juvenile Spring 2015 - WordPress.com€¦ · The Princess Bride meets Vikings in this enchanted tale of high adventure, buried treasure, villainous treachery, violent ends, and—of

juvenile listSpring 2015

RosenrotAfter her mother died several years before, the village became Rosenrot’s family. But when a royal hunting party arrives in their midst, Rosenrot learns her family has been keeping secrets from her. Not only are there other witches in the kingdom, but they are feared—and hunted.

The Witchfinder General stalks the land. His necromantic magic allows him track witches by their true names—if he learns yours, there is nowhere left to hide. And Rosenrot has just given hers to the visiting Duchess. After accidentally turning the Duke into a stag, Rosenrot is forced on the run. And the hunt begins.

Determined to reverse the spell and undo her mistake, Rosenrot fights for freedom, coming face-to-face with the General himself, imprisoned in the Castle Myth, and surrounded by a band of vicious witches. (There’s a reason they are feared.) With time against her, Rosenrot must find a way to escape and reverse the spell, if she has any hope of survival.

A dark and twisted witches’ tale, rosenrot reveals how skeletons in the family closet come to haunt us. Dealing in unbreakable oaths, insidious rivals, and the monsters of our own making, Ailsa Lillywhite draws on classic mythology to create a new world that changes everything you thought you knew about witches.

Ailsa Lillywhite (yes, Lillywhite is her real last name) was born in Maryland in 1987, she has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Utah and served as a missionary for her church for eighteen months in Houston, Texas. She currently lives in Provo where she studies law at BYU. She enjoys cooking, hiking, traveling, and Martial Arts. She blogs at: http://ailsalillywhite.blogspot.ca. This is her debut novel.

Ailsa Lillywhite

Agent: Ali McDonald email: [email protected]

Rights Available: World

The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated)This summer Alfred and Noelle are working the nightshift at The Boy Meets Girl Inn. Yes. That Boy Meets Girl Inn. The same place that’s said to be haunted by the ghosts of the tortured, murdered, and in some cases, eaten. The same place that no one in town would stay if you paid them, reserved for ignorant tourists, horror geeks, and people like Alfred and Noelle who find it preferable to being at home.

Alfred and Noelle will do all the things you don’t want them to. They will go into the basement, they will play with a Ouija board, they will have a giant party and mock the dead and let their feet hang over the side of their beds.

And they’ll both be dead by the end of summer.

Written in an innovative diary format with annotations from both the lead police officer on the case, and a movie producer he sold the story to, Ainslie Hogarth’s The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated) is American Horror Story for teens, with shades of The Shining.

Ainslie Hogarth is the author of The Lonely (Flux, 2014) and The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated) (Flux, 2015). She has an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Philosophy and a Masters in Creative Writing. She watches a lot of movies and has a lot more books in her head

Ainslie Hogarth


Rights Available: World, excluding US

The LonelyEaster is pinned under a giant boulder, her legs crushed into tomato paste, slowly bleeding to death in The Woods behind her house. She went out looking for her sister Julia after she discovered The Terrible Thing. Bored, disappointed and thoroughly dismembered, Easter has only the sinister squirrels to keep her company—and they are being frightened off with increasing frequency by The Something Coming. Easter uses her final moments to unravel the mystery of Julia: why only Easter can see her.

Memories of family surface like hallucinations: a sister who might never have existed; a mysterious, mumbling father who lives alone in the basement; a terrifying grandmother who sits as still as a butterfly in her enclosed porch all day; an overly loving mother who plays dead in the bathtub on Sunday nights—and all the while, Easter is being stalked, making it very difficult for her to bleed to death in peace. Will The Something Coming save her? Or do her in entirely...

Unreliable in her narration, Easter recounts the history of her relationship with Julia, their closeness as “sisters,” and eventual drifting apart when The Parents send Easter to live with Mrs. Bellows, and Lev starts showing up at The Miniature Wonderland. Morbid, darkly humorous, psychologically twisted and surreal in its blurring of boundaries between fact and fiction, reality and unreality, The Lonely challenges the reader with its imaginative world and experimental structure—a Donnie Darko for the new generation.

Praise for The Lonely:

“Dark and daring, this memorable debut should appeal to teens with a black sense of humor.” —Booklist

“…teens will revel in this surreal world full of gruesome humor.” —VOYA

“Beautiful prose…” —Kirkus

Ainslie Hogarth



Kissing FrogsAll high school senior Jess wanted was to stretch out on the beach with her adorable boyfriend Miles and her “it girl” friends for spring break. But a failing grade in biology has turned her dream into a nightmare. Shipped off on a conservation trip to Panama with the geek squad to save a bunch of slimy frogs isn’t her idea of traveling for pleasure. She thought she’d left behind stuff like this after painstakingly climbing the social ladder. It certainly doesn’t help that Travis—the one guy who knows her as “Messy Jesse”—is an infuriating reminder of who she used to be; shy, uncertain, and dateless.

Thing is, Travis isn’t exactly the jerk she thought he was, especially when he finds her lost ring. Scratch that. He’s still a jerk. In exchange for the ring back he wants three dates. The more time they spend together the more Jess realizes what she’s been missing while running with the popular crowd. With Miles unreachable, Jess finds herself torn between the sexy affections of local boy Enrique, the kind of guy she’d kill to date, and sweet Travis. But when their third date turns fatal Jess may lose Travis for good.

Kissing Frogs is a contemporary retelling of the romantic tale “The Frog Prince”. A modern retelling in the vein of Anna and the French Kiss, with a light, sweet romance sure to curl toes. Torn between the social hierarchy and what feels right, will Jess ever find her prince?

Alisha Sevigny holds a degree in Sociology and Professional Writing from the University of Victoria, is a film school graduate, former literary agent and current Social Media and Communications Director for an award-winning English school. A shameless romantic, Alisha and her husband have travelled the world together. On a trip to Panama with their new daughter, Alisha fell in love with the country, culture, and their national emblem, the Golden Frog. Born and raised in Kitimat, British Columbia, Alisha has always had a strong connection to the environment and conservationist spirit. She now lives in Toronto with her family.

Alisha Sevigny


Rights Available: World, excluding US and Canada

The Extremely Epic Viking Tale of YondersaayThis winter, siblings Ruairi and Dani Miller visit their ancestral homeland: the legendary Viking island of Yondersaay. Even with Granny Miller’s storytelling to pass the time, the pair manage to find trouble. In less than twenty-four hours of their arrival, Ruairi is mistaken for the lost Boy King of Denmark, kidnapped by Vikings, and scheduled to be sacrificed at sundown. Granny isn’t very pleased.

But when everyone except them goes Viking, the three turn to Granny’s epic tales of Yondersaay, The Gifts of Odin, and King Dudo the Mightily Impressive for clues. But not all stories end happily, and Ruari, Dani, and Granny will have to write their own ending if they are to survive.

The Princess Bride meets Vikings in this enchanted tale of high adventure, buried treasure, villainous treachery, violent ends, and—of course—true love. Aoife Lennon-Ritchie’s debut middle grade novel, The Extremely Epic Viking Tale of Yondersaay, is a humorous and heartwarming story for readers ages 9+.

Irish actor and writer Aoife Lennon-Ritchie studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, the Universita di Catania in Italy, University College Dublin in Ireland, and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Aoife holds diplomas, degrees and a Masters in the multiple fields of business and information technology, English and classic literature, theatre and creative writing; she looks forward to doing her PhD in Film and Media. Always searching for new adventures, Aoife has lived in the UK, France, Greece, Italy, and several US cities, including Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh. She speaks three (and a half) languages. Although she was once an investment banker, she much prefers acting, fencing, writing, and being a mum. She currently lives in Cape Town with her handsome husband and two small children.

Aoife Lennon-Ritchie



LiferAsher is a Lifer, a slave aboard the spaceship Pelican. A member of the lowest rung of society, she must serve the ship’s Officials and Astronauts as punishment for her grandparents’ crimes back on Earth. The one thing that made life bearable was her illicit relationship with Samuai, a Fishie boy, but he died alongside her brother in a freak training accident. Still grieving for the loss of her loved ones, Asher is summoned to the upper levels to wait on Lady, the head Official’s wife and Samuai’s mother. It is the perfect opportunity to gather intel for the Lifer’s brewing rebellion. There’s just one problem—the last girl who went to the upper levels never came back.

