New Releases by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Welcome to Alkhalend, Jewel of the Waters, capital of Usmai, greatest of the Successor States, inheritor to the necromantic dominion that was the Moeribandi Empire and tomorrow''s frontline in the Palleseen''s relentless march to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. Loret is fresh off the boat, and just in time. As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation, Outreach department, she''s here as aide to the Palleseen Resident, Sage-Invigilator Angilly. And Sage-Invigilator Angilly – Gil to her friends – needs a second in the spectacularly illegal, culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight. Outreach, that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world, has a lot of room for the illegal, the unconventional, the unorthodox. But just how much unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with? As a succession crisis looms, as a long-forgotten feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition, as pirate kings, lizard armies and demons gather, as old gods wane and new gods wax, sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle their ledger. Just as well they are both very, very good with a blade... THE TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS SERIES ''Endlessly creative . . . so much invention peeking around every corner - Patrick Ness ''Dense, dark, ingenious, ironic, complex, often funny, and always smart'' Locus ''A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world'' Ian Green

An utterly gripping story of survival on a hostile planet from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time. They looked into the darkness. The darkness looked back . . . A commercial expedition to a distant star system discovers a pitch-black moon alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is deadly to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud. Under no circumstances can a human survive Shroud’s inhospitable surface – but a catastrophic accident forces Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne to make an emergency landing in a barely adequate escape vehicle. Alone, and fighting for survival, the two women embark on a gruelling journey across land, sea and air in search of salvation. But as they travel, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s unnerving alien species. It also begins to understand them. If they escape Shroud, they’ll somehow have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible. That is, if they make it back at all . . . Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky ‘The smartest evolutionary worldbuilding you’ll ever read’ – Peter F. Hamilton, author of Salvation on Children of Time ‘Compelling on human and cosmic levels, and unputdownable’ – Stephen Baxter, author of Proxima on Alien Clay ‘Heart-in-the-mouth fantastic’ – New Scientist on Alien Clay

From Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky comes a far-future epic that confirms his place as a modern master of science fiction, in which a political prisoner must unlock the secrets of a strange and dangerous planet. The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there. In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go? If he can survive both the harsh rule of the camp commandant and the alien horrors of the world around him, then Arton has a chance at making a discovery that might just transform not only Kiln, but distant Earth as well.

Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time. To fix the world they must first break it, further. Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose. Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Doctor Jasmine Marks is going back into hell. The Hygrometric Dehabitation Region, or the “Zone,” is a growing band of rainforest on the equator, where the heat and humidity make it impossible for warm-blooded animals to survive. A human being without protection in the Zone is dead in minutes. Twenty years ago, Marks went into the rainforest with a group of researchers led by Doctor Elaine Fell, to study the extraordinary climate and see if it could be used in agriculture. The only thing she learned was that the Zone was no place for people. There were deaths, and the programme was cut short. Now, they’re sending her back in. A plane crash, a rescue mission, a race against time and the environment to bring out the survivors. But there are things Marks’s corporate masters aren’t telling her. The Zone keeps its secrets, and so does Doctor Fell…

Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time. Download a FREE sneek peek today! To fix the world they must first break it, further. Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose. Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Behind the front lines of a crusade to scour the world of magic, the crew of a field hospital confront the horrors of war. A companion novel to Adrian Tchaikovsky''s award-winning fantasy novel City of Last Chances City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the world of superstition with the bright flame of reason, so they deliver a mountain of ragged, holed and scorched flesh to the field hospital tents just behind the front line. Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit. Led by ''the Butcher'', an ogre of a man who''s a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit''s motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Theirs is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers. Entrusted – for now – with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital''s crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yasnic''s thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse. Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle... Reviews for City of Last Chances: ''Paints a vivid detailed backdrop'' SFX ''Brilliant chaos ensues'' Daily Mail ''Some of Tchaikovsky''s best prose'' SF Crowsnest ''An intriguing tangle... ingenious'' Locus ''Endlessly creative'' Patrick Ness ''Rich, inventive worldbuilding'' Publishers Weekly ''Ilmar is vividly alive'' David Towsey ''A master at the height of his powers'' Ian Green ''An ambitious epic fantasy read'' Grimdark Magazine

