Jun 302023
 

Finnish rights to Nebula and Hugo Award winner Martha Wells’ ROGUE PROTOCOL and EXIT STRATEGY, the third and fourth installments in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, to Hertta Kustannus Oy, by Rik Kleuver at Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s FURIES OF CALDERON, the first book in the Codex Alera series, to Bragelonne, by Marie-France Heinic at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Croatian rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, EXIT STRATEGY, NETWORK EFFECT, and FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, the first six titles in the Murderbot Diaries series, to V.B.Z., by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Chinese rights to James Scott Bell’s POWER UP YOUR FICTION, to China Renmin University Press, by Yijhen Lee at The Grayhawk Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.

Spanish rights to Sue Burke’s SEMIOSIS, to Dolmen, by Elena Rodriguez at International Editors Co. in association with Katie Shea Boutillier for Jennie Goloboy.

Spanish audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four titles in the Murderbot Diaries series, to Recorded Books, by Elena Rodríguez at International Editors Co. in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Chinese rights to Ronald Malfi’s COME WITH ME and BLACK MOUTH, to Sharp Point Press, by Gray Tan of The Grayhawk Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Jun 292023
 

DEMONS OF GOOD AND EVIL debuts at #29 on the USA Today bestseller list!

Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, suspected that protecting the paranormal citizens of Cincinnati as the demon subrosa would be trouble. But it’s rapidly becoming way more trouble than even she could have imagined.

While Rachel and her friends may have vanquished the trickster demon Hodin, his mysterious associate known only as “The Mage” is eager to finish what Hodin started, beginning with taking down Rachel’s power structure piece by piece.

With her world falling apart, Rachel desperately needs help. But with all of her supporters under attack, her only hope is to make a deal with the unlikeliest of allies. . . .

Jun 282023
 
Author photo of Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley.

Photo credit: Sue Grubman

Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka’s HEIRESS TAKES ALL, pitched as The Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s 11, in which a teen plots revenge against her father, after she’s cheated out of her rightful inheritance, by staging the perfect heist—in the midst of his latest wedding, to Caitlyn Averett while at Little, Brown Children’s, with Samantha Gentry editing, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Katie Shea Boutillier. Film/TV: Mary Pender at United Talent Agency

Jun 262023
 

WITCH KING debuts at #2 on the UK Sunday Times Bestseller List!

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.

Jun 232023
 

Congratulations to DMLA author Cassandra Khaw for her 2022 Bram Stoker Award!
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

  • Cassandra Khaw – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)
Jun 212023
 

Booklist: Fetter is enmeshed in a cycle of violence as his mother severs his shadow from him at birth and forges him into a weapon to murder his messianic father and dismantle his religion. As an adult, Fetter rejects her indoctrination. He physically and ideologically distances himself from both parents by settling in Luriat, the urban antithesis to his rural hometown, and recalibrating his raison d’être to peace: he assists fellow refugees, heals his trauma through therapy, cultivates intimate relationships, and investigates Luriat’s mysterious, unopenable, brightly painted doors. Nonetheless, Fetter is reeled back into his family’s conflict and becomes entangled in discord arising from government-endorsed systematic oppression, causing him to lose his place in society and calling into question his life’s purpose. The story line unravels in the final arc, paralleling Fetter’s unmoored state… However, the lyrical, precise prose, the original, organic nature of the world building, and the complex themes of purpose, identity, and the biased, often violent, incomplete nature of history-telling will engage readers long after finishing.

Jun 162023
 

New York Times: Reversing that trajectory, Martha Wells has followed up her best-selling series of Murderbot novellas with a return to full-length, epic fantasy. WITCH KING (Tordotcom, $28.99, 414 pp.), a deeply immersive throwback to a beloved (and for me, foundational) species of 1990s fantasy doorstop, is full of cataclysmic intrigues between mostly immortal families, complete with map and dramatis personae.

The titular Witch King, Kaiisteron, or Kai, wakes from an enchanted sleep to find that he and his best friend, Ziede, have been betrayed and imprisoned by someone close to them. Kai is a demon, able to wield magic and possess the bodies of the living; Ziede is a witch, able to converse with the elemental world. They use their powers to subdue and escape their would-be captor, but discover that Ziede’s wife, Tahren, is missing.

