Tor.com’s novella program is once again open to unsolicited submissions! For the next month, Lee Harris and I will be reading and evaluating original novellas submitted by hopeful authors to http://submissions.tor.com/tornovellas/. You can find full guidelines here, and we highly recommend you read the guidelines before submitting, but you can also check below the cut for a brief summary of what we’re looking for.
Tor.com is looking for complete, original science fiction and fantasy stories of between 30,000 and 40,000 words. We are seeking stories with commercial appeal that take advantage of the particular strengths of the novella format. We will consider stories that are slightly shorter than 30,000 and slightly longer than 40,000, but we won’t look at anything under 17,500 words. For all shorter stories, please submit to Tor.com’s Original Short Fiction program, which you can find guidelines for here.
At this time, we are particularly seeking science fictional novellas of all varieties. Lee Harris is particularly interested in space opera, time travel thrillers and interesting new approaches to classic science fiction themes, while Carl Engle-Laird is seeking near-future science fiction and technothrillers that trace their lineage from cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk, as well as space operas with the sense of grandeur and mystery that remind readers of the closeness between space opera and fantasy. We will also be happy to accept fantasy and urban fantasy stories, though we will be prioritizing the SF submissions.
In addition, both Lee Harris and Carl Engle-Laird actively request submissions from writers from underrepresented populations. This includes, but is not limited to, writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class and physical or mental ability. We believe that good science fiction and fantasy reflects the incredible diversity and potential of the human species, and hope our catalog will reflect that.
I don’t think you need to bold “actively request submissions from writers from underrepresented populations”. This Tor.com. Everyone already knows this to be the case.
Exciting news! I love both space opera and cyberpunk. Looking forward to the bunch of stories coming. :)
Does this mean that Short Fiction program is also open for submissions?There is no official announcement (yet?).
@3: Yes, the short fiction program is also open. You can find it at http://submissions.tor.com/tororiginals/
@@.-@: Thank you very much!
I was all excited to see the announcements until I realized that there’s an enormous length-gap between the short fiction and novella program. Setting aside a vague reference to special exceptions at the ends of the scale, it looks like Tor.com doesn’t have a place for anything roughly in the 12K-30K range. Not complaining, of course, but disappointed for one particular story I someday hope to find a home for.
@6 If it’s in the novella range (18k and up), you can go ahead and submit it to the novella program. We will be considering novella-length projects that excite us, even if they don’t strictly comply to our conditions of highest preference.
Would Steampunk fit into the novella category as Fantasy?
@9 Steampunk is some combination of fantasy and science fiction, I’d say. You can send it.
Novella-length YA sf, too?
Botheration! I was working on my Great SF Novella when I took a nap – I’ve been working hard at getting the Oompa-Loompa Young Adults ready and in gear for their annual Wumpus Hunt – and a grue nipped in and ate the story, nipping out just as I woke and reached for my wumpus rifle. I count myself lucky that the grue grabbed the first thing handy and that I myself was not eaten. I think it was itself a young adult, only three metres long, and not the seven-metre long specimens we see all too often in the river valley.
Next year?
Hi Carl, will there be another novella reading period in the near future, or is this it for a while?
@13 How soon we reopen will depend on how much slush we get during this open period. We’ll keep our status up to date in the portal and in the guidelines.
Do you accept vampire romance stories?
Thanks!
@15 We’re not really looking for paranormal romance right now, sorry.
Does the deadline include June 1st or is it until June 1st at 00:00 hours? So much editing!
Will there be any foreseeable extensions on the submission period? I just found out about this.
As far as categories you’re interested in reading, would there be room for psychological thrillers or stories with a historical edge?
Thank you
kind regards
I notice the form does not provide for a pen-name. Should we include our real name, or the name we choose to write under?
@19. We’ve extended by a month. As for categories – if your stories are set in the genres we described, then sure. But no stories without a science fictional or fantastical setting/plot/theme.
@21. Either. Unimportant at this stage.
If I’ve got a novella under consideration at one other place, is a multiple submission okay? If I let you guys know about it? Thanks!
Sorry, simultaneous submission, I mean simultaneous submission! Not multiple. Not simultipltaneous. Simply simultaneous but not multiple. Not multiple: but yes, on the other hand, definitely simultaneous. Are you okay with it, if the other venue is?
@24. We ask that you not simultaneously submit.
Two questions. Should I address my submission cover letter to Carl Engles-Laird, if I think he’d be most interested?
Does the submission window close on July 1st, as in tomorrow night, rather than 12AM today/tonight?
@26. We will be closing tomorrow around 9:00 AM EST. You can address your submission to me, but you don’t have to.
Are these still being read? I haven’t seen any change in the queue for about two weeks, and I don’t know if I should peddle my wares elsewhere or not >.>
We are still reading submissions. If you wish to withdraw your novella, though, we’ll understand. Email us at submissions AT tor DOT com before sending your submission anywhere else, please.
Hello! When will Tor reopen to novella submissions?
Hello! I’m way late for the party, but I’m just wondering if this is an annual call for submissions, and when to expect the next one? Thanks!
As an up-and-comer with a lifelong obsession with cyberpunk in all media formats, I very much look forward to my shot at joining the big houses. I wasn’t even aware of this opportunity until most recently, and am extremely excited to toss my hat into the ring. Best of luck to all!
Gene Altshuler
gpa@d-web.com
530-387-7114
Dear Mr. Harris :
Although you expressed a singular interest in novella’s I am asking if you will consider my full length novel. The premise and approach is right in line with many of your previously published works.
The Walking Suns tells the story of an abandoned young girl on a distant world with only vague memories of her parents and prior life. After struggling to survive on roots and berries she becomes adapt at hunting. One day she comes across a pitiful, starving Veer kitten and a bond forms between the telepathic cat and the young girl. Vel grows into a huge cat eight feet in length, her back at shoulder height and weighing over 1200 pounds. The story progresses from their travails on their home world to the length and breath of the Federation.
The protagonist is an eerily brilliant young girl. Shay, the Veer cat Vel, and the feral children they encounter become media sensations when introduced to the Federation, an alliance of 230 worlds colonized by humans and other races. Almost as sensational as the Veers telepathic ability is the incredible cognitive abilities of Shay and the children. They have eidetic memories and their IQ’s are essentially off-scale. They are viewed as the answer to the long sought homo superior.
The Walking Suns can best be summarized as The Hunger Games meets Star Trek as it is a melding of hard and soft science fiction combining the essential elements of Asimov’s second and third stages in the evolution of the genre: hard science and the psychosocial aspects of societies far in the future.
The story has broad scope and sweep from the battle to eliminate the Vipers, who have been raiding Federation planets, to a mission to explore the local galactic cluster, which leads to the discovery of new alien races and extraordinary scientific phenomena. However, the personal story of this extraordinary young girl, as she grows into womanhood, is not lost in the flow of the narrative. The novel presents the emergence of a powerful and engaging person whose loves, passions, and grit cause her to succeed, not just survive.
While The Walking Suns is a standalone book, it could serve as the first in a series. At almost 119,000 words it has been edited by Michelle Anderson who has previously edited several of J.R.R. Martin’s books.
Before retiring at age 46 I was the Partner in Charge of Advanced Information Technology consulting at the international firm of KPMG Peat Marwick. Writing has become my passion and I have been reading science fiction since I was mesmerized by A.E. van Vogt’s Weapon Shops of Isher when I was ten years old. I have authored articles on politics and current affairs and have written for several food magazines. For a number of years I wrote a bi-weekly column on politics and current affairs for California’s oldest newspaper. Although previously published this is my first novel.