An AI car is caught between its ruthless employer and the people she hurt. . .
What It Means to Be a Car
Read an Excerpt From The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren’t helping anyone but themselves.
We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu, an exuberant new sci-fi adventure that reads like a mash-up of Aladdin and Murderbot with gloriously chaotic results—out from Tordotcom Publishing on October 3.
The Enfield Poltergeist Trailer Reveals a Spooky Reenactment of an Infamous 1970s Case
If you’re into poltergeist and possession stories (or perchance, have seen The Conjuring 2), you’re likely familiar with the 1977 case of professed demonic possession that took place in Enfield, London. The case is the inspiration for the aforementioned sequel to The Conjuring, and is now the basis for a four-part docuseries called The Enfield Poltergeist. Read More »
The Ants Go Marching: Karen Heuler’s “All Gods Great and Small”
Welcome back to Reading the Weird, in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction, cosmic horror, and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches.
This week, we cover Karen Heuler’s “All Gods Great and Small,” first published in Lynne Jamneck’s Dreams From the Witch House in 2015. Spoilers ahead! CW: oodles of insects.
Series: Reading the Weird
Wish Trailer Gives Us An Evil Chris Pine, A Talking Goat, And Other Wonderful Things
The first full-length trailer for Wish, the upcoming feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios, is here! Not only does it give us a relatively extended look of the evil king (voiced by Chris Pine) as well as the movie’s protagonist, Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose), it also gives us a cute ‘lil goat voiced by the venerable Alan Tudyk. But perhaps more importantly, the trailer highlights the film’s beautiful animation style, which looks like it comes right out of a portrait. Read More »
Ahsoka Gets a Proper Reunion in “Dreams and Madness”
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
There’s always a way to avoid a court-martial when you need one, eh?
Work Sucks and Then You Probably Die in the Trailer for Hulu’s The Mill
Not every new job is a good one. And the job Joe (Lil Rel Howery) is given in Hulu’s The Mill is particularly bad: a successful businessman, or so he thinks, he finds himself in an open-air space where a computer voice tells him he needs to work an ancient grist mill. How did he get there? Is this some kind of perverse demotion? Who knows! It’s all very Sisyphean, really, other than the fact that he’s not pushing the stone up a hill (circles aren’t much better)… and that there are screams and whispers coming from all around.
From Pop Stars to First Contacts: The Complexities of Karen Lord’s The Blue, Beautiful World
It begins with a pop star—one who, in the grand tradition of Prince and Madonna, is known by a single name. His name is Owen, and he’s become a global player in the entertainment industry of the 22nd century society described in Karen Lord’s novel The Blue, Beautiful World and in realms that extend far beyond making music and venturing out on tour.
Josh Gad Has Some Harsh Words for the Universe in the Trailer for Wolf Like Me’s Second Season
Becoming parents is terrifying when you know you’re having a human baby. When one parent is a werewolf, there are even more things to worry about. Just normal stuff, you know, like what kind of teeth said baby will have. Wolf Like Me, in its second season, tackles all of this and more, as Mary (Isla Fisher) and Gary (Josh Gad) head snout-first into parenthood.
Finding Magic in the Unexpected: The Fictional Worlds of Emma Bull
Emma Bull is a writer who sees the mythic in startling and unexpected places. Her debut novel War for the Oaks (1987) is one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy, finds magic in modern-day Minneapolis. Since then she has become one of the key authors in the genre, creating the shared world fantasy setting Liavek with husband Will Shetterly and writing short stories and a novel set in Terri Windling’s Bordertown setting. She has also written, sung, and played music with folk-rock band Cats Laughing, alongside fellow urban fantasy pioneer Steven Brust, and goth-folk band The Flash Girls. These varied passions and interests inform and shape her adventurous approach to writing.
Bull’s stories rarely stay in one place, mixing together disparate elements in ways that create an exciting new whole. War for the Oaks is both a tale of battling Fairie courts and a vivid account of life in a working band. Bone Dance (1991) weaves together cyberpunk noir and post-apocalypse survival fiction with Voodoo magic and the tarot. Territory (2007) is a secret history of the Wild West in which Wyatt Earp is a sorcerer. Bull’s own magic lies in how she makes these surprising genre hybrids feel utterly natural. To get a better sense of how this works, let’s take a look at two of Bull’s most celebrated novels, War for the Oaks and Bone Dance.
Tor.com Is Looking For A Social Media Manager
We’re hiring!
Tor.com is looking for an experienced social media manager to oversee our online magazine’s social media channels and outreach. Responsibilities include strategizing, developing, executing, and analyzing campaigns to promote Tor.com’s articles and fiction over social media outlets. Candidates will need to have detailed knowledge of sci-fi/fantasy literature and visual media, great copywriting and communication skills, and awareness of how to navigate fandom interests and larger social trends. Remote candidates encouraged to apply.
You’d be joining a small tightly-knit team, doing some of the weirdest work out there.
11 Books That Changed How I Think About Space Opera
Photo: Greg Rakozy [via Unsplash]
We are living in a new golden age of space opera. People have proclaimed the death of this vital subgenre many times over the decades—but like a deep space probe upgraded by godlike aliens, space opera keeps coming back. (See my article in Esquire for more details!) I recently wrote a whole space opera trilogy, full of all my favorite space things.
I wouldn’t be writing space opera if I hadn’t read some incredible examples of the genre and had my brain exploded. So here are eleven books that radically expanded my understanding of what space opera is capable of.
Five Mothers in SFF Who Are Dynamic, Multi-Dimensional Characters
So often in literature, mothers are “characters” in the worst way—one-dimensional caricatures, punching bags for the misogyny soaking our society. Far rarer (in both lit and life) are the mothers allowed to be whole human beings. Motherhood is not easy. It’s hard, brutal, utterly exhausting and often unrewarded work. In literature, film, song, or other art, mothers are commonly reduced to a single function, either passive (often actually dead) saints or baby-eating horrors. It’s rare for a mother-character to be allowed wholeness, autonomy, or any kind of real agency.
Here are five of my favourite books in which mothers are allowed to be whole human beings.
Series: Five Books About…
Welcome to the Capricious House: Announcing But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo
As the spooky season approaches, Tordotcom Publishing is pleased to announce that Sanaa Ali-Virani has acquired the world English rights to Hache Pueyo’s novella, But Not Too Bold, a dark fairytale pitched as Mexican Gothic meets The Shape of Water. It follows Dália, the new keeper of the keys for the eccentric and monstrous Anatema, a creature known for her volatile temper and her appetite for human brides, leaving Dália with a mystery to solve and the dangerous interest of her employer.
Publication is scheduled for fall 2024; Lee O’Brien at Looking Glass Literary and Media brokered the deal.
FORM 8774-D
It’s just business as usual at the Bureau of Metahuman, Mutant, and Occult Affairs until an employee for the government agency begins to wonder if work is following her home. . .
Read an Excerpt From This Dark Descent
Mikira Rusel’s family has long been famous for breeding enchanted horses, but their prestige is no match for their rising debts.
We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson, a spellbinding new YA fantasy full of intrigue, romance, and pulse-pounding action—out today from Roaring Brook Press.
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