The good news is that my teen fantasy novel Shadow Walkers is finally released this week, and I’m pretty pleased with the result. Here’s the blurb:
Zach lives with his grandparents on a remote island in Puget Sound in Washington State. With only his little brother, Gilbert, to keep him company, Zach feels cut off from the world. But when Gilbert is kidnapped, Zach tries the only thing he can think of to find him: astral projection. Soon, his spirit is soaring through the strange and boundless astral realm—a shadow place. While searching for his brother, Zach meets a boy named Emory, another astral traveler who’s intriguing (and cute).
As Zach and Emory track the kidnappers from the astral realm, their bond grows, but each moment could be Gilbert’s last. Even worse, there’s a menacing, centuries-old creature in their midst that devours souls and possesses physical bodies. And it’s hungry for Zach.
Request it from your local library or buy it here.
The bad news? For the time being, we’re suspending publication of new content on TheTorchOnline.com.
Editing this site has been a labor of love — I love fantasy, and I obviously love sharing my (many) opinions. But it’s become a labor of love that has made it increasingly difficult to work on other projects — especially, ironically, as the site has grown bigger and ever-more-successful.
So we’re taking a break so that I and my co-Torchees can work on other things (including, in my case, more novels, and hopefully also some movie projects).
But I still believe in the concept of a website that is more than just content aggregation — more than just rewriting other people’s reporting. I’m proud that TheTorchOnline.com was devoted to original reporting and commentary, and I’m thrilled that we were able to do so many exclusive interviews (with Lucy Lawless, Dominic Monghan, Anna Torv, Morena Baccarin, Eddie McClintock, Lynda Carter, most of the cast of Legend of the Seeker, and many, many others), and I’m proud that we’ve been able to break many important stories (on Xena, Spartacus, Legend of the Seeker, Warehouse 13, Piers Anthony, and many other fantasy-themed topics).
I also think we helped, in our own small way, give the genre of fantasy some of the respect and credibility that it deserves (but still frequently doesn’t get. Did you notice that Spartacus didn’t even make EW’s recent list of the top ten shows on television? Ridiculous!).
With Heather Hogan’s hilarious “Facebook” recaps and my associate editor Tim O’Leary’s funny perspective on almost everything else, I also hope we sometimes made you laugh. (As much as I love fantasy, it’s possible that sometimes it takes itself a little too seriously…)
Will we ever be back?
We might be. As fantasy enthusiasts, we all know better than most how wonderfully unpredictable life can be. (Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for future announcements.)
In the meantime, thanks for reading and thanks for the support (one of my favorite parts of working on the site was the clever, insightful comments that often put my actual content to shame!).
Trust me, whether or not I’m editing this website, I’ll be carrying the torch for fantasy for many years to come.
Brent Hartinger, February 2, 2011
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The Torch has become a habit for me. Daytime or evening, I always enjoyed the moments spent reading your reviews with enjoyment. I’ll especially miss your reviews of the Spartacus episodes.
It’s been a pleasure. My best to you, Brent.
I’m sorry to hear this, I’m going to miss this site.
I am truly saddened to see this site go on hiatus. The Torch Online was one of the websites I checked almost daily, and I loved getting the latest fantasy and sci-fi news in such a reader-friendly fashion. I feel like the way many of the posts offered unique and interesting perspectives on the genres, and I’ll miss the atmosphere of enthusiasm this site fostered. I wish all the writers the best and salute the Torch for many hours of online enjoyment!
Appreciate that very much, Kat.
I’m sorry to see you go…good luck on the rest of your work.
@Agent 86–thanks for the recommendations!
Bummer! I found you and then you were gone. Good luck in everything!
Major bummer. I really enjoyed my almost daily visits to thetorchonline.com - there was almost always something interesting for me to read whether it was an interview, a review, a recap or the assorted news items.
I wish all thetorchonline.com contributors the very best with their future endeavours (which will hopefully include a return to new content on thetorchonline.com one day).
@ Olly McPherson - I don’t mind io9.com (but they recently re-designed the website and I’m not a fan of the new layout) and toplessrobot.com. There’s also thetorchonline.com’s “brother/cousin/distant relative” website afterelton.com which covers some of the same content as thetorchonline.com, but with a LGBT focus.
Agent, you loyalty was and is much appreciated!
I know I’ll miss your site. Thanks for all the hard work you all have done in putting up such a great, informative, and often hilarious site.
Very sad to see the site go. Thanks to everyone involved for making this such a great place! Best wishes to all on your future endeavors!
:(
I’ll be more eloquent when I’m not so sad!
The Torch will really be missed, Brent! Great content, even if you’re only part-fantasy geek. :) But congrats on the book release; I’m looking forward to reading it!
Sad to see you go, even if it’s completely understandable. The Torch has been a daily highlight.
This may be a strange question, but are there any other general fantasy/sci-fi web sites you would recommend in the Torch’s absence?
I agree with the suggestion about io9.com. Deadline.com breaks a TON of news these days, but it’s not just sci-fi/fantasy, and /film.com is pretty good — movie news with a “geek” emphasis.
Also: http://www.sfsignal.com/
And LocusOnline.com
:-)
Uh, are you sure LocusOnline is the proper link? It took me to some behavioral health site.
Or is that a hint that we need help for our geeky, nerdy obsessions? :)
lol
My mistake. Try: http://www.locusmag.com/