"37 stories, more than 600 pages, the ultimate collection of Tchaikovsky’s short(er) fiction.
Delve within...
Hungry ants that want to reconstruct the world in their own image. Occult investigations into private clubs. A philosopher’s attachment to his beloved pet. A new definition of battlefield archaeology.
What the homunculi do when the wizard’s away. A trans-dimensional theatre troupe. Murder by flower-arrangement. The infectious consequences of a fairytale wedding.
A magician conjures Sherlock Holmes. What happens when the mining robots mine, but not for you. The ultimate polycule. What is the groppler and why does it gropple?
Spanning the full spectrum of science fiction and fantasy to the deliciously strange, this collection stretches Tchaikovsky's prolific career, accompanied by a foreword from author of Old Man's War, John Scalzi.
***
‘No one has an an imagination like Adrian Tchaikovsky.’ Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific
'I swear the man is some kind of genius.' Peter Watts, author of Blindsight
'This is superior stuff.' Financial Times"
"A family gathering in an English mansion devolves into horror in a chilling novella by the 'Master of British Sci-Fi' (Reactor)
Elena Mendes thought she understood what 'old money' was.
She knew her boyfriend Ross Enderbough was rich. Like, 'old money' rich. She knew he was the scion of some eccentric British line that predates the whole United States. She knew he didn't really get on with his family, and that he fled to America to study free of their influence.
Ross has been summoned to Enderby, the family mansion built as a monastery centuries ago, for an exclusive, mysterious family gathering that happens only once a generation. Spouses and partners aren't invited, but Ross has asked Elena to come anyway for moral support.
But there are secrets in the moldering old pile, and terrors in the unkempt woods on the estate. And Elena slowly comes to realize that 'old money' means so much more than she'd ever imagined . . ."
"The highly anticipated sequel to the Hugo Award–nominated Elder Race, by Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky.
On a planet where stories govern identity, where science and magic are merely a point of view, a fallen princess, a reluctant wizard, and a precocious child must unravel the past to shape the future.
Betrayal, ancient myths, and a clash of worlds converge in this spellbinding tale of courage, friendship, and self-discovery from one of science fiction's most compelling voices."
"In a city of sunshine and secrets, the shadows belong to the animals.
In a solar-powered future, humans live in luxury, served by unseen Little Helpers - artificially enhanced animals who maintain their perfect green cities. The animals' number one rule: 'do not bother the humans'. Yet, beneath this tranquil facade, a complex underworld of animal politics, crime and conflict thrives.
Enter Skotch, a freelance raccoon investigator. Until now, his biggest problem has been a lack of work. Now, his work may get him killed. His latest case? Finding a fugitive mouse scientist. But powerful forces are also after Doctor Meece, and they're willing to kill for his secrets.
Can Skotch navigate this treacherous web, outsmart rat gangsters, beat a deadly weasel assassin and keep his pelt intact? More importantly, can he find his quarry before the elusive rodent breaks Rule One in the most apocalyptic way - and shatters their fragile world?
For those who loved John Scalzi's Starter Villain and Adrian Tchaikovsky's Service Model, Green City Wars is a crime-inspired adventure that will draw you deep into an incredible new world . . .
* * *
Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky
'One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction'
- Christopher Paolini
'Fantastic and highly imaginative'
- Peter F. Hamilton
'Picking up an Adrian Tchaikovsky book is proof you love your brain and want it to be happy'
- John Scalzi
'An intriguing puzzle with plenty of thrills'
- The Guardian"
"Bloomsbury presents Cage of Souls, read by David Thorpe and written and introduced by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Humanity clings to life on a dying Earth in an epic, far-future science fiction novel from an award-winning author.
The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity.
Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor. This is his testament, an account of the journey that took him into the blazing desolation of the western deserts; that transported him east down the river and imprisoned him in the verdant hell of the jungle's darkest heart; that led him deep into the labyrinths and caverns of the underworld. He will meet with monsters, madman, mutants.
The question is, which one of them will inherit this Earth? P 2019 WF Howes C 2019 Adrian Tchaikovsky"
"The acclaimed voice of the Children of Time Universe, Mel Hudson, returns for this highly-anticipated fourth instalment.
They thought they'd found refuge.
But this paradise became their prison.
Centuries ago, a maverick terraforming team played God with a distant planet. Out of their vanity and spite, something terrible and unexpected arose.
Generations later, tormented scientist Alis is among the crew of the research vessel that rediscovers this lost outpost. But Alis wakes from nightmares of her own making to an all-too-real catastrophe on board. The rest of the crew has vanished - leaving only Cato, the belligerent mantis-shrimp captain, and Kern, the ship's AI.
Searching for their lost fellows, Alis and Cato must venture into the darkness of the planet below. What did those ancient terraformers unleash? And will their last surviving crewmate become a greater threat than the world itself?
Why listeners love Adrian Tchaikovsky, bestselling author of acclaimed audiobook hits Alien Clay and Service Model:
'Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building'
- James McAvoy
'One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction'
- Christopher Paolini
'Magnificent'
- Ian McDonald
Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel w/c 24 August 2016"
"Bloomsbury presents Pretenders to the Throne of God, read by David Thorpe and written and introduced by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller returns to a world steeped in magic – and the Tyrant Philosophers' campaign to bring reason, logic and ‘perfection’ to it.
As the Palleseen’s campaign to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world rages on, Eres Ffenegh – “the City on the Back of a Crab” – is the next state slated for conquest. But its citizens won’t give up sovereignty easily.
