Épisodes

  • Episode 8 - Mythago Wood

    Episode 8 - Mythago Wood
    Nov 9 2025
    For our eighth episode of Starship Alexandria, Adrian puts forward the novel Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, for Emma to consider. Our caveat from the episode: "If you have not read this book yet, go and read the book and then listen to this episode, because it really does benefit from not knowing what's going to happen." Other talking points: Pronunciation blues God bless Wikipedia Adrian shoehorns insects into absolutely everything Readability as an overlooked virtue Exploring the challenging female hero/love interest archetype Was it an homage? Sense of the numinous Cornwall is a State of Mind The internal document as narrative device Media Mentions: Diana Wynne Jones, author Split Worlds series of novels, Emma Newman Oppenheimer, movie dir. Christopher Nolan Our next regular episode will look at the movie Godzilla Minus One directed by Takashi Yamazaki. However, we are taking a different turn for December and, instead of a single large episode, we will have an Advent Calendar, with one short episode every day where Emma and Adrian will discuss their favourite TV series. Meanwhile, the patron's episode will be our Q&A session. Adrian's music recommendation: Duran Duran's Ordinary World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqIACCH20JU&list=RDFqIACCH20JU&start_radio=1 Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance Adrian's most recent book: Starseer's Ruin https://www.warhammer.com/en-GB/shop/hb-starseers-ruin-eng-2025?srsltid=AfmBOor2S_A__evSPhVQRyFurB0Lf7CIMsVMoqxmB28ig0JRS8itagr0 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    1 h
  • Episode 7 - The Ministry for the Future

    Episode 7 - The Ministry for the Future
    Oct 9 2025
    For our seventh episode of Starship Alexandria, Emma puts forward the novel The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, for Adrian to consider. Other talking points: Wet Bulb Events Nonconformist plot structures The Doyenne of Climate Fiction The balance of hope and despair Asshole billionaires again National stereotypes in spec fic Adrian thinking he's being clever SFF as stealth literature for change Media Mentions: Saturation Point, novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky, narrated by Emma Newman The Windup Girl, novel by Paulo Bacigalupi The Remains of the Day, film dir. James Ivory Star Trek: The Next Generation, TV series Piranesi, novel by Susanna Clarke Our next episode will look at the novel Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock. Emma's music recommendation: Borodin's String Quartet No.2 in D Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKsCxvT8e8Y&list=RDRKsCxvT8e8Y&start_radio=1 Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance Adrian's most recent book: The Hungry Gods https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-hungry-gods-adrian-tchaikovsky/7756963 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    52 min
  • Episode 6- Battle Beyond The Stars

    Episode 6- Battle Beyond The Stars
    Sep 17 2025
    For our sixth episode of Starship Alexandria, Adrian puts forward our first film, Battle Beyond the Stars directed by Roger Corman, for Emma to watch and consider. Other talking points: Idiolectic time units Suggestive spaceship design Doing the robot Caiman, of the Lambda Zone Doing a lot of spaceship on a small budget James Horner soundtracks The longevity of practical model work Writing to music Media Mentions: The Seven Samurai, film directed by Akira Kurosawa The Magnificent Seven, film directed by John Sturges Logan's Run, film directed by Michael Anderson The Waltons, TV series Pulp Fiction, film directed by Quentin Tarantino The A-Team, TV series Our next episode will look at The Ministry for the Future, the novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. Adrian's music recommendation: the soundtrack to the Skylanders computer game, by Lorne Balfe and Han Zimmer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Z9PCie0mo&list=PL046FFA1862CCE21C&ab_channel=SethisZurlo Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance Adrian's most recent book: The Hungry Gods https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-hungry-gods-adrian-tchaikovsky/7756963 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    54 min
  • Episode 5 - The Golden Apples of the Sun

    Episode 5 - The Golden Apples of the Sun
    Aug 9 2025
    For our fifth episode of Starship Alexandra, Emma puts forward the short story collection The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury to read and consider. Other talking points: Stories specifically talked about: A Sound of Thunder, The Foghorn, The Golden Apples of the Sun (short story), The Garbage Collector, The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl, I See You Never, Sun and Shadow, The Wilderness, The Black and White Game, The butterfly effect (not the film) Poetic and commercial prose Lawsuits! History, repeating itself The prevalence of the nuclear apocalypse in fiction. Amazing Obstructive Asshole Stories! The Time Machine Factory Problem The prevalence of psychic powers in fiction Media Mentions: Star Trek: the Next Generation, TV series (specifically the episode 'The Survivors') The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms film directed by Eugéne Lourié Pavane, novel by Keith Roberts Oppenheimer, film directed by Christopher Nolan Dune, novel by Frank Herbert Zen in the Art of Writing, book by Ray Bradbury Peter Pan, novel/play by JM Barrie The Police, band Our next episode will look at the film Battle Beyond the Stars directed by Roger Corman. Emma's music recommendation: the album Anticlines by Lucrecia Dalt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOL78nXzgCc&list=OLAK5uy_kirX77Moqz0sO1a2GqQ1D88fgsUvAzrS4&ab_channel=LucreciaDalt-Topic Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance and also a short story in the 'Lesbians in Space' anthology published by Space Wizard press https://www.spacewizardsciencefantasy.com/book/lesbians-in-space-where-no-man-has-gone-before Adrian's most recent book: Bee Speaker https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bee-speaker-adrian-tchaikovsky/7741036?ean=9781035901456 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    57 min
  • Episode 4 - Top Ten

