Tor.com Stories

Super Bass

Kai Ashante Wilson — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Gian returns to Sea-john from the Kingdom's wars certain that he has skills beyond killing, death and destruction. He needs to prove to himself that love is just as strong, if not stronger, than his hate. The Summer King gives him this opportunity.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ann VanderMeer.

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The Button Man and the Murder Tree

Cherie Priest — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

George R. R. Martin’s Wild Cards multi-author shared-world universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. Now, in addition to overseeing the ongoing publication of new Wild Cards books (like 2011’s Fort Freak), Martin is also commissioning and editing new Wild Cards stories for publication on Tor.com. In Cherie Priest’s “The Button Man and the Murder Tree,” it’s Chicago in 1971, and Raul is a button man—a professional ender of lives that the Mob needs ended. But something’s odd about his most recent assignments. And then there are those mushrooms growing out of his skin....

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “The Button Man and the Murder Tree” by Cherie Priest]

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Shall We Gather

Alex Bledsoe — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

When one world brushes another, asking the right question can be magic….

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Paul Stevens.

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Fire Above, Fire Below

Garth Nix — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

“Fire Above, Fire Below” is about the crisis that the dying of a dragon living below a major city causes, and the pact made many years earlier to deal with such a situtation.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ellen Datlow.

[Read “Fire Above, Fire Below” by Garth Nix]

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We Have Always Lived On Mars

Cecil Castellucci — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Nina, one of the few descendants of human colony on Mars that was abandoned by Earth, is surprised to discover that she can breathe the toxic atmosphere of the Martian surface. The crew, thinking that their attempts at terraforming and breeding for Martian adaptability have finally payed off, rejoice at the prospect of a brighter future. But Nina's about to unlock the mystery of the disaster that stranded them on Mars… and nothing will ever be the same.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by senior editor Calista Brill.

[Read “We Have Always Lived On Mars” by Cecil Castellucci]

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Jack of Coins

Christopher Rowe — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

“Jack of Coins,” by Christopher Rowe, is about a strange, amnesiac man who is befriended by a rebellious group of teenagers living in a repressive city.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ellen Datlow.

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The Ink Readers of Doi Saket

Thomas Olde Heuvelt — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

People send their dreams and wishes floating down the Mae Ping River with the hope that those dreams will be captured, read and come true. It is a surprise what some wish for and why. One can never know what’s inside someone’s heart—what they really truly want, and those dreams sometimes reveal our true selves.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ann VanderMeer.

[Read “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt]

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Do Not Touch

Prudence Shen — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Lane doesn’t understand why people have such a hard time following directions. All these paintings are clearly marked “DO NOT TOUCH” for a reason.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by senior editor Calista Brill

[“Do Not Touch” by Prudence Shen]

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Sing

Karin Tidbeck — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

In a village on the distant colony of Kiruna, the outcast Aino has worked hard to created a life for herself. The fragile status quo is upset when the offworlder Petr arrives and insists on becoming a part of her life. But he has no idea what it will cost him, and has cost Aino, to belong to the people who sing with inhuman voices.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ann VanderMeer.

[Read “Sing” by Karin Tidbeck]

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Rag and Bone

Priya Sharma — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

“Rag and Bone,” by Priya Sharma, is about Tom, who buys unwanted household items and scavenges other materials (including bones) and resells them in an alternative 19th century Liverpool in which the wealthy use the poor for parts from the inside out, should they need them. Colorful, disturbing, and moving as Tom maneuvers warily between the masters he serves and the poor from whom he scavenges.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ellen Datlow.

[Read “Rag and Bone” by Priya Sharma]

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Portrait of the Book As Golem

Jane Yolen — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:20:00 +0000

Presenting “Portrait of the Book As Golem,” an original poem by Jane Yolen in celebration of National Poetry Month on Tor.com, acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

Tor.com is celebrating National Poetry Month by featuring science fiction and fantasy poetry from a variety of SFF authors. You’ll find classic works, hidden gems, and new commissions featured on the site throughout the month. Bookmark the Poetry Month index for easy reading.

[“Portrait of the Book As Golem”]

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Backscatter

Gregory Benford — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

In Gregory Benford's new science fiction story “Backscatter,” life might emerge under the most unlikely conditions...or in the last extremity.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “Backscatter”]

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House

Neil Gaiman — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:00:01 +0000

Presenting “House,” an original poem by Neil Gaiman in celebration of National Poetry Month on Tor.com, acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ellen Datlow.

[“House” by Neil Gaiman]

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Running of the Bulls

Harry Turtledove — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

There's what we know...and what we assume. Read “Running of the Bulls,” a new original short story by Harry Turtledove.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “Running of the Bulls” by Harry Turtledove]

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The Hanging Game

Helen Marshall — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Sometimes a game, even a sacred game, can have far-reaching consequences. In bear country young Skye learns just how far she is willing to go to play the game properly in order carry on the traditions that came before her and will most likely continue long after she is gone.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ann VanderMeer.

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Border Dogs: A SEAL Team 666 Adventure

Weston Ochse — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:30:00 +0000

Sent to Southern Arizona to investigate rumors of chupacabra running rampant, SEAL Team 666 becomes embroiled in Mexican cartel politics, the loss of one of their own, and the machinations of an American patriot group who wants to lock down the border at any cost.

This novelette was acquired for Tor.com by St. Martin's Press editor Brendan Deneen.

[Read “Border Dogs: A SEAL Team 666 Adventure”]

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Terrain

Genevieve Valentine — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

“Terrain,” by Genevieve Valentine, is a steampunk western about six diverse people living and working together on a farm outside a small town in Wyoming. The encroaching Union Pacific railroad wants the land, threatening their home and their livelihood, running a unique message service with mechanical “dogs” (actually looking more insectile) that can climb up mountains where the Pony Express cannot.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ellen Datlow.

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The Memory Coder

Jessica Brody — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

When a security breach is detected, the Memory Restoration Department is called upon to do what they do best: make you forget. But with every memory that’s taken out, a new one must be installed in its place. It’s a job that requires skill, artistry, discretion, and flawless proficiency in the language of memories. That’s why only the best programmers in the world are recruited to work for the department. But diving too far into another person’s memories is a dangerous endeavor. And for some, the temptation is just too strong.

