Scout Nabs Flynn’s Debut
In a two-book North American rights acquisition, Alison Callahan at Scout Press bought Katie M. Flynn’s debut novel, The Living Coast. The book, the publisher said, is a “speculative page-turner” set in a near future in which “the dead can be uploaded to machines and kept in service by the living.” The book is told from multiple points of view and follows a 16-year-old girl who, after embarking on a search for the woman who attempted to kill her, “sets off a chain of events that sweeps from San Francisco to Siberia.” Flynn, who was represented by Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, is a Steinbeck fellow with an MFA from the University of San Francisco. The deal also includes a currently untitled short story collection.

Eisler Re-ups at Amazon for Seven Figures
Barry Eisler closed a seven-figure agreement with Thomas & Mercer for four books. Under the agreement, which Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency inked with Grace Doyle, Eisler is writing a novel titled The Killer Collective that features the characters from his bestselling John Rain and Livia Lone series. The deal also includes a John Rain prequel and two more Livia Lone books. Rennert said The Killer Collective, which is set for February 2019, features Rain and Lone “in a fight against a global conspiracy.”

HarperTeen Gets “Wicked” with Krause
For HarperTeen, Emilia Rhodes bought world English rights to Autumn Krause’s A Dress for the Wicked. Susan Hawk at Upstart Crow Literary, who represented Krause, said she pitched the YA novel as “The Devil Wears Prada meets The Selection.” It follows a 17-year-old named Emmaline Watkins who becomes a “dresser” for a high fashion couture house after winning a contest. Set, Hawk said, in a “reimagined Europe,” Emmaline finds herself thrust into a fiercely competitive world where “her only respite is an attractive young journalist.” The book is slated for summer 2019.

Briefs
Grace Menary-Winefield at Sourcebooks acquired Erica Boyce’s sophomore novel, Lost at Sea, in a world English rights deal. Eric Smith at P.S. Literary sold the book, pitching it as “Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng cowriting The Perfect Storm.” In the book, the disappearance of a beloved fisherman from a small village, Smith said, “stirs up more than grief as hidden secrets bubble to the surface, touching friends, family, and colleagues.” Lost at Sea is set for a spring 2020 publication.

At the small publisher Word Horde, Ross E. Lockhart bought U.S. and Canadian rights to Carrie Laben’s debut novel, A Hawk in the Woods. Laben, a Shirley Jackson Award winner, was represented by Stephen Barbara at Inkwell Management, who said the work of “literary horror” is about two witches—twin sisters who, “when one contracts a fatal illness, enter into a fight over the body of the healthy one.” The novel is set for a February 2019 release.

Adrian Miller (The President’s Kitchen Cabinet) sold Black Smoke: African American Adventures in Barbecue to Elaine Maisner at University of North Carolina Press. Miller, a James Beard–winning author, did not use an agent in the deal, which was for world rights. Maisner said the book, slated for spring 2020, tells “the surprising story of African-Americans’ culinary and business contributions to barbecue and the beloved American foodway.”

For more children’s and YA book deals, see our latest Rights Report.