The Tyrant Philosophers series starts with City of Last Chances and a darkly inventive portrait of a city under occupation and on the verge of revolution. This October we're celebrating the release of Lives of Bitter Rain, a companion novella, prequel to the third novel of the series. 

We featured Adrian Tchaikovsky earlier this year when we awarded his Dogs of War series, a LoveReading Series of the Month. He is doing such incredible things in the worlds of Fantasy and Science Fiction, that we just had to have him back, and have the opportunity to chat some more. 

We understand you practised law and now write full time after your breakout novel Children of Time won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2015. When did you first start writing fiction and when did you think, this could be it!?

I started writing at around age 17-18, and was then writing for over 15 years, submitting about a book a year to every available publisher and agent. It was a long road, mostly because what I was writing had nice ideas but poor style – I needed all that practice to bring my writing up to a decent standard. As for “this could be it.” I don’t know you ever do think that. The Clarke shortlisting of Children of Time gave the book a huge boost – put it on people’s radar and then it turned out that was the book a lot of readers were looking for. But if there was a moment it was winning the Clarke award.

Here at LoveReading we have been absolutely loving The Tyrant Philosophers series. You mentioned when we last chatted that the Tyrant Philosophers is currently the series you’re enjoying writing the most. Why is that?

The world is so intricate and full of colourful characters just doing their own thing and trying to avoid being a major part of the plot. The mosaic structure of the books is a lot of fun to write. I’ve always been a world-focused writer, and this series above all is about the world as much as any individual character.

This collection started with the City of Last Chances, followed by LoveReading Star Book House of Open Wounds, and book three Days of Shattered Faith (which is shortly out in paperback) also delivers in fine style and has been included as another LoveReading Star Book. Lives of Bitter Rain is due in October and we’ve been lucky enough to read it already. It’s a novella and a prequel to the third novel in the sequence, Days of Shattered Faith. How do you describe this series to people?

This series is a story about a great, oppressive regime determined to reshape the world in its image, and countless small powers seeking to resist it, but seen through the eyes of normal people in a high-magic world who just want to get through the next day. It’s a story of beggars, thieves, diplomats, necromancers, priests and brothel-keepers making ends meet in a world that’s on fire.

Our reviewer Liz Robinson adores this series, and was fascinated by the back story of Angilly. While we know this series is one that you don’t plan out, do you always write a back story to your main characters so when you wander down that street, in that city with them, you know how they’d react?

Normally no, but before writing Days of Shattered Faith I felt I needed a better handle on where Angilly had come from – given she was going to dominate the book more than any one character had in the series before. This was only supposed to be a few small vignettes but somehow it expanded into an entire novella’s worth of material.

Also, are you ever surprised by the direction your plots take in this series?

Always. That’s one thing that makes the series so much fun. I don’t plan out my plots ahead of time, just create the world and characters and let them go, see what they do. So these books are all about the surprises and the characters are constantly catching me unawares with what they’ll do, and how far they’ll go.

Do you ever think about the reader and how they’d react when you write?

I think that’s an essential part of the trade. You have an idea of how most readers will interpret something, whether a whole scene or a single line. That means you can bolster or confound that expectation, and thereby engage the reader more deeply in the events of the book.

And, what are your own thoughts on perfection and correctness that the Palleseen are so obsessed by?

If the Palleseen were honest about their intentions, then they’d be a different sort of evil, but at least they’d be truthful. They’d destroy the traditions, beliefs and differences of those they conquered, but it would be for something they believed. But as you get to know them, it’s plain that a great deal of the Palleseen expansionism is driven by personal greed and ambition rather than actual orthodoxy.

Has there been a particular highlight of your years writing?

This year? It’s been somewhat non-stop. I’ve put out the fourth Tyrant Philosophers book and also a very weird standalone Science Fiction/gothic horror sort of thing, and now I’m working on something I can’t even talk about. Oh, and I got to write a comics script for Cosmic Lighthouse set in the Architects universe. So honestly the big win for me is the variety I’m able to work with.

Do you have a desert island book, and why is it your must-have read?

Tough call. Maybe Mythago Wood by Holdstock, or Clarke’s Piranesi, but there’s also a very out-of-print Peter S Beagle book I absolutely love called The Folk of the Air.

What piece of advice would you give to anyone thinking about becoming an author?

Honestly, don’t let anyone tell you it’s not about luck as much as talent. There are so many things you can’t control about the process. So it’s beholden on you to make sure whatever you’re submitting is the best it can be, so that when the luck falls in your favour you’re best placed to take advantage of it.

We know you tend to work about two years ahead. What are you working on right now that you can tell us about? What can we expect from you in 2026 and beyond?

In 2026 the big release is Children of Strife, the new book in my spiders series. There will also be the fourth full Tyrant Philosophers novel, Pretenders to the Throne of God, a new Solaris Novella, Preaching to the Choir, and an absolutely bonkers book from ReacTor called Green City Wars – a solarpunk noir detective thriller starring a raccoon.