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).

Due Diligence by Anna Zabo

Jun 212016
 

Cover for Anna Zabo's Due Diligence.A business trip leads to a surprise encounter with an old flame in this sexy romance from the author of Just Business.

After Fazil Kurt breaks up with his girlfriend, a business trip to Seattle offers some much-needed time away. Sent by S.R. Anderson Consulting, Fazil is there to help audit Singularity Storage, a company they are trying to save. His first discovery is intriguing to say the least: One of Singularity’s engineers is Todd Douglas, Fazil’s first love.

He knows better than to get personally involved on a job like this. Back in high school, Todd broke Fazil’s heart more times than he could count, but both men have grown so much since then—and Fazil never could say no to Todd…

April Translation Deals

Apr 302016
 

earthGerman rights to Jim Butcher’s FURIES OF CALDERON, Book 1 of the Codex Alera series, renewed by Blanvalet, via Bastian Schlueck at the Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Jennifer Jackson.

Dutch rights to NYT bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp’s THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, to Harper Holland, at auction, by Philip Sane and Katarina Bohlin at The Lennart Sane Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

German rights to NYT bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp’s THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, to Fischer, in a pre-empt, by Julia Aumuller at Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

French rights to Anna Zabo’s JUST BUSINESS and DUE DILIGENCE, to Bragelonne, by Katharina Loix van Hooff at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier at on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

February Translation Deals

Feb 292016
 

earthGerman rights to Robert McCammon’s SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD, Book 1 of the Matthew Corbett series, to Luzifer, by Franka Zastrow at Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Japanese rights for Elizabeth Bear’s KAREN MEMORY to Tokyo Sogensha by Kohei Hattori at The English Agency (Japan) in association with Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.

Italian rights to Marieke Nijkamp’s THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, to Newton Compton, by Stefania Fietta atSilvia Donzelli Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

French rights to Emma Newman’s PLANETFALL, to J’ai Lu, by David Camus at Anna Jarota Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

Spanish rights to Marieke Nijkamp’s THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, to Libros de seda, by Jennifer Hoge at International Editors’ in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

German rights to Adam Christopher’s MADE TO KILL, to Papierverzierer, by Julia Aumuller at Thomas Schlueck Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Stacia Decker.

January Translation Deals

Jan 312016
 

photo of EarthCzech rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF BLADES, Book 2 of The Divine Cities series, to Host, by Nada Cipranic at Prava I Prevodi, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Cameron McClure.

French rights to Jo Walton’s MY REAL CHILDREN and TOOTH AND CLAW, to Denoël, by David Camus at Anna Jarota Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Hungarian rights for Anne Bishop’s first four books in the Others series: WRITTEN IN RED, MURDER OF CROWS, VISION IN SILVER, and MARKED IN FLESH to Twister Media by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.

Hungarian rights for Seth Dickinson’s THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT to Gabo Kiado by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.

Romanian rights for Seth Dickinson’s THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT to Grupul Editorial Art SRL by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Jennifer Jackson and Michael Curry.

Estonian rights to Robert Sheckley’s eight titles in the Arnold and Gregor series, to Fantaasia, by Alexander Korzhenevski Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Japanese rights to Mur Lafferty’s THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY, to Tokyo Sogensha, by Kohei Hattori at The English Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jennifer Udden.

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Jan 052016
 

Cover for This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Five brightly colored pieces of chalk explode in front of a chalkboard as they are hit with a bullet.10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03
The auditorium doors won’t open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

Review: Planetfall by Emma Newman

Dec 142015
 

Cover for Planetfall by Emma Newman. The profile of a person's face made up completely of floating junk pieces from a 3D printer.Locus: A fascinating and propulsive tale about what could happen when actual humans try to settle a planet and about how little protection technology can really offer in the face of our inherent weaknesses.

Review: This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Dec 012015
 

Cover for This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Five brightly colored pieces of chalk explode in front of a chalkboard as they are hit with a bullet.Booklist: Nijkamp’s debut adds to the growing list of novels about school shootings. As Opportunity, Alabama, high-schoolers are welcomed in for a new school year, an armed male student locks the student body inside the auditorium, and then the carnage begins. The subsequent 54 minutes unfold with breathless pacing in the alternating voices of characters who know the shooter: Claire, the track star and former girlfriend of the shooter, who’s outside when the shooting begins. Tomás, a troublemaker who rises to the occasion. Autumn, a promising dancer and the shooter’s sister. Sylv, a straight-A student, who is Autumn’s closeted girlfriend and Tomás’ twin sister. Although the shooter’s motivation could have been more developed and the slow response times of authorities require a suspension of disbelief, Nijkamp’s story sadly reflects a very real concern in contemporary America. Strong characterizations capture diversity in gender, race, ability, and sexuality. Even reluctant readers will anxiously pursue the ending, unable to turn away from the tragedy and in desperate hope for a resolution, knowing there cannot be a happy ending.

Review: This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Nov 252015
 

Cover for This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Five brightly colored pieces of chalk explode in front of a chalkboard as they are hit with a bullet.School Library Journal: It’s the start of the spring semester at Opportunity High School in Opportunity, AL, and the school day is progressing as normal—until one revenge-minded student brings violence to this sleepy, close-knit community. This novel takes place over the course of 54 tense minutes, as four main characters (all of whom also conveniently have siblings affected by the shooting) narrate their harrowing experiences and consider their relationships with the shooter. Nijkamp populates Opportunity High School with a diverse representation of students, enriching the book with their varied experiences and reactions to the horrifying turn of events. The four main narratives are joined by text messages, tweets, and blog entries interspersed throughout, allowing for more viewpoints and commentary without narrative clutter. Although the work is devastating, it offers a small moment of optimism and closure at the end without resorting to an incongruous tidy ending. VERDICT With a thrilling narrative, topical subject matter, and diverse characters, this is a first purchase for libraries serving teens.

Review: Planetfall by Emma Newman

Nov 242015
 

Cover for Planetfall by Emma Newman. The profile of a person's face made up completely of floating junk pieces from a 3D printer.i09: Newman does a fantastic job…incredibly well-realized world-building, showing a realistic (semi) post-scarcity society on another world…Newman has a real gift for depicting people’s capacity for naivete and viciousness, and how the two things often go together. Planetfall will ultimately mess with your head. It draws you in with such a well-realized world that by the time you start to realize that its main character isn’t quite who you thought she was, you’re already fully inhabiting her skin. (The device of having a first-person narrator who withholds information from the reader is a risky one, which could horribly backfire—but in this story about repressed truths and terrible secrets, it absolutely works and feels natural and honest.) There were a few points in Planetfall where I was like, “What the hell just happened?”—in a good way. And by the time you get to the last of those, this book that appeared to be sort of a cozy story of exoplanet colonization will have started to seem like something much more urgent and thrilling.

Review: This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Nov 232015
 

Cover for This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Five brightly colored pieces of chalk explode in front of a chalkboard as they are hit with a bullet.RT Book Reviews: Nijkamp’s emotional, powerful debut fictionalizes an all-too-frequent occurrence in today’s world. Her strong storytelling pulls readers into a school shooting, leaving them amongst the gunman’s victims in Opportunity High’s auditorium.

Read RT’s full review of This is Where It Ends here.

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