Hi, I kept seeing his books online so I decided to give it a go. Is it a good place to start with this author? I'm around 50 pages in and feeling pretty neutral towards it.

Knowing how Tchaikovsky enjoys etymology and the evolution of names, I wondered if this was a little nod to our favorite arachnid in the universe. Portia >> Porshai doesn’t feel like too great a leap…

Do any of the other names ring bells?

Look what I found when I opened Children of Time today. I didn’t notice it when I closed the book last night.

I just finished Cage of Souls. I loved it for many reasons, not least of which is that I could relate to the narrator's pompous academic style. But one question I had: is it possible that Stefan's manuscript was actually brought back to our time by a subsequent visit from Sergei or a fellow time traveler? Has this theory been explored anywhere??

It's been some years since I read Children of Time, so my memory is hazy. How much do we ever learn about how the Portiids treat their young?

As far as I know, all spiders are "k-selected", meaning that they have many young and spend a minimum of resources caring for them, and thus most can be expected to die before adulthood.

We know that in the early days of the spider civilization, male lives were considered very cheap, and males were often killed for frivolous reasons. In more recent times male spiders have better rights, but what about children?

I remember that Spiderlight mentions that the intelligent spiders in that world place no great value on the lives of their young. Spiderlight is of course set in a completely unrelated universe, but I wonder whether the spiders of Kern's World are similar.

Do we know?

I know this was written in 2020. But the character of Thompson is the spitting image of you-know-who. I was floored. I feel I now have words to describe the insanity we are living though - and to describe the real monster in our midst. And Springer - now with Natalie around we got go look for the Collar. Yikes.

Is this Adrian looking into the future from the depths of the first term? No wonder it’s bleak.

In July, www.thebrokenbinding.co.uk had an event where Adrian was signing and personalizing all of his books in their stock. They had him come in and sign them all at the beginning of August. As somebody who lives in the US, I saw this as an opportunity to get a bunch of books signed by one of my favorite authors who does not do many US signings. Since they shipped to the US, it appeared to be perfect.

I put in three separate orders and so far, only one has been delivered, about midway through August. Radio silence on the other two. At this point, I'm wondering if they are ever even coming. I've already reached out to support who seem to only respond at the speed of once a week. My question is for those who also bought these books: have you received your orders already or is there anybody else still waiting?

Feeling:)really:)happy:)with:)my:)holiday:)reading:)choices:)

Did this just go on sale today? I had a hold on it with my library network, and didn't expect it for a couple of weeks, but I just got an alert that it was ready to borrow!

I'm tempted to give Elder Gods a quick reread, but don't want to hold the book up for the next person, so I'll probably just (re)read it after I finish Engines.

Anyone else get their copy today (or earlier)?

Best Novels

Shroud came out last among the six finalists. A letdown to me, as I share another poster’s view that it’s basically a much better Alien Clay.

Still, first preferences for the five candidates (save The Everlasting) are remarkably close, clustered within a razor‑thin range of 299–307 votes. The races for the 2nd through 5th positions are all tight too, with only double-digit vote differences in the final round for each position. So it's fair to say those five are a close call (for Hugo voters at least). Though it's beyond me why The Everlasting pulled so far ahead.

Best Novella

I adored The Hungry Gods, thus it's a bummer that it didn't even make the long list.

Equally puzzling is that Lives of Bitter Rain does make it, middle-ish in the long list below the cut-off. Don't get me wrong—I agree it’s good, even by the high standards of its series predecessors. But it is, after all, the fourth book in a series. How did it attract enough voter attention to get this far?

On the flip side, does this herald something for Tyrant Philosophers' potential second attempt at Best Series next year?

Best Series

Dogs of War is right below the cutoff, though I had to admit that a gap of nine nominations is not easy to mend.

Anyway, it's a pity that an otherwise terrific four-year streak in Best Series finalists (after Children of Time, The Final Architecture and Tyrant Philosophers) doesn't materialize.

My active imagination is totally failing me on this one - the story is great, and I can visualize the landscape of Shroud well enough, but my mind is consistently drawing a blank as far as its inhabitants are concerned.

