Paul Park - Tor/Forge Blog

Tor Books Announces Programming for New York Comic-Con 2014

September 30, 2014May 10, 2024torforge2 Comments

Celebrating LOCUS Magazine’s Best Publisher for the 27th year in a row!

New York Comic Con is upon us once again and this year we’re pleased to welcome Greenlight Bookstore in our booth! They will be selling titles for our in-booth signings, featuring Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow and others! There will also be panels featuring old and new authors, and special events around the city celebrating B&N Superweek as well as an event at The Bellhouse.

Read on and stop by Tor’s Booth (#2223) to pick up a schedule for a full list of events! For a full list of NYCC happenings at the Tor booth, excerpts, and more visit tornycc2014.com.

Sunday, October 5^th

2pm B&N Superweek Fantasy Audiobook Performance Q&A | B&N Tribeca
Rebecca Soler, narrator of Marissa Meyers Lunar Chronicles, Fred Berman, narrator of Walking Dead series and others discuss the acting and voice work that goes into an audio book. Moderate by debut Tor author, Leanna Hieber.

Tuesday, October 7^th

8pm ShipwreckSF & Word Bookstores Present Alan Moore’s Watchmen for New York Superweek | The Bell House
Good theatre for bad literature? Marital aid for book nerds? A literary erotic fanfiction competition for the ages? Shipwreck is all of these things. Six Great Writers will destroy one Great Book, one Great (Watchmen) Character at a time, in service of the transcendent and the profane (and also laughs). Featuring John Scalzi, Naomi Novik and others!

Thursday, October 9^th

2pm Booth signing, Steven Gould signs copies of his new novel, Exo, in which he returns to the world of his classic novel, Jumper.

4pm Tor Booth signing, John Scalzi will raffle off 50 ARCS of his latest New York Times bestseller, Lock In. Didn’t win but want a signed book? Finished copies as well as Scalzi’s backlist will be available for purchase.

8pm B&N Superweek Round Robin | B&N Union Square
Watch as your favorite genre authors spin a quick tale as dictated by the audience! Q&A to follow. Moderated by Steven Gould and featuring Paul Wilson, Simon R. Green, SJ Harper and others!

Friday, October 10^th

12pm Tor Booth signing with A.M. Dellamonica, signing copies of her latest book, Child of a Hidden Sea.

1:00pm – 1:45pm Tor Geek Geek Revolution | Room 1A21
A no-holds-barred geek culture game show featuring six science fiction/fantasy authors competing for the chance to be TOP GEEK makes its second appearance at NYCC. Featuring John Scalzi, Rachel Caine, Patrick Rothfuss and others.
3:15 – 4:15pm Autographing at Table 19

1:15pm – 2:15pm Playing with Magic | Room 1A01
Magic is central to fantasy, whether it takes place in our world or one completely foreign. How does using magic affect storytelling? Django Wexler (The Shadow Throne) leads fellow authors A.M. Dellamonica, Sam Sykes and others discussing incorporating magic into the fabric of their worlds.
2:15pm – 3:15pm Autographing at Table 19

5pm Tor Booth signing with bestselling author Cory Doctorow. Copies of his backlist including his latest New York Times bestseller, Homeland, will be available for purchase. Buy one, get one free!

8pm B&N Superweek Family Feud Science Fiction vs Fantasy | B&N Union Square
John Scalzi plays host as science fiction authors compete against fantasy authors Family Feud style. Will Scalzi give contestants a loving kiss on the cheek? Come to Union Square B&N and find out! With Amber Benson, Peter Brett, Pierce Brown, Richard Kadrey, Caitlin Kittredge and C.L. Wilson.

Saturday, October 11^th

2pm Tor Booth signing with Brandon Sanderson! We’ll have plenty of Brandon Sanderson’s titles both old and new available for purchase. Free Way of Kings sampler with every purchase!

3pm – 3:45pm Not Your Mother’s Fairy Tales | Room 1B03
Get ready to travel over the river and through the woods, to a panel where standard fairytales get transformed into something more. Featuring Tor Teen debut author Ben Tripp discussing The Accidental Highwayman.
4pm – 5pm Autographing at Table 19

5pm Tor Booth signing with Ben Tripp. Limited edition art pack with original prints designed by the author will be available for free with each purchase of The Accidental Highwayman. A Comic Con exclusive!

Sunday, October 12^th-*ALL BOOKS ON THIS DAY ARE FREE

12pm Tor Booth signing with Paul Park, signing All Those Vanished Engines.

