ChiZine's Picking Up The Ghost optioned for film

A YA novel out from ChiZine Publications in 2011 has been optioned for film/TV rights.  This is the first time one of their books has been optioned as well as one of their first YA titles.  Due to the success of this and their other YA titles, they're starting a new line of YA books, ChiTeen, in 2014.

About the novel:

Living in St. Jude, a 110-year-old dying city on the edge of the Mississippi, is tough. But when a letter informs fourteen-year-old Cinque Williams of the passing of the father he never met, he is faced with an incomplete past and an uncertain future. A curse meant for his father condemns Cinque to a slow death even as it opens his eyes to the strange otherworld around him. With help from the ghost Willy T, an enigmatic White Woman named Iku, an African Loa, and a devious shape-shifter, Cinque gathers the tools to confront the ghost of his dead father. But he will learn that sometimes too much knowledge can be dangerous - and the people he trusts most are those poised to betray him!

ChiZine Publications Will Launch a YA Imprint in 2014

From their press release:

Co-publishers Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi announced today a new imprint for ChiZine Publications (CZP) to focus on Young Adult fiction. Called “ChiTeen,” the first title will be The Unlikely But Totally True Adventures of Floating Boy and Anxiety Girl by Paul Tremblay and Stephen Graham Jones, scheduled for release in spring 2014.

“As a business, you can’t ignore the young adult market,” says Savory. “Over the last decade, writers like Rowling, Gaiman and Collins were consistently on bestseller lists. We've been wanting to get into the YA market for a couple of years, and now the timing is right."

“Our editorial style lends itself to young adult fiction,” adds Kasturi. “CZP embraces the dark, the bizarre, the unusual. So many teens feel isolated or different and are looking for that outlet. ChiTeen will offer the same dark and weird stories with strong writing that CZP is known for, just with subject matter more suited for a younger audience.”

Kasturi and Savory will serve as ChiTeen’s co-publishers along with most of the CZP team. They are currently approaching authors to fill out their 2014 roster. They are not currently open to un-agented submissions for the new imprint.

As with CZP, distribution will be handled by HarperCollinsCanada in Canada and Diamond Book Distributors throughout the rest of the world. Foreign rights are handled by Cooke International.

Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi have been nominated for the 2012 World Fantasy Award, under the Special Award Professional category.  Several of their authors were nominated for the Prix Aurora Award and the Sunburst Award.  To find out more about ChiZine, check out its website.

New Author Spotlight: Gord Zajac

New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with 3 books or less in the different SF/F subgenres. Today's spotlight shines on Gord Zajac! His debut novel is Major Karnage published by Chizine Publications. Here's the cover copy...

It has been 20 years since The War, and Major John Karnage has finally settled into retirement: locked up in an insane asylum, with an explosive device embedded in the back of his neck to curb his violent tendencies. Karnage and his troopers have been deemed unfit to live in normal society. Like a bit of old chewing gum stuck under a coffee table, the world has left The War and its scarred, unstable veterans behind. The military has been disbanded and World Peace has descended upon the Earth. Its inhabitants live happy, profitable lives under the global rule of the benevolent Dabney Corporation. All is tea and roses in this new, sanitized world... until a terrifying threat from beyond the stars rears its squiggly head! An invading armada of aliens threatens to destroy the Earth, and it's up to Major Karnage to stop them - as long as he doesn't accidentally blow his own head off first.

Check out his book if you like never ending wars or soldiers fighting past their prime:

• Veteran by Gavin Smith (Gollancz)
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Tor Science Fiction)
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (St. Martin's Griffin)

ChiZine Offers Subscriptions

Angry Robot Books does it, as does Cemetery Dance Publications.  Now ChiZine is offering it as well.  What is it?  It's the subscription model for books.  From their press release:

ChiZine Publications has announced it is offering subscription packages, allowing customers to buy all seventeen of its 2012 titles at a 40% discount.

The subscriptions come in three options: signed, limited edition hardcovers, trade paperbacks and ebooks. As with individual purchases of trade paperbacks, both the trade paperback and hardcover subscriptions also include the ebook versions. Due to shipping costs, the hardcover and trade paperback packages are only available to customers in Canada and the United States.

"Since we started, we’ve said if you liked one of our titles you'd probably like them all," explains Co-Publisher Sandra Kasturi. "We have a large group of dedicated fans and this makes it simpler for them to get our books. For those who've tried a few, it's is an easy way to try us out at a deep discount."

"At conventions and book fairs, we're constantly being asked if we'd do subscriptions . . . usually by people with an armload of our books," adds Co-Publisher Brett Savory. "We're now at a place as a business to have the infrastructure and staff to make it happen."

Subscribers will receive the hardcover and trade paperback titles in two batches—eight titles in spring 2012 and nine in fall 2012.

Subscriptions will be accepted throughout 2012, though the hardcover package is subject to availability since only a limited number of hardcovers are produced.

Check out their website to order and for more information.

ChiZine Offers Free Ebook for Friday the 13th

For today - up until 2 am (EST), get one free ebook from ChiZine Publications.  Details on their site.  If you're not sure what to request, Eutopia by David Nickle is fantastic.  :)

Genre News

Sea Lion Books signs Patrick Rothfuss to reprint his adult picture book, illustrated by Nate Taylor, entitled: The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed.  From the press release:

THE ADVENTURES OF THE PRINCESS AND MR. WHIFFLE is an odd mix of dark classic storytelling, new age terror, and a macabre sense of wicked humor that leave the reader with three possible endings, each one being darker than the last, letting the reader decide how far they dare to go.

The final ending just might keep your teddy bear awake tonight, or at least start a stuffed animal rebellion. The reprint will include original bonus material and a Q&A with author Patrick Rothfuss.

ChiZine Publications offers free ebook version of trade paperbacks purchased through their website:

Since its founding, CZP has offered 30% off the cover price of trade paperbacks ordered directly from them. It has also been an advocate of the ebook format, performing its own in-house ebook creation and offering them via Amazon, Kobo, Wowio and other online sites. With the recent launch of its online shopping cart system, CZP has decided to bundle an ebook into the price of trade paperbacks.

When the purchase is complete, buyers will be directed to log into the website to download a ZIP file containing the ebook in EPUB, MOBI and PDF formats. The ebook and trade paperback bundles are only available via the CZP site.

This isn't genre news, but it is a fantastic article if you've got kids.  It's time to teach kids how to deal with bullies, and let them know that sometimes swearing is OK.  If you know someone who has (or may have and isn't telling you) a bully problem at school, do something about it.