People & Publishing Roundup, November 2021
Librarian MISHA STONE of the Seattle Public Library won the Librarian of the Year Award from the Greater Seattle Romance Writers Association. Stone is a Clarion West board member.
Composer JOHN WILLIAMS received the Forry Award for lifetime achievement in the SF field, presented by The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society at their October 9, 2021 meeting.
URSULA VERNON writing as T. KINGFISHER’s “Metal Like Blood in the Dark” (Uncanny 9-10/20) won the 2021 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 was presented at Capclave, held October 1-3, 2021 at the Rockville Hilton in Rockville MD. The winner was chosen by members of WSFA.
CRAIG RUSSELL’s Hyde (Constable) won the £1,000 McIlvanney Prize, given by the Scottish writing festival Bloody Scotland “to the best Scottish Crime book of the year.” Judges were Ayo Onatade, Karen Robinson, and Ewan Wilson.
KELLY LINK sold new collection White Cat, Black Dog, with “eight fairy tales, each one ingeniously transfigured and reinvented for the modern world,” to Caitlin McKenna at Random House via Renee Zuckerbrot of Massie & McQuilkin. Her debut novel, The Book of Love, also from Random House, has been scheduled for 2024.
R.F. KUANG sold Yellowface, a satirical novel about a white author who steals a manuscript from a dead Asian-American novelist and passes it off as her own, to May Chen at William Morrow and Natasha Bardon and Ann Bissell at Borough Press (UK) in a co-publishing venture, in a pre-empt via Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates.
ANN AGUIRRE sold fantasy romantic comedies Extra Witchy and The Safe House, sequels to Witch Please, to Christa Desir at Sourcebooks via Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
CASSANDRA ROSE CLARKE sold fantasy Singing with the Devil and another book to Stephanie Doig at Carina Press via Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
Chinese SF writer HAN SONG sold Hospital, Exorcism, and Dead Souls, translated by MICHAEL BERRY, to Gabriella Page-Fort at Amazon Crossing via Jennifer Lyons of Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency.
LILITH SAINTCROW sold two more paranormal romance novels and two books in the Ghost Squad series to Brenda Chin at Imajinn via Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
BRUCE MCALLISTER sold collection Stealing God and Other Stories to Aeon Press.
VERONICA G. HENRY sold two books, including a sequel to forthcoming fantasy The Quarter Storm, to Adrienne Procaccini at 47North via Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.
JULIANNA BAGGOTT sold Roon – “The City of Lost Children meets Pacific Rim, but in a very Le Guin sort of way” – to Mark Teppo at Underland Press. Darin Bradley will edit.
ALEXENE FAROL FOLLMUTH, writing as OLIVIE BLAKE, sold a revised version of her self-published novel The Atlas Six and two new books in the trilogy to Molly McGhee at Tor via Amelia Appel of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
LUCINDA ROY sold Flying the Coop, second in the Dreambird Chronicles trilogy, to Jennifer Gunnels at Tor via Jennifer Weltz of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.
ANN CLAYCOMB sold Silenced: A #Metoo Fairy Tale to Joanna Harwood at Titan Books via Anne Perry of Ki Agency on behalf of Cameron McClure of Donald Maass Literary Agency. Cath Trechman will edit.
HANNAH FERGESEN sold SF novel The Infinite Miles to Daniel Ehrenhaft at Blackstone Publishing via Victoria Marini of Irene Goodman Agency.
NATASHA C. CALDER’s post-apocalyptic SF novel Whether Violent or Natural went to Chelsea Cutchens at Overlook via John Ash of PEW Literary.
ALICE JAMES sold Grave Danger and Grave Suspicions in the Lavington Windsor Mysteries series to David Moore at Solaris via Simon Kavanagh of the Mic Cheetham Agency.
HOLLY JAMES sold time loop romantic comedy The Deja Glitch to Cassidy Sachs at Dutton via Melissa Edwards of Stonesong.
LINWOOD BARCLAY sold Look Both Ways, a thriller about driverless cars, to Jennifer Brehl at William Morrow via Helen Heller of Helen Heller Agency.
