Blog Archive
November 2017
Thu Nov 30
Bridging the Trilogy — Starfire: Shadow Sun Seven by Spencer Ellsworth
by Liz Bourke
A Sinister Reality: Elizabeth Hand’s Waking the Moon
by Julia Keller
Facing the End: Toy Story 3
by Mari Ness
Barack Obama Asks Sci-Fi Author Liu Cixin About His Next Book
by Stubby the Rocket
Space Espionage — Mass Effect: Initiation by N.K. Jemisin and Mac Walters
by Liz Bourke
Necessary Whimsy: Grumpy Chickens and Other Fun Ways to Escape the Hectic Holidays
by Lish McBride
Dolphins and Chimps and Aliens, Oh My! Startide Rising by David Brin
by Alan Brown
Wed Nov 29
Dear Reader, Run Away Now: Tamsyn Muir’s “The Woman in the Hill”
by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award to Honor Speculative Fiction About the Ramifications of Technology
by Stubby the Rocket
When Your Day Job Becomes Your Dream Job
by Richard Baker
The Strange Case of Sequels and Genre
by Tobias Carroll
An Illustrated Summation of Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time
by Faith Erin Hicks
Fantasy Books Where Magic Turns Out to Be Math
by Fran Wilde
Here, There, and Everywhere: Sundered Elves and the Valar Who Love Them
by Jeff LaSala
4 Questions We Have About Avengers: Infinity War
by Stubby the Rocket
Through a Magic Doorway: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by Mari Ness
The Infinity War Trailer is Here!
by Stubby the Rocket
Tue Nov 28
Awkward Robots Make the Best Robots
by Natalie Zutter
5 Works of SF That Turn Weird Bug Behavior Into Great Fiction
by Spencer Ellsworth
Coping with Destiny: The Chosen Children of Portal Fantasy
by Seanan McGuire
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Leaving Home as a Way of Becoming Magnificent
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Growing Up While Unstuck in Time: Kari Maaren’s Weave a Circle Round
by Leah Schnelbach
Sleeps With Monsters: Lost Suns, Times, and Theorems
by Liz Bourke
On Infomocracy and Voting on Where You Want to Belong
by Malka Older
Answers to the Beta-Readers’ Reactions to Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer
by Alice Arneson
These Tor.com Publishing Ebooks are on Sale for Cyber Week!
by Tor.com
Did We ALL Write a Book About Space Elevators? Why Unfortunate Coincidences Happen in Science Fiction
by James Davis Nicoll
Mon Nov 27
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapter 24-ish
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Pull List: The Witch Boy, M.F.K., and the Magic of Middle Grade Fantasy
by Alex Brown
Meet the Hippo Stars of Sarah Gailey’s River of Teeth
by Tor.com
The Only Harmless Great Thing
by Brooke Bolander
Loki’s Equine Offspring: Birthing the Eight-Legged Sleipnir
by Judith Tarr
Pixar’s Coco Celebrates Life By Diving into Death
by Leah Schnelbach
Sarah Gailey Talks Heists, Hope, Feral Hippos, and Defiantly Joyful Characters
by Alasdair Stuart
Ten Once And Future Kings: Ranking Movie Adaptations of the King Arthur Legends
by Stubby the Rocket
Fri Nov 24
My Muse is a Rat: Ratatouille’s Inspiring Message About Art
by Leah Schnelbach
“Stick Around”: A Schwarzenegger Movie Guide for the Uninitiated
by Robert Repino
You’ll Never Sink My Love of Battleship
by Molly Templeton
The Revolutionary Optimism of Iain M. Banks’ Culture Novels
by Karin L Kross
It’s Time to Talk About The Ewok Adventures Because Life is Unfair Sometimes
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
MST3K Has Renewal Sign!
