For Day 11 of our Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls up long-time friend of the podcast, acclaimed writer James Bradley, to discuss what he’s been reading lately, his fabulous new novel Landfall, whether he revisits any favourite books or movies at this time of the year, and what he’s been working on.

As always, our thanks to James for making the time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.

As we approach the halfway mark of our Advent Calendar, Jonathan calls Emily Tesh, Hugo Award winning author of Some Desperate Glory and co-host of reigning Hugo Best Fancast Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones to discuss the podcast she hosts with Rebecca Fraimow, her year in reading, her wonderful novel The Incandescent, and what she’s working on now.

For Day 9 of the 2025 Advent Calendar, Jonathan and Gary called Paul McAuley to discuss the books he’s been reading and would recommend, holiday traditions, what he’s had out recently, and his exciting new novel, Loss Protocol, which is due out in February.

As always, our thanks to Paul for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.

With our provider struggling a little following the various Cloudflare issues of late, Gary and Jonathan call up Nebula and BSFA Award winner Isabel J. Kim to talk about what she’s been reading, her holiday favourites, what she had out in the past year, and the upcoming publication of her debut novel Sublimation next year.

As always, our thinks to Isabel for making time to talk to us today. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Today Jonathan sits down with British SF Award winner and Arthur C. Clarke Award, BFA, and Tiptree Award nominee Aliya Whiteley to talk about what she’s been reading and would recommend as the holidays get underway, as well as her recent collaboration with Oliver K Langmead, and her upcoming novel The Misheard World.

As always, our thanks to Aliya for making time to talk to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.