What happens when AI takes over the creative process? Discussion about, and the use of artificial intelligence has exploded across the globe. Some programmers have already speculated that they are witnessing the birth of ''general'' intelligence in ai which would be a game changer and decades before it was originally anticipated. Is this the next step, from robots taking over tedious repetitive tasks in factories to now taking over creative ventures as well? Here are stories that explore the relationship between artificial intelligence and art, written by top science fiction authors from across the globe. Read the tales of robot painters, AI poets, and electronic gallery curators; dystopias where human artists must eke out an existence in societies where AI generates most of the content, and utopias where artificial minds help unlock and enhance human creativity. This collection features a truly global perspective from top authors from USA, UK, China, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Madagascar, Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, and Sri Lanka.

From the award-winning master of sci-fi Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Memory is the unmissable follow-up space opera to the highly acclaimed Children of Time and Children of Ruin. They dreamed of a new home. They woke to a nightmare. On Imir, Captain Holt founded a new colony on an empty world. In the process, he created hope and a new future for humanity. But, generations later, his descendants are struggling to survive. As harvests worsen and equipment fails, strangers appear in a town where everyone knows their neighbour. Now the inexplicable lurks in the woods and the community fears that it''s being observed - that they''re not alone. They''d be right, as explorers from the stars have arrived in secret to help this lost outpost. Confident of their superior technology, and overseen by the all-knowing construct of Doctor Avrana Kern, they begin to study their long-lost cousins from Earth. Yet the planet hides deeper mysteries. It seems the visitors aren''t the only watchers. And when the starfarers discover the scale of their mistake, it will be far too late to escape. Children of Memory by Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky is a far-reaching space opera spanning generations, species and galaxies.

Three acclaimed novellas by the Arthur C. Clarke-award-winning "British master of science fiction" The Future Is Oppression. Scions, sonko, landlords: whatever you call them, they''re the super rich, the princes of capitalism, living off the labour – and the deaths – of the swarming masses and all too happy to see the world burn to preserve their luxurious lives. In three critically-acclaimed novellas, the "British master of science fiction" (Tor.com) takes you down into the mud and horror of a future battlefield, into the dust and burning heat of a scorched equator, into the grinding poverty of a newly-feudal village, with the folk who give their lives every day in the service of undeserving masters... and sows the seed of revolution. Collected for the first time in one beautifully-presented box set, Terrible Worlds: Revolutions gives you three glimpses of hope for a better future.

From the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time, this third and final novel in an extraordinary space opera trilogy depicts humanity on the brink of extinction—and reveals how one man''s discovery will save or destroy us all.

All roads lead to Underhill, where it’s always winter, and never nice. Harry Bodie has a famous grandmother, who wrote beloved children’s books set in the delightful world of Underhill. Harry himself is a failing kids’ TV presenter whose every attempt to advance his career ends in self-sabotage. His family history seems to be nothing but an impediment. An impediment... or worse. What if Underhill is real? What if it has been waiting decades for a promised child to visit? What if it isn’t delightful at all? And what if its denizens have run out of patience and are taking matters into their own hands?

WINNER OF THE 2022 BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL ''Endlessly creative... so much invention peeking around every corner'' Patrick Ness Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller Adrian Tchaikovsky''s triumphant return to fantasy with a darkly inventive portrait of a city under occupation and on the verge of revolution. There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city''s refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood – that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores. Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places. Ilmar, City of Long Shadows. City of Bad Decisions. City of Last Chances. ''Ilmar is vividly alive with ideas, conflicts, and a sense of its own history – a truly breathtaking fantasy city, down every street a compelling story.'' David Towsey ''A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world.'' Ian Green ''A wonderful twisty stew of a book with a cast of fascinating characters, set against the brilliantly realized city of Ilmar.'' Django Wexler ''A triumph of a book: wildly imaginative, immediately immersive and hypnotically compelling.'' Sharon Emmerichs

An eclectic mix of Speculative Fiction pieces around the theme of LIGHT. Short stories and poetry vie for your attention with two entries from our special guest authors - Adrian Tchaikovsky and Peter McLean. With Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Supernatural, Horror and everything between, there is something here for every taste. All proceeds go to the Mental Health charity - MIND.

