People & Publishing Roundup, August 2022
RUDY RUCKER sold his literary archive to the Special Collections of the UCR Library at UC Riverside. “The Rudy Rucker Archive includes marked-up drafts of forty books, story drafts, letters, videos, audio, scientific papers, rare ’zines, and email.” Henry Wessells of James Cummins Bookseller negotiated the deal with Cherry Williams and Andrew Lippert of UCR.
JESMYN WARD will receive the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction “for a lifetime of outstanding work” in an online award ceremony during the National Book Festival, to be held September 3, 2022.
MALORIE BLACKMAN won the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize, presented annually by English PEN to “a writer of outstanding literary merit resident in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland or the Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize in Literature speech, casts an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination… to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.”’ Blackman will be honored at an event at the British Library October 10, 2022.
SALMAN RUSHDIE sold Victory City, a historical fantasy inspired by Indian epics, to Andy Ward at Random House US via Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency. Clio Seraphim will edit. UK rights sold to Jonathan Cape and Canadian rights to Knopf Canada.
SEAN MCMULLEN’s SF novel Generation Nemesis sold to Cheryl Morgan at Wizard’s Tower press via Paul Collins.
DANIEL KRAUS & the late horror filmmaker and author GEORGE ROMERO’s Pay the Piper, based on a half-finished novel by Romero, sold to Claire Wachtel at Union Square & Co via Richard Abate of 3 Arts Entertainment. Kraus also sold Whalefall to Christian Trimmer at MTV Books via Abate.
JONATHAN MABERRY sold horror collection Long Past Midnight, with stories set in the world of the Pine Deep trilogy, to Michaela Hamilton at Kensington via Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.
LAURA LAM sold fantasy Dragonfall and two more books to Leah Spann at DAW and Molly Powell at Hodder & Stoughton in the UK at auction via Juliet Mushens of Mushens Entertainment.
ANYA JOHANNA DENIRO sold surreal short novel OKPsyche, about “a trans woman navigating dystopia, anxiety, and motherhood,” to Gavin J. Grant at Small Beer Press.
RIO YOUERS sold The Bang- Bang Sisters, “Charlie’s Angels by way of Quentin Tarantino,” and a second book to Jennifer Brehl at William Morrow via Howard Morhaim of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
AMANDA FOODY & CHRISTINE LYNN HERMAN’s YA fantasy A Fate So Cold and a second book went to Ali Fisher at Tor Teen via Whitney Ross of Irene Goodman Agency for Foody and Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary Agency for Herman.
HYE-YOUNG PYUN sold collection To the Kennels to Cal Barksdale at Arcade via Barbara Zitwer of Barbara Zitwer Agency on behalf of KL Management.
KATHERINE J. CHEN sold Morgana, retelling Arthurian legends of Morgan le Fay, and a second book to Caitlin McKenna at Random House via Elisabeth Weed of The Book Group.
ROSALIE LIN’s historical fantasy Daughter of Calamity and a second book sold to Tiffany Shelton at St. Martin’s and to Georgia Summers at Tor UK via Kurestin Armada of Root Literary.
TARA KARR ROBERTS sold Wild and Distant Seas, “a historical family saga with magical realism” about a minor character from Moby-Dick, to Helen Thomaides at Norton in a pre-empt via Chris Kepner of the Kepner Agency.
AVA REID sold Lady Makbeth and a second book to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey in a preempt via Sarah Landis of Sterling Lord Literistic.
ALEX SHVARTSMAN sold a sequel to The Middling Affliction to Shahid Mahmud at Caezik SF & Fantasy via Valentina Sainato and Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
TODD KEISLING’s horror novel Devil’s Creek went to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance via Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin and Fountain Literary Management.
DARE SEGUN FALOWO’s collection Caged Ocean Dub went to Android via Bieke van Aggelen of African Literary Agency.
GRETCHEN RUE sold the third book in the Witches’ Brew mystery series to Melissa Rechter at Crooked Lane.
ANDREW WILMOT’s horror novel Withered went to Terese Mason Pierre at ECW Press via Kelvin Kong of K2 Literary. Jennifer Albert will edit.
