'Darling Jim', Spanish rights sold to Planeta

Editorial Planeta has recently acquired world Spanish rights of Christian Moerk's 'Darling Jim'

This novel, originally a Danish bestseller (Politikens Förlag) has recently been published in the USA by Henry Holt and in Germany by Piper Verlag. The Spanish rights deal was made by SalmaiaLit on behalf of Joakim Hansson at Nordin Agency (Sweden).

By accident, a young mailmain in a Dublin suburb finds a slain woman’s diary in the dead letter bin. From beyond the grave, she reveals the secrets of the most tragic love story he’s ever heard. But that’s not the end of the tale. It’s only just begun.

Now young Niall is enveloped by the mystery about the itinerant storyteller Jim, who travelled around Ireland, enrapturing audiences with his macabre tales. Horrific murders were being committed wherever he went. The victims were young women, who bore an all too frightening similarity to the victims in Jim’s own fictional plots.

Three young sisters in a small town were the only ones who begun to suspect that these were more than mere coincidences. They began to investigate Jim’s past. But they should never have tried to peer behind the storyteller’s mask. For behind the polished charm lurked something else much better suited for dark fiction than the light of present day.

As Niall finds another sister’s diary, he now understands what happened to two of the three sisters. But the third has vanished, and hides somewhere in the wilds of western Ireland. He must now find her while there’s still time. Or they’re both forsaken.

And in the woods, the wolves from Jim’s stories begin to gather...

Darling Jim is a modern, gothic thriller with elements drawn from classic mythology.

Darling Jim is also on facebook! (here)

Rights sold:

USA, Henry Holt (lead title, publication May 2009), Denmark, Politiken (lead title, already published in 2007), Germany, Piper (lead title, publication March 2009), Netherlands, De Geus, Sweden, Lind & Co (lead title, publication spring 2009), Italy, Marsilio, Russia, Mir Knigi, Spanish, Planeta, Croatia, Fraktura, Poland, Rzeczpospolita, Norway, Schibsted, Romania RAO, France, Éditions du Rocher and China, Sun Color

'The Book of God and Physics' sold in Brazil

A new international publisher, Editora Record (Brazil), has to be added to the list of those who will translate Enrique Joven's "El castillo de las estrellas", originally published in Spain by RocaEditorial and to be released in May 2009 in the USA by William Morrow/Harper Collins under the title: 'The Book of God and Physics. A Novel of the Voynich Mystery'.

Now, the list goes as follows: Harper Collins/William Morrow (USA), Il punto d’incontro (Italy), Livanis (Greece), Editora Record (Brazil), AST (Russia) and Hainaim Publishing (Korea).

Here you can check our previous post about this novel, in which we informed about a good review in Publishers Weekly (USA): 

http://salmaialit.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-of-god-and-physics-starred-review.html

Illustrations travel to Korea!

SalmaiaLit is very happy that the illustrated editions of 'The Marvellous History of Peter Schlemihl', by Adelbert von Chamisso illustraded by Agustín Comotto; ‘Bartleby’, by Herman Melville, illustrated by Javier Zabala; ‘Babette’s Feast’, by Isak Dinesen, and ‘The Cloak’ (Shinel), by Nikolay Gógol, both illustrated by Noemí Villamuza, will soon travel to Korea, where Munhakdongne Publishing has acquired reproduction rights.

The sale has been made on behalf of Nórdica Libros (Spain), 

the original publisher of the books.

Below you can see  a few illustrations from ''The Marvellous History of Peter Schlemihl'' (Agustín Comotto) and some vids with the illustrations of ''Bartleby'' (Javier Zabala); ''Babette's Fest'' and 'The Cloak (Shinel)'' (Noemí Villamuza).

  

The Book of God and Physics - Starred review in PW!

Shortly before its publication in the US by William Morrow, Publishers Weekly gave a starred review to Enrique Joven's ''The Book of God and Physics'' (originally entitled 'El castillo de las estrellas').
Below you have the full review:

(c) Publishers Weekly, April 2009

★ The Book of God and Physics: A Novel of the Voynich Mystery
Enrique Joven, trans. from the Spanish by Dolores M. Koch.
William Morrow Publishers,
368p
ISBN - 978-0-06-145686-2

Joven’s remarkable debut, while bearing obvious similarities to 'The Da Vinci Code', is much more than another pale imitation. Father Hector, a science teacher in a Spanish Jesuit community, finds relief from indifferent students in an online group devoted to the real-life Voynich Manuscript. Written in an unknown language, the 500-year-old document has defied the best efforts of cryptographers and scholars to decipher it.

