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Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Adrian Czajkowski
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Born1972 (1972) (age 52)
Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom
OccupationAuthor and legal executive
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Reading
Period2008 – present
GenreFantasy and science fiction[1]
SubjectZoology and psychology
Notable worksShadows of the Apt series
Children of Time
Dogs of War
Notable awardsArthur C. Clarke Award (2016)
Hugo Award for Best Series (2023)[a]
Children1
Website
www.adriantchaikovsky.com

Adrian Czajkowski (spelt as Adrian Tchaikovsky for his books; born June 1972) is a British fantasy and science fiction author. He is best known for his series Shadows of the Apt, and for his Hugo Award–winning[a] Children of Time series.[2]

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".[3]

Biography

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Adrian Czajkowski was born in Lincolnshire in Woodhall Spa in June 1972.[4] He is of Polish descent.[5] 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."[6]

He studied zoology and psychology at the University of Reading, although he eventually became disillusioned with the content of the course.[7] He then qualified as a legal executive.[8] He was employed as a legal executive for the Commercial Dispute Department of Blacks, Solicitors, of Leeds[9] until late 2018, when he became a full time writer.[8]

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.[10]

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 (UK) – an imprint of Pan Macmillan – in the United Kingdom.[11] 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,[12] but these too used "Tchaikovsky".[13]

On 23 January 2019, Tchaikovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts by the University of Lincoln.[14]

He lives in Leeds with his wife and son.[15][16][17]

Writing career

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Tchaikovsky revealed the basis of Shadows of the Apt in an online essay entitled "Entering the Shadows" at Upcoming4.me.[18]

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.[19]

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.[20]

Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make science better than magic,[21] 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 (mostly magic) and the other (dirty polluting tech) 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."[22]

Themes

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Themes in Tchaikovsky's books include: "the frailties of human bureaucracy and the difficulty we have in seeing beyond the human perspective,"[23] 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."[24] Critics have commented positively on his "definitive" depiction of alien civilizations[25] and his treatment of "huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more."[26] 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.[27]

Awards and nominations

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Tchaikovsky has received the following literary awards and nominations:

Table key
§ Indicates a declined award
Year Work Award Result Ref.
2016 Children of Time Arthur C. Clarke Award Won [3]
2017 The Tiger and the Wolf British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel Won [28]
2019 Children of Ruin BSFA Award for Best Novel Won [29]
2020 The Doors of Eden Philip K. Dick Award Nominated [30]
Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Long-form Won [31][32]
2021 Shards of Earth BSFA Award for Best Novel Won [29]
2022 City of Last Chances BSFA Award for Best Novel Won [29]
Elder Race Hugo Award for Best Novella Nominated [33]
2023 Ogres Hugo Award for Best Novella Nominated [34]
The Children of Time series Hugo Award for Best Series Won§[a] [36]
And Put Away Childish Things BSFA for Best Shorter Fiction Won [29]

Bibliography

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Novels

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Shadows of the Apt
Main novels

  • Empire in Black and Gold (2008), ISBN 978-0-230-73646-7
  • Dragonfly Falling (2009), ISBN 978-0-230-70415-2
  • Blood of the Mantis (2009), ISBN 978-0-230-70416-9
  • Salute the Dark (2010), ISBN 978-0-330-51144-5
  • The Scarab Path (2010), ISBN 978-0-330-51145-2
  • The Sea Watch (2011), ISBN 978-0-330-51146-9
  • Heirs of the Blade (2011), ISBN 978-0-230-75699-1
  • The Air War (2012), ISBN 978-0-230-75700-4
  • War Master's Gate (2013), ISBN 978-0-230-75701-1
  • Seal of the Worm (2014), ISBN 978-0-230-77001-0

Tales of the Apt (short story collections in the Apt universe)

Children of Time

Echoes of the Fall

Bioforms

The Tyrant Philosophers

The Final Architecture

Standalone novels

After the War series

Redemption's Blade (Solaris Books, 2018), ISBN 978-1-78108-579-0, is the first book in a multi-author series. The series was continued with Salvation's Fire by Justina Robson and published on 4 September 2018.

Warhammer 40,000

Tchaikovsky's first Warhammer 40,000 novel Day of Ascension (2022), like his short story "Raised in Darkness" from Inferno! Volume 6 (2021), concerns the insidious Genestealer Cults.

