Simon Pulse has pre-empted, with Liesa Abrams to edit, world English rights to Feral Youth, a novel with 10 authors edited by Shaun David Hutchinson, in the same vein as his previous Violent Ends. The book is a modern YA retelling of The Canterbury Tales, set during the last three days at a survival camp for “troubled youth” with 10 teens trying to win $100 by telling the best story, with stories from Brandy Colbert, Tim Floreen, Ellen Hopkins, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Stephanie Kuehn, E.C. Myers, Marieke Nijkamp, and Robin Talley. Fall 2017 is the projected pub date.
Sep 152016
NPR: But it was that rare ability of Kowal’s to make what could have been a completely goofy add-on to the British war effort into something that felt completely wedded and solid that sold me that spark of a great idea, well-executed. It is a story that just works. That lays out a presumption (ghosts are real), builds a plot architecture around it (they might be useful intelligence assets), and then grounds it with emotional weight (those forced to talk to the ghosts of the young and dead might not come out of it unscathed).
Booklist: The destruction or ending of the world as we know it is a common backdrop for examining elements of humanity. The numerous ways in which humanity and our world are going to crash and burn are terrifying and fascinating. Malfi adds an interesting new angle to the mix by placing the story in a world infected by the Wanderer’s Folly, a disease that blurs the lines between dreams and reality. While the disease and its impact on the human race are interesting, moving, and effective, the story’s real drive is the relationship between a father, David, and his daughter, Ellie. Ellie is a special girl; she is able to calm her parents when they are angry and cause people pain by merely touching them. Ellie’s abilities and the fact that her mother was immune to the Folly draw unwanted attention to the pair. David’s drive to protect his daughter at all costs and Ellie’s developing skills make for an emotionally compelling and interesting read.
Booklist: In Priest’s gothic haunted-house story, workers at failing architectural salvage company are given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reverse their fortunes, if they can survive the ghosts plaguing the property. Dahlia Dutton, the daughter of Music City Salvage’s owner, loves old houses. She’s still sore over losing her own beautifully restored home in her divorce. Once Dahlia arrives at the grand, well-preserved Withrow estate in the Tennessee mountains, she wishes she could save it; instead, she and her crew — her estranged cousin Bobby; his lovable son, Gabe; and salvage rookie Brad — have mere days to rescue the valuables before demolition. To save money, they sleep on-site, when the mansion’s romantic charm turns menacing. Strange occurrences and spectral sightings increase as the crew dismantles the house, exposing the With row family’s secrets. Priest spices up a standard haunting with an irresistible premise focused on the “hidden treasure” aspect of salvage work. Careful character building accentuates the novel’s slow build, so by the time the salvagers are in real danger, they feel like real people, too. Despite lulls in pacing, the final scenes are terrifying. Highly recommended for fans of contemporary ghost stories.
Publishers Weekly: Horror author Khaw (Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef) brilliantly combines the self-aware, on-point tone of her gumshoe narrator with the invasive rhythm of the language of pulsing terrors. The drearily everyday is infused with Lovecraftian dread in a marvelously horrifying, tightly built novella that spins a satisfying tale while doing honor to both of its core sources. London PI John Persons, whose “stubbornly human” form disguises his horrifying true nature, reluctantly takes a job for 11-year-old Abel—killing the boy’s abusive stepfather—after hearing Abel’s rationale for choosing him: “You’re a monster too.” Persons’s name is apt: he is desperate to hold on to his humanity and his compassion, and he refuses to give in entirely to his inner urges, which want to “rip tear bite cut” in response to his target’s testosterone-fueled insults. His struggle hooks the reader, cutting deeply without losing the characteristic emotional distance of the noir style. 
German rights to David Gerrold’s THE MAN WHO FOOLED HIMSELF plus 5 backlist titles for e-book rights only, to Heyne, by Sarah Knofius at Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.
Hugo Award-winning editor and writer for Pitchfork, NPR, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker Jason Heller’s STRANGE STARS, about the massive influence that science fiction has had on popular music, particularly during the 1970s boom of both, to Ryan Harrington at Melville House, by Jennifer Jackson.