Adult Newsletter: January 2020

Up And Coming For Submission

NON-FICTION

On the cool, drizzly morning of April 21, 2016, the body of Prince Rogers Nelson was found in the elevator of his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen, Minnesota. After a two-year police investigation, it was determined that the 57-year-old music legend succumbed to an accidental overdose of counterfeit Vicodin laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl. But questions about how a man known for his aversion to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs could die under such circumstances have been raised by many, including his cousin Charles “Chazz” Smith, who grew up with Prince and was the original drummer in his first band, Grand Central. Refusing to accept the official conclusion, Smith launched the #Justice4cuz movement and has now teamed up with best-selling investigative journalist and author Michael Fleeman to produce the definitive account of the shocking and suspicious death of a musical icon, DEATH IN THE FAMILY: THE PRINCE INVESTIGATION. With Smith’s intimate access to many important professional and personal sources, his ongoing meetings and communications with top federal and state law enforcement investigators and key lawyers, plus the evidence amassed by police, Smith and Fleeman have uncovered a story that plays out like an epic thriller, filled with deception, greed, temptation, betrayal and cover-up that culminates in a fierce and ugly family feud over hundreds of millions of dollars from Prince’s estate. The narrative is powered by Smith’s determined and deeply personal journey for answers and closure, as he remains steadfast in the belief that the best way to honor his cousin’s legacy is to obtain the truth and justice.

Stephanie Foo was a powerhouse journalist: she was a producer at This American Life, won an Emmy, launched a podcasting app. But behind her office door, she was having daily panic attacks. At 30, she was diagnosed with Complex PTSD—a version of PTSD that occurs when the victim is traumatized repeatedly for years. Complex PTSD affects tens of millions of people in America, but is pitifully under-researched and under-diagnosed. Finding few resources to help her heal, Stephanie set out to write her own guide, THE UNMAKING. With the rigor and humanity of an award-winning journalist, Stephanie investigates the science behind C-PTSD and how it has shaped her own life. She interviews experts about the emerging science of trauma’s effects on the brain and body and tries a variety of therapies like EMDR and listening to recordings of her therapy sessions. Stephanie also dives into her past of extreme child abuse and neglect, uncovers family secrets, and learns about how immigrant trauma can persist for generations. In a world where POC, immigrants, and women are beginning to acknowledge the trauma they face, THE UNMAKING is a relevant and powerful narrative of reckoning and of healing.

When a four-year-old Massachusetts boy went missing in early 1951, investigators asked a psychic horse named Lady Wonder for clues—and she helped them find the child. Trained to spell using children’s letter blocks, Lady Wonder wound up cracking a string of missing-child cases in the 1950s. But the mind-reading mare’s talents weren’t confined to locating wayward tots. She also predicted the winners of horse races, heavyweight fights, and presidential elections correctly, and she could guess what number you were thinking of with unnerving accuracy. The groundbreaking husband-and-wife ghost-hunting team, J.B. and Louisa Rhine, pronounced Lady Wonder genuinely psychic. But the magician Milbourne Christopher, an early TV star and one of Harry Houdini’s proteges, was just as convinced the horse was a fraud—albeit a very clever one. In LADY WONDER: THE TRUE STORY OF A PSYCHIC DETECTIVE HORSE, Matthew Algeo (author of Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure and The President Is a Sick Man) investigates the curious case of this seemingly psychic animal and her enigmatic trainer, Claudia Fonda, a dowdy Virginia housewife and horse whisperer extraordinaire. Combining elements of true crime and the paranormal (with a dash of hippology), LADY WONDER will explore the epidemic of missing children that accompanied the Baby Boom, America’s fascination with psychic phenomena, and the long history of animals with mystical powers.

Like the title character of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, we all have our Rosebuds: an object, a repeated dream, memory or situation from our past that holds the key to our present. Identifying what it is can transform our lives. We can discover why we mess up personal relationships, why we haven’t achieved our career goals and why we’re ticked off or what makes us tick. More than that, we can use this discovery to change our lives for the better. In FINDING ROSEBUD: THE SEARCH FOR WHY WE ARE WHO WE ARE, psychiatrist Jacqueline Heller describes the process by which she helps people become “psychological sleuths.” She offers techniques that have helped her patients—and herself—search the past for clues successfully. FINDING ROSEBUD is about seeking the source of emotional pain—the type of repetitive and persistent patterns of behavior we’ve all experienced—but buried in our subconscious. Knowing our Rosebuds allows us to reflect before we react mindlessly when we are triggered. Painful Rosebuds are often lost in the amnesia of childhood, while an innocuous clue like a recurring dream or an object may be remembered. Charles Foster Kane’s sled, for example, represents his lost childhood. By identifying and analyzing these Rosebuds, readers can trace their psychological ancestry, and in so doing, create more successful, meaningful lives.

Every food has its story, or, more often than not, many stories. They tell us who and what we are, where we’ve come from, what we care about and perhaps even where we’re going. Read it right and a recipe can be a Rosetta Stone that cracks the code of another time and place.  A Victorian century sponge cake tells the tale of a society where women were told to behave, but didn’t—at least not always. A plateful of glistening tempura points out that globalization is no recent phenomenon and that protectionism wasn’t invented in the twenty-first century.  A cup of hot chocolate reminds us how food and sin have gone hand in hand for at least half a millennium. EDIBLE HISTORY by author Michael Krondl delivers some of those stories, weaving together food, society, and history.  Each focuses on a classic recipe, looks for its origins and explores the often unexpected role these dishes have had in history.  Some have been more consequential than others. Hundreds of thousands of doughnuts bore witness as the world order was reshuffled at the 1815 Congress of Vienna. In Paris, masculinity was reinvented by Frenchmen eating bloody “bifteks” at English-style steakhouses.  Ever wonder what South Asians ate before the English invented curry?  Or how barbecue, as we know it, would have never become an American icon without German immigrants and McDonalds?  Even trivial foods have tales to tell, though readers will be left to wonder if food has ever, indeed, been trivial.

