The Maze Runner Prequel Announced

In today's Booktrade, James Dashner is to write a prequel to The Maze Runner:

Chicken House Publishing Ltd. will publish the fifth novel in James Dashner's #1 New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, which has sold 7 million copies worldwide, as announced today by publisher Barry Cunningham.

THE FEVER CODE reveals the time directly before The Maze Runner and will tell the story of how Thomas, Teresa and the Gladers found themselves trapped in the Maze and how it was created. Dashner's The Maze Runnner movie will be released in cinemas in the UK on 10th October. It opened last month in the USA at #1 at the box office.

The second movie based on the series, entitled Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, is scheduled to release on 18th September 2015.

'From the very beginning, I've always wanted to write a prequel about Thomas, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Alby and all the Gladers that leads up to the very moment Thomas enters the Box. There are so many things hinted at that will be fun to reveal in depth. For years, fans have made it abundantly and enthusiastically clear that they want the same thing, so now seems like the perfect time to give readers the story of how the Maze began.' JAMES DASHNER

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News: Egmont USA & 2 Publishing Deals for Hot Key Books

Some more YA news from Friday's Booktrade: Egmont USA is up for sale, and details of two publishing deals by Hot Key Books:

Norse fantasy and dark psychological thrills abound in two exciting debut acquisitions for Hot Key Books: BIRDY by writer Jess Vallance, and THE YELLING STONES by twenty-six-year-old historian Oskar Jensen.

BIRDY is a troubling and deliciously dark thriller about the all-consuming friendship between two teenage girls. Vallance works as a freelance writer and has written articles on everything from business accounting to embalming a body. Hot Key acquired BIRDY in a two book deal.

In a very different genre is Oskar Jensen's Nordic fantasy THE YELLING STONES. Set in the Danish court of Jelling, Astrid, a Viking princess, and Leif, a brave poet, must unravel the mysteries of their ancient land in order to protect it from a dangerous force. Rich in historical detail, THE YELLING STONES echoes Rosemary Sutcliffe's classic storytelling and Rick Riordan's sense of adventure. Jensen's Danish heritage inspired him to write THE YELLING STONES. He has spent the past seven years at Oxford, reading three successive degrees in History, and is now a post-doctoral researcher in the Music Department of King's College London.

Oskar Jensen says: "I wrote The Yelling Stones because of two stones I once saw standing in a Danish graveyard. This is a world of beauty and of poetry, magic and death all mixed together. It's a world that really existed, and it thrills me to the core that I get to share it."

THE YELLING STONES will be published in paperback in April 2015, with BIRDY following in paperback in July 2015.

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Publishing Deals - Lauren Blakely and Lyla Payne

Bloomsbury Spark has given publishing deals to Lauren Blakely and Lyla Payne. From today's Booktrade:

Bloomsbury is thrilled to announce the acquisition of two novels and two novellas for the Bloomsbury Spark imprint from bestselling authors Lauren Blakely and Lyla Payne.

Daisy Whitney, writing as Lauren Blakely, will publish two projects with Bloomsbury Spark in 2015: 21 Kisses, a New Adult novel coming in Spring 2015, and an untitled crossover novella with a holiday theme, coming in Autumn 2015. Both books will be part of the new Wrapped Up in Love series that is a spinoff of Lauren Blakely's successful Caught Up in Love series. Her self-published October release, Stars In Their Eyes, kicks off the new series that will continue with Bloomsbury Spark's 21 Kisses.

Whitney has written several critically-acclaimed, award-winning young adult novels, including The Mockingbirds, The Rivals, When You Were Here, Starry Nights, and The Fire Artist. As Lauren Blakely, she has had five New York Times bestsellers and eight USA Today bestsellers. 21 Kisses is the perfect book to unite her young adult and adult readerships, featuring a tantalizing forbidden love and full of intense family drama.

Trisha Leigh, writing as Lyla Payne, will also publish two upcoming projects with Bloomsbury Spark: The Historians, a young adult novel coming in Spring 2015, in which a seventeen-year-old girl travels back in time to document important events to prevent them from being repeated, and Mistletoe and Mr. Right, a Christmas New Adult novella, coming in December 2014.

Leigh is the author of the young adult series The Last Year and The Cavy Files. As Lyla Payne, she is the USA Today bestselling author of New Adult novels, including Broken at Love, By Referral Only, Be My Downfall, Staying on Top, and the Lowcountry Ghost Story series.