People & Publishing Roundup, January 2023

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Tordotcom editor RUOXI CHEN won the $2,500 Superstar prize at Publishers Weekly’s an­nual Star Watch awards gala, held November 15, 2022 in New York to honor “innovative and inspired ‘rising stars’ of the US and Canadi­an publishing communities.” Chen dedicated her win to her family and her “colleagues at HarperCol­lins who are fighting for workers’ rights.”

ULRIKA O’BRIEN won the 2022 Rotsler Award for “long-time wonder-working with graphic art in amateur publications of the science fiction community.” The award was announced at Loscon 48, held November 25-27, 2022 at the Mar­riott Los Angeles Airport Hotel in Los Angeles CA. The award is sponsored by the Southern Califor­nia Institute for Fan Interests and includes an honorarium of $300. Judges were John Hertz, Sue Ma­son, and Suzanne Tompkins.

Author and screenwriter L. MA­RIE WOOD won the 2022 MICO Award, celebrating individuals who exemplify innovation, courage, and excellence in the film arts.

 

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JAMES PATTERSON signed on to finish an incomplete manu­script by MICHAEL CRICHTON (1942-2008) for Little, Brown via Robert Barnett for Patterson and Shane Salerno for CrichtonSun (the estate’s production company). The novel concerns “a mega-eruption of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano that can destroy not just the island but the entire world.”

KIJ JOHNSON’s collection The Privilege of the Happy End­ing: Small, Medium, and Large Stories went to Gavin J. Grant at Small Beer Press.

ISABEL ALLENDE’s histori­cal novel The Wind Knows My Name sold to Jennifer Hershey at Ballantine for seven figures via Johanna Castillo of Writers House.

ROBERT JACK­SON BENNETT sold The Tainted Cup and a second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan se­ries to Julian Pavia at Del Rey via Cameron McClure of Don­ald Maass Literary Agency.

R.S.A. GARCIA’s fantasy The Unbearable Taste of Fruit and Wine sold to Somto Ihezue at An­droid.

SAMANTHA SHANNON sold A Day of Fallen Night, a stand­alone prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, to Bloomsbury.

KATE HEARTFIELD sold new novel The Valkyrie, a revised edition of Armed in Her Fashion titled The Chat­elaine, and his­torical fantasy The Sharp Sisters, all to Jane Johnson at Voyager UK via Jennie Goloboy of Donald Maass Lit­erary Agency.

K E L L E Y ARMSTRONG sold Finding Mr. Write and a second book at auction to Leah Hultenschmidt at Forever via Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.

GLEN HIRSHBERG’s collec­tion Tell Me When I Disappear sold to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance.

KIERSTEN WHITE’s Dracula and Lucy, told from the perspec­tive of Lucy Westenra from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and a second book sold to Tricia Narwani at Del Rey via Michelle Wolfson of Wolf­son Literary Agency.

AKWAEKE EMEZI sold Son of the Morning, “a Black South­ern Gothic speculative romance,” plus a second book to Erika Tsang at Avon at auction via Jackie Ko of The Wylie Agency.

K ARSENAULT RIVERA sold Oath of Fire, “a sapphic Eros/ Psyche retelling,” and a second book to Leah Hultenschmidt at Grand Central via Sara Megibow of kt literary.

ANDREW NEIDERMAN, writing as V.C. ANDREWS, sold four books in a new series – Los­ing Spring, Searching for Endless Summer, Autumn Leaves, and First Snow – to Rebecca Strobel at Gallery via Alec Shane of Writers House on behalf of A and E Stu­dios.

PAIGE CRUTCHER sold fan­tasy What Became of Magic and an untitled novel about a witch to Monique Patterson at St. Martin’s via Samantha Fabien of Root Lit­erary.

