Donald Maass Literary Agency

Shelf Awareness: Shaun David Hutchinson’s bracingly smart and unusual YA novel blends existential despair with exploding planets. We Are the Ants deals with loss, and it doesn’t pull any punches. There are no easy solutions, and the book is refreshingly upfront about the fact that some kinds of pain–like Henry grieving his boyfriend’s suicide, his father’s absence and his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s–just have to be slogged through. However, Ants is not depressing. It’s wonderfully written, and humor is woven throughout, including an […]

Publishers Weekly: In the beginning of this new full-length entry in Wells’s Raksura series (following 2012’s The Siren Depths), the entire community of Indigo Cloud, home to a shape-shifting race called the Raksura, has a nightmare of their world being destroyed by their archenemies, the predatory Fell. To prevent that, Jade, Moon (her consort), and other Raksura must join a group of archaeologists from several races to investigate an ancient site that could destroy them all. After setting up the danger, […]

Congratulations to Nnedi Okorafor, whose “Binti” is up for the 2015 BSFA Award for best short story!

Shelf Awareness: Robert Jackson Bennett’s sequel to 2014’s City of Stairs is thrilling, deeply thoughtful about the nature of war, and just odd enough, while still offering analogues to our own world to remain familiar. Discover: This excellently plotted sequel to City of Stairs mixes science and the divine and meditations on the nature of war, and has a satisfying, exciting conclusion. Read Shelf Awareness’ full review of City of Blades here.

Library Journal: VERDICT In Bishop’s fourth dark fantasy adventure (after Vision in Silver), the stakes have grown higher. There are plenty of parallels to draw between current events and Bishop’s alternate world, but it is the stories of the characters woven through the action that keep the books fresh. Vivid worldbuilding and myth creation are Bishop’s strengths, and this title is a welcome addition to the series. Things are coming to a head for the terra indigene and the humans […]

Susan R. Matthews’ Jurisdiction collection, bringing together the short fiction and novellas from the Philip K. Dick Award nominated series, including a brand new previously unpublished novella, to Tony Daniel at Baen Books by Jennifer Jackson.

Lori Herter’s NO TIME FOR LOVE, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT, TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, ALL OUR TOMORROWS and PRIVATE SCREENINGS, to Kurt Mueller at Speaking Volumes, by Katie Shea Boutillier.

Tor.com: On the back of a fantastic central character, City of Blades does everything a really good sequel should. If anything, it’s a better book than its predecessor, but without it, it wouldn’t be. It isn’t merely moreof what came before; it takes what was as a basis and builds on it brilliantly, adding additional layers to City of Stairs such that it too is enriched. Read Tor.com’s full review of City of Blades here.

Congratulations to Seth Dickinson on The Traitor Baru Cormorant making the finalist list for the 2016 Crawford Award!

Locus: The conflict between Humans First and Last and the Others heats up in this fourth novel, with humans thinking they can “reclaim” more land for themselves and get rid of restrictions on travel between human settlements. HFL steps up their sometimes deadly harrassment of humans and businesses who don’t join their movement (not unlike the early days of the Nazi party). A big part of the problem is the humans are unaware that the Others aren’t fighting back seriously yet […]