The Collapsing Empire - Tor/Forge Blog

Quiz Time! Which Scalzi Should You Read Next?

October 1, 2024September 24, 2024Tiana Tolbert

By Julia Bergen

From books to burritos, author John Scalzi is an expert at delivering ingenuity, excitement, and unexpected plot twists (and ingredients).

With so much Scalzi, it’s hard to know where to start. Fret not, to celebrate the paperback release of opens in a new windowStarter Villain, we at Tor Books have put together a helpful quiz to point you toward the Scalzi you should read next!

Check it out!

Pre-order the paperback edition of opens in a new windowStarter Villain Here:

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Quizzes / What's New

Which Scalzi Should You Read Next?

September 8, 2023September 7, 2023a cat7 Comments

By Julia Bergen

From books to burritos, author John Scalzi is an expert at delivering ingenuity, excitement, and unexpected plot twists (and ingredients).

With so much Scalzi, it’s hard to know where to start. Fret not, for we at Tor Books have put together a helpful quiz to point you toward the Scalzi you should read next!

Check it out!

Pre-order opens in a new windowStarter Villain Here:

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eBook Deals / What's New

$3.99 eBook Sale: February 2023

February 1, 2023July 11, 2023Rachel Taylor4 Comments

It’s a new month and that means…NEW EBOOK DEALS! Check out the below to find out which books you can snag for only $3.99.

opens in a new windowThe Magic of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Young Lerris yearns to find a place in the world better suited to his skills and temperament. In Recluce this means taking one of two options: permanent exile from Recluce or the dangergeld, a complex, rule-laden wanderjahr in the lands beyond. Many do not survive. Lerris chooses dangergeld. Lerris will need magic in the lands beyond, where the power of the Chaos Wizards reigns unchecked, and he must learn to use his powers in an orderly way before his wanderjahr, or fall prey to Chaos.

opens in a new windowThe Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear

The Stone in the Skull, the first volume in her new trilogy, takes readers over the dangerous mountain passes of the Steles of the Sky and south into the Lotus Kingdoms. The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort. They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire.

opens in a new windowThe Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible—until the discovery of The Flow, which can take us to other planets around other stars. Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control. The Flow is eternal—but it’s not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well. In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that the entire Flow is moving, possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever, three individuals—a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency—must race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

opens in a new windowLock In by John Scalzi

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent – and nearly five million souls in the United States alone – the disease causes “Lock In”: Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge. A quarter of a century later, in a world shaped by what’s now known as “Haden’s syndrome,” rookie FBI agent Chris Shane is paired with veteran agent Leslie Vann. The two of them are assigned what appears to be a Haden-related murder at the Watergate Hotel, with a suspect who is an “integrator” – someone who can let the locked in borrow their bodies for a time. If the Integrator was carrying a Haden client, then naming the suspect for the murder becomes that much more complicated.

opens in a new windowOff Armageddon Reed by David Weber

Earth and her colonies are smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they’ve built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever. 800 years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This “rebirth” was set in motion centuries before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a concocted religion. Via automated recordings, “Nimue” – or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban – is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking the technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent.

opens in a new windowThe Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind

Hannis Arc, working on the tapestry of lines linking constellations of elements that constituted the language of Creation recorded on the ancient Cerulean scroll spread out among the clutter on his desk, was not surprised to see the seven etherial forms billow into the room like acrid smoke driven on a breath of bitter breeze. Like an otherworldly collection of spectral shapes seemingly carried on random eddies of air, they wandered in a loose clutch among the still and silent mounted bears and beasts rising up on their stands, the small forest of stone pedestals holding massive books of recorded prophecy, and the evenly spaced display cases of oddities, their glass reflecting the firelight from the massive hearth at the side of the room.

opens in a new windowEarth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

A hundred years before Ender’s Game, humans thought they were alone in the galaxy. Humanity was slowly making their way out from Earth to the planets and asteroids of the Solar System, exploring and mining and founding colonies. The mining ship El Cavador is far out from Earth, in the deeps of the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto. Other mining ships, and the families that live on them, are few and far between this far out. So when El Cavador‘s telescopes pick up a fast-moving object coming in-system, it’s hard to know what to make of it. It’s massive and moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light. But the ship has other problems. Their systems are old and failing. The family is getting too big. There are claim-jumping corporates bringing Asteroid Belt tactics to the Kuiper Belt. Worrying about a distant object that might or might not be an alien ship seems…not important. They’re wrong.

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 / Lists / What's New

$2.99 eBook Sale: April 27-May 3

April 28, 2020May 6, 2024Rachel Taylor1 Comment

Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week, we have a VERY special sale of some of our most popular Tor Book titles—who’s excited?! Check out what Tor eBooks you can grab for $2.99 this week only below:

The Way of Kings opens in a new window by Brandon Sanderson

Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before Destination. And return to men the Shards they once bore. The Knights Radiant must stand again.

