Terrible WorldsDestinations
The Future Is The Journey.
The vastness of space, the endless ribbon of time, worlds beyond our own: humanity has always been driven to explore, to pass the horizon and enter the unknown. For too many, that drive is what ultimately destroys us.
In three critically-acclaimed novellas, the "British master of science fiction" (Reactor) takes you into a mysterious artefact at the edge of the Solar system, to the very last day of time, into a world apparently born of children’s stories, with fearless – and sometimes hapless – explorers... and shows us why sometimes it’s best to stay at home.
Collecting Tchaikovsky's critically acclaimed novellas Walking to Aldebaran (2019), One Day All This Will Be Yours (2021) and And Put Away Childish Things (2023) for the first time, Terrible Worlds: Destinations gives you three glimpses of the limits of reality.
Readers also enjoyed
Adrian Tchaikovsky
In the realm of speculative fiction, where the boundaries between science and imagination blur, Adrian Tchaikovsky writes with the precision of a biologist and the curiosity of a philosopher. Known for weaving evolutionary theory into alien worlds and giving sentience to the most unexpected of creatures, he crafts stories that challenge not just what it means to be human—but what it means to be alive.
Tchaikovsky’s breakout novel, Children of Time, didn’t just introduce readers to a distant planet populated by hyper-intelligent spiders—it redefined what readers expect from space opera. Bold, cerebral, and emotionally resonant, the book went on to win the Arthur C. Clarke Award, with its sequel Children of Ruin deepening the saga’s exploration of consciousness, cooperation, and survival. In 2023, the Children of Time series earned the Hugo Award for Best Series, a fitting recognition for stories that dare to look evolution in the eye and ask: what if?
Terrible Worlds: Destinations
Stories set, themed around journeys to terrible, isolating places.
Terrible Worlds: Destinations consists of three primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads — considered a complete series. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

