‘‘My day job consists partially of reading a lot about some pretty bad things that are happening all over the world. Most of what I edit is about Africa, though some is about the Middle East and some of it is about South America. The war in Lost Everything draws pretty heavily from what I think I understand about what’s going on in the intractable conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – the way the war has lasted long enough that it’s like there’s this weird and horrific little engine right inside the conflict that is very hard to stop. I’m no expert on any of it, but what I read for work has influenced my books a ton. Going to grad school in public policy really did a lot for me too. I wrote fiction before that, but I didn’t have very much to write about. There are a lot of people who have written beautiful things that are essentially autobiographical, but I’m not one of them. I realized I was much more interested in other people, particularly people whose lives are very different than mine. Spaceman Blues has a lot of information pulled from stuff I did in grad school, and people I met, and just understanding how the city of New York works. When I first started editing, I did a lot of work in economics – my degree was in economic development – and a lot of material in Liberation is pulled from things I was editing at the time about forecasts for the US economy and the way the economies of other countries work. Probably most important was visiting those kinds of places, where you see how different people’s lives are, and the amazing ingenuity people have when it comes to getting the things they really need and helping each other out. Their lives are unquestionably harder – they’re really, really hard. But they’re not just lying down, they refuse to give up, and the way that they often pull joy right out of the air is just astonishing to me. A lot of that’s in all three books I’ve published, or at least I’ve tried to put it there – how crazy savvy, and how great, people are.
‘‘Music is a huge part of my life, and a nice balance to my job. Where my day job consists of looking at the horrible things that people do, in my musical life, I see people having a great time and generally being great to each other. You go, ‘Ahh, we might make it after all.’ It’s always been amazing to me that some of the most wretched places in the world pump out relentlessly happy music. You can kind of see why – their lives are really hard, and when they go out to have a good time, they want to have a good time. There’s something pretty awe-inspiring about that.’’
‘‘I’m not sure I would have tried to be a writer if I’d known how difficult it is to get published, and how difficult it is to publish something weird. My amazing lack of knowledge about how anything worked is what gave me the chutzpah to get going. Of course, the downside of not knowing anything is that it took pretty much until after I was going to be published to realize that there’s this cohort of people who are writing similarly weird things. Discovering them opened up this whole other world of books to me, that I’m still exploring. I would have loved to have known about them sooner, first of all as a reader, because I love so many of their books now and wish I’d started reading them sooner – there’s so much to catch up on – but also as an emerging writer, to understand that there really is a place for the books I write, instead of just fumbling around like I actually did, and to a certain extent still do.
‘‘I know a lot more about the career-oriented, gamelike aspects of the publishing industry now, though I’d say I play it pretty poorly. Part of the reason for that is just because, between job, family, and music, I’m really busy. But sometimes I wonder how helpful playing the game is. There are people who are amazing at it and they turn it into something great, in my case I’m pretty sure it would have been paralyzing. I would have spent all kinds of time fretting about what kind of niche I fit into, what my identity was as an author, when really, I’m not sure I would have had a lot of control over that. I can say what I think my books are and what kind of writer I think I am, and some people – both readers and reviewers – will buy it, but other people won’t. And that’s perfectly valid. One of the most fun things about having books published is the way people who like your books like them for really different reasons. They understand them as very different books. Someone will say you wrote this great book about X, and then you’ll get someone who says you wrote this great book – the same book – about not X. I don’t think either of them are right or wrong. I’m just psyched when people like them. I love the sense of having connected with somebody. That’s really all I’m in it for. I’m trying to return some karmic favor. I love reading generally, of course, but my favorite books are the ones that came along at just the right time, when I was wrestling with something I couldn’t even figure out how to define, and I read something that helped me understand, that revealed something to me, and to this day I’m so grateful to the authors for writing those things. Things like Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series, or Michael Moorcock’s Elric saga, or Jorge Luis Borges’s short stories, or Love in the Time of Cholera, or The Tin Drum, or Ulysses. Then there’s David Quammen’s Song of the Dodo, Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, and Noel Mostert’s Frontiers, a heartbreaking book about South African history. And then most recently Octavia Butler. What would I do without her? And on and on.’’
–Brian Slattery
Return to In This Issue listing.
PEOPLE AND PUBLISHING
MILESTONES
Editor JULIET ULMAN & MATT ULMAN are the parents of ELISE JOSEPHINE ULMAN, born January 3, 2013.
