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: Hybrid Heart by Iori Kusano

Mar 232023
 

Publishers Weekly: Kusano brings the vibrant world of J-Pop into stunning clarity in their near-future debut novella. Rei must navigate the semidystopian world of Japanese pop idols as a solo act after her best friend and former duo member, Ririko, gets caught with a secret boyfriend despite a contractual obligation not to fall in love. In the wake of this scandal, Rei’s success hinges on her role as the singing voice of a character on a popular anime, and her overbearing manager frequently reminds her how tenuous her career is. Meanwhile, she can’t help being drawn to the music of her main competitor, a lifelike computer-generated idol called Lyrico. With a hotshot young recruit to Rei’s talent agency nipping at her heels, Rei must work out her feelings for Lyrico and determine if the new trainee will be friend or foe. Rei makes for a fascinating protagonist held captive in a glittering world. The author holds readers in a similarly tight grip, immersing them in imagined future Japanese pop culture. Kusano shows real promise.

2023 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire Awards

Mar 212023
 

Congratulations to all our DMLA authors who have been nominated for the 2022 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire.

ROMAN ÉTRANGER / FOREIGN NOVEL

  • Terra Ignota (Volumes 1 to 5) by Ada Palmer (Le Bélial’) [Terra Ignota series]
  • Ou ce que vous voudrez by Jo Walton (Denoël) [Or What You Will]

TRADUCTION : PRIX JACQUES CHAMBON / JACQUES CHAMBON TRANSLATION PRIZE

  • Lise Capitan for Analog/Virtuel by Lavanya Lakshminarayan (Hachette Heroes)

 

Review: Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

Mar 172023
 

Library Journal: Rachel Morgan knew that taking the position of demon subrosa—protector of Cincinnati’s supernatural residents—would be another way to get into trouble. When she discovers that a group of werewolves are after the focus that her friend David holds, it is just the beginning of the problems headed her way. From coven grumblings about a witch-born demon still walking, a vampire-turned-mouse causing havoc in her home, and a mysterious mage framing Rachel and her friends for various crimes, it may take more than a few twisted charms to get out of these predicaments. Harrison leads readers further into the logistics of human and paranormal races coexisting together, and Rachel’s emotional arc continues to grow as she lets others in, but she is still a delightfully defensive heroine. An interesting revelation at the end will have long-term readers excited for the next book.

VERDICT The latest in the “Hollows” series, after Trouble with the Cursed, contains all the magical action, emotional tension, and snippy dialogue that fans adore.

Review: I Didn’t Do It by Jamie Lynn Hendricks

Mar 152023
 

Publishers Weekly: This brisk, funny thriller from Hendricks (It Could Be Anyone) begins at Murderpalooza, an annual New York City conference for writers of genre fiction. When Kristin Bailey, a nominee for the coveted Thriller of the Year award, is found dead in her hotel room, the Twitterverse runs rife with speculation. Shortly after Kristin’s death, four other conference attendees (who narrate the novel on a rotating basis) start receiving menacing tweets from a burner account that threatens to leak secrets that could end their personal relationships, careers, and possibly their lives. The group decides to band together for protection, but each new tweet breeds distrust and fear as the truth about Kristin’s killing slowly comes to light. Hendricks’s plotting is impeccable, and she knows precisely when to jump perspectives for maximum suspense. Her humor, too, is razor-sharp: she has fun taking shots at the anxieties and unchecked egos of writers at all stages of their career (“Is it really narcissism if I know I have it? Or just an overinflated ego,” one character wonders).

2022 Nebula Award Nominees

Mar 132023
 

Congratulations to our DMLA authors who have been nominated for a 2022 Nebula Award!

Nebula Award for Novel

  • Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novella

  • “Bishop’s Opening”, R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)
  • Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novelette

  • “Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold”, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5–6/22)

Nebula Award for Short Story

  • “Douen”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)

2022 Bram Stoker Award Nominations

Mar 062023
 

Congratulations to our DMLA authors who have been nominated for the 2022 Bram Stoker Award!

