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).

Deadout by Jon McGoran

Aug 052014
 

Cover for Deadout by Jon McGoran. Dark red color background with title in intense red letters; honeycomb imprints "DEAD" and there is an x-ray of a bee as the middle of the O in OUT.A trip to an island off the New England coast—and away from the demands of police work—might be just what is needed to jumpstart Detective Doyle Carrick and Nola Watkins’ stalled relationship. But a mysterious plague is killing the island’s bees. Nola takes a job at an organic farm hit hard by the disease, working for the rich, handsome, and annoying Teddy, with whom she quickly becomes a little too friendly for Doyle’s liking. When Teddy’s estranged father offers Doyle a big payday to keep his son out of trouble until he can close a big government contract—and when Doyle meets Annalisa, a beautiful researcher studying the bees—Doyle decides to stick around. Continue reading »

Review: A Swollen Red Sun by Matthew McBride

Jul 292014
 

cover for A Swollen Red Sun by Matthew McBridge. A white, broken down trailer sits in the foreground, the title above it encased in a swollen red sun.Publishers Weekly: Gasconade local McBride (whose previous book was the cult favorite Frank Sinatra in a Blender) gives Breaking Bad fans more down and dirty meth action. Set in Missouri’s Gasconade County, once labeled the methamphetamine capital of the world, this smoldering tale pits cop against dope dealer/desperate redneck against even more desperate redneck. In this rural area, “White-trash pharmacies run from beaten-down mobile homes at the end of dead-end roads would always trade pills for dope.” Deputy Sheriff Dale Everett Banks finds $52,000 in the trailer of meth dealer Jerry Dean Skaggs, and decides to keep it. Jerry Dean needs that money to keep his secret partners happy. The plot spreads out to include more and more county residents, even Butch Pogue in his hilltop compound where he practices a weird religion and keeps his latest “wife” locked in the cellar. You know you’re talking authentic hillbilly when the main characters each weigh 300 pounds.

Blightborn by Chuck Wendig

Jul 292014
 

Cover for Blightborn by Chuck Wendig. In the foreground are stone pedestals to the side and two stone pegasi at the base, framing the rest. A massive city is alight at night, flying vehicles around, everything with a rich, futuristic air.Cael McAvoy is on the run. He’s heading toward the Empyrean to rescue his sister, Merelda, and to find Gwennie before she’s lost to Cael forever. With his pals, Lane and Rigo, Cael journeys across the Heartland to catch a ride into the sky. But with Boyland and others after them, Cael and his friends won’t make it through unchanged.

Gwennie’s living the life of a Lottery winner, but it’s not what she expected. Separated from her family, Gwennie makes a bold move—one that catches the attention of the Empyrean and changes the course of an Empyrean man’s life.

The crew from Boxelder aren’t the only folks willing to sacrifice everything to see the Empyrean fall. The question is: Can the others be trusted?

They’d all better hurry. Because the Empyrean has plans that could ensure that the Heartland never fights back again.

Deal: Adam Christopher and Chuck Wendig

Jul 212014
 

Photo of author Adam ChristopherPhoto of author Chuck Wendig, looking appropriately sinister.Adam Christopher and Chuck Wendig to write the re-launch of Archie Comics’ THE SHIELD, with a gender-flipped hero, to Alex Segura at Archie Comics, by Stacia Decker.

Review: Drift by Jon McGoran

Jul 172014
 

Cover for Deadout by Jon McGoran. Dark red color background with title in intense red letters; honeycomb imprints "DEAD" and there is an x-ray of a bee as the middle of the O in OUT.Booklist: McGoran brings back Philadelphia detective Doyle Carrick and his girlfriend, Nola, in another intriguing ecothriller that takes the GMO food angle first explored in Drift to a whole new level.The bees on Martha’s Vineyard appear to be dying off at an accelerated rate, leaving the farmers to hand-pollinate their crops or use genetically modified bees. A large agribusiness has offered to test their lab-created bees on the island, but not everyone wants them there. A weekend trip to the Vineyard lands Nola a job on an organic farm, and her new boss, Teddy Renfrew, is especially vociferous about keeping the GMO bees off the island, to the point where he may be endangering a deal his father has cooked up. The senior Renfrew hires Carrick to keep an eye on Teddy, who definitely doesn’t want the interference. But when someone takes potshots at Carrick, he realizes there is something deadly going on. Continue reading »

Deal: Owen Laukkanen

Jul 142014
 

Photo of author Owen Laukkanen.Owen Laukkanen’s Books 5 and 6 in the Anthony-, Barry-, and Thriller-nominated Stevens and Windermere series, to Neil Nyren at Putnam by Stacia Decker.

Congratulations to Joelle Charbonneau!

Jul 082014
 

cover of Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau. Rich, purple background, and slight to the left is a silver medal with two crossed lightning bolts on it.Joelle Charbonneau’s GRADUATION DAY is #21 on Publishers Weekly‘s Bestselling Children’s Fiction list! The book was profiled in their weekly update.

Film Deal: Frank Sinatra in a Blender by Matthew McBride

Jul 042014
 

Cover for Matthew McBride's Frank Sinatra in a Blender. A dingy, poorly lit room with newspapers, whiskey, beer, and pills scattered around, as well as an assault rifle. Standing on the papers and looking up adorably is a tiny yorkie named Frank Sinatra.Film rights to Matthew McBride’s FRANK SINATRA IN A BLENDER, the story of a PI and enthusiastic alcoholic (who’s trying to cut out coffee) working a robbery case that went sideways while also caring for his pet Yorkie, Frank Sinatra, to screenwriter Mike McCrary, by Stacia Decker.

Review: A Swollen Red Sun by Matthew McBride

Jul 022014
 

cover for A Swollen Red Sun by Matthew McBridge. A white, broken down trailer sits in the foreground, the title above it encased in a swollen red sun.Booklist: The author of the outrageous Frank Sinatra in a Blender (2012) returns with an equally blood-spattered but slightly less offbeat thriller. If you see a burned-out house trailer on the cover of a crime novel, you can pretty well count on the book being country noir and the former occupants of the trailer having something to do with cooking or selling meth. Both assumptions hold true here, but that’s about all that’s predictable in McBride’s uncompromisingly gritty but surprisingly tender and quite funny tale of a good cop who impetuously grabs $52,000 of meth money hidden in a long-untended kitty-litter pan on the floor of meth cook Jerry Dean Skaggs’ trailer (yes, the one on the cover). Continue reading »

June Subsidiary Rights Deals

Jun 302014
 

a pair of black ear budsOn behalf of Prime Books, audio rights for Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter by Richard Parks, Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia, the Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker and 12 additional titles to Steve Feldberg at Audible by Jennifer Jackson.

Jon McGoran’s DRIFT, DEADOUT, and DRYLINE, first three books in the Doyle Carrick series, to Steve Feldberg at Audible, in a three-book deal, by Cameron McClure on behalf of Stacia Decker.

Audio rights to Edgar and Shirley Jackson Award winning author Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF BLADES, the sequel to CITY OF STAIRS, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, in a two book deal, by Cameron McClure.

 Older Entries  Newer Entries