Vivian Gordon was murdered after midnight on February 26, 1931, and her body left in Van Cortlandt Park, where it was discovered the next morning. She wore a fashionable cocktail dress and suede shoes as if she’d come from a nightclub. A dirty noose squeezed her throat so tightly it broke the skin. At her stylish Midtown apartment, detectives discovered a three-volume diary and a list of names that included businessmen, philanthropists, bootleggers, and gangsters. The suspect list was endless: extortion victims, accomplices, ex-lovers. And there was something else. Before her murder, Gordon had spoken to an anti-corruption commission established by Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Led by a relentless former judge named Samuel Seabury, the commission had uncovered evidence of corruption among the city’s vice cops and judges. Many suspected that Gordon had been killed to keep her quiet. As FDR pressed the police to solve her murder, Seabury doggedly pursued the trail of corruption to the very top of Gotham’s powerful political machine—the infamous Tammany Hall. A WOMAN OF WIDE ACQUAINTANCE: A TRUE TALE OF MURDER AND POLITICS AT THE END OF NEW YORK’S JAZZ AGE by author and historian Michael Wolraich, dramatically recounts Gordon’s unsolved murder and the Seabury investigation that took down Mayor Jimmy Walker, ending the Tammany Hall regime. Part true crime, part history, the suspenseful narrative will grip readers while immersing them in the turbulent history and culture of Prohibition Era New York.

As the first member of her all-Greek family to be born in America, Debbie Matenopoulos has always been passionate about sharing her love of food, health, wellness, and, of course, family. In fact, anyone who has worked with this five-time Emmy® nominee and co-host of Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family over the past 20 years, has probably been treated to Debbie’s famous spanakopita or been invited to her home for one of her many dinner parties.  She credits her boundless energy and zest for life to the traditional Mediterranean Diet on which she was raised. Today, modern medicine recognizes the Mediterranean Diet as possibly the healthiest diet on the planet, but for Debbie growing up, it was simply the way her mom cooked. In the spirit of sharing the rich traditions of her family’s native country, Debbie published her first cookbook, IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME, calling it her love letter to Greece. Today, Debbie’s exploration of and passion for Mediterranean food has only intensified. She returns now with IT’S ALL MEDITERRANEAN TO US, a celebration of the extraordinary cuisine of the Mediterranean region. Debbie shares family classics not only from Greece but also from Italy and beyond, and adds her own touch to make these traditional recipes even healthier and easier to prepare.

In 2018, there were 1,206,836 violent crimes in the United States. Of those, 185,437 individuals were physically assaulted, 108,541 people were robbed, 127,258 women were raped (likely many more due to underreporting), and more than 15,000 Americans were murdered. The good news, however, is that rates of violent crime have fallen in recent decades. The bad news is that the majority of Americans alive today will still become victims, or intended victims, of a violent attack. In a world where more people than ever are isolated from the kind of savagery our ancestors faced daily, violence, in all its forms, has become something foreign, something demonized or glamorized, and something deeply misunderstood. Our hard-earned and hard-wired instincts—our evolved and trained ability to survive and overcome violent encounters—is compromised. THE GIFT OF VIOLENCE by Matt Thornton tells the story of that compromise, its nature and origin, and teaches readers how to break down real versus perceived threats and how to move themselves out of the category of victim. It also seeks to distill a lifetime of Matt’s teaching into developing a healthy relationship with this frightening topic. Matt Thornton has spent the last 25 years teaching people from all backgrounds, police officers, computer programmers, Mixed Martial Arts champions, and college professors, men and women all over the world, how to overcome violent attacks.

Racing heart. Dizziness. Maybe some nausea. And hives—or at least itching. Sound unpleasant? These are just a few of the hundreds of symptoms of anxiety experienced by millions around the world. How can anyone live a happy, meaningful life when anxiety has taken over? Enter Abbe Greenberg and Maggie Sarachek, aka, the Anxiety Sisters. A professor of communication and a social worker by trade, Abs and Mags met as nervous undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania, where they began their twenty-year struggle with acute anxiety. Together they huddled, heaved, hurled, sweated, palpitated and hyperventilated their way through life’s journeys. During their peak anxiety years, Abs and Mags spent a small fortune seeing doctors, therapists, nutritionists, hypnotists and just about any other “ist” in an effort to manage their anxiety; they read every book, tried every technique, even went through past life regressions (desperate times…). But the real healing began when they started talking with other women suffering from anxiety, which can be so lonely and isolating. To that end, in February of 2017, Abs and Mags launched Anxiety Sisters, a worldwide online community (more than 200 countries and territories) with more than 125K followers. Through this network, they have connected with thousands of Anxiety Sisters (and brothers too!) who have shared their stories. ANXIOUSLY HAPPY: AN ANXIETY SISTERS GUIDE weaves those stories with real-world, research-based techniques and easy-to-digest explanations. The result is an accessible, often humorous handbook readers can use to manage their anxiety and live full, expansive lives. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.)

