BLOOD IN SWEET RIVER by John Shirley

Aug 202024
 

After a long, hard journey west, Cleve Trewe is ready to settle down. He’s got his beautiful wife Berry in San Francisco, a baby on the way, and his sights set on a gorgeous piece of land in the Sierras. This sweet slice of heaven is aptly named Sweet River, and it’s the perfect place to build a ranch, farm, and home for his family. Problem is, Cleve’s not the only one with his eyes on the land. A big-time cattle baron named Asa Hawthorn is prepared to use threats, intimidation—and armed thugs—to get what he wants. Worse yet, Cleve knows the man from the darkest days of the Civil War . . .

Cleve’s not about to surrender his claim.. He’s got his buddy Kanaway by his side, a family of Paiute Indians on his team, and the property papers ready to sign. That’s when the real trouble starts. To squash the deal, Hawthorn unleashes his deadliest henchmen—including a would-be gunfighter from Cleve’s past and a killer-for-hire who never misses. The Paiute family recognizes some of them as the men who slaughtered their tribe—a massacre that Cleve suspects was the work of Asa Hawthorn. Either way, a major battle is brewing. And the crystal blue waters of Sweet River are about to turn red . . .

AN UNLIKELY AMISH INHERITANCE by Jo Ann Brown

Aug 202024
 

An inheritance filled with riddles…

Could love be the answer?

When her Amish grandmother passes away, Englisch police officer Jenna Shetler returns to her family’s farm on Maryland’s eastern shore to carry out her grandmother’s unusual last request. A series of letters with specific instructions forces her to seek help from Amish bachelor Abe Bontranger—and confront her teenage heartbreak. Working together brings them closer than they’ve been in years, but with Jenna’s commitment to the police force and Abe’s plans for his Amish life, is a second chance possible for the two of them?

2024 Aurora Awards Winners!

Aug 192024
 

The 2024 Aurora Awards winners have been announced and we’re thrilled to share that the following DMLA authors have won in the Best Novel and Best Short Story categories!

Best Novel: The Valkyrie, Kate Heartfield, HarperVoyager

Best Short Story: “At Every Door A Ghost”, Premee Mohamed, Communications Breakdown, MIT Press

2024 Dragon Awards Finalists!

Aug 152024
 

Congratulations to the following DMLA titles for making the final ballot for the 2024 Dragon Awards!

Best Science Fiction Novel

  • System Collapse by Martha Wells
  • The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

  • Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison

Best Horror Novel

  • The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw
  • The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Review: THE ANTI-SOCIAL SEASON by Adele Buck

Aug 142024
 

Publishers Weekly: The Christmas season heats up in Buck’s steamy second First Responders romance (after Fake Flame). After 10 years working as a firefighter in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Thea Martinelli is rattled when a fellow firefighter is seriously injured on the job, and she jumps at the chance to take a breather as the new social media manager for emergency services. To train her, the department brings in the local library’s social media manager: total hunk Simon Osman. Simon is shocked to see Thea, his distant, unattainable crush all through high school, and can tell she doesn’t quite remember him from their teenage years. Sparks fly as these two spend more time together, and Simon discovers the vulnerable side that Thea always used to hide behind humor. But their budding relationship is complicated by Simon’s controlling sister’s demands that he spend more of the upcoming Christmas holiday with her in California. Sex scenes sizzle while the pressures of the holiday season keep the plot moving swiftly. Readers will cheer for Simon to find happiness with the girl he never forgot.

LOKA by S.B. Divya

Aug 132024
 

Finding a place to belong becomes a girl’s ambitious quest in a thrilling epic about space, humanity, and self-discovery by S.B. Divya, Hugo and Nebula Award finalist and author of Meru.

Akshaya is the hybrid daughter of a human mother and an alloy, a genetically engineered posthuman—and she’s the future of life on the planet Meru. But not if the determined Akshaya can help it. Before choosing where her future lies, she wants to circumnavigate the most historic orb in the universe—the birthplace of humanity: Earth.

