Ian Tregillis - Tor/Forge Blog

New Ebook Bundles: 10/9/18

October 9, 2018May 1, 2024admin1 Comment

Here are the new ebook bundles that went on sale today!

opens in a new windowThe Complete Shadow Grail Series by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

opens in a new windowIn this young adult fantasy series, losing her family is only the start of Spirit White’s problems. Wracked by grief after the accident that killed her family, Spirit is spirited away to Oakhurst Academy. But Oakhurst isn’t an ordinary school and orphanage: all the students have magical powers. Spirit’s power hasn’t manifested itself yet, but the administrators insist she has one. But that isn’t all: the school has some sinister secrets, and if she doesn’t solve its mysteries, she won’t survive until graduation.

This discounted ebundle includes Legacies, Conspiracies, Sacrifices and Victories.

opens in a new windowThe Milkweed Triptych by Ian Tregillis

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HELLBOY meets X MEN meets RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK! The Milkweed series, beginning with Bitter Seeds, has British spies and warlocks working to defeat Hitlers’ Uber X Men…and one mad seer who would destroy timelines and most of humanity to save herself.

“A major talent.” –George R. R. Martin

This discounted ebundle includes Bitter Seeds, The Coldest War and Necessary Evil.

Saga of Recluce: Books 1-5 by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

opens in a new windowL.E. Modesitt, Jr.’s bestselling fantasy novels set in the magical world of Recluce are among the most popular in contemporary fantasy. Each novel tells an independent story that nevertheless reverberates though all the other books in the series, to deepen and enhance the reading experience. Rich in detail, the Saga of Recluce is epic storytelling at its finest.

A world of warring magical forces: black order, white chaos, and shades of gray.

This discounted ebundle includes Magi’i of Cyador, Scion of Cyador, Fall of Angels, The Chaos Balance and Arms-Commander.

The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier

The start of Juliet Marillier’s award-winning Sevenwaters series, with tales of three amazing women of the Sevenwaters clan. They are part of a family bound into the lifeblood of Eire — these women will do everything to fulfill their promise to preserve magic for all time.

Even if it holds the destruction of all they love.

This discounted ebundle includes: Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, and Child of the Prophecy

What's New

New Releases: 12/30/2014

December 30, 2014May 10, 2024torforge

See upcoming releases.

What's New

Learning the Language of Noir

December 1, 2014May 10, 2024torforge2 Comments

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By opens in a new windowIan Tregillis

“The law was something to be manipulated for profit and power. The streets were dark with something more than night.” —Raymond Chandler, Trouble is My Business

Something More Than Night was simultaneously the hardest and the easiest book I’ve written. I’ve never had more fun as a writer.

The seed rattled through the dark dusty corners of my mind for almost two decades before it took root. I wanted to tell a story set inside a medieval depiction of Heaven, populated by the strange and terrifying creatures of the angelic choir. Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Dominions, and the rest: a menagerie pulled from a madman’s bestiary.

The idea needed water and sunlight. For years, it received neither. Until I speculated that one of the characters might speak in the antique argot of a noir detective. Bayliss, my fallen angel, was born.

But if he was to walk down those mean streets among dames, loogans, molls, and jaspers, I’d have to become fluent. Not only with the genre’s delicious language, but also its conventions. So I spent a year studying the works of writers such as James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and, of course, Raymond Chandler.

At first I feared I’d burdened myself with a tedious research assignment. Instead, it was a joy—and it led me to discover one of my favorite writers. Raymond Chandler truly was one of the great American writers of the 20th century. His Philip Marlowe novels transcended the genre. Marlowe’s descriptions of the world around him are always perfect, yet unique as a fingerprint. (My favorite appears in The Long Goodbye: “The girl gave him a look which ought to have stuck four inches from his back.” Wow!)

To get a handle on the complicated, colorful language of the genre, I read widely—pencil in hand—noting every unfamiliar word. In the course of mastering Bayliss’s patter, I built a noir slang glossary containing over 750 definitions. (I’ve posted the glossary opens in a new windowon my website.) Hard work, but the book would have been impossible to write otherwise.