SARAH HAWLEY sold A Witch’s Guide to Fake-Dating a Demon and two more books to Cindy Hwang at Berkley via Jessica Watterson of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
INDIA HOLTON sold another book in her alternate history fantasy Dangerous Damsels series, along with a second title, to Kristine Swartz at Berkley via Taylor Haggerty of Root Literary.
HANNAH WHITTEN’s fantasy The Foxglove King and two more books sold to Brit Hvide at Orbit via Whitney Ross of Irene Goodman Agency.
TODD SCOTT sold horror novel The World Burns Bright and a second book to Jessica Tribble Wells at Thomas & Mercer via Carlisle Webber of Fuse Literary.
C.M. ALONGI’s SF novel Citadel went to Rick Bleiweiss at Blackstone Publishing via Lesley Sabga and Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Agency.
AURORA ASCHER’s Raith, launching the Elemental Races fantasy trilogy, and a second book went to Molly Majumder at Amara Next.
BRIAN MCAULEY’s horror novel Curse of the Reaper sold to Lilly Golden at Skyhorse via Dan Milaschewski of UTA.
SARAH JOST’s time-travel novel One Last Chance and another title went to MJ Johnston at Sourcebooks via Olivia Maidment of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. Piatkus will publish in the UK.
VIRGINIA KANTRA’s The Fairy Tale Life of Dorothy Gale, “a contemporary reimagining of The Wizard of Oz,” sold to Cindy Hwang at Berkley via Robin Rue of Writers House.
DAN WHITFIELD’s supernatural thriller The Spider’s Revenge sold to Sheri Williams at TouchPoint Press via Stephanie Hansen of Metamorphosis Literary Agency.
RAMONA EMERSON’s fantasy mystery Shutter sold to Juliet Grames at Soho Crime.
JESSICA CLARE’s Go Hex Yourself and a second book went to Kristine Swartz at Berkley via Holly Root of Root Literary.
DHARMA WINDHAM sold The Reluctant Goddess and The Sword and the Serpent in the new Kleopatra Chronicles series to Walt Boyes at Ring of Fire Press via Robert Thixton of Pinder Lane.
SIM KERN sold SF novel Seeds for the Swarm and two more titles to Selena Middleton at Stelliform Press via Mariah Nichols of D4EO Literary Agency.
E.A. FIELD (who also writes fantasy as ANNE BOURNE) sold In Real Life to T.S. Beier at Rising Action.
ANNE-MARIE SMYTH sold werewolf novel Hunted to Lisa Green at Mystic Owl.
JO KAPLAN’s When the Night-Bells Ring went to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Jill Marr of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. Helga Schier will edit.
CYNTHIA MCDONALD sold Diluvium and Dromkasha to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth.
SCOTT BRITZ-CUNNINGHAM’s SF novel Interface sold to Stephanie Beard at Keylight.
KATIE GROOM sold werewolf novel Fixed Moon to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth.
SHANNON TAKAOKA’s YA fantasy The Great and Powerful Gracie Byrne went to Kaylan Adair at Candlewick via Nicki Richesin of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
ERIN JADE LANGE’s YA vampire novel Mere Mortals sold to Tara Weikum at Harper Teen via Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
PATRICIA WARD sold YA fantasy The Cherished and a second title to Kristen Pettit at Harper Teen via Matt Bialer of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
DANIELLE VALENTINE sold YA How to Survive Your Murder, “a slasher version of It’s a Wonderful Life,” and another title to Casey McIntyre at Razorbill via Hillary Jacobson of ICM.
VICTORIA LEE sold YA fantasy The Girl that Time Forgot to Krista Marino at Delacorte via Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty of Root Literary.
ALEXANDRA CHRISTO sold YA fantasy Princess of Souls to Holly West at Feiwel and Friends via Emmanuelle Morgen of Stonesong. UK rights went to Emma Matthewson at Hot Key Books.
MOSES OSE UTOMI’s YA fantasy Daughters of Oduma sold to Reka Simonsen at Atheneum via Jim McCarthy of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
EMMA TÖRZS sold debut novel Ink Blood Mirror Magic to Jessica Williams at William Morrow at auction via Claudia Ballard of William Morris Endeavor; UK rights went to Selina Walker and Sam Bradbury at Century in a pre-empt via Matilda Forbes Watson of William Morris Endeavor.
