Trace Elements

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From two of the most acclaimed writers in the field today, a groundbreaking look at how SF and fantasy writing—and reading!—work.

Jo Walton and Ada Palmer are two of the most innovative and insightful writers to emerge in the SF and fantasy genres in this century. As writers of fiction they’ve each won multiple awards. As commenters on SF and fantasy in print and in visual media, they’ve both sparked new conversations that expanded our imaginations and understanding of how SF and fantasy work, and what more it could be doing.

Now, in Trace Elements, Walton and Palmer have come together to write a book-length and supremely entertaining look at modern science fiction and fantasy, at how our genre is written and how it is read, that will join nonfiction works like Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Language of the Night, Samuel R. Delany’s The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, and Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud on the short shelf of titles essential to all readers of our genre.

Subjects covered include the nature of genre itself, the history of SF publishing, the implicit contract between author and reader, the ways SF and fantasy disguise themselves as one another, what SF&F can learn from outside influences ranging from Shakespeare to Diderot to anime, the role of complicity in reading, the need to expand our “sphere of empathy”, and finally the need for optimism, the importance of rejecting “purity” culture, and the fact that the human story for centuries to come will be composed of hard work.

Reviews

"A thoroughly researched but highly opinionated exploration of the science fiction and fantasy genres by two award-winning novelists... Highly recommended." – Library Journal

"Fascinating...a lively and sometimes surprisingly personal appreciation of the field today by two of its mostdistinguished practitioners." – Locus

Praise for Jo Walton and Ada Palmer:

“Rendered with Walton’s usual power and beauty...It’s this haunting character complexity that ultimately holds the reader captive to the tale.” —N. K. Jemisin on My Real Children by Jo Walton

“The best science fiction novel I’ve read in a long while.” —Robert Charles Wilson on Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

“Insightful, incisive, and human. Walton has the ability to make you love your favorite books even more, and to fascinate you with discussions of books that aren’t your cup of tea.” —Cory Doctorow on What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton

“Awe-inspiring...A thrilling feat of speculative world-building, on par with those of masters like Gene Wolfe and Neal Stephenson.” —NPR on Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

"Enchanting and immersive. Every Jo Walton book takes you somewhere new and wondrous. I loved Everybody's Perfect."-- Rainbow Rowell, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the Simon Snow trilogy, on Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton

"An intimate fantasy, filled with ordinary people living everyday lives in an extraordinary place, and it drew me in immediately. It's a story where the happy ending depends on the ability of the people in the story to believe in its possibility, which feels weirdly relevant even though it's about communities of otherworldly aliens living in a fantasy Venice." --Naomi Kritzer on Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton

“Akin to a genre version of Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. Walton’s affection for many of these titles is contagious, and fans will find their own reading lists growing.” —Library Journal (starred review) on What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton

"She is fond of saying that we know less than 1 percent of what happened 500 years ago, and that at least two-thirds of what we know is wrong. To someone whose sense of history is like a topiary garden, full of shapely epochs and manicured heroes, she is the sound of an approaching chain saw." --Gregory Barber, "The Weird Hand of Progress", profile of Ada Palmer in Wired, 2022

About the Author

JO WALTON won the Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Awards for Among Others (2011) and the World Fantasy Award for Tooth and Claw (2003). She is the only writer other than Ursula K. Le Guin to win Best Novel in all three awards. Aside from her many other acclaimed novels, she has written extensively about SF and fantasy for Tor.com and other venues for over two decades. She lives in Montreal.

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ADA PALMER won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (now retitled the Astounding Award) in 2017 following the publication of her debut novel Too Like the Lightning. She has written extensively about storytelling on sites like Tor.com, her own Exurbe.com, and elsewhere. She is a professor at the University of Chicago specializing in the Renaissance and the history of ideas.

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Book Details

Imprint: Tor Books

ISBN: 9781250372604

Page Count: 368

On Sale:

March 24, 2026