I wanted to make sure you were aware of two fantastic forthcoming sci-fi/fantasy titles you might be interested in covering, Daryl Gregory’s SPOONBENDERS and Gabe Hudson’s GORK THE TEENAGE DRAGON, on sale from Knopf in late June and July. I am including brief summaries of these titles below and would be more than happy to send early copies your way. Both authors are available for interviews, thanks so much!
SPOONBENDERS by Daryl Gregory, on sale from Knopf on 6/27: This is the story of a lovable family of psychics, (think Arrested Development + telekinesis). It has been praised by Charles Yu as: “entertaining and moving—a perfect summer read.”
SPOONBENDERS is for fans of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus with its stunning prose and fantastical elements. Teddy Telemachus is a charming con man with a gift for sleight of hand and some shady underground associates. In need of cash, he tricks his way into a classified government study about telekinesis and its possible role in intelligence gathering. There he meets Maureen McKinnon, and it’s not just her piercing blue eyes that leave Teddy forever charmed, but her mind—Maureen is a genuine psychic of immense and mysterious power. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, have three gifted children, and become the Amazing Telemachus Family, performing astounding feats across the country. Irene is a human lie detector. Frankie can move objects with his mind. And Buddy, the youngest, can see the future. Then one night, tragedy leaves the family shattered.
Decades later, the Telemachuses are not so amazing, in fact, they are entirely crumbling at the seams. To make matters worse, the CIA has come knocking to see if there is any magic left. As Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney says, “Spoonbenders is hilarious, heartfelt, and brimming with humanity.”
Harnessing the imaginative powers that have made him a master storyteller, Daryl Gregory delivers a stunning, laugh-out-loud new novel about a family of gifted dreamers and the invisible forces that bind us all. Paramount has optioned this title to become a major motion picture produced by the team that made Spotlight.
GORK THE TEENAGE DRAGON by Gabe Hudson, on sale from Knopf on 7/11: A coming of age story about a dragon in high-school, filled with love, bighearted humor, and imagination. As Dave Eggers says, “ No good human won’t love this dragon named Gork”. This title is something new and different for Knopf, and to celebrate, we have transformed our borzoi logo into a dragon for this title, as you can see below.
Gork isn’t like the other dragons at WarWings Military Academy. He has a gigantic heart, two-inch horns, and an occasional problem with fainting. His nickname is Weak Sauce and his Will to Power ranking is Snacklicious–the lowest in his class. Vying with Jocks, Nerds, Mutants, and Multi-Dimensioners to find his mate, Gork encounters an unforgettable cast of friends and foes, including Dr. Terrible, the mad scientist; Fribby, a robot dragon obsessed with death; and Metheldra, a healer specializing in acupuncture with swords. But it is Gork’s biggest perceived weakness, his huge heart, that will guide him through his epic quest and help him reach his ultimate destination: planet Earth.
A love story, a fantasy, and a coming-of-age story, Gork the Teenage Dragon is a wildly comic, beautifully imagined, and deeply heartfelt debut novel that shows us just how human a dragon can be. In the words of Gary Shtyngart, “Gork, the Teenage Dragon is jam-packed with outrageous storytelling and soulful humor in the glorious American tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain.”
GABE HUDSON is the author of Dear Mr. President, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Hudson was named one of Granta‘s 20 Best of Young American Novelists. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Village Voice, McSweeney’s, Black Book, and Granta.
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