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The Three-Body Problem opens in a new window by Cixin Liu

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

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The Eye of the World opens in a new window by Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs—a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts— five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

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The Calculating Stars opens in a new windowby Mary Robinette Kowal

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too. Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

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opens in a new windowEnder’s Game by Orson Scott Card

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

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A Memory Called Empire opens in a new windowby Arkady Martine

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. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

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The Collapsing Empire opens in a new window by John Scalzi

Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars. Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control.

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Magic for Liars opens in a new window by Sarah Gailey

When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister—without losing herself.

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The City in the Middle of the Night opens in a new window by Charlie Jane Anders

January is a dying planet—divided between a permanently frozen darkness on one side, and blazing endless sunshine on the other. Humanity clings to life, spread across two archaic cities built in the sliver of habitable dusk. But life inside the cities is just as dangerous as the uninhabitable wastelands outside. Sophie, a student and reluctant revolutionary, is supposed to be dead after being exiled into the night. Saved only by forming an unusual bond with the enigmatic beasts who roam the ice, Sophie vows to stay hidden from the world, hoping she can heal. But fate has other plans—and Sophie’s ensuing odyssey and the ragtag family she finds will change the entire world.

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The Ruin of Kings opens in a new window by Jenn Lyons

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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Author Features / Behind the Scenes / Events

Tor After Dark: April Edition

April 15, 2020May 16, 2024torforge

Missed Tor After Dark this month? Don’t worry, we’re recapping all the fun times with TJ Klune and John Scalzi right here!

Klunatics, unite! TJ Klune launched Tor After Dark, our new Instagram Live program, on Tuesday, April 14 with a complete Tor Books Insta-takeover. Kicking things off by showing off his kickass sword, TJ introduced himself and his latest book, The House in the Cerulean Sea, to the hundreds of viewers who tuned in. Klune read a short selection from the book and then moved on with a listing out of things that have made him happy during quarantine, including: the TV show Black Sails (GAY PIRATES), his friends who have taken the time to check in on him, and his adorable pets, who made surprise guest appearances on the live stream.

TJ also answered fan questions submitted through social media earlier in the day-some of our favorites included who his favorite Cerulean Sea character is (answer: Chauncey), if he’s single (wow), and if he’d want Netflix to adapt the book into a movie (answer:YESYESYESYESYES).

Before signing off for the night, TJ thanked his friends, fans, and publisher (*blushes*) while reminding everyone to take their medication and to stay safe during the quarantine. Thanks for joining Tor After Dark, TJ!

Read an excerpt of opens in a new windowThe House in the Cerulean Sea here!

Fresh off the wildly successful launch of The Last Emperox, John Scalzi took over the Tor Books Instagram for April 21 for Tor After Dark! In a behind the scenes look, John took viewers on a tour of his home, showing off his extensive book collection, his art pieces (including but not limited to: his own image covered in buttercream frosting, Wil Wheaton on a cat Pegasus, and his daughter’s childhood photos), and his many writing awards.

After special guest appearances from his wife, Krissy (HI KRISSY) and Sugar the cat (HI SUGAR), John answered some of your most burning questions, including-how to pronounced Emperox (answer: Emper-OH, but is you prefer Emper-OX, live your best life), what the Scalzi burrito of the day is (answer: meatloaf burrito), and when the next book comes out (answer: GUYS, THE LAST ONE CAME OUT A WEEK AGO).

Thanks for joining Tor After Dark, John!

Read an extended excerpt of The Last Emperox here!

Interested in joining us for our next Tor After Dark special? Check out the schedule here!

Author Features

The Best or Worst-Timed Title Ever?

October 1, 2018May 6, 2024torforge

The Consuming Fire is close at hand! So we’re revisiting John Scalzi’s 2017 post “The Best or Worst-Timed Title Ever?” on Book 1, The Collapsing Empire.

opens in a new windowWritten by opens in a new windowJohn Scalzi

So here in 2017, when you have a book coming out called The Collapsing Empire, you get a lot of rueful smiles and knowing nods and statements like “so, writing non-fiction now, are we?” and “a little on the nose, isn’t it?” and you just have to sort of grin and nod, because, well, yeah, actually the title does seem a bit on the nose. It’s either the best-timed title in the history of science fiction or the worst-timed. I suppose I’ll find out when it goes out into the stores.

The irony is, to the extent that Earth plays a role at all in the development of the book itself, it’s not the modern-day planet that inspired the book, it was the Earth as it was five hundred or so years ago.

The basic concept of The Collapsing Empire is that there’s a far-flung interstellar mercantile empire, whose systems are connected through a feature of the universe called “The Flow”–a sort of extra-dimensional river the courses over standard-issue space-time and lets spaceships essentially float from one planetary system to another at what looks like faster-than-light speeds (it’s more complicated than that, because it’s always more complicated than that, this is science fiction. But that’s the basic idea).

