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Important SFF Announcement: Assassins are Sexy

K. A. Doore, author of The Unconquered City, has an important SFF announcement—ASSASSINS ARE SEXY!!!! Check out her explanation on why they are so compelling below.


Image Placeholder of - 46Assassins in fantasy – as either the villain or hero – are endlessly alluring.

There’s something about that effortless proficiency that’s appealing beyond just the blood and gore. It’s called competence porn for a reason, after all. And these fictional assassins have to be competent, otherwise they would never even make it out of fictional assassin school.

It wasn’t in books that I first discovered the appeal of assassins, but in games. In the late 90s, Half-Life introduced gamers to the particular terror of crawling through lightless ventilation shafts, the joy of a well-balanced crowbar, and the world-altering dangers of theoretical physics. Playing as physicist Gordon Freeman, you have to survive the confused and belligerent aliens that are teleporting into your secret underground lab through the holes your most recent experiment accidentally ripped in spacetime. Of course, to make inter-dimensional invasion by aliens even worse, the government decides to suppress the whole incident – which includes you.

That’s where the Black Ops assassins come in. You’ve just escaped a kidnapping and subsequent attempted murder-by-trash-compactor by the soldiers who were supposed to be saving you and the other scientists, you’ve lost all your weapons, you’re disoriented, and you’ve just stumbled into a storage area. It’s completely empty. You think you can recoup, maybe find something better than a crowbar (spoiler: there’s nothing better than a crowbar), and get your bearings.

Then you start taking damage.

You try to hide but you don’t know what you’re hiding from. You realize the tiniest bzzt of a sound was actually shots fired. At you. But there’s no one here. Then you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. You turn but it’s already gone and you’ve been shot again. It’s terrifying and disorienting and there’s nowhere to hide when you don’t know what you’re hiding from.

Of course, this is a video game, so you eventually find the lithe black-clad figures trying to kill you and escape, but in a game that had heretofore featured obvious and often bumbling monsters, your existence more of a threat to them than theirs is to you, the introduction of the Black Ops assassins takes the game to another level. Someone desperately – personally – wants you dead. That’s scary in a whole new way, one you can’t just run away from because they will follow you and they always, always, find you.

And – you have to admit – it’s more than a bit thrilling, too.

Perhaps something about being hunted by black leather-clad ladies scratched my not-yet-out queer brain, too. But that’s a different essay.

For closeted me playing the game in that moment, having assassins after you means you are important enough to kill, and that’s a fantasy in itself.

So even as I ducked and covered, dodged and ran, and tried desperately to make it out of the encounter alive, part of me didn’t want it to be over. Somebody wanted me dead. That was a desire I could understand. One I had the ability to thwart. Running from assassins was just as much of a power fantasy as playing an assassin. The character’s life – my life – had value.

And maybe, ultimately, that is the singular allure of assassins – as heroes or villains – over other fantasy professions: that a single person can be important, that a single life has value – and a price.

 

K. A. Doore is the author of the Chronicles of Ghadid series. The final book, The Unconquered City, is on sale now.

 

Order The Unconquered City

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Queer SFF Books from 2020 You Can Read Now!

Queer SFF Books from 2020 You Can Read Now!

Happy Pride, everyone! We’re doing some socially distant celebrating this month by moving these brand new queer SFF books to the top of our TBR pile. Which ones are you most excited to read?


image-37128Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton

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.

 

image-37064Burn the Dark by S. A. Hunt

Robin is a YouTube celebrity gone-viral with her intensely-realistic witch hunter series. But even her millions of followers don’t know the truth: her series isn’t fiction. Her ultimate goal is to seek revenge against the coven of witches who wronged her mother long ago. Returning home to the rural town of Blackfield, Robin meets friends new and old on her quest for justice. But then, a mysterious threat known as the Red Lord interferes with her plans….

 

image-36437The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood

What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does—she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard’s loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn—gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.

 

image-36448The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He’s tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.

 

image-36457Critical Point by S. L. Huang

Math-genius mercenary Cas Russell has stopped a shadow organization from brainwashing the world and discovered her past was deliberately erased and her superhuman abilities deliberately created. And that’s just the start: when a demolitions expert targets Cas and her friends, and the hidden conspiracy behind Cas’s past starts to reappear, the past, present, and future collide in a race to save one of her dearest friends.

 

image-36950The Unconquered City by K. A. Doore

Seven years have passed since the Siege—a time when the hungry dead had risen—but the memories still haunt Illi Basbowen. Though she was trained to be an elite assassin, now the Basbowen clan act as Ghadid’s militia force protecting the resurrected city against a growing tide of monstrous guul that travel across the dunes. Illi’s worst fears are confirmed when General Barca arrives, bearing news that her fledgling nation, Hathage, also faces this mounting danger.  To protect her city and the realm, Illi must travel to Hathage and confront her inner demons in order to defeat a greater one—but how much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

 

image-36473The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.otJack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

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#ICYMI- A Recap of TorCon 2020

A Recap of TorCon 2020

We are so grateful to everyone who joined us for TorCon 2020, and we hope you had as much fun as we did!

If you’re bummed you couldn’t make it to all of the activities, don’t worry, we’ve got your back. You can see the recordings of almost all of TorCon plus some short recaps below!


On the first day of TorCon, Christopher Paolini (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars) and Brandon Sanderson (Rhythm of War) chatted about writing fantasy and science fiction, writing veeerrry long books, steak, and finding truth in fiction. Their event was only available at TorCon, but you’ll get a chance to see their conversation again this fall!


Later on, V. E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) and Neil Gaiman (The Annotated American Gods) came together live and in conversation. It was beautiful and inspiring and we stan two legends and we weren’t crying it was just raining directly over our faces.

Rewatch below through Crowdcast:

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Nothing pairs better with brunch than books. So we grabbed a brunch cocktail and joined The Calculating Stars author Mary Robinette Kowal for a balanced brunchfest of book talk…and a sneak peek at her upcoming “Lady Astronauts” novel, The Relentless Moon. Books & Brunch was moderated by Den of Geek contributor Natalie Zutter.

Rewatch now via Crowdcast:

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Authors can take inspiration from anything to write stories, and we got a special inside look into how some of our favorite authors did when WE were the inspiration. At Saturday’s Chaotic Communal Storytime, K. A. Doore (The Unconquered City), S. L. Huang (Critical PointBurning Roses), Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire), and Kit Rocha (Deal With the Devil) used audience writing prompts to create a brand new story—filled with MURDER, of course.

Rewatch now via Facebook Live!

