Adrian Tchaikovsky
British fantasy and science fiction author
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adrian Czajkowski (spelt as Adrian Tchaikovsky for his books; born June 1972) is a British fantasy and science fiction author. Heavily influenced by the natural world, his books frequently deal with themes of artificial intelligence and alienness, often in the context of non-human characters. He is best known for his series Shadows of the Apt, and for his Hugo Award-winning[a] Children of Time series.[2]
Adrian Tchaikovsky | |
|---|---|
At MCM Comic Con London, May 2025 | |
| Born | 1972 (age 53–54) Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, England |
| Occupation | Author and legal executive |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Reading |
| Period | 2008 – present |
| Genre | Fantasy and science fiction[1] |
| Subject | Zoology and psychology |
| Notable works | Shadows of the Apt series Children of Time |
| Notable awards | Arthur C. Clarke Award (2016) Hugo Award for Best Series (2023)[a] |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | |
| www | |
Tchaikovsky has received numerous awards for his work. Children of Time was awarded the 30th Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2016. Author James Lovegrove described it as "superior stuff, tackling big themes – gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness – with brio".[3]
Biography
Adrian Czajkowski was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire in June 1972.[4] He is of Polish descent.[5] He cites the natural world as an early influence, along with naturalists such as Gerald Durrell and David Attenborough, and he was fascinated by the Natural History Museum. "From there", he says in interview, "wanting to understand the behaviour – the minds – of the nonhuman started to take precedence."[6]
He studied zoology and psychology at the University of Reading although he eventually became disillusioned with the content of the course.[6] He then qualified as a legal executive.[7] He was employed as a legal executive for the Commercial Dispute Department of Blacks, Solicitors, of Leeds[8] until late 2018 when he became a full-time writer.[7]
Tchaikovsky's first foray into writing was in 1996 when he submitted several stories for publication in Xenos magazine. In the early 2000s, he won Xenos's annual competition with the short story The Roar of the Crowd, only for the magazine to fold pre-publication.[9]
In 2008, after Tchaikovsky had spent fifteen years trying to get published, his novel Empire in Black and Gold was finally published by Tor Books (UK) – an imprint of Pan Macmillan – in the United Kingdom.[10] The series was later published in America by Pyr Books. Tchaikovsky expressed the desire that the Polish editions of his novels feature the original Polish spelling of his surname,[11] but these too used "Tchaikovsky".[12]
On 23 January 2019, Tchaikovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts by the University of Lincoln.[13]
Writing career
Tchaikovsky revealed the basis of Shadows of the Apt in an online essay entitled "Entering the Shadows" at Upcoming4.me.[17]
Whilst studying at the University of Reading, he managed a role-playing game named Bugworld. The game concerned the story of the insect-people of the Lowlands threatened by the encroaching Wasp Empire. From this original scenario, the entire series of books grew.[18]
Tchaikovsky still uses role-playing games to help develop his stories, but now also uses live action role-playing, which assists in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. He is currently involved with the LARP game Empire.[19]
Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make science better than magic,[20] or vice versa: "This is another key element, really: the magic/tech divide is a concept that turns up here and there in fantasy, but usually one side is good (mostly magic) and the other (dirty polluting tech) is bad. With the world of the kinden, they're basically both as bad as the people who use them, whether it's blood sacrifice in a Mantis-kinden grove or the Wasp Empire's city-levelling weaponry."[21]
In 2025, with Emma Newman, he launched a new podcast, Starship Alexandria. In this the presenters alternate presenting a work (novel, film, comic book) for the other to read and judge whether the work should be preserved for posterity.[22]
Themes
Themes in Tchaikovsky's books include: "the frailties of human bureaucracy and the difficulty we have in seeing beyond the human perspective,"[23] and "the terrible things we do to each other and the dogged resistance offered by the victim-participants in the vile mills of misery that are totalizing governments and wars of aggression."[24] Critics have commented positively on his "definitive" depiction of alien civilizations[25] and his treatment of "huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more."[26] In an interview with Jon Sutton for the British Psychological Society, Tchaikovsky says that "Human perception of time is one of the biggest limitations of being human," and that this shortcoming lies behind many current problems, such as climate change.[27]
Awards and nominations
Tchaikovsky has received the following literary awards and nominations:
| § | Indicates a declined award |
|---|---|
Film adaptations