KATHARINE J. ADAMS sold Tonight, I Burn and two more in a fantasy trilogy to Priyanka Krish­nan at Orbit US and Jenny Hill at Orbit UK in a pre-empt via Ernie Chiara of Fuse Literary. Australian rights went to Jeanmarie Morosin at Hachette Australia in a pre-empt, and New Zealand rights to Kate Stephenson at Moa Press.

TEMIM FRUCHTER sold City of Laughter, “part specula­tive queer family history and part folklore,” to Amy Hundley at Grove Atlantic via Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Manage­ment.

JOHN FRAM’s super­natural locked-room thrill­er No Road Home went to Loan Le at Atria in a pre-empt via Melissa Dan­aczko of Stuart Krichevsky Agency.

ANTHONY ENGE­BRETSON sold eco-noir horror novel Lumberjack to Matt Blair­stone of Tenebrous Press. Alex Woodroe ill edit.

JOLIE TOOMAJAN & CAR­SON WINTER sold Posthaste Manor to Matt Blairstone of Tenebrous Press. Alex Woodroe will edit.

ROB HART & ALEX SEGURA sold SF novel Dark Space, described as “John LeCarré in space,” to Addi Wright at Black­stone Publishing via Josh Getzler of HG Literary.

MELISSA SANE­HOLTZ sold ghost story A Case of Spirits and a second title to Esi Sogah at Berkley in a pre-empt via Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency.

EMILY SKRUTSKIE’s SF novel The Salvation Gambit went to Sarah Peed at Del Rey via Thao Le of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

LILY SPARKS sold fantasy novel The Merciless King of Moore High, “Riverdale meets Game of Thrones,” to Meg Gaert­ner at Flux via Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

MOLLY X. CHANG sold fan­tasy To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods and two more books to Anne Groell at Del Rey in a pre-empt via Kari Sutherland of kt literary.

LUCAS SCHAEFER sold The Slip, a novel “in the vein of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem,” to Tim O’Connell at Si­mon & Schuster in a pre-empt via Christopher Schelling of Selectric Artists.

HELENA ECHLIN’s Clever Little Thing, a supernatural psy­chological thriller, went to Pamela Dorman at Pamela Dorman Books in a pre-empt via Chad Luibl of Janklow & Nesbit, on behalf of Emma Leong of Janklow & Nesbit UK. Canadian rights sold to Nicole Winstanley and Lara Hinchberger at Penguin Canada.

ANANDA LIMA’s collection of linked stories Craft went to Ali Fisher at Tor via Sarah Bowlin of Aevitas Creative Management.

ROBERT LEVY’s horror col­lection No One Dies from Love: Dark Tales of Loss and Long­ing sold to Ross Lockhart at Word Horde via Rebecca Friedman of Rebecca Friedman Literary.

South African author CAMIL­LA STEN sold horror novel The Bachelorette Party, her first Eng­lish-language original novel, and a second book to Alexandra Sehul­ster at Minotaur via Anna Frankl at Nordin Agency.

HONEY WATSON sold SF epic Lessons in Birdwatching to Eleanor Teasdale at Angry Robot via James Mustelier of The Bent Agency.

LUISA COLÓN’s Bad Moon Rising went to Kevin Lucia at Cemetery Dance.

W.D. GAGLIANI sold postapocalyptic novel Stranger Roads to Cemetery Dance.

BRIAN MCAU­LEY’s horror novel Candy Cain Kills went to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave via Dan Milaschewski of UTA.

JASON OFFUTT sold fantasy The Boy from Two Worlds, sequel to Girl in the Corn, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Helga Schier will edit.

COLIN HINCKLEY’s horror novel The Black Lord sold to Matt Blairstone of Tenebrous Press. Alex Woodroe will edit.

DIEGO GERARD MOR­RISON’s magical realism novel Pages of Mourning went to Eric Obenauf at Two Dollar Radio.

H.J. REYNOLDS sold fantasy Without a Shadow to Sue Ar­royo at CamCat Books. Elana Gibson will edit.

