Platzer’s Brooklyn Starts ‘Burning’ at Atria
Sarah Cantin at Atria Book preempted world rights to Brian Platzer’s debut novel, Bed-Stuy Is Burning. Platzer, who has an M.F.A. from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars program, was represented by Trena Keating at Union Literary. The novel is told from various perspectives and set over the course of a single day as race riots break out in the rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Cantin said the book “tackles race, religion, police brutality, and professional ambition.”
S&S Kids Goes to ‘Zero’ for Prendergast
In a six-figure acquisition at auction, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers’ Zareen Jaffrey bought Gabrielle Prendergast’s teen fantasy series, Zero Repeat Forever. The two-book U.S.-rights deal was brokered by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. Prendergast is Canadian—she published two YA novels with Orca Books, based in Vancouver—and rights to the series have also sold to S&S U.K. and S&S Canada. Zero Repeat Forever, S&S explained, is “part Terminator and part Beauty and the Beast.” It has two central characters: a teenager in Northern Canada named Raven who is one of only a few surviving humans after an attack by creatures called Nyx; and a Nyx warrior named Eighth. When the two cross paths, they find themselves united in their grief and decide to “get Raven and her friends out of the occupied zone, even though for Eighth, the journey means almost certain death.” Book one in the series is set for 2017.
Morrow Storms Shattuck’s ‘Castle’
At William Morrow, Jessica Williams took North American rights to The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. The historical novel, which William Morris Endeavor agent Eric Simonoff sold, is about three German women who form a surrogate family in the aftermath of World War II. Morrow said that each woman carries her own secrets “while discovering what it means to survive, love, and forgive in the aftermath of war.” Shattuck has written for publications including the New Yorker, and her 2003 debut, The Hazards of Good Breeding (Norton), was named a New York Times Notable Book.
NBA Finalist Takes ‘Girl’ to Algonquin Kids
Adele Griffin closed a six-figure, two-book deal with Algonquin Young Readers for her YA novel Your Only Girl. Elise Howard took North American rights in the transaction from Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management. Griffin (Where I Want to Be) is a two-time National Book Award finalist. Only Girl is set in a wealthy section of Fire Island circa 1976 and follows a love triangle in which, van Beek said, “a complete insider and a girl from outside the gilded gates vie for the love of a mysterious newcomer.” The novel is slated for a 2017 release.
Wind Takes ‘Queer History’ to Aladdin
Lindsay Brown at Aladdin’s Beyond Words imprint nabbed world English rights to Lee Wind’s nonfiction middle grade book, The Queer History Project: No Way, They Were Gay? Wind is a writer and LGBTQ activist—he’s behind the popular blog “I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read?”—and was represented in the deal by Danielle Smith at Red Fox Literary. Smith said the book will “explore surprising LGBTQ loves and lives across time and around our world.” The Queer History Project is set for a September 2017 publication.
Briefs
In a five-figure world-rights deal, Mira’s Nicole Brebner took world rights to Meghann Foye’s debut, Meternity. The novel, which will be published in May as a paperback original and edited by Kathy Sagan, is, Mira said, “a brilliant millennial spin on the vanishing love/life/work balance and the hot-button issue of female office politics.” Foye, who was represented by Emma Parry at Janklow & Nesbit, is the senior Web editor at Redbook.
M. William Phelps sold a currently untitled true crime memoir to Michaela Hamilton at Kensington. Phelps, an investigative journalist and prolific true crime author who hosts the Discovery (ID) television series Dark Minds, writes about his friendship with a famous serial killer in the book. Kensington said the killer is someone Phelps used “as a secret source” on the series and, in the book, he reveals “who [the killer is], what happened behind the scenes, the potential identity of a Jane Doe, and the revelation of a new murder victim, buried somewhere on the West Coast.” Phelps was represented in the deal by his manager, Matthew Valentinas.
NOTE: This article has been updated to reflect that M. William Phelps was represented in his book deal by his manager, Matthew Valentinas.
