A Hot Key Books home for Edward Carey’s Iremongers!

Sara O'Connor, Editorial Director of Hot Key Books has acquired UK and BC rights (excluding Canada) to three books in Edward Carey's new IREMONGER trilogy, which in the vein of Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl or Mervyn Peake, will work for young and old alike.

Novelist, visual artist and playwright Edward Carey is the author of two acclaimed novels, published in many countries around the world. OBSERVATORY MANSIONS was shortlisted for the Borders Discover New Writers Award and ALVA AND IRVA was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Literary Award. Both were accompanied by artworks by the author.

The IREMONGER TRILOGY takes readers into 'a stunning, dark world full of striking characters and so much heart. ' says Sara O'Connor, adding: 'We loved it at first sight'. HEAP HOUSE is set in Filching, an imaginary borough of Victorian London world where the Iremonger family ('kings of mildew, moguls of mould') make a fortune from junk. Young Clod Iremonger is about to be unwillingly betrothed to his Cousin Pinalippy when he meets orphan girl Lucy Pennant and family secrets begin to unfold.

Edward Carey says: "I am so happy that Hot Key with all its passion and brilliance are taking on the Iremongers, it's absolutely the perfect home for them. I can't wait."

"Hot Key's offer came in with such vigour and imagination, an excellent match for Edward's marvellous work," says Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann. "I'm thrilled that Sara O'Connor, Sarah Odedina and the whole Hot Key team fell in love with Clod & Lucy as they did. It's the agency's first deal with Hot Key, and I look forward to seeing their innovative and energetic publishing in action in bringing Edward Carey's writing to a new array of fans."

The first title, HEAP HOUSE, will be published in September 2013, to be followed by FILCHING and LUNGDON.

Italian rights in all three titles were sold on the Friday before the Frankfurt Book Fair to Bompiani.

Click here and here to read more on the deal.

Praise for Edward Carey:

'Edward Carey is an enormously talented writer…' - Publishers Weekly

'Edward Carey is one of the strangest writers we are privileged to have in this country. There are echoes in his work of other great idiosyncratics from Angela Carter to Russell Hoban, but he supersedes even them in the downright oddity of his mind.' - Observer

'Edward Carey is a writer whose books confound and amaze me. …He's brilliant and precocious and spectacularly imaginative.' - Katharine Weber, The Readerville Journal

'Carey writes with such persuasive authority, and we are inclined to believe him …The emphasis on detail in Carey's sweetly detached, exact prose has forebears in the illuminated dreams of Borges and Calvino and Georges Perec.' - Carey Harrison, The New York Times Review of Books

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? no. 4 in the Irish Times bestseller list

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?, a collection of short stories from critically acclaimed, prize-winning author Joseph O'Connor has reached no. 4 in the Irish Times bestseller list. In his first collection of stories in twenty years O'Connor tackles  themes that highlight the confusion of living and the complexity of relationships, while covering a breadth of time periods and vividly fascinating locations. His characters leap off of the page and walk the tight rope of comedy and melancholy; never leaning too far to one side.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? is published by Harvill Secker and was published on 4 October.

Praise for WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

'Written with assurance and tenderness…O'Connor's characters are never inarticulate; even when they want to hide their true feelings, words pour out. They throw off sentences as if by doing so they might throw a bridge over a gulf and reach understanding. This is exhilarating. Often, however, one senses that the characters are conducting soliloquies rather than seeking to communicate with another. This is Dickensian, in the true sense of that word…All the stories are good, but the novella is very good. It convinces from its first sentence…This is as persuasive as the opening of a Chekhov story…full of lovely, delicate perceptive stuff. Joseph O'Connor is in the tradition of masterly Irish writers of short fiction.' -- Allan Massie, Scostman.com

'Humour...obliquely provides a cover for confronting readers with the darkness of the soul. …an exhilarating array of sharp dialogue and biting one-liners .. his fiction charts the fragility of relationships, the cruelty of chance and circumstance throwing people together only to shatter their lives, the nightmare of distrust and guilt stirred by memory, and the stark fear of separation and being left alone in the stillness of the night.  Where Have You Been? is his first collection of short stories for 20 years and reasserts a mastery of the form.' -- Irish Independent

PERFECT PEOPLE shortlisted for Wellcome Trust Book Award

Peter James has been shortlisted for the prestigious Wellcome Trust Book award for his stand alone thriller PERFECT PEOPLE, which enters the sinister world of designer babies. The Wellcome Trust Book Prize awards fiction and non-fiction titles that centre around the theme of health, illness and medicine. They aim to encourage interest and excitement about medicine and literature, and reach audiences that do not normally read about medicine or science. For more information on the Wellcome Trust Book award, please click here.

Peter James says: 'I spent twelve years researching and writing this book, and much though I love my Roy Grace novels, PERFECT PEOPLE has a very special place in my heart.  To be shortlisted for such a prestigious award thrills and humbles me; I feel I am walking among giants.'

