People & Publishing Roundup, February 2022
LAURIE R. KING has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and will be honored at the 76th Edgar Awards Ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York on April 28, 2022. Reviewer LESA HOLSTINE won the 2022 Raven Award, for “outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing,” and Soho Press associate publisher (and author) JULIET GRAMES received the Ellery Queen Award, for “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.”
WALTER MOSLEY won the Sankofa Freedom Award, given by the Tulsa City-County Library’s African-American Resource Center and the Tulsa Library Trust to “a nationally acclaimed individual who has dedicated his or her life to educating and improving the greater African-American community,” to be presented in aceremony on February 12, 2022. It includes $10,000 and an engraved medallion.
COLIN COYLE won the 2021 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award, given to “a volunteer of SFWA who best exemplifies the ideal of service to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America,” to be presented during the 2022 SFWA Nebula Conference, held May 20-22, 2022, in Los Angeles CA and online.
KATHRYN HEFFNER’s “More Work for Mimeo-Mothers: Femme-Fans’ Labour in Post-War Fan Cultures” won the Peter Nicholls Essay Prize, presented by the Science Fiction Foundation for “the best submission by a postgraduate or non-tenured researcher.”
COLM TÓIBÍN’s The Magician (Scribner) and V.E. SCHWAB’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Tor) are among the titles chosen by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on their Scholars’ Best Books of 2021 list. For details: <carnegieendowment.org/2021/12/22/carnegie-scholars-best-books-of-2021>.
MICHELLE FENG won the 2022 Illustration of the Year, given by the Speculative Literature Foundation. “Feng’s winning piece will be featured throughout 2022 on the Speculative Literature Foundation’s website and on social media. In addition, it may be featured in limited edition SLF-related marketing materials, such as bookmarks and pins.” For more: <speculativeliterature. org/2022/01/15/michelle-feng-is-the-winner-of-the-speculative-literature-foundations-2022-illustration-of-the-year/>.
JONATHAN LETHEM sold collection Collapsing Frontier to Terry Bisson at PM Press in a pre-empt. The book will be part of the Outspoken Author series, and will include new fiction and an interview.
BLAKE CROUCH sold SF novel Upgrade and a second book to Julian Pavia at Ballantine via David Hale Smith of Inkwell Management. UK rights sold to Wayne Brookes at Pan Macmillan via Alexis Hurley of InkWell Management.
TIM PRATT sold multiverse space opera Conquest of Nigh- Space to Simon Spanton at Angry Robot via Ginger Clark of Ginger Clark Literary. He also delivered The Veiled Masters, third in his Twilight Imperium gaming tie-in space opera series, to Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells at Aconyte
EASON sold Nightwatch over Windscar, sequel to Nightwatch on the Hinterlands, to Katie Hoffman at DAW via Lisa Rodgers of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
LOUISA YOUNG’s ghost romance Twelve Months and a Day went to Tara Singh Carlson at Putnam in a pre-empt via Eleanor Jackson of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner on behalf of Ariella Feiner at United Agents. Suzie Doore at The Borough Press bought UK rights via Feiner at United Agents.
ELIZABETH GONZALEZ JAMES sold The Bullet Swallower, “a magical Western pitched as Carmen Maria Machado meetsCormac McCarthy,” to Tim O’Connell at Simon & Schuster in a pre-empt via Peter Steinberg of Fletcher & Company.
SHAUN HAMILL sold The Dissonance, ‘‘a mix of The Magicians and the series Midnight Mass,” to Anna Kaufman at Pantheon via Kent Wolf of Neon Literary.
PHILIP FRACASSI sold horror novel Gothic to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance via Elizabeth Copps of Copps Literary Services. Paul Miller at Earthling bought limited deluxe edition rights.
LILIAN HORN sold Scandinavian folklore-inspired steampunk fantasy Journey of the Lost and Damned, sequel to Perils of Sea and Sky, to Tina Beier at Rising Action in Canada.
DAVID JAMES KEATON sold Head Cleaner, described as “Black Mirror meets Clerks,” to Jason Pinter at Polis.
VALONA JONES sold paranormal mystery Snuffed Out to Tara Gavins at Crooked Lane via Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
TORI ANNE MARTIN sold queer fantasy romance This Spells Disaster to Sarah Blumenstock at Berkley via Rebecca Strauss of DeFiore and Company.
ROBERT LEVY’s STALKER sold to Cara Hoffman at PM Press in a pre-empt via Rebecca Friedman of Rebecca Friedman Literary.
CYNTHIA PELAYO’s horror poetry collection Crime Scene, told in verse, sold to Jennifer Barnes at Raw Dog Screaming Press via Lane Heymont of the Tobias Literary Agency.
