Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese science fiction novels in North America.

History

Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, Harriet McDougal, and

Jim Baen James Patrick Baen (, beɪn , ; October 22, 1943 – June 28, 2006) was a U.S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, ...

in 1980 (Baen would found his own imprint three years later). They were soon joined by Barbara Doherty and Katherine Pendill, who then composed the original startup team. '' Tor'' is a word meaning a rocky pinnacle, as depicted in Tor's logo. Tor Books was sold to St. Martin's Press in 1987. Along with St. Martin's Press;

Henry Holt Henry Holt may refer to: *Henry Holt (North Dakota politician) (1887–1944), lieutenant governor *Henry Holt (publisher) (1840–1926), American publisher and author **Henry Holt and Company, Holt's publishing company *Henry E. Holt (born 1929), ...

; and

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, it became part of the Holtzbrinck group, now part of Macmillan in the US. In June 2019, Tor and other Macmillan imprints moved from the Flatiron Building, to larger offices in the Equitable Building.

Imprints

Tor is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group. There is also the Forge imprint that publishes an array of fictional titles, including historical novels and thrillers. Tor Books also publishes two imprints for young readers: Starscape (for readers 10 years of age and up) and Tor Teen (for readers 13 years of age and up). Tor Books also has the Tordotcom imprint that focuses on short works such as novellas, shorter novels and serializations. A United Kingdom sister imprint, Tor UK, also exists and specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, while also publishing young-adult crossover fiction based on computer-game franchises. Tor UK briefly maintained an open submission policy, which ended in January 2013. Orb Books publishes science-fiction classics such as A.E. Van Vogt's '' Slan''. Tor Teen publishes young-adult novels such as

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog '' Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent o ...

's '' Little Brother'' and repackages novels such as

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for bo ...

's ''

Ender's Game ''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they d ...

'' for younger readers. Tor Labs produces

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

s. A German sister imprint, Fischer Tor, was founded in August 2016 as an imprint of

S. Fischer Verlag S. Fischer Verlag is a major German publishing house, which has operated as a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group since 1962. The publishing house was founded in 1881 by Samuel Fischer in Berlin, but is currently based in Frankfurt am Mai ...

(which also belongs to Holtzbrinck Publishing Group). It publishes international titles translated into German, as well as original German works. Fischer Tor also publishes the German online magazine ''Tor Online'', which is based on the same concept as the English '' Tor.com'' online magazine, but has its own independent content.

Authors

Authors published by Tor and Forge include: Kevin J. Anderson, Kage Baker, Steven Brust,

, Jonathan Carroll, Myke Cole, Charles de Lint,

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

Steven Erikson Steve Rune Lundin (born October 7, 1959), known by his pseudonym Steven Erikson, is a Canadian novelist who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. He is best known for his ten-volume spanning epic fantasy series ...

, Sarah Gailey, Terry Goodkind, Steven Gould, Eileen Gunn,

James Gunn James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker and executive. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with '' Tromeo and Juliet'' (1997). He then began working as a direct ...

, Brian Herbert, Glen Hirshberg,

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Richard Matheson, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Andre Norton, Harold Robbins, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi,

Mary Robinette Kowal Mary Robinette Kowal (; born February 8, 1969) is an American author and puppeteer. Originally a puppeteer by primary trade after receiving a bachelor's degree in art education, she became art director for science fiction magazines and by 2010 was ...

, V. E. Schwab, Skyler White, and Gene Wolfe. Tor UK has published authors such as

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

, Rjurik Davidson, Amanda Hocking,

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( ; born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as ''weird fiction'' and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

, Adam Nevill, and

Adrian Tchaikovsky Adrian Czajkowski (spelled as Adrian Tchaikovsky for his books) is a British fantasy and science fiction author. He is known best for his series ''Shadows of the Apt'', and for his novel '' Children of Time''. ''Children of Time'' was awarded t ...

E-books

Tor publishes a range of its works as

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

s and, in 2012, Doherty announced that his imprints would sell only DRM-free e-books by July of that year. One year later, Tor stated that the removal of DRM had not harmed its e-book business, so they would continue selling them DRM-free. In July 2018, Macmillan Publishers and Tor prompted a boycott spread across social media websites and library bulletin boards after they announced that Tor's e-books would no longer be made available for libraries to purchase and lend to borrowers, via digital distribution services such as OverDrive, until four months after their initial publication date. The company cited the "direct and adverse impact" of electronic lending on retail eBook sales but suggested that the change was part of a "test program" and could be reevaluated.

Accolades

Tor won the ''

Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields ...

'' poll for best science fiction publisher in 33 consecutive years from 1988 to 2022 inclusive. In March 2014, ''Worlds Without End'' listed Tor as the second-most awarded and nominated publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror books, after

Gollancz Gollancz may refer to: * Gollancz (surname), a Polish-Jewish surname * Victor Gollancz Ltd, a former British publishing house, now used as an imprint by the Orion Publishing Group See also * Gołańcz Gołańcz (german: Gollantsch) is a town ...

. At that time, Tor had received 316 nominations and 54 wins for 723 published novels, written by 197 authors. In the following year, Tor surpassed Gollancz to become the top publisher on the list. By March 2018, Tor's record had increased to 579 nominations and 111 wins, across 16 tracked awards given in the covered genres, with a total of 2,353 published novels written by 576 authors.

References

External links

Official website
(German)
Official website
(UK)
Official website
(US)

at ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of Consciousness, consciously applying logic by Logical consequence, drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activ ...

'', December 2008
''Tor Online'' community site
(German)
''Tor.com'' community site
{{authority control American speculative fiction publishers Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Science fiction publishers Fantasy book publishers Weird fiction publishers Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1980 St. Martin's Press Holtzbrinck Publishing Group