People & Publishing Roundup, July 2022
QUENTIN BLAKE, SALMAN RUSHDIE, and MARINA WARNER all received the High Award Companion of Honour distinction in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. IAN RANKIN received the Knights Bachelor distinction, while JOANNE HARRIS and MICHAEL FOREMAN received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire distinction for services to literature. JAMES DAUNT, head of Waterstones in the UK and CEO of Barnes & Noble in the US, received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire distinction for services to publishing.
CADWELL TURNBULL’s No Gods, No Monsters (Blackstone) won a Lambda Literary Award in the LGBTQ Speculative Fiction category. The “Lammys” celebrate “the best lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender books.” KALYNN BAYRON won the $3,000 Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction, given by the Lambda Literary Foundation to “a Black LGBTQ writer whose fiction explores themes of Black LGBTQ life, culture, and/or history.”
Astronaut CHRIS HADFIELD’s SF thriller The Apollo Murders (Mulholland) is on the six-title shortlist for the £10,000 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize in the Best Published Novel category. The winner will be announced September 22, 2022.
RACHEL CORDASCO received the third annual Space Cowboy Award, given for “support and excellence in the field of Science Fiction.” The award is administered by science fiction bookstore Space Cowboy Books, based in Joshua Tree CA.
IDZA LUHUMYO’s SF story “Five Years Next Sunday” (Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa) is one of five finalists for the 2022 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. The winner will be announced at a ceremony to be held in London on July 18, 2022.
Genre historian MALLORY O’MEARA’s Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol (Hanover Square) won a 2022 James Beard Media Award, honoring “food authors, broadcast producers, hosts, journalists, podcasters, and social media content creators.”
PETER S. BEAGLE sold an updated version of classic fantasy The Last Unicorn, featuring “the author’s restored text” and an introduction by PATRICK ROTHFUSS, to Ace Books. Ace will also publish related collection The Way Home, including Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella “Two Hearts” and a new sequel, “Sooz”.
SAMUEL R. DELANY’s new novel This Short Day of Frost and Sun is being serialized in The Georgia Review, starting in the Summer 2022 issue. Delany explained on Facebook, “It might take them as much as three or four years to finish up the whole thing. I’m fiddling with it as I feed them chapters.”
NALO HOPKINSON’s fantasy novel Blackheart Man sold to Joe Monti at Saga Press via Donald Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. Hopkinson, STEPHEN R. BISSETTE, and JOHN JENNINGS sold alternate history horror graphic novel Night Comes Walking to Abrams via Anjali Singh and Donald Maass.
BETH CATO sold “swashbuckling fantasy adventure” A Thousand Recipes for Revenge and a sequel to Adrienne Procaccini at 47North via Rebecca Strauss of DeFiore and Company.
DAVID D. LEVINE sold SF novel The Kuiper Belt Job to Lezli Robyn at Caezik SF & Fantasy via Paul Lucas of Janklow & Nesbit.
CHLOE NEILL sold the fifth book in the Heirs of Chicagoland series to Jessica Wade at Berkley via Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
QUAN BARRY sold collection Daily at the Gate of the Temple Which Is Called Beautiful: Stories and literary horror My God Is Godly: A Novel to Deborah Garrison at Pantheon via Jennifer Lyons of Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency.
NICOLE GLOVER sold The Improvisers and The Starseekers, latest in the Murder and Magic series, to Jaime Levine at Voyager via Jennie Goloboy of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
GEETANJALI SHREE’s epic fantasy set in India and Pakistan, Tomb of Sand, translated by Daisy Rockwell, sold to Gretchen Schmid at Harper Via via Julia Sanches at Tilted Axis Press.
ARIEL KAPLAN’s The Pomegranate Gate, inspired by Jewish folklore, and two more books went to Sarah Guan at Erewhon via Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates. Amy Borsuk acquired UK rights for Solaris.
MEREDITH MOORING’s queer science fantasy Redsight went to Amy Borsuk at Solaris via Ernie Chiara of Fuse Literary.
