Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has unveiled a new line of curated science fiction and fantasy titles from one of the editors of its Best American series. John Joseph Adams, who edited HMH's first edition of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (February), is getting an eponymous line at the publishing house that will see its first titles released in February.
The initial released from John Joseph Adams Books will be by backlist print editions of Hugh Howey's novels Shift, Dust and Beacon 23. HMH acquired North American print rights to the books from Howey's agent, Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary.
Bruce Nichols, senior v-p and publisher at HMH, said he feels science fiction and fantasy has emerged as one of the industry's "most exciting and literary genres" Adams, who was tapped by HMH to oversee the line after the publisher worked with him on Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, is an author and editor who has overseen numerous other anthologies. He is the publisher and editor of the magazines Nightmare and Lightspeed, and also produces the Wired podcast The Geek's guide to the Galaxy.
Adams, who has been given the title of editor-at-large, said he believes we are in the midst of a "golden age" in science fiction and fantasy literature. He added that, after focusing on publishing short fiction in previous anthologies, he's excited to expand his focus at HMH. "Thus far I’ve devoted my entire career to publishing genre short fiction, but I now look forward to applying that same level of curation to finding the best new novels and new authors.”
