Luna - Tor/Forge Blog

Hot Fresh eBook Deals of July 2023

July 1, 2023May 14, 2024a cat

Hey! We’ve got eBook deals! Hot and fresh text for your favorite screen, and they’re ready now, so check them out!

opens in a new windowThe Ruin of Kings opens in a new window by Jenn Lyons — $3.99

Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel’s son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the missing son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family’s ruthless power plays and political ambitions. Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised. The storybooks have lied about a lot of other things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, and how the hero always wins. Then again, maybe he isn’t the hero after all. For Kihrin is not destined to save the world. He’s destined to destroy it.

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opens in a new windowThe Library of the Dead opens in a new window by T.L. Huchu — $3.99

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker – and they sure do love to talk. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children – leaving them husks, empty of joy and strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world. Ropa will dice with death as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. And although underground Edinburgh hides a wealth of dark secrets, she also discovers an occult library, a magical mentor and some unexpected allies. Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?

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opens in a new windowYou Sexy Thing opens in a new window by Cat Rambo — $3.99

TwiceFar station is at the edge of the known universe, and that’s just how Niko Larson, former Admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind, likes it. Retired and finally free of the continual war of conquest, Niko and the remnants of her former unit are content to spend the rest of their days working at the restaurant they built together, The Last Chance. But, some wars can’t ever be escaped, and unlike the Hive Mind, some enemies aren’t content to let old soldiers go. Niko and her crew are forced onto a sentient ship convinced that it is being stolen and must survive the machinations of a sadistic pirate king if they even hope to keep the dream of The Last Chance alive.

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opens in a new windowLuna: New Moon opens in a new window by Ian McDonald — $3.99

The Moon wants to kill you. Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations-the Five Dragons-in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did. As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation-Corta Helio-confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

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opens in a new windowIsolate opens in a new window by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. — $3.99

Industrialization. Social unrest. Underground movements. Government corruption and surveillance. Something is about to give. Steffan Dekkard is an isolate, one of the small percentage of people who are immune to the projections of empaths. As an isolate, he has been trained as a security specialist and he and his security partner Avraal Ysella, a highly trained empath are employed by Axel Obreduur, a senior Craft Minister and the de facto political strategist of his party. When a respected Landor Councilor dies of “heart failure” at a social event, because of his political friendship with Obreduur, Dekkard and Ysella find that not only is their employer a target, but so are they, in a covert and deadly struggle for control of the government and economy. Steffan is about to understand that everything he believed is an illusion.

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opens in a new windowPsion opens in a new windowby Joan D. Vinge — $3.99

When first published, readers young and old eagerly devoured the tale of a street-hardened survivor named Cat, a half-human, half-alien orphan telepath. Named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Cat’s story has been continued by Hugo-award winning and international best-selling author Joan D. Vinge with the very popular Catspaw and Dreamfall. Now, 25 years later, this special anniversary edition of Psion contains a new introduction by the author and “Psiren,” a story never before included in any trade edition of Psion. This tough, gritty tale of an outsider whose only chance for redemption is as an undercover agent for an interstellar government that by turns punishes and helps him, is as fresh and powerful today as it was in 1982.

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opens in a new windowSpin opens in a new window by Robert Charles Wilson — $3.99

One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives. The effect is worldwide. The sun is now a featureless disk–a heat source, rather than an astronomical object. As Tyler, Jason, and Diane grow up, space probe reveals a bizarre truth: The barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time is passing faster outside the barrier than inside–more than a hundred million years per day on Earth. At this rate, the death throes of the sun are only about forty years in our future….

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opens in a new windowLegacies by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. — $3.99

Millennia ago, a magical disaster caused the fall of a civilization, the end of a golden age. New civilizations emerged from the ancient destruction and chaos, knowing little of the past or the disaster. Corus today is a world of contending countries, humans, and supernatural creatures. It is a place of magical powers, and of a few people who are talented enough to use them. Alusius is drafted into the local Militia and must fight against the invading slave armies of The Matrial, an immortal ruler in a nearby land. If the evil surrounding The Matrial is not brought to an end, the world as he knows it could very well end.

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Lists / What's New

Political Sci-Fi of the Possible Future

January 14, 2022November 6, 2022Rachel Taylor

With far-future science fiction on the rise in film and TV, (see Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) and Foundation (2021) on Apple TV+) we’re looking back and uplifting some of the great science fiction books and series on our list from the last handful of years that delve into the depths of politics and society in a possible future. Check them out here!

by a frog

opens in a new windowTerra Ignota series by Ada Palmer

opens in a new windowPerhaps the Stars, the highly anticipated conclusion to the Terra Ignota series hit store shelves on 11.2.21, and now is the perfect time to pick up this quartet by Ada Palmer. World Peace is shattered and war spreads across the globe. In this future, the leaders of Hive nations—nations without fixed location—clandestinely committed nefarious deeds in order to maintain an outward semblance of utopian stability. But the facade could only last so long. And the catalyst came in the form of special little boy to ignite half a millennium of repressed chaos.

opens in a new windowTeixcalaan series by Arkady Martine

In the Hugo Award–winning novel, opens in a new windowA Memory Called Empire, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

opens in a new windowLuna series by Ian McDonald

The Luna series has been called Game of Thrones in space, and the politics between warring space-faring corporations on the Moon stands up to the comparison. Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds if the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

opens in a new windowThe Interdependency series by John Scalzi

John Scalzi is known for his science fiction and The Interdependency is his latest completed series with Tor Books. This series is packed with political suspense, action, and all the great reasons we love a Scalzi novel. When the Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time begins separating all human worlds from one another, three individuals—a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency—must salvage an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

opens in a new windowWinter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

While at its heart a romance, Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit explores the necessities of political alliances by way of marriage among the stars. Prince Kiem, a famously disappointing minor royal and the Emperor’s least favorite grandchild, has been called upon to be useful for once. He’s commanded to fulfill an obligation of marriage to the representative of the Empire’s newest and most rebellious vassal planet. His future husband, Count Jainan, is a widower and murder suspect.

opens in a new windowThe Caladan Trilogy by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

If you loved the latest film adaptation of Dune, why not consider checking out what more the universe has to offer? Tor is in the midst of publishing a prequel series about House Atreides’ rise to power and just how they made their enemies along the way. opens in a new windowDune: The Duke of Caladan and opens in a new windowDune: The Lady of Caladan are available now and look for opens in a new windowDune: The Heir of Caladan next fall in 2022.

