Adult Newsletter: September 2017
UP AND COMING FOR SUBMISSION
Sam Richardson is a fighter pilot’s pilot, a reluctant legend with a painful secret. He is at the end of his tour as an instructor, yearning to get back to the real action of the Fleet, when he is ordered to take on one final class. Brash, carefree, and naturally gifted, Keely Silvers is the embodiment of all that grates on Sam. After years of single-minded dedication, she and her classmates can almost taste the finish line. They are months away from achieving their life-long dream of flying Navy F/A-18 fighters. They are smart and hard-working, but they're just kids with expensive new toys. They’re eager to rush through training and escape to the freedom of a world they view as a playground full of fast jets and exotic locales. But Sam knows there is a darker side to the profession he loves. There is trouble brewing in the East with global implications. If these students make it past him they will be deployed to the South China Sea, where enemy planes cruise the skies loaded with real weapons and hidden intentions. In the world of fighter pilots, the most alpha of the alpha, competition is everything and the stakes are impossibly high. Sam’s unwilling attraction to Keely collides with his obsession with keeping her and his other charges safe. But once they’re airborne, they will have to rely on their character, their courage, and their luck to see them through. A Top Gun for the new millennium, LIONS IN THE SKY by Paco Chierici, a former naval fighter pilot who flew A-6E Intruders and F-14A Tomcats, and deployed to conflict zones from Somalia to Iraq aboard the carriers USS Ranger, Nimitz and Kitty Hawk, propels us into a realm in which friendship, loyalty, and skill are tested, battles are won and lost in an instant, and lives are irrevocably changed in the time it takes to plug in your afterburners.
Preventing climate change is a bit like losing weight. We know exactly what we have to do—reduce use of fossil fuels, invest in renewable energy, consume less—all stuff that sounds like a huge, but necessary, drag. Air travel is fun! Beef tastes good! Long showers are relaxing! The delays on global climate change action mean that we’re probably too late to prevent a two degrees Celsius tipping point rise in global temperatures. Climate change isn’t coming—it’s already here. The question, then, is, “What next? How do we survive and thrive in a warmer world?” In WORLD WITHOUT COFFEE: A SELF-INTERESTED GUIDE TO OUR CLIMATE-CHANGED FUTURE, journalist Lizzie Stark turns her focus on life after climate change in the developed world. Will there still be beef, coffee, and lobster? Are coastal cities prepared for flooding and inland cities prepared for wildfire? How scarce will fresh water be? Will Lyme disease and dengue fever spread? How might climate refugees alter domestic life? What is life like in communities that have already taken drastic steps to reduce emissions? Focusing on Massachusetts, Texas, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, Stark reports on the necessities of life—food, water, and air—as well as the intangibles—safety, belonging, and luxuries—that make life worth living.
Twenty-two-year-old college senior Annika Rose struggles with the social interactions and relationship building that come so easily to her peers. If not for the guidance and support of her roommate, Janice, it’s doubtful she would have been able to navigate campus life at all. Annika knows she’s “different” but her anxiety, compulsive behavior, and inability to decode even the simplest social cues has never been diagnosed and treated. When Annika meets Jonathan Hoffman during her senior year through the University of Illinois Chess Club, she assumes he’ll ignore her the way everyone else has, or worse, bully or take advantage of her. But Jonathan, the quiet and ambitious transfer student, is neither dismissive nor unkind, and he’s the first boy who’s ever bothered to get to know the girl behind the quirks. Jonathan falls in love—fiercely, wholeheartedly—with Annika despite the challenges she brings to the relationship, becoming a safe harbor in her otherwise confusing world. What follows is a tumultuous yet tender love affair that withstands everything except the event that sends Annika fleeing, forcing Jonathan to leave her behind. Now, ten years later, a serendipitous meeting provides them with the opportunity to start over. And Annika vows to show Jonathan that this time, she has what it takes to go the distance. An engrossing tale that includes the bonds of family and the power of female friendship, THE GIRL HE USED TO KNOW, by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Tracey Garvis Graves, is a moving and powerful, second-chance love story about a girl who only wanted to fit in and the boy who helped her learn how.
Perched on a cliff in the frozen highlands of occupied Norway, a towering industrial plant hummed through the night. Inside, a tangle of iron pipes and steel tanks produced a rare and precious fluid known as heavy water. General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, concluded that Nazi scientists were using the heavy water to develop an atomic bomb. On his initiative, Norwegian commandoes scaled the cliff and destroyed the plant. Groves then organized a covert American mission, code-named Alsos, to discover the secrets of the Nazi nuclear program. The mission required bold, resourceful men who could navigate a war zone and apprehend enemy scientists while maintaining absolute secrecy. Boris Pash, a hard-charging, rule-bending Russian-American, led the military operation. Sam Goudsmit, a clever Dutch physicist whose parents had disappeared in a Nazi concentration camp, led the scientific team. Moe Berg, a Jewish major league ballplayer turned spy, was a lone wolf who assumed false identities to collect intelligence and, if necessary, assassinate nuclear experts. When the Allies invaded Europe, the Alsos team followed the front, relying on sharp wits and steady nerves to capture scientists and confiscate nuclear material as they pursued their ultimate target, the head of the Nazi nuclear program, Werner Heisenberg. Mixing military suspense with moments of levity and camaraderie, journalist and historian Michael Wolraich takes readers into the heart of the war: rumbling in an army jeep with Pash as he races ahead of the French tanks that liberated Paris; picking through the ruins of Goudsmit’s childhood home in Holland as he searches for clues of his parents’ fate; listening to Heisenberg lecture a Swiss classroom where Moe Berg, disguised as a physics student, fingers a pistol in his pocket. HUNTING HEISENBERG: INSIDE THE SECRET MISSION TO STOP THE NAZI BOMB reveals the incredible, untold story of this remarkable WWII episode.