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Books are portals to different worlds, or so people say—but what exactly goes into creating those worlds? We joined P. Djèlí Clark (Ring Shout), Charlotte Nicole Davis (The Good Luck Girls), Bethany C. Morrow (A Song Below Water), Tochi Onyebuchi (Riot Baby), and moderator Saraciea Fennell as they discussed worldbuilding, craft, and the fun of creating limitless new universes contained within the pages of their works.

Check it out now via YouTube!

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What better way to enjoy brunch than to pair it with some books? Authors Jenn Lyons (The Ruin of Kings and the upcoming The Memory of Souls) and Nathan Makaryk (Nottingham and the upcoming Lionhearts) joined TorCon for a brunch to end all brunches…complete with MULTIPLE CAMERA ANGLES and dramatic readings from both authors! Books & Brunch was moderated by Den of Geek contributor Natalie Zutter.

Watch it again via Crowdcast:

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Pop culture has shifted its attention to the messy, the morally ambiguous, and the weird, and we’re LOVING IT! We joined some of the genre’s most exciting authors at TorCon to discuss how chaos reigns in their fantasy worlds, the cosmos, and the real world alike. Our panelists included Kate Elliott (Unconquerable Sun), Andrea Hairston (Master of Poisons), Alaya Dawn Johnson (Trouble the Saints), and Ryan Van Loan (The Sin in the Steel) and was moderated by Kayti Burt of Den of Geek.

Rewatch the Chaos and Cosmos panel now on YouTube:

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Technology. Science. Politics. Their books touch on all of these, and they had the chance to talk about it at TorCon. We joined critically acclaimed, award-winning authors Cory Doctorow (Attack Surface, Little Brother) and Nnedi Okorafor (Binti, Remote Control) for our last TorCon panel, and what an amazing way to close out the weekend!

Rewatch this discussion, moderated by Kayti Burt of Den of Geek, via Crowdcast:

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Every Tor Book Coming This Summer

It’s almost time for summer weather and that means…SUMMER BOOKS! Due to COVID-19, we shuffled some of our on sale dates around, so check here for the most up to date list of when you can get your hands on some of the most highly anticipated books of the season:

June 16

The Unconquered CityImage Placeholder of - 71 by K. A. Doore

Seven years have passed since the Siege—a time when the hungry dead had risen—but the memories still haunt Illi Basbowen. Though she was trained to be an elite assassin, now the Basbowen clan act as Ghadid’s militia force protecting the resurrected city against a growing tide of monstrous guul that travel across the dunes. Illi’s worst fears are confirmed when General Barca arrives, bearing news that her fledgling nation, Hathage, also faces this mounting danger. How much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

GloriousPoster Placeholder of - 86 by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven

Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave, new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.

June 23

Image Place holder  of - 22The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent. Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

June 30

Placeholder of  -66Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe

E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person, his personality an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human. As such, Smithe can be loaned to other branches. Which he is. Along with two fellow reclones, a cookbook and romance writer, they are shipped to Polly’s Cove, where Smithe meets a little girl who wants to save her mother, a father who is dead but perhaps not. And another E.A. Smithe… who definitely is.

July 7

Place holder  of - 73Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

Princess Sun has finally come of age. Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected—and feared. But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme—and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead.

Or What You Will by Jo Walton

He has been too many things to count. He has been a dragon with a boy on his back. He has been a scholar, a warrior, a lover, and a thief. He has been dream and dreamer. He has been a god. But “he” is in fact nothing more than a spark of idea, a character in the mind of Sylvia Harrison, 73, award-winning author of thirty novels over forty years. But Sylvia won’t live forever, any more than any human does. And he’s trapped inside her cave of bone, her hollow of skull. When she dies, so will he.

Little Brother & Homeland by Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow’s two New York Times-bestselling novels of youthful rebellion against the torture-and-surveillance state – now available in a softcover omnibus

 

July 14

In the Kingdom of All Tomorrows by Stephen R. Lawhead

Conor mac Ardan is now clan chief of the Darini. Tara’s Hill has become a haven and refuge for all those who were made homeless by the barbarian Scálda. A large fleet of the Scálda’s Black Ships has now arrived and Conor joins Eirlandia’s lords to defeat the monsters. He finds treachery in their midst…and a betrayal that is blood deep. And so begins a final battle to win the soul of a nation.

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowl

Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

July 21

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Phyllis LeBlanc has given up everything—not just her own past, and Dev, the man she loved, but even her own dreams. Still, the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she keeps in her heart. And so Phyllis will have to make a harrowing choice, before it’s too late—is there ever enough blood in the world to wash clean generations of injustice?

 The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan

Buc and Eld are the first private detectives in a world where pirates roam the seas, mages speak to each other across oceans, mechanical devices change the tide of battle, and earthly wealth is concentrated in the hands of a powerful few. It’s been weeks since ships last returned to the magnificent city of Servenza with bounty from the Shattered Coast. Disaster threatens not just the city’s trading companies but the empire itself. When Buc and Eld are hired to investigate, Buc swiftly discovers that the trade routes have become the domain of a sharp-eyed pirate queen who sinks all who defy her.

Quantum Shadows by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. 

On a world called Heaven, the ten major religions of mankind each have its own land governed by a capital city and ruled by a Hegemon. That Hegemon may be a god, or a prophet of a god. Smaller religions have their own towns or villages of belief. Corvyn, known as the Shadow of the Raven, contains the collective memory of humanity’s Falls from Grace. With this knowledge comes enormous power. When unknown power burns a mysterious black image into the holy place of each House of the Decalivre, Corvyn must discover what entity could possibly have that much power. The stakes are nothing less than another Fall, and if he doesn’t stop it, mankind will not rise from the ashes.

Uranus by Ben Bova

Humans can’t live on the gas giants, making instead a life in orbit. Kyle Umber, a religious idealist, has built Haven, a sanctuary above the distant planet Uranus. He invites ”the tired, the sick, the poor“ of Earth to his orbital retreat where men and women can find spiritual peace and refuge from the world. The billionaire who financed Haven, however, has his own designs: beyond the reach of the laws of the inner planets Haven could become the center for an interplanetary web of narcotics, prostitution, even hunting human prey.

I Come With Knives by S. A. Hunt

Robin – now armed with new knowledge about mysterious demon terrorizing her around town, the support of her friends, and the assistance of her old witch-hunter mentor – plots to confront the Lazenbury coven and destroy them once and for all. Robin must handle new threats on top of the menace from the Lazenbury coven, but a secret about Robin’s past may throw all of her plans into jeopardy.

July 28

Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America. Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he’s fighting to survive. They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…Or they could do the impossible: team up.

