Starship Alexandria

For our October 2026 episode of Starship Alexandria Adrian puts forward the graphic novel Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Matthew Lopes and Clayton Cowles for Emma's consideration. 
Other talking points: 
The craft of framing devices
Nested narrators 
Tellings, retellings; narrative and meta-narrative 
Killing people is not cricket 
Badass butlers 
Just 100% appreciation for the art 
Equal Opportunities objectification 
The apparent taboo of just making things up 
Civilization vs Barbarity 
Unspoken histories 
The "Ninth Art" (French term for comics, not the "Tenth Muse" as I said in the podcast) 
 
Media Mentions: 
The Conan stories by Robert E Howard 
Wuthering Heights novel by Emily Bronte 
The Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs 
The fantasy art of Boris Vallejo 
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde novel by Robert Louis Stevenson 
Star Wars movie dir. George Lucas 
Fargo TV series 
 
Next month we look at the film Sinners directed by Ryan Coogler.
This month's patron episode is our live discussion of Event Horizon from Octocon in Cork. 
Adrian's music recommendation: Musik ist keine Lösung by Alligatoah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNdcr7Uu7Jc&list=RDwNdcr7Uu7Jc&index=1  
Emma's latest writing is included in Creative Futures (Beyond and Within) https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/creative-futures-allen-stroud/7847161 which was recently shortlisted for a BSFA Award 
Adrian's most recent book is Engines of Reason https://bookshop.org/p/books/engines-of-reason-elder-race-book-ii-adrian-tchaikovsky/b69799af416d2980 
If you'd like to support the show, and get an additional monthly patrons-only episode, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/c/starshipalexandria/home  
You can buy our official t-shirts and mugs at https://starshipalexandria.teemill.com/ 
Follow us at: 
Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk  
Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com

For our September 2026 episode of Starship Alexandria Emma puts forward the book Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner for Adrian's consideration. 

Other talking points: 
Unspoiler warnings 
Deniable wizbiz 
Period writing styles 
The straitjacket of expectations 
Burning Bedfordshire 
Lit and genre 
 
Media Mentions: 
Memoirs of a Survivor, novel by Doris Lessing (and our patrons-only discussion) 
Writers referred to in general: Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Mervyn Peake, Jerome K Jerome, PG Wodehouse 
Next month we look at the graphic novel Helen of Wyndhorn by King, Evely, Lopes and Cowles 
This month's patron episode is the novel A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge 

Emma's music recommendation: Washing Machine Heart by Mitski https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vjkh-acmTE&list=RD3vjkh-acmTE&start_radio=1  

Emma's latest writing is included in Creative Futures (Beyond and Within) https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/creative-futures-allen-stroud/7847161 which was recently shortlisted for a BSFA Award 
Adrian's most recent book is Engines of Reason https://bookshop.org/p/books/engines-of-reason-elder-race-book-ii-adrian-tchaikovsky/b69799af416d2980 
If you'd like to support the show, and get an additional monthly patrons-only episode, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/c/starshipalexandria/home  
You can buy our official t-shirts and mugs at https://starshipalexandria.teemill.com/ 
 
Follow us at: 
Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk  
Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com

For our August 2026 episode of Starship Alexandria Adrian puts forward the book Soldier of the Mist  by Gene Wolfe for Emma's consideration. 
Other talking points: 
All Greek to Emma 
Surprise spider nomenclature 
Werewolves? There wolves 
Necromancy LinkedIn 
Reading and re-reading Wolfe 
Unreliable narrators and narration perspective 
The past as a foreign country 
Memory and amnesia in fiction 
Wolfe and descriptive style 
The hero as werewolf 
Audiobook narrator voice choices 
Media Mentions: 
You can find Re-reading Wolfe on your usual podcast platforms. I will also note other Wolfe-flavoured podcast resources, Alzabo Soup, The Gene Wolfe Literary Podcast and a large chunk of Shelved by Genre, if you have a thirst for some deep dives into his work (none have done Soldier yet to my knowledge) 
The Shadow of the Torturer, The Book of the New Sun series and the wider Solar Cycle novels of Gene Wolfe 
Piranesi, novel by Susanna Clarke (and see our prior coverage of that) 
A Game of Thrones novel by GRR Martin / TV series 
The Green Knight movie dir. David Lowery (and see our patreon episode on that) 
Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series, specifically the episode 'Darmok' 
Next month we look at the novel Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner 
This month's patron episode is the indie film The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising 
Adrian's music recommendation: The Sad God by Gorillaz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQE0FnpfqQo&list=RDfQE0FnpfqQo&start_radio=1 , also the entire album The Mountain and in particular this animated sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucRulNQsuYQ&list=RDucRulNQsuYQ&start_radio=1  
 