Peter David (2011)
PETER DAVID, 56, suffered a stroke in late December 2012 while on vacation in Florida. He is now undergoing rehabilitation and is recovering well.
ROBERT REGINALD, 64, delivered The Call of Lemnos by FRANCIS JARMAN, the 1,200th book he’s edited for his Borgo Press imprint, on December 15, 2012. He’s edited 1,955 books and magazine issues in his lifetime (so far).
AWARDS
JUNOT DÍAZ’s This Is How You Lose Her is one of three finalists for the Story Prize, which includes a $20,000 cash award for the winner, and $5,000 for each runner-up. The award is given annually to an outstanding collection published in English in the US. Winners will be announced March 13, 2013 at a ceremony in New York.
Junot Díaz (2009)
BOOKS SOLD
THOMAS PYNCHON sold his next novel, The Bleeding Edge, to Penguin Press.
SEANAN McGUIRE sold Velveteen vs. The Multiverse to Bill Roper of ISFiC Press.
LAIRD BARRON sold collection The Beautiful Thing that Awaits Us All to Ross Lockhart at Night Shade Books.
TANYA HUFF’s Peacemaker, part of the Torin Kerr/Valor series, sold to Sheila Gilbert at DAW via Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
GENEVIEVE VALENTINE’s Glad Rags, a reimagining of the ‘‘Twelve Dancing Princesses’’ fairy tale set in 1920s Manhattan, sold to Daniel Loedel at Atria in a pre-empt via Joe Monti of Barry Goldblatt Literary.
EDWARD WILLETT sold space opera Right to Know to Bundoran Press.
A.J. COLUCCI sold a ‘‘science thriller’’ about a strange island to Toni Plummer at Thomas Dunne via Adrienne Rosado of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
CHARLES E. GANNON sold two sequels to Fire with Fire to Toni Weisskopf at Baen via Eleanor Wood of Spectrum Literary Agency.
D.G. LEVINE sold Hyde, a ‘‘reimagining’’ of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde told from Hyde’s point-of-view, to Jenna Johnson at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Erin Harris of Folio Literary Management.
Tanya Huff (2012)
STEVEN SWINIARSKI’s new fantasy Dragon/Princess went to Sheila Gilbert at DAW via Eleanor Wood of Spectrum Literary Agency.
ELLIOT JAMES sold urban fantasy Charming and two more books to Devi Pillai at Orbi via Michelle Johnson and Marisa Corvisiero at Corvisiero Literary Agency.
SONJA CONDIT’s Starter House sold to Carrie Feron at William Morrow via Jenny Bent of the Bent Agency, and to Sara O’Keeffe at Corvus in the UK via Hellie Ogden of Greene &
Heaton on behalf of the Bent Agency.
PATRICIA GRACE JOYCE’s timeslip novel The Magic of Time and three more books sold to Len Charla at Countinghouse Press via Diane Nine of Nine Speaker Agency.
JEFFE KENNEDY sold the Twelve Kingdoms fantasy trilogy to Peter Sentfleben at Kensington via Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Larsen/Pomada Literary Agents.
ANGUS WATSON sold the Iron Age trilogy to Jenni Hill at Orbit (US and UK) via Angharad Kowal of Writers House UK.
AUSTIN ASLAN’s SF survival story The Islands at the End of the Earth and another title sold to Wendy Lamb at Wendy Lamb Books via Julie Just of Janklow & Nesbit.
JEFFREY COHEN, writing as E.J. COPPERMAN, sold the sixth and seventh books in the Haunted Guesthouse paranormal mystery series to Shannon Jamieson Vazquez at Berkley Prime Crime via Josh Getzler of Hannigan Salky Getzler.
F.J.R. TITCHENELL’s Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know Of) went to Christopher Loke at Jolly Fish Press via Jennifer Mishler of the Literary Counsel.
JEN McCONNEL’s novel Daughter of Chaos and two more books sold to Georgia McBridge of Month9Books.
MEGAN WHITMER sold fantasy Between to Danielle Ellison at Spencer Hill Press.
DANIELLE ELLISON sold Salt and a second fantasy to Liz Pelletier at Entangled.
CASSANDRA CLARE, MAUREEN JOHNSON, and SARAH REES BRENNAN sold The Bane Chronicles, a collection of ten linked stories set in Clare’s Shadowhunters world, to Simon & Schuster Children’s via Russell Galen for Clare, Kristin Nelson for Rees Brennan, and Kate Schafer Testerman for Johnson. The stories will be published as e-books one per month in 2013, followed by a print edition in 2014.