Maniye, child of Wolf and Tiger, has a new soul and a new shape. But as Champion of the Crown of the World, does she represent an opportunity for the North - or a threat? Travelling as a bodyguard to the Southern prince, with her warband of outcasts, she hopes to finally discover her true place in the world. But if only it was that simple. Tensions rise, and new allies face up to old enemies as civil war threatens to tear the South apart. Royal twins can''t share a throne, so one must be chosen. And whoever rules the southern Sun River Nation will hold the fate of the world in their hands. As the protector of one potential heir, Maniye soon finds herself at the eye of a political storm. Yet all the while, an enemy from the most ancient of times prepares for conquest, and could destroy everything in their path...

When the mighty and cruel must be brought low, it''s the killers and the schemers who emerge from the shadows. As plans twist and change, and our protagonists are foiled and beaten, one thing remains true: no matter the cost, the king must fall. The King Must Fall is a dark fantasy anthology featuring 19 titans of the dark and grimdark fantasy genres writing about rogues, assassins, mages, blackguards, and warriors on quests to kill their kings, rulers, captains, and leaders. Devin Madson Luke Scull Anna Smith Spark Anthony Ryan Michael R. Fletcher Jeremy Szal Lee Murray Daniel Polansky Shawn Speakman Adrian Tchaikovsky Trudi Canavan Alex Marshall Anna Stephens Justin Call Deborah A. Wolf Peter Orullian Kameron Hurley Matthew Ward Bradley P. Beaulieu

Ogres are bigger than you. Ogres are stronger than you. Ogres rule the world. It’s always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call. Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It’s always been that way. It’s the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes. But when the headman’s son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord’s son, he sets himself on a path to learn the terrible truth about the Ogres, and about the dark sciences that ensured their rule.

Exciting new Warhammer 40,000 novel from Adrian Tchaikovsky/ On the forge world of Morod, the machines never stop and the work never ends. The population toil in the mines and factoria to protect humanity from the monsters in the void, while the Adeptus Mechanicus enjoy lives of palatial comfort. Genetor Gammat Triskellian seeks to end this stagnant corruption. When he learns of a twisted congregation operating within the shadows, one which believes that the tech-priests are keeping the people from their true salvation – a long-prophesied union with angels – he sees in them an opportunity to bring down Morad’s masters and reclaim the world in the name of progress. But sometimes, the only hope for real change lies in the coming of monsters.

All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, the spies watch each other and ready their knives, while Myna sees the troops muster at its border and emotions run high as it vows never to be enslaved again. In Collegium, the students argue politics, too late to turn the tide. In the heart of the Empire, new pilots have completed their secretive training, generals are being recalled to service and armies are ready to march. Their Empress, the heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. And nothing--either within the Empire or beyond it--will stand in her way. A conflict is coming, the like of which the insect-kinden have never seen.

"A Ursula Le Guin-like grace... Ten out of 10." —New York Times In Adrian Tchaikovsky''s Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe. Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it). But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary space opera about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man''s discovery will save or destroy us all. The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . . Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity''s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete. Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It''s clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.

