Everyone knows the old adage, "never meet your heroes" as you'll likely be disappointed, but that's not always true!
I had the very great pleasure of meeting Adrian Tchaikovsky at the Edinburgh book festival, and it was a treat! We travelled down from Aberdeen on the 17th August 2025 to attend the Edinburgh Book Festival, held at the magnificent Edinburgh Futures facility outside the Meadows - It is an incredibly well run event, with a beer tent, food facilities, and a temporary Waterstones shop on the grass outside the institute, and hosted interviews all through the day.
Even Sofia and Asia managed to attend interviews with their favourite authors, Alice Oseman and Ali Smith respectively.
The interview itself was hosted by Doug Johnstone, himself a published Science Fiction author, and focussed on Tchaikovsky's most recent books, Shroud and Bee Speaker. While I've read Shroud already, and was pretty gripped from page one to the end, I have not yet started the Dogs of War series, of which Bee Speaker is #3.
In recent times, Tchaikovsky's writing has veered into waters uncharted, where humans AREN'T actually the be all and end all of civilization; The environments they find themselves in, and the alien life they encounter, more often than not prove nearly insurmountable in the quest for survival. This is a harsh, yet refreshing, return to reality, really. For too long have we assumed that we are masters of all we purvey.
Following the interview, I obviously HAD to get an autograph, and actually had a chance to talk to the man himself. And what a treat, just a down-to-earth guy who's incredibly passionate about writing! He recommended I hold off on reading Bee Speaker until I've read Dogs of War (which he says is probably his best work to-date) and confided in me later that the fourth "The Tyrant Philosophers" book will be out soon - exciting!!
As an added bonus, Cage of Souls, one of my favourite Tchaikovsky books, may also be getting a sequel - it richly deserves one!
Anyway, the drive back, getting home well after midnight, seemed a lot easier after meeting my hero!
I had the very great pleasure of meeting Adrian Tchaikovsky at the Edinburgh book festival, and it was a treat! We travelled down from Aberdeen on the 17th August 2025 to attend the Edinburgh Book Festival, held at the magnificent Edinburgh Futures facility outside the Meadows - It is an incredibly well run event, with a beer tent, food facilities, and a temporary Waterstones shop on the grass outside the institute, and hosted interviews all through the day.
Even Sofia and Asia managed to attend interviews with their favourite authors, Alice Oseman and Ali Smith respectively.
The interview itself was hosted by Doug Johnstone, himself a published Science Fiction author, and focussed on Tchaikovsky's most recent books, Shroud and Bee Speaker. While I've read Shroud already, and was pretty gripped from page one to the end, I have not yet started the Dogs of War series, of which Bee Speaker is #3.
In recent times, Tchaikovsky's writing has veered into waters uncharted, where humans AREN'T actually the be all and end all of civilization; The environments they find themselves in, and the alien life they encounter, more often than not prove nearly insurmountable in the quest for survival. This is a harsh, yet refreshing, return to reality, really. For too long have we assumed that we are masters of all we purvey.
Following the interview, I obviously HAD to get an autograph, and actually had a chance to talk to the man himself. And what a treat, just a down-to-earth guy who's incredibly passionate about writing! He recommended I hold off on reading Bee Speaker until I've read Dogs of War (which he says is probably his best work to-date) and confided in me later that the fourth "The Tyrant Philosophers" book will be out soon - exciting!!
As an added bonus, Cage of Souls, one of my favourite Tchaikovsky books, may also be getting a sequel - it richly deserves one!
Anyway, the drive back, getting home well after midnight, seemed a lot easier after meeting my hero!