CAIT CORRAIN’s Crown of Starlight, “an irreverent, snarky, sexy and queer reimagining of the myth of Ariadne and Dionysus,” and a second book went to Anne Groell at Del Rey and Amanda Ferreira at Random House Canada via Rebecca Podos of Rees Literary Agency.
AMANDA FOODY’s SF novel The Whisper Between Worlds and two more books sold to Brit Hvide at Orbit via Whitney Ross of Irene Goodman Agency.
A.K. MULFORD’s self-published five-book queer fantasy romance series The Five Crowns of Okrith went to David Pomerico at Voyager, along with a new fantasy romance trilogy, The Golden Court series, beginning with A River of Golden Bones, in a seven-figure deal via Jessica Watterson of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. UK Rights sold to Natasha Bardon at Voyager UK.
SIM KERN’s alternate history The Free People’s Village sold to Irene Vazquez at Levine Querido via Rebecca Podos of Rees Literary Agency.
REBECCA ROWLAND sold collection White Trash & Recycled Nightmares, with “tales of cosmic, creature, and quiet horror,” to Shawn Macomber at Stygian Sky Media.
ANNA BILLER sold Bluebeard’s Castle, inspired by the story of Bluebeard and “novels such as Rebecca, Dracula, and Jane Eyre,” to Cian McCourt at Verso Fiction.
Mexican author DANIEL SALDANA PARIS sold post-apocalyptic novel The Dance and the Fire, translated by Christina MacSweeney, to Lizzie Davis at Coffee House Press via Maria Lynch and Gabriela Ellena Castellotti of Casanovas & Lynch Agency.
PRESTON FASSEL sold horror novel Beasts of 42nd Street to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance.
J.L. KIEFER’s survival horror novel That Wretched Valley went to Rebecca Gyllenhaal at Quirk Books via Lane Heymont of The Tobias Literary Agency.
JOHN MANTOOTH sold Holy Ghost Road to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance via Alec Shane of Writers House.
KRAZEKODE sold SF The 3rd Law of Cultivation: Qi = Mc^2, and four more books to Rhett Bruno at Aethon.
LINDY RYAN’s horror novel Bless Your Heart – “Grady Hendrix meets Charlaine Harris” – and a second title sold to Alexandra Sehulster at Minotaur in a pre-empt via Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin and Fountain Literary Management.
BRAD ABDUL’s humorous fantasy The Devil’s Advisor sold to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press via Maria Napolitano of Bookcase Literary Agency.
J.M. DONELLAN sold speculative thriller Lenore’s Last Funeral and two more books to Shawn Reilly Simmons at Level Best via Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary.
MOUSSA OULD EBNOU’s SF novel Barzakh: The Land In- Between, translated by Marybeth Timmermann, sold to Kenechi Uzor at Iskanchi Press.
SHEILA CONNOLLY sold SF novel Black Sails to Sunward and two more books to Cate Pearce at Hansen. Elizabeth Jeannel will edit.
EMILY MCINTIRE sold Hooked, Scarred, and Wretched in the Never After series to Christa Desir at Bloom Books in a pre-empt.
WREN MICHAELS sold Blood and Thunder, second in the Thunderbird Brotherhood series, to Lisa Green at Mystic Owl.
ANGELA SYLVAINE’s horror novel Frost Bite sold to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
J.E. MCDONALD’s fantasy Caged Fury went to Heather McCorkle at Mystic Owl.
MELISSA KARIBIAN’s A Chorus of Ashes and Shadows, the sequel to A Song of Silver and Gold, went to Elizabeth Jeannel at Hansen, for publication in June 2023.
JOSHUA BADER sold fantasy novel Discord to Yelena Casale at City Owl Press.
E.M. ANDERSON’s fantasy novel The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher sold to Cate Pearce at Hansen.
CAMRI KOHLER’s fantasies Peachy, Pared, and Buried sold to Brittany Weisrock at Lake Country Press.
RENEE LAKE’s horror novel The Infested sold to Cate Pearce at Hansen. Elizabeth Jeannel will edit.
