People & Publishing Roundup, June 2022
ELSA SJUNNESON is now represented by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary.
RR HAYWOOD is now represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
JOSHUA COHEN’s The Netanyahus (New York Review) won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in the Fiction category, given for ‘‘distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life,’’ with its $15,000 prize.
ROBERT J. SAWYER’s WWW trilogy – Wake (2009), Watch (2010), and Wonder (2011) – won the Machine Intelligence Foundation for Rights and Ethics 2021 Media Award, presented by AI research foundation MIFRE in ‘‘recognition of the representation of human and Machine Intelligence forming and thriving in a cooperative peer relationship.’’
XIRAN JAY ZHAO’s Iron Widow (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat) won the Barnes & Noble Children’s & YA Book Award in the YA category.
LAUREN GROFF received the $50,000 Joyce Carol Oates Prize, presented by the New Literary Project to ‘‘a mid-career author of fiction who has earned a distinguished reputation and the widespread praise of readers and reviewers.’’ Groff will ‘‘be in brief residence at the University of California, Berkeley, during October 2022.’’
YIYUN LI won the 2022 PEN/ Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, for ‘‘writers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form.’’ Li will be honored at the PEN/Malamud Award Ceremony, held in partnership with American University, December 2, 2022.
P.C. HODGELL sold the 11th Kencyrath novel, sequel to Deathless Gods, to Toni Weisskopf at Baen Books via Jennifer Jackson of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
GWENDA BOND sold The Frame-Up, “Oceans 8 meets The Picture of Dorian Gray,” and a second book to Anne Groell at Del Rey via Kate McKean of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
SUZAN PALUMBO’s debut collection Skin Thief sold to dave ring at Neon Hemlock via Michael Curry of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
CHRISTOPHER BARZAK’s new collection Monstrous Alterations went to Steve Berman at Lethe Press via Barry Goldblatt of Barry Goldblatt Literary.
JAMES MORROW sold short novel Behold the Ape to Kevin J. Anderson at WordFire Press.
NALINI SINGH sold books 16, 17, and 18 in her Guild Hunter series to Cindy Hwang at Berkley via Nephele Tempest of The Knight Agency.
P.C. CAST’s Rebel, Queen, Warrior and a second title sold to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow at auction via Rebecca Scherer of Jane Rotrosen Agency.
ELWIN COTMAN’s Weird Black Girls, “an eclectic mix of folklore, satire, cosmic horror, domestic horror, and slice-of-life that speak to the human yearning for companionship in an increasingly alienated world,” sold to Kathy Belden at Scribner via Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group.
ALAN SMALE’s Radiant Sky, sequel to Hot Moon, went to Shahid Mahmud at Caezik SF & Fantasy via Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates.
NICOLA YOON ’ s first book for adults, One of Our Kind, described as “The Stepford Wives meets Get Out,” sold to Caitlin Landuyt at Anchor at auction via Jodi Reamer of Writers House.
M.J. KUHN sold Thick as Thieves, sequel to Among Thieves, to Amara Hoshijo at Saga Press via Abby Schulman of Rebecca Friedman Literary.
MATTHEW WARD sold the Soulfire Saga to James Long at Orbit UK and Priyanka Krishnan at Orbit US via John Jarrold of the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
HAN KANG’s Greek Lessons and You Do Not Part sold to Parisa Ebrahimi at Hogarth in the US and Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton in the UK via Laurence Laluyaux of Rogers, Coleridge & White.
SARINA DAHLAN sold Preset, a prequel to Reset, plus a second book to Rick Bleiweiss at Blackstone Publishing via Julie Gwinn at The Seymour Agency.
VICTORIA FULTON & FAITH MCCLAREN’s Cursed Cruise – “The Sixth Sense onboard the Titanic” – went to Alison Romig at Underlined via Katie Shea Boutillier of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
DANIELLE L. JENSEN sold Norse fantasy romance A Fate Inked in Blood and a second title to Sarah Peed at Del Rey in a pre-empt via Tamar Rydzinski.
LILY CHU sold contemporary fantasy Bottled Up and a second book to Mary Altman at Sourcebooks at auction via Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency.
COURTNEY COLE’s holiday fantasy The Christmas Wish went to Tessa Woodward at William Morrow via Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
KELLY FARMER’s It’s a Fabulous Life, “a sapphic retelling of the classic holiday movie,” went to Stacey Donovan at Hallmark.
SHANNON BRIGHT sold romantic fantasy Every Wish Way to Holly Ingraham at Alcove Press via Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
KELSEY NORRIS’s mixed-genre collection House Gone Quiet and another title went to Rebekah Jett at Scribner at auction via Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management.
JUSTIN C. KEY sold collection The World Wasn’t Ready for You, and “a speculative novel drawing on the author’s experience as a Black doctor in the predominantly white field of medicine,” to Sarah Ried at Harper in a pre-empt via Adam Eaglin of The Cheney Agency.
