People & Publishing Roundup, February 2023
MILESTONES
LAIRD BARRON was hospitalized in early January 2023 with respiratory problems and other medical issues. Mike Davis has organized a crowdfunding campaign as the author lacks health insurance. Davis says, ‘‘Laird is a private person and I’m trying to convey just how serious this is without revealing too much personal information. Make no mistake: This is very serious, and potentially life-threatening. For more: <www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs>.
Author and Locus reviewer PAUL DI FILIPPO was struck by a car on January 18, 2023. He was not seriously injured, but according to partner Deborah Newton is ‘‘covered with bruises and has a large hematoma on his left thigh. His hip, where he believes he landed after the hit, is excruciatingly painful.’’ He is recovering at home.
LEE MANDELO is now represented by Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
A.C. COBBLE is now represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency for all translation rights.
HARLAN ELLISON’s estate sold retrospective collection Harlan Ellison’s Greatest Hits, edited by his executor J. Michael Straczynski, to Mika Kasuga at Union Square & Co at auction via Emma Parry of Janklow & Nesbit. The book includes a foreword by Neil Gaiman and an introduction by Michael Chabon.
ADA PALMER sold Hearthfire and Wildfire, a new fantasy duology based in Viking folkore and myth, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor via Cameron McClure of Donald Maass Literary Agency. Palmer & JO WALTON sold SF novel The Wrath of Abaia and a collection of essays about SF and fantasy entitled Integral to the Plot to Nielsen Hayden via McClure (now representing Walton following the retirement of previous agent Jack Byrne).
DAVID WEBER & CHRIS KENNEDY sold To Challenge Heaven, in the series begun with Out of the Dark and Into the Light, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor, who also bought two more novels in the series.
ALAN DEAN FOSTER sold The Moaning Words to Derrick Hussey and S.T. Joshi at Hippocampus Press via Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency. Foster resold ebook rights to Cachalot and Voyage to the City of the Dead, and print and ebook rights to The Director Should’ve Shot You, to Betsy Mitchell at Open Road via Hansen.
WENDY N. WAGNER sold The Creek Girl, ‘‘Twin Peaks meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’’ to Kelly Lonesome at Nightfire, via Lane Heymont of The Tobias Literary Agency.
CHRISTOPHER RUOCCHIO sold the final two books in his Sun Eater series to Toni Weisskopf at Baen via Shawna McCarthy of McCarthy Literary Agency. The first five books were published by DAW, but the author switched houses following the acquisition of DAW by Astra House.
DARIN BRADLEY sold The Unheard, second in the Bloodmetal series, to Mark Teppo at Underland Press via Kristopher O’Higgins at Scribe Agency. Bradley delivered first volume Bloodmetal to Teppo.
MONALISA FOSTER sold space opera Threading the Needle to Toni Weisskopf at Baen.
PAUL JESSUP sold Glass House – pitched as ‘‘The Amityville Colour Out of Space’’ – to Mark Teppo at Underland Press.
KERRI MANISCALCO sold Throne of the Fallen and two more books in a new fantasy series, the author’s first for adults, to Helen O’Hare at Little, Brown via Barbara Poelle of Irene Goodman Agency.
MARISA WOLF’s Beyond Enemies went to Toni Weisskopf at Baen.
GABRIELLE KORN sold dystopian novel The Shutouts, sequel to Yours for the Taking, to Hannah O’Grady at St. Martin’s via Nicki Richesin of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
AMBER SPARKS sold ‘‘modern gothic’’ novel Happy People Don’t Live Here and ‘‘genre-busting’’ collection Did Parents in the Middle Ages Love their Children? to Gina Iaquinta at Liveright via Kent Wolf of Neon Literary.
JOHANNA VAN VEEN sold ‘‘sapphic Gothic’’ horror novel My Darling Dreadful Thing and a second book to Jenna Jankowski at Sourcebooks at auction via Kristina Pérez of Zeno Agency.
CHRIS PANATIER sold The Redemption of Morgan Bright to Gemma Creffield at Angry Robot via Sara Megibow of kt literary.
POLLY HALL sold Myrrh to Daniel Carpenter at Titan Books.
KATEE ROBERT sold fantasy romance Hunt on Dark Waters and two more in the new Crimson Sails series to Cindy Hwang at Berkley via Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency. Kristine Swartz will edit.
CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN sold horror novel What Kind of Mother and a second title to Jhanteigh Kupihea at Quirk Books via Nick McCabe of the Gotham Group.
REBECCA F. KENNEY’s Gilded Monsters – a paranormal, contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby – and two more books sold to Mary Altman at Sourcebooks Casablanca via Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary Agency.
SOPHIE KEETCH’s Morgan Is My Name, a feminist take on Morgan le Fay, sold to Amanda Ferreira at Random House Canada via Marina de Pass of Soho Agency.
STACY FINZ sold a speculative women’s fiction novel and a second book to John Scognamiglio at Kensington via Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
TIM MAJOR sold Jekyll & Hyde: Consulting Detectives to Daniel Carpenter at Titan via Alexander Cochran of C+W.
NATANIA BARRON resold feminist Arthurian fantasy Queen of None and sold sequels Queen of Fury and Queen of Mercy to David Moore at Solaris via Stacey Graham of 3 Seas Literary Agency.
LEE KELLY’s With Regrets, ‘‘equal parts affluent suburban drama and apocalyptic horror novel,’’ went to Toni Kirkpatrick at Alcove Press via Katelyn Detweiler of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.
GERRI RUSSELL sold fantasy romances A Little Highland Magic, Enchanted by the Highlander, and Taming of the Highland Beauty in the Guardians of the Isles series to Meghan Farrell at Tule via Pam Ahearn of Ahearn Agency.
NIR YANIV sold The Good Soldier, ‘‘Starship Troopers meets Catch-22,’’ to Edward Willett at Shadowpaw Press.
DANIEL JOSE RUIZ sold novella collection Jump, Gig, Rig to Robin Rose Graves at Android.
GARY PHILLIPS’s The Unvarnished Gary Phillips: A Mondo Pulp Collection sold to Peter Carlaftes at Three Rooms Press.
BOGI TAKÁCS sold collection Power to Yield and Other Stories to Scott Gable at Broken Eye at auction.
EDEN ROYCE’s Who Lost, I Found, a collection of Black Southern speculative fiction, went to Scott Gable at Broken Eye.
SARA WOLF’s SF novel Heavenbreaker and a second novel went to Stacy Cantor Abrams at Red Tower via Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates.
MEGAN HART, writing as MINA HARDY, sold horror novel Because It Is Bitter to Melissa Rechter at Crooked Lane via Lynnette Novak of The Seymour Agency.
CATHERINE MCCARTHY’s horror novel The House at the End of Lacelean Street sold to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
MARY LYNNE GIBBS sold Rapunzel retelling The Princess and the Thief to Cate Pearce at Hansen.
ADAM GODFREY’s horror novella Narcissus sold to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave.
KEVIN ALLARDICE’s horror novel Weft sold to Kevin Breen at Madrona Books.
TOM HAWARD’s alternate history novel The Path of Chaos sold to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth.
ZACHARY ROSENBERG sold Hungers as Old as This Land, with illustrations by KEALAN PATRICK BURKE, to Kenneth Cain at Brigids Gate.
AI JIANG’s SF novelette I Am AI went to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave.
STEPHANIE ELLIS sold horror novel The Woodcutter to S.D. Vassallo at Brigids Gate.
MATTHEW M. BARTLETT sold The Obsecration, illustrated by MICHAEL BUKOWSKI, to Scott Gable at Broken Eye.
LUNA REY HALL’s horror novel The Patient Routine, illustrated by ELIZABETH LEGGETT, went to Heather Vassallo at Brigids Gate. Stephanie Ellis will edit.
LYNDSEY CROAL’s SF novelette Have You Decided on Your Question sold to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave.
ROBYN SINGER sold SF novel Order of the Banshee to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth.
LINDZ MCLEOD sold Beast, illustrated by DANIELA RIVERA, to S.D. Vassallo at Brigids Gate.
KATIE GROOM’s werewolf novel Gibbous Moon went to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth in a pre-empt.
VALENTINA CANO REPETTO sold horror novel Sanctuary to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Helga Schier will edit.
MELISSA LANDERS sold YA fantasy Make Me a Liar to Kieran Viola at Disney-Hyperion in a pre-empt via Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ sold The (Super Secret) Society Of Octagon Valley trilogy, a new adult fantasy series, to Kieran Viola at Disney-Hyperion via Richard Abate of 3 Arts Entertainment.
