John Jarrold

Ian Whates, publisher of NewCon Press, has acquired World English Rights in Entropy of Loss, a novella by SF writer Stewart Hotston. The agent was John Jarrold.

Sarah Shannon and her wife, Rhona Fisher are in the hospice where Rhona is staying after losing a gruelling fight with cancer. Sarah is unable to come to terms with Rhona’s impending death. Work calls – it is Akshai, Sarah’s team mate – and Sarah uses the call as an excuse to leave since their ground-breaking simulations of blackholes have gone wrong. Sarah is eager to get her teeth into the problem.

When they correct the errors the system abandons the simulations, spitting out mathematically significant numbers and demanding a response. When they answer, the system transforms their keyboard into a lichen-like material.

A brilliant story of loss, and First Contact.

Publisher Ian Whates says, “Stewart Hotston is a gifted writer who manages to combine entertaining storytelling with intelligent science fiction. Entropy of Loss is everything I would expect from Stewart – a gripping, thought-provoking novella, and one that we’re excited to be publishing

The Arthur C Clarke Award-shortlisted author RB Kelly had joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency. Her debut novel, Edge of Heaven, has just been shortlisted for this year’s Arthur C Clarke Award and is published by NewCon Press. The sequel will be published in 2022. Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of publications, including Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and Aurealis, and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. Her new novel is All The Stars of Summer:

Fresh off the interplanetary InterRail, the sun-kissed, semi-aquatic world of Vel feels like paradise to eighteen-year-old Stella. With its blossom-drenched streets and laid-back party atmosphere, it seems like the perfect place to work out where she wants adult life to take her. But she’s about to discover that some things really are too good to be true. An unsettling incident on her first day prompts questions that Stella can’t ignore, and will lead her and her found family of fellow travellers down a dangerous path. Vel may be paradise, but there are dark secrets in its history that certain people will kill to protect. Stella’s going to have to make a choice: is she prepared to stand up for her ideals at any cost? Even if that cost is her life?
Rachael Kelly has a PhD in film theory and her first published book was doctoral thesis – Mark Antony And Popular Culture, published by IB Tauris in 2014.

She co-runs an organisation called CinePunked, which aims to bridge the gap between film fandom and film theory. She was awarded an Artists Career Enhancement Scheme award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to support the writing of her second novel (the follow up to Edge of Heaven) and was mentored in that writing by the brilliant SF writer Ian McDonald.

Her short story Pineapples Are Not The Only Bromeliad is in The Best of British Science Fiction 2020, which is due to be released later this month.

RB Kelly is a member of Women Aloud NI, which aims to raise the profile of women writers from Northern Ireland; Otherworlds NI, which aims to do the same for speculative fiction writers from Northern Ireland; and the Society of Authors.

John Jarrold said: ‘I’d already read and loved Edge of Heaven – and I was delighted when Rachael got in touch. She is simply an outstanding writer. Her new novel, All the Stars of Summer, is remarkable – deeply hilarious and dark by turn, with a wonderfully-engaging narrative voice, a fascinating cast of varied alien races, and the different aspects brought together seamlessly. I’m working editorially with Rachael, before submitting to major publishers.’

Dave Ritzlin of DMR Books has acquired non-exclusive reprint rights to the dark swords and sorcery collection FAR AWAY AND NEVER by Ramsey Campbell. The agent was John Jarrold. This edition will also include and extra story – A Madness From the Vaults. The book is due for publication in the autumn of 2021.

Ramsey Campbell is the doyen of horror novelists. He is the only living horror writer to appear in the Oxford Companion to English Literature. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University in 2015.

Film-maker, screenwriter, producer and novelist Guillermo del Toro has tweeted about Ramsey Campbell: “An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that.”

DMR has previously reprinted collections by Poul Anderson, Henry Kuttner, Tanith Lee, Manly Wade Wellman and others.

Scottish fantasy author David Craig has joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
His novel Diabolic Immunity is set in contemporary Glasgow – Line of Duty meets Penny Dreadful. After a murder investigation leads DC Kalam Dash to Glasgow’s supernatural community, DCI Harry McNair and DS Nora Driscoll reluctantly second him into their secretive unit, one that polices the magicians, undead and other supernatural entities. Another new recruit to the unit is PC Kate Goodfellow, who was killed and cremated twenty-six years ago, and now mysteriously returned to life…

Hunting a vampire becomes even more complicated when Hell’s Consulate extends him diplomatic protection, taking advantage of an unprecedented truce between angels and demons. The coming apocalypse may be beyond Dash and Goodfellow’s pay grade, but it’ll be left to them to deal with the fallout as Heaven and Hell look to the bigger picture.

This is perfect for readers of The Last Smile in Sunder City, by Luke Arnold, James Oswald’s crime novels with a supernatural twist, and the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch – although Diabolic Immunity is told in the third person, with two point of view protagonists. The officers tasked to police the supernatural are also (generally) human.
David lives near Glasgow with his wife and daughter, where he works as an analyst for a public sector organisation. He previously volunteered for some years as a Special Constable, which gave him the experience needed to balance the supernatural elements of this story with an authentic policing feel.

John Jarrold said: “I see many urban fantasies, but the gritty reality of David’s Glasgow – set against the supernatural entities and ever-widening scope of the worlds he has created – grabbed me. His characters are wonderfully real too – human and otherwise. I was hooked immediately!”

Jiří Stárek of DOBROVSKÝ s.r.o.publishers in the Czech Republic has commissioned a new collection of stories by Ramsey Campbell – to be chosen by the author. The agent was John Jarrold.

Ramsey Campbell is the doyen of horror novelists.  He is the only living horror writer to appear in the Oxford Companion to English Literature. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University in 2015.

Film-maker, screenwriter, producer and novelist Guillermo del Toro has tweeted about Ramsey Campbell: “An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that.”

DOBROVSKY’s authors include Harlan Ellison, Dan Simmons, Josh Malerman, Stuart Turton, Peter Straub, Robert R. McCammon, John Langan, Jennifer McMahon, Adam Nevill, Gene Wolfe, Matt Haig, Bentley Little, Sarah Gailey, and Mary Robinette Kowal.