The Unnoticeables - Tor/Forge Blog

Robert Brockway eBook Sale: The Unnoticeables and The Empty Ones

March 7, 2018March 20, 2024torforge

The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway

There are angels, and they are not beneficent or loving. But they do watch over us. They watch our lives unfold, analyzing us for repeating patterns and redundancies. When they find them, the angels simplify those patterns and remove the redundancies, and the problem that is “you” gets solved.

There are angels. There are demons. They are the same thing. It’s up to Carey and Kaitlyn to stop them. The survival of the human race is in their hands.

We are, all of us, well and truly screwed.

Order Your Copy of The Unnoticeables:

The Empty Ones by Robert Brockway

The Empty Ones follows Carey and Randall to London where they go to rescue Gus and fight more of these mysterious angel-like creatures, and stumble on a powerful and unexpected ally. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn, who was very nearly beat when last we saw her, continues her fight into the desert of Mexico and the Southwest US, seeking the mysterious gear cult. Once there, she discovers what the gear cult is really up to: trying to ‘pin’ the angels to Earth, focus their attention here, and get as much of humanity as possible “solved”–which, in their minds, is akin to being saved–and in the process discovers something incredible about herself.

**Order Your Copy of The Empty Ones:**

*This offer ends June 30th.

New Releases

New Releases: 6/21/16

June 21, 2016May 10, 2024torforge

Here’s what went on sale today!

Judenstaat by Simone Zelitch

On April 4th, 1948 the sovereign state of Judenstaat was created in the territory of Saxony, bordering Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia .

Forty years later, Jewish historian Judit Klemmer is making a documentary portraying Judenstaat’s history from the time of its founding to the present. She is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, Hans, a Saxon, shot by a sniper as he conducted the National Symphony. With the grief always fresh, Judit lives a half-life, until confronted by a mysterious, flesh-and-blood ghost from her past who leaves her controversial footage on one of Judenstaat’s founding fathers–and a note:

“They lied about the murder.”

Stealing Fire by Win Blevins and Meredith Blevins

When Navajo detective Yazzie Goldman sees a hood hassling an old man, he has no idea what a long fall into trouble it heralds.

The old man turns out to be none other than the most famous architect in the world, Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright e is carrying the sketches for his most important building, the Guggenheim Museum. Some bad people are after him: A Chicago gangster wants Wright to pay back money he’s borrowed. One of Wright’s apprentices wants to steal the drawings and sell them. So does the son of the gangster.

The Sword of Midras by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott

Abandoned by the mighty Avatars and their Virtues, the people who remained were left defenseless in an untamed land. That is, until the Obsidians came. Through dark sorcery and overwhelming force the Obsidian Empire brought order to chaos, no matter the cost.

Aren Bendis is a Captain in the Obsidian Army who has seen enough of what a world without Virtue looks like and is willing to do whatever it takes to establish a lasting peace. But after finding a magical sword that only he can wield, a sword his trusted scout, Syenna, claims is a blade once used by the legendary Avatars, Aren is thrown into a far more unfamiliar battle. One fought with whispered words and betrayal instead of swords and arrows.

The Weaver’s Lament by Elizabeth Haydon

For a thousand years, the lands ruled by the Cymrian Alliance have been at peace. When the brutal death of a dear friend catapults the kingdom to the brink of civil war, Rhapsody finds herself in an impossible situation: forced to choose between her beloved husband, Ashe, and her two oldest friends, Grunthor and Achmed. Choosing her husband will mean the death of thousands of innocents. Siding against him will cost Rhapsody the other half of her soul, both in this life and the next.

In The Weaver’s Lament, the lines between the past and future are irrevocably blurred, and the strength of true love is tested in unthinkable ways. Bestselling author Elizabeth Haydon has delivered a spectacular conclusion to the Symphony of Ages.

NEW FROM TOR.COM:

Pride’s Spell by Matt Wallace

The team at Sin du Jour—New York’s exclusive caterers-to-the-damned—find themselves up against their toughest challenge, yet when they’re lured out west to prepare a feast in the most forbidding place in America: Hollywood, where false gods rule supreme.