Firefighting may be one of the hardest career fields to enter. During the Los Angeles Fire Department’s last hiring cycle, over 10,000 candidates applied for an initial recruit class of 70. In 2015, the Chicago Fire Department had over 18,000 applicants and, post-9/11, over 61,000 aspiring firefighters applied to FDNY in hopes of wearing the badge of “New York’s Bravest.” And once s/he is hired, the firefighter’s job only gets more difficult. Over the course of a firefighter’s career, s/he will contend with exhausting 24-hour shifts, being a rookie at a new fire station, learning all the standard operating procedures, equipment, apparatus, treatment protocols and, of course, responding to all of the intense calls for structure fires, medical emergencies, and motor vehicle accidents. The firefighter will no doubt experience the joys of saving lives, but sadly, the negative effect of this critical and cumulative stress can also lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, PTSD and, in some cases, suicide. Kevin Grange, the author of Lights & Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic, aims to shine a sympathetic and empathetic light on the reality of firefighting with LETTERS TO A YOUNG FIREFIGHTER, modeled after Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. Among other topics, Grange discusses the struggle to get hired, the intense training, the horrific calls, and the bond between men and women in situations where their very survival depends on the other firefighters on the hoseline with them. Part-practical guide and part-philosophical treatise, LETTERS TO A YOUNG FIREFIGHTER celebrates teamwork, discipline, courage, selfless service, and overcoming obstacles and fear, and offers essential advice, practical tips, and timeless wisdom for those seeking a life in the fire service.
By all rights, Caylin Louis Moore should be dead, in prison, or strutting the streets of Compton with a blood red bandana wrapping up his dreads and a Glock 9 in his waistband. Instead, he’s a newly minted Rhodes Scholar, motivational speaker, and role model for every kid who wants out of a place like Compton. Moore’s future is only that much brighter for the darkness behind him. In DREAMS TOO BIG: MY JOURNEY FROM COMPTON TO OXFORD, Moore details his exodus through one of the worst impoverished, gang-infested neighborhoods in LA, to his Rhodes Scholarship interview amid the hushed, somber stacks of the Los Angeles Public Library’s rare books reading room. After his mother gathered her three young children and fled an abusive husband, leaving behind a comfortable middle-class life, Moore found himself in a dangerous urban jungle. And, after Moore’s father was convicted of murder and his mother was sexually assaulted in the hospital while recovering from open-heart surgery, Moore was forced to step up as the man of the house at nine years old. DREAMS TOO BIG describes in vivid detail the crushing poverty Moore and his family experienced and paints a vivid picture of institutional social inequality. Embracing his mother’s steely faith in God and the church, Moore skirted the gangs and the endemic violence of Compton to excel on the football field and in the classroom. Football led to college scholarships, which led to a Fulbright and eventually the Rhodes. Along the way, Moore cofounded a non-profit that brought college athletes into underprivileged classrooms as motivational speakers, role models and mentors. Ultimately, his eye-opening, inspirational story proves that contrary to what others told him along the way, there is no such thing as DREAMS TOO BIG.
Sharks. One simple word conjures frightening images of savage jaws and ominous fins. Yet, despite our fear of sharks, perhaps these fearsome predators should be more afraid of us. More than 100 million sharks are killed each year, mostly for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup. As a result, more than a third of all shark species are headed for extinction. The oceans face a dire future without these top predators to keep ecosystems balanced. Rob Mottice and Debbie Salamone join forces in SHARKS: FEAR, FASCINATION, FORGIVENESS to explore the science of sharks—from how they behave and mate to why they are hunted and what they mean to the oceans and humanity. Both Rob and Debbie approach sharks from different perspectives: Mottice, a marine biologist, holds one of the most rare and dangerous jobs on the planet, capturing sharks for aquarium display. As a so-called “shark cowboy,” Mottice wrestles the beasts, transports them hundreds of miles across land and then helps them adjust to life in a tank. Salamone, an environmental journalist, on the other hand, found her life changed forever the moment a shark's jaws wrapped around her ankle. She found herself in a desperate fight to survive, and then to walk again, and conquer her feelings of betrayal that nature had turned against her. After decades of intimate experiences with sharks, Mottice’s viewpoint about these animals and their preservation changed, while Salamone’s journey of self-discovery turned into the ultimate story of irony and forgiveness as she became one of the world's top shark advocates. Today, she recruits dozens of severely injured attack survivors to help save the imperiled predators. Together, Mottice and Salamone join in a singular quest with their personal stories: to spread the word that these magnificent creatures are in trouble.
Since the dawn of the digital revolution, the publishing industry has exploded in new directions. E-books, print-on-demand services, and the digitization of audiobooks have enabled more people to write, publish, and distribute their work than ever before. Digital technology has also enabled the growth of many smaller, often digitally-based, presses and distribution services. The resulting creative disruption has both upsides and downsides: for example, while it facilitates innovation, it also raises the threat of digital piracy. Additionally, with the ready availability of so much material online, writers are often confused about who owns what, and when they might need permission to repurpose someone else’s work. LAW & AUTHORS: A LEGAL HANDBOOK FOR WRITERS by Jacqueline Lipton provides a user-friendly survey of the legal landscape for writers, whether self-publishing, taking a more traditional path to publication, or a combination of both. Lipton answers some of the most common legal questions writers have about their work, such as those regarding permissions, copyright, and public domain and suggests strategies for finding effective and affordable help when necessary. Furthermore, Lipton notes where U.S. law differs significantly from laws that apply in some foreign markets, and distinguishes simpler legal matters that most authors can handle on their own versus those where they may need to seek legal advice. Jacqueline Lipton is a law professor, fiction writer, and consultant to the publishing industry She is one of the country’s leading experts in cyberlaw, having published half a dozen academic texts on the subject, and around 100 scholarly articles, and has presented workshops to authors’ organizations around the country. LAW & AUTHORS is a must-read for writers who want to understand their legal rights, and obligations, in today’s market.
