People & Publishing Roundup, November 2020
PETER SWIRSKI is now represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
Author TOMI ADEYEMI was named one of the 100 most influential people of 2020 by Time in the “Pioneers” category. For the full list: <time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/>.
CHARLOTTE HONIGMAN‘s “The Partisan and the Witch” (Skull and Pestle: New Tales of Baba Yaga) won the 2020 Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for Short Fiction. The award, recognizing “the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year,” was presented at Capclave, held online from October 17-18, 2020. The winner was chosen by members of WSFA.
SARAH HALL‘s “The Grotesques” won the £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award, announced October 6, 2020. Hall also won in 2013, and is the first writer to receive the prize twice.
FRANCINE TOON‘s Pine (Doubleday) won the £1,000 McIlvanney Prize for “the best Scottish Crime book of the year,” presented by writing festival Bloody Scotland in September 2020.
JOHN CROWLEY sold Flint and Mirror, expanded from his 2018 novelette of the same name, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor via Howard Morhaim.
ROBERT J. SAWYER sold The Downloaded to Audible Canada Originals via Christopher J. Lotts of the Lotts Agency.
CHUCK WENDIG sold Wayward (sequel to Wanderers), The Orchard (“about the dark history of a small town, apple cultivation, and American colonialism”), and a third book to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey via Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
CHERIE PRIEST sold humorous paranormal mystery Grave Reservations – “The Spellman Files meets Charlaine Harris” – and a second book to Kaitlin Olson at Atria via Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
RICHARD POWERS‘s next novel Bewilderment went to John Glusman at Norton via Melanie Jackson of the Melanie Jackson Agency.
FAITH HUNTER sold story collection Of Claws and Fangs, a new Jane Yellowrock title, and the next installment in the Soulwood series to Jessica Wade at Ace via Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.
MARK LAWRENCE sold fantasy The Book That Wouldn’t Burn and two more books to Jane Johnson at Voyager UK via Ian Drury of Sheil Land Associates.
R.A. SALVATORE sold three books in a new series set in the world of his DemonWars Saga to Joe Monti at Saga Press via Paul Lucas of Janklow & Nesbit.
ANDREA HAIRSTON sold Archangels of Funk (set in the world of Will Do Magic for Small Change) and a second book, and resold Redwood and Wildfire, Mindscape, and Will Do Magic for Small Change to Lee Harris at Tor.com Publishing via Kristopher O’Higgins of Scribe Agency.
WILLIAM LEDBETTER‘s Level Six went to Steve Feldberg at Audible Originals via David Hale Smith of Inkwell Management.
PATRICE CALDWELL sold vampire novel Where Shadows Reign and a second book to Vicki Lame at Wednesday Books via Sara Megibow of kt literary.
ASHOK BANKER sold revenge thriller A Kiss After Dying (inspired by IRA LEVIN‘s classic A Kiss Before Dying) to Joel Richardson at Michael Joseph in the UK via John Jarrold of the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
R.W.W. GREENE‘s near-future SF novel Twenty-Five to Life went to Eleanor Teasdale at Angry Robot via Sara Megibow at kt literary.
SIRI PETTERSEN sold The Iron Wolf and two more in the Vardari fantasy mystery trilogy inspired by Norse mythology to Jan Weitendorf von Hacht at Arctis US in a pre-empt via Lena Stjernstrom of Grand Agency.
SARAH ADLAKHA sold She Wouldn’t Change a Thing – “Sliding Doors meets Life After Life” – and a second title to Devi Pillai at Forge via Stephanie Kip Rostan of Levine Greenberg Rostan. Kristin Sevick will edit.
ED MCDONALD‘s fantasy thriller Daughter of Redwinter and two more books went to Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz in the UK via Ian Drury of Sheil Land Associates.
DANIEL FORD sold The Warden and two more in a new fantasy series to Christopher Morgan at Tor via Paul Lucas of Janklow & Nesbit on behalf of Ren Balcombe.
HARRISON QUERY & MATT QUERY sold horror novel My Wife and I Bought a Ranch, which began as a popular post on Reddit’s “No Sleep” fiction forum, to Wes Miller at Grand Central at auction via Liz Parker at Verve Talent & Literary.
LAURA HOUNSOM, writing as STARK HOLBORN, sold Ten Low, described as “Mad Max meets Dune,” to George Sandison at Titan via Ed Wilson of Johnson & Alcock.
JAYNE COWIE sold Curfew – “The Handmaid’s Tale but with the women in charge” – and a second book to Jen Monroe at Berkley in a pre-empt via Allison Hellegers of Stimola Literary Studio on behalf of Ella Kahn of Diamond Kahn and Woods Literary Agency. Jennie Rothwell at Arrow bought UK rights at auction.
SANDRA NEWMAN sold The Men, set in a world where all the men have vanished, to Anne Meadows at Granta via Victoria Hobbs of A.M. Heath.
VICTORIA HETHERINGTON sold SF novel Autonomy to Russell Smith at Dundurn Press.
SIERRA CHRISTMAN sold The Assassin & The Libertine and another book to Heather McCorkle at Mystic Owl.
MARA RUTHERFORD sold fantasy The Poison Season and another book to Connolly Bottum at Inkyard Press via Uwe Stender of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
J.P. ROTH sold Blood and Shadows, second in the Ancient Dreams series, to Reagan Rothe at Black Rose Writing via Stephanie Hansen at Metamorphosis Literary Agency.
ALLIE THERIN sold paranormal romance spin-off from the Magic in Manhattan series to Stephanie Doig at Carina Press via Laura Zats of Headwater Literary Management.