SHOOTING THE DEAD, the first book of its kind, chronicles the fascinating work of A.J. Bennett, a female forensic photographer, who spent almost a decade on the front lines of crime scene investigations with Scotland Yard’s elite Specialist Operations Photographic Branch. Whether a terrorist bombing, a multiple murder, a fatal accident, an arson blaze, or a major disaster, Bennett photographed the aftermath of crimes that most of us cannot begin to imagine. Although forensic photography is almost as old as the camera itself, the specialist skills of the expert police photographer remain a mystery to most, thanks to the wildly inaccurate, haphazard portrayals on TV and films. Forensic photography is a crucial part of every crime scene investigation. Bennett, a woman in a man’s world, was one of the very few people allowed past the crime scene tape, documenting the scene in meticulous detail to enable all those experts prohibited from entering the scene, to understand where and how the crime was committed. Her photographs provided detectives, accident and fire investigators, forensic scientists, analysts, profilers, pathologists, psychologists, judges, juries, coroners and cold case investigators with a true and accurate permanent visual record of the crime immediately after it was committed. Harrowing, unpredictable and dangerous as her work could be, Bennett’s proximity to death has given her profound insights about life.  Shot through with humanity, humor and a sense of responsibility to the victims for whom her photographs can deliver justice, Bennett’s book lifts the veil on a hidden world. You can find her at @ScotlandYardCSI. (Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)

Bradley Bale, MD and Amy Doneen, DNP, have been hailed as “two of the most influential names in cardiology” and “the pioneers of heart attack and stroke prevention.” Thousands of healthcare providers have been trained in their precision-medicine approach to prevention, known as the BaleDoneen Method. In their first book, BEAT THE HEART ATTACK GENE (John Wiley and Sons, 2014), Bale and Doneen described how to use their method to avoid heart attacks, strokes and type 2 diabetes. Since then, the two specialists have dramatically advanced their unique, evidence-based method by pioneering a groundbreaking new medical specialty called “arteriology.” HEALTHY HEART, HEALTHY BRAIN: The Proven Personalized Plan to Prevent and Reverse Arterial Disease  will provide an easy-to-implement plan to optimize the wellness of the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in our bodies, helping readers avoid heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, type 2 diabetes, and a host of other conditions. Arteriology transcends the traditional medical silos that have resulted in incomplete, fragmented care for patients with Cardiovascular Disease, the leading killer of Americans.  Doctors Bale and Doneen are co-founders of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center in Spokane, Washington; their accredited BaleDoneen preceptorship program is offered several times a year in major cities across the U.S. They are the authors of numerous peer-reviewed papers, and they speak to audiences all over the world. Their work has been featured in major media, including The Wall Street Journal, Fox news, The Huckabee Show, among others. (Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)

When writer/historian/banjo expert Kristina Gaddy visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2017, little did she know that a diorama by Dutch artist Gerrit Schouten would unlock a mystery back home in the United States. Schouten’s work resembled the famous folk art painting “The Old Plantation” (which features a primitive banjo), and from there, Gaddy was able to dig deep into the history of the banjo, from its first appearance in 1670s Martinique in the hands of the enslaved to when white people started playing the instrument in the 1800s. In WELL OF SOULS: SEARCHING FOR THE BANJO'S LOST HISTORY, Gaddy presents a revelatory experience of America’s iconic instrument, its surprising role as a religious object, and intriguing new narratives of how our country's culture has developed. More than history of the banjo, this book uncovers how the banjo was the center of African American spiritual practices hidden from enslavers throughout the Americas. Gaddy tells a story of resilience and invention under the worst kind of oppression, and how enslaved people created something so compelling, it not only survived, but transformed the culture of those holding them in bondage. Like a good detective story, Gaddy peppers her narrative with vivid scenes and lively characters (some still breathing), making the landscape of the Americas come alive with colors, lyrics, music, and dance. (Please note, John Rudolph is the agent on this project.)

Like any parent raising a medically fragile child, Wayne Drash (longtime writer for CNN.com and author of ON THESE COURTS: A MIRACLE SEASON THAT CHANGED A CITY, A ONCE FUTURE STAR, AND A TEAM FOREVER) struggled watching his son suffer from near-daily epileptic seizures. He wondered: Have I failed as a father? Why can’t I help my son? Is there more I should do? In his desperate pursuit to do anything to help his son, the two traveled to top medical facilities for evaluations and even journeyed 1,200 miles to Colorado for bootlegged medical marijuana. Nothing worked--until they found the answer in an 80-pound puppy named Monty. A Golden Lab service dog with a wispy mane and deep soulful eyes, Monty would deliver father and son from the depths of despair. With RESCUED BY MONTY: A SERVICE DOG AND HIS BOY, Drash weaves together his family’s journey with tales of other children suffering from seizure disorders and the wondrous ways their service dogs saved them from their once-isolated lives. Together, these stories shed light on epilepsy, a disorder affecting millions of Americans, and offer hope to all families of chronically ill children. RESCUED BY MONTY: A SERVICE BOY AND A DOG brings to life the unconditional love of a dog and his transformative power to change a family. It is a story that will move anyone who has ever loved a dog. (Please note, John Rudolph is the agent on this project.)

Like pulling the lever on a slot machine, the average person checks their cell phone 150 times a day, absorbing the constant stream of social media and YouTube notifications, hoping to gain more likes or followers, receiving intermittent gaming rewards, and anxiously waiting for the next text message to pop up. The use of persuasive design in devices intentionally produces the feel-good chemical associated addiction, dopamine.  It’s no surprise then that thanks to Silicon Valley’s skillful use of psychological manipulation, today’s teenagers now consume almost 10 hours a day of recreational media, a number that has drastically risen over the past decade. Excessive screen time increases risks of childhood obesity and mental health issues, like anxiety and depression, and lowers academic achievement; and it is disproportionally affecting our most vulnerable kids – children from low-income households. In SCREEN TO SERVICE: 10 REASONS TO GET KIDS OFF THEIR PHONES AND INTO VOLUNTEERING, internationally renowned education expert Dr. Rajni Shankar-Brown and award-winning journalist Cory Lancaster team up to encourage families to plug into another form of persuasive design—volunteering.  This is volunteering for the 21st century.  One that is more socially inclusive and one that is rooted in social activism and the known impact altruism can foster within the individual. SCREEN TO SERVICE is a must-read as it shares the latest research on the benefits of altruism and applies it to the very real crisis of young people's addiction to smartphones and other digital devices. (Please note, Ann Leslie Tuttle is the agent on this project.)

