About Shadows of the Apt : Shadows of the Apt

About Shadows of the Apt

Adrian Tchaikovsky, fantasy author, due to be published in July 2008. A journal to plot a course through the writing and publication process, to help up-and-coming writers, to give an insight into the industry and, let's face it, to publicise the book, just a little?

The novel is "Empire in Black and Gold", and has been picked up by Macmillan. It's the first in a fairly non-standard epic fantasy series that revolves around insect totems, evolving technology and a setting best described as "Ancient Greece meets World War II. With insects."

Posted by Adrian Tchaikovsky on April 26th, 2008

Posted in Home

33 Comments

33 comments to “About Shadows of the Apt”

Robert, July 4th, 2008 at 8:06 am:

Hi, this is Robert from Fantasy Book Critic. Just wanted to let you know that I've posted my review of your debut novel here:

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2008/07/empire-in-black-and-gold-by-adrian.html

Let me know what you think! Thanks for your time and much love & respect…

Robert
Richie D, August 13th, 2008 at 1:12 pm:

Just picked up an English language copy of "Empire in Black and Gold" in my local Fnac here in La Coruña, Spain. Started reading it on the bus back home. Excellent stuff! I haven't read any fantasy for ages, but something about the cover suggested this would be different. I'm glad I bought it. Right, got to get back to reading it!
Adrian Tchaikovsky, August 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pm:

Thanks for that, Richie. I hope you enjoy the read.

Adrian
Richie D, August 26th, 2008 at 2:08 pm:

Phew! Just finished. Fantastic work–and what a climax! Hopefully film companies are beating down the door to get the rights! Can't wait for the next instalment.
Lachlan Jardine, January 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 am:

Hey just read the book and loved it. very different from what i normally read just can't wait for another book to come out. would like to see some more art work though, the way the characters are described is very interesting. keep it up
Richie D, February 9th, 2009 at 8:40 pm:

Hey! The next instalment is out! Do you know when it will be available in Spain? The local FNAC didn't have a copy in their English-language fiction section.
Garrick Winter, February 13th, 2009 at 5:11 pm:

I got quite upset about two hundred pages in, when I realised that, eventually, this series would have to end. Great stuff! Looks like Amazon is being slow about delivering Dragonfly Falling to me.
Adrian Tchaikovsky, February 15th, 2009 at 8:19 pm:

Hopefully you have it by now — Amazon are usually good about that sort of thing — they managed to get Empire in Black and Gold to people before it was actually released. And Richie — I don't know about Spain — there's no Spanish language deal yet. I assume somewhere like Amazon would ship to a Spanish address but the shipping charges might be costly.
Ros, April 19th, 2009 at 7:24 pm:

Hi Adrian, here's my review of Empire in Black and Gold:

http://www.warpcoresf.co.uk/empire-in-black-and-gold.php

I love the arthropod theme, it's so different from the usual derivative sub-Tolkien fantasy fare. Great stuff!
Ethan, May 14th, 2009 at 8:01 pm:

Just finished reading empire in black and gold this evening have not been physically to take my eyes off it absolute quality read went and bought dragonfly falling when i was only 50 pages into it it was captivating from the start can only be described as brilliant!!!!!
Zeneth, July 4th, 2009 at 7:01 am:

I am…well, quite amazed at my stupendous luck, actually. I honestly picked up Empire in Black and Gold and Drangonfly Falling completely by accident — well, not by accident actually, but because the book I was searching for in the shop wasn't in stock so I browsed. >.>

So I come out of my house for the first time in three months (haha, yeah, really), am blinded by the sun and heat on my way to the bookshop, only to find that the book I wanted to buy was not about. And on my way back out I paused at a shelf, and my eyes are quite literally grabbed and hooked onto the front cover of Empire in Black and Gold. I don't know whether it was the name or the artwork (because I'm easily drawn in by books with nice names and pretty cover art) but I picked it up, glanced at the blurb and decided to buy it.

And, well…it's now my favourite book.

