Black Gate

Over in their own corner of the internet, Serial Box is conducting a quiet little revolution in modern fantasy. Tapping into the power and availability of digital readers, Serial Box has brought a very old concept — serialized fiction — into the 21st Century.

Although maybe television is a better comparison. Like TV, Serial Box offers multiple stories in a rich variety of genres, and they release new episodes every week. Each of their serials typically runs for a “season” of 10-16 weeks, and each is written by a team of talented writers. The stories are easy to jump into, the individual episodes are standalone (but contribute to a larger story arch), and each episode is available in both digital and audio formats. There are five ongoing series so far:

Tremontaine — The prequel to Ellen Kushner’s famed Riverside series (Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword, The Fall of The Kings)
Bookburners — A secret team of agents hunts down dangerous books containing deadly magic
ReMade — 23 teenagers all die the same minute, and wake up in a world of robots, space elevators, and dense jungle
Whitehall — An historical tale of Catherine of Braganza, filled with Intrigue, romance, and scandal
The Witch Who Came In From the Cold — Spies and sorcerers battle for home and country in Cold War Prague

Now Saga Press has created omnibus collections of Bookburners (coming January 31) and Tremontaine (May 2), as well as The Witch Who Came in from the Cold (June 13). Here’s all the deets.

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Thoraiya Dyer is an Australian writer who has published short fiction in Clarkesworld, Apex, Cosmos, Analog, and multiple anthologies. Crossroads of Canopy, her debut novel, is set in a giant mythical rainforest controlled by living gods. It will be published in hardcover at the end of this month by Tor Books. Want to get in on the ground floor on a fast-rising career? Now’s your chance.

At the highest level of a giant forest, thirteen kingdoms fit seamlessly together to form the great city of Canopy. Thirteen goddesses and gods rule this realm and are continuously reincarnated into human bodies. Canopy’s position in the sun, however, is not without its dark side. The nation’s opulence comes from the labor of slaves, and below its fruitful boughs are two other realms: Understorey and Floor, whose deprived citizens yearn for Canopy’s splendor.

Unar, a determined but destitute young woman, escapes her parents’ plot to sell her into slavery by being selected to serve in the Garden under the goddess Audblayin, ruler of growth and fertility. As a Gardener, she wishes to become Audblayin’s next Bodyguard while also growing sympathetic towards Canopy’s slaves.

When Audblayin dies, Unar sees her opportunity for glory – at the risk of descending into the unknown dangers of Understorey to look for a newborn god. In its depths, she discovers new forms of magic, lost family connections, and murmurs of a revolution that could cost Unar her chance… or grant it by destroying the home she loves.

Crossroads of Canopy is Book One in the Titan’s Forest Trilogy. It will be published by Tor Books on January 31, 2017. It is 333 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover art is by Marc Simonetti. Read an excerpt at Tor.com.