On September 11, while America mourned the deaths of thousands, one household in San Diego celebrated, praising God for His justice and causing a 14-year-old girl—watching live television for the first time—to realize that her family was just as extreme as the terrorists. UNCULTURED takes readers on the extraordinary journey of Daniella Mestyanek Young’s life as a third-generation daughter born into the Children of God cult. Her memoir covers the horrors inside the cult’s leadership circle to her remarkable rebirth after her excommunication at the age of 15, to graduating college as valedictorian and then becoming an officer in the US Army, eventually reaching the rank of Captain. She shares what it is really like to be one of the first women in deliberate ground combat with all-male teams in Afghanistan. And, from her point-of-view as an expert on culture and mindset who led intelligence operations during Operation Enduring Freedom and earned the Presidential Volunteer Service Medal from President Obama, she uses the themes of her life to show how the socialization, rape-culture, and group think intertwined in our everyday experiences led us to the extremism of the 2016 election. For readers of Educated and No Easy Day, Mestyanek Young writes the must-read memoir of hope and freedom with the power to change our understanding of what we will do to belong to a group. (Please note, Mike Hoogland is the agent on this project.)

His first day of retirement, former NFL veteran Vontae Davis did something he hadn’t done in years: He slept in. The previous day, the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback made his Buffalo Bills debut in his 10th season. But when the game started, something was off. His mind felt far away—like he was going through the motions of a sport he’d played since he was a kid. “I don’t feel right,” he told his teammates just before halftime. Then he walked into the locker room, took off his jersey, and drove home. It was time to retire. Retirement almost always comes as a shock to professional athletes. Up until that moment, they’ve been wired to compete, having spent their entire lives perfecting certain skills. Their very identities are linked to their playing careers, until one day it all abruptly ends. Every retired athlete deals with a transition period as they seek their next purpose in life. Some adjust smoothly, enjoying hobbies, business ventures, and time spent with family. But many struggle—retired athletes are at high risk of mental health issues, financial distress, and divorce. In THE EMPTY LOCKER: WHEN ATHLETES WALK AWAY, journalist Brendan Meyer explores how professional athletes decide to retire and what they do afterward. He tells this universal story of change through the eyes of eight former professional athletes at varying stages of their transition, intimately capturing how they’ve navigated their new realities after their time in the spotlight has ended. (Please note, Mike Hoogland is the agent on this project.)

We don’t all get married, have children, or have a vocation, but we all experience loss at some point in our lives. Death is universal. In the U.S alone, 2.9 million people will likely die in 2020. That means the average family will visit their local undertaker every seven years or so. When such a time comes around, everyone has questions about how to care for their loved ones’ remains.  Over the last 200 years of American history, funeral and death rites have changed. From President Lincoln's embalmed body's journey from Washington D.C. to Illinois and its impact on post-civil war American society, to present day’s growing interest in the method of composting our dead, THE WAKING by Todd Harra, asks why Americans bury their dead the way they do. By examining the various popular death rites across various centuries and dynasties, Harra, a death expert and co-author of MORTUARY CONFIDENTIAL studies and comments on this fascinating subject that will generate interest in everyone from professionals in the death business to everyday readers with curious minds. (Please note, Kemi Faderin is the agent on this project.)

For decades, the water at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base was contaminated with chemicals at levels up to 3400 times higher than limits allowed, but everyone on the base drank the water, bathed in it, cooked with it. Moms mixed their infants’ formula with the water, filled pet bowls and baby pools. After a failed coverup of the Lejeune water by the government, the entire base was placed on the National Priorities List of known hazardous sites. Unbeknownst to many, our military is the world’s most egregious polluter with a carbon footprint dwarfing any other, the single largest consumer of energy, and the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases. For journalist Lori Freshwater, this issue is deeply personal. In MARINE LIFE: WAR, WATER, AND THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE, she tells the story of her family who were among the first settlers in the Jacksonville area and how they became victims twice over—first, because their farm was confiscated by the Marines, and second, when she lost two siblings and her mother from illnesses linked to the chemicals. Combining hours of research, science, and investigative reporting about some of the environmental damage caused by the Department of Defense, Freshwater provides context for a major public health issue in a personal way, while bringing clarity to the enormous, yet vital task of changing the way we maintain national security without continuing to put our people and our planet at risk. For readers of TOMS RIVER and DREAMLAND, Lori Freshwater’s MARINE LIFE is a must-read.

 FICTION

Ranita Atwater, is “getting short” after wrapping up four years in prison for opiate possession.  With almost three years of sobriety behind her, she is determined to stay clean, regain custody of her two children, and do more than merely survive.  My name is Ranita, and I’m an addict, she has said again and again in recovery meetings.  But who else is she and who will she choose to become?  Though Ranita is regaining her freedom, she’s leaving behind her lover Maxine, who has helped her to see her heart as a pomegranate filled with the jeweled seeds of trouble and possibility.  Back in the free world, she struggles to steer clear of the temptations that have pulled her down before.  Atoning for her missteps, she returns to the black community that grew her, and to the aunts who have been caring for her children.  And she tries to recover the singing voice that has been silenced by trauma. Fierce and funny, Ranita forges on, determined to overcome her past, reach for a future with her kids, and claim her full, rich story of loss and love. Helen Elaine Lee’s POMEGRANATE is a lyrical journey that will move you deeply and stay with you.

