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).

Starred Review: No One Will Come Back For Us and Other Stories by Premee Mohamed

Feb 162023
 
Publishers Weekly: Dark, strange, and wonderfully wild, these 17 short stories from Nebula and World Fantasy award winner Mohamed (the Beneath the Rising trilogy) thrust human characters into impossible, otherworldly situations. In “Below the Kirk, Below the Hill,” a lonely lighthouse keeper must decide what to do with a drowned child coughed up by the ocean once she discovers that the kid isn’t all the way dead. “The Honeymakers” sees the bizarre bond between a group of girls and a swarm of bees made even stranger and deeper after the swarm attacks. The folk horror story “Everything as Part of Its Infinite Place” follows a young boy as he mourns his brother’s death while exploring the mysterious standing stones of his village. In the title story, a journalist travels to Africa to report on a strange plague only to find himself out of his depth as the impossible nature of the threat is revealed. The collection is by turns brutal and tender, terrifying and sweet, and Mohamed accomplishes the rare feat of maintaining a sense of human connection no matter how outlandish the stories’ premises. The result will both terrify and delight—and is especially recommended for fans of Caitlin Starling and Rivers Solomon.

Review: Meru by D.B. Divya

Feb 152023
 

The Washington Post: Divya delves into one of the core questions of science fiction: What does it mean to be human? In the process, it also asks if we can live in harmony with our environment or if must we wreck every place we visit, as Jayanthi’s post-human jailers believe…the big questions it asks get even bigger, encompassing the nature of community and what it means to belong to each other. Meru proves a worthy addition to the canon of post-human space epics.

Locus 2022 Recommended Reading List

Feb 132023
 

Congratulations to all our authors included in the Locus 2022 Recommended Reading List!

NOVELS – SCIENCE FICTION

  • A Half-Built Garden, Ruthanna Emrys (Tordotcom)

NOVELS – FANTASY

  • The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris UK)
  • The Origin of Storms, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
  • The Embroidered Book, Kate Heartfield (Harper Voyager UK)
  • Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)

COLLECTIONS

  • Breakable Things, Cassandra Khaw (Undertow)

ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOKS

  • The Keeper, Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes, art by Marco Finnegan (Megascope)

NOVELLAS

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

NOVELETTES

  • “Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold“, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5-6/22)
  • “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge”, Tananarive Due (Other Terrors)

SHORT STORIES

  • “12 Things a Trini Should Know Before Travelling to a Back in Times FeteTM”, R.S.A. Garcia (Strange Horizons 10/10/22)
  • “Have Mercy, My Love While We Wait for the Thaw”, Iori Kusano (Apex 7/22)
  • “Apolépisi: A De-Scaling”, Suzan Palumbo (Lightspeed 10/22)
  • “Douen”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)

Review: The Origin of Storms by Elizabeth Bear

Feb 092023
 

Locus: If I were a TV producer who wanted to take on an epic fantasy story à la Game of Thrones or Wheel of Time, I would look no further than Elizabeth Bear’s Lotus Kingdom books. To be honest, I’d much rather see an interpretation of Bear’s work over yet another Euro-based, medieval-esque retread of dudes fighting over who will be king.

The Origin of Storms is a rich and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, which began with The Stone in the Skull and The Red-Stained Wings. This trilogy is linked to and set in the same universe as Bear’s earlier Eternal Sky books – but these three titles make for a satisfying arc all on their own. If you want more in this world, however, there are three more books worth of epic goodness to pick from.

In the Lotus Kingdom arc, the driving question is about who will rule this loosely stitched-together amalgam of worlds that inhabit one planet, which makes more sense in context. The worldbuilding is Persian-influenced and deep. This is a place that feels lived in and that has texture.

The same is true for Bear’s characters. Despite this epic including a cast of dozens, each is three-dimensional and stands on his, her, or their own. Himadra could not be confused with his cousin and rival Mrithuri. Sayeh (perhaps my favorite) is an enduring source of wit and calculation. And then there’s the dragon, who is impossible to confuse with the mere mortals and who is also full of bleak wisdom. ‘‘’Life is pain,’ said the dragon. ‘Fortunately, it’s also very interesting.’’’

With The Origin of Storms, Bear lands this particular plane – and does it in such a way that questions our genre’s love of empire in fantasy epics while also tangibly demonstrating why readers still respond to them. Now it’s time for the same questions about empires and their rulers to bleed into other forms of pop culture.

2023 Rainbow Book List

Feb 082023
 

Congratulations our DMLA authors for their inclusion on the 2023 Rainbow Book List:

  • HOWL by Shaun David Hutchinson
  • A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH by Darcie Little Badger

Starred Review: The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Feb 032023
 

Publishers Weekly: In this twisting and pitch-black horror tale from Khaw (Nothing but Blackened Teeth), a voiceless mermaid plucked from the ocean ventures into a snowy forest alongside a melancholy plague doctor. These unlikely traveling companions soon encounter a village of mutilated children and uncover the architects of this bizarre encampment: three surgeons obsessed with immortality and the reconstitution of the body. As more of the village’s terrible secrets come to light, the mermaid and the plague doctor must rely on each other to survive. Khaw’s prose is rich and gorgeous (“In my dreams, I still swim that soundless black, still travel its eddies of salt and cold nothing”), and the surprising tenderness at the story’s heart is only magnified by the violence and gore that surround it. Both elements prove devastatingly effective in constructing a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique for contemporary horror fiction. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed.

Deal: Rebekah Faubion

Feb 022023
 

Rebekah Faubion’s THE LOVERS, pitched as Nora Ephron-style, queer rom-com about a tarot card mystic who seems fated to fall for a wedding planner she has a past with, to Kristine Swartz at Berkley, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier.

January Translation Rights Deals

Jan 312023
 

Brazilian rights to Shaun David Hutchinson’s WE ARE THE ANTS, to Record, by Flavia Sala at International Editors’, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.

Czech rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s NONA THE NINTH, the third book in The Locked Tomb series, to Host, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Danish rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s SUMMER KNIGHT, DEATH MASKS, and BLOOD RITES, books 4-6 in the Dresden Files series, to Superlux, by Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Dutch rights to Ruby Barrett’s THE ROMANCE RECIPE, to Anne Everard at Heartbeat by Katie Shea Boutillier for Kiana Nguyen.

French rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s NONA THE NINTH, the third book in The Locked Tomb series, to Actes Sud, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French audio rights to Nnedi Okorafor’s BINTI TRILOGY, WHO FEARS DEATH and THE BOOK OF PHOENIX, to Noa Rosen at Éditions Thélème by Marie-France Heinic at Anna Jarota Agency on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.

German rights to Mia Tsai’s BITTER MEDICINE, to Blanvalet, in a preempt, by Sarah Knofius at Thomas Schlueck Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier at for Anne Tibbets.

German rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, the sixth installment in the Murderbot Diaries series, to Heyne, by Sarah Knofius at the Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Israeli rights to Annika Martin’s MOST ELIGIBLE BILLIONAIRE, to Sifrut Shenogaat, by Beverley Levit at The Israeli Association of Book Publishers, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Italian rights to LJ Andrew’s CURSE OF SHADOWS AND THORNS, COURT OF ICE AND ASH, and CROWN OF BLOOD AND RUIN, to Triskell, in a three-book deal, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.

Polish audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s THE AERONAUT’S WINDLASS, the first book in the Cinder Spires series, to F.H.U. Strix, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Spanish rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING plus an untitled fantasy novel, to Hidra, by Amaiur Fernández at International Editors’ Co. in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

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