JABberwocky Literary Agency

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), which is part of the American Library Association, has just released their list of 2012 Notable Children’s Recordings, and leading the list (well, because it’s an alphabetical list, but still, it’s leading) is the Recorded Books version of Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (reviews/buy in print/download audio) by Brandon Sanderson. This is one more reason to be super thrilled with and super thankful for our good friends at Recorded, who not only did a bang-up job on the recording but have also used the bang-up new covers for the French editions of the Alcatraz books. And as the ALSC says “Ramon de Ocampo deftly voices the reluctant, snarky hero.” Thanks, Ramon! It’s been a really good year for Brandon’s Alcatraz novels, 2011 started with a slew of state reading awards and programs choosing the book, and now we’re off to a great 2012.

We’ve just gotten word that the Bulgarian Fantasy & Horror Club has awarded Simon R. Green its “Author of the Year” prize in something of a landslide, while his 11th Nightside novel A Hard Day’s Knight (reviews/buy) was the winner in a close race for International Hit of the Year for 2011.  We believe these are the first awards our clients have won in the Bulgarian market, and we congratulate our trailblazing author Simon R. Green.

Charlaine Harris has once again hit the French bestseller lists, with the translation of Dead Reckoning (J’ai Lu) reaching #7 on the Livres Hebdo list in the 20 January issue of that magazine, the French equivalent of Publishers Weekly.  The first printing is reported at 70,000 copies.

There are so many good reviews coming in as we head toward the on-sale for Myke Cole’s debut novel Shadow Ops: Control Point (on sale from Ace on Jan. 31) that tweeting the links doesn’t seem quite sufficient.  Here’s a round-up of some:
Civilian Reader, we had to underline almost the entire review for the quote sheet!
Fantasy Faction calls it a “non-stop thrill ride” among other nice things.
The SciFi Chick, she replaces “non-stop” with “action-packed”!!
Over at Fantasy Book Review, it leads their post on Most Anticipated Books of 2012.
Our client Jim C. Hines is a fan. He especially likes the goblins.
“Lord of the Rings” smashed into “Clear and Present Danger” is the quote from Dead Robots Society.
We know how hard and how long Myke worked on his debut, and we’re looking forward to lots more excitement to report on here as word continues to get out on just how good the one is.
Update Jan. 17 2012 lots more reviews coming in, here’s a “High Recommendation” from Rob H. Bedford at SFF World.
Staffer’s Musings is saying “an absolute blast to read, I predict Cole’s debut is going to be a monster success.
And how can we not like The Ranting Dragon: “an intense masterwork of military fantasy that grips you from start to finish. Highly recommended.”
Updating Jan. 18 with a Fantasy Book Review link, 9.4/10* and planning to make a book of the month for February!
Updating some more Jan. 24
Fantasy Book Critic is a “superb, can’t wait to see where Cole plans to take the reader next.
Watchamacallit Reviews is similar, “definitely recommend, and can’t wait for the sequel.”

Great news from the UK this morning: Brandon Sanderson and Jon Sprunk have been longlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award! Sanderson was nominated for THE ALLOY OF LAW (reviews | buy), and Sprunk for SHADOW’S LURE (reviews | buy).

This is the third consecutive year for Sanderson, who won last year for THE WAY OF KINGS (reviews | buy), and the second year in a row for Sprunk.

Please vote for your favorite here.

Our congratulations go out to both!

It’s a great month for the JABberwocky list in Taiwan, with Brandon Sanderson debuting last week at #3 on the Eslite foreign literature bestseller list (Eslite is Taiwan’s leading bookstore chain) with his Mistborn: The Alloy of Law, which appeared in a stunningly gorgeous package from Fantasy Foundation, and now this week his #3 spot has been taken by Peter V. Brett with The Desert Spear, while Alloy holds nicely in the #7 position.  #3 gets a nice thumbnail on the Eslite home page so at least for a week or ten days after this news item goes live you can admire one or the other cover here.

Fast on the heels of all the other great Goodreads news, we at JABberwocky have just learned that for steampunk month in January 2012, the 6,500+ member sf/f book club has chosen Mark Hodder’s THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK (reviews | buy) as its sf pick!

Now you too can join in the fun thousands of others are having, by picking up your own copy of Hodder’s Philip K. Dick award-winning debut (and the rest of the trilogy — the third book, EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, has just published!).

Update – 21 Hours Later:  Some more good news for Hodder this week, click here and find his THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN on the Forbidden Planet list of the 25 Best Books of 2011.

Over at Barnes & Noble, Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught is on the Honorable Mention for their Year’s Best, putting it as one of the top 25 titles of 2011. Mistborn: The Alloy of Law from Brandon Sanderson is on the 2011 Year’s Best SF/Fantasy list from January Magazine, and Jon Sprunk’s Shadow’s Lure was #4 on the top 5 list over at Only the Best Sci-Fi.