Meanwhile, back at home, Ritter is attacked at home by the strangest hit-squad the world has ever seen, and the team must pull out all the stops if they’re to prevent themselves from being offered up as the main course in a feast they normally provide.

NOW IN PAPERBACK:

The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway

Carey doesn’t much like that idea. As a punk living in New York City, 1977, Carey is sick and tired of watching strange kids with unnoticeable faces abduct his friends. He doesn’t care about the rumors of tar-monsters in the sewers or unkillable psychopaths invading the punk scene—all he wants is to drink cheap beer and dispense ass-kickings.

NEW IN MANGA:

Freezing Vol. 9-10 by Dall-Young Lim

Not Lives Vol. 2 by Wataru Karasuma

See upcoming releases.

Events / What's New

Tor is at WonderCon 2016!

March 25, 2016May 10, 2024torforge

Tor is at WonderCon in LA this weekend! See the schedule below to find out where you can find your favorite Tor authors.

Friday, March 25, 2016
Getting to the Point
12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m. Room: 151
SF/F authors discuss the pointy strategic bits of weapons and battle tactics as their characters battle for causes from the mundane to the sublime.
Featuring: Carrie Vaughn (The Kitty Norville Series), Brian Staveley (Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne series)
Signing to follow, booth #3000

Futurecasting and Timeline Salad
3:00p.m. – 4:00p.m., Room: 151
Looking at the past, present, and future through different lens and timelines
Featuring: Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) Greg Van Eekhout (The California Bones series)
Signing to follow, booth #3000

Building Worlds with Words
7:00p.m. – 8:00 p.m , Room: 411
Whether it’s far-flung futures or fantastical stories, the worlds that authors build are complex. How do storytellers create brand new worlds and unexplored universes? What is it like to become an architect for expansive mythos treasured by the masses? What’s the process for developing exciting new protagonists and working with established icons? Join this panel of authors as they discuss how they create their worlds, the process involved in creating nuanced characters and working with licensed properties.
Featuring: V.E. Schwab (A Gathering of Shadows)
Signing to follow, booth #3000

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Mythos Mix-Up
11:00a.m. – 12:00p.m., Room: 151
Centuries of mythology inform our storytelling; how do authors pick and choose what they incorporate and what they alter?
Featuring: Randy Henderson (Arcana Familia series)
Signing to follow, booth #3000

It’s a Horrible Life (or UnLife)
2:00p.m. – 3:00p.m., Room: 151
What is it about grim and gritty, dark and dystopian, that readers crave? And how can humor exist in the midst thereof?
Featuring: R.S. Belcher (Brotherhood of the Wheel), Robert Brockway (The Unnoticeables)
Signing to follow, booth #3000

V.E. Schwab (A Gathering of Shadows) in Conversation with Mark Oshiro
4:30—5:30, Room 152
Signing to follow, booth #3000

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Spotlight on Carrie Vaughn (The Kitty Norville Series)
12-1 pm, Room 515A.
Signing to follow, booth #3000

Unexpected Enemies, Unlikely Friends
2:00p.m. – 3:00p.m., Room: 151
Personal and political alliances make for strange bedfellows
Featuring: V.E. Schwab (A Gathering of Shadows)
Signing to follow, booth #3000

What's New

Punk is Dead, Long Live Punk

July 6, 2015May 10, 2024torforge

Written by Robert Brockway

Atmosphere is everything.

Well, it’s most everything.

Well, it’s definitely a thing, anyway.

Hi, I’m Robert. I wrote The Unnoticeables, a very strange book about angels and monsters and faceless psychopaths and the hidden code behind the universe. I did this because I don’t know how to do normal human things like build furniture or mortgage.

Am I using that right? Is that a verb, or what?

I think that’s a very important step in writing a book: Not being able to do other things.

