Sep 302025
 

a pair of black ear budsAudio rights to Melissa K Roehrich’s THE REAPER and UNRELENTING WINDS, two novellas related to the Lady of Darkness series, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, in an exclusive submission, by Katie Shea Boutillier at Donald Maass Literary Agency (NA).

Martha Wells renewed audio rights on novellas ROGUE PROTOCOL and EXIT STRATEGY, books 3 and 4 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 significant deal negotiated by Jennifer Jackson.

 September 30, 2025  Tagged with: , ,
Sep 302025
 

Chinese (simplified) rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ QUEEN DEMON, the second book in the Rising World, to Science Fiction World, by Yichan Peng at Grayhawk Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Estonian rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ NETWORK EFFECT and FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, the fifth and sixth books in The Murderbot Diaries, to Fantaasia, by Nada Popovic at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s TURNS OF FATE, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French rights to Robert McCammon’s THE WOLF’S HOUR, to Monsieur Toussaint Louverture by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Romanian 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, to Grupul Editorial Art, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Slovene rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ROGUE PROTOCOL and EXIT STRATEGY, the third and fourth books in The Murderbot Diaries, to Aktivni Mediji, by Nada Popovic at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Spanish rights to Ronald Malfi’s SENSELESS and BLACK MOUTH, to Lubre, by Elena Rodriguez at International Editors & Yanez, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Turkish rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ WITCH KING and QUEEN DEMON, the first two books in the Rising World series, to Ithaki, by Merve Öngen at AnatoliaLit Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Turkish rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ SYSTEM COLLAPSE, the seventh book in the Murderbot Diaries series, as well as renewal of rights on the first six titles, to Ithaki, by Merve Öngen at AnatoliaLit Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Turkish rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s NONA THE NINTH, the third book in the Locked Tomb series, as well as renewal of rights on the first two titles, to Ithaki, by Merve Öngen at AnatoliaLit Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Ukrainian rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s SUMMER KNIGHT and DEATH MASKS, Books 4 and 5 of The Dresden Files, to Art Publishers “Nebo”, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i Prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Sep 192025
 

Library Journal: The second book in “The Rising World” series (a sequel to Witch King) continues to recount the trials and tribulations of Witch King Kai in dual timelines. In the past timeline, Kai’s breaking of the death-magic-corrupted Hierarchs brings forth a world-spanning rebellion that is hurtling toward a precipice of disaster, while in the present timeline, Kai and his found family travel to the ends of their world to prevent a second rise of tyranny. The past timeline shows heartbreak and triumph going hand in hand, while in the present, catastrophe and despair run headlong toward a likely shattered future—no matter who wins or what is lost. Witch King Kai and his heart-sister Queen Demon Ziede try to outrace potential disaster twice over. In the past, they saved the world; in the present, they do their best to keep their old enemies from rising again to tear their work apart.

VERDICT This epic fantasy adventure of found family, lost love, and promises kept, even after death, is a quest for long-buried truths that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish with its high-stakes adventures.

 September 19, 2025  Tagged with: ,
Sep 022025
 

cover of angel maker by elizabeth bear - showing a young white woman with dark hair riding a buckskin horse and holding a long gunEvery cowboy story needs a horse no man can ride.

No man—but Miss Karen Memery is all woman. When she and her beloved Priya sign on to do stunts for a motion picture about a rogue Mechanical named Cowboy and a Wild West show, she finds the horse of her dreams: Angel Maker.

Her plans to rescue him from a deadly stunt are ambitious enough, but she’s soon beset by even greater threats when two men are murdered brutally. Cowboy and Priya are arrested for the crime, and Karen must prove them innocent—and save the life of the wild stallion too!

 September 2, 2025  Tagged with: ,
Aug 312025
 

Brazilian rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS, to Alta, by Cristina Purchio at IECOBRAZIL, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s VISION IN SILVER, the third book in the Others series, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s CURSOR’S FURY and CAPTAIN’S FURY, books 3 and 4 in the Codex Alera series, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French rights to Nalo Hopkinson’s MIDNIGHT ROBBER, to La Volte, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.

Hebrew rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ROGUE PROTOCOL and EXIT STRATEGY, the third and fourth installments in the Murderbot Diaries series, to Modan, by Beverley Levit at The Israeli Association Of Book Publishers Ltd in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Aug 222025
 

Locus: Witch King and now Queen Demon are the mature, accomplished work of a writer at the peak of their powers, one whose interest in consequences, power, responsibility, and rebuilding in the wake of destruction – personal, social, societal, epochal – is here both given breadth and depth and sharpened to a series of exquisite points.

This is a fantastic novel, set in a fascinating world with truly compelling characters. It is shot through with grief, with the reverberations of destruction and the aftermaths of trauma: While the past timeline gives us emotional focus on the characters’ griefs, immediate traumas, and desperate choices, the present makes plain the extent of the Hierarchs’ destruction of the rest of the world, the scars in the landscape, in societies, in the vanishing of entire cultures.

But while Wells explores grief, survival, and persistence after mass destruction, she’s also using, in part, the classic structure and furniture of epic fantasy: the quest, the object of power, the threat to the whole of the world. Yet her argument is not, unlike many epic fantasies, that evil is a force that is extrinsic to people, a  corruption that arises separate from their choices. The destructive selfishness that makes other people pay the price for your power, that produces an ideology of supremacy and enacts it in violence, is not a single choice but a whole series of choices, personal choices but also social choices of what to build and what to tear down, what to support, and when. A critical orientation towards the genre’s furniture is present throughout: Before anything else, this is a novel, and Wells is an author, engaged in thinking deeply about the world we live in, and the world she’s made.

Queen Demon is a powerful work of art. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.

— Liz Bourke

 August 22, 2025  Tagged with: ,
Aug 112025
 

Jim Butcher sold a new Dresden Files novella which will chronologically follow the forthcoming TWELVE MONTHS (PRH/Ace, January 2026) and will be released later in 2026. Head of Acquisitions at Podium Kate Runde acquired World English rights in a deal negotiated via Jennifer Jackson.

 August 11, 2025  Tagged with: ,
Aug 082025
 

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)

 August 8, 2025  Tagged with: ,
Aug 062025
 

The cover of The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear featuring a dramatic outerspace scene.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.

 August 6, 2025  Tagged with: ,
Aug 012025
 

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!

cover for the Japanese edition of System Collapse by Martha Wells featuring MurderbotBEST TRANSLATED LONG STORY

“System Collapse”
by Martha Wells
translated by Naoya Nakahara
(TOKYO SOGENSHA Co.,Ltd.)

 August 1, 2025  Tagged with: ,