Episode 14 - Piranesi

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