“The Memory Coder,” an original short story by Jessica Brody acquired for Tor.com by Janine O'Malley, is set in the world of Unremembered, the first book in a sci-fi/suspense trilogy, on sale March 5, 2013 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

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The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere

John Chu — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

In the near future water falls from the sky whenever someone lies (either a mist or a torrential flood depending on the intensity of the lie). This makes life difficult for Matt as he maneuvers the marriage question with his lover and how best to “come out” to his traditional Chinese parents.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ann VanderMeer.

[Read “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere”]

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Angel Season

J.T. Petty — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy “Angel Season,” a new story by J.T. Petty, video game writer and author of Bloody Chester, a western horror mystery graphic novel out from First Second Books.

Jeremy’s girlfriend is pregnant, and he returns home to the mountains to tell his drunken, ne’er-do-well father. The only thing Jeremy’s dad was ever good at was hunting angels, a dangerous pursuit but a profitable one, often netting thousands of dollars to the hunter for the sale of a single “rack,” (the wings.) Since the angel hunt was outlawed more than a decade ago, Jeremy’s dad has slid steadily downhill. With the news of Jeremy’s impending fatherhood, he and his dad engage in one final hunt.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by First Second Books senior editor Calista Brill.

[Read “Angel Season”]

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Last Train to Jubilee Bay

Kali Wallace — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

After the sickness and quarantine almost destroyed the city, the traders arrived creeping out from the sea to live off the memories of those people left behind; getting them addicted to the serum these strange creatures manufacture in return. But now it’s been more than five days since they have come for their daily visit. And Lucy is determined to find out why.

Enjoy “Last Train to Jubilee Bay,” new original short story by Kali Wallace, acquired for Tor.com by consulting editor Ann VanderMeer.

[Read “Last Train to Jubilee Bay”]

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When We Were Heroes

Daniel Abraham — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Daniel Abraham’s “When We Were Heroes” is an affecting examination of celebrity, privacy, and the different ways people deal with notoriety and fame—problems not made easier when what you’re famous for are superpowers that even you don’t fully understand.

[Read “When We Were Heroes”]

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The Ghosts of Christmas

Paul Cornell — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Which is harder: seeing your own future - or truly knowing your past? Enjoy this year's Tor.com holiday story “The Ghosts of Christmas,” a new original story by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Saucer Country, London Falling).

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “The Ghosts of Christmas”]

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Intestate

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

My father may no longer be human. But we're still family. Kind of. Enjoy “Intestate,” a new original story by Charlie Jane Anders, winner of the 2012 Hugo Award for her Tor.com novelette “Six Months, Three Days.”

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

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Am I Free to Go?

Kathryn Cramer — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

The line between utopia and dystopia...is, often, who you are. Or who your neighbors think you are.

Read “Am I Free to Go?”, a new original short story by Kathryn Cramer, the editor or co-editor of over two dozen science fiction and fantasy anthologies.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “Am I Free to Go?”]

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The Finite Canvas

Brit Mandelo — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

We are marked by what we have been. And erasing either of those can have unpredictable consequences...

This novelette was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “The Finite Canvas”]

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Heads Will Roll

Lish McBride — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Lena’s not your typical animal trainer. And when she and her unicorn partner, Steve, decide to enter a fight, it’s definitely not your typical fight….

Enjoy a new original story from Lish McBride, the author of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer and its sequel Necromancing the Stone.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Henry Holt editor Noa Wheeler.

[Read “Heads Will Roll”]

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The Queen’s Army

Marissa Meyer — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting “The Queen’s Army,” a story by Marissa Meyer that takes place in the Lunar Chronicles world of Cinder and its forthcoming sequel Scarlet, on sale February 5th. The first 1,000 people to pre-order Scarlet in hardcover or ebook will get a free Scarlet-branded lip gloss. More exclusive content on The Lunar Chronicles can also be found here on Facebook.

It is time. The boy must leave his family to serve in the Queen’s army. To be chosen is an honor. To decline is impossible. The boy is modified. He is trained for several years, and learns to fight to the death. He proves to the Queen—and to himself—that he is capable of evil. He is just the kind of soldier the Queen wants: the alpha of his pack.

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Feiwel & Friends editor Elizabeth Szabla.

[Read “The Queen’s Army”]

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How to Make a Triffid

Kelly Lagor — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Tor.com is proud to present the very first published work by Kelly Lagor, the original short story “How to Make a Triffid,” a chilling tale of science, science fiction, and how we break. (And even more stunned by her tattoo of Tor.com mascot Stubby the Rocket!)

This short story was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “How to Make a Triffid”]

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Wild Things

Alyx Dellamonica — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Ah, love. A many splendored thing. Here is a rather unusual love story, sweet and strange as could only happen in the post-magical reality of the Indigo Springs “event.” Blue Magic, the sequel to Indigo Springs was published in April and here's a tasty tale from that world to tickle a reader's fancy.

This short story was edited and acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Jim Frenkel.

[Read “Wild Things”]

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Foundation

Ann Aguirre — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In Ann Aguirre’s award-winning novel, Enclave, humans have taken refuge in colonies below ground. “Foundation” is the story of what drove them there, told through the eyes of a teen who would later have vast influence over the fate of many, and who gave his heart to the one person who needed him most.

This short story was edited and acquired for Tor.com by Fiewel & Friends editor Elizabeth Szabla.

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Too Fond

Leanna Renee Hieber — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In “Too Fond,” by author Leanna Renee Hieber, Eloise Browne's leaden heart becomes softened by the entrance into her world of Mr. McGill, the owner of the nearby mill. His tragic story and her compassionate gift tangle themselves into something altogether new... and not altogether welcome.

This short story was edited and acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Melissa Singer.

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Jacks and Queens at the Green Mill

Marie Rutkoski — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Few know that the Great Chicago Fire was started deliberately, bringing genocide to deadly creatures called Shades. Fewer still know that they didn't die, not quite...and one human will confront the truth when an ominous beauty makes him gamble for his life.

Read “Jacks and Queens at the Green Mill,” which is set in the world of Rutkoski's newest novel The Shadow Society.

This story was edited and acquired for Tor.com by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux editor Janine O'Malley.

