Locus, December 2012
Page 4
Holly Black, Alyxandra Harvey, Joel Sutherland, Isobelle Carmody, Charles de Lint, Leah Petersen
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PEOPLE AND PUBLISHING
MILESTONES
TERRY PRATCHETT, 64, recently told New Statesman that his daughter, video game writer RHIANNA PRATCHETT, 35, will take over writing the Discworld series when he can no longer do so: “The Discworld is safe in my daughter’s hands.” Pratchett was diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy in 2007 and is no longer able to type. His last few books have been written via speech-to-text software.
BOOKS SOLD
RICHARD BOWES sold story collection If Angels Fight to Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press.
Richard Bowes (2009)
RICHARD POWERS sold Orfeo to John Glusman at Norton via Melanie Jackson of the Melanie Jackson Agency.
SIMON INGS sold SF thriller Wolves and a second book, and resold City of the Iron Fish, Hot Head, Hotwire, Headlong, and Painkillers to Simon Spanton at Gollancz via Peter Tallack of Science Factory.
AMBER BENSON’s trilogy The Witches of Echo Park sold to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace via Howard Morhaim. She delivered The Golden Age of Death, a Calliope Reaper-Jones novel, to Buchanan at Ace.
WESTON OCHSE sold SEAL Team 666: Age of Blood, second in the Triple Six series, to Brendan Deneen and Peter Joseph of Thomas Dunne via Robert Fleck of Professional Media Services. Film rights to SEAL Team 666 were optioned by MGM with Brendan Deneen and Peter Joseph to produce via Sylvie Rabineau of RWSG Agency on behalf of Thomas Dunne Books.
EDWARD WILLETT, writing as E.C. BLAKE, sold Faces, third in the YA fantasy series begun with Masks and Shadows, to Sheila Gilbert at DAW via Ethan Ellenberg.
JAY POSEY sold two books in the Duskwalker Saga to Lee Harris at Angry Robot.
PAUL S. KEMP sold a third book in the sword and sorcery series Tales of Egil and Nix to Lee Harris at Angry Robot.
ADAM NEVILL sold two new horror novels and resold Banquet for the Damned to Pan Macmillan in the UK via John Jarrold.
MARK LAWRENCE sold the Red Queen’s War trilogy to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace via Ian Drury.
LIBBY McGUGAN sold The Eidolon to Jonathan Oliver at Solaris via Ian Drury of Sheil Land Associates.
Amber Benson (2010)
ALEX KAHLER sold The Immortal Circus to David Pomerico at 47North via Laurie McLean of Larsen/Pomada Literary Agency.
PIP BALLANTINE & TEE MORRIS sold Dawn’s Early Light and another book in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series to Danielle Stockley at Ace via Laurie McLean of Larsen/Pomada Literary Agents.
SANDY WILLIAMS sold the third book in the Shadow Readers series to Jesse Feldman at Ace via Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary & Media.
JAMES OSWALD sold supernatural crime novel Natural Causes (previously self published) and two more books to Jennifer Lambert at Harper Canada.
LISA AMOWITZ sold Vision, first in The Finder fantasy series, to Vikki Ciaffone of Spencer Hill Press via Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider.
ALAN AVERILL sold The Beautiful Land, winner of the Amazon Novel Contest, to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
TERRY SPEAR sold A SEAL Wolf Christmas, about werewolf SEALS, to Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks Casablanca.
KATHLEEN COLLINS sold Possession and a second paranormal romance to Angela James of Carina Press.
DANI HARPER sold Storm Warrior in the Grim Reaper series and Dark Wolf in the Changeling series to Lindsay Guzzardo at Montlake Romance via Stephany Evans of FinePrint Literary Management.
DANICA WINTERS sold The Nymph’s Labyrinth to Jennifer Lawler of Crimson Romance via Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary.
ROSEMARY CLEMENT-MOORE sold two paranormal YA novels to Krista Marino at Delacorte Press via Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.
JONATHAN MABERRY’s Watch Over Me and a sequel in a new series went to David Gale at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger.
ALEX LONDON sold Guardian, sequel to Proxy, to Jill Santopolo at Philomel via Robert Guinsler of Sterling Lord Literistic.
MICHELLE ROWEN, writing as MORGAN RHODES, sold books three and four in the Falling Kingdoms epic fantasy series to Laura Arnold at Razorbill via Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency.
Mark Lawrence (2010s)
ANNE PILLSWORTH sold Summoned, first in a YA fantasy trilogy about a teen who summons Cthulhu, to James Frenkel for Tor Teen via Craig Tenney of Harold Ober Associates.
JUS ACCARDO sold three books in a new series, starting with Darker Days, to Liz Pelletier of Entangled Teen via Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
SEAN WILLIAMS sold Twinmaker, first in a near-future YA trilogy, to Anne Hoppe at Harper Children’s via Jill Grinberg of Jill Grinberg Literary Management.
ELISSA SUSSMAN sold YA fantasy Stray and a second book to Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow via Samantha Shea of Georges Borchardt.
TONI KERR sold Descendant, about a teen telepath, to Joyce Shor Johnson at Pugalicious Press.
New writer HOLLY MESSINGER sold Western fantasy gothic The Curse of Jacob Tracy and a second book to Peter Wolverton at Thomas Dunne Books via Amy Boggs of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
SHANNON STOKER sold debut The Registry and two more books set in a US where women are sold as breeders to Amanda Bergeron at William Morrow for six figures via Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary Services.
Icelandic stand-up comedian SNORRI KRISTJANSSON sold The Valhalla Saga, beginning with Swords of Good Men, to Jo Fletcher at Jo Fletcher Books.
MEREDITH McCARDLE’s debut novel The Eighth Guardian and two more in the Annum Guard time travel series told to Marilyn Brigham at Amazon Children’s via Rubin Pfeffer of the East-West Agency.
G.R. MANNERING sold Roses, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, to Julie Matysik of Sky Pony Press via Isabel Atherton of Creative Authors.
ALISON REEGAN COOK’s YA fantasy The Scholar, the Sphinx and the Shadoes of Nyx sold to Dana Celeste Robinson of Knox Robinson.
COURTNEY ALLISON MOULTON sold Angelfire trilogy prequel novella A Dance with Darkness to Sarah Shumway at Katherine Tegen Books via Jarred Weisfeld of Objective Entertainment.
JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS & DOUGLAS COHEN edited Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City for David Pomerico at 47North via Joe Monti of Barry Goldblatt Literary.
BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT will edit SF anthology Beyond the Sun for Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press. He sold and delivered Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter Land of Legends to Jeff Rutherford of Delabarre Publishing LLC.
STEVE BERMAN will edit mixed original/reprint anthologies Bad Seeds: Evil Progeny, Shades of Blue and Gray: Ghosts of the Civil War, Zombies: Shambling Through the Ages, and Handsome Devil: Tales of Sin and Seduction for Prime Books.
CHRISTINE JOHNSON will edit Grim, an anthology of “dark fairy tale retellings,” for Natashya Wilson at Harlequin Teen via Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
S.J. CHAMBERS & JEFF VANDERMEER sold non-fiction book The Steampunk User’s Manual, follow-up to The Steampunk Bible, to David Cashion at Abrams Image via Sally Harding of the Cooke Agency.
BOOKS RESOLD
LOUISE MARLEY resold The Terrorists of Irustan to Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press.
Snorri Kristjánsson (2010s)
DAN SEHLBERG resold Mona and Sinon to Henry Rosenbloom at Scribe, to publish in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, via Leyla Belle Drake of Salomonsson Agency. He sold Canadian rights to Janie Yoon at House of Anansi via Jessica Bager of Salomonsson Agency.
Swedish authors SARA ELFREN & MATS STRAND-BERG resold the YA paranormal Engelsfors Trilogy – The Circle, Fire, and The Key – to Tracy Carns at Overlook via Caroline Sloane at Random House UK and the Grand Agency.
BOOKS DELIVERED
CHARLES STROSS handed in Neptune’s Brood, sequel to Saturn’s Children, to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
STEPHEN BAXTER’s Iron Winter, third in the Northl
ands trilogy, was delivered to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
CHARLAINE HARRIS turned in Sookie Stackhouse novel Dead Ever After to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
SHARON SHINN delivered Royal Airs to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
MIKE MOSCOE, writing as Mike Shepherd, delivered Kris Longknife: Defender to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
WILLIAM DIETZ turned in Andromeda’s Choice to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
TAYLOR ANDERSON delivered Destroyermen novel Storm Surge to Ginjer Buchanan at Roc.
