We’re delighted to announce the next novel by Amanda Hemingway, writing as Jan Siegel: THE DEVIL’S APPRENTICE. The new YA novel is due to be published by Ravenstone (Solaris) in October 2013. Here’s the brooding cover art…

Here’s the synopsis, to whet your appetite…

The Devil is retiring – but who’s taking over?

Wearied by endless aeons of immortality, the Dark Lord in his Dark Tower plans to lapse into limbo till the end of Time. But he still has to choose a successor to take over his evil empire, someone to wear the Horned Crown,
wield the Sceptre of Fire, and sit behind the gleaming Desk in the Circular Office overseeing the downfall of humanity. The ancient spirits who might have followed him are all weakened or jaded; he must find a mortal heir (or heiress), who will sit on his throne and assume his immortal powers. A group of would-be apprentices, young, enthusiastic, and malleable, are trapped in a space/time prism, in various dimensions of magic and the past, undergoing hideous trials to turn them to the dark side. Those who survive—if any—will emerge to compete for the ultimate prize…

Meanwhile, the few who learn of his plan are trying to defeat him — including an incompetent teen witch, an underage lawyer and an aspiring chef.With the help of a fat cat and a set of talking dentures, they must find an absentee
wizard and rescue the wannabe Satans—before it is too late.

Amanda is the author of the well-received Sangreal and Fern Capel series (the latter was also written as Jan Siegal).