Tor Books is the primary

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

of Tor Publishing Group (previously

Tom Doherty Tom Doherty (born April 23, 1935) is an American publisher and the founder of the science fiction and fantasy book publisher Tor Books. He started as a salesman for Pocket Books and rose to be Division Sales Manager. From there, he went to Simo ...

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 Chinese science fiction (traditional Chinese: , simplified Chinese: , pinyin: ''kēxué huànxiǎng'', commonly abbreviated to ''kēhuàn'', literally ''scientific fantasy'') is genre of literature that concerns itself with hypothetical future so ...

novels in North America.

History

Tor was founded by

Harriet McDougal Harriet Popham McDougal Rigney (born August 4, 1939) is an editor who worked on several best-selling fantasy books, including the ''Wheel of Time'' series written by her husband, Robert Jordan. Jordan often claimed that all major female characters ...

, 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, an ...

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 Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

'' is a word meaning a rocky pinnacle, as depicted in Tor's logo. Tor Books was sold to

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

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 Holtzbrinck Publishing Group () is a privately held German company based in Stuttgart which owns publishing companies worldwide. Through Macmillan Publishers, it is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies. In 2015, it me ...

group, now part of

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

in the US. In June 2019, Tor and other Macmillan imprints moved from the

Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, steel-framed landmarked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New ...

, 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 A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

, 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 Alfred Elton van Vogt ( ; April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born American science fiction author. His fragmented, bizarre narrative style influenced later science fiction writers, notably Philip K. Dick. He was one of the ...

's ''

Slan ''Slan'' is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer A. E. van Vogt, as well as the name of the fictional race of superbeings featured in the novel. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine ''Astounding Science Fiction'' ...

''. 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 of ...

'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 both ...

'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 dub ...

'' 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 (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 ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

'' online magazine, but has its own independent content.

Authors

Authors published by Tor and Forge include:

Kevin J. Anderson Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for ''Star Wars'', ''StarCraft'', ''Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files literature#Novels, The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the ...

Kage Baker Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010Obituary: Kage Baker
" SF Site, January ...

Steven Brust Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans livi ...

Jonathan Carroll Jonathan Samuel Carroll (born January 26, 1949) is an American fiction writer primarily known for novels that may be labelled magic realism, slipstream or contemporary fantasy. He has lived in Austria since 1974. Life and work Carroll was b ...

Myke Cole Myke Cole is an American author of fantasy, science fiction, and non-fiction. His series include the ''Shadow Ops'', ''Reawakening'', and ''Sacred Throne'' series. His career also involves television, having appeared on the CBS reality show '' Hu ...

Charles de Lint Charles de Lint (born December 22, 1951) is a Canadian writer of Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese ancestry. He is married to, and plays music with, MaryAnn Harris. Primarily a writer of fantasy fiction, he has composed works of urban fantasy, cont ...

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 Sarah Gailey is an American author. Their alternate history novella '' River of Teeth'' was a finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella,

Terry Goodkind Terry Lee Goodkind (January 11, 1948September 17, 2020) was an American writer. He was known for the epic fantasy series ''The Sword of Truth'' as well as the contemporary suspense novel ''The Law of Nines'' (2009), which has ties to his fantasy ...

Steven Gould Steven Charles Gould (born February 7, 1955) is an American science fiction writer and teacher. He has written ten novels. He is best known for his 1992 novel ''Jumper'', which was adapted into a film released in 2008. Biography Steven Charles ...

Eileen Gunn Eileen Gunn (born June 23, 1945, Dorchester, Massachusetts) is a science fiction author and editor based in Seattle, Washington, who began publishing in 1978. Her story "Coming to Terms", inspired, in part, by a friendship with Avram Davidson, wo ...

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 director ...

Brian Herbert Brian Patrick Herbert (born June 29, 1947) is an American author who lives in Washington (state), Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert (who died in 1986). Brian Herbert's novels include ''Sidney's Comet' ...

Glen Hirshberg Glen Martin Hirshberg (born 1966 in Royal Oak, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan) is an American author best known for horror fiction. Biography Born to parents Linda Hirshberg (psychologist) and Jerry Hirshberg (painter, founder of Nissan Design ...

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 na ...

Sherrilyn Kenyon Sherrilyn Woodward (formerly Sherrilyn Kenyon; born December 11, 1965) is a bestselling US writer. Under her former married name, she wrote both urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She is best known for her Dark Hunter series. Under the pseud ...

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...

L. E. Modesitt, Jr. L. E. (Leland Exton) Modesitt Jr. (; born 1943) is an American science fiction and fantasy author who has written over 75 novels. He is best known for the fantasy series ''The Saga of Recluce''. By 2015 the 18 novels in the ''Recluce'' series ha ...

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name ...

Harold Robbins Harold Robbins (May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997) was an American author of popular novels. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages. Early life Robbins was b ...

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The ...

John Scalzi John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been nom ...

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 Victoria Elizabeth (V. E.) Schwab (born July 7, 1987) is an American writer. She is known for the 2013 novel '' Vicious'', the '' Shades of Magic'' series, and ''The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue'', which was nominated for the 2020 Locus Award fo ...

Skyler White Skyler White ( née Lambert) is a fictional character in '' Breaking Bad'', portrayed by Anna Gunn. For her performance, Gunn received critical acclaim, with some critics even lauding her character as the template for television anti-heroines. ...

, and

Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and nove ...

. 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 Amanda Hocking (born July 12, 1984) is an American writer of paranormal romance young adult fiction. Early life Hocking was born and raised in Austin, Minnesota. After high school, she studied Human Services while working in a group home for pe ...

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

Adam Nevill Adam Nevill (also known as Adam LG Nevill) is an English writer of supernatural horror, known for his book ''The Ritual''. Prior to becoming a full-time author, Nevill worked as an editor. After publishing several novels through Pan Macmillan ...

, 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. Alt ...

s and, in 2012, Doherty announced that his imprints would sell only

DRM-free Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...

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 Overdrive may refer to: Organizations * OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media ** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc. * Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro Technology * 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 (genre ...

'' 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. 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 consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

'', 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