People & Publishing Roundup, May 2024
MAGGIE SEKELLA is now represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
DAVID LANGFORD won the Doc Weir Award, given to ‘‘someone in fandom who helps make things happen, contributing time, effort, ideas and support – often behind the scenes,’’ at Eastercon, held March 24 – April 1, 2024 in Telford, UK.
ZAIN KHALID, author of Brother Alive, is one of the National Book Foundation’s ‘‘5 Under 35’’ honorees, five fiction writers under age 35 whose debut work ‘‘promises to leave a lasting impression on the literary landscape.’’ Each honoree receives a $1,000 prize.
DOMENICO DI ROSA is the winner of the 2024 Peter Nicholls Essay Prize, given via the SF Foundation for ‘‘an original article on any topic, period, theme, author, film or other media within the field of science fiction and its academic study.’’ The winning essay will appear in the Spring 2024 issue of Foundation.
JAC JEMC’s Empty Theatre (MCD) is a finalist in the Fiction category in the 93rd Annual California Book Awards, presented by the Commonwealth Club of California. Winners will be announced in May.
JEFF VANDERMEER sold Absolution, a prequel in the Southern Reach series, to Sean McDonald at MCD/FSG via Joseph Veltre of Gersh Agency and lawyer Alex Kohner.
GREGORY FROST sold historical fantasy The Secret House to Christopher Payne at JournalStone via Marie Lamba of Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
STEPHANIE BURGIS sold Wooing the Witch Queen in the Queens of Villainy series, plus two more books, at auction to Monique Patterson at Bramble via Molly Ker Hawn of The Bent Agency. Erika Tsang will edit.
L.D. LEWIS sold queer mermaid novel The Year of the Mer and a second book to Amara Hoshijo at Saga Press via Jennifer Azantian of Azantian Literary Agency.
FRAN WILDE’s A Philosophy of Thieves, ‘‘a high-tech thriller dressed as neo-Victorian fantasy,’’ and a second book sold to Sarah Guan at Erewhon via Andrea Somberg of Harvey Klinger.
MONICA OJEDA sold Electric Shamans at the Sun Fest to Jeremy Davies at Coffee House Press via Sandra Pareja of Massie & Mc Quilkin on behalf of CBQ Agency. UK rights went to Granta.
LAURA E. WEYMOUTH’s first adult novels The Castle & The Cloister and The Starlight & The Flame sold to Nivia Evans at Saga Press in a pre-empt via Laura Crockett of TriadaUS Literary Agency. YA fantasy Steel & Spellfire sold to Nicole Fiorica at Margaret K. McElderry Books via Crockett.
ALEXIS HENDERSON sold fantasy An Academy of Liars and a second book to Jessica Wade at Berkley via Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency. UK rights went to Simon Taylor at Transworld via Zoë Plant of The Bent Agency.
FRANKIE DIANE MALLIS sold Daughter of the Drowned Empire, Guardian of the Drowned Empire, Lady of the Drowned Empire, and Warrior of the Drowned Empire – ‘‘Cleopatra meets Throne of Glass’’ – to Natasha Qureshi at Hodder & Stoughton via Anna Carmichael of Abner Stein on behalf of Taryn Fagerness Agency.
RAMONA EMERSON sold Exposure, sequel to Shutter, about a Navajo forensic photographer who uses her ability to see ghosts to track down a serial killer, to Juliet Grames at Soho Crime via Nancy Stauffer Cahoon of Nancy Stauffer Associates. Nick Whitney will edit.
ROSIEE THOR & KAT HILLIS sold cozy vampire mystery The Dead & Breakfast and a second book to Michelle Vega at Berkley in a pre-empt via Saba Sulaiman of Talcott Notch Literary Services for Thor and Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency for Hillis.
ERIN SOMERS sold speculative romance Ten Year Affair to Carina Guiterman at Simon & Schuster via Angeline Rodriguez of William Morris Endeavor.
AMY ROSE BENNETT sold The Nanny’s Handbook to Magic and Managing Difficult Dukes and two more in a new historical fantasy series to Shannon Plackis while she was at Kensington via Jessica Alvarez of BookEnds. Elizabeth May will edit. Anthea Bariamis acquired rights for Simon & Schuster Australia.
NAT CASSIDY sold When the Wolf Comes Home and a second book to Jennifer Gunnels at Tor via Alec Shane of Writers House.
