Two Chairs Talking

Episode 18: Food for the soul

Our longest episode yet! Perry and David discuss the Australian bushfire crisis and look back at the best books they read in 2019:
Australian bushfire crisis
Overview of 2019 reading -- David
Overview of 2020 reading -- Perry
SF and Fantasy -- David
Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North
SF -- Perry
Blackfish City
Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Embers of War by Gareth Powell
Honourable Mentions -- Perry
Honourable Mentions -- David
Fantasy -- Perry
Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Fire And Blood by George R. R Martin
Witchmark by C. L. Polk
Literary Fiction -- David
Standard Ebooks
Tono-Bungay by H. G. Wells
Middlemarch by George Eliot
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
Honourable Mentions -- David
Literary Fiction -- Perry
To the Islands by Randolph Stowe
Possession by A. S. Byatt
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Plains by Gerald Murnane
Honourable Mentions -- Perry
Horror -- Perry
Experimental Film by Gemma Files
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
The Outsider by Stephen King
Crime/Thriller -- David
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon
Moskva by Jack Grimwood
Crimson Lake and Redemption Point by Candice Fox
Honourable Mentions -- David
Crime -- Perry
Sands of Windee by Arthur Upfield
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Kill Shot by Garry Disher
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Redemption Point by Candice Fox
Honourable Mentions -- Perry
Best Thriller/Spy -- Perry
Smiley's People by John Le Carre
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Young Adult -- David
The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pulman
Fever Crumb trilogy by Phillip Reeve
Young Adult -- Perry
Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
Anthologies and Single-Author Collections -- Perry
The Years Best Science Fiction : 33rd Annual Collection Edited by Gardner Dozois
The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 2 Edited by Neil Clarke
The Best SFandF of the Year: Volume Eleven Edited by Jonathan Stahan
Short Fiction by H. G. Wells
The Overneath by Peter S. Beagle
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
The Custodians and Other Stories by Richard Cowper
Novellas -- Perry
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Time Was by Ian Mcdonald
Perihelion Summer by Greg Egan
Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds
Honourable Mentions -- Perry
Non-Fiction -- David
Blockbuster by Lucy Sussex
Doing Justice by Preet Bharara
South by Ernest Shackleton
Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
A Mind Unraveled by Kurt Eichenwald
Honourable Mentions -- David
Non Fiction -- Perry
On Writing by Stephen King
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Sagaland by Kari Gislason and Richard Fidler
Underland by Robert Macfarlane
The Shelf Life of Zora Cross by Cathy Perkins
Honourable Mentions -- Perry
Best Overall -- David
Best Overall -- Perry
Looking forward to -- David
Looking forward to -- Perry
Food for the soul
Wind-Up
Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

Episode 17: Fiery the angels fell

David and Perry discuss:
Taking a break/Next Year
The perils of Alternate History
Alternate histories in general
The Plot Against America
Lord Darcy Books by Randall Garrett
Recent Reading
Witchmark
The Sudden Appearance of Hope
Hugo Time Machine 1959
A Case of Conscience by James Blish
Who? by Algis Budrys
The Big Front Yard by Clifford Simak
That Hell-Bound Train by Robert Bloch
The Man Who Murdered Mohammed by Alfred Bester
Blade Runners
Blade Runner - Original
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Tears in the Rain
Fiery the angels fell
Versions of the film
Blade Runner 2049
Arrival (the movie)
Sicario
Ryan Gosling
First Man
Wind-up
Image by William Blake

Episode 16: Falling through doorways

Perry and David discuss:
Intro
The NBN
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Borderline by Mishell Baker
Experimental Film by Gemma Files
The Blood Doctor by Barbara Vine
Possession by A. S. Byatt
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North
The Boys (Amazon Prime)
Watchmen (HBO/Foxtel)
His Dark Materials (BBC/HBO)
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
Hugo Time Machine 1958
The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
Other books in the genre in 1958
Big Planet by Jack Vance
Cosmic Puppets and Eye in the Sky by P.K.Dick
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke
Door Into Summer and Citizen of the Galaxy by Heinlein
The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle
Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
On the Beach by Neville Shute
Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
Or All the Seas With Oysters
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Windup
Photo by Aidan Roof from Pexels

