I continue to be impressed with the scope and ambition of the Tor.com novella series. With a release nearly every week for the past two years, the line has rapidly grown to some 100 novellas and full-length novels, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

It’s also doing some innovative and exciting things that no one else is attempting (and I don’t just mean hogging nearly all the novella-length award nominations). Case in point: JY Yang’s ambitious story cycle The Tensorate Series, composed of the twin novellas The Red Threads of Fortune, The Black Tides of Heaven, and two more upcoming novellas. The New York Times calls the first two volumes “Joyously wild stuff. Highly recommended.”

They were published simultaneously today. Here’s the descriptions.

For The Red Threads of Fortune.

Fallen prophet, master of the elements, and daughter of the supreme Protector, Sanao Mokoya has abandoned the life that once bound her. Once her visions shaped the lives of citizens across the land, but no matter what tragedy Mokoya foresaw, she could never reshape the future. Broken by the loss of her young daughter, she now hunts deadly, sky-obscuring naga in the harsh outer reaches of the kingdom with packs of dinosaurs at her side, far from everything she used to love.

On the trail of a massive naga that threatens the rebellious mining city of Bataanar, Mokoya meets the mysterious and alluring Rider. But all is not as it seems: the beast they both hunt harbors a secret that could ignite war throughout the Protectorate. As she is drawn into a conspiracy of magic and betrayal, Mokoya must come to terms with her extraordinary and dangerous gifts, or risk losing the little she has left to hold dear.

And The Black Tides of Heaven.

Mokoya and Akeha, the twin children of the Protector, were sold to the Grand Monastery as infants. While Mokoya developed her strange prophetic gift, Akeha was always the one who could see the strings that moved adults to action. While Mokoya received visions of what would be, Akeha realized what could be. What’s more, they saw the sickness at the heart of their mother’s Protectorate.

A rebellion is growing. The Machinists discover new levers to move the world every day, while the Tensors fight to put them down and preserve the power of the state. Unwilling to continue as a pawn in their mother’s twisted schemes, Akeha leaves the Tensorate behind and falls in with the rebels. But every step Akeha takes towards the Machinists is a step away from Mokoya. Can Akeha find peace without shattering the bond they share with their twin?

Here’s the publishing details.

The Red Threads of Fortune (224 pages, $15.99 trade paperback, $3.99 digital, September 26, 2017) — Read Chapter One here.
The Black Tides of Heaven (240 pages, $15.99 trade paperback, $3.99 digital, September 26, 2017) — Reach Chapter One here.

No information on the cover artist that I can find, but I’ll keep looking.

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