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

  • Cassandra Khaw – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)

Review: The Witch King by Martha Wells

Mar 032023
 

Library Journal: Demon Prince Kai awakens in his own tomb, alone and unable to remember how he got there, although he knows he must have been betrayed. He’ll have to recover his companions, retrace his steps, both in the past and in the present, and consume the life energy of anyone who gets in his way. After all, Kai is the Witch King, and he can’t let anyone stand in the way of protecting his loved ones. Kai and his dearest companions saved their world from an all-consuming conqueror. His betrayal is an attempt to undo that work, and Kai must figure out whom he needs to kill this time around. The world is wide-open, its peoples are not the usual fantasy suspects, and the power of both friendship and heartbreak pushes the story on at a breathless pace.

VERDICT:  After the rousing success of “The Murderbot Diaries,” Wells has returned to her fantasy roots in a tale of revolt, rebellion, and betrayal. Readers looking for more Murderbot may be disappointed, but fantasy readers looking for new worlds and characters to explore will be enthralled.

Starred Review: Dual Memory by Sue Burke

Mar 022023
 

Booklist: Though the scale of Burke’s latest (after Immunity Index, 2021) is limited to the small island of Thule in the Arctic Circle, the conflict faced by the islanders takes on a large-scale feel. Antonio Moro is injured while firing missiles at war boats of the Leviathan League, recruited by mercenaries to be on the lookout for LL agents, and hired to create art for the chamber of commerce. He takes possession of the control cube of Par Augustus, an AI that has become independent, as a reward for his contest-winning sculpture. Because Moro is always polite to the various machine systems he encounters, Par Augustus introduces itself to him. Gradually this leads to befriending Chatelaine, the system that runs his employers’ home, and Prior Edifice, which runs the hospital. When the raiders threaten again, the merchants, who do a lot of trading of ExtraTs stored at the Xenological Gardens, and the Thules, pacifistic doctors who are the main government of the isle, differ on how to deal with them. Par Augustus has other ideas too, and Moro becomes his willing human accomplice. If Ursula LeGuin had written about AI machines, it would have looked a lot like this marvelous fable.

Starred Review: I Didn’t Do It by Jaime Lynn Hendricks

Mar 012023
 

Kirkus: Authors’ dreams curdle into nightmares when murder strikes a mystery convention.

Kristin Bailey, one of five nominees for Murderpalooza’s Thriller of the Year, has been stabbed to death in her room at the Waldorf. Amid the digital firestorm that breaks out, two items stand out. One is a Twitter thread indicating that @MPaloozaNxt2Dieis following Vicky Overton, a fellow nominee; Mike Brooks, the once-successful friend who shared a hush-hush relationship with Kristin; Suzanne Shih, the admiring stalker she’d gotten a restraining order against; and Davis Walton, a self-absorbed rising star. The other is a series of text messages to Vicky, Mike, Suzanne, and Davis making target-specific insinuations and threats, all ending with the refrain “Maybe you’re next.” Since all four of them have plenty of secrets to hide, their suspicions of each other are equaled by their apprehension that they’re about to be unmasked. Alternating among their four points of view, Hendricks revels in their paranoia while archly revealing the differences in their narrative styles, from Vicky’s relentless self-editing to Suzanne’s guileless pushiness to Davis’ preening narcissism to Mike’s terror because his current comeback novel features a murder at a mystery convention committed by his own fictional avatar. Authors, agents, publishers, wannabes: None of them comes off nearly as well as Vicky’s boyfriend, publicist Jim Russell, who’s miles ahead of Pearson—no first name—the investigator hired by the Waldorf to figure out just which of these experts in homicide upped their game to the next level. Despite the obvious premise, it’s a furious, riotous, meta-romp right up to the last deflating twist.

February Translation Rights Deals

Feb 282023
 

Arabic rights to Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, EXIT STRATEGY, NETWORK EFFECT, and FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, the first six installments in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, to Yatakhayaloon, by Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Bulgarian rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four installments in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, to Studio of A, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Czech rights to Robert McCammon’s GONE SOUTH, to Dobrovsky by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s WRITTEN IN RED, the first book in the Others series, to Bragelonne, by Marie-France Heinic at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING, to L’Atlante, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Polish rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING, to Grupa Wydawnicza Foksal, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Swedish rights to Nnedi Okorafor’s REMOTE CONTROL, Pernilla Ståhl at Palaver Press by Katie Shea Boutillier.
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