MARK MORTON sold young adult science fiction novel The Headmasters to Edward Willett at Shadowpaw Press.
BRETT RILEY sold YA superhero novel Rubicons, third in the Freaks series, to Mark Sedenquist at Imbrifex.
MALLORY PEARSON sold debut fantasy novel The Spirit Riots and the Body Glows and a second book to Adrienne Procaccini at 47North via Bailey Tamayo of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
PULOMA GHOSH sold debut speculative collection Mouth to Rola Harb at Astra House at auction via Rachel Kim of 3 Arts Entertainment.
New writer LINDSAY KING-MILLER sold queer horror novel The Z Word to Jess Zimmerman at Quirk Books via Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
CAROLYN MITCHELL BOYKIN sold debut supernatural thriller The Knowing to Shawanda Williams at Black Odyssey Media via Harvey Klinger of Harvey Klinger. Kreceda Tyler will edit.
ARDEN BRAX’s first SF novel The Lily of Enarah went to Cate Pearce at Hansen.
First novelist ROBIN WASLEY sold YA novel Dead Things Are Closer than They Appear to Alyza Liu at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Janine Kamouh of William Morris Endeavor.
JAMIE D’AMATO’s debut YA fantasy The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends and a second title sold to Vicki Lame and Vanessa Aguirre at Wednesday Books at auction via John Cusick of Folio Literary Management/Folio Jr.
ALYSSA ALESSI sold first YA fantasy Izzy Hoffman Is Not a Witch to Kisstopher Musick at Cinnabar Moth.
NICOLE M. WOLVERTON’s first YA novel A Misfortune of Lake Monsters sold to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books. Elana Gibson will edit.
TIM MEYER’s Rainbow Filth, a novella about a small cult that believes a rare psychedelic substance can physically transport them to another universe, pitched as Altered States meets Midsommar, to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books, in a nice deal, for publication in September 2023.
NICK MAMATAS sold Higher Ground: Anarchism and Daoism in the Work of Ursula K. Le Guin to Joey Paxman at PM Press via Michael Curry of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
WOLE TALABI will edit The Sauutiverse Anthology, first in a shared world series with work by African authors, ‘‘set in a fictional civilization based on a blend of African cultural worldviews,’’ for Somto Ihezue at Android via Bieke Van Aggelen of African Literary Agency.
HENRY HERZ will edit WWII-era historical horror anthology Combat Monsters for Rick Bleiweiss at Blackstone Publishing.
SOFIA AJRAM will edit Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror for Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books.
MARTHA WELLS resold City of Bones and five more backlist fantasy novels to Lee Harris at Tordotcom via Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
DAVID BRIN resold YA SF novels Castaways of New Mojave and Colony High to Jay Hartman at Untreed Reads. Walter Boyes will edit.
SHUBHANGI SWARUP resold Latitudes of Longing to Mohamed Iklef at Dutton via Maria Cardona of Aevitas Creative Management UK.
SANAKA HIIRAGI resold fantasy The Lantern of Lost Memories to Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central in a pre-empt via Jon Mitchell of UK publisher Pan Macmillan.
First novelist SHARON EMMERICHS resold Shield Maiden, a feminist take on Beowulf, to Brit Hvide at Orbit via Claire Kennedy at UK publisher Head of Zeus on behalf of Kristina Pérez at Zeno Agency.
BARBARA METZGER resold her five-book Willow Tate humorous fantasy series starting with Trolls in the Hamptons, originally published as by Celia Jerome, to Jay Hartman at Untreed Reads.
An expanded edition of CARL JACOBI’s collection Revelations in Black resold to James D. Jenkins at Valancourt Books via Wildside Press and Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency.
PUBLISHING
NAVAH WOLFE has joined DAW as executive editor. She was a longtime children’s book editor at Simon & Schuster before cofounding SF imprint Saga Press at S&S in 2013, and rose to senior editor there before departing in 2019. She has also acquired for Subterranean Press.
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN, GARDNER DOZOIS, and DANIEL ABRAHAM’s collaborative novel Hunter’s Run is being adapted as a feature film by Exile Content Studio. Mark Raso will direct from a script co-written by Joseph Raso, and they will executive produce along with Martin and Vince Gerardis.
This report and more like it in the February 2023 issue of Locus.
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