Episode 15: A great big countdown timer

David and Perry discuss:
Intro
Follow-up
Making of the Hugo rocketships
Naming of the Hugos
Don't use us as a reference!
Hugo Time Machine 1957
Best Fan Magazine
Why no fiction awards?
What were the magazines publishing?
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
The Ridley Scott Alien Trilogy
Blade Runner
The Duelists
Fire and Blood
Are the Hugos a good guide to best SF?
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Wanderers by Meg Howrey
Station Eleven by Evelyn St.John Mandel
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Self-Published works
Interview with Daniel Scott White
DSW: Unfit Magazine, Unreal Magazine
DSW: Platform Revolution
Wind-up

Episode 14: The Misfortunes of Melbourne

Perry and David talk about:
Follow-up
Listening to our own episodes
Getting our facts wrong
Perry's views on diversity in the SF field
Do the awards truly indicate quality?
Other awards in the field
Interview with Lucy Sussex
Discovering Mary Fortune
Ellen Davitt
'Force and Fraud' - Australia's first murder mystery
Mary Fortune's reputation
Anticipates the police procedural
Police looked down on
French writer Émile Gaboriau
Australian interest in true crime
Wilkie Collins and 'The Moonstone'
Fascination with Australian settings
Mary Braddon
Ellen Wood
Marcus Clarke and 'His Natural Life'
'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'
'Blockbuster'
Fergus Hume
Melbourne the centre of theatre
Nailed colonial Victoria
Unusual structure of the novel
Victoria's Chinese detective
Concept of The Great Detective
Crime novels as commentary on society
Marvellous Melbourne - only for some
'Blockbuster' story of a publishing phenomenon
Frederick Trischler
Print run of 5,000
Hume sells copyright for £50
Kicks off interest in crime fiction
Interest in Australia
Pirated in the United States
Literature a dicey business
Theatrical versions
Hume goes to England
Was Hume gay?
Oscar Wilde
Blackmail?
Theosophy
Spiritualism - Doyle, Houdini
Hume's connections in England
Haddon Chambers
Lucy's further research
Anne Perry
Further research
Windup
Image: section of the cover of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume.

Episode 13: Blasts to the Past

David and Perry discuss:
Recent reading
Fire and Blood by George R. R. Martin
Ian Tregillis
The Milkweed Triptych by Ian Tregillis
The Alchemy Wars by Ian Tregillis
Something More Than Night by Ian Tregillis
Binge reading
The Hugo Time Machine 1956
Double Star by Robert Heinlein
Heinlein's sexual attitudes
Other nominees
Three to Conquer by Eric Frank Russell
End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
First woman to be nominated
Exploration Team by Murray Leinster
The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
End As A World by F.L. Wallace
Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith
Astounding SF Magazine
John W. Campbell Jnr
Controversy over Award Naming
Criticism by Jeanette Ng
JWC Memorial Award
World Fantasy Award
James Tiptree Jnr Award
Arthur C. Clarke Award
Hugo Gernsback
Perils of naming awards after people
The Oscars
2019 Hugos
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
For All Mankind
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
If At First You Don't Succeed by Zen Cho
A Witch's Guide to Escape by Alix E. Harrow
Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers
Archive of Our Own
Into the Spider-Verse
The Good Place
Hugo Awards Website
Windup
Image is a composite based on photos from Pexels.com

Episode 12: Don’t drop your phone on the glacier

Perry and David talk about:
Perry's Return
Hiking in Iceland
Thanks to David and Carey
Dublin Worldcon
Worldcon Business Meeting
Choice of next Worldcon site
New Zealand Worldcon 2020
Future Worldcon sites
Convention experience
Membership numbers
Becoming a convention member
Too many members
Summing up the convention
Connie Willis
Oxford Time Travel Novels by Connie Willis
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis
Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis
Passage by Connie Willis
The Choke by Sophie Laguna
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Embers of War by Gareth Powell
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Photo of broken phone from pexels.com.