SARENA ULIBAR­RI sold Steel Tree, “a retelling of The Nut­cracker set on the fer­tile moon of Eta,” to Justine Norton-Kertson at Android.

FRANCESCA MARIA’s hor­ror collection They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark, with illustrations by KEALAN PAT­RICK BURKE, sold to S.D. Vas­sallo at Brigids Gate. Elle Turpitt will edit.

BEN MONROE sold The Seething, with illustrations by ELIZABETH LEGGETT, to S.D. Vassallo at Brigids Gate. MJ Pankey will edit.

MICHAEL CLARK sold Hell on High to S.D. Vassallo at Brigids Gate. MJ Pankey will edit.

KC GRIFANT’s Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger, illus­trated by LUKE SPOONER, went to S.D. Vassallo at Brigids Gate. MJ Pankey will edit.

KYRA WHITTON sold Nor­wegian fairytale retelling A Bur­den of Ice and Bone to MaryBeth Dalto-McCarthy at Sword and Silk.

ETHAN RUTHERFORD sold historical fantasy and “climate change allegory” North Sun to Jill Meyers at Deep Vellum via Sarah Burnes of the Gernert Company.

XAN VAN ROOYEN sold cy­berpunk urban fantasy Silver He­lix to J.D. Harlock at Android via Lindsay Leggett of The Rights Fac­tory.

Ghanaian author IVANA AKOTOWAA OFORI sold The Year of Return to Somto Ihezue at Android in the US and to Jenn Thomson at Cipher Press in the UK via Bieke Van Aggelen of African Literary Agency.

SCOTT ADLERBERG’s hor­ror novel The Screaming Child went to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books.

ERIN LA ROSA sold specu­lative contemporary romance Change Your Tune and a second book to Lynn Raposo at Canary Street via Jessica Errera of Jane Rotrosen Agency.

ALEX EBENSTEIN’s horror novel Melon Head Mayhem sold to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave.

GISELLE VRIESEN sold fan­tasy novel Why We Play with Fire to Rebekah Borucki at 100 Block by Row House. Tamela Gor­don will edit.

PAULETTE KEN­NEDY’s paranormal novel The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, de­scribed as “Shirley Jackson meets Sharp Objects,” went to Erin Adair-Hodges at Lake Union Publishing via Jill Marr of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

ERIN A. CRAIG sold House of Roots and Ruin in the Sisters of the Salt series to Wendy Loggia at Delacorte Press via Sarah Landis of Sterling Lord Literistic.

JJA HARWOOD sold histori­cal YA fantasy The Thorns Re­main and a second book to Vicky Leech at Voyager via Chloe Seager of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.

AMELINDA BÉRUBÉ sold YA fantasy The Ones Who Come Back Hungry to Annie Berger at Sourcebooks Fire via Desiree Wil­son of the Bent Agency.

AUTUMN KRAUSE sold YA folk horror novel Before the Devil Knows You’re Here and a second title to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen at auction via Susan Hawk of Upstart Crow Literary.

ANDREA LYNN’s YA novel Dust Spells, inspired by fairy tale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”, went to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books via Elizabeth Copps of Copps Literary Services. Elana Gibson will edit.

HANNA C. HOW­ARD’s YA fantasy Our Divine Mischief sold to Katherine Jacobs at Blink via Hannah VanVels Aus­bury of Belcastro Agency.

SHELLY JAY SHORE sold first fantasy novel Bodies in Water to Jesse Shuman at Bantam Dell in a pre-empt via Ayla Zuraw-Friedland of Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

New writer O.O. SANGOYO­MI sold Masquerade and a second book to Robert Davis at Forge via Larissa Melo Pienkowski of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

HELEN MACDONALD & SIN BLACHÉ sold debut SF novel Prophet to Elisabeth Schmitz at Grove Press in the US and to Jona­than Cape in the UK via the Clegg Agency.

