North American rights in two novels by this year's Arthur C. Clarke award winner Lauren Beukes, author of the novel ZOO CITY, have been sold to John Schoenfelder at Mulholland Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company in a major pre-emptive deal. The first novel THE SHINING GIRLS - a high concept thriller about a time travelling serial killer - will be published by Mulholland in Spring 2013.
Beukes said of Schoenfelder, "I met John in New York and we connected on all the things we like from The Wire to Warren Ellis. Mulholland is a seriously stylish and progressive imprint with an edgily commercial list and they do awesome covers. It's a great fit and I'm thrilled to be a part of it."
Schoenfelder said, "ZOO CITY is one of the most inventive novels I've come across in years and I've known for some time that Lauren is an author with immense potential. I am thrilled to be working with her in this next stage of her career and feel that THE SHINING GIRLS is a book tailor-made to introduce her talents to a much wider audience."
Having turned down several attempts at a UK pre-empt, a UK auction is now underway with several publishers competing. A South African auction is expected and German rights in THE SHINING GIRLS 1 have been pre-empted by Rowohlt with more deals expected in and around the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Praise for Lauren Beukes:
'Beukes's energetic noir phantasmagoria...crackles with original ideas...Beukes skilfully employs all the twists of first-rate noir...powerful indeed.' -- Jeff Vandermeer, The New York Times
'Recommended as "very, very good" by William Gibson, this is the other face of cyberpunk ... But true to the king of cyberpunk's original code, this isn't about exposition. ZOO CITY is about surface, décor and incident, grungey eyekicks and jive-talk for the in-crowd ... like Gibson, she brings a secret tenderness and humanity to her off-kilter portrait of the here and now. What her many fans will remember, and value, is deadbeat Zinzi's personal journey, towards a frail but determined integrity.' -- The Guardian
'Lauren Beukes is very, *very* good. It feels effortless. Utterly accomplished.' -- William Gibson
Photo credit Casey Crafford