Another very important step is nailing down the atmosphere. The first half of The Unnoticeables takes place in the punk scene of New York City, 1977. Some folks think it’s easier to set your novel in a real place, and maybe they’re right—but NYC, 1977, may as well be a spaceport orbiting Jupiter. It doesn’t exist anymore. All the iconic punk venues featured in the book have either fizzled out, exploded like an M-80 in a beer can, or worse: slowly bloated, grew a ponytail, and started catering to tourists. The Bowery is a great place to get a cappuccino now; it used to be a great place to get stabbed.

So I couldn’t just hop on a plane to get a sense of how my setting actually moved and breathed. I needed a time machine. Luckily, I had one: Music.

In the course of writing the book, I have assembled several massive playlists, ordered by time, by place, by the attitude of the character I was writing, or just by some drunken impulse that I no longer recall.

The younger version of one of my protagonists, Carey, just wants to drink and have sex. He’s only good at one of those things. You can guess which. He really doesn’t want to be involved in my plot. He doesn’t want to see angels, or fight faceless maniacs in the sewers, but they keep messing with his friends and he needs those to bum beer money off of. Young Carey is all the bouncy, goofy grins of The Ramones. He’s the tattered arrogance of Richard Hell, the slurred fight in the MC5, and the unapologetic immaturity of The Dictators.

Flash forward thirty years, and Carey is now an old man. He’s homeless, living on the streets of LA. The decades-long fight against these inconceivable monsters has claimed every friend he’s ever had, and what was once a big, never-ending party has long since devolved into alcoholism. Older Carey is the barroom dirge of Rocket From The Tombs. He’s the aimless fury of The Damned, and the wry, world-weary cynicism of Gang of Four.

Ugh, listen to me ramble like I know what I’m talking about. I was born three years after the whole scene imploded. I’m not an expert on New York City, classic punk, or even music in general. In fact, I’m not even very good at being a fan. I can’t list every member of every band I listen to, where their best album was recorded, or who mixed it. I don’t even read the liner notes. The only thing I know about music is that I can’t write without it. My first business expense was a damn fine pair of headphones, which I wear for twelve hours a day, every day.

And that’s because for atmosphere—for vibe, for attitude, for feeling how a dead place moved back when it was alive—nothing beats the beat. If you can feel that beat in this book—if it smells like stale beer, sounds like cheap guitars played poorly but with great enthusiasm, and reading too many chapters at once gives you a vicious hangover—then I’ve done my job.

Follow Robert Brockway on Twitter at @Brockway_LLC, on Facebook, or visit him online.

Video

Book Trailer: The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway

July 1, 2015May 17, 2024torforge

The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway

From Robert Brockway, Sr. Editor and Columnist of Cracked.com comes The Unnoticeables, a funny and frightening urban fantasy.

Kaitlyn isn’t sure what she’s doing with her life. She came to Hollywood in 2013 to be a stunt woman, but last night a former teen heartthrob tried to eat her, her best friend has just gone missing, and there’s an angel outside her apartment. Whatever she plans on doing with her life, it should probably happen in the few remaining minutes she has left.

There are angels. There are demons. They are the same thing. It’s up to Carey and Kaitlyn to stop them. The survival of the human race is in their hands.

We are, all of us, well and truly screwed.

Follow Robert Brockway on Twitter at @Brockway_LLC, on Facebook, or visit him online.

Events / What's New

On the Road: Tor/Forge Author Events in July

July 1, 2015May 10, 2024torforge

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

Carrie Bebris, The Suspicion at Sanditon

Friday, July 24
Books & Co.
Dayton, OH
7:00 PM

Saturday, July 25
Ohio State Barnes & Noble
Columbus, OH
2:00 PM

Tuesday, July 28
Joseph-Beth Books
Cincinnati, OH
7:00 PM

Thursday, July 30
The Booksellers at Laurelwood
Memphis, TN
6:30 PM

Alex Bledsoe, Long Black Curl

Friday, July 10
Arcadia Books
Spring Green, WI
6:30 PM

Saturday, July 18
Parnassus Books
Nashville, TN
2:00 PM

Sunday, July 19
Eagle Eye Bookshop
Decatur, GA
3:00 PM

Robert Brockway, The Unnoticeables

Thursday, July 16
Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA
7:30 PM

Friday, July 17
University Bookstore
Seattle, WA
7:00 PM

Saturday, July 18
Copperfield’s Books
Petaluma, CA
7:00 PM

Sunday, July 19
Borderlands Books
San Francisco, CA
3:00 PM

Wednesday, July 22
Powell’s City of Books
Portland, OR
7:30 PM

Wesley Chu, Time Salvager

Tuesday, July 7
The Last Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA
7:00 PM