Both Dreadnaught and The Alloy of Law were also NY Times Hardcover Fiction bestsellers, and each was a contender for the Goodreads Best of 2011.

Our congratulations to all three authors on a great 2011!

JABberwocky is delighted to announce that  a role playing game, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Adventure Game, is just out from our friends at Crafty Games.  It’s the first RPG to be based on a JABberwocky property, which makes this, as Dean Wormer might say, double secret exciting.  You can buy it as a deluxe hardcover, a regular softcover or digitally by clicking over to Crafty. Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy has quickly established itself as a modern fantasy masterpiece in just a few short years since the first novel was released.  It can be obtained in a handy boxed set, which according to Nielsen Bookscan outsells even Lord of the Rings most weeks of the year. Why not get your fantasy-loving friend a double-stockinged treat of both the RPG and boxed set!

This has been in the works for a while now, but now it’s website-official: we are delighted to announce that we’ve conquered Ari Marmell, author of THE CONQUEROR’S SHADOW and other illustrious works. We are big fans of his books, and looking forward to getting started on the latest.

We have a lot of our clients on Graphic Audio and couldn’t be prouder or happier to relay the good news that their edition of Simon R. Green’s Blood & Honor has just taken honors from AudioFile Magazine as one of the ten best Full Cast audio of 2011.  The production was directed by Terence Aselford, who was also lead voice, what a wonderful job from him and everyone else on the cast and crew.  You can sample the entire first hour of the Graphic Audio adaptation by clicking here, and if you want to explore Simon’s original novel it’s available as a JABberwocky e-book.

Congratulations to Charlaine Harris, whose Dead Reckoning has made the Amazon UK list of the best sf/fantasy titles of 2011.  We’re pleased Dead Reckoning was a #1 bestseller, and super proud to have this recognition for the 11th Sookie Stackhouse novel.

A JABberwocky salute today to Charlaine Harris and Jack Campbell (aka John Hemry), both of whom are nominees for the Goodreads polling for the best books of 2011.  Charlaine contends in the Paranormal Fantasy category for Dead Reckoning, the 11th Sookie Stackhouse novel.  In the sf category, Campbell’s Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught, which launches a sequel series to the top military sf series of the decade, is on the short list.  The 15 current finalists were selected by Goodreads, after a first round of voting to determine five additional write-in nominees from readers, the 20-title shortlist will be narrowed to ten, and then a final round of voting will determine the winners, to be announced in December.  Of course, we think both of these authors are already winners, and both books were NY Times hardcover bestsellers, but that doesn’t stop us from having fingers crossed for the Goodreads balloting.

UPDATE: And a new title has been added! After the first round of voting, the top-five write-ins are added to the semifinal round, and Brandon Sanderson’s MISTBORN: THE ALLOY OF LAW has cracked the fantasy list (just a few days after its release). Congrats to Brandon, and good luck!

UPDATE #2:  Charlaine finished a close #3 in a very tight race in the Best Paranormal Fantasy Category, and was #10 in the overall voting for the Favorite Book, in all categories, of 2011.  A spectacular showing for Dead Reckoning, the 11th Sookie Stackhouse novel.

Joshua would never say he has a voice just waiting for a radio show; nonetheless people sometimes want to interview him.  You can click here to find an interview he did with Moses Siregar III at World Fantasy for the Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast.

It’s hard to believe another season of year-end lists and 2012 awards is rolling around, but yet it is! And it’s kicking off in style for Jeri Westerson, whose TROUBLED BONES (reviews/buy), the newest Crispin Guest medieval noir historical mystery is a finalist for the Romantic Times 2011 Award for Best Historical Mystery. This is Jeri’s sixth award nomination in just four novels — every single Crispin Guest mystery has contended for either an RT, a Shamus, a Macavity, or Left Coast Crime.  Congratulations, Jeri!!

This week, Jabberwocky client and Coast Guard Reserve Officer Myke Cole presented his editor, Anne Sowards, with the ESGR Patriot Award. The Patriot Award honors employers who support employees participating in the National Guard and Reserve.

Congratulations to Anne! You can read Myke’s blog post on the award here.

Congratulations are in order for Brandon Sanderson!

We received the great news today that Towers of Midnight, written by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, debuted on the New York Times mass market fiction bestseller list at #11. This is the highest mass market debut for any book in the Wheel of Time series (there have been multiple #1 hardcover bestsellers), and we at JABberwocky couldn’t be more thrilled at the news.

