It’s been a whirlwind of a week, and for me the biggest news is that I have made my first sale! While I’ve worked on a number of books as an assistant, this is my first deal as an agent in my own right, which is very exciting.
The book in question is Claire Humphrey‘s debut, KINSHIP, and it has sold to Quressa Robinson at Thomas Dunne Books in a pre-empt. This is Quressa’s first deal as well, so I sort of feel like we are embarking on this scary-but-exciting journey together. Thomas Dunne is a great imprint and I think it’s the perfect fit for Claire’s wonderful book.
Here’s the Publishers Marketplace deal announcement:
Claire Humphrey’s KINSHIP, about a young woman thrust into the role of resident witch for her immigrant community, and the cursed immortals who require that witch’s aid, pitched as PRACTICAL MAGIC meets DEATHLESS, to Quressa Robinson at Thomas Dunne Books, in a nice deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in Spring 2016, by Connor Goldsmith at Fuse Literary (NA).
That’s a very brief synopsis, though! Let me give you a more detailed teaser:
When her beloved grandmother dies suddenly, Lissa must become a worthy heir to her Russian folk magic. That includes honoring a debt owed to the dangerous stranger who appears at Lissa’s door. Maksim Volkov says he’s ‘kin,’ but he doesn’t mean family — he means something different, something older and darker. Maksim needs magic to keep his brutal nature leashed, but the ritual is one Lissa’s grandmother never taught her.
Maksim has already lost control once: his blood-borne lust for violence infects Nick, a charming slacker out celebrating the end of finals. Now Nick is somewhere else in Toronto, going slowly mad, and Maksim must find him before he hurts more people. But Maksim is having enough trouble keeping himself sane; Lissa’s magic just isn’t working as well as her grandmother’s did.
If Lissa is to tame Maksim’s violent nature, she’ll have to meddle in secrets her grandmother did not want her to know. If she fails, Maksim will have no choice but to destroy both himself and Nick. Either way, Lissa will begin to learn what Maksim already knows too well: kinship means blood.
Claire Humphrey, the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council Writers’ Reserve Grant, is the reviews editor at Ideomancer, and a national buyer for Indigo Books. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex, Crossed Genres, Fantasy Magazine, and Podcastle. Her short story ”Bleaker Collegiate Presents an All-Female Production of Waiting for Godot” appeared in the Lambda Award-nominated collection BEYOND BINARY (Lethe, 2012), and her short story “The Witch Of Tarup” was recently published in the critically acclaimed anthology LONG HIDDEN (Crossed Genres, 2014).
Keep an eye out for KINSHIP in 2016!
Dramatic rights will be handled by Fuse’s fabulous co-agent, Brandy Rivers at ICM.