Richard notices the seam in the wallpaper a few days before Near Year’s Eve. He wants to fix it, but his husband, Joe, would rather pretend there’s nothing wrong. This is how it is with them: Richard worrying that something is wrong while Joe pretends not to see any problems. When Joe is hospitalized for bipolar disorder, Richard learns that Joe hasn’t been taking his medication. But it’s not that Joe’s hospitalization creates problems—it’s that Richard and Joe already have problems, and Richard can no longer pretend not to notice his life unspooling around him. As he struggles to put one foot in front of the other, he explores memories of his tumultuous marriage, his growing understanding of his father, and his lifelong relationship with his own anxiety. And there’s still the problem of the seam in the wallpaper. In the vein of Jonathan Tropper and Grant Ginder, JANUARY. JOE. JUNE. by Francesco Sedita—President and Publisher of Penguin Workshop—is a beautifully written and emotionally unflinching story about how there aren’t always good answers, just ones we can live with. How loving someone is not always enough. How knowing oneself is more difficult than knowing someone else. And how the first step is by far the hardest.  (Please note, Michael Bourret is the agent on this project.)

Would Anna Karenina jump in front of a train today? In this ‘50 Shades of Tolstoy’, our modern Anna, married to much older lawyer and CNN commentator Alex, leaves her Manhattan penthouse for nearby Palisades to save her brother Steve’s marriage after his wife Daisy caught him in flagrante delicto with the nanny. As Anna steps off the train onto the platform, son Sascha in tow, she locks eyes with dashing financier Byron Bronsky and sparks fly.  Anna struggles to stay true to her marriage but soon loses herself in this new love, embracing sexual thrill and feeling alive as never before. Red flags quickly emerge showing Byron might not be the romantic hero he seems, but Anna determinedly ignores them, fighting hard to hold on to her ‘happily ever after’…until she can’t. Witty and honest in examining whether a “good enough” marriage is, actually, good enough, and weighing choices between passion and safety, ALMOST ANNA reimagines the 19th century classic’s timeless themes of love and betrayal in a contemporary era where women have greater options and agency. Attorney and political writer Judi Zirin has crafted a compelling commercial novel which takes an intimate look at issues from #metoo to suicide, custody to sexuality.  ALMOST ANNA will appeal to more than erotically charged feminist scholars of Russian literature, striking a chord in anyone who has been in that relationship where the highs were so good they ignored the warning signs and wound up compromising more than they ever thought they could. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.)

Businessman Robert Bliss hates Shakespeare, hates him so much, in fact, that when the Boston college of which is he is a trustee refuses him to pull the Bard from the curriculum he takes drastic steps; he sells his soul to a devil—Belial—in order to go back in time and remove the plays from history entirely. This action is countered by an angel named (for reasons too complex to explain but entirely in keeping with a general cluelessness about human affairs) Gladys, who selects three humans united by a tragic accident when they are killed by the same train. One of them who she mistakes for a Shakespeare professor is actually a petty crook, one is a young female student from the college, and the third is a black investment banker. None of them are especially keen on saving Shakespeare from Bliss’s demonic clutches, though their attitude shifts somewhat when Gladys convinces them that if they are successful in thwarting the agents of Hell, they’ll get their lives back. Whether they can do so in time for it to make a difference, is another question entirely. In BURNING SHAKESPEARE, author AJ Hartley, Robinson professor of Shakespeare, UNC Charlotte, dips into the tradition of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (think Good Omens meets The Good Place) for this time traveling romp through literature and history which is as smart and reflective as it is suspenseful and funny. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.)

When a 12-year old amateur magician goes missing in small-town Southern Indiana, it’s hard not to believe this is all part of the ultimate vanishing act. Especially if you’re his 16-year old sister, Charlie, who knows Addy could do just about anything with a tap of his wand and a little show smoke. Five years later, a new clue surfaces that sparks a cross-country search to California where Charlie instead finds her estranged father: a man whose early evaporation from their lives fueled Addy’s obsession with perfecting the disappearing act. With him is Jack: the half-brother she hadn’t known existed, who has questions of his own about his mother’s suspicious death. When she and Jack return to Indiana to revisit the case, Charlie discovers Jack isn’t the only family secret that’s been kept from her. A reclusive magician with mysterious ties to Addy, an ex-boyfriend vested in Charlie dropping the case, and the lead detective (who happens to be in love with Charlie’s mother) keep the twists coming and leave Charlie wondering how many more secrets there are to uncover. More than an addictive, read-in-one-sitting story, Liz Ference’s debut literary suspense novel NOW YOU DON’T explores what you can make yourself believe to hold on to the person you need most – perfect for fans of Megan Miranda, Megan Abbott and Ruth Ware. (Please note, Jessica Papin is the agent on this project.)

A woman awakes with amnesia beside a mountain highway, uninjured but confused and alone. When she recovers her name, she learns her parents have disappeared—not long after her mother received a $47M lottery windfall. As her memories begin to return and the police uncover more details of her parents’ disappearance, Cleo Li finds herself under increasing suspicion. With her still-hazy recall disrupted by harrowing nightmares, she struggles to field the detectives’ invasive questions and demands. Even with the unwavering support of her younger brother, Cleo can’t quite reconcile her fears with reality, and as she digs ever deeper for answers, she cannot escape the nagging sense that there are some things she may be better off forgetting forever. Sisters in Crime National Vice President S.G. Wong’s WINDFALL examines the deep complexities of family and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. With the jolting revelations of Clare Mackintosh’s I LET YOU GO and the taut ambiguity of Jen Sookfong Lee’s THE CONJOINED, it is an unexpected immigrant story unfolding piece-by-piece within the framework of a fresh and exciting spin on domestic suspense. (Please note, Lauren Abramo is the agent on this project.)