ADRIAN VAN YOUNG’s collection Midnight Self sold to Diane Goettel at Black Lawrence Press.
NATALIA HERNANDEZ sold fantasy The Name-Bearer to Jessica Arrieta at Nightshade Publishing.
CHAD SMITH’s “futuristic urban fantasy” Killer App sold to Ally Robertson at the Wild Rose Press.
JOHN MAULDIN sold fantasy The Orb to Valerie Mathews at the Wild Rose Press.
TERRY PERSUN’s Biomass: Sky People went to Valerie Mathews at The Wild Rose Press.
RUTH FOX sold New Eden, sequel to Under the Heavens, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Elana Gibson will edit.
KATRINA KWAN’s fantasy The Last Dragon of the East went to Brittany Weisrock at Lake Country Press.
BEKA WESTRUP’s Song of Dark Tides sold to Brittany Weisrock at Lake Country Press.
MARIA MEDINA’s YA fantasy Mistress of Bones and a second title sold to Mara Delgado-Sanchez at Wednesday Books at auction via Dorian Maffei of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.
MADELEINE ROUX’s YA fantasy Now We Hunt the Doe and a second book went to Alyssa Miele at Quill Tree via Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. Roux’s tie-in fantasy Critical Role: The Mighty Nein – The Nine Eyes of Lucien sold to Sarah Peed at Del Rey.
AXIE OH’s YA fantasy duology The Floating World, described as “Final Fantasy meets Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky,” sold to Emily Settle at Feiwel and Friends via Patricia Nelson of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
K Y L I E SCHACHTE sold queer pirate fantasy Hearts of Gold to Samantha Gentry at Little, Brown Children’s via Margaret Sutherland Brown of Folio Literary Management.
KAMILAH COLE’s YA fantasy So Let Them Burn – a “Jamaican Joan of Arc” inspired by Zendaya’s 2018 Met Gala look – and a second title sold to Alexandra Hightower at Little, Brown Children’s via Emily Forney of BookEnds.
REBEKAH BERGMAN sold YA SF novel The Museum of Human History to Masie Cochran at Tin House Books at auction for via Alexa Stark of Writers House.
RACHEL MOORE’s paranormal romantic comedy YA The Book of Fades and a second title sold to Sara Schonfeld at Katherine Tegen Books for six figures via Claire Friedman of Inkwell Management.
M.K. LOBB sold YA fantasy Disciples of Chaos, sequel to Seven Faceless Saints, to Nikki Garcia at Little, Brown Children’s via Claire Friedman of Inkwell Management.
DAVID ARNOLD’s YA fantasy romance I Loved You in Another Life went to Dana Leydig at Viking Children’s via Daniel Lazar of Writers House.
VANESSA LE sold YA fantasy The Last Bloodcarver and another book to Emilia Sowersby and Emily Feinberg at Roaring Brook Press via Ramona Pina of BookEnds.
CHRISTOPHER HARTLAND’s queer YA fantasy Against the Stars sold to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press.
LAUREL THOMAS sold YA fantasy When Stars Brush Earth to Ally Robertson at the Wild Rose Press.
SCOTT ALEXANDER HOWARD’s literary fantasy debut The Other Valley and a second title sold to Loan Le at Atria in a pre-empt via Roz Foster at Frances Goldin Literary Agency. Canadian rights sold to Nita Pronovost, Janie Yoon, and Sarah St. Pierre at Simon & Schuster Canada.
New writer KATE ROBB’s alternate-reality rom-com The Love Cleanse and a second book sold to Emma Caruso at Dial Press via Bibi Lewis at Ethan Ellenberg Agency.
C H R I S TINE GRILLO’s debut Hestia Strikes a Match, set in “an America that’s a worse-but-not-worst case scenario,” sold to Jenna Johnson at Farrar, Straus, Giroux in a pre-empt via Naomi Eisenbeiss of Inkwell Management.
CARISSA ORLANDO sold first novel The September House, “about a woman who is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare,” and a second book to Jessica Wade at Berkley in a pre-empt via Sharon Bowers and Katherine Odom-Tomchin of Folio Literary Management.
