Tor Teen Re-ups Porter
After finding early success with the recently released Vassa in the Night (Sept. 20), Tor Teen has inked a new deal with the book’s author, Sarah Porter. Susan Chang, senior editor at Tor Teen, took world rights to two new standalones by Porter, in a deal brokered by Kent D. Wolf at the Friedrich Agency. The first book, Never-Contented Things, is slated for fall 2018 and is about, Tor said, two siblings who are trapped in an alternate reality that “appears to be a precise replica of the college town where they’ve been living with their foster parents.” The second book is currently untitled and set for a winter 2020 publication.
Game Designer Lands at Skyhorse
Chelsey Emmelhainz at Skyhorse nabbed North American rights to the debut novel by Michael Fiegel, Blackbird. Fiegel, a Seattle-based game designer, was represented by Chris Kepner at Victoria Sanders & Associates. Kepner said the novel is a literary thriller that follows two sociopaths—one a killer for hire and the other a woman he kidnapped as a young girl and raised as his protégé. The book, slated for fall 2017, is, Kepner added, “nimbly paced” with “a biting social commentary à la American Psycho.”
Dahl Gets ‘Awkward’ at Portfolio
In a North American rights acquisition, Portfolio’s Eric Nelson bought Melissa Dahl’s narrative nonfiction work, This Is Awkward. Dahl is the editor of the New York magazine Web vertical Science of Us, and the book, sold by Joanna Volpe and Mackenzie Brady Watson at New Leaf Literary & Media, is subtitled Why Some People Are Comfortable in Any Situation—and Some Never Are. Volpe said it offers an examination of “the often misunderstood concept of social awkwardness.” The book, which marks Dahl’s debut, is scheduled for fall 2017.
Berkley Buys Latest from Les Becquets
In a six-figure, world rights deal, Danielle Perez at Berkley bought a novel by Diane Les Becquets, tentatively titled The Last Woman in the Forest. The book is the author’s sophomore effort, following Breaking Wild, which Berkley published in February; that book became the imprint’s first title to be named an Indie Next Pick. Michelle Brower at Zachary Schuster Harmsworth brokered the sale for Les Becquets, who teaches in the M.F.A. program at Southern New Hampshire University. The novel, Berkley said, follows a canine handler who falls for her mentor. Set in Alberta and the American west, the book, which is scheduled for 2018, sees the heroine make a shocking discovery after her mentor dies; Berkley said “she begins to piece together clues that suggest he might have been a serial killer—and she was going to be his next victim.”
‘Bachelor’ Producer Sells Self-Help Book
Elan Gale, who is the executive producer of The Bachelor, sold a humorous self-help book called You’re Not That Great (But Neither Is Anyone Else) to Maddie Caldwell at Grand Central. In addition to his reality TV job, Gale runs two popular Instagram accounts, @textsfromyourex and @tindernightmares, which Grand Central said have a combined five million followers. Caldwell took North American rights to the book, which is scheduled for December 2017, from Jess Regel at Foundry Literary + Media. Grand Central added that the book will “show readers how to harness their own innate self-loathing in order to succeed.”
Mira Nabs New Deveraux Series
In a high six-figure three-book deal, Margaret Marbury at Mira took North American rights to a new series by Jude Deveraux called Medlar Mysteries. Deveraux, a bestselling author, was represented by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group; he noted that there are more than 60 million copies of her books in print. The series follows a middle-class woman who, Gottlieb said, “returning from her former glory days,” agrees to host her niece at her home, where a young man is also recovering, having been involved in an accident “conflated with murder.” The heroine watches with jealousy as the relationship between the young man and her niece deepens; then a tree falls in her backyard revealing “two skeletons twisted in the roots, thereby untangling many secrets.” The author retained audio rights in the deal.
Briefs
Julie Piatt and Rich Roll (Plantpower Way) sold North American rights to Plantpower Italia to Lucia Watson at Avery. The cookbook features plant-based recipes for Italian staples; the publisher said the title, which Byrd Leavell at Waxman Leavell Literary sold, is “an homage to the incredible food of Italy, such as pizza, gelato, pastas, and sauces.”
Rowman & Littlefield’s Suzanne Staszak-Silva took world rights to Nick Chen and David Tabatsky’s Rx for Hope: A Cancer Model to Optimize the Immune System Integrating Low Dose Chemotherapy and Complementary Medicine. Chen is an M.D. and Ph.D. and the book is slated for July 2017. Nancy Rosenfeld represented the authors.
This article has been corrected. An earlier version incorrectly listed the title of Sarah Porter's book in the first item.
