This week Jonathan and Gary have a lively discussion with the wonderful N.K. Jemisin, mostly about her new novel The City We Became (you can read the short story that inspired the novel at Tor.com), but with fascinating side discussions about living in New York and trying to capture and celebrate it in fiction; the vices and virtues of H.P. Lovecraft and his difficulties in dealing with Brooklyn; the comparative challenges of world-building in an invented versus a recognizable world; how her work as a psychologist has informed her fiction; and a couple of side trips about the short stories in her recent short story collection How Long Til Black Future Month? 

With most book tours cancelled (including hers), this is a good way to spend some time with one of our most interesting and innovative writers. As always, our thanks to Nora for making time to join us, and we hope you enjoy the episode. See you in two weeks (and stay safe and well!)

This week Gary and Jonathan are joined by a long time friend of the podcast, Ken Liu, to discuss his new short story collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, approaching the end of his epic silkpunk fantasy series The Dandelion Dynasty, and how having good stories is more important to a society than having good institutions. Along the way, we talk about history, life, evolving art, and much, more more.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is out now and The Veiled Throne is out early next year.

As always, we’d like to thank Ken for making time to join us and hope that you all enjoy the episode.  See you in two weeks with more!

As usual on this week’s Coode Street, Jonathan and Gary discuss what they’ve been reading lately, with a particular focus on how apocalyptic fiction has evolved over the decades, and how writers like Kim Stanley Robinson have found ways of finding some sort of hope even in the face of what increasingly seems inevitable.

This being the start of awards season, they also spend some time discussing the finalists for the Nebula, Stoker, and Spectrum awards, as well as the new Ray Bradbury Prize from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.

Mostly, though, they focus on the Nebulas and the interesting question of whether Nebula nominees which had a lot of buzz years or decades ago still have an impact today. We stop short of guessing which of this year’s nominees will have readers in another decade or so.

Among current and forthcoming books, Gary sounds pretty enthusiastic about the new Liz Williams novel Comet Season and James Bradley’s forthcoming novel, Ghost Species.