Publishing Deal - Simon Scarrow

Puffin has bought a series from Simon Scarrow aimed at boys, 10+. From Booktrade:

Puffin is delighted to announce that Simon Scarrow, the No.1 best-selling author of THE EAGLE series, thrilling Roman military history stories for adults, is coming to Puffin with GLADIATOR, a brand-new, epic series for 10+ boys.

Penguin CEO, Tom Weldon, comments: 'It's a market worth millions for adult readers, but no one has published Roman adventure in this way for younger readers. Until now...'

Francesca Dow, Puffin MD, sees GLADIATOR as a major new brand for Puffin: 'Simon Scarrow's incredible new GLADIATOR series will be Puffin's next big success. As market leaders of boys' fiction, we are confident that we can spot and make tomorrow's bestsellers. We are positioning GLADIATOR as 'the new Percy Jackson', and we know that Simon Scarrow will do for gladiators what Rick Riordan has done for the Greek gods.'

'We are unbelievably excited to be publishing Simon Scarrow on the Puffin list - think Ridley Scott's movie GLADIATOR meets Young Bond and you have an idea of the potential for this series'.

It's 72BC and Spartacus's slave revolt has been savagely crushed by the Roman army. When debt collectors possess the family's farm, our young hero Marcus is sold into slavery. The slave master sees a future for him as a fighter and starts training him to become a gladiator. Yet, unbeknown to him, Marcus is hiding a life-threatening secret. And if the Romans discover it, there will be no escape.

[Simon] is also the brother of Alex Scarrow whose TimeRiders series debuted with Puffin earlier this year and is well on the way to becoming one of Puffin's leading boy brands.

GLADIATOR: FIGHT FOR FREEDOM by Simon Scarrow will be published by Puffin on 3rd February 2011