Adrian Tchaikovsky - Tor/Forge Blog

Robot Book Recs from the Tor Team!

August 16, 2024October 1, 2024Tiana Tolbert

It’s Day Five of Robot Week, and we’re closing out with some robot-centric book recommendations from the Tor team! Check out our recs and get ready for another exciting Robot Week next year. Until then, happy reading!

opens in a new window opens in a new windowSystem Collapse by Martha Wells

Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells’s bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.

Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is… not going to work.

opens in a new windowService Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time.

To fix the world they must first break it, further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.

Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowSlaves of the Switchboard of Doom by Bradley W. Schenck

If Fritz Lang’s Metropolis somehow mated with Futurama, their mutant offspring might well be Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom. Inspired by the future imagined in the 1939 World Fair, this hilarious, beautifully illustrated adventure by writer and artist Bradley W. Schenck is utterly unlike anything else in science fiction: a gonzo, totally bonkers, gut-busting look at the World of Tomorrow, populated with dashing, bubble-helmeted heroes, faithful robot sidekicks, mad scientists, plucky rocket engineers, sassy switchboard operators, space pirates, and much, much more—enhanced throughout by two dozen astonishing illustrations.
After a surprise efficiency review, the switchboard operators of Retropolis are replaced by a mysterious system beyond their comprehension. Dash Kent, freelance adventurer and apartment manager, is hired to get to the bottom of it, and discovers that the replacement switchboard is only one element of a plan concocted by an insane civil engineer: a plan so vast that it reaches from Retropolis to the Moon. And no one—not the Space Patrol, nor the Fraternal League of Robotic Persons, nor the mad scientists of Experimental Research District, nor even the priests of the Temple of the Spider God, will know what hit them.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowIn the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots—fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labeled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming. Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached? Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowThe Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu

From international bestseller Samit Basu, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is an exuberant new sci-fi adventure with heart that reads like a mash-up of “Aladdin” and Murderbot—with gloriously chaotic results

Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren’t helping anyone but themselves. Lina, a daughter of failed revolutionaries, has no desire to escape Shantiport. She loves her city and would do anything to save its people. This is, in fact, the plan for her life, made before she was even born. Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and bigger ambitions. He wants a chance to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But that would mean abandoning the family he loves—even if they do take him for granted. When Shantiport’s resident tech billionaire coerces Lina into retrieving a powerful artifact rumored to be able to reshape reality, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. And when you throw in a piece of sentient, off-world tech with the ability to grant three wishes into the mix… None of the city’s powers will know what hit them.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowThe Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

War machines and AI gods run amok in The Archive Undying, national bestseller Emma Mieko Candon’s bold entry into the world of mecha fiction.

WHEN AN AI DIES, ITS CITY DIES WITH IT
WHEN A CITY FALLS, IT LEAVES A CORPSE BEHIND
WHEN THAT CORPSE RUNS OFF, ONLY DEVOTION CAN BRING IT BACK

When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he’s seen. He’s run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. But when Sunai wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with, he finds himself on a path straight back into the world of gods and machines. The Archive Undying is the first volume of Emma Mieko Candon’s Downworld Sequence, a sci-fi series where AI deities and brutal police states clash, wielding giant robots steered by pilot-priests with corrupted bodies. Come get in the robot.

Lists

Our Favorite Book/Celebrity Costume Pairings

October 30, 2021May 8, 2024Rachel Taylor

Halloween will be here before you know it, and with that comes the wild and outlandish costumes – and no one has as much money to throw at making amazing costumes than famous people. As celebrities start to reveal what they are going to wear this year, take a trip down memory lane with these costumes from the past – and books that match their character vibes.

By Elizabeth Hosty

**Drew Barrymore as Glinda / The Firmament of Flame by Drew Williams**

Just like how Glinda helped a young Dorothy navigate the wondrous world of Oz, so too do the Justified and Jane Kamali help seventeen year old telekinetic protégé Esa, and other gifted children, to help prevent the return of the pulse in The Firmament of Flame by Drew Williams. In this third installment in the Universe After series, Esa, Jane, and their allies in the Justified might have to go to the ends of the known universe to prevent Cyn – a being of pure energy – who is hellbent on hunting down the gifted.

**Halsey as Corpse Bride / Vengewar by Kevin J. Anderson**
In the Corpse Bride, Emily is put to rest by an ambitious man during the height of the Victorian era in the British Kingdom. In another kingdom, the queen lies in a coma as a power-hungry priest seizes power. Vengewar by Kevin J. Anderson is the second in the Wake the Dragon series, a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world hasreawakened, and two warring nations must put aside their differences to defend against a mutual enemy.

**The Weeknd as Nutty Professor / Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky**

In order to stop the demon wreaking havoc, a daughter of the queen asks the Elder sorcerer that lives in the local tower for help – but no one has met him before. Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, but a scientist who cannot help, but through his knowledge of science, he knows the threat is not a demon. This is similar to the Nutty Professor in how the weight loss formula invokes a skinnier version of himself that disrupts his life and ruins relationships for him, but he is unable to help stop his alter ego after he takes control.

