“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”
We’re excited to share the cover for Sarah Gailey’s Upright Women Wanted, coming February 2020 from Tor.com Publishing!
Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her—a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
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Upright Women Wanted
Hugo award winner Sarah Gailey is an internationally published writer of fiction and nonfiction. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and the Boston Globe, and they are a regular contributor for Tor.com and Barnes & Noble. Their most recent fiction credits include Fireside Fiction, Tor.com, and The Atlantic. Their debut novella, River of Teeth, was published in 2017 via Tor.com and was a 2018 Hugo and Nebula award finalist. You can find links to their work at www.sarahgailey.com; find them on social media @gaileyfrey.
This sounds like an interesting story I might like to read.
I do wonder at the length though: 176 pages. Is it a full novel or a novella? Also why do we get a half novel length but at a full novel price? Are you breaking up this book into 2 parts to sell separately or is this the whole story?
To give context to my questions: my husband bought another Tor book, The Armored Saint, last year because of all the hype about it. When it came in the mail he was shocked to see how short it was, the length of a Middle Reader chapter book, when we had paid full price for it. He was further upset when the book ended on what seemed like a chapter break but was the end of the book. He was let down on that being a cliffhanger instead of just writing/printing a regular 300 page novel and finishing the story.
@1 Tor.com Publishing is almost exclusively novella length works, I believe they have only published a handful of novels to date as their intention when establishing the imprint was to bring more exposure to the shorter length works that are usually only published through other mediums.
Also, the price is fair.
This is one reason why shopping at your local indie bookstore is great– you can see the book in person and decide whether you want to read a novel or a novella.
@2 I guess I saw the name Tor and thought of the other Tor I know, and the one that I’ve seen as logos on books. (https://us.macmillan.com/torforge/#) But I guess that Tor is part of Macmillan publishers, and does all kind of lengths and formats of books.
I din’t know Tor.com was a different thing. (https://publishing.tor.com/).
You learn something new every day.
@1, historically, 176 pages would be novel-length, albeit perhaps a bit on the thin side. Current novel-length is more towards doorstop-size.
Tor.com is still part of “the other Tor” :-)
And if you follow the Amazon link, you’ll see “Published by MacMillan”
Still, I don’t think $9.99 is very “fair” for a 176-page e-book. I like Sarah Gailey’s work, but I wouldn’t pay over $5 for it. But then, I never pay over $5 for a book…
@swampyankee: doorstop-sized, LOL! True
@theothain: Tor publishes many, many things. Yes, there has been a focus on shorter works, but many of those authors also publish full-length novels, generally Fantasy, with Tor. For example, Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series are novellas. They retail for $9.99 for Kindle.They are also illustrated. She has two other long-running series, October Daye and Incryptid, published through Tor, which are full-length. McGuire is a beloved author – yes, I pay full price. Judgement call.
@LB: unfortunately, my “local” indie bookstores are 1-2 hour drives away. However, for books on Amazon, if you scroll far enough, Amazon does give physical details of most books, including page length.
@Hannibal & auspex: I, too, am on a seriously limited budget. While I do spend over $5 in a book, it is an occasional treat and not a steady diet. I’m also limited space-wise, and so I buy mostly ebooks. I wait until they drop in price for most titles. I do haunt used book hangouts locally. It’s a great day to find a title you really want for $1-2. I would not pay $10 for this book, either. Sorry. For Gailey fans, it’s worth it. I just haven’t read her other yet. I hear great things, though, so I have it.
Like everything else, Tor fiction can be hit or miss. I really liked the novella Mapping the Interior, by Stephen Graham Jones. I recently read The Atrocities by Jeremy C Shipp and it was “all right”. It’s just been nominated for a Hugo Award, I think. I paid $3.99 for each, which I think is fair for under 200 pages.
Just my thoughts.