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JON COURTENAY GRIMWOOD is now represented by John Jarrold Literary Agency.

LYNNE M. THOMAS and MI­CHAEL DAMIAN THOMAS were amicably divorced on April 2. Un­canny Magazine is now entirely under the ownership of Michael Damian Thomas per the divorce settlement.

 

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S.A. CHAKRABORTY sold an untitled novel and another book to David Pomerico at Harper Voyager US for seven figures via Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates.

BRANDON SANDERSON and PE­TER ORULLIAN sold contemporary fantasy Songs of the Dead, first in the Strata Wars trilogy, and two more books to Marcus Gipps at The Broken Binding Press via Stevie Finegan of Zeno Agency on behalf of Joshua Bilmes of the JABberwocky Agency.

CHRISTOPHER RUOCCHIO sold short story collection Songs of the Sun Eater, “set in the world of the galaxy-spanning saga,” and another book to Aranya Jain at DAW via Danny Baror of Baror International. UK rights went to Nicolas Cheetham at Head of Zeus.

CL HELLISEN’s The Shape of Monsters and A Million Points of Light went to Bella Pagan at Tor UK via Caro Clarke of Portobello Literary.

GENOVEVA DIMOVA’s The Trav­elling Museum of Witchcraft went to Stephanie Stein at Tor via Brenna English-Loeb of Transatlantic Literary Agency. UK rights sold to Amanda Raybould at Solaris.

JENNIFER G. BLAKE’s Midnight at the Immortalium, “pitched as Ocean’s Eleven but fantasy,” and an­other book sold to Sareer Khader at Ace at auction via Samantha Fabien of Root Literary.

VAISHNAVI PATEL’s The Library of Lost Time went to Natalie Hallak at Ballantine via Jordan Hill of New Leaf Literary & Media.

SAARA EL-ARIFI’s Sinnerman, “following an immortal who masquer­ades as a detective but consumes sins to survive,” and another book went to Mika Kasuga at Union Square & Co in a pre-empt via Ginger Clark of Ginger Clark Literary on behalf of Juliet Mushens. UK rights to Sinner­man and two more books went to Charlotte Trumble at Harper Voyager UK via Juliet Mushens of Mushens Entertainment.

KATIE SIEGEL sold One for the Books to Shannon Plackis at Avon A via Melissa Jeglinski of The Knight Agency.

M.O. WALSH sold near-future story L3K to Gabriella Mongelli at Little, Brown in a pre-empt via Renée Zuck­erbrot of Massie McQuilkin & Altman.

JULIE BUXBAUM sold The Past Selves Club to Margo Shickmanter at Avid Reader Press via Jennifer Joel of CAA. UK rights went to Joanna Lee at Juniper.

CATHERINE LEROUX sold Re­public of Glass set in a near-future Montreal and translated by Katia Grubisic, to Sally Howe at Scribner via Jacqueline Ko of The Wylie Agency. Canadian rights went to Nicole Win­stanley at Scribner Canada via Jessica Bullock of The Wylie Agency UK.

TANIA MALIK’s Vanished Crea­tures sold to Emily Griffin at Holt, at auction via Nicki Richesin at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

NAINA KUMAR’s Diamond of the Rebellion, “pitched as a speculative reimagining of the Victorian era” fol­lowing an Indian princess, went to Sarah Blumenstock at Ace in a pre-empt. Kumar’s modern paranormal romance You’ve Been Ghosted went to Kara Cesare at Bantam Dell via Johanna Castillo of Writers House. Gabby Colangelo will edit.

JOANNA RUTH MEYER sold two books in the cozy fantasy series Tea & Wizardry to Marilyn Brigham at 47North via Sarah Gerton while part of New Leaf Literary & Media.

JEFF WHEELER sold The Last Harbinger and two more books to Elizabeth Agyemang at 47North.

ROBERT CHARLES WILSON’s 40 Million Years of Summer sold to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publica­tions via Shawna McCarthy of The McCarthy Agency.

