Donald Maass Literary Agency

RT Book Reviews: With an engaging, diverse cast of characters, a pace that almost never lets up and more than a little of Wendig’s signature humor, Zer0es contains absolutely no dull moments. While Chance Dalton occasionally ventures into “Gary Stu” territory, these hacker heroes have layers, filling those few quieter scenes with a rewarding emotional complexity. And don’t worry, Luddites, even if you don’t know a thing about technology, you’ll still find this book to be an unbelievably thrilling ride.

Robert McCammon’s FREEDOM OF THE MASK, the sixth novel in his series of historical thrillers featuring Matthew Corbett, the “Early American James Bond,” in which Matthew finds himself in London allied with his greatest enemy’s criminal rivals to unravel a plot that threatens to destroy the very heart of Britain, again to Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press by Cameron McClure.

Scott Reardon’s debut The Prometheus Man, about a CIA team put together to take down a genetically engineered soldier gone rogue, and another book, to Wes Miller at Mulholland Books in a mid-six-figure deal by Stacia Decker.

The Guild of Saint Cooper is a wistful, elegiac and far-reaching cosmic dystopian novel set in Seattle and its suburbs. Shya Scanlon is a major talent, rightfully compared to other reality-bending masters like Philip K. Dick and Haruki Murakami. His narrative moves toward an ending that is either apocalyptic or some grand and alien resurrection, leading readers on a wild ride as gorgeous and layered as Russian nesting boxes, provoking as many questions as answers in the end. “A road […]

A group of co-opted hackers discovers a secret government experiment gone terribly wrong. Prolific sci-fi novelist and games enthusiast Wendig (Under the Empyrean Sky, 2013, etc.) whips up a Matrix-y bit of old-school cyberpunk updated to meet the frightening technology of the modern age. This is an ambitious, bleeding-edge piece of speculative fiction that combines hacker lore, wet-wired horror, and contemporary paranoia in a propulsive adventure that’s bound to keep readers on their toes. An action-packed yet cerebral thriller that lives […]

Locus: It’s surprising that Cherie Priest hasn’t made the jump into full-on young-adult fiction before. Many of her previous books, like Boneshaker, Dreadnought and the rest of the Clockwork Century, could easily be marketed to a younger audience. I Am Princess X, however, is the first one that is explicitly aimed at the 12 and over set. The story itself is fairly straightforward. Libby and May meet in elementary school and become BFF. The friendship ends, however, because Libby is killed […]

Shelf Awareness: In her first novel for young adults, Cherie Priest (Boneshaker) introduces Libby Deaton and May Harper, who unite to create the comics character Princess X. The story quickly becomes a gripping mystery after Libby mysteriously disappears and May becomes obsessed with finding her. In a clever innovation, Priest seamlessly integrates Kali Ciesemier’s comics within the prose narrative. Each new episode of Princess X reveals further clues and a terrifying reality for their creator. Ciesemier’s portrait of Princess X achieves […]

Locus: Of Noble Family, book five of Mary Robinette Kowal’s “The Glamourist Histories”, concludes the sequence with emphatic proof that her world-building and her characters can’t be constrained by the standard tropes of alternate-historic magical fantasies or variations on Regency Romance. There’s a sharp irony in the epigraph, from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park: “Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody not greatly in fault themselves to […]

io9: At the end of the day, Vermilion is a roller-coaster of a ride: it’s exciting, suspenseful and a downright blast to read, but it maintains a serious side that underscores the complicated history of the American West. To read the full review of Vermilion, click here to go to io9.

Audio rights to Molly Tanzer’s VERMILION, to Haila Williams at Blackstone Audio, at auction, by Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Cameron McClure. Audio rights to Elizabeth Bear’s The Lotus Kingdoms trilogy, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, by Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry. Audio rights to Amanda Downum’s DREAMS OF SHREDS AND TATTERS, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, by Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.