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 529: Ten Minutes with Ruoxi Chen
Episode 528: Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future
Episode 527: Ten Minutes with Madeleine E. Robins
Episode 526: Ten Minutes with Linda Nagata
Episode 525: Ten Minutes with Benjamin Rosenbaum
Episode 524: Ten Minutes with Delia Sherman
Episode 523: Ten Minutes with Mary Anne Mohanraj
Episode 522: Ten Minutes with Andrea Hairston
Episode 521: Ten Minutes with Lisa Goldstein
Episode 520: Ten Minutes with Jeannette Ng
Episode 519: Ten Minutes with Stephanie Feldman
Episode 518: Ten Minutes with Andrea Stewart
Episode 517: Ten Minutes with Jane Routley
Episode 516: Ten Minutes with Annalee Newitz
Episode 515: Ten Minutes with Ellen Kushner
Episode 514: Alix E. Harrow and The Once and Future Witches
Episode 513: Ten Minutes with Candas Jane Dorsey
Episode 512: Ten Minutes with Micaiah Johnson
Episode 511: Ten Minutes with Cecelia Holland
Episode 510: Ten Minutes with Chaz Brenchley
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