Julie Crisp, Editorial Director of Pan Macmillan in London, has concluded a World Rights deal for two further horror novels by British author Adam Nevill with agent John Jarrold. The deal also involves re-publication of Adam’s first novel, Banquet for the Damned as a Pan paperback.  The new books will be published in 2014 and 2015.

Adam Nevill’s novels Apartment 16, The Ritual (which won the August Derleth Award for Best Novel at FantasyCon earlier this year) and Last Days have been published very successfully by Pan Macmillan, with House of Small Shadows already contracted and delivered for publication in 2013.

Julie Crisp said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that on the perfect day for it – Halloween – we’ve acquired the next two books from Adam Nevill. We have a proud tradition of publishing horror at Pan Macmillan and Adam is a shining example of brilliant – and terrifying – British horror writing!”

And Adam Nevill said: “I am thrilled about this opportunity to keep building a body of work with a terrific publisher, and one with such a significant legacy in the field of British horror fiction. On Halloween too. Perfect timing. In celebration, sacrifices will be made to strange gods.”

Andrew Porter reports that British fan-artist Alan Hunter died on 1 August 2012 after a long illness.

Porter published many pieces of Hunter’s artwork in Algol/Starship and Science Fiction Chronicle. The back cover of the final issue of Starship was by him.

Hunter also illustrated many BFS publications including Chills and Dark Horizons. He was Artist Guest of Honour at the 1981 FantasyCon.

Details of his passing and some examples of his artwork can be found HERE

Photo (c) Andrew Porter

Audible, Inc. today announced the release of Neil Gaiman’s Click-Clack the Rattlebag, a previously unpublished short story written and recorded by the internationally best-selling author and screenwriter. Click-Clack the Rattlebag is available free at Audible.com and Audible.co.uk. To help promote learning and literacy, through Halloween Audible will donate 50p per download from Audible.co.uk to Booktrust in the UK and $1 per download from Audible.com to DonorsChoose.org; both charitable organizations were selected by Gaiman.

“Whenever Neil Gaiman writes something new, it’s an event. We are thrilled to offer Audible listeners this subtle, brilliantly frightening story, and Neil’s narration captures perfectly the special intimacy that an audio recording by a favorite author can create. Listening to ‘Click-Clack the Rattlebag’ is the perfect way for Neil’s fans and anyone who enjoys a spooky tale to ring in the Halloween season,” said Audible.com founder and CEO Donald Katz.

“I started All Hallow’s Read two Halloweens ago as a way to encourage more people to give each other books—in this case, scary books,” said Gaiman. “Recording this new story and giving it away free at Audible seemed like a great way to extend that concept even further, with Audible’s help, by supporting the important efforts of Booktrust and DonorsChoose.org on behalf of education and literacy.”

Gaiman added, “To spread the word (and celebrate Halloween) on Twitter, we’re using the hashtag #ScareUs. I’m always happy to be able to use the power of social media to help people, while hopefully making them smile—and scaring them too!”

To download Click-Clack the Rattlebag, go to www.audible.co.uk/mt/scareus. To learn more about Booktrust or DonorsChoose.org, please visit www.booktrust.org.uk or www.donorschoose.org.

Any money donated to Booktrust will support its new Children’s Reading Fund, launching in January 2013.

Strange Chemistry, the YA imprint of Angry Robot Books, is delighted to announce the signing of Eliza Crewe, in a two-book World English Rights (excluding the Indian subcontinent) deal for her YA novel, Cracked, for publication in November 2013.

The deal was concluded by Strange Chemistry’s editor Amanda Rutter and Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents.

Meet Meda. She eats people.

Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.

They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her “kind” is.

Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and avoiding a bad-ass cripple that doesn’t trust her are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.

The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it.

Eliza Crewe said: “Writers are supposed to be good with words, but I can tell you that when the offer came in from Strange Chemistry, I couldn’t seem to find a single one. I read the email and just sat there blinking for a minute, then got in my car and drove home.

“About halfway through my commute, it finally hit me. I’m pretty sure I screamed out loud, started bellowing along with the radio, and flailed around like an idiot – all while stopped in traffic with my windows down, naturally.

“I think that pretty much sums up how I feel about signing with Strange Chemistry: windows down, top-of-my lungs singing, and fist-pumps.  I can’t wait to see what this next year brings.”

