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

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