  • Day of Ascension (2022)

Novellas

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Expert Systems

Terrible Worlds
Revolutions

Destinations

Transformations

Standalone Novellas

Short stories

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Other collections

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  • Feast and Famine (New Con Press, 2013), ISBN 978-1907069543. 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 Private Life of Elder Things (2016), 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 (Solaris, 2023), ISBN 978-1786188885. Collects three novellas: Ironclads, Firewalkers and Ogres.

Critical studies and reviews of Tchaikovsky's work

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The Doors of Eden

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Tchaikovsky has since disavowed the award due to the subsequent controversy regarding that year's Hugo ballot.[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Summary Bibliography: Adrian Tchaikovsky". www.isfdb.org.
  2. ^ Tomio, Jay (26 September 2008). "Bug Out with Adrian Tchaikovsky Before Children of Time". Nekoplz. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  3. ^ a b Flood, Alison (24 August 2016). "Arthur C Clarke award goes to Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel of 'universal scale'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 August 2016 – via www.theguardian.com.
  4. ^ Clute, John (13 June 2022). "Tchaikovsky, Adrian". In Clute, John; Langford, David (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.).
  5. ^ "About the author : Shadows of the Apt".
  6. ^ Tabler, Beth (7 March 2021). "Interview - Adrian Tchaikovsky". BEFOREWEGOBLOG. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  7. ^ Tabler, Beth (7 March 2021). "Interview - Adrian Tchaikovsky". BEFOREWEGOBLOG. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Adrian Tchaikovsky: From Star to Star". Locus. Vol. 88, no. 5. 9 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Who's Who?" (PDF). www.lawblacks.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy". Clarkesworld Magazine. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Adrian Tchaikovsky interview". Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  12. ^ Tchaikovsky, Adrian (30 March 2008). "The Long Good Lunch". Empire Rising. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. However, as the possibility of the Polish rights being sold seems extremely viable, there is an epilogue to this tale of Frankish ignorance, for in Poland, one would strongly assume, I may finally see my name in print in its unadulterated form.
  13. ^ "Imprerium Czerni i złota – Adrian Tchaikovsky" (in Polish). Rebis. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
  14. ^ "First nursing associates graduate among 1,000 students in Lincoln". The Lincolnite. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  15. ^ "Pan Macmillan author page". Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  16. ^ Tchaikovsky, Adrian (2010). The Scarab Path. Tor Books. ISBN 978-0-330-51145-2.
  17. ^ Wright, Jonathan (September 2009). "Meet a Brit author in the vanguard of the new heroic fantasy…". SFX Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  18. ^ "Story behind Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Entering the Shadows". Upcoming4.me. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  19. ^ "Story behind Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Entering the Shadows - Upcoming4.me". 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Profound Decisions – Empire". www.profounddecisions.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  21. ^ See Magic in fiction
  22. ^ "Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Shadow of the Apt series". www.londoncalling.com. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  23. ^ Brooks, Robin (6 June 2024). "'Service Model' by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A Book Review". GeekDad. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  24. ^ "Russell Letson Reviews House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky". Locus Online. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  25. ^ Hamilton, Peter F. (24 June 2020). "Top 10 books about remaking the future". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  26. ^ Insider, WIRED. "29 of the Best Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  27. ^ "'Human perception of time is one of the biggest limitations of being human'". BPS. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  28. ^ "Announcing the 2017 British Fantasy Award Winners". Tor.com. 1 October 2017..
  29. ^ a b c d "Previous BSFA Award Winners".
  30. ^ "Nominations 2021". 21 January 2021.
  31. ^ "Adrian Tchaikovsky: From Star to Star". Locus Online. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  32. ^ "Sidewise Award". Lincoln City Libraries. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  33. ^ "2022 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 4 September 2022. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  34. ^ "2023 Hugo Awards". 6 July 2023.
  35. ^ Tchaikovsky, Adrian. "A Statement on the 2023 Hugo Awards". adriantchaikovsky.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  36. ^ "The 2023 Hugo Award Winners Are Here". Gizmodo. 24 October 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  37. ^ "Urban Mythic 2". 12 August 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  38. ^ "Grimdark Magazine #1".
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