The Baron of Magister Valley by Steven Brust

The salacious claims that The Baron of Magister Valley bears any resemblance to a certain nearly fictional narrative about an infamous count are unfounded (we do not dabble in tall tales. The occasional moderately stretched? Yes. But never tall). Our tale is that of a nobleman who is betrayed by those he trusted, and subsequently imprisoned. After centuries of confinement, he contrives to escape and prepares to avenge himself against his betrayers. A mirror image of The Count of Monte Cristo, vitrolic naysayers still grouse? Well, that is nearly and utterly false.

Automatic Reload by Ferrett Steinmetz

Meet Mat, a tortured mercenary who has become the perfect shot, and Silvia, and idealistic woman genetically engineered to murder you to death. Together they run for the shadiest corporation in the world… and realize their messed-up brain chemistry cannot overpower their very real chemistry.

August 4

The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus

In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.

Space Station Down by Ben Bova and Doug Beason

When an ultra-rich space tourist visits the orbiting International Space Station, NASA expects a $100 million win-win: his visit will bring in much needed funding and publicity. But the tourist venture turns into a scheme of terror. Together with an extremist cosmonaut, the tourist slaughters all the astronauts on board the million-pound ISS—and prepares to crash it into New York City at 17,500 miles an hour, causing more devastation than a hundred atomic bombs. In doing so, they hope to annihilate the world’s financial system.

Sorcery of a Queen by Brian Naslund

Driven from her kingdom, the would-be queen now seeks haven in the land of her mother, but Ashlyn will not stop until justice has been done. Determined to unlock the secret of powers long thought impossible, Ashlyn bends her will and intelligence to mastering the one thing people always accused her of, sorcery. Meanwhile, having learned the truth of his mutation, Bershad is a man on borrowed time. Never knowing when his healing powers will drive him to a self-destruction, he is determined to see Ashlyn restored to her throne and the creatures they both love safe.

A Chorus of Fire by Brian D. Anderson

A shadow has moved across Lamoria. Whispers of the coming conflict are growing louder; the enemy becoming bolder. Belkar’s reach has extended far into the heart of Ralmarstad and war now seems inevitable. Mariyah, clinging to the hope of one day being reunited with Lem, struggles to attain the power she will need to make the world safe again.Lem continues his descent into darkness, serving a man he does not trust in the name of a faith which is not his own. Only Shemi keeps his heart from succumbing to despair, along with the knowledge that he has finally found Mariyah. But Lem is convinced she is being held against her will, and is determined to free her, regardless the cost.

August 11

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Baru’s enemies close in from all sides. Baru’s own mind teeters on the edge of madness or shattering revelation. Now she must choose between genocidal revenge and a far more difficult path—a conspiracy of judges, kings, spies and immortals, puppeteering the world’s riches and two great wars in a gambit for the ultimate prize. If Baru had absolute power over the Imperial Republic, she could force Falcrest to abandon its colonies and make right its crimes.

The Last Uncharted Sky by Curtis Craddock

Isabelle and Jean-Claude undertake an airship expedition to recover a fabled treasure and claim a hitherto undiscovered craton for l’Empire Celeste. But Isabelle, as a result from a previous attack that tried to subsume her body and soul, suffers from increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when the ship is sabotaged by an enemy agent, and Jean-Claude is separated from the expedition.

By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar

Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. The fact is they don’t know sh*t.

Arthur? An over-promoted gangster. Merlin? An eldritch parasite. Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer. Britain? A clogged sewer that Rome abandoned just as soon as it could.

The Shadow Commission by David Mack

November 1963. Cade and Anja have lived in hiding for a decade, training new mages. Then the assassination of President Kennedy trigger a series of murders whose victims are all magicians—with Cade, Anja, and their allies as its prime targets. Their only hope of survival: learning how to fight back against the sinister cabal known as the Shadow Commission.

The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe

A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm consisting of seven levels of reality. Transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Sir Able of the High Heart and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, the blade that will help him fulfill his ambition to become a true hero—a true knight. Inside, however, Sir Able remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive what lies ahead…

August 25

The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons

Now that Relos Var’s plans have been revealed and demons are free to rampage across the empire, the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies—and the end of the world—is closer than ever. To buy time for humanity, Kihrin needs to convince the king of the Manol vané to perform an ancient ritual which will strip the entire race of their immortality, but it’s a ritual which certain vané will do anything to prevent. Including assassinating the messengers.

Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne

Terminally ill salvage pilot Ash Jackson lost everything in the war with the alien Vai, but she’ll be damned if she loses her future. Her plan: to buy, beg, or lie her way out of corporate indenture and find a cure. When her crew salvages a genocidal weapon from a ravaged starship above a dead colony, Ash uncovers a conspiracy of corporate intrigue and betrayal that threatens to turn her into a living weapon.

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Excerpt: The Unconquered City by K. A. Doore

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Image Place holder  of - 86The final volume in K. A. Doore’s critically-acclaimed assassin fantasy series, praised by Publishers Weekly as “a hit with fans of Sarah J. Maas and George R.R. Martin” (starred review)

Seven years have passed since the Siege—a time when the hungry dead had risen—but the memories still haunt Illi Basbowen. Though she was trained to be an elite assassin, now the Basbowen clan act as Ghadid’s militia force protecting the resurrected city against a growing tide of monstrous guul that travel across the dunes.

Illi’s worst fears are confirmed when General Barca arrives, bearing news that her fledgling nation, Hathage, also faces this mounting danger. In her search for the source of the guul, the general exposes a catastrophic secret hidden on the outskirts of Ghadid.

To protect her city and the realm, Illi must travel to Hathage and confront her inner demons in order to defeat a greater one—but how much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

Please enjoy this excerpt of The Unconquered City, on sale 06/16/2020.


1

The wind cut like broken glass across Illi’s cheeks, cold and biting and sharp. The carriage thrummed beneath her feet as she and her cousins soared down and away from the bright warmth of the platforms toward the shifting and treacherous sands below. Her eyes watered with the speed. She blinked away the useless tears; she needed to see what was coming.

This time over a dozen guul had emerged from the Wastes. The drums had cut through Illi’s dreams and raced her through the streets, across bridges and platforms, to meet up with her other cousins still bleary with sleep, but strapping on their belts, their swords, their knives. Or, in Dihya’s case, her machete.

Illi leaned against the carriage railing and picked out the guul below, little more than dark blemishes on the sand. Beside her, Zarrat grunted, a stray curl of dark hair escaping from his tagel. “They always look so small.” He held up a hand and brought his forefinger and thumb together. “Like I could just squish ’em.” Yaluz leaned next to Zarrat, but still managed to tower above everyone else in the carriage. Once, Yaluz had been the smallest and the fastest of Illi’s cousins. But after the healers had bal- anced out his blood, he’d grown long and angular. “If only it were that easy.”