**Heidi Clum as Herself + Clones / Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolf**

E.A. Smith in Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolf is a clone – just as Heidi Klum dressed 5 other women to become clones of her! – and who is not human, but a piece of property with an uploaded memory of a mystery writer. Along with two other clones of cookbook and romance writers, E.A. Smith meets a little girl desperate to save her mother, a father who may or may not be dead… and the real E.A. Smith.

**Lizzo as The Fly On Pence’s Head / Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire**

In Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire, centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines run wild – and the only humans there are expected to step up and become heroes. But Regan learns that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem. This really embodies Lizzo’s energy last year as the fly on Pence’s head, since in the race to find a hero to become our president, sometimes the hero is a singer impersonating a fly that landed on the Vice President’s head.

Lists / New Releases / What's New

Fantasy Shapeshifters Galore!

March 6, 2020May 13, 2024admin2 Comments

We are OBSESSED with shapeshifters at the moment, thanks to The Glass Magicians by Caroline Stevermer. Who doesn’t want to deal with their problems by spontaneously turning into a bear?

Here’s some of our favorite shapeshifter fantasies–Tell us what we missed in the comments!

The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer

Thalia Cutler doesn’t have prolific family connections. What she does know is stage magic and she dazzles audiences with an act that takes your breath away. That is, until one night when a trick goes horribly awry. In surviving, she discovers that she can shapeshift, and has the potential to take her place among the rich and powerful. But first, she’ll have to learn to control that power…before the real monsters descend to feast.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn.

The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper

In the lands of the True Game, your lifelong identity emerges as you play-Prince or Sorcerer, Demon or Doyen. Raising the dead is the least of the Necromancer’s Talents-he is a wild card who threatens the True Game itself. A giant stalks the mountains. Shadowpeople gather by the light of the moon. Bonedancers raise up armies of the dead. And the Wizard’s Eleven sleep trapped in their dreams. Players, take your places. The final Game begins now…

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze. However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand…

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Moon has spent his life hiding what he is: a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as he is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself—someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into the shape-shifter community.

The Last Dragonlord by Joanne Bertin

Dragonlord Linden Rathan, last-born of a race of immortal weredragons, has spent six hundred years alone, searching for his soultwin while his fellow Dragonlords watch over humanity’s Five Kingdoms. When the Queen of Cassori dies mysteriously, Linden and the other Dragonlords are called upon to prevent civil war as two human claimants vie for the regency.

As the battle for Cassori rule escalates, Linden becomes the target of the Fellowship, a secret society of true-humans who could actually destroy his immortal life. Then he meets a beautiful young ship captain named Maurynna who may be the only one who can help Linden bring Cassori back from the brink of chaos.

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul, so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution. Maniye’s father plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger, and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near, but what spark will set the world ablaze?

The Belgariad by David Eddings

It all begins with the theft of the Orb that for so long protected the West from an evil god. As long as the Orb was at Riva, the prophecy went, its people would be safe from this corrupting power. Garion, a simple farm boy, is familiar with the legend of the Orb, but skeptical in matters of magic. Until, through a twist of fate, he learns not only that the story of the Orb is true, but that he must set out on a quest of unparalleled magic and danger to help recover it. For Garion is a child of destiny, and fate itself is leading him far from his home, sweeping him irrevocably toward a distant tower—and a cataclysmic confrontation with a master of the darkest magic.

New Releases

New Releases: 7/17/18

July 17, 2018May 1, 2024torforge

Happy New Release Day! Here’s what went on sale today.

opens in a new windowFour Dominions by Eric Van Lustbader

opens in a new window The End of Days has been predicted for the last two thousand years, but now it is upon us.

Emma and Bravo Shaw have rescued the Testament of Lucifer from nefarious hands, but despite their efforts Lucifer’s Fallen have already woken, including the four thrones of legend, and their corruption reaches to the highest ranks. Even the Shaws are not immune, as Leviathan is coming, and no one is safe.

opens in a new windowLike Never and Always by Ann Aguirre

opens in a new window Liv Burnham thinks nobody knows Morgan Frost like she does, but a terrible accident pushes her down the rabbit hole where Morgan’s secrets hide and she’ll be lucky to make it out alive….

On a hot summer night, Liv, Morgan, Clay and Nathan are on the way home from a party in Clay’s convertible. Best friends dating brothers? It doesn’t get better than that. But the joyride ends in sudden impact, a screech of brakes, and shattering glass. On that lonely country road, four lives change forever.

opens in a new windowMystic Dragon by Jason Denzel

Seven years have passed since lowborn Pomella AnDone became an unlikely Mystic’s apprentice.

Though she has achieved much in a short time, as a rare celestial event approaches, Pomella feels the burden of being a Mystic more than ever. The Mystical realm of Fayün is threatening to overtake the mortal world, and as the two worlds slowly blend together, the land is thrown into chaos. People begin to vanish or are killed outright, and Mystics from across the world gather to protect them. Among them is Shevia, a haunted and brilliant prodigy whose mastery of the Myst is unlike anything Pomella has ever seen.

