Adrian Tchaikovsky Explained

Adrian Czajkowski
Birth Place:Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation:Author and legal executive
Language:English
Nationality:British
Alma Mater:University of Reading
Period:2008 – present
Genre:Fantasy and science fiction[1]
Subject:Zoology and psychology
Notableworks:Shadows of the Apt series
Children of Time
Dogs of War
Children:1
Awards:Arthur C. Clarke Award (2016)
Hugo Award for Best Series (2023)

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 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

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

He studied zoology and psychology at the University of Reading, although he eventually became disillusioned with the content of the course.[6] He then qualified as a legal executive. He was employed as a legal executive for the Commercial Dispute Department of Blacks, Solicitors, of Leeds[7] 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 Xenoss annual competition with the short story The Roar of the Crowd, only for the magazine to fold pre-publication.[8]

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 Macmillanin the United Kingdom.[9] 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,[10] but these too used "Tchaikovsky".[11]

On 23 January 2019, Tchaikovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts by the University of Lincoln.[12]

He lives in Leeds with his wife and son.[13] [14] [15]

Writing Career

Tchaikovsky revealed the basis of Shadows of the Apt in an online essay entitled "Entering the Shadows" at Upcoming4.me.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18]

Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make science better than magic,[19] 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."[20]

Themes

Themes in Tchaikovsky's books include: "the frailties of human bureaucracy and the difficulty we have in seeing beyond the human perspective,"[21] 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."[22] Critics have commented positively on his "definitive" depiction of alien civilizations[23] and his treatment of "huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more."[24] 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.[25]

Awards and nominations

Tchaikovsky has received the following literary awards and nominations:

YearWorkAwardResult
2016Children of TimeArthur C. Clarke Award
2017The Tiger and the WolfBritish Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel[26]
2019Children of RuinBSFA Award for Best Novel
2020The Doors of EdenPhilip K. Dick Award[27]
Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Long-form[28] [29]
2021Shards of EarthBSFA Award for Best Novel[30]
2022City of Last ChancesBSFA Award for Best Novel
Elder RaceHugo Award for Best Novella[31]
2023OgresHugo Award for Best Novella[32]
The Children of Time series§[33]
And Put Away Childish ThingsBSFA Award for Best Novel

Bibliography

Novels

Shadows of the Apt
Main novels

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),, 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.

Novellas

Short stories

Other collections

Critical studies and reviews of Tchaikovsky's work

The Doors of Eden

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Summary Bibliography: Adrian Tchaikovsky . www.isfdb.org.
  2. Web site: Bug Out with Adrian Tchaikovsky Before Children of Time. Tomio. Jay. 26 September 2008. Nekoplz. 11 March 2010 .
  3. Web site: Arthur C Clarke award goes to Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel of 'universal scale'. Flood. Alison. 24 August 2016. 25 August 2016. www.theguardian.com.
  4. Web site: About the author : Shadows of the Apt .
  5. Web site: Tabler . Beth . 2021-03-07 . Interview - Adrian Tchaikovsky . 2024-08-20 . BEFOREWEGOBLOG . en-US.
  6. Web site: Tabler . Beth . 2021-03-07 . Interview - Adrian Tchaikovsky . 2024-08-20 . BEFOREWEGOBLOG . en-US.
  7. Web site: Who's Who?. www.lawblacks.com. 23 January 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20151210223739/http://www.lawblacks.com/Portals/43/pdf/WhosWho.pdf. 10 December 2015. dead.
  8. Web site: Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy . 2024-06-21 . Clarkesworld Magazine . en-US.
  9. Web site: Adrian Tchaikovsky interview . 28 May 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091109233137/http://thefirstbook.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/adrian-tchaikovsky-empire-in-black-and-gold/ . 9 November 2009 . dead .
  10. Web site: The Long Good Lunch. 30 March 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20120313160343/http://theinsectman.livejournal.com/12934.html. 13 March 2012. live. Tchaikovsky. Adrian. Empire Rising. 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..
  11. Web site: Imprerium Czerni i złota – Adrian Tchaikovsky. Rebis. pl. 12 October 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101009011123/http://www.imperiumczerniizlota.pl/cykl.php. 9 October 2010.
  12. Web site: First nursing associates graduate among 1,000 students in Lincoln. The Lincolnite. 23 January 2019. 23 January 2019.
  13. Web site: Pan Macmillan author page . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120113015405/http://www.panmacmillan.com/author/adriantchaikovsky . 13 January 2012 . 2 April 2012.
  14. Book: Tchaikovsky, Adrian . The Scarab Path . Tor Books . 2010 . 978-0-330-51145-2.
  15. Web site: Wright . Jonathan . September 2009 . Meet a Brit author in the vanguard of the new heroic fantasy… . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100308015730/http://shadowsoftheapt.com/about-the-author . 8 March 2010 . 15 March 2010 . SFX Magazine.
  16. Web site: Story behind Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Entering the Shadows. Upcoming4.me. 8 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006072125/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/story-behind-shadows-of-the-apt-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-entering-the-shadows. 6 October 2014. dead.
  17. Web site: 2014-10-06 . Story behind Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Entering the Shadows - Upcoming4.me . 2024-06-28 . web.archive.org.
  18. Web site: Profound Decisions – Empire. www.profounddecisions.co.uk. 23 January 2019.
  19. See Magic in fiction
  20. Web site: Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Shadow of the Apt series. www.londoncalling.com. 23 January 2019.
  21. Web site: Brooks . Robin . 2024-06-06 . ‘Service Model’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A Book Review . 2024-06-09 . GeekDad . en-US.
  22. Web site: 2024-03-15 . Russell Letson Reviews House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky . 2024-06-09 . Locus Online . en-US.
  23. News: Hamilton . Peter F. . 2020-06-24 . Top 10 books about remaking the future . 2024-06-09 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  24. News: Insider . WIRED . 29 of the Best Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read . 2024-06-09 . Wired . en-US . 1059-1028.
  25. Web site: ‘Human perception of time is one of the biggest limitations of being human’ . 2024-06-25 . BPS . en.
  26. Web site: Announcing the 2017 British Fantasy Award Winners . 1 October 2017 . Tor.com. .
  27. Web site: Nominations 2021.
  28. Web site: 2022-05-09 . Adrian Tchaikovsky: From Star to Star . 2024-02-21 . Locus Online . en-US.
  29. Web site: Sidewise Award . 2024-02-21 . Lincoln City Libraries.
  30. Web site: Previous BSFA Award Winners.
  31. Web site: 2022-09-04 . 2022 Hugo Awards . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220905072855/https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2022-hugo-awards/ . 2022-09-05 . 2022-09-04 . World Science Fiction Society.
  32. Web site: 2023 Hugo Awards.
  33. Web site: 2023-10-24 . The 2023 Hugo Award Winners Are Here . 2024-02-21 . . en.
  34. Web site: Urban Mythic 2. 12 August 2014. 23 January 2019.
  35. Web site: Grimdark Magazine #1.

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