Author Laini Taylor, widely known for her bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone YA fantasy trilogy, has signed a deal for three new novels with her publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. First up is The Muse of Nightmares, a gothic-flavored fantasy scheduled for fall 2016. In a statement, Taylor said she was excited to be finally writing “this story that’s been in my head for about two decades.” She went on to describe the basic concept: “There was a war between men and gods, and men won. The few surviving children of the gods have grown up in hiding, dreading the day they know must come: when humans find them, and end them. That day is at hand.” According to Taylor’s editor, Alvina Ling, v-p and editor-in-chief at LBYR, the forthcoming trio of titles is not planned as a trilogy and most likely will not take place in the same world. A topic for one of the subsequent books has been tentatively agreed upon, and the third project will be open to Taylor’s inspiration. Ling negotiated the three-book deal for world print (excluding U.K.), electronic, and audio rights with Jane Putch of Eyebait Management. Muse will have a simultaneous release in the U.K. from Hodder & Stoughton.
The Daughter of Smoke & Bone books have been optioned for film by Universal Pictures (with producer Joe Roth attached), and the final installment of the trilogy, Dreams of Gods & Monsters, will be published in paperback on July 7. To generate buzz for the paperback edition, Little, Brown has organized a social media promotion that features exclusive bonus material. Beginning June 13, and running through the end of the month, fans are invited to post their favorite quote from the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy using the hashtag #UnlockLainiTaylor on social media. Once a total of 613 hashtags is reached (613 is the number of pages in Dreams of Gods & Monsters), Little, Brown will make available a 2500-word, never-seen early chapter that inspired Daughter of Smoke & Bone. The bonus chapter will be released via the Genius annotation platform on the publisher’s YA fan community website theNOVL.com.
