I don’t know how we got all the way to July, but here we are. I hope that one day I’ll be writing this up and I’ll get to say “it’s been a great year”, or “time has passed normally”, or “nothing shitty happened”, but that doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. The good news is, there are still books to look forward to, which is a balm for our uneasy 2022 souls.
Welcome to Close Reads! In this series, Leah Schnelbach and guest authors will dig into the tiny, weird moments of pop culture—from books to theme songs to viral internet hits—that have burrowed into our minds, found rent-stabilized apartments, started community gardens, and refused to be forced out by corporate interests. This time out, Tor.com’s own Books Editor Christina Orlando looks back at an episode of Doctor Who.
To be honest, I am positively feral over David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning to Doctor Who.
Normally, I’d be a little skeptical of this sort of thing. Logically I know that Doctor Who is a show that thrives on a certain amount of fan service and is indebted to a loyal audience that spans generations, which means that faces from previous seasons are going to pop up every once in a while. But I’ve been burned by these sorts of homecomings before. The 50th anniversary episode, featuring some icons of the “new Who” era (David included, and my main girl Billie Piper), was …fine, I guess, with a lot of loose ends left and a lot of timeline fuckery that I, personally, was disappointed by. We’re also in an era where a lot of reunions and reboots are happening. Everything from Gilmore Girls to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is on our screens again. I mean, they’re rebooting Glee for godssakes. When will it end? It makes me want to throw myself into a black hole.
But that’s not the point of this.
I am, like many readers my age, sentimental about the work of Holly Black. I first encountered her writing as a teen, and her novel The Darkest Part of the Forest helped reignite my love of fantasy after post-college years spent thinking my reading needed to be literary in order to be worthy. But as you and I both know, there is absolutely nothing like stepping into a fictional Faerieland. Holly Black knows this too.
I’ve spent a lot of time with my books this year.
I mean, more than usual. It is my job, after all, to spend time with the books. But I’ve also moved into a new apartment that doesn’t have bookshelves yet. My books spent the majority of this year on the floor in piles stacked precariously high, on a temporary shelf that cracked under the pressure, and now in a sort of stalagmite formation in my bedroom as I figure out where to put them. In a lot of ways, this is a good problem to have—there are many books in my life, and I deeply love all of them, and I want them to be safe on a shelf and properly displayed. But the process of crafting a bookshelf situation that works for me and holds everything I need it to (do you know most purchasable shelves only hold 25lbs worth of stuff?? They are clearly not made for book hoarders like me. What is that, a bookshelf for ants??), I’ve come to realize how essential they are to my wellbeing. Without my books safe, I feel unsafe and unsettled. They are an essential part of making a space feel like home.
The debate about going out to movies during what is still very-much-ongoing pandemic keeps spiking every time Denis Villeneuve or Christopher Nolan gives an interview, and every time a movie trailer ends with the proud declaration: “Only in Theaters.”
Because obviously, it’s not quite as simple as: “don’t go to in-theater movies yet, it still isn’t safe”—the way we experience art is important, the communal nature of moviegoing is important, and supporting the work of artists, especially marginalized artists, is important. As the months have gone on, the three of us have talked endlessly about our relationship with movies in general and theatergoing in particular, and after the one-two punch of seeing The Green Knight and Shang-Chi together we decided to hash out some thoughts.
It’s been a really weird year, hasn’t it?
Over the course of the Panera Bread we are very much still living through, we’ve talked a lot about how reading habits have changed. Many expressed an inability to read anything new. The mental exhaustion made it hard for folks to concentrate, the emotional exhaustion made it hard to take in anything new, to expose oneself to unpredictable emotional journeys. Priorities changed, spending habits changed. Maybe you had kids to take care of at home. Maybe you just didn’t want to give your money to A Large Corporation and there weren’t any indie bookstores delivering near you. Or maybe you only wanted to read something you knew would have a happy ending, an escape to something gentler than the world around you. Whatever the case may be, our relationship to reading has shifted.
I feel very lucky that reading is part of my life, but even so, the way I read has changed. I feel less able to commit to big series, I find it difficult to get through anything with too much violence. I sure as hell won’t be reading any pandemic dystopias any time soon. But I still feel incredibly grateful for the plethora of good stories that are out there. No matter what, I’m always able to find characters to fall in love with, and beautiful new worlds to escape to.
And I love being able to share them with you.
We love a good retelling—whether it’s a favorite fairy tale, ancient myth, or epic tale, it’s always great to see old things made new. Part of the reason we love these stories is because they’re so malleable; with themes that span the breadth of the human experience, tales of love, revenge, and adventure can find a home in any place and time, with characters that feel both familiar and fresh at the same time.
As we started thinking about of favorite retellings of classic stories, so many brilliant adaptations, updates, and re-workings came to mind. Here are just a few that we adore! Please feel free to add your own in the comments.
Like many people my age (I’m 3*, for the record), I have always dreamed about the library from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It’s such a particular generational marker. For those of us who love books, especially as physical objects, the moment when Belle opens the doors to reveal a gilded, multi-tiered library complete with ladders and staircases was an Awakening. We all, collectively, said to ourselves: “That. That is the life I want. I want the books.”
I live in a small apartment in Brooklyn. I do not have space for that shit.
…I’m still gonna go for it, though.
In another timeline, Victoria “V.E.” Schwab is in a bookstore in Manhattan, signing books for fans right this very second. But once Macmillan (the parent company for Tor Books) issued a travel advisory, Schwab’s book launch plans had to change. Like many authors, the stay-at-home orders impacted the release plans for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Schwab’s new adult novel. It feels contradictory to talk about Addie’s 300-year-long journey during a year which feels halted in so many ways; to chat with a woman who moves through life with such speed while both of us are stuck behind laptop screens.
I first met Victoria Schwab in 2017, just before the release of A Conjuring of Light, and her work has been a constant in my life ever since. Her signature red bob is a familiar and welcome sight on the other end of a video call, and despite understandable frustrations with life under quarantine, she’s passionate and effusive when talking about her upcoming release.
There once was a brave knight—
No, wait. Let’s not call me a knight, that’s not right. Let’s try…
There once was some weirdo.
Yes, that’s better.
There once was some weirdo who broke into the cursed tower. There was a sickness going around too, but the tower had always been cursed, because a bunch of wizards and witches worked inside of it, and every once in a while a spell went off on its own, and that’s just life inside the tower…
In the lead-up to the 2020 Hugo Awards, we’re taking time to appreciate this year’s best novella Finalists, and what makes each of them great.
This is a story about pain and burden. This is a story about love, family, community. This is a story about carrying all of those things inside you, all at once, and feeling all of it intensely.
Rivers Solomon’s The Deep, a novella written after a song of the same name by clipping, centers around Yetu—a historian of the wajinru, water-dwelling creatures with scales and fins but human-like faces. Yetu’s position as historian is sacred, but a burden for her. It is her task to hold all the memories of her people inside her, forced to re-live both pain and joy seemingly against her will, while the others are free to live impulsive, easy-going lives.
How often do you question who has the power in your world? Four Tor Teen authors—Bethany C. Morrow (A Song Below Water), TJ Klune (The Extraordinaries), Mark Oshiro (Each of Us a Desert), and Sarah Henning (The Princess Will Save You) came together along with moderator Charlie Jane Anders to discuss just that. Each of their young adult novels tackle the question of magic, power, and privilege from different angles. So when Charlie Jane asked the question about why telling stories about owning your own power is important, these authors had a lot to say. Check out their answers below, and watch the entire panel for more!
One of the most popular animated series of all time, Avatar: The Last Airbender, is having something of a resurgence due to being added to Netflix’s library of shows. With the news that the sequel series Legend of Korra, would be joining Netflix in August, we’re all thinking about how the Avatar universe influenced our world. During today’s [email protected] 2020 panel, one of the original creators of the show, Michael DiMartino, sat down with comics creators Faith Erin Hicks and Gene Luen Yang, as well as author F.C. Yee to discuss Avatar‘s lasting influence.
We love a good retelling—whether it’s a favorite fairy tale, ancient myth, or epic tale, it’s always great to see old things made new. Part of the reason we love these stories is because they’re so malleable; with themes that span the breadth of the human experience, tales of love, revenge, and adventure can find a home in any place and time, with characters that feel both familiar and fresh at the same time.
As we started thinking about of favorite retellings of classic stories, so many brilliant adaptations, updates, and re-workings came to mind. Here are just a few that we adore! Please feel free to add your own in the comments.
Once upon a time, there was a glorious city with towers that stretched into the sky, roads that stretched long into the beyond. The city had existed for many many years, and would continue to stand for years after, ancient and forever and steadfast. It was a city that cradled its inhabitants, that vibrated with energy and life.
Within one particular tower was a group of creative, clever people who were working very hard bringing art to the people of the world. This group of people cared so deeply about their work, and about each other. Every day was a joy.
And in a small corner of the tower was a desk covered in books from all corners of the world, each one loved and cared for by the desk’s keeper, who did their best to help brilliant works of fiction reach readers who needed them the most…