TIM RAYBORN‘s Qwyrk and three more in a humorous fantasy series sold to Judith Bailey at Armin Lear Press via Maryann Karinch of The Rudy Agency.
RORY POWER sold YA speculative thriller The World Ends Here and a second book to Krista Marino at Delacorte for six figures via Kim Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo of Inkwell Management.
JENNIFER BAKER sold YA SF novel Forgive Me Not (“set in an alternate version of Queens NY, where the fate of female offenders is left in the hands of their victims”) and a second book to Stacey Barney at Putnam Children’s in a pre-empt via Jenni Ferrari-Adler of Union Literary.
ELAYNE AUDREY BECKER sold YA fantasy Forestborn and a second title to Lindsey Hall at Tor Teen via Hillary Jacobson of ICM.
TESSA GRATTON sold YA horror novel Moon Dark Smile to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books via Laura Rennert of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
ROBYN SCHNEIDER‘s Arthurian YA The Other Merlin and a second book sold to Jenny Bak at Viking Children’s in a pre-empt via Barbara Poelle of Irene Goodman Agency.
ADALYN GRACE sold “Gothic-infused” YA Belladonna and a second title to Hallie Tibbetts at Little, Brown Children’s at auction, via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
F.T. LUKENS sold How to Survive Ever After – “Dungeons & Dragons meets Carry On” – to Kate Prosswimmer at Margaret K. McElderry Books via Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary Agency.
B.L. RADLEY‘s queer YA superhero novel Strictly No Heroics went to Holly West at Feiwel and Friends at auction via Beth Marshea of Ladderbird Literary Agency.
KALYN JOSEPHSON sold YA This Dark Descent and a second book to Kate Meltzer at Roaring Brook Press via Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency.
CASSANDRA KHAW‘s SF novel The All-Consuming World sold to Sarah Guan at Erewhon via Michael Curry of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
K. TEMPEST BRADFORD‘s debut middle-grade SF novel Ruby vs. the Robo-Bug and a second book went to Grace Kendall at Farrar, Straus Children’s at auction via Larissa Melo Pienkowski of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.
First novelist ERIN SWAN sold “speculative literary novel” Walk the Vanished Earth to Margaux Weisman at Viking at auction via Danya Kukafka and Michelle Brower of Aevitas Creative Management.
Debut author GABRIELA ROMERO LACRUZ sold South American history and folklore-inspired epic fantasy The Sun and the Void and a second book to Angeline Rodriguez at Orbit via Naomi Davis of BookEnds.
New writer PATRICIA JACKSON sold Forging a Nightmare to Eleanor Teasdale at Angry Robot in a pre-empt via Sara Megibow of kt literary.
OKEZIE NWOKA‘s first novel God of Mercy, about an Igbo village and a girl who can fly, went to Danny Vazquez at Astra House at auction via Ross Harris of Stuart Krichevsky Agency.
Debut author SALLY OLIVER‘s Garden of Earthly Bodies sold to Juliet Mabey at Oneworld via John Ash of PEW Literary.
First novelist ALLEGRA HYDE sold “surreal parable” of climate change Eleutheria and speculative story collection The Last Catastrophe to Caitlin Landuyt at Vintage via Erin Harris of Folio Literary Management.
BRANDY MOORE sold first novel The 4th Kinetic and sequels The 5th Strain and The 6th Serum in the Clairvoyants series to Candace Thomas at Cayelle via Stephanie Hansen of Metamorphosis Literary Agency.
HELEN DE CRUZ, RICH HORTON & ERIC SCHWITZ-GEBEL will edit an anthology “intending to collect ‘The Best Philosophical Science Fiction in the History of All Earth,’ as our original proposal somewhat ambitiously put it,” for MIT Press.
JEFF VANDERMEER resold Hummingbird Salamander to Fourth Estate in the UK via Devon Mazzone at US publisher Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
MOLLY TANZER resold novel The Pleasure Merchant, novella Rumbullion, and collection A Pretty Mouth to Ross E. Lockhart at Word Horde via Cameron McClure of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
ALEX PHEBY resold Mordew plus upcoming sequels Malarkoi and Waterblack to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor via Eloise Millar at Galley Beggar Press.
MATTHEW HUGHES delivered Barbarians of the Beyond, an authorized sequel to JACK VANCE‘s series The Demon Princes, to John Vance at Spatterlight Press.
JAMES KILLEN, former SF/F and graphic novel buyer for Barnes & Noble, has joined Rebellion Publishing as their new American editor-at-large.
C.L. CLARK is the new Blog Editor for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, replacing TODD VANDERMARK, who stepped down earlier this summer.
SCOTT WESTERFELD‘s YA Uglies is being adapted as a film for Netflix, directed by McG and starring and executive produced by Joey King.
TV rights to KIM HARRISON‘s urban fantasy series The Hollows were optioned by producer Dan Angel at Fezziwig Studios via Richard Curtis of Richard Curtis Associates.
TV rights to PAUL BRADDON‘s SF novel The Actuality were optioned by BBC Studios via Marc Simonsson of SoloSon Media on behalf of Joanna Swainson at Hardman & Swainson.
ALEX WHITE will write Star Trek: Revenant, “the first treatment of Star Trek‘s groundbreaking genderfluid Trill species by a nonbinary or genderqueer writer,” for Ed Schlesinger at Pocket via Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.
TIM PRATT will write Twilight Imperium tie-in The Necropolis Empire for Marc Gascoigne at Aconyte via Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown.
Film rights to SEB DOUBINSKY‘s SF novel Missing Signal were optioned by Steven Richter.
This and more like it in the November 2020 issue of Locus.
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