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New Releases: 11/8/16

Here’s what went on sale today!

At the Sign of Triumph by David Weber

At the Sign of Triumph by David WeberThe Church of God Awaiting’s triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels. But Charis had something far more powerful than simple numbers.

Alien Morning by Rick Wilber

Alien Morning by Rick WilberPeter Holman is a freelance sweeper. The year 2030 sees a new era in social media with sweepcasting, a multisensory interface that can convey every thought, touch, smell, sight, and sound, immersing the audience in another person’s experience. The fate of two civilizations depends on one troubled family in Rick Wilber’s science-fiction adventure Alien Morning.

Belle Chasse by Suzanne Johnson

Belle Chasse by Suzanne JohnsonSuzanne Johnson’s “strong and intriguing” (Publishers Weekly) urban fantasy series continues with Belle Chasse. With the wizard-elven treaty on the verge of collapse, the preternatural world stands on the brink of war. Unless former wizard sentinel DJ Jaco manages to keep the elven leader, Quince Randolph, focused on peace and not personal matters.

Dark Shadows: Heiress of Collinwood by Lara Parker

Dark Shadows: Heiress of CollinwoodDark Shadows: Heiress of Collinwood is the continuing story of the classic TV show, Dark Shadows by series star, Lara Parker. An orphan with no knowledge of her origins, Victoria Winters first came to the great house of Collinwood as a Governess. It didn’t take long for the Collins family’s many buried secrets, haunted history, and rivalries with evil forces to catch up to Victoria and cast the newcomer adrift in time, trapped between life and death.

NEW FROM TOR.COM:

The Iron Beast by Andy Remic

The Iron Beast by Andy RemicA war is being waged in an impossible world. The Skogsgra and the Naravelle have launched their final offensive, and Private Jones and his companions are caught in the melee. Tens of thousands will die before the battle is over. They travel deep underground, to find and release the Iron Beast… the one creature that can end not one world war, but two.

NOW IN PAPERBACK:

The Collected Stories of Frank Herbert by Frank Herbert

The Collected Stories of Frank Herbert by Frank HerbertFrank Herbert, the New York Times bestselling author of Dune, is one of the most celebrated and commercially successful science fiction writers of all time. But while best known for originating the character of Paul Atreides and the desert world of Arrakis, Herbert was also a prolific writer of short fiction. His stories were published individually in numerous pulps and anthologies spanning decades, but never collected. Until now.

Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Myer

Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. MyerA high fantasy following a young woman’s defiance of her culture as she undertakes a dangerous quest to restore her world’s lost magic in Ilana C. Myer’s Last Song Before Night. Her name was Kimbralin Amaristoth: sister to a cruel brother, daughter of a hateful family. But that name she has forsworn, and now she is simply Lin, a musician and lyricist of uncommon ability in a land where women are forbidden to answer such callings-a fugitive who must conceal her identity or risk imprisonment and even death.

NEW IN MANGA

Devils and Realist Vol. 11 Story by Madoka Takadono; Art by Utako Yukihiro

A Centaur’s Life Vol. 10 Story & Art by Kei Murayama

Re:Monster Vol 1 Story by Kanekiru Kogitsune; Art by Kobayakawa Haruyoshi

Shomin Sample: I Was Abducted by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner Vol. 3Story by Nanatsuki Takafumi; Art by Risumai

Not at San Diego Comic-Con Sweepstakes – Swag Bag #1

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We hope to see many of you San Diego Comic-Con! If you are there, stop by Booth #2707 to say hi or to participate in one of our many events.

Can’t make it? You can still get some or our swag when you enter our Not at San Diego Comic-Con Sweepstakes! Just sign up for our newsletter, and you’ll be entered for a chance to win this awesome swag bag:

SDCC swag bag

This prize includes:

  • Wheel of Time bag
  • California Bones coaster set
  • Lock In keychain
  • Dragon Age poster
  • The Way of Kings magnet set
  • The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp
  • Among Others by Jo Walton
  • Blindsight by Peter Watts
  • California Bones by Greg van Eekhout
  • Dark Shadows: Wolf Moon Rising by Lara Parker
  • Dragon Age: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes
  • Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Lock In by John Scalzi
  • The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind
  • Hurricane Fever by Tobias S. Buckell
  • Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
  • The Time Traveler’s Almanac edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

Sign up for your chance to win today!

And, after you sign up to enter this sweepstakes, head over here to enter for a chance to win our other amazing swag bag!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of 50 United States, D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 or older as of the date of entry. To enter, complete the entry form here beginning at 12:00 AM Eastern Time (ET) July 23, 2014. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59 PM ET July 27, 2014. Void outside the United States and Canada and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

Tor Books Announces Programming for San Diego Comic-Con 2014

Tor Books is heading to San Diego Comic-Con!

Image Placeholder of - 14 Once again Tor (Booth# 2707) continues our wildly popular *in-booth signings and giveaways, offering you a chance to meet your favorite authors up close and personal and pick up free books. We’ve got a great line up including appearances by: John ScalziGreg van EekhoutTobias Buckell, and Tor Teen debut author Ben Tripp.

