Episode 238: Kim Stanley Robinson and Aurora

This week we are joined by Hugo and Nebula Award winning writer Kim Stanley Robinson to discuss generation starships, how we might live in space, how space opera is becoming a subset of fantasy and his exciting new novel Aurora (due July 7).

We are delighted to be able to present what is one of the first major discussions about this extraordinary new novel, which we think will prove to be one of the standout SF novels of 2015. As always, we’d like to thank Stan for making the time to talk to us, and hope you enjoy the podcast.

Episode 237: On Nebulas and more


After a brief, unplanned hiatus due to scheduling and personal issues (meaning that Gary got more involved in the Nebula weekend than he intended to), we return with a discussion that ranges from the Nebula nominees and winners this year, the encouraging sense of the health of the field during the Nebula weekend, the question of whether middle volumes in trilogies are always worth reading, the question of world-building by accretion through a series of stories (as in Fritz Leiber or Robert E. Howard) versus worldbuilding as a pre-writing activity, the question of how to achieves a balance between science fiction and fantasy in anthologies (or if it makes a difference at all), and various other topics that will delight listeners who enjoy our usual rambling, and hopefully not too seriously frustrate others.


As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast. Next week: Kim Stanley Robinson on Aurora.

Episode 236: On books to look for

Posted by jonathanstrahan on June 1, 2015

Every year there are thousands of books published and any one of them could appeal to you. To help you find great new books, Locus publishes a list of forthcoming titles every three months.   And to help you navigate through that, each quarter we invite Locus  Editor-in-Chief Liza Groen Trombi to join us and discuss the books that we think might be most interesting that are due out between now and the end of 2015.

This month, unfortunately, Liza was not able to join us. However, we have persevered and have some recommendations for you. Of course, we strongly recommend you pick up a copy of the June issue of Locus and see the full list, which goes through to March 2016.

As promised, here’s our list:

  • ABERCROMBIE, JOE Half a War, Ballantine Del Rey, Jul 2015 (eb, hc)
  • BAXTER, STEPHEN Xeelee: Endurance, Orion/ Gollancz, Sep 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • BEAR, GREG Killing Titan, Orbit US, Oct 2015 (hc)
  • BENFORD, GREGORY The Best of Gregory Benford, Sub- terranean Press, Jul 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • BIANCOTTI, DEBORAH Waking in Winter, PS Publishing, Jul 2015 (na, hc)
  • BLAYLOCK, JAMES P. Beneath London, Titan US, May 2015 (eb, tp)
  • BRAY, LIBBA Lair of Dreams, Little, Brown, Aug 2015 (1st US, ya, eb, hc)
  • CHO, ZEN Sorcerer to the Crown, Macmillan, Sep 2015 (eb, hc)
  • CIXIN, LIU The Dark Forest, Tor, Jul 2015 (eb, hc)
  • DE BODARD, ALIETTE House of Shattered Wings, Penguin/Roc, Sep 2015 (1st US, hc)
  • DICKINSON, SETH The Traitor Boru Cormorant, Macmillan/Tor UK, Aug 2015 (eb, hc)
  • DONALDSON, STEPHEN R. The King’s Justice, Penguin/Putnam, Oct 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • GORODISCHER, ANGELICA Prodigies, Small Beer Press, Aug 2015 (eb, tp)
  • HAND, ELIZABETH Wylding Hall, Open Road, Jul 2015
  • HOLLAND, CECELIA Dragon Heart, Tor, Sep 2015 (eb, hc)
  • HOPKINSON, NALO Falling in Love with Hominids, Tachyon Publications, Aug 2015 (c, tp)
  • HURLEY, KAMERON Empire Ascendant, Angry Robot US, Oct 2015 (eb, tp)
  • HUTCHISON, DAVE, Europe in Autumn, Solaris, UK/US Nov 2015 (tp)
  • KIERNAN, CAITLÍN R. Beneath an Oil-Dark Sea, Subterranean Press, Nov 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • KRESS, NANCY The Best of Nancy Kress, Subterranean Press, Sep 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • LECKIE, ANN Ancillary Mercy, Orbit US, Oct 2015 (tp)
  • LIU, KEN The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Simon & Schuster/Saga Press, Nov 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • McDONALD, IAN Luna: New Moon, Tor, Sep 2015 (eb, hc)
  • McDONALD, IAN The Best of Ian MacDonald, PS Publishing, Jun 2015 (c, hc)
  • McDONALD, IAN The Locomotives’ Graveyard, PS Publishing, Aug 2015 (na, hc)
  • McDONALD, IAN Mars Stories, PS Publishing, Aug 2015 (c, hc)
  • MIÉVILLE, CHINA Three Moments of an Explosion, Ballantine Del Rey, Aug 2015 (1st US, c, eb, hc) MITCHELL, DAVID Slade House, Random House, Oct 2015 (eb, hc)
  • MORROW, JAMES Reality by Other Means: The Best Short Fiction of James Morrow, Wesleyan University Press, Nov 2015 (c, hc)
  • NIX, GARTH To Hold the Bridge, Harper, Jun 2015 (c, ya, hc)
  • PRATCHETT, TERRY The Shepherd’s Crown, HarperCollins, Sep 2015 (ya, hc)
  • REYNOLDS, ALASTAIR The Best of Alastair Reynolds, Subterranean Press, Nov 2015 (c, eb, hc)
  • RICKERT, MARY The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece: New and Selected Stories, Small Beer Press, Aug 2015 (c, eb, tp)
  • ROBERTS, ADAM The Thing Itself, Orion/Gollancz, Dec 2015 (tp)
  • SCALZI, JOHN The End of All Things, Tor, Aug 2015 (eb, hc)
  • SWANWICK, MICHAEL Chasing the Phoenix, Tor, Aug 2015 (eb, hc)
  • WESTERFELD, SCOTT Zeroes (with Margo Lanagan & Debo rah Biancotti), Simon Pulse, Sep 2015 (ya, hc)
  • WOLFE, GENE A Borrowed Man, Tor, Oct 2015 (eb, hc)

As always, we hope you enjoy the episode!

Correction: During the podcast Jonathan incorrectly said Linda Nagata’s Going Dark was the reissue of the first book in her “The Red” sequence. It’s actually the third, with The Red: First Light coming in June, The Red: The Trials in August, and series closer The Red: Going Dark in November. All are worth your attention.

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