Last year saw the publication of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, the enchanting debut novel from Alix E. Harrow.  Today, in our continuing “Ten Minutes with…” series of short podcasts, Jonathan sits down with Alix to talk about the inordinate good fortune of being a writer asked to blurb the most awesome of books, what to read if you’re looking for something to challenge you in these dark times, and what to read if you’re just looking for a little bit of respite.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• The Broken Earth Trilogy by N K Jemisin
• The Brother Sinisters series by Courtney Milan
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

And now for something a little different. Jonathan spends ten minutes with James Bradley, author of the fabulous new novel Ghost Species to discuss Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy series of crime novels which starts with The Cold, Cold Ground; Lily King’s Writers & Lovers, and much more.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Sean Duffy series by Adrian McKinty
• Writers & Lovers by Lily King
• Ghost Species by James Bradley
• The Electric State by Simon Stalenhag

Some more things James has read recently that he highly recommends:

• Bridge 108 by Anne Charnock
• Greenwood by Michael Christie
• Agency by William Gibson
• Zero Bomb by MT Hill
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• Gathering Evidence by Martin MacInnes
• Circe by Madeleine Miller
• Weather by Jenny Offill

Some books James is looking forward to a lot:

• Mammoth by Chris Flynn
• The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
• War of the Maps by Paul McAuley
• The Trespassers by Meg Mundell
• Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer

Today Gary Wolfe spends ten minutes with Nisi Shawl, who is currently preparing her introduction to the Library of America edition of Octavia Butler’s work. They briefly touch upon Cory Doctorow as well as Nisi’s recent mini-collection from PM Press, Talk Like a Man, and the forthcoming sequel to her Nebula-nominated novel Everfair.

In the second of our all-new “Ten Minutes with…” series, Jonathan spends ten minutes (well, nearly twenty) with critic and reviewer Ian Mond talking about the book he’s reading right now and the books he recommends for those with a little time on their hands (some of which he’s reviewing for Locus).

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
• Bubblegum by Adam Levin
• We All Hear Stories in the Dark by Robert Shearman
• Providence by Max Barry
• Ghost Species by James Bradley
• Pew by Catherine Lacey
• Temporary by Hilary Leichter 

And now for something a little different. With all of us staying indoors, the team at Coode Street thought it might be fun to get in touch with some of our favourite people – writers, artists, and just folk we like to hang out with – and ask them what they’re reading at the moment, what they recommend to read if you’re currently hanging around indoors a lot, and maybe to let us know what they’ve been doing to.

For the very first of this “Ten Minutes with…” series, Gary calls up Sarah Pinsker to chat with her about her insanely prescient novel, A Song for a New Day, and what she’s been reading.

 Books discussed in this episode include: