DealWatch ™ redux

There’ve been so many notable deals posted that I’m just going to lump them in one big long post. First up:

Michael Cox — he of the largest UK advance (allegedly) and hardluck story, gets some North American cash:

Michael Cox’s THE MEANING OF NIGHT, a richly imagined tale of delusion and deceit, of love and disinheritance set in Victorian England, to Jill Bialosky at Norton, in a significant deal, by Natasha Fairweather of AP Watt. In Canada, to Ellen Seligman of McClelland & Stewart, at auction. German, French, Italian, and Dutch auctions are underway; Swedish rights to Bonniers and Norwegian rights to Aschehoug.

It’s like dominoes, really; one publisher bites and the rest fall down in line….

Next, fresh off the news of his Edgar nomination for best PBO, Chris Haslam will be sticking with his UK publisher, Abacus, for a little while longer:

The third novel by Edgar-nominated British author, Chris Haslam, following the misadventures of three British men aiming to recover a fortune in gold bullion ‘lost’ in transit after the Spanish Civil War, to Tim Whiting at Abacus, by Kate Shaw at Gillon Aitken Associates.

Kate Atkinson isn’t going anywhere, which works just fine for me:

2004 Whitbread finalist Kate Atkinson’s next two novels, to Reagan Arthur at Little, Brown, in a significant deal, by Kim Witherspoon at Inkwell Management (US).

And neither is Lono Waiwaiole, so the above comment applies as well:

Lono Waiwaiole’s WILEY’S REFRAIN, the next in a noir crime series (WILEY’S LAMENT and WILEY’S SHUFFLE), to Ben Sevier at Minotaur, by Gina Maccoby at Gina Maccoby Literary Agency.

As for this deal, maybe it’s me but there’s just a whiff of…oh, I don’t know, sameness about this?

E.D. Drood’s THE ATLANTIS CODE, an historical mystery and present-day thriller centering around the discovery of a great secret in connection with the lost city of Atlantis, the Vatican, and the Bible, to Bob Gleason at Tor, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA; author retains audio).

Then there’s Rex Pickett, who has naturally benefited from all the hoopla surrounding the movie based on his book SIDEWAYS. But was there to be another novel in the works? Sure seems that way:

Author of SIDEWAYS Rex Pickett’s THE ROAD BACK, the story of a arrogant young Hollywood director, and his roadtrip cross-country with his ailing mother, to Jordan Pavlin at Knopf, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group (NA).

And finally, it just goes to show that the "bloggers with book deals" trend shows absolutely no sign whatsoever of going away:

Blogger and third-year Harvard Law student Jeremy Blachman’s ANONYMOUS LAWYER, a novel based on the now infamous blog of the same name (his fan’s thought he was a middle-aged partner in an LA firm until a recent NYT article), about a partner in a big LA firm who commits a seemingly minor ethical infraction he could probably get away with until he is found out by his nemesis at the firm, a fellow hiring partner known simply as The Jerk, to John Sterling at Holt, in a pre-empt, for publication in September of 2006, by Suzanne Gluck at William Morris Agency (NA).

The thing is, by the time Sept ’06 rolls around, won’t blogs be replaced by something trendier and cooler?