[Read “Jacks and Queens at the Green Mill”]

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King of Marbury

Andrew Smith — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Marbury is another world, a dark world that best friends Jack Whitmore and Conner Kirk have fallen into before. A stranger had given Jack a pair of glasses – it’s through the lenses that the boys get to Marbury. Told through Conner’s point of view, “King of Marbury” asks whether Marbury is only in Jack and Conner’s minds, or if it might actually be real. You decide.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Feiwel & Friends editor Elizabeth Szabla.

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The Commonplace Book

Jacob Clifton — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

“The Commonplace Book” concerns certain social and technological developments in New York’s sixth Borough of Lytton, a timeless locale facing great change at the hands of new motion picture technology and the advent of machine intelligence. And, most of all, from inventors and iconoclasts Lady Adelaide Babbage and Mr Maximilian Willoughby, struggling in parallel with a hopeless inability to conform in fashion or manner to the standards of the day, and the construction of identity in the face of the knowledge that the creation of AI is—like any other art—also the creation of self.

The first piece of short fiction by popular Television Without Pity writer Jacob Clifton is like nothing we’ve ever read, a piece of postmodern steampunk encompassing past, present, and future all at once. Jacob writes, “There’s a level on which the story is an indictment of using steampunk as a fashion or trend. It came about because I wanted to see what would happen if you substituted Jane Austen for Jules Verne in the steampunk equation—and part of that is the notion that you can’t just remix, you have to transform.”

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Liz Gorinsky.

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The Department of Alterations

Gennifer Albin — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Read a new original story by Gennifer Albin, who's debut novel Crewel comes out on October 16th from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

In “The Department of Alterations,” the women of Arras are expected to fall into assigned roles, serve as loving wives, and provide healthy children into the world's tapestry. But perfection comes at a price and not even the looms of Arras can manipulate away every problem in the fabric of life. Something Karoline Swander knows all too well. She has a respectable job, an important husband, and she's about to commit treason. In a world woven of secrets, Karoline seeks a back-alley tailor for a sinister procedure, but she can't escape from her own tangled web of lies.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Farrar, Strous & Giroux editor Janine O'Malley.

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Day of the Kraken

Michael Swanwick — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick presents a new fiction series at Tor.com, consisting of stand-alone stories all set in the same world. “Day of the Kraken,” continues the epic tale of an alternate fin de siècle Europe shot through with sorcery and intrigue. (Intrigued yourself? Read the other stories, “The Mongolian Wizard” and “The Fire Gown.”)

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “Day of the Kraken”]

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Ruled

Caragh M. O'Brien — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Set in the world of Caragh O'Brien's Birthmarked Trilogy, specifically set between the second book in the Birthmarked trilogy (Prized) and the final book (Promised), “Ruled” offers a rare glimpse into the mind and heart of Leon Grey.

The bracelet sits in his pocket, patiently waiting to be slipped around Gaia's wrist. Leon needs to see her again. He finds out that Gaia is delivering a baby in the village, and he makes the trip to visit the sixteen-year-old midwife, only to find that the birth is not going too well. The bracelet—and what it means to the both of them—will have to wait.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Roaring Brook Press editor Nancy Mercado.

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Men Who Wish To Drown

Elizabeth Fama — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

From the author of the upcoming novel Monstrous Beauty comes this undersea tale “Men Who Wish To Drown,” set in the same history.

Cited as the only extant firsthand record of a mermaid encounter in New England waters, this deathbed letter from a great-grandfather to his great-grandson is more likely an instructive fiction—a parable of regret. Supposedly corroborating the mermaid story, a ship’s log (in the collection of the Provincetown Historical Museum) of the schooner Hannah, which plucked Mr. Stanton from South Weepecket in 1788, indicates that the crew saw two figures on the island prior to the rescue, but failed to locate a second victim. However, regarding accuracy and reliability, this is the same crew under Captain John Merriweather that reported sightings of a ghost ship and not one, but two sea monsters.

~~James S. Rucker, Archivist, Family Collections, Falmouth Historical Society, 1924

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Farrar, Strous & Giroux editor Joy Peskin.

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Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia

Rachel Swirsky — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

The line between art and magic is a treacherous thing.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden

[Read “Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia”]

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The Fire Gown

Michael Swanwick — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick presents a new fiction series at Tor.com, consisting of stand-alone stories all set in the same world. “The Fire Gown,” continues the epic tale of magic and deception in an alternate Europe of railroads and sorcery. (Intrigued? Read the first story, “The Mongolian Wizard.”)

[Read “The Fire Gown”]

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Faster Gun

Elizabeth Bear — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

It’s hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, and a hundred times too big to be a ship. It looks like nothing anyone ever saw. And it’s crashed just outside Tombstone with something alive inside.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

[Read “Faster Gun” by Elizabeth Bear]

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The Cairn in Slater Woods

Gina Rosati — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Dylan has just moved to New Hampshire to live in a house his family has inherited from a great aunt he’s never met. There he meets his cousin, a bully who resents Dylan’s family, and a mysterious girl who claims she can lead him to buried treasure in the woods on the property. The key to helping the girl involves uncovering a dark family secret and righting the wrongs of the past.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Roaring Brook Press editor Kate Jacobs.

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A Tall Tail

Charles Stross — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

This year for Tor.com’s birthday, we’re initiating a tradition of Rocket Stories! For this inaugural year, enjoy an exclusive read of “A Tall Tail” by Charles Stross a week before it appears on the site! (One of the perks of being a registered user on the site.)

“A Tall Tail” is by Charles Stross, a British SF author who now lives in Scotland. He is the author of the Laundry series and the Hugo-winning novella “The Concrete Jungle.”

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

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Brother. Prince. Snake.

Cecil Castellucci — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy this new original short story by author and young adult fiction editor Cecil Castellucci. A retelling of the Prince Lindwurm fairy tale, Brother Prince Snake is a story of love, sibling rivalry, and how a monster became King.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Roaring Brook Press editor Nancy Mercado.

[Read “Brother. Prince. Snake.”]