“The Flow” is a natural feature of the universe, and the mechanics of it aren’t particularly well understood. What is well-known are the practical aspects of it—where to get into it, where to get out of it, how long it takes to go from one planetary system to the next. The people in the novel (mostly) know that it works, but not how it works. Which is fine on a day-to-day basis, but it’s really bad for planning for the future.

When I was first kicking around the concept of “The Flow,” I was looking for a way to describe it to myself (if I want you all to understand it, I have to understand it first), and after a couple of weeks of wrestling with it, the metaphor I came up with was: Ocean currents. The oceans of Earth have these immense engines in them, huge rivers of water within water, which cycle around and around, pulling water and air—and ships!—along with them. It was these ocean currents that helped open the North American continent to European exploration, exploitation, and trade—which, depending who you are, was either a good thing or a bad thing, or some combo thereof (but inasmuch as I literally would not be here if it didn’t exist, I’m mostly grateful for).

So, what would have happened to that exploration, exploitation, and trade in an age of sail power if—for some reason not well understood by the humans at the time—those ocean currents just…went away?

Well, a lot of things would have happened. Most of them, I suspect, not especially good (for Europeans, anyway).

And with that I had an understanding of what my future society—one entirely reliant on a feature of the universe it didn’t really understand—would be up against if “The Flow” also just…went away. A lot of things would happen. Most of them not especially good.

For the characters in the book, I mean. For you, the reader? Well. They’re going to be really interesting.

No nods to modern-day Earth required.

Probably.

Order Your Copy

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Follow John Scalzi on opens in a new windowTwitter, on opens in a new windowFacebook, and on his blog, opens in a new windowWhatever.

What's New

The Collapsing Empire Official .Gif Recap

September 18, 2018May 15, 2024torforge

The Consuming Fire—the second book in Hugo Award-winning and New York
Times bestselling author John Scalzi’s The Interdependency series—is coming
October 16.

Get back into the flow of the thrilling space-opera with this .gif recap of
the first book in the series, The Collapsing Empire.

Our universe is ruled by physics.

Faster than light travel is impossible—

until the discovery of The Flow,

an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time,

which can take us to other planets around other stars.

Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds.

Earth is forgotten.

A new empire arises,

the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others.

It’s a hedge against interstellar war

and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control.

The Flow is eternal—

but it’s not static.

Just as a river changes course, the Flow changes as well.

In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity.

When it’s discovered that the entire Flow is moving,

possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever,

three individuals—

a scientist,

a starship captain,

opens in a new window

and the emperox of the Interdependency—

must race against time

to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

Get your copy today!

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eBook Deals

Today Only: Sci-Fi Classics eBook Sale

May 4, 2018May 7, 2024torforge1 Comment

May the 4th be with you! It’s Star Wars day, and we’re celebrating with some of our favorite science fiction titles. Check out tales of empires in the stars, alien conflict, and more with this ebook sale—available today only for just $2.99 each.

opens in a new windowThe Collapsing Empire by John Sclazi

opens in a new windowOur universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars.

Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control.

opens in a new windowThe Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson

opens in a new windowTwenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness. The human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy.

In Kevin J. Anderson’s The Dark Between the Stars, galactic empires clash, elemental beings devastate whole planetary systems, and factions of humanity are pitted against each other. Heroes rise and enemies make their last stands in the climax of an epic tale seven years in the making.

opens in a new windowDune: The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

opens in a new windowThroughout the Dune novels, Frank Herbert frequently referred to the long-ago war in which humans wrested their freedom from “thinking machines.” In Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson bring to life the story of that war, a tale previously seen only in tantalizing hints and clues. Finally, we see how Serena Butler’s passionate grief ignites the war that will liberate humans from their machine masters. We learn the circumstances of the betrayal that made mortal enemies of House Atreides and House Harkonnen; and we experience the Battle of Corrin that created a galactic empire that lasted until the reign of Emperor Shaddam IV.

opens in a new windowEarth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

opens in a new windowA hundred years before Ender’s Game, humans thought they were alone in the galaxy. Humanity was slowly making their way out from Earth to the planets and asteroids of the Solar System, exploring and mining and founding colonies.

The mining ship El Cavador is far out from Earth, in the deeps of the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto. Other mining ships, and the families that live on them, are few and far between this far out. So when El Cavador‘s telescopes pick up a fast-moving object coming in-system, it’s hard to know what to make of it. It’s massive and moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light.

opens in a new windowA Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

opens in a new windowThousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind’s potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures, and technology, can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these “regions of thought,” but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.

opens in a new windowHaze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

opens in a new windowWhat lies beneath the millions of orbiting nanotech satellites that shroud the world called Haze? Major Keir Roget’s mission is to make planetfall in secret, find out, and report back to his superiors in the Federation, the Chinese-dominated government that rules Earth and the colonized planets.