Drawing strength from the memory of their ancestor Aisha, a slave born free on the west coast of Africa, four strong black women across the sweep of American history will do anything to succeed—and will do even more to protect their daughters. Forceful, timely, and unforgettable, BEND DON’T BREAK by Julie L. Brown explores the mighty relationship between black mothers and their daughters. Aisha’s granddaughter Dinah, a plantation slave, makes an unthinkable choice to free her daughter Sarah. Augusta is an abused wife and frustrated writer during the Harlem Renaissance, and her mother Julia, like Dinah before her, is determined to help her. Lawyer Olivia and her news anchor daughter Nicole both seek success and equality in the very white man’s world of 1980s corporate life. And in the present day, Sha, an IT director, turns amateur detective after her daughter’s nightclub assault—and her courage inspires her daughter’s work in the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. These women navigate unique obstacles of their individual place in history, yet are linked across the generations by the universal burden of injustice—and the power of standing up to it. In spare, vigorous prose, BEND DON’T BREAK follows each woman as they fight for their own dreams and create pathways for their daughters to scale even greater heights. For readers of Tayari Jones and THE CARE AND FEEDING OF RAVENOUSLY HUNGRY GIRLS, this vitally important novel is a captivating testament to women’s ambition and mother’s love. (Please note, Sharon Pelletier is the agent on this project.)

Hazel Greenlee—frustrated writer, unhappy wife—hopes her new job as an overnight transcriber for the police department will break her long writer’s block. A novel could be her way out of this cold, dark, crime- and addiction-ridden Wisconsin town. Spending her nights listening to officers’ recorded reports, Hazel’s inextricably drawn to the one detective she was warned to stay away from—Nikolai Kole—who's working the devastating case of a small boy’s overdose death, soon linked to a notorious drug dealer known as the Candy Man. As the investigation unfolds, Hazel finds herself falling dangerously hard for Kole—first his voice alone, then the man himself—and looking for opportunities to involve herself deeper in the case. But as she lets the investigation, Kole, and the midnight world of the transcription room serve as balm to her misery—a pain-laden marriage, a fracturing relationship with her sister—the lines blur between hero and rescuer, victim and perpetrator. And when her old and new worlds crash into each other, Hazel looks for truth in the shards, putting not just the case, but her very life at stake. Bold, tender, and brimming with voice, HELLO, TRANSCRIBER by Hannah Morrissey is a stunning debut that, in the style of Tana French and Dervla McTiernan, is at once a gripping crime novel and so much more. Morrissey draws richly on her own experience as a police transcriber to skillfully trace a story of pain, ambition, and redemption around the societal epidemics plaguing so many American towns. (Please note, Sharon Pelletier is the agent on this project.)

Sylvie de Rosiers, the mulatto daughter of a rich planter in 1791 Saint-Domingue, is both a lady born to privilege and a damning reminder of her father’s infidelity with an enslaved woman. After a violent slave uprising begins the Haitian Revolution, Sylvie and her brother leave their parents and old lives behind to flee unwittingly into another uprising— austere and radical Paris. Sylvie quickly becomes enamored with the aims of the Revolution, as well as with the revolutionaries themselves—most notably Maximilien Robespierre and his mistress, Cornélie Duplay. As a rising leader and abolitionist, Robespierre sees an opportunity to exploit Sylvie’s race and abandonment of her aristocratic roots as an example of his ideals—and, as his interest in her increases, so, too, does her obsession with him. While Sylvie becomes steeped in a moral war of the French Revolution and in a war of passion with Cornélie, she is pulled between her past complicities in a slave society and her future within this new world order. But when the Reign of Terror descends, Sylvie must decide: become an accomplice while another kingdom rises on the bones of innocents…or risk losing her head. A dark exploration of the women behind an infamous tyrant, MISTRESS OF TERROR, by Zoe Sivak, features a flawed and complicated heroine reminiscent of Scarlett O’Hara. (Please note, Amy Elizabeth Bishop is the agent on this project.)

Three-hundred years after Rosmia walled itself inside a doomed land overrun by the flesh-eating strigoi, three unlikely heroes are forced to save themselves from the spreading curse that causes the dead to rise and devour the living. NO GRAVE NIGHT by Paige M. Cober follows a misanthropic midwife-witch, a princess consort troubled by rumors she bathes in blood, and an outcast boy who comes from the borders of the ruined land with a message: only the trio can find his missing sister and save their country from devastation. But navigating a world littered with both the undead and dying––whether they may be soul-devouring cults, decaying giants, or axe-wielding cannibals in pursuit of magic––proves to be the least of their problems, no matter their separate, not-so-heroic ambitions. And even so, the war brewing between the undead strigoi and Rosmia’s dying people threatens to uncover the truth behind the nature of their own humanity––or whatever remains. This fantasy about the rise of hope through death and decay takes the magic of SABRIEL and sets it against the dark Eastern European backdrop of THE WITCHER. (Please note, Amy Elizabeth Bishop is the agent on this project.)

