flint & mirror - Tor/Forge Blog

Books to Keep You Cozy and (Most Importantly) Inside

December 23, 2023December 21, 2023a cat

by Merlin Hoye

In winter, the TBR is all about vibes (*gestures vaguely with hands*). What is the perfect recipe for a book that will keep you sitting for hours on end in a collapsing armchair covered by a thick blanket (steaming mug of hot chocolate and wood burning fire optional) feeling completely content and cozy? The world may never know. But what we do know is that there is an ineffable quality that some books just have that make them perfect winter reads. Here are some of titles that just have it, that special, winter-y something.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowA Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Set in a world based on Victorian England, this is the story of Lady Trent, a dragon naturalist struggling to make it in a man’s industry. She’s smart, plucky, and completely obsessed with dragons. Relatable. The illustrations in this series made me feel like a kid again and the whole thing is just so utterly charming that you won’t want to leave Brennan’s world. Luckily, there are plenty more books in the Lady Trent series to keep you occupied on those cold, wintery nights when you just want to read about dragons. And let’s be real – that’s most nights.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowThe Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe

Perhaps it has something to do with the tradition of telling ghost stories during yuletide but I’ve always associated short story collections with winter. Maybe it’s more to do with attention spans shortening along with the days in the winter months, but either way, Wolfe at the Door is the perfect compendium to curl up with for hours or dip in and out of as the desire takes you. Wolfe is one of the most important sci-fi and fantasy writers of our time and this collection has it all – creepy dolls, undead lovers, circus tales, and chilling space horror. The choice is yours.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowThe Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

Ropa can speak to the dead and she uses this skill to her advantage by carrying messages from them to the living. For a fee of course. When a ghost refuses to cooperate, Ropa gets more than she bargained for. Part gothic mystery, part urban fantasy, The Library of the Dead is the perfect, atmospheric read for a cozy night in. Huchu conjures the eerie streets of this alternate, crime-torn Edinburgh immaculately and that mysterious library… who can resist a mysterious library?

opens in a new window opens in a new windowThe Two Doctors Górski by Isaac Fellman

This is bite-sized dark academia that I gobbled up in a sitting, but don’t be fooled by its slim size – there’s nothing small about the subject matter. The Two Doctors Górski deals with abuse, mental illness, and sexism in academia, set against the backdrop of one of the coolest magical school settings I’ve ever read. This story of a beautiful, young grad student trying to earn her degree in magical psychology is full of cozy winter vibes and sharp insight on the world of academia. Plus magic. Of course there’s plenty of magic.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowFrom the Forest by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

If anything screams winter to me, it’s a big chunky fantasy series and with twenty-three installments, the Saga of Recluce is one of the biggest. If you’ve been wanting to dive into this best-selling, epic fantasy series for a while but didn’t know where to start, From the Forest (releasing 1.23.24) is an excellent entrypoint, telling the story of Alayiakal, a figure found elsewhere in the series as a figure of legend. This is the tale of a man who will be remembered by history, but will history tell a flattering tale? Depends who you ask.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowMordew by Alex Pheby

If Dickens wrote a delightfully weird fantasy novel about talking dogs and a young boy with magical powers he is forced to hide, you would get something like Mordew. When the Master of Mordew refuses to train Nathan Treeves in magic, he joins up with a group of young thieves and struggles to keep his growing powers in check. This story is full of talking dogs, waifs, mud, mystery, and magic. The dark atmosphere is perfect for winter and the sequel, Malarkoi, is the same delicious blend of the gothic and weird.

opens in a new window opens in a new windowFlint & Mirror by John Crowley

Historical fantasy always feels profoundly wintery to me and this dark novel set in Elizabethan England has the perfect cozy vibes for a winter night. This is the story of Hugh O’Neill, a man perpetually estranged both from his childhood home of Ireland and his life as a courtier. The magic is subtle and eerie in this one, the world of faerie always just out of reach though you catch glimpses out of the corner of your eye. Gorgeously written and full of rebellion, folklore, and magic, Flint & Mirror is all you need for the perfect winter night in.

eBook Deals / What's New

eBook Deals: May 2023

May 1, 2023May 14, 2024Rachel Taylor

It’s almost summer and what could be as good as warm weather? Some hot ebook downprices! Check out what books you can snag for only $2.99 in the month of May.

opens in a new windowLady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton

STRIKE FAST, LOVE HARD, LIVE FOREVER This is the motto of the Lady Knights—sworn to fealty under a struggling kingdom, promised to defend the prospective heir, Banna Mora. But when a fearsome rebellion overthrows the throne, Mora is faced with an agonizing choice: give up everything she’s been raised to love, and allow a king-killer to be rewarded—or retake the throne, and take up arms against the newest heir, Hal Bolingbrooke, Mora’s own childhood best friend and sworn head of the Lady Knights.