On the other side of the universe, an alien attack has left Earth in shambles and a group called The Company has taken control. Blank wakes up in a pond completely naked and with no memory, not even his real name. So when a hot girl named Megs invites him to a black-market gaming warehouse where winning means information, he doesn’t think twice about playing. But sometimes the past is better left buried.

As Asher and Blank’s worlds collide, the truth comes out—everyone has been lied to. Bourne Identity meets Under the Never Sky in this intergalactic tale of love and deception from novelist Beck Nicholas.

Beck Nicholas always wanted to write. Since studying science at university, she’s worked as a lab assistant, a pizza delivery driver and a high school teacher, but she always pursued her first dream of creating stories. Now, she lives with her family near Adelaide, halfway between the city and the sea, and she’s lucky to spend her days (and nights) writing young adult fiction.

When she’s not writing, Beck will most likely be found reading or watching sport (since participating is beyond her coordination levels). In the early morning, before the day of writing, kid wrangling and reading begins, she runs. When it’s just her and the road (and her protesting muscles) she lets the characters in her head share their problems and a story begins.

Beck Nicholas



FakeIs Kath about to make the biggest mistake of her life?

Seventeen-year-old Kath McKenny has a date to the end-of-term party with her since-forever crush. He publicly messaged her to confirm, but there’s been a recent status update: he’s taking the new girl—giggly, pretty, well-developed Lana Elliot—instead. After being thoroughly humiliated in front of half the school, best friend Chay talks Kath into revenge: a scheme to create the perfect—and very fake—online guy for Lana. Once she falls for him, they’ll show her what it’s like to get brutally dumped.

Everything is going to plan until Kath starts spending more-than-just-friends time with the other new kid in town—Lana’s dreamy older brother, Sebastian. Kath finds herself getting in deep—in love and drowning in guilt, she tries to put an end to her prank, but it’s taken on an unstoppable momentum of its own, with very real consequences.

As her plotting begins to unravel, so do the people Kath thought she knew:

Her mother has a secret online life.

Her father has a whole new family.

Her best friend is barely recognizable.

Her boyfriend has a disturbing hidden past.

And her enemy is more familiar than she knew.

First Best Book RITA Award Finalist 2015

Beck Nicholas


Rights Available: World, excluding ANZ

King HitCallie Jones is not the kind of girl who gets drunk at school dances. Not with her scholarship on the line. And she certainly doesn’t hang around with the town bad boy, Rhett Butler—alone, at night. But these are the circumstances she finds herself in when she witnesses a king hit that lands the town golden boy in a coma.

With his criminal record and serious anger issues, no one is less surprised than Rhett when he is accused of throwing the punch. But he didn’t do it. And he knows Callie saw what really went down. He just has to convince ”the ice princess” to come forward. Except, she doesn’t seem all that interested in telling the truth. Especially when it lies so close to home.

Drawn together by violence, secrets, scandal, and heartache, Callie and Rhett become close even as the solution to their problems gets further away. Told from alternating perspectives, Beck Nicholas’s King Hit deals with the sometimes impossible choices we make in the face of doing the right thing.

Beck Nicholas



Christine WaldeChristine Walde has published her work in a variety of print and online journals in both Canada and the US, including Branch, Carousel, The Fiddlehead, Lemonhound, The Malahat Review, The Rusty Toque, Plath Profiles and Vallum. She has published two chapbooks of poetry: The Black Car (Baseline Press, 2011) and Noise over Silence (Poetry is Dead, 2014). She is also the author of two books of young adult literature: The Candy Darlings (Penguin Canada/Houghton Mifflin, 2007) and Burning from the Inside (DCB/Cormorant Books, 2013). She lives and works in Victoria, BC.

Burning from the InsideEveryone gets caught. His third strike lands Thom at Riverside Youth Detention and Rehabilitation Centre, The Ryder, with a group of other writers like himself. But unlike them, Thom has been promised a clean record if he informs on a graffiti ring called the G7. Graffpol by day—buffing the city free of graffiti—and writer by night, Thom is blowing up the scene with his new identity: TNT.

Aura keeps having the dream. The one where Story shows her The Ten. Her obsession surrounding her writer idol and late, great member of the G7, intensifies when a new bomber starts throwing up all over town: TNT—dynamite. Not usually one for signs, Aura comes to believe that he is meant to show her the way to Tiger Mountain, the secret location of The Ten—a legendary piece that holds the promise of quintessential truths.

