HC Goes Turbo with Aslan
At HarperCollins, David Linker took world rights, in a two-book deal, to Austin Aslan’s Turbo Racers: Trailblazer. The book, which is the first in a middle grade series about a 12-year-old named Mace Blazer, was co-sold by Simon Lipskar at Writers House and Paul Lucas at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Temple Hill Entertainment is attached to produce adaptations in all media. The series, Lucas explained, follows Mace as he dreams of joining the Turbonauts, who “race specialized vehicles that morph between superpowered roadsters, high-powered aircrafts, and torpedo-fast submersibles.” Trailblazer is set for winter 2019, and the second book in the deal for 2020.

Newbery Winner to Capstone
In a world rights acquisition, Capstone’s Nick Healy bought Vince Vawter’s YA novel Copyboy. Vawter, who won a Newbery Honor for his 2013 middle grade novel Paperboy (Delacorte), continues the story he started in that 2013 title. Copyboy picks up with Victor Vollmer’s life a few years after Paperboy ends. Anna Olswanger at Olswanger Literary, who represented the author, said that in the new book Victor “finds himself thrust into a strange and violent world as he sets out to find the elusive mouth of the Mississippi River, where Mr. Spiro, the mentor who helped Victor take on his stutter in Paperboy, wants to have his ashes strewn.” Copyboy is set for fall 2018.

Smith Returns Home to Graywolf
Danez Smith, a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in poetry for Don’t Call Us Dead, sold another collection, called Homie, to Graywolf Press. Jeff Shotts took world rights to the title, which is set for 2020. Graywolf said the book is “a powerful testament to finding love, friendship, and community in an unjust and divided America, and celebrating the language that makes us who we are and poetry what it is.” Smith did not use an agent in the deal.

Amazon Nabs French Bestseller Levy
For AmazonCrossing, Elizabeth DeNoma took world English rights to Marc Levy’s novel The Last of the Stanfields. The book, which Laura Mamelok at Susanna Lea Associates sold, was a bestseller in France. Amazon, which called Levy “the most-read contemporary French author worldwide,” said Stanfields gets underway with two anonymous letters that “bring two strangers together to unravel an old family mystery.” AmazonCrossing published Levy’s P.S. from Paris in English in September 2017, and said that book has reached more than 350,000 English-language readers through a combination of sales and downloads. The imprint will release its edition of Stanfields, translated by Daniel Wasserman, in the fall.

Barber Returns to Gallery for Second Book
Kathleen Barber sold U.S., Canadian, and open-market rights to her second novel, Anything for You, to Lauren McKenna, v-p and executive editor at Gallery Books. Lisa Grubka at Fletcher & Co. represented Barber, whose debut, Are You Sleeping, was released by Gallery in August 2017 and has been optioned for a series adaptation by Reese Witherspoon’s production company. The new novel, the Simon & Schuster imprint said, follows a woman whose “online life is turned against her when an obsessive man uses it to stalk and seduce her.”

Pegasus to Play with ‘Lady Tigers’
Dibs Braer sold world rights to her nonfiction book Lady Tigers in the Concrete Jungle to Jessica Case at Pegasus Books. The book, which is subtitled Sisterhood, Softball and Saving Lives in the South Bronx, was sold by J.L. Stermer at New Leaf Literary & Media. Pegasus said the title chronicles the true story of “a ragtag girls softball team and their inspiring coach working together to overcome fear, violence, and crippling doubt to usher in confidence and bring pride to their community, culminating with the team’s dramatic and ultimately triumphant first season.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the title of Danez Smith's forthcoming collection; it's called Homie, not Home. Also, Marcy Levy's novel The Last of the Stanfields will be released by AmazonCrossing in the fall, not in September.