Because I'm a slow reader and am always busy with something I haven't had much time to read so I'm still on the first half of Empire in Black and Gold but man, if I had all day to just sit and read it I would, again and again. I keep turning the next page hoping to see Tisamon's name pop up — he's been my favourite character from the start. The story is deep, complex, intriguing and extremely well-written while still being easy enough for someone such as myself to understand. The writing itself is brilliant and ah, you inspire me to get writing my own stories again. I've not written for a while. 😛

I await Blood of the Mantis with money already saved for it and excitement, of course~! Hopefully I'll have finished the first two books before it comes out, ja. Thank you for your time (and for this series~) and sorry for spamming the page and your eyes with such a huge comment… I tend to write a lot when I get going.

=Zen=
Manuel, July 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am:

I got my copy of Empire in an spanish FNAC too.
Excellent stuff, Mr. Tchaikovsky, I will get Dragonfly falling as soon as I can.
Adrian Tchaikovsky, July 11th, 2009 at 9:05 pm:

Zeneth and Manuel, thank you for your comments. Always good to know that people are enjoying my work.
Billy, August 6th, 2009 at 4:07 pm:

Hey, I've just today finished Empire In Black and Gold and immediately started work on Dragonfly Falling. Not only that but I now have my own brand-spanking-new copy of Blood of the Mantis on my newly stocked bookshelf, had it pre-ordered for months.

Absolutely loved the first book, so many fantastic and imaginative characters and ideas. I hope to write fantasy stories myself after university, I only wish by then I can develop such concepts and plots half as well as you have!

Can't wait to really get stuck into this world again.
Billy 😀
Rhian Heath, August 20th, 2009 at 9:30 am:

Hi i've just finished Blood of the Mantis and it was brilliant, i can't wait to find out what's going to happen next. I love fantasy fiction and have been totally hooked by Shadows of The Apt. I thought it would be run of the mill fantasy but it's so imaginitive and I love all the characters. I can't wait for the next installment.

Rhian
Daniel, August 25th, 2009 at 8:20 am:

Man, i LOVE your series!!!!
Unfortunatly, I bought dragonfly falling and blood of the mantis at the same time off amazon. ive got blood of the mantis… but still waiting for dragonfly falling.
I was going to comment that shadows of the apt would make an awsome LARP, but realized, humans cannot fly. Idiot me. lol, I guess ill just have to stick with tabletop rolplaying.
oh, and, Marius is awsome!!!
Adrian Tchaikovsky, August 25th, 2009 at 10:42 am:

There are certain impediments to a Shadows of the Apt Larp, flight and the Ant-kinden mindlink being two, but don't think we're not brainstorming it…
Daniel, August 26th, 2009 at 4:30 am:

YAY! dragonfly falling arrived!
just a question… is there ever an ant which doesn't unlock the mind-link art? like che with the beetle art (at the start anyway…).
Adrian Tchaikovsky, August 26th, 2009 at 11:49 am:

All Ants develop the mindlink, just as all Wasps sting, all Flies can fly (or at least one that didn't would be extremely unusual and unfortunate, and shunned). Beetles, however, have no particular Art that they uniformly display. Spiders are the same.
Drew Falkner, August 28th, 2009 at 11:47 am:

I have really, really enjoyed reading the series!!!!!

I was wondering how many books you are releasing to complete the series, I originally thought it was going to be three.
How long have I got to wait for the next instalment?

Drew
Adrian Tchaikovsky, August 28th, 2009 at 3:34 pm:

Up to at least book 6, they'll be coming out at 6 monthly intervals. Ideally I'd like the series to run to 10.
Steven, September 14th, 2009 at 8:02 pm:

Wow.

I just read all three books in about a week and a half (pausing only to work, sleep, and to humour my girlfriend 😉 ).

Amazing. As with Zeneth, i came to my local bookstore in Brussels searching for a comic book, but as usual i went browsing through the english fiction section.