Zarrat glanced at Yaluz. “What—I thought you enjoyed this.”

“I do,” said Yaluz. “But I’d enjoy it more if the guul’d had the decency to wait until I’d woke up properly and had my tea.”

“You could’ve stayed back with Hamma,” said Illi. “Four of us is more than enough.”

“What, and miss out on all the fun?” Yaluz’s eyes crinkled in a grin above his tagel. “Yeah but no. It’s just the decency of the situation I take issue with.”

Decency.” Dihya snorted. “Just be glad the call wasn’t at mid- night.”

“Oh, I would’ve been awake at midnight.”

“What in all the sands were you doing awake then?” Azhar sounded faintly horrified.

“Now what isn’t quite the right question—”

But before Yaluz could finish, the carriage hit the pole with a resounding clank and shuddered to a stop. Illi tightened her grip on the railing to keep her balance, then swung open the carriage gate and dropped the foot or so to the sands. Her cousins followed, a series of soft thumps right behind her as they landed on the ground. Before the carriage stopped swaying, Dihya hit the cable three times with the flat of her machete. A moment later, the ropes on the sides of the carriage went taut and it zipped back upward.

Illi rubbed her hands together, trying to bring feeling back to her cold-numbed fingers. It was only the beginning of winter, but this close to dawn the cold was at its sharpest. She wiped her nose on her sleeve, which was already stiff with snot.

Dihya’s way of keeping warm was to toss her machete from one hand to the other. “Watchmen said thirteen guul, right?”

Illi nodded. “Two each for you and five for me.”

“Hey, you can’t keep all the fun to yourself,” whined Zarrat. Illi shot him a grin full of teeth. “Then you’d better keep up.”

“Yeah we’ll see about that.” Zarrat fidgeted with his sword, glancing back up the cable. “First one who takes out a guuli gets a round from the rest of us.”

“Thanks,” said Illi. “For what?”

“For the round.”

Zarrat groaned and Dihya slapped him on the back with a laugh. “You walked right into that one, Zar.”

Azhar chewed her bottom lip, her already pale features some- how paler. She’d pulled her fine dark hair back into a tight bun, but she kept running her fingers through it, and now strands of hair floated free, softening her otherwise sharp features. “Is no one else worried that there’s so many this time?”

Silence was her answer. Illi peered up the cable as her cousins shifted uncomfortably. Thirteen was a lot. Thirteen was three more than they’d ever fought at one time. But Illi wasn’t worried about that; she and her cousins were more than enough against the guul.

The bellow of an unhappy camel cut the silence. A heartbeat later, the cable thrummed as it caught the weight and motion of the carriage once more. It was both mere moments and yet hours before the carriage returned, now bearing their mounts.

Then all worries were lost in a flurry of motion; there was no more time left to waste. Illi was the first to help her camel off the carriage. She checked its lead, tucked her soft leather charm beneath her wrap—even with all the guul about, they still had to worry about something as banal as wild jaan—then swung up. Zarrat started to call to her, but she’d already given her camel a hard kick and now leaned forward over its neck as it surged into motion.

Her braids beat a rhythm against her back in time with the camel’s loping stride. She tightened her grip on her sword hilt. Ahead, the dim, morning gray of the sands gave way and she could finally see her marks: a spread of dark blotches that soon resolved into erratic, unnatural monsters. Behind, her cousins fell in and caught up. All around, camel feet thudded like so many drumbeats.

Illi didn’t have to pick her mark. One veered away from its pack and charged on a course to meet her. The guuli was a mess of collected parts it had scavenged from corpses. Sun-bleached bones stuck out from its back like spines. Feathers and scales patterned its body as a vulture’s beak screamed angry recriminations at her.  But worse than any of those was the human skull  it wore like a mask. Eyes like coals burned in the deep sockets, slicing her bravery into ribbons.

She’d been hunting guul for years now, but they never ceased to send a thrill of fear down her spine. Fear—and resolve. The guul would have to get through her and her cousins if they wanted Ghadid.

Illi squeezed her knees tight and leaned forward as far as she dared. She yanked her camel to the side at the last moment. The guuli’s talons flickered and caught only air. Illi’s sword caught its neck. The human skull flew free, hit the sand. Its too-bright eyes flared like twin lanterns, but they didn’t go out. Illi could feel the guuli’s hate-filled glare as she yanked her camel around and into the path of the next monster.

But before she could reach the guuli, another camel cut her off. Yaluz swung his curved sword and the guuli’s head went fly- ing, its body collapsing to the sand. Yaluz pulled his camel paral- lel to Illi’s so they were charging alongside each other.

“That one was mine!” shouted Illi.

Yaluz’s only answer was a victorious smile.

To the right, Dihya cut down another guuli with her machete. To the left, Azhar chased down a guuli that was fleeing back west. Ahead, Zarrat let out a loud whoop as he circled his camel around a corpse. Illi was falling behind.

Illi flicked her lead and she and Yaluz broke off and curved back toward the city and the remaining guul. Ghadid loomed ahead, its metal pylons splitting the sky like stalks of grain in a glasshouse, straight and tall and strong. But unlike grain, each of these pylons was topped by a circular platform, which in turn held the stones and life that made up the city. Up there were all the people she was protecting, all the people that relied on her and her cousins to keep them safe. From guul, from bandits— and from themselves.

The sun flickered through those stalks, having just peeked above the horizon. The light dazzled her eyes and made it harder to pick out the hunched, loping forms of the remaining guul, made it more difficult to judge the distance between her and her next mark.

Then the guuli was all but under her camel’s feet. It gargled a cry and swiped claws short but sharp as razors. Her camel roared. Bucked. Illi’s knees lost their grip and she flew. She hit the ground with an oof. Grains of sand flew up her nose and into her open mouth. The wind blew more sand into her ears and eyes. Illi tightened her grip on her sword, but her fingers only closed on air. The sword was no longer in her hand.

A growl. Illi pushed herself up. Her camel was galloping back to Ghadid and safety, but it hadn’t gotten too far. She might still catch it. That was, if it weren’t for the guuli between them. This one had a shattered hip bone in lieu of shoulders and dry, tattered skin still stuck to it in patches. Its head had been taken from a gazelle. Horns as long as Illi’s arms twisted out of the skull.

A glint of metal was the only sign of her sword, a full camel’s length behind the guuli and half buried under the sand. The guuli lowered its head, too-long horns pointed at Illi’s chest. Illi checked her belt but all she had was a small dagger. The guuli charged.