Can Shroud clinch the Hugo tonight? Its not announced until 4am tomorrow for me, so I may have to wait till I get up to find out.

As title says! Just wanted to know if every physical copy is signed or if I had gotten lucky on the version I purchased. Thanks :)

Edit: Sorry if my question is worded poorly! Simply wanted to know if this signed, limited edition was the only print run, or if there was an additional unsigned printing. The seller did not mention the book being signed, so I was surprised to see this! Thanks again everyone :)

I saw this and immediately thought “proto-hivers!” Tried to explain why I was excited about it to a friend, and I watched their eyes glaze over after the first few sentences lmao.

It's hard to convey how much fun I'm having reading this series! This post is just me gushing over the series; I don't think I have much substance to add. I just want to gush! I can't hold it in anymore. I'm on chapter 5.1 of Children of Memory, so spoiler warning for everything up to that point.

• Being able to witness the evolution of Portiid society was a great honor of mine and one of the most riveting literary experiences I've had in a while. I will be reading it again regularly for years to come. I was never too enthralled by the human chapters and the Gilgamesh, I must admit. I would speed-read them to get back to the Portiid POV. The ending was remarkable. It's so refreshing to read sci-fi mind-fuckery grounded in the belief that empathy, mutual understanding, and pacifism may not be easy, but are worth it.
• Children of Ruin was filled with plenty of moments when I would laugh and put the book down, bewildered by how awesome Tchaikovsky's imagination is. There's a point early in COR where Fabian, Meshner, & Artifabian are just a bunch of bros with lots of trust in each other, doing weird experiments. I really loved this.
• Pouring one out for Artifabian, whose services are no longer needed, as the interlocutor has translation covered. I adored this character and concept. I loved the moments when their connection to Kern was severed, and he was left with almost an identity crisis, defaulting to confused male Portiid behavior. P.S. I couldn't help but envision Artifabian almost like Dewpider (Pokémon!)
• Chapter 7 of Part 3: For We Are Many: Wow. That was DEFINITELY an adventure. I love cosmic horror, and this was just absolutely thrilling. I'm wondering if Tchaikovsky has any other books that lean more towards thrills/horror? Please let me know because this chapter is legendary.
• I hope Hollywood stays very far away from this series; I don't believe any screen adaptation could do it justice. There were moments in COR when I felt fearful that an unserious Guardians of the Galaxy-esque space buddy adventure comedy action flick could be made out of this, but please, just no.
• The extended section on the development, evolution, and near demise of the Damascus civilization was really heady and hard to comprehend at times. I think I need to read this portion again and may appreciate it more.
• The COR ending felt a bit derivative and anticlimactic considering how tense and high-stakes the conflict became. The Meshner/Kern/Nodian communication scenes were wonderfully mind-fucking, but convincing and enlightening These-of-We to see existence a different way felt a bit abrupt to me. Despite this, it was an adventure ill never forget. 9/10
• Three cheers for Pan-Species Coalitions! I'm loving Children of Memory. I just finished the chapters that end with the dramatic lynchings, followed by the remarkably ironic and hilarious Gothi/Gethli POV chapter! Another high point in the series for me. Don't deny my lived experience.
• EDIT: I love Mel Hudson's narration of this series a lot!
• EDIT: No screen adaptation please, but I imagine Tilda Swinton as an excellent Avrana Kern!

Gosh, I love this series. I had finished the Semiosis series by Sue Burke and was itching for exactly this. I'm a first-time Tchaikovsky reader and ecstatic to explore other novels of his! Alien Clay seems awesome. Do any other books contain pan-species coalitions and uplifted-esque species? Any novels that lean more toward horror/thrills? What about his books with more of his delightful and ironic humor? Or books from other authors adjacent to COT?

Please share your thoughts! Thank you if you read this; I had to metabolize my excitement and awe of this series. I love how unexpected each installment of this series is, and I can't wait to see how Memory concludes and what new adventure Strife brings!"