It’s always sad when a great series comes to an end, so when Fantasy-Faction heard that our good friend Adrian Tchaikovsky’s tenth book in his Shadows of Apt series, Seal of the Worm, would be his last, we were sorry to hear things would be coming to a close – for now at least.
Of course, that did mean that Adrian would be free to try new things so we’ve been keeping our ear to the ground hoping to hear some news on what that was and, today, Tor have released details of a new deal Adrian’s signed with them. Unsurprisingly, because Adrian has written numerous short stories that cross genre boundaries of fantasy into Science-Fiction, it is reported that Adrian’s latest project is a Sci-Fi novel.
It was another of Fantasy-Faction’s friends, Bella Pagan (Senior Commissioning Editor), who was sent the manuscript of this ‘breath-taking’ science fiction epic and signed it up for the Tor label. Bella, completely taken by the book, explains: ‘I knew Adrian was an impressive fantasy writer, but I was really blown away by his science fiction. This novel is utterly compulsive, powerfully ambitious and a palpable sense of menace and danger informs the urgent writing throughout.’
Although it’ll be a while before Adrian’s fans are able to pick the book up (Tor have said that it’ll be around summer 2015 before they are able to get it out to the public), they have released the following details on its storyline:
‘Portia’s Children tells the story of a desperate quest to preserve the last remnants of humanity, which brings out the best and very worst in his impressive cast of characters. It describes a future where our kind once travelled the stars. But here our reach exceeded our grasp, and we fell back to Earth. Now, the ragged remnants of our species are fleeing a dying planet one last time, following ancient star maps and searching for a new home. But they cannot know that mankind’s oldest fear is already waiting for them.’
Adrian Tchaikovsky, obviously excited about the deal and a chance to share some novel-length Science-Fiction work with his fans, enthused: ‘I’m delighted that Tor has decided to take me up on this. I’ve been wanting for a long time to turn my hand to science fiction, and Portia’s Children is a book that I poured a lot of myself into. I’m looking forward to seeing it unleashed on the world.’
For those wondering whether Adrian will make the transition to Science-Fiction a permanent one, Tor were quick to add that Adrian’s penned a further detail for more Fantasy novels in 2016 and beyond.
Jennie Ivins
Looking forward to it, as I am to getting hold of Seal of the Worm. I’ve got to say though, “Tor have said that it’ll be around summer 2015 before they are able to get it out to the public”. This is what is wrong with publishing. Why does it take a book (which I assume is completed from the article) a further 18 months to actually get published (and then probably in hardback, with a further year before paperback)? Publishers need to seriously look at dramatically speeding up this process.
To give some praise in this respect, I recently read The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu, he had dated the end of the book “October 2013”. I was reading the book in December 2013. So there is no excuse…
I agree, although I can understand why they don’t want to publish two books from the same author in the same time frame. Also, they have to take in consideration other authors they are publishing and find the best timing for Adrian’s book.
The sales in the first weeks are important. Too many books, and sales will suffer.
Very good blog, thanks for sharing!