Illi jumped to the side, slashing at the guuli with her dag- ger, but she might as well have spit at the monster. The guuli continued past, its momentum carrying it a few more feet before it could turn. Illi glanced at her sword, still out of reach. She’d have to chance it, though. Even if she could hurt the guuli with her dagger, only the sword could bind it.

She lunged. The guuli charged again. She heard the clack of its bones and the thin growl in its chest as it came for her. Her feet slipped through sand. The sword was still impossibly far. She wasn’t going to reach her weapon in time.

And then—a flash of green. A grunt. A wet sound. Of flesh.

Of blood.

The guuli never reached Illi.

She picked up her sword and turned but it was too late. Yaluz was between Illi and the guuli. His own sword dropped from limp fingers as a dark stain spread across the back of his wrap. A piece of white stuck out of the stain’s center: the guuli’s horn. Yaluz groaned and folded forward as his knees gave out from under him. The wind swept the coppery tang of blood to Illi.

Somebody  screamed.  Illi  wasn’t  sure  if  it  was  her  or  Yaluz. Her ears rang and her vision narrowed. It was happening again, it was happening again. She’d watched her cousin Ziri die the same way, gutted by a dead man with a spear. And now she was going to lose Yaluz.

But no—no she wasn’t. Illi forced herself to focus. The horn hadn’t gone through Yaluz’s middle, but his side. He could live. He would live.

The guuli’s horn was stuck. The monster tugged, jerking Yaluz back with it. The guuli’s hands came up, covering Yaluz’s head as if in an embrace, but Illi knew it meant to snap his neck. She wasn’t about to let that happen.

She freed a dagger from her belt with shaking fingers and sighted along the blade’s edge. Two steps back and a half turn. She breathed out. Threw. The dagger caught the guuli’s upper arm. With a shriek, the guuli let go of Yaluz’s head, but he was still stuck to its horn. Yaluz let out a low moan. He was still alive. As long as Illi could get to him and stabilize him, he’d survive. First, she had to remove the guuli.

The sand sucked at Illi’s feet, but she fought to cross the dis- tance between her and the guuli, trailing curses behind her. The monster pulled the dagger from its arm and tossed it away. Illi slid the last few feet and raised her sword. She brought it down hard. The blade bit through bone and flesh and something else, something sticky and resistant. The words carved into the blade’s metal flared with darkness, and cold bit into her fingers, deeper than winter. Illi held tight and then the blade was through and the guuli’s body fell away.

Unsupported, Yaluz sank to his knees. His fingers scrabbled at the horn piercing his side, but they slipped through blood, unable to gain purchase. His breathing was ragged and uneven and his wrap was torn. Illi kicked the guuli’s body out of her way and grabbed its severed head by the base of its skull. She pulled.

Yaluz screamed. The horn came out by a few inches, then all at once. Illi fell back, hitting the sand with the skull held in front of her. Its bright eyes met her gaze, unblinking. Disgusted, Illi tossed the skull away. She scrambled across the sand to Yaluz, trying and failing and trying again to unhook her water skin from her belt.

Yaluz’s wrap was soaked with blood, turning it from a vibrant green to a sickly brown. His breathing was shallow and strained, but Illi didn’t mark any gurgle or sounds of wetness. So his lungs hadn’t been pierced. But other organs might have been, which was secondary to the amount of blood Yaluz was currently pumping onto the sand. Already his soil-dark skin had an unhealthy gray sheen.

Illi dropped her sword and undid the knot of her water skin with trembling fingers. Dust, there was so much blood. She’d watched people bleed out from wounds both shallow and deep, and yet the amount of blood a body could hold always surprised her. She used a dagger to tear a long, wide strip from her wrap and pulled Yaluz’s wrap back. The fabric was already growing stiff with dried blood, but more blood just kept pumping out. She peeled the fabric away layer by layer until she reached skin. She wadded up one of the pieces of fabric into a ball and applied pressure to the wound.

It wouldn’t be enough. Yaluz’s eyes fluttered, now open and watching, now closed. He was fighting to stay conscious and los- ing. Time was hissing past and if Illi didn’t do something, now, Yaluz wouldn’t make it to the carriage, let alone to a real healer. He had to live, he had to, if only so Illi could berate him later for trying to save her.

Illi poured water into her palm, but she was shaking so badly that she spilled half of it. Yaluz sighed and closed his eyes. His breath rasped and hitched and his fingers twitched and—

Smoke stuck in Illi’s nose, burning through the stench of death. The stones were warm beneath her hands. Distantly, she heard yells, cries, and screams. Illi bent over another body, this one  already  dead.  Illi  hadn’t  been  fast  enough  and  now  those open eyes stared at her, an unblinking accusation. Illi closed those eyes. Stood.

Or at least, tried to stand.

The body spasmed. The fingers twitched, closed around her wrist. The eyes opened, but they were lifeless and glazed. The corpse dragged itself upright, a hiss gurgling in its throat. It wrapped its fingers around her neck.

Illi screamed. She kept screaming even as she remembered where she was—on the sands, far from that night of horror, safe, safe, safe

An arm wrapped around her chest and pulled her close. “Shh.

It’s okay. You’re okay. Breathe, Illi. Breathe. Be here.

The scream fizzled and died. Illi gasped for breath. She wanted to turn and bury her head in her savior’s chest, to let the fabric of their wrap muffle the world for a few precious seconds. But she didn’t have a few seconds. Yaluz needed her. Illi couldn’t let her cousin die because he’d been stupid enough to try and save her. She pushed the arm away.

“I have to—”

She looked up into honey-warm eyes and a broad face: Dihya. Her features had softened, but the grim severity would always be there, etched into the lines of her face by that same night seven years ago that was etched into Illi’s mind. Dihya had lost every- thing, too. Yet here she was, not falling apart. Why couldn’t Illi be that strong?

Deep breath. Focus. Yaluz needed her. Illi poured water into her palm and this time it didn’t spill. She breathed out and with the ease of years of practice, pushed all her thoughts away. It was just her, the water, and Yaluz. She closed her eyes and, with more than just her hands, reached out.

She felt the wound in Yaluz’s side like a gap in a weave. Natural-born and more experienced healers would have been able to close that gap, but Illi’s healing was as clumsy as a novice’s, even after years of practice. All she could do was stop the bleed- ing. That would have to be enough.

She opened her eyes. The water in her palm was gone. A blue haze still lingered on her arms and across Yaluz’s chest, but that vanished in another heartbeat. She met Dihya’s gaze.

Dihya stooped and picked Yaluz up, cradling him like a baby. “I’ll take him back,” she said. “You get those last guul.”

