Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Czajkowski 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 Children of Time series.
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".
Biography
Adrian Czajkowski was born in Lincolnshire in Woodhall Spa in June 1972. He is of Polish descent. 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."He studied zoology and psychology at the University of Reading although he eventually became disillusioned with the content of the course. He then qualified as a legal executive. He was employed as a legal executive for the Commercial Dispute Department of Blacks, Solicitors, of Leeds until late 2018 when he became a full-time writer.
Tchaikovsky's first foray into writing was in 1996 when he submitted several stories for publication in Xenos magazine. In the early 2000, he won Xenos's annual competition with the short story The Roar of the Crowd, only for the magazine to fold pre-publication.
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 an imprint of Pan Macmillanin the United Kingdom. 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, but these too used "Tchaikovsky".
On 23 January 2019, Tchaikovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts by the University of Lincoln.
He lives in Leeds with his wife and son.
Writing career
Tchaikovsky revealed the basis of Shadows of the Apt in an online essay entitled "Entering the Shadows" at Upcoming4.me.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.
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.
Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make science better than magic, 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 and the other 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."
In 2025, with Emma Newman, he launched a new podcast, Starship Alexandria. In this the presenters alternate presenting a work for the other to read and judge whether the work should be preserved for posterity.
Themes
Themes in Tchaikovsky's books include: "the frailties of human bureaucracy and the difficulty we have in seeing beyond the human perspective," 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." Critics have commented positively on his "definitive" depiction of alien civilizations and his treatment of "huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more." 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.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 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.Novels
Shadows of the Apt- Main Novels
- * Empire in Black and Gold,
- * Dragonfly Falling,
- * Blood of the Mantis,
- * Salute the Dark,
- * The Scarab Path,
- * The Sea Watch,
- * Heirs of the Blade,
- * The Air War,
- * War Master's Gate,
- * Seal of the Worm,
- Tales of the Apt
- * Spoils of War,
- * A Time for Grief,
- * For Love of Distant Shores,
- * The Scent of Tears,
Echoes of the FallThe Tiger and the Wolf, The Bear and the Serpent, The Hyena and the Hawk,
BioformsDogs of War, Bear Head, Bee Speaker,
The Tyrant Philosophers
- Main Novels
- * City of Last Chances,
- * House of Open Wounds,
- * Days of Shattered Faith,
- * Pretenders to the Throne of God,
- Novellas
- * Lives of Bitter Rain,
Standalone novelsGuns of the Dawn, Spiderlight, Cage of Souls, The Doors of Eden, Alien Clay, Service Model, Shroud,
After the WarRedemption's Blade,, is the first book in a multi-author series. The series continued with two books by Justina Robson.
Black LibraryDay of Ascension is Tchaikovsky's first Warhammer 40,000 novel, and like his short story Raised in Darkness from Inferno! Volume 6, concerns the insidious Genestealer Cults.On the Shoulders of Giants is a Warhammer: Age of Sigmar novella in the multi-author anthology On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories, Starseer's Ruin is a Warhammer: Age of Sigmar novel focussed on Seraphon,
Novellas
Expert SystemsThe Expert System's Brother, The Expert System's Champion,Terrible Worlds
- Revolutions
- * Ironclads,
- * Firewalkers,
- * Ogres,
- Destinations
- * Walking to Aldebaran,
- * One Day All This Will Be Yours,
- * And Put Away Childish Things,.
- Transformations
- * Saturation Point,.
- * Preaching to the Choir,
- Innovations
- * The Hungry Gods,.
Short stories
- "The Final Conjuration" in Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets: An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space, a collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories.
- "Where the Brass Band Plays" in Urban Mythic 2,
- "Shadow Hunter" in Grimdark Magazine, issue #1Human Resources, is set in the world of Service Model,
Other collections
Feast and Famine,. 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,. Part of The Afterblight Chronicles by Abaddon Books.The Private Life of Elder Things, 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,. Collects three novellas: Ironclads, Firewalkers and Ogres.Terrible Worlds: Destinations. 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*