Deals, In Lieu of Real Content

And if you subscribe to Publishers Lunch you’ll have seen most of them last night, but in any case, the biggest one of the week is this:

San Francisco MD Josh Bazell’s debut novel BEAT

THE REAPER, a genre-bending thriller narrated by a charismatic and

dangerous hitman-turned-doctor, to Reagan Arthur at Little, Brown, in a

major deal, for seven figures, for publication in July 2009, by Markus

Hoffmann at Regal Literary (NA). UK rights to Jason Arthur at William Heinemann, in a good deal, at

auction, for one book, by Lauren Pearson at Regal Literary

(UK/Commonwealth). Dutch rights to Pieter Swinkels at De Bezige Bij, in

a pre-empt.

This one has similar monetary and content value to Justin Cronin’s horror thriller anthology that sold to Ballantine a couple of months ago, and I guess it’s safe to say that “genre bending” and “crossover” are here to stay, at least for a little while.

Along similar lines:

Edward Redwin’s AFRAID, a chilling tale of a military experiment gone

wrong, in which psychotic killers, trained as special “Red-Ops,” are

accidentally released on an unsuspecting Michigan town, to Jaime Levine

at Grand Central, in a two-book deal, for publication in January 2009,

by Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (NA).

Redwin is a pseudonym for an author with several series novels under his belt, and based off who’s already blurbed the book on his website, it’s not that hard to guess…

Finally, another following of the Alexander McCall Smith school of mystery writing:

Nonfiction author Tarquin Hall’s VISH PURI: The Case of the Missing

Servant and a second book featuring the same character, set in New

Delhi, to Amanda Murray at Simon & Schuster, for publication in

spring 2009, by Emma Parry at Fletcher & Parry (US)

Which, by the way, is a trend I endorse wholeheartedly for opening up different worlds and forcing me, as a reader, to think about what happens outside North America.