Tor books
The hugely successful sci-fi and fantasy publishing company reveals its work ethic and its vision for the future of fiction
Established by Tom Doherty in 1980, Tor Books has become a publishing house mecca for science fiction and fantasy artists and writers. Among its best-selling authors are luminaries of the genres such as Orson Scott Card, George R R Martin and Terry Goodkind. Take a glimpse at its gallery and you’ll see commissioned work from the likes of Dan Dos Santos, Justin Gerard and Scott M Fischer. Pulling all this together is Renaissance woman Irene Gallo, Tor.com’s associate publisher and creative director at Tor Books. She studied art and graphic design at a small New York production house whose main client was Tor Books. “After about eight months, Tor wanted to hire me directly,” she says. “I was 23 at the time. At 24 I became the art director. Twenty years later I’m still here. And it’s more exciting than ever.”
More has changed in publishing in the past 20 years than in the past 200. The internet, for better or worse, has completely shifted the way we search for and encounter stories and their accompanying art. The recent introduction of e-readers has muddied the waters further. But, as you’d expect from a forward-thinking sci-fi and fantasy publisher, Tor has embraced this brave new world rather than shivering behind a fort made of paperbacks.
At 24 I became Tor’s art director, after an incredible amount of support from my boss
“You can still find the big bestsellers,” says Irene, but readers and artists are less likely to stumble across a mid-list book that looks interesting to them. “It’s one of the reasons we started Tor.com. We wanted an online place for people to discover books that they might not hear about otherwise.”
For artists looking for the latest book cover art or an updated gallery with monthly featured artists, Tor’s website will probably be a familiar destination, and Irene is behind it as well. What you may not know is the site is publisher-neutral, in the belief that it will help every book company, and not just serve as a promotional platform for Tor’s publications. However, running the site adds to Irene’s workload.
a fluid approach
“All of this requires original art to market well and I can honestly say that my commissioning has risen steeply in the past five years,” says Irene. “We’re still publishing books like we always did, but digital publishing has let us be much more fluid about how we present stories.
We wanted an online place for people to discover books that they might not hear about otherwise
Through Tor.com we can publish short fiction, poetry and comics in a way that we never could before. All of which we accompany with original artwork.”
Artists looking for work, listen up! Tor doesn’t employ in-house artists for its titles, and instead works with freelancers. Realist painter Donato Giancola first worked with Irene on David Drake’s Queen of Demons, published in 1998, and since then he’s created “too many covers to list – or remember!” The fact that Donato has stuck with Tor for so long is telling. Not only has it paid for him to indulge in his passion for the past 20 years, but it also gives him a certain amount of freedom when it comes to new covers.
“The association with Irene has enabled me to push boundaries with book cover art that I likely wouldn’t have done with another client,” Donato says. “Irene provides an opportunity for you to spread your wings and fly on your own, to your greatest capacity. She supports our visions and is willing to back challenging and controversial content. I have produced more great art for her covers than any other client, by far. When you work for a friend, you do your damnedest not to let them down!”
Tor’s approach to the ever-changing publishing industry is refreshing, forwardthinking, and it’s got a lot of tantalisingly secretive projects up its sleeve. “We’re going to redesign Tor.com – give it a good facelift and add some needed navigation and functionality,” Irene says. “But I really can’t say much beyond that at this point. Suffice to say, we’ll need more art!” Now there’s a call to action if ever we heard one.