Adrian Czajkowski (spelt as Adrian Tchaikovsky for his books; born June 1972) 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 Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire 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 2000s, 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 (UK)–an imprint of Pan Macmillan–in 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 has previously been involved with the LARP game Empire.

Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make technology 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 (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."

In 2025, with Emma Newman, he launched a new podcast, Starship Alexandria. In this the presenters alternate presenting a work (novel, film, comic book) 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:

Table key
§Indicates a declined award
YearWorkAwardCategoryResultRef.
2014"Family Business"British Fantasy AwardShort StoryShortlisted
2016Children of TimeArthur C. Clarke Award—Won
Guns of the DawnBritish Fantasy AwardFantasy NovelShortlisted
2017The Tiger and the WolfBritish Fantasy AwardFantasy NovelWon
2019Children of RuinBSFA AwardNovelWon
2020Cage of SoulsArthur C. Clarke Award—Shortlisted
The Doors of EdenSidewise Award for Alternate HistoryLong-formWon
2021Philip K. Dick Award—Nominated
Shards of EarthBSFA AwardNovelWon
2022City of Last ChancesBSFA AwardNovelWon
Elder RaceHugo AwardNovellaFinalist
Ursula K. Le Guin Prize—Shortlisted
OgresBSFA AwardShort FictionShortlisted
Shards of EarthDragon AwardScience Fiction NovelNominated
Locus AwardScience Fiction NovelFinalist
2023And Put Away Childish ThingsBSFA AwardShorter FictionWon
Children of MemoryDragon AwardScience Fiction NovelNominated
The Children of Time seriesHugo AwardSeriesWon§
Eyes of the VoidLocus AwardScience Fiction NovelFinalist
OgresBritish Fantasy AwardNovellaShortlisted
Hugo AwardNovellaFinalist
Locus AwardNovellaFinalist
2024Alien ClayBSFA AwardNovelShortlisted§
City of Last ChancesLocus AwardFantasy NovelFinalist
The Final ArchitectureHugo AwardSeriesFinalist
House of Open WoundsDragon AwardFantasy NovelNominated
Lords of UncreationLocus AwardScience Fiction NovelFinalist
Saturation PointBSFA AwardShorter FictionWon
2025Alien ClayHugo AwardNovelFinalist
Locus AwardScience Fiction NovelFinalist
Philip K. Dick Award—Special Citation
Service ModelArthur C. Clarke Award—Shortlisted
Hugo AwardNovelFinalist
Locus AwardScience Fiction NovelFinalist
RUSA Reading ListScience Fiction NovelShortlisted
The Tyrant PhilosophersHugo AwardSeriesFinalist
2026Lives of Bitter RainLocus AwardNovellaFinalist
ShroudHugo AwardNovelFinalist
Locus AwardScience Fiction NovelFinalist

Film adaptations

In June 2025, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to adapt Saturation Point. Cynthia Erivo and Michael Bay were attached as producers. Minnie Schedeen was set to write the script, which will be her debut as a screenwriter.

Bibliography

Novels

Shadows of the Apt

  • Novels — (1 January 2008). Empire in Black and Gold. Tor Books. ISBN9780230736467. — (3 March 2009). Dragonfly Falling. Tor Books. ISBN9780230704152. — (7 August 2009). Blood of the Mantis. Tor Books. ISBN9780230704169. — (5 February 2010). Salute the Dark. Tor Books. ISBN9780330511445. — (6 August 2010). The Scarab Path. Tor Books. ISBN9780330511452. — (4 February 2011). The Sea Watch. Tor Books. ISBN9780330511469. — (7 October 2011). Heirs of the Blade. Tor Books. ISBN9780230756991. — (2 August 2012). The Air War. Tor Books. ISBN9780230757004. — (1 August 2013). War Master's Gate. Tor Books. ISBN9780230757011. — (3 July 2014). Seal of the Worm. Tor Books. ISBN9780230770010.
  • Tales of the Apt (short story collections) — (11 July 2016). Spoils of War. NewCon Press. ISBN9781910935217. — (24 April 2017). A Time for Grief. NewCon Press. ISBN9781910935460. — (10 April 2018). For Love of Distant Shores. NewCon Press. ISBN9781910935712. — (23 October 2018). The Scent of Tears. NewCon Press. ISBN9781910935934.