Eliza Crewe always thought she’d be a lawyer, and even went so far as to complete law school. But as they say, you are what you eat, and considering the number of books Eliza has devoured since childhood, it was inevitable she’d end up in the literary world. She abandoned the lawyer-plan to instead become a librarian and now a writer.

While she’s been filling notebooks with random scenes for years, Eliza didn’t seriously commit to writing an entire novel until the spring of 2011, when she and her husband bought a house. With that house came a half-hour commute, during which Eliza decided she needed something to think about other than her road-rage.  Is it any surprise she wrote a book about a blood-thirsty, people-eating monster?

Eliza has lived in Illinois, Edinburgh, and Las Vegas, and now lives in North Carolina with her husband, her hens, her angry, talking, stuffed dwarf giraffe, and a sweet, mute, pantomiming bear. She likes to cook, partially-complete craft projects, free-range her hens, and take long walks.

Cracked is her first novel.

You can visit Eliza’s website: at www.elizacrewe.com and follow Eliza on Twitter @ElizaCrewe.

Atomic Fez is delighted to announce details of a title for publication in the spring of 2013: Sleepless Knights by Mark H. Williams, with cover art by DC Comics and Vertigo artist Jimmy Broxton.

While Sleepless Knights is Mark Williams’ first novel, his writing has already been commissioned in the past by entities as diverse as BBC Cymru Wales TV and Radio, as well as Welsh National Opera, and the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford for whom he is also working on a future main stage adaptation.

Jimmy Broxton, whose work has graced the pages of Knight & Squire, Saucer Country and The Unwritten, will be providing his prodigious gifts to the outsides of Sleepless Knights, with a ‘concept sketch’ of the cover art already in hand.

“When I read the manuscript,” said Atomic Fez’s Publisher / Proprietor Ian Alexander Martin, “it was tough to remember it was a first novel by the author; it felt like something by a far more practised writer. I’m lucky to be trusted with the work.”

Tackling the Arthurian and ‘Knights of the Round Table’ legends was a daunting task which author Mark Williams undertook with respect and foreknowledge of its possibilities. “I’ve always loved the King Arthur legend,” says Mark. “For me, it’s the recipe for the perfect story.

“It’s got magic and monsters in spades,” he continued. “Incredible feats and outlandish quests. Heroes and villains, love and betrayal. Humour and scares, twists and turns. And, at its heart, a very human story of idealism and frailty; about the aspiration to create something good in this world, no matter how far you might fall short of it.”

Mark points to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman as influences, calling them both “writers who inspired me with their entirely serious approach to comic fantasy. I started [during University] to develop a taste for novels like The Princess Bride – books that approach the fantasy genre with a spring in their step, a twinkle in their eye, and a strong story at their heart.”

About the Book:
It’s not easy being the man behind the myth.

Sir Lucas is butler to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the person who managed every epic legend behind the scenes. He’s the one who made sure each quest happened in the right place at the right time, and that everyone involved had comfortable accommodation for the weekend. The man whose average working day involved fighting dragons, defeating witches, banishing demons, and ensuring the Royal pot of tea never crossed the thin line separating ‘brewed’ from ‘stewed’. What’s more, 1,500 years after that golden age, he’s still doing it: here in modern Britain, right under our noses…

Through ten working days in the life of Sir Lucas the Butler, discover what really went on at Camelot. The story behind Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere. The truth about the quest for the Grail. And find out what happens one fateful day in June, when King Arthur and six of his knights are revealed as living among us. A revelation that brings about the return of Merlin and the end of the world, uncovering secrets from the past that King Arthur would rather stay buried, and forcing Lucas to confront the truth about his own unique and peculiar destiny. A destiny he will do anything to avoid, even if it means sacrificing the love of his life in the service of his master.

In short, the kind of crisis only the ultimate butler can resolve.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Stephen King‘s novel Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, will be released on 24 September 2013. The news was released on King’s website earlier.

Read the Hollywood Reporter story HERE (with video link to King’s reading of an extract) and the BBC’s report HERE

Solaris is proud to announce a 2013 debut novel that brings the Dark Ages crashing into the 21st Century.