JO GRAHAM sold space opera Warlady, second in the Calpurnian Wars series after Sounding Dark, with illustrations by ELENI TSAMI, to Athena Andreadis at Candlemark & Gleam.
DAVID OPPEGAARD’s horror novel Claw Heart Mountain went to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Dawn Frederick of Red Sofa Literary. Helga Schier will edit.
TIFFANY MEURET sold Little Bird, about a woman who encounters a talking skeleton, to Lindy Ryan at Black Spot.
S.L. CHOI’s Bad Girls Bite went to Heather McCorkle at City Owl Press via Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Agency.
MEGAN VAN DYKE’s fairytale novel The Ugly Stepsister went to Heather McCorkle at City Owl Press.
ERIN FULMER sold succubus novel Cambion’s Blood to Heather McCorkle at City Owl Press.
LUNA JOYA’s paranormal romance How to Date a Fury sold to Lisa Green at Mystic Owl.
KENNETH OPPEL’s middle-grade fantasy Ghostlight sold to Nancy Siscoe at Knopf Children’s via Steven Malk of Writers House.
IVELISSE HOUSMAN’s YA Unseelie and a second book sold to Stephanie Cohen at Inkyard Press via Victoria Marini of Irene Goodman Agency.
ALEXIS MENARD sold YA fantasy A Deal with Darkness, prequel to A Night of Wings and Starlight, to Lisa Green at Mystic Owl.
MARIELY LARES sold debut historical fantasy Sun of Blood and Ruin, rooted in Mexican mythology and folklore, with “a gender-swapped Zorro,” plus a second book to David Pomerico at Voyager for six figures at auction via Heather Cashman of Storm Literary Agency.
Debut novelist JADE SONG sold literary fantasy Chlorine to David Pomerico at William Morrow via DongWon Song of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
REBECCA HIRSCH GARCIA’s first collection The Girl Who Cried Diamonds, with “stories that flirt between the surreal and the mundane horror of the every day,” and debut novel Other Evolutions went to Jennifer Albert at ECW Press in Canada via Ron Eckel of CookeMcDermid.
SARAH LEVINE sold first novel My Roommate Is a Vampire and a second title to Kristine Swartz at Berkley via Kim Lionetti of BookEnds.
Memoirist J. NICOLE JONES sold a first novel, California Gothic The Witches of Bellinas, to Megha Majumdar at Catapult via Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management.
New writer (and Viking Children’s editor) MERIAM METOUI sold YA horror A Guide to the Dark and a YA “speculative suspense novel” to Jess Harold at Holt Children’s at auction via Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
LISA SPRINGER sold a first novel, YA horror comedy There’s No Way I’d Die First, to Bria Ragin at Delacorte via Danielle Burby of Mad Woman Literary Agency.
First novelist LAURA PARNUM sold YA fantasy Peril at Price Manor and a second book to Sarah Homer at Harper Chi ldren’s via Kaitlyn Johnson of Belcastro Agency.
KATE PEARSALL sold first YA fantasy Bittersweet in the Hollow and a second title to Polo Orozco at Putnam Children’s at auction via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
Debut novelist LINDA KAO’s YA A Crooked Mark sold to Ruta Rimas at Razorbill via Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
MATT TERRILL’s debut SF novel Leo the Leper and the Senseless World went to Nancy Schumacher at Fire & Ice via Stephanie Cardel of Golden Wheat Literary.
NESS BROWN sold SF horror novella The Scourge Between Stars to Kristin Temple at Nightfire via Hannah Fergesen of kt literary.
CRYSTAL SIMONE SMITH’s Dark Testament, a book of YA “erasure poetry drawn from text ‘found’ in” Lincoln in the Bardo by GEORGE SAUNDERS, sold to Kate Farrell at Holt Children’s at auction via Liz Nealon of Great Dog Literary.
TV rights to JOHN SCALZI’s The Kaiju Preservation Society were optioned by Fox Entertainment via Joel Gotler of IPG.
Film rights to TOMI ADEYEMI’s Children of Blood and Bone went to Paramount at auction via CAA. The author will write the adaptation, and Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill and Karen Rosenfelt of Sunswept Entertainment will produce (they were also involved when the film rights previously sold to Fox 2000 in 2017).
Film rights to KAREN LYNCH’s Relentless urban fantasy series were optioned to Dario Kirola’s production company Force Majeure via Metamorphosis Literary Agency and attorney Maggie Marr. Victoria Rose will write the pilot.
Read the full interview in the February 2022 issue of Locus.
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