Locus, June 2014 Read online

  SHIRLEY JACKSON’s children LAURENCE JACKSON HYMAN & SARAH HYMAN DeWITT will edit a collection of the late author’s ‘‘unpublished and uncollected stories, essays, lectures, letters, and drawings’’ for David Ebershoff at Random House via Murray Weiss of Catalyst Literary Management.

  TERRY PRATCHETT sold Dragons at Crumbling Castle, collecting middle-grade stories first published in Buckinghamshire newspaper The Buck’s Free Press, with illustrations by MARK BEECH, to Anne Hoppe at Clarion. Random House will publish in the UK.

  Terry Pratchett (2013)

  HANNU RAJANIEMI sold a story collection to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon and Simon Spanton at Gollancz via John Jarrold.

  SHARON LEE & STEVE MILLER sold Liaden Universe collection Constellation 3 to Toni Weisskopf at Baen via Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  WILL ELLIOTT sold The Pilo Traveling Circus, sequel to The Pilo Family Circus, to Mark Teppo at Resurrection House via Lyn Tranter of Australian Literary Management.

  CHUCK WENDIG’s Zer0es – ‘‘Michael Crichton meets The X-Files’’ – and a second book went to Voyager via Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  ROB THURMAN’s tenth and eleventh Cal Leandros novels went to Anne Sowards at Roc via Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

  DAVID FARLAND sold the Serpent Catch series (Spirit Walker, Serpent Catch, Blade Kin, and Path of the Crushed Heart) and resold the Golden Queen series (The Golden Queen, Beyond the Gate, and Lords of the Seventh Swarm) to Kevin J. Anderson at WordFire.

  ANNE BISHOP sold the fourth and fifth books in the Others series to Anne Sowards at Roc via Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  SETH DICKINSON sold three books in The Traitor Baru Cormorant ‘‘epic fantasy geopolitical tragedy’’ to Marco Palmieri at Tor in a pre-empt via Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

  ZACHARY JERNIGAN’s Shower of Stones, sequel to No Return, went to Cory Allyn at Skyhorse (for print) and Jarred Weisfeld at Start (for e-book) via Michael Harriot of Folio Literary Management.

  JASON MOTT sold two novels to Erika Imranyi at Mira via Michelle Brower of Folio Literary Management.

  RACHEL POLLACK sold ‘‘shamanic noir adventure’’ Jack Shade to Mark Teppo at Resurrection House via Martha Millard of Martha Millard Literary Agency.

  J. KATHLEEN CHENEY sold The Shores of Spain, sequel to The Golden City, and fantasy novel Dreaming Death, both to Danielle Stockley at Roc via Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

  SAMANTHA HUNT sold ghost story Mr. Splitfoot and story collection Beast to Jenna Johnson at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via P.J. Mark of Janklow & Nesbit.

  INGRID SEYMOUR sold Ignite the Shadows and two more titles to Natasha Bardon at Voyager via Beth Phelan of the Bent Agency.

  ANIA AHLBORN sold three books and two e-book novellas to Ed Schlesinger at Gallery via David Hale Smith of Inkwell Management.

  STEPHEN POWER sold The Dragon Round, ‘‘The Count of Monte Cristo with dragons,’’ to Brit Hvide at Simon451 in a pre-empt via Eric Nelson of the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency.

  JESSICA MEIGS sold six books in new dark urban fantasy series The Unnaturals to Michael Wilson at Permuted Press via Hannah Brown Gordon of Foundry Literary + Media.

  S.G. REDLING sold Ourselves, first in a new series, to David Pomerico at 47North via Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency.

  Ghost hunter MICHELLE BELANGER sold fantasy Conspiracy of Angels to Steve Saffel of Titan via Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

  LOGAN HUNDER’s Witches Be Crazy: A Tale that Happened Once Upon a Time in the Middle of Nowhere sold to Jeremy Lassen at Night Shade via Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group.

  HUNTER SHEA’s Hells Hole and The Waiting sold to Don D’Auria at Samhain Publishing via Louise Fury of the Bent Agency on behalf of the L. Perkins Agency.

  RHIANNON PAILLE sold Surrender, Justice, Vulture, and Untold Stories in The Ferryman and The Flame series to Kevin J. Anderson at WordFire.

  JENNIFER MURGIA’s Castle of Sighs, sequel to historical witch mystery Forest of Whispers, went to Kate Kaynak of Spencer Hill Press via Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary.

  DONNA HOSIE sold The Devil’s Dreamcatcher, sequel to The Devil’s Intern, to Kelly Loughman at Holiday House via Beth Phelan of the Bent Agency.

