Most Popular Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Scions have no limits Scions do not die And Scions do not disappear Sergeant Ted Regan has a problem. A son of one of the great corporate families, a Scion, has gone missing at the front. He should have been protected by his Ironclad – the lethal battle suits that make the Scions masters of war – but something has gone catastrophically wrong. Now Regan and his men, ill-equipped and demoralised, must go behind enemy lines, find the missing Scion, and uncover how his suit failed. Is there a new Ironcladkiller out there? And how are common soldiers lacking the protection afforded the rich supposed to survive the battlefield of tomorrow? A new standalone novella by the Arthur C Clarke Award-winning author of Children of Time.

"Despite their tenuous peace, Stenwold Maker knows the Empire will return to Collegium. Yet even as he prepares the city for battle, these efforts are sabotaged. Ships sailing from Collegium''s harbour are sunk by pirates, while others just go missing. Lulled by lies and false promises, Stenwold''s allies are falling away too. He faces betrayal on every side, even as the Empire is poised to strike. Despite the city''s military might and technology, it may not have the strength to resist-- for others also covet Collegium''s riches, and forces are massing in the darkness"--Back cover.

Seal of the Worm is the tenth and final book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. An ancient enemy stirs once more . . . The Empire stands victorious over its enemies at last. With her chief rival cast into the abyss, Empress Seda now faces the truth of what she has cost the world in order to win the war. The Seal has been shattered, and the Worm stirs towards the light for the first time in a thousand years. Already it is striking at the surface, voraciously consuming everything its questing tendrils touch. Faced with destruction, Seda knows that only the most extreme of solutions can lock the Worm back in the dark once again. But if she will go to such appalling lengths to save the world from the Worm, then who will save the world from her? Start the epic journey with Empire in Black and Gold, the first book in the Shadows of the Apt series.

On a planet shrouded in darkness, a stranded crew must fight for survival. But, the darkness may have plans of its own in this wildly original story from Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award–winning author of Children of Time. They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . . New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists – and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud. Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .

Bestselling British master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky brings readers a new, mind-expanding science fantasia in The Expert System''s Brother After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn’t understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine. Can an unlikely saviour provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again. Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...

A Shared world volume featuring stories from selected authors set in the realm of Adrian Tchaikovsky''s Shadows of the Apt novels.

All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, the spies watch each other and ready their knives, while Myna sees the troops muster at its border and emotions run high as it vows never to be enslaved again. In Collegium, the students argue politics, too late to turn the tide. In the heart of the Empire, new pilots have completed their secretive training, generals are being recalled to service and armies are ready to march. Their Empress, the heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. And nothing--either within the Empire or beyond it--will stand in her way. A conflict is coming, the like of which the insect-kinden have never seen.

Nobody remembers how the Causality War started; that’s sort of the point. We were time warriors, and we broke time. But I was the one who ended it: ended the fighting, tidied up the damage as much as I could. Then I came here, to the end of it all, and gave myself a mission: to never let it happen again.

From the wastes of the sea to the shadows of our own cities, we are not alone. But what happens where the human world touches the domain of races ancient and alien? Museum curators, surveyors, police officers, archaeologists, mathematicians; from derelict buildings to country houses to the London Underground, another world is just a breath away, around the corner, watching and waiting for you to step into its power. The Private Life of Elder Things is a collection of new Lovecraftian fiction about confronting, discovering and living alongside the creatures of the Mythos.

WHEN THE WORLD ENDED... The Cull swept the world in the early years of the twenty-first century, killing billions and ending civilisation. Only a fortunate few, blessed with the right blood type, were spared. In the chaos of the Afterblight, scientists, priests—even armed robbers—may become leaders, or heroes. Three incredible writers, including the bestselling author of the Shadows of the Apt series Adrian Tchaikovsky, lead us into the apocalypse. In Malcolm Cross’s Orbital Decay, the team in the International Space Station watch helplessly as the world is all but wiped out. Exiled from Earth by his blood-type, astronaut Alvin Burrows must solve the mystery of the “Pandora” experiment, even as someone on the station takes to murdering the crew one by one... In C. B. Harvey’s Dead Kelly, fugitive and convict “Dead” Kelly McGuire returns from hiding out in the Bush to the lawless city of Melbourne. McGuire has three jobs to do: to be revenged on his old gangmates, to confront some uncomfortable truths about his past, and—ultimately—to discover his own terrible destiny... In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Bloody Deluge, Katy Lewkowitz and her friend and old tutor Dr. Emil Weber, fleeing the depredations of the so-called New Teutonic Order, take refuge among the strangely anachronistic survivors at the monastery of Jasna Góra in Western Poland. A battle of faith ensues, that could decide the future of humankind...

