Dear writers: Please be aware of ongoing scams by agent impersonators. Use extra caution with any unsolicited offers from agents. Reputable agents will not ask for upfront fees of any kind. For more information, look at sites such as Writer Beware (https://writerbeware.blog/). Please always check email addresses/spellings. All official emails from Donald Maass Literary Agency will come from an address that ends in @maassagency.com (2 A's, 2 S's in MAASS).

Review: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher

Jan 032024
 

Shelf Awareness: A secret superweapon capable of wiping out entire populations tips a world into full warfare in the action-packed The Olympian Affair, second in the steampunk Cinder Spires series from Jim Butcher (The Aeronaut’s Windlass).

Humanity has long lived in the Spires, high above the dangers of the planet’s surface. Fleets of airships sail among them, powered by ether and carrying out trade–and, of course, war. The Spire of Aurora’s armada has unleashed a new weapon that has completely destroyed some smaller outposts, and it won’t be long before they take on more ambitious targets. Spire Albion will need all its diplomatic force at the upcoming trade summit at Spire Olympia in order to gather allies to stand against them, but there may be dissent growing in the Auroran ranks. Not everyone is comfortable with wielding Spire-destroying weapons.

The result is a thrilling tale of high-stakes duels, monstrous creatures, and diplomatic negotiations featuring a wide cast of appealing characters, including some talkative cats. Although this is the second in the series, new readers and those who haven’t read The Aeronaut’s Windlass since its release in 2015 will quickly be able to orient themselves. The multiple plot threads, including battles between airships and opponents facing each other down with crossed blades, sometimes move around so much that a chapter’s cliffhanger may dangle for some time, but any frustration is purely due to the successful creation of suspense. Readers will be eager to see where the series goes next.

Review: The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

Jan 022024
 
Library Journal: Veris Thorn once rescued a child from the rapacious Elmever Forest and knows better than to ever enter it again. But she’s forced to relive her nightmare when the equally rapacious Tyrant forces her back to the forest to rescue his adventurous children. Veris has one day to get them out before the Tyrant burns her village and the Elmever takes all their souls. But the Elmever wants the only thing from Veris that she can’t give, and the price is as monstrously high as it was the first time she escaped. In Veris’s soul-searching and redemptive rescue quest, there’s a constant struggle between her desire to save these children as she could not save her own and her fear that they will become just like their father the Tyrant, who is responsible for the deaths of her family. She’ll have to face the past as well as the monsters of the forest.
VERDICT The latest from Mohamed (No One Will Come Back for Us) is recommended for readers of magical-bargain and forest-journey novels, such as Emily Tesh’s “Greenhollow” duology and Peter S. Beagle’s The Way Home.

December Subsidiary Rights Deals

Dec 312023
 

a pair of black ear budsAudio rights to J.S. Fields’s THE ROSEWOOD PENNY, on an island plagued by feral pegasi, Marani’s unusual invulnerability make her the perfect bandit frontman, until she robs the carriage of Princess Nuria and finds her murdered mother’s comb, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in an exclusive submission, for Space Wizard Science Fantasy by Katie Shea Boutillier.

Audio rights to Jordan Werner’s THE WITCH AND THE OSTRICH, a novella about a newspaper-critic witch and a necromancer warlord turned into an ostrich scrounge for survival in the backwaters of an empire, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in an exclusive submission, for Space Wizard Science Fantasy by Katie Shea Boutillier.

Audio rights to Cathy Kim’s THE SLAYER’S MAGIC, an adopted girl must search for her biological parents in a world where only those with ancestral lines can do magic,  to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in an exclusive submission, in a three-book deal, for Space Wizard Science Fantasy by Katie Shea Boutillier.

December Translation Deals

Dec 312023
 

Italian rights to Jo Walton’s AMONG OTHERS, to Marco Rana at Edizione E/O, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Italian rights to C.L. Polk’s THE MIDNIGHT BARGAIN, to Marco Rana at Edizione E/O, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Caitlin McDonald.

Turkish rights to Melissa K. Roehrich’s LADY OF DARKNESS and LADY OF SHADOWS, to Ren Kitap, in a two-book deal, by Merve Öngen at AnatoliaLit Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.

French rights to Melissa K. Roehrich’s LADY OF DARKNESS series and LEGACY series, to Guy Tredaniel, at auction, in a very nice deal, in a nine-book deal, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.

Hungarian rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s PRINCESS FLORALINDA AND THE FORTY-FLIGHT TOWER, to Fumax, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Italian rights to Jeanette Ng’s UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN, to Marco Rana at Edizione E/O, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Jennie Goloboy.

Spanish audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING, to Recorded Books, by Amaiur Fernández at International Editors Co. in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells

Dec 222023
 

Wall Street Journal: The world in this current timeline has been a bit bleak lately. Fortunately for readers of alternate futures, the writer Martha Wells has delivered to us a hyperblast of joy: another wonderfully delightful offbeat adventure of the artificial consciousness readers have come to know as Murderbot.

The Murderbot Diaries started in 2017 with “All Systems Red” and reach their seventh installment with “System Collapse.” These compact, delightful stories are set in a downbeat future in which corporations control humankind’s interstellar colonies and keep many in lives of servitude. An even worse fate is life as a SecUnit, a Security Unit cyborg usually tasked with killing troublesome people and controlled by a module that eliminates free will. Our first-person narrator has been crafty enough to hack itself free—but instead of taking revenge on its creators and destroying every terrible human it encounters, this SecUnit (which decides to call itself Murderbot) would rather watch TV.