SIMON GREEN handed in Casino Infernale, a Secret Histories novel, to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
JES BATTIS, writing as BAILEY CUNNINGHAM, delivered Pile of Bones, the first in the Parallel Parks series, to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
TOM SNEIGOSKI handed in Walking in the Midst of Fire, a Remy Chandler novel, to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
STEVE PERRY’s Cutter’s War novel The Vastalimi Gambit was turned in to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
CHRIS MARIE GREEN delivered the first Jensen Murphy: Ghost for Hire novel to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.
PUBLISHING
STEVEN H SILVER has resigned as editor and publisher of ISFiC Press, the small publisher he helped found in 2004, where he published a dozen books.
ELLEN DATLOW has joined Tor.com as a consulting fiction editor.
REBECCA BREWER is now an editorial assistant at Ace/Roc.
Samantha Beiko (2010s)
HELEN MARSHALL has stepped down as managing editor at ChiZine Publications. Her position will be taken over by SAMANTHA BEIKO.
Senior publicist CHLOE HEALY of Tor UK is leaving the company to join digital PR/marketing agency Think Jam, though she will continue to work on some Tor UK titles into next year.
MEDIA
GEORGE ORWELL’s Animal Farm will be adapted for film by The Imaginarium, with Jonathan Cavendish producing and Andy Serkis to direct, act, and produce.
Film rights to STEPHEN KING’s “Gramma” sold to Universal Pictures for Jason Blum of Blumhouse Prods. with Peter Cornwell to direct, Matt Greenberg to script, and Frances O’Connor to star. The adaptation will be titled Mercy.
Film rights to RICK YANCEY’s SF story “When First We Were Gods” were optioned by Lionsgate, with Aron Eli Coleite to script and Daniel Askill to direct. Allie Shearmur is producing.
TV rights to DEBRA DRIZA’s SF trilogy Mila 2.0 were optioned by ABC with David DiGillo to write and executive produce, with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers also executive producing, via United Talent Agency on behalf of Katherine Tegen Books.
Film rights to ELIZABETH RICHARDS’S Black City, Phoenix, and the third volume in her fantasy trilogy, were optioned by Screen Gems via Ayesha Pande Literary in association with Richard Green of CAA.
Film rights to SAMANTHA SHANNON’s The Bone Season were optioned by The Imaginarium via David Godwin Associates, UK.
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MAIN STORIES
Random House and Penguin Merger • Alexander Wins National Book Award • Carnegie Medal Longlist • Rusch Wins Endeavour
RANDOM HOUSE AND PENGUIN MERGER
The Big Six may soon be the Big Five. In late October 2012, Random House and Penguin signed an agreement to combine the two companies, forming Penguin Random House, though such a merger is subject to government approval before it can be finalized. If all goes well, the merger will be complete by late 2013, and the resulting entity will be the largest publisher in the world – no surprise, as Random House is already the largest, and Penguin comes in second. The two companies together account for 16% of trade publishing.
Under the terms of the agreement, Random House parent company Bertselmann would own 53% of the venture, and Penguin parent Pearson would own 47%. Random House CEO Markus Dohle would be CEO of the new publisher as well, with Penguin Group Chairman John Makinson as chairman. Neither parent company could sell any part of their interest in Penguin Random House for three years, and there are protections in place for Penguin as the minority shareholder. The German trade division of Random House is excluded from the merger. The combined company would have a yearly global revenue in excess of $3 billion.
Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino says, ‘‘Together, the two publishers will be able to share a large part of their costs, to invest more for their author and reader constituencies and to be more adventurous in trying new models in this exciting, fast-moving world of digital books and digital readers.’’
Random House CEO Markus Dohle wrote a letter to employees assuring them that ‘‘my commitment to you and our new colleagues is to retain the distinct identities of both companies’ imprints, where authors remain the center of everything we do. Authors and their agents will continue to enjoy an enormous choice of publishing homes, where creative autonomy and great resources will be a defining hallmark.’’
Penguin chairman Makinson made a similar point to his employees: ‘‘I have no doubt that some authors, agents, and customers will express concern to many of us that this merger will reduce choice and competition. I believe, and so I know does Markus, that exactly the opposite will happen…. The publishing imprints of the two companies will remain as they are today, competing for the very best authors and the very best books. But our access to investment resources will also allow Penguin Random House to take risks with new authors, to defend our creative and editorial independence, to publish the broadest range of books on the planet, and to do it all with the attention to quality that has always characterized both Penguin and Random House.’’
