Donald Maass Literary Agency

Shelf Awareness: Eden Robins (When Franny Stands Up) has written a smashingly good second novel, an utterly imaginative, genre-defying masterpiece: Remember You Will Die. Her blunt title is an accurate barometer that the end is nigh. In fact, the dead populate most of these pages. Their stories are revealed predominantly through obituaries that range from deeply soulful to delightfully guffaw-inducing. In between are occasional newspaper articles, lists, notes, word etymologies, and other ephemera that highlight death. Loosely, cleverly bound together, the […]

Publishers Weekly: This swashbuckling, planet-hopping riff on The Count of Monte Cristo from Palumbo (Skin Thief) follows Virika Sameroo, who, having emigrated as a child from the Exterran Antilles to Invicta, the capital planet of the Æerbot Empire, is determined to break through the poverty and prejudice that centuries of colonization have inflicted on her people. She becomes the first Exterran Antillean commissioned to an Æerbot spaceship, the Oestra—but as a woman and an Exterran, Virika is not trusted by […]

Audio rights to Robert McCammon’s LEVIATHAN to Louise Quayle at Audible, by Katie Shea Boutillier, for Cameron McClure. Abridged/dramatic audio rights to New York Times bestseller Jim Butcher’s STORM FRONT and three additional titles in the Dresden Files series, to Anji Cornette at Graphic Audio by Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.

German rights to Ronald Malfi’s SMALL TOWN HORROR, for a limited special edition, to Buchheim Verlag, by Sarah Knofius at Thomas Schlueck Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure. Polish rights to LJ Andrews’s THE EVER KING and THE EVER QUEEN, to Artbooks, in a two-book deal, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier. Ukrainian rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s THE DIVINE CITIES SERIES, to Apriori, in a three-book deal, by […]

Many congratulations to DMLA authors, Martha Wells and Vajra Chandrasekera, on their 2024 Locus Awards! SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL System Collapse, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) FANTASY NOVEL Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) FIRST NOVEL The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)

Join us in congratulating DMLA authors, Tananarive Due and Cassandra Khaw, for being nominated for the 2023 Shirley Jackson Award! Novel The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (Saga Press/Simon and Schuster) Novella The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire)

Locus: Like Elatsoe, Sheine Lende is much more chill than your typical YA fantasy or YA mystery. The stakes are high, but it never feels stressful. There is little on-the-page violence, and even when things get heavy or dangerous, the reader always feels safe. Little Badger guides the reader through a fascinating world. The pace is gradual without being too slow, and is light on action. Things take the time they take. Little Badger doesn’t skip the reader ahead or speed […]

Publishers Weekly: The warmhearted and immersive second sci-fi adventure in Divya’s Alloy Era series (after Meru) follows teen best friends as they circumnavigate a post–climate change Earth. Akshaya grew up in deep-space exile after her parents gave up their place on Earth to be together. Genetically engineered to thrive on Meru, the planet home her parents have fought so hard for, Akshaya dreams instead of adventures back on Earth. She and her mother strike a deal: if Akshaya and her friend […]

Locus: To quote Tom Clancy (or was it Jeff Bezos?), it takes ten years to become an overnight success. I suspect Vajra Chandrasekera can relate. He spent a decade working on his craft, with short fiction published in various genre magazines and anthologies. Then, last year, Chandrasekera published his first novel, The Saint of Bright Doors, which immediately caught fire, drawing plaudits and praise from critics and fans. Fast-forward to the present day, and the novel has been nominated for multiple […]

Publishers Weekly: In this dazzling and eclectic fantasy from Hall (Star Eater), a scrappy, foul-mouthed medium wrangles with an impressively imagined cohort of skin thieves, smugglers, and shape-shifters—as well as her own inner demons. At 17, Karys Eska ran away from an abusive father and sold her soul to the god Sabaster to become a deathspeaker, one able to communicate with the deceased. When, years later, a job gone wildly wrong leaves her stranded in a sea cave, a stranger […]