With Salvation’s Child arriving May 26 from Comixology Originals, acclaimed sci-fi author Adrian Tchaikovsky is stepping into the graphic novel world for the very first time. Serving as a prequel to his celebrated The Final Architecture trilogy, the project pairs Tchaikovsky with veteran artist Mike Collins and editor Paul Cornell for a new story set in one of his most ambitious universes.
The release comes at a major moment for Tchaikovsky, whose latest novel, Children of Strife, has landed on numerous must-read lists, while his sci-fi thriller Saturation Point is headed to the big screen with a film adaptation from Universal Pictures, produced by Cynthia Erivo’s Edith’s Daughter banner alongside Platinum Dunes.
To celebrate the launch of Salvation’s Child, Tchaikovsky shared with AIPT five of the sci-fi books and films that helped shape his imagination and continue to inspire his work today. From genre-defining classics to stories that pushed science fiction into stranger territory, the list offers a fascinating look into the creative DNA behind one of modern sci-fi’s most inventive voices.
Check out the list below!
Farscape – there’s a lot of storied SF on TV, but my one gripe would always be “not alien enough” or indeed “not enough aliens”. Star Trek is famous for minimal prosthetics, and even Babylon 5 was resolutely humanoid in its alien cast. Farscape was different. Partnering with Henson studios meant that not only were there a lot of fun aliens kicking about from episode to episode, but there were main characters amongst the crew that weren’t constrained by a human actor. Added to that, the show had a great cast and top-notch writing.
Arrival – this adaptation of Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life is very much the benchmark for “unadaptable story” made into an incredible film. It’s quite the most sublime take on very alien aliens trying to communicate with humans, and vice versa, but utterly incompatible worldviews providing near-insuperable barriers. I see a lot of this in the way the Essiel in Salvation’s Child relate to their human followers – to the humans it’s a cult and the Essiel are divine. To the Essiel – who can even know?
A Long Way to A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – This is a book that took the SF world by storm when it came out. It’s a slice of life story about relatively ordinary people doing an extraordinary job aboard a spaceship, including alien and human characters in a universe where a lot of species have managed to mostly get on, but don’t necessarily see eye to eye. This focus on the tribulations of mundane “small people” against a huge galactic backdrop is fascinating and a definite inspiration.
A LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET
The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson – this is something of a stand-in for 2000AD as a whole, which was definitely the UK’s standard reference for what the future would look like. Meaning grimy, down-at-heels, and desperate, rather than shiny and chrome. Halo Jones is a sublime piece of art on all levels, and the story of the title character throwing herself out into a conflicted and sharp-edged cosmos has a lot of resonance for Marta and Xavi. I also feel a lot of my internal reference for life amongst the human polyaspora is definitely rooted in 2000AD visuals.
Slow Gods by Claire North – as this is only recently out, it’s not an inspiration per se, but an incredible novel that feels as though it’s working in the same ideaspace as the Architects series. Meaning human beings pushed into unnatural territory, against politics and enigmatic godlike entities – and the traumatic mass-exodus of whole populations from doomed worlds. It’s an amazing book from a writer who never disappoints.
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