The tremendous market share of a Penguin Random House would give them a better position to deal with Amazon, which is the single biggest bookseller account for both publishers and notoriously plays hardball in negotiations.
As always when two companies merge, there is widespread worry that the much touted ‘‘synergies’’ will involve consolidations of departments and layoffs of editors, publicists, production people, and other industry professionals. There are also concerns for how this will impact authors and agents: the two companies have many imprints with overlapping audiences and core competencies, and only time will tell if those imprints will all remain independent, or if some will be combined. There’s also the question of how – or if – once-rival imprints will be able compete for titles when the imprints are all owned by the same company. An anonymous agent quoted in Publishers Weekly put it succinctly: ‘‘Fewer publishers to submit to, lower advances…. It’s hard to feel positive about that.’’
ALEXANDER WINS NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
William Alexander (2012)
YA/middle-grade fantasy novel Goblin Secrets by William Alexander (Margaret K. McElderry) won this year’s National Book Award in the Young People’s Literature category. Occasional SF writer Louise Erdrich’s mainstream novel The Round House (Harper) won in the Fiction category. The awards were presented November 14, 2012 at a ceremony in New York City.
CARNEGIE MEDAL LONGLIST
The longlist for the 2013 Carnegie Medal, given annually to ‘‘the most outstanding book for children’’ published in the UK, has been announced. Works of genre interest on this year’s list include:
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, David Almond (Puffin); The Traitors, Tom Becker (Scholastic); Kill All Enemies, Melvin Burgess (Puffin); Scramasax, Kevin Crossley-Holland (Quercus); Far Rockaway, Charlie Fletcher (Hodder Children’s); The Double Shadow, Sally Gardner (Indigo); Maggot Moon, Sally Gardner (Hot Key); To Be A Cat, Matt Haig (Bodley Head); A Face Like Glass, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children’s); Unrest, Michelle Harrison (Simon & Schuster Children’s); Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Doubleday Children’s); The Abominables, Eva Ibbotson (Marion Lloyd); The Prince Who Walked With Lions, Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan Children’s); In Darkness, Nick Lake (Bloomsbury); The Brides of Rollrock Island, Margo Lanagan (David Fickling); Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer, Derek Landy (HarperCollins Children’s); The Apothecary, Maile Meloy (Andersen); This Dark Endeavour, Kenneth Oppel (David Fickling); G
ods and Warriors, Michelle Paver (Puffin); Black Arts: The Books of Pandemonium, Andrew Prentice & Jonathan Weil (David Fickling); Mister Creecher, Chris Priestley (Bloomsbury); This is Not Forgiveness, Celia Rees (Bloomsbury); Goblins, Philip Reeve (Marion Lloyd); Pendragon Legacy: Sword of Light, Katherine Roberts (Templar); Midwinterblood, Marcus Sedwick (Indigo); The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic); and Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein (Electric Monkey). Soonchild by Alexis Deacon (illustrator) and Russell Hoban (Walker Books) appears on the Kate Greenaway Medal longlist for best illustration, and is of genre interest as well.
The shortlists will be announced on March 19, 2013, and winners will be announced June 19, 2013 at a ceremony in London. The Carnegie and Greenaway Medals are awarded by the CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals). To be eligible for the 2013 awards, titles must have been first published in the UK between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2012.
The full longlists and more information can be found on the CILIP website.
RUSCH WINS ENDEAVOUR
City of Ruins by Kristine Kathryn Rusch won the 2012 Endeavour Award, announced November 2, 2012 at Orycon, Oregon’s annual SF convention. The award, which includes a $1,000 honorarium and an etched glass plaque made by Washington artist Ashley Harper, is presented annually to a distinguished novel or single-author collection by a writer from the Pacific Northwest.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2007)
The other finalists were River Marked, Patricia Briggs (Ace); Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake (Tor); When the Saints, Dave Duncan (Tor); and Robopocalypse, Daniel H. Wilson (Doubleday). Judges this year, who chose from finalists selected by a panel of seven readers, were Gregory Benford, Lawrence M. Schoen, and Susan Shwartz.
The award is named after the H.M. Bark Endeavour, the ship Captain James Cook used to explore the Pacific, and is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI). The deadline to enter books published during 2012 is February 13, 2013. Nomination forms are available online at