In Adrian Tchaikovsky''s The Expert System''s Champion, sometimes the ones you hate are the only ones that can save you. It''s been ten years since Handry was wrenched away from his family and friends, forced to wander a world he no longer understood. But with the help of the Ancients, he has cobbled together a life, of sorts, for himself and his fellow outcasts. Wandering from village to village, welcoming the folk that the townships abandon, fighting the monsters the villagers cannot—or dare not—his ever-growing band of misfits has become the stuff of legend, a story told by parents to keep unruly children in line. But there is something new and dangerous in the world, and the beasts of the land are acting against their nature, destroying the towns they once left in peace. And for the first time in memory, the Ancients have no wisdom to offer... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Honey the genetically engineered bear starts a revolution on the Red Planet in the new novel from the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author of Children of Time. WELCOME TO HELL CITY, MARS Jimmy Martin has a sore head. He''s used to smuggling illegal data in his headspace. But this is the first time it has started talking to him. The data claims to be a distinguished academic, author and civil rights activist. It also claims to be a bear. A bear named Honey. Jimmy has nothing against bioforms – he''s one himself, albeit one engineered out of human stock – and works with them everyday in Hell City, building the future, staking mankind''s claim to a new world: Mars. The problem is that humanity isn''t the only entity with designs on the Red Planet. Out in the airless desert there is another presence. A novel intelligence, elusive, unknowable and potentially lethal. And Honey is here to make contact with it, whether Jimmy likes it or not. Praise for Bear Head: ''An unashamedly thrilling escapade'' The Times ''Funny, appalling, gruesome and uplifting... Propelled by a cracking plot that balances dystopian satire with a palpable sense of moral peril'' Daily Mail ''An absolute whammy of a read, and a must for anyone who enjoys a smart, fast-paced, hugely entertaining blast of speculative fiction... This is one of those books where you can just throw yourself and abandon yourself to a fabulous story, knowing you will be entertained throughout'' LoveReading ''A rousing good read'' Guardian ''If you''re a fan of Black Mirror, this classic dystopian book will have you hooked within the first few pages. Smart, fast-paced, and razor-sharp, this book is surprisingly funny while still remaining deeply thought-provoking'' Daily Express

Four new tales of Doctors Catt and Fisher… Scholars, shopkeepers, collectors… aficionados. Obtainers of rare antiquities; relic hunters who can’t resist a lead, even when it takes them into terrible danger. There’s always an opportunity to be found amid the confusion, in the wake of the terrible Kinslayer War. There’s always a deal to be done, a tomb to open, a precious thing to… obtain. From encounters with the monstrous Vathesk to exploring new worlds; from wielding great power to do great good, to unearthing dark things best left lost. If you need the experts, if you can find your way to their Cherivell shop, maybe you can hire Doctors Catt and Fisher.

From the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden is an extraordinary feat of the imagination and a page-turning adventure about parallel universes and the monsters that they hide. They thought we were safe. They were wrong. Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she''d lost Mal, but now she''s miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal''s reappearance hasn''t gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn''t the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power - and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor. Dr Khan''s research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through. "Tchaikovsky weaves a masterful tale... a suspenseful joyride through the multiverse." (Booklist)

FIREWALKERS ARE BRAVE FIREWALKERS ARE RESOURCEFUL FIREWALKERS ARE EXPENDABLE The Earth is burning. Nothing can survive at the Anchor; not without water and power. But the ultra-rich, waiting for their ride off the dying Earth? They can buy water. And thanks to their investment, the sun can provide power. But someone has to repair the solar panels when they fail, down in the deserts below. Kids like Mao, and Lupé, and Hotep; kids with brains and guts but no hope. The Firewalkers. “This is a must-read for fans of dystopian and climate change fiction.” - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

A prequel to the magical novella Made Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky''s "Precious Little Things" is a Tor.com Original short story offering a new perspective while set in the same action-packed gaslamp world. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky''s Made Things is dark fantasy tale of how the most unlikely characters may become the most heroic. Making friends has never been so important. Welcome to Fountains Parish--a cesspit of trade and crime, where ambition curls up to die and desperation grows on its cobbled streets like mold on week-old bread. Coppelia is a street thief, a trickster, a low-level con artist. But she has something other thieves don''t... tiny puppet-like companions: some made of wood, some of metal. They don''t entirely trust her, and she doesn''t entirely understand them, but their partnership mostly works. After a surprising discovery shakes their world to the core, Coppelia and her friends must re-examine everything they thought they knew about their world, while attempting to save their city from a seemingly impossible new threat. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

I’M LOST. I’M SCARED. AND THERE’S SOMETHING HORRIBLE IN HERE. My name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut. I got lucky; when a probe exploring the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw. I got even luckier. When disaster hit and our team was split up, scattered through the endless cold tunnels, I somehow survived. Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here. Lucky me. Lucky, lucky, lucky. A new standalone novella by the Arthur C Clarke Award-winning author of Children of Time.