The siege has dragged into winter and the defenders – both locals and Pal renegades – hold an uneasy alliance against the enemy at the gates, while the Pal army is looking over its shoulder for the next self-destructive dictate of their government back home.
Within the city, Devil Jack, a good man apprenticed to the notorious conjurer known as the Widow, is driven to bargaining with hell to get back what he’s lost. Meanwhile Kiffel ea Leachan is the city’s champion, a child of privilege who’s just lost everything to the invaders. Both must try to survive the siege and make their own destinies in a world that’s cut them loose.
Outside the city, Pal reinforcements have arrived to take the city, but it’s the sort of help that might just damn them all...
THE TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS
1. City of Last Chances: portrait of Ilmar, a city under Palleseen occupation
2. House of Open Wounds: portrait of the Palleseen war machine at work.
3. Days of Shattered Faith: portrait of a kingdom consumed, piece-by-piece, by Palleseen diplomatic subterfuge.
3.1 Lives of Bitter Rain: a prequel novella to Days of Shattered Faith, portrait of a life in the Palleseen diplomatic corps.
4. Pretenders to the Throne of God: portrait of a city under siege.
5. The Grave of Perfection: will take us back to Ilmar, the 'City of Last Chances' where our story began. P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2026 Adrian Czajkowski"
"Bloomsbury presents Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by Nathan Osgood, Laurence Bouvard, and William Hope.
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 P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2017 Adrian Tchaikovsky"
"Bloomsbury presents Lives of Bitter Rain by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by David Thorpe.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST SERIES 2025
City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring ‘Perfection’ and ‘Correctness’ to an imperfect world. But before these ruthless Tyrant Philosophers send in their legions, they despatch Outreach – the rain before the storm.
Outreach is that part of the Pal machine responsible for diplomacy — converting enemies into friends, achieving through words what an army of five thousand could not, urging the oppressed to overthrow the bloody-handed priests, evil necromancers and greedy despots that subjugate them.
Angilly, twelve-years-old, a child of Pal soldiers stationed in occupied Jarokir, does not know it yet, but a sequence of accidents and questionable life choices will lead her to Outreach. As she travels from Jarrokir to Bracinta, Cazarkand, Lemas, The Holy Regalate of Stouk and finally, Usmai, she’ll learn that the price of her nation’s success is paid in compromise and lost chances, and that the falling rain will always be bitter.
LIVES OF BITTER RAIN is a novella in Adrian Tchaikovsky's award-winning Tyrant Philosopher series. It is a prequel to the third novel in the sequence, DAYS OF SHATTERED FAITH. P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2025 Adrian Czajkowski"
"The Gods have returned to the world.
Amri was a Rabbit, one of a tribe of survivors scratching out an existence in the blasted landscape of a shattered, poisoned world. The Seagull fight, the Pigeon trade and the Cockroach scavenge, but the Rabbit had one rule: If you want to see tomorrow, you run.
But they didn't run fast enough when a weapon fell from the sky and consumed their home, and now Amri is alone, in the company of a fallen god named Guy Vesten. A god who promises revenge against the three gods who turned against him, and who killed her tribe.
But gods don't die easily. Guy will need followers, like any god, and warriors to aid him in his quest. And if Amri is to find a place in the world that is to come, she may as well be standing at his right hand, as his priestess . . ."
"Bloomsbury presents Bee Speaker by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by Rod Hallett, Gabrielle Nellis-Pain, and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Nominated for Best Audiobook: Science Fiction & Fantasy at The Speakies (The British Audio Awards).
From the Arthur C. Clarke award winner, Adrian Tchaikovsky, comes the third instalment of the DOGS OF WAR science fiction series, a future where genetically engineered “Bioforms” have inherited not the Earth, but the Solar System.
The end of the world has been and gone.
There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Only scores of storms, droughts, and selfish regional conflicts. Humanity was not granted a heroic end. Instead, it bled to death from a thousand cuts.
But where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees – an outlawed distributed intelligence – survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative.
Fast forward to today. A signal – ‘For the sake of what once was. We beg you. Help.’ – reaches Mars.
How could they refuse? A consortium of Martian work crews gather the resources for a mission: a triumphal return to the blue-green world of their ancestors. And now here they are – three hundred million kilometres from home.
And it has all already gone horribly wrong. P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2025 Adrian Czajkowski"
"Read by Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who).
'Thrilling, terrifying and fascinating'
Tim Peake, British ESA astronaut
They looked into darkness. The darkness looked back . . .
An utterly gripping story of survival and first contact on a hostile planet from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time.
A commercial expedition to a distant star system discovers a pitch-black moon alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is deadly to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.
Under no circumstances can a human survive Shroud's inhospitable surface - but a catastrophic accident forces Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne to make an emergency landing in a barely adequate escape vehicle. Alone, and fighting for survival, the two women embark on a gruelling journey across land, sea and air in search of salvation.
But as they travel, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud's unnerving alien species. It also begins to understand them. If they escape Shroud, they'll somehow have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible. That is, if they make it back at all . . .
* * *
Praise for Shroud
'Clever, vivid and terrifying . . . No one has an imagination like Adrian Tchaikovsky' - Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific
'Crunchy, conceptual SF at its best' - Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon
'This is hard-edged science fiction that never loses its soul' - Sue Burke, author of Semiosis
'Makes Andy Weir's vision of Mars in The Martian look like a Caribbean beach resort' - The Fantasy Hive"
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