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Location: Dallas, Texas |  And thus was born a totally free reading challenge! That's right. You can fill all the reading levels with free short stories and novellas direct from Tor.com.
This is a great way to find some new authors without having to spend a dime and it's a great challenge for those of us with more limited reading time. The reviews for this one are just suggestions. If you don't want to do them no problem. Do jump in here to let us all know what you're reading. We'll all be looking for recs for this one. Read on!
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Bump. |
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Location: Austin, Tx | I'm in and have picked out my first three (of the household name variety, though I'm sure I'll try tons of new authors). This will be a good diversion for when I don't quite feel up to getting into a new book yet (or am waiting for a hold at the library). |
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Location: The Netherlands | I am still working on getting all of them added, there are about 400 on the list. If you want me to prioritize something put it in the requests thread and I'll do that one first. |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | valashain - 2016-01-09 11:14 AM I am still working on getting all of them added, there are about 400 on the list. If you want me to prioritize something put it in the requests thread and I'll do that one first. You guys are going to town with the new stories! Really appreciate the effort. It's going to make the challenge so much easier and more appealing. I'll be doing cover art the rest of the day when I get home at this pace! |
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Location: Dallas, Texas |  Check out all the new short fiction that's been added for Tor.com! We have over 200 now, double what we had when this challenge started, and there are another 200 still to go.
Hats off to illegible_scribble, valashain, and Engelbrecht for all their efforts! So many choices... I've got to get finished with this books I'm reading now so I can jump on one of these new stories to get my challenge going.
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Extreme Veteran
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| This is a wonderful addition to WWE! Some of the Tor publications are novellas, so great for that challenge too. I wonder how other readers of short stories and novellas are thinking about using these shorter forms in the other challenges-say as examples of new women authors or LGBTQ authors or even the published in 2016 category. I think I'll count the novellas toward the total number of books read as I did last year. |
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Location: The Netherlands | And we're up to 300. There's about a hundred left to go.
Edited by valashain 2016-01-24 5:27 AM
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Location: Dallas, Texas | valashain - 2016-01-24 5:27 AM And we're up to 300. There's about a hundred left to go. Thanks for the continued effort to get all these shorts in! Dlw28, they are a wonderful resource and I'm really enjoying the stories I've read so far. Just burned through the Sir Toby stories by Michael Swanwick and I loved them. I hope there are more to come or perhaps a full length novel? Does anyone know anything about this series? I liked those stories so much I decided to up my reading level to Magician (48 stories). I'm finding these really handy for all those short periods when I need a quick read but don't have a book on hand. Read the Toby's during my daughter's volleyball tournament in the gaps between games. That they're all free makes me feel like I'm getting away with something.
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| I've read the first two of the Swanwick Sir Toby series and need to catch up on the ones I've missed. I found a comment on his blog to the effect Swanwick wants to publish a full book's worth of short stories, close to 20 or so, so he's a ways off that unfortunately. |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | juliael71 - 2016-02-09 9:41 AM I've read the first two of the Swanwick Sir Toby series and need to catch up on the ones I've missed. I found a comment on his blog to the effect Swanwick wants to publish a full book's worth of short stories, close to 20 or so, so he's a ways off that unfortunately. That's great news, thanks! Even if he's off his own pace on writing them knowing that he's going to be writing a bunch more is really good to hear.
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Location: The Netherlands | Swanwick produces a lot of short fiction so he might get them sooner than you think. ISFDB lists a couple hundred easily. |
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Location: The Netherlands | Uh-oh, we've been found out....
http://www.tor.com/2016/02/09/worlds-without-ends-tor-com-short-fic... |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | I'll answer my own question: already had a dozen new member signups. Some of those folks have joined this challenge too. For you new folks welcome to WWEnd and the reading challenge. Let us know if you have any questions about the site or the challenge.
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| As a FYI, Tor.com usually puts up a partial year end collection for download called "Some of the Best of Tor.Com" 2011 onwards. The 2015 one was just posted. If you have a Tor.com account, you can download it on the site or they're at the usual digital places.
http://www.tor.com/2016/02/02/some-of-the-best-from-tor-com-2015-is... |
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| Just started and wondering where to document my readings and post my reviews?
UPDATE: Never mind, I figured it out!
Edited by ab2016 2016-02-11 3:53 AM
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Location: Dallas, Texas | ab2016 - 2016-02-11 3:49 AM Just started and wondering where to document my readings and post my reviews? UPDATE: Never mind, I figured it out! Welcome to WWEnd and the Tor.com reading challenge! Glad you got it figured out but if you run into any trouble just let us know.
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| Hi guys. I heard about this reading challenge through tor.com. I'm entirely new to SF and fairly new to horror, but I read some major fantasy novels. I'd like to discover SF and H and broaden my horizon on F, so this challenge sounded perfect!