Emma's latest writing is included in Creative Futures (Beyond and Within) https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/creative-futures-allen-stroud/7847161 which was recently shortlisted for a BSFA Award 
Adrian's most recent book is Green City Wars https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/green-city-wars-adrian-tchaikovsky/686e574129a9b37f?ean=9781035045723  
If you'd like to support the show, and get an additional monthly patrons-only episode, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/c/starshipalexandria/home  
You can buy our official t-shirts and mugs at https://starshipalexandria.teemill.com/ 
Follow us at: 
Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk  
Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com

For our July 2026 episode of Starship Alexandria Emma puts forward the book Do you Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh for Adrian's consideration. 
We talk about spoilers in this, and despite my initial lukewarm thoughts about spoilers for this book, there are definitely some moments that are better raw, so do take this as a note that there's something to be gained by reading ahead of the 'cast. 
Other talking points: 
The Science of Spoilers 
British alt space history 
When you call your spaceship "Damocles" 
Everyone Hates Harry 
Orlando Boom (sorry) 
The 2012 Olympics and national pride 
The brutal logistics of being in space 
Authorial treatment of the moral quandary 
Super-elite child training academies 
Competitive personalities, the pros and cons 
YA or not YA 
Balancing multiple character arcs 
Mysticism and an ambivalent attitude to woo 
Coral and reef building 
 
Media Mentions: 
2012 Olympics opening ceremony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4As0e4de-rI 
Planetfall, novel by Emma Newman 
The Expert System's Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky (I promise we only flag our own stuff here when it's genuinely relevant!) 
Aurora, novel by Kim Stanley Robinson (not named but this is the one I mentioned) 
'The Cold Equations', short story by Tom Godwin 
The Martian, novel by Andy Weir 
Philosophers in Space podcast https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/philosophers-in-space/4068539 (or wherever you get your podcasts from) 
Star Trek various TV series 
 
Next month we look at Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe 
This month's patron episode is Look to Windward by Iain M Banks 
 
Emma's music recommendation: Taking What's Not Yours by TV Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox5ENW0CeAU&list=RDOx5ENW0CeAU&start_radio=1  
Emma's latest writing is included in Creative Futures (Beyond and Within) https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/creative-futures-allen-stroud/7847161 which was recently shortlisted for a BSFA Award 
Adrian's most recent book is the graphic novel Salvation's Child https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Architecture-Salvations-Comixology-Originals-ebook/dp/B0FH2KR8LH   
 
If you'd like to support the show, and get an additional monthly patrons-only episode, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/c/starshipalexandria/home  
 
You can buy our official t-shirts and mugs at https://starshipalexandria.teemill.com/ 
Follow us at: 
Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk  
Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com

For our June 2026 episode of Starship Alexandria Adrian puts forward the book Piranesi by Susanna Clarke for Emma's consideration.  

Other talking points: 

The State of What the F Is Going On 

The joy of found document sources 

The Triangle of Information ™ 

Two views of the nicest character in fiction 

Analogues with dementia 

Shadows on a cave wall 

Psychic ideating communion(!) 

One author enters, two classics leave 

The ignorant unreliable narrator 

 

Media Mentions: 

Mythago Wood, novel by Robert Holdstock (and our coverage of it here: https://starshipalexandria.com/episode-8-mythago-wood 

The Magician's Nephew, novel by CS Lewis 

Red Dwarf TV series (very tangentially!) 

Wayne's World sketch series and movies dir. Penelope Spheeris 

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, novel by Susanna Clarke 

The Life of Brian, movie dir. Terry Jones (also very tangentially!) 

Planetfall series of novels by Emma Newman 



Next month we look at Do You Dream of Terra Two? by Temi Oh  

Adrian's music recommendation: Damnd Anthem's cover of Muse's Uprising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w48-1IQxnM&list=RD_w48-1IQxnM&start_radio=1  

 

Emma's latest writing is included in Creative Futures (Beyond and Within) https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/creative-futures-allen-stroud/7847161 which was recently shortlisted for a BSFA Award 

Adrian's most recent book is the graphic novel Salvation's Child https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Architecture-Salvations-Comixology-Originals-ebook/dp/B0FH2KR8LH   

If you'd like to support the show, and get an additional monthly patrons-only episode, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/c/starshipalexandria/home  

You can buy our official t-shirts and mugs at https://starshipalexandria.teemill.com/ 

Follow us at: 

Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and www.enewman.co.uk  

Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and www.adriantchaikovsky.com