Salipa and Telo have perfect lives in the virtual reality world that humanity has retreated to after bacteria and viruses resistant to all medications take over the outside world. But when the robots that take care of their necessities in the dirty outside world start glitching, Salipa must figure out what it means to truly live if they can never return to the outside world.
Security through physicality. Security through redundancy. Security through obscurity.
How do immortal artificial intelligences defend themselves? With an air gap. With a security force that has no connection to anything that can harm them. With a young woman, trained to fight and to die who, along with her cohort must keep them safe. But In Xanadu things don’t always go as planned…
FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not—and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified—have tortured—have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror—to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place—some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.
An alternate history short story looking at decisions and consequences, and what it takes to pull the trigger.
The Wild Cards universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. “Naked, Stones and Stabbed” is an fantastic new tale from acclaimed sci-fi writer Bradley Denton, about the hidden truths revealed when a Who concert goes haywire.
Freddie’s looking for answers. Freddie’s also a bit unconventional: in his looks, in his music tastes, and oh yeah, he’s also a nascent ace who can manipulate sound. But he’s got a gig as a roadie for The Who and the opportunity of a lifetime in New York City. See, the only thing Freddie wants is the opportunity to meet his older half-sister — and not even a suspicious fire at the Bowery Ballroom can stop him.
The planet of Quányuán is arid to the point of being uninhabitable. Wetness is a concept left back on Earth. That doesn’t stop one elderly woman from stepping outside the safety of the colony whenever she can for the brief opportunity to fully experience the outside world.
Todd: Welcome back, readers. Big shout-out to all those who took the time to leave a comment or suggestion on our last articles, Five Forgotten Swordsmen and Swordswomen of Fantasy and Five Classic Sword-and-Planet Sagas.
Howard: We do everything by fives.
Todd: At least we have a system! Today, in honor of my friend Howard’s brand-new fantasy novel Upon the Flight of the Queen, which arrives in hardcover on November 19, we’re going to try something a little different. Since I have a real live fantasy author up here at the podium with me—and one whose influences are well known—we’re going to take the opportunity to look at some of the greatest fantasists of all time, and the different ways each of them teach us to write fantasy.
The question of what factors drive historical change has intrigued historians from the very beginning, when the earliest scholars first turned their attention to studying and interpreting the past. To find the answer(s) to this key question, historians make use of social science theories. These theories help make sense of the inherent contradictions found in human behavior and human society.
[One of the most persistent theories is The Great Man Theory…]
2019 has been (and still is) an amazing year of book releases in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, young adult, and beyond. The following highlights from the book reviewers on Tor.com take place in tomorrows both near and far, and in time wars both personal and catastrophic. Necromancers clawed for our attention in imaginative new ways and the number 9 came up a lot. Space opera nearly ran the table!
Below, Tor.com’s regular book reviewers talk about notable titles they read in 2019.
Amazon’s upcoming Middle-earth series is still years away from debuting on the company’s streaming service, but it’s already granted the series an early second season renewal, according to Deadline.
We have some good news and bad news for Runaway fans. Bad news? The series will end with its upcoming third season. Good news? Hulu has just released a trailer for that final season.
Now that I’ve read and reread a wide range of Norton novels from the Fifties to the early years of the new millennium, I’ve concluded that, for me, her “golden age” ran from the early Sixties through the mid-Seventies. Her official “Golden Age of SF” books of the Fifties have a distinct retro charm, and her later works kept on trucking for decades, delivering the patented Norton themes and settings and the occasional new one—and then there are her many collaborations with younger writers, some of them truly fine. But from about 1962 until about 1976, she wrote the novels that spoke to me most clearly and influenced my own writing the most.
I managed to miss Ice Crown at the time (1970). It hasn’t displaced any of my favorites from the period. But it’s classic Sixties/Seventies Norton.
Marlon James (author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf) says Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby “bursts at the seams of story with so much fire, passion and power that in the end it turns what we call a narrative into something different altogether.” – and we want to send you a copy!
Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor’s son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven’t happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands.
Charles Soule’s upcoing novel Anyone is due out in stores in December, but it’s already been snapped up for a television adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
When people shed their skin every seven years, it’s just a fact of life that we will cast off all the attachments of our old life. And when our loves are part of us, those memories of love can be bought, if you know the right people. Introducing the new drug, Suscutin, that will prevent the moult. Now you can keep your skin forever. Now you never need to change who you are…
We’re excited to share the cover and preview an excerpt from Aliya Whiteley’s The Loosening Skin, publishing in June 2020 with Titan Books!
In 2013, The Wheel of Time concluded with the publication of the final volume, A Memory of Light, written by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Jordan’s world is detailed and expansive, so it was inevitable that there simply wouldn’t be room within the narrative to answer every question raised within the series.
[Spoilers ahead for the very end of The Wheel of Time!]
The question of what factors drive historical change has intrigued historians from the very beginning, when the earliest scholars first turned their attention to studying and interpreting the past. To find the answer(s) to this key question, historians make use of social science theories. These theories help make sense of the inherent contradictions found in human behavior and human society.
[One of the most persistent theories is The Great Man Theory…]
There’s only a month until the release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, but maybe that’s still not soon enough? If you’re already jonesing for more Star Wars, there’s always The Mandalorian—currently in the midst of its first season—but there are plenty of other adventures waiting in a galaxy far far away. Here’s a shortlist of our favorite Star Wars novels, with something for every type of fan!
Last week, Tor Books announced the acquisition of Moon Fall, a brand-new fantasy series from James Rollins, best known for his best-selling works in the thriller genre. According to a press release, the series has been in the works for eight years and combines the author’s “fascination with the natural world, his love of adventure, and his knowledge of the wonders found at the evolutionary fringes of scientific exploration.”
Amazon Prime Video has released a new trailer for its upcoming fourth season of The Expanse, outlining what we can expect when the crew of the Rocinante heads off beyond our solar system to a distant planet.
The story of two gifted siblings with extraordinary power whose childhoods are destroyed by structural racism and brutality and whose futures might alter the world, Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby is a nitrous-fueled novella that pulls no punches—available January 21, 2020 from Tor.com Publishing. We’re thrilled to share an excerpt below!
It looks like luxury space tourism is getting the Veep treatment. HBO has released the first teaser for its new sci-fi comedy, Avenue 5, and it’s exactly the sort of sweary, dysfunctional-w0rkplace fun we’ve come to expect from Armando Ianucci.
Todd: Welcome back, readers. Big shout-out to all those who took the time to leave a comment or suggestion on our last articles, Five Forgotten Swordsmen and Swordswomen of Fantasy and Five Classic Sword-and-Planet Sagas.
Howard: We do everything by fives.
Todd: At least we have a system! Today, in honor of my friend Howard’s brand-new fantasy novel Upon the Flight of the Queen, which arrives in hardcover on November 19, we’re going to try something a little different. Since I have a real live fantasy author up here at the podium with me—and one whose influences are well known—we’re going to take the opportunity to look at some of the greatest fantasists of all time, and the different ways each of them teach us to write fantasy.
Todd Grimson’s Brand New Cherry Flavor is going to be a Netflix show! Deadline has reported that the cult horror noir will be an eight-episode series starring Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel), Catherine Kenner (Get Out), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), Eric Lange (Unbelievable), and Jeff Ward (Marvel’s Agents of Shield).