This time, it’s the SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION (buy! | reviews!) that’s rocketed to the top of the list, debuting as the #2 New York Times hardcover bestseller. It’s not quite a Sookie Stackhouse novel, but it might be as good: the latest title from Charlaine Harris features an all-new novella, “Small Town Wedding,” as well as an exclusive interview with True Blood creator Alan Ball, recipes, and other Easter eggs.

Congratulations, Charlaine! This is fantastic news.

For the second time, Heart of Veridon (reviews/buy) by Tim Akers has made a Top 20 Steampunk list, this time from Ranting Dragon, which calls the novel “imaginative and absorbing.”  The previous time ’round it was Library Journal that gave the honors to the book.  We couldn’t be more delighted for Tim, whose other work includes Heart sequel Dead of Veridon (both from Solaris)  and Horns of Ruin (Pyr).

Congratulations to Peter V. Brett, whose debut novel THE PAINTED MAN (known in the US as The Warded Man) has been chosen for Australia’s 2011 Get Reading: 50 Books You Can’t Put Down.  This is the largest country-wide reading program in Australia, we were there a year ago when Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark was in the 2010 edition, with brochures all over every bookstore and the book found everywhere. We’re sad we won’t be back down under over the next month to see Peter V. Brett getting the same royal deluxe treatment.  The book’s published by Harper Voyager in Australia and the rest of the British Commonwealth, and by Del Rey in the US and Canada, and in over fifteen languages worldwide.  We’re hugely proud of Peter, and to have books in the Get Reading program two years running.  The main program website is here, and the PDF of the brochure with Peter on page 24 is here.

We’re delighted to announce that Home Improvement: Undead Edition, the 4th anthology edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner, debuts at #28 on the NY Times Hardcover Fiction bestseller list for the week ending August 6.  We tip our hammers to Charlaine and Toni and to all the contributors, with a special shout out to our client Simon Green.  On the Nielsen Bookscan hardcover fiction list the anthology came in at #26, a couple spots higher.  The book’s available in Ace hardcover and Brilliance audio both on CD and download, as well as from the SF Book Club.

[Updated] We are delighted to welcome DAW fantasy author Joshua Palmatier as the newest addition to the JABberwocky list. Palmatier’s written under both his own name with The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne and The Vacant Throne, and most recently as Benjamin Tate, whose debut novel Well of Souls is just out in DAW mass market with Palmatier’s best-yet cover. It’s hard to believe the two Joshuas first met up at the Bucconeer WorldCon in 1998 and are just now shaking hands on an author-agent relationship, but the best things in life are worth waiting for. And there’s a next novel Palmatier’s working on which is so super-fantastic that we can’t wait to be talking about it more as it approaches publication in early 2013 with another couple Benjamin Tate entitled Leaves of Flame and Breath of Heaven in the meantime. It’ll be a little confusing having all those Joshuas around, and there’s another Joshua who works at DAW Books to add to the confusion. But it’s totally going to be worth it.  You can friend our new client on Facebook and follow on Twitter with @bentateauthor.

We are delighted to announce that preorders are now being taken for the Mistborn Role Playing Game, soon to be released from Crafty Games and based on the bestselling Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson It’s the first JABberwocky title to be adapoted into an RPG, which is just super nifty, the game book includes an original Mistborn short story from Brandon, it just looks like loads and loads of fun.  If you’re going to GenCon, you can buy there and get a free poster, as well.  We need to see about getting one of those.

Yes, you do need to Bring Your Own Dice, but it’s looking like a guaranteed fun time for all.  And since you need to BYOD, you can also consider BYOJ, by checking out the Badali official licensed Mistborn jewelry, direct from Badali with that link or this link from the Brandon Sanderson store.  Go to it!  Burn Pewter or Bust!!

The 104 degree temperatures in NYC on Friday, the highest reading since 1977 and in the entire 25 year history of Joshua’s agenting career, must have gotten to us. Because we’re officially open to electronic submissions, per the updated Submissions tab that you can happily click atop the page. Eddie and Jessie each have dedicated submission e-mail accounts, so as the temperatures cool off from these torrid highs why don’t you warm our in-box with some great query letters.

A couple important things to mention.

No attachments. We want only your query letter and an optional one to three page outline/synopsis/proposal/precis/summary which if you choose to send you should paste as open text below the main body of your e-mail. Any query e-mails with attachments will be deleted without being read. If we do request a partial after reading your query, we will generally still look to get partials in hard copy. Again, no attachments.

And please use the dedicated submission e-mail addresses given on our submissions page. Queries sent to any other e-mail addresses will be deleted without being read.

We will continue to accept hard copy submissions with an SASE.

Whatever will we think of next. We’ll have another really really hot day, and decide to start a MySpace page, or something.