Two Chairs Talking

Episode 68: The Endless Bookshop

Perry and David talk about the best books they read during 2021 in a number of different categories.
Hugo Winners (03:33)
Site for Worldcon in 2023 (01:22)
Our best books of 2021 (01:17:48)
David's top SF of 2021 (02:54)
Perry's top SF of 2021 (05:35)
David's top fantasy of 2021 (04:35)
Perry's top fantasy of 2021 (05:10)
David's top crime of 2021 (02:19)
Perry's top crime of 2021 (09:56)
David's top literary of 2021 (03:26)
Perry's top literary of 2021 (06:47)
David's top novellas of 2021 (02:35)
Perry's top novellas of 2021 (04:16)
David's top children's lit of 2021 (04:32)
Perry's top collections of 2021 (06:55)
David's top non-fiction of 2021 (02:51)
Perry's top non-fiction of 2021 (07:04)
David's best overall of 2021 (01:41)
Perry's best overall of 2021 (03:33)
Windup (00:45)
Change to our schedule (00:42)
Illustration: generated by Wombo.art

Episode 67: The clues in the labyrinth

David and Perry discuss who invented science fiction and go on to talk about their recent reading, including intriguing crime novels and literary award winners.
News (00:59)
Taking a break (02:54)
Who Invented Science Fiction? (05:34)
What we've been reading (53:02)
Laidlaw by William McIlvanney (13:04)
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep by Philip Reeve (06:05)
A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (07:18)
The Labyrinth by Amanda Lowrey (05:46)
Crossing the Lines by Sulari Gentill (07:37)
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott [warning: spoilers!](13:00)
Windup (02:23)
Photo by Altaf Shah from Pexels

Episode 66: Where great whales go sailing by

Perry and David discuss recent news; David talks about the best book he's read all year; Perry reviews a magnificent book about whales; and interviews prominent fan Justin Ackroyd.
News (08:49)
Ditmar Awards (02:43)
Amazon Best Books of 2021 (02:01)
Announcement of interview on Fannish History (03:20)
Presentation on Standard Ebooks (00:38)
Letters of Comment (05:40)
From Ben Sims (00:32)
Audiobooks (04:24)
From Don Ashby (00:36)
What we've been reading (28:47)
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (04:59)
May Week Was in June by Clive James (07:06)
Bewilderment by Richard Powers (05:38)
Fathoms: the World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs (10:46)
Where great whales come sailing by,Sail and sail, with unshut eye,Round the world for ever and eye.
-- Matthew Arnold, The Forsaken Merman
Illustration: Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Episode 65: Awesome Awards

David and Perry discuss a number of recent award winners and take the Hugo Time Machine zooming back to the year of 1967
A. Bertram Chandler Award (01:48)
Booker Prize Winner (00:37)
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (00:58)
World Fantasy Awards (02:02)
Readings Prize (00:38)
Hugo Voting closes (00:25)
Hugo Time Machine~1967 (01:00:58)
Short Stories (17:09)
“Mr. Jester” by Fred Saberhagen
“Delusion for a Dragon Slayer” by Harlan Ellison
“Rat Race” by Raymond F. Jones
“The Secret Place” by Richard McKenna (Won Nebula)
“Man in His Time” by Brian W. Aldiss
“Comes Now the Power” by Roger Zelazny
“Light of Other Days” by Bob Shaw
WINNER “Neutron Star” by Larry Niven
Novelettes (13:30)
“The Alchemist” by Charles L. Harness
“An Ornament to His Profession” by Charles L. Harness
“The Manor of Roses” by Thomas Burnett Swann
“Call Him Lord” by Gordon R. Dickson
“For a Breath I Tarry” by Roger Zelazny
“This Moment of the Storm” by Roger Zelazny
“Apology to Inky” by Robert M. Green, Jr.
“The Eskimo Invasion” by Hayden Howard
WINNER “The Last Castle” by Jack Vance
Other possible nominees (06:27)
Novels (16:47)
Day of the Minotaur by Thomas Burnett Swann
The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz
Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
WINNER: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Other possible nominees (01:26)
Other 1967 Hugo awards (01:23)
Windup (00:39)
Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

Episode 64: And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Perry and David celebrate St. Crispin's Day by discussing recent awards, what they've been reading, both non-fiction and fiction, and summarising their thoughts about this year's Hugo Award nominees.
News (04:36)
Ursula K. Le Guin prize (01:08)
Ditmar Awards (01:14)
Prime Minister's Literary Awards (02:03)
Critic vs Reviewer (02:46)
What we've been reading (41:05)
The Library by Stuart Kells (04:22)
Beeswing by Richard Thompson (07:28)
Dead Wake by Erik Larson (08:02)
A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain (06:35)
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (07:03)
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (07:10)
Summary of our 2021 Hugo reading (04:23)
Windup (01:33)
Illustration: production still from Henry V starring Kenneth Branagh.

