Tag Archives: TOR.com

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Pleasures, Times They Are A-Changing, Web & Technology

Learning to Love Paper Books Again | Tor.com

By James Davis Nicoll, Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:00pm

Photo: Gülfer ERGİN [via Unsplash]

I was an early adopter of ebooks, in part because of my terrible eyesight, but mostly because I happened to break into reviewing just before the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Fear of contaminated packages increased shipping time for cases of manuscripts from four days to forty. Electronic books (which in those long-ago days were really just doc files) provided instant gratification.

At one point, I even considered ditching paper entirely in favor of electronic formats. In addition to the instant gratification angle, one does not have to worry about ebooks overloading the floors of one’s residence. One can carry a few thousand ebooks in one’s pocket. One can—and for me, this is the killer app—adjust font size. Ebooks are great, and I would defend them to your last breath.

Source: Learning to Love Paper Books Again | Tor.com

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Memories & History, Pleasures

Five Classic SFF Collections That Are Too Good to Be Forgotten | Tor.com

By James Davis Nicoll, Fri Nov 4, 2022 10:00am

Photo: Chris Lawton [via Unsplash]

I just now finished writing an essay about older novels worth a read. Which led me to wonder: what older collections are worth a read?

Fortunately my library is capacious, even if my memory sometimes fails. So, here are notes on five older collections that you might enjoy. Do I own stock in a used bookstore? No, I have no financial incentive to recommend older works that might be out of print. In fact, I was surprised to discover (on searching) that some of these collections were still in print (if electronic versions can be considered print).

The rest are all available through the wonders of online used book stores.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: Five Classic SFF Collections That Are Too Good to Be Forgotten | Tor.com

Film & Movies, Memories & History, Pleasures, Television

Six Episodes of The X-Files That Are Perfect for Halloween | Tor.com

By Lorna Wallace, Mon Oct 17, 2022 11:00am 19 comments 4 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: Fox

The X-Files is known for its sci-fi storylines but every so often it reaches out a toe and dips it squarely into the horror genre. The more horror-focused episodes tend to be the self-contained monster-of-the-week outings, largely separate from the series’ overarching alien mythology story arc. This makes them perfect to view as standalone stories—and also perfect to watch on a crisp October night in the lead-up to Halloween.

There’s an X-Files episode for every mood, so some of the episodes on this list are truly scary—the show’s writers knew exactly how to get in your head and fuel some memorable nightmares—while others have creepy elements that are lightened by comedy. So come join Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Sculley (Gillian Anderson) for some classic spooks and scares—but be warned, there are spoilers ahead!

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: https://www.tor.com/2022/10/17/six-episodes-of-the-x-files-that-are-perfect-for-halloween/

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Love & Relationships

Five YA Fantasies for Lovers of Libraries | Tor.com

Five Books About…

Photo: Jaredd Craig [via Unsplash]

By Intisar Khanani, March 23, 2021

As an inveterate reader, I more or less grew up in my local libraries—as many of you may have as well.

There is something magical about libraries, as repositories of knowledge and story and hope. There’s even something magical about librarians, be they guardians or keepers or the ultimate hosts inviting you into a safe haven lined with stories that hum with life.

Source: Five YA Fantasies for Lovers of Libraries | Tor.com

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Film & Movies, Games, Television

7 Wrong Lessons That Creators Learned From Game of Thrones | Tor.com

Credit: HBO

By Charlie Jane Anders, Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:00pm

Like a few other pop-culture behemoths, Game of Thrones cast a huge shadow and spawned many would-be imitators. The Marvel Cinematic Universe led to a dozen copycat “cinematic universes”; Lost spawned a ton of TV shows that went down endless cryptic rabbit holes; The Dark Knight cursed us with a decade of “chaotic-evil dude who has magic blow-everything-up powers and gets caught on purpose” movies. The thing is, people always take the wrong lesson from these successes—they focus on the froth rather than the churn, the tip rather than the iceberg, and what a popular thing turned into over time, rather than what made it popular in the first place.

Here are seven of the wrong lessons that everyone learned from the phenomenal success of Game of Thrones—one for each of the Seven Kingdoms. (I miss writing listicles, can you tell?)

Editor’s Note: Image at top is from my collection, George R.R. Martin, author, at Comic-Con, San Diego, CA.

Source: https://www.tor.com/2021/03/15/7-wrong-lessons-that-creators-learned-from-game-of-thrones/