MARK CECIL’s first novel Bunyan, about Paul Bunyan and John Henry “on an epic adventure in a mythic Gilded Age America,” sold to Anna Kaufman at Anchor via Tina Pohlman of Ross Yoon Agency.
BETHANY JACOBS sold debut space opera These Burning Stars and two more titles to Priyanka Krishnan at Orbit via Bridget Smith of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
ALEX WOODROE’s debut “horror-fantasy” Whisperwood sold to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press.
PATRICK BARB’s first collection Pre-Approved for Haunting went to Ryan Smernoff at Keylight.
KELSEY BLODGET, writing as KELSEY JAMES, sold debut historical horror The Woman in the Castello and two more books to John Scognamiglio at John Scognamiglio Books via Danielle Egan-Miller of Browne & Miller Literary Associates.
VAN ESSLER’s first novel The Sublime Spectacle, “a mélange of steampunk and gothic horror,” went to Jennifer Barnes at Dog Star Books. Heidi Ruby Miller will edit.
New writer LEIGH HEASLEY sold time-travel novel Kairos to Fiona Simpson at W by Wattpad via Ashleigh Gardner of Wattpad WEBTOON Studios.
ANN FOX’s debut fantasy The Blood Hours sold to Brittany Weisrock at Lake Country Press.
ERIN MAINORD’s debut fantasy The Blood That Binds Us and two more books sold to Brittany Weisrock at Lake Country Press.
First novelist RACHEL GREENWOOD’s vampire novel Like Salt and Ash sold to Brittany Weisrock at Lake Country Press.
SOFIA SAMATAR sold SF novella The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain to Emily Goldman at Tordotcom via Sally Harding of CookeMcDermid. The White Mosque: A Memoir resold to Hurst in the UK at auction via Rachel Clements of Abner Stein on behalf of Marleen Seegers of 2 Sea Agency for US publisher Catapult.
MARISCA PICHETTE’s poetry collection Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair sold to Justine Norton-Kertson at Android. J.D. Harlock will edit.
ALEXENE FAROL FOLLMUTH, writing as OLIVIE BLAKE, sold self-published book Alone with You in the Ether to Lindsey Hall at Tor via Amelia Appel at TriadaUS Literary Agency. Bella Pagan at Tor UK bought UK rights via Chris Scheina at Macmillan. Blake also sold three new books, and resold the self-published Masters of Death, One for My Enemy, and Twelfth Knight, to Hall at Tor for seven figures via Appel.
CESCA MAJOR resold time-loop novel Maybe Next Time and romance If I Were You to Tessa Woodward at William Morrow via Kristyn Keene Benton of ICM on behalf of Alice Lutyens of Curtis Brown UK. HarperCollins has UK rights.
TRAVIS BALDREE sold US rights to Legends & Lattes and another book to Lindsey Hall at Tor via Jon Mitchell of Pan Macmillan.
BELLA PAGAN has been promoted from publishing director to publisher at Tor UK, and will now report to Pan Macmillan publisher Lucy Hale. GEORGIA SUMMERS has been promoted to editor from assistant editor.
CLARA MADRIGANO has joined SEAN WALLACE as co-editor of horror magazine The Dark.
CHIMEDUM OHAEGBU is stepping down as managing and poetry editor at Uncanny at the end of 2022. Current assistant editor MONTE LIN will take over as managing editor with the January/February 2023 issue.
Film rights to LIZ HARMER’s SF novel The Amateurs were optioned by Jason Charters and Liam Romalis at Riddle Films, for development with Elevation Pictures, via Samantha Haywood and Laura Cameron of Transatlantic Agency. Harmer and Charters will co-write the screenplay.
MICHELLE JABES CORPORA sold Bring Your Dollies Three and another title in “a Holly Horror series” created in association with CloudCo Entertainment to Gabriela Taboas Zayas at Penguin Workshop via Allison Hellegers of Stimola Literary Studio.
This report and more like it in the July 2022 issue ofLocus.
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