Akshaya’s parents reluctantly agree to her anthropological challenge—one with no assistance from alloy devices, transport, or wary alloys themselves who manage humanity and the regions of Earth called Loka. It’s just Akshaya; her equally bold best friend, Somya; and a carefully planned itinerary threading continent by continent across a wondrous terrain of things she’s never seen: blue skies, sunrises, snowcapped mountains, and roiling oceans.

As the adventure unfolds, the travelers discover love and new friendships, but they also learn the risks of a planet that’s not entirely welcoming. On this trek—rapturous, dangerous, and life-changing—Akshaya will discover what human existence really means.

Deal: Elizabeth Bear

Aug 022024
 

Photo of Elizabeth BearHugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear sold rights to two novels in her White Space setting. For new readers, her next science fiction epic, THE FOLDED SKY, stands alone. For returning readers, this is an indirect sequel to Ancestral Night, and takes place more or less concurrently and a little bit after Machine.

In THE FOLDED SKY, Dr. Sunyata Song must travel across the Milky Way to learn to communicate with the greatest discovery of her century: an artificial intelligence the size of a stellar system, an ancient abandoned matrioshka brain called the Baomind. It orbits a dying red giant, and the star’s time has nearly ended. The remote research station and its small fleet of ships come under attack by fanatic Freeport pirates who believe that artificial intelligence is an abomination that must be  destroyed, putting the lives of Sunya and her family at risk. Tens of thousands of light years from home, isolated from all help, Sunya is the only one who can save them all.

In negotiations with Jennifer Jackson, U.S. rights were acquired by Joe Monti at Saga Press / Simon & Schuster; Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz will release the UK edition — both with plans to publish in 2025.

Starred Review: METAL FROM HEAVEN by August Clarke

Aug 012024
 

Publishers Weekly: YA author Clarke (the Scapegracers trilogy, written as H.A. Clarke) makes their adult debut with a slick and sexy queer fantasy western. Ignavia City is on the cusp of industrial revolution and roiling with discontent. When Marney Honeycutt’s family and childhood sweetheart are murdered in a strikebreak, she swears revenge on Yann Chauncey, the foundry owner who ordered the massacre. Fleeing the city, she falls into the hands of the Highwayman’s Choir, a troop of bandit revolutionaries fighting to bring about the Hereafter: a golden future with no work, wages, or poverty. Thanks to in-utero exposure to ichorite, the toxic, eerie metal on which Yann Industry’s fortune was built, Marney can control the metal and perceive memories of how it’s been worked but suffers debilitating fits if she touches it. The Choir give Marney shelter, family, and identity, but don’t hesitate to use her powers to further their cause. Together they hatch a plot that hinges on Marney seducing Gossamer Chauncey, Yann’s daughter. Clarke delivers a masterful and tragic exploration of the intersections of violence, faith, sexuality, and power, perfect for readers of challenging political fantasy in the vein of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Tyrant Philosophers series. Lyrical prose, meticulous worldbuilding, and steamy lesbian sex scenes make this a surefire hit. (Oct.)

July Translation Deals

Jul 312024
 

Chinese (simplified) rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING, to Science Fiction World, by Gray Tan at Grayhawk Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Chinese (complex) rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING, to Gaea, by Gray Tan at Grayhawk Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

LJ Andrews’s THE EVER SEAS series, in a three-book deal, to Kossuth (HUNGARY); also to Artline Studios (BULGARIA), by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.

Spanish rights to Jo Walton’s AMONG OTHERS, to Duermevela, by Amaiur Fernandez at International Editors’, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Turkish rights to Nnedi Okorafor’s WHO FEARS DEATH and AKATA WOMAN, to Ithaki, by Merve Ongen at Anatolialit Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.

French rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s novella TO BE READ UPON YOUR WAKING, to Le Belial, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Deal: Neil Sharpson

Jul 302024
 

KNOCK KNOCK, OPEN WIDE author Neil Sharpson’s picture book debut DON’T TRUST FISH, which explains in a scientific and reasonable way why fish cannot be trusted, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist and National Book Award winner for A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING Dan Santat, to Kate Harrison at Dial, at auction, for publication in spring 2025, by Jennie Goloboy for the author, and by Jodi Reamer at Writers House for the illustrator.

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