It’s a big deal for Murderbot fans and the largest deal to date for Tordotcom Publishing: Executive Editor Lee Harris has acquired six more books by Martha Wells for the imprint! The first new (non-Murderbot) book, Witch King, will be published in Fall 2022, with the rest following yearly.
Wells is, of course, the author of the bestselling and beloved Murderbot Diaries, which has won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards. The five novellas and one novel tell the story of a deeply relatable security droid which would rather avoid people and watch Netflix than deal with the dangers of space and the perplexity of human interaction.
Harris said of the acquisition, “I could not be more delighted that Martha has agreed to write another six books for us. Everyone who has read her work already knows how great a writer she is. I’ve had a sneak peek at her next book, and I guarantee that her legion of fans will love it as much as they love Murderbot!”
Publisher Irene Gallo said, “You can spend a large portion of any day listening to people talk about how much Murderbot means to them. I can’t tell you what a privilege it is to work with Martha and watch the effect her writing has on people. It’s a great feeling to look at the future with Martha, in every genre.”
The announcement offers only the tiniest hint at what Wells’ non-Murderbot books will be about. Wells said, “It’s been such a great experience working with Lee Harris and Irene Gallo and everyone else at Tordotcom. I’m so happy this contract will let me be able to continue that, and let me get back into writing fantasy again, as well as more Murderbot.”
Martha’s agent, Jennifer Jackson, agreed and said, “I’m so excited to see Martha bringing her talent to new stories with the team at Tordotcom and thrilled to be a part of these epic journeys!”
Wells has been writing fantasy since the ’90s, including the Books of the Raksura and her Ile-Rien series, which includes the Hugo-nominated The Death of the Necromancer. It’ll be exciting to see where fantasy takes her next.
Great news! Read and loved Murderbot!
Any advice on where to start with her fantasy?
@1 robtcore That’s a tough one! I have a soft spot for Wheel of the Infinite. Maskelle is a 40-something kick-ass heroine who’s not afraid to burn down a palace if that’s what it takes. She’s been in exile–for trying to dethrone the ruler–but has been called back because something is wrong with the 100 year rites when the world is remade through sand paintings.
If you want a European-flavored fantasy, either The Death of the Necromancer or The Element of Fire. The latter takes place in roughly Elizabethan era. There are pistols and cannons but it’s mostly swords still. The half-Fayre daughter of the dead king has returned to visit her half-brother, just as local politics are heating up. The Death of the Necromancer is set in the gaslamp era. A criminal mastermind is running a long game of revenge against the person who had Nicholas’s foster-father killed. He realizes that someone else is interfering with his plans.
I picked this up from someone else but Wells’s tends to compentence-porn. If you like watching characters who are great when everything goes to pot, you may like these.
Brilliant news, I’m just in the process of finishing of reading the first 5 Murderbot diaries (again) in preparation for Fugitive Telemetry’s release tomorrow, as Martha Wells has become of the authors whose books I now automatically pre-order.
You can also start with Well’s Raksura series. It starts with “The Cloud Roads”. The Protagonist Moon is pretty much a prototype Murderbot without the space netflix.
@@.-@: Interesting that you say that, as a big fan of both series I wouldn’t have said Moon and Murderbot had all that much in common aside from general social awkwardness and feeling that they don’t really fit in with the people around them (for different reasons).
Anyway, I’ll be interested to hear more about _Witch King_ when it gets closer to release.
Really happy about this! And I really enjoyed the Raksura books though the setting is very different from MurderBot or even most fantasy. I’ll definitely give her new books a read when they come out.
I have all the Raksura books, most of the Ile Rien, 2 of her standalone (including Wheel of the Infinite & City of Bones), & everything she’s written on Murderbot. She is one of the few authors whose SF is as good as her F. I can’t hardly wait, tor.com – please don’t torture us.
I’ve read them all, and love them, BUT…they’re overpraised and overpriced. Nevertheless, keep ’em comin’.
Gotta have more Murderbot!
“overpraised”? Please explain yourself. Sure, I’d rather find a series I love that is not seemingly a current “fad,” but that won’t stop me from enjoying these.
A plea to the author: please, please, please give us more snarky conversations between Murderbot and ART. And please let us know how Three is doing, even if peripherally.