NEW IN PAPERBACK

opens in a new windowRebekah by Orson Scott Card

opens in a new window Born into a time and place where a woman speaks her mind at her peril, and reared as a motherless child by a doting father, Rebekah grew up to be a stunning, headstrong beauty. She was chosen by God for a special destiny.

Rebekah leaves her father’s house to marry Isaac, the studious young son of the Patriarch Abraham, only to find herself caught up in a series of painful rivalries, first between her husband and his brother Ishmael, and later between her sons Jacob and Esau. Her struggles to find her place in the family of Abraham are a true test of her faith, but through it all she finds her own relationship with God and does her best to serve His cause in the lives of those she loves.

NEW FROM TOR.COM

opens in a new windowThe Expert System’s Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky

After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn’t understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine.

Can an unlikely saviour provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

NEW IN MANGA

opens in a new windowThe Bride & the Exorcist Knight Vol. 1 Story and art by Keiko Ishihara

opens in a new windowDragon Half Omnibus 2 Story and art by Ryusuke Mita

opens in a new windowHimouto! Umaru-chan Vol. 2 Story and art by Sankaku Head

New Releases

New Releases: 8/2/16

August 2, 2016January 23, 2024torforge

Here’s what went on sale today!

opens in a new windowThe Swarm by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston return to their Ender’s Game prequel series with this first volume of an all-new trilogy about the Second Formic War in The Swarm. The first invasion of Earth was beaten back by a coalition of corporate and international military forces, and the Chinese army. China has been devastated by the Formic’s initial efforts to eradicate Earth life forms and prepare the ground for their own settlement. The Scouring of China struck fear into the other nations of the planet; that fear blossomed into drastic action when scientists determined that the single ship that wreaked such damage was merely a scout ship. There is a mothership out beyond the Solar System’s Kuiper Belt, and it’s heading into the system, unstoppable by any weapons that Earth can muster. Earth has been reorganized for defense. But there is an enemy within, an enemy as old as human warfare: ambition and politics. Greed and self-interest. Will Bingwen, Mazer Rackam, Victor Delgado and Lem Juke be able to divert those very human enemies in time to create a weapon that can effectively defend humanity in the inexorable Second Formic War?

NEW FROM TOR.COM:

opens in a new windowSpiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Spiderlight is an exhilarating fantasy quest from Adrian Tchaikovsky, the author of Guns at Dawn and the Shadows of the Apt series. The Church of Armes of the Light has battled the forces of Darkness for as long as anyone can remember. The great prophecy has foretold that a band of misfits, led by a high priestess will defeat the Dark Lord Darvezian, armed with their wits, the blessing of the Light and an artifact stolen from the merciless Spider Queen. Their journey will be long, hard and fraught with danger. Allies will become enemies; enemies will become allies. And the Dark Lord will be waiting, always waiting…

NOW IN PAPERBACK:

opens in a new windowDragon Heart by Cecelia Holland

Where the Cape of the Winds juts into the endless sea, there is Castle Ocean, and therein dwells the royal family that has ruled it from time immemorial. But there is an Empire growing in the east, and its forces have reached the castle. King Reymarro is dead in battle, and by the new treaty, Queen Marioza must marry one of the Emperor’s brothers. She loathes the idea, and has already killed the first brother, but a second arrives, escorted by more soldiers. While Marioza delays, her youngest son, Jeon, goes on a journey in search of his mute twin, Tirza, who needs to be present for the wedding. As Jeon and Tirza return by sea, their ship is attacked by a shocking and powerful dragon, red as blood and big as the ship. Thrown into the water, Tirza clings to the dragon, and after an underwater journey, finds herself alone with the creature in an inland sea pool. Surprisingly, she is able to talk to the beast, and understand it. So begins a saga of violence, destruction, and death, of love and monsters, human and otherwise.

opens in a new windowThe Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

Once there was a time when men and women lived as equals, when girl babies were valued, and women could belong only to themselves. But that was ten generations ago. Now women are property, to be sold and owned and bred, while a strict census keeps their numbers manageable and under control. The best any girl can hope for is to end up as some man’s forever wife, but most are simply sold and resold until they’re all used up. Only in the wilderness, away from the city, can true freedom be found. Aya has spent her whole life in the mountains, looking out for her family and hiding from the world, until the day the Trackers finally catch her. Stolen from her home, and being groomed for auction, Aya is desperate to escape her fate and return to her family, but her only allies are a loyal wolf she’s raised from a pup and a strange mute boy who may be her best hope for freedom . . . if she can truly trust him.

NEW IN MANGA:

opens in a new windowD-Frag! Vol. 9 by Tomoya Haruno

opens in a new windowDragonar Academy Vol. 10 by Shiki Mizuchi

opens in a new windowNurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary Vol. 4 by Shake-O

opens in a new windowSee upcoming releases.