Pantera acquires ‘commercial literary fiction title’ from Gentill, debut novel from ‘Seizure’ novella winner

Pantera Press has acquired ANZ rights to a ‘commercial literary fiction title’ from Sulari Gentill, author of the ‘Rowland Sinclair’ historical crime fiction series.

Crossing the Lines ‘explores what happens when the imagined becomes better than reality’, said the publisher in a statement. ‘Madeleine d’Leon is fixated on the story of Edward “Ned” McGinnity, the hero in her latest crime novel. But Ned too is a writer, and the character he can’t get out of his head is none other than Madeleine herself. In this deeply intimate portrayal of two minds wrestling and embracing, it becomes increasingly difficult to define where imagination ends and reality begins.’

Pantera has also acquired M J Tjia’s She Be Damned from Legend Press in the UK. Tjia is the pen name for Australian writer Mirandi Riwoe, who was a co-winner of the Seizure Viva la Novella competition earlier this year. The manuscript was longlisted for the 2015 Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger.

‘M J Tjia is an Australian author to watch,’ said Pantera CEO and co-founder Alison Green. ‘Her award-winning and critically acclaimed short stories are drawing lots of attention, and we are ecstatic to be launching her debut novel.’

She Be Damned is the first book in a murder mystery series set in London in the 1860s, which ‘has an inventive and contemporary twist—inserting racially hybridised characters into the action’.

Both books will be published by Pantera in August.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions