You’ll find the latest piece of art by David here
A relic of the dark ages before the revolution, Mantis-kinden were once the great fighting power in the world. Even though their time has passed and they field no armies and seldom take an interest in the world, they remain unequalled killers, swift and deadly beyond any […]
The latest Shadows of the Apt short story is to be found here.
A lot of this batch of stories are, as you may have noticed, taking place specifically up in the Commonweal during the Twelve-years War with the Empire, a conflict over before Empire in Black and Gold starts, and taking place in lands that we’re […]
Another of David’s pieces, this time his take on the ubiquitous Fly-kinden.
Diminutive Fly-kinden live everywhere in the Lowlands and beyond. Clannish and pragmatic, and unrivalled in the air, they form a thriving underclass wherever they go: cheap labour for the Beetles, servants for the Spiders, military scouts for the Wasps. Fly-kinden are the world’s great opportunists. […]
Most of the short Shadows of the Apt fiction on this site will touch on the main series, even if sometimes only peripherally. It is entirely possible that Varmen or Averis may at some point cross the pages of a future volume. However, with a nod to the fact that Balkus the Ant was the […]
To go with David’s art, here’s a story about Ant-kinden in general, and one Ant-kinden in particular. Balkus, Scuto’s renegade Sarnesh friend, is only a bit-player in Empire in Black and Gold, but he has more important things ahead of him in Dragonfly Falling. here then is a chapter from his earlier days, making a living as […]
The military power of Ant-kinden city-states has dominated the Lowlands since the revolution. Using their Art to link minds, to fight and work together with flawless discipline, they would have conquered the world by now, save that they reserve their most abiding loathing for Ant-kinden of any other city but their own. Renegade Ants, those […]
To complement David’s Spider-kinden artwork, here’s the promised spidery story.
Download the story on PDF here
Art by David Mumford
The elegant and machiavellian Spider-kinden rule a vast coalition across the sea, where they live in luxury and riches un-dreamt of by Lowlanders, or at least their women rule, and their men do as they’re told. Spiders are their own worst enemies, however, and the great Aristoi families are constantly scheming to bring […]
Download Ironclads, a new short story set in the Shadows of the Apt universe. (Click through for download)
ironclads-by-adrian-tchaikovsky
