Books in the Media

Last week saw lots of our fabulous authors in the media...

The Library Journal’s November issue contains a preview of early 2023 SFF titles and their predictions of new trends in the genre. We’re delighted that this issue features Andrea Stewarts’ The Bone Shard War, publishing with Orbit in April next year. Kristi Chadwick writes, “LJ has found that last year’s swell of works by marginalized voices continues into 2023 and that some previously trending topics have come back into fashion, including dragons, vampires, and AI. Readers can also look forward to genre-bending titles, unexpected retellings, and explorations of the galaxy.”

Fiona McPhillips’ six-figure two-book deal with Transworld was mentioned in The Irish Times last week. Underwater has been acquired by commissioning editor, Imogen Nelson, and is set to publish in early 2024. They quote Fiona: “I am beside myself with excitement to join Imogen and the Transworld team. Imogen’s passion for Underwater was clear from the moment we met and I know we are going to make an incredible book together.”

Jessie Burton was interviewed by the Guardian on the role of food in her novels. On The House of Fortune, she says, “Food in my books is symbolic to a degree, of what’s going on in the society. So there’s the commentary on the sugar trade in The Miniaturist, the murky reality behind that; and the pineapple in The House of Fortune, which is a symbol of luxury, but then there’s this attempt to wrench it from its homeland and cultivate it in cold weather [in early 18th-century Amsterdam], which I found an interesting commentary as well on colonialism.”

“I have really enjoyed writing the character of Cornelia [in The House of Fortune], who is a fantastic cook. The recipes I give to her are from a book called The Sensible Cook: Dutch Foodways in the Old and New World. It was published in the 1680s and has things like sturgeon stuffed with carrots, or duck … there’s a lot of stuffing.”