Why We Love Adams, Pratchett, Bards, and Wicked Women

To view this email as a web page, go [here.]( [Tor.com Newsletter]( [Forward to a Friend]( PLAY ON [Five SFF Works That Put Bards Center Stage]( Many underestimate the humble bard, but bards can be extraordinarily dangerous beings. Whether they’re seducing you with song, tossing a devastating insult your way, or weaving magic into their lyrics, bards are more than meet the eye. Here are five SFF stories that shine a spotlight on bards, balladeers, and musical mages! [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( BLACK LIVES MATTER [Can Black Pain in Books Bring About Black Joy?]( Pain is a subject often discussed in Black literary communities because it feels like the media is preoccupied with it. Blackness is so often portrayed through the lens of white artists, in ways that lack the nuance needed to understand the Black experience. Sarah Raughley explores how pain and joy work side by side in work by Black writers. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( BUILDING STORIES [Five Thrilling SFF Works About Meticulously Planned Infrastructure]( Sure, there’s a lot of entertainment value in grand set piece battles, personal duels, or even two wizards engaging in a magical combat to the death. But sometimes ambitious engineering projects can be even more fascinating than the usual spectacles. James Davis Nicoll recommends five books where infrastructure takes center stage. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( READING C.S. LEWIS [Calling Evil Good, and Good Evil: Spiritual Abuse in C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle]( Shift was already a manipulator and an abuser when they found the lion skin. But it was the lion skin that opened up a new and more powerful tool for his abuse: the devotion of the Narnians to Aslan. Matt Mikalatos discusses the dark twisting of spirituality and belief in The Last Battle. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( BAD GIRLS CLUB [Five SFF Books About Wicked Women]( We all know her. We’ve been her. Everyone else gets an invitation to a party and you…don’t. Do you sit at home with a pint of ice cream while you rage text your friends? Or do you show up at the party, uninvited, and curse the host’s infant child? There are so many stories about complex, misunderstood, and unashamedly wicked women. Heather Walter shares five where you can’t help but root for them to succeed. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( GRAB YOUR TOWEL [Laughing in the Face of Doom: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams]( Humor can go a long way toward adding spice to any narrative. And when humor becomes the main dish, it can be a joy to behold. A perfect example is Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one of the best-loved books in the pantheon of great science fiction. Alan Brown takes a look at the many lives of Hitchhiker’s Guide, and why the book remains so special to so many readers. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( THE SCIENCE OF FICTION [In Search of the Classic Hollywood-Style Asteroid Belt]( Our solar system asteroids are far from crowded. If you were to find yourself on the surface of a typical asteroid, you probably wouldn’t be able to see your closest rocky neighbour with the naked eye. So why do films insist on portraying asteroid belts as jam-packed and hectic? James Davis Nicoll shares some helpful facts about real-life asteroid fields. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF [Five SFF Stories That Shed Light on Obscure History]( There’s a whole sub-genre of books that can be described as “History… IN SPACE!” In many cases, those relationships between historical events and people and the fiction they inspire are relatively obvious—right there on the label, as it were. But there are more subtle influences in SFF too. Eleanor Konik shares five SFF books that bring more obscure elements of history to light. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND [Terry Pratchett Book Club: Good Omens, Part I]( It’s the end of the world as we know it, and Aziraphale and Crowley are...well, they’re working on it. The Pratchett & Gaiman classic about an angel and a demon teaming up to stop (or maybe bring about) the apocalypse is a favorite for many readers, including our very own Emmet Asher-Perrin. Emmet dives into what makes this book so wonderful, the difference between good and evil, and all the hijinks in between. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( ORIGINAL FICTION [“Annie Without Crow” by Michael Swanwick]( An act of indiscretion from her immortal trickster companion sends Annie and her league of ladies-in-waiting on a time-defying adventure that becomes the inspiration for William Shakespeare. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( IN TRANSLATION [“El nido de libros” by Naomi Kritzer]( We are thrilled to reprint the Spanish translation of Naomi Kritzer’s Tor.com original story “Little Free Library”, first published in SuperSonic's February 2021 issue. Many thanks to Naomi, Cristina Jurado, Marcheto, and the SuperSonic team! [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( Follow Tor.com to get updates on all of our original fiction. 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