TOR Books Announces “TOR LABS” Dramatic Podcast Imprint

Got this intriguing press release this morning:

Tor Books, a leading global publisher of science fiction and fantasy, announced today that it is launching TOR LABS, a new imprint emphasizing experimental approaches to genre publishing, beginning with original dramatic podcasts.

Helmed by Senior Editor Marco Palmieri and Editor Jennifer Gunnels, Tor Labs will debut this summer with Steal the Stars, a science fiction audio drama which will be produced in partnership with Gideon Media and written by Mac Rogers, the award-winning writer of the global hit podcast thrillers, The Message and LifeAfter.

Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota Prentiss and Matt Salem, two government employees guarding the biggest secret in the world: a crashed UFO. Despite being forbidden to fraternize, Dak and Matt fall in love and decide to escape to a better life on the wings of an incredibly dangerous plan: They're going to steal the alien body they've been guarding and sell the secret of its existence.

Steal the Stars is a noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes, airing weekly from August 2 – November 1, 2017, and available worldwide on all major podcast distributors through the Macmillan Podcast Network. It will be followed immediately by a novelization of the entire serial from Tor Books, as well as an ads-free audio book of the podcast from Macmillan Audio.

In a joint statement, Gunnels and Palmieri said, "There's a little mad science in every new publishing experiment, and we're tremendously excited about the creative possibilities of Tor Labs. We're especially thrilled to be partnering with Gideon Media on Steal the Stars, and bringing their phenomenal work to a wide audience."

"I was intrigued by the idea of a science fiction heist thriller told in the classic noir tradition of James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith," said writer Mac Rogers. "I've always loved those stories of illicit lovers trying to pull off one nearly impossible crime in order to be together. As forces close in on them from all sides, they're pushed to greater extremes than they ever imagined."

NASA and Tor team up to bring out hard SF

Got a press release today talking about this article by The Wall Street Journal on how NASA and Tor Books are partnering to create more fact based science fiction, aka hard SF.

The first of these 'NASA-inspired works of fiction' is:

PILLAR TO THE SKY by William Forstchen, the New York Times bestselling author of One Second After, is the first in the series and was released today. The new novel takes technology to a whole new level with the introduction of a space elevator that offers infinite possibilities that could transform the world. Forstchen’s latest extraordinary story exemplifies the driving force behind America’s superpower status throughout history - the brilliant and inquiring minds of its scientists, visionaries, entrepreneurs and leaders in technology who see the future as a challenge to achieve the impossible.

To commemorate the event, they're having a talk/signing with both William Forstchen and the scientist who advised him, John Panek, PhD.  Details from the release below:

Greenbelt, MD – Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC—the largest publisher of science fiction in the world—and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, are excited to announce a special public speaking engagement for local high schools and universities with Goddard scientist Dr. John Panek and William Forstchen, the New York Times bestselling author of One Second After and the new release PILLAR TO THE SKY (February 11, 2014), on Wednesday, Feb. 19th, from 10:00-11:30 AM at Goddard’s Visitor Center.

Forstchen will be signing copies of PILLAR TO THE SKY after the presentation, and attendees will be invited to tour the center’s breathtaking “Science on a Sphere” room, which is a mesmerizing visualization system developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that uses computers and video projectors to display animated data of objects in the solar system on the outside of a suspended, 6-foot diameter, white sphere.

The event celebrates the partnership forged between Tor and NASA in releasing the new book, which is the first title in a thrilling new series of “NASA-Inspired Works of Fiction” that are intended to not only educate, but also encourage young adults to examine the rewarding careers that science and technology have to offer. With the enormous popularity of science fiction—countless people who work in the fields of science and technology credit science fiction as a significant inspiration for their career choice—the ultimate goal of the series is to raise awareness and inspire the study of the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), while educating the general public on the significant role NASA plays in everyday lives.

TOR Books Starts Monthly Twitter Chat Series

From the Tor/Forge website:

Calling all Tweetgeeks: science fiction stars Greg Bear, Steven Gould, and M.J. Locke to kick off first #Torchat next Wednesday, 2/16 at 4 PM EST

New York, NY – Wednesday, February 9, 2011 – Tor Books is excited to announce the launch of #Torchat, a new SF/f genre-themed, hour-long chat series hosted on Twitter. Guest authors will join fans in lively, informative and entertaining discussions of all that’s hot in genre fiction (140 characters at a time) from 4 – 5 PM Eastern on the third Wednesday of every month. Each #Torchat will revolve around a different genre topic of interest, with new guest authors and exclusive fan giveaways from @Torbooks.

Next Wednesday’s first #Torchat will revolve around a discussion of “hard” science fiction, that ambiguous and often narrowly defined subgenre of SF that purports to extrapolate from “real science.” Special guest authors Greg Bear (@spacegriz), Steven Gould (@StevenGould), and M.J. Locke (@MorganJLocke) will lead a fan chat on what Hard SF means, whose really doing it (and whose not…), and the science behind the fiction, using the Twitter hashtag #Torchat.

The chat will be introduced and (loosely) moderated by Tor publicist Justin Golenbock (@jgolenbo), with giveaways of advance copies of upcoming summer SF releases from @TorBooks preceding and following the 4 PM chat.

Our Author guests:

Greg Bear has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards and is the acclaimed author of some of SF’s most iconic novels, including Eon, The Forge of God, and last fall’s Hull Zero Three.  His most recent novel, Halo: Cryptum, is a current New York Times bestseller. He is new to Twitter.

Steven Gould is the national bestselling author of Jumper, adapted by Hollywood as a major motion picture in 2008, as well as Wildside, Helm, Blind Waves, Reflex, Jumper: Griffin’s Story, and the forthcoming SF novel 7th Sigma (July 2011). He is the recipient of the Hal Clement Young Adult Award for Science Fiction and has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

M.J. Locke is the author of the forthcoming SF novel Up Against It (March 2011), about a deep space mining colony in the midst of a lethal resource crisis. She works as an environmental engineer in the American Southwest, a really cool job that lets her to apply real experience to her SF writing.

 Sounds cool.  Will you be tweeting along?

(And the teacher in me would like to point out that it should be who's (as in, who is), not whose (which means owner of).)