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I recently discovered there are 4 short story collections that accompany the Shadows of the Apt series. Three are by Adrian Tchaikovsky & one has stories by some collaborating authors along with a couple of his own.

So I decided to add a topic thread for people to comment or discuss them, if anyone besides me chooses to read them along with the novels of the series.

The books are: Spoils of War, A Time for Grief, For Love of Distant Shores, and The Scent of Tears.

Just finished A Time for Grief. Many of the stories are well crafted and add more understanding to the kinden world. Most stories are about people on the periphery who are downtrodden or struggling.
There is definitely a melancholy tone to the collection. But one nice feature is Tchaikovsky has a note at the end of each story, telling his inspiration or intention in writing the story.
Definitely not required reading; it just adds more time in the Shadows of the Apt world.

I took a break from the main series to read Spoils of War, the first collection of short stories related to the Shadows of the Apt series. It’s meant to be read before book 7; although the stories all take place before the first book in the main series, they make more sense once the reader has developed a sense of the world, the kinden races, the Arts, and what it means to be Apt or InApt.
It’s hard for me to pick a favorite story or two, although the very first one, To Own the Sky was a great tale of perseverance and I liked the setting in Collegium. Most of the other stories take place in the Commonweal, or what was the Commonweal, and are much more oriented on the fallout of the war. I also liked An Old Man in a Harsh Season and Brass Mantis, probably because they were not set in the Commonweal and featured characters with whom I was more familiar.

I’ve finished all the stories in A Time for Grief except the last one, which the author suggests should be read after the main series of novels. My favorite was the title story, but I also liked Queen of the Night.

Just downloaded the first collection. In my queue to be read soon!

I finished the last story in A Time for Grief, which takes place after the events in the last novel of the Shadows of the Apt series.

I will be reading the short stories in the other collections between other books, but will come back here with my comments.

I fit in The Scent of Tears and am glad I did. So well written and a couple stories were fascinating. 9 of the 11 stories are written by other fantasy authors. After reading the collection, I've added two authors to my "need to read more by this author" list. I especially enjoyed one that gave insight into what it's like to be in an ant mind.
This collection would fit better read earlier in the series (instead of afterwards) but I enjoyed dipping back into the world.

I finished For Love of Distant Shores, the 3 third collection of stories in the Tales of the Apt, 6.5/10. The 4 stories in this collection all feature Professor Phinagler (yes, he does finagle things) and his assistant Fosse, following them on adventures to parts of the kinden world that are less explored in the main Shadows of the Apt series. The author, in his Afterword, describes how he deliberately made the tales rather “pulpy”—not my favorite styles of writing. And the final story, For Love Distant Shores, is heartbreaking in many ways. (view spoiler)[But I was so happy for Fosse to get her happy ending! (hide spoiler)] Overall, not as strong a collection as the first two Tales of the Apt collections.

I finished The Scent of Tears, 6.25/10.
I enjoyed about half those stories in this collection, the final book in the Tales of the Apt. The selections are bookended by Adrian Tchaikovsky’s own stories, but all the authors wrote convincingly of the world of the Apt and Inapt and the various kinden races.
Favorites stories: The Scent of Tears, Wonder, The Unforeseen Path, The Poor Little Earwig Girl, Recipes for Good Living, and The God of Profound Things.
Worst stories: Forwards, The Message, The Promise of a Threat.