Tor.com
| Website | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Tor.com |
| Owner/Maintainer: | Macmillan |
| Dates: | 2008-present |
| Type: | online magazine/community |
| Fandom: | science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc. |
| URL: | https://tor.com |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
See also: Tor Books.
Tor.com is a Web magazine and community covering science fiction, fantasy, and horror of all media types. The site publishes news, reviews, and critical essays on a wide variety of material as well as offering original short fiction. While the site shares a name and corporate ownership with Tor Books, the two entities operate mostly independent of one another.[1]. In 2014, Macmillan launched a traditional publishing imprint spun off from Tor.com, specializing in novellas and other shorter works; this imprint was renamed Tordotcom in 2020.
Content
With the exception of most news posts, readers may (and are encouraged to) comment on most content published on Tor.com. Discussions on popular subjects, notably including movie and television reviews, can accumulate dozens to hundreds of comments. Comment posts are moderated, and moderation policies are enforced, but such moderation is usually not intrusive and occurs in a fairly small proportion of discussions. (Moderators are also able, and sometimes called upon, to fix minor typographical or other errors in posted content.)
News
Regular features on the site include monthly listings of genre fiction releases from traditional and independent publishers, coverage of major industry conventions and events (San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, Disney Day, etc.), and reportage on upcoming literary and media genre works. (This last is largely secondary in nature, frequently citing trade publications including Deadline, Variety, and others as sources.)
Reviews
The site publishes a wide variety of reviews written by various authors. Reviews of traditionally published fiction are usually posted individually, although Jo Walton supplies an ongoing column based on her "reading list". Reviews of current genre television (now focusing mostly though not exclusively on streaming series) and movies are also featured.
Also notable are the site's rewatches and rereads, retrospective reviews of classic works. As of fall 2022, regular contributor Keith R. A. DeCandido is midway through a rewatch of Star Trek: Enterprise; once that rewatch is complete, the site will have assembled a complete archive reviewing every televised Star Trek episode ever aired. (DeCandido is presently also reviewing episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy as they appear.) Literary rereads have included coverage of Tolkien's Middle-Earth, C. S. Lewis's Narnia books, and a recently completed five-year series covering nearly all published works by Andre Norton.
Fiction
Tor.com is noted for featuring original work by a wide range of authors. Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children universe debuted on the site; other contributors include Lavie Tidhar, with a short series of arguably fanfiction-adjacent tales inspired by Robert van Gulik's novels about Judge Dee, a 7th-century Chinese magistrate.
Essays & Commentary
Throughout its history, the site has featured personal essays and commentary on genre-related topics in addition to reviews of specific works, notably including discussions of fandom and fanfiction.[note 1]
Notes
- ^ The listings given reflect Tor.com's official tags; broader results can be obtained using the site's general search engine. Also, a considerable body of relevant work exists under the site's "culture" tag.)