People & Publishing Roundup, July 2020
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN (and two other investors) have purchased 18 miles of abandoned railway connecting the historic depot in Lamy NM with Santa Fe. Martin plans to restore the line as a tourist attraction and film shooting venue by 2022.
MEHDI BEL ABBES is now represented via the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
TOBI OGUNDIRAN is now represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
Writer ELIZABETH KNOX was appointed Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature, and filmmaker TAIKA WAITITI was appointed Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours presented by the New Zealand Cabinet Office.
JACQUELINE WOODSON won the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, presented biyearly by the International Board on Books for Young People to “recognize lifelong achievement and are given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children’s literature.”
LARISSA LAI won the $5,000 Jim Duggins Mid-Career Novelist prize, given to “LGBTQ-identified authors who have published multiple novels, built a strong reputation and following, and show promise to continue publishing high quality work for years to come.”
Artist LORENA CARRINGTON won the 2020 Australian Fairy Tale Society Award, presented June 8, 2020 during the society’s annual conference (held online this year).
Fantasy writer B. SHARISE MOORE won a $5,000 grant from the Sustainable Arts Foundation.
JAN CARSON‘s The Fire Starters (Black Swan Ireland) is on the shortlist for the €20,000 Novel of the Year category in the inaugural Dalkey Literary Awards. Winners will be announced June 20, 2020 at a digital awards ceremony.
LUIZA SAUMA‘s Everything You Ever Wanted (Viking) is on the Encore Award shortlist, given by the Royal Society of Literature to the best second novel of the year. The £10,000 award will be announced June 25, 2020 and, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the award, each of the four finalists will receive £500.
INNOCENT CHIZARAM ILO‘s “When a Woman Renounces Motherhood” won the £2,500 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Africa Region, for the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English. Regional winners will compete for a £5,000 prize to be announced online June 30, 2020.
Author and artist BROM sold historical supernatural horror Slewfoot and a second book to Diana Gill (who has since been laid off) at Nightfire via Julie Kane-Ritsch of the Gotham Group; Kelly Lonesome will edit.
JONATHAN MABERRY‘s collection Joe Ledger: Secret Missions sold to Christopher Payne at JournalStone via Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.
LILITH SAINTCROW sold The Black God’s Heart and a second book in the fantasy duology to Claire Eddy at Tor via Lucienne Diver at the Knight Agency.
ALIETTE DE BODARD‘s Fireheart Tiger and a second book went to Ruoxi Chen at Tor. com Publishing via John Berlyne of Zeno Agency; Jonathan Strahan will edit.
ALMA KATSU‘s spy thriller Red Widow sold to Sally Kim at Putnam via Richard Pine and Eliza Rothstein of Inkwell Management.
TIM PRATT sold multiverse novel The Doors of Sleep to Eleanor Teasdale at Angry Robot via Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown.
ANN AGUIRRE sold “feminist magical rom-com series” Witch Please and Queen Witch to Christa Desir at Sourcebooks via Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.
VERONICA SCHANOES sold first collection Burning Girls and Other Stories to Ruoxi Chen at Tor.com Publishing via Jennifer Udden of New Leaf Literary & Media; Ellen Datlow will edit.
STEPHEN ARYAN sold The Coward to Angry Robot.
PETER McLEAN sold Priest of Gallows and Priest of Crowns, the last two books in the War for the Rose Throne series, to Jo Fletcher at Jo Fletcher Books via Jennie Goloboy at the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
ADRIENNE CELT sold SF novel End of the World House to Carina Guiterman at Simon & Schuster via Emma Patterson of Brandt & Hochman.
K.C. JONES sold horror novel Black Tide – “Cujo meets A Quiet Place” – and a second book to Kristin Temple at Nightfire via Amanda Jain at BookEnds.
ALEX TEMBLADOR‘s magical realist Half Outlaw sold to Rick Bleiweiss and Naomi Hynes at Blackstone via Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.