Hector’s research into an actual recent book, Joshua and Anne-Lee Gilder’s 'Heavenly Intrigue', which accuses Johannes Kepler of poisoning his mentor and fellow astronomer, Tycho Brahe, eventually ties in with the mystery surrounding the Voynich Manuscript. Local politicians’ efforts to evict the order from the monastery where Hector works complicate the plot.

Joven manages to cleverly blend fact and fiction as well as make the scientific debates of the 16th century relevant and compelling.
***

The novel, as we said above, was originally published in Spanish by RocaEditorial under the title of El castillo de las estrellas (Castle of the Stars)

Translation rights have been already sold to: Harper Collins/William Morrow (USA), Il punto d’incontro (Italy), Livanis (Greece), AST (Russia) and Hainaim Publishing (Korea).

A post about literary agents in The Guardian Books Blog (UK)

Patricia Rodriguez, author of '19 pulgadas' (19 Inches) has sent me a link to this post by Jean Hannah Edelstein. As I've found it very interesting I decided to link it to SalmaiaLit's blog (also see the comments it has generated). The post has been published in The Guardian Books Blog (UK)

This is how it begins:

"Don't reject literary agents: 

Too often presented as mean-spirited parasites, they actually provide a vital support to authors.

Literary agents: so often regarded as the villains of the publishing world, they were skewered by scores of disgruntled writers this week in response to the Twitter gigglefest which was #queryfail, in which agents posted some of the worst pitches they'd received. No, #queryfail did not give a view into the most gallant side of agenting. But the vitriolic response is not, contrary to popular belief, evidence that agents are failing writers across the board. Rather, it demonstrates how little most people know about what literary agents actually do."

And you can read it all here: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/apr/08/literary-agents-use

(Thanks, Patricia -and Jean-!)

Trago amargo (Bitter Drink), new cover!

This is RocaEditorial's cover of 'Trago amargo' (to be published in June 2009). It plays with the original poster of the movie 'The Night of the Iguana', by John Huston, wich was based on the homonimous play by Tennessee Willams. The action of 'Trago amargo' takes us to the time where the film was being shot.

We love it!!

http://salmaialit.blogspot.com/2009/01/trago-amargo-bitter-drink-to-be.html

Ley Garrote, by Joaquín Guerrero Casasola, sold in Germany!

We are very happy to announce the deal for German rights of 'Ley garrote', by Joaquín Guerrero-Casasola, to DTV (Germany), on behalf of RocaEditorial. The novel was awarded the 2007 LH Confidential Award to the Best Crime Novel.

‘Ley garrote’ offers us an accurate, violent and bitter portrait of Mexico City, a fluid story and memorable characters that grip the reader from the very beginning. It also offers a vivid description of the way express kidnappings work, a current issue in Mexico with more than 300 cases per year and that some have no doubts in calling the new industry of crime.

You have more information about the plot below. First, however, allow us to write a few words about the meaning of the title, very difficult to translate into other languages. The word 'garrote' means ''a thick and strong stick that can be used both to walk and to hit''. The compound 'garrote law' refers to a common practise of revenge or punishment amongst outlaw bands and criminal organisations. It literally means to infrige pain on a victim, usually a man, using the garrote-stick and itroducing in into the victim's anus. Most times this painful torture ends up with the victim's death.

Casasola's novel is not just a story of violence and crime, but also a tale of survival and hopes. I hope the translation into German will encourage other international publishers to offer it to their readerships.

The novel's main character, Gil Baleares, was once an officer of Mexico City Police, but now he’s justa rather unsuccessful Private Investigator, haunted by the memories of his ex-wife and without money, whose main goal is to get enough cash to buy a new car, a wonderful Japanese Nissan Tsuru, and get rid of his own old-fashioned model.

Having this goal in mind he accepts to take care of the case of the kidnape of the girl Alicia del Moral, the daughter of the owner of a candy factory. The kidnappers are asking for an enormous amount of money to free the girl. A fact that (added to the violent images that they have sent to the girl’s parents) makes clear that this won’t be an easy case.

However, Gil keeps finding hints until all his investigation is endangered by the intervention of the Police. On the one hand there are corrupt officers involved in the kidnapping, and on the other , those who want to take advantage of Gil’s findings and solve the case in their benefit, lead by the young, unscrupulous and rude Marcial Oviedo.

