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: @[email protected] and www.enewman.co.uk

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