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Blaise Faint @handle.invalid · 10/10/2026

#BookSky Arrived today A Wall Is Also a Road @annaleen.bsky.social

Front cover
ANNALEE NEWITZ
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD
“A hilarious, brilliant, and endlessly imaginative novel that will make you wish artificial intelligence could write as beautifully as Annalee Newitz.”
— MARTHA WELLS, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Front flap — Story description
Bestselling author Annalee Newitz invites us to explore a large and lonely universe—one that becomes a little less lonely when two unlikely life-forms cross paths.
Gardenpath is a graduate student. They also happen to be an amoeba-like creature from an ancient civilization that dwells in the space between the stars. And when they turn their many eyes to researching a remote spot on one spiral arm of the galaxy, they stumble upon a discovery that will change everything they thought they knew: a mysterious planet teeming with unexpected life, language, and culture.
One of these alien animals is a creature named Murris, who lives in a city she calls Pompeii and works in a brothel known as “the lupinar.” Unfazed when her strange visitor says she's from the stars, Murris takes Gardenpath into her care, introducing her to the seaside tourist town full of immigrants and shopkeepers who are just trying to get by.
Before they met Murris, Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and return home to become an acclaimed scientist. But as they look into their new friend's bizarre seven bulbs from within the suit that allows them to survive and blend in on her surprising planet, they are beginning to wonder if there's more to life than academic achievement.
They're not sure what it is, but they're going to use science to find out.

Back cover — Praise
Countless planets exist in the known universe. One of them is home.
PRAISE FOR A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD AND ANNALEE NEWITZ
“A brilliant, wholly original adventure of an alien scholar who stumbles upon a discovery that could upend scientific understanding of life in the universe. Only Newitz could deliver such a daring, mind-bending yet tender story of Roman history, anthropology, academia, and ethics.”
— YVONNE WANG, AUTHOR OF THE STARDUST GRAIL AND SALT CROP
“All at once a beautiful cluster of navigating the perils and pitfalls of academia and scientific ambition, a sweet romance on finding love amidst the stars and oneself, and a rollicking good ride into space and our own history. The alien (and familiar) will knock you sideways.”
— C.B. LEE, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF COFFEE SHOP IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE
“I love a book that makes me think and feel. A Wall Is Also a Road gave me happy tears and a lot of Very Big Thoughts.”
— MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL, HUGO AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR
“An absolutely magnificent, mind-bending work of cosmic imagination. If you need to know that another universe is possible, A Wall Is Also a Road is the book for you.”
— CHANDA PRESCOD-WEINSTEIN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DISORDERED COSMOS
“Breathtakingly brilliant.”
— THE NEW YORK TIMES ON THE FUTURE OF ANOTHER TIMELINE
“Newitz always aims to be both complex systems and breaks them down with poetic lucidity.”
— N. K. JEMISIN, AUTHOR OF THE BROKEN EARTH TRILOGY AND THE CITY WE BECAME
“A vibrant, quirky vision of endless potential earned by heroism, love, and wit.”
— THE WASHINGTON POST ON THE TERRAFORMERS
“An ingenious, play-brain book.”
— LOS ANGELES TIMES ON THE TERRAFORMERS

Back flap — About the author
ANNALEE NEWITZ writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the USA Today bestselling author of the novella Automatic Noodle, the books Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age and Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, and the novels The Terraformers (a Nebula Award finalist), The Future of Another Timeline (winner of the Sidewise Award), and Autonomous (winner of a Lambda Literary Award). As a science journalist, they have a monthly column in New Scientist and are a member of the Flaming Hydra collective. They have published in The New York Times, Scientific American, Popular Science, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and MIT Technology Review, among others. Previously they were the cohosts of the three-time Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct and the founder of io9.
Jacket art by Rebecca Turek
Jacket design by Esther S. Kim
A TOR HARDCOVER
Tor Publishing Group
www.torpublishinggroup.com / Printed in the USA
Also by Annalee Newitz
Price
US $28.99 / CAN $40.99