TNT and Aura have an instant connection, an electric spark that builds into white hot fire, burning away the rest of the world: neglectful parents, the constrictive rules of membership to the G7, the constant, looming threat of the police and the pressure of maintaining cover. In her search for the truth about Story, Aura is blind to the lies surrounding TNT. And as Thom gets closer to the G7, he questions the motivations of the cop who put him up to it—and his own.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Thom and Aura, Burning From The Inside is a scorching love story about the secrets we keep, against the backdrop of graffiti subculture.


Rights Available: World. excluding Canada

Laura NowlinLaura Nowlin is the author of If He Had Been With Me and This Song Is (Not) For You. She holds a BA in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Missouri State University. When she isn’t at home agonizing over her own novels, Laura works at the public library where the patrons give her plenty of inspiration for her writing. She lives in St. Louis with her musician husband, neurotic dog, and psychotic cat.

If He Had Been With MeIf he had been with me everything would have been different...

I wasn’t with Finn on that August night. But I should’ve been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it’s not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial.

So let me tell you...

If he had been with me, he wouldn’t have died.

Throughout their whole childhood, Finn and Autumn were inseparable—they finished each other’s sentences, they knew just what to say when the other person was hurting. But one incident in middle school puts them in separate social worlds come high school, and Autumn has been happily dating James for the last 2 years. But she’s always wondered what if... The night she’s about to get the answer is also one of terrible tragedy.


Rights Available: World, excluding World English and Brazil

E. Paul ZehrE. Paul Zehr, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and kinesiology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, where he is also director of the centre for biomedical research. In addition to his research studies to improve walking after stroke, he has practical experience in human movement drawn from more than 30 years of training and black belts in both empty hand and armed martial arts. His recent books include, Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero (2008), Inventing Iron Man: The Possibility of a Human Machine (2011), and Project Superhero (2014). He writes for Scientific American Online, Psychology Today, and Digital Journal. He is constantly in demand, presenting “Is there a superhero in you?” to all age groups from K-12 to 80+. For more information about finding your inner superhero and your real potential, visit www.zehr.ca.

Project SuperheroJoin 13-year-old Jessie as she keeps a diary of her class’s yearlong research project on superheroes, which culminates in the Superhero Slam: a head-to-head debate battle! It’s shy, comics-obsessed Jessie’s dream come true... and worst nightmare. She decides to champion Batgirl, a regular person (albeit with major talent and training under her utility belt), and soon Jessie wonders what it would take to be her. Will she prove to her best friends, Cade and Audrey, that she’s more than a sidekick? Can she take down archenemy Dylan at the Slam?

Combining science facts, lively illustrations (Kris Pearn, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films), and comic-book trivia with actual correspondence from superhumans such as NYPD Sergeant Mike Bruen, Olympian Clara Hughes, and Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, Project Superhero is a celebration of the heroes among us and of one girl’s super-secret identity: herself.


Rights Available: World, excluding North America

Glenda LeznoffGlenda Leznoff was born in Montreal and now calls Vancouver home. According to her two grown children, she cannot text and talk at the same time, but in all other respects is without fault for blemish. She is an instructor at Douglas College in the Creative Writing Department, and has written everything from fiction to film scripts. She loves witty dialogue and great meals, preferably at one sitting. Glenda is also an artist and her paintings have been shown in galleries and collections across North America. Dancing brings her joy. Travel is her passion. Family and friends are her raison d’ être. She wishes there were more hours in a day.

Heartache and Other Natural ShocksA page-turning young-adult novel told from the alternating voices of two witty, sharp-edged teenage girls who compete for a role in the school production of Hamlet and for the same local bad boy, in a game of deception, betrayal, and sword play.

When fifteen-year-old Julia Epstein and her anglophone family flee Montreal in October 1970, she struggles to adjust to a new life in the suburban wasteland of North York, Toronto. Next door lives Carla Cabrielli, who works her “assets” and knows how to get what she wants. Julia and Carla get on a collision course, not only for the same role in the school production of Hamlet, but also for the leading man—sword-wielding bad boy and sex magnet, Ian Slater. When events take a dangerous turn, both Julia and Carla become vulnerable to deception and betrayal. Full of unexpected twist and turns, Glenda Leznoff’s unique novel marks the debut of an important new voice in young-adult fiction.


Rights Available: World, excluding World English

Star ThiefWhen Nolan Newman saves a woman from drowning and is offered a wish as a reward, he never meant to be taken literally. But now his words have stopped the tides, the night sky is dark, panicked mobs are stoning witches in the street, and he’s carrying the life and death balance for millions of people in a jar tucked under his spare shirt. If Nolan can’t find a way to get the universe back the way it was soon, the jar’s spell will kill every world trapped inside of it.

Determined to save the people trapped in the jar before time runs out, Nolan races north to the Dawn Caves, where legends say that he’ll receive any one wish—if he can make it. Only a handful of people in history have found the Dawn Caves and returned. When Nolan meets Tylan and Kris, a brother and sister from one of the trapped worlds, they reluctantly decide that they’d be safer as a group than on their own. Together the three journey north while struggling to hide Kris’s magical powers amidst the anti-magic religious fervor now sweeping Nolan’s world.

Star Thief is an 86,000 word young adult fantasy where a careless wish leaves one young man in possession of the moon, the stars, and all of the worlds that come with them.

Robin Kristoff grew up on a farm in northern Vermont and is currently living in Boston where she is finishing her Master’s in Communication Management at Emerson College. Inspired by her studies abroad, and by authors like Tamora Pierce and Suzanne Collins, this is the first book in a potential series, and Robin’s first novel.

Robin Kristoff

Agent: Devon LaBerge email: [email protected]


David Neil LeeDavid Neil Lee was born and raised in Mission, BC. Upon receiving his BA in English from UBC, he moved to Toronto where he worked for the jazz magazine Coda and, with his wife, Maureen Cochrane, ran the publishing house Nightwood Editions. He also studied double bass and worked actively in Toronto avant-garde theatre, dance, and multi-media performances, as well as touring internationally and recording with the Bill Smith Ensemble, Leo Smith, and Joe McPhee. He is the author of The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field (Mercury Press, 2006) and Commander Zero (Tightrope Books, 2012). David Lee lives in Hamilton with his family.

The Midnight GamesWhen Nate Silva sneaks into Ivor Wynne Stadium to check out the midnight games that are keeping his neighbourhood up at night, he knew something wasn’t right, but he had no idea how strange, and deadly, things would be. Stumbling upon one of the rituals of the Resurrection Church of the Ancients, his his days and nights are soon dogged by ancient books, giant centipedes and geometric curses that bring death down upon you in the form of glowing hounds.

In this thrilling young adult novel, set in gritty, post-industrial Hamilton, David Neil Lee blends the rich horror of H. P. Lovecraft with the pace of a modern mystery. The Midnight Games is a page-turner of a book, eerie and enthralling.

Agent: Kelvin Kong email: [email protected]

Rights Available: World, excluding North America

Richard ScarsbrookRichard Scarsbrook ’s short stories and poems have been published widely in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies, and he has won a number of prizes and awards. His first book, Cheeseburger Subversive, is a funny, moving must-read young adult novel. Released in May 2003, it is now in its fourth printing. Featherless Bipeds, the exciting rock ’n’ roll sequel was shortlisted for the 2007 Young Adult Book Award by the Canadian Library Association, and was a 2008/2009 Stellar Book Award (British Columbia’s Teen Readers’ Choice Award) nominee. Richard’s third young adult novel, the White Pine Award-winning The Monkeyface Chronicles, was published by Thistledown Press in April 2010. Richard lives in Toronto.

Nothing Man and the Purple ZeroMarty Apostrophes and Bill Brown are from opposite sides of the tracks, but their friendship allows them to overcome bullies and scrape through classes (with Bill doing the lion’s share of the scraping). Bill’s obsession with the classic cars owned by Marty’s family leads to a joyride in a 1937 Cord 812 Sportsman, and the accidental foiling of a robbery…which is caught on video by their friend, aspiring teen reporter Elizabeth Murphy.

The video goes viral, and Marty and Bill—or at least, their accidental alter egos, Nothing Man and the Purple Zero—become instant celebrities.

Is this a fleeting moment of celebrity? Or are the trio living up to a destiny foretold by a dying principal who reminded them that “Some have greatness thrust upon them”?

In Nothing Man And The Purple Zero award-winning author Richard Scarsbrook brings us more hilarious adventures from Faireville District High School.

Agent: Kelvin Kong email: [email protected]

Rights Available: World, excluding Canada

Heart Set Free: A Girl And Her SquidThere’s nothing twelve-year-old Penny Clarke loves more than climbing onto a squid and jetting through the ocean at top speed. In Penny’s near-future California of rising sea levels and strange new technologies, squid racing is as common as horse racing was back in the 20th century. It’s also the only thing Penny is good at, and she plans to make it her life—until her parents decide that the sport is too dangerous, and ban her from the squid stables. Instead, they expect Penny to focus on school, where she’s failing both her classes and her social life—the other kids all think squid racing is for losers.

But nothing can keep Penny away from her passion, and one night she sneaks an illicit ride on a squid named Heart Set Free. He’s so moody his owners plan to turn him into calamari steaks, but with Penny on his back he’s a speed demon. Soon the two of them are pitted in fierce competition against California’s fastest squid and their unscrupulous jockeys, fighting to qualify for the International Kids on Squid race with its coveted InKS trophy. Penny’s hoping she’ll be able to get her grades up, keep her parents happy and even make a friend or two on her way to the InKS. But to stand a chance of winning the race—or even of reaching the finish line alive—Penny and Heart will need to learn to communicate in a way no one has ever thought possible.

All the thrills and spills of international squid racing come alive in marine biologist Danna Staaf ’s remarkable middle-grade debut. In the best tradition of children’s sports stories, Heart Set Free is a gripping tale of passion, determination and true friendship (human and non-human). It’s a 22nd-century National Velvet—with squid.

Danna Staaf is a freelance writer of science and fiction for adults and children. She contributes to northern California’s NPR station (KQED), blogs at science20.com and has created several science outreach programmes for schools, including the popular biology programme Squids4Kids. She holds a BA in Creative Studies and a PhD in Squid Babies. She lives in California with her husband, daughter, two cats, and a large number of edible plants.

Danna Staaf

Agent: Lydia Moëd email: [email protected]


Sky Bandits Vs. The StormrunnerThe sky is alive with airships and flying cities, but thirteen-year-old Benedict Butler is stuck on the ground. Desperate for a taste of adventure in the clouds, he’s instead been forced into a life waiting tables, scrubbing pots, and shoveling . . . things. That’s just how it goes when you live in a zero-horse town owned by the sinister Triumvicorp Global Industries (slogan: ‘the world is our business’). But when Ben rescues dashing sky bandit Drake Wellaway from a crashed airship, he’s given a chance to show Triumvicorp that no one owns him.

Ben joins Wellaway and his crew on the Jitterbug, where he finds himself taking sword-fighting lessons from the legendary Viranda de la Vega, matching wits with a master thief in a yellow dress, and searching the skies for Triumvicorp airships to rob. Along the way he learns a number of important lessons: swords are sharp, jetpacks can malfunction, and evil corporations don’t like it when you take their money. But just when he’s beginning to get the hang of things, he discovers that the crew of the Jitterbug has been betrayed, and Wellaway’s nemesis is hot on their tail in Triumvicorp’s most fearsome airship, the Stormrunner. Ben is about to learn another lesson: in the sky, the fall isn’t the only thing that kills.

This swashbuckling tale of sky-high adventure combines the wit and aesthetic of Firefly with the moral compass and derring-do of Robin Hood. With a diverse cast of characters and fantastic series potential, it’s ideal for upper-middle-grade fantasy fans.

Gareth Wronski was born and raised in Toronto. After studying English Literature at the University of Toronto, he went on to work in a second-hand bookstore specializing in children’s books, science fiction and fantasy. Gareth currently lives in an old house by the Avon River in Stratford, Ontario. When he isn’t writing, he can be found reading books, watching movies, or looking after his two diabetic cats.

Gareth Wronski



J.H. SwansonJ.H. Swanson wrote the first draft of Carnival Of Dream in intensive care, recovering from a potentially fatal bout of septic shock. Confronted with his impending mortality, he decided that it was finally time to write the stories that had been residing in his head for years. When not inventing fantasy worlds, he works as a social media and IT consultant. He also gives speeches on responding to domestic violence to a variety of different venues, including police departments and social service groups. He lives in Denver with his wife and the world’s friendliest cat.

Carnival Of DreamsEnara and Cassiel have just seven days to prove they didn’t commit murder. If they fail, they’ll be executed.

In Enara and Cassiel’s world, only a small number of people, known as Oracles, have the ability to dream. The dreams are extracted and sold at the Carnival of Dreams, the most important week of the whole year for the airborne city of Solarium. But when dashing young soldier Raphael Salazar is found dead—apparently killed by a dream he purchased—suspicion immediately falls on Enara and Cassiel. Cassiel is the Oracle from whom the fatal dream was extracted, while slave girl Enara injected the dream into Salazar, and was the last person to see him alive. With only seven days left until the end of the Carnival, they each need to clear their name or else face certain death.

As the two teenagers work against one another, the body count rises and rumours begin to swirl in the flying city. Has the legendary Night King returned to protect the oppressed Oracles, or is there perhaps a political motive behind the murders? Something awful is afoot in Solarium, and the slave girl and the dreamer might just be the city’s only hope of finding the truth. Too bad they’re busy trying to frame each other for murder.

Mortal Engines meets Minority Report in this gripping story of dreams, deception, and a city flying headlong towards annihilation.



Sadie BruceSadie Bruce is a fantasy writer and young adult librarian. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Daily Science Fiction, The Colored Lens, Spark: A Creative Anthology, Stupefying Stories, and Steampunk Magazine. A 2012 Clarion Workshop graduate, Sadie currently lives in Oklahoma with her two sons, who are members of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

The Mapmaker’s MedicineIf a town is something you can point to on a map, then Idabel, Oklahoma is hardly any town at all. Once a railroad stop rich in timber, cotton, and Choctaw legends, Idabel is now a shadow of itself. Even the Choctaw spirits, once strong and protective, hole up alongside addicts in the Motel 6. Sick of seeing the people of Idabel lose themselves in drink and drugs, a mysterious man named Doctor Bray opens up the boundary to the spirit world to offer the town a cure. However, the cure has a price and his experiments with spirit medicine have left addicts without souls.

If you ask Naomi Mayhall, the abandoned daughter of a strung-out Choctaw witch, that price is too high to pay. Raised by her grandparents on the outskirts of Idabel, Naomi is a mapmaker who can see the boundaries between this world and spiritside. When her dead PawPaw comes back to visit her she takes it in her stride, but even she is surprised when she bumps into the spirit Hare dealing drugs in the Motel 6.

When Hare gives her a magical compass and tells her to stop Doctor Bray from meddling in spiritside, Naomi is tempted to refuse—but then the Doctor kidnaps her grandmother, forcing Naomi to head spiritside to rescue her. Naomi’s search for her vanished Granny turns into a quest to take back the dangerous spiritside landscape, where Naomi begins to wonder if perhaps the Doctor has the right idea after all.

Clarion graduate Sadie Bruce’s first novel reads like Nalo Hopkinson’s take on Choctaw legend. It’s a stunning tale of small-town despair and ancient magic, exploring addiction, autonomy and the morality of intervention through a richly imagined fantasy lens.



David SkuyDavid Skuy is a best-selling, award-winning children’s author, with sales of over 100,000 books in Canada, including Undergrounders, winner of the 2012 Silver Birch award, Striker, nominated for the 2015 Silver Birch, and the five-part Game Time series. He has published with Scholastic Canada and Lorimer Books, and is currently working on two YA series. Skuy’s works incorporate drama with flashes of humour to create realistic stories that appeal to all kids.

Boris Snodbuckle for President!Boris Snodbuckle For President! Memoirs Of A Sidekick introduces a new hero to middle grade audiences. Recounted by Boris’s sidekick, Adrian, this funny and heart-warming adventure speaks to the spirit and tone of blockbusters like Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rachel Renee Russell’s The Dork Diaries, and James Patterson’s I Funny. Adrian’s unshakeable faith in ‘the Snodbuckle magic’ keeps Boris going as he overcomes jokes about his name, attacks on his character, self-absorbed teachers, and a Principal intent on giving him an endless series of detentions. But can this redoubtable duo get Boris elected as student council president, or will ‘Operation Oval Office’ go down in school history as yet another Snodbuckle disaster?

Boris Snodbuckle transcends gender lines, reworking a classic story for an older readership—and offering a new twist by having the sidekick as the narrator. Skuy’s newest offering will appeal to the millions of young readers who have read the blockbuster series noted above, and now may be eager for a new middle-grade book.

Agent: Sam Hiyate email: [email protected]

Publication: 2016

Rights Sold: Kids Can Press (World English, North America French)

Sam Hiyate, PresidentSam Hiyate is president of The Rights Factory, a literary agency based in Toronto with an international reach. His client list includes Jennifer Close, David Gilmour, Margot Berwin, Andrew Kaufman, Jessica Westhead, Claire Letemendia and Rupinder Gill. Before that, he ran the literary division of The Lavin Agency. In his 20+ year publishing career, he was co-founder and publisher of the litmag Blood & Aphorisms (b+a) and the editor/publisher of the avant-garde literary publisher Gutter Press. Sam also teaches at University of Toronto and Ryerson University and has lectured on publishing at Simon Fraser University, Humber College, and Centennial College, where he sits on the Publishing Advisory Board. He has taught creative writing at a private workshop in Toronto since 2000.

Ali McDonald, AgentA member of The Rights Factory team since 2009, Ali McDonald specializes in children’s literature of all kinds, ranging from novelty, board books, picture books, early readers, chapter books, and graphic novels, to middle grade, young adult and new adult fiction and non-fiction. She enjoys working primarily with debut authors, but also has the distinguished pleasure of representing literary stars among her international clients. Ali is living the dream of having a job she loves.

THE RIGHTS FACTORYLiterary Agents

The Rights Factory is an agency that deals in intellectual property rights to entertainment products, including books, comics & graphic novels, film, television, and video games.

TRF was founded in 2004 by literary agent Sam Hiyate and media lawyer Christos Grivas. Our team includes: Foreign Rights Manager Kelvin Kong, Rights Associate

Lydia Moed, Agent Ali McDonald (Children’s), Associate Agent Drea Cohane, Associate Agent Haskell Nussbaum, Associate Agent Olga Filina, Associate Agent Harry Endrulat,

Associate Agent Devon LeBerge, Associate Agent Cassandra Rogers, New York-based Associate Agent Natalie Kimber and our multi-talented admin assistant Chloë Marck.

Kelvin Kong, Rights ManagerHaving done other roles at various Canadian publishing houses, Kelvin is the rights manager at The Rights Factory. He enjoys meeting with new publishers around the world and drinking with them learning about their list and their business. In his spare time, Kelvin is an amateur chef, mixologist, rapper, and racecar driver (well, maybe not the last two, but it makes him sound more macho). He would really like you to buy rights from him.

Lydia Moëd, Rights AssociateLydia Moëd came to Canada from the UK, where she worked as a foreign rights executive for Usborne Publishing and Elwin Street Productions. She has also worked as a freelance literary translator and editor, and as a bookseller at Foyles in London. She now handles foreign rights for The Rights Factory’s children’s and YA list, and is also building her own list of clients for representation. She is most interested in acquiring science fiction and fantasy—she likes books that transport her to other places, preferably by spaceship.

Devon LaBerge, Associate AgentDevon LaBerge came to The Rights Factory as a reader, quickly graduated to Agency Assistant under President Sam Hiyate, and within the year was promoted to Associate Agent. Devon is currently building her commercial-literary hybrid list on both the adult and children’s sides of publishing. Her interests include romance, mystery, literary thriller, horror, both commercial and upmarket women’s fiction, narrative non-fiction, and young adult of all genres. A graduate of the University of Toronto, she received her Honours BA in English and Canadian Studies, and is in the process of finishing her Certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. Her previous experience spans the arts of bricklaying, concrete mixing, and drink-slinging, as well as being a Tough Mudder competitor and the waitress who practices politics in Billy Joel’s “The Piano Man.”

THE RIGHTS FACTORYLiterary Agents

P.O. Box 499, Station C Toronto, Ontario Canada M6J 3P6

+1 (416) 966-5367w w w.therightsfactory.com

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