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).

2014 Locus Recommended Reading List

Feb 062015
 

Congratulations to the DMLA authors who were named on Locus’ 2014 Recommended Reading List!

Novels – Science Fiction:

  • Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor (Hodder; Saga 2015)

Novels – Fantasy:

  • Steles of the Sky, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
  • City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett (Broadway; Jo Fletcher)

Young Adult Books:

  • Lockstep, Karl Schroeder (Tor)

Collections:

  • Last Plane to Heaven, Jay Lake (Tor)

Novelettes:

  • “Kheldyu”, Karl Schroeder (Reach for Infinity)
  • “Wine”, Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld 1/14)
  • “The Hand Is Quicker”, Elizabeth Bear (The Book of Silverberg)

Short Stories:

  • “The Contemporary Foxwife”, Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld 7/14)
  • “Combustion Hour”, Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com 6/18/14)
  • “West to East”, Jay Lake (Subterranean Summer ’14)
  • “Left Foot, Right”, Nalo Hopkinson (Monstrous Affections)
  • “Covenant”, Elizabeth Bear (Hieroglyph)
  • “This Chance Planet”, Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com 10/22/14)

Mrs. Jeffries and the One Who Got Away by Emily Brightwell

Feb 032015
 

cover for Mrs. Jeffries and the One Who Got Away by Emily Brightwell. An elderly Victorian maid and man in black gasp over a discovery in a graveyard.Normally dead bodies in a graveyard are buried—but not this one. When a woman is found strangled in a North London cemetery with an old newspaper clipping clutched in her hand, Inspector Witherspoon is surprised to find that he and the victim have crossed paths before.

Alice Robinson was a respectable widow who ran a quiet Islington lodging house. None of her lodgers have any apparent motive to murder their landlady. But nagging suspicions are lodging in the Inspector’s mind—onlyhe knows that “Alice Robinson” is not her real name. Now he’ll need the help of Mrs. Jeffries to revisit an old case that has haunted him for years and to get the real story.

January Translation Deals

Jan 312015
 

earthBulgarian rights to Brent Weeks’s THE BROKEN EYE, Book 3 in the Lightbringer series, to Bard, by Nada Cipranic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Polish rights to Anne Bishop’s VISION IN SILVER, Book 3 in the Others series, to Initium, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Jennifer Jackson.

Simplified Chinese rights to editors Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger’s anthology IN THE COMPANY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, to Chongqing Tianjian, by Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Time Out NY Lists Genre-Bending Sci-Fi

Jan 212015
 

Cover for The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor. A silhouetted black woman stands arms outstretched, orange fiery wings eruption from her shoulders, a great fireball above her.Time Out New York listed Nnedi Okorafor’s The Book of the Phoenix as a great genre-bending book for new readers to science fiction and fantasy.

Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York’s Tower 7. She is an “accelerated woman”—only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix’s abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7.

Then one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7’s refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to realize that her home is really her prison, and she becomes desperate to escape.

But Phoenix’s escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to Africa and back, changing the entire course of humanity’s future.

December Translation Deals

Dec 312014
 

earthJapanese rights to Mike Shepherd’s KRIS LONGKNIFE: INTREPID, the 6th book in the series, to Hayakawa Publishing, Inc., by Kohei Hattori at the English Agency in association with Jennifer Jackson.

Russian rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS, to AST, by Alexander Korzhenevski Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Simplified Chinese rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS plus Books 2 & 3 of the series, to Chongqing, in a three-book deal, in a nice deal, by Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Polish rights to Brent Weeks’s THE BROKEN EYE, Book 3 in the Lightbrigher series, to Mag Jacek Rodek, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Complex Chinese rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS plus Books 2 & 3 of the series, to Crown, in a three-book deal, at auction, by Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Italian rights to Nnedi Okorafor’s WHO FEARS DEATH, to Gargoyle, by Stefania Fietta at Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Japanese rights to Jo Walton’s MY REAL CHILDREN, to Tokyo Sogensha, by Kohei Hattori at The English Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Hebrew rights to Mur Lafferty’s THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY, to Graff, by Dalia Ever-Hadani of The Book Publishers Association of Israel, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jen Udden.

Brazilian rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS, to DarkSide Books, by Cristina Purchio and Flavia Sala at International Editors’, in assoctiation with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Cameron McClure.

December Subsidiary Rights Deals

Dec 312014
 

a pair of black ear budsAbridged and dramatic audio rights to Robert McCammon’s novella THE LAST TRAIN FROM PERDITION, a sequel to his novella I TRAVEL BY NIGHT, about Civil War veteran and half-vampire gunslinger Trevor Lawson, to Anji Cornette at Graphic Audio by Cameron McClure.

Audio rights to David Feintuch’s Seafort Saga series, to Steve Feldberg at Audible, in a seven-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier.

Audio rights to Jo Ann Ferguson’s Shadow of the Bastille trilogy (A Daughter’s Destiny, A Brother’s Honor, and A Sister’s Quest) and five additional historical novels, to Steve Feldberg at Audible, in an eight-book deal, by Jennifer Jackson.

Powell’s Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy 2014

Dec 162014
 

Cover for The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft by Leslie Klinger. White menacing tentacles surround the text on a black background.Congratulations to Les Klinger on The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft being named one of Powell’s Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books of 2014!

“With its gorgeous production, from the waving tentacles on the cover to the meticulous annotations, this one gets it just right. It would definitely make a stunning holiday gift. Not everything that Lovecraft wrote is here, but at 928 pages, there’s plenty to enjoy.”

BuzzFeed Must Read Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Dec 112014
 

Three DMLA authors listed on BuzzFeed’s 19 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Novels by Women of Color You Must Read!

  • Who Fears Death – Nnedi Okorafor
  • The Salt Roads – Nalo Hopkinson
  • Joplin’s Ghost – Tananarive Due

School Library Journal Best Books of 2014

Dec 102014
 

Lockstep by Karl SchroederCongratulations to Karl Schroeder on Lockstep being named one of School Library Journal‘s Best Adult Books for Teens 2014!

When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he’s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he’s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still—that he’s been asleep for 14,000 years.
Continue reading »

Deal: Wen Spencer

Dec 042014
 

Photo of author Wen Spencer.Wen Spencer’s THE BLACK WOLVES OF BOSTON, about a werewolf victim, a vampire of vampires and a half-angel girl child teaming up in Boston to fight a huntsman, a creature created by witches, to Toni Weisskopf at Baen, by Donald Maass.

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