There’s Christmas and then there’s Krampus. Here at Coode Street, there’s nothing quite like a little bit more, and as a very special holiday bonus Gary sat down with the wonderful M. Rickert to talk about what she’d been reading, what she’d recommend, and her fabulous Krampus tale, Lucky Girl, one of our favourites and perfect for a cold, winter’s night.
As always, our thanks to Mary and hope you enjoy the episode.
And so we come to the final episode of the 2022 Coode Street Advent Calendar. Gary sits down to chat with a dear friend of the podcast, Elizabeth Hand, about what she’s been reading, what she’d recommend, her holiday recommendations, her own classic Christmas story, “Chip Crockett’s Christmas Carol“, and her fabulous new novel Hokolua Road.
We’d like to thank Liz for making the time to chat with us, and we hope you enjoy the episode.
We are at the end of the year as I write this and I’m beginning to throw together a list of books coming out in 2023 that I’m interested in reading. This list will change and evolve over time, but this is a start at least.
Some things make sense when you find out where they began. Six started life as a show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, and that seems exactly right now that I’ve seen it. It’s short, punchy, fun, and has a fairly solid single concept it carries through. So, what is it?
Six is a 75-minute musical where the six wives of Henry VIII take a quick, rocky trip through their respective biographies before finding a moment of girl power at the end, where they (semi-successfully) attempt to recast their stories outside the context of their late husband
It’s light and entertaining and, if you want a quick snapshot of it – imagine the Spice Girls doing a short show on the above theme, and you have it just about exactly. Although there is a ‘book’ for Six, there’s no real story or non-sung dialogue, and the staging/costumes are pretty standard stuff for a modern rock show, though they are well done.
How was the performance we saw at the Crown last night? Entertaining. And some of the audience *adored* it. I think I might have enjoyed how much one young audience member was loving the show more than I enjoyed the show itself. That said, all of the performers were at least solid and several were excellent. The Anne Boleyn for the night was ok, but Katherine Howard (played by a ‘swing’ performer Karis Oka and not the regular cast member) was fantastic and provided the highlight of the evening.
Will you enjoy it if you go? Was it worth the $A85 per ticket? I think it was and if you want a loud, fun, feminist Spice Girls show that doesn’t outstay its welcome, then this is for you.
I want to build up my own notes on space opera, which I have been thinking about. At the moment I don’t have a definition for it, but I do have some basic conditions for a work to be considered space opera. These are that:
I am still convincing myself that these are the prerequisites for space opera, but I think they’re close. Space opera stories are space adventures that involve the highest stakes, both on a personal and on a broader level.
What do I consider to be a space opera? Well, E. E. “Doc” Smith and his Lensman, half of what A. E. van Vogt wrote, John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War books, Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta novels, C.J. Cherryh’s Chanur books, and some of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels.
What do I think are not space operas? This is almost so broad as to be meaningless, but Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, most of Heinlein, Dune, and a lot more.