Congratulations to Kim Harrison! The newest entry in the Hollows series, DEMON’S BLUFF, debuts at #45 in USA Today!
Congratulations to Darcie Little Badger! Sheine Lende hit the USA Today list at #125!
Publishers Weekly: Brave women warriors and diplomats shine in their roles as leaders in this alluring reimagining of Norse mythology from Heartfield (The Embroidered Book). Valkyrie Brynhild has just been exiled from Valhalla by Odin for contradicting his orders. Resigned to the life of a mortal in Midgard, she declares that she will use her wisdom, strength, and rune magic to help those who need protection. Meanwhile, Christian Burgundian princess Gudrun agrees to marry Hun prince Bleda to secure a peaceful alliance—but then Bleda’s brother, Attila, slays him and declares the truce void. In the aftermath, the serpent dragon Fafnir attacks with its poison breath, and Gudrun’s brother, King Gunnar, runs away. With him missing, Gudrun becomes queen and uses her diplomacy skills and knowledge of herbal magic to protect her people. Fortunately, Brynhild and her new friend, Sigurd, the owner of a powerful dragon-killing sword, arrive to help. The complex romances, alliances, and betrayals between Gudrun, Sigurd, Brynhild, and Gunnar intertwine with heartbreaking and tragic results. With a brilliant heroine at the helm, this richly detailed, character-driven story renders epic mythological battles on a human scale. (Oct.)
Congratulations, august clarke! METAL FROM HEAVEN (Erewhon) was listed on Publishers Weekly list for Best Books of 2024!
Audio rights to J Sydney Jones’ THE CRY OF THE CICADAS and BIGOT LIST, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in an exclusive submission, by Katie Shea Boutillier for Anne Tibbets (World English).
Audio rights to Molly Tanzer’s THE PLEASURE MERCHANT, RUMBULLION, and A PRETTY MOUTH, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in a three-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure (world English).
Chinese (complex) renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four books in The Murderbot Diaries series, to Global Group, by Lucy Su at Grayhawk Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Czech rights to Katherine Addison’s THE GOBLIN EMPEROR, to Dobrovsky (Czech Republic), by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava i Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
Danish rights to Vonda N. McIntyre’s DREAMSNAKE, to A Mock Book (Denmark), by Vere Bank at Sebes & Bisseling on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Jennie Goloboy.
French rights to Miranda Lyn’s TILL DEATH, to Eilean Books, in a preempt, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s MURDER OF CROWS, the second book in the Others series, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
French rights to LJ Andrews’s THE EVER QUEEN and THE MIST THIEF, to City Editions, in a two-book deal, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
German rights to Margaret Doody’s ARISTOTLE DETECTIVE, to Kampa, by Bastian Schluck at Thomas Schlueck Agency on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.
Italian rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s PRINCESS FLORALINDA AND THE FORTY-FLIGHT TOWER, to Mondadori, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Swedish audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, EXIT STRATEGY, NETWORK EFFECT, FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, and SYSTEM COLLAPSE, the first seven books in The Murderbot Diaries series, to Recorded Books, by Vere Bank at Sebes & Bisseling in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Wall Street Journal: A peculiarity of American fiction is that it is filled with visions of the apocalypse yet lacking in explorations into the experience of death. Writers can imagine the end as a collective catastrophe but rarely as something intimate and individual. A clever, genre-blending book by Eden Robins, “Remember You Will Die” illustrates the paradox. The novel is written as a collection of obituaries of deceased characters from the distant past to the speculative future. Its title derives from the ancient Roman custom of employing slaves to remind triumphant generals of their mortality. Yet the ultimate impression is one of continuity and perpetuation. It’s real interest is in the ingenious ways that humans try to erase death. The novel’s many obituaries—some written in the standard newspaper template, some more informally—hopscotch across time periods, projecting as far ahead as the 22nd century. Gradually the passages create a mosaic of future pandemics and climate crises, as well as of controversial new developments in artificial life and interplanetary colonization. One story outlines the adventures of an outlaw artificial intelligence called Peregrine who, through a process of “in-vitro gametogenesis,” bears a human child. The obituaries dwell on the innovators of these death-defying advances or on avant-garde artists—or both at once, such as Aristotle Williams, a sculptor who invented Peregrine’s “neo-skin.” “Art is emergent, art is a living thing,” declares the maker of huge art installations involving nature. The persistent idea in this book is that life and art are conjoined creative ventures driven by an opposition to death—and often, as in the case of the poppy flower, which flourished on World War I battlefields, growing out of death’s physical residue. Poppies are one of many recurring motifs in this wild, exfoliating book, which jumps around so frantically and contains so many intertextual references that readers will need to take notes to have any chance of keeping up. Ms. Robins has clearly enjoyed herself designing this vast network of connections, which often resembles the art installations it commemorates, full of patterns and puzzles and messages. Its excess and energy make it less a memento mori than a reminder, spelled out in boldface, of the remarkable tenacity of life.
The winners of the 2024 World Fantasy Awards were announced and we are so excited to share that DMLA authors, Tananarive Due and Premee Mohamed, have been announced as winners!
Best Novel
- The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga; Titan UK)
Best Collection
- No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories, Premee Mohamed (Undertow)
Author of Trafficked and This Is Not a Love Letter Kim Purcell’s THE BUSY WRITER’S GUIDE TO FINISHING A NOVEL IN 100 DAYS, a writing guide for tackling a novel from start to finish, with daily tasks for developing a story arc, characters, tension, and dialogue, to Kim Keller at Ten Speed Press, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2026, by Jolene Haley (world).
Reactor: As with her debut novel, the immersive and compelling Star Eater, Kerstin Hall chucks you straight into Asunder and asks you to keep up. She is a master of consistent, sometimes subtle worldbuilding; anything she needs you to understand, Karys sees, or interacts with, or has cause to explain or have explained to her, succinctly and elegantly.
This story sits just under the skin, a tangle of questions about faith and shame and what a person does with the power they have—or that is given to them. It is, immersively and emotionally, about survival: how a person survives, what they do to survive, what they endure while surviving, and where the choices they make in order to survive wind up taking them. I can’t shake Karys and her choices out of my head, and frankly, I don’t want to.
This world deserves more story, and more time, and more readers, and I hope it gets all three.