DAVID LISS sold The Death and Birth of Iliana Marek to Jacob Weis­man at Tachyon Publications. Rick Klaw will edit.

AUSTON HABERSHAW’s fantasy novel In Her Exquisite Clutches to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publica­tions via Joshua Bilmes of JABber­wocky Literary Agency. Jaymee Goh will edit.

RR HAYWOOD’s “multiverse ad­venture novel” Changing Worlds sold to George Sandison at Titan Books via Anthony Harvison of The Double Agents.

HANNA HEDGEWARD sold fan­tasy novel Fallow Lies the Blood to Katie McGuire at Alcove Press via Amy Giuffrida of Belcastro Agency.

LASHAWN M. WANAK’s short sto­ry collection The Works of Her Hands sold to Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press via Kristopher O’Higgins of Scribe Agency.

MARIA DONG’s “steampunk adult fantasy mystery” Pastiche went to Laurie Johnson at Severn House via Amy Bishop-Wycisk of Trellis Literary Management.

LUKE BECKSTRAND’s Spark of Life and books two to six in the Axion series went to Sally O’Keefe at Primera.

BRENDON TAYLOR’s In Tune for Murder, An Overture to Murder, and books three to five in the George Picardi Mysteries series; as well as The Apothecant, The Bloodstone Curse, Counting in the Dark, The Archivist, and The Bloodstone War; went to Tanya Anne Crosby at Primera in two separate deals.

KELLY FAE WILSON sold Unravel­ing Fate, Weaving Fate, and Balanc­ing Fate to Sally O’Keefe at Primera.

DAVID LAWRENCE MORSE sold “speculative literary novel” The Oc­cident to Jaynie Royal at Regal House.

Four books in an untitled litRPG series by SHAMI STOVALL went to Rhett Bruno at Aethon & Vault via Drew Gilmour of Achilles Literary Agency.

NORET FLOOD’s Conduit series sold to Rhett Bruno at Aethon & Vault via Drew Gilmour of Achilles Literary Agency.

LINDARAE SANDE’s historical fan­tasy titles A Bloom for a Blacksmith, A Hero for a Housekeeper, A Maiden for a Monster, A Lookalike for a Lord, A Mate for a Methuselah, and An Inamorata for an Immortal went to Kathryn Le Veque at Dragonblade Moonrise.

SHANNON IWANSKI sold The Wages of Sin, first in a “supernatural queer detective noir” series, plus Burned by a Cold Kiss, They Must Be Fed, Renaming the Dead, and To-Be-Dead Pile to Staci Troilo at Rogue River via Metamorphosis Liter­ary Agency.

MORGAN BRIDGES’s dystopian romance trilogy, The Nocturnal Se­quence, went to Stephanie Beard at Podium Publishing for seven figures.

REBECCA ROSS sold A Bitter­sweet Spell and two more books to Julia Elliott at Harper Voyager US via Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media. UK rights sold to Elizabeth Vaziri at Harper Voyager UK.

LYNN CAHOON’s Black Mountain Magic, first in the Enchanted Moun­tain Bakery Mysteries series, and two more titles went to Michaela Hamilton at Kensington via Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

TASHIE BHUIYAN’s Double Take and another title went to Carrie Feron at Gallery via Stuti Telidevara and Pete Knapp of Park, Fine & Brower Literary Management.

KIMBERLY LYNN HANSON sold horror fantasy romance I Am the Devouring Dark and another book to Ruth Atkins at Michael Joseph via Bethany Weaver of Weaver Literary Agency.

PENELOPE BLOOM resold Un­bound, the first book in the Conflu­ence Academy series, and sold two more titles to Madeleine Colavita at Forever via Katherine Odom-Tomchin of Folio Literary Management. UK rights went to Jessie Goetzinger-Hall at Headline.