LIZA ANDERSON’s fantasy We Who Have No Gods and two more books went to Natalie Hallak at Ballantine in a pre-empt via Caitlin Mahony of William Morris Endeavor. UK rights sold to Imogen Nelson at Transworld in a pre-empt via Suzannah Ball of William Morris Endeavor.
EMILY SKRUTSKIE sold fantasy romance Last Night Before the War Was Won to Emily Archbold at Del Rey via Thao Le of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
KATHLEEN KAUFMAN sold historical fantasy Nora Grey and a second book to Elizabeth Trout at Kensington via Katelyn Dougherty of Paradigm.
LAURA R. SAMOTIN’s The Way It Haunted Him and a second book sold to Daniel Carpenter at Titan Books via Hannah VanVels Ausbury of Belcastro Agency.
CHEON SEON-RAN’s SF novel One Thousand Blues went to Jane Lawson at Doubleday UK in a pre-empt via Barbara Zitwer of Barbara Zitwer Agency on behalf of East Asia Publishing.
JENNA LEVINE’s fantasy novel Road Trip with a Vampire and a second book went to Kristine Swartz at Berkley via Gaia Banks of Sheil Land Associates.
DAN FREY & DANA SCHWARTZ, writing as S.D. COVERLY, sold dark academia romance Arcane Mechanicals to Emily Archbold at Del Rey via Zoe Sandler and Dan Mandel of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
NICHOLAS SANSBURY SMITH sold three books in the Salvage Apocalypse LitRPG series to Rhett Bruno at Aethon.
SAVANNAH STEPHENS sold the Blood and Magic duology, ‘‘Anne Rice with a BIPOC cast,’’ to Aine Feeney at Gollancz via Helen Lane of Booker Albert Agency.
LIZ SHIPTON sold fantasy novel Dot Slash Magic to Gemma Creffield at Angry Robot via Amy A. Collins of Talcott Notch Literary Services.
JEN JULIAN’s speculative novel Red Rabbit Ghost and a second book sold to Bradley Englert at Redhook at auction via Jessica Felleman of Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency.
AUSTIN TAYLOR’s SF love story Notes on Infinity and another title sold to Deb Futter at Celadon Books at auction via Katie Greenstreet at Paper Literary. UK rights went to Michael Joseph at auction.
KOJI A. DAE’s SF dystopia Casual sold to Matt Blairstone at Tenebrous Press. Alex Woodroe will edit.
ALEX GONZALEZ sold near-future horror novel Rekt and a second book to Diana Pho at Erewhon via Lauren Bieker of Fine Print Literary Agency.
KARINA HALLE sold Realm of Thieves, first in a romantasy series, and Heathcliff, a ‘‘Gothic vampire romantasy retelling of Wuthering Heights,’’ and resold self-published romantasy duology Hollow and Legend to Sarah Blumenstock at Ace via Taylor Haggerty of Root Literary.
ABIGAIL OWEN sold romantasy The Games Gods Play – ‘‘Percy Jackson for adults’’ – and two more books to Liz Pelletier at Red Tower via Evan Marshall of Evan Marshall Agency.
HAZEL MCBRIDE sold fantasy A Fate Forged in Fire and the second book in the duology to Mae Martinez at Bantam Dell in a pre-empt via Gwen Beal of UTA. UK rights went to Alexa Allen-Batifoulier at Renegade Books at auction via Ciara Finan of Curtis Brown UK.
DEMI WINTERS sold previously self-published romantasy The Road of Bones and sold four more books to Shauna Summers at Bantam Dell in a pre-empt via Jessica Watterson of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
SHANNON MORGAN’s Wayward Women went to Elizabeth Trout at Kensington via Kaitlyn Katsoupis of Belcastro Agency.
CARISSA BROADBENT sold The Songbird and the Heart of Stone, third in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, plus the last three books in the saga; standalone novel Slaying the Vampire Conqueror; and standalone novella Six Scorched Roses, all to Monique Patterson at Bramble via Bibi Lewis of Ethan Ellenberg Agency. UK rights went to Tor UK via Lewis.
VAISHNAVI PATEL’s alternate history Ten Incarnations of Rebellion sold to Natalie Hallak at Ballantine in a pre-empt via Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
MENGYIN LIN’s linked story collection The Memory Museum sold to Ethan Nosowsky and Anni Liu at Graywolf at auction via Meredith Kaffel Simonoff of The Gernert Company.
