Episode · How I Write · 2025-12-31
Books mentioned on Adrian Tchaikovsky: How to Write Absurdly Well | How I Write
Adrian Tchaikovsky came on the show to talk about how he writes fantasy and science fiction. He won the Arthur C.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Children of Time
Children of Time is an acclaimed science fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky that explores the rise of an advanced civilization engineered by intelligent spiders and a nanovirus.
Discussed“I'm sure I do so on occasion. But, on the other hand, my most successful book is Children of Time, and that is basically 60% exposition by volume.”
Where to get it
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The dancers at the end of time
Discussed“There is a story that I mean, Michael Moorcock wrote a series called The Dancers at the End of Time, which is set in such a far future, there are basically about seven people left...”
Where to get it
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The Hobbit
The Hobbit by J.R.R.
Discussed“So, for example, you know, Smaug in The Hobbit is an embodiment of greed, and Tolkien is taking that directly from Fafnir in sort of Anglo-Saxon myth.”
Where to get it
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Children of Ruin
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s ambitious science fiction novel, Children of Ruin, explores complex themes of first contact, evolutionary biology, and intelligence through the lens of an advanced civilization built by octopuses.
Discussed“Whereas, if you look at Children of Ruin, 50% of that book is people working out how the hell you talk to an octopus.”
Where to get it
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The Heroes
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie is a gritty grimdark fantasy novel that focuses on a single brutal three-day battle from the perspectives of various participants on both sides.
Recommended“He wrote a book called The Heroes. There is a very large battle in The Heroes which you are basically seeing through the slot in someone's visor...”
Where to get it
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Mythago Wood
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock is a landmark work of mythic fantasy that explores a British forest concealing ancient archetypes and mythical entities born from human collective consciousness.
Recommended“There are a couple of books I have read which have inspired me this incredible sense of the numinous. The numinous. Yes, of this kind of just the all of there being just a world that is just out of sight but is very very real and you can you get that I mean so Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood is”
Where to get it
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Piranesi
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a fantasy novel set in a labyrinthine, statue-filled house with an ocean trapped inside its lower halls, following a lonely protagonist who documents the world's tides and architectural wonders.
Recommended“...and Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is another both of which are books I absolutely love and at some point I want to write a book that inspires a similar kind of sense...”
Where to get it
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Dogs of War
Discussed“So, there's in Dogs of War the main character is Rex. He is an bioengineered dog who is being used as a military asset.”
Where to get it