LJ ANDREWS sold Blood in the Ink, first in a dystopian romance series, and another book to Kristine Swartz at Ace via Katie Shea Boutil­lier of Donald Maass Literary Agency.

KASSANDRA ALEXANDER’s The Elevator Glitch, “a Greek and Greek mythology-inspired speculative ro­mantic comedy,” went to Chelsea Villareal at Podium Publishing via Christina Zobel and Susan Velazquez of JABberwocky Literary Agency.

NANCY TUCKER’s Nice Things All the Time went to Katherine Burdon at Quercus in a pre-empt via Hattie Grunewald of The Blair Partnership.

LEAH LOBEL sold contemporary paranormal romance Bleeding Me Dry and another title to Sam Brody at Forever via Emily Forney of BookEnds.

K.A. LINDE sold the “last two” books in the Oak and Holly Cycle to Liz Pelletier at Red Tower via Kimberly Brower at Park, Fine & Brower Liter­ary Management.

N.K. BROWN’s dark romantic fan­tasy A Bounty of Blood and Bargains in the Devil’s Huntress series sold to Lisa Green at City Owl Press.

TI MIKKEL’s Echo of Ashes went to Yelena Casale at City Owl Press.

LESLIE O’SULLIVAN’s fantasy romance Moon Strings went to Lisa Green at City Owl Press.

STEPHANIE MŌSHER’s Flame and Sorrow went to Lisa Green at City Owl Press.

ASHLEY SELLMAN sold A Prison of Stone, first in the Fae of Broken Kingdoms series, and another title to Twisted Words.

JASMINE WIGHAM sold The Library of Botanical Witchcraft to Hannah Bowstead at Headline via Stevie Finegan of Zeno Agency.

ALEXANDRA BRACKEN’s Immor­tal Rose and another book went to Kate Agar at Tempest via Alessandra Birch of Writers House on behalf of Merrilee Heifetz.

GENEVIEVE K. THOMAS sold an untitled cozy romantic fantasy and an­other title to Sophie Judge at Second Sky via Kiya Evans of Paper Literary.

ANGELA MONTOYA’s romantasy The Immortal Undoing sold to Bria Ragin, David Yoon, and Nicola Yoon at Joy Revolution via Larissa Melo Pien­kowski of Azantian Literary Agency.

ISABELLE TAYLOR’s Fake Dating with a Dragon, fifth in the monster romance series Claw Haven, and another book went to Stephanie Doig at Harlequin.

PREMEE MOHAMED and JONA­THAN SIMS’s From the Library of Jurgen Leitner, set in the Magnus Archives universe, and two more books sold to Lydia Estrada at Ran­dom House Worlds via Rusty Quill.

GARETH L. POWELL sold Un­leashed and another book to Fenton Coulthurst at Titan Books via Luci­enne Diver of The Knight Agency.

JESSICA LEWIS sold This House Is Not a Home to Ariana Sinclair at Morrow via Holly Root of Root Literary.

SETH HADDON’s Such Deep Hun­ger and another book sold to Oliver Dougherty at Nightfire via Maeve MacLysaght of Aevitas Creative Management.

TANYA PELL’s A Darkness Rather Blacker went to Kimberly Laws at Gallery via Marcy Posner of Folio Literary Management.

SEAN FERRELL sold In the Fields We Thirst to Ed Schlesinger at Gallery via Alec Shane of Writers House.

K LUCIAN JONES’s Ghosts of Bakersfield went to Justine Norton-Kertson at Android.

J.W. OCKER’s Our Monster Who Art in Heaven sold to Alexandra Murphy at Page Street via Alexander Slater while part of Sanford J. Green­burger Associates.

PETER CLINES sold The Off Sea­son and another title to Peter Wolver­ton at St. Martin’s via David Fugate of LaunchBooks Literary Agency.

REBECCA KENNEY’s “haunted house horroromance” Writhe and two more books sold to Mary Altman at Sourcebooks Casablanca via Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary Agency (world).

