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Generation Ships & Magical Monsters: Tor Publishing Group Acquires Five New Titles by Olivia Waite

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Generation Ships & Magical Monsters: Tor Publishing Group Acquires Five New Titles by Olivia Waite

Home / Generation Ships & Magical Monsters: Tor Publishing Group Acquires Five New Titles by Olivia Waite
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Generation Ships & Magical Monsters: Tor Publishing Group Acquires Five New Titles by Olivia Waite

Announcing a new sci-fi cozy mystery series, and standalone romantasy novels!

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Published on March 7, 2024

Author Photo Credit: Charles Cox

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Photograph of author Olivia Waite beside the text: "Olivia Waite Murder by Memory / A Sharp New Line" and the logos for Tordotcom Publishing and Bramble

Author Photo Credit: Charles Cox

Tor Publishing Group (TPG) is pleased to announce the acquisition of three novellas and two novels by Olivia Waite, author of The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics. Courtney Miller-Callihan at Handspun Literary brokered the deal for world English rights to Sanaa Ali-Virani at TPG.

Scheduled for publication through TPG’s Tordotcom Publishing imprint in early 2025, the first book, Murder by Memory, will kick off a sci-fi novella series that pays homage to both classic cozy mystery and Sapphic romance.

A Memory Called Empire meets Miss Marple in this cozy, spaceborne mystery, helmed by a no-nonsense formidable auntie of a detective
Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.

Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes…

Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, Murder by Memory is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the series’ next installment.

In addition, TPG’s Bramble imprint is scheduled to publish A Sharp New Wine, a historical romance fantasy novel set in an alternate prohibition era Seattle where monsters live alongside humans, as well as one more standalone romantasy novel.

The Golem and the Jinni meets The House in the Cerulean Sea in this found family romance starring monsters and Faerie glamour in a working-class speakeasy

Mickey Wright is a bootlegger and a bard—an inhumanly magical musician—who’s found a home amongst the motley crew that runs the Tooth and Claw speakeasy. But after the latest bootleg run goes horribly wrong and the liquor is confiscated by the cops, the safety of Mickey and his family is threatened.

Until a miracle appears in the form of the bar owner’s brother Jeremiah, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. Turns out he wandered into Faerie, the elven realm that cut itself off from the mortal world and plunged the economy into ruin. But somehow Jeremiah has returned—and he’s brought back a new and seductively intoxicating wine that quickly becomes the Tooth’s signature product.

With the wine drawing the envy of every shady monster and rumrunner in town, everyone from the stunningly beautiful siren reporter to the vampire mob leader to the angelic undercover cop wants in on the secret. Mickey has always been more of a lover than a fighter; but he’ll have to navigate love, trust, and more than one deadly bar brawl if he means to untangle the twisted net of politics, power, and prejudice that make up his city, and which the Tooth and Claw can no longer evade.

Some of them won’t survive. The bar’s seer, Sam, told them so. And he’s never wrong.

Author Olivia Waite commented:

“I’m beyond delighted to be working with the Tordotcom and Bramble teams, bringing you three sci-fi mystery novellas and a pair of romantasy novels! After years of very Earth-focused historical research, it’s going to be a joy to play around with what-ifs and implausible delights. And crimes. Oh, there’s gonna be so many crimes.”

Editor Sanaa Ali-Virani added:

“I have long been a huge fan of Olivia’s romance novels, and especially of her deep character work. I am over the moon to be working with Olivia to bring readers her signature flair, now in new forms that can only be explored through the unique lens of science fiction and fantasy.”

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Olivia Waite writes queer science fiction, fantasy, historical romance, and essays. She is the romance fiction columnist for the New York Times Book Review.

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Reactor (formerly Tor.com) is a magazine that publishes original short speculative fiction along with daily essays, book reviews, media news, and more.
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