Best Annalee Newitz Podcasts (2025)

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Three Ways of Looking at Bruce Lee (with Jeff Chang) 1:03:23

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6d ago1:03:23

1:03:23

Bruce Lee changed American pop culture forever, and his incredible legacy is more relevant than ever. But how did he go from child actor in Hong Kong to one of the most important action-movie stars of all time? To find out more, we talk to Jeff Chang, author of a new book called Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America. Plus con…

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Episode 685: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and the Anthropic AI case 32:40

19d ago32:40

32:40

In a rare shorter episode, we chat about the late and much missed Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, with whom Jonathan and Gary had strangely similar encounters some years ago, and her early career as an SF writer before her decades-long success with her Saint-Germain series of vampire novels. That leads, briefly, to considering midlist vs. niche authors, befo…

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Encore Episode: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: ChatGPT 56:25

20d ago56:25

56:25

For our summer vacation, we're re-upping the first in our "Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction" series from 2023, about how Silicon Valley appropriates and misinterprets science fiction. Silicon Valley executives claim to be inspired by SF, but mostly they use it retroactively to justify their products, often missing the more complicated, nuanced id…

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Episode 684: On stories, awards, and reading 1:13:57

1M ago1:13:57

1:13:57

With Gary recently returned from Worldcon in Seattle, we chat a bit about the Hugos (mostly avoiding second-guessing the results), which leads to some discussion of the differences between Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. Jonathan raises an intriguing question about the novella category, with its rather reductive word-length definition of th…

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Encore Episode: Obsessed with Battlestar Galactica 52:45

1M ago52:45

52:45

Charlie Jane and Annalee are on book tour(s), so we're re-upping one of our favorite episodes from 2023. At that time, we were celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the rebooted version of Battlestar Galactica. This show broke new ground in depicting realistic politics — and a nuanced view of a society of artificial people. How does it hold up? …

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Episode 683: China Mieville and 25 Years of Bas Lag 1:10:51

1M ago1:10:51

1:10:51

Twenty five years ago China Mieville's second novel, Perdido Street Station, introduced the world to the fantastical city of Bas Lag. It went on to win the Arthur C Clarke and British Fantasy awards, and be nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Tiptree, and Locus awards among others. Perdido Street Station was followed by two further novel…

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Robots! Witches! Annalee and Charlie Jane talk about their new books 54:22

2M ago54:22

54:22

It's a double book birthday! Annalee has just released Automatic Noodle, a wonderfully cozy book about robots who've survived a devastating war and now just want to run a noodle restaurant. And in 12 days, Charlie Jane is releasing Lessons in Magic and Disaster, about a trans witch who teaches her heartbroken mother how to do magic. In this episode…

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Episode 682: Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz 58:59

2M ago58:59

58:59

In this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of our most exciting writers, each of whom has a new book out in August. Charlie Jane Anders’ Lessons in Magic and Disaster offers a wonderful combination of witchcraft, academia, and generational family tensions, while Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle features a team of robots trying to establish a nood…

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Murderbot and the Stories That Heal Us 46:24

2M ago46:24

46:24

It's scary out there — so thank goodness we're taking comfort in some wondrous books, TV shows, comics and movies. What makes a story comforting? And why is a dark horror story sometimes better comfort than a sweet gentle comedy? Plus we talk about the first season of Murderbot, which is about using stories to feel better and also made us feel bett…

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The Invisible Chain that Holds Us Together (w/ Alexis Madrigal) 57:32

3M ago57:32

57:32

We keep hearing about the supply chain lately... but what is it? And how do all these shipping containers moving around the world shape our lives? We talk to Alexis Madrigal, author of the brand new book The Pacific Circuit, about how trade with Asia has changed Oakland. Plus we talk about how science fiction deals with the idea of the supply chain…

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Episode 681: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Bewitching 55:43

3M ago55:43

55:43

We're almost embarrassed to admit it, but it’s been ten years since we last chatted with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, shortly after her first novel Signal to Noise had been published. Now she’s back, talking about an excellent new novel The Bewitching. Along the way, we touch upon several of her other novels, including the bestselling Mexican Gothic, Silv…

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Cute Body Horror 1:04:51

3M ago1:04:51

1:04:51

We’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we’re talking to Cirocco Dunlap, the showrunner of The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, easily one of our favorite shows right now. Season 2 just came out, and we talk to Dunlap about cute body horror, dealing with mental illness, and interspecies romance. Then contributing host M…

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Episode 680: Talking science fiction 1:03:35

3M ago1:03:35

1:03:35

Even though we know that some past episodes have probably spent too much time talking about awards, our latest chat begins with some thoughts on—well, awards. With Nebulas, Hugos, Shirley Jackson, Ignyte, World Fantasy, etc., there are just too many to ignore. We soon drift off into other topics. Gary is looking forward to hosting a panel discussio…

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Kim Carson: Inspired by Intelligence 48:03