JACY MORRIS sold A Town Paint­ed Red, “in which an Indigenous graf­fiti artist… discovers that [Portland] is rotting from the inside out,” to Alex Woodroe at Tenebrous Press.

CARL ANTONOWICZ’s illustrated novel The Wreck and Ascension of the Good Ship Yanqui went to Alex Woodroe at Tenebrous Press.

LESLIE J. ANDERSON’s folk horror Children of the Wrong Heaven went to Randall Lotowycz at Quirk Books via Lane Heymont of The Tobias Liter­ary Agency.

DAVID MASSENGILL sold “queer horror-thriller” Mr. Doppelganger to David-Jack Fletcher at Slashic Hor­ror Press.

MAZEY EDDINGS sold “gothic horromance” The Bargain to Ra­chael Kelly at Dutton at auction via Claire Friedman and Jessica Mileo of Inkwell Management. UK rights went to Soraya Bouazzaoui of Headline Eternal.

PHILIPPA YOUNG sold “para­normal rom-com” Cold Hearts and another book to Holly Ingraham at Sourcebooks Casablanca via Lauren Bieker of FinePrint Literary Manage­ment.

AISLINN BROPHY’s “sapphic high fantasy” The Divinity Thieves went to Polo Orozco at Putnam Children’s via Sarah Fisk at The Tobias Literary Agency.

BRIDGET MORRISSEY sold YA romance I Put a Spell on You to Hannah Hill at Delacorte Romance via Taylor Haggerty of Root Literary. BRIDGET MORRISSEY, AUSTIN SIEGEMUND-BROKA, and EMILY WIBBERLEY writing as E.B. ASHER sold Last Night in Lyris to Priyanka Krishnan at Avon via Taylor Haggerty of Root Literary for Morrissey, and Katie Shea Boutillier of Donald Maass Literary Agency for Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka.

RACQUEL MARIE sold YA con­temporary horror A Different Kind of Murder to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends via Thao Le of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

KENDALL ANNETTE’s YA novels Tylor Whitlock Just Won’t Die and Charlie Burton Has Killer Timing sold to Jennifer Thompson at Scho­lastic for six figures at auction via Bethany Weaver of Weaver Literary Agency.

SARAH PORTER sold YA gothic thriller A Darker Obscure to Alex­andra Aceves at Holiday House via Rebecca Podos at Neighborhood Literary.

HAFSA A. JAWAD resold romanta­sy The Tales of Arcana Fortune and sold sequel The Mirrors of Runisia Winters to Alison Romig at Delacorte via Sophie Sheumaker of BookEnds.

RYAN DOUGLASS’s horror novel Night of Madness and another title sold to Kara Sargent at Simon Pulse via Petersen Harris of Temple Hill Publishing on behalf of Lane Clarke at Ultra Literary.

JO SALAZAR’s If We Survive the Night, If We Survive What Saved Us, and another title sold to Gabbi Cal­abrese at Sourcebooks Fire via Renee Runge and Ali Herring of Spencerhill Associates.

GWENYTH REITZ’s Prom Anom­aly went to Emilia Sowersby at Roar­ing Brook Press via Uwe Stender of TriadaUS Literary Agency.

KALYN JOSEPHSON sold A Drag­onslayer’s Guide to Love, Valor, and Other Myths to Kate Meltzer at Roaring Brook Press, in an exclusive submission via Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency.

ROXANE DE ROUEN’s romantasy duology beginning with She Dies at Dawn went to Brian Geffen at Holt Children’s at auction via Lizzie Bishop of Faber UK.

ROWAN BRIGHTON BROWN’s young adult contemporary fantasy White Trash Witchcraft sold to Al­exandra Aceves at Holiday House via Alexander Slater while part of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

FABIANA MUÑOZ’s The Dead Walk in Pleasant Cove and another book went to Tamara Grasty at Page Street Kids via Vicky Weber of Cre­ative Media Agency.

