Tor UK’s 20th anniversary edition of Jeff Noon’s Vurt was published last month. And, as Jeff won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Vurt in 1994, last week’s Arthur C. Clarke Award ceremony was a great time to look back. But as they say you judge a book by its cover, we wanted to take a look at the huge amount of work that went into this new cover look for Vurt, Pollen and Jeff Noon’s entire backlist. Curtis McFee is one of Jeff’s oldest fans and supporters, and has championed his work for years—immersing himself in Jeff’s books, designing his website and even creating a Vurt-based role-playing game.

Curtis McFee also put together a really fabulous new Vurt trailer for us. But here, we want to take a look at the new covers—look at the inspiration behind them, the creative process and various early drafts, plus what messages Curtis was trying to convey. We also wanted to find out how this creative duo met and forged the links that would lead us to this body of work today.

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Regardless of whether you’re a casual summer blockbuster moviegoer or a long-time Star Trek fan, you’ll find that Star Trek Into Darkness pitches straight down the middle. You can jump into it not knowing anything about Trek and still fully enjoy the characters, environments, and story, although there are elements within that story that will resonate deeply with Trek fans.

But just because the gang’s all here doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s Star Trek.

[A spoiler-free review of Star Trek Into Darkness]

Artist Jenny Parks has done us all a solid and re-cast many super-popular characters as cats. Thank you, Jenny! We think our favorite was this Katniss Catniss painting. Also, would a cat version of Katniss hate her family’s pet kat? Also, “the Cat on Fire,” doesn’t sound good at all.

(We saw this on The Mary Sue, Jenny Park art here.) 

Your daily collection of offsite links features a giant J. Michael Straczynski, fake Robert Downey Jrs., and Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek.

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A common defense made by anyone who is called out for advancing a stereotype is, “Stereotypes exist for a reason,” the implied message being that they are most often true. But what if by simply saying that, you were putting someone at a disadvantage? What if insisting on the accuracy of a stereotype was one of the very factors that perpetuated it? Scientific American’s June issue has some intriguing information in the article “Armor against Prejudice” by Ed Yong, on the perils of “stereotype threat” and the fascinating ways we can combat it to give future generations a better chance of success.

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We've got ten lovely copies of Yoon Ha Lee's Conservation of Shadows, out now from Prime Books. This debut collection of incredible short stories is sure to please any reader, so don't miss out—comment in the post to enter!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are 18 or older. To enter, comment on this post beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on May 15, 2013. Sweepstakes ends at 12:00 p.m. ET May 20, 2013. Void outside of the 50 US, and DC where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Tor.com, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

This is a novel about a time-travelling serial killer from the 1930s, his victims, the girl who survived him, and a burned-out murder-beat journalist. It’s competently, even excellently, written, makes brilliant use of a non-linear narrative to create and build tension, wears its American Literature influences proudly on its sleeve—

And for me, despite its technical competence, The Shining Girls is ultimately a frustrating mess of a novel, one whose climax falls apart under the weight of nested paradoxes.

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Universal Pictures has just debuted the first trailer for Riddick, the upcoming epic action-adventure starring Vin Diesel, and it looks like everyone’s favorite criminal is getting back to his alien-slaying roots.

[Watch the first trailer for Riddick]

Meltdown
Written by Matt Ford, directed by Ian Barry
Season 3, Episode 12

1^st US Transmission Date: 14 July 2001
1^st UK Transmission Date: 19 November 2001

Guest Cast: Sierjna (Susan Lyons), Mu-Quillus (Mark Mitchell), Xhalax (Linda Cropper)

This episode features the crew of Talyn.

Synopsis: The crew believes another Retrieval Squad will be dispatched; nonetheless they are trying, and failing, to contact Moya. Talyn is lured into a sun by radiation pulses generated by a being called Mu-Quillus. Talyn manages to resist, but only just, and the heat causes him to ooze Drexim mist that affects the crew’s judgement. A woman called Sierjna manifests to Stark and he realises she is caught between life and death, held in limbo by Mu-Quillus. He bonds himself to Talyn in a vestigial Pilot’s Den in order to save the ship. John and Aeryn locate Mu-Quillus’ power source and destroy it with Talyn’s cannon, killing Mu-Quillus and releasing Sierjna so that Stark can help her cross over to death.

[“I love it when you take control!”]

Look, we have a thing that you want! At least, we sure wanted it, and were pretty pleased when it cropped up. It's the first two clips from Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as rock-savvy vampires. Basically, it's The Hunger for all us kids who wonder why more vampire movies today aren't exactly like The Hunger.

[Watch the clips!]

Book Expo America 2013 takes place in New York City from May 29th to June 1st and Tor Books will be there! Take a look below to see which Tor authors, editors, and more will be appearing. Meet Brandon Sanderson, Ellen Datlow, Kendare Blake, and more!

Tor Books will also be present in the Macmillan section at booth 1557 for the entirety of the conference. Stop by and say hello!