3M ago48:03

48:03

What if AI is not here actually to replace us, but to remind us who we actually are?That was the question at the heart of Kim Carson’s Long Now Talk. In _Inspired by Intelligence: Purpose and Creativity in the AI Era_, Carson challenged us to avoid the easy narratives of tech-driven utopia and dystopia, charting a course through those two extremes …

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Public Health Is a Utopian Vision (with Naseem Jamnia and Natasha O'Brown) 58:47

4M ago58:47

58:47

Public health is a vital part of keeping all of us safe — but what does it mean, and where did the concept come from? Special guest host Naseem Jamnia breaks it down for us, and tells us about some fantasy stories that show why public health is a collective concern. Plus we talk to scientist Natsaha O'Brown at Rutgers University about all the disco…

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Episode 679: Guy Gavriel Kay and Written on the Dark 1:15:27

4M ago1:15:27

1:15:27

This week we are joined by an old friend of the podcast, the distinguished Canadian novelist Guy Gavriel Kay, whose wonderful new novel Written on the Dark is out this month. As always, we not only touch upon some details of the novel— which takes place in Kay’s own version of an alternate 15th century France, featuring a Parisian tavern poet loose…

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Simulating Earth and Politicizing Science 42:38

4M ago42:38

42:38

It's the end of science as we know it in America. As the U.S. government dismantles science agencies and slashes budgets for health and environmental research, we talk about what it means to politicize science. How is that different from the time-honored tradition of analyzing the politics of science? Then we are joined by contributing host Maddie …

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Sara Imari Walker: An Informational Theory of Life 1:10:54

4M ago1:10:54

1:10:54

“What is life?”In her Long Now Talk, astrobiologist and theoretical physicist Sara Imari Walker explores the many dimensions of that seemingly simple question. Starting from the simplest precursors, Walker assembled a grand cathedral of meaning, tracing an arc across existence that linked the fundamentals of organic chemistry, the possibility space…

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Episode 678: Nearly 15 years of rambling... 59:41

4M ago59:41

59:41

This week it’s just Jonathan and Gary again, in what some listeners might view as an either a classic ramble or a series of rabbit holes from which we never fully escape. We start with a discussion of some current trends such as cozy fantasy and SF, romantasy, and dark academia, noting that these had all been around for decades before getting their…

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Episode 677: Silvia Park and Luminous 1:13:27

4M ago1:13:27

1:13:27

This week Jonathan and Gary are joined by Silvia Park to discuss her exciting debut novel, Luminous, which started life as a children's novel and connects to the Reactor/Tordotcom novelette "More Real Than Him". We chat about artificial intellligence, writing about robots and how we use them as surrogates in fiction, different perspectives on ficti…

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Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson: Abundance 59:28

4M ago59:28

59:28

As they look upon the United States of America in 02025, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson see a country wrought by a half-century of failed governance. They see states and cities theoretically committed to progressive futures instead bogged down in labyrinthine mires of process — a society stuck in low gear. Yet they also see opportunity to turn those…

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The Power of Protest (w/ andré carrington) 54:12

4M ago54:12

54:12

It's time to rise up. That's why we’re talking about the power of protest, in real life but also in fiction. Indeed, the act of writing science fiction can itself be a protest, and sometimes it’s just as powerful as marching in the street. Later in the episode, we're joined by andré carrington, who is the editor of a new anthology of Black speculat…

Annalee Newitz Podcasts

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Our Opinions Are Correct

Our Opinions Are Correct

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The Coode Street Podcast

Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe

1
Long Now

The Long Now Foundation

1
Periodic Talks

Gillian Jacobs & Diona Reasonover

1
The SF in SF Podcast

SF in SF

1
Three Ways of Looking at Bruce Lee (with Jeff Chang) 1:03:23

1
Episode 685: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and the Anthropic AI case 32:40

1
Encore Episode: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: ChatGPT 56:25

1
Episode 684: On stories, awards, and reading 1:13:57

1
Encore Episode: Obsessed with Battlestar Galactica 52:45

1
Episode 683: China Mieville and 25 Years of Bas Lag 1:10:51

1
Robots! Witches! Annalee and Charlie Jane talk about their new books 54:22

1
Episode 682: Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz 58:59

1
Murderbot and the Stories That Heal Us 46:24

1
The Invisible Chain that Holds Us Together (w/ Alexis Madrigal) 57:32

1
Episode 681: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Bewitching 55:43

1
Cute Body Horror 1:04:51

1
Episode 680: Talking science fiction 1:03:35

1
Kim Carson: Inspired by Intelligence 48:03

1
Public Health Is a Utopian Vision (with Naseem Jamnia and Natasha O'Brown) 58:47

1
Episode 679: Guy Gavriel Kay and Written on the Dark 1:15:27

1
Simulating Earth and Politicizing Science 42:38

1
Sara Imari Walker: An Informational Theory of Life 1:10:54

1
Episode 678: Nearly 15 years of rambling... 59:41

1
Episode 677: Silvia Park and Luminous 1:13:27

1
Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson: Abundance 59:28

1
The Power of Protest (w/ andré carrington) 54:12