PAIGE COOPER sold speculative literary debut novel Nulligravida to Martha Sharpe at Flying Books via Samantha Haywood and Eva Oakes of Transatlantic Literary Agency.

SHIRA ERLICHMAN sold debut novel Tangerapple, “set in a lightly speculative version of New York,” to Deborah Garrison at Knopf in a pre-empt via Erika Stevens of Salky Literary Management.

B.N. KING sold debut Wolfboy, first in a trilogy, to Emily Archbold at Del Rey via Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates. UK rights went to Rebecca Hilsdon at Michael Joseph.

MEGAN DANIELS sold Time Sick, “in which one woman travels forward five years in time to solve her own murder, only to find herself falling in love with her future self’s husband,” to Natalie Hallak at Ballantine at auction via Nicole Cunningham of Trellis Liter­ary Management.

JOSIE BULLARD sold Dreams of Ruin and two more books to Andy Dodds at Podium Publishing via Christy Fletcher and Ariele Fredman of UTA on behalf of Alix Frank of DBA. UK rights went to Alexa Allen-Batifou­lier at Del Rey UK at auction via Ciara Finan and Cathryn Summerhayes of Curtis Brown UK.

BRETT RYLAND sold Our Whole Lives Behind Us, following a widower who works for a time travel tourism agency, to MJ Johnston at Source­books Landmark via Jane Dystel of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

MYLEE MILLER sold Heart of Bone to Marcy Harris at Alcove Press via Rachel Estep of D4EO Literary Agency.

JESSE ARAGON sold debut “hor­ror-tinged epic science fantasy” The Demon Star and another book to Marcus Gipps at The Broken Bind­ing Press via Imogen Bovill of Abner Stein on behalf of 2 Seas Agency for DAW Books and John Baker and Julie Gourinchas of Bell Lomax Moreton.

THERESA HUNTER’s debut ro­mantasy Wings of Salt and Storm, first in a series, and another title sold to Kate Prosswimmer at Scarlett Press via Emily Forney of BookEnds.

REMY FINK sold debut Thespians: A Tragedy to Taz Urnov at Hell’s Hun­dred via Claire Harris of Helm Literary.

A.J. JACONO’s speculative debut Yes, Yes went to Katie McGuire at Crooked Lane via Logan Harper of Jane Rotrosen Agency.

ELLIE OWENS sold debut YA dystopian fantasy Cave Jumpers and another book to Madison Pelletier at Mischief Books via Juliana McBride of Rebecca Friedman Literary. Lydia Sharp will edit.

DENE PLEWS’s debut YA roman­tasy Queen of Thieves and another title went to Lydia Sharp at Mischief Books via Cole Lanahan of The Sey­mour Agency.

WEN-YI LEE will edit horror anthol­ogy The Kids Came Back Wrong for Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury Children’s, sold at auction via Isabel Kaufman of Fox Literary. Kei Nakat­suka will edit.

SYLVIE ALTHOFF sold SF novella Trivial Matters, “featuring a transgen­der heroine lost in time,” to Justine Norton-Kertson at Android.

KWAN ANN TAN’s debut “specu­lative literary choose-your-own-adventure novella” The Waiter went to Mika Kasuga at Union Square & Co via Julie Finidori of Aevitas Creative Management UK.

LOUIS BAYARD’s The Night Call­er, “pitched as a Dracula origin story,” went to Jovanna Brinck at Algonquin via Dan Conaway of Writers House.

JAMAL HODGE will edit short story anthology Shards of Gotham: New York City Through the Looking Glass for R.B. Wood at Ruadán.

IVANA GEČEK’s Strange Flowers Blooming from Within, fourth in the Extremities “queer anthology series,” sold to David-Jack Fletcher at Slashic Horror Press.

DARYL GREGORY sold horror no­vella The Porcelain Sisters to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications via Seth Fishman of The Gernert Com­pany. Jaymee Goh will edit.

