Russian rights to Karl Schroeder’s Lockstep sold to AST via Alexander Korzhenevski Agency in association with Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
German rights to The Silvered and The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff sold to Feder & Schwert via Christian Dittus of Paul & Peter Fritz Agency on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
Brazilian rights to Clockwork Angels by Neil Peart & Kevin J. Anderson sold to Gustavo Guertler of Belas-Letras via Sylvie Rosokoff of Trident Media Group on behalf of John Silbersack.
Czech rights to Dreadnaught and Invincible by Jack Campbell sold to Fantom Print via Kristin Olson of Kristin Olson Agency, and French rights to Steadfast to L’Atalante via Anne Lenclud of Lenclud Literary Agency, all on behalf of Krystyna Lopez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.
German rights to novella Perfect Shadow by Brent Weeks sold to Urban Hofstetter of Blanvalet via Kathrin Nehm of Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Brazilian rights to Richelle Mead’s The Fiery Heart sold to Cia das Letras via Roberto Matos of Riff Agency on behalf of Lauren Abramo of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
Spanish rights to Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig sold to Hidra via Isabel Monteagudo of International Editors in association with Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency on behalf of Stacia Decker.
Dutch rights to Night Play and Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon sold to De Vrijbuiter via Lauren Paverman of Trident Media Group on behalf of Robert Gottlieb.
German rights to Sharon Lee & Steve Miller’s Agent of Change and two more books went to Atlantis via Thomas Schlueck Agency on behalf of Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Swedish rights to Red Rising by Pierce Brown went to Norstedt via Lennart Sane Agency, Japanese rights to Hayakawa via Tuttle-Mori Agency, South Korean rights to Minumin via Danny Hong Agency, Italian rights to Mondadori via Piergiorgio Nicolazzini Literary Agency, Greek rights to Metaichmio via Graal Literary Agency, Bulgarian rights to Ciela Norma via Graal Literary Agency, and Portuguese rights to Presenca via A.C.E.R. Agencia Literaria, all on behalf of Hannah Bowman of the Liza Dawson Agency.
Japanese rights to Hyde by Daniel Levine sold to Kadokawa via Molly Jaffa of Folio Literary Management in association with Tuttle-Mori Japan on behalf of Erin Harris.
Italian rights to The Death Cure by James Dashner sold to Fanucci via Stefania Fietta of Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale on behalf of Lauren Abramo of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
Swedish rights to Ann Aguirre’s Mortal Danger sold to Modernista via Mo Literary Services on behalf of Taryn Fagerness Agency and Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency.
German rights to A Robot in the Garden by Deborah Install sold to Fischer via Sabine Pfannenstiel of Andrew Nurnberg Associates, and Italian rights went to Piemme via Barbara Barbieri of Andrew Nurnberg Associates.
German rights to A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep & Joanne Ryder sold to DTV at auction via Paul & Peter Fritz Agency on behalf of Jonathan Lyons and Maureen Walters of Curtis Brown.
OTHER RIGHTS
Audio rights to six books by Robert Sheckley, including Crompton Divided and The 10th Victim, sold to Steve Feldberg at Audible via Cameron McClure of Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Audio rights to the Vampire Babylon series by Chris Marie Green sold to Steve Feldberg at Audible via Elaine Spencer of the Knight Agency.
Audio rights to Graveyard Shift by Michael Haspil sold to Lee Jarit at Audible via Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency.
AUDIOBOOKS RECEIVED
The Dark Between the Stars, Kevin J. Anderson (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 19 CDs, 22 hours: 53 minutes, 978-1-4805-6335-3) Unabridged audio version of The Dark Between the Stars read by Mark Boyett.
Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 7 CDs, 7 hours: 59 minutes, 978-1-4915-3061-0) Unabridged audio version of Clean Sweep read by Renee Raudman.
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (Macmillan Audio, $29.99, 9 CDs, 10 hours: 30 minutes, 978-1-4272-3539-8) Unabridged audio version of Ender’s Game read by Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, and cast.