A young Chanel model named Arlette Simon was introduced to Alexandre Stavisky at a dinner party in 1925. He was older, darkly handsome, and claimed to work for an import-export bank. She knew nothing about his profession, but was impressed with his flashy attire and talk of multiple sports cars. It was love at first sight, and within months, she quit modeling to be at his side. Arlette either never knew or never cared that her new beau had a thick criminal record that included embezzlement, forgery, and a number of commercial credit scams. But she would marry him, and later become a widow and figure of interest in a multimillion-franc swindle he masterminded. How much did Arlette know? When did she know it? And what, if anything, did she cover up out of love for the swarthy charmer who had given her a life of luxury? In FOURTEEN FRANCS AND A DOLL: THE SWINDLE, SCANDAL, AND SWEETHEART THAT SHOOK A NATION, Paige Bowers introduces readers to Arlette Simon Stavisky, the former model and high society fixture whose appetite for the finer things in life led her first to her husband and then to public disgrace. A true crime tale about a far-reaching scandal that roiled a country, it is also a love story about how the perpetrator’s wife stood by him, for richer, for poorer, for better and for worse until his death tore her world apart. A mother of two, with fourteen francs left to her name, Arlette would be jailed, put on trial, and ultimately acquitted in connection with her husband’s wrongdoing before trying to reinvent herself and raise her children in peace. FOURTEEN FRANCS explores Arlette’s life and the scandal that forever changed it, and asks whether the only crime she committed was being a woman in love.
Cancer: the dreaded word. Most people have known family members, friends, or colleagues with cancer, had it themselves, or lost loved ones to the disease. So it’s not surprising that despite great advances in cancer research, it remains the most feared cause of death in the developed world, despite being only the second leading killer. The cloud of that alarm influences us to make all sorts of choices—about whether to screen ourselves for cancer, and what to do if we are diagnosed—that often cause more harm than the disease itself would. Women with non-life-threatening breast conditions choose to have both breasts surgically removed; men with slow growing prostate cancers opt for surgeries that could leave them impotent; tens of thousands of people spend millions of dollars on screening procedures and risky, often harmful invasive examinations, that their clinical conditions ultimately don’t require. CANCERPHOBIA: HOW FEAR OF A DREADFUL DISEASE CAN DO AS MUCH HARM AS THE DISEASE ITSELF, by David Ropeik, is a revealing examination of the history and psychology of our profound fear of cancer, and a sobering accounting of the harm this does to us as individuals and as a society. An author, consultant, and Harvard instructor who teaches the psychology of risk perception, Ropeik knows cancerphobia first-hand, having survived a brain tumor, and having witnessed countless examples of the damage this paralyzing fear can do during 20 years as an award-winning journalist. CANCERPHOBIA is a provocative and necessary book.
Nick O’Halloran believes that, from three inches below his waist to the tips of his toes, his right leg is no part of him. To see a future where he’s happy and comfortable with himself, he wants the leg amputated. Many people might wonder how a person’s sense of self could be so warped that he would wish to remove his healthy leg. Nick and thousands like him have what physicians call “body integrity identity disorder”— the dysphoric feeling that one or more limbs of one's body do not belong to one's self. But what does “one’s self” really mean and how is it decided what belongs to it—or what doesn’t? In ME FIRST: THE CURIOUS GARDEN OF SELF, pathologist and immunologist Gerald N. Callahan delves into the enigma of the self: What is a self? Where do they begin and end? As people age, do selves grow old, change, tire, fracture? How do people’s stories, their parents’ stories, or society’s stories change who we are? What is the smallest piece of you, the one essential to your sense of self—a blood cell, a breast, a brain? Callahan has studied human selves for more than thirty years and holds appointments in the departments of pathology and English at Colorado State University. ME FIRST: THE CURIOUS GARDEN OF SELF explores in smart and perceptive prose how our traditional ideas about selves fall far short of their reality and complexity.
From Mitch McConnell, opiates, and coal miners to indie bluegrass bands, award-winning theater, and hip, small batch bourbon distilleries, the state of Kentucky is home to much that defines our current American epoch—including our increasingly divergent urban and rural realities. A KENTUCKY CROSSROADS explores this rapidly widening divide by chronicling the lives of eight very different Kentuckians from 2008 to today—including author Lucile Scott, a gay now New Yorker who fled Kentucky the moment she was able, and tried not to look back. When Scott was born in Ashland, a Kentucky town of some 21,000 on the river’s edge of coal country, it was a bustling, thriving place. Today, like so many a small town, it is one of zombie shopping malls and permanently padlocked refinery gates. In its Appalachian hills, we meet a laid off conservative, a liberal waitress, an upper-middle class black woman, and a wealthy lawyer who, like so many with the means before him, eventually decamps to Lexington. Meanwhile, the evolution of Lexington, the state’s second-largest city, where Scott’s family moved, is almost the film negative of Ashland’s. The end of the 20th century found its downtown gutted, empty, the place small businesses went to die. Today, Lexington boasts a burgeoning tech sector, Kentucky’s first openly gay mayor, microbreweries, and other 21st century accoutrements of urban living. Amidst its prospering streets, we meet a working-class Libertarian, a lesbian social worker, and a progressive black pastor. Along with Scott’s story, the book explores the increasing parallels between New York City’s culture and Lexington’s, and functions as a shadow memoir as Scott journeys home to make peace with these places of her most formative years.