Episode 11: The role of sheep in science fiction

A retrospective of Aussiecon in 1975
David and Carey remember Aussiecon
Organising the Hugos
The Entire Awards Committee
Who created the rocketships?
Getting the bases made
Paranoid about security
Panel with Ursula Le Guin
Videotaping the convention
Australian Science Fiction Foundation
Interview with Carey Handfield
Role of Sheep in Science Fiction
Ursula's GoH speech
Interview with Perry Middlemiss
Hearing about the convention
Travelling from Adelaide
Experience of the convention
Life-changing event
Legacy of Aussiecon
Subsequent Australian Worldcons
Interview with Leigh Edmonds
First DUFF winner
DUFF as promotion for '75
What actually happened at Aussiecon?
The notorious Wang Girls
Before and after the con
Hugo presentation interrupted by cricket scores
Producing daily newsletter
Room parties
Talking to individuals
An opportunity for fans in Australia
Audio-visual trend in SF
Changes nature of SF and fandom
Aussiecon this little jewel
Interview with Bruce Gillespie
Suggestion by Andy Porter
Foyster forms committee
Main effort went into fanzines
First female fans
Merv Binns and MSFC
Space Age Books
Bidding at Torcon
Travel to the US and UK
Arrives in US in 1973
Arrives in UK
Meeting Bob Tucker
Choice of Le Guin
The Writer's Workshop
Impact of Aussiecon
Photo of sheep by Michael Pearl at Pexels.com.

Episode 10: Meet Ursula Le Grong

David Grigg and stand-in host Carey Handfield discuss:
Carey and David's long association
Getting into SF fandom
David's fiction writing
ASFR and John Bangsund
Discovering a new world
1970 Australian National SF Convention
Launch of the Australia in '75 bid
Victoria Hotel venue
The Nova Mob
Carey as an organiser
Monash University SF Association
David as fanzine editor
John Bangsund
University of Melbourne SF Association
1975 Writer's Workshop
Choice of Ursula Le Guin as GoH
Idea of a Writer's Workshop
Choosing the venue
Getting the photocopier
Publishing the Altered I
'Stabbed Alive' by Randall Flynn
Ursula's challenges
Two-word challenge
Love Story challenge
The Grongs
Highlight of 1975
Legacy
Pip Maddern
Altered I book
The Fives
Intro to Ursula's speech
Ursula Le Guin's GoH speech
Wind-up
Image: the cover of "The Altered I" book about the Writer's Workshop, designed by Irene Pagram.

Episode 9: Voyage to the inverted world

David and Perry talk to Robin Johnson about Aussiecon 1975, and discuss:
Attending Conventions
Career of going to SF cons
Aussiecon
How did Robin get involved?
Coming to Australia
Meeting Merv Binns
Sydney Fandom
Murumbeena convention 1969
Syncon '70
Starting the muttering about '75
Attending Worldcon 1970 in Germany
Garry Hoff
Heidelberg
Big push
Help from the UK
Becoming chairman
Anti-fan movie
Promotional matchboxes
Moving through '72
Winning the bid in '73
A problem with Ursula
Jerry Pournelle's demand
Charter of Americans arrives
Art Show crisis
Slide Presentation panic
Convention starts
Don Tuck MIA
Continuous state of panic
Movie Program
Amount of programming
Costume Parade
Evaluation
Schools program re artwork
Art Show
Legacy
Wrap-up
Club houses for SF clubs
Image of Melbourne by Bernard Spragg on Flickr.