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February Subsidiary Rights Deals

Feb 292024
 

a pair of black ear budsAda Palmer and Jo Walton’s TRACE ELEMENTS: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy, from two of the most acclaimed writers in the field today, a groundbreaking look at understanding of how SF and fantasy work, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, by Katie Shea Boutillier, for Cameron McClure.

Emily Blackwood’s WINGS SO WICKED and BLOOD SO BRUTAL, Books 1 and 2 of Golden City duology, to Julie Constantine at Podium Audio, in an exclusive submission, by Katie Shea Boutillier (North American).

Jonathan French’s THE EXILED HEIR and THE ERRANTRY OF BANTAM FLYN, books one and two of the Autumn’s Fall series, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, at auction, by Katie Shea Boutillier, for Cameron McClure (world English).

WA Simpson’s TINDERBOX, to Kerri Buckley at Dreamscape Media, to Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Anne Tibbets (world English).

 February 29, 2024  Tagged with: , , , ,

February Translation Deals

Feb 292024
 

French rights to Nebula Award winner Premee Mohamed’s THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST, THE ANNUAL MIGRATION OF CLOUDS, and AND WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU TONIGHT, to L’Atalante, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry.

French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s ACADEM’S FURY, PRINCEP’S FURY, and FIRST LORD’S FURY, books 2, 5, 6 in the Codex Alera series, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Hebrew rights to Monica Murphy’s Wedded Bliss series, to Venus, by Beverley Levit at The Israeli Association of Book Publishers, in a three-book deal, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.

Hungarian rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s GHOST STORY, Book 13 of The Dresden Files, to Delta Vision, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i Prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Korean rights to James Scott Bell’s POWER UP YOUR FICTION, to 21st Century Culture Center, by Sue Yang at Eric Yang Agency on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.

Slovakian rights to LJ Andrews’s THE EVER KING, to Zeleny Kocur, by Nada Popovic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Turkish rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s WRITTEN IN RED, MURDER OF CROWS, VISION IN SILVER, and MARKED IN FLESH, the first four books in the Others series, to Marti Yayinlari, by Merve Öngen at AnatoliaLit Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

 February 29, 2024  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Review: FAKE FLAME by Adele Buck

Feb 282024
 

Publishers Weekly: Buck (Fast Acting) brings the heat in this scorching rom-com. After professor Eva Campbell’s ex, Darren, stages a ridiculous romantic gesture at her place of work to try to get her back, Eva snaps and tries to fend him off with an improvised flamethrower created from the combination of a cigarette lighter and a can of bug spray—and the fire department is called. Hunky firefighter Sean Hannigan, 36, is immediately attracted to Eva, 41, and when Darren tries to intimidate Eva in her office, Sean commits to being her fake boyfriend to keep him at bay. What starts as just pretend quickly becomes all too real and Buck makes it easy to see how perfect these two are for each other. Swoony Sean is an avid reader who isn’t ashamed to love a romance novel, which endears Eva—a professor of literature and pop culture—to him immediately. When Eva witnesses him interacting with his numerous nieces and nephews, she realizes he’d be a great dad, but worries it’s too late for her to give him that. The result is a refreshingly grounded conflict that Buck handles with a great deal of sensitivity. The steamy sex scenes are just a bonus. Readers will have no trouble rooting for the chivalrous firefighter and the plucky professor to get their happily ever after. (Apr.)

 February 28, 2024  Tagged with: ,

THE SOMEDAY DAUGHTER by Ellen O’Clover

Feb 202024
 

Audrey St. Vrain has grown up in the shadow of someone who doesn’t actually exist. Before she was born, her mother, Camilla St. Vrain, wrote the bestselling book Letters to My Someday Daughter, a guide to self-love that advises treating yourself like you would your own hypothetical future daughter. The book made Audrey’s mother a household name, and she built an empire around it.

While the world considers Audrey lucky to have Camilla for a mother, the truth is that Audrey knows a different side of being the someday daughter. Shipped off to boarding school when she was eleven, she feels more like a promotional tool than a member of Camilla’s family. Audrey is determined to create her own identity aside from being Camilla’s daughter, and she’s looking forward to a prestigious summer premed program with her boyfriend before heading to college and finally breaking free from her mother’s world.

But when Camilla asks Audrey to go on tour with her to promote the book’s anniversary, Audrey can’t help but think that this is the last, best chance to figure out how they fit into each other’s lives—not as the someday daughter and someday mother but as themselves, just as they are. What Audrey doesn’t know is that spending the summer with Camilla and her tour staff—including the disarmingly honest, distressingly cute video intern, Silas—will upset everything she’s so carefully planned for her life.

 February 20, 2024  Tagged with: ,

Review: THE LAST BOYFRIENDS RULES FOR REVENGE by Matthew Hubbard

Feb 192024
 

Kirkus: When three queer best friends in Alabama are inspired by The First Wives Club to exact revenge on their terrible exes, a homophobic school initiative takes their mission in an unexpected direction.

Ezra Hayes, who’s coded white, is accustomed to hiding in plain sight, but he feels that he’s fallen by the wayside once his two best friends, Lucas Rivera, who’s cued Mexican American, and Finley Lewis, who’s Black, get into relationships. Ezra thought his summer romance with Presley, the school’s star football player, would finally give him the chance to feel like the main character. But when Ezra discovers that Presley is cheating on him, Lucas and Finley also open up about the poor treatment they’ve received from their partners. Each teen has his own plan for revenge, and they set up an anonymous TikTok account called “Last Boyfriends.” Ezra decides to run against Presley for Winter Formal Lion King; he also burns Presley’s varsity jacket and posts the video to TikTok, tagging it #breakupchallenge. When their account goes viral, and Ezra’s Lion King campaign comes under fire (from the same leadership that dissolved the gay-straight alliance and is censoring library books), the trio’s priorities change, and they begin fighting for queer students everywhere. The friendships are fun and believable, Ezra’s single father is heartwarmingly supportive, and exciting twists keep the plot moving.

A pride-filled story complete with sass, love, and a timely message. (Fiction. 14-18)

 February 19, 2024  Tagged with: ,

Review: SOMEDAY DAUGHTER by Ellen O’Clover

Feb 122024
 

Booklist: Audrey’s mom, Camilla St. Vrain, wrote the self-help book Letters to My Someday Daughter that made her a household name; Audrey only wants to spend time with her boyfriend and work toward her own someday medical career. But Camilla has other plans, bringing Audrey on a tour to discuss the book Camilla wrote years ago. Pushed to answer invasive questions and constantly surrounded by her mother’s interns—including the irresistible Silas—at least Audrey gets a national tour of doctors out of the deal. But will her future even matter if she can’t make peace and connect with her mother? Full of themes around found family and forgiveness, O’Clover (Seven Percent of Ro Devereux, 2023) neatly layers the road-trip narrative over clever family drama and adds a surprise twist. Readers will find discussions of mental health, while immersive romantic relationship drama adds additional substance as Audrey navigates her complicated mother-daughter relationship. A solid addition to any contemporary young adult collection and no doubt resonant for teens growing up in front of their parents’ social media.

 February 12, 2024  Tagged with: ,

Review: CURSED CRUISE by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

Feb 062024
 

Booklist: The second installment of Fulton and McClaren’s Horror Hotel series (Horror Hotel, 2022) finds the Ghost Gang attempting to recover from the traumatic events of their last adventure while growing their popular ghost-hunting YouTube channel. An invitation to a voyage on the RMS Queen Anne, a ship famously haunted by a woman in white, seems like the perfect opportunity to increase their viewership and test-drive the new romantic relationships that have recently developed within the group. Rival YouTubers and a complex haunting throw the foursome for a loop and keep the plot moving along at a steady clip. The first-person narration shifts between the four main characters, which offers readers insight into the personal relationships playing out alongside the spooky stuff but also results in a choppy and slightly disorienting reading experience. A quick read for fans of the first novel and readers who can’t get enough light horror.

 February 6, 2024  Tagged with: ,

THE SCHOOL FOR INVISIBLE BOYS by Shaun David Hutchinson

Feb 062024
 

What would you do if no one could see you? In this surreal adventure, a boy who is used to being overlooked literally becomes invisible, only to realize there may be far more dangerous threats in his school than bullies.

Sixth grade takes a turn for the weird when Hector Griggs discovers he has the ability to turn invisible. Sure, ever since Hector’s former best friend Blake started bullying him, he’s been feeling like he just wants to disappear…but he never thought he actually would. And then, Hector meets another invisible boy, Orson Wellington, who has an ominous warning: “I’m stuck here. Stuck like this. It’s been years. The gelim’s hunting me and it’ll get you, too.”

It turns out, there is more than meets the eye at St. Lawrence’s Catholic School for Boys, and if Hector is going to save Orson–and himself—from the terrifying creature preying on students’ loneliness and fear, he’ll need to look deeper. With the help of a mysterious new classmate, Sam, can Hector unravel the mysteries haunting his school, and discover that sometimes it takes disappearing to really be seen?

 February 6, 2024  Tagged with: ,

THE TRAITORS by C.A. Lynch

Feb 012024
 

You are cordially invited to the Beechwood Castle for a night you’ll never forget…

Six people find a thick cream envelope on their doorstep. Inside is an invitation to spend 24 hours in a crumbling manor house and be in with the chance to win a portion of one million dollars. The catch: Beechwood Castle was the site of one of the most horrific murders in modern history.

The smell of blood, decay and death still hangs heavy in the air.

Six people walk into the house. One of them is an imposter, all of them are traitors, which of them will survive the night?

 February 1, 2024  Tagged with: ,

Review: SUCH A LOVELY FAMILY by Aggie Blum Thompson

Jan 292024
 

Publishers Weekly: In this enticing domestic thriller, Thompson (All the Dirty Secrets) zeroes in on the wealthy Calhoun family, who live in the exclusive Somerwood neighborhood of Chevy Chase, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C. It’s springtime, and Ginny and Thom Calhoun are hosting their annual cherry blossom party with their three grown children on hand: Trey, who works for Thom’s real estate development business; Nate, a marine biologist who lives in California; and lifestyle influencer Ellie Grace. When someone’s murdered during the party, it first appears to be the result of a robbery gone wrong, but Montgomery County police detective Jacqui Washington suspects there’s more to the case than meets the eye. News of the murder quickly spreads on social media, and the combination of legal and public scrutiny starts to form cracks in the Calhouns’ carefully constructed facade, causing old resentments and long-held secrets to come tumbling out. Thompson gives each of her vivid characters plausible motives and overlapping secrets, effectively laying the groundwork for a cascade of plot twists, each more jolting than the last. The end result is a decadent, stay-up-all-night page-turner. (Mar.)

 January 29, 2024  Tagged with: ,
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