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The Mongolian Wizard

Michael Swanwick — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick launches a new fiction series at Tor.com of stand-alone stories all set in the same world. We begin with “The Mongolian Wizard,” a story of a very unusual international conference in a fractured Europe that never was.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

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Loco

Rudy Rucker — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 14:00:00 +0000

You can’t just morph a federal scientist into a giant invertebrate that catches fire. That’s not an acceptable protocol. And the feds aren’t going to fund you anymore. Not when your boss is a self-flattening radioactive pancake.” In “Loco,” an original science fiction story by Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling, desperate times call for desperate inventions.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

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A Spell of Vengeance

DB Jackson — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Ethan Kaille is a thieftaker in Colonial Boston, scratching out a living by restoring stolen property to its rightful owners. But unlike others in his profession, Ethan relies on magical spells as well as his wits to track down thieves. Being a conjurer doesn’t make him popular with the law in Boston, so Ethan is taken aback when the sheriff seeks his help in settling a dispute between a pair of wealthy merchants and a ship’s captain who has threatened their lives. Ethan knows the captain can back up his threats with magic of his own. But there is more to this matter than the merchants have let on, and Ethan soon discovers that what he doesn’t know might actually kill him. D. B. Jackson’s first Ethan Kaille novel, Thieftaker, will be published on July 3, 2012.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Jim Frenkel.

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The Witch of Duva: A Ravkan Folk Tale

Leigh Bardugo — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:00:00 +0000

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls…or so the story goes. But it’s just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel, Shadow and Bone. See Leigh on the Fierce Reads Tour this month!

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Henry Holt Books editor Noa Wheeler.

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Art History Through Sci Fi-Colored Glasses

Irene Gallo — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:52:16 +0000

Pastiche? Mash-up? The best form of flattery? Whatever you want to call it, artists have enjoyed riffing on historical paintings for ages. For some, it’s a fun way to learn and explore issues of color, composition, and application of paint by intimately copying from a master. For others, it’s a means to tap into the feelings and emotions already assoctiated with the original image, (for humour or drama.) Seeing John Mattos’ great modernist takes on Star Wars made me want to seek out other views of science fiction via the classics. Here’s what I found....

[Step into our gallery...]

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Our Human

Adam-Troy Castro — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

On a savage backwater world, the last ragged survivors of an expedition to hunt down the infamous war criminal known as The Beast Magrison set off into an inhospitable wilderness in search of the alien village that may be sheltering this beast.

The hunters are aliens from two different species, the village is inhabited by strange aliens of yet another species, and Magrison himself is no sterling advertisement for humanity. Who’s human in this situation? The answer may surprise and upset you.

This novella, “Our Human,” from acclaimed SF writer Adam-Troy Castro explores the fate of the dread Magrison. Readers can find out more about the world that spawned Magrison by tracking down his Andrea Cort novels, Emissaries from the Dead and The Third Claw of God.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Liz Gorinsky.

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Legacy Lost

Anna Banks — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Grom is a mer-prince, pledged to marry the mermaid princess of an opposing kingdom in an effort to unite the lands under the waters. He dreads this arrangement until meets the princess Nalia – both beautiful and smart, she’s everything he ever wanted. But just when their connection grows deeper, tragedy strikes.

“Legacy Lost” is a prequel story to Anna Banks’ debut novel, Of Poseidon, newly out from Feiwel & Friends. You can catch Anna out on the Fierce Reads tour in June!

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Feiwel & Friends editor Liz Szabla.

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Dress Your Marines in White

Emmy Laybourne — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

At first, Dr. James Cutlass had thought his new job at NORAD was thrilling and full of opportunities, but that was before the demonstration… “Dress Your Marines in White” is the story of the terrifying choices surrounding a chemical weapons demonstration gone horribly wrong.

Emmy Laybourne is a screenwriter, lyricist, and actress who’s first work of fiction, Monument 14, on June 5th from Feiwel & Friends. You can also catch Emmy out on the Fierce Reads tour next month!

[Read “Dress Your Marines in White”]

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About Fairies

Pat Murphy — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy this new original short story by author Pat Murphy. In “About Fairies,” Jennifer and her co-workers create fairy lands for a toy company, all the while cultivating their own personal fairy worlds....

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

I’m on my way to the train station when I find a mirror leaning against a chain link fence. People often abandon stuff on this street, figuring that someone who wants it will take it away. And someone usually does. San Francisco has many scavengers.

[Continue reading “About Fairies”]

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At the Foot of the Lighthouse (Todai Moto Kurashi)

Erin Hoffman — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I am American. We are all Americans. The year is 1942. A Japanese-American girl’s life is turned upside down by Executive Order 9066, and she must cope with a life confined to the barbed wire of an internment camp in the Arizona desert. There, she struggles to weigh her continued loyalty to her country (which has betrayed and ostracized everyone she loves) against a closely guarded family secret that could change the course of history.

[Read “At the Foot of the Lighthouse”]

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Aquaman and the Duality of Self/Other, America, 1985

Catherynne M. Valente — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:00:00 +0000

On this Saturday we’re featuring a new composition from Catherynne M. Valente, “Aquaman and the Duality of Self/Other, America, 1985.”

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Prophet

Jennifer Bosworth — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:30:00 +0000

“Prophet” is Jennifer Bosworth’s first published short work and serves as a prequel to her debut novel Struck, out on May 8th from Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. You can also catch Jennifer out on the Fierce Reads tour next month!

Some men are born monsters . . . others are made so. In “Prophet,” Rance Ridley, the teenage son of a cult leader, lives on an isolated compound, disconnected from modern civilization. There is no running water. No electricity. And no law but the Prophet’s. When Rance is caught in an act of flagrant disobedience, his father delivers the ultimate punishment.

“Prophet” is a disturbing glimpse into the past of the villain of Jennifer Bosworth’s debut novel, Struck.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Farrar, Straus & Giroux editor Janine O'Malley.

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What the Dragon Said: A Love Story

Catherynne M. Valente — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:00:00 +0000

On this Saturday we’re featuring a new composition from Catherynne M. Valente, “What the Dragon Said: A Love Story.”

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On 20468 Petercook

Andy Duncan — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy “On 20468 Petercook,” a new original story by author Andy Duncan about Stanley and George, two resolute employees of Trans-Space Enterprises tasked with adjusting reflective sheets on solar sails attached to asteroids, miniature planetoids, and the like. It doesn’t seem like an exciting life, but perhaps you’re simply not realizing the full dramatic potential of two mates sitting amongst asteroids, adjusting sails.

Ah, tea’s up.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

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Mouse Koan

Catherynne M. Valente — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Today we kick off Poetry Month with “Mouse Koan” by Catherynne M. Valente.

[Read “Mouse Koan”]

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The Sigma Structure Symphony

Gregory Benford — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy “The Sigma Structure Symphony,” by Gregory Benford, a story inspired by an illustration from John Jude Palencar.

“The Sigma Structure Symphony” is the final part of a five-story series curated by senior Tor Books editor David G. Hartwell. All five are based on a singular piece of art by John Jude Palencar and will be released for free on Tor.com every Wednesday in March.

Read the story behind these stories or purchase all five right now in a $2.99 ebook.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor David Hartwell.

[Read “The Sigma Structure Symphony”]

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The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree

Michael Swanwick — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy “The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree,” by Michael Swanwick, a story inspired by an illustration from John Jude Palencar.

“The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree” is part of a five-story series curated by senior Tor Books editor David G. Hartwell. All five are based on a singular piece of art by John Jude Palencar and will be released for free on Tor.com every Wednesday in March.

Read the story behind these stories or purchase all five right now in a $2.99 ebook.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor David Hartwell.

[Read “The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree”]

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Thanatos Beach

James Morrow — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy “Thanatos Beach,” by James Morrow, a story inspired by an illustration from John Jude Palencar.

“Thanatos Beach” is part of a five-story series curated by senior Tor Books editor David G. Hartwell. All five are based on a singular piece of art by John Jude Palencar and will be released for free on Tor.com every Wednesday in March.

Read the story behind these stories or purchase all five right now in a $2.99 ebook.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor David Hartwell.

[Read “Thanatos Beach”]

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Dormanna

Gene Wolfe — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy “Dormanna,” by Gene Wolfe, a story inspired by an illustration from John Jude Palencar.

“Dormanna” is part of a five-story series curated by senior Tor Books editor David G. Hartwell. All five are based on a singular piece of art by John Jude Palencar and will be released for free on Tor.com every Wednesday in March.

Read the story behind these stories or purchase all five right now in a $2.99 ebook.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor David Hartwell.

[Read “Dormanna” by Gene Wolfe]

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The Film-makers of Mars

Geoff Ryman — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

The discovery of forty reels of a lost 1911 movie adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, impossibly well-made and yet ineluctably old, is…weird. But for the journalist protagonist of “The Film-makers of Mars,” by Geoff Ryman, that’s only the beginning of the weirdness to come...

This story originally appeared on Tor.com in 2008.

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New World Blues

L. E. Modesitt Jr. — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:00:02 +0000

Please enjoy “New World Blues,” by L. E. Modesitt, Jr., a story inspired by an illustration from John Jude Palencar.

“New World Blues” is part of a five-story series curated by senior Tor Books editor David G. Hartwell. All five are based on a singular piece of art by John Jude Palencar and will be released for free on Tor.com every Wednesday in March.

Read the story behind these stories or purchase all five right now in a $2.99 ebook.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor David Hartwell.

[Read “New World Blues”]

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Mother, Crone, Maiden

Cat Hellisen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Knowing the future is not about knowing the future. It’s about knowing which path to take.

Ilven comes from a family of Saints—future-tellers—but she knows her father didn’t waste more than a few grains of the precious drug scriv to see her fate. Now she’s facing an arranged marriage to a man she’s never met. So, inhaling stolen scriv, she reads three possible futures for herself, searching for the path that will lead to her heart’s desire.

Presenting “Mother, Crone, Maiden,” a short-story prequel to Cat Hellisen’s young adult fantasy debut, When the Sea Is Rising Red, forthcoming from Farrar, Straus and Giroux on February 28th.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Farrar, Straus and Giroux editor Beth Potter.

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Among the Silvering Herd

Alyx Dellamonica — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original story, “Among the Silvering Herd,“ by author A.M. Dellamonica, the voice behind Tor.com’s Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Rewatch, and the author of short story “The Cage,” a contemporary fantasy love story centering around werewolves which made the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List.

“Among the Silvering Herd” is about loyalty, tradition, and the things people will do to protect what is theirs. For centuries, the island nation of Redcap has been obligated to pay tribute to the powerful nation of Sylvanna. Suffering under the heavy burden of the contract that by rights should be declared illegal, the princesses of Redcap summon Gale, a wealthy seawoman, to advise them. Political savvy is only one weapon in Gale’s diplomatic arsenal, but she’s up against a Sylvanner ambassador who will push her to the brink . . . or over it.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Jim Frenkel.

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Uncle Flower’s Homecoming Waltz

Marissa K. Lingen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original story, “Uncle Flower’s Homecoming Waltz,“ by author Marissa K. Lingen, a tale in which children and adults must be taught how to daydream properly; a respite against the never-ending war that rages around them.

This story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

My grandmother says all stories begin with a death. My grandfather says with a birth. And Aunt Albert says they’re both wrong, and stories begin with someone not getting what they want.

But no one was born, and no one died, and I got what I wanted, and that is where this story begins.

[Continue reading “Uncle Flower’s Homecoming Waltz”]

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Swift, Brutal Retaliation

Meghan McCarron — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original story, “Swift, Brutal Retaliation,“ by new author Meghan McCarron, a ghost story that cautions one against trying to win a ghostly prank war against one’s dead big brother. You can’t win that sort of war, only survive it.

This novelette was acquired for Tor.com by Tor Books editor Liz Gorinsky.

Two girls in wrinkled black dresses sat in the front pew at their older brother’s funeral. They had never sat in the front pew in church before, and they disliked how exposed they felt. Behind them stood their brother’s entire eighth-grade class, the girls in ironed black dresses and gold cross necklaces, the boys in dark suits, bought too big so they could get another use. Few expected more funerals, but the suits would serve for graduation in May—which, after all, was a funeral, too.

[Continue reading ”Swift, Brutal Retaliation"]

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A Clean Sweep With All the Trimmings

James Alan Gardner — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original science fiction story, “A Clean Sweep With All the Trimmings,” by author James Alan Gardner, a Damon Runyon-esque tale of courteous guys, bulletproof dolls, and the fedora-clad spacemen that bring them together.

This week marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the death of American writer Damon Runyon, best known for his delightful, distinctive prose style and for the series of post-Prohibition New York stories that eventually inspired the musical Guys and Dolls.

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If Dragon’s Mass Eve Be Cold And Clear

Ken Scholes — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Muscles tire. Words fail. Faith fades. Fear falls. In the Sixteenth Year of the Sixteen Princes the world came to an end when the dragon’s back gave out. Poetry died first followed by faith. One by one the world-strands burst and bled until ash snowed down on huddled masses whimpering in the cold.

The Santaman came reeking of love into this place and we did not know him.

This is his story.

This is our story, too.

Prelude
The Santaman Cycle, Authorized Standard Version
Verity Press, 2453 YD

[Continue reading “If Dragon’s Mass Eve Be Cold and Clear”]

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Glitches

Marissa Meyer — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new science fiction original story, “Glitches,” by author Marissa Meyer, who’s first novel Cinder arrives on January 3rd. You can find an excerpt here, along with an option to purchase further chapters.

Want to know how the art for this came together? Check out sketches and alternate takes on Cinder in Goni Montes’ “Creating the Art” post.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. In “Glitches,” a short prequel story to Cinder, we see the results of that illness play out, and the emotional toll that takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch....

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The Rotten Beast

Mary E. Pearson — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original science fiction story, “The Rotten Beast,” by author Mary E. Pearson, which takes place in the same near-future world of The Jenna Fox Chronicles.

In “The Rotten Beast,” a sixteen-year-old girl named Allys, living in a near future version of the U.S., is vehemently opposed to the way scientists are meddling with human and artificial life. In fact, she blames such scientific overreaching for the illness which is killing her. When she awakens one day to find that her parents have gone against her wishes and had an illegal operation performed to save her life and restore her body, she is furious and must come to terms with this new chance at life, which she didn’t ask for and didn’t think she wanted.

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Ghost Hedgehog

Nina Kiriki Hoffman — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original story, “Ghost Hedgehog,” by fantasy author Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

With all the places ghosts could go, in this world and the next, why do they keep hanging around Jack?

It’s like I got spikes on my back, and every ghost who wants to stick around on Earth grabs one and hangs on.

Mrs. Jernigan, my fifth-grade teacher, was the first ghost who hooked on to me.

[Read “Ghost Hedgehog”]

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First Contact

Theresa DeLucci — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:31:00 +0000

In her hand, a planet as large as loneliness. She squeezed.

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Hello, Moto

Nnedi Okorafor — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

“African women in general need to know that it’s OK for them to be the way they are - to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.”
—Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Laureate

This is a tale you will only hear once. Then it will be gone in a flash of green light. Maybe all will be well after that. Maybe the story has a happy ending. Maybe there is nothing but darkness when the story ends.

We were three women. Three friends. We had goals, hopes and dreams. We had careers. Two of us had boyfriends. We owned houses. We all had love. Then I made these… wigs. I gave them to my two friends. The three of us put them on. The wigs were supposed to make things better. But something went wrong. Like the nation we were trying to improve, we became backward. Instead of giving, we took.

Walk with me. This is the story of How the Smart Woman Tried to Right Her Great Wrong.

[Continue reading “Hello, Moto”]

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Grace Immaculate

Gregory Benford — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original story, “Grace Immaculate,” by science fiction author Gregory Benford.

When we encountered the aliens, we thought we knew the story they were telling. But we were looking at the wrong end...

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The Night Children

Alexander Gordon Smith — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new Escape from Furnace story, “The Night Children,” by Alexander Gordon Smith.

It is December 1944 and Europe is still gripped by war. In the densely forested mountains of Belgium one of the conflict’s most brutal battles is raging. Cut off from the front, a ragtag group of young British and American soldiers finds itself being hunted by a patrol of elite German Special Forces, including a newly commissioned officer called Kreuz—a teenage boy who will grow up to become Warden Cross (the fearsome prison director who will one day rule Furnace Penitentiary, the terrifying underground prison specially built for teen offenders).

As both sides fight for their lives in the unforgiving terrain, however, they start to realize that there are worse things hiding in the snow than soldiers. There are creatures out there with gas masks and piggy eyes (ancestors of Furnace prison’s “wheezers”)—demonic entities that cannot be killed by guns and grenades, monsters who do not care what uniforms their victims are wearing so long as they bleed, and so long as they scream...

[Read “The Night Children”]

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Day One

Matthew Costello — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Presenting a new original story, “Day One,” by Matthew Costello, set in the same universe as his upcoming novel Vacation , a horror/thriller about a near-future where a massive drought has decimated all crops and livestock. In “Day One”, NYPD cop and family man Jack Murphy starts his first day of work at the 76th Precinct in Red Hook. With the onset of a food shortage, society is crumbling. Grocery store shelves are emptier by the week, and the city has gone from bad to worse. People are getting desperate. And hungry.
Jack and his new partner, Schiller, take to the streets on a blistering hot summer day, cruising around for hours until they can grab lunch. But when they get a routine noise complaint call, they get more than they bargained for, and must do all they can to avoid becoming lunch themselves…

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Lee at the Alamo

Harry Turtledove — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee strolled through the streets of San Antonio. It was a bright February morning, the air mild and moist: almost a promise of spring. But, as Lee knew from his service on the Texas frontier, such promises were more easily made than kept. Another norther might yet howl down to cover the ground with snow and wrap ice around hopeful young leaf buds.

You never could tell with Texas weather. And you never could tell with Texas politics. More promises there had been made than kept, too. For all his efforts, Governor Sam Houston hadn’t been able to keep his state in the Union. A secession convention had voted Texas out of the Union. Once a referendum ratified that vote, it would join the Confederate States, whatever the Confederate States were or would become.

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Swingers

Robert Reed — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Enjoy this new original story by science fiction author Robert Reed! In “Swingers,” the aliens have arrived. And they want to Join. Yes, that means what you think it does.

A man waits in line at Caribou Coffee. The woman behind him catches his eye, leading to happy words. Caffeine brings a dinner that isn’t a date, and another night is spent at the clubs, and then comes one magic evening with scallops and a romantic movie and the woman sitting on her sofa after midnight, smiling in a certain way, quietly telling this man what she needs more than her next breath.

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A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel

Yoon Ha Lee — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

The Conflagration

Among the universe’s civilizations, some conceive of the journey between stars as the sailing of bright ships, and others as tunneling through the crevices of night. Some look upon their far-voyaging as a migratory imperative, and name their vessels after birds or butterflies.