2pm Trust Me, I’m The Doctor | Room 1A18
Calling all Time Lords and their Companions! Having just reached its 50-year milestone this past year, Doctor Who has proven itself to be an enduring staple of nerd culture. With Paul Park, Simon R. Greene and others.
1pm – 1:45pm Autographing at Table 19

2pm Tor Booth signing with Dan Krokos signing Planet Thieves, the first thrilling installment of a new middle grade series!

All giveaways are on a first come, first serve basis

Author Features

Getting All Meta

July 7, 2014May 10, 2024torforge12 Comments

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Written by Paul Park

Vladimir Nabokov’s story, Signs and Symbols, is about a young man in the middle of a psychotic break. He has become convinced that even the trivial details of the world around him are full of coded language. His distraught parents can do nothing to help him, and eventually he kills himself.

But the man, paranoid and delusional, is also correct. Because he is a character in a story, he lives in a world constructed out of language, which does not contain a single word that is irrelevant to him. It is no wonder he destroys himself; the wonder is that any character in any book remains alive at the end.

The story is an example of meta-fiction—a narrative that is self-aware. In this case the realization is gradual, and in other cases there is a wrenching sudden moment, when you realize the story that you think you’re reading is a subterfuge, and that the real story is hidden underneath. In both cases, for the writer, the problem is the same: once we puncture the illusion that we are reading about the real problems of real people, how do we maintain our emotional investment and interest? In Nabokov’s case, though we no longer care about the suicide, we can still feel the young man’s predicament as a symbol of our own, living in a world that is minutely crafted out of our own minds, and simultaneously oblivious.

Here’s another example: I taught a course called Imitations and Parodies at Williams College. I got in the habit of introducing every third class with a minute’s description of an invented dream, which I pretended to have just woken from—the class was early in the morning. Some were foolish, but during the first month I inserted more and more symbols of psychic distress—then I stopped. Two-thirds of the way in, we spent a week writing imitations of H.P. Lovecraft stories in which the narrator succumbs to violent insanity. The next week I introduced the concept of meta-fiction, and asked them to read for Thursday’s class a story by an unknown author. This was a story I had written myself: a professor, tormented by distorted dreams, finally, resolves to murder his entire class after grading a particularly horrifying assignment. And here I included some excerpts from their Lovecraft imitations, including one section about a man deliberately blinding himself with a knife, which I had read aloud during the previous class. I aimed for this to be the meta-fictional moment where the students would realize that the description of the professor corresponded to me, that the described classroom was their own, and that various students from earlier in the story corresponded to their various colleagues. I was curious to see if any of them would skip Thursday’s session, but there they all were, uncharacteristically nervous and subdued. We spent the class discussing another assigned text—Signs and Symbols, as it happened. As the minutes ticked on, the discussion grew more animated and desperate. Five minutes to go, I announced that we wouldn’t have time for the anonymous story; I started talking about future assignments as a way of wrapping up. I rearranged my papers, and at the crucial moment, just before the hour struck, I allowed a butcher’s knife to fall out of my satchel.

The problem remains in meta-fiction: how to make the reader’s experience an emotional one, rather than a bloodless appreciation for a rhetorical trick. In the novel I’ve just published, All Those Vanished Engines, I have tried to combine a number of different strategies. Some are formal: in once section the story is made of intertwining strands, each narrated by a character in the other. In another, a description of an installation of steam engines turns into an implied description of the structure of the story itself. But some strategies are more basic than form: though the novel combines science-fiction and alternate history, it consists of the manipulation of actual true stories—things that really happened, people who really lived. My hope is that this will give the meta-fictional moments, where the narrative exposes their unreality, an added poignancy.

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Events / What's New

On the Road: Tor/Forge Author Events in July

July 1, 2014May 10, 2024torforge

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opens in a new windowTor/Forge authors are on the road in July! Once a month, we’re collecting info about all of our upcoming author events. Check and see who’ll be coming to a city near you:

Thursday, July 3

Jo Walton, My Real Children
opens in a new windowFlights of Fantasy
Albany, NY
7:00 PM

Thursday, July 10

Kevin J. Anderson, The Dark Between the Stars
opens in a new windowConnecticon, July 10-13
opens in a new windowConnecticut Convention Center
Hartford, CT

Saturday, July 12

Jane Lindskold, Artemis Awakening
opens in a new windowBookworks
Albuquerque, NM
3:00 PM

Sunday, July 13

Paul Park, All Those Vanished Engines
Brian Staveley, The Emperor’s Blades
Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five
Felix Gilman, The Revolutions
opens in a new windowBarnes & Noble
Burlington, MA
3:30 PM

