Welcome to the seventh 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. With James busy with housemoving and such, we're joined by award-winning critic Gary K Wolfe.
Lavie Tidhar’s Central StationThis month we discuss Central Station, the latest book from Lavie Tidhar. It’s described by publisher Tachyon as follows:
A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper.
When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris’s ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik—a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return.
Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation—a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness—are just the beginning of irrevocable change.
At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive...and even evolve.
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, Central Station 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 monthThe Coode Street Roundtable will return at the end of June with a discussion of Claire North’s The Sudden Appearance of Hope.
PS: During the recording Jonathan incorrectly states this is the sixth Roundtable. It is the seventh. Apologies for any confusion.Episode 362: The Year in Review 2019
Episode 361: Jack Zipes at WFC 2019
Episode 360: Margo Lanagan, Ellen Klages and Eileen Gunn at WFC 2019
Episode 359: That Old Literary Divide
Episode 358: Science fiction, open borders, and porous boundaries
Episode 357: Library of America and the year's end...
Coode Street Roundtable 2.1: Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline
Episode 356: Space opera, WorldCon, Campbell, and other unicorns
Episode 355: A short one
Episode 354: Influence, impact, the sense of wonder, and other critical missions
Episode 353: New projects and old books
Episode 352: A Surplus of Us
Episode 351: A Quick One
Episode 350: Hey, well how about that?
Episode 349: Sarah Pinsker on the road
Episode 348: Nebulas, Hugos, ereading and more
Episode 347: Charlie Jane Anders and The City in the Middle of the Night
Episode 346: Neil Clarke and the State of Short Fiction in 2018
Episode 345: Liza Trombi, Locus, and the Year in Review
Episode 344: Time, Cities and Moving to the Poles
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