  ANGELICA JACKSON sold Crow’s Rest to Owen Dean of Spencer Hill Press.

  STACEY KENNEDY’s Witches Be Dazzled, Warlocks Be Hexed, and Demons Be Banished, paranormal romances in the Magic & Mayhem series, sold to Sue Grimshaw at Loveswept via Jessica Alvarez at BookEnds.

  TORY MICHAELS sold gargoyle romance Locked in Stone to Anita Orr at Entangled via Marisa Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency.

  R.J. ANDERSON sold Uncommon Magic and a second YA to Reka Simonsen at Atheneum via Josh Adams of Adams Literary.

  CHARLIE PRICE sold Dead Investigation, a companion to Dead Connection, about a high schooler who can talk with the dead, to Wesley Adams at Farrar, Straus Children’s via Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

  SARAH PORTER sold Vassa in the Night and a second YA novel to Susan Chang at Tor Teen in a pre-empt via Kent D. Wolf of Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

  ALEX KAHLER sold YA fantasy Ravenborn and a second book to Michael Strother at Simon Pulse via Laurie McLean of Foreword Literary.

  JOY PREBLE’s It Wasn’t Always Like This, described as ‘‘Tuck Everlasting meets Veronica Mars,’’ sold to Daniel Ehrenhaft at Soho Teen via Jennifer Rofe of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

  CURTIS JOBLING sold two books in new middle-grade series Max Helsing: Monster Hunter to Kendra Levin at Viking Children’s via John Jarrold.

  KRISTEN-PAIGE MADONIA’s Invisible Fault Lines sold to David Gale at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Gail Hochman of Brandt & Hochman.

  JUDY SHEEHAN’s I Woke Up Dead at the Mall sold to Wendy Loggia at Delacorte in a pre-empt via Daniel Lazar of Writers House.

  REBECCA HAHN’s The Shadow Behind the Stars went to Reka Simonsen at Atheneum.

  LIVIA BLACKBURNE’s sequel to Midnight Thief went to Rotem Moscovich at Hyperion Children’s via Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

  ADAM SELZER’s Just Kill Me, a dark YA about a ghost tour company, sold to Dani Young at Simon & Schuster Children’s via Adrienne Rosado of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

  CORINNE DUYVIS sold On the Edge of Gone, near-future SF about an autistic teen living in the Netherlands after a devastating comet strike, to Maggie Lehrman at Amulet via Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

  KATE ORMAND sold The Wanderers, about a shapeshifter circus, to Nicole Frail at Sky Pony Press via Isabel Atherton of Creative Authors.

  JEN McCONNEL sold Gods of Chaos and Triumph of Chaos, continuing the Red Magic series, to Georgia McBride of Month9Books.

  TRICIA STIRLING’s first novel When My Heart Was Wicked sold to Mallory Kass at Scholastic at auction via Molly Ker Hawn of the Bent Agency.

  HESTER YOUNG’s debut trilogy sold to Kerri Kolen at Putnam via Esmond Harmsworth of Zachary Schuster Harmsworth Literary.

  HEIDI HEILIG sold debut The Girl from Everywhere, about using vintage maps to time-travel, and two more books to Martha Mihalick at Greenwillow in a pre-empt via Molly Ker Hawn of the Bent Agency. Her debut and a second book sold to Sara O’Connor at Hot Key Books in the UK, also in a pre-empt via Hawn.

  US Representative for New York STEVE ISRAEL sold a political satire about an omniscient supercomputer to Ben Loehnen of Simon & Schuster via David Kuhn and Lauren Clark of Kuhn Projects. In accordance with Congressional rules, he will receive no advance.

  Steve Israel (2013)

  Debut novelist ZACH DODSON’s ‘‘illuminated adventure novel’’ Bats of the Republic sold to Robert Bloom at Doubleday via P.J. Mark of Janklow & Nesbit.

  Medieval scholar MICHAEL LIVINGSTON sold Shards of Heaven and two more books in the historical trilogy to Paul Stevens at Tor via Evan Gregory
of the Ethan Ellenberg Agency.

  New writer ERNIE WOOD sold time-travel novel The Space Between to Ben LeRoy at F+W Media via Martha Millard of the Martha Millard Literary Agency.

  MELISSA HURST’s first novel The Edge of Forever went to Kelsie Besaw at Sky Pony Press via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media.

  SARAH AHIERS sold first novel All That Remains and a second book to Alexandra Cooper at HarperTeen in a pre-empt via Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media.

