After a well-deserved break, our intrepid podcasters are back for 2017 with renewed energy and a definite intent to stagger along till at least August and the WorldCon.  

Make sure you tune in or subscribe or listen however you do, as this week Gary and Jonathan will be talking to long-time friend of the podcast Ellen Klages about her new book, Passing Strange. Episode 295 is coming! More to come! 

The end of the year is upon us, and plans are subject to change. Our intention to do a bunch of end-of-the year episodes has been set aside because of deadlines and other commitments. Instead here’s a conversation about the history of the podcast, about our most disappointing and surprising books of 2016, and much more.

During the episode we discuss the hiatus, and whether we’ll be returning in 2017 or not. The jury remains out on that, but there’ll be at least one more episode in January. Who knows beyond that? We’ll have to wait and see. Our sincere thanks to everyone who’s been a part of Coode Street this year and in previous years, and our sincerest holiday good wishes to one and all!

This week we find ourselves talking about the resurgence of the novella in fantasy and SF, the possible reasons behind it, the changes in recent print magazines Asimov’s and Analog, the question of why short fiction seems to be moving in a digital direction whereas the novel not so much–and then we segue unconvincingly into questions of what gets reviewed and by whom, finally ending up with the problems in trying to find a workable definition of fantasy as compared to science fiction or horror.

As always, we hope you enjoy the episode!

After a week off, we return to discuss just how science fictional the recent American elections are, whether political science fiction has ever had much impact on social attitudes or public policy, what if anything SF has to offer to the disenfranchised, and the representation of women and minorities as characters as well as contributors in recent anthologies like Jonathan’s Bridging Infinity. We also offer some thoughts on the recent World Fantasy Convention, the difficulties World Fantasy seems to be facing in terms of both awards and convention attendance, and whether there are really any professional conventions left in the SF field.