The bestselling author of military thrillers, a Putnam staple for years, is taking his next two books to the William Morrow imprint at HarperCollins. Morrow/Avon executive v-p Michael Morrison made the world English rights deal with Brown's agent, Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group, and the books will be edited by executive editor Henry Ferris. HarperCollins already publishes Brown in the U.K. and will continue to do so. The first of the two hardcovers will appear in spring 2003, and the deal also calls for rights to four Brown mass market originals in his Dreamland series to switch to Avon from Berkley. (For those wondering whether this represents the flight of a big commercial author from Putnam in the wake of Phyllis Grann's impending departure, the elements of the deal were in place some time before that was announced.)