She didn’t wait for Illi’s response. Dihya turned, found the nearest cable, and started running, feet sinking deep into the sand with each step. Illi always envied Dihya’s strength and speed, but now she was also jealous of her cousin’s ability to keep it together. Not once in their years fighting the guul had Illi ever seen Dihya lose her composure. Not like Illi just had.

Illi took a deep breath, willing the shaking in her hands to cease. She stood and picked out the remaining guul. She wasn’t finished yet. She’d never be finished, not until every last guuli had been quieted. And the Wastes were yet full of them.

So until then—

Illi pulled herself back onto her camel and marked the nearest guuli. It never saw her coming.

Copyright © 2020 by K. A. Doore

Pre-order your copy here:

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$2.99 eBook Sale: May 2020

$2.99 eBook Sale: May 2020

Welcome, May! We’re celebrating the warmer weather with some new, month long ebook deals. Check out what Tor eBooks you can grab for $2.99 throughout the entire month below:

Image Place holder  of - 45People of the Songtrail by Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

On the shores of what is now northeastern Canada, a small group of intrepid settlers have landed, seeking freedom to worship and prosper far from the religious strife and political upheaval that plague a war-ridden Europe…500 years before Columbus set sail. While it has long been known that Viking ships explored the American coast, recent archaeological evidence suggests a far more vast and permanent settlement. It is from this evidence that archaeologists and early American history experts Kathy and Michael Gear weave their extraordinary tale.

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Placeholder of  -21The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

The traitor Baru Cormorant is now the cryptarch Agonist—a secret lord of the empire she’s vowed to destroy. Hunted by a mutinous admiral, haunted by the wound which has split her mind in two, Baru leads her dearest foes on an expedition for the secret of immortality. But Baru’s heart is broken, and she fears she can no longer tell justice from revenge…or her own desires from the will of the man who remade her.

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Place holder  of - 12Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven

The limits of wonder are redrawn as a human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure half-englobing a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths…and it’s on a direct path heading for the same system as the human ship.

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Image Placeholder of - 56The Impossible Contract by K. A. Doore

An assassin’s reputation can mean life or death. This holds especially true for Thana Basbowen, daughter of the legendary Serpent, who rules over Ghadid’s secret clan of assassins. When a top-tier contract drops in her lap — death orders against foreign ambassador Heru Sametket — Thana seizes the opportunity. Yet she may be in over her head. Heru wields blasphemous powers against his enemies, and Thana isn’t the only person after his life: even the undead pursue him, leaving behind a trail of horror.

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Poster Placeholder of - 64Knight of the Silver Circle by Duncan M. Hamilton

As the lines between enemy and ally blur, Guillot dal Villerauvais is drawn farther into the life and service he had left far behind. Solène attempts to come to terms with the great magical talent she fears is as much a curse as a blessing, while the Prince Bishop’s quest for power twists and turns, and takes on a life of its own. With dragons to slay, and an enemy whose grip on the kingdom grows ever tighter, Gill and his comrades must fight to remain true to themselves, while standing at the precipice of a kingdom in peril.

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Every Tor Book Coming This Spring

We’re poking out our heads from our winter hibernation to yell about TOR SPRING BOOKS! We are more than ready for the weather to get warm so we can drag this big ol’ stack of books outside. Here’s EVERYTHING coming from Tor this spring:

March 24

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The Poet King by Ilana C. Meyer

After a surprising upheaval, the nation of Tamryllin has a new ruler: Elissan Diar, who proclaims himself the first Poet King. Meanwhile, a civil war rages in a distant land, and former Court Poet Lin Amaristoth gathers allies old and new to return to Tamryllin in time to stop the coronation. For the Poet King’s ascension is connected with a darker, more sinister prophecy which threatens to unleash a battle out of legend unless Lin and her friends can stop it.

 

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A Broken Queen by Sarah Kozloff

Barely surviving her ordeal in Oromondo and scarred by its Fire Spirit, Cerulia is taken to a recovery house in Wyeland to heal from the trauma. In a ward with others who are all bound to serve each other, she discovers that not all scars are visible, and dying can be done with grace and acceptance. While she would like to stay in this place of healing, will she ever be able to the peace she has found to re-take the throne?

 

April 7

The Glass MagicianImage Placeholder of - 21 by Caroline Stevermer

Thalia Cutler doesn’t have prolific family connections. What she does know is stage magic and she dazzles audiences with an act that takes your breath away. That is, until one night when a trick goes horribly awry. In surviving she discovers that she can shapeshift, and has the potential to take her place among the rich and powerful. But first, she’ll have to learn to control that power…before the real monsters descend to feast.

 

April 14

Place holder  of - 50Queen by Timothy Zahn

Nicole Hammond is a Sibyl, a special human that has the ability to communicate with a strange alien ship called the Fyrantha. However, Nicole and all other sentient creatures are caught up in a war for control between two competing factions. Now, the street-kid turned rebel leader has a plan that would restore freedom to all who have been shanghaied by the strange ship.

 

Poster Placeholder of - 56The Last Emperox by John Scalzi

Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of the empirical collapse. But “control” is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people form impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough. Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization . . . or the last emperox to wear the crown?

 

April 21

You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce

Cassandra Tipp has left behind no body—just her massive fortune, and one final manuscript. Then again, there are enough bodies in her past.

Cassandra Tipp will tell you a story—but it will come with a terrible price. What really happened, out there in the woods—and who has Cassie been protecting all along? Read on, if you dare…

 

The Cerulean Queen by Sarah Kozloff

The true queen of Weirandale has returned. Cerulia has done the impossible and regained the throne. However, she’s inherited a council of traitors, a realm in chaos, and a war with Oromondo. Now a master of her Gift, to return order to her kingdom she will use all she has learned—humility, leadership, compassion, selflessness, and the necessity of ruthlessness.

 

April 28

Critical Point by S. L. Huang

Math-genius mercenary Cas Russell has stopped a shadow organization from brainwashing the world and discovered her past was deliberately erased and her superhuman abilities deliberately created. And that’s just the start: when a demolitions expert targets Cas and her friends, and the hidden conspiracy behind Cas’s past starts to reappear, the past, present, and future collide in a race to save one of her dearest friends.

 

May 12

Deal with the Devil by Claire Eddy

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America. Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he’s fighting to survive.

They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…Or they could do the impossible: team up.

 

May 19

I Come With Knives by S. A. Hunt

A dangerous serial killer only known as The Serpent is abducting and killing Blackfield residents. An elusive order of magicians known as the Dogs of Odysseus also show up with Robin in their sights. Robin must handle these new threats on top of the menace from the Lazenbury coven, but a secret about Robin’s past may throw all of her plans into jeopardy.