Geoffrey Gudgion’s historical supernatural thriller, Saxon’s Bane, will be published in September 2013.

A contemporary novel with a thrilling historical heart, Gudgion’s first novel is set in the 21st century but grounded in the Dark Ages, with a Saxon legend at its heart.

The past invades the present in this beautiful, lyrical and frightening tale, inspired by Gudgion’s love of ancient, ethereal places, and his eye for signs of the distant past in the English landscape of today.

“It’s a rare occasion when a submission comes in that I have to read right the way through in one go,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. “Saxon’s Bane was such a book. Discovering a new writer is always a thrill, and Geoffrey’s novel is of such a high calibre that I can’t wait for people to read it.”

Fergus Sheppard’s world changes forever the day his car crashes near the remote village of Allingley. Traumatised by his near-death experience, he returns to thank the villagers who rescued him, and stays to work at the local stables as he recovers from his injuries. He will discover a gentler pace of life, fall in love ¬ and be targeted for human sacrifice.

Clare Harvey’s life will never be the same either. The young archaeologist’s dream find – the peat-preserved body of a Saxon warrior – is giving her nightmares. She can tell that the warrior had been ritually murdered, and that the partial skeleton lying nearby is that of a young woman. And their tragic story is unfolding in her head every time she goes to sleep.

Fergus discovers that his crash is uncannily linked to the excavation, and that the smiling and beautiful countryside harbours some very dark secrets.

As the pagan festival of Beltane approaches, and Clare’s investigation reveals the full horror of a Dark Age war crime, Fergus and Clare seem destined to share the Saxon couple’s bloody fate.

It has been announced by family on the official Mervyn Peake website that Sebastian Peake, son of the Gormenghast writer, passed away on 6 September 2012.

The eldest son of the writer, Sebastian Peake strove tirelessly to keep knowledge of his father’s literary and artistic work in the public eye, writing books such as Mervyn Peake: The Man and His Art, attending events and giving talks. He was Guest of Honour at FantasyCon in 2009.

Strange Chemistry, the YA imprint of Angry Robot Books, is delighted to announce the signing of Bryony Pearce, in a one-book World English Rights deal for her YA novel, The Weight of Souls.

Sixteen year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her…

She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy.

But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do the stunt which led to his death.

Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him?

And what happens if she starts to fall for him?

Bryony had this to say on being signed to Strange Chemistry: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining the Strange Chemistry family with my new YA novel, The Weight of Souls, and so excited to see the team bring Taylor, a girl cursed to see the dead, to life next year.”

The deal was concluded by Strange Chemistry’s editor Amanda Rutter and Juliet Mushens of PFD.  Amanda said: “The Weight of Souls is a fantastic book, and every girl will be able to identify with Taylor. Bryony is a genuine talent and I’m delighted that she has signed to Strange Chemistry.”

Jo Fletcher has bought a Viking trilogy by Icelandic writer Snorri Kristjansson from the Geraldine Cooke agency.  The first of the series will be Swords of Good Men, published in summer 2013 by Jo Fletcher Books.

Snorri Kristjansson is currently teaching at a London primary school, but he has been at various times a journalist, web-designer, computer programmer, caretaker for ill people, cement-packer,longshoreman, musician, writer, actor and, most recently, a comedian. His Edinburgh Fringe show was the first to combine puffins, Icelandic revolutions and Jude Law – well, in recent history that is. Swords of Good Men is his first novel.

Geraldine said: ‘I met Snorri on the night Iceland finally went down the tubes – as he was doing a gig in the West End: he was so funny I thought I’d get him to do book on Iceland . . . little did I know that he was already writing a fantasy. This is a story of betrayal, war and emotion with comedy along the way.’

Snorri says: ‘When I found out that Jo Fletcher herself had expressed an interest in my book I had to go have a sit down. I am proud, privileged and tremendously excited to join JFB’s list of fresh, intriguing authors.’

Jo Fletcher says:  ‘There’s nothing like a good, rip-roaring Viking yarn to get the blood flowing, and when you add a recently converted warrior king determined to bring Christianity at the point of his sword and a powerful Northlands witch determined the Old Gods will triumph and, you know you’re in for a good time. I’m really thrilled to welcome Snorri to JFB, as part of my commitment to publish the very best in fantasy, SF and horror.’