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opens in a new windowFlint & Mirror by John Crowley

As ancient Irish clans fought to preserve their lands and their way of life, the Queen and her generals fought to tame the wild land and make it English. Hugh O’Neill, lord of the North, dubbed Earl of Tyrone by the Queen, is a divided man: the Queen gives to Hugh her love, and her commandments, through a little mirror of obsidian which he can never discard; and the ancient peoples of Ireland arise from their underworld to make Hugh their champion, the token of their vow a chip of flint. From the masterful author of Little, Big comes an exquisite fantasy of heartbreaking proportion.

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opens in a new windowThe Whispering Swarm by Michael Moorcock

Postwar London, Swinging Sixties London–a time and place of creativity and social change. Young Michael Moorcock embarks upon adulthood as both editor and writer of science fiction and fantasy, helping shape the genre into its modern form through his work and his friendships with other writers. His marriage is new and fresh; his children are young and raising them, an adventure. But no adventure lasts forever, and Moorcock begins to chafe under the grind of work and family. What seems a chance encounter with a monk–one of the White Friars–leads to a secret at the heart of London. Massive yet phantasmal doors lead to the Alsacia, a hidden world inhabited by great heroes of both history and fiction.

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Lists / What's New

Our Favorite SFF Characters And Their Tragic Flaws

March 27, 2023May 8, 2024a cat

Ever hear the story about the very good character who did everything right? No? Good, because we don’t care about that either. Check out this rundown of our favorite tragically flawed faces of science fiction & fantasy!

opens in a new windowGeneral Ouyang from opens in a new windowShe Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

(kicks down the door) I GOTTA represent my boy (derogatory)

If we want to talk deeply flawed characters, no one is out here doing it like my boy General Ouyang in Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun. This boy can fit so much (self-)hatred, vengeance, and violent tendencies in his tragic backstory, and I can’t wait to see him flounder in the aftermath of his choices in the upcoming sequel this summer, opens in a new windowHe Who Drowned the World.

Yvonne Ye, Ad/Promo Coordinator

opens in a new windowVivian Liao from opens in a new windowEmpress of Forever by Max Gladstone

So I’ve for real had it about up to here with tech innovator celebrity people by now, but Vivian Liao in Max Gladstone’s fantastic Empress of Forever space opera is the exception. She’s reckless, dagger-smart, and displays a heavy bias towards action. But, it is these qualities that make her such a compelling lead that also ultimately result in her displacement into a far-flung future where a tyrannical Empress lords over all facets of reality. These are the traits that would also keep her from coming together with her new friends and allies to forge bonds strong enough to withstand the wrath of the future’s terrible queen.

a cat, Assistant Marketing Manager

opens in a new windowHugh O’Neill from opens in a new windowFlint & Mirror by John Crowley

This gorgeously written historical fantasy novel by one of my all-time favorite authors tells the story of Hugh O’Neill, a man caught between two worlds. Ripped from his childhood home, an Ireland still alive with magic and touching the land of faerie, Hugh is thrust into the role of courtier in Elizabethan England. As the last Irish rebellion against the Tudor conquest wages on, Hugh is torn between his queen and his homeland. This is a tragic tale of rebellion, magic, and a man whose divided loyalties leave him perpetually estranged from both worlds.

Merlin Hoye, Marketing Assistant

opens in a new windowLuc from opens in a new windowThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

(HERE THERE BE SPOILERS, TURN AWAY IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ADDIE YET)

(Though also if you haven’t, what are you doing?!)

As many of my friends can attest, there is nothing I love more in fiction than a Morally Grey, Misunderstood Sad Boy (TM) and Luc from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is all of that and more. Well, okay maybe he’s just a villain and a demonic entity and has fairly minimal redeemable qualities BUT STILL. His dynamic with Addie, the mystery surrounding who (or what) he is, and the incredible back-and-forth he has with all the characters he interacts makes it really hard not to at least slightly root for him and Addie to become the incredibly compelling, yet probably incredibly toxic couple that SFF dreams are made of. So will they? Won’t they? Read the book to find out.

Rachel Taylor, Senior Marketing Manager

opens in a new windowAntigone from opens in a new windowArch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth

Antigone, or Tig, was born into a doomed world in a city where no one believes she has a soul. Based on the classic Greek tragedy (Antigone by Sophocles, it’s a banger), Arch-Conspirator is also about tragic choices. It’s about staring your doom in the face and walking toward it anyway because the other options are worse. Tig doesn’t have a tragic flaw so much as a tragic belief that it’s better to choose your end than to have it chosen for you.

Read it and be sad with me.

a bunch of raccoons in a trench coat, Assistant Director of Marketing