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So today, we launch the cover for Kinslayer, part 2 of my Lotus War trilogy. I honestly thought there was no way our illustrator Jason Chan could top his cover for Stormdancer. Almighty Zeus, I was wrong. When Lucas wrote midi-chlorians he wasn’t as wrong as I was... actually, no, who am I kidding? Anyway, after apologizing to Jason for my lack of faith, I asked him along today to talk about the evolution of the cover design, because I’m really only capable of drooling like a 3 year old when I look at this thing. So awaaaaaay he goes.

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Like the Kool-Aid man busting through a space wall, declaring “Oh yeah,” Star Trek Into Darkness arrives tomorrow, and Cumberbatch is our king. I’m not going to tell you if he is or is not playing a certain someone, but if you’ve seen  one second of any trailer, you already know this movie is borrowing heavily from the uber-popular and successful Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It’s about revenge! Explosions! Maybe sacrifice! Things you like about a movie!

But, as great as The Wrath is, did it unintentionally ruin Star Trek films forever?

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Welcome to the Malazan Re-read of the Fallen! Every post will start off with a summary of events, followed by reaction and commentary by your hosts Bill and Amanda (with Amanda, new to the series, going first), and finally comments from Tor.com readers. In this article, we’ll cover Part Two of Chapter Eight of Toll the Hounds (TtH).

A fair warning before we get started: We’ll be discussing both novel and whole-series themes, narrative arcs that run across the entire series, and foreshadowing. Note: The summary of events will be free of major spoilers and we’re going to try keeping the reader comments the same. A spoiler thread has been set up for outright Malazan spoiler discussion.

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The Malazan books are said to owe a great debt to Glen Cook’s Black Company series so it was fitting, in a way, that I first became aware of the books whilst browsing Amazon and trying to decide whether to kick off my Malazan reading with Memories of Ice. (By the way, in case you’re wondering, do not start reading the Malazan books with Memories of Ice; it just doesn’t work and you only end up with a headache.) But back to the books that I actually want to talk about….

[More about The Black Company Reread on Tor.com]

I sit here with visions of Pratchett and Gaiman fans holding pitchforks at the ready as I write this. Good Omens is one of those books that you mention to people and they’ve either read and loved it and you are from that point on BFFs for life, or they’ve never heard of it and really enjoy Tom Clancy. In order to save my neck, I want to begin by saying that Good Omens was my gateway drug into the scifi/fantasy genre. So put down the pointy objects, you guys.

Picture this, 1999, a high schooler surrounded by stacks of horror novels. I was a major Vampire Chronicles junkie and when Lestat and I fell out for a short time, I’d tuck in with a Stephen King or Dean Koontz novel. It wasn’t all horror for me, of course, there were the ubiquitous school reading lists to keep me busy so I was attracted to “junk” reading, which I assumed was anything genre. Not Austen, Dostoevsky, or Joseph Campbell. Junk.

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Tor.com is going to be exploring Glen Cook’s beloved and awesome fantasy series, The Black Company. Starting next week, Tor.com will launch The Black Company reread, which will delve deep into this epic series, revisiting all your favorite moments. But if you’re new to this dark fantasy series, now is the time to jump in! This is gritty fantasy with aspects of military fiction and intrigue, playing out over an epic span of time.

As an incentive, for one week only, the ebook version of The Black Company, the first novel of the Chronicles of the Black Company series, is available for just $2.99. Links below, or at your preferred ebook retailer.

Kindle | Nook | iBook

And join us next week for the Black Company Reread! Read the details on how Graeme Flory will break the series down and why he was inspired to tackle a reread.

It looks like J.J. Abrams has given Chris Pine a new ride and he promises she won’t get a scratch, but we really, really doubt it. Though the likelihood of him blasting some sweet beats while flying the Falcon are pretty high. 

Your collection of daily offsite links includes a Robo-statue, more Star Trek/Star Wars collision, an impending Halloween treat and more!

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Welcome back to the British Genre Fiction Focus, Tor.com’s weekly column dedicated to news and new releases from the United Kingdom’s thriving speculative fiction industry.

It’s been another weird year, weather-wise. But with the sun in the skies, and temperatures on the rise, it might just be that summer... is coming.

To celebrate—because any old excuse will do, in truth—a special heated edition of the British Genre Fiction Focus, featuring an inferno, a literary sweatshop of sorts, the back of a very angry man, and an account of the passionate (to put it politely) reaction to Charlaine Harris’ last Sookie Stackhouse book.

This week’s new releases are rather less fiery, I’m afraid, with publishers everywhere making way for Dan Brown’s new novel. But nothing stops the Elves, evidently! And as an antidote to Inferno, why not try the third volume of The Dagger and the Coin by genre giant Daniel Abraham?

Let’s get this roast on the road!

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ABC and Marvel Studios have released a 3-minute extended teaser for this fall’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show which details the characters, situation, and the threats they face in much more detail. Also there’s lots of Coulson. Lots and lots of Coulson. (He’s yelling at the newbies! Oh we love that man.)

There’s also more information on the mysterious new superhero featured in the original teaser. The internet has been speculating that he’s playing Rage, or possibly a younger Luke Cage, but we think we’ve got him pegged, and it’s not either of those characters.

[Who is the S.H.I.E.L.D. mystery hero?]