A number of new deals

These publishing deals appeared in Publishers Marketplace over the past week and more.

I'm hoping to post my thoughts on titles to watch for 2008, once my schedule lets up and this obnoxious cold goes away. Happens nearly every time I get on a plane!

David Fuller's SWEETSMOKE, a historical novel about a slave on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, whose quest for retribution for the murder of a free black woman leads him to Antietam, on the eve of the greatest, bloodiest battle of the Civil War, based on eight years of research, to Leslie Wells at Hyperion, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, by Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider (NA).

Judith K. Healey's THE REBEL PRINCESS, the story of Princess Alais Capet, sister to King Philippe Auguste of France, who battles corrupt court officials, religious fanatics and her beloved Lord William as she engages a band of underground Cathar noblewomen to assist her in the rescue of her illegitimate son Francis, a young knight whose very existence could unsettle the thrones of England and France, to Carolyn Marino of William Morrow by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff Literary Agency in a very nice deal (World English).

[Sounds like a sequel to The Canterbury Papers (Lost Letters of Aquitaine in the UK)]

RITA winner Tamera Alexander's THE INHERITANCE, in which a woman arrives in Colorado to find her relatives have died of cholera leaving her to raise their five-year old daughter and her younger brother alone with help only from the local sheriff as she discovers "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade," to Natalie Hanemann at Thomas Nelson's Women of Faith, by Natasha Kern at Natasha Kern Literary Agency (World).

Former agent Carol McCleary's NO JOB FOR A LADY, in which the 19th century journalist Nellie Bly lands in Paris during the World's Fair in search of a serial killer, pairing her with the likes of Jules Verne, Louis Pasteur, and Oscar Wilde as they hunt down the mysterious killer who's bent on releasing a deadly microbe on the unsuspecting Parisians, to Bob Gleason at Tor, for publication in 2009, by Harvey Klinger at Harvey Klinger (NA).

Eva Stachniak's two untitled novels about Catherine the Great, to Maya Mavjee at Doubleday Canada, for publication in 2010, by Helen Heller at Helen Heller Agency.

BACK BAY and THE LOST CONSTITUTION author William Martin's next two books featuring his franchise character Peter Fallon, to Bob Gleason at Forge, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA).

MASTER OF THE HIGHLANDS and SWORD OF THE HIGHLANDS author Veronica Wolff's WARRIOR OF THE HIGHLANDS, again based on real-life historical heroes, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley, by Stephanie Kip Rostan at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (World).

Jill Eileen Smith's MICHAL: Daughter of the King, the first book in Smith's debut biblical fiction series featuring the wives of King David, ABIGAIL, and BATHSHEBA, to Lonnie Hull Dupont at Revell, in a nice deal, by Wendy Lawton at Books & Such Literary Agency.