HOLLY SMALE sold time-loop novel The Cassandra Complex to April Osborn at Mira in a pre-empt via Allison Hellegers at Stimola Literary Studio on behalf of Kate Shaw at the Shaw Agency. Century will publish in the UK.
GINNY BAIRD’s time-loop novel Twelve Christmases – “Groundhog Day meets Miracle on 34th Street” – and two more books went to Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks via Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
WILLIAM FRIEND’s horror novel Let Him In and a second title sold to Jenna Jankowski at Sourcebooks via Claire Friedman and Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management on behalf of Jordan Lees of the Blair Partnership.
MELISSA ALBERT’s contemporary fantasy The Bad Ones went to Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books via Faye Bender of The Book Group.
JULIE CARRICK DALTON’s literary fantasy In the Shadow Forest and a second book went to Kristin Sevick at Forge for six figures via Stacy Testa of Writers House.
SEAN LUSK’s historical fantasy The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley went to Barbara Berger at Union Square & Co via Helen Edwards and David Headley of Helen Edwards Rights Agency on behalf of DHH Literary Agency.
CHRISTI NOGLE’s horror collection The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future and two more books sold to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press.
MELISSA FERGUSON’s eco-punk science fantasy novel Star- Scorched Fingertips went to Leon Perniciaro at Android.
ANGEL LUIS COLÓN sold Infested: A Fear Novel to Christian Trimmer at MTV Books via Jon Michael Darga of Aevitas Creative Management.
JULIA FINE sold historical “gothic fairytale” Maddalena and the Dark to Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books via Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management.
SHANNON MORGAN’s ghost story Her Little Flowers and a second book sold to Elizabeth Trout at Kensington via Kaitlyn Johnson of Belcastro Agency.
J. DIANNE DOTSON sold The Shadow Galaxy: A Collection of Short Stories and Poetry to Scarlett Algee at Trepidatio. Dotson’s YA Lunarpunk novel The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern went to Android.
ADRIANNA SCHUH’s romantic fantasy Magic in the Air sold to Alexandria Brown at Rising Action.
RAY ANDERSON sold Lift, first in a new SF series, to Ryan Smernoff at Keylight.
SARAH WEST sold The Ones They Took, first in the Hidden Magic series, to Galen Surlak-Ramsey, at Tiny Fox Press via Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Agency.
GABRIELLE ASH sold Shadow Tethered to Malorie Nilson at Parliament House Press via Julie Gwinn at The Seymour Agency.
VICKI-ANN BUSH sold fantasy The Darkest Light to Jean Lowd at Creative James.
ALEXANDER NADER sold horror novel Absolution Blues to Michael Dolan at Winding Road Stories.
ASH BISHOP’s fantasy The Horoscope Writer went to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates. Elana Gibson will edit.
ROMINA GARBER sold YA Castle of the Cursed, described as “Veronica Mars meets Mexican Gothic,” to Eileen Rothschild at Wednesday Books via Laura Rennert of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
MARGARET ROGERSON sold YA fantasy The Mysteries of Thorn Manor, in the world of Sorcery of Thorns, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books via Sara Megibow of kt literary.
PHIL EMERY’s YA SF novel Razor’s Edge, illustrated by TOEKEN, sold to Justine Norton- Kertson at Android. Reeve Bushman will edit.
ALLISON SAFT’s YA A Fragile Enchantment, “a Bridgerton-inspired romantic fantasy of manners,” sold to Sarah Grill at Wednesday Books via Claire Friedman and Jessica Mileo of Inkwell Management.
CHERYL ISAACS’s YA horror novel The Unfinished and a second title sold to Rosemary Brosnan at Heartdrum in a pre-empt via Natalie Lakosil of Irene Goodman Agency. Cynthia Leitich Smith will edit.
AIDEN THOMAS sold a sequel to YA ghost story Cemetery Boys to Holly West at Feiwel and Friends via Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
ANN LIANG’s YA body-swap novel I Am Not Jessica Chen sold to Claire Stetzer at Inkyard Press via Kathleen Rushall of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
TORI BOVALINO’s YA horror novel My Throat an Open Grave sold to Lauren Knowles at Page Street via Amelia Appel and Uwe Stender of TriadaUS Literary Agency.