LINDSAY KING-MILLER’s demonic possession novel This Is My Body sold to Jess Zimmerman at Quirk Books via Kate McKean of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY’s OK Computer sold to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow via Claudia Cross of Folio Literary Management.
MADDIE MARTINEZ sold fantasy The Maiden & Her Monster and a second book to Stephanie Stein at Tor and Grace Barber at Tor UK in a joint pre-empt via Victoria Marini of High Line Literary Collective.
VINCENT TIRADO’s first book for adults, horror novel We Came to Welcome You, plus another title went to David Pomerico at William Morrow in a pre-empt via Kristina Perez of Perez Literary & Entertainment.
ERIC LAROCCA’s horror novel At Dark, I Become Loathsome sold to Josh Stanton at Blackstone Publishing via Priya Doraswamy at Lotus Lane Literary.
THOMAS MALTMAN sold Ashes to Ashes to Mark Doten at Soho Press.
SARAH JIO’s time-loop novel Insignificant Others went to Liz Stein at William Morrow at auction via Elisabeth Weed of The Book Group.
TY DRAGO sold horror novel St. Damned to In Churl Yo at Castle Bridge Media. Jason Henderson will edit.
JOSHUA HULL’s horror novel 8114 went to Leza Cantoral at Clash, and novella Big F*%k in the Killer VHS series sold to Alan Lastufka at Shortwave.
SUSAN BREEN’s holiday ghost story Merry went to Jess Verdi at Alcove Press at auction via Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary Services.
CLARENCE HAYNES sold fantasy The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery to Krishan Trotman at Legacy Lit.
Z.W. TAYLOR sold The Pack, third in the Moon Blood Sage series, to Deanna McFadden at W by Wattpad.
AMANDA CECELIA LANG’s horror collection Saturday Fright at the Movies went to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
MEG RIPLEY’s feminist folk horror Woodfeast, sequel to Necrology, went to Amanda Manns at Creature via Erin Clyburn of Howland Literary.
BARBARA CASTRO-ROJAS sold horror novel A Feast of Putrid Delights to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books.
CALEB STEPHENS sold Soul Couriers to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
SHAMI STOVALL sold three books in the Six Words series to Rhett Bruno at Aethon via Drew Gilmour of Achilles Literary Agency.
JESS HAGEMANN sold horror novel Mother-Eating to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books.
E.A. FIELD sold Dark Moon to Tina Beier at Rising Action.
REBECCA CAMPBELL sold SF collection The Other Shore to Selena Middleton at Stelliform Press.
DESIRÉE NICCOLI’s Untethering Dark went to John Jacobson at Carina Press via Kaitlyn Katsoupis of Belcastro Agency.
DANIEL BREYER sold near-future SF novel Smokebirds to Tyson Cornell at Rare Bird Books via Emma Dries of Triangle House Literary. Guy Intoci and Hailie Johnson will edit.
DAVID R. SLAYTON sold Redneck Revenant and Backwoods Banshee in the Adam Binder series to Marilyn Kretzer and Rick Bleiweiss at Blackstone Publishing via Lesley Sabga of The Seymour Agency.
TARA CAMPBELL sold City of Dancing Gargoyles to Andrew Gifford at Santa Fe Writers Project. Adam al-Sirgany will edit.
R.A. BUSBY sold You Will Speak for the Dead to Selena Middleton at Stelliform Press.
JACKSON ELLIS sold SF novel Black Days to Rose Alexandre-Leach at Green Writers Press. Marissa Graf will edit.
JEFF FLEISCHER’s collection Animal Husbandry: And Other Fictions went to Benjamin White at Running Wild.
LISA DIANE KASTNER sold Family Pack in the Cure series plus two more books to Benjamin White at Running Wild.
CASSANDRA CLARE sold the Wicked Powers trilogy, the sixth and final series in the Shadowhunter Chronicles, plus romantasy duology In Fire Foretold, set in a new world, to Melanie Cecka Nolan at Knopf Children’s at auction via Suzie Townsend and Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary & Media. Michelle Frey will edit.
KATJA KAINE’s Singapore-inspired YA feminist romantasy Blood of Gods and Girls and a second book sold to Carmen McCullough at Penguin Children’s UK in a pre-empt via Maddy Belton of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.
AMÉLIE WEN ZHAO sold YA romantasy The Scorpion and the Night Blossom and a second book to Krista Marino at Delacorte via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
JAMISON SHEA sold YA fantasy Roar of the Lambs to Jess Harold at Holt Children’s via Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
ANDREA MAX sold YA science fantasy The Art of Exile, first in the Academy of Muses series, and a second book to Sarah McCabe at Margaret K. McElderry Books for six figures at auction via Ali Lake of O’Connor Literary Agency,
AMBER HAMILTON’s YA romantic fantasy Seven Deadly Thorns and another book sold to Camille Kellogg at Bloomsbury Children’s in a pre-empt via Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates.
CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN sold YA speculative horror novel Shiny Happy People to Kelsey Horton at Delacorte via Temple Hill Entertainment and Nick McCabe of The Gotham Group.
MOIRA BUFFINI’s YA SF series The Torch Trilogy sold to Tara Weikum at Harper Children’s in a pre-empt via Allison Hellegers of Stimola Literary Studio on behalf of Anwen Hooson of The Bird Literary Agency. UK rights sold to Alice Swan at Faber.
VINCENT RALPH sold four books in an untitled YA thriller series – ‘‘Fear Street meets American Horror Story’’ – to Eileen Rothschild at Wednesday Books via Pete Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media on behalf of Claire Wilson of Rogers, Coleridge & White.
EMMA HINDS sold contemporary YA fantasy Witchlore and a second book went to Vanessa Aguirre at Wednesday Books in a pre-empt via Pete Knapp and Stuti Telidevara of Park & Fine Literary and Media on behalf of Philippa Milnes-Smith of The Soho Agency.
AIMEE PHAN’s historical YA fantasy The Lost Queen and another book sold to Tiara Kittrell at Putnam Children’s via Oma Naraine and Janine Kamouh of William Morris Endeavor.
HIEN NGUYEN sold YA speculative horror thriller Twin Tides to Bria Ragin at Delacorte via Katelyn Detweiler of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.
DANA GRICKEN’s YA SF novel Coming of Age and two more titles went to Nancy Schumacher at Fire & Ice.
MEGAN JAUREGUI ECCLES sold YA fantasies Sing the Night and Elegy for a Dream to Celine Wang at 8th Note Press via Lauren Galit of LKG Agency.
ANDI BREMNER’s SF YA novel A Sky Full of Stars sold to Laura Baird at Evernight Teen.
LIZ NEWMAN sold YA ghost novel The Angel of Shadowmist to Laura Baird at Evernight Teen.
STEVEN LOMBARDI’s YA SF novel Network Error went to Laura Baird at Evernight Teen.
RACHAEL CRAW sold three books in the Lost Saint YA time travel series to Siting Zhao at 8th Note Press via Silvia Molteni of PFD.
USMAN T. MALIK sold first novel A Dark and Narrow House, ‘‘Arabian Nights by way of Shirley Jackson,’’ plus a second novel, and resold collection Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan to Daphne Durham at Putnam in a pre-empt via Markus Hoffmann of Regal Hoffmann & Associates.
ISABEL J. KIM’s first novel Sublimation and two more books went to Carl Engle-Laird at Tor for seven figures at auction via Steven Salpeter of Assemble Media. TV rights were optioned by Jordan Moblo at Universal International Studios.
CRISTIN WILLIAMS sold debut alternate history The Whisper Of Stars and a second book to Rhea Kurien at Gollancz via Kristina Perez of Perez Literary & Entertainment.
Debut writer HEBA AL-WASITY’s gothic fantasy Weavingshaw and two more books sold to Anne Groell at Del Rey for seven figures in a pre-empt via Chloe Seager of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. UK rights went to Lara Stevenson at Transworld at auction.
ROANNE LAU’s first novel The Serpent Called Mercy and a second book sold to Katie Hoffman at DAW for six figures at auction via Keir Alekseii of Azantian Literary Agency. UK rights sold to Amanda Rutter at Solaris at auction.
EVAN LEIKAM’s first novel Anji Kills a King and two more books sold to Stephanie Stein at Tor via Seth Fishman of The Gernert Company.
ROBERT DE LA CHEVOTIÈRE sold magical realist debut Tall Is Her Body and a second book to Sarah Guan at Erewhon via Lane Clarke of ArtHouse Literary Agency.
KIMBERLY BEA’s first novel The Changeling Queen, ‘‘a feminist reimagining of the Ballad of Tam Lin from the perspective of the villainous Fairy Queen,’’ and a second title went to Diana Pho at Erewhon via Zabe Ellor of Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
First novelist CHRISTOPHER O’HALLORAN’s horror novel Pushing Daisy went to Steve Berman at Lethe Press.