And I noticed the wonderful covers. A quick read of the summary, and some strolling on random pages located at the beginning of the book (my typical tactic to check whether i could like it) and off i was with all 3 books…

Awaiting VERY eagerly the next installment. Mister Czajkowski, Sir, you have another fan to add to the, without any doubt, exponentially growing fanbase 😀

Steven
Manuel, September 16th, 2009 at 7:05 am:

Hi again, Mr. Tchaikovsky. I got Dragonfly in Seville, in one of the airport shops and I devoured it in less than 5 hours. The pace is good and I love the multitudinary battles at the end of the book. I keep thinking there are many similarities with the Eberron campaign setting from Dungeons and Dragons but the insect approach is something completely new.
I hope I get third book soon, and keep writing, Mr. Tchaikovski, you've got in me a faithful reader.
Richard McNeil, September 29th, 2009 at 7:48 pm:

Will your books be available in e‑book format. More specifically the Kindle from Amazon or mobi-reader?
Daniel Moody, February 8th, 2010 at 4:04 pm:

Fantastic. I have to admit I was a bit cautous reading Empire of Black and Gold as it is so different from what I normally enjoy. I even remember thinking before I really got into it that I may have wasted my money. But the pace picked up reaally fast and I was hooked. Now I can't wait for the next one and hope you do write 10, and there are very few writers that I enjoy that much. Cheers and keep up the excelent work.
Jerral Khor, April 15th, 2010 at 5:19 pm:

Hi Mr Tchaikovsky,

I've just finished Empire and am just about to start on Dragonfly. I picked up your book quite by chance — there was a '3 books for the price of 2' offer, and I needed a third book.

Needless to say, there was no regrets and I've since bought Dragonfly Falling and Blood of the Mantis. Thanks for sharing your craft and vision, and also for the effort you've been putting into these books 🙂
Tim, May 14th, 2010 at 11:05 pm:

I just picked up your book. I was on vacation and just saw the cover art and picked it up. I must say that I was hooked after just the first two pages. I look forward to reading it very much
Eric, September 30th, 2010 at 9:00 pm:

I consumed the first three books, and am loving them.

As I have nearly given up physical books for space constraints, I'm stuck until Amazon.com makes Book 4 (Salute the Dark) available in the US.

A Kindle edition DOES exist — http://www.amazon.com/Salute-the-Dark-ebook/dp/B003E1BGMS/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2 — but it appears to be UK Only (it's not released in the US).

PLEASE try to shake this one loose for me, as I'm a guaranteed sale of both books 4 AND 5 once this is corrected.
Adrian Tchaikovsky, October 1st, 2010 at 6:36 pm:

Reply @ Eric — I have no real control over this but you're not the only person to mention it. What I'll do is drop a like to Pyr, the US publishers, who presumably have US electronic rights as well (I think) and see what I can find out.
Jayden, November 4th, 2010 at 6:26 am:

People say to never judge a book by its cover, but those covers are pretty darn amazing. And that's only the beginning, once the cover pulls you in, the story keeps you stuck firmly in place.

To be perfectly honest, at the beginning I , like Daniel M, thought that I may have been a little too hasty in my purchase. Fortunately for me though I couldn't have been more wrong.

For the past few months I've been checking every book store after school for the next books in the series. I'm thinking I should get them to have someone send a copy rather than waiting for them to do it on their own.

Regardless, the books are fantastic, and since reading them I have recommended them to all my friends.

P.S. @ Zeneth, Tisamon is my favourite character too, he's just so cool. =D
Esther, November 4th, 2010 at 9:20 am:

I'm in the middle of The Scarab Path and dreading the end of this book since the next volume haven't come out yet…
I want to praise Shadows of the Apt with many words but since English is not my 1^st language then it would take some time for me to make the sentences right..
Please write this saga with maximum speed possible bcos I can't wait to read the next volumes to come 🙂
Tom, February 15th, 2011 at 9:14 pm:

I can't believe Robert at the top said it had bland, uninteresting artwork! The front cover was the main thing that drew me in to see what the book was about! Anyway I should be starting to read this soon, having bought the first two books in the series — and I'm looking forward to it.
Ally Sutherland, May 27th, 2011 at 1:54 am:

hey Adrian i love the shadows of the apt books they are brilliant for the imagination. I was just wandering if the books would soon be brought to life in a movie it would make such a great film. and i also love the illustrations on the front covers (i love to draw) anyway it was just a thought.

Shadows of the Apt