Den Patrick - Witchsign - Signs New Three Book Deal In The Ashen Empire Series ( HarperVoyger)

Natasha Bardon, Publishing Director at HarperVoyager has bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to three books including WITCHSIGN by Den Patrick from Julie Crisp Literary Agency. WITCHSIGN will be the first of three books in The Ashen Empire series.

It has been seventy-five years since the dragons’ rule of fire and magic was ended. Out of the ashes, the Solmindre Empire was born. Since then the tyrannical rulers have worked hard to banish all manifestations of the arcane from existence. However, children are still born bearing the taint of the arcane, known to all as ‘witchsign’. Vigilants of the Synod are sent out across the continent to find and capture all those bearing the mark.

No one knows when they’ll will appear and enforce the Empire’s laws.

But they’re coming. And gods help those who bear the sign of the witch.

Natasha Bardon said: ‘I’m delighted to welcome Den Patrick to the list. Den is a gifted writer and this new trilogy is packed full of the fantastically complicated and deep characters that readers have come to expect from Den’s work.’

Den Patrick is the author of the Erebus Sequence, published in 2014. The first installment, The Boy Who Wept Blood, was longlisted for British Fantasy Society Best Newcomer in 2015. He lives in London with his fiancée and their two cats.

Den Patrick says:  'I am delighted to sign with Harper Voyager and introduce readers to a world of Vinterkveld, with its many dangers, adventures, and surprises.'

Julie Crisp said: 'With all the grit and imagination fantasy readers of Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence love, Den's series is a perfect fit for Voyager. We're very excited to be working with Natasha and the team there.'

EXCITING NEWS: Usborne has bought the UK/Commonwealth Rights for Will Hill - After the Fire New YA Novel

After the Fire is about a girl who, after growing up in an isolated community, starts to discover that everything she once believed is a lie. 17-year-old girl called Moonbeam. A desert religious cult. Psychiatrists and FBI Agents. Sounds Really good Will!

Hill, who previously wrote the Department 19 series (Harper Collins Children's Books), was inspired by the story of the 1993 Waco siege, which was when the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to raid the property of the Branch Davidians, a religious group in Waco, Texas, resulting in deaths on both sides.

Fiction director Rebecca Hill, who bought the rights from Charlie Campbell at Kingsford Campbell, said: “Will Hill is currently known for his action-packed plots in Department 19, and with After the Fire he will become known for writing a literary novel which is absorbing, truthful, and beautiful too. A story of identity and vulnerability, where freedom is denied at every turn – this book will break your heart and make you question: would I have the strength to act in the same way?”

Publication is scheduled for February 2017.

Publishers News: Paul Magrs Signs New YA Book Deal - Lost on Mars 2105

Wales-based children’s and young adult publisher Firefly Press has acquired a YA science fiction title by Dr Who novel writer Paul Magrs.
 
Lost on Mars, which will be published in spring 2015, tells the story of Lora and her family, who are human settlers on the red planet and struggling to survive.
 
“I wanted to write a science fiction epic set on another planet, about human beings surviving in incredible new circumstances and encountering mysterious and fascinating new ideas,” said Magrs. “It’s a kind of blend of the best elements of classic children’s fiction, such as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, and Golden Age space operas such as Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles.”
 
Firefly publisher Penny Thomas, which acquired world rights from literary agent Charlotte Robertson at United Agents, said she was “delighted” to sign Magrs and described the book as a “thrilling read from a terrific writer”.
 
Magrs has written more than 25 original Dr Who novels for BBC Books, as well as YA title Exchange (Simon & Schuster Children's), which was shortlisted for the Book TrustTeen Book Award in 2006 and longlisted for the Carnegie in 2007.

Publisher News: Strange Chemistry Signs Danielle Jensen

Strange Chemistry, the YA imprint of Angry Robot Books, is delighted to announce the signing of Danielle Jensen, in a three-book World English Rights deal concluded by Strange Chemistry’s editor Amanda Rutter and Tamar Rydzinski of the Laura Dail Literary Agency. The first of the three books is called Stolen Songbird and will be published by Strange Chemistry in early 2014. About Danielle Jensen Danielle was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. At the insistence of the left side of her brain, she graduated in 2003 from the University of Calgary with a bachelor’s degree in finance. But the right side of her brain has ever been mutinous; and in 2010, it sent her back to school to complete an entirely impractical English literature degree at Mount Royal University and to pursue publication. Much to her satisfaction, the right side shows no sign of relinquishing its domination. Danielle can be found on her website danielleljensen.com as well as on Twitter @dljensen_ About Stolen Songbird For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy... Trolls are said to love gold. They are said to live underground and hate humans. They are said to be evil.  When Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and sold to the trolls, she finds out that there is truth in the rumours, but there is also so much more to trolls than she could have imagined. Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus, the city she hadn’t even known existed under Forsaken Mountain: escape. But the trolls are inhumanly strong. And fast. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity. But something strange happens while she’s waiting - she begins to fall in love with the handsome, thoughtful troll prince that she has been bonded and married to. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods - part troll/part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader. As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter from Goshawk’s Hollow. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch.

Book News: Hodder Children’s acquires new Charlie Fletcher series

Reported by the bookseller

Hodder Children's Books has acquired a new fiction series by author of the bestselling Stoneheart trilogy, Charlie Fletcher.

Publishing director Anne McNeil bought world rights in all languages for the new series, which will be linked to Stoneheart, from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown UK.

The new trilogy is aimed at children aged 9+, and the first book, The Dragon's Shield, will be published in March 2014. The story sees something dark awoken at the British Museum, and it has stopped time, freezing the city in its tracks; the people became like statues, and the statues find they can move. Two children in Great Ormond Street Hospital are the only ones not frozen, and they witness a terrifying fight between a city dragon and a golden girl that has far-reaching consequences.

Press Release: HarperCollins Signs Chris Columbus For New Book Series

                                                 

HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS SIGNS DIRECTOR CHRIS COLUMBUS FOR NEW BOOK SERIES

DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER TO PEN MIDDLE-GRADE SERIES WITH BESTSELLING

TEEN AUTHOR NED VIZZINI

New York, NY/ London (January 5, 2012)—HarperCollins Publishers announced today that it has preempted rights to a three-book middle-grade series, House of Secrets by iconic Hollywood director and producer Chris Columbus, co-authored by acclaimed young adult novelist Ned Vizzini. This is Columbus’s debut series for young readers with the first book slated for global publication in Spring 2013.

Master storytellers Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini have created a high-stakes fantasy,” said Balzer. “From the very first page I knew we had to publish this series. It’s an incredibly imaginative adventure with clever plot twists and nonstop action—not to mention a family that readers will immediately fall in love with. House of Secrets has all the hallmarks of a new classic."

Denwood added, “Combining classic adventure with sublime offbeat humor, and with three brilliant siblings at its heart, this has the potential to be the next big series. It's going to be epic.”

“The opportunity to write this novel is a dream come true," said Columbus. "I have lived with the characters of this novel and their world for many years, and was saving them for something very special. Working on House of Secrets with Ned has been a thrill.”

The Pagett kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games . . . But everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly acentury earlier by a troubled fantasy writer with a penchant for the occult. Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff's dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Pagett family's secret history and save their parents . . . and maybe even the world.