by Leah Schnelbach
Thu Nov 23
Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer Debuts at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List
by Tor.com
Wed Nov 22
The Sausage Princess, or, Reshaping the Bizarre Structure of Fairy Tales
by Ursula Vernon
Running Away from Its Roots — Marvel’s The Punisher Season One
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
We Tried Homemade Butterbeer Four Ways!
by Stubby the Rocket
Tue Nov 21
Flawed Futures Make for Better Stories: Ada Palmer’s Take on Utopian SF
by Martin Cahill
Anakin Skywalker Was a Gray Jedi
by Michael Moreci
Sleeps With Monsters: Helen S. Wright’s A Matter of Oaths
by Liz Bourke
Binti: The Night Masquerade
by Nnedi Okorafor
Mon Nov 20
The Magicians’ Season Three Trailer is Going on a Quest
by Molly Templeton
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapters 21 and 22
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
The One Book That Helped Me Find Myself: The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
by Leanna Renee Hieber
5 Things I Love About A Wrinkle in Time’s Second Trailer
by Leah Schnelbach
Smurfette Saves the World: Andre Norton’s Ordeal in Otherwhere
by Judith Tarr
Things We’re Pretty Sure Theseus Scamander Would Say to Us
by Stubby the Rocket
All the Known Portal Worlds in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children Series
by Alex Brown
Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3)
by Seanan McGuire
These Tor.com Publishing Ebooks are on Sale for Cyber Week!
by Tor.com
8 Things That Didn’t Need to Happen in Justice League
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
The Full Spoiler Review of Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3)
by Alice Arneson and Paige Vest
Marvel’s The Punisher First Impressions of Episodes 1-3
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Fri Nov 17
Everything and Nothing: Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost
by Theresa DeLucci
’38 Special—The Rocketeer and The Phantom
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Justice League Shows Us What Happens When You Team Up Without a Cinematic Universe
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Elves, Balrogs, and Nazgûl: 16 Possible Plots for the Lord of the Rings TV Series
by Jeff LaSala
Read Jane Yolen’s “The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown”
by Jane Yolen
Thu Nov 16
When Time Stops: James Thurber’s The 13 Clocks
by Mari Ness
A Risk Averse Space Opera: Beyond the Empire by K.B. Wagers
by Liz Bourke
Star Trek: Discovery Continues Science Fiction’s Role in Discussing Male Sexual Assault
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Announcing the 2017 Nommo Award Winners
by Tor.com
Hey, Prospective Authors: You Have Plenty of Time. Just Keep Writing.
by Chris Lough and Leah Schnelbach
Getting Medieval on Medieval Times
by Michael Livingston
Five Books that Rewrite Magic, Myths, and Ballads
by Jane Yolen
Title and Cast of Fantastic Beasts 2 Revealed!
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
The Birth of Spielbergian: Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 40
by Leah Schnelbach
The Orville’s First Season Might Surprise You
by Alasdair Stuart
Wed Nov 15
Luckily I Understood Coptic Perfectly Well That Night: Theophile Gautier’s “The Mummy’s Foot”
by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
Of Djinns & Things: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
by Mahvesh Murad
How the Lady Warriors of The Tiger’s Daughter Slay Fantasy Tropes
by Natalie Zutter
Much Ado About Eldar (And Much To Do About Melkor)
by Jeff LaSala
Deadpool 2 Knows What You Want… and It’s a Teaser With Deadpool As Bob Ross
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
It’s Raining Men: Seeking Out Women Writers, By the Numbers
by James Davis Nicoll
Shoot First, Ask Questions Later: Lila Bowen’s Shadow Series
by Alex Brown
Tue Nov 14
The One Book That Showed Me How Genres Can Coexist: The Eight by Katherine Neville
by Liz Ziemska
Hidden Rituals, Iterations, and Limits: Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska
by Michael Carlisle
The Ruin of Angels Author Max Gladstone Talks Bankruptcy and Necromancy at Google
by Stubby the Rocket
Five Books to Take You Beyond One Thousand and One Nights
by S. A. Chakraborty
When the Old Guard Were New: Deadhouse Landing by Ian Cameron Esslemont
by Bill Capossere
Sleeps With Monsters: Vivian Shaw Answers Seven Questions
by Liz Bourke
Mon Nov 13
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapters 17-19
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Smuggler’s Run: Artemis by Andy Weir
by Niall Alexander
Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Trilogy Helped Inspire China’s New SETI Radio Dish
by Stubby the Rocket
Watch Brandon Sanderson and the Ridiculous Readers Perform A Scene from Oathbringer
by Stubby the Rocket
The Stormlight Archive Thus Far
by Paige Vest and Ross Newberry
“Everybody comes home” — Star Trek Discovery’s “Into the Forest I Go”
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
How Movie Musicals Paved the Way for Marvel’s Mega-Blockbusters
by Adam Rowe
All of Tor.com Publishing’s Fiction from 2017
by Tor.com
All of Tor.com’s Original Short Fiction from 2017
by Tor.com
Oathbringer: I-3 The Rhythm of the Lost (Audio)
by Tor.com
Fri Nov 10
The First 33 Chapters of Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer Are Free to Read!
by Tor.com
A Slightly Wobbly Adventure: Valiant Dust by Richard Baker
by Liz Bourke
Religion in Science Fiction Television
by S.J. Kincaid
“God’s gonna sit this one out” — The Punisher (1989), The Punisher (2004), and Punisher: War Zone
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Spoiler-Free Reactions to Beta Reading Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer
by Alice Arneson
Disney Developing Live-Action Star Wars Series for New Streaming Service
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Five Books Exploring Questions of Memory and Identity
by Tobias Carroll
Strange Rumors: Revealing Francesco Dimitri’s The Book of Hidden Things
by Tor.com
Read Neil Gaiman’s Poem “House”
by Neil Gaiman
Thu Nov 9
Carl Sagan Believed Science Belonged to All of Us
by Chris Lough
What’s Your “Cinnamon Word”? The Stats on How Authors Use Language
by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
Say Hello to the Very Hot Night: The Lost Boys
by Leigh Butler
Star Trek: Discovery Asks What True Happiness Feels Like and Comes to a Pretty Devastating Conclusion
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
The Mentally Ill Hero: How The Tick and Dirk Gently Give Unbalanced “Sidekicks” Center Stage
by Leah Schnelbach
How Gene Wolfe Starts a Story (and Where to Start Reading His Work)
by Matthew Keeley
The 13th Doctor’s Costume Has Been Revealed!
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Lessons in Chivalry (and Chauvinism): Have Space Suit—Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
by Alan Brown
Wed Nov 8
Delirious Stars and Fungous Scarecrows: Thomas Ligotti’s “The Shadow at the Bottom of the World”
by Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys
Swan and Girl Souls: The Sisters of the Crescent Empress by Leena Likitalo
by Lee Mandelo
Five Books That Have Fun Mashing Up Sub-Genres
by James Alan Gardner
History, Fantasy, and Weird Armor: Ladyhawke
by Michael Livingston
Catch All the Fantastic Beasts with the Harry Potter Version of Pokémon GO!
by Stubby the Rocket
Simulacra Suburbia: Duplex by Kathryn Davis
by Leah Schnelbach
Stranger Things Season 2 Wants to Redefine the 1980s SFF Action Heroine
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Why The Name of the Wind Still Resonates Ten Years Later
by Martin Cahill
Bram Stoker’s Horror Classic is Steeped in the Anxieties of his Age
by Leah Schnelbach
This World Is Full of Monsters
by Jeff VanderMeer
Tue Nov 7
Vibrantly Constructed Fantasy: Jade City by Fonda Lee
by Liz Bourke
Hope and Vengeance in Post-Apocalyptic Sudan: Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
by Nisi Shawl
Where Sports and Horror Collide: Bring on the Bloodsport!