KAY CHRONISTER’s first novel Desert Creatures, “a feminist horror Western set in a desolate future,” went to Sarah Guan at Erewhon at auction via Laura Cameron of Transatlantic Literary Agency.
JIMMY JULIANO’s debut horror novel Dead Eleven sold to Lindsey Rose at Dutton at auction via Liz Parker of Verve Talent & Literary.
First novelist CLAUDIA LUX sold fantasy Sign Here, about “a guy who works in Hell (literally),” and a second book to Jen Monroe at Berkley in a pre-empt via Lucy Cleland of Kneerim & Williams.
NATHAN TAVARES sold debut A Fractured Infinity, described as “Arrival, but make it gay,” and a second book to George Sandison at Titan Books via Naomi Davis of BookEnds.
New writer EMERY ROBIN sold space opera The Stars Undying and another title to Angeline Rodriguez at Orbit at auction via Isabel Kaufman of Fox Literary.
First novelist MAUREEN KILMER sold horror-comedy Suburban Hell to Kate Dresser at Putnam via Holly Root of Root Literary.
LEAH VERNON’s first novel The Union and a second volume sold to Melissa Valentine at 47North via Penelope Burns of Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners.
K.M. WATTS sold first novel Born Andromeda, a space opera, to Annie Harper at Duet.
Debut novelist MADISON LAWSON sold near-future SF The Registration to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Julie Gwynn of the Seymour Agency. Helga Schier will edit.
JOE R. LANSDALE sold his memoir Mechanic’s Son to Jarod Barbee at Stygian Sky Media via Danny Baror of Baror International.
MALKA OLDER’s novella The Mimicking of Known Successes sold to Emily Goldman at Tordotcom Publishing. Brent Lambert will edit.
EKOW ESHUN , with MICHELLE COMMANDER & KAMEELAH MARTIN, sold In The Black Fantastic to Victoria Hindley at MIT Press at auction. The book is a collection of art and imagery from across the African diaspora that embraces the mythic and the speculative. “It brings vividly to life the forces that shape Afrofuturism, the cultural movement that conjures otherworldly visions out of everyday Black experience.”
LINDY RYAN & TONI MILLER will edit Under Her Skin, an anthology of body horror poetry “from women (cis and trans) and nonbinary femmes in horror,” with a foreword by Linda D. Addison, for Black Spot.
GABINO IGLESIAS resold The Devil Takes You Home to Jack Butler at Wildfire in the UK via Francesca Davies of Lutyens & Rubinstein on behalf of Melissa Danaczko of the Stuart Krichevsky Agency. US rights went to Mulholland Books.
TIM PRATT delivered Prison of Sleep, sequel to multiverse adventure Doors of Sleep, to Simon Spanton and Eleanor Teasdale at Angry Robot.
JOANNA PRIOR has been named the new CEO of Pan Macmillan. Current CEO ANTHONY FORBES WATSON will step down in early 2022, but will continue to advise Stefan von Holtzbrinck and the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Prior has worked as managing director of Penguin General Books in the UK for 12 years, and has been with Penguin for 23 years, rising in the ranks from publicity and marketing.
TIM O’CONNELL is leaving his position as editor at the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group after 15 years to become vice-president and editorial director of fiction at Simon & Schuster, starting November 8, 2021. He will oversee the fiction editors and build his own list. O’Connell has edited numerous genre authors, including Ted Chiang, Daryl Gregory, Karin Tidbeck, and Charles Yu.
MERCEDES LACKEY’s Valdemar universe is being adapted as a TV series. Kit Williamson and Brittany Cavallaro will write the adaptation and produce, with executive producer Ted Field and producers Anthony Tringali, Maria Frisk, and Michael Napoliello of Radar Pictures. The first season will focus on the Last Herald-Mage trilogy: Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Price, and Magic’s Promise. Lackey is represented by Russell Galen of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.
ROALD DAHL’s estate sold rights to his entire catalog to Netflix. The Roald Dahl Story Company, the entity created to manage the late author’s rights, previously licensed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda the Musical to Netflix, and now the streaming giant plans to develop “a unique universe across animated and live action films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theatre, consumer products and more.”
Read the full interview in the November 2021 issue of Locus.
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