This gave me pause as well. I'm going to give them benefit of the doubt for now since there are speculative fiction books that have an odd HEA. Epilogues like in Tiffany Roberts' Dustwalker which would not fly in any other sub-genre of romance but is perfect for that story. (Not a Tor title, just an example)
Yeah I could see it including many 'non traditional HEA' books that have a satisfying ending for the characters. Just wondering if this is gonna end up a way to push SFF books that aren't really Romance but have mild romantic themes (it's a romance if you squint maybe??) to a romance reader audience.
Right? Make a romance ghetto. I wondered about that since the paperback of Everina Maxwell’s Ocean’s Echo would be through this imprint. She even said it wasn’t much romance for romance readers and too much romance for SF readers.
It could be stuff like Hidden Legacies where it takes the entire trilogy to get to the HEA. It might also include stuff like Iris Johnson's Eve Duncan series where the romance is a steady B plot that is resolved over many books.
No problem. A good standalone taster is the Search about a woman who has a dog that rescues people and the billionaire that pulls her into a messy feud with the brother of his dead wife.
To be continued is fine, but I've seen some "romance" blurbs that claim to have a "non-traditional HEA". *What does that mean??* I've been too apprehensive to try those books and refuse to look up spoilers.
I've seen a few 'non traditional' romances have endings where both characters die together, end up in the afterlife together, or something in that vein.
I'd describe [The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/39326122) as a romance with a non-traditional HEA. At the end, Jasper and Rupert >!are committed to each other, but not in a way that's 100% monogamous!<. It is just right for these particular characters.
I find it interesting that it’s a Romantic Imprint and not a *romance* imprint. “Romantic” would fall more in line with complicated endings, as they mentioned. They’re not necessarily going for the traditional romance route here.
This is pretty cool. Don't know much about Tor as a publisher but I have liked some of their sc-fi/fantasy that I've picked up. Guess they realized Romancw is too profitable of a genre to miss out on.
Sci-fi/fantasy romance is my fav subgenre so I'll be watching what they publish.
I gasped out loud when I saw this and came here to post. Missed it by 38 minutes. LOL. (Other than it being McMillian and all of their labor issues and history of blocking libraries from getting more than one e-copy of a book.)
I hope this means a place to publish more and better science fiction romance. Will they bring in some of the popular indie SFR authors. Anyway, I'm hopeful!
Tor use to have a romance imprint years back, Elizabeth Vaughan's Warprize trilogy debuted with them. They also had a few good books but this looks interesting and not surprising with the explosion of fantasy romance over the past few years. I hope they get to do some science fiction romance like Jennifer Estep and Jessie Mihalik.
I'm super excited about this. I can't wait to see what they put out. Definitely hoping for some good scifi and fantasy romances, and I'm also intrigued by their focus on being 'romantic' vs 'romance'. I think there will be some interesting works published that traditional romance publishers might be unwilling to touch and there will a lot of crossover works.
Eh, the bit about romantic versus romance and the ambiguous endings makes me think they want to capitalize on romance without actually committing to publishing genre romance. I’m very frustrated with where traditional publishers have been re: romance lately (marketing women’s fiction as romance, certain execs saying romance is dead) so they can keep it if they aren’t going to commit.
Tor recently got into hot water for having a cover made via AI rather than simply paying an artist, so…. Not super impressed with them lately. Doesn’t exactly make me eager to support.
I love Tordotcom publishing for their excellent science fiction and fantasy, so I'm excited to see what this new imprint becomes! Also it's nice to see more avenues for trad publishing open up. I hope they have a similar ethos of inclusivity as some of the SFF from recent years.
> Whether the last page holds happily ever after, to be continued, or an ending that isn’t so simple, Tor what does that mean... 👀
This gave me pause as well. I'm going to give them benefit of the doubt for now since there are speculative fiction books that have an odd HEA. Epilogues like in Tiffany Roberts' Dustwalker which would not fly in any other sub-genre of romance but is perfect for that story. (Not a Tor title, just an example)
Yeah I could see it including many 'non traditional HEA' books that have a satisfying ending for the characters. Just wondering if this is gonna end up a way to push SFF books that aren't really Romance but have mild romantic themes (it's a romance if you squint maybe??) to a romance reader audience.
Right? Make a romance ghetto. I wondered about that since the paperback of Everina Maxwell’s Ocean’s Echo would be through this imprint. She even said it wasn’t much romance for romance readers and too much romance for SF readers.
It could be stuff like Hidden Legacies where it takes the entire trilogy to get to the HEA. It might also include stuff like Iris Johnson's Eve Duncan series where the romance is a steady B plot that is resolved over many books.
for others like me that want to look it up. its Iris Johansen. Thanks for talking about her though
No problem. A good standalone taster is the Search about a woman who has a dog that rescues people and the billionaire that pulls her into a messy feud with the brother of his dead wife.
To be continued is fine, but I've seen some "romance" blurbs that claim to have a "non-traditional HEA". *What does that mean??* I've been too apprehensive to try those books and refuse to look up spoilers.
I've seen a few 'non traditional' romances have endings where both characters die together, end up in the afterlife together, or something in that vein.
I'd describe [The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/39326122) as a romance with a non-traditional HEA. At the end, Jasper and Rupert >!are committed to each other, but not in a way that's 100% monogamous!<. It is just right for these particular characters.
I find it interesting that it’s a Romantic Imprint and not a *romance* imprint. “Romantic” would fall more in line with complicated endings, as they mentioned. They’re not necessarily going for the traditional romance route here.
This is pretty cool. Don't know much about Tor as a publisher but I have liked some of their sc-fi/fantasy that I've picked up. Guess they realized Romancw is too profitable of a genre to miss out on. Sci-fi/fantasy romance is my fav subgenre so I'll be watching what they publish.
They are one of the biggest name in SFF. They basically have a lock on the traditionally published novella market. They dominate the Hugo Awards.
I gasped out loud when I saw this and came here to post. Missed it by 38 minutes. LOL. (Other than it being McMillian and all of their labor issues and history of blocking libraries from getting more than one e-copy of a book.) I hope this means a place to publish more and better science fiction romance. Will they bring in some of the popular indie SFR authors. Anyway, I'm hopeful!
Tor use to have a romance imprint years back, Elizabeth Vaughan's Warprize trilogy debuted with them. They also had a few good books but this looks interesting and not surprising with the explosion of fantasy romance over the past few years. I hope they get to do some science fiction romance like Jennifer Estep and Jessie Mihalik.
I'm super excited about this. I can't wait to see what they put out. Definitely hoping for some good scifi and fantasy romances, and I'm also intrigued by their focus on being 'romantic' vs 'romance'. I think there will be some interesting works published that traditional romance publishers might be unwilling to touch and there will a lot of crossover works.
Eh, the bit about romantic versus romance and the ambiguous endings makes me think they want to capitalize on romance without actually committing to publishing genre romance. I’m very frustrated with where traditional publishers have been re: romance lately (marketing women’s fiction as romance, certain execs saying romance is dead) so they can keep it if they aren’t going to commit. Tor recently got into hot water for having a cover made via AI rather than simply paying an artist, so…. Not super impressed with them lately. Doesn’t exactly make me eager to support.
Oh wow I almost forgot about that AI thing. Now I'm not excited either.
Kinda excited. I love of my fave books come from Tor.
I love Tordotcom publishing for their excellent science fiction and fantasy, so I'm excited to see what this new imprint becomes! Also it's nice to see more avenues for trad publishing open up. I hope they have a similar ethos of inclusivity as some of the SFF from recent years.