For all his effectiveness as a security agent, Roget is troubled by memories of an earlier mission. When he was assigned to covert duty in the Noram backcountry town of St. George, he not only discovered that the long-standing Saint culture was neither as backward nor as harmless as his superiors believed, but he barely emerged with his life and sanity whole.

opens in a new windowHellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

opens in a new windowOnly the most desperate colonists dare to make a new home on Hellhole. Reeling from a recent asteroid impact, tortured with horrific storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and churning volcanic eruptions, the planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits, and charlatans…but also a haven for dreamers and independent pioneers.

What no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides an amazing secret. Deep beneath its surface lies the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization and the buried memories of its unrecorded past that, when unearthed, could tear the galaxy apart.

opens in a new windowJupiter by Ben Bova

opens in a new windowGrant Archer only wanted to study astrophysics. But the forces of the “New Morality,” the coalition of censorious do-gooders who run 21st-century America, have other plans for him.

To his distress, Grant is torn from his young bride and sent to a research station in orbit around Jupiter, to spy on the scientists who work there. Their work may lead to the discovery of higher life forms in the Jovian system-with implications the New Morality doesn’t like at all.

opens in a new windowOff Armageddon Reef by David Weber

opens in a new windowHumanity pushed its way to the stars – and encountered the Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out.

Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they’ve built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever.

*This offer ends May 4th.

New Releases

New Releases: 1/2/18

January 2, 2018May 2, 2024torforge

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

opens in a new windowThe God Gene by F. Paul Wilson

opens in a new window A million or so years ago, a gene designated hsa-mir-3998 appeared as if by magic from the junk DNA of the hominids who eventually evolved into Homo sapiens. It became a key player in brain development—specifically creativity—and laymen started calling it “the God Gene.” Keith had been tracking this gene through the evolutionary tree, and was excited by an odd blue-eyed primate he brought back from East Africa. But immediately after running the creature’s genetic code, he destroyed all the results and vanished.

opens in a new windowMetaltown by Kristen Simmons

opens in a new window The rules of Metaltown are simple: Work hard, keep your head down, and watch your back. You look out for number one, and no one knows that better than Ty. She’s been surviving on the factory line as long as she can remember. But now Ty has Colin. She’s no longer alone; it’s the two of them against the world. That’s something even a town this brutal can’t take away from her. Until it does.

NEW IN PAPERBACK

opens in a new windowThe Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

opens in a new windowGame of Shadows by Erika Lewis

opens in a new windowJericho’s Road and Hard Trail to Follow by Elmer Kelton

opens in a new windowThe Skill of Our Hands by Steven Brust and Skyler White

opens in a new windowValley of the Shadow by Ralph Peters

NEW IN MANGA

opens in a new windowAlice & Zoroku Vol. 3 Story and art by Tetsuya Imai

opens in a new windowDreamin’ Sun Vol. 5 Story and art by Ichigo Takano

opens in a new windowHatsune Miku Presents: Hachune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise Vol. 2 Story and art by Ontama

Pre-order the paperback edition of opens in a new windowStarter Villain Here:

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Pre-order opens in a new windowStarter Villain Here:

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opens in a new windowThe Magic of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

opens in a new windowThe Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear

opens in a new windowThe Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

opens in a new windowLock In by John Scalzi

opens in a new windowOff Armageddon Reed by David Weber

opens in a new windowThe Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind

opens in a new windowEarth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

opens in a new windowTerra Ignota series by Ada Palmer

opens in a new windowTeixcalaan series by Arkady Martine

opens in a new windowLuna series by Ian McDonald

opens in a new windowThe Interdependency series by John Scalzi

opens in a new windowWinter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

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

$2.99 eBook Sale: April 27-May 3

Tor After Dark: April Edition

Order Your Copy

Our universe is ruled by physics.

Faster than light travel is impossible—

until the discovery of The Flow,

an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time,

which can take us to other planets around other stars.

Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds.

Earth is forgotten.

A new empire arises,

the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others.

It’s a hedge against interstellar war

and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control.

The Flow is eternal—

but it’s not static.

Just as a river changes course, the Flow changes as well.

In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity.

When it’s discovered that the entire Flow is moving,

possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever,

three individuals—

a scientist,

a starship captain,

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and the emperox of the Interdependency—

must race against time

to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

Get your copy today!

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opens in a new windowThe Collapsing Empire by John Sclazi

opens in a new windowThe Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson

opens in a new windowDune: The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

opens in a new windowEarth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

opens in a new windowA Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

opens in a new windowHaze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

opens in a new windowHellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

opens in a new windowJupiter by Ben Bova

opens in a new windowOff Armageddon Reef by David Weber

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