  KAITLIN WARD’s debut Bleeding Earth went to Jordan Hamessley at Egmont via Sarah LaPolla of Bradford Literary Agency.

  BOOKS RESOLD

  LOIS LOWRY resold Messenger, The Gathering Light, and Son to Elizabeth Clifford at Harper Children’s UK via Alex Webb of Rights People on behalf of Candace Finn of US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

  Sherrilyn Kenyon (2013)

  SHERRILYN KENYON resold three more books in YA paranormal romance Chronicles of Nick series to Anna Boatman at Piatkus in the UK via Sylvie Rosokoff of Trident Media Group on behalf of Robert Gottlieb. St. Martin’s publishes in the US.

  AMY BARTOL sold her self-published novel Under Different Stars and two more titles to Jason Kirk at 47North via Tamar Rydzinski of the Laura Dail Literary Agency.

  BRIAN CATLING resold The Vorrh to Tim O’Connell at Vintage in the US and to Mark Booth at Coronet in the UK, both at auction, via Seth Fishman of the Gernert Company on behalf of Jon Elek of United Agents.

  PUBLISHING

  LAURIE PARKIN retired as publisher at Kensington on May 30, 2014 after 15 years, following a 30-year career in publishing.

  LIESA ABRAMS has been promoted to associate editorial director for Aladdin and Simon Pulse.

  DARIN BRADLEY has joined Resurrection House, where he will be doing editorial and design work. MISTI MORRISON has been hired to read manuscripts and help run production.

  MEDIA

  Film rights to RICHARD K. MORGAN’s Thirteen were optioned by Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvino of Straight Up Films with Tripp Vinson and Lisa Zambri, to be adapted by Kenny Golde, via Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent on behalf of Morgan and Orion Publishing.

  Richard K. Morgan (2008)

  Film rights to GREGORY MAGUIRE’s Egg and Spoon, a Russian historical fantasy, were optioned by Universal Pictures for producer Marc Platt via Steve Fisher of APA on behalf of John Hawkins & Associates.

  ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT’s American Elsewhere has been optioned by BBC America for adaptation as a TV show.

  Actor PAIGE McKENZIE & writer ALYSSA SHEINMEL will write The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, adapted from the eponymous online video series starring McKenzie, for Weinstein Books via Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary + Media. A feature film adaptation of the web series, created by NICK HAGEN, is in production at the Weinstein Company.

  KEVIN J. ANDERSON is writing the graphic novel adaptation of his novel Clockwork Angels (co-written with rock band Rush) for BOOM! Studios.

  Return to In This Issue listing.

  THE DATA FILE

  HarperCollins Buys Harlequin • Daily Mail Pays Rowling • Hugo Voter Packet News • NEA Literature Grants • 2014 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards Finalists • Awards News • Publishing News • Legal News • World Conventions News • Financial News • International Rights • Other Rights • Publications Received • Catalogs Received

  HARPERCOLLINS BUYS HARLEQUIN

  HarperCollins’s parent company News Corp will purchase romance publisher Harlequin from its parent Torstar for $415 million. The sale is expected to be completed by September 2014, pending government approval in the US and Canada, and Torstar shareholder approval.

  Harlequin headquarters will remain in Toronto, with its CEO Craig Swinwood reporting to HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray. Swinwood says Harlequin will ‘‘continue to operate as a distinct and successful brand within a larger publishing company. We’re excited to be able to take full advantage of HarperCollins’ robust resources, scale and capabilities to expand the reach of our books and growing business.’’

  DAIL MAIL PAYS ROWLING

  J.K. Rowling prevailed in a libel suit against British newspaper The Daily Mail. Rowling wrote an article for single parents’ charity Gingerbread describing an incident where she was treated badly by a woman visiting a church she attended. The Daily Mail published an article saying her ‘‘sob story’’ was false, which Rowling called ‘‘misleading’’ and ‘‘unfair,’’ and said caused damage to her reputation, along with embarrassment and distress.

  The Daily Mail published the following apology:

  Our September 28, 2013 article ‘How JK’s sob story about her single mother past surprised and confused the church members who cared for her’ suggested that JK Rowling made a knowingly false and inexcusable claim in an article for the Gingerbread charity that people at her church had stigmatised her and cruelly taunted her for being a single mother.

  In fact Mrs Rowling recounted only one incident where a visitor to the church stigmatised and taunted her on a particular day. We accept that Ms Rowling’s article did not contain any false claims and apologise for any contrary suggestion and have agreed to pay substantial damages to Ms Rowling, which she is donating to charity, and a contribution to her legal costs.

