If you’re picking around this site looking for tips on how to approach an agent, or you’re perhaps trying to fathom whether you even need one, you could do a lot worse than checking out Wendig’s 25 Things Writers Should Know About Agents.

Amen.

Jo has just acquired UK & British Commonwealth rights to the first three books of  Ian McDonald’s EVERNESS series, this award winning author’s first foray into YA.

The initial title, PLANESRUNNER, will be published this coming summer and has already been released in the US by Pyr to absolutely fantastic reviews (see below) with French rights going to Gallimard Jeunesse. Other translation deals are in the pipeline and we’re also currently fielding *lots* of film interest!

Jo Fletcher says, ‘I first published Ian McDonald way back when, in my early days at Gollancz, and I will never forget waiting breathlessly for the next chapters of CHAGA, and how awed I was by the sheer depth of imagination allied to such a wonderful writing style. So of course I leapt at the opportunity to bring Ian to Jo Fletcher Books, particularly with such a wildly exuberant, exciting and unforgettable series. In fact, I passed PLANESRUNNER around the office and was delighted that my JFB and Quercus colleagues were just as excited as I am. We’re going to have enormous fun publishing this, and can’t wait for a movie deal to bring this to the widest possible audience it so richly deserves.’

‘Planesrunner is chock-full of awesome. Ian McDonald’s steampunk London blazes on a vast scale with eye-popping towers, gritty streets, and larger-than-life characters who aren’t afraid to fight for each other. The kind of airship-dueling, guns-blazing fantasy that makes me wish I could pop through to the next reality over, join the Airish, and take to the skies‘ — Paolo Bacigalupi

‘Smashing adventure fiction that spans the multiverse without ever losing its cool or its sense of style. Ian McDonald is one of the greats of science fiction, and his young adult debut is everything you could hope for: romantic, action-packed, wildly imaginative, and full of heart.’ — Cory Doctorow

‘Athletic, brilliant, and always ahead of the game, Everett is too perfect, but it doesn’t detract from the book’s fun. McDonald writes with scientific and literary sophistication, as well as a wicked sense of humor. Add nonstop action, eccentric characters, and expert universe building, and this first volume of the Everness series is a winner.’ — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The world balances upon the edge of a knife. A meteor known as Lucifer’s Hammer is about to wreak a terrible destruction on the earth and terrorists have annihilated the City of London, covering it in a blanket of nuclear poison.

Rumours of war abound in every continent, but if the end of the world is imminent, there is only one safe place to be.

American-Korean bio-engineer Dr Kim Da Mi thinks she has found the perfect solution in the mountains above Seoul, but her methods are strange and her business partner, Johnny Sandman, is not exactly the type of person anyone would want to mix with. Sydney – a Canadian model trying to escape an unhappy past, is drawn in by their smiles and pretty promises – until she realises that the quest for perfection, comes at an impossible price…

A second untitled novel has also been acquired as part of the deal. Jo Fletcher says ‘Renowned poet and playwright Naomi Foyle’s debut novel Seoul Survivors is a dark, passionate, flamboyant cyber-thriller set tomorrow, with the world on the brink of catastrophic climate breakdown.

I was immediately captivated by Naomi’s wonderful characterisation, not just of the main protagonists, Sydney, the beautiful, ditzy Canadian model looking to reinvent herself, the brash, dangerous henchman Johnny Sandman, the disaffected Brit Damien who is desperate for a way to safety, and the glamorous Korean-American scientist Dr Kim Da Mi ­ but also Seoul City itself, a vibrant, throbbing, exotic metropolis where nothing is quite what it appears.

It’s a great start to Naomi’s new life in the genre!‘

SEOUL SURVIVOR is currently scheduled for release in Feb 2013, with the untitled second novel following in 2014.

The winner receives a £750 prize, a hand-crafted tentacular trophy and (best of all!) a bottle of the Kraken’s finest black rum. See here for more details and for the full shortlist.

