Photo By Lisa Blaschke
Congratulations and respect to DMLA author, Martha Wells, for this amazing feature of her and the Murderbot series in Wired Magazine! Read it here!
Excited to see so many DMLA titles on the New York Times Best Science Fiction and Fantasy for 2024! Check out these spotlights!
Rakesfall
By Vajra Chandrasekera
Chandrasekera’s second novel shifts wildly in structure and narration to dazzling result. Souls recur in various combinations and circumstances, organized around how to endure fascism and kill kings. A TV show that is perhaps reality gives way to a play about beings who reincarnate over thousands of years, which gives way to a murder mystery involving a cybernetically enhanced near-immortal who wakes from an ancient sleep. Ambitious and kaleidoscopic.
Exordia
By Seth Dickinson
Dickinson’s science-fiction debut is a first-contact story about a Kurdish war orphan and the warmongering six-headed snake alien she meets in Central Park. Scrutinizing ethics, theoretical physics and the military-industrial complex, “Exordia” is so brilliant that I’m including it in this list despite its decidedly non-stand-alone ending, for which I feel the publisher owes me either an apology or the next two volumes in quick succession.
Those Beyond the Wall
By Micaiah Johnson
This is a stand-alone sequel to “The Space Between Worlds,” Johnson’s postapocalyptic debut. Here, travel through the multiverse is possible but comes with the risk of being crushed to death by a cosmic “backlash.” But someone has figured out how to shift that risk from the traveler to others, and innocent people are being killed. Stopping this will require old nemeses and unlikely friends to unite against a common enemy.
The Tainted Cup
By Robert Jackson Bennett
Bennett’s perfectly executed fantasy mystery novel introduces two dynamic detectives in a strange world, as if Nero Wolfe were solving mysteries in Area X. Dinios Kol is an “engraver,” able to remember crime scenes in perfect detail; his employer, Ana Dolabra, is an ostracized investigator whose sensory sensitivity often requires her to wear a blindfold. When a wealthy man is spectacularly murdered, Ana and Din are called in to solve the crime.
Abridged/dramatic audio rights to New York Times bestseller Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb series including GIDEON THE NINTH, HARROW THE NINTH, NONA THE NINTH and ALECTO THE NINTH, to Anji Cornette at Graphic Audio by Jennifer Jackson.
Audio rights to USA Today bestseller, Alta Hensley’s HEATHENS HOLLOW SERIES and GODS AMONG MEN SERIES, to Kerri Buckley at Dreamscape Media, in a multi-deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier (NA).
Audio rights to Hugo-winning Elizabeth Bear’s ANGEL MAKER, a new sequel her acclaimed novel Karen Memory, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, by Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Audio rights to J.M. Kearl’s ALLIED KINGDOMS ACADEMY SERIES, to Emily Loughran at Tantor Media, in a four-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier (World English).
Audio rights to Jess K Hardy’s SUNASTARA AND THE VENUSIAN, plus two more books in the Space Cruise Romance series, to Kerri Buckley at Dreamscape Media, in a three-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier (NA).
Arabic rights to World Fantasy Award winner Premee Mohamed’s THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST, to Dawen Publishing House, by Gana Galal at Bears Factor Literary Agency, in association with Michael Curry.
French rights to Tashan Mehta’s MAD SISTERS OF ESI, to L’Atalante, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
French rights to Miranda Lyn’s THE UNMARKED TRILOGY, to City Editions in a three-book deal, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Greek rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s GIDEON THE NINTH, the first book in the Locked Tomb trilogy, to Philip Psihalos and Co Publishing, by Sanja Stefanjesko at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Russian omnibus rights to 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 Eksmo, by Igor Korzhenevski at Alexander Korzhenevski Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Congratulations to Kim Harrison! The newest entry in the Hollows series, DEMON’S BLUFF, debuts at #45 in USA Today!
Chinese (complex) renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four books in The Murderbot Diaries series, to Global Group, by Lucy Su at Grayhawk Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Czech rights to Katherine Addison’s THE GOBLIN EMPEROR, to Dobrovsky (Czech Republic), by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava i Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
Danish rights to Vonda N. McIntyre’s DREAMSNAKE, to A Mock Book (Denmark), by Vere Bank at Sebes & Bisseling on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Jennie Goloboy.
French rights to Miranda Lyn’s TILL DEATH, to Eilean Books, in a preempt, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s MURDER OF CROWS, the second book in the Others series, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
French rights to LJ Andrews’s THE EVER QUEEN and THE MIST THIEF, to City Editions, in a two-book deal, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
German rights to Margaret Doody’s ARISTOTLE DETECTIVE, to Kampa, by Bastian Schluck at Thomas Schlueck Agency on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.
Italian rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s PRINCESS FLORALINDA AND THE FORTY-FLIGHT TOWER, to Mondadori, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Swedish audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, EXIT STRATEGY, NETWORK EFFECT, FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, and SYSTEM COLLAPSE, the first seven books in The Murderbot Diaries series, to Recorded Books, by Vere Bank at Sebes & Bisseling in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
What’s a witch to do when the coven of moral and ethical standards demands she untwist a curse—but an essential spell component no longer exists? There’s only one choice: go back in time.
Caught between self-exile and an Alcatraz cell, Rachel must find an Atlantean mirror to reverse the curse and prove to Cincinnati’s brand-new witch coven that, no, she does not practice illicit magic. Unfortunately, the only mirror of its kind in existence belonged to the insane demon Newt, forcing Rachel to go to the past to bargain with her for it.
But the time-travel spell goes awry, dragging Elyse, the young leader of the coven, into the past with Rachel. They expect to land five years in the past but instead arrive two days before Rachel’s long-lost love, Kisten, dies. Heartbroken and torn, Rachel knows she can’t change the past.
Even with no allies, Rachel still has one thing going for her: Cincinnati is her city, now and forever. If she can find a way to work with Newt and prevent Elyse from becoming the demon’s next familiar, they might all get home.
Reactor: As with her debut novel, the immersive and compelling Star Eater, Kerstin Hall chucks you straight into Asunder and asks you to keep up. She is a master of consistent, sometimes subtle worldbuilding; anything she needs you to understand, Karys sees, or interacts with, or has cause to explain or have explained to her, succinctly and elegantly.
This story sits just under the skin, a tangle of questions about faith and shame and what a person does with the power they have—or that is given to them. It is, immersively and emotionally, about survival: how a person survives, what they do to survive, what they endure while surviving, and where the choices they make in order to survive wind up taking them. I can’t shake Karys and her choices out of my head, and frankly, I don’t want to.
This world deserves more story, and more time, and more readers, and I hope it gets all three.
Audio rights to Miranda Lyn’s Fae Rising series, to Kerri Buckley at Dreamscape Media, in a four-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier (NA).
Audio rights to Nicky Drayden and Matthew Bey’s DEEP AUSTIN: CASE OF THE WEIRD CARNIVOROUS SKY, a tale of gonzo horror chock full of ghosts and other weirdness, plus a sequel, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, by Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Audio rights to Caitlin Starling’s THE OBLIVION BRIDE, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, by Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Caitlin McDonald (World English).
Audio rights to Camilla Raines’s THE HOLLOW AND THE HAUNTED, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in an exclusive submission, by Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Kat Kerr (NA).
Korean renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four books in The Murderbot Diaries series, to Alma Publishing Co., by Yujung Kim at the Eric Yang Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Camilla Raines’s THE HOLLOW AND THE HAUNTED, to Eilean Books (France), at auction, in a two-book deal, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Kat Kerr.