Sunday, July 12
Mysterious Galaxy
Also with Carrie Patel and Scott Sigler
San Diego, CA
2:00 PM

Wednesday, July 15
Elliott Bay Book Company
With Ramez Naam
Seattle, WA
7:00 PM

Thursday, July 16
Powell’s at Cedar Hills Crossing
Beaverton, OR
7:00 PM

Saturday, July 18
Borderlands Books
San Francisco, CA
3:00 PM

Sunday, July 19
Uncle Hugo’s
Minneapolis, MN
3:00 PM

Monday, July 20
A Room of One’s Own
Madison, WI
7:00 PM

Tuesday, July 21
Boswell Book Company
Milwaukee, WI
7:00 PM

Thursday, July 23
Schuler Books and Music
Lansing Charter Township, MI
7:00 PM

Friday, July 24
Book People
Austin, TX
7:00 PM

William S. Cohen, Collision

Wednesday, July 1
Books-a-Million
South Portland, ME
7:00 PM

Thursday, July 2
Politics and Prose
Washington, D.C.
7:00 PM

Carolyn Ives Gilman, Dark Orbit

Wednesday, July 15
Barnes & Noble
Washington, D.C.
6:00 PM

Saturday, July 18
Fountain Bookstore
Richmond, VA
2:00 PM

Max Gladstone, Last First Snow

Tuesday, July 28
Oxford University Press Book Club in Bryant Park
New York, NY
12:00 PM

Neal Griffin, Benefit of the Doubt

Sunday, July 26
Carlsbad City Library
Carlsbad, CA
7:00 PM

Kristen Simmons, The Glass Arrow

Thursday, July 23
Sundance Books and Music
Reno, NV
6:30 PM

Anne A. Wilson, Hover

Saturday, July 25
Payson Book Festival
Gila Community College
Payson, AZ
9:00 AM

Also, don’t miss the Big Summer Road Trip Tour! To celebrate the 2015 releases from some of our Northeastern authors, Tor Books is excited to send Elizabeth Bear (Karen Memory), James Cambias (Corsair), Max Gladstone (Last First Snow), and Brian Staveley (The Providence of Fire) on tour in the New England region. Check out the dates and locations.

Excerpts

Sneak Peek: The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway

June 29, 2015May 10, 2024torforge

Read an excerpt from The Unnoticeables, a funny and frightening urban fantasy by Robert Brockway.

ONE

Unknown. Unnamed.

I met my guardian angel today. She shot me in the face.

I’m not much for metaphor. So when I say “guardian angel,” I don’t mean some girl with big eyes and swiveling hips, who I put on a ridiculous pedestal. I mean that she was an otherworldly being assigned by some higher power to watch over me. And when I say “shot me in the face,” I don’t mean she “blew me away,” or “took me by surprise.” I mean she manifested a hand of pure, brilliant white energy, pulled out an old weather-beaten Colt Navy revolver, and put a bullet through my left eyeball.

I am not dead. I am something far, far worse than dead. Or at least I’m turning into it.

(more…)

Events / What's New

Tor Books Announces Programming for San Diego Comic-Con 2015

June 22, 2015May 10, 2024torforge1 Comment

Tor Books is heading to San Diego Comic-Con!

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: Brandon Sanderson, Charlie Jane Anders, Susan Dennard, and more!

For excerpts, a spotlight on our newest authors, panel schedules, giveaway times and much more, please visit torbooks2015.com. And make sure to follow @TorBooks on Twitter for up to date information and last minute events.