‘OSAMA is exceptional. Compelling, confrontational, and surprisingly moving, it is one of the best novels yet on terror in our times.’ — World Literature Today

‘Not a writer to mess around with half measures … brings to mind Philip K Dick’s seminal science fiction novel THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE.’ –- The Guardian on OSAMA.

‘Bears comparison with the best of Philip K Dick’s paranoid, alternate-history fantasies. It’s beautifully written and undeniably powerful.’ – The Financial Times on OSAMA.

‘OSAMA is written with both an obvious affection for genre fiction and a sense of wild-eyed disbelief at the insanity of a world where people fly planes into skyscrapers. 4.5/5 stars.’ –- SFX

‘Intensely moving.‘ -– Interzone on OSAMA

In the Warcage war is a game, brutal, savage and sudden. In the Warcage three hundred worlds orbit a single artificial star, three hundred battlefields where different species vie for mastery and triumph. In the Warcage, all bend the knee to the Lords of Permutation or suffer indescribable agonies. In the Warcage Randal Pyke, captain and smuggler, must find a way to fight his way to freedom. Because in the Warcage the game of war is played to the death – and beyond.

…and Mike offers up a little further insight into the WARCAGE, thus -  ‘The original idea behind WARCAGE actually goes back 26 years when I came up with the idea for an immense artificial star system full of planets. I even built a plastic model of it, which was sadly lost in one of my more recent moves. Suffice to say that with scores, even hundreds of planets, and a twisted and savage background, the unfolding drama will be action-packed and resonant with meaning.‘

Anne Clarke, Editorial Director for Orbit UK, says, ‘We’re all delighted with the continuing success of Michael’s superb Humanity’s Fire series, and we’re very excited about WARCAGE and looking forward to sharing it with Mike’s fans next year. Michael Cobley is becoming an increasingly important name in science fiction, so we’re extremely happy that our colleagues in the US will be on this adventure with us too.’

UK and Commonwealth rights have been acquired by Headline, with recently appointed commissioning editor John Wordsworth concluding a five figure, three book deal negotiated by John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency on behalf of Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Agency, Inc. in the US.

Headline will publish the first book in the series, CONTROL POINT in late 2012 with sequels FORTRESS FRONTIER and BREACH ZONE following in February 2013 and February 2014.

‘CONTROL POINT is an absolutely thrilling, fresh take on the military fantasy novel,’  says Wordsworth. ‘Myke has drawn from his own considerable experience, which includes three tours in Iraq, to create a world with breathtaking scope. I’m just itching to see where he takes it in the next two books. I am over the moon that the Shadow Ops series will be published by Headline.’

• Bragelonne have just published the French translation of book one under the title L’OMBRE DE LA LONGUE NUIT.
• And for German readers, WAISEN DES ALLS, the translation of the second novel in the series now available from Heyne.

We’re equally delighted to announce in the same breath that UK/BC rights to Ian’s Milkweed Trilogy – comprising of BITTER SEEDS, THE COLDEST WAR and NECESSARY EVIL – have been acquired by Orbit in a deal negotiated by John Berlyne.

John says ‘This is a particularly sweet sale for me, as I read and absolutely loved BITTER SEEDS when Tor first published it in the US back in 2010, long before I had any professional dealings with the author. The mix of WWII action and comic book super-powers was something I found completely irresistible as a reader. To have the chance to handle these books outside the US is a real privilege and I’m thrilled that Orbit have picked them up and they will, I’m quite sure, do a wonderful job with them.’

Orbit Commissioning Editor Anna Gregson says ‘We’re delighted to have acquired this thrillingly sinister, clever and compelling tale that melds real-life events with occult forces and weird science. Its vivid atmosphere and supernatural twist make this a deeply mesmerising and entertaining novel, with great appeal for any fans of alternate histories, dark fantasy and superhero comics. Think Inglourious Basterds crossed with X-Men!‘.

BITTER SEEDS is scheduled for publication in December 2012, with the second and third titles following respectively in February and April2013.

‘Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics?  Yes please, thank you.  Tregillis’s debut has a white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters — an unstoppable Vickers of a novel.’ – Cory Doctorow