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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.

 December 31, 2014  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Starred Review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Dec 222014
 

bear-karenmemoryRT Book Reviews: 4.5 stars, Top Pick! Karen Memory is a book that gets going right away and never stops. Surreally captivating, Bear’s latest melds the genres of steampunk, fantasy, adventure and dime-store western together perfectly, thanks mostly to the charming voice of the protagonist. Karen’s rough edges and obviously wicked intelligence are highlighted by nuanced details that establish her already likable voice as even more relatable; her charming (self-taught) misuse of phrases and terminology, and reflexive bravery and morality are just a few examples in this fantastic read.

 December 22, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Starred Review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Dec 192014
 

bear-karenmemoryLibrary Journal: Verdict: Bear (Steles of the Sky; Blood and Iron) pumps fresh energy into the steampunk genre with a light touch on the gadgetry and a vivid sense of place. Karen has a voice that is folksy but true, and the entire cast of heroic women doing the best they can in an age that was not kind to their gender is a delight. Ably assisted by a U.S. Marshal and his Comanche posseman, Karen and the ladies kick ass.

The Gold Rush town of Rapid City is just about what you would expect in a frontier community catering to the mining trade: rough, violent, and full of prostitutes. Karen is a “soiled dove” working at Madame Damnable’s establishment, where she and her sisters in trade serve a more respectable crowd than the poor girls who work the cribs at the waterfront. When one of those young women escapes and runs to Madame’s for help, she brings the wrath of the crib owner, Peter Bantle, on the house. Bantle, in addition to bring a vicious bully seems to have a device that can control people’s minds.

 December 19, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Review: Gideon by Alex Gordon and Library Journal’s Debut of the Month

Dec 182014
 

Cover for Gideon by Alex Gordon. The background is a grey, bleak landscape with a leafless tree in silhouette, smoke in the foreground forming a vaguely humanoid shape.Congratulations to Alex Gordon on her debut novel being Library’s Journal’s latest Debut of the Month!

Library Journal (*Starred Review): VERDICT: With the pacing of a thriller, this debut supernatural tale does a solid job of portraying the menace of small-town evil. While the demonic figure of Blaine is scary, the petty viciousness of the townsfolk is even more chilling. This will appeal to fans of books such as Katherine Howe’s The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane or Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches.

The death of her father sets Lauren Reardon on a collision course with a family legacy in this dark blend of fantasy and horror. Finding a strange book with a faded photograph tucked inside, Lauren realizes her father hid his past in a small, isolated Illinois town called Gideon. When she impulsively drives across the country to see Gideon for herself, she encounters hostile locals and the diabolical influence of long-dead Nicholas Blaine, who believes Lauren is the key to winning his way back to this world.

 December 18, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Dec 152014
 

Cover for Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear.Booklist: If contemporary Seattle is an apt setting for cyberpunk thrillers, it stands to reason that nineteenth-century Seattle should serve just as well for a steampunk adventure. Bear’s new novel follows the title character’s life as a bordello girl working along Puget Sound, from which steam-powered airships take gold prospectors up and down the western mountain ranges. But in the seedy dockside world of the Pacific Northwest frontier, the opportunities for criminals with powerful technology in their hands are ripe. Fans of the steampunk aesthetic will appreciate Bear’s affectionate treatment of the style. Weapons, gadgets, and their places in the characters’ lives put together a charmingly inventive fictional Seattle­–especially for those readers bringing along some knowledge of the city’s nascent history. Karen’s first-person narration can feel a bit inconsistent with her swapping between eloquence and intentionally ungrammatical slang, but she always manages to hit the spot when her descriptions need to set the mood.

 December 15, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Deal: Jo Ann Ferguson

Dec 122014
 

photo of author Jo Ann FergusonJo Ann Ferguson writing as Jo Ann Brown’s AN AMISH HOMECOMING, the first in new series “Close to Paradise,” to Tina James at Harlequin Love Inspired, in a six-book deal, by Jennifer Jackson.

 December 12, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Congratulations to Jim Butcher!

Dec 112014
 

Cover for Jim Butcher's War Cry. Wizard Harry Dresden stands with his glowing staff lifted over his head, surrounded by grey cloaked wizards holding swords.Jim Butcher’s original graphic novel War Cry debuts at #4 on the New York Times Best Sellers Hard Cover Graphic Novel list!

A war is raging between the vampire forces of the Red Court and the White Council-a war the wizards are losing. So desperate are the Council that they’ve dragooned the experienced and the outcast to reinforce their thinning ranks of Wardens. One of these draftees is one Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only wizard for hire and a guy who’s long been looked upon with suspicion by the supernatural authorities. Now, he’s one of them, and his first big mission as a Warden is a doozy: take a small team of greenhorns to a frigid town in the middle of nowhere to rescue a handful of mortals who’ve been targeted by the Red Court. The question is, why exactly are these particular mortals so crucial to the outcome of the war? The answer will come only if Harry can keep them, and his team, alive for one very long night.

 December 11, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Review: Gideon by Alex Gordon

Dec 102014
 

Cover for Gideon by Alex Gordon. The background is a grey, bleak landscape with a leafless tree in silhouette, smoke in the foreground forming a vaguely humanoid shape.Publishers Weekly: In this impressive dark fantasy debut, witches are anything but cardboard embodiments of good and evil. They are modern, yet plagued by a 200-year-old curse; they are sometimes untrained and unaware, but still have incredible power flowing in their veins. Lauren Reardon thought she was a perfectly normal person, until her father’s death revealed her family connection to the witches from the tiny town of Gideon, Ill., who are tasked with keeping demons from entering this world. After John Reardon’s death, uncanny and frightening events start Lauren on a trip to find her roots, along with the power to combat an evil spirit that has terrorized Gideon since 1836. Crisp and shiveringly disturbing prose, a solid plot, and well-developed characters all make for a deeply satisfying read.

 December 10, 2014  Tagged with: ,

Our Lady of the Islands by Jay Lake and Shannon Page

Dec 092014
 

Cover for Our Lady of the Islands by Jay Lake and Shannon Page. A woman with long black hair stands in a white, flowing dress on a shore, looking out at the water and a multi-sailed ship.Sian Kattë is a successful, middle-aged businesswoman in the tropical island nation of Alizar. Her life seems comfortable and well-arranged…until a violent encounter one evening leaves her with an unwanted magical power.

Arian des Chances is the wife of Alizar’s ruler. She, too, has it all: wealth, power, an advantageous marriage…and a dying son.

When national crisis thrusts these two women together, they discover that personal problems can have much wider implications, and that the lives of both individuals and nations must sometimes be broken to be healed.

 December 9, 2014  Tagged with: ,

NPR’s Best Books of 2014

Dec 092014
 

Cover for Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal. a white woman with brown curly hair in an up-do stands in the foreground in a Edwardian floral summer dress. behind her is a dark-haired and -goateed man in a white Edwardian suit, his outheld hand performing a glamour of fiery orange lights in the shape of a dragon. A medieval European church can be seen in the background.Congratulations to Mary Robinette Kowal on Valour and Vanity being named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2014!

Mary Robinette Kowal’s wonderful Glamourist series gets even better in this fourth volume: Jane and Vincent, the married “glamuralists” (muralists who use magic) at the center of the series, are on their way to Murano, Italy, when they’re caught in an elaborate fraud scheme. Without friends or resources, Jane and Vincent live under suspicion for months, until a chance encounter with their swindlers allows them to concoct a plan of their own.Valour and Vanity is a fun heist, driven by smart plotting, compelling magical and historical details, and a keen eye toward human strength and frailty.

 December 9, 2014  Tagged with: ,
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