by Nadia Bulkin
Thor: Ragnarok is a Hilarious Blockbuster About the Evils of Imperialism
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Sleeps With Monsters: Melissa Caruso Answers Six Questions
by Liz Bourke
“Unbury the Future”: Martha Wells’ Full Speech from the 2017 World Fantasy Awards
by Martha Wells
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson: Chapters 31-32
by Brandon Sanderson
Mon Nov 6
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapters 15 and 16
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Richard Baker’s Valiant Dust
by Richard Baker
The Movies, TV, Books, and Moments That Sparked Joy in 2017
by Stubby the Rocket
Dispatches from the Gender Wars: Andre Norton’s Storm Over Warlock
by Judith Tarr
If You Want Peace, Prepare for War — Star Trek Discovery’s “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum”
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Some of the Best Tor.com Non-Fiction in 2017 (Thus Far)
by Tor.com
Amazon Studios to Adapt The Lord of the Rings for Television
by Stubby the Rocket
The Book That First Spoke My Feral Language: Richard Adams’ Watership Down
by Brooke Bolander
In the Wake of the Everstorm: A Non-Spoiler Review of Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer
by Martin Cahill
Orisha, Airships, and Djinn: Announcing a Pair of Steampunk Novellas by P. Djèlí Clark
by Ruoxi Chen
Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2017
by Tor.com
Sun Nov 5
Announcing the 2017 World Fantasy Award Winners
by Tor.com
Fri Nov 3
Aurora Australis: Sci-Fi Thrillers and Murder Mysteries
by Alexandra Pierce
All the New Genre-Bending Books Coming Out in November
by Tor.com
Leisurely Myth-making: Ka Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley
by Liz Bourke
“Cowabunga!” — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Journey from Middle-earth to Distant Planets in Barnes & Noble Booksellers Picks for November
by Tor.com
Thor: Ragnarok is the Fun, Funny Marvel Movie We’ve Been Waiting For
by Alasdair Stuart
Read Peter S. Beagle’s “The Story of Kao Yu”
by Peter S. Beagle
Thu Nov 2
All the New Science Fiction Books Coming Out in November
by Tor.com
The Nine
by Tracy Townsend
The Real Absurd: Six Months, Three Days, Five Others by Charlie Jane Anders
by Lee Mandelo
Novelist and Documentarian John Crowley Talks H.G. Wells and Movies: The Sleeper Awakes and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis
by John Crowley
Nnedi Okorafor’s TED Talk Explains Afrofuturism vs. Science Fiction Using the Octopus Analogy
by Stubby the Rocket
Edgedancer Reread: Chapters 19 and 20
by Alice Arneson and Lyndsey Luther
Healing from Grief: Pixar’s Up
by Mari Ness
Luke Skywalker Returns to the Millennium Falcon in New The Last Jedi Teaser
by Stubby the Rocket
Six Series That Should Be Role-Playing Games
by James Davis Nicoll
Lois McMaster Bujold on Fanzines, Cover Art, and the Best Vorkosigan Planet
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Wed Nov 1
All the New Fantasy Books Coming Out in November
by Tor.com
Everything’s Cyclopean: Laird Barron’s “Shiva, Open Your Eye”
by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
Borderlands Books Buys Permanent Home Thanks to Patrons’ Sponsorship
by Stubby the Rocket
Five Ancient Histories that Make the Past Fantastical
by Myke Cole
Mississippi Roll
by Stephen Leigh
A Muted Prequel: Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust
by Sarah McCarry
The Parshendi: Voidbringers or Victims?
by Paige Vest
Dwarves, Interrupted and the Promise of Ents
by Jeff LaSala
Listen to the Steal the Stars Series Finale: “As Fierce, As Colossal, As All-Consuming”
by Tor.com
Fall 2017 Anime: Four Fantasy Shows Worth Watching Right Now
by Kelly Quinn Chiu
The Tablet of Scaptur
by Julia Keller