At the beginning of each month, we here at Tor.com will post the next two months of our schedule of original short fiction. Check back monthly to get excited for upcoming short stories, novelettes, and novellas on Tor.com! Below the cut you’ll find information on new stories in July and August by Adam Christopher, John Chu, Jo Walton and more.
July and August’s fiction contains knights, both Templar and otherwise, rocket science, barricades, and much more. To find out all the details, check below the cut.
July 2
“The Devil in the Details”
Written by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Illustration by Dominick Saponaro
A new adventure of Peter Crossman, special agent of the Knights Templar—a man prepared to administer last rites with one hand while wielding a flamethrower with the other. Now an ancient manuscript of peculiar power has surfaced, and Crossman’s assignment is simple: Get it for the Temple at all costs. This will lead to conflict with entities secular and otherwise—and to a new encounter with Sister Mary Magdalene of the Special Action Executive of the Poor Clares.
July 9
“Sleep Walking Now and Then”
Written by Richard Bowes
Edited by Ellen Datlow
Illustration by Richie Pope
“Sleep Walking Now and Then,” by Richard Bowes, is a weird, futuristic novelette about an interactive theater production in The Big Arena (aka New York City) and the mystery surrounding its inspiration.
July 16
“La Signora”
Written by Bruce McAllister
Illustration by Tran Nguyen
Edited by Ellen Datlow
“La Signora,” by Bruce McAllister, is a dark fantasy about a teenage American living in an ancient Italian fishing village with his parents. He’s invited by his friends to go night-fishing on one special night, and although he knows his parents would disapprove, he goes anyway.
July 20
“A Short History of the Twentieth Century, or, When You Wish Upon a Star”
Written by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Edited by Ellen Datlow
Illustration by Wesley Allsbrook
“A Short History of the Twentieth Century, or, When You Wish Upon a Star,” by Kathleen Ann Goonan, is about the daughter of a rocket scientist in the post 1950s who wants to go to the moon, despite being discouraged because “girls don’t do that.” A novelette that’s science fiction by association.
July 23
“Brisk Money”
Written by Adam Christopher
Edited by Paul Stevens
Illustration by Gérard Dubois
Raymond Chandler famously hated science fiction, saying “They pay brisk money for this crap?” However, it has recently come to light that Chandler secretly wrote a series of stories and novels starring a robot detective. He then burnt all the manuscripts and went on writing his noir masterpieces. Unknown to Chandler, his housekeeper had managed to save some of these discarded manuscripts from the grate in his study, preserving the tales for future generations.
July 29
“The Colonel”
Written by Peter Watts
Edited by David G. Hartwell
Illustration by Richard Anderson
Colonel Moore is in trouble. His wife has retreated into a virtual heaven and his son remains missing after joining an extrasolar mission to track down an alien race. He is presently tasked by his superiors with the threat assessment of hived human intelligences, one of which successfully attacks a compound under his watch. Now, one of the strongest hive minds in the world approaches Moore with an offer that could completely change his world.
July 30
“A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade”
Written by John Chu
Edited by Ann VanderMeer
Generation after generation, engineers have maintained the barricade, a shield that protects civilization against Turbulence, this strange force that destroys both minds and machines. As Turbulence grows ever more intense and the barricade begins to fail, can Ritter live up to the demands of his father, an engineer the equal of any hero in the Five Great Classical Novels, as they struggle to prevent this civilization from falling like every civilization has before it?
August 6
“In the Sight of Akresa”
Written by Ray Wood
Edited by Carl Engle-Laird
Claire’s lover has no tongue. A slave liberated from a heathen temple, Aya cannot tell the story of her stolen voice, or of her and Claire’s unfolding love. She cannot speak her pain, her joy, or her sorrow. And if she sees that which eludes the blind goddess of justice, she cannot bear witness. “In the Sight of Akresa” is a tragic fantasy romance from debut author Ray Wood.
August 12
“Sleeper”
Written by Jo Walton
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
History is a thing we make—in more senses than one. And from more directions.
August 19
“The Angelus Guns”
Written by Max Gladstone
Illustration by Victor Mosquera
Edited by Marco Palmieri
Thea’s brother has joined the rebellion brewing among the rainbow-blooded angels of the crystal city. She leaves her mothers in deep time to find him and bring him home before the battleship guns sing.
August 20
“Seven Commentaries on an Imperfect Land”
Written by Ruthanna Emrys
Illustration by Scott Bakal
Edited by Carl Engle-Laird
Tikanu, land of laws and patterns, magic and wild mint, is not found behind hidden doors. It passes across borders and takes root wherever its people settle. This collection of seven commentaries reveals a world waiting patiently at the edges of vision, that welcomes all who are willing to do the work of building it.
August 26
“Strongest Conjuration”
Written by Skyler White
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
A new short story from the world of Sklyer White and Steven Brust’s The Incrementalists.
August 27
“A Cup of Salt Tears”
Written by Isabel Yap
Edited by Carl Engle-Laird
Makino’s mother taught her the words to say, showed her how to carve her name into cucumbers, and insisted that she never let a kappa touch her. But when she grows up and her husband Tetsuya falls deathly ill, a kappa that claims to know her comes calling with a barbed promise. “A Cup of Salt Tears” is a dark fantasy leaning towards horror that asks how much someone can sacrifice for another.