In contrast, plotting the book was a snap. Chandler himself plotted stories like a toddler sticking Lego blocks together. He had a set number of plot blocks, and for each book he’d just grab a random handful and cram them together. Thus the recurring events and themes in Marlowe’s adventures: “Marlowe Finds A Dead Body.” “Marlowe Meets A Woman With A Secret.” “Marlowe Gets Grilled By The Bulls.” “Mistaken Identity.” (Certain blocks, such as the old standby, “Marlowe Gets Knocked Out,” occasionally appear more than once.) So while mastering the language was a formidable task, mastering the plot conventions was not. I merely followed the formula established by my betters.

The Marlowe novels are steeped in their time; they touch racism and anti-Semitism. Plus they’re unremittingly sexist from end to end, with paper-thin characterizations that relegate every female character into one of only three narrow categories. (Which happens to be true of much of the genre.)

Refuting that tedious genre convention became the heart of the novel. If I was going to put a “dame” in the story—and a noir pastiche practically demands it—she’d be an actual human being. So I paired Bayliss with Molly Pruett: a modern woman with no patience for his shtick or the angels’ belligerence. She doesn’t fret quietly and wait for rescue, nor is she a conniving sexpot with a heart of ice. She’s something else entirely. She’s smart, strong, and bold.

But, then again, she is the hero.

From the Tor/Forge December newsletter. Sign up to receive our newsletter via email.

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What's New

Starred Review: Something More Than Night

November 19, 2013May 15, 2024torforge

“Superlatives seem superfluous. Instead…wow. Just—wow.”

Ian Tregillis’s Something More Than Night got a starred review in Library Journal!

Here’s the full review, from the October 15th issue:

New, independent fantasy from the author of the fine Milkweed Triptych (Necessary Evil, 2013, etc.)—and it’s a doozy.

Imagine a gumshoe noir yarn, embedded in a fundamentally theology-free medieval heaven underpinned by known or extrapolated scientific cosmological theory. Further posit that a minor fallen angel named Bayliss has assumed the persona of Philip Marlowe—why? Eventually readers will find out—and that as the story opens, he watches the death of the angel Gabriel spread across the skies of Earth in a spectacular shower of meteors and particles. Bayliss has been ordered by his superiors in the angelic Choir to recruit a replacement—someone pliable and not too bright. And the victim must die before being resurrected as an angel. So, Bayliss arranges an accident—but instead of his chosen dupe, he kills Molly Pruett, a highly intelligent, strong-willed and stunning redhead. Bayliss, being Marlowe, thinks of Molly as his client and carefully tells her little of what she needs to know to assume her angelic mantle. Impossible as it seems, Gabriel was murdered, somebody has stolen the Jericho Trumpet, and Bayliss is determined to find out why. The trail leads him to Father Santorelli, who’s been handing out powerful plenary indulgences—get out of hell free cards. Molly, meanwhile, after a series of mishaps and a scolding from METATRON, the Voice of God, learns that the recipients of the indulgences cannot sleep for fear of the terrible dreams of angelic violence that now plague them. All this barely scratches the surface of what’s going on here, as Molly (and the reader) gradually comes to realize that Bayliss may not be the most reliable of narrators and that his Marlowe persona is one part of a vast, intricate plot a billion years in the making.

Superlatives seem superfluous. Instead…wow. Just—wow.

Something More Than Night will be published on December 3rd.

Sweepstakes

Spring Cleaning Sweepstakes

March 4, 2013May 30, 2024torforge

Our bookshelves are a little overcrowded right now and we need to make room for new books arriving soon. So, we thought we’d make room by offering up books and more to you! You can win one of the two collections pictured below. Enter by commenting and letting us know which collection you’d like to win most:

COLLECTION #1:

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Collection #1 includes: A Memory of Light backpack filled with The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis, Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, Redshirts by John Scalzi, The Sunless Countries by Karl Schroeder, Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber, A Memory of Light iPhone case, 1 Wheel of Time hookmark, and a Makers tile card game.

COLLECTION #2:

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Collection #2 includes: A Memory of Light backpack filled with Honeyed Words by J.A. Pitts, Among Others by Jo Walton, The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe, In a Fix by Linda Grimes, The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt, A Memory of Light iPhone case, 1 Wheel of Time hookmark, and a Makers tile card game.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins March 4, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. ET. and ends March 8, 2013 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules go here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Sweepstakes

#TorChat July 2012 Sweepstakes

July 18, 2012May 30, 2024torforge

Did you participate in today’s #TorChat? We hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your participation in next month’s big Young Adult chat on August 15th!