One of the most popular claims about our country is that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. It wasn’t. In fact, Judeo-Christian principles are thoroughly opposed to America’s founding principles. While others have refuted the claim that “America is a Christian nation,” everyone assumes that the fallback position—America’s founding was based on Judeo-Christian principles—is true. In UN-AMERICAN, Andrew L. Seidel disproves that underlying claim, arguing that there is such conflict between the two systems that it is fair to say that Christianity is un-American. Seidel takes readers on an illuminating tour of American history and religion that is all the more important given the pious agenda Christian conservatives are pushing—they want the Bible to become the law of the land— and their unprecedented support from the current administration. From the religion of the Founding Fathers, to the Declaration of Independence, to “In God We Trust,” and all the other omnipresent “evidence,” that supposedly shows America was founded on Christianity, Seidel hopes to settle the question for good: America is not a Christian nation, nor is it founded on Christian principles. With delightful irreverence and a reliance on unassailable history and law, UN-AMERICAN dives into the debate about religion’s role in America’s founding, providing a fresh look at American history that will read to many as rediscovering an unknown heritage. UN-AMERICAN is more than history, it’s an argument—it’s People’s History of the United States meets The God Delusion. Seidel is a constitutional attorney who has dedicated his career to defending the wall of separation between church and state. He has a degree in neuroscience and two law degrees, all conferred with honors, and has studied international law at the University of Amsterdam.
It’s 1962, and Laura is the picture of a perfect young widow. Her fiancé John died in a plane crash seven years earlier, just after she and John revealed to his high-society parents that Laura was pregnant. But with the help of her connected in-laws, Laura has a marriage certificate and a legitimate daughter. She’s a member of club committees. She wears the right clothes. And she's given up her pursuit of a career in photography to raise her daughter, Suzanne, in the privileged life that John wanted for them. Laura has a deal with John’s parents: she and Suzanne stay with them and live the life the Hargroves choose, and in return the Hargroves provide for both of them. Laura can live like this for Suzanne’s sake—until she meets Henry, a young man with an even younger face who dreams of seeing the world on his sailboat. As friendship—and maybe something more—grows between them, Laura is happier than she’s been since she lost John. But loving Henry not only means finally coming to terms with John’s death, but also risking the stable life Laura has spent seven years building, and choosing between her own dreams and the only family she has ever known. Weaving together intimate family drama and quiet romance against a Cold War backdrop, A THANK YOU NOTE TO KHRUSHCHEV is a lovely, heartwarming adult debut from acclaimed YA author Joëlle Anthony. In the vein of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and The Secret Life of Violet Grant, this novel of love, grief, family and duty is an emotionally satisfying and cathartic read. (Please note: this project is represented by Michael Bourret.)
Rebecca’s husband kills her because he’s sick of staring into the eyes of a woman he feels is simply impersonating his beloved wife. Four minutes and 39 seconds later, she comes to in the body of Bethany, a young suburban mom and must immediately start scrambling for clues to learn who she is now—what her name is, where she lives, what language she should be speaking. This happens every time she dies: precisely four minutes and 39 seconds later, she will inevitably come to in another body in the midst of its own life. Her job is to convince the people around her that she is who they believe she is. Adam, on the other hand, doesn’t try as hard. As we meet him, he commits a grand act of public suicide if for no other reason than that the body he’s now occupying is starting to bald and is nearly out of money. Might as well get out while the getting is good. What neither could expect is that they are not the only person being reborn into others’ lives. And for the first time in millennia, their two new lives will intersect. They will learn that they are not alone. And it will be intoxicating—the ability for the first time ever to disclose their truest selves to the only other person who could ever understand what they have been through. Dina Havranek’s ETERNAL CUCKOO is the story of two extraordinary people trying to juggle the responsibilities and implications of immortality. Their approaches to these questions are diametrically opposed, but this may be the only opportunity they ever have to share with each other, so they strive to make it count. This compulsively readable debut ponders questions of love, of ethics, of the value of life, the meaning of death, and how we decide what really matters. It’s a fantastic debut from a witty, thoughtful, engaging new talent. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.)
Nicole Cogan is the face behind the popular brand NOBREAD, which has well over 100k Instagram followers. Nicole was 19 years old when she discovered her gluten allergy; the missing puzzle piece to years of unexplained illness. A full-blown gluten-eater, this diagnosis infused her with the passion for cooking and making gluten-free dining more accessible and enjoyable to others. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University and landed the most sought after entry-level Wall Street job working as an Equity Sales Analyst at J.P. Morgan. Yet, after her diagnosis, food and intolerances captivated her. It was this fascination that led her to start NOBREAD while at JPM; a fun and light-hearted blog featuring all-things gluten-free. From restaurant guides, to recipes, to wellness hacks and how to travel with an allergy, Nicole and NOBREAD continue to entertain as well as make life easier and more enjoyable for those living with intolerances. She is now the voice to all those who are gluten-free or struggling with food intolerances, and also to those who are stuck in their careers and looking to turn their passion into a full-time mission. In her first book, NOBREAD NOPROBLEM, Nicole offers inspiring, fun and accessible stories, recipes, photos and tips for anyone looking to live a happier, healthier, more satisfying life. In addition, she shares her story; from a childhood plagued by chronic illness to a life of wellness and good health, and from the trading floor at J.P. Morgan to corporate freedom, Nicole shows readers how she has used the power of social media to turn a passion into a full-time career. Nicole has, and continues to, change the way the food industry caters to those with food allergies and intolerances. With brand partnerships and social media savvy, Nicole and her recipes make a healthy life without gluten look delicious and easy along the way. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.)