Monday, July 14

D. B. Jackson, A Plunder of Souls
opens in a new windowBooKnack
Rock Hill, SC
6:00 PM

Tuesday, July 15

D. B. Jackson, A Plunder of Souls
opens in a new windowBooks A Million
With authors Faith Hunter and A. J. Hartley
Gastonia, NC
6:30 PM

Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five
opens in a new windowPandemonium Books & Games
Cambridge, MA
7:00 PM

Thursday, July 17

D. B. Jackson, A Plunder of Souls
opens in a new windowFountain Bookstore
Richmond, VA
6:30 PM

Paul Park, All Those Vanished Engines
Barnes & Noble
Holyoke, MA
7:00 PM

Friday, July 18

Tracy and Laura Hickman, Unwept
Barnes & Noble
Orem, UT
7:00 PM

Paul Park, All Those Vanished Engines
Amherst Bookstore
Amherst, MA
7:00 PM

Monday, July 21

Glen Hirshberg, Motherless Child
opens in a new windowLiterati Bookstore
Ann Arbor, MI
7:00 PM

D. B. Jackson, A Plunder of Souls
opens in a new windowQuail Ridge Books
Raleigh, NC
7:30 PM

Wednesday, July 23

Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five
opens in a new windowBarnes & Noble
Framingham, MA
7:00 PM

Saturday, July 26

Jane Lindskold, Artemis Awakening
Steven Gould, Impulse
opens in a new windowBarnes & Noble, Coronado Mall
Albuquerque, NM
2:00 PM

Julia Mary Gibson, Copper Magic
opens in a new windowBenzie Shores District Library
Frankfort, MI
3:00 PM

Sunday, July 27

Tobias Buckell, Hurricane Fever
opens in a new windowBorderlands Books
San Francisco, CA
3:00 PM

Monday, July 28

Tobias Buckell, Hurricane Fever
opens in a new windowUniversity Book Store
Seattle, WA
7:00 PM

Tuesday, July 29

Tobias Buckell, Hurricane Fever
opens in a new windowMysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA
7:00 PM

Video

Book Trailer: All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park

June 13, 2014May 17, 2024torforge

All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park

In All Those Vanished Engines, Paul Park returns to science fiction after a decade spent on the impressive four-volume A Princess of Roumania fantasy, with an extraordinary, intense, compressed SF novel in three parts, each set in its own alternate-history universe. The sections are all rooted in Virginia and the Battle of the Crater, and are also grounded in the real history of the Park family, from differing points of view. They are all gorgeously imaginative and carefully constructed, and reverberate richly with one another.

The first section is set in the aftermath of the Civil War, in a world in which the Queen of the North has negotiated a two-nation settlement. The second, taking place in northwestern Massachusetts, investigates a secret project during World War II, in a time somewhat like the present. The third is set in the near-future United States, with aliens from history.

The cumulative effect is awesome. There hasn’t been a three part novel this ambitious in science fiction since Gene Wolfe’s classic The Fifth Head of Cerberus.

All Those Vanished Engines, by Paul Park, will publish on July 1st.

What's New

Starred Review: All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park

June 13, 2014May 15, 2024torforge

“The story simultaneously stretches forward and backward in time, revealing dense layers with even more mysteries to be explored, from extraterrestrial intervention in the Civil War to the shifting truths behind family history and the nature of storytelling itself. Park handles multiple viewpoints, time lines, and story lines masterfully in this dense, philosophically provocative story.”

Paul Park’s All Those Vanished Engines got a starred review in Publishers Weekly!

Here’s the full review, from the May 12 issue:

Park takes readers on a challenging and multilayered tour of an alternate history America—including alternate Park family history—that will resonate with fans of his Princess of Roumania fantasy series. In the aftermath of the civil war, young Paulina is a pawn in the settlement that ends “the woah” with the North by creating two separate nations. Paulina’s alter ego is Matthew, a character she’s created to tell a story set in a fantastical future she longs to see, complete with aliens and steam-powered airships. Meanwhile, a 21st-century author uses bits of family history—and a Civil War–era character named Paulina—to fuel his own fantasy novels. The story simultaneously stretches forward and backward in time, revealing dense layers with even more mysteries to be explored, from extraterrestrial intervention in the Civil War to the shifting truths behind family history and the nature of storytelling itself. Park handles multiple viewpoints, time lines, and story lines masterfully in this dense, philosophically provocative story.

All Those Vanished Engines will be published on July 1.