Live from JordanCon: What’s New From Tor Books For 2013
The weekend of April 19 – 21, 2013 marked the 5th Annual JordanCon gathering in Roswell, Georgia, and I was fortunate enough to be present for the festivities celebrating not only the life of the late Robert Jordan, but also the conclusion of The Wheel of Time series, which for many fans, has been a decades long experience that concluded on January 8, 2013 with the publication of A Memory of Light. This year’s Toastmaster was Leigh Butler (who did an excellent job, both as Toastmaster and as a panelist), whose re-reads of the Wheel of Time have kept many fans laughing and sighing for many years while we waited in anticipation for the final book release. For those not familiar with JordanCon (and I imagine that is a lot of people, because the attendance is never huge), it is a convention which provides panels, author signings, workshops, live gaming and costume contests for fans of the Wheel of Time. This year, it was also host to the 51st DeepSouthCon, a roving science fiction convention.
One panel that I attended was from Tor/Forge Books presented by Paul Stevens, and was an hour-long overview of what has recently released and what fantasy readers can expect in the coming months. There are several major trends that I noted from this overview. The first is that Alternate History is on the rise. The list contained numerous offerings of different historical events reimagined by authors such as Marie Brennan, Michele Lang, Jo Walton and Mary Robinette Kowal. Secondly, many books in the review were sequels, or were only one part of a multi-part book series. The list provided by the publisher was extensive, so for the sake of brevity, I’m providing a couple of pared-down lists. The first is a list of best bets for libraries looking to expand their fantasy/science fiction collections. The second list is books that I predict will be most popular based on author. The lists are further divided between adult fantasy fiction and young adult fantasy fiction:
BEST BETS
Young Adult
The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson (This is Sanderson’s first young adult work) May 2013
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card (This is the movie tie-in edition) June 2013
Solstice, by P.J. Hoover June 2013
Extremities, by David Lubar July 2013
Adult Fantasy
A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan April 2013
Without a Summer, by Mary Robinette Kowal April 2013
Trio of Sorcery, by Mercedes Lackey (New Cover Art) April 2013
Antiagon Fire, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. May 2013
Earth Afire, by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston June 2013
Night Pilgrims, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro July 2013
Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson November 2013
Most Popular Predictions
Young Adult Fantasy
The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
Sacrifices (A Shadow Grail Novel), by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
The Eye of the World Graphic Novel, Volume 1, by Robert Jordan, Chuck Dixon and Chase Conley
Adult Fantasy
Night Pilgrims (A St. Germaine novel), by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Without a Summer, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Gate Thief, by Orson Scott Card
Hellhole Awakening, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson
Join me next time as I finish off my discussion of Women of Fantasy Fiction with Hugo Nominee Seanan McGuire, Eugie Foster and Mary Robinette Kowal. As always – Keep Reading! – and may all your stories be epic.
Tags: fantasy readers, JordanCon, Robert Jordan