KELLY McCULLOUGH’s YA School for Sidekicks sold to Holly West at Feiwel & Friends via Jack Byrne of Sternig & Byrne Literary Agency.
LISH McBRIDE sold YA fantasy Firebug and another book to Noa Wheeler at Holt Children’s via Jason Anthony of Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.
CARRIE JONES sold two thrillers and a YA horror novel (the latter written with STEVEN E. WEDEL) to Melissa Frain at Tor Teen via Edward Necarsulmer IV of McIntosh & Otis.
ROSIE BEST sold YA fantasy Skulk and a second book to Amanda Rutter at Strange Chemistry via Catherine Pellegrino of Catherine Pellegrino and Associates.
EVAN ANGLER’s fourth YA in the Swipe series sold to Molly Kempft Hodgin of Thomas Nelson via Tina Wexler of ICM.
CLAUDIA GRAY sold Can’t Get Next to You and the rest of the Firebird trilogy to Sarah Landis at HarperTeen via Diana Fox of Fox Literary.
AMALIE HOWARDS sold Alpha Goddess, a YA take on the Ramayana, to Julie Matysik of Sky Pony Press via Liza Fleissig of Liza Royce Agency.
SUZANNE LAZEAR sold Fragile Destiny, third in the Aether Chronicles steampunk fairytale series, to Brian Farrey-Latz at Flux via Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency.
CYN BALOG, writing as NICHOLA REILLY, sold SF YA Dream Kingdom and a second book to Annie Stone and Natashya Wilson at Harlequin Teen via Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
CAT PATRICK & SUZANNE YOUNG’s Just Like Fate went to Simon Pulse via Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management for Young and Daniel Lazar at Writers House for Patrick.
AMY NICHOLS sold Another Here, Another Now, a YA about parallel worlds, and a second book to Katherine Harrison at Knopf Children’s via Quinlan Lee of Adams Literary.
POLLY SHULMAN’s The Hawthorne Annex, companion to The Grimm Legacy and The Wells Bequest, went to Nancy Paulsen of Nancy Paulsen Books via Irene Skolnick of Irene Skolnick Agency.
Joe R. Lansdale (2012)
TRENT REEDY’s Divided We Fall near-future dystopian trilogy sold to Cheryl Klein at Arthur A. Levine via Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
CAREY CORP & LORIE LANGDON sold Doon, a reimagining of the musical Brigadoon, and three more books to Jacque Alberta of Zondervan Children’s via Nicole Resciniti of the Seymour Agency.
STEFANIE GAITHER sold Falls the Shadows, about a clone framed for murder, to Nava Wolfe of Simon & Schuster Children’s via Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency.
NEIL GODBOUT’s Resolve, third in the YA vampire trilogy that began with Disintegrate and Dissolve, sold to Bundoran Press.
BRIGID KEMMERER sold three books in her Elemental series to Alicia Condon at Kensington Teen via Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Literary Agency.
S.G. ROGERS sold Children of Yden, sequel to The Last Great Dragon of Yden, to Stephanie Taylor at Astraea Press.
ALLIE DUZETT’s The Body Electric, about a teen whose boyfriend might be related to Zeus, went to Istoria Books.
JEANIENE FROST’s YA fantasy Realm Walker and two more books sold to Tara Parson at Harlequin with Margo Lipschultz to edit via Nancy Yost of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
SCHUYLER EBERSOL sold The Hidden World to John Koehler of Koehler Books, with Joe Coccaro to edit, via Leticia Gomez of Savvy Literary Services.
ELISA FREILICH’s first novel Siren, a YA fantasy described as ‘‘Glee meets Greek mythology,’’ sold to Mary Cummings at Diversion Books via Jessica Regal of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.
KIM LIGGETT sold YA fantasy Blood and Salt and a second book to Arianne Lewin at Putnam at auction via Josh Adams of Adams Literary.
New writer WILL CHANCELLOR sold A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall, about an Olympic athlete who encounters Greek gods, to Michael Signorelli at Harper.
First novelist KATHERINE HARBOUR sold Thorn Jack and two more books to Diana Gill at Voyager via Thao Le of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
JOE R. LANSDALE sold a psychological horror novella to Black Labyrinth.
LAURA ANNE GILMAN sold novella duology Sylvan Investigations, about a half-faun private investigator, to Jacqueline Smay at Plus One Press.