The people of a certain red star no longer speak its name in any of their hundreds of languages, although they paint alien skies with its whorled light and scorch its spectral lines into the sides of their vessels.

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The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland — For a Little While

Catherynne M. Valente — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0000

In which a young girl named Mallow leaves the country for the city, meets a number of Winds, Cats, and handsome folk, sees something dreadful, and engages, much against her will, in Politicks of the most muddled kind.

History is a funny little creature. Do you remember visiting your old Aunt that autumn when the trees shone so very yellow, and how she owned a striped and unsocial cat, quite old and fat and wounded about the ears and whiskers, with a crooked, broken tail? That cat would not come to you no matter how you coaxed and called; it had its own business, thank you, and no time for you. But as the evening wore on, it would come and show some affection or favor to your Aunt, or your Father, or the old end-table with the stack of green coasters on it. You couldn’t predict who that cat might decide to love, or who it might decide to bite. You couldn’t tell what it thought or felt, or how old it might really be, or whether it would one day, miraculously, decide to let you put one hand, very briefly, on its dusty head.

History is like that.

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The Dala Horse

Michael Swanwick — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Something terrible had happened. Linnea did not know what it was. But her father had looked pale and worried, and her mother had told her, very fiercely, “Be brave!” and now she had to leave, and it was all the result of that terrible thing.

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Michael Bishop — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:00:00 +0000

This story has a unique genesis. Read the short explanation here.

i. All Saint’s Eve in Tokyo
Eleven-year-old Big D had four years on me, and I wanted his approval. I joined his trick-or-treat posse in the American housing enclave there in Tokyo.

He and his same-age pals wore cowboy outfits and packed low-slung six-shooters, as did I. Instead of a red bandana, though, Big D sported a flamboyant polka-dot bowtie. I grabbed his shirt and showed him my scrawled hold-up note:

“Give me all you Babby Rooths.”

“It’s ‘your,’ not ‘you,’” he said. “And Babby Rooths make me puke.”

But he let me tag along and later allotted me a generous portion of our Halloween haul.

[Read onward]

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Earth Hour

Ken MacLeod — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:00:00 +0000

The assassin slung the bag concealing his weapon over his shoulder and walked down the steps to the rickety wooden jetty. He waited as the Sydney Harbour ferry puttered into Neutral Bay, cast on and then cast off at the likewise tiny quay on the opposite bank, and crossed the hundred or so meters to Kurraba Point. He boarded, waved a hand gloved in artificial skin across the fare-taker, and settled on a bench near the prow, with the weapon in its blue nylon zipped bag balanced across his knees.

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Six Months, Three Days

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Enjoy “Six Months, Three Days” a story by Charlie Jane Anders and winner of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

The man who can see the future has a date with the woman who can see many possible futures.

Judy is nervous but excited, keeps looking at things she’s spotted out of the corner of her eye. She’s wearing a floral Laura Ashley style dress with an Ankh necklace and her legs are rambunctious, her calves moving under the table. It’s distracting because Doug knows that in two and a half weeks, those cucumber-smooth ankles will be hooked on his shoulders, and that curly reddish-brown hair will spill everywhere onto her lemon-floral pillows; this image of their future coitus has been in Doug’s head for years, with varying degrees of clarity, and now it’s almost here. The knowledge makes Doug almost giggle at the wrong moment, but then it hits him: she’s seen this future too — or she may have, anyway.

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Time Considered as a Series of Thermite Burns in No Particular Order

Damien Broderick — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:30:00 +0000

My time machine was disguised as a Baronne Henriette de Snoy rosebush in full bloom. I left it in the Royal Botanic Gardens, next to a thicket of imported English foliage. We could have appeared near the library building itself, but I wanted to get the lay of the land and insinuate myself. Besides, seeing time machines pop out of the air can make people nervous. Moira remained inside, shielded, and said through my inload, “Good luck, Bobby. Try not to get arrested again.”

“Should be back in a couple of hours, max,” I murmured. The internet and global communications systems had been dismantled six decades earlier, after the tsunami of leaked classified documents. “I’ll keep the images rolling, but let’s nix the chitchat. Oh, and if I do get arrested, maybe you should come and get me.”

My wife sighed. “Just don’t get all tangled up, I hate time loops.”

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Crazy Me

James Patrick Kelly — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

“Wake up.” When Crazy Me rests a hand on my forehead, it jolts me from sleep. “It’s raccoons.”

“What?” I shiver out of a very pleasant dream of licking frosting off Amisha’s nose. “Get!” I flail at him in the darkness and thump his shoulder.

“Raccoons! With their masks and their tiny black hands and their fleas. Rooting through our garbage.”

“What time is it?” I lift my head off the pillow to look at the clock. “Great, it’s four twenty-three.”

“Do you know how many raccoons there are?” he asks. As usual, my irritation bounces off him. “They’re everywhere, like furry cockroaches. I have no doubt whatsoever. The next pandemic will be huge—raccoon flu.”

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The Iron Shirts

Michael F. Flynn — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Geantraí

The outriders were galloping in from both flanks and David ó Flynn pulled back on his pony’s reins to wait halfway down the hillside. His companions imitated him, some yanking warbows from their scabbards and stringing them with thoughtless ease. The footmen lined up in a loose array, holding their javelins ready but with their thumbs not yet in the throwing loops. They had passed unmolested south of the bog country around Dun Mor, avoiding the Foreign-held lands, but one never knew. The heavens cried out the deaths of kings; but on earth in this Year of Grace twelve hundred and four and twenty, men planned those deaths in whispers.

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Ragnarok

Paul Park — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:30:00 +0000

There was a man, Magnus’s son,
Ragni his name. In Reykjavik
Stands his office, six stories,
Far from the harbor in the fat past.
Birds nest there, now abandoned.
The sea washes along Vesturgata,
As they called it.
In those days
Ragni’s son, a rich man,
Also a scholar, skilled in law,
Thomas his name, took his wife
From famished Boston, far away.
Brave were her people, black-skinned,
Strong with spear, with shield courageous,
Long ago.
Lately now

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Shtetl Days

Harry Turtledove — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Jakub Shlayfer opened the door and walked outside to go to work. Before he could shut it again, his wife called after him: “Alevai it should be a good day! We really need the gelt!”