Earth Awakens, Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston (Macmillan Audio, $44.99, 12 CDs, 15 hours, 978-1-4272-4101-6) Unabridged audio version of Earth Awakens read by Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, Stefan Rudnicki, Vikas Adam, Roxanne Hernandez, and Emily Rankin.
Martian Time-Slip, Philip K. Dick (Brilliance Audio, $14.99, 8 CDs, 9 hours: 51 minutes, 978-1-4558-1439-8) Unabridged audio version of Martian Time-Slip read by Jeff Cummings.
Vampire Empire: The Greyfriar, Clay & Susan Griffith (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 9 CDs, 10 hours: 45 minutes, 978-1-4805-8114-2) Unabridged audio version of The Greyfriar read by James Marsters.
Vampire Empire: The Kingmakers, Clay & Susan Griffith (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 12 CDs, 14 hours: 48 minutes, 978-1-4915-1003-2) Unabridged audio version of The Kingmakers read by James Marsters.
Vampire Empire: The Rift Walker, Clay & Susan Griffith (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 12 CDs, 13 hours: 43 minutes, 978-1-4915-1000-1) Unabridged audio version of The Rift Walker read by James Marsters.
The Source, J.D. Horn (Brilliance Audio, $14.99, 9 CDs, 11 hours: 3 minutes, 978-1-4805-9784-6) Unabridged audio version of The Source read by Shannon McManus.
Justice, Ian Irvine (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 19 CDs, 22 hours: 46 minutes, 978-1-7431-7996-3) Unabridged audio version of Justice read by Grant Cartwright.
Sixth Grave on the Edge, Darynda Jones (Macmillan Audio, $39.99, 8 CDs, 10 hours, 978-1-4272-3938-9) Unabridged audio version of Sixth Grave on the Edge read by Lorelei King.
Born of Fury, Sherrilyn Kenyon (Macmillan Audio, $49.99. 14 CDs, 17 hours, 978-1-4272-3934-1) Unabridged audio version of Born of Fury read by Fred Berman.
Home from the Sea, Mercedes Lackey (Brilliance Audio, $14.99, 10 CDs, 12 hours: 16 minutes, 978-1-4805-9218-6) Unabridged audio version of Home from the Sea read by Kate Reading.
Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey (Brilliance Audio, $14.99, 10 CDs, 11 hours: 44 minutes, 978-1-4805-9222-3) Unabridged audio version of Steadfast read by Carmela Corbett.
Spell or High Water, Scott Meyer (Brilliance Audio, $14.99, 10 CDs, 11 hours: 46 minutes, 978-1-4915-1924-0) Unabridged audio version of Spell or High Water read by Luke Daniels.
Heirs of Grace, Tim Pratt (Brilliance Audio, $9.99, 1 CD, 9 hours: 54 minutes, 978-1-4915-2071-0) Unabridged audio version of Heirs of Grace read by Leslie Hull.
The Kraken Project, Douglas Preston (Macmillan Audio, $39.99, 10 CDs, 12 hours: 30 minutes, 978-1-4272-4383-6) Unabridged audio version of The Kraken Project read by Scott Sowers.
Koko Takes a Holiday, Kieran Shea (Brilliance Audio, $19.99, 8 CDs, 9 hours, 978-1-4805-2306-7) Unabridged audio version of Koko Takes a Holiday read by Hillary Huber.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
The Burroughs Bulletin No. 88 (Fall 2011), quarterly publication of the Burroughs Bibliophiles, Inc., with articles on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s life and works, plus letters and reviews. Information: Henry G. Frank III, 318 Patriot Way, Yorktown, VA 23693-4639; phone: (573) 647-0225; e-mail:
Instant Message No. 905 (May 21, 2014) and No. 906 (June 4, 2014), twice monthly newsletter of the New England Science Fiction Association, with news, meeting minutes, convention information, etc. Information: NESFA Clubhouse, 504 Medford Street, Somerville MA 02145; phone: (617) 625-2311; fax: (617) 776-3243; e-mail:
Mythprint Vol. 51, No. 1/2 (Winter/Spring 2014), quarterly review of the Mythopoeic Society, with news, reviews, etc. Non-member subscription: $25.00 per year US, $32.00 Canada and Mexico, $41.00 elsewhere. Information: Mythopoeic Society Orders Department, PO Box 6707, Altadena CA 91003-6707; e-mail:
The NASFA Shuttle Vol. 34 No. 5 (May 2014), monthly newsletter of the North Alabama Science Fiction Association. NAS
FA news, reviews, etc. Single copy: $2.00. Membership: $25/year, subscription only: $15/year. Information: NASFA, Inc., PO Box 4857, Huntsville AL 35815-4857.
