US publishing company – initially of paperbacks and later moving into hardcover also – founded by Tom Doherty, then aged 44, in 1980, in conjunction with Richard Gallen; the first titles were published in 1981. Doherty had previously been in control of
Ace Books
for five years. The first editor-in-chief was Harriet McDougal, and first head sf editor was Jim
Baen
, who left in 1983 to form his own company in 1984. Beth
Meacham
became sf/fantasy editor in 1984, soon becoming editor-in-chief; David
Hartwell
became consulting sf editor the same year, remaining with the firm until his death in 2016. This put two of the most expert sf editors in the US in the same company. Tor expanded rapidly, publishing only a few sf titles in 1981 but 137 in 1986, which made them one of the most important sf publishers. At the end of 1986 Doherty and his partners sold Tom Doherty Associates, Inc to St Martin's Press, a move perhaps connected to the bankruptcy of Pinnacle (Tor's paperback distributor on a contract basis), and to Tor's rapid expansion which had left Tor temporarily short of cash; but Doherty stayed on to run Tor. In 1988, Tor introduced
Tor Doubles
, similar to the old
Ace Doubles
(see
Dos
). Beth Meacham left in 1989, but continued (from Arizona) as an executive editor. The senior editor in charge of sf and fantasy then became Patrick
Nielsen Hayden
. By 1988 Tor and St Martin's together topped all US sf publishers in terms of number of titles published, 256; but Tor found this too much, and dropped from twelve sf/fantasy/horror titles per month to 9. By 1990-1991 Tor was publishing fewer sf/fantasy books than
Bantam
/
Doubleday
/Dell and Putnam/Berkley/Ace, though during those years – and since – it has published more sf/fantasy hardcovers than any other firm in the English-speaking world. In 1991 Tor dropped its separate horror list. Robert
Gleason
became editor-in-chief in 1991. Tor is currently part of the Holtzbrinck publishing group, now known as Macmillan Publishers. There is a UK sister imprint, Tor UK.
Tor has published many important and long-established sf authors, including Poul
Anderson
, Greg
Bear
, Michael
Bishop
, Orson Scott
Card
, John
Kessel
, Pat
Murphy
, Mike
Resnick
, Kim Stanley
Robinson
, Sheri S
Tepper
, Jack
Vance
, Walter Jon
Williams
, Gene
Wolfe
and Jack
Womack
. Authors whose first novels have been published by Tor include Tom
Maddox
, Rebecca
Ore
, Richard Paul
Russo
, John
Scalzi
and Jo
Walton
.
Tor's popularity with readers is clearly shown in the
Locus Awards
category for best publisher, where Tor Books has an unbroken string of wins from 1988 to the present day. More recently, since July 2008, Tor has published a leading
Online Magazine
:
Tor.com
. In May 2014, Tor.com was also announced as the name of a new Tor imprint for novella-length ebooks and audiobooks, with a print-on-demand option and possibly even standard print publishing for a select number of titles. [PN/DRL]
further reading
links
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