Most Popular Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A year ago, civilisation died, drowning and choking on its own blood in the brutal scourge of the Cull. Eking out a living on the newly primitive land, British-born biochemist Katy Lewkowitz finds a new life as a doctor among the small communities springing up in Eastern Germany... until a terrible new cult, calling itself the ''New Teutonic Order,'' begins purging all ''undesirables.'' Katy and her friend and old tutor Dr. Emil Weber, fleeing the depredations of the fanatical Order, escape into Poland, eventually taking refuge among the strangely anachronistic survivors at the monastery of Jasna G½ra. A battle of faith ensues, that could decide the future of humankind...

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.

A prequel to the magical novella Made Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky''s "Precious Little Things" is a Tor.com Original short story offering a new perspective while set in the same action-packed gaslamp world. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"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.

Achaeos the seer has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, driven by the ghosts of the legendary Darakyon. But he has only days before this magical artifact will be lost to him forever . . . Meanwhile, the Empire''s dread forces are mustering for their next great offensive. Stenwold and followers have only a short time to gather allies, before the enemy''s soldiers march again - conquering everything in their path. If Stenwold cannot hold them back, the hated black and gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year''s end.

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.

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.

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

The bold new work from award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky - a smart, funny tale of time-travel and paradox Welcome to the end of time. It’s a perfect day. Nobody remembers how the Causality War started. Really, there’s no-one to remember, and nothing for them to remember if there were; that’s sort of the point. We were time warriors, and we broke time. 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.

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.

WINNER OF THE 2016 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD A race for survival among the stars ... Humanity''s last survivors escaped earth''s ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers? WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind''s worst nightmare. Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth? PRAISE FOR CHILDREN OF TIME "A refreshingly new take on post-dystopia civilizations, with the smartest evolutionary worldbuilding you''ll ever read" Peter F. Hamilton "This is superior stuff, tackling big themes - gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness - with brio" Financial Times "Like a Stephen Baxter novel with an epic sweep of history ... added to a broad cast of a Peter Hamilton Space Opera and the narrative drive of, say, a David Brin or a Greg Bear old style SF novel, Children of Time soon got me hooked." SFF World "Children of Time has that essence of the classic science fiction novels, that sense of wonder and unfettered imagination but combined with this is the charm of a writer who really knows how to entertain ... Essential science fiction, a book not to be missed." SF Book

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 expecially designed to instil fear. With Dragon, Honey and Bees, he''s part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Compeche, Mexico. As a genitically engineered Bioform, Rex is a deadly weapon in a dirty war. But all he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and kill a lot of enemies. But who, exactlym, ar 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?

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.

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 . . .

Heirs of the Blade is the seventh book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The greatest foe is the enemy within . . . Tynisa is on the run, 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 Empire seeks to conquer the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst Empress Seda''s soldiers seek only conquest and prestige, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize. Heirs of the Blade is followed by the eighth book in the Shadows of the Apt series, The Air War.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

A narrative reminiscent of Phileas Fogg meets Professor Challenger, featuring the exploits of scientist-cum-adventurer Doctor Ludweg Phinagler, as recorded by his (semi-)faithful assistant, Fosse. A maverick academic, Phinagler, mounts a series of expeditions, confronting ancient mysteries and deadly dangers.

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.

Relentlessly advancing towards Collegium, the Empire is again seeking to break down its walls. The mighty imperial armies have learnt from their failures, and Empress Seda will brook no weakness in her soldiers. However, Stenwold Maker has earned his title, and the War Master has strategies to save his city. His aviators rule the skies - but the Wasp Kinden Empire has developed a terrifying new aerial weapon. Yet the campaign may be decided far from marching armies and the noise of battle. In an ancient forest, where Mantis clans pursue their own civil war, the Empress Seda is seeking lost magic. Some dangerous shadow of old night is locked up among these trees and she is wants its power. Cheerwell Maker must stop her, at any cost, but will their rivalry awaken something far deadlier? Something that could make even their clash of nations pale into insignificance . . .

What happens when AI takes over the creative process? Discussion about, and the use of artificial intelligence has exploded across the globe. Some programmers have already speculated that they are witnessing the birth of ''general'' intelligence in ai which would be a game changer and decades before it was originally anticipated. Is this the next step, from robots taking over tedious repetitive tasks in factories to now taking over creative ventures as well? Here are stories that explore the relationship between artificial intelligence and art, written by top science fiction authors from across the globe. Read the tales of robot painters, AI poets, and electronic gallery curators; dystopias where human artists must eke out an existence in societies where AI generates most of the content, and utopias where artificial minds help unlock and enhance human creativity. This collection features a truly global perspective from top authors from USA, UK, China, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Madagascar, Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, and Sri Lanka.

»Mein Name ist Rex. Ich bin ein guter Hund.« Und das ist auch alles, was Rex, eine sogenannte technisch optimierte Bioform, in seinem Leben möchte – ein guter Hund sein und seinem Herrn gehorchen. Gemeinsam mit seinem Rudel kämpft Rex in einem seit Jahrzehnten andauernden Krieg, und wenn sein Herr sagt »Töte!«, dann tötet Rex. Wieder und wieder. Als sein Herr eines Tages vors Kriegsgericht gestellt wird, kommen Rex jedoch Zweifel. Was soll er tun, wenn er keinen Herrn mehr hat, der ihm befiehlt? War es möglicherweise falsch, blind zu gehorchen? Und haben er und die anderen Bioformen überhaupt ein Anrecht auf Freiheit und ein eigenes Leben?