People & Publishing Roundup, January 2021
ALAN WHITE won the 2020 Rotsler Award for “long-time wonder-working with graphic art in amateur publications of the science fiction community.” The award is sponsored by the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, and includes a $300 honorarium.
Editor and author PATRICE CALDWELL and author and artist MOLLY KNOX OSTERTAG are on the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Media category.
GILLIAN CHANDLER won the 2020 A. Bertram Chandler Award, given for “Outstanding Achievement in Australian Science Fiction” by the Australian Science Fiction Foundation.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN‘s previously unpublished collection The Nature of Middle-earth will be published in the US by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June 2021, simultaneous with the HarperCollins UK edition. Deb Brody of HMH says, “It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954–5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973.”
NICOLA GRIFFITH‘s queer Arthurian novel Spear will be published by Tordotcom in collaboration with MCD/FSG via Stephanie Cabot of Susanna Lea Associates.
ANNE BISHOP‘s Crowbones, set in the World of the Others, and a second book went to Anne Sowards at Ace via Jennifer Jackson of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
PREMEE MOHAMED sold And What Can We Offer You Tonight to dave ring at Neon Hemlock via Michael Curry of The Donald Maass Literary Agency.
JOHN MARRS sold near-future thriller The Marriage Act, set in the world of The One, and a second book to Gillian Green at Pan Macmillan.
ISAAC FELLMAN sold The Donor, “about a trans man who happens to be a vampire and archivist, as he finds himself in the middle of a ghost story and new love,” to Victoria Savanh at Penguin at auction via Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
KIERSTEN WHITE sold Hide and a second book to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey at auction via Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Literary Agency.
SIMON STÅLENHAG sold illustrated dystopian SF The Labyrinth to Simon & Schuster UK via Julia Angelin at Salomonsson Agency.
ANGELA MI YOUNG HUR sold Folklorn, “an #ownvoices gothic ancestry epic steeped in Korean legend and modern, genre-bending horror” to Sarah Guan at Erewhon via Sarah Bedingfield of Levine Greenberg Rostan.
LOUISA MORGAN‘s fantasy The Great Witch of Brittany and a second book sold to Nivia Evans at Redhook via Peter Rubie of FinePrint Literary Management. Orbit will publish in the UK.
KEVIN CHEN sold Ghost Town, “a magic realist take on Twin Peaks,” to Eva Ferri at Europa Editions in a pre-empt via Markus Hoffmann at Regal Hoffmann & Associates, on behalf of Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency. Lucrezia Lazzari will edit.
ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA sold The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina – “One Hundred Years of Solitude meets Practical Magic” – to Melanie Iglesias Perez at Atria via Adrienne Rosado of Stonesong.
CHRISTIAN KLAVER sold three books, including The Classified Dossier, featuring Sherlock Holmes and vampire John Watson fighting “villains of Gothic literature, including Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Dorian Gray, and more,” to Sophie Robinson at Titan Books via Lucienne Diver at The Knight Agency.
ALEX JENNINGS sold The Ballad of Perilous Graves, set in a magical New Orleans, and two more books to Nivia Evans at Orbit via Shawna McCarthy of The McCarthy Agency.
STEVE TOLTZ sold afterlife fantasy Here Goes Nothing, to Carole Welch at Sceptre in the UK and Nikki Christer at Random House Australia via Elizabeth Sheinkman of PFD.
MATTHEW FITZSIMMONS‘s near-future novel Constance sold to Megha Parekh at Thomas & Mercer via David Hale Smith of Inkwell Management.
KIM FU sold collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century to Masie Cochran at Tin House Books via Jackie Kaiser of Westwood Creative Artists.
TESSA YANG‘s collection The Runaway Restaurant, with 13 stories “that range from magical realism to horror about the dynamics of contemporary families, friendships and relationships,” went to Leland Cheuk at 7.13 Books.
ADAM SOTO sold SF This Weightless World and collection of ghost stories Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep to Danny Vazquez at Astra House via Marya Spence of Janklow & Nesbit.
