Today Gary spends Ten Minutes with Naomi Kritzer, whose wonderful YA novel Catfishing on CatNet is a finalist for this year’s Andre Norton, Edgar, and Minnesota Book Awards, and whose Tor.com story “Little Free Library” is available on April 8.

Books mentioned include:

• The Years that Matter Most How College Makes or Breaks Us by Paul Tough
• The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen
• World of the Five Gods series by Lois McMaster Bujold
• “So Much Cooking,” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld)
• “Little Free Library,” by Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
• A New Decameron: Stories for a Plague Year by Jo Walton ed. (Patreon.com)

And we’re doing it! One episode every day, without apology (almost)  Today Jonathan spends ten minutes with the incredible Jeffrey Ford who, despite somewhat terrible audio at his end, is wonderful company as he talks about what he’s reading to get through the apocalypse and what you might.

  What are you reading right now (and what do you think of it:

• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Blizzard by Vladimir Sorokin
• The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson

What would you recommend people read if they’re shut in (and why)

• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
• Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf
• The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon
• Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker

What do you have out in the world right now or coming soon you’d like to mention (optional)

• The Best of Jeffrey Ford (PS Publishing)
• Out of Body, Jeffrey Ford (Tor.com)

Today Jonathan spends ten minutes talking to the fabulous Tochi Onyebuchi about reading for pleasure, writing in a time of crisis, what he’s been reading, what he’d recommend, and what he’s been writing.  As always, our sincere thanks to Tochi for being part of this crazy project.

Books mentioned include:

• The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
• How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee
• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
• War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi
• Rebel Sisters by Tochi Onyebuchi

Last year saw the publication of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, the enchanting debut novel from Alix E. Harrow.  Today, in our continuing “Ten Minutes with…” series of short podcasts, Jonathan sits down with Alix to talk about the inordinate good fortune of being a writer asked to blurb the most awesome of books, what to read if you’re looking for something to challenge you in these dark times, and what to read if you’re just looking for a little bit of respite.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• The Broken Earth Trilogy by N K Jemisin
• The Brother Sinisters series by Courtney Milan
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

And now for something a little different. Jonathan spends ten minutes with James Bradley, author of the fabulous new novel Ghost Species to discuss Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy series of crime novels which starts with The Cold, Cold Ground; Lily King’s Writers & Lovers, and much more.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Sean Duffy series by Adrian McKinty
• Writers & Lovers by Lily King
• Ghost Species by James Bradley
• The Electric State by Simon Stalenhag

Some more things James has read recently that he highly recommends:

• Bridge 108 by Anne Charnock
• Greenwood by Michael Christie
• Agency by William Gibson
• Zero Bomb by MT Hill
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• Gathering Evidence by Martin MacInnes
• Circe by Madeleine Miller
• Weather by Jenny Offill

Some books James is looking forward to a lot:

• Mammoth by Chris Flynn
• The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
• War of the Maps by Paul McAuley
• The Trespassers by Meg Mundell
• Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer