Comedy producer and newly appointed BBC Head of Development Danny Wallace’s JOIN ME!, the story of how he started a cult, by accident, after placing a newspaper ad on a lark that read “Join Me” that drew thousands of Joinees, also described as a chronicle of his efforts to realize his uncle’s dreams of a utopian society, keep his girlfriend, lead a cult, and make the world a better place, to Ryan Harbage at Plume in a pre-empt, by Daniel Greenberg on behalf of Simon Trewin at Peters, Fraser, and Dunlop. Ebury/Random House will publish in the UK. dgreenberg@levinegreenberg.com
Archive for the 'Previous' Category
UK rights to Neal Bascomb’s PERFECT MILE to Michael Doggart at HarperCollins’ Collins Willow imprint, for mid five-figures sterling, at auction, by Simon Trewin at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop on behalf of Scott Waxman. scott@waxmanagency.com
Neal Bascomb’s second book, THE PERFECT MILE: Three Runners and the Race to Break Four Minutes, the epic tale of the battle among Roger Bannister of Britain (the victor), John Landy of Australia and Wes Santee of the United States to pass a barrier many thought unbreakable, to Susan Canavan at Houghton Mifflin, at auction, in a very good deal, to be published on May 6, 2004 to coincide with the 50th anniversary Bannister’s heroic run by Scott Waxman (NA). UK rights are represented by Simon Trewin; translation by Danny Baror. scott@waxmanagency.com
UK rights to Rene Chun’s MAD MASTER: The Tortured Genius of Bobby Fischer, to Rachel Cugnoni for Random House’s Yellow Jersey Press, for high five-figures sterling, at auction, by Simon Trewin at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop on behalf of Scott Waxman. Danny Baror is currently selling translation. barorint@aol.com
Rene Chun’s AMERICAN GENIUS: The Tortured Life of Bobby Fischer, the first in-depth biographical account of the fascinating chess champion, now an enigmatic and controversial pariah living in the Phillipines, based on the author’s article in the current issue of Atlantic Monthly, to Rick Kot at Viking, in a significant deal, by Scott Waxman (NA). UK Rights: Simon Trewin at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop strewin@pfd.co.uk Translation: Danny Baror barorint@aol.com
UK-based wunderkind Scarlett Thomas’s three-book Lily Pasacle crime series, DEAD CLEVER, IN YOUR FACE and SEASIDE, to Stephen Hull at Justin, Charles and Co in a nice deal, by Simon Trewin at PFD (NA). strewin@pfd.co.uk
Anglo-American journalist currently writing for The Observer Andrew Smith’s MOONDUST, about the moon landings of the 60s, the men who made those landings, and a little boy (the author) who huddled with his family around a black-and-white TV to witness this extraordinary event, to Mike Jones at Bloomsbury UK (who calls it “stunningly engaging, moving and brilliant”), in a good deal, in a pre-empt, by Simon Trewin and Sarah Ballard at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop (UK/Commonwealth ex. Can). Emma Parry at Carlisle & Company will be offering US rights this week. strewin@pfd.co.uk and ep@carlisleco.com
Charlotte Fairbairn’s GOD BREATHES HIS DREAMS THROUGH NATHANIEL CADWALLADER, a novel of magic and beauty set in a land of the imagination, to Trena Keating at Penguin Putnam, in a nice deal, by Scott Waxman on behalf of Simon Trewin at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop (US). Headline Review will publish in the UK. scott@waxmanagency.com
Robin Brooks’s THE PORTLAND VASE: The Extraordinary Odyssey and Mystery of an Ancient Roman Treasure, the story of this “most famous of all the surviving Roman works of art, the remarkable cast of characters it inspired, and the mystery behind the meaning of the vase itself (its owners included Josiah Wedgwood and Horace Walpole and “the story of the takes us on a journey across Europe and down the centuries”), to Larry Ashmead at Harper, in a nice deal, by Scott Waxman co-agenting with Simon Trewin of Peters, Fraser & Dunlop (NA). scott.waxman@verizon.net
Belfast born Simon Kerr’s first novel THE RAINBOW SINGER, in a mid-six figure deal, to Leigh Haber at Hyperion, by Emma Parry at Carlisle & Company (acting on behalf of Peters, Fraser and Dunlop’s Simon Trewin in London). UK rights were pre-empted by Neil Taylor at Weidenfeld and Nicolson. strewin@pfd.co.uk
Susan Barrett’s debut novel FIXING SHADOWS, set between an aristocratic big house and the slums and squalor of a decidedly Dickensian London, a spirited tale of scheming matriarchs, children lost and found, and the advent of photography, with echoes of everyone’s favourite Victorian fiction, to , Mary-Anne Harrington at Review, in a good deal, for two books, for publication in March 2005, by Simon Trewin at PFD (UK/Commonwealth, including Canada). strewin@pfd.co.uk
THE PERFECT MILE has been acquired by Michael Doggart at CollinsWillow for high-five figures.
He says the following … ‘I am delighted to have acquired The Perfect Mile by the promising young American writer Neal Bascomb. It is a classic story of three protagonists from opposite sides of the world competing both against each other and against the clock to beat a record [the four-minute mile] that many at the time felt was unbreakable. The fact that it fell to an Englishman - Dr Roger Bannister - who then subsequently defeated one of his two main rivals later that year in another sub-four minute race that has gone down in history as ‘the Perfect Mile’ is a justifiable cause for national pride. And celebration too as the book will be published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the feat in May 2004.’
CollinsWillow won on best bids at an auction conducted by Simon Trewin at PFD on behalf of Scott Waxman at the Waxman Agency in New York where Houghton Mifflin acquired the book for high-six figures.
28-year-old Cassell editor Keith Lowe is the latest publisher to sign a deal as an author. Lynne Drew at Wm Heinemann has paid a high five-figure sum for his first two novels, starting with Tunnel Vision.
It concerns Ken, a young man who is about to get married, and who accepts a challenge to travel around the entire London Underground in a day, to try to beat the previous record of 18 hours. He cannot avoid the challenge, because he has surrendered his passport and honeymoon tickets, and has to pick them up at various points on his journey.
Starting at 5 a.m. in Morden, he meets a drunk called Brian, with whom he passes the day musing on subjects such as the Tube and male shortcomings.Drew describes Lowe’s as “a very original new voice”, and one who offers “a refreshing change from category commercial fiction”.
The novel is a comedy, a compendium of fascinating facts about the Underground, and a thoughtful study of men and relationships.
Wm Heinemann plans to publish Tunnel Vision as a trade paperback (”in order to get reviews”) at about £10 in late summer/early autumn 2001.
Drew won the two novels at an auction conducted by Simon Trewin at PFD. Trewin sent out the typescript wrapped in London Underground paper.
HarperCollinsIllustrated today announced the agreement of a two year publishing licence with getmapping.com brokered by Simon Trewin at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop.
This will see HarperCollinsIllustrated publishing up to 20 titles using getmapping.com photography over the next two years, starting this November with London.This ground-breaking book is based on the first ever complete, seamless photographic map of Britain. Offering a level of detail hitherto restricted to military intelligence, London will offer a fascinating survey of both public and private worlds.
It is so revealing, so pin-sharp, that it has excited the attentions of both defence experts and civil rights activists alike, with claims that it compromises both national security and personal privacy. In November, you’ll be able to judge for yourself.
Commenting on the deal, Tristram Cary, Managing Director of getmapping.com, said: “We are delighted HarperCollins Publishers will be publishing the getmapping.com titles. The complete map will provide a snapshot of life in the year 2000 as historically important as William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book of 1086.”
Polly Powell, Publishing Director of HarperCollinsIllustrated, said: “No-one can resist poring over these extraordinary images - they appeal to one’s curiosity in the most addictive way.”
For more information please contact: Sophie Latham at HarperCollins on 020 8307 4103.
COLOUR by Hong Kong based journalist Victoria Finlay has been sold to Hodder and Stoughton for a high five-figure sum after a hotly contested two-week long auction conducted by Simon Trewin. Significant overseas sales are expected imminently.It will be a Longitude for art lovers and a Nathaniel’s Nutmeg for art historians and a 21st century search for the colours of the past.
In ten chapters, organised in the order of the colours of the rainbow - this book will give an anecdotal overview of how different paints came to be discovered, traded and used.
It will remember times when blue was as expensive as gold, when green was carried by yaks along the silk road, when adventurers risked their lives to smuggle red, and when Aboriginal people used to carry lumps of ochre for thousands of miles across the Outback.
It will look at how red paint was really the colour of blood, how orange was the poison pigment (made of arsenic), and how an entire nation - the Phoenicians - made their trade, and got their name, from the colour purple.
The historical stories will merge with modern journalistic journeys for the colours - to the city of Tyr in the Lebanon where the murex (purple) seashells were found, to the caves of Dunhuang in China where the Buddha paintings are framed by haloes of malachite and lapis lazuli, to a modern cochineal plantation-owner in Chile who suddenly after 20 years is having doubts about the millions of daily deaths in his steel vats, to a violin-maker in Cremona who has used ancient dye methods to make fake Strads, to weird woad-makers in England, and to the crocus (saffron) harvesters in an Iran struggling after years of war.
Hodder and Stoughton will publish in 2002.
John Boyne’s CRIPPEN, a fictional retelling of the infamous British murder case of 1910, in which Dr. Crippen attempted to flee across the channel after murdering his wife accompanied by his mistress, who was dressed as a boy and masquerading as his son, to Beverley Cousins at Penguin UK, for publication in fall 2004, by Simon Trewin at PFD (UK and Commonwealth Rights). Foreign Rights: Nicki Kennedy and Sam Edenborough at ILA strewin@pfd.co.uk
Member of the BAFTA Award-Winning Comedy team The League of Gentlemen Jeremy Dyson’s debut novel STILL, a humorous and “haunting read, dealing with faith, fear and the power of the imagination,” to Antonia Hodgson for Abacus/TimeWarner UK, in a good deal, by Simon Trewin at PFD London (UK and Commonwealth, incl. Canada). strewin@pfd.co.uk Film rights: jirwin@pfd.co.uk Translation: ILA ila@ila-agency.co.uk
Creators of This Diary Will Change Your Life Benrik Ltd.’s THE COUPLE’S BOOK, a fun, slightly warped yet strangely useful guide to relationships, to Julie Saltman for Trena Keating at Plume, in a significant deal, by Scott Waxman, on behalf of Simon Trewin at PFD, and in the UK to Richard Atkinson at Hodder, also in a significant deal, along with THIS DIARY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE 2005, which aims not just to change your life but to change society as well at no extra cost. strewin@pfd.co.uk judy@waxmanagency.com
Novelist and Weidenfeld military editor Keith Lowe’s FIRESTORM: The Allied Devastation of Hamburg, July 1943, a re-appraisal of the single night in 1943 when 40,000 civilians lost their lives as a result of a terrifying combination of meteorological and military reasons, to Eleo Gordon at Viking Penguin UK, in a nice deal, at auction, by Simon Trewin at PFD (UK/Commonwealth). Dan Mandel at Sanford Greenburger Associates is handling US rights. strewin@pfd.co.uk and dmandel@sjga.com
Jon Fasman’s THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY, the story of a small town USA cub reporter who stumbles into a mystery of international reach when assigned to write an obituary of a local university professor, to Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton, by Simon Trewin at PFD, on behalf of Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord Literistic (UK). US rights to Ann Godoff at the Penguin Press. rutman@sll.com
Journalist (and Tina Brown’s deputy on Tatler) Georgina Howell’s GERTRUDE BELL: A LIFE, often described as the ‘female Lawrence Of Arabia,’ Bell was an archaeologist, a linguist, the greatest woman mountaineer of her age, and in Baghdad in 1921 she drew the boundaries of the country that became Iraq, to George Morley at Macmillan, in a very nice deal, by Simon Trewin at PFD in the UK (UK/Commonwealth). Zoe Pagnamenta at The Zoe Paganamenta Agency is handling the US sale. strewin@pfd.co.uk
27 year-old author, comedy producer, and cult leader Danny Wallace’s YES MAN, about how the responds to every question with one word: “Yes,” and as a result wins $45,000, becomes a television personality, earns a nursing degree, starts smoking, becomes a Lord, quits smoking, even when he finds himself at the altar, to Ryan Harbage at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, in a pre-empt, by Daniel Greenberg at Levine Greenberg, on behalf of Simon Trewin at PFD (NA). ryan.harbage@simonandschuster.com
Simon Trewin has concluded a best-bids auction for Rene Chun’s fasinating proposal for a life of 1972 World Chess Cahmpion Bobby Fischer on behalf of US Agent Scott Waxman. MAD MASTER - Inside the Tortured Genius Of Bobby Fischer attracted offers within hours of first submission and ended with Rachel Cugnoni acquiring UK and Commonwealth exc Canada for Yellow Jersey Press. The US publisher is Viking who pre-empted for a major $ sum.
Anna Cherrett, Commissioning Editor of Arrow has acquired the memoirs of Boy George for publication as a Century hardback in March 2004 with an Arrow paperback the following year. The book will be written with Paul Gorman and was sold at auction by Simon Trewin and Claira Scott at PFD on behalf of George’s lifelong manager Tony Gordon at Wedge Music.
In the 13 years since the conclusion of the first part of his memoirs, Take It Like A Man, Boy George has reinvented himself. As that story closed, George was coming to terms with the fall-out from his drug addiction, the failure of his relationship with Jon Moss and the collapse of Culture Club. For lesser men this would have been the end but for George it became the start of a period of startling personal and creative reinvention.
Told with George’s trademark biting wit, brutal honesty and sparkling insight, this new book will bring his remarkable story up to date and follow his quest for personal happiness and creative success.
Take It Like A Man saw George’s struggle against drugs come to dominate his rapid rise to fame; this book will be an even more fascinating insight into what makes this superstar tick, tracing the momentous twists and turns of his personal and artistic life over the last decade-and-a-half to include his role as a world-class DJ spearheading the dance music revolution in clubs all over the world, his cutting-edge record label, and his role as the driving force behind and star of the theatrical sensation, “Taboo”, which soon celebrates one year of sell-out shows in the West End and due to open on Broadway in September 2003.
Boy George says, “I’m really looking forward to putting this book together. It covers my life from getting off the plane from India in 1990 to my first night on Broadway in Taboo this autumn. It’s been quite a ride, if you know what I mean, and I know you’ll really enjoy it.”
Anna Cherrett says, “Boy George is a cultural icon with a huge, dedicated following. There will be stories in this book that will certainly make the news, ensuring that it isn’t just a riveting companion volume, but a fascinating book in its own right. We are thrilled to be publishing it.”
Simon Trewin says, “I have always loved Boy George’s unique take on life - he is one of the most magnetically charismatic people I have met - and this new volume of autobiography will shock, amuse, delight and tantalise - all the things its author does so well.”
ROMANITAS by Sophia McDougall.
‘The year is 2756 AUC and the Roman Empire has lasted for over 2000 years. Magnetic railways span Roman territory from Persia to Terranova and mechanized crucifixes are ranked along the banks of the Thames…’
ROMANITAS is the first novel of an epic trilogy of novels. They are set in a contemporary world but one very different from the one we are familiar with. The Roman Empire still exists and the globe is carved up into three power blocs - the Romans, the Nihonians (Japanese) and the Chinese. Slavery, crucifixion, and the divine Emperor are the three pillars of this modern Roman society while everyday life is a mixture of ancient culture and modern technology. Christianity has ceased to exist, and Jupiter still rules most people’s religious lives.
Against this remarkable backdrop, Sophia has built an amazing adventure story that spans the globe and intertwines three lives with the future of the Empire. Sulien and Una are brother and sister, both with strange abilities to affect the world around them. They are also escaped slaves. Sulien was heading for death on the cross when his sister rescued him from his prison ferry on the Thames. They must now travel through Gaul to a kingdom of renegades deep within the Pyrenees where they will be safe.
Marcus Novius Faustus Leo is the heir to the empire - the only son of dead parents. When he survives an assassination attempt he has no choice but to flee. These three people meet and a temporary alliance is formed, a pact to restore Marcus to Rome and to bring down the whole edifice of the slave empire.
I found this one of the most accomplished and impressive partials that has ever come across my desk. Not only is Sophia an amazing writer she is also has a soaring imagination. She has visualized every aspect of this alternate world and that knowledge is implicit in everything she writes. Comparisons are tricky with something this unique. But if I were a Hollywood agent I would draw parallels with the scope and detail of Robert Harris’s Fatherland and the familiar but alien feel of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.
We are publishing in the spring of 2005 and already have impressive marketing plans underway. Romanitas has just been bought by Bantam in the USA through Emma Parry at Carlisle and Company.
Amazingly, Sophia herself is just 23 and this is her debut. She is an Oxford English graduate and also a playwright. Simon Trewin said ‘Sophia is an extraordinary writer and ROMANITAS is the most exciting commercial debut to have crossed my desk since the year MM.’
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