Together — gathering waifs and strays along the way — they embark on a quest to find her and root out the conspiracy that separated them. As they search for answers, Kai remembers his early life fighting necromantic wizards called Hierarchs and rebuilding the world they broke.

Kai is very good at protecting those he has chosen to care for, and part of the pleasure of “Witch King” comes from seeing his keen-edged competence at work, contrasted with moments of profound, bewildered vulnerability. Kai’s timelines play off each other wonderfully: Elements introduced in a dizzying rush of world building become welcome context for the flashbacks, which in turn escalate tension in the present. Wells is working at the height of her powers here, and it’s relaxing to be carried along for a ride in the company of such a phenomenal storyteller.

Jun 142023
 
Author photo of Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley.

Photo credit: Sue Grubman

Authors Bridget Morrissey, Emily Wibberley, and Austin Siegemund-Broka writing as E.B. Asher’s THIS WILL BE FUN, pitched as THE PRINCESS BRIDE meets PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION, about a group of friends who once saved their magical land together but haven’t spoken in 10 years, reuniting to attend a royal wedding then ending up on a new quest to defend the realm, pitched for readers of LEGENDS AND LATTES and lovers of Shrek, to Sylvan Creekmore at Avon, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2024, by Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary for Morrissey and by Katie Boutillier for Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka (world).

Jun 122023
 

Publishers Weekly: Shirley (Halo: Broken Circle) veers from gaming fiction to near-future military techno-thriller in this competent, straightforward novel of U.S. Army Rangers in space. Lt. Art Burkett’s marriage is failing due to his wife’s worries over his continuous insertion into dangerous missions, when he is yanked away yet again, this time into a hostage rescue that involves a drop from space. The mission runs into complications: an undercover agent is killed by friendly fire, the agent’s brother vows vengeance, and the Russians look to solidify their hold on near-Earth orbit by finishing off the spacecraft carrying Burkett and company back to safety. Shirley includes most of the archetypes common to military adventure fiction, including the officer torn between public and private duty, the spy whose suspicions are not mere paranoia, the gruff leader who stands up to the Big Brass, and the Big Brass themselves, whose pettiness is paid for by personal sacrifice. Sure-footed descriptions of spaceflight and the toils of working without gravity enhance the plot without the technobabble ever pulling focus from the soldiers as they fight for their lives and honor. Shirley’s fans will be pleased.

Jun 022023
 

Wall Street Journal: Regular readers of sci-fi know Martha Wells from her Murderbot Diaries (if you don’t, go get them immediately). “Witch King” is a fantasy novel about as far from Murderbot as it’s possible to get, and the fact that the author does it so well is a testament to her range and abilities.

We start in the middle of the action, meeting the main character and his companion when they wake up after a mysterious betrayal and attack. Kai uses his supernatural powers to drain the life out of his enemies just in time to rescue Ziede, who has been locked away in a vault. But what starts off seeming to be the tale of two vampiric lovers who kill and consume anyone in their way turns into a story far more complicated and fascinating.

Kai, we soon learn, is a demon from the “underearth,” a creature whose formidable abilities are connected to the experience of pain. In the world of “Witch King” demons are decidedly non-spiritual creatures who have a complex relationship with the people of the Grasslands; they are invited into the bodies of the dead and then treated like family. Ziede is a witch, which here is more a race than a profession. She is close friends with Kai but married to a missing woman called Tahren—who has Fallen from another group, the Immortal Blessed.

“Witch King” across two different timelines: Years ago, when Kai, Ziede and Tahren first meet and help save the world from the crushing invasion of the Hierarchs, and in the story’s present, when the Rising World—an alliance of the surviving nations—is in jeopardy.

Ms. Wells creates uniquely fascinating cultures and abilities for the people who live in her universe, including magic systems that are fully developed and beautifully described. When Kai swallows a magical “intention” into his chest you can practically see it.

The heroes’ adventures together are exciting and their escapes clever; quibbles with the book are just that. There is supposed to be a grand conspiracy trying to topple the Rising World, and it would have been nice to see it in action outside the main group of characters. Also, there are a lot of names to keep track of. Fans of intricate fantasy may love that—but my aging brain needed a wiki.

A wonderfully original world, sympathetic characters and a solid quest make “Witch King” the satisfying fantasy you yearn for when named swords and cursed rings begin to grow stale.