This week (episode 3 of season 13) we return to our tradition of almost entirely unstructured rambling. Jonathan and Gary consider such questions as to whether a novel can be good SF, but not much good in literary terms, or a good literary novel not much good as SF.
While we recognize that many popular subgenres, from military SF to heroic fantasy, have plenty of readers loyal to the old traditions, we muse about whether many of today’s writers feel some pressure to meet both traditional literary and SF standards, and Jonathan namechecks R.F. Kuang. Some writers we mention, such as Arkady Martine, seem to effortlessly do both. On the other hand, why were several genre mystery readers of the 1930s and 1940s, like Hammett and Chandler, were later recognized as major literary figures, the same didn’t seem to have to SF writers of the same period.
Toward the end, we touch upon Paul Kincaid's provocative new essay, "A Taxonomy of Reviewing" and his book on Brian W. Aldiss, amongst other things.
As always, we hope you enjoy the episode.
Episode 629: Ursula Vernon and A Story with Good Bones
Episode 628: Sarah Pinsker and Lost Places
Episode 627:Kelly Link for the love of a good book
Episode 626: Awards season, British criticism and more
Episode 625: Kelly Barnhill and the Mind of a Writer
Coode Street 624: On short fiction
Episode 623: The 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List
Episode 622: More about space opera
Episode 621: Coode Street’s Books for Look Forward to in 2023
Episode 620: A Very Coode Street Advent Bonus: M. Rickert
Episode 619: And Happy Holidays to all!
Episode 618: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Elizabeth Hand
Episode 617: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: N K Jemisin
Episode 616: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Tochi Onyebuchi
Episode 615: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Nghi Vo
Episode 614: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: John Clute
Episode 613: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Naseem Jamnia
Episode 612: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: John Kessel
Episode 611: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Neon Yang
Episode 610: The Coode Street Advent Calendar: Richard Butner
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