ANGIE HOCKMAN sold romantic comedy fantasy Dream On, about a woman who wakes from a coma with memories of a man she never met, to Molly Gregory at Gallery via Jessica Watterson of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
CHRISTOPHER RICE sold Decimate, a supernatural novel about near-death experiences, to Liz Pearsons at Thomas & Mercer via Lynn Nesbit of Janklow & Nesbit.
CHARIS COTTER sold The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story to Samantha Swenson at Tundra Books via Hilary McMahon of Westwood Creative Artists.
ERIN FULMER sold paranormal novel Cambion’s Law to Heather McCorkle at City Owl Press.
BRYAN PROSEK sold SF novel Equations of a Parallel Life to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Cassandra Farrin will edit.
KELLY JENNINGS sold In The Deep, sequel to Fault Lines, with illustrations by MELISSA CAPRIGLIONE, to Athena Andreadis at Candlemark & Gleam.
JESS HARDY‘s SF novel Love In The Time Of Wormholes went to Heather McCorkle at Mystic Owl.
DARCIE LITTLE BADGER sold YA novel A Snake Falls to Earth to Nick Thomas at Levine Querido via Michael Curry of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
MARTHA BROCKEN BROUGH sold Into The Bloodred Woods, “a feminist subversion of fairytales and notions of darkness, with lesbian werebears, a sensitive wolf, an angry musician, and a forest hungry for revenge,” to Jody Corbett at Scholastic via Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
AMANDA FOODY & CHRISTINE LYNN HERMAN sold YA fantasy All of Us Villains and a second book to Melissa Frain at Tor Teen at auction via Whitney Ross of Irene Goodman Agency (for Foody) and Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary Agency (for Herman). Fisher will edit.
NAZ KUTUB sold YA The Loophole – “a speculative Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” – and a second title to Claire Stetzer at Bloomsbury Children’s in a pre-empt via Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency.
TERRY BENTON sold YA Blood Debts – ”Dynasty with magic” – and two more books to Ali Fisher at Tor Teen in a pre-empt via Patrice Caldwell of New Leaf Literary & Media.
HAFSAH FAIZAL sold YA fantasy duology A Tempest of Tea (“King Arthur meets Peaky Blinders with vampires”) to Janine O’Malley at Farrar, Straus Children’s via Josh Adams of Adams Literary.
JOHN FLANAGAN sold book nine in the Brotherband series and books six and seven in the Royal Ranger series to Ken Wright at Philomel via Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management on behalf of Rick Raftos at the Rick Raftos Agency. Kelsey Murphy will edit.
RATI MEHROTRA sold YA fantasies Night of the Raven and Dawn of the Dove to Mara Delgado-Sanchez at Wednesday Books via Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.
SASHA PEYTON SMITH‘s The Witch Haven and a sequel forming a historical fantasy duology sold to Nicole Ellul at Simon & Schuster Children’s at auction via Hillary Jacobson at ICM.
CAYLA KEENAN sold YA fantasy Ravensong and the second book in the duology to Amanda Ramirez at Simon & Schuster Children’s in a pre-empt via Patrice Caldwell of New Leaf Literary & Media.
KRISTEN CICCARELLI sold YA fantasy Edgewood to Vicki Lame at Wednesday Books via Danielle Burby of Nelson Literary Agency.
LAURA WEYMOUTH‘s YA fantasy A Consuming Fire went to Nicole Fiorica at Margaret K. McElderry Books via Lauren Spieller of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
STEPHANIE GARBER sold YA fantasy Once Upon a Broken Heart and a sequel to Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books via Jenny Bent of the Bent Agency.
CANDICE YAMNITZ‘s YA fantasy Unbetrothed sold to Tessa Emily Hall at IlluminateYA via Cyle Young and Hope Bolinger of Cyle Young Literary Elite.
TORI BOVALINO sold YA horror novel Not Good for Maidens, retelling Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”, to Lauren Knowles at Page Street via Uwe Stender and Amelia Appel of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
MICHELLE DE KRETSER sold Scary Monsters: A Novel in Two Parts (with one part set in the near future) to Pat Strachan at Catapult via Sarah Lutyens of Lutyens & Rubinstein. Allen & Unwin will publish in Australia and the UK.