    Episode 4 - Top Ten
    Jul 9 2025
    For our fourth episode of Starship Alexandra, Adrian puts forward the graphic novels Top Ten volumes 1 and 2 by Moore, Ha and Cannon, for Emma to read and consider. Other talking points: Police proceduralsGraphic novel reading-fuRepresentation of minorities and prejudiceThe courage of our convictions (or lack of same) Media Mentions: Watchmen, graphic novel, Moore & Gibbons V for Vendetta, graphiv novel, Moore, Lloyd & Weare Hill Street Blues, TV series I Robot and related stories, Asimov ER, TV series The Boys, graphic novels, Ennis & Robertson (also TV series) Jess Nevins' annotations to Top Ten: https://enjolrasworld.com/Jess%20Nevins/Top%20Ten/Top%20Ten%20index.htm The Ballad of Halo Jones, graphic novels, Moore & Gibson Captain Britain, comics run by Moore & Davis Invincible, TV series and comic by Kirkman, Walker and Ottley Our next episode will look at the short story collection The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury. Adrian's music recommendation: "Lass Sie Gehen" by Seeed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAiMoUJwp7w&list=RDGAiMoUJwp7w&start_radio=1&ab_channel=Seeed Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance and also a short story in the 'Lesbians in Space' anthology published by Space Wizard press https://www.spacewizardsciencefantasy.com/book/lesbians-in-space-where-no-man-has-gone-before Adrian's most recent book: Bee Speaker https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bee-speaker-adrian-tchaikovsky/7741036?ean=9781035901456 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    1 h et 2 min
  • Episode 3 - The Lathe of Heaven

    Episode 3 - The Lathe of Heaven
    Jun 9 2025
    For our third episode of Starship Alexandra, Emma puts forward Ursula K le Guin's fascinating SF novel The Lathe of Heaven for Adrian to read and consider. Other talking points: Reality-bending in SF Unusual power relationships Tech billionaire problem solving The perils of having superpowers Inadvertent puns Media Mentions: The Fifth Element, film, dir. Luc Besson Eye in the Sky, novel, Phillip K Dick It's a Good Life, short story, Jerome Bixby Young Americans, film, dir. Danny Cannon Dancer in the Dark, film, dir. Lars von Trier Our next episode will look at: Top Ten volumes 1 and 2, graphic novels by Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon. Emma's music recommendation: Play Dead by Björk https://youtu.be/cw09VTTDRRo?si=WAaY0qeb7cC4OH12 Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance Adrian's most recent book: Bee Speaker https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bee-speaker-adrian-tchaikovsky/7741036 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    49 min
  • Episode 2 - The Etched City

    Episode 2 - The Etched City
    May 9 2025
    For our second episode of Starship Alexandria, Adrian puts forward KJ Bishop's weird fantasy novel The Etched City (2004) for Emma to read and consider. Other talking points: A short discussion about spoilers and different thresholds depending on the work being considered The challenges involved with reading and writing secondary world fantasy due to vocabulary Adherence to historical accuracy when writing historical fantasy Adrian's manifesto for the unacknowledged sub-genre "fantastical realism" Media Mentions: Dungeons and Dragons, tabletop role-playing game, Gygax et al Perdido Street Station, book, China Mieville Ambergris series, books, Jeff Vandermeer Viriconium series, books, M John Harrison A Man of Shadows, book, Jeff Noon Tyrant Philosophers series, books, Adrian Tchaikovsky Our next episode will look at: The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K Le Guin (1971) Adrian's music recommendation: Minus Sixty-One by Woodkid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHcJepz3QW0 Emma's latest book: The Vengeance https://geni.us/thevengeance Adrian's most recent book: Shroud https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/shroud-adrian-tchaikovsky/7656869 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    51 min
  • Episode 1 - The Kraken Wakes

    Episode 1 - The Kraken Wakes
    Apr 2 2025
    For this very first episode of Starship Alexandria, Emma puts forward John Wyndham's classic SF novel The Kraken Wakes (1953) for Adrian to read and consider (published in the US as Out of the Deeps.) Other media mentions: The War of the Worlds, HG Wells Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Aliens franchise, dir. Ridley Scott, James Cameron et al The Quatermass franchise, dir. Various, written by Nigel Kneale A Mission of Gravity, Hal Clements Blackgate Adventures in Fantasy blog https://www.blackgate.com/2020/07/16/these-two-books-are-not-the-same-john-wyndhams-the-kraken-wakes-and-out-of-the-deeps/ That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote, KJ Bishop Our next episode will look at: The Etched City, KJ Bishop (2004) Emma's music recommendation: Jennifer, by Everything Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEIhJM-atiI&ab_channel=EverythingEverything Emma's upcoming book: The Vengeance https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-vengeance-emma-newman/7713374 Adrian's most recent book: Shroud https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/shroud-adrian-tchaikovsky/7656869 Follow us at: Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com
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    49 min