Which book are you reading first? Let us know in the comments!

eBook Deals

$2.99 eBook Sale: Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

February 1, 2019February 1, 2019torforge

The ebook edition of opens in a new windowLuna: New Moon by Ian McDonald is on sale now for only $2.99! This offer will only last for a limited time, so order your copy today.

About Luna: New Moon: The Moon wants to kill you. Whether it’s being unable to pay your per diem for your allotted food, water, and air, or you just get caught up in a fight between the Moon’s ruling corporations, the Five Dragons. You must fight for every inch you want to gain in the Moon’s near feudal society. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Order Your Copy

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This sale ends March 1.

Author Features

Avoiding the Art of Divination

March 6, 2017May 7, 2024torforge

opens in a new windowWritten by opens in a new windowIan McDonald

Wisdom argues against writing near-future science fiction. You may live to see it all become alternative history. You may be beyond wrong in your speculation. You may have to suffer the expectation that you’re writing prophecy, and the rain of bricks when people realise you’re not. A hundred pitfalls lie before you as a writer. Gods know, I’ve fallen into each and every one of them. And I don’t care. This is the SF that interests me most. If you worry about expectations, the judgement of posterity, or the opinionocracy, you’re dead as a writer. As Beckett wrote in Worstward Ho, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

My 1997 book, Sacrifice of Fools, was set in 2004. Sure as eggs is eggs, the 2004 I lived through was not the one in the book, but to be honest, any future where one hundred and eighty thousand aliens arrive in Northern Ireland to settle isn’t that likely. What I wanted to do in that book was to look at Northern Ireland’s particular social pathologies and insane ideologies and, for me, the effective way to do that was with complete outsiders. But to be able to do that, I had to be able to connect to the Northern Ireland I live in, and have lived in. It had to be near-future—touchably near-future. I had to be able to get there from here.

I’ve said that prophecy is not the SF writer’s job, but Sacrifice is one of the few times I almost predicted something. The book has a reformed police force I called the Northern Ireland Police Service. In reality, post the Good Friday Agreement, the force was renamed the Police Service for Northern Ireland. PSNI is a safer acronym than NIPS, I suspect.

But hey, prophecy’s not my job. Connection is. Only connect. In my imagined futures, I need to be able to get there from here. I like to be able to look back and see my house from there.

In my own writing, near futures of mine that have already been outdated include the transformed East Africa of Chaga/Evolution’s Shore; Kirinya; and Tendeleo’s Story. So be it. Doesn’t stop you enjoying them. You just push them forward the requisite years ahead of your own “now” (apart from the references to fax machines in Chaga/Evolution’s Shore). On the near horizon is the 2027 Istanbul of The Dervish House. The fact that Turkey in 2017 is almost the exact opposite of the one in the book says a lot about where real dystopias lie.

In my SF, I need to be able to draw a line from my desk to the future. I will either be old or dead when it arrives (you miss so much—you’ll be dead for much longer than the time you didn’t exist before birth)—and that’s salutary and invigorating.

The two Luna books—New Moon and Wolf Moon—are set in the early years of the next century. I hummed and hawed for quite a long time before setting dates—I prefer readers to navigate from time-signposts, like known events and character’s ages—but I had to do it to make the narrative make sense. But I didn’t want my moon to be hermetically sealed, disconnected from the worlds I inhabit in space and time. So there are signposts in Luna: New Moon, like Adriana’s father complaining about the graft and lack of legacy after the Rio Olympics, which pegs that at 2016. There’s a connection to my life and times. I can get there from here, like the silver ladder that the young Adriana sees, cast across the sea by the rising moon.

The cities and culture of Luna may seem impossibly advanced but a quick look at the history of technology shows that tech can make astonishing advances in a couple of decades. I still have my 1997 mobile phone. It’s big, it’s black, and it makes phone calls. And sends the occasional SMS. My model for the amazing cities underneath the moon was the construction of Dubai—twenty years ago, there were none of the towers, superhighways, dodgy geoengineering, and Ferrari police cars we see today. The world works faster than we think.

Likewise, the kind of near-futures I write about change. The issues that inform me as a writer today are not the ones that stimulated me twenty, or even ten, years ago. Nor should they be. All SF is about the times in which it was written. I have a section of a future fiction project I wrote three years ago—I know I will have to go back to it and see how much of it I can keep. The opening is very much pegged to the London Riots and death of Amy Winehouse in 2011; remembering how the future looked like from there, it seems very different now from how history has panned out. In Luna, I’m taking a look at the implications of the third industrial revolution, as mechanisation takes grip. I find I can really only write about a near future, or explore its issues, when I draw close enough to it to see the snows on the summit just over the horizon. Times change everything.

It’s a high-wire act. Good. SF should be. Keep watching the spangles: ignore the feet, the balance pole, the terrified expression (sometimes becoming a grin) on the face of the wire-walker.