MINDEE ARNETT sold an e-book novella prequel to Avalon to Jordan Brown at HarperTeen Impulse via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media.
J.F. JENKINS sold fantasy novella Legend of the Tribes to Stephanie Taylor at Astraea Press.
BOOKS RESOLD
ARTHUR C. CLARKE’s estate has sold Childhood’s End, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and 33 more titles for e-book publication by RosettaBooks.
ROBERT J. SAWYER’s Red Planet Blues resold to Malcolm Edwards at Orion in the UK via Chris Lotts. Supernatural Investigators, the TV series Sawyer hosts on Canada’s Vision TV, has been renewed for ten more episodes.
MIKE RESNICK resold A Miracle of Rare Design to Dog Star Books, with an introduction by HEIDI ROBY MILLER. Resnick sold film rights to ‘‘Down Memory Lane’’ to director/producer Kun Wu of Bona Film Group in China.
DELIA SHERMAN sold paperback rights to The Freedom Maze to Deb Noyes Wayshak at Candlewick in a pre-empt via Renee Zuckerbrot of Renee Zuckerbrot Literary Agency on behalf of hardcover publisher Big Mouth House.
The late CHARLES SHEFFIELD’s novels Godspeed, The Cyborg from Earth, Putting Up Roots, and Billion Dollar Boy resold to Shahid Mahmud of ArcManor via Justin Bell of Spectrum Literary Agency.
SHERRILYN KENYON’s Styxx and two more novels resold to Donna Condon at Piatkus via Sylvie Rosokoff of Trident Media Group on behalf of Robert Gottlieb.
JOHN GWYNNE’s Malice and a sequel were resold to Tom Bauman at Orbit US via Harriet Sanders, rights director at UK publisher Macmillan.
SUSAN EE sold Angelfall to Kate Howard of Hodder Children’s in the UK, via Teri Tobias Agency in association with US publisher Amazon Children’s.
VICTORIA LAMB’s Tudor Witch trilogy, beginning with Witchstruck and Witchfall, went to Natashya Wilson at Harlequin Teen via Bronwen Bennie of Random House Children’s UK.
DAVID WELLINGTON turned in Chimera to Diana Gill at Voyager.
ADAM MANSBACH handed in The Dead Run to Diana Gill at Voyager.
PUBLISHING
ANNE HOPPE has left HarperCollins after 18 years to become senior executive editor at Clarion Books.
BILL ROPER has taken over as publisher of ISFiC Press from STEVEN H SILVER.
Ross
Lockhart (2009)
ROSS LOCKHART has left his position as managing editor at Night Shade Books.
ROSIE DE COURCY has joined her ex-husband ANTHONY CHEETHAM’s publishing company Head of Zeus as senior editor, where she will be acquiring fiction.
ANDREW WEBER is now global trade chief operating officer for Macmillan, reporting to CEO John Sargent.
MEDIA
A TV miniseries adaptation of STEPHEN KING’s Under the Dome will run for 13 episodes on CBS, starting June 24, 2013. BRIAN K. VAUGHAN wrote the script.
Film rights to The Edge series by ILONA & ANDREW GORDON, writing as ILONA ANDREWS, were optioned by Lizzie Friedman of Sandbar Pictures via Nancy Yost of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
Film rights to CHRISTOPHER BARZAK’s One for Sorrow sold to Hunting Lane Films, with Carter Smith directing. The adaptation will be titled Jamie Marks Is Dead.
Film rights to NEAL SHUSTERMAN’s Unwind were optioned by Constantin Film via Steve Fisher and Debbie Deuble of APA.
Film rights to EMMY LAYBOURNE’s Monument 14 were optioned by Reel FX and Strange Weather Films, with Brad Peyton as director, via Stephen Moore of Paul Kohner Agency on behalf of Einstein Thompson Agency.
ED GREENWOOD turned in Pathfinder Tales novel The Wizard’s Mask to James Sutter at Paizo.
MARTIAN HOLIDAY
Author Diane Turnshek spent two weeks on Mars – or at least the closest available approximation. Turnshek and five others stayed at the Mars Desert Research Station north of Hanksville UT, operated by the Mars Society, where they did their best to replicate the conditions of life on Mars: wearing space suits outside, enduring a 20-minute time lag in communications, and so on. She returned to Earth on December 30, 2012.
Locus, February 2013 Page 3
