher, about what she's read lately and would recommend, her recent work like Hemlock &…
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Episode 711: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 23 - Tochi Onyebuchi
World Fantasy and Ignyte winner Tochi Onyebuchi joins Gary for a brief but wide-ranging discussion that touches upon his genre-hopping 2025 novel Harmattan Season, his fascinating Internet memoir Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet, the virtues of Roberto Bolaño and Dostoevsky, and…
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Episode 710: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 22 - James S.A. Corey
Today Jonathan and Gary spend some time talking to Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write together as "James S.A. Corey", about what they've been reading, what they'd recommend, their seasonal reading and viewing, and their upcoming new novel, The Faith of Beasts. We also touch upon progress on...
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Episode 709: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 21 - Francis Spufford
As both the Advent Calendar and the year move slowly towards a close, Gary and Jonathan chat with Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill, Light Perpetual, and the wonderful Cahokia Jazz about what he's been reading, what he'd recommend, his holiday reading traditions and his incredible novel,...
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Episode 708: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 20 - Becky Chambers
For Day 20 of the Coode Street Advent Calendar, Gary and Jonathan talk to Hugo Award winning author of the Wayfarer series, Becky Chambers, about what Becky's been reading and would recommend, holiday reading and viewing traditions, publication of the Monk and Robot, and a brand new novel that...
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Episode 707: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 19 - Natalia Theodoridou
Gary talks with World Fantasy and Nebula Award winning writer Natalia Theodoridou, whose Bluebeard-inspired Sour Cherry was one of this year’s outstanding debut novels. We touch upon reading Samantha Harvey’s Orbital and whether or not it’s SF, the brilliance of Vajra Chandrasekera, Natalia’s own...
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Episode 706: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 18 - Ray Nayler
With December and the Advent Calendar heading towards their conclusion, Gary and Jonathan chat with recently minted Hugo Award winner Ray Nayler about what he's been reading, what he's been working on, his recent novel Where the Axe is Buried and his upcoming novel, Palaces of the Crow, before...
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Episode 705: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 17 - Alastair Reynolds
It's Day 17 of our Advent Calendar and today Gary and Jonathan chat with Alastair Reynolds about the 25th Anniversary of Revelation Space, his new short story collections, and his latest novel, Halcyon Years. We also touch on his favourite books of the year, what he's planning, and his favourite...
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Episode 704: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 16 - Kim Stanley Robinson
It's been a minute since we last spoke to Kim Stanley Robinson on the podcast, back in 2020 when The Ministry for the Future was new in the world. So today, Gary and Jonathan took some time to chat with Stan as part of the Advent Calendar about what he's been doing (a lot), what he's been reading...
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Episode 703: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 15 - Michael Swanwick
For the 15th day of our Advent Calendar Gary chats with Nebula and five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick about what he's been reading, how he celebrates the holiday season, what he's had out in the past year and his exciting new short story collection The Universe Box. As always, we'd like...
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Episode 702: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 14 - Wole Talabi
For the 14th day of Advent, Jonathan is joined by Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominated writer, Wole Talabi, to discuss the books he's been reading, what he'd recommend, his brand new novella "Descent" and the Sauútiverse, and his forthcoming second novel, The Fist of Memory. As always,...
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Episode 701: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 13 - Theodora Goss
For Day 13 of the Advent Calendar, Gary chats with Theodora Goss all the way from Budapest. They talk about re-reading Patricia McKillip, other favorite reading, and Dora’s excellent recent story collection Letters from an Imaginary Country, as well as her Athena Club novels and what it's like to...
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Episode 700: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 12 - Nnedi Okorafor
For this episode, Gary chats with the very busy and very talented Nnedi Okorafor, who has had quite a year with the publication of major new novel Death of the Author; One Way Witch, the second novella in her She Who Knows trilogy; Space Cat, a children’s book starring her own cat Periwinkle; and...
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Episode 699: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 11 - James Bradley
For Day 11 of our Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls up long-time friend of the podcast, acclaimed writer James Bradley, to discuss what he's been reading lately, his fabulous new novel Landfall, whether he revisits any favourite books or movies at this time of the year, and what he's been working…
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Episode 698: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 10 - Emily Tesh [REISSUED]
As we approach the halfway mark of our Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls Emily Tesh, Hugo Award winning author of Some Desperate Glory and co-host of reigning Hugo Best Fancast Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, to discuss the podcast she hosts with Rebecca Fraimow, her year in reading, her wonderful...
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Episode 697: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 9 - Paul McAuley
For Day 9 of the 2025 Advent Calendar, Jonathan and Gary called Paul McAuley to discuss the books he's been reading and would recommend, holiday traditions, what he's had out recently, and his exciting new novel, Loss Protocol, which is due out in February. As always, our thanks to Paul for…
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Episode 696: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 8 - Isabel J. Kim
With our provider struggling a little following the various Cloudflare issues of late, Gary and Jonathan call up Nebula and BSFA Award winner Isabel J. Kim to talk about what she's been reading, her holiday favourites, what she had out in the past year, and the upcoming publication of her debut...
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Episode 695: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 7 - Aliya Whitely
Today Jonathan sits down with British SF Award winner and Arthur C. Clarke Award, BFA, and Tiptree Award nominee Aliya Whiteley to talk about what she's been reading and would recommend as the holidays get underway, as well as her recent collaboration with Oliver K Langmead, and her upcoming…
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Episode 694: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 6 - Nancy Kress
Day 6 of the 2025 Coode Street Advent Calendar sees Gary and Jonathan taking a moment to catch up Hugo and Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress about what she's been reading, her most recent short story collection, and the new fantasy novel she has coming in 2026. As always, our thanks to Nancy for...
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Episode 693: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 5 - Adrian Tchaikovsky
As we move towards the end of the first week of our 2025 Advent Calendar, Gary and Jonathan take a moment to sit down with Adrian Tchaikovsky to talk about what he's been working on, what he has coming out, and what holiday recommendations he might have. Adrian is the author of the brilliant…
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Episode 692: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 4 - Martha Wells
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk…
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Episode 691: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 3 - China Mieville
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk…
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Episode 690: Kij Johnson on Gaming, Storytelling and the Nature of Farce
In amongst the hurly burly of the end of the year and putting together the Coode Street Advent Calendar, Gary and Jonathan found time to sit down with long-time friend of the podcast (and most frequent guest!) Kij Johnson. We last spoke when Kij's most recent short story collection, The Privilege...
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Episode 689: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 2 - Arkady Martine
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk…
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Episode 688: The Coode Street Advent Calendar 2025 - Day 1 - Nina Allan
The end of the year is fast approaching, we're behind on episodes and we're keen to end the year on a high note. So this year we're going back to something we did in 2022. We’ve invited 24 creators of some of this year’s best and most interesting books to join us for ten minutes or so to talk…
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Episode 687: Jetlagged and tired, we ramble
The World Fantasy Convention was held in Brighton, England two weeks ago. Gary and Jonathan both attended, so we shouldn't be surprised that they were jetlagged and not making to much sense when they recorded this ramble a week ago. As always, we hope you enjoy it!
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Episode 686: Kemi Ashing-Giwa and The King Must Die
Our guest this week is the remarkable Kemi Ashing-Giwa, whose new novel The King Must Die is out in November. We talk about science fantasy—or whether genre labels mean much at all to the new generation of writers—her own influences, her well-received first novel, the space opera The Splinter in...
About this show
Discussion and digression on science fiction and fantasy with Gary Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan.
Hosted by
Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
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