Alien Clay

Alien Clay is a thrilling tale of first contact and those who are irrevocably changed by what they encounter - from the acclaimed Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner Adrian Tchaikovsky.

‘An intriguing puzzle with plenty of thrills’ – Guardian

They travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind . . .

On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization. It’s the greatest discovery in humanity’s spacefaring history – yet who were its builders and where did they go? Professor Arton Daghdev had always wanted to study alien life up close, but his wishes become a reality in the worst possible way. His political activism sees him exiled from Earth to a penal colony – based on Kiln. There, he’s condemned to work under an alien sky until he dies.

Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem like nothing seen on Earth. The monstrous alien life interacts in surprising and sometimes disturbing ways with the human body, so Arton must risk death on a daily basis. However, the camp’s oppressive regime might just kill him first. If Arton can somehow escape both fates, and glimpse the planet’s interior, Kiln holds a wondrous, terrible secret. It will redefine life and intelligence as he knows it, and might just set him free . . .

‘Heart-in-the-mouth fantastic’ – New Scientist

‘Restlessly brainy and utterly involving, Alien Clay is as morally engaged as 1984 and as immersive as Avatar’ – Daily Mail

‘Imaginative, horrifying and always amusing, it’s the perfect gateway into what makes Tchaikovsky great’ – SciFiNow