ROBERT J. SAWYER sold Sawyer on Science Fiction, a “collection of articles, columns, reviews, and speeches,” to Edward Willett at Shad­owpaw Press.

 

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SHEILA MASTERSON resold The Poison Daughter to Nicole Otto at Slowburn for seven figures at auction via Alyssa Morris of Trellis Literary Management. UK rights went to Ra­chel Winterbottom at Wayward TxF at auction via Maddalena Cavaciuti of David Higham Associates on behalf of Allison Malecha and Tori Clayton at Trellis Literary Management.

ERIN AMPERSAND sold Time to Play, Making Friends, Hide and Seek, Breaking Rules, and Running Wild in the litRPG Apocalypse Parent­ing series to Ali Fisher and Maxine Charles at Tor in a pre-empt via Erin Malone of WME.

PIRATEABA resold The Wander­ing Inn and Fae and Fare to David Pomerico at Harper Voyager US via Drew Gilmour of Achilles Literary Agency.

BEN FARTHING resold novella Scurry, pitched as “in the vein” of Good Boy, to John Harlacher at Weird Tales Presents via Lane Heymont of The Tobias Literary Agency.

JACEY BEDFORD’s Psi-Tech trilogy resold to Wizard’s Tower.

ANTHONY TARDIFF’s Mirages resold to Elizabeth Agyemang at 47North via Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency.

Three books in ARCANE CA­DENCE’s New Life As a Max Level Archmage series went to Rhett Bruno at Aethon & Vault. Damian Wassel will edit.

 

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At Tor, ALEXA BEST has been pro­moted to publishing strategy associ­ate, SAMANTHA FRIEDLANDER to associate marketing manager, LIZZY HOSTY to associate manager of pub­lishing strategy, TYRINNE LEWIS has been promoted to senior marketing manager, EMILY MLYNEK to senior director of marketing, ERIN ROBIN­SON to associate manager of publish­ing operations, JESSE SHAMON to AdPromo designer, TIANA TOLBERT to senior social media manager, and BECKY YEAGER to associate director of ad promo and marketing.

ASHLEIGH HEATON has launched Enchantress Marketing, “a full-service book marketing agency specializing in genre fiction and open to tradi­tional, indie, and hybrid authors.” It will offer services including “author brand development and manage­ment, individual title advertising and launch promotions, social media and newsletter strategy, convention planning assistance, website design, backlist support, and publishing consultations.” Heaton was previously director of marketing at Penguin Ran­dom House.

AUTUMN TOENNIS has joined Europa Editions as editor.

CRISTAL SANCHEZ was promoted to national account manager and SHELBY SWEET has joined as as­sociate national account manager for Hachette Book Group.

SARAH GERTON has joined The Caldwell Agency as literary agent and audio rights manager. She was previ­ously at New Leaf Literary.

 

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Film rights to JOE ABERCROM­BIE’s The Devils went to James Cameron at Lightstorm. Abercrom­bie and Cameron will co-write the script.

Film rights to OCTAVIA E. BUT­LER’s Parable of the Sower sold to Warner Bros. Melina Matsoukas and Inga Veronique will produce, along with Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, as well as man­aging director of Butler’s estate Jules Jackson. Matsoukas will direct.

Film rights to BEN MEZRICH’s forthcoming novel The Last Orbit: Genius, Terror, Defiance, and the Race to Avert Apocalypse sold to TriStar Pictures in a pre-empt. Beau Flynn will produce, Matt Shakman will direct, and Josh Friedman will adapt.

Film rights to YA dystopia Tal­ented by SOPHIE DAVIS went to Molly Cusick at ReelShort via Flavia Viotti of Bookcase Literary Agency.

Film rights to AVERY FLYNN’s Head Witch in Charge sold to Molly Cusick at ReelShort.

 

The post People & Publishing Roundup, May 2026 appeared first on Locus.