Mohamed Hasan Alwan’s novel A SMALL DEATH, winner of the 2017 IPAF award (a.k.a, the Arab Booker)—the Arab world’s most sought after prize—is a sweeping and inventive work of historical fiction. It chronicles the life of the great Sufi master and philosopher Ibn 'Arabi. A poet and mystic who proclaimed that “love was his religion,” he is revered by some Muslims today as a saint and condemned by others as a heretic. Born in 12th-century Spain during the Golden Age of Islam, Ibn ‘Arabi traveled thousands of miles from Andalusia to distant Azerbaijan, passing through Morocco, Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, Iraq and Turkey on a journey of discovery both physical and spiritual. Witness to the wonders and cruelties of his age, Ibn ‘Arabi wrote masterworks on mysticism that profoundly influenced the Islamic world. Alwan’s first person narrative, written from the perspective of Ibn ‘Arabi himself, breathes vivid life into a celebrated and polarizing figure. Mohammed Hasan Alwan is a Saudi novelist who splits his time between Canada and Saudi Arabia. He holds a PhD from Carleton University in Ottawa, an MBA from the University of Portland (Oregon), and a BA from King Saud University. He is the author of four previous novels, including al-Qundus, which was shortlisted for the IPAF in 2013 and won the Arab World Institute’s Prix de la Littérature Arabe. (Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)
Qais Akbar Omar’s debut novel, A THIN RAY OF HOPE, is a moving account of a young man caught between family obligation and romantic love, terrible violence and the elusive promise of a new start. As he did in his critically acclaimed memoir, A Fort of Nine Towers, Qais Akbar Omar offers a nuanced portrait of Afghanistan in a period of cataclysm. Here is a wrenching look at the refugee crisis on a human scale, a coming-of-age story that illuminates a nation and people in impossible circumstances. A child of war, Zahir grew to maturity in an Afghanistan where opportunities were few. In order to support his blind father and three siblings, he joins a tide of illegal aliens seeking work in Iran. He survives by taking various menial jobs and sending home remittances until he lands a job as bicycle delivery boy for a successful Tehran restaurant. There, he forms an unlikely friendship with Pardis, the owner’s smart, saucy daughter, a university student who—despite her breeding and wealth—appears to return some part of Zahir’s ardent love. Just as dares to dream of a future with Pardis, he is summoned back to Afghanistan. His father has suffered a devastating stroke. Yet when for the first time after seven long years, he walks into his home, he is greeted not by a family in extremis, but a party. An engagement party: His. Though it is in keeping with tradition, Zahir is stunned to learn that his father (who is in perfect health) has arranged for his imminent marriage to Nura—whom Zahir remembers as a tiny, ferocious, foul-mouthed terror of a boy known as Nur. Although much of the neighborhood had suspected that Nur was indeed bacha posh–a girl being raised as a boy—Nur’s fierce older brother Omar made certain that his family was never the subject of idle gossip. And now Omar, an aspiring criminal with a long-cultivated habit of violence, is to be Zahir’s brother-in- law. Nura is lovely, but a virtual stranger. What happens next will have sweeping consequences for both families, whose lives are shaped both by their own fallible decision-making, but also by forces beyond their control. Born in Kabul in 1982, Qais Akbar Omar holds a BA in journalism from Kabul University. He studied business at Brandeis University and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University. In 2014-15 he was a Scholars at Risk Fellow at Harvard University. His articles have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Southern Review, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, and Agni. His memoir, A Fort of Nine Towers was published by FSG in the United States and twenty editions around the world. (Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)
Mona Eltahawy’s BECOMING THE ONE YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR is both a memoir-in-books in the style of Rebecca Mead’s My Life In Middlemarch and making-of-a-feminist manifesto. Eltahawy, who is an author, activist, award-winning columnist and commentator on Islam, the Arab world and global feminism, travels the world speaking. And wherever she goes, from Mumbai to Cairo, Lagos to Lahore, New York to Johannesburg, she invariably meets people who ask how, exactly, she dared become who she is. Where she finds the courage to speak truth to power, to fight for women’s rights, to be angry, to be sexual, to be Muslim, to resist and subvert easy classification. To some degree, the answer is in her lived experiences—her girlhood in Saudi Arabia, her decision to first wear and then shed the hijab, the sexual assault she suffered at the hands of security forces during the Egyptian revolution— but for Mona, a lifelong and voracious reader, the answer is also in books. Mona describes the seminal texts that helped make her into the scarlet-haired, Sekhmet-tattooed, feminist firebrand that she is. Moving across time, culture and genre, Mona calls upon the work of 12th century Abbasid poetess and Tony Cade Bambara, Um Khulthum and Adrienne Rich, Emma Goldman and Fatema Mernissi. A reading list for feminists and activists everywhere, a literary how-to for owning our power, our anger and transforming trauma, BECOMING THE ONE YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR is a provocative, intimate, mind-expandingwork of global feminism. Mona Eltahawy is the author of Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution (FSG 2015) which has been translated into ten languages. She is a contributing columnist to the New York Times opinion pages and lives between Cairo and New York City. She has a Twitter following of 260K. http://www.monaeltahawy.com/(Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)
Ten years ago, the internet’s pioneers and thinkers were in agreement: the new information infrastructure would lead to a strengthening of democracy. It would give voice to the voiceless and challenge old and corrupt power structures. It would transform social movements and empower disenfranchised groups. The internet would make the world a better place. After a decade of Silicon Valley disruption, we are living through a massive crisis for democracy. Far-right populists and nationalists are making significant gains in democratic states. There’s been a collapse of trust in traditional media and institutional power. Silicon Valley created many of the platforms that helped Donald Trump win the US election, and for extremists, from the alt-right to ISIS, to recruit new activists. THE INTERNET IS BROKEN is the story of Silicon Valley and its impact on global democracy. Award-winning journalists and authors Karin Pettersson and Martin Gelin have spent the past three years interviewing executives and engineers at Silicon Valley tech companies and the leading thinkers on media and technology. They have also done in-depth interviews with far-right activists and extremists who organize trolling, harassment and fake news campaigns as part of a larger political agenda to sow chaos and destroy legacy media. Despite lofty promises to improve the world, Silicon Valley companies are not primarily driven by any civic responsibilities. Rather, they increasingly and deliberately mold what people see in an effort to please their advertisers. Last year marked the 11th consecutive year of decline in global freedom, according to an analysis by Freedom House. The world’s most powerful countries – the United States, China, India, Russia – have all become significantly less democratic in the last few years. In The Economist’s annual ranking of the world’s democracies, the United States for the first time lost its status as a “full democracy” and is now designated a “flawed democracy.” It's time to investigate Silicon Valley's role in this crisis for democracy. (Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)
Of Jason Ockert’s short fiction, Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz wrote: "Beautiful stories, searching and generous. Ockert never ceases to astound.” Ockert has been duly honored as the winner of the Dzanc Short Story Collection Contest, the Atlantic Monthly Fiction Contest, and the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award, he was also a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Million Writers Award. His work has appeared in journals and anthologies including New Stories from the South, Best American Mystery Stories, Oxford American, The Iowa Review, One Story, and McSweeney’s. Now, Ockert presents his first novel, a wildly inventive tale of addiction, recovery, magic… and sharks! When Starling, a beautiful cruise-ship magician’s assistant goes overboard after a performance, her partner and lover, Ant, sets out on an exhausting quest to find her. He ends up in South Myrtle Beach, a peculiar coastal tourist town inhabited by disgruntled locals that include Norris and Hayes, a father/step-daughter team of “shark block” peddlers, who make their living alternately inflaming and abating the tourists’ fear of sharks. Soon, Hayes’ narcotic despair over the loss of her mother and Ant’s quixotic search for Starling catch the attention of the Bullet Dodgers, a team of recovering alcoholic vigilantes led by Cav, a self-styled savior with questionable techniques. As Ant falls in with the BDs while Hayes does all she can to escape them, their stories turn into a pursuit of loss itself, where the lost hide in plain sight and the things we seek most fiercely seem always just out of our reach. With a darkly comical voice and a coastal gothic tone in the spirit of Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, Jason Ockert’s IN BACK WITH THE LOUDMOUTHS makes for a stunning debut novel that signals a major new voice in southern fiction. (Please note, John Rudolph is the agent on this project.)
