Moiraine, Pygmalion Problems, and Unreadable Books

To view this email as a web page, go [here.]( [Tor.com Newsletter]( [Forward to a Friend]( [A painting of a girl reading in a hammock]( MARK AS READ [The Summer of Short Books]( As SFF readers, we’re used to seeing a lot of love for big epic books—and shorter books might not get as much attention. And when they’re not done well, there’s a reason for that: Sometimes a novella feels like a novel without an ending, or a short story that went on too long. But when you hit the right balance, something magical occurs. In a new Mark As Read column, Molly Templeton shares the joy of reading shorter books. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [a photo of bookshelves]( READING RECOMMENDATIONS [Ten Great Works of Non-Fiction About Science Fiction and Fantasy]( Living as we do in a golden age of speculative fiction, it might seem difficult to imagine anything that might make all this even better. But you’re here, Tor.com reader, so you know how much talking about fiction can sometimes be as good as reading it. James Davis Nicoll recommends ten non-fiction works that offer criticism and commentary about SFF to round out your reading. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [A screencap of Rosamund Pike as Moiraine]( THE ONE POWER [The Wheel of Time’s Rosamund Pike on Playing Moiraine in Two Mediums]( The second season of The Wheel of Time is set to premiere on Prime Video tomorrow. The first season gave us a lot of highlights, including Rosamund Pike’s Moiraine. In an interview with Tor.com (that took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike), Pike discusses playing Moiraine–both on screen and in audio format. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [A photo of bookseller Wilfrid M. Voynich]( BRO, DO YOU EVEN READ? [Six Books You’ll (Probably) Never Be Able to Read]( Censorship is very much alive and well across the United States—but there’s a difference between a book you’re not allowed to read and one you simply can’t read. From codices to puzzles to straight-up art projects, books that aren’t meant to be read (or are essentially impossible to read) present the bibliophile with a true conundrum: Just how hard should you have to work to read and enjoy a book? Randee Dawn shares six books that are (nearly) impossible to read. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [A screencap of Margot Robbie as Barbie]( HER JOB IS CINEMA [I Said I’d Make a Woman: Barbie and the Pygmalion Paradigm]( Though Barbie’s success may feel unprecedented in our current cultural moment, the story of Barbie herself that director Greta Gerwig chooses to tell—that of a doll’s decision to become a real woman—has thousands of years of precedent in a story model that pervades multiple genres of film and literature: the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Kristen Patterson discusses Barbie’s mythic roots, from My Fair Lady to The Stepford Wives and beyond. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [Illustration from The Hound of the Baskervilles (Richard Gutschmidt, 1905)]( GRAB YOUR CANDLESTICKS [Five Beguiling Gateways Into Gothic Horror]( Most people tend to think of the Gothic as a quieter genre—the subtler horror that creeps in like mould in your walls—and they’re not wrong. Subtlety has long been a key hallmark of the genre, which wends its way through domestic settings and unsettles them, not by crashing through with a battering ram but by picking things up and putting them back in slightly the wrong place. If you’re looking to explore the sinister side of life as fall approaches, Holly Kybett Smith is here to share some foundational texts. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [An illustration from Paradise Lost]( AWAKE, ARISE OR BE FOR EVER FALL’N [John Milton the Space Poet: Early Traces of Science Fiction in Paradise Lost]( At times, Paradise Lost seems to border on something like space opera: the angel Raphael hints at the existence of other worlds and extraterrestrial life, and Satan’s journey through the void to reach Earth is nothing less than an interstellar space flight. While Milton himself wasn’t an SF writer, we should at least acknowledge him as some kind of literary precursor: a space poet. A.J. Rocca dives into the speculative elements of Paradise Lost , and how C.S. Lewis later drew on Milton’s cosmology (without getting it quite right…). [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( [A collage of screencaps: Zuko as the Blue Spirit, the Dread Pirate Roberts, and Rorschach]( AS YOU WISH [Behind the Mask: Five Mysterious SFF Fighters]( Imagine for a moment the distinct narrative thrill of seeing a masked character appear for the first time. Who could it be? What are they hiding? Is it a character we already know and love, shirking their identity in favor of this mysterious persona? Cole Rush discusses five of the greatest fighters, warriors, and swordsmen to mask their faces (and true selves)... [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( ORIGINAL FICTION [“The Job at the End of the World” by Ray Nayler]( A weary resilience worker should know better than anyone: no one is safe when the world is always ending… [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( Follow Tor.com to get updates on all of our original fiction. FOLLOW US: [Follow Us on Facebook]( [Follow Us on Twitter]( [Follow Us on Tumblr]( [Follow Us on Pinterest]( This email was sent by: Macmillan 120 Broadway New York, NY, 10271, US We respect your right to privacy - [view our policy]( Macmillan believes piracy hurts writers, readers and everyone who loves books. Learn more and report suspicious activity [here.]( To subscribe to this or other email communications from Macmillan, please click [here](. Visit our [profile center]( to update your email address and/or other information. If you no longer wish to receive this email communication, click [here]( to unsubscribe.