The judging panel will be chaired by Radio 4's Mark Lawson, and the winner of the £25,000 prize will be announced on 7 November.  

Praise for PERFECT PEOPLE:

'Brilliantly done, the emotional credibility of the characters is as good as it gets.  There's a movie in this book.' -- Jeff Park, 'Front Row', BBC Radio 

'Peter James is acknowledged as being one of the top thriller writers in the UK, and his series of crime novels featuring DI Roy Grace are the best of the current genre.  But in his new novel PERFECT PEOPLE he has proved he can depart from the formula and break the mould... From the moment they meet the sinister geneticist who offers to create a new child from their cells, the pages just keep on turning themselves.  The ending is so horrifyingly scary that I was unable to sleep properly for several nights.' -- Joan Collins, The Mail on Sunday

'James takes a break from his Roy Grace crime series with this excellent standalone thriller...James writes beautifully, maintaining the pace with short, punchy chapters. But it's his firm grasp of the moral issues surrounding designer babies that makes PERFECT PEOPLE so satisfying - and so unsettling.' -- John O'Connell, The Guardian

RUNNING WITH THE KENYANS longlisted for William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award

Adharanand Finn's sports memoir, RUNNING WITH THE KENYANS, documented his journey to Kenya to discover the soul of Kenyan long distance running.  Detailed accounts of training, poignant prose and well paced writing has struck a chord with running enthusiasts and readers alike and it is now longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Victoria Pendleton's BETWEEN THE LINES, co-authored by Donald McRae, is also included in the longlist along with Simon Jordan's BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. With a total of 14 titles, the longlist covers a range of sports including running, football, cycling, rugby, and cricket. The award has been running for 24 years, and in addition to the £24,000 cash prize, the winner will receive a £2,000 William Hill bet, a specially-commissioned hand-bound copy of their book, and a day at the races. The short list will be announced on 26 October, and the winner revealed on 26 November. For more information on the William Hill Sports Award, please click here.

RUNNING WITH THE KENYANS is published by Faber and Faber in the UK and Ballantine in the USA.

We are thrilled with the success of RUNNING WITH THE KENYANS and this well deserved recognition for an outstanding memoir.    

Praise for RUNNING WITH THE KENYANS:

'Finn's fascinating RUNNING WITH THE KENYANS teaches us how to run, and should be required reading for anyone planning their first fun run or marathon. In the tradition of the best sports writing he embedded himself fully in his subject and reveals, for the first time, just how close we are to the holy grail of the sub two-hour marathon.' -- Robin Harvie, author of WHY WE RUN

'...engaging memoir…Part of the enjoyment of this book is the depiction of how the family takes to this new life...For anyone who has ever run, this aspect of the book has a hypnotic aspect…Finn is good at depicting the intense focus needed for long distances…Finn's story is escapist and colourfully evocative…The book is populated with engagingly drawn characters and towards the end, Finn's quest - the burning need to attain a certain marathon time - is gripping.' -- Four Star Review, Sinclair McKay, The Telegraph

NOT DEAD YET beats FIFTY SHADES trilogy to No. 1 spot in UK paperback bestseller list!

The top three spots in the UK paperback bestseller list had been held by E.L. James' FIFTY SHADES titles for 25 consecutive weeks.  NOT DEAD YET, which was published in paperback on 27 September, is the new No. 1 in the Sunday Times paperback bestseller lists and the first book to have gone above one of the FIFTY SHADES books since April 22. NOT DEAD YET is the 8th in the Roy Grace series and was published in hardback in June earlier this year. It shot straight to No 1 in the hardback list, which marked it as the 5th consecutive No. 1 in the Roy Grace series, and which makes this the 6th No. 1 - a remarkable achievement!

Peter James says: 'To say I am over the moon would be an understatement!  To have ended the Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy's dominance of the paperback bestseller list is a dream come true.  This is one of the best days of my life!" 

Wayne Brooks, Publishing Director at Macmillan says:
'Seeing their author in the number one slot is what all editors dream of. Seeing them rise above a trilogy that's had over five months in the top slot is something else. I'm thrilled for Peter and I'm thrilled for Pan Macmillan.'

Carole Blake, Peter James' agent says: 'Peter has always been No. 1 for me, so it's great to see him back in his rightful place at the top of the bestseller list.'

In other fantastic news, DEAD MAN'S GRIP won the prestigious Barry Award for Best British novel last week at Bouchercon in the US and James' standalone PERFECT PEOPLE is on the long list for the Wellcome Prize. The shortlist is announced this week. 

Peter James' novels have sold over 13 million copies and are published in 35 languages.

Praise for NOT DEAD YET:

'James's thrillers... have attracted a massive following - and, reading this, it's not hard to see why. NOT DEAD YET is brilliantly paced and plotted... I'm now a Peter James addict. You'll gulp this book down in three infatuated sittings, deaf to the telephone, indifferent to any distractions.' -- Reader's Digest

'As always James has done meticulous background research lending authenticity to his legendary plotting skills.' -- Daily Mail