Tamsyn Muir on Nona, Sanderson Sneak Peek, and How to Be Good at Life

To view this email as a web page, go [here.]( [Tor.com Newsletter]( [Forward to a Friend]( MARK AS READ [You Can Procrastinate Anything If You Have Enough Books]( Reading, we’ve been told many times, is good for us. It teaches us things. It’s good for your health. It’s good for your brain. It increases empathy. It can have mental health benefits. Reading will show you the world. But in a new Mark As Read column, Molly Templeton discusses one of the greatest benefits reading has to offer: It’s an incredibly effective and enjoyable method of procrastination. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( NONA IS HERE! [Tamsyn Muir on Lyctorhood as Genderf*ckery and Greasy Bible Study in Nona the Ninth]( Warning: this interview will hit different both before and after you read Nona. Natalie Zutter sits down with Locked Tomb author Tamsyn Muir for a discussion featuring out-of-context spoilers (“a ten thousand-year-old James Bond MILF with attachment issues.”), craft talk, bone magic, and of course, our favorite necromancers. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( WORLDBUILDING [Five SFF Settings That Feel Like Characters]( In science fiction and fantasy, a setting can have actual, magical power more often than not. Locations can feel like they’re living through stories of their own while the characters within them play out their small, individual tales. In stories like these, places become characters in their own right. Cole Rush highlights five settings from iconic SFF works that are an intrinsic part of the story. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( MISTBORN [Read Brandon Sanderson’s The Lost Metal: Prologue and Chapters One and Two]( Return to the world of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn! Tor.com is serializing The Lost Metal from now until its release on November 15. New chapters will go live every Monday at 12pm ET. We’re thrilled to also share selections from the audiobook edition, narrated by Michael Kramer—you can find the prologue through chapter two at the link! [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( STORYTELLING [I Have Decided That Being Bad at Breath of the Wild Means I Am Good at Life]( The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out five years ago to much critical acclaim. But Kali Wallace is really bad at it. And you know what? It’s great. Maybe being bad at Breath of the Wild can teach us a lot about storytelling—which means that it can also tell us something about life, because how we think about stories is inextricably linked to how we think about life. Wallace considers how getting joyfully lost in a world or a story can be more valuable than simply getting to the end as quickly as possible. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( PEELE'S HORRORVERSE [American Empire, Biblical Prophecy, and Cosmic Horror in Jordan Peele’s Nope]( Writer/director Jordan Peele opens the film Nope with a verse from the Hebrew prophet Nahum: “I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle.” In this essay, JR. Forasteros dives deep into the Bible, colonialism, history, and cosmic horror in discussing the movie’s central questions. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( READING RECOMMENDATIONS [A Crash Course Through the Worlds of John Brunner: 10 Essential Books]( Between the years 1951 and 1995, John Brunner wrote dozens of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery works, many of them award-winning. With a catalog that expansive, it can be a little intimidating to dive in. Fortunately, James Davis Nicoll has selected ten essential works—nine by Brunner, and one about him—that every fan should read. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( GRAB THE POPCORN [Six SFF Movies That Are So Bad They’re Good]( Movies that are known for being so bad, they’re good form a loose genre, but it is one that can be hard to define. Sometimes these films are classed as guilty pleasures or cult classics, and everyone has their favorites. Here, Lorna Wallace shares six films featuring scenery-chewing villains, campy dialogue, and baffling special effects that she genuinely loves—tell us about your own favorite examples in the comments! [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( ORIGINAL FICTION [“Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man” by Rich Larson]( When an illicit trade deal goes wrong and Quandary is blamed for it, she goes on the run to avoid the crosshairs of a bioengineered killer that only lives for 24 hours. If Q can evade it for that long, she just might survive. [Read more]( SHARE THIS: [Publish to Facebook]( [Publish to Twitter]( Follow Tor.com to get updates on all of our original fiction. FOLLOW US: [Follow Us on Facebook]( [Follow Us on Twitter]( [Follow Us on Tumblr]( [Follow Us on Pinterest]( This email was sent by: Macmillan 120 Broadway New York, NY, 10271, US We respect your right to privacy - [view our policy]( Macmillan believes piracy hurts writers, readers and everyone who loves books. Learn more and report suspicious activity [here.]( To subscribe to this or other email communications from Macmillan, please click [here](. Visit our [profile center]( to update your email address and/or other information. If you no longer wish to receive this email communication, click [here]( to unsubscribe.