Featuring: Asaf Ashery, Robert Dallek, S.A. Hunt, Tim Lebbon, Nick Martell, Adrienne Miller, Sue Miller, Jeff Noon, Josh Reynolds, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emily Tesh, Gav Thorpe, Lavie Tidhar, Paul Vidich, Drew Williams
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Upcoming: THE DOORS OF EDEN and FIREWALKERS by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor / Solaris)
New year = new books from Adrian Tchaikovsky!
First, we have The Doors of Eden. With this novel, the author seems to be taking on a new (sub-)genre — specifically some kind of portal fantasy, which Stephen Baxter has described as “a terrific timeslip/lost world romp”. The synopsis sounds fantastic, of course, and I’m really looking forward to reading this:
The world is stranger than they’d thought. And more dangerous than they’d feared.
Lee’s best friend went missing on Bodmin Moor, four years ago. She and Mal were chasing rumours of monsters when they found something all too real. Now Mal is back, but where has she been, and who is she working for?
When government physicist Kay Amal Khan is attacked, the security services investigate. This leads MI5’s Julian Sabreur deep into terrifying new territory, where he clashes with mysterious agents of an unknown power who may or may not be human. And Julian’s only clue is some grainy footage – showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.
Khan’s extradimensional research was purely theoretical, until she found cracks between our world and countless others… Parallel Earths where monsters live. These cracks are getting wider every day, so who knows what might creep through? Or what will happen when those walls finally come crashing down.
Easily one of my most-anticipated of 2020, The Doors of Eden is due to be published by Tor Books in the UK, on May 28th, 2020. (Some of his recent novels have been published in North America by Orbit — such as Children of Time and Children of Ruin — but at the time of writing I couldn’t find any information about a US publisher for this book.)
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Tchaikovsky’s other novel, also due out in May, Firewalkers, is a slimmer tale (only about 200 pages) and appears to be a dystopian tale of environmental collapse, economic inequality, and resource scarcity:
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 as for power?
Well, someone has to repair the solar panels, down in the deserts below.
Kids like Mao, and Lupé, and Hotep; kids with brains and guts but no hope.
The Firewalkers.
Really looking forward to reading this. Firewalkers is due to be published by Solaris Books in North America and in the UK, in mid-May 2020.
Quick Review: CHILDREN OF RUIN by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit/Tor UK)
The Children of Time are going on an adventure…
Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time.
Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.
But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.
And it’s been waiting for them.
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Clarke Award-winning Children of Time is one of my favourite sci-fi novels. When it was announced that he was going to revisit the setting (it was originally meant as a stand-alone, I believe), it was music to my ears. The story is comprised of two threads — one sort-of parallel to the first novel (“past”) and also a continuation of that story (“present”). A substantial tale of exploration, hubris, and contact with others, this is a very good read.
Very Quick Review: MADE THINGS by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor.com)
An interesting new fantasy novella from one of the most versatile, talent (and consistent) authors writing today
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.
I’m always eager to read any new novella (or full-length novel) by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Long-time readers of CR will know how much I enjoy his work, and that I’ve enjoyed everything of his that I’ve read. Made Things is no exception: this is an engaging, imaginative story in a new fantasy setting. Continue reading
New Books (July-August)
This New Books post comes rather quickly after the previous, I know, but I’ve decided to post them more frequently — probably when I hit 15 books (as here), because I want to let people know about the upcoming books ASAP.
Featuring: Ben Aaronovitch, Binyamin Appelbaum, Andrew Bacevich, Myke Cole, D.K. Fields, Oliver Harris, Justin D Hill, Ian McDonald, David Poyer, Kate Quinn, Kate Racculia, Lina Rather, Priya Sharma, Katherine Stansfield, Adrian Tchaikovsky
Upcoming: MADE THINGS by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor.com)
I will share information about each and every new Adrian Tchaikovsky book for as long as Civilian Reader continues. A fantastic author, with a prodigious imagination and a work/writing ethic (combined with ever-greater quality) that we can only aspire to emulating. Made Things is his next novella, due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on November 5th. The cover and synopsis were recently unveiled on Barnes & Noble’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog. Here’s what it’s about:
She was good at making friends.