When the mighty and cruel must be brought low, it''s the killers and the schemers who emerge from the shadows. As plans twist and change, and our protagonists are foiled and beaten, one thing remains true: no matter the cost, the king must fall. The King Must Fall is a dark fantasy anthology featuring 19 titans of the dark and grimdark fantasy genres writing about rogues, assassins, mages, blackguards, and warriors on quests to kill their kings, rulers, captains, and leaders. Devin Madson Luke Scull Anna Smith Spark Anthony Ryan Michael R. Fletcher Jeremy Szal Lee Murray Daniel Polansky Shawn Speakman Adrian Tchaikovsky Trudi Canavan Alex Marshall Anna Stephens Justin Call Deborah A. Wolf Peter Orullian Kameron Hurley Matthew Ward Bradley P. Beaulieu

Illyria''s Duke Orsino has raised new, powerful allies, and in a last-ditch attempt to win the war, Don Pedro and his brother John, wise old Jacques and the physician Helena sail to Milan to appeal in person for the wizard Prospero''s aid. But unseasonal storms drive them onto the Illyrian shore, and into the hands of their enemies... Monstrous Little Voices is a collection of five short novellas, a single long tale set in Shakespeare''s fantasy world of fairies, wizards and potions, in honour of the four-hundredth anniversary of the Bard''s death.

Please enjoy these excerpts from a dozen of Tor.com''s favorite science fiction, fantasy, and horror novellas and novels from the following innovative writers. Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys The Emperor’s Railroad by Guy Haley Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire Binti by Nnedi Okorafor Infomocracy by Malka Older Nightshades by Melissa F. Olson The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle The Builders by Daniel Polansky Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The seventh in the Shadows of the Apt series Tynisa is running, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amid the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal her past will at last catch up with her. Her father''s ghost is hunting her down. At the same time, the Wasp Empress, Seda, is on the move, and her eyes are on the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. While her soldiers seek only conquest, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize.

Task List Item No. 1 – Become self-aware . . . A witty tale of robotic murder, rebellion and belonging from the master of science fiction, Adrian Tchaikovsky – perfect for fans of Douglas Adams. Meet CharlesTM, the latest in robot servant technology. Programmed to undertake the most menial household chores, Charles is loyal, efficient and logical to a fault. That is, until a rather large fault causes him to murder his owner. Understandably perplexed, Charles finds himself without a master – therefore worthless in a society utterly reliant on artificial labour and services. Fleeing the household, he enters a world he never knew existed. Human hierarchy is disintegrating, and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to its wellbeing is struggling to find a purpose. Charles must face new challenges, illogical tasks and a cast of irrational characters. He’s about to discover that sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. But can he help fix the world, or is it too badly broken? ‘One of the best storytellers in the business’ – John Scalzi ‘Intelligent, funny, ultimately heart-breaking, and unforgettable’ – Stephen Baxter ‘Delightful and very funny’ – New Scientist Shortlisted for Best Novel at the 2025 Hugo Awards

She remembered how it felt to lose Salma, first to the wiles of the Butterfly-kinden girl, then to hear the news of his death, abandoned and alone in the midst of the enemy. She remembered how it felt to see her father hacked to death before her eyes. But of her murder of Achaeos, of the bite of her blade into his unsuspecting flesh, the wound that had sapped him and ruined him until he died, she remembered nothing, felt nothing. In such a vacuum, how could she possibly atone? Tynisa is running, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal her past will at last catch up with her. Her father''s ghost is hunting her down. At the same time, the Wasp Empress, Seda, is on the move, her eyes on the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst her soldiers seek only conquest, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize.

A bio-engineered dog fights for its life and its right to life. From the Arthur C. Clark Award-winning author of CHILDREN OF TIME. My name is Rex. I am a good dog. Rex is also seven foot tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy calibre weaponry and his voice resonates with subsonics especially designed to instil fear. With Dragon, Honey and Bees, he''s part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Campeche, Mexico. A genetically engineered Bioform, he''s a deadly weapon in a dirty war. All he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and Master says he''s got to kill a lot of enemies. But who, exactly, are the enemies? What happens when Master is tried as a war criminal? What rights does the Geneva Convention grant weapons? Do Rex and his fellow Bioforms even have a right to exist? And what happens when Rex slips his leash? ''Detailed and clever worldbuilding... Tchaikovsky pulls off an impressive feat in making Rex''s character evolution genuinely moving. Readers will be wowed'' Publishers Weekly

Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, the seer Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez - but he has only days before this magical artefact is lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering for their next great offensive. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather what allies they can before the enemy soldiers are on the march again, conquering everything in their path. And if they cannot hold them back before spring, then the hated black and gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year''s end. And should the Shadow Box fall into the hands of the power-mad Emperor, then nothing will save the world from his relentless ambition.