In between this delicate and dangerous situation Gil will also have to cope with his father, Ángel ‘The Dog’ Baleares, also an ex-police and a living legend from the murky 70s. He is now ill of Alzheimer, a character that moves from nonsense to lucidity. What dangers await the old Dog when Gil is away?

Gil’s world is falling apart, but something inside pushes him forward to cross the line to a territory where there’s no boundaries between corruption and justice, even if this means putting his life into risk...

Rights sold to: DTV (Germany). 

Joaquín Guerrero-Casasola (1962) is a Mexican narrator and script-writer now living in Spain. With ‘Ley Garrote’ he was awarded the LH Confidencial 2007 Crime Novel Award and will be translated into German by DTV. His second novel ‘El pecado de Mama Bayou’ has been published by Lengua de Trapo and recently sold to Kein & Aber (Switzerland). 

'Trago amargo' (Bitter Drink) sold to Denoël (France)!

Éditions Denoël has acquired French Rights of ''Trago amargo'' (Bitter Drink), by F.G.Haghencbeck. This wonderful crime novel will be published in their prestigious series '& d'ailleurs',where you can find titles by authors such as Alan Bennett, Juan Villoro, Sarah Waters, Takeshi Kitano, Chuck Palahniuk or Arto Paasilinna amongst others.

'Trago amargo', originally published by Joaquín Mortiz (México) is one of those stories that ‘one writes at ease, like being at home’ says Francisco Gerardo Haghenbeck, its author (Mexico City, 1965). With this work the author was unanimously awarded the National Una Vuelta de Tuerca Award to the best crime novel in Mexico. (2006).

RocaEditorial (Spain) recently acquired World Spanish Rights (except Mexico) and will release it in June 2009. Now, Denoël has been the first international Publisher to acquire translation rights.

Translation rights (except French) are free. (info@salmaialit.com) 

More info at: http://salmaialit.blogspot.com/2009/01/trago-amargo-bitter-drink-to-be.html

Behind the Spanish Barricades: Catalan Rights Sold

We are very happy to announce the deal for Catalan rights of Behind the Spanish Barricades, by John-Langdon Davies, on behalf of Il Caduceo Literary Agency. The book will be published by Angle Editorial.
This wonderful book, a chronicle of the first weeks of the Spanish Civil War, was first published in English in 1936 and was reissued by Reportage Press (UK) in 2007.
The deal for Catalan rights comes after the deal for Spanish rights to Península Ediciones, which was announced in a previous post of the blog.

For more info click on the following link: 

http://salmaialit.blogspot.com/2008/12/behind-spanish-barricades-by-john.html

John Langdon-Davies (1897-1971)

19 pulgadas at the European Festival of Debut Novels

Patricia Rodríguez's 19 pulgadas (19 Inches) has been selected as the Spanish representative at the European Festival of Debut Novels 2009, which will be celebrated this spring at the Literaturhaus Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany.

19 Pulgadas (19 inches), by Patricia Rodríguez

El Aleph – Grup 62 

227 pp. 

19 pulagdas is a surprising debut novel and narrative excercise. As if it were an impressionistic painting, the author gives brushstrokes, suggests characters, sketches landscapes… but never giving a final shape, and manages to depict a reality very close to that of so many young Westerners, in which everything is staggering and there is nothing to grab at, an everyday life in which "we only exist within ourselves, in a place that always remains immobile and from where it is very difficult to escape." 

19 pulgadas recounts the story of a group of mostly young women living in London. From various social and geographical origins, the ties that bind them are ephemeral and selfish. All of them are drugaddicts, some even dealers. Disoriented and dominated by a suffocating apathy, they do not seem to aspire to nothing else than to satisfy their craving for entertainment, fun and pleasure. Among fortuitous encounters and more or less fortunate relationships, they aimlessly wander in a merciless city, so crude and pragmatic as themselves, "a frozen and dark city, a dense and impenetrable environment, in which it is almost impossible to find related or similar life forms". 

‘An author whose voice is worth paying attention to’ Babelia 

‘In her first novel Patricia Rodríguez unfolds the overwhelming void of a world crowded with youngsters’ El País 

Patricia Rodríguez (Valladolid, 1975) is a Bachelor of Arts (University of Middlesex). 

During the last years she’s been a contributor to El País de las tentaciones and Vanidad. 

In 2002 she was one of the founders of the magazine Kilimanjaro, devoted to literature and arts. She’s been living in London since 1995. 

19 pulgadas is her first novel.