After years of following internet-famous mommy blogger Jesca Pine, Ruthie St. James gets the chance to make her fantasies a reality when she wins an Instagram-worthy week with Jesca, her enchanting twin girls, and a host of bloggers aboard a luxury cruise. Ruthie’s own adjustment to stay-at-home momming has been not-so-glossy and she’s longing to connect with some IRL mom pals, but the trip turns out to be very different from the bubbly LaCroix-filled bonding vacation she expected. For one thing, the other mommy bloggers are more interested in getting the attention of major talent agent Tula Maxwell than in becoming bosom buds with Ruthie. And the resulting gossip and scandal galore have a not-so-filtered effect on Jesca’s carefully crafted personal brand—and sanity. When Ruthie embarrasses herself with a flirty bartender and gets kicked out of Jesca’s suite, Ruthie decides it’s time to take back her own story and seeks out Kelsey, a geeky, tattooed zinester mom who agrees to help show Jesca what her picture-perfect lifestyle is leaving out. Then Ruthie realizes Jesca’s own daughters are bent on sabotage, too, and they’ve got even more clever hashtags to do it. No wonder Jesca’s been coming undone. Ultimately, Ruthie must decide whether to help a fellow mom by diving back into the snark-infested waters of the blogosphere, or hit delete on everything to protect her image, her return to her career, and even her marriage. HELLO LOVELIES (THIS IS A SPONSORED POST) by Hayley DeRoche is a feisty feminist frolic in the tradition of Where’d You Go Bernadette and The Assistants—a debut for the beach, the bar, and everywhere in between! (Please note, this project is represented by Sharon Pelletier.)
In 28 days, Riley Quinn will die. For seven years his widow-to-be, Detective Kate Quinn, has been hoping against hope to get him off Death Row while caring for the son Riley has never met—but the odds aren’t good for a convicted cop killer. Now, Riley’s execution date has just been set, while another Death Row case comes up for appeal: Matt Edwards is the youngest inmate on Death Row, insisting on his innocence despite witness testimony from Eloise Green, former small stakes drug dealer whose cleaned up her act and is now a guilt-laden waitress in east Dallas. And as fate would have it, Kate was the detective on Matt’s case early in her career. These four lives intersect in unpredictable ways as Kate digs into the past, racing the clock for her husband’s life, uncowed by increasingly threatening phone calls reminiscent of the days before her husband’s incarceration. When Eloise goes missing on the eve of Matt’s new hearing, Kate knows she’ll have to face down a threat she never suspected if she is to bring belated justice—and salvation—for two innocent men. CONVICTION by A. Suiter Clarke is a stirring multi-POV debut novel, taking a thoughtful yet adrenaline-laced look at the harsh realities of our criminal justice system and the lives caught in its cracks. (Please note, this project is represented by Sharon Pelletier.)
Despite decades of reminders to reduce, reuse, recycle and the access to digitization at our fingertips, Americans continue to consume 500 pounds of paper per year—and readers and writers are surely among the worst offenders. So when a writer with decades-deep roots in periodical publishing woke up one day in her mid-50s with a burning hatred of paper in all its incarnations, she had to wonder if her sudden-onset papyrophobia — aversion to paper — is really about clutter and conservation, or if something much more profound is going on. As we turn from notepads to iPads, are we creating a paper-shaped hole in our civilization? In PAPYROPHOBIA, Mickey Revenaugh will explore the complicated, nuanced, and wildly mutating role of paper in the Digital Age. Through a blend of searing personal narrative and thoughtful probing of the industries and issues on the horizon—from artisanal papermakers to shredding services to digital archivers—Revenaugh leads readers through a loving exploration of the sustainability of digitization, the reasons we hold on to ephemera, and the paradox where the Kondo-like buzz of obliteration meets a hoarder’s impulse to preserve. Like paper itself, PAPYROPHOBIA is at once a celebration of what is past and a herald of what is to come. Mickey Revenaugh is an educational technology consultant whose work has appeared in Catapult, Cleaver, Chautauqua Journal, The Thing Itself, The Tishman Review, Louisiana Literature, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Lunch Ticket, among others. She has an MFA from Bennington College and speaks frequently on digital learning and the future of work. (Please note, this project is represented by Sharon Pelletier.)
