Emily Tesh | Tor.com
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Emily Tesh

Fiction and Excerpts [6]
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Fiction and Excerpts [6]

History, Fantasy, and Mythmaking: The Origins of the Green Man

James Frazer has a lot to answer for.

He was born in 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland. He became a Fellow of Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. From there he leapfrogged sideways into folklore studies and comparative anthropology, two disciplines he knew nothing about (although to be fair, at the time, neither did anyone else really.) His masterwork was The Golden Bough, two volumes of meticulously researched albeit fairly wrong comparative mythology from all over the world. His research was conducted mostly by postal questionnaire since he wasn’t into travelling. The title of the book comes from one of the more mysterious bits of the Aeneid , where the Roman epic hero finds a magical golden branch which he then has to hand over to a priestess in exchange for passage to visit the land of the dead.

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Read Chapter 3 of Some Desperate Glory, a Space Opera From Emily Tesh

Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth…

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Emily Tesh’s debut novel, Some Desperate Glory. A queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you, Some Desperate Glory arrives April 11th from Tordotcom Publishing. Read chapter three below, or head back to the beginning.

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Read Chapter 2 of Some Desperate Glory, a Space Opera From Emily Tesh

Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth…

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Emily Tesh’s debut novel, Some Desperate Glory. A queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you, Some Desperate Glory arrives April 11th from Tordotcom Publishing. Read chapter two below, or head back to the beginning.

Read More »

Read the First Chapter of Some Desperate Glory, a Space Opera From Emily Tesh

Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth…

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Emily Tesh’s debut novel, Some Desperate Glory. A queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you, Some Desperate Glory arrives April 11th from Tordotcom Publishing. Read the first chapter below!

Read More »

Diana Wynne Jones’ The Time of the Ghost Breaks All the Rules of How To Write a Book

In late 2020 I started rereading the complete works of Diana Wynne Jones in publication order. I started doing this because I was in a reading slump and Jones is one of those authors who is slump-proof for me (like Terry Pratchett, or Georgette Heyer.) And then I kept going because I was riveted.

Jones’ books are simply brilliant. Some are undeniably better than others, but even a dud DWJ is a decent read, and at her best she is extraordinary. In fact I would argue that she is one of the greatest fantasy writers of the last fifty years. So the value of my reread turned out to be considerably more than the nostalgia of returning to beloved children’s books that you first read decades ago. Speaking as an adult reader, and an adult writer of fantasy: there’s a real joy in watching a master at work.

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Learning the Tropes with Freya Marske: The Trees Want to Kill You

In a new interview series for Tor.com, Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light, sets out to explore the tropes we love and why we love them. As one of the hosts of the Hugo-nominated “Be the Serpent” podcast, Freya is our resident expert on the intersections of fandom, literature, SFF (and also, kissing stuff). She’ll be speaking with her fellow authors about the joys of indulging in favorite themes, but continuing to reinvent and rediscover them along the way.

Without further ado, we present Learning the Tropes with Freya Marske: Session One, all about murderous plants, deadly trees, and horror fungi.

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Making the Metaphor Literal: Fantastic Reality in The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones

Over the last few months I have been rereading the complete works of Diana Wynne Jones in publication order. I started doing this because I was in a reading slump and Jones is one of those authors who is slump-proof for me (like Terry Pratchett, or Georgette Heyer.) And then I kept going because I was riveted.

Jones’ books are simply brilliant. Some are undeniably better than others, but even a dud DWJ is a decent read, and at her best she is extraordinary. In fact I would argue that she is one of the greatest fantasy writers of the last fifty years. So the value of my reread (still ongoing!) has turned out to be considerably more than the nostalgia of returning to beloved children’s books that you first read decades ago. Speaking as an adult reader, and an adult writer of fantasy: there’s a real joy in watching a master at work.

Read More »

Series: That Was Awesome! Writers on Writing

Inventing Folklore: The Origins of the Green Man

James Frazer has a lot to answer for.

He was born in 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland. He became a Fellow of Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. From there he leapfrogged sideways into folklore studies and comparative anthropology, two disciplines he knew nothing about (although to be fair, at the time, neither did anyone else really.) His masterwork was The Golden Bough, two volumes of meticulously researched albeit fairly wrong comparative mythology from all over the world. His research was conducted mostly by postal questionnaire since he wasn’t into travelling. The title of the book comes from one of the more mysterious bits of the Aeneid , where the Roman epic hero finds a magical golden branch which he then has to hand over to a priestess in exchange for passage to visit the land of the dead.

Read More »

When is a Myth Not a Myth: The Origins of the Green Man

James Frazer has a lot to answer for.

He was born in 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland. He became a Fellow of Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. From there he leapfrogged sideways into folklore studies and comparative anthropology, two disciplines he knew nothing about (although to be fair, at the time, neither did anyone else really.) His masterwork was The Golden Bough, two volumes of meticulously researched albeit fairly wrong comparative mythology from all over the world. His research was conducted mostly by postal questionnaire since he wasn’t into travelling. The title of the book comes from one of the more mysterious bits of the Aeneid , where the Roman epic hero finds a magical golden branch which he then has to hand over to a priestess in exchange for passage to visit the land of the dead.

Read More »

Read an Excerpt from Silver in the Wood

There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.

When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.

An enchanting story of old forests, forgotten gods, and new love, Emily Tesh’s Silver in the Wood is available June 18th with Tor.com Publishing.

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