And we’re back. Gary’s safely at home in Chicago, I’m back in Perth (facing insane and disappointing deadlines), and we’re podcasting the way we were meant to – long distance! We discuss the World Fantasy Awards and other such things. Enjoy!
Edit: Podcast edited to remove final 3 mins not intended for release.
Hi, Jonathan. You two didn’t get the mic turned off at the end of the podcast, hence the fascinating discussion of what will be in the TOC of Year’s Best (and Gary’s mention of plumbing) are live and international. I thought that part of the conversation was fascinating and charming, but you may not have intended to share.
On the general subject of things to discuss: the Amazon US and Amazon UK top 10 S&SF titles have gone up and bear no resemblance to each other. That might spark some conversation.
Best regards,
Susan
You are missed when you don’t podcast! I look forward to the podcast every Saturday!
Also, there is an extra 3 minutes of unexpected conversation at the end of this podcast.
Ooooooh and now with the edit we have the famous three-minutes-missing episode. I demand an inquiry! But will happily settle for another Coode Street Podcast. Coode Street: the Rough and Ready Podcast!
Regarding panelists who say “I don’t know why I’m on this panel”. Well, that’s easy … you agreed to be on it.
I am reminded of one convention where this occurred and a voice in the audience – the program director – said “Because you wanted to be on the panel.”
Anyway, perhaps next time I’m in the audience and someone utters those delight ful words, I’ll ask “So why did you agree to be on the panel then??”
Re: Epic fantasy & WFA
Fascinating discussion. I suspect it is harder for Epic fantasies to win because the WFA is an annual award, and it’s generally much harder for a volume of a series-in-progress to win. Also, the awards operate on an annual cycle. Anything that takes longer to write are thus greatly disadvantaged w.r.t. awards.
As for the evolution of Epic Fantasy my personal indicator is character death: compare & contrast the Shannara or Thomas Covenant books with the Song of Ice & Fire or Malazan books. Ostensibly ‘important’ characters are more likely to die in a Martin or Erikson story. That’s more common in recent fantasy.
In general, I think Epic fantasies evolve more slowly because they take so much longer to write that stand-alone novels or short stories: it’s a slower process of natural selection because of their much longer generation times.