If you’re expecting a fast-moving android-becomes-human emotional arc, you’re going to be disappointed. Murderbot learns a little more about humans in each book but mostly remains grumpy, bored and uncomfortable when forced to spend time with its all-flesh counterparts.

In “System Collapse,” the Barish-Estranza corporation is offering to help the colonists of a planet whose machines have been contaminated by alien tech. But the company’s proposal to relocate the colonists sounds almost too good to be true. (It is.) Working with a cognitively powerful (and equally testy) spaceship called ART and a few human friends, our cyborg hero must fight off berserk robots, keep the good humans safe from the bad ones, and figure out how to convince the colonists that the corporation is not on their side. Murderbot also suffers frozen moments of human-style post-traumatic stress—all the more mysterious because the episodes seem to have been caused by an incident that never happened.

The SecUnit remains every bit as snarky and funny as it has been in the last six books, the perfectly conceived action as nearly nonstop as ever. (And we finally get to see the benefits of Murderbot’s TV addiction.) If there is anything negative to say about “System Collapse,” it’s that there doesn’t seem to be an actual system collapse. And sometimes the bits with humans emoting over things go on a little long (but that might be the Murderbot in me talking).

Outside of this series, Ms. Wells has written many other excellent books, including “Witch King,” which was reviewed here earlier this year. If you need something light, a little violent and laugh-out-loud hilarious, dive into this series: You may find that you have more in common with Murderbot than you think.

Review: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Dec 212023
 
New York Times: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera is the best book I’ve read all year. Protean, singular, original, it forces me to come up with the most baffling comparisons, like: What if “Disco Elysium” were written by Sofia Samatar? At the same time, all you need to know about it is contained in its opening:
“The moment Fetter is born, Mother-of-Glory pins his shadow to the earth with a large brass nail and tears it from him. This is his first memory, the seed of many hours of therapy to come.”
Fetter is one of several almost-chosen-ones (they have a support group) who are raised in the expectation of a spectacular and violent destiny, but shirk or sidestep it in favor of a haunted and marginal life in the city of Luriat. All is mundane in Luriat except its “bright doors,” which “give the city its historic identity without intruding on its daily life.” These doors seem to open onto nothing, but from their keyholes emerge whispers, a cold breeze and a sense of the otherworldly. Fetter’s fascination with these doors draws him into a web of Luriati intrigue that involves his estranged and godlike father, The Perfect and Kind — whom Fetter has been trained since childhood to kill.
I can’t remember the last time a book made me so excited about its existence, its casual challenge to what a fantasy novel could be. In its slipperiness, its combination of antique registers (“megrims” for migraines, “haecceity strings” for bar codes) with contemporary digital life, it manages to pinpoint the peculiar insanity of our modernity. Atrocity is both all-obliterating and seasonal here, able to be mapped onto a calendar; childhood is a site of trauma and self-fashioning, to be both escaped and fulfilled. This novel is so intelligent and compassionate, so furious and so calm.
As a critic I often attempt to turn myself into a book’s ideal reader in order to do it justice. It’s bewildering to encounter a book for which I am, in fact, already the ideal reader, a book that gives me everything I didn’t know I needed, that makes me feel both the pinwheeling fall from climbing a step that isn’t there, and the relief of being caught before I hit the ground.

New York Times Best SFF Books for 2023!

Dec 202023
 

The New York Times released their Best SFF Books of 2023 list, and huge congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera and Martha Wells for making the list!

  • The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
  • Witch King by Martha Wells

 

Review: Cursed Cruise by Faith McClaren

Dec 192023
 

Kirkus: A supernatural mystery unfolds aboard a boat with a haunted history.

Chrissy, Chase, Kiki, and Emma, all 18, are recent high school graduates known as the Ghost Gang. Their YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and after their last ordeal, in which a deranged serial killer fan terrorized them while they were filming an episode at the Hearst Hotel, the pressure’s now on them to deliver another heart-pounding show. The Ghost Gang also hopes to leverage their fame into a TV deal. With that goal in mind, they board the famously haunted cruise ship the RMS Queen Anne, sister ship of the Titanic, which will be sailing from New York City to Southampton for its inaugural voyage after major refurbishment. On board, they meet the Paranormal Patrol, a rival ghost-chasing crew. Told in alternating first-person viewpoints, this creepy and atmospheric story follows the main foursome as they have a series of chilling ghostly experiences while trying to unlock the truth of the ship’s past. Each Ghost Gang member faces a different challenge, putting their skills, confidence, and sometimes their safety to the test. Kiki is brown-skinned; the other major characters read white, and Kiki and Emma are queer. This follow-up to Horror Hotel (2022) will please returning fans, and the adventure holds water as a stand-alone adventure.

A fast-paced and fun Scooby-Doo–esque paranormal page-turner. (Horror. 13-18)

New York Times Best Horror Books for 2023!

Dec 182023
 

The New York Times released their Best Horror Books of 2023 list, and DMLA continues to do well, with two authors making the list!

  • The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
  • No One Will Come Back For Us by Premee Mohamed

Film deal: Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries to Apple TV+

Dec 162023
 

Photo By Lisa Blaschke

Deadline: Martha Wells’ bestselling Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning book series The Murderbot Diaries, is being adapted by Chris and Paul Weitz (About a Boy) and Paramount Television Studios.

Apple TV+ has picked up 10 episodes starring and executive produced by Emmy winner Alexander Skarsgård (Succession). The Weitz brothers are writing, directing and producing under their Depth of Field banner. Andrew Miano also executive produces alongside for Depth of Field. David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Wells will serve as consulting producer. Wells is represented by Jennifer Jackson at the Donald Maass Literary Agency and WME.

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