  The paper admitted wrongdoing in January, but disputed some details of the settlement, arguing against Rowling’s intention to make a statement. The court ruled that Rowling was permitted to make a statement, saying there was ‘‘no sufficient reason’’ for the paper’s publishers to refuse.

  HUGO VOTER PACKET NEWS

  Orbit has declined to include the full text of the three Hugo Award-nominated novels it published in this year’s Hugo Voter Packet, a bundle of e-books including many of the nominated works that is sent to supporting and attending members. Instead, the publisher will offer ‘‘substantial extracts’’ of Mira Grant’s Parasite, Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, and Charles Stross’s Neptune’s Brood. Orbit publisher Tim Holman explained that,

  We are of course very much in favor of initiatives that help readers to engage with important awards, and we are always looking for new ways to help readers discover new authors. However, in the case of the voter packets, authors and rights holders are increasingly feeling that if their work is not included in the packet it will be at a disadvantage in the awards. It’s difficult for anyone to know for certain whether this is the case, but either way we don’t feel that authors and rights holders should feel under pressure to make their work available for free.

  Grant, Leckie, and Stross released a joint statement saying that, ‘‘We feel your disappointment keenly and regret any misunderstandings that may have arisen about the availability of our work to Hugo voters, but we are bound by the terms of our publishing contracts.’’

  Involvement in the packet is of course purely voluntary, and entirely up to the discretion of the authors and rights holders. The first Hugo Voter Packet was conceived of and organized by John Scalzi in 2006 to give Worldcon members free access to nominated works, and has rapidly become one of the major selling points for the convention, as first Scalzi and later other volunteers negotiated each year with publishers and authors to include as many nominated works as possible. The value of the free e-books included often exceeds the cost of a membership – even more so this year, with Tor providing e-books of all 14 volumes of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

  NEA LITERATURE GRANTS

  The National Endowment for the Arts has announced $1.42 million in literature grants to be giving to US nonprofits as part of its second round of 2014 grants, which will distribute almost $75 million to more than 971 arts nonprofits.

  2014 CAMPBELL AND STURGEON AWARD FINALISTS

  The finalists for the 2014 John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short fiction of 2013 have been announced.

  The Campbell nominees are: Lexicon, Max Barry (Penguin); Proxima, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz);
The Circle, Dave Eggers (Knopf); We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood); Hild, Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux); The Cusanus Game, Wolfgang Jeschke (Tor); Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit); The Disestablishment of Paradise, Phillip Mann (Gollancz); Evening’s Empires, Paul McAuley (Gollancz); The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island); The Adjacent, Christopher Priest (Gollancz); On the Steel Breeze, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz); Shaman, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit); Neptune’s Brood, Charles Stross (Ace); Strange Bodies, Marcel Theroux (Faber & Faber).

  The Campbell Awards were founded in 1973 to honor the best SF novel of the year. Nominees are submitted by publishers, with winners selected by a seven-member committee chaired by James E. Gunn. This year’s committee includes Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Sheila Finch, James Gunn, Elizabeth Anne Hull, Paul Kincaid, Christopher McKitterick, Pamela Sargent, and T.A. Shippey.

  Finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short fiction of 2013 are: ‘‘Bloom’’, Gregory Norman Bossert (Asimov’s 12/13); ‘‘The Wildfires of Antarctica’’, Alan DeNiro (Asimov’s 10-11/13); ‘‘They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass’’, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Asimov’s 1/13); ‘‘The Weight of the Sunrise’’, Vylar Kaftan (Asimov’s 2/13); ‘‘Over There’’, Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/13); ‘‘The Irish Astronaut’’, Val Nolan (Electric Velocipede 5/13); ‘‘In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind’’, Sarah Pinsker (Strange Horizons 7/13); ‘‘Mystic Falls’’, Robert Reed (Clarkesworld 11/13); ‘‘Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer’’, Kenneth Scheyer (Clockwork Phoenix 4); ‘‘The Urashima Effect’’, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 6/13).

  The finalists were chosen by a committee of reviewers, editors, and readers familiar with the field, chaired by Christopher McKitterick. The current jury consists of Elizabeth Bear, Andy Duncan, James Gunn, Kij Johnson, and Noël Sturgeon, Trustee of the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Estate.

  Winners of both awards will have their names inscribed on permanent trophies and will also receive personal trophies to take home. The permanent Sturgeon trophy is in the shape of a Q with an arrow through it, to represent Sturgeon’s motto: ‘‘Ask the next question.’’ The award will be presented during the Campbell Conference Awards Banquet, to be held June 13-15, 2014 at the Oread Hotel in Lawrence KS.