 


Thursday, July 24th

  • 12:00 – 1:00am Panel: Fairy Tale Remix, Room 32AB
    Tor Teen author Ben Tripp (The Accidental Highwayman) joins Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles) and others that will give insight to the fairy tales of old, and new!
  • 1:30pm – 2:30 pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09
  • 1:30pm – Author Reading Spotlight – John Scalzi, Science Fiction Author Cosplay, Horton Grand Theater, 444 4th Ave, between Island and J Street.
    John Scalzi reads from his forthcoming near-future thriller, Lock In, answers audience questions and maybe even serenades them on the ukulele!
  • 3:00pm – 4:00pm Panel: When Magic & Myth Meet Main Street, Room 25ABC
    When stories mix modern cities like Paris, LA, New York with magic, myth and demon spawn they are collectively known as Urban Fantasy, and many of today’s popular authors are adding their otherworldly ingredients to the melting pots of modern (and not-so-modern) society. Join some of today’s top urban fantasy authors, including Greg van Eekhout (California Bones), Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire and others as they discuss why something old with something new equals gold.
  • 4:30pm – 5:30pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

Friday, July 25th

  • 1:00pm – 2:00pm Panel: 101 Ways to Kill a Man, Room 32AB
    Coming up with creative ways to commit mayhem and murder is the lifeblood of these talented thriller authors. A fatal chimera virus; hybridized bioengineered parasites; murderous microchips; lethal electric stimuli; deathstrike via satellite targeting. How many ways can you kill someone? Join top thriller authors Tobias Buckell (Hurricane Fever)Greg Hurwitz (Don’t Look Back) and others as they discuss the art of delivering deadly thrills. But don’t worry too much. A little light reading never killed anyone.
  • 2:30pm – 3:30pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

Saturday, July 26th

  • 12:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Hurricane Fever – Tobias Buckell
  • 2:30pm – 3:30pm Panel: The Art of Fear, Room 8
    Horror novels have been keeping us at night for years. From puppets that come to life, to creepy-crawly worm, haunted towns, demons out for blood, killer wolves, possible possessions, to the apocalypse, these authors give you goosebumps while you read. Glen Hirschberg (Motherless Child), moderates this panel featuring, Mira Grant and others as they discuss their novels, the writing process, and why you keep the light on while you read.
  • 4:00pm – 5:00pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

Make sure to follow @TorBooks on Twitter for up to date information and last minute events!

All Tor Booth signings are on a first come first serve basis and while supplies lasts. Limit one book per person.

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Researching the Back Story

Wolf Moon Rising by Lara Parker

Written by Lara Parker

When I began writing Dark Shadows novels based on the classic TV show, I wanted them to have more substance than the usual TV Tie-ins. I felt that layered stories were needed with resonant themes of fate and hubris and complex characters whose baffling motivations were fully explored. Since time travel, reincarnation, and séances were already established motifs, and there were so many unexplained mysteries on a show that had played for five years, I hit upon a way to breathe life into the 40 year old series: prequels!

Going back in time demanded research, and, as every writer knows, research is the true blood of a novel. The information I found in my studies enlivened and enriched the Dark Shadows canon, but I never expected to unearth the particular details that could shape and twist the plot, or to come across historical facts that would fit so perfectly into the world of Dark Shadows.

The TV show was true Gothic Romance with a great gloomy house, a young governess, a reclusive family, and a moody resident vampire, Barnabas Collins. A witch had made him into a monster, but, I asked myself, how did she become a witch and what heartbreak motivated her desperate act of revenge? I had played the part of Angelique on the TV show, and so, naturally, hers was the first back-story I told.

From reading about slavery on a sugar plantation in Martinique where she grew up and the practice of voodoo in Haiti I was able to write, in Angelique’s Descent, the story of her troubled childhood and her initiation into the occult. I made her an apprentice to a Bokor, a voodoo priest, where she learned to cast spells, create zombies, and stake a vampire.

When I explored material for The Salem Branch, along with some memorable witch trial scenes, I also found my theme: the Collins family curse. In my research I discovered a quote from an innocent young woman, Sarah Good, who was hanged as a witch in 1692: “If you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink.” Perfect for Dark Shadows! She became the first incarnation of Angelique and her final benediction from the scaffold became the curse that was to plague the family for generations.

In Wolf Moon Rising — the third novel in the series, and due out August 20 — I turned back to an era brimming with possibilities: 1929.

In search of a missing portrait two teenagers travel back in time to the twenties during prohibition, where the young Elizabeth is smitten with the never-aging Quentin. He is suffering under a werewolf curse, but, true to his character, he is also a bootlegger, and the Collins family is consorting with the Mafia. When I read about the Ku Klux Klan, I knew I had found what might be the long-suppressed secret of the Collins family.

Researching the twenties gave me a new perspective for envisioning the Great House of Collinwood. A party that rivals Gatsby’s is taking place, a police raid terrifies the guests, and spilled Everclear sets the lawns on fire. When I discovered that contraband liquor was sometimes hidden in a hearse, my brain lit up: there could be a frightening scene where a casket is opened in the Collins mausoleum. Quentin is trying to hide bottles of whiskey beneath a corpse, but you can guess who he finds sleeping there: the vampire, Barnabas Collins, who had been chained inside his coffin for over a hundred years!

And so I asked myself what dark wing hovered over the Collins family in a house where heartbreak and malevolence festered? Was there an age-old curse that was visited upon all its members? When did Angelique become a witch? Could it have been in an earlier incarnation? What happened to Quentin to make him cynical and morose? Why did he seduce so many women mainly for sport?

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From the Tor/Forge August 5th newsletter. Sign up to receive our newsletter via email.

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