Rights Round Up

Tantor acquired audio rights to the MAGIC & MAYHEM series by Erica Ridley, the SOUTHERN GIRL series by Georgia Cates, WAR OF HEARTS by S. Young, OUTMATCHED by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young, TO HAVE AND TO KILL and CRIES IN THE DESERT by John Glatt, CONSEQUENCE and UNDENIABLY CHOSEN by Shelly Crane, FAIR ISLE AND FORTUNES, LACE AND LIES, and BOBBLES AND BROOMSTICKS by Nancy Warren, and THE HARD WAY, THE RIGHT WAY, DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, REINING HER IN, and MUSIC OF THE SOUL by Katie Ashley. Audio rights to FATED BY FELONY by Victoria Laurie, THE INNER GAME OF STRESS by W. Timothy Gallwey with Edd Hanzelik and John Horton, FINDING STORM by Samantha Towle, DANGEROUS TEMPTATIONS by Kelly Elliott and Kristin Mayer, and STARS IN MY EYES by David Morrell went to Audible. HMH audio has rights to BAD HABITS by Amy Gentry. MMB Media acquired audio rights to THE BODY IN THE APARTMENT and the next two books in the JAZZI ZANDERS mystery series by Judi Lynn.

Jane Startz Productions optioned film rights to David Sosnowski’s VAMPED was optioned for film by wiip Development LLC. Paperclip optioned film rights to SKY WITHOUT STARS by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, with Ben Cornwell and Yeardley Smith producing. Anna Purna Pictures optioned film rights to WRITTEN IN BLOOD by Diane Fanning with Jennifer Zayas producing. Jacqueline Carey’s KUSHIEL’S LEGACY series was optioned for film by Lionsgate. HAS Season Two optioned TV rights to SHAPE SHIFTERS ANONYMOUS by J.A. Konrath.

Record acquired Brazilian rights to REGRETTING YOU by Colleen Hoover, dtv acquired German rights, Konyvmolykepzo acquired Hungarian rights, Kinneret acquired Hebrew rights, Eksmo acquired Russian rights, Otwarte acquired Polish rights, IBIS acquired Bulgarian rights, Euromedia acquired Czech rights, Sakam Knjigi acquired Macedonian rights, VBK acquired Dutch rights, and Topseller acquired Portuguese rights. Hugo and Cie acquired French rights to MAYBE NOW and VERITY. VERITY also sold to Lindhardt & Ringhof in Denmark, IBIS in Bulgaria, Babel in Taiwan, Albatros in Slovenia, Eksmo in Russia, Futami Shobo in Japan, Neptun in Croatia, and Al Mada in Iraq. AST acquired Russian rights to A. Suiter Clarke’s LIKE CLOCKWORK, Suma acquired Brazilian rights, Otava acquired Finnish rights, Znanje acquired Croatian rights, Ikar acquired Slovakian rights, Destino acquired Spanish rights, Pushkin Press acquired UK rights, Scherz acquired German rights, and Libri acquired Hungarian rights. Polish rights to OUTMATCHED by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young went to Burda Media, Hebrew rights went to Kinneret, Italian rights went to Always Publishing, German rights went to HarperCollins Germany, who also acquired German rights to Young’s THINGS WE NEVER SAID, while V&R acquired Spanish rights to AS DUST DANCES. Nemesis Kitap acquired Turkish rights to FROM LUKOV WITH LOVE by Mariana Zapata, and Fusosha Publishing acquired Japanese rights, while Newton Compton acquired Italian rights to THE BEST THING, Albatros acquired Czech rights to RHYTHM, CHORD & MALYKIN, MxM acquired French rights to LUNA & THE LIE, and Adel Publishing acquired Hebrew rights to DEAR AARON. Alma Littera acquired Lithuanian rights to 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG PARENTS DON’T DO by Amy Morin and Arete acquired Serbian rights to 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG PARENTS DON’T DO, 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG PEOPLE DON’T DO, and 13 THINGS MENTALLY STRONG WOMEN DON’T DO. Romanian rights to ALL YOUR TWISTED SECRETS by Diana Urban were sold to Herg Benet, while Eksmo acquired Russian rights. Polish rights for IRENA’S CHILDREN by Tilar Mazzeo went to Niezwykle, and Russian rights went to Eksmo. DAUGHTER OF SPARTA by Claire Andrews will be published in Spanish by Anaya/Hachette Spain. Royce Buckingham’s MONSTER LAWYER will be published in German by Blanvalet. A NECESSARY SIN by Georgia Cates went to Futami Shobo for Japanese publication. THE POWER OF EMPATHY by Arthur Ciaramicoli and Katherine Ketcham went to Sunrise Press for Taiwanese publication. KILL SWITCH and NIGHTFALL by Penelope Douglas were sold for Brazilian publication to The Gift Box. Mona Eltahawy’s THE SEVEN NECESSARY SINS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS was sold for French publication to Florent Massot. THROUGH THE WINDOW by Diane Fanning went to Beijing MOJO Culture & Media for simplified Chinese publication. Muvelt Nep Konyvkiado acquired Hungarian rights to Tracey Garvis Graves’s ON THE ISLAND. Dutch rights for Abbi Glines’s THE BEST I’VE EVER HAD went to Karakter. A DIFFERENT BLUE, THE LAW OF MOSES, and THE SONG OF DAVID by Amy Harmon were sold for Russian publication to Eksmo. HIGH RISK by Dr. Chavi Karkowsky went to Scribe for UK publication. Niezwkyle acquired Polish rights to PLAYING FOR KEEPS by RL Mathewson. UK rights for Tom Mitchell’s CAMP DISCONNECT and an untitled second book went to HarperCollins Children’s UK. Polish audio rights for FIRST BLOOD, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II, RAMBO III, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE, THE FRATERNITY OF THE STONE, and THE LEAGUE OF NIGHT AND FOG by David Morrell went to Storytel. REVIVING IZABEL by JA Redmerski were sold for Hungarian publication to Konyvmolykepzo. An updated and revised edition of THE COMPLETE TUTANKHAMUN by Nicholas Reeves was sold for UK publication to Thames & Hudson. James Riley’s THE LAST DRAGON was sold for German publication to Thienemann. PLAYING FOR KEEPS and ALL THE WAY by Kendall Ryan were sold for Croatian publication to 24 SATA.  Vivante/Kobiece acquired Polish rights to Manisha Singal’s THE CBD SKINCARE SOLUTION. Romanzi Oro/Mondadori acquired Italian rights to LORD OF DANGER and TO LOVE A DARK LORD by Anne Stuart. RIVER WILD by Samantha Towle went to Baronet for Czech publication. Hungarian rights to GOOD FOR YOU by Tammara Webber were sold to Konyvmolykepzo.  