MOLLY ZENK & SARAH BIGLOW‘s vampire novel Hunted went to Candace Thomas at Cayélle via Denise Barone of Barone Literary Agency.
IAN SCHWARTZ sold SF Space Corps and two more books to Rhett Bruno at Aethon via Travis Pennington of the Knight Agency.
MEGAN FRAZER BLACKMORE‘s feminist fantasy The Somewhere Else sold to Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury via Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.
JOE CLIFFORD sold The Shadow People to Jason Pinter at Polis via James McGowan of BookEnds.
DAN KOBOLDT‘s Domesticating Dragons went to Tony Daniel at Baen via Paul E. Stevens of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
KIMBERLY UNGER‘s SF novel The Extractionist went to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon via Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary; Jill Roberts will edit.
JEFFREY KLUGER sold SF novel Holdout, about a female astronaut who seizes control of a space station, to Stephen Morrow at Dutton in a pre-empt via Joy Harris of the Joy Harris Agency.
ROSE PRESSEY sold the next book in the Haunted Craft series to Michaela Hamilton at Kensington via Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
REBECCA ROSS sold two books in the A River Enchanted fantasy series to Vedika Khanna at Voyager via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media.
E.J. MELLOW sold two books in dark fantasy series The Mousai to Lauren Plude at Montlake Romance via Aimee Ashcraft at Brower Literary.
NATHAN ELIAS sold collection The Reincarnations to Montag Press.
NICK McDONELL‘s The Council of the Animals, with illustrations by THOMAS McDONELL, went to Sarah Crichton at Holt at auction via Eric Simonoff of William Morris Endeavor.
AVERY FLYNN‘s fantasy Witcha Gonna Do and a second book sold to Kristine Swartz at Berkley via Elaine Spencer of the Knight Agency.
SARANNA DeWYLDE sold three books in romantic comedy fantasy series Fairy Godmothers Inc to Esi Sogah at Kensington.
LAURA MORRISON‘s How to Break an Evil Curse and three more books sold to Black Spot.
DAVID TAPPENDEN‘s alternate history Black Knife went to James Essinger at the Conrad Press; Fran Garratt will edit.
ADRIENNE BLAKE sold fantasy Dark Encounters to Tee Tate at City Owl Press.
NEIL GAIMAN‘s next picture book illustrated by CHRIS RIDDELL, Pirate Stew, sold to Bloomsbury.
J.K. ROWLING sold standalone children’s book The Ickabog to Scholastic in the US and Little, Brown Children’s in the UK. She is serializing the book from May 26 – July 10, 2020 at <www.theickabog.com>.
HOLLY BLACK‘s How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories, with illustrations by ROVINA CAI, went to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Children’s via Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary & Media.
KRISTIN CASHORE sold Winterkeep, “bringing back some characters from the Graceling trilogy,” to Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz via Lora Fountain of Lora Fountain & Associates on behalf of Faye Bender of the Book Group.
CHARLIE JANE ANDERS sold first YA novel Victories in Death and two more in the SF trilogy to Miriam Weinberg at Tor Teen via Russell Galen of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.
SUSAN DENNARD sold the fourth and fifth Witchlands books to Bella Pagan at Tor UK via Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary & Media.
ISABEL STERLING‘s YA vampire novel The Coldest Touch sold to Julie Rosenberg at Razorbill via Kathleen Rushall of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
ADI ALSAID‘s YA fantasy Before Takeoff and a second book went to Marisa DiNovis at Knopf Children’s via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
LESLEY LIVINGSTON‘s YA fantasy Queen Among the Dead sold to Tiffany Liao at Holt Children’s via Jessica Regel of Foundry Literary + Media.
SHIRLEY MARR sold magical realist YA A Glasshouse of Stars and a second book to Krista Vitola at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Gemma Cooper of the Bent Agency. UK rights went to Rebecca Hill at Usborne, and Australian/New Zealand rights to Zoe Walton at Random House Australia at auction.