JOHN TAYLOR sold Tiffany and the Nightmare Hunters to Jean Lowd at Creative James.
ASHA THANKI’s queer literary speculative novel debut A Thousand Times Before went to Nidhi Pugalia at Viking at auction via Stephanie Delman and Danya Kukafka of Trellis Literary Management.
First novelist EILISH QUIN sold Medea, “a feminist reimagining of Circe’s niece, Medea,” to Loan Le at Atria in a pre-empt via Jessica Spitz of William Morris Endeavor.
EM NORTH’s debut SF novel In Universes sold to Emma Kupor at Harper in a pre-empt via Hafizah Geter and PJ Mark of Janklow & Nesbit.
ISABELLA KAMAL sold debut The Temple of Persephone, “Bridgerton meets Mt. Olympus,” to Blackstone Publishing via Marlene Stringer of Stringer Literary Agency.
First novelist GERARDO SAMANO CORDOVA sold surreal literary horror novel Monstrilio to Sareena Kamath at Zando via Jenni Ferrari-Adler of Union Literary.
KIM DEROSE’s debut YA novel For Girls Who Walk Through Fire sold to Laura Schreiber at Union Square Kids via Kathy Green of Kathryn Green Literary Agency.
VICTORIA MILUCH sold first novel When We Leave the Deadlands to Melissa Valentine at Lake Union Publishing via Kerry D’Agostino of Curtis Brown.
Luna Press has announced the next six books in their Luna Novella series: EUGEN BACON’s Broken Paradise, JESS HYSLOP’s Miasma, LK KITNEY’s The Lies We Tell Ourselves, ANDREW KNIGHTON’s Ashes of the Ancestors, CHLOE SMITH’s Virgin Land, and ABIGAIL F. TAYLOR’s The Night Begins.
AUTUMN CHRISTIAN sold novella Our Violent Design to Sadie Hartmann at Dark Hart.
SADIE HARTMANN will write 101 Horror Books to Read Before You Die for Alexandra Murphy at Page Street.
COSTANZA CASATI’s first novel Clytemnestra resold to MJ Johnston at Sourcebooks via Jane Kirby of Penguin Random House UK.
LAURA STEVEN resold YA supernatural thriller The Society for Soulless Girls, “a sapphic retelling of Jekyll & Hyde,” to Hannah Hill at Delacorte via Juliette Clark at UK publisher Farshore.
JENNIFER ROBERSON turned in Sword-Bearer, eighth in the Sword-Dancer fantasy saga, to DAW.
CHARLOTTE MURSELL has been promoted to publishing director for fiction at Orion in the UK. She was previously editorial director.
KATIE HOFFMAN has been promoted to senior editor at DAW Books, and LEAH SPANN has been promoted to editor.
LESLEY CONNER is now co-editor-in-Chief of Apex, alongside JASON SIZEMORE; she joined in 2015 as managing editor.
Film rights to PETER HELLER’s The Dog Stars, adapted by MARK L. SMITH, sold to New Regency Pictures for seven figures via CAA on behalf of the Robbins Office, with New Regency, Smith, and Cliff Roberts producing.
Film rights to LIZ MICHALSKI’s Darling Girl were optioned by Nigel Marchant and Joanna Strevens at Carnival UK via Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company on behalf of Andrea Cirillo and Jessica Errera of Jane Rotrosen Agency.
TV rights to PIM WANGTECHAWAT’s The Moon Represents My Heart were optioned by Shawn Levy at 21 Laps and Netflix, with GEMMA CHAN to star and produce, via Tara Timinsky of Grandview LA on behalf of Liza DeBock of Mushens Entertainment.
TV rights to SARWAT CHADDA’s The Ash Mistry Chronicles were optioned by Radford Neville at The Lighthouse Film and Television via Jerry Kalajian of Intellectual Property Group on behalf of Chelsea Eberly of Greenhouse Literary Agency.
WIN SCOTT ECKERT sold Korak at the Earth’s Core, set in the ERB Universe series, to Christopher Paul Carey at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
This report and more like it in the August 2022 issue of Locus.
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