The SFWA Bulletin Vol. 48 No. 1 (Spring 2014), journal of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, published quarterly, with articles, news, dialogues, market reports, etc. Free to members; for others, $10.00 per issue, $40.00 per year. Write SFWA, Inc., PO Box 3238, Enfield CT 06083-3238; e-mail:
CATALOGS RECEIVED
Cargo Cult Books & Notions, 2804 Stuart St., Berkeley CA 94705, phone: (510) 549-3018; e-mail:
Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore/Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore; 2864 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis MN 55407; phone: Uncle Hugo’s: (612) 824-6347; Uncle Edgar’s: (612) 824-9984; e-mail:
Return to In This Issue listing.
CORY DOCTOROW: SECURITY IN NUMBERS
Edward Snowden wasn’t the first person to leak information about US mass surveillance. The mass surveillance story has been unfolding since an AT&T technician called Mark Klein blew the whistle on the NSA in 2006, but the Snowden story is the first one that’s caught and held the public’s interest for more than a brief moment. I wish I knew why that was. I suspect that if you knew what made the Snowden leaks news for a year and more, you could use that knowledge to run the most successful political campaign of the century or found a global religion.
I know that, for me, the story has an incredibly compelling one-two, lurching rhythm. First, we learn about some new way in which the NSA and its allies have been invading our privacy on a breathtaking scale, say, by putting whole countries under surveillance. Then we learn about a new way in which the spies have sabotaged the security of some vital class of computers or networks. Ka-pow! Not only are you being spied upon in ways that make Orwell look like an optimist, but whatever tool you thought you could trust with your digital life has been compromised and has been abetting the surveillance. One-two.
Cory Doctorow
But there’s good news in the Snowden story, and its longevity. The wider public seems to finally give a damn about security and privacy, topics that have been hopelessly esoteric and nerdy until this moment. It makes a huge difference in all kinds of policy questions. Back when AT&T and T-Mobile were considering their merger, the digital policy people I knew talked about how the new megacompany would be an irresistible target for spies, with a bird’s-eye view of who you were, where you were, who you knew, and what you did with them, but this argument got almost zero play on the wider stage. Back then, talking about how cops and spies might view a telcoms merger as a surveillance opportunity made you sound like a swivel-eyed paranoid loon. Today – post-Snowden – it makes you sound like someone who’s been paying attention.
At last, people who aren’t computer experts are starting to worry about the security of computers. It’s a glorious day, seriously. Finally, there’s a group of people who aren’t computer experts who want to use security tools like GPG
That’s outstanding news. If normal people are using this stuff, it’ll start to get user-interfaces that are comprehensible to normal people – interfaces that don’t assume a high degree of technical knowledge. There’s a certain view that the reason these tools tend to be complex is that security is Just Hard, which may be so, but it didn’t help that everyone who knew enough to care about technological privacy measures was also someone who understood technology well enough to get past a clunky interface.
If you’re just getting to this stuff, welcome. Seriously. We need everyone to be worried about this stuff, and not just because it will help us get governments to put a leash on the spies. More important is the fact that security isn’t an individual matter.