However, I just spent quite some time trying to add novels to the slots in the reading challenge. Could someone help me with this, I can't seem to find the "add" button.
Thanks! |
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| If you've joined the challenge, it'll be an option on the individual catalog entries for the stories/novels/etc way at the bottom as ticky boxes. Click on the book you want to add, add it your reading list, and then you can tick off what challenge to add it to. |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | JasperW - 2016-02-11 1:07 PM Hi guys. I heard about this reading challenge through tor.com. I'm entirely new to SF and fairly new to horror, but I read some major fantasy novels. I'd like to discover SF and H and broaden my horizon on F, so this challenge sounded perfect! However, I just spent quite some time trying to add novels to the slots in the reading challenge. Could someone help me with this, I can't seem to find the "add" button. Thanks! Hey JasperW, welcome to WWEnd and the reading challenge! To add a book to your list all you have to do is: - Navigate to the page for that book - it's easiest to start on the Tor.com publisher page or you can search or click a book cover
- In the BookTrackr section: add the book to your reading list - check the box where it says "My Book Lists: Add to My Reading List" - that will activate the RYO check boxes
- Then select the check box for "Tor.com Free Short Fiction Reading Challenge"
- Submit
The book will appear on your challenge list with a faded cover. Once you tag the book as read it will go full color. Give it a go and let me know if you need any more help! Read on!
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| Thanks! I got it! |
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Location: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada | Worked for me...started with Brandon Sanderson's online lectures, where he recommended Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel on Tor.com, then I found the challenge, and here I am 
I can't find Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel (http://www.tor.com/2011/08/31/wikihistory/) to add to my read list for the challenge. It's my newest favourite!
I also read Breaking Water while I was exploring Tor.com, and I'd love to give it a good rating, but I didn't see the rate window when I was adding it to my reading list (I added some notes, I'll hold back on posting reviews till I see what's expected here).
Edited by TotallyTomatoes 2016-02-14 1:33 PM
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Location: The Netherlands | TotallyTomatoes - 2016-02-14 8:06 PM
Worked for me...started with Brandon Sanderson's online lectures, where he recommended Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel on Tor.com, then I found the challenge, and here I am
I can't find Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel (http://www.tor.com/2011/08/31/wikihistory/ ) to add to my read list for the challenge. It's my newest favourite!
I also read Breaking Water while I was exploring Tor.com, and I'd love to give it a good rating, but I didn't see the rate window when I was adding it to my reading list (I added some notes, I'll hold back on posting reviews till I see what's expected here ).
There you go: https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=17296 |
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Location: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada | valashain - 2016-02-14 4:04 PM
TotallyTomatoes - 2016-02-14 8:06 PM
Worked for me...started with Brandon Sanderson's online lectures, where he recommended Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel on Tor.com, then I found the challenge, and here I am
I can't find Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel (http://www.tor.com/2011/08/31/wikihistory/ ) to add to my read list for the challenge. It's my newest favourite!
I also read Breaking Water while I was exploring Tor.com, and I'd love to give it a good rating, but I didn't see the rate window when I was adding it to my reading list (I added some notes, I'll hold back on posting reviews till I see what's expected here ).
There you go: https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=17296
Thank You!! I added it to my challenge |
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Location: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada | Saw the review daxx posted for Ponies and it captured my interest.
I thought Kij Johnson wrote an incredible story. Contrasting the sweetness of the characters with the horror of the action makes the point eloquently obvious.
Great read! I'm have a fabulous time with this challenge by reading all sorts of stories outside my usual sci-fi focus. |
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| subscribing to thread |
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Location: The Netherlands | At 404 entries, it is as complete as I can make it. I will keep an eye out for new additions though. |
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| If we see ones that are missing -- should we speak up? Like I don't Marissa Meyer's stories for her Lunar Chronicles? |
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Location: The Netherlands | I did look into those but they have been removed from Tor.com some time ago. I suspect it has something to do with a collection of Lunar Chronicles shorts that was published last month.
If you see any we missed go a head and put them in the requests thread though. |
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| Ah, yes, the Stars Above collection included all of those. Of course, I read/bought them before that. Didn't realize they'd been taken offline. |
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| Hi, I'm new to Worlds Without End, found out about this challenge from tor.com. I love getting exposed to new authors and stories -- really have to recommend AM Dellmonica's Stormwrack stories a lot! Seriously, if you like seafaring/island nation fantasy, go read them right now. I'm now off to read the novels set in the same world (first one is Child of a Hidden Sea). I am having a problem rating books on the site though. Every time I try to click on the stars below the cover image, a little box pops up saying "Your rating: not rated. Click to change rating", and I can't get it to go away, nor does it save my rating. Any help would be appreciated. I'm on an iPad if that makes any difference. Thanks! |
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Extreme Veteran
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| Glad you mentioned that issue as I've had the same problem. I'll tell you what I do but perhaps admin has a better solution!