Children of Time

Echoes of the Fall

  • — (11 February 2016). The Tiger and the Wolf. Tor UK. ISBN9780230770065.
  • — (10 August 2017). The Bear and the Serpent. Tor UK. ISBN9781509830220.
  • — (5 April 2018). The Hyena and the Hawk. Tor UK. ISBN9781509830268.

Bioforms

The Tyrant Philosophers

  • Main novels — (8 December 2022). City of Last Chances. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781801108423. — (7 December 2023). House of Open Wounds. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781035901388. — (5 December 2024). Days of Shattered Faith. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781035901524. — (12 February 2026). Pretenders to the Throne of God. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781035914975. Forthcoming: — (9 February 2027). The Grave of Perfection. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781035915040.
  • Novellas — (14 October 2025). Lives of Bitter Rain. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781035911448.

The Final Architecture

  • — (27 May 2021). Shards of Earth. Tor Books. ISBN9781529051889.
  • — (3 May 2022). Eyes of the Void. Tor Books. ISBN9781529051933.
  • — (2 May 2023). Lords of Uncreation. Tor Books. ISBN9781529051988.

Standalone novels

Black Library

  • — (1 February 2022). Day of Ascension. Black Library. ISBN9781800260917.
  • — (26 October 2024). "On the Shoulders of Giants". On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories. Black Library. ISBN9781836090014.
  • — (14 November 2025). Starseer's Ruin. Black Library. ISBN9781836093718.

Multi-author series

  • — (1 July 2014). The Bloody Deluge. The Afterblight Chronicles. Abaddon Books. ISBN9781849977647.
  • — (24 July 2018). Redemption's Blade. After the War. Solaris Books. ISBN9781781085790.

Novellas

Expert Systems

  • — (17 June 2018). The Expert System's Brother. Tordotcom. ISBN9781250197566.
  • — (26 January 2021). The Expert System's Champion. Tordotcom. ISBN9781250766397.

Terrible Worlds

Elder Race

Standalone Novellas

  • — (5 November 2019). Made Things. Tor Books. ISBN9781250232991.
  • — (12 June 2021). The House on the Old Cliffs. BOTH Press. ISBN9781913603045.

Short stories

  • — (31 August 2014). "Where the Brass Band Plays". In Edwards, Jan; Barber, Jenny (eds.). The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2. Alchemy Press. ISBN9780957348998.
  • — (7 October 2014). "The Final Conjuration". In Moore, David Thomas (ed.). Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets: An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space. Abaddon Books. ISBN9781781082225.
  • — (14 March 2017). "Shadow Hunter". Grimdark Magazine. Shadows of the Apt. No.1.
  • — (4 September 2023). "The Long and Hungry Road: A Tyranids Short Story". Warhammer 40,000. Black Library. ASIN.
  • — (30 April 2025). Harris, Lee (ed.). . Service Model. Illustrated by George Wylesol. Reactor. ISBN9781250375933.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)

Collections

  • — (2 September 2013). Feast and Famine. NewCon Press. ISBN9781907069543.
  • —; McDonald, Keris; Gauntless, Adam (3 September 2016). The Private Life of Elder Things. Alchemy Press. ISBN9781911034025.
  • — (28 February 2026). The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky. Subterranean Press. ISBN9781645243120.

Critical studies and reviews of Tchaikovsky's work

The Doors of Eden

  • West, Michelle (July–August 2020). . F&SF. 139 (1&2): 88‒94. Archived from on 18 July 2020.

Notes

External links