Back in the summer of 2018, we announced that Becky Chambers was writing two new solarpunk novellas for Tor.com Publishing. Solarpunk is a form of hopeful SF, and it’s always the right time to introduce a little lightness into our lives.
At the time of the initial announcement, Becky said, “As someone who’s been blown away by Tor.com’s novella offerings in recent years, I’m delighted to be coming aboard. I’m hugely looking forward to working with Lee, and to be spending some time writing in a brand new universe.”
Well, the first of the books has been delivered, and we can now share a little more information about the series!
Book one, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, will be published in May 2021. Book two is titled A Prayer for the Crown-Shy.
The books focus on Sibling Dex, a tea monk, who travels the land meeting villagers and townspeople. They tell Dex their woes while Dex brews them tea, custom-blended to their individual needs and personalities. But when Dex meets Mosscap one day, their life is turned upside-down. Mosscap is a robot (and everyone knows that robots are a myth from the dim and distant past, and never actually existed), and it wants to know “What does humanity need?” Cue: the most delightful road trip you could wish for!
When one of the Tor.com staff read the first book, she exclaimed: “I didn’t know how much I needed this until I read it!”
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Becky Chambers was raised in California as the progeny of an astrobiology educator, an aerospace engineer, and an Apollo-era rocket scientist. An inevitable space enthusiast, she made the obvious choice of studying performing arts. After a few years in theater administration, she shifted her focus toward writing. Her creative work has appeared at The Mary Sue, Tor.com, Five Out Of Ten, The Toast, and Pornokitsch. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was her first novel, and was funded in 2012 thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. After living in Scotland and Iceland, Becky is now back in her home state, where she lives with her partner. She is an ardent proponent of video and tabletop games, and enjoys spending time in nature. She hopes to see Earth from orbit one day.