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