Reactor

Tor.com is a digital magazine focused on science fiction, created by Tor Books, which also serves as one of its imprints. Launched in July 2008, the magazine boasted an impressive readership of 1.5 million each month by 2014. It features articles, reviews, and original short stories in English that explore science fiction and other imaginative genres. The content is freely accessible to all readers. In a 2014 article, The Guardian referred to Tor.com as the "top contender among science fiction magazines," highlighting its role in showcasing exciting new writers like Maria Dahvana Headley and Karin Tidbeck. Additionally, since May 2014, Tor.com has operated as an imprint of Tor Books, focusing on publishing short fiction, including novellas, short novels, and serialized works.

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Read an Excerpt From Nisi Shawl’s Kinning

Jan 22, 2024 | tor.com | Nisi Shawl

Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Kinning, the sequel to Nisi Shawl’s alternate history debut Everfair, out from Tor Books on January 23. Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus.
The Essential Storytelling Device That Fuels Superman and The Matrix

Jan 22, 2024 | tor.com | Robert Repino

I am both proud and slightly horrified to say that my first published novel took over a year to write, and three long years to rewrite. And that’s not counting the failed book projects that preceded it over the previous fifteen years. Even after it managed to find a publisher, the novel was simply too long, with too many characters, too many plot twists, too much exposition. Oh, and the editor who acquired it asked me to cut over 100 pages.
Investigating the Mothman: The Paranormal TV Shows That Tackle the Famous Cryptid

Jan 22, 2024 | tor.com | Judith Tarr

I had hopes that John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies would focus more on the cryptid than it did. Mostly, it turns out, the book is about John Keel. Like the film that’s loosely based on it (as one witty commenter on the former noted), it’s too much Man, too little Moth. Luckily for my insatiable curiosity, paranormal TV fills the gap as ably as mass entertainment can.
Speculative Extrapolation: Five SF Visions of the Future, According to Math

Jan 22, 2024 | tor.com | James Davis Nicoll

Between June and late December, I noticed a disturbing trend. Daylight hours shortened day by day. Where we once had 15 hours of daylight, we know have a paltry 9. That is a loss of one hour of daylight per month. At that rate, by September of 2024, there will be no more daylight andI am not alone in embracing the power of extrapolation.
Five SF Stories Involving Memory Manipulation

Jan 19, 2024 | tor.com | James Davis Nicoll

In the midst of yet another wild, gritty, action-packed commute on public transit recently, my mind turned to at work. Had I taken down the signs before heading home or was I just remembering a previous occasion when I had remembered? Memories are tricky things, easily misplaced or transformed into lies. This is why memories play so prominent a role in science fiction and fantasy. Memory transfer commodified recollection.
Elantris Reread: Chapters Fifty-Three and Fifty-Four

Jan 18, 2024 | tor.com | Lyndsey Luther |Paige Vest

Time to finish up Part Two, Cosmere Chickens! Are you ready? Because Paige and I are ready! So ready! Right Paige? Paige: Beyond ready!Lyn: Let’s not belabor the point and dive right in then, shall we? (Non-)Spoiler warning: This week’s article has no spoilers from other Cosmere works.
Read an Excerpt From Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Jan 17, 2024 | tor.com | John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love. We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell, a creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance publishing with DAW on April 2. Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love. Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor.
Into This World We’re Thrown: Max Gladstone’s Last Exit (Part 12)

Jan 17, 2024 | tor.com | Ruthanna Emrys |Anne M. Pillsworth

Welcome back to Reading the Weird, in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction, cosmic horror, and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches. This week, we continue Max Gladstone’s Last Exit with Chapters 23-24. The novel was first published in 2022.
Incompetence Is Inevitable: Five Books That Illustrate the Peter Principle

Jan 17, 2024 | tor.com | James Davis Nicoll

Laurence J. Peter’s Peter Principle is elegantly simple: “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”The corollary is, of course: “In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.”This is because people who are good at their jobs tend to be promoted. Given sufficient time, they will be promoted from a position in which their skills, aptitudes, and experience were applicable, to one in which they are not.
12 Poems To Break Through the January Ice

Jan 17, 2024 | tor.com | Holly Smith

It’s January: for those of us in the northern hemisphere, the nights are long and the days are bitterly cold. For many, now is a season of new beginnings; of setting goals and fighting to achieve them. But thriving in January can feel—sometimes—an awful lot like trying to rise from the depths of a pond whose surface has frozen over. If you’re struggling to break through the hard shell of January into the new year, these twelve poems might be just the thing you need.