Episode 63: And after the fire…

David and Perry discuss -- and disagree about -- "The Bass Rock" and "Notes from the Burning Age" as well as two of the novels nominated for this year's Hugo Award.
Saint Wiborada (01:21)
Nobel Prize for Literature (07:32)
The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (14:13)
Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North (11:18)
Hugo Nominated Novels (26:14)
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (13:00)
The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (12:27)
Windup (01:30)
Photo by Stephen Cavenagh, ABC News

Episode 62: Lord of the Underworld

Perry and David talk about crime novels again, discussing books by Australian writers Garry Disher and Candice Fox, a classic by Dorothy L. Sayers, and others.
Booker Prize Shortlist (02:15)
US National Book Award (01:48)
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (08:04)
Hirchausen Series by Garry Disher (09:20)
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (10:47) Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (Free Standard Ebooks Edition)
Hades Trilogy by Candice Fox (09:14)
We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker (12:11)
Nominative Determinism (01:47)
Science fictional crime (02:58)
Windup (01:55)
Photo by Jeremy Bishop from Pexels
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Episode 61: The joining of three tides

David and Perry discuss recent news and go on to discuss their projects outside the podcast. They also talk about some nominees for this year's Hugo Best Novel award.
Reading in bed (02:46)
Recent news (06:09)
Farewell Judith Hanna (02:45)
Piranesi wins The Women's Prize (01:17) [Interview with Neil Gaiman]
Centenary of the birth of Stanisław Lem (01:09)
Seven hundred years since the death of Dante (00:56)
Our other interests (20:22)
The Alien Review (14:22)
Through the Biblioscope (05:32)
Best Novel nominees for Hugos 2021 (30:36)
Network Effect by Martha Wells (15:39)
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal (12:22)
Wind-up (00:34)
Illustration: painting by Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807-1863)
Note: some links above are to Amazon.com. We receive a small affiliate commission for any purchases you make on Amazon via such links.

Episode 60: Tales Twice Told

Perry and David discuss recent award winners, the nominees for the Short Story category of this year's Hugos, and the books they've been reading.
Letters of Comment (04:06)
Awards (07:38)
Ned Kelly Award winners (03:38)
Davitt Awards (01:04)
Children's Book Council of Australia Awards (02:55)
Hugo Awards - Short Story Nominees (26:32)
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (02:41)
The Mermaid Astronaut by Yoon Ha Lee (03:09)
Badass Moms of the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson (02:31)
Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer (03:11)
Metal Like Blood in the Dark by T. Kingfisher (04:47)
Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell (02:30)
Our Rankings (05:56)
What we've been reading (24:52)
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (04:20)
A Stairway to Paradise by Madeleine St. John (04:48)
The End of the World is Bigger Than Love by Davina Bell (04:22)
Say No to Death by Dymphna Cusack (11:15)
New website (01:06)
Windup (01:31)
Illustration by Arthur Rackham, courtesy of Old Book Illustrations.
Note: some links above are to Amazon.com. We receive a small affiliate commission for any purchases you make on Amazon via such links.

Episode 59: Throughly informed

David and Perry discuss the nominees in the Novelette category for this year's Hugo Awards, and go on to talk about their other recent reading.
Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award (03:15)
Davitt Award shortlist (02:58)
Hugo Award Novelette Nominees (36:18)
The Pill by Meg Elison (05:03)
Helicopter Story by Isabell Fall (06:43)
Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A. T. Greenblatt (03:10)
The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard (05:56)
Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker (08:29)
Monster by Naomi Kritzer (06:03)
What we've been reading (30:33)
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (07:23)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (07:48)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov (07:20)
The End of the Day by Claire North (07:16)
Windup (01:00)
Photo by SHVETS production from Pexels.