“Alevai, Bertha. Omayn,” Jakub agreed. The door was already shut by then, but what difference did that make? It wasn’t as if he didn’t know they were poor. His lean frame, the rough edge on the brim of his broad, black hat, his threadbare long, black coat, and the many patches on his boot soles all told the same story.

But then, how many Jews in Wawolnice weren’t poor? The only one Jakub could think of was Shmuel Grynszpan, the undertaker. His business was as solid and certain as the laws of God. Everybody else’s? Groszy and zlotych always came in too slowly and went out too fast.

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The Battle of the Round

Peter Orullian — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:30:00 +0000

An Introduction to “The Battle of the Round”
and the Vault of Heaven series by Jim Frenkel

In his novel The Unremembered, Peter Orullian writes about Aeshau Vaal, a world with a long history marked by a series of protracted wars of aggression pursued by the benighted creatures of the Bourne, an isolated region in which they were confined by the gods who made the world. For as long as anyone now alive can recall, these creatures have waged war against the forces of many nations across the land inhabited by mankind.

Over a period of many centuries these conflicts took a great toll on the nations. But in the course of Aeshau Vaal’s history there also were times when dire circumstances produced defining moments that changed the fate of the world.

“The Battle of the Round” is the story of one such moment.

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The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City

John Scalzi — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:14:00 +0000

Tor Books is proud to announce the launch of John Scalzi’s new fantasy trilogy The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, which kicks off with book one: The Dead City.

Night had come to the city of Skalandarharia, the sort of night with such a quality of black to it that it was as if black coal had been wrapped in blackest velvet, bathed in the purple-black ink of the demon squid Drindel and flung down a black well that descended toward the deepest, blackest crevasses of Drindelthengen, the netherworld ruled by Drindel, in which the sinful were punished, the black of which was so legendarily black that when the dreaded Drindelthengenflagen, the ravenous blind black badger trolls of Drindelthengen, would feast upon the uselessly dilated eyes of damned, the abandoned would cry out in joy as the Drindelthengenflagenmorden, the feared Black Spoons of the Drindelthengenflagen, pressed against their optic nerves, giving them one last sensation of light before the most absolute blackness fell upon them, made yet even blacker by the injury sustained from a falling lump of ink-bathed, velvet-wrapped coal.

[With the night came a storm...]

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Our Candidate

Robert Reed — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Their first candidate was a youngish fellow with a list of minor achievements and small qualifications, plus a handsome wife willing to attend some portion of the rallies and fundraising events. He was the brave soldier who stepped forward when the state’s less-popular political party couldn’t find anybody who might win. The conservative opponent was unbeatable. Even agnostic voters considered the current governor as being Chosen. Once the invisible lieutenant governor, he stepped into the office when his predecessor’s Blackhawk went down in a freak hailstorm. Proper words and a few strategic tears at the funeral cemented the man’s rule over the sprawling state, and the new chief executive had served twenty-two months without scandal, scrupulously accomplishing nothing that tested his base supporters while avoiding becoming the enemy of those inclined to stand against him.

Wise tongues decided that seventy percent of the vote would be a disappointment, and more importantly, that the governor’s mansion was only a way station before becoming the state’s next Senator.

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The Desecrator

Steven Brust — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:30:00 +0000

I’m guessing you knew the desecrator would be there, and just didn’t tell me because, well, for your own reasons.

Sorry, sorry. In order, then. From the beginning?

You were the one who said sarcasm was—Yes, m’lady.

It was several days ago that you sent me—Barlen’s balls. All right.

It was early in the morning of the third day of the month of the Phoenix in the 230th year of the Reign of Her Glorious Majesty Zerika the Fourth that you sent me to meet the desecrator. Well, sorry! You sent me to the place where I ended up meeting the desecrator. Is that better? I don’t know what you know. That’s kind of funny when you—okay, I’ll just say that I left Dzur Mountain on the third day of the month of the Phoenix in the 230th year, all right?

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Though Smoke Shall Hide the Sun

Brit Mandelo — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:30:34 +0000

“So,” said the man lounging on a folding chair in the center of the room. “What would make a lady like yourself want to join the army?”

“I’m not a lady,” I said.

Shadows cast by moonlight and dull fluorescents filled the empty warehouse, slithering over the cracked concrete floor. I'd driven for three hours straight after finishing my last job to make it to the nearest neutral meeting place. It was a half-occupied steel town that hadn't been absorbed into an Other territory and had no government ties, either. Another thirty minutes in either direction put us squarely over the boundaries of one territory or another, and they didn't appreciate having a hunter on their turf unless they'd hired me themselves.

[The echoing space all around us...]

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The Great Defense of Layosah

Peter Orullian — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:30:45 +0000

Introduction by James Frenkel

The story that follows is the second work of fiction set in the Vault of Heaven universe by a new epic fantasy writer named Peter Orullian. These stories introduce a world of long, tragic history in which there are no easy answers, and many mysteries that will be revealed, each in its own time, many of them in The Vault of Heaven, a series of novels which Tor will begin publishing with The Unremembered this April.

In December, Tor.com published “Sacrifice of the First Sheason”; following “The Great Defense of Layosah,” Tor.com will publish one more story set in this universe. Each of these stories is independent of the novels and of the other stories, though they share the same background.

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Beauty Belongs to the Flowers

Matthew Sanborn Smith — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:30:26 +0000

This story is also available for download from major ebook retailers.

Matsumoto Miho had seen ten thousand hospital rooms on the feeds, and not one had looked like this. The room did look clean—no cup or chair was out of place—but a proper hospital room, an American hospital room, contained one patient, not four. The patients, even in the Chinese and Indian feeds, did not look like these men. Proper patients were muscular, bandaged or form-fleshed, unblemished save for a few cuts and, most importantly, attractive.

These men appeared skeletal, with heads of wild hair, bodies shiny and shrink-wrapped in quarantine cocoons. Miho couldn’t have picked her father from the group if her mother hadn’t led the way to his bedside. Daily sunlamp therapy made him darker than any lab worker should have been. His withered arms, bruised purple along their lengths, rested at uncomfortable angles. His dry mouth hung open, few teeth remaining in it. His eyes were shut, as if in agony.

“Otōsan,” she whispered.

[Your father is tired]

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