A really good way to understand this is to think about e-mail. Like many longtime Internet users, I was suspicious of Google’s Gmail and decided that I’d much rather host my own e-mail server, and download all my incoming mail my laptop, which is with me most of the time (I also have a backup or two, in case I lose my laptop), but over time, lots of other people started using Gmail, including a large slice of the people I correspond with. And they don’t host their own e-mail. They don’t pull their mail off the server and move it to a computer that’s with them at all times. They use Gmail, like a normal person, and that means that a huge slice of that ‘‘private’’ e-mail I send and receive is sitting on Google’s servers, which are pretty well maintained, but are also available for mass surveillance through NSA programs like Prism.
Effectively, that means that I’m a Gmail user too, even though I pay to host and maintain my own mail server. This is a point that was well made by Benjamin Mako Hill in an essay in May, at
For me to be secure against a raid on Google’s servers, I have to convince you to take action. Ideally, we’d all host our own mail – and hell, we’d even reform the weird, old Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 that lets the cops do a warrantless request for any file that’s more than six months old. But even though that day is a long way off, there’s still things we can do today to protect our privacy, if we do them together.
Take GPG, the e-mail privacy tool I mentioned a few paragraphs back. If we both use GPG to encrypt our e-mail, the NSA can’t read our e-mail anymore, even if it’s on Gmail’s servers. They can still see that we’re talking to each other, who else is CC’ed, where we are when we send the e-mail (tracing our IP addresses), and so forth, but the actual payload is secure. For modern messaging, well, if we just throw away technologies that are proprietary (and should thus be presumed to have something wrong with them – if no one is allowed to see how they work, there’s a pretty good chance the company that made them is kidding itself about how secure they are), technologies that are known to be insecure, and technologies that are known to be compromised (like Skype, which is the electronic equivalent of wearing a CCTV that feeds directly to the NSA), then we’re left with stuff like OTR, which actually works. With OTR, there’s not even subject lines, CCs, and IP addresses to data-mine.
The fact that security can’t be an individual matter isn’t surprising when you think about it. Road-safety is collective, too: it doesn’t matter how defensively you drive, if everyone else is a lunatic. So is health security: as the anti-vaccination movement has shown us, without herd immunity, we’re all at risk. Even society itself can be thought of as a collective security exercise: through legitimate laws made by legitimate governments, we set out the rules, the administrative systems, and the punishments by which we’ll all be secure.
For example, the Framers of the US Constitution tacked on a whole Bill of Rights full of security measures that would keep people safe from their governments. There are ideas like the Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
These set out an unambiguous way in which we – the people – collectively opt to keep ourselves secure from abuses of authority. Now that the word about electronic security and privacy has started to get around, maybe we can get the NSA to start obeying the law.
–Cory Doctorow
Return to In This Issue listing.
SPOTLIGHT ON: JOSHUA BILMES, AGENT
Joshua Bilmes is the president of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which he founded in 1994. He has been an agent for over 27 years, having made his professional debut at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency in 1986 soon after graduating from the University of Michigan with a BA in History. JABberwocky was home-based from its founding in 1994 until 2012, when it moved into actual office space, followed soon after by the establishment of a separate foreign rights desk within the agency. Joshua, like most parents, was sad and proud to see his child growing up and moving out of the house. Imagine his surprise when the office and the agency staff both needed to double in size within a year. His clients include Charlaine Harris, Brandon Sanderson, Elizabeth Moon, and Peter V. Brett, among others.
Tell us about how you became a literary agent.
The short answer is that the first job offer I got after college was from the Scott Meredith Literary Agency.
The longer answer is that I got hooked on SF/F by reading stories like ‘‘Sandkings’’ by George R.R. Martin and ‘‘Unaccompanied Sonata’’ by Orson Scott Card in Omni Magazine in the late ’70s, started reading more widely in the field, and when I was in high school, started sending Stan Schmidt letters every month critiquing each new issue of Analog. These letters inspired Betsy Mitchell, then the associate editor at Analog and today a freelance editor and SF/F consultant for Open Road Media, to offer me freelance work when she left Analog to help Jim Baen launch Baen Books. That was my introduction to publishing, which I took to immediately, and of course it helped when I applied at Scott Meredith that I knew people like Stan Schmidt and Betsy Mitchell.
Locus, July 2014 Page 8
