Mark Charan Newton Signs a Two-Book Deal with Tor UK

Mark Charan Newton, the author of the excellent Legends of the Red Sun series just signed a new deal with Tor UK for the rights of his new fantasy-crime series' first two books. The author had already made his intentions to leave New Weird aside and to try something different public. So now we have something concrete. The press release that came out earlier this morning gives some information about the upcoming series (emphasis mine):

"The first book in a series provisionally titled DRAKENFELD introduces the eponymous hero, an investigator. The series is set in a fantasy world, but will appeal to fans of historical mysteries. In this opening volume, Lucan Drakenfeld is called home after the death of his father – but is immediately thrown into the investigation of a royal death. He also finds that his father’s demise is not as clear-cut as it at first appears..."

After the announcement, Newton blogged about the deal and gave more information about his new books (emphasis mine):

"It’s very much a fantasy novel, but equally a crime novel, with a locked-room mystery at the heart of it. Whilst I’ve dabbled with the odd crime sub-plot before, it was mainly a pastiche – Drakenfeld is much more committed to the crime genre, perhaps along the lines of the CJ Sansom novels. (It needs to be rewarding for readers of both genres.) The world is very much a classically inspired setting (Ancient Rome in particular), and there virtually no weirdness. I’m also really enjoying writing the Drakenfeld novel, much more so than any of the previous series, and especially the locked-room element: the impossible crime."

The fourth and last book of Legends of the Red Sun will be published in the summer of 2012. And it looks like we'll be able to read Drakenfeld, the first book of Newton's new series, in 2013.

I wish him all the best with his new books and I am really looking forward to reading them.

PRESS RELEASE – 21st November 2011

New Deal For Mark Charan Newton

Bella Pagan, Senior Commissioning Editor at Tor UK, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, has acquired world rights to the first two volumes of a fantasy series by Mark Charan Newton. The agent was John Jarrold.

The first book in a series provisionally titled DRAKENFELD introduces the eponymous hero, an investigator. The series is set in a fantasy world, but will appeal to fans of historical mysteries. In this opening volume, Lucan Drakenfeld is called home after the death of his father – but is immediately thrown into the investigation of a royal death. He also finds that his father’s demise is not as clear-cut as it at first appears…

Pagan said ‘Mark writes compulsive adventures set in utterly convincing new worlds – he’s a terrific writer. I couldn’t ask for a better start to my new position at Tor UK than this first deal’.

Tor UK have successfully published three fantasy novels by Mark in the Legends of the Red Sun series since 2009, with a fourth to appear in the summer of 2012. They have been strongly acclaimed by China Miéville, Peter F Hamilton and reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The first book in the new series will be published in 2014. For more information about Mark, see his website markcnewton.com or follow him on twitter @MarkCN.

Contact Chloe Healy or John Jarrold for further details:

Chloe Healy: c.healy@macmillan.co.uk 00 44 20 7014 6000 Twitter: @UKTor
John Jarrold: j.jarrold@btinternet.com 00 44 1522 510544

Catching Up

Work has been hectic this week and despite my best intentions, I couldn't find the opportunity to post these news at the right time so forgive me for bundling them together but this is the best I could do this week.

A new press released announced Tor UK's new acquisition. To hear King's and Koontz's names is enough for me to pay attention to Seth Patrick's Reviver series. But I'm afraid we're going to have to wait a little while before we can lay our eyes on the first book.

Tor UK captures Seth Patrick

Reviver by Seth Patrick has been acquired by Tor UK in a six-figure pre-empt from Luigi Bonomi.

It is the first of three books in the Reviver series, all of which have been acquired by Tor UK and Thomas Dunne Books in New York for World English Language rights. Comparable to Stephen King, Justin Cronin and Dean Koontz, this supernatural thriller has a fantastic lead character, Jonah Miller, who will feature in all three books.
Seth Patrick is in his late 30s and lives in West Sussex. A very successful computer games developer who works for Sega, Reviver is his first novel.

Reviver is set in the USA and introduces readers to Jonah Miller, one of the world’s most gifted revivers. Revivers are those who can make contact with the dead and bring them back for a short period of time to say goodbye to loved ones or, more importantly for the police, tell them who their killers were.

But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, Jonah discovers that a sinister presence is watching from the other side. When he starts to investigate, what he uncovers threatens everything he knows . . .
Julie Crisp, Editorial Director of Tor UK says,

“This is a hugely exciting project and everyone who read this loved it! Seth Patrick is a wonderful writer and there's a real sense of action and pace combined with an imagination and storyline in the novel that readers of Justin Cronin will love. Jonah Miller is going to be a very popular character.”

Luigi Bonomi comments,

“Seth Patrick has written one of the most captivating and original stories I’ve read in ages. I first read the material sitting on a train and had to ring the author there and then as I knew it was going to be terrific. I couldn’t be more delighted that Macmillan and Thomas Dunne Books are going to be publishing it.”

Reviver is currently scheduled for publication in the UK in 2013.

Mark Lawrence's upcoming book, King of Thorns, second book of the Broken Empire series, has a cover now:

My first reaction to it was: "A hooded figure (again) but I like it (again)." I think, just like in the first book's cover, I really like the posture of Jorg (the King). The first book of the series, Prince of Thorns has been very well received (reviewed here) so I'm sure most of you are looking forward to its publication in August 2012.

I also caught my first glimpse of Anthony Huso's Black Bottle:

Huso has created a big fan base with his very successful previous book, The Last Page. Black Bottle is going to be published in 2012 but I haven't heard a more precise date yet.