In June 2025, the production companies Edith's Daughter (Cynthia Erivo's company) and Platinum Dunes announced that they will be producing an adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Saturation Point novel for Universal Pictures. The screenplay will be adapted by Minnie Schedeen.[57]
Bibliography
Novels
- Main Novels
- Empire in Black and Gold (2008), ISBN 978-0-230-73646-7
- Dragonfly Falling (2009), ISBN 978-0-230-70415-2
- Blood of the Mantis (2009), ISBN 978-0-230-70416-9
- Salute the Dark (2010), ISBN 978-0-330-51144-5
- The Scarab Path (2010), ISBN 978-0-330-51145-2
- The Sea Watch (2011), ISBN 978-0-330-51146-9
- Heirs of the Blade (2011), ISBN 978-0-230-75699-1
- The Air War (2012), ISBN 978-0-230-75700-4
- War Master's Gate (2013), ISBN 978-0-230-75701-1
- Seal of the Worm (2014), ISBN 978-0-230-77001-0
- Tales of the Apt (short story collections)
- Spoils of War (2016), ISBN 978-1-910935-21-7
- A Time for Grief (2017), ISBN 978-1-910935-46-0
- For Love of Distant Shores (2018), ISBN 978-1-910935-71-2
- The Scent of Tears (2018), ISBN 978-1-910935-93-4
Children of Time
- Children of Time (2015), ISBN 978-1-4472-7328-8
- Children of Ruin (2019), ISBN 978-1-5098-6585-7
- Children of Memory (2022), ISBN 978-1-5290-8717-8
- Children of Strife (2026), ISBN 978-1-0350-5778-8
Echoes of the Fall
- The Tiger and the Wolf (2016), ISBN 978-0-230-77006-5
- The Bear and the Serpent (2017), ISBN 978-1-5098-3022-0
- The Hyena and the Hawk (2018), ISBN 978-1-5098-3026-8
- Dogs of War (2017), ISBN 978-1-78669-388-4
- Bear Head (2021), ISBN 978-1-80024-154-1
- Bee Speaker (2025), ISBN 978-1-03590-145-6
- Main Novels
- Novellas
- Shards of Earth (2021), ISBN 978-1-5290-5188-9
- Eyes of the Void (2022), ISBN 978-1-5290-5193-3
- Lords of Uncreation (2023), ISBN 978-1-5290-5198-8
Standalone novels
- Guns of the Dawn (2015), ISBN 978-0-230-77003-4
- Spiderlight (2016), ISBN 978-0-7653-8836-0
- Cage of Souls (2019), ISBN 978-1-78854-724-6
- The Doors of Eden (2020), ISBN 978-1-5098-6588-8
- Alien Clay (2024), ISBN 978-0-316-57896-7
- Service Model (2024), ISBN 978-1-250-29028-1
- Shroud (2025), ISBN 978-1-035-01379-1
After the War
- Redemption's Blade (2018), ISBN 978-1-78108-579-0, is the first book in a multi-author series. The series continued with two books by Justina Robson.
- Day of Ascension (2022) is Tchaikovsky's first Warhammer 40,000 novel, and like his short story Raised in Darkness from Inferno! Volume 6 (2021), concerns the insidious Genestealer Cults.
- On the Shoulders of Giants (2022) is a Warhammer: Age of Sigmar novella in the multi-author anthology On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories, ISBN 9781836090014
- Starseer's Ruin (2025) is a Warhammer: Age of Sigmar novel focussed on Seraphon, ISBN 978-1836093718
Novellas
- The Expert System's Brother (2018), ISBN 9781250197566
- The Expert System's Champion (2021), ISBN 978-1250766397
Terrible Worlds
- Revolutions
- Ironclads (2017), ISBN 978-1781085684
- Firewalkers (2020), ISBN 9781781088487
- Ogres (2022), ISBN 978-1786185280
- Destinations
- Walking to Aldebaran (2019), ISBN 9781781087060
- One Day All This Will Be Yours (2021), ISBN 978-1781088746
- And Put Away Childish Things (2023), ISBN 978-1786188793.
- Transformations
- Saturation Point (2024), ISBN 978-1837861743.
- Preaching to the Choir (2026), ISBN 978-1837867301
- Innovations
- The Hungry Gods (2025), ISBN 978-1837865512.
Standalone Novellas
- Made Things (2019), ISBN 9781250232991
- The House on the Old Cliffs (2021), ISBN 9781913603045
- Elder Race (2021), ISBN 978-1250768728
Short stories
- "The Final Conjuration" in Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets: An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space (2014) ISBN 978-1781082225, a collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories.
- "Where the Brass Band Plays" in Urban Mythic 2 (2014), ISBN 978-0-9573489-9-8[58]
- "Shadow Hunter" in Grimdark Magazine, issue #1[59]
- Human Resources (2025), is set in the world of Service Model, ISBN 9781250375933
Other collections
- Feast and Famine (New Con Press, 2013), ISBN 978-1907069543. This collection contains the stories "Feast and Famine", "The Artificial Man", "The Roar of the Crowd", "Good Taste", "The Dissipation Club", "Rapture", "Care", "2144 and All That", "The God Shark" and "The Sun in the Morning".
- The Bloody Deluge (2014), ISBN 978-1849977647. Part of The Afterblight Chronicles by Abaddon Books.
- The Private Life of Elder Things (2016), ISBN 978-1911034025. Co-authored by Keris McDonald and Adam Gauntlett. A collection of new Lovecraftian fiction about confronting, discovering and living alongside the creatures of the Mythos.
- Terrible Worlds: Revolutions (2023), ISBN 978-1786188885. Collects three novellas: Ironclads, Firewalkers and Ogres.
- Terrible Worlds: Destinations (2026). Collects three novellas: Walking to Aldebran, One Day All This Will Be Yours and And Put Away Childish Things.
Critical studies and reviews of Tchaikovsky's work
- The Doors of Eden
- West, Michelle (July–August 2020). "Musing on Books". F&SF. 139 (1&2): 88‒94. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020.
Notes
- Tchaikovsky has since disavowed the award due to the subsequent controversy regarding that year's Hugo ballot.[43]
- Alien Clay was originally nominated for the 2024 BSFA Award for Best Novel, but was removed from the ballot at the request of the author.