LINDA H. CODEGA’s debut queer Appalachian fantasy Motheater and another book sold to Sarah Guan at Erewhon via Bridget Smith of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
New writer BEN JACOBS sold SF novel To Serve to Eric Williams at 5310 Publishing via Katie Salvo of Metamorphosis Literary Agency.
BEE HYLAND’s first novel Ethical Necromancy went to Michael Dolan at Winding Road Stories.
KEVIN L. WILLIAMS sold debut Reanimated Love to Cassandra Thompson at Quill & Crow. Stephen Black will edit.
Debut novelist L.E. REINER sold The Garden of Wilted Roses to Cassandra Thompson at Quill & Crow. Stephen Black will edit.
NADINE BELLS sold first novel, fantasy Once Upon a Song, to Cassandra Thompson at Quill & Crow.
Debut writer EMMA CLEARY’s queer feminist literary horror novel All Those Strangers sold to Liz Velez at Harper, Jennifer Lambert at Harper Canada, and Suzie Doore at The Borough Press in the UK, all via Amanda Orozco and Evan Brown of Transatlantic Literary Agency.
KATE KORSH sold first YA novel Never Seen the Stars to Maya Marlette at Scholastic via Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
KATE KOENIG’s debut, YA novel Her Sharp Embrace, and another title went to Eileen Rothschild at Wednesday Books in a pre-empt via Patrice Caldwell of New Leaf Literary & Media on behalf of Electric Postcard Entertainment.
KIMBER ST. LAWRENCE’s first novel, YA SF Thirsty Ground, went to Ardyce Alspach at Union Square Kids via Cole Lanahan of The Seymour Agency.
SYR HAYATI BEKER sold What a Fish Looks Like, ‘‘a queer climate novella in fairy tale retellings,’’ to Selena Middleton at Stelliform Press, in a nice deal.
RENAN BERNARDO sold SF novella Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle to Rob Carroll at Dark Matter Ink.
New writer EM J PARSLEY sold novella You, From Below to Kristine Langley Mahler at Split/Lip Press.
JONATHAN MABERRY will edit Shadows & Verse: Classic Dark Poems with Celebrity Commentary, collecting poems ‘‘exploring darkness by Poe, Frost, Lovecraft, Shakespeare, and others,’’ with commentary by authors and celebrities including Charisma Carpenter, Tananarive Due, Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, John Langan, Victor Lavalle, Joe R. Lansdale, Seanan McGuire, and more for Marie Whittaker at WordFire via Sara Crowe of Sara Crowe Literary. The anthology will ‘‘fund scholarships and other benefits for emerging creatives.’’
BITTER KARELLA and LYNDSEY CROAL each sold a piece for Split Scream Volume Five to Alex Woodroe and Matt Blairstone at Tenebrous Press. Alex Ebenstein will edit.
A.S. WEBB resold fantasy novel Daughter of Chaos and a second book to Dina Davis at Mira in a pre-empt via Sarah Scarlett at Penguin Random House UK on behalf of Sebastian Godwin of David Godwin Associates.
SOPHIE WHITE resold Shirley Jackson Award winner Where I End to Diana Pho at Erewhon via Tanera Simons of Darley Anderson & Associates.
RILEY AUGUST resold The Last Gifts of the Universe and a second book to Kate McHale at Del Rey UK via Valentina Sainato of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
LUCY JANE WOOD resold cozy fantasy debut Rewitched and another title to Anne Sowards at Ace in a pre-empt via Jon Mitchell at Pan Macmillan.
BRADLEY ENGLERT has been promoted to executive editor at Orbit, and ANGELA MAN was promoted to senior publicist.
NICOLE WINSTANLEY is now president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Canada.
EMMET ASHER-PERRIN has been promoted to senior editor for news & entertainment at Reactor; CHRISTINA ORLANDO was promoted to senior editor for books coverage; LEAH SCHNELBACH promoted to senior editor for features; and STEFAN RAETS promoted to senior production editor.
Film rights to SARAH MLYNOWSKI’s fantasy Best Wishes were optioned by David Steward II and Stephanie Sperber at Lion Forge Entertainment via Laura Dail of Laura Dail Literary Agency and CAA.
Film rights to ROBERT OVIES’s The Rising were optioned by Rob Goodman at Goodman Pictures via Emily Hayward Whitlock of The Artists Partnership on behalf of Barbara J. Zitwer Agency.
This report and more like it in the May 2024 issue of Locus.
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