We are thrilled to see these in the finalists for the 2025 Dragon Awards!
Best Science Fiction Novel
The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet
Murderbot, Apple TV+ (based on The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells)
Reactor: Holy shit, what a book.
I’ve been waiting with unalloyed anticipation for Elizabeth Bear’s next White Space novel since 2020’s Machine. That novel is The Folded Sky. Part thriller, part murder mystery, and part Big Ideas Space Opera Adventure, it’s entirely worth the wait.
If there’s a single through-line that unites the White Space books, it’s that they’re about competent people who are good at their jobs, who encounter serious problems in the course of their professional lives. Those problems have significant consequences and ramifications, personal and otherwise, and compassion, co-operation, and thoughtfulness are usually as key to solving them as quick reflexes, daring, and resolve. They’re fundamentally adult books, inhabiting and inhabited by all the complexities of adult life, that display—and, indeed, argue for—a moral view of the world that I can best describe as a kind of pragmatic hopefulness.
(Also the protagonists to date have all been queer women who can kick professional ass and take names.)
The Folded Sky is part mystery novel and part action thriller. (Some of its mysteries are worldbuilding mysteries. The Baomind is a fantastic piece of worldbuilding/character.) The mysteries are peeled back in layers as the action mounts with ever-increasing tension. Explosive peril gives rise to some truly excellent action sequences, as matters mount from crisis to… worse. Sunya doesn’t believe that she’s brave. But when push comes to shove, she’ll leap into the terrifying void to save her loved ones—and even people she doesn’t love, for that matter.
The Folded Sky is a novel I love and admire in about equal proportion. Once I started reading it, I found it the next best thing to impossible to put down. I’m so happy that it exists. I really hope that Bear writes more.
Many congratulations to DMLA author, Martha Wells, as SYSTEM COLLAPSE has been named a winner in the 2025 Seiun Award! The Seiun Award is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements. We are honored to see Wells’s book win “Best Translated Long Story” category!
BEST TRANSLATED LONG STORY
“System Collapse”
by Martha Wells
translated by Naoya Nakahara
(TOKYO SOGENSHA Co.,Ltd.)
Czech rights to Katherine Addison’s THE WITNESS FOR THE DEAD, to Dobrovsky, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
French rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Founders series, omnibus edition, to Albin Michel, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency on behalf of Katie Shea for Cameron McClure.
French rights to Annika Marin’s BREAKING THE BILLIONAIRE’S RULES, to BMR, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
French rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ QUEEN DEMON, the second book in The Rising World, to L’Atalante, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
French rights to Nebula Award finalist Kerstin Hall’s ASUNDER, to Eilean Books, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Greek rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED and ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, the first and second books in The Murderbot Diaries, to Fantastikos Kosmos, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Greek rights Robert McCammon’s SWAN SONG, to Klidarithmos, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
Hungarian rights to Gretchen Powell Fox’s SMOKE AND SCAR and SPLINTERED KINGDOM, to Konyvmolykepzo, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Polish rights to LJ Andrews’ Ever Seas series, to KDW, in a five-book deal, at auction, by Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Romanian rights to LJ Andrews’ THE EVER KING and THE EVER QUEEN, to Litera, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Spanish rights to LJ Andrews’ The Ever Seas series, to Atico de los Libros, in a three-book deal, by Elena Rodriguez at International Editors & Yanez, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Spanish audio rights to LJ Andrews’ The Ever Seas series, to Roseann Lake at Recorded Books, in a three-book deal, by Elena Rodriguez at International Editors & Yanez, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Audio rights to Athena Giles’ WAVES TAKE YOUR BONES, to Emily Loughran at Tantor Media, by Katie Shea Boutillier (world English).
Audio rights to P.S.C. Willis’ CRYING OUT FOR MAGIC, to Emily Loughran at Tantor Media, by Katie Shea Boutillier (world English).