Coppelia is a street thief, a trickster, a low-level con artist. But she has something other thieves don’t… tiny puppet-like friends: 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 reexamine everything they thought they knew about their world, while attempting to save their city from a seemingly impossible new threat.
Also on CR: Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky (2012); Guest Posts on “Nine Books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker”, “The Art of Gunsmithing: Writing Guns of the Dawn”, “Looking for God in Melnibone Places: Fantasy and Religion”, and “Eye of the Spider”; Excerpt from Guns of the Dawn; Reviews of Empire of Black and Gold, Guns of the Dawn, Spiderlight, Ironclads, Walking to Aldebaran
New Books (March-April)
Featuring: David Annandale, Marie Arana, Elizabeth Bear, Oliver Bullough, Peter Cleave, Paul French, Kameron Hurley, Phil Kelly, R.F. Kuang, Owen Laukkanen, Peter McLean, Josh Reynolds, Jack Skillingstead, Sherwood Smith, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lavie Tidhar, Kali Wallace, David Wellington, Jin Yong
Quick Review: WALKING TO ALDEBARAN by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)
An intriguing, weird sci-fi story
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 sent out to explore 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.
Walking to Aldebaran is the story of an astronaut lost and alone on an alien artefact. The story is filled with strange goings-on, weird environments and features an engaging, yet unreliable narrator. It’s weird, interesting and amusing. I enjoyed it. Continue reading
New Books (February-March)
Featuring: Katherine Addison, Jason Allen, Graham Edwards, David Gordon, Nancy Griffin, Rachel Harrison, Peter Holmes, Cameron Johnston, Richard Kadrey, Vylar Kaftan, David Koepp, Steven Kotler, Melissa Scrivner Love, Kim Masters, Una McCormack, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Robert Pobi, Taylor Jenkins Reid, David Ricciardi, Nathan Ripley, J. Michael Straczynski, Søren Sveistrup, Adrian Tchaikovsky (x2), Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson, Evan Winter
Upcoming: CAGE OF SOULS, WALKING TO ALDEBARAN and CHILDREN OF RUIN by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Head of Zeus, Solaris & Tor/Orbit)
Next year, Adrian Tchaikovsky has (at least) two new novels on the way! First up, Cage of Souls, which is due to be published by Head of Zeus in April:
Humanity clings to life on a dying Earth. Epic, far-future SF from an award-winning author.
The Sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapur, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilizations, Shadrapur is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity.
Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor. This is his testament, an account of the journey that took him into the blazing desolation of the western deserts; that transported him east down the river and imprisoned him in the verdant hell of the jungle’s darkest heart; that led him deep into the labyrinths and caverns of the underworld. He will meet with monsters, madmen and mutants.The question is, which one of them will inherit this Earth?
In May, we will get to read a new short novel that I hadn’t heard about before: Walking to Aldebaran. This one is due to be published by Solaris. Here’s the synopsis:
Chilling story of a lost astronaut on an alien artefact, struggling to find his way home even as the world around him transforms his body and mind.
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 sent out to explore 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.
And last, but by no means least (I only spotted this cover while writing this post), we have Children of Ruin, the highly-anticipated follow-up to the superb, Arthur C. Clarke Award-Winning Children of Time. Due to be published by Tor Books (UK) and Orbit (US), also in May. Here’s the synopsis:
IT HAS BEEN WAITING THOUGH THE AGES
NOW IT’S TIME…
Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time.
Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.
But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.
And it’s been waiting for them.
It looks like 2019 is going to be a great year for sci-fi! And that’s when you only take into consideration Mr. Tchaikovsky’s novels. (There are so many others to anticipate, too.)
Also on CR: Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky (2012); Guest Posts on “Nine Books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker”, “The Art of Gunsmithing — Writing Guns of the Dawn“, “Looking for God in Melnibone Places — Fantasy and Religion”, and “Eye of the Spider”; Excerpt from Guns of the Dawn; Reviews of Empire in Black & Gold, Guns of the Dawn, Spiderlight
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