Book Buzz: HarperCollins Signs 'School For Good And Evil'; Viking Wins 'Aftermath'

UPDATE: Aftermath did sell publishing rights late last night after a heated auction. Pam Dorman at Viking closed what I’m told was near seven-figures. Alexandra Machinist of Janklow & Nesbit made the deal for North American book and audio rights.

EARLIER: A book deal went down today and another is in the offing that has the movie crowd taking notice. HarperCollins has signed a fantasy trilogy called The School for Good and Evil, a debut novel by Soman Chainani about ordinary boys and girls who are trained to become extraordinary fairy tale heroes or villains. The book was sold by Jane Startz Productions to HarperCollins Children’s Books editorial director Phoebe Yeh and the first installment comes out spring 2013. …

Multiple publishers are mobilizing bids for Aftermath, a novel by Koethi Zan. It’s being likened to the Tana French novel In The Woods, and I’ve heard that the bidding was up to $700,000 for book rights yesterday. The movie crowd is interested even though it’s a tough storyline. The book is about a 31-year old woman who,  a decade after escaping three years of captivity and torture in a cellar with three other girls, must stand up to her abductor to keep him from getting paroled. She teams with other former captives to uncover atrocities that go beyond what happened in that cellar. Janklow & Nesbit is selling the publishing rights and CAA is handling the screen rights.