An annotated edition of the iconic DC comics series Watchmen (1986-87), written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons, to be created by master annotator Leslie S. Klinger (The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft), sold to DC Comics by Donald Maass.
Leena Likitalo’s debut THE FIVE DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON and a sequel, magically re-imagining the fall of the Romanov dynasty from the perspective of five sisters in mortal peril, to Claire Eddy at Tor.com Publishing, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2017, by Cameron McClure.
Molly Tanzer’s CREATURES OF WILL AND TEMPER, a Victorian-era urban fantasy pitched as inspired by THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, in which an epee-fencing enthusiast and her younger sister are drawn into a secret and dangerous London underworld of pleasure-seeking demons and bloodthirsty diabolists, with only her skill with a blade standing between them and certain death, to John Joseph Adams Books, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2017, by Cameron McClure.
UK/Commonwealth rights to 10 books in Emily Brightwell’s ongoing Mrs. Jeffries Mysteries series (#14-23) to Constable & Robinson, by Meg Davis at Ki Agency, on behalf of Donald Maass.
Michael Fletcher’s SWARM AND STEEL, a fantasy novel set in a harsh world where belief defines reality, in which Zerfall Seele, thousands of years old and creator of a punishing afterlife sees her creation through unbiased eyes for the first time and vows to destroy it, to Bradley Englert at Talos Press, by Cameron McClure.
Ann Claycomb’s THE MERMAID’S DAUGHTER, about a promising opera singer plagued by stabbing pain in her feet, who slowly discovers she is 8 generations removed from the original Little Mermaid in Hans Christian Andersen’s story and is given the same awful choice all the women in her family faced: kill yourself and end the pain, or kill your true love and return to the sea, to Rebecca Lucash at William Morrow, for publication winter 2017, by Cameron McClure.
Jordan Brown at Balzer + Bray has preempted Justina Ireland’s DREAD NATION and an untitled sequel, a YA duology set in a post-Reconstruction America beset by an undead plague that rose from the battlefields of the Civil War. The book follows Jane, the daughter of a plantation-owner mother and enslaved father, who is training as an attendant in Baltimore to protect well-to-do white folk from the undead. Publication is scheduled for 2018. Amy Boggs did the deal for North American rights.
Dan Koboldt’s THE ISLAND DECEPTION and THE WORLD AWAKENING, sequels to THE ROGUE RETRIEVAL. A Las Vegas stage magician joins a mercenary extraction force infiltrating a world where magic is all too real and the penalty for impersonating a true magician is death, to David Pomerico at Harper Voyager Impulse for publication in February 2017 and 2018, by Paul Stevens.
Environmental Scientist Kate Brandes’ debut novel THE PROMISE OF PIERSON ORCHARD, pitched as Erin Brockovich meets Promised Land, about a Pennsylvania family threatened by betrayal, financial desperation, old flames, fracking, and ultimately finding forgiveness, to Nancy Cleary at Wyatt-MacKenzie, for publication in Spring 2017, by Katie Shea Boutillier.
Culture journalist and selfie expert Alicia Eler’s THE SELFIE GENERATION, an exploration of the most direct form of visual communication in the digital age and how it shapes our culture, including discussions of digital privacy, selfie psychology, and depictions of selfie culture in mainstream media, to Maxim Brown at Skyhorse, by Caitlin McDonald.