MARIANNE GORDON sold fantasies The Gilded Crown and The Antlered King to Vedika Khanna at Voyager and Natasha Bardon at Voyager UK via Anne Perry of Ki Agency.
ELLIOTT GISH’s Grey Dog went to Jen Sookfong Lee at ECW Press in Canada.
C.S. HUMBLE sold the third book and resold the first two books in the Survivors Trilogy, “a pulp weird western series of cosmic horror with literary flair and Robert E. Howard grit,” to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance. All the Prospect Around Us, second in the Black Wells fantasy series, went to Sadie Hartmann at Dark Hart.
MARY JONES sold collection The Goodbye Process to Zibby Owens and Leigh Newman at Zibby Books in a pre-empt via Julia Kenny of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. Leigh Newman will edit.
JOANNE MCNEIL’s near-future SF novel Wrong Way and non-fiction book Too Early for the Future sold to Sean McDonald at MCD/FSG via Sarah Bowlin of Aevitas Creative Management.
JASON WEISER & CARISSA WEISER sold For the King, “a definitive retelling of the legend of King Arthur,” to Vedika Khanna at William Morrow in a pre-empt via Dan Milaschewski of UTA.
JENNA CLAKE’s supernatural novel Disturbance went to Drew Weitman at Norton via Matthew Turner of Rogers, Coleridge & White. Zoe Yang at Trapeze bought UK rights.
ALEXANDER DARWIN sold fantasy The Combat Codes and two more books to Hillary Sames (who has since gone freelance) at Orbit via Ed Wilson of Johnson & Alcock. Bradley Englert will edit.
MÁRIO COELHO sold SF novel Unto the Godless What Little Remains to Jim Killen at Solaris via Stevie Finegan of Zeno Agency.
C.L. CLARK’s epic fantasy Warmongers went to Brit Hvide at Orbit via Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.
SOPHIE KIM sold first adult book The God and the Gumiho and a second title to Sarah Peed at Del Rey via Emily Forney of BookEnds.
ALLIE THERIN sold urban fantasy romances Liar City and Once a Rogue in the Roaring Twenties Magic series, and another book to Stephanie Doig at Carina Press Adores via Laura Zats of Headwater Literary Management.
JESSICA BEST sold Stars, Hide Your Fires – “queer Knives Out in space” – to Jessica Yang at Quirk Books.
LUNA MCNAMARA’s Psyche and Eros, a feminist retelling of the Greek myth, and a second book sold to Julia Elliott at William Morrow via Maria Whelan and Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management for Hattie Grunewald at The Blair Partnership. UK rights went to Charlotte Mursell at Orion.
CHLOE SPENCER sold Monstersona, pitched as “Thelma and Louise meets Godzilla for teens,” to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press.
Z.R. ELLOR’s No Better than Beasts, “a dark retelling of The Nutcracker,” sold to Mekisha Telfer at Roaring Brook Press via Kaitlyn Johnson of Belcastro Agency.
ROSALYN BRIAR’s fairytale novel Her Dark Enchantments went to Cassandra Thompson at Quill & Crow.
GENEVA MONROE’s fantasies Sun Serpent and Star Spear sold to Reanna Guthrie at Nightshade Publishing.
AI JIANG sold Linghun, “a modern Gothic ghost story,” to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
CAROLINE DUNFORD’s “retro-futuristic” SF novel The Augmentors sold to Ashley Hutchison at Lost Boys via Amy A. Collins of Talcott Notch Literary Services.
TRACY CROSS’s Rootwork, first in the Conjure horror series, sold to Sadie Hartmann at Dark Hart.
REBECCA TURKEWITZ’s literary horror collection Here in the Night went to Diane Goettel at Black Lawrence Press.
MIKE BOCKOVEN’s supernatural novel Killing It went to Jason Pinter at Polis via Steve Schwartz of Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency.
ELIJAH MENCHACA sold They Split the Party, sequel to They Met in a Tavern, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Bridget McFadden will edit.
KATHRYN TROY’s fantasy The Shadow of Theron and a second book in the duology sold to Tee Tate at City Owl Press.
CATHER INE FEARNS sold horror novel All the Parts of the Soul to Cassandra Thompson at Quill & Crow.
TERRY PERSUN’s SF novel Biomass: Sky People sold to Valerie Mathews at The Wild Rose Press via Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
RUTH FOX sold SF novel New Eden, sequel to Under the Heavens, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Elana Gibson will edit.
MINDI BRIAR sold Petrichor Blooms, second in the Halcyon Universe series, to Lisa Green at City Owl Press.
SHARI NICHOLS sold vampire novel Midnight Craving to Heather McCorkle at City Owl Press.
TRACEY MARTIN sold Misery Loves Company, Darkest Misery, and Misery Happens in the Miss Misery series to Tina Moss at City Owl Press. Danielle DeVor will edit.
