Literary Community: SFF Podcasts (Part 1)
Jun. 17th, 2015 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjAs previously mentioned, I’ve been coming up with some day-of-the-week themes to fill in the gaps in my blog schedule, what with scaling back the Lesbian Historic Motif Project. So, tentatively, Wednesday is going to be “larger literary community day” where I talk about my efforts to keep up with all the various media communities, fandoms, bloggers, and whatnot that are part of the conversation I try to participate in. Let’s start with sff-related podcasts. (I've ended up breaking this list up into multiple parts because it got so long. Look for a continuation next Wednesday!)
I confess I’m very much a latecomer to following podcasts. I love the iTunes podcast app, but when I started out using it, I was mostly following a few NPR shows (Car Talk, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!) and doing some attempts at self-education (news shows in German and Welsh that I was trying to use to improve my listening comprehension…which is pretty much crap, sometimes even in English!).
I think I first started systematically looking into sff-related podcasts when I decided to take seriously my responsibilities as a Hugo voter last year. From there, I moved on to other shows mentioned by the ones I enjoyed, or linked to in blogs I read. I’ve pruned some that I ended up not really being interested in. Others I skim through and only listen when the topic or interviewee is of particular interest. So here are the sff podcasts that I’m currently subscribed to (I’ll do the lesbian-related podcasts in a later entry) more or less in the order I added them, since the app lists them in that order unless modified.
Podcastle.org
This is an audio fiction show, the fantasy branch of Escape Artists who also put out Pseudopod (horror) and Escape Pod (science fiction). I originally subscribed because the story lengths are just about right for a gym session. Now I’m a fanatcially dedicated listener, since they published my own story, “Hoywverch”. A lot of the fare seems a bit on the grim side for a show that isn’t specifically labelled “horror”, but we’re talking about genre labels rather than descriptions and there is a difference between dark fantasy and horror. Historically they’ve tended to lean towards “reprints” – audio versions of stories that already appeared in print – and have covered many of the fantasy stories that get a lot of buzz in the community (such as the delightful “Makeisha in Time” by Rachael K. Jones who later became one of the show’s editors). More recently they've become more open to previously unpublished stories.
SF Squeecast
A general talk-show format hosted by sff authors Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente in “a neverending panel discussion of vague positivity.” Basically: things they’re excited about. It seems to have had nearly monthly episodes through March 2014 but has become less regular since then, with the latest episode at this point back in January 2015. If you’ve ever heard any of these authors on a convention panel, you have some idea of the synergy to be found when you put them together on a podcast. And if you have any idea of the general fannish popularity of these authors, you have some idea of why they won the Hugo for Podcasts the first two years that category was in existence (2012 and 2013) after which they recused themselves from future nomination. It's a "must listen" for me, although I seem to have missed the show's heyday.
Coode Street Podcast
I subscribed to this one because it was nominated for a Hugo in 2014. Mostly book discussions, author interviews, and the like. I haven’t tended to follow it much since then. My recollection was that it simply didn’t stand out as being particularly special in any way, and – at least in the episodes I listened to – tended to skew towards male authors and guests disproportionately. A perfectly ok talk show, but it didn’t elbow its way into my regular rotation.
Galactic Suburbia
Again, I subscribed originally because the show was a Hugo nominee in 2014. (They’re also one of the two non-Puppy-slate podcasts on the 2015 ballot, along with Tea and Jeopardy.) The format is general chat in a very slow, laid-back manner among three Australian women, and leans heavily (in my listening) on non-book media. This makes it a bit less of interest to me than more book-related shows. Also, the episodes tend to be fairly long (1-2 hours) and the ones I’ve listened to have a lot of general social chatter, all of which have moved it down on my priority list for listening, though I’ve pulled it up sometimes for long road trips.
The Skiffy and Fanty Show
Another show that first came to my attention due to a Hugo nomination in 2014. A fluctuating group of show hosts (the most consistent seems to be Shaun Duke) presents author interviews, book reviews, and topical discussions. Also a regular series in which the staff hate-watch bad sci-fi movies. I listen to most of their episodes (though not usually the movie ones). This is one of a group of similar-format podcasts who often end up covering the same new releases and hot-topic authors, and I’ve learned to only listen to one of the set (whichever comes up first in rotation) when that happens because the repetitions rarely involve significant new material or insights. From a purely selfish point of view as a listener, I could wish that there was a lot less overlap and a lot more variety in the material covered, but who’s going to choose to pass when the next best-selling sff author wants to do an interview? The show also has a blog that includes columns, reviews, and features separate from the podcast topics. (Ethics compel me to note that I contributed an entry to the website’s “My Superpower” guest column and have queried about other contributions.)