SYLVIE CATHRALL sold debut SF novel A Letter to the Luminous Deep and another title to Priyanka Krishnan at Orbit and Nadia Saward at Orbit UK via Na­tasha Mihell of The Rights Factory.

First novelist EHIGBOR OKO­SUN sold the Forged by Blood duology, “inspired by Nigerian mythology,” to David Pomerico at Voyager via Kiana Nguyen of Don­ald Maass Literary Agency.

Debut writer JAMISON SHEA sold I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me and another YA speculative suspense novel to Jess Harold at Holt Children’s at auction via Jennifer March Soloway of An­drea Brown Literary Agency.

MEGAN SCOTT sold first YA novel The Temptation of Mag­ic and two more titles to Claire Stetzer at Inkyard Press via Tamara Kawar of ICM/CAA on behalf of Stephanie Thwaites and Isobel Ga­han of Curtis Brown UK. UK rights sold to Natasha Bardon at Magpie Books via Thwaites.

MICKI ZI sold debut YA fan­tasy Of Blood and Lightning to Peter Carlaftes at Three Rooms Press via Travis Pennington of The Knight Agency.

R.B. LEMBERG’s Birdverse novella The Yoke of Stars sold to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Pub­lications via Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates. Jaymee Goh will edit.

DELILAH S. DAWSON sold novella Bloom to Cath Trechman at Titan Books, for publication in October 2023, via Stacia Decker of Du­now, Carlson & Lerner.

ELIANE BOEY’s novellas Signal\Tracer and Carrier sold to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.

WARREN WAG­NER’s horror novella The Only Safe Place Left Is the Dark sold to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books.

IZZY WASSERSTEIN sold cyberpunk novella These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart to Ja­cob Weisman at Tachyon Publica­tions via Dorian Maffei of Kimber­ley Cameron & Associates. Jaymee Goh will edit.

ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA & NATALIE C. PARKER will edit YA anthologies Mermaids Never Drown and Faeries Never Lie for Foyinsi Adegbonmire and Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Liter­ary & Media for Córdova and Lara Perkins of Andrea Brown Literary Agency for Parker.

 

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BRANDON SANDERSON sold print rights to Trees of the Emerald Sea and three other vol­umes from his recent $40 million-plus Kickstarter project to Tor, to be released three months after the “premium edition” is sent to Kick­starter backers. Gollancz will pub­lish in the UK.

CANDAS JANE DORSEY re­sold debut novel Black Wine to Betsy Mitchell at Open Road via Wayne Arthurson of The Rights Factory.

Pan Macmillan editor GEOR­GIA SUMMERS resold first novel The City of Stardust and another book to Nivia Evans at Redhook via Rebecca Folland of UK pub­lisher Hodder & Stoughton.

MEGAN KAKIMOTO’s col­lection Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare and fantasy Bloodsick resold to Jason Arthur at Granta via Rachel Clements and Sarah Phair of Abner Stein on behalf of Iwalani Kim of Sanford J. Greenburger As­sociates. Bloomsbury is publishing in the US.

MICHAEL TINKER PEARCE & LINDA PEARCE sold their previously self-published epic fantasies Dwarven Rifleman, Lord of the North, Called to Court, and Rage of Angels to Jay Hartman at Untreed Reads. Walter Boyes will edit.

PAUL GRUHN resold SF novel Refinery to Jay Hartman at Un­treed Reads. Walter Boyes will edit.

RAY TABLER resold previ­ously self-published SF novels A Grand Imperial War, Fool’s Par­adise, and A Grand Imperial Heir to Jay Hartman at Untreed Reads. Walter Boyes will edit.

 

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DIANA M. PHO has joined Ere­whon as executive editor. She was formerly a Tor editor and a lead creative executive at podcast studio Realm Media.

GABBIE PACHON has been hired as an editorial assistant at Berkley/Ace, working with editors ANNE SOWARDS and JESSICA WADE.

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This report and more like it in the January 2023 issue of Locus.

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