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Starship Alexandria — Arts
Starship Alexandria

The Sci-fi and Fantasy podcast from the best of futures!

In this future, humanity has solved its problems and is now sending spaceships from Earth, not in a desperate attempt to escape the apocalypse but because we can do so in a spirit of hope and exploration.

As a part of the Starship Alexandria Project, the far-future analogues of 21st century authors Emma Newman and Adrian Tchaikovsky have been tasked to make recommendations from the ship’s vast library of creative works based on the preferences of our 21st century counterparts.

Each of us will take it in turns to nominate a book, film or similar work, and the other will play judge and give the thumbs up or thumbs down to be recommended across the fleet.

Copyright: © 2025

Latest Episodes:

Episode 4 - Top Ten Jul 09, 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 procedurals
Graphic novel reading-fu
Representation of minorities and prejudice
The 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

Episode 3 - The Lathe of Heaven Jun 09, 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

Episode 2 - The Etched City May 09, 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

Episode 1 - The Kraken Wakes Apr 02, 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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