JENNY ELDERMOKE‘s YA fantasy Curse of the Specter Queen and a second book sold to Kieran Viola at Disney-Hyperion via Elizabeth Bewley of Sterling Lord Literistic.
BRIAN ZEPKA sold YA SF The Temperature of Me and You to Brittany Rubiano at Disney via Liz Parker of Verve Talent & Literary, with Augusta Harris to edit.
LAURA WEYMOUTH‘s YA fantasy A Rush of Wings went to Nicole Fiorica at Margaret K. McElderry Books in a pre-empt via Lauren Spieller of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
CYLA PANIN‘s YA fantasy Stalking Shadows and a second book sold to Emily Daluga at Amulet via Chloe Seager at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.
MARLENE PEREZ sold YA vampire novel Afterlife of the Party and sequels I’m with the Banned and A Sucker for You to Stacy Cantor Abrams at Entangled Teen via Stephen Barbara of Inkwell Management
CLAIRE WINN sold SF YA City of Shattered Light to Mari Kesselring and Kelsy Thompson at Flux via Cortney Radocaj of Belcastro Agency.
RICHARD SIDDOWAY sold YA Silverthorn and the Obsidian Wars to Candace Thomas at Surge.
New writer HANNAH WHITTEN sold fantasy For the Wolf and a second title to Brit Hvide at Orbit in a pre-empt via Whitney Ross of Irene Goodman Agency.
New writer ANNETTE CHRISTIE sold time loop novel The Rehearsals to Helen O’Hare at Little, Brown at auction via Joelle Hobei ka and Viana Siniscalchi of Alloy Entertainment on behalf of Jess Dallow of Browery Literary and Management. Kimberly Atkins at Hodder & Stoughton bought UK rights.
GABRIELLE HOUSTON‘s debut The Second Bell sold to Angry Robot.
The first novel by poet CAROLINE HARDAKER, Composite Creatures, sold to Angry Robot.
First novelist TIFFANY MEURET‘s apocalyptic novel A Flood of Posies sold to Black Spot.
MICHAEL KAUFMAN sold first novel The Last Exit, an SF police procedural, to Toni Kirkpatrick at Crooked Lane via Ginger Curwen of Julia Lord Literary Management.
ISABEL STRYCHACZ sold first novel Starling, a YA fantasy, to Nicole Ellul at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Taylor Martindale Kean at Full Circle Literary.
K.V. LEWIS sold debut YA The Half-Class and two more books to Amanda Wright at Parliament House Press, with Chantal Gadoury to edit.
KATHERINE QUINN sold first novel The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea and two more to Charissa Weaks at City Owl Press.
JONATHAN KARP has been promoted to CEO and president of Simon & Schuster, replacing CAROLYN REIDY, who died in May 2020. Karp was president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, and Karp will continue to run the imprint until a replacement is found.
JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS is stepping down as editor of Nightmare magazine after issue #100 in January 2021, with author and editor WENDY N. WAGNER taking over. Adams will remain editor of Lightspeed and publisher of both magazines.
KATE APPLETON is the new head of publicity for Head of Zeus.
SARAH PINSKER delivered We Are Satellites to Berkley.
MARJORIE LIU turned in collection The Tangleroot Palace and Other Stories to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon.
ELLY BANGS handed in Unity to Jaymee Goh at Tachyon.
ELLEN DATLOW delivered anthology Body Shocks to Jill Roberts at Tachyon.
MEDIA
TV rights to L.J. SMITH‘s Forbidden Game trilogy were optioned by Warner Bros. TV via Hotchkiss Daily & Associates on behalf of the Bent Agency. Greg Berlanti will produce.
TV rights to ROSARIA MUNDA‘s fantasy Fireborne were optioned by Valparaiso Pictures via Danielle Burby of Nelson Literary Agency, Alice Lawson at The Gersh Agency, and lawyer Wayne Alexander.
This and more like it in the July 2020 issue of Locus.
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