This week, in our more-or-less annual discussion of the Locus Recommended Reading List, we are delighted to be joined by Locus Editor-in-Chief Liza Groen Trombi.
We talk about the purpose of the list, how it has changed over the years, how books or stories get on the list, and a few thorny questions about how to decide whether a novel is SF or fantasy if it contains substantial elements of both. In addition to mentioning some of our own favourite works of the year, we touch upon the importance of the First Novels list, which might be a harbinger of what’s to come, and how story collections and YA novels have grown in importance over the years.
Toward the end, we pay a brief tribute to two Locus Magazine pioneers, reviewer Faren Miller (who was also the magazine’s first full-time employee), and bibliographer William G. Contento, who helped establish resources that remain crucial to anyone interested in the SFF field.
This week (episode 3 of season 13) we return to our tradition of almost entirely unstructured rambling. Jonathan and Gary consider such questions as to whether a novel can be good SF, but not much good in literary terms, or a good literary novel not much good as SF.
While we recognize that many popular subgenres, from military SF to heroic fantasy, have plenty of readers loyal to the old traditions, we muse about whether many of today’s writers feel some pressure to meet both traditional literary and SF standards, and Jonathan namechecks R.F. Kuang. Some writers we mention, such as Arkady Martine, seem to effortlessly do both. On the other hand, why were several genre mystery readers of the 1930s and 1940s, like Hammett and Chandler, were later recognized as major literary figures, the same didn’t seem to have to SF writers of the same period.
Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance (Solaris, May 2022)
This coming May the incredible team at Rebellion Publishing will release my next book, Someone in Time: Tales of Timecrossed Romance. It’s a collection of stories about love and romance through time, inspired by some of my favourite stories.
Time-travel is a way for writers to play with history and imagine
different futures – for better, or worse.
When romance is thrown into the mix, time-travel becomes a passionate tool, or heart-breaking weapon. A time agent in the 22nd century puts their whole mission at risk when they fall in love with the wrong person. No matter which part of history a man visits, he cannot not escape his ex. A woman is desperately in love with the time-space continuum, but it doesn’t love her back. As time passes and falls apart, a time-traveller must say goodbye to their soulmate.
With stories from best-selling and award-winning authors such as Seanan McGuire, Alix E. Harrow and Nina Allan, this anthology gives a taste for the rich treasure trove of stories we can imagine with love, loss and reunion across time and space.
Including stories by: Alix E. Harrow, Zen Cho, Seanan McGuire, Sarah Gailey, Jeffrey Ford, Nina Allan, Elizabeth Hand, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Catherynne M. Valente, Sam J. Miller, Rowan Coleman, Margo Lanagan, Sameem Siddiqui, Theodora Goss, Carrie Vaughn, & Ellen Klages.
Introduction, Jonathan Strahan Roadside Attraction, Alix E. Harrow The Past Life Reconstruction Service, Zen Cho First Aid, Seanan McGuire I Remember Satellites, Sarah Gailey The Golden Hour, Jeffrey Ford The Lichens, Nina Allan Kronia, Elizabeth Hand (classic reprint) Bergamot and Vetiver, Lavanya Lakshminarayan The Difference Between Love and Time, Catherynne M. Valente Unbashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse, Sam J. Miller Romance: Historical, Rowan Coleman The Place of all the Souls, Margo Lanagan Timed Obsolescence, Sameem Siddiqui A Letter to Merlin, Theodora Goss Dead Poets, Carrie Vaughn Time Gypsy, Ellen Klages (classic reprint)
This week Jonathan and Gary are back, a little early, to talk about the annual science fiction calendar, the awards season, how there are so many awards, what books they’re reading, and what books they’ve worked on. Oh, and for a short moment, they touch on movies and TV too.
All in all, episode two of season 13, sounds pretty much like most of the other episodes we’ve recorded over the past twelve years, so if they were your jam, this might be too.
As always, we hope you enjoy it and are very grateful to everyone for listening in…
Welcome to The Coode Street Podcast. With 2021 barely in the rearview mirror, it’s time to kick off season 13 with a brand new episode. A little over a month ago we sat down with James Bradley, Alix E. Harrow, and Ian Mond to discuss 2021: The Year in Review in Episode 568. At the end of that chat, we all said we’d back to discuss the books we’re looking forward to in 2022, and here we are!
This week we discuss 25 or so books that we are looking forward to or, maybe, have read already and can recommend that you check out (along with a few strays). Pre-order links are below. We also are clear we’ve definitely missed books we’ll end up loving.
As always, our sincere thanks to James, Alix, and Ian for making time to chat with us. We hope you enjoy the episode and that you’ll see us again in a couple weeks.
This week, in our more-or-less annual discussion of the Locus Recommended Reading List, we are delighted to be joined by Locus Editor-in-Chief Liza Groen Trombi.