Wednesday, July 8

7:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Charlie Jane Anders, All the Birds in the Sky

Thursday, July 9

12:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Del Howison, Midian Unmade

1:00pm—2:00pm Resurgence of Science Fiction, Room 32AB
Welcome to the promised land, oh geeks and nerds: your time has come. Star Wars is getting new movies, and so is Star Trek. Andy Weir’s The Martian and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War are heading to the big and small screens and Mars One is looking for volunteers—Science Fiction and the draw of technology, futurism, space and the final frontier are hot on everyone’s mind. Come join Adam Christopher (Made To Kill), Margaret Stohl, Peter Clines, and others as they discuss this renaissance of SF and why now is an exciting time to live in, for both fiction and fact.
2:30pm—3:00pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA06

1:30pm—2:30pm Authors of Epic Fantasy, Room 24ABC
How do you best describe stories of epic fantasy? Expansive worlds with long histories, huge casts of characters, political intrigue, massive battles, magic, legend, and much more… they are indeed epic! Join authors of fantasy fiction Peter Orullian (Trial of Intentions), Susan Dennard (Truthwitch), Peter Brett, and others as they discuss their own works, as well as other popular series that have made epic fantasy one of pop culture’s most successful genres.
3:00pm—4:00pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

2:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Greg Van Eekhout, Pacific Fire

3:00pm—4:00pm Worldbuilding, Room 25ABC
Fact: worlds are important. But how are they made? Join our panel of top authors as they describe how they set the stage for their stories and create a living universe for their characters. Moderated by Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky).
4:30pm—5:30pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

4:00pm—5:00pm I’m Sleeping with the Lights On: Horror and Thriller Authors in Discussion, Room 25ABC
Horror and thriller books have an amazing way of keeping readers up at night. From demons to zombies, and from historical to even seemingly mundane settings, certain authors can find bone-chilling ways to make sure the reader keep turning the pages. Join Robert Brockway (The Unnoticeables), Mary Kubica, Matthew Riley, and others as they discuss their books and what motivates them to scare you! Moderated by Del Howison (Midian Unmade), owner of the Dark Delicacies Bookstore.
5:30pm—6:30pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

5:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Alan Gratz, The League of Seven

Friday, July 10

11:30am—12:30pm Gender in Science Fiction, Room 24ABC
Pizza rolls, not gender roles! From the strong female protagonist to the battle of the sexes, Science Fiction has long given us the ability to challenge the way we think about traditional gender roles. Come listen to Maryelizbeth Yturralde, owner of the bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, lead acclaimed authors such as Wes Chu (Time Salvager), Nick Cole, and more in a discussion about the importance of gender in Science Fiction, how Science Fiction novels open our minds to non-traditional ideas, and just what is the difference between gender and sex.
1:00pm—2:00pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

12:00pm—1:00pm Autographing Area, Table AA18 Signing: Luis Royo, The Ice Dragon

12:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Robert Brockway, The Unnoticeables

2:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Brandon Sanderson In-booth sales by Mysterious Galaxy

5:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Wesley Chu, Time Salvager

Saturday, July 11th

12:00pm—1:00pm Family Feud: Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy, Room 7AB
Calling all Nerds! Since the dawn of time we have argued and contemplated crucial matters: What’s cooler? Who would win in a fight? Who would lose? Star Trek or Star Wars? Ironman or Captain America? Now, in an open forum, join us as other diehard Nerds and geek experts—including Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series), Chuck Palahniuk, Ernie Cline, and others—prove their mettle by squaring off into furious debates about the hottest topics in geek culture.
1:30pm—2:30pm Signing to follow in the autographing area, Table AA09

12:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Peter Orullian, Trial of Intentions

2:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Susan Dennard, Truthwitch, and Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

4:00pm—5:00pm Epic Fantasy, Room 29AB
Learn about fantasy literature and book-to-movie adaptations from New York Times bestselling authors Heather Brewer, Jonathan Maberry, Kami Garcia, Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series) and Maggie Stiefvater. Moderated by Henry Herz.

5:00pm Tor Booth (#2707) Signing: Adam Christopher, Made to Kill

Sunday, July 12

3:45pm—4:45pm What’s Hot in YA, Room 5AB With Susan Dennard (Truthwitch) and Alan Gratz (Dragon Lantern)

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