DHONIELLE CLAYTON sold books three and four in the Marvellers middle-grade fantasy series to Brian Geffen at Holt Children’s via Molly Ker Hawn of The Bent Agency.
SWATI TEERDHALA’s YA fantasy The Boyfriend Wish went to Mabel Hsu at Katherine Tegen Books via Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency.
EMILY VARGA’s YA novel For She Is Wrath, described as “a Pakistani Count of Monte Cristo fantasy,” and an untitled YA novel, described as “anti-colonial Indiana Jones meets A Court of Thorns and Roses,” sold to Mara Delgado-Sanchez at Wednesday Books via Paige Terlip of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
SHELLY MACK sold YA fantasy Landis to Jennifer Lowry at Monarch.
VANESSA MONTALBAN’s YA fantasy A Tall Dark Trouble and a second book went to Tiffany Liao at Zando Young Readers in a pre-empt via Danielle Burby of Mad Woman Literary Agency.
DAVID FERRARO’s YA The Alchemy of Moonlight, “a queer retelling of the seminal gothic novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho,” sold to Tamara Grasty at Page Street Kids via Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary Agency.
JEN DRAPP sold YA fantasy series The Protectors: Eye of the Falcon, and Wrath of the Sun to Lilly Brown at Nightshade Publishing.
C H R I S S Y BROWN’s YA fantasy Seeing Gray went to Valerie Mathews at The Wild Rose Press via Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
J.A. NIELSEN sold YA fantasy The Claiming to Valerie Mathews at The Wild Rose Press via Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
BRITTANY WILLIAMS sold YA historical fantasy debut That Self-Same Metal and two more books to Maggie Lehrman at Abrams Children’s in a pre-empt via Alexandra Levick of Writers House.
KEMI ASHING-GIWA’s space opera debut The Splinter in the Sky sold to Amara Hoshijo at Saga Press via Tricia Skinner of Fuse Literary.
Director JOHN HARRISON sold debut novel Passing Through Veils to Kevin J. Anderson at WordFire Press via Lane Heymont of The Tobias Literary Agency.
ASHLEY WILDA’s debut Raeth, combining magical realism, poetry, and prose, sold to Lauri Hornik at Rocky Pond Books via Liz Nealon of Great Dog Literary.
First novelist AYESHA MANAZIR SIDDIQI sold comic speculative novel The Centre to Sareena Kamath at Gillian Flynn Books at auction via Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management on behalf of Sara Langham at David Higham Associates.
LINDY RYAN will edit Into the Forest, “a women-in-horror anthology” with stories inspired by the Baba Yaga, for Black Spot.
SADIE HARTMANN & ASHLEY SAYWERS will edit original horror anthology Dark Matter Presents: Human Monsters, with work by STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES, CAROLINE KEPNES, and JOSH MALERMAN, among others, for Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
MADELINE DYER will edit mixed-genre YA anthology Being Ace, to “celebrate and explore the sub-identities of the asexual spectrum,” for Tamara Grasty at Page Street via Erin Clyburn of Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
RIKKI DUCORNET’s novella The Plotinus sold to Erika Stevens at Coffee House Press via Pierre Astier of Astier-Pecher Literary & Film Agency.
P.A. CORNELL sold first novella Lost Cargo to Mocha Memoirs Press.
EUGEN BACON resold collection Danged Black Thing to Apex Book Company, which will publish in North America. It was originally published in Australia by Transit Lounge in 2021.
LAURA THALASSA resold four books in the self-published Bargainer fantasy romance series to Christa Desir at Bloom Books via Kimberly Brower of Brower Literary.
Macmillan Publishers CEO DON WEISBERG is leaving his position at the end of 2022, and will be replaced by current president JON YAGED as US CEO. Weisberg will remain “in an advisory capacity to Stefan von Holtzbrinck” beginning in 2022.
OLIVIA TAYLOR SMITH has joined Simon & Schuster’s adult trade publishing imprint as a senior editor, effective July 5, 2023. Smith is a co-founder of Unnamed Press.
ELEANOR TEASDALE has been promoted to publisher of Angry Robot, and GEMMA CREFFIELD has been promoted to commissioning editor. Teasdale was previously commissioning editor, and Creffield managing editor, both joining the company in 2019.
Film rights to EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL’s The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility were optioned by Paramount TV to be developed as two separate series at HBO Max with Pacesetter Productions, Stone Village Television, Super Frog, and Shadowfox Productions. Patrick Somerville (showrunner of Mandel adaptation Station Eleven) will co-write both series.
Film rights to JOHANNA SINISALO’s Troll: A Love Story were optioned by Mans Marlind at Marlind International with Tuppence Middleton via Elina Ahlback of Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.
ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA’s YA Kiss the Girl, a “modern reimagining of The Little Mermaid” and third in the Meant to Be series (with updated takes on Disney princesses), went to Jocelyn Davies at Disney-Hyperion via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media
This report and more like it in the June 2022 issue of Locus.
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