Tor

Meet the team

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  Bella Pagan

  Publisher, Tor Books

  I love how speculative fiction can transport us to amazing new worlds, fire our imaginations and introduce us to amazing characters and authors. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to help writers bring these stories to life. When acquiring in this area, my tastes range from commercial to book group fiction, and I’m drawn to character-driven narratives with page-turning plots. I love mainstream fiction with a speculative twist, and am a big fan of lighter, cosy and quirky fantasy. Witches and mythological creatures are also welcome. In addition, I thoroughly enjoy romantasy, fairy-tale and historical retellings, and dark academia. And I grew up loving more traditional vividly-imagined fantasy and fast-paced science fiction. I’m keen to include diverse voices to enrich the Tor UK list, including multicultural, queer and neurodivergent perspectives.

  I’ve been running Tor since 2015 and here are some of my wonderful current and previous authors: Cassandra Clare, Olivie Blake, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Shelley Parker-Chan, Alix E. Harrow, T. L. Huchu, T. J. Klune, Freya Marske, John Scalzi and Rebecca Thorne. At the British Book Awards in 2023, I was shortlisted for ‘Editor of the Year,’ achieving a ‘Highly Commended’ in this category. In the same year, Tor UK was shortlisted for ‘Best Imprint’ for the second year running.  

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  Gillian Green

  Publisher, Tor Bramble and Nightfire

  My love of magical fiction all started with fairy tales – I had a whole collection of the classic Ladybird fairy tale books as a child, including some of the less well-known stories like Snow White and Rose Red and The Magic Porridge Pot.  It’s probably no wonder that I began my publishing career as a romance editor, eventually working with some of the biggest names in US fiction – including Nora Roberts/J. D. Robb – I also acquired the original Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn. These days my tastes are broader and darker but I do still love stories with happy endings. I also still love fairy tales and, in my previous role at Penguin, I ran the SFF list Del Rey and worked with Katherine Arden on her wonderful Winternight Series (The Bear and the Nightingale etc) as well as commissioning Ava Reid’s The Wolf and the Woodsman. I also love genre-busting novels and was lucky enough to work with the brilliant Andy Weir (The Martian).

  I joined Pan Macmillan in 2020 initially acquiring commercial, reading group and speculative fiction for Pan, as well as working with some of our biggest crime and thriller authors, including the brilliant Ann Cleeves. In 2023 I broadened my remit to include Tor, becoming co-publisher and launching our fantasy romance and romantasy list Bramble in 2024 and our boutique horror list, Nightfire, in 2025. My role is to grow our  imprints and strategically expand our lists, particularly in the areas of romantasy, dark fantasy and cosy fantasy. I would also love to find more reading group speculative fiction for our list, cross-genre fiction and literary horror. (I love a ghost story…)

  Authors I currently work with include Carissa Broadbent, Mary E. Pearson and K. A. Linde on Tor Bramble, Sarah Beth Durst and Isabel Agajanian on Tor Books, as well as Karen Swan, John Marrs, Kate Stewart and Juan Gómez-Jurado on Pan.

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  Sophie Robinson

  Editorial Director, Tor Books and Nightfire

  I am a huge SFF and horror fan, the latter of which I'm looking to commission more of for Tor Nightfire UK. I love atmospheric hauntings and possessions of any kind - real, metaphorical, gothic, gruesome; nightmarish retellings and folklore (especially those outside the Western canon); the light-touch supernatural as well as dread-inducing psychological horror. I'd love to see books comparable to A Head Full of Ghosts, The Historian, Last House on Needless Street, NOS4A2 and Come with Me. 

  For fantasy, I love retellings, romantasy, magical dark academia, books about books, courtly politics, witches and, of course, vampires. I'd love to see anything similar to Babel, Wendy, Darling and Ninth House. My science fiction tastes lean more towards the literary side of the genre with a clear, concise pitch, such as The Shining Girls, Station 11 or The Power. But ultimately, there's nothing better than a propulsive plot, an original concept and a voice that I will follow to the ends of the earth!

  Some of the authors I currently work with are Freya Marske, Travis Baldree, Grady Hendrix, Genevieve Cogman, Lucy Holland, and Ann Liang.

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  Michael Beale

  Editor

  Since joining Tor, I have had the privilege to work with exceptional SFF authors, including Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shelley Parker-Chan, TJ Klune and John Scalzi. When reading, I’m drawn to daring, witty dialogue that’s true to character, and I can’t resist a narrative voice that commands attention from the first sentence. Put these together in a world that dazzles with new and outlandish ideas, then I’m probably reading a new favourite work – particularly if that story foregrounds diverse voices.

  In science fiction, space operas with big ideas and bigger characters will always appeal, but I also love hard science fiction in the vein of Kim Stanley Robinson. In fantasy, I’m drawn to tales that delve into dark fantasy, like Christopher Buehlman’s The Blacktongue Thief, and I have a soft spot for historic settings, mythology, and nautical adventures. I want to read something that transports me to a world through vividly real characters as in Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings titles or RJ Barker’s Tide Child Trilogy. Lastly, I adore outlandish speculative fiction that turns my mind inside out. Leech is a recent favourite. Mushrooms, parasites, and eldritch horrors are all welcome in this brain.

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  Grace Barber

  Assistant Editor

  I work closely with our Publisher, Gillian Green, and Editorial Director, Sophie Robinson, across Tor's list. I've had the pleasure of working with some of our biggest brand authors, including Jennifer L. Armentrout, Travis Baldree, Olivie Blake, Carissa Broadbent, Cassandra Clare, TJ Klune, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. 

  My favourite books often are character-driven with a strong commercial hook and compulsive writing. I am looking for queer fantasy, science fiction or horror, or speculative fiction with diverse voices at the forefront. I’m particularly keen to find epic fantasy or imaginative romantasy set in a vibrant world; cosy science fiction; quirky paranormal romcoms and Gothic horror or horror mixed with fantasy or romance. Above all, a book must transport me – whether it's to a magical realm, a spaceship, or a haunted house – and ultimately make me forget that there is an outside world to return to.