Come back next week for more podcasts! Do you listen to any favorites? Which ones?
I confess I’m very much a latecomer to following podcasts. I love the iTunes podcast app, but when I started out using it, I was mostly following a few NPR shows (Car Talk, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!) and doing some attempts at self-education (news shows in German and Welsh that I was trying to use to improve my listening comprehension…which is pretty much crap, sometimes even in English!).
I think I first started systematically looking into sff-related podcasts when I decided to take seriously my responsibilities as a Hugo voter last year. From there, I moved on to other shows mentioned by the ones I enjoyed, or linked to in blogs I read. I’ve pruned some that I ended up not really being interested in. Others I skim through and only listen when the topic or interviewee is of particular interest. So here are the sff podcasts that I’m currently subscribed to (I’ll do the lesbian-related podcasts in a later entry) more or less in the order I added them, since the app lists them in that order unless modified.
Podcastle.org
This is an audio fiction show, the fantasy branch of Escape Artists who also put out Pseudopod (horror) and Escape Pod (science fiction). I originally subscribed because the story lengths are just about right for a gym session. Now I’m a fanatcially dedicated listener, since they published my own story, “Hoywverch”. A lot of the fare seems a bit on the grim side for a show that isn’t specifically labelled “horror”, but we’re talking about genre labels rather than descriptions and there is a difference between dark fantasy and horror. Historically they’ve tended to lean towards “reprints” – audio versions of stories that already appeared in print – and have covered many of the fantasy stories that get a lot of buzz in the community (such as the delightful “Makeisha in Time” by Rachael K. Jones who later became one of the show’s editors). More recently they've become more open to previously unpublished stories.
SF Squeecast
A general talk-show format hosted by sff authors Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente in “a neverending panel discussion of vague positivity.” Basically: things they’re excited about. It seems to have had nearly monthly episodes through March 2014 but has become less regular since then, with the latest episode at this point back in January 2015. If you’ve ever heard any of these authors on a convention panel, you have some idea of the synergy to be found when you put them together on a podcast. And if you have any idea of the general fannish popularity of these authors, you have some idea of why they won the Hugo for Podcasts the first two years that category was in existence (2012 and 2013) after which they recused themselves from future nomination. It's a "must listen" for me, although I seem to have missed the show's heyday.
Coode Street Podcast
I subscribed to this one because it was nominated for a Hugo in 2014. Mostly book discussions, author interviews, and the like. I haven’t tended to follow it much since then. My recollection was that it simply didn’t stand out as being particularly special in any way, and – at least in the episodes I listened to – tended to skew towards male authors and guests disproportionately. A perfectly ok talk show, but it didn’t elbow its way into my regular rotation.
Galactic Suburbia
Again, I subscribed originally because the show was a Hugo nominee in 2014. (They’re also one of the two non-Puppy-slate podcasts on the 2015 ballot, along with Tea and Jeopardy.) The format is general chat in a very slow, laid-back manner among three Australian women, and leans heavily (in my listening) on non-book media. This makes it a bit less of interest to me than more book-related shows. Also, the episodes tend to be fairly long (1-2 hours) and the ones I’ve listened to have a lot of general social chatter, all of which have moved it down on my priority list for listening, though I’ve pulled it up sometimes for long road trips.
The Skiffy and Fanty Show
Another show that first came to my attention due to a Hugo nomination in 2014. A fluctuating group of show hosts (the most consistent seems to be Shaun Duke) presents author interviews, book reviews, and topical discussions. Also a regular series in which the staff hate-watch bad sci-fi movies. I listen to most of their episodes (though not usually the movie ones). This is one of a group of similar-format podcasts who often end up covering the same new releases and hot-topic authors, and I’ve learned to only listen to one of the set (whichever comes up first in rotation) when that happens because the repetitions rarely involve significant new material or insights. From a purely selfish point of view as a listener, I could wish that there was a lot less overlap and a lot more variety in the material covered, but who’s going to choose to pass when the next best-selling sff author wants to do an interview? The show also has a blog that includes columns, reviews, and features separate from the podcast topics. (Ethics compel me to note that I contributed an entry to the website’s “My Superpower” guest column and have queried about other contributions.)
Come back next week for more podcasts! Do you listen to any favorites? Which ones?
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no subject
Date: 2015-06-18 07:38 pm (UTC)Other than that, I've been meaning to expand my fandom-related podcasts. Amal El-Mohtar has started a new one that I think is going to be really good.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-18 08:46 pm (UTC)