In the meantime, here’s your chance to win some amazing books, plus a t-shirt! Two lucky winners will receive a copy of Thieftaker, plus a Thieftaker t-shirt (men’s large), a copy of The Coldest War, and a copy of Wake of the Bloody Angel, the latest Eddie LaCrosse novel. Leave a comment below to enter.

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And again we’d like to thank D. B. Jackson, Ian Tregillis, and Alex Bledsoe for joining us on Twitter today.

Sweepstakes closes to new entries on July 25th at noon.

And don’t forget to come and join us for our very special Young Adult themed #TorChat on August 15th! It launches the Girls’ Nightmare Out tour, featuring Tor Teen authors Marta Acosta, Kendare Blake, and Lisa Desrochers!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins July 18, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. ET. and ends July 25, 2012, 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules go here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

What's New

July #TorChat Lineup Revealed

July 16, 2012May 8, 2024torforge

This month, #TorChat is looking backward—in time! Joining us on July 18th from 4 to 5 PM EST are D. B. Jackson, Ian Tregillis, and Alex Bledsoe, to talk about historical fantasy!

Tor Books (@torbooks) is thrilled to announce the July #TorChat, part of a monthly series of genre-themed, hour-long chats created by Tor Books and hosted on Twitter.

This month, #TorChat is looking backwards—in time, that is. We’ll be chatting with three authors who’ve written historical fantasy or alternative history. Joining us will be D. B. Jackson, the author of Thieftaker, featuring a conjurer/thieftaker in Revolutionary-era Boston; Ian Tregillis, whose Milkweed Triptych is set during a World War II that sees fighting between Nazi supersoldiers and British warlocks; and Alex Bledsoe, whose Blood Groove looks back at the seventies…with vampires. Last month, we looked toward the future, so this month, we decided to chat with three authors who’ve looked into the past and changed it to suit their own visions.

The chat will be loosely moderated by Associate Publicist Leah Withers (@PhaeTo). We hope that fantasy fans, historical fiction fans, and alternative history fans will follow the chat and join in using the Twitter hashtag #TorChat!

About the Authors

D. B. JACKSON (@DBJacksonAuthor) has been writing fantasy and science fiction under a different name for over 15 years, and has published novels, short stories, and media tie-ins in more than a dozen languages. He also has a Ph.D. in U.S. History. Now, as D. B. Jackson, he is working on something new, combining his love of fantasy with his fascination with American history. His first novel, Thieftaker, was published on July 3rd.

IAN TREGILLIS (@ITregillis) attended the University of Minnesota for both college and graduate school. Eventually, the university decided it had seen quite enough of him, so it politely asked him to leave, grow up, and get a real job. Ian’s parting gift was a doctorate in physics for his research on radio galaxies. He now lives in northern New Mexico, where he consorts with writers, scientists, and other disreputable types. His latest book is The Coldest War, the second book in the Milkweed Triptych, which publishes on July 17th.

ALEX BLEDSOE (@AlexBledsoe) grew up in west Tennessee, and now lives in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls. He has been a reporter, editor, photographer, and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. He spends his days writing and trying to teach two sons to act live they’ve been to town before. His new book is Wake of the Bloody Angel, the fourth in the Eddie LaCrosse sword-jockey series, which published on July 3rd.

About #Torchat
#TorChat is a genre-themed, hour-long chat series created by Tor Books and hosted on Twitter. Guest authors join fans in lively, informative and entertaining discussions of all that’s hot in genre fiction, 140 characters at a time, from 4 – 5 PM EST on the third Wednesday of every month. Each #TorChat revolves around a different genre topic of interest, often of a timely nature, and strives to provide a new media opportunity for readers to connect with their favorite authors.

About Tor Books
Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, is a New York-based publisher of hardcover and softcover books. Founded in 1980, Tor annually publishes what is arguably the largest and most diverse line of science fiction and fantasy ever produced by a single English-language publisher. In 2002, Tor launched Starscape, an imprint dedicated to publishing quality science fiction and fantasy for young readers, including books by critically acclaimed and award winning authors such as Cory Doctorow, Orson Scott Card, and David Lubar. Between an extensive hardcover and trade-softcover line, an Orb backlist program, and a stronghold in mass-market paperbacks, books from Tor have won every major award in the SF and fantasy fields, and has been named Best Publisher 25 years in a row in the Locus Poll, the largest consumer poll in SF.