Audio rights to Nicole Maggi’s A MURDER IN ZION and LOST IN YELLOWSTONE, to Emily Loughran at Tantor Media, in a two-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier for Anne Tibbets (World English).
Audio rights to Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett series, to Anji Cornette at Graphic Audio, in a multi-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
Audio rights to Melissa K Roehrich’s RAIN OF SHADOWS AND ENDINGS, STORM OF SECRETS AND SORROW and TEMPEST OF WRATH AND VENGEANCE, books 1-3 of the Legacy series, to Anji Cornette at GraphicAudio, in a very nice deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier (NA).
Martha Wells renewed audio rights on novellas ALL SYSTEMS RED and ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, the first two books in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries, now an Apple+ series. Brian Sweany at Recorded Books secured the rights in a pre-empt in a major deal negotiated by Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.
So excited and thrilled to see Murderbot listed on the New York Times Best TV Shows of 2025 So Far!!!
~In this comic sci-fi thriller, based on the novel “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells, Alexander Skarsgard plays a jaded robot that is charged with protecting a crunchy space commune but would rather just watch pulpy soaps.
“The real killer app of the story, adapted by Chris and Paul Weitz, is the snarky worldview of the artificial life form at its center,” Poniewozik writes. “Skarsgard gives a lively reading to the copious voice-over, but just as important is his physical performance, which radiates casual power and agitated wariness. Murderbot is odd, edgy, unmistakably alien, yet its complaint is also crankily familiar. It just wants to be left in peace to binge its programs, like Chance the Gardener if he had guns in his arms.”
Information doesn’t want to be free. Information wants to vanish without a trace.
Sunya Song’s job is to stop that from happening.
She’s an archinformist: a specialist historian whose job usually involves sitting at a console at her university job near the Galactic Core, sorting ancient documents and restoring corrupted files.
But now, the research opportunity of a lifetime has sent her—along with her teenage children and alien wife—halfway across the galaxy to preserve the data and aid in the retrieval of the archaeological find of the century: an ancient alien artificial intelligence called Baomind. As vast as a stellar system, the Baomind orbits a dying red giant, and the star’s time has nearly ended.
The isolated 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 lightyears from home, isolated from all help, Sunya is the only one who can save them all.
HUGE congratulations to Jo Ann Brown as SAVING HER AMISH BABY comes in as #12 on the New York Times mass market bestseller list!
Catalan rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, and ROGUE PROTOCOL, the first three installments in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, to Rayo Verde, by Elena Rodríguez at International Editors & Yáñez Co’ S.L. in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Polish rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s GIDEON THE NINTH, HARROW THE NINTH, and NONA THE NINTH, the first three books in the Locked Tomb series, to Grupa Wydawnicza FILIA, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Brazilian Portuguese rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s HARROW THE NINTH, the second book in the Locked Tomb trilogy, to Alma Books, by Cristina Purchio at International Editors’ Co. in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Slovene rights to LJ Andrews’s THE MIST THIEF, to Zeleny Kocur, by Prava I Prevodi in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.
Slovene rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED and ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, the first and second books in The Murderbot Diaries, to Aktivni Mediji, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Swedish rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s HEIR TO THE SHADOWS, the second book in the Black Jewels series, to Quadrifolia, by Jules Rosier at Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Ukrainian rights to Robert Sheckley’s THE STATUS CIVILIZATION, IMMORTALITY INC and DIMENSIONS OF MIRACLES, plus several short stories, to Lobster, by Prava i Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
We are pleased to share this moving interview with DMLA author, Jim Butcher, in the New York Times about his journey in writing The Dresden Files. From concept to outline to the success of over 17 novels — “Twelve Months,” the 18th book in the series, will be published in January 2026 — Jim reveals all the poignant ups and downs of becoming a bestselling author.
“Three decades ago, Jim Butcher put pen to paper and invented a wildly popular fictional universe. At the time, he was just trying to finish his homework.”