RIGHTS ROUNDUP
Audible acquired audio rights to CHRISTMAS FROM HELL, FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, TALL, SILENT, AND LETHAL, FATED, HONEYMOON FROM HELL, and DELECTABLE by RL Mathewson, BOYS SOUTH OF THE MASON DIXON by Abbi Glines, PAINT THE STARS by Nyrae Dawn and Christina Lee, as well as LOVE LOST and LOVE PROFOUND by Kelly Elliott. Audio rights to MADE MEN by Greg Smith, DEEP DESCENT by Kevin McMurray, BLOOD WILL TELL and DYING FOR LOVE by Carlton Smith, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT by Brian McDonald, TAKEN FROM HOME by Eric Francis, UNANSWERED CRIES by Thomas French, ALMOST PARADISE and THE SURGEON’S WIFE by Kieran Crowley, LIE AFTER LIE by Lara Bricker, and LACI by Michael Fleeman went to Brilliance. Recorded Books has rights to THE SUNKEN GOLD by Joseph A. Williams. Novel Audio acquired audio rights to THE QUEEN AND THE CURE by Amy Harmon. Blackstone will publish Ijeoma Oluo’s SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE.
Film rights to IT ENDS WITH US and MAYBE SOMEDAY by Colleen Hoover were optioned by Toffee Productions with Lauren Levine and Jamie Burke producing. A TALIB IN LOVE/EXTREMIST MAKEOVER by Qais Akbar Omar was optioned Perro Bravo Films with Saar Klein producing. Hallmark optioned film rights to ABBY COOPER, PYSCHIC EYE by Victoria Laurie, with Stephanie Germain producing.
Ahavot acquired Hebrew rights to MAKING FACES by Amy Harmon, Clever Media acquired Russian rights to MAKING FACES, THE BIRD AND THE SWORD and THE QUEEN AND THE CURE, Helion acquired Polish rights to THE QUEEN AND THE CURE, while Beijing White Horse Time Culture Development acquired simplified Chinese rights to MAKING FACES and Lyx acquired German rights to THE QUEEN AND THE CURE. Manjul Publishing House acquired Hindi rights to Amy Morin’s 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG PEOPLE DON’T DO, while Ranok acquired Ukrainian rights. Penguin Random House Mexico acquired Spanish rights to Morin’s 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG PARENTS DON’T DO, Pegasus acquired Turkish rights, and Kodansha acquired Japanese rights. Dutch rights to Colleen Hoover’s TOO LATE were sold to Zomer & Keuning, Polish rights went to Otwarte, and Portuguese rights went to Record. Georgian rights to James Dashner’s THE FEVER CODE were sold to Palitra, while Semic acquired Swedish rights to THE GAME OF LIVES. Samantha Young’s STARS OVER CASTLE HILL was sold for Hebrew publication to Kinneret, and THE IMPOSSIBLE VASTNESS OF US was sold for Polish publication to Edipresse, for Hebrew publication to Kinneret Zmora Dvir, and for Slovene publication to Ucila. Abbi Glines’ WHILE IT LASTS will be published in Dutch by Karakter, and FALLEN TOO FAR will be published in Spanish by Kiwi. Newton Compton acquired Italian rights to RL Mathewson’s CHECKMATE, TRUCE, THE GAME PLAN, DOUBLE DARE, and CHRISTMAS FROM HELL. Italian rights for BROKEN by Kelly Elliott were acquired by Quixote Edizioni, and Piatkus acquired UK rights for the COWBOY & ANGELS series. FILTHY BEAUTIFUL FOREVER by Kendall Ryan will be published in Italy by Newton Compton and THE ROOM MATE, THE PLAY MATE, and THE HOUSE MATE will be published in Germany by LYX. Samantha Towle’s TAMING THE STORM will be published in Italy by Newton Compton and TAMING THE STORM and WARDROBE MALFUNCTION will be sold in Hebrew by Bo(u)ktique. KULTI and THE WALL OF WINNIPEG AND ME by Mariana Zapata were sold for French publication to J’ai Lu and THE WALL OF WINNIPEG AND ME went to BBooks/Adel Publishing for Hebrew publication. DEEP UNDERCOVER by Jack Barsky sold for Swedish publication to Bokförlaget Lind & Co AB. Metafora acquired Czech rights to SAVING KANDINSKY by Mary Basson. PUNK 57 and HIDEAWAY by Penelope Douglas will be published in French by Harlequin France. Juliet Blackwell’s LETTERS FROM PARIS was sold for Bulgarian publication to Soft Press. I WILL FIND YOU by Joanna Connors went to Errata Naturae for Spanish publication. Mohammed Hasan Alwan’s A SMALL DEATH was sold for Indonesian publication to Mizan. Record acquired Brazilian Portuguese rights to Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher’s NEVER NEVER: PART III. Simplified Chinese rights to Nicole C Kear’s NOW I SEE YOU were sold to South-west China Normal University Press. Newton Compton acquired Italian rights to TK Leigh’s GORGEOUS CHAOS.David Morrell’s FIRST BLOOD was sold for Brazilian Portuguese publication to DarkSide. Russian rights to 17 & GONE by Nova Ren Suma went to Eksmo. Newton Compton acquired Italian rights to SEDUCED IN THE DARK, EPILOGUE, and DETERMINED TO OBEY by CJ Roberts. STOP OVERREACTING by Judith P. Siegel will be published in Korean by Sigma. Suzanne Young’s THE EPIDEMIC and THE ADJUSTMENT were sold for Turkish publication to Pegasus.
RECENT SALES
LIBERTY JOHANSEN by Amy Sarig King went to Scholastic in a World rights deal by Michael Bourret.
Linda Godfrey’s AMERICAN TERRORS went to Tarcher in a World rights deal by Jim McCarthy.
North American rights to A BIGGER FIELD AWAITS US by Andrew Beaujon were sold to Chicago Review Press.
