Kate Ormand’s fantastic YA novel, ‘The Wanderers,’ (pub Sept 1st 2015) has just received a fabulous review in Kirkus.
Flo and her friends are but poor, lost circus performers—who shape-shift into animals and try to evade governmental capture. Newly turned 16, orphaned shifter Flo is dreading her first circus performance. Alas for her, it’s not optional; all of the shifter children who live with the circus must perform regularly as soon as they reach that age. Flo must take a turn like all the others, so after a false start, she takes the stage—not as a girl but as a magnificent mare. Like her boyfriend, Jett the bear, or her nemesis, Pru the tiger, Flo becomes an animal at will. In a modern world of cars and DVD players, the circus shifters live almost medievally, bound under the unkind leadership of the elders, three middle-aged lion shifters. Flo knows that if she leaves, she’ll be vulnerable to hunters, government-funded paramilitary forces that are the modern legacy of sworn enemies who have been murdering shifters since time immemorial. So she tolerates the cruelty of her peers, learns to jump through a flaming hoop, and almost has hope for the future when disaster strikes. In a spare first-person, present-tense narration, Flo takes readers through a swoony romance with a massive body count. Despite the potential whimsy of a circus adventure narrated by a shape-shifting mare, this more closely resembles a brutal, angst-drenched dystopia à la Veronica Roth’s Divergent (2011) than anything else. (Fantasy. 13-15)
Cassie Liversidge author of ‘Homegrown Tea’ (St Martins, 2013) saw her brilliant book well stocked at the RHS show at Hampton Court.
RHS Book Shop, Hampton Court with lots of copies of ‘Homegrown Tea.’
Simon Coster has just received a knock out review in School Library Journal for his book ‘My Dinosaur is More Awesome!’
PreS-Gr 2–As siblings Olivia and Joel start dinner, an argument erupts regarding who has a better imaginary dinosaur. Both dinosaurs have a number of worthy and hilarious qualities, including X-ray vision and owning a personal ice cream van. Yet, the competition is squashed when Mom enters the picture with her very own dinosaur, a T-rex, who can eat a whole volcano! Her victory ends the debate, and the kids are left with nothing to do but finish their supper. True to the spirit of children’s imaginations, this playful story is a quick and fun read. The author is a self-taught artist whose painted illustrations are large and bright, reflecting the larger-than-life feats Olivia and Joel create. Each new skill the dinosaurs acquire appears on a new page, against a white background, making them stand out and capture attention. The cartoonish font and silly title draw on the humor and children’s perspective. Kids will love hearing this story read aloud, so they can begin their own friendly feud with their peers. VERDICT A creative and fun debut picture book.
– School Library Journal, July 2015, Kaitlin Connors, Virginia Beach Public Library
Derek Turner’s novella ‘Displacement’ is live in the Kindle Singles chart.
Martin Hacklett is at the bottom of London’s pile – working-class and white, poor and uneducated, ignored and alienated. But he is bright and an athlete, and at nights becomes the London Leaper, free-running the capital’s roofline in defiance of death, seeking escape from a culture that doesn’t care for him or his kind. But underneath his night-time persona, is a young man desperate to be accepted. Can Martin find a way back into society? Or will he always be separate and alone, a shadowy figure displaced to the outskirts…?
You can get your copy here (UK) and here (US)
A quick recap of our clients’ June book deals:
Children’s Picture book
Ged Adamson’s I WANT TO GROW, in which a small dinosaur, jealous of his tall human friend, tries increasingly bizarre methods to make himself grow, to Mary Colgan at Boyds Mills Press, for publication in Fall 2017, by Isabel Atherton at Creative Authors (World).
Children’s Picture book
Author/illustrator of bestselling Doodle Diary of a New Mom Lucy Scott’s BUSY, BUSY, exploring the ability of children to extract the extraordinary from the ordinary through the power of their imagination, to Marissa Moss at Creston Books, in a nice deal, for publication in Spring 2016, by Isabel Atherton at Creative Authors (World).
Digital: General Fiction
Derek Turner’s AMBROSE, a satire of modern Irish manners, in which a lifelong misfit has an otherworldly encounter on a hill, and he becomes convinced he has a mission to re-convert a secularizing Ireland to his own bizarre religion; his quest brings him into comical, confused and eventually calamitous contact with believers and unbelievers from old and new Ireland – senior Catholic prelates, socialites, New Age healers, ultra-nationalists, leftist chat-show hosts, and Travellers; his peculiar appearance, gaucherie and naivety, plus a theology blended from medieval Christianity, fantasy novels and computer games, invite ridicule and hatred – but he also finds devoted admirers, and he transforms all kinds of people in unexpected ways, to Amy Durant at Endeavour Press, by Isabel Atherton at Creative Authors (EBook only).
UK rights: Pop Culture
Chicago Review Press has sold UK rights to Omnibus Press in Nick Soulsby’s ‘Cobain on Cobain’ – a fresh compilation of rare, never translated or long unseen interviews with Kurt Cobain between 1988 and 1994.
Welcoming two new fabulous clients to CA:
Mary Eakin is a designer/illustrator with over ten years’ experience. For the last nine years Mary worked at Hallmarks Gift Books department designing over a hundred books for children and adults. She cowrote the book “The Amazing Adventure to Grandma’s House” with Cheryl Hawkinson. Mary has worked with many illustrators over the years, editing art and providing additional illustration support myself. Her portfolio is available to view on her website at maryeakin.com.
Julie Kilpatrick is our fabulous new gardening client. Since 2006, she had been editor of Gardenzine a website which offers gardening advice. She tweets at @gardenzine
“Isabel Atherton helped me find the best place for my first picture book – the award winning ‘The Only Child.’ She is not only a experienced and professional book agent, but also a trusted friend, who guides like a friend and shares ideas. The process of book publishing with Isabel was a really sweet and smooth journey for me.”
Guojing, Creative Authors Client.
