Welcome to the second episode of The Coode Street Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panelists James Bradley, Ian Mond, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel.
Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the SkyThis month Coode Street co-host Gary Wolfe joins us to discuss All the Birds in the Sky, the second novel from Hugo Award winning author Charlie Jane Anders. It's a warm, humane, funny, and genuinely engaging novel described by its publisher as follows:
From the editor-in-chief of io9.com, a stunning novel about the end of the world--and the beginning of our future...
Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn't expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one's peers and families.
But now they're both adults, living in the hipster mecca San Francisco, and the planet is falling apart around them. Laurence is an engineering genius who's working with a group that aims to avert catastrophic breakdown through technological intervention. Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the world's magically gifted, and works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world's every-growing ailments. Little do they realize that something bigger than either of them, something begun years ago in their youth, is determined to bring them together--to either save the world, or plunge it into a new dark ages.
A deeply magical, darkly funny examination of life, love, and the apocalypse.
We discuss the novel in detail, including how the story develops and ends. If you're keen to avoid spoilers, we recommend reading the book before listening to the episode. If you don't already have a copy, All the Birds in the Sky can be ordered from:
We encourage all of our listeners to leave comments here and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible.
Next monthEpisode 572: Genre, change, and the passage of time
Episode 571: The New Year and New Books
Episode 570: Coode Street’s Books to Look for in 2022
Episode 569: A Thank You for Supporting Us for So Long
Episode 568: A Very Coode Street Gift Guide Roundtable
Episode 567: Sheree Renée Thomas and science fiction
Episode 566: On life achievement, awards, and more
Episode 565: On work published after the author‘s death
Episode 564: Oghenechovwe Ekpeki and African Speculative Fiction
Episode 563: A Ramble in the Wilderness
Episode 562: Reading, reviewing, and an old question answered
Episode 561: Science fiction, influence, and more
Episode 560: Arkady Martine and Memories of Empire
Episode 559: Partway through the pandemic, a ramble
Episode 558: M. Rickert and The Shipbuilder of Bellfaerie
Episode 557: All This and Dystopia Too
Episode 556: Lavie Tidhar and a World of Science Fiction
Episode 555: Catherynne M. Valente and Telling Tales
Episode 554: Zen Cho and Finding Black Water Sister
Episode 553: Daryl Gregory and The Album of Doctor Moreau
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