Harlequin Re-ups Palmer For 7 Figures
Bestseller Diana Palmer signed a new multibook deal with Harlequin worth seven figures. Dianne Moggy and Susan Swinwood brokered the world rights four-book agreement with agent Maureen Walters at Curtis Brown. Under the deal, Palmer will write two hardcovers in her Long, Tall Texans series, and two mass market titles in her Wyoming Men series. Melissa Endlich at Harlequin will be editing the books. The Long, Tall Texans series, set in the fictional town of Jacobsville, Tex., features more than 40 books. The Wyoming Men series, which Palmer began in 2011, is set in the Big Sky region of the titular state. The first Long, Tall Texan title covered under this contract, Defender, is set for July 2016. The first Wyoming Men title under this contract is set for the second half of 2016.

Watts to ‘Save’ Ecco
In a mid-six-figure deal, Ecco editorial director Megan Lynch took North American rights to Stephanie Powell Watts’s debut novel, No One Is Coming to Save Us. Ellen Geiger at the Frances Goldin Agency represented Watts, a professor at Lehigh University who won a Whiting Award and Pushcart Prize for stories featured in her 2011 collection, We Are Taking Only What We Need (BkMk Press at University Missouri–Kansas City). No One, set in a North Carolina town, is loosely inspired by The Great Gatsby and follows the son of an African-American family who, newly rich, returns home to win back his childhood sweetheart. The novel is scheduled for a 2017 release.

Tor Buys Johnston’s ‘Soleri’
In a two-book North American rights deal, Tor’s Robert Gleason bought Soleri, a new epic fantasy series by Michael Johnston. The series, inspired by both ancient Egyptian history and King Lear, marks Johnston’s solo debut, after he coauthored the Heart of Dead series with his wife, Melissa de la Cruz. Soleri, set to debut in spring 2017, follows “a rebellious king, his ambitious daughters, his lost son, and their secrets and struggles for dynastic supremacy,” Tor explained. Richard Abate at 3Arts Entertainment represented Johnston.

Nicolson’s ‘Daughters’ Preempted by FSG
Juliet Nicolson’s nonfiction work A House Full of Daughters was preempted by Jonathan Galassi at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Agent William Clark, who has an eponymous shingle, brokered the sale on behalf of Ed Victor. In the book, Nicolson, whose father cofounded the iconic British publishing house Weidenfeld & Nicolson, explores seven generations of women in her family. Clark called the work a “moving investigation into the nature of family” that follows a cast of exceptional women from 19th-century Spain to WWII-era England, 1960s Chelsea, and 1980s New York City. Nicolson, who’s written two nonfiction books and the novel Abdication, lives in London and Kent, and is president of the Kent Branch of the Jane Austen Society. At FSG, which acquired U.S. and Canadian rights in the deal, Ileene Smith will be editing.The book is currently scheduled for June.

Briefs
New York Times editor Clay Risen sold a nonfiction work called The Rough Riders to Kathy Belden at Scribner in a North American rights deal. The book, which is subtitled Theodore Roosevelt and the Men Who Launched the American Century, was represented by Heather Schroder at Compass Talent. The book, Scribner said, will “explore the motivations behind the Spanish-American War, and the day-by-day narrative of the men who volunteered to fight.”

Kerrelyn Sparks, author of the Avon-published paranormal romance seires Love at Stake, inked a three-book world-rights deal with St. Martin’s Press for a new fantasy romance series. Rose Hilliard acquired the books from Michelle Grajkowski at Three Seas Literary Agency, and the series is set to debut in winter 2016.

At Da Capo, Renee Sedliar took world English rights to The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga by doctors Marlynn Wei and James E. Groves with the editors of Harvard Health Publications. The book, scheduled for spring 2017, offers, Da Capo explained, a simple eight-week program that integrates the physical aspects of yoga (such as the postures) with the breathing and meditation elements. Linda Konner, who has an eponymous shingle, represented the book.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Marlynn Wei's fist name.