 

Uranus by Ben Bova

On a privately financed orbital habitat above the planet Uranus, political idealism conflicts with pragmatic, and illegal, methods of financing. Add a scientist who has funding to launch a probe deep into Uranus‘s ocean depths to search for signs of life, and you have a three-way struggle for control.

 

May 26

Automatic Reload by Ferrett Steinmetz

In the near-future, automation is king, and Mat is the top mercenary working the black market. He’s your solider’s solider, with military-grade weapons instead of arms…and a haunted past that keeps him awake at night. On a mission that promises the biggest score of his life, he discovers that the top secret shipment he’s been sent to guard is not a package, but a person: Silvia, genetically-altered to be the deadliest woman on the planet—her only weakness is her panic disorder.

 

June 2

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Phyllis LeBlanc has given up everything—not just her own past, and Dev, the man she loved, but even her own dreams. Still, the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she keeps in her heart. And so Phyllis will have to make a harrowing choice, before it’s too late—is there ever enough blood in the world to wash clean generations of injustice?

 

June 9

The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.

 

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

The hunt is over. After fifteen years of lies and sacrifice, Baru Cormorant has the power to destroy the Imperial Republic of Falcrest that she pretends to serve. The secret society called the Cancrioth is real, and Baru is among them. But the Cancrioth’s weapon cannot distinguish the guilty from the innocent. If it escapes quarantine, the ancient hemorrhagic plague called the Kettling will kill hundreds of millions…not just in Falcrest, but all across the world. History will end in a black bloodstain.

 

The Shadow Commission by David Mack

November 1963. Cade and Anja have lived in hiding for a decade, training new mages. Then the assassination of President Kennedy trigger a series of murders whose victims are all magicians—with Cade, Anja, and their allies as its prime targets. Their only hope of survival: learning how to fight back against the sinister cabal known as the Shadow Commission.

 

June 16

By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar

Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. The fact is they don’t know sh*t.

Arthur? An over-promoted gangster.
Merlin? An eldritch parasite.
Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer.
Britain? A clogged sewer that Rome abandoned just as soon as it could.

 

Glorious by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven

Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave, new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.

 

The Unconquered City by K. A. Doore

Seven years have passed since the Siege—a time when the hungry dead had risen—but the memories still haunt Illi Basbowen. Illi’s worst fears are confirmed when General Barca arrives, bearing news that her fledgling nation, Hathage, also faces this mounting danger. In her search for the source of the guul, the general exposes a catastrophic secret hidden on the outskirts of Ghadid. Illi must travel to Hathage and confront her inner demons in order to defeat a greater one—but how much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

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A Fond Farewell—Series We’re Saying Goodbye to in 2020

A Fond Farewell—Series We’re Saying Goodbye to in 2020

Everything ends eventually, and that is (sadly) true for several Tor series in 2020. This year marks the conclusion of some of our flagship sagas, as well as one epic fantasy that we’re releasing in a four-month sprint (bingebingebinge)! So, if you want to make sure you’re all caught up, here’s a list of everything ending in 2020. But don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of new and ongoing series to take you well into 2020—and beyond!

Poster Placeholder of - 85Heart of Black Ice– The Nicci Chronicles –Terry Goodkind 

Taken captive by their enemies, King Grieve, Lila, and Bannon are about to discover the terrifying force that threatens to bring destruction to the Old World. The Norukai, barbarian raiders and slavers, have been gathering an immense fleet among the inhospitably rocky islands that make up their home and are poised to launch their final and most deadly war.

ON SALE NOW!

 

Placeholder of  -84Song of the Risen God– The Coven Series – R.A. Salvatore 

The once forgotten Xoconai empire has declared war upon the humans west of the mountains, and only a small band of heroes stand in the way of the God Emperor’s grasp of power. But not all hope is lost. Far away, an ancient tomb is uncovered with the power to stop the onslaught of coming empire and, possibly, reshape the very world itself.

ON SALE NOW!

 

Place holder  of - 60Servant of the Crown– Dragonslayer Trilogy – Duncan M. Hamilton 

A swordsman and a dragon make an unlikely pair as they team up to defeat the Prince Bishop. This trilogy started just a year ago, so if you haven’t gotten hooked yet, now is the time to dive in. Come for the swordplay and magic, stay for the compelling characters searching for meaning in their lives.

ON SALE: 03/10/2020

 

Image Place holder  of - 7The Poet King– The Harp and Ring Sequence – Ilana C. Myer 

The nation of Tamryllin has a new ruler, who proclaims himself the first Poet King despite not all in court supporting the regime change. Meanwhile, a civil war rages in a distant land, and former Court Poet Lin Amaristoth gathers allies old and new to return to Tamryllin in time to stop the coronation.

ON SALE: 03/24/2020

 

Image Placeholder of - 87Last Emperox – The Interdependency – John Scalzi 

The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from her enemies, but “control” is a slippery thing, and the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne.

ON SALE: 04/14/2020

 

Queen – The Sibyl’s War Series  Timothy Zahn

Nicole Hammond was just trying to survive on the streets of Philadelphia, then she and her partner Bungie were abducted by a race of mysterious moth-like aliens and taken to a strange ship called the Fyrantha.

ON SALE: 04/14/2020

 

 

The Cerulean Queen– The Nine Realms Series – Sarah Kozloff 

 The series that starts AND ends in 2020! Perfect for binging, this is an epic fantasy that’s part kick-ass Disney princess and part Game of Thrones. The exiled Princess Cerulia of Weirandale was raised in obscurity. She has no resources, no army, nothing that can help her against her enemies—except their gods.

ON SALE: 04/21/2020

 

Critical Point – The Cas Russell Series – S.L. Huang 

When a demolitions expert targets math-genius mercenary Cas Russell and her friends, the hidden conspiracy behind her past starts to reappear. The past, present, and future collide in a race to save one of her dearest friends.

ON SALE: 04/28/2020

 

 

 The Shadow Commission – The Dark Arts Trilogy – David Mack

In The Shadow Commission we jump forward almost another decade from the events in the previous Dark Arts novel, The Iron Codex. Now it’s November 1963, and Cade and Anja have been living in hiding, training new mages. But when President Kennedy is assassinated, a series of murders whose victims are all magicians forces Cade and Anja to learn how to fight back against the sinister cabal known as the Shadow Commission.