I press the stars about 5 times (it almost always says that there is no rating), then I check how many current ratings the book has. I press 'submit' and check to see if the number of ratings is now higher by one and the red stars are marked. Then I know my rating has gone through.
Kinda haphazard though... |
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| That worked -- thanks! |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | We'll look into the rating function tomorrow -- time permitting. Sorry for the hassle. |
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Location: UK | You only have to tap the stars twice, on an iPad. I think it's something it does because there's no mouse pointer, and therefore no mouse-over. I've seen the same thing in a few places, and on other sites. The page forwards/backwards arrows on the lists are the same. The difficulty with the ratings is that you do have to hit the same score twice, which can be tricky. |
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| Sorry, I keep asking random questions. How can I get a story added to the database? I read "The Weather" by Caighlan Smith, which is new on tor.com, and I don't see it here yet. Thanks! |
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| brightbetween - 2016-03-26 2:01 PM Sorry, I keep asking random questions. How can I get a story added to the database? I read "The Weather" by Caighlan Smith, which is new on tor.com, and I don't see it here yet. Thanks! Please don't apologize for asking questions, random or otherwise. The best bet for all Database Add Requests is to post them here, since all the Uber Users are subscribed to the thread:
Can't find the book you want? Make your book requests here! Part II The Tor.com fiction was Valashain's pet project, and he's been pretty good about keeping up with new Tor.com original fiction, so I'm sure he'll be getting to it soon if someone else doesn't do it first. |
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Location: The Netherlands | I'm a bit behind on... well everything really and WWend is usually the fist to suffer. Slipped this one in for you. |
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| Thank you! |
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Location: Middle TN, USA | I guess I'm a glutton, because I have decided to sign up for this challenge late in the game, but I guess better late than never. I went over to tor.com just to pick up the "Wave of Infection" by Jason Hough. And I found "zombie week." I saw several shorts I decided I wanted to read. Might as well sign up for the challenge. |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Badseedgirl - 2016-06-01 1:28 PM I guess I'm a glutton, because I have decided to sign up for this challenge late in the game, but I guess better late than never. I went over to tor.com just to pick up the "Wave of Infection" by Jason Hough. And I found "zombie week." I saw several shorts I decided I wanted to read. Might as well sign up for the challenge. Just one more challenge, eh? I keep having to fight off that temptation myself. That new High Fantasy Reading Challenge is calling to me now. At least with this one it's shorts so you can squeeze them in between longer works. A palate cleanser if you will  And with 200 days plus still to go it won't be terribly burdensome though if you were already pushing it with other challenges it can still be a pip. Good luck! |
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Location: Middle TN, USA | I am working on the "zombie" shorts right now. They have been a bit hit or miss, but have overall liked most of them. I especially liked "Preparations" by Mark Mills. |
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| This has been a crazy month. Your challenge made me read through the complete Tor.com archive in just a few weeks. (Could you please send some one over for cleaning and gardening? I don't have time...) Seriously, so many great stories. And there have been several authors whose other works have immediately gone on my TBR pile. (Leigh Bardugo! Charles Stross! Michael Swanwick! Angela Slatter! Matt Wallace! )
If I have to name favorites (both are from the non-free novella program):
K. J. Parker, The Devil You know. Great variation of the Faust legend (so much better than Goethe - I am German, read that one at school.)
Alter S. Reiss, Sunset Mantle. The plot is not very original, but the language just ... sings.
Some other stuff that I also rated 5 stars:
Brennan, Daughter of Necessity
Staveley, The Log Goblin
Lingen, Points of Origin
Liu, Reborn
Vaughn, That Game We Played During the War
Turtledove, We Haven't Got There Yet
(There is more.)
Thanks for starting this and point me to the Tor fiction archive!
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Location: Middle TN, USA | I've decided to focus on this challenge for September. I had a couple good reads, and a couple frustrating ones so far. I also read the first novel in Carrie Vaughn's series Kitty Norville, based on the short story "Kitty's Zombie New Year." I'm also going to look up Courtney Alameda's series based on her short story "Trigger." That is two, count em, two new female authors found through WWE and this challenge! |
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Extreme Veteran
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| I'm behind! May not finish but that's not an indication that I haven't enjoyed the challenge and the wonderful resource. Thank you! |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Dlw28 - 2016-12-27 7:02 AM I'm behind! May not finish but that's not an indication that I haven't enjoyed the challenge and the wonderful resource. Thank you! I fell off the pace long ago but still managed the read some great stories and a few new to me authors. I'm just going to have to have another go for 2017! |
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Tor.com Free Short Fiction Reading Challenge