Friday Night Rights

ARLA's agents across the universe have been working around the clock to spread the word of great books in more languages than we can count -- even Canadian! Here's what they've done in 2010 alone:

C.J. Box's Edgar Award-winning standalone, BLUE HEAVEN, has been sold by Aleksandra Matuszak of ANAW in Poland to Wydawnictwo Albatros Andrzej Kurylowicz, while Miko Yamanouchi of Japan Uni sold THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE (his second standalone) to Hayakawa in Japan. Ulf Toregard of the Sane Toregard agency sold both of those books to Klim in Denmark, along with Chuck's forthcoming standalone, BACK OF BEYOND (St. Martin's Press 2011).

Dennis Lehane's SHUTTER ISLAND (cf. the #1 box office hit!) has new deals all over the place! Ulf Toregard sold it to Lindhardt & Ringhof in Denmark, while Atilla Turgut of the Akcali Copyright Agency sold it to Artemis Yayinlari in Turkey, Ludmilla Sushkova of Andrew Nurnberg Associates Moscow sold it to Atticus in Russia, and Kristine Supe of Andrew Nurnberg's Baltic office sold it to Carobna Knjiga in Serbia. Daniela Petracco of Andrew Nurnberg Associates sold it to Edizioni BD in Italy, while Michele Kanonidis of La Nouvelle Agence sold the graphic novel to Compupress in Greece (don't mention the Euro!).

Laura Whitcomb's award-winning novel A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT will be published in Turkey by Bilge Kultur Sanat thanks to Atilla Turgut. Shari Smiley of Creative Artists Agency also optioned film rights to producer Kristin Hahn.

Brazilians and Germans will NEVER WAVE GOODBYE again after reading the forthcoming novel by Doug Magee, thanks to Sextante and Aufbau, respectively. Daniela Petracco and fellow Nurnberger Sabine Pfannensteil-Wright oversaw those deals. Touchstone, a division of Simon and Schuster, will publish in the U.S. this June.

ARLA's own Penn Whaling has sold May-lee Chai's DRAGON CHICA to Gemma Media, a Boston publishing house, and her client Doug Harris's YOU COMMA IDIOT (aka BEST TITLE EVER) will be published by Goose Lane Editions in Canada.

Yeehaw!

Paradise Found

St. Martin's will publish Douglas Corleone's debut novel, ONE MAN'S PARADISE, in April, and it's already gotten a very nice review from Booklist:

This novel won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award, and it's no wonder. Former defense lawyer Corleone has created a crafty and memorable character and placed him in a suspenseful and layered story. Kevin Corvelli was a defense lawyer in New York until his apathy toward his clients led to the conviction of an innocent man, who was later murdered in prison. Now Kevin is living in Hawaii, still working as a lawyer but doing so purely to pay off his staggering student loan. "I don't like my clients," he tells us, "and I don't care if they like me." But when a law student is accused of murdering his former girlfriend, Kevin discovers that he actually does give a damn whether this particular client is guilty or innocent. This is a solid, well-written legal thriller with quite interesting ethical undercurrents. Kevin's journey begins at personal and professional apathy and ends at some form of redemption. Perhaps the author plans to continue Kevin's transformation in subsequent novels: a sequel to this fine debut would seem almost mandatory.

Running Up The Starred Reviews!

We're pleased to tell you that C.J. Box's NOWHERE TO RUN has received two more starred reviews!

Kirkus says that "it's great to see the usual Box strengths -- exhilarating landscapes, high adventure, thrilling suspense, surprising moral quandaries -- done to a turn."

Booklist adds, "As Box has become more prolific, his gold standard has become alloyed, but Nowhere to Run, the tenth in the series, ranks with his best books, such as Open Season (2001) and Out of Range (2005). Readers should take note of their surroundings before opening this book: once they start reading, they won't know what hit them."

Shutter Island Hits The NYT Bestseller List!

I guess everyone wanted to read the book before they saw the movie, because SHUTTER ISLAND has risen to #18 on this week's New York Times paperback trade fiction bestseller list!

Doug Magee Hits The Clubs

If you're a member of, well, any of the book clubs, you have quite a treat coming for you in the mail this summer!

NEVER WAVE GOODBYE, Doug Magee's gripping debut novel, will be a Featured Alternate in the Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, Book-of-the-Month Club, Doubleday Book Club, Doubleday Large Print Book Club, and BOMC2. For all of you romance fans out there, don't worry -- it will also be a selection in Rhapsody!

[SH]UTTER Insanity

Well, dear readers, a lot of you must gone to see SHUTTER ISLAND this weekend -- and taken your whole families along -- because it was #1 at the box office this weekend! In fact, the film was both Scorsese's and DiCaprio's biggest opening ever!

Here's more from The New York Times and Deadline.com.

Shutter Island Opens Today!

We're very excited to tell you that the film adaptation of Dennis Lehane's SHUTTER ISLAND opens today!

The LA Times calls it "a new noir classic" and raves that "director Martin Scorsese has created a divinely dark and devious brain tease of a movie in the best noir tradition with its smarter than you'd think cops, their tougher than you'd imagine cases to crack and enough nods to the classic genre for an all-night parlor game."

USA Today proclaims it "technically masterful, as only a film by visionary director Martin Scorsese can be" and adds, "From the first queasy scene, you are drawn into and captured by the ominous goings-on at Shutter Island." It says that "DiCaprio's blend of brooding and unease is riveting" and "the rest of the ensemble is equally terrific."

The Hollywood Reporter chimes in, saying, "Martin Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' is a remarkable high-wire act, performed without a net and exploiting all the accumulated skills of a consummate artist. It dazzles and provokes."

Variety calls the movie "expert, screw-turning narrative filmmaking" with a "topnotch cast."

Better get your tickets now!

Getting A Running Start

C.J. Box's new Joe Pickett novel comes out in April and it's already gotten two starred reviews!

Publishers Weekly calls NOWHERE TO RUN "outstanding" and a "terrible, beautiful tale of courage and compassion and culpability," while Library Journal says this "well structured novel" is "intense" and "highly recommended."

Click here to read the full reviews.

More U.K. Love For C.J. Box

We're pleased that C.J. Box's THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE is making such a big splash across the pond!

The Bookseller, the Bible of the U.K. book trade, recently featured it in their "Ones to Watch" section and had the following nice things to say about it: "Atlantic's new imprint launches with a winner and a big marketing spend. An American in Harlan Coben mould and much praised by his peers, it's a non-stop read right to the end. A tale of corruption, paedophilia, blackmail and worse as at the centre of it is a nine-month-old baby girl. It's quite a tale."

We Know You Only Read It For The Articles

...but this month you should also read Playboy for a new short story by Dennis Lehane. We might be biased, but we think that "Animal Rescue" is the most alluring thing in the entire issue!