Episode 683: China Mieville and 25 Years of Bas Lag
Twenty five years ago China Mieville's second novel, Perdido Street Station, introduced the world to the fantastical city of Bas Lag. It went on to win the Arthur C Clarke and British Fantasy awards, and be nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Tiptree, and Locus awards among others. Perdido Street Station was followed by two further novels set in Bas Lag, The Scar and Iron Council and then Mieville turned his attention to other worlds.
Today China joins Gary and Jonathan to chat on the podcast for the first time to look back at Perdido Street Station, how it was written and where it came from, and how he feels about it now. We also chat a little about what he's doing next.
As always, our sincere thanks to China for making the time to talk to us, and we hope you enjoy the discussion.
Note: The original cover art for Perdido Street Station (shown above) was by British artist Les Edwards (painting as Edward Miller). You can see more of his work here.
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Episode 682: Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz
In this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of our most exciting writers, each of whom has a new book out in August. Charlie Jane Anders’ Lessons in Magic and Disaster offers a wonderful combination of witchcraft, academia, and generational family tensions, while Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle features a team of robots trying to establish a noodle shop in a San Francisco recovering from California's devastating war of secession with the rest of the U.S.
We touch upon everything from writing in a believable 18th century voice to the challenges faced by a queer family and a trans protagonist, representing nonhuman points of view, the possibilities of a post-dystopian fiction, and balancing nonfiction and journalism with fiction writing.
As always, Annalee and Charlie Jane make for a lively and unpredictable discussion.
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Episode 681: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Bewitching
We're almost embarrassed to admit it, but it’s been ten years since we last chatted with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, shortly after her first novel Signal to Noise had been published. Now she’s back, talking about an excellent new novel The Bewitching. Along the way, we touch upon several of her other novels, including the bestselling Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate, The Seventh Veil of Salome, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, and others.
We also discuss her relationships with writers from Lovecraft and James M. Cain to the traditions of Gothic fiction. even touching upon C.L.Moore and some of Silvia’s own contemporaries. It’s a lively chat with an endlessly surprising writer.
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Episode 680: Talking science fiction
Even though we know that some past episodes have probably spent too much time talking about awards, our latest chat begins with some thoughts on—well, awards. With Nebulas, Hugos, Shirley Jackson, Ignyte, World Fantasy, etc., there are just too many to ignore.
We soon drift off into other topics. Gary is looking forward to hosting a panel discussion at the Locus Awards, and is fascinated by Kemi Ashing-Giwa’s 2023 novel The Splinter in the Sky, which leads into a discussion of how space opera-like stories have evolved over generations, what else we’ve read lately, how short story contracts have changed lately, whether there is a dearth of core SF or just an explosion of fantasy, and why Murderbot feels more like classic SF than many franchise properties.
As usual, a laser-like focus on nothing in particular.
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Episode 679: Guy Gavriel Kay and Written on the Dark
This week we are joined by an old friend of the podcast, the distinguished Canadian novelist Guy Gavriel Kay, whose wonderful new novel Written on the Dark is out this month.
As always, we not only touch upon some details of the novel— which takes place in Kay’s own version of an alternate 15th century France, featuring a Parisian tavern poet loosely based on the historical François Villon—but on the perennial question of Kay’s unique mix of history, fiction, and the fantastic.
This leads to a broader discussion of his fiction, the role of art and artists in his work, how fictional events from centuries ago can still resonate with events today, and even a bit on what it means to be a Canadian writer. Guy is as wise and articulate as always, and we never fail to learn valuable insights that leave us with much to ponder.
Previously on Coode Street...
Episode 600: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Guy Gavriel Kay (2022)
Coode Street Roundtable 5: Guy Gavriel Kay’s Children of Earth and Sky (2016)
Episode 216: Guy Gavriel Kay and the Legend of the Lost Podcast (2015)
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