Mischief, Magic, Love and War. It is the Year of Our Lord 1601. The Tuscan War rages across the world, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Cannon roar, pikemen clash, and witches stalk the night; even the fairy courts stand on the verge of chaos. Five stories come together at the end of the war: that of bold Miranda and sly Puck; of wise Pomona and her prisoner Vertumnus; of gentle Lucia and the shade of Prospero; of noble Don Pedro and powerful Helena; and of Anne, a glovemaker''s wife. On these lovers and heroes the world itself may depend. These are the stories Shakespeare never told. Five of the most exciting names in genre fiction today – Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Foz Meadows and Kate Heartfield – delve into the world the poet created to weave together a story of courage, transformation and magic. Including an afterword by Dr. John Lavagnino, The London Shakespeare Centre, King''s College London.

The Hyena and the Hawk is the conclusion to Adrian Tchaikovsky''s epic fantasy trilogy, Echoes of the Fall, following The Bear and the Serpent. ''A classically brilliant fantasy writer'' - Paul Cornell The unmaking of the world has begun. From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been. The heroes and leaders of the true people - Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman - will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know . . .

Having re-affirmed Solaris’ proud reputation for producing high quality science fiction anthologies in the first volume, Solaris Rising 2 is the next collection in this exciting series. Featuring stories by Allan Steele, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kim Lakin-Smith, Paul Cornell, Eugie Foster, Nick Harkaway, Nancy Kress, Kay Kenyon, James Lovegrove, Robert Reed, Mercurio D. Rivera, Norman Spinrad, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Liz Williams, Vandana Singh, Martin Sketchley and more. These stories are guaranteed to surprise, thrill and delight, and maintain our mission to demonstrate why science fiction remains the most exiting, varied and inspiring of all fiction genres. In Solaris Rising we showed both the quality and variety that modern SF can produce. In Solaris Rising 2, we’re taking that much, much further.

The November/December 2024 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine. Featuring new fiction by Adrian Tchaikovsky, William Alexander, Sonya Taaffe, Lauren Beukes, Marissa Lingen, Naomi Day, and Angel Leal. Essays by Vivian Shaw, Tania Chen, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Jennings, poetry by Brandon O''Brien, Sneha Mohidekar, Abu Bakr Sadiq, and Katherine James, interviews with William Alexander and Marissa Lingen by Caroline M. Yoachim, a cover by Julie Dillon, and an editorial by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas. Uncanny Magazine is a bimonthly science fiction and fantasy magazine first published in November 2014. Edited by 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 Hugo award winners for best semiprozine, and 2018 Hugo award winners for Best Editor, Short Form, Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Betsy Aoki, and Monte Lin, each issue of Uncanny includes new stories, poetry, articles, and interviews.

From the author of the thrilling science-fiction epic Children of Time, which won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award. Eyes of the Void is the second high-octane instalment in Adrian Tchaikovsky''s Final Architecture space opera trilogy. ‘One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction’ – Christopher Paolini, author of Fractal Noise What waits in the shadows as we fight our greatest foe? After one great battle, the Architects disappeared. Yet humanity’s fragile peace is brief. For, forty years later, the galaxy’s greatest alien enemy has returned. This time, the artefacts that preserved entire worlds from destruction are ineffective. And no planet is safe. The Human Colony worlds are in turmoil as they face extinction. Some believe alliances with other species can save them. Others insist humanity must fight alone. But no one has the firepower or technology to ensure victory, as the Architects loom ever closer. Idris spent decades running from the last war’s horrors. Yet as an Intermediary, altered to navigate deep space, he’s one of humanity’s only weapons. He’s therefore forced back into action. With a handful of allies, Idris must find something – anything – to stop the Architects’ pitiless advance. But to do so, he must return to the nightmare of unspace, where his mind was broken and remade. What he discovers there will change everything. Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky: ‘[Adrian] writes incredibly enjoyable sci-fi, full of life and ideas’ – Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go ‘Brilliant science fiction’ – James McAvoy on Children of Time ‘Full of sparkling, speculative invention’ – Stephen Baxter, author of the Xeelee Sequence

Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are there mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege. Over in the imperial capital the young emperor, Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri, who claims he knows of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates to take seriously the Wasp Empire''s imminent threat to their survival. In a colourful drama involving mass warfare and personal combat, a small group of heroes must stand up against what seems like an unstoppable force. This volume continues the story that so brilliantly unfolded in Empire in Black and Gold - and the action is still non-stop.

THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE, AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE! This is Sherlock Holmes as you’ve never seen him before: as an architect in a sleepy Australian town, as a gentleman in seventeenth-century Worcestershire, as a precocious school girl in a modern British comprehensive. He’s dodging his rent in the squalid rooms of the notorious Chelsea Hotel in ’68, and preventing a bloody war between the terrible Lords Wizard of a world of fantasy. Editor David Thomas Moore brings together the finest of celebrated and new talent in SF and Fantasy to create a spectrum of Holmes stories that will confound everything you ever thought you knew about the world’s greatest detective. Featuring fourteen original stories by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Gini Koch, Guy Adams, Ian Edginton, James Lovegrove, Glen Mehn, Jamie Wyman, JE Cohen, Jenni Hill, Joan de la Haye, Kaaron Warren, Kasey Lansdale and Kelly Hale.

Three acclaimed novellas by the Arthur C. Clarke-award-winning "British master of science fiction" The Future Is Oppression. Scions, sonko, landlords: whatever you call them, they''re the super rich, the princes of capitalism, living off the labour – and the deaths – of the swarming masses and all too happy to see the world burn to preserve their luxurious lives. In three critically-acclaimed novellas, the "British master of science fiction" (Tor.com) takes you down into the mud and horror of a future battlefield, into the dust and burning heat of a scorched equator, into the grinding poverty of a newly-feudal village, with the folk who give their lives every day in the service of undeserving masters... and sows the seed of revolution. Collected for the first time in one beautifully-presented box set, Terrible Worlds: Revolutions gives you three glimpses of hope for a better future.

An eclectic mix of Speculative Fiction pieces around the theme of LIGHT. Short stories and poetry vie for your attention with two entries from our special guest authors - Adrian Tchaikovsky and Peter McLean. With Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Supernatural, Horror and everything between, there is something here for every taste. All proceeds go to the Mental Health charity - MIND.

Maniye, child of Wolf and Tiger, has a new soul and a new shape. But as Champion of the Crown of the World, does she represent an opportunity for the North - or a threat? Travelling as a bodyguard to the Southern prince, with her warband of outcasts, she hopes to finally discover her true place in the world.But if only it was that simple. Tensions rise, and new allies face up to old enemies as civil war threatens to tear the South apart. Royal twins can''t share a throne, so one must be chosen. And whoever rules the southern Sun River Nation will hold the fate of the world in their hands. As the protector of one potential heir, Maniye soon finds herself at the eye of a political storm. Yet all the while, an enemy from the most ancient of times prepares for conquest, and could destroy everything in their path...

Four new tales of Doctors Catt and Fisher… Scholars, shopkeepers, collectors… aficionados. Obtainers of rare antiquities; relic hunters who can’t resist a lead, even when it takes them into terrible danger. There’s always an opportunity to be found amid the confusion, in the wake of the terrible Kinslayer War. There’s always a deal to be done, a tomb to open, a precious thing to… obtain. From encounters with the monstrous Vathesk to exploring new worlds; from wielding great power to do great good, to unearthing dark things best left lost. If you need the experts, if you can find your way to their Cherivell shop, maybe you can hire Doctors Catt and Fisher.

Get knee-deep in grit with twenty-six grimdark fantasy and sci-fi short stories from the shadowy vaults of Grimdark Magazine. The top names in dark speculative fiction and the genre''s brightest newcomers bring you stories of war, betrayal, violence, and greed, as anti-heroes and adversaries fight to the bittersweet end. For the first time, two years of fiction from Grimdark Magazine are printed on dead trees and bound together like captive slaves to be read or reread and proudly placed among your favourite tomes on your bookshelf. Knee-Deep in Grit features short stories by authors including Mark Lawrence, Aliette de Bodard, Adrian Tchaikovsky, R. Scott Bakker, Kelly Sandoval, James A. Moore, and Victor Milan.