ON SALE: 06/9/2020

 

The Unconquered City – Chronicles of Ghadid – K.A. Doore 

Seven years after the Siege — a time when the hungry dead had risen — elite assassin Illi Basbowen must find the source of the monstrous guul that travel across the dunes. How much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

ON SALE: 06/16/2020

 

 

In the Kingdom of All Tomorrows – Eirlandia – Stephen R. Lawhead 

Conor mac Ardan is now clan chief of the Darini. Tara’s Hill has become a haven and refuge for all those who were made homeless by the barbarian Scálda. But when a large fleet of the Scalda’s Black Ships arrives, Conor must join Eirlandia’s lords to defeat the monsters. And so begins a final battle to win the soul of a nation.

ON SALE: 07/14/2020

 

The Last Uncharted Sky – The Risen Kingdoms Series – Curtis Craddock 

Isabelle and Jean-Claude undertake an airship expedition to recover a fabled treasure and claim a hitherto undiscovered craton for l’Empire Celeste, but the ship is sabotaged by an enemy agent and Jean-Claude is separated from the expedition. Meanwhile, a royal conspiracy threatens to undo the entire realm.

ON SALE: 08/11/2020

 

Breath by Breath – Step by Step Series – Morgan Llywelyn 

The residents of Sycamore River emerge from nuclear war caused by the Change and its effects on technology. As they try to rebuild their shattered lives, they discover the Change continues and that for some, the air has become lethally toxic.

ON SALE: 08/25/2020

 


The Hellion – Malus Domestica 
S.A. Hunt 

Robin Martine has destroyed witches all across the country, and now makes her way to the deserts of rural Texas where a dangerous gang leader wields an iron fist over his wife and daughter. Robin vows to protect these Latina women from harm, but may be underestimating how powerful Santiago Valenzuela is… and how his shapeshifting powers may pose a threat to everyone Robin holds dear.

ON SALE: 09/15/2020

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Joining the 5 AM Writers Club

Are you a morning writer or a night writer? The Impossible Contract author K. A. Doore is a proud of member of the 5 AM writers club and below she shares how (and why) she stays dedicated to writing in the morning.


By K. A. Doore

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Not everyone is a morning person.

Not everyone needs to be a morning person.

I say this both selflessly and selfishly – indeed, if everyone were a morning person, it would break that beautiful morning silence, those dew-damp moments when the day could still be anything, including a day when you actually get some gods-damned writing done.

This is not yet another essay about how if you don’t wake up at before-the-sun-itself o’clock, you’re Doing It Wrong or you’re a Failure of the Highest Order. We need our night owls as much as we need our morning pigeons – otherwise who would keep the coffee shops open past noon? But if you’re wondering whether the cool calm of morning is right for you, you’ve come to the right essay.

It might be hard to believe, considering how much I champion #5amWritersClub and how fiercely I defend my mornings, but I wasn’t always a morning person. I used to stay up until 1, even 2am on a weeknight, writing or coding or drawing until I was beyond exhausted and out the other side to loopy and back again. My study sessions in college often included a second pot of coffee just before midnight.

But times change and so do we, and now I have a small child, a 40-hour workweek, and vanishingly slim free time. Between meetings during the day and a child who really absolutely 100% does not want to go to bed at night, the only time I can rely on is that sliver of an hour before the rest of the world wakes up.

It’s not that there aren’t interruptions to my 5am writing time – children get sick, after all, and so do their parents, and both can have lousy nights – but predictably getting my words written first thing means that when the rest of the day falls apart or just becomes overwhelming, I can tell myself: at least you wrote. Because the last thing I need is that extra special guilt that comes at the end of the day when you know you should write, but really, you’re exhausted beyond your mere mortal bones and spending another micro-second outside of your bed feels like an exquisite kind of torture.

Writing first thing in the morning means that almost every day, the thing that’s most important to me gets done. And that’s worth getting up too damn early for.

So if you’re intrigued by the relative calm of 5am, if you’ve wondered if it might help in your own Sisyphean journey to hit your wordcount and meet your deadlines, if you’ve ever thought “maybe I could be a morning person,” then I have a few tips for you:

  1. Have a really, really good reason to start getting up early. You’re going to need some solid motivation those first few days and/or weeks, because your body’s not used to these pre-dawn hours and neither are you. Write this reason down somewhere or – better yet – have it as the name for your morning alarm.
  2. To get up earlier, you have to go to bed earlier. Blasphemy, I know, but just because you’re waking up before the songbirds doesn’t mean you’ve found the One Neat Trick that will deceive your body and time itself. You’re still operating a complex and sensitive meat suit and that suit requires a specific amount of time to function optimally. You can trick it for a few days, but sooner than later shaving those hours off will catch up to you and you’ll be blearily shrugging your shoulders and telling your friends, I guess I’m just not a morning person before you know it. Adjust what time your head hits the pillow accordingly.
  3. If you like coffee, you should invest in a coffee machine with a timer or delay function. This will become your secondary – and eventually, primary – alarm clock. Imagine coffee freshly brewed as soon as you wake up. Imagine the sound of coffee percolating, as gentle as rainfall. Imagine the smell permeating your household, inviting you to a new day. Hold on, need to grab a cup of coffee.
  4. As soon as you roll out of bed, put some clothes on and go for a walk. If you can’t go for a walk, set a timer and stretch for a few minutes. Put headphones on or grab a notebook or sit and meditate – just whatever you do, don’t immediately start scrolling through social media on your phone or laptop. Especially in the first few days and weeks, you’ll need some time to properly wake up before you can write. But if you get into the habit of checking your email or other time-sucks, you’ll lose that precious time you got up super early for. Then you might as well have slept in, and then you do, and now any progress toward conquering the morning and becoming its sole dictator is lost.
  5. Last but certainly not least, it’s time to put your butt in the chair, put on headphones for music or white noise or whatever you usually do, and begin writing. You might need some extra warm-up time and that’s normal! Try writing some micro fiction or free-write for 5 or 10 minutes. Try different things, including reading over and editing through what you wrote the day before.

You’ll find something that works for you and before you know it, your kids or partner will be clamoring for your attention or the sun will be up or the time to get ready for work will be upon you. But most importantly, you’ll have words on the page, words you didn’t have before, and words that you won’t feel guilted into writing when you’re tired and cranky that evening.

If, after a few weeks of adjusting to your new schedule, you start to feel lonely or need extra motivation, you can check in with #5AmWritersClub on Twitter. There, you’ll find like-minded early birds, each struggling with varying levels of grogginess and caffeine addiction, and all sharing encouragement, energy, and cheer.

May your coffee be strong and your words flow free!

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$2.99 Ebook Sale: The Perfect Assassin by K. A. Doore

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Divine justice is written in blood.

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Until, unexpectedly, Amastan finds the body of a very important drum chief. Until, impossibly, Basbowen’s finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. Until, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed.

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