HOPE BOLINGER sold YA time-travel novel Why the Sparrow Cries and a second book to Jana Grissom at INtense Publications via Cyle Young and Tessa Emily Hall of Cyle Young Literary Elite.
HARRY COOK‘s YA Felix Silver, Teaspoons & Witches sold to Annie Harper at Duet.
EMILY LAYNE‘s SF YA Of Starlight and Bone and two more titles went to Hannah Smith at Owl Hollow Press via Becky LeJeune of Bond Literary Agency.
New writer ZAC TOPPING sold near-future military novel Wake of War and two more books to Christopher Morgan at Forge via Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
First novelist GINA CHEN sold fairytale-inspired YA Violet Made of Thorns and a second book to Hannah Allaman at Delacorte in a pre-empt via Elana Roth Parker of Laura Dail Literary Agency.
First novelist CALDER SZEWCZAK sold SF novel The Offset to Eleanor Teasdale at Angry Robot via John Ash of PEW Literary.
M. RICKERT‘s novella Lucky Girl, How I Became a Horror Writer: A Krampus Story sold to Ellen Datlow for Tordotcom.
CHRISTOPHER ROWE sold novella These Prisoning Hills (set in the world of “The Voluntary State” and “The Border State”) to Jonathan Strahan, and novella The Navigating Fox (set in the world of “Knowledgeable Creatures”) to Ellen Datlow, both to Tordotcom via DongWon Song of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
ANNALEEE NEWITZ sold non-fiction book Psychic War, “about the dark art of manipulation,” to Matt Weiland at Norton via Laurie Fox of Linda Chester Literary Agency.
LEANNA RENEE HIEBER sold historical ghost novella Dead Ringer to Diana Pho at Serial Box via Paul Stevens of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
SOFIA SAMATAR‘s memoir The White Mosque, “exploring the author’s own origins as a half-Swiss-Mennonite, half-Somali-Muslim American and how we reach across boundaries,” to Mensah Demary at Catapult via Sally Harding at CookeMcDermid.
ELLEN DATLOW will edit When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson for George Sandison at Titan via Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House, with stories by Nathan Ballingrud, Laird Barron, Elizabeth Hand, Cassandra Khaw, Victor LaValle, Seanan McGuire, and more.
SAUNDRA MITCHELL will edit Out There, an anthology of stories set in a future (following the historical All Out And the contemporary Out Now) for Natashya Wilson at Inkyard Press via Jim McCarthy of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
DAHLIA ADLER will edit At the Stroke of Midnight, a YA anthology of reimagined fairy tales, for Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books via Patricia Nelson of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
AMPARO ORTIZ & YAMILE SAIED MENDEZ will edit Our Shadows Have Claws, “a horror anthology featuring short stories about mythical monsters and magical baddies from Latinx folklore,” for Sarah Alpert at Algonquin Young Readers via Linda Camacho of Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency.
MISSOURI WILLIAMS sold The Doloriad, set after a “mysterious cataclysm,” to Jackson Howard at MCD/FSG via John Ash of PEW Literary on behalf of UK publisher Dead Ink.
RUOXI CHEN has been promoted to editor at Tom Doherty Associates.
JENNIFER UDDEN has left her position as an agent of New Leaf Literary & Media to become a freelance editor.
Film rights to TANANARIVE DUE‘s The Reformatory went to SK Global in a pre-empt, with Mazur/Kaplan to produce and the author and her husband/collaborator Stephen Barnes to adapt, via Steve Fisher of APA.
TED CHIANG‘s “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” was optioned for development as a series by Steve Yockey and Heyday Television via WME and Janklow & Nesbit Associates.
Film rights to ROS ANDERSON‘s first novel The Hierarchies, about sexbots, went to SK Global at auction via Steve Fisher and Blake Friedmann of APA on behalf of Conrad Williams & Sam Hodder.
TV rights to LOUISE MUMFORD‘s Sleepless were optioned by Mark McColey at Insurrection Media in a pre-empt via Emily Hayward-Whitlock of the Artist’s Partnership on behalf of Kare Shaw of the Shaw Agency.
This and more like it in the January 2021 issue of Locus.
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