This week it’s just Jonathan and Gary again, in what some listeners might view as an either a classic ramble or a series of rabbit holes from which we never fully escape. We start with a discussion of some current trends such as cozy fantasy and SF, romantasy, and dark academia, noting that these had all been around for decades before getting their present labels, and briefly consider Paul Kincaid’s contention that “coziness” seems antithetical to what SF really does.

We later touch upon what we’re reading, mentioning some forthcoming books by Nicola Griffith, Alix E. Harrow, and R.F. Kuang and the spectacular success of the latest novel by Coode Street goest Joe Abercrombie. Somewhere in there we start chatting about collectible editions, how many copies of a book do you really need,  historical fantasy, and even a bit on Robert Holdstock.

Most important, though, is Coode Street’s first commercial. Jonathan and Gary’s common home in SF has long been Locus magazine, and we want to encourage our listeners to take a look at some of the neat perks being offered by this year’s IndieGoGo fundraiser and to make a contribution if you can.

This week Jonathan and Gary are joined by Silvia Park to discuss her exciting debut novel, Luminous, which started life as a children’s novel and connects to the Reactor/Tordotcom novelette “More Real Than Him“.

We chat about artificial intellligence, writing about robots and how we use them as surrogates in fiction, different perspectives on fiction and how Luminous  might be read by US and Korean audiences.

As always, we’d like to thank Silvia for making time to talk to us and hope you enjoy the episode.

In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of Tachyon Publications, we invited publisher Jacob Weisman to join us in a fascinating exploration of the independent publisher whose list of authors includes classic tales from Stanley Weinbaum, A.E. Van Vogt, and even Mary Shelley, as well as major work from contemporary writers like Peter S. Beagle, Patricia McKillip, Michael Swanwick, Terry Bisson, Jane Yolen, Ellen Klages, Eileen Gunn, Joe Lansdale, Nalo Hopkinson, James Morrow, Lavie Tidhar, and Daniel Pinkwater, and newer writers such as Mary Thompson, Austin Habersahw, Martin Cahill, and Josh Rountree.

We touch upon the challenges of building an independent press in a rapidly changing marketplace, the importance of anthologies in identifying and preserving trends in the field, and what to expect next from Tachyon.

This week Gary and Jonathan are joined by long time friend of the podcast, Joe Abercrombie.  We last spoke to Joe  during the pandemic when he was working on The Age of Madness series. He joins us this week to discuss his brand new novel The Devils, which launches a new series and a new set of characters.

As always, we’d like to thank Joe for making time to join us, and we hope you enjoy the episode.