Although Nghi Vo published her first short story all the way back in 2007, it’s only been in the last five years that she’s really grabbed everyone’s attention, first with the ‘Singing Hills’ cycle of novellas, then with her stunning debut novel, The Chosen and the Beautiful. This year she has two books among the year’s very best: ‘Singing Hills’ novella Into the Riverlands and her fabulous sophomore novel, Siren Queen.

Today for the Coode Street Advent Calendar Gary sits down to talk to Nghi about what she’s been reading, what she’d recommend, her holiday reads, and what she’s got coming out.

As always, our thanks to Nghi for making the time. We hope you all enjoy the episode.

There are friends of the Podcast and then there’s family. We’ve been talking to the great and glorious John Clute — writer, critic, encyclopedist, and more — since 2010.

Whether it’s been about events at the SF Encyclopedia, happenings in SF, or some other thing, he has always been warm, witty, and wise. Today Gary called John in Camden to talk about what he’s been reading and what he’d recommend, while also spending some time chatting about his latest collection of essays, Sticking to the End.

As always, our thanks to John for making the time. We hope you enjoy the podcast.

Depending on where you are in the world the weather is either turning chilly or it’s becoming warm and sunny, but either way, it’s not long till the end of our Advent Calendar. Today Gary talks to Naseem Jamnia about what they’ve been reading, what they’d recommend, and their exciting new novella, The Bruising of Qilwa.

As always we’d like to thank Naseem for making the time to talk to us and hope you all enjoy the episode!

John Kessel has long been a favourite of the podcast. We spoke to him in July about his major new retrospective short story collection, The Best Short Fiction of John Kessel, so it’s no real surprise that he’s part of our Advent Calendar.

Today Gary had the pleasure of calling John and chatting about what he’s been reading, what he’d recommend, and what he’s been working on. As always, we thank John for taking the time to talk to us and hope you enjoy the episode.

With a week left to go in the Advent Calendar, Jonathan sits down with Neon Yang to discuss what they’ve been reading, what they’ve read that they’d recommend, their holiday recommendations, and their exciting debut novel, space opera The Genesis of Misery!

As always, our thanks to Neon, and we hope you enjoy the episode!