RECENT SALES

Nancy Jooyoun Kim’s THE LOST STORY OF MINA LEE went to Park Row Books in a World rights deal by Amy Elizabeth Bishop.

World English rights to WAIST DEEP IN DUNG by Christine Virnig went to Henry Holt in a deal by Jim McCarthy.

Ann Leslie Tuttle sold World rights for COLTON 911 by Tara Taylor Quinn to Harlequin.

LIKE CLOCKWORK and an UNTITLED second book by A. Suiter Clarke went to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in a North American rights deal by Sharon Pelletier.

Berkley bought World English rights to THE PARADISE PROJECT and an UNTITLED second book by Libby Hubscher in a deal by Sharon Pelletier.

World rights to Nelson Simon’s INTO THE SEA were sold to Chicago Review Press in a deal by Stacey Glick.

Karelia Stetz-Waters’s UNTITLED SEX TOY ROMANCE went to Grand Central in a World rights deal.

Jessica Papin sold THE OTHER CHINA by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Johnson to University of Chicago Press in a World rights deal (excluding Chinese).

World rights to Erin Soderberg Downing’s WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, MAKE PEACH PIE and an UNTITLED second book were sold to Pixel + Ink in a deal by Michael Bourret.

AFRICATOWN by Nick Tabor was sold to Thomas Dunne Books in a World rights deal.

Marcos Gonsalez’s PEDRO’S THEORY went to Melville House in a World rights deal by Lauren Abramo.

World rights to NOT ONE OF US by Debbie Herbert sold to Thomas & Mercer in a deal by Ann Leslie Tuttle.

Jessica Papin sold North American rights to AN AMERICAN INHERITANCE by Rebecca Clarren to Penguin Books.

LAMENT by Amy Harmon went to Lake Union/Amazon in a World rights deal.

Amy Harmon’s THE SECOND BLIND SON was sold to 47 North/Amazon in a World rights deal.

World rights to BRUJAS by Lorraine Monteagut went to Chicago Review Press.

THE HABIT TRIP: A FILL-IN-THE-BLANK JOURNEY TO A LIFE ON PURPOSE by Sarah Hays Coomer went to Running Press in a North American rights deal by Stacey Glick.

Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby’s THIRTEEN WAYS OF BEING US was sold to Knopf Books for Young Readers for World rights by Jim McCarthy.

World rights to CRAWLSPACE by Tarryn Fisher were sold to Graydon House.

HEALTHY INSTANT POT COOKBOOK by Urvashi Pitre was sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in a World rights deal by Stacey Glick.

Naomi Wolf's OUTRAGES was sold to Chelsea Green in a North American rights deal.

BEYOND THE BREAK by Heather Buchta went to Penguin Workshop in a World rights deal by Michael Bourret.

Ten Speed Press bought World English rights to SAVE THE CAT! WRITES FOR KIDS by Jessica Brody and Save the Cat! Enterprises in a deal by Jim McCarthy.

World English rights to INTO THE REAL by Z Brewer went to HarperCollins Children’s Books in a deal by Michael Bourret.

Jim McCarthy sold World rights to Nicole Melleby’s SUNNY AND OSWALDO and A TROUBLING LESSON IN SPELLING to Algonquin Books for Young Readers.

Carol Cujec and Peyton Goddard’s REAL was sold to Shadow Mountain in a World rights deal.

EGG by Lizzie Stark was sold to W.W. Norton in a World rights deal.

Jim McCarthy sold World rights to Remy Lai’s PAWCASSO to Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.

Sherrie All’s A NEUROSCIENCE SOLUTION TO MEMORY ENHANCEMENT was sold to New Harbinger in a World rights deal by Amy Elizabeth Bishop.

Dial Books for Young Readers bought World rights to ALMOST FLYING and an UNTITLED second book by Jake Maia Arlow in a deal by Jim McCarthy.

World English + Korean worldwide rights to UNBOXING GOD by John Pavlovitz went to Westminster John Knox Press in a deal by Sharon Pelletier.

John Rudolph sold KIDS ON THE MARCH by Michael G. Long to Algonquin Books for Young Readers for World English rights.

Viking Children’s Books bought World rights to PATHFINDERS SOCIETY BOOK 3 by Francesco Sedita and Scott Seraydarian in a deal by Michael Bourret.

Ann Leslie Tuttle sold World rights to A LADY’S FORMULA FOR LOVE and two more books by Elizabeth Everett to Berkley.

Jacqueline Lipton’s OUR DATA, OURSELVES was sold to University of California Press in a World rights deal.

Erica Ridley’s THE DUKE HEIST and two more untitled books were sold to Forever/Grand Central in a World rights deal by Lauren Abramo.

World rights to DATE LIKE HE’S OBSESSED WITH YOU by Candice Jalili went to Tiller Press/S&S in a deal by Amy Elizabeth Bishop.