Michael Bourret sold World rights for PUPPY PIRATES BOOKS 9 & 10 by Erin Soderberg to Random House Children’s Books.
BRING YOUR HUMAN TO WORK by Erica Keswin went to McGraw Hill in a World rights deal.
Ballantine Bantam Dell bought World rights to THE FRESHMAN TEN by Monique Rinere.
World rights to Mary Anne Marlowe’s DATING BY THE BOOK were sold to Kensington in a deal by Michael Hoogland
Francis O’Gorman’s THE LIMITS OF LIBERALISM went to Bloomsbury Academic in a World English rights deal by Stacey Glick.
Jim McCarthy sold UNTITLED BOOKS 1 & 2 by Juliet Blackwell to Berkley in a World rights deal.
World rights to Juliet Blackwell’s UNTITLED WITCHCRAFT MYSTERY #10 were sold to Berkley in a deal by Jim McCarthy.
FORTUNE’S MAGIC FARM by Suzanne Selfors were sold to Imprint in a North American rights deal by Michael Bourret.
North American rights to FIGHT DOCTOR by Linda Dahl were sold to Hanover Square Press.
VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION: SUPERSTITION by Stuart Vyse was sold to Oxford University Press in a World rights deal by Jessica Papin.
Basic Books bought World rights to THE OTHER CHINA by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Johnson in a deal by Jessica Papin.
World rights to IF YOU HAD YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY ON THE MOON by Joyce Lapin were sold to Sterling in a deal by John Rudolph.
World volume rights to WILLOW HALL & UNTITLED BOOK 2 by Hester Fox were sold to Graydon House.
Caroline Tung Richmond and Elsie Chapman’s THE FEAST WITHIN was sold to Simon Pulse in a World English rights deal by Jim McCarthy.
John Rudolph sold World rights to FLOWERS IN THE GUTTER by K. R. Gaddy to Dutton Young Readers.
THE BIG 50: BOSTON RED SOX by Evan Drellich went to Triumph Books in a North American rights deal by Stacey Glick.
Phyllis Chesler’s WOMEN AND MADNESS, WITH CHILD, and LETTERS TO A YOUNG FEMINIST were sold to Chicago Review Press for World rights.
World rights to SEW + QUILT by Susan Beal were sold to Taunton Press in a deal by Stacey Glick.
Jim McCarthy sold World English rights to Suzanne Young’s GIRLS WITH SHARP STICKS and BOOKS 2 & 3 to Simon Pulse.
HAPPY DOOMSDAY by David Sosnowski was sold to 47 North (Amazon) in a World rights deal.
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers bought World rights to MY GRANDMA’S TEA by Jiyeon Pak in a deal by John Rudolph.
Judi Lynn’s THE BODY IN THE ATTIC and UNTITLED COZY MYSTERIES 2 & 3 were sold to Kensington in a World rights deal.
TRANSITION TOWN by William Powers went to New World Library in a World English rights deal by Michael Bourret.
Lake Union (Amazon) bought World rights to WHAT THE WIND KNOWS by Amy Harmon.
THE FIRST PROTECTORS by Victor Godinez went to Talos Press in a World English rights deal by Michael Hoogland.
Putnam bought World rights to THESE FINE MASKS and UNTITLED BOOK 2 by Rena Olsen in a deal by Sharon Pelletier.
RABBIT & ROBOT and EXILE FROM EDEN by Andrew Smith went to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in a North American rights deal by Michael Bourret.
Diane Fanning’s SABOTAGE IN THE SECRET CITY was sold to Severn House in a World English rights deal.
UNTITLED COLD WAR ROBOT YA by Caroline Tung Richmond went to Scholastic in a North American rights deal by Jim McCarthy.
Workman bought World rights to THINK LIKE THEY LISTEN by Eric Nuzum.
World rights to STAKES IS HIGH by Mychal Denzel Smith went to Nation Books in a deal by Jessica Papin.
Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak’s I LOVE YOU THROUGH AND THROUGH AT CHRISTMAS was sold to Scholastic in a World rights deal by Michael Bourret.
THE VOICE OF MADNESS by Jim Robenalt went to Chicago Review press in a North American deal.
Gallery Books bought World English rights to Suzanne Baltsar’s contemporary women’s fiction debut and second book in a deal by Sharon Pelletier.
World rights to THE EASY VEGAN COOKBOOK by Dustin Harder went to Callisto Media in a deal by Stacey Glick.
Malinda Lo’s LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB and A SCATTER OF LIGHT were sold to Dutton in a North American rights deal by Michael Bourret.
NOTTINGHAM and UNTITLED BOOK 2 by Nathan Makaryk went to Forge in a World English deal by Jim McCarthy.
Little, Brown & Co. bought World rights to Roy Peter Clark’s THE BIG BOOK OF GOOD WRITING.
World rights to ON HART’S BOARDWALK by Samantha Young went to Berkley in a deal by Lauren Abramo.
Therese Oneill’s UNGOVERNABLE: THE VICTORIAN PARENT’S GUIDE TO RAISING FLAWLESS CHILDREN was sold to Little, Brown & Co. in a World rights deal by Jessica Papin.
QUARTET by Tayari Jones was sold to Algonquin in a World rights deal.
Grand Central bought World rights to Sarah Rose Cavanagh’s HIVEMIND in a deal by Jessica Papin.
North American rights to 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG WOMEN DON’T DO by Amy Morin went to Morrow in a deal by Stacey Glick.
Victoria Laurie’s LIFE COACH MYSTERIES 1 & 2 were sold to Kensington in a World rights deal by Jim McCarthy.
ARAB WOMEN ARAB WARS by Zahra Hankir was sold to Penguin Books in a World rights deal by Jessica Papin.
Countryman Press/W.W. Norton bought World English rights to Donna Bozzo’s FIDGET BUSTERS in a deal by Stacey Glick.
World rights to UNTITLED ON RAW MILK by Anne Mendelson went to Columbia University Press.