Macmillan

St. Martin’s Press defended novelist Lenore Hart against plagiarism charges this week. A blogger who runs a Edgar Allen Poe fan website initially denounced The Raven’s Bride as “a virtual cut-and-paste job” from Cothburn O’Neal‘s 1956 novel, The Very Young Mrs. Poe.

Since then, members of the literary community (including spy novelist Jeremy Duns and Melville House co-publisher Dennis Johnson) have supported the allegations. The New York Times reported on the debate, including a statement from St. Martin’s Press in response to the accusations.

Here’s more from the statement: “Ms. Hart supplied a detailed response, which cited her research into biographical and historical sources, and explained why her novel and Cothburn O’Neal’s The Very Young Mrs. Poe contain certain details of place, description and incident. As Ms. Hart explained in her response, of course two novels about the same historical figure necessarily reliant on the same limited historical record will have similarities.”

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Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Film producer Samuel Hadida and his production company, Davis Films, have acquired the film rights for P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast‘s House of Night teen vampire series.

House of Night fans, who would you cast as the main heroine Zoey Redbird? Literary agents Sean Daily and Meredith Bernstein negotiated the deal. So far, nine books have been released in the House of Night series and the first title in the House of Night novella series, Dragon’s Oath. The mother-daughter writing duo is currently working on the tenth novel in the main series, Hidden, and the second title in the novella series, Lenobia’s Vow. The novella will be published on January 31, 2012. 

Hadida had this statement in the release: “We are thrilled to bring P.C.’s and Kristin’s stunning series of books to worldwide film audiences. They have created a world of adolescent growth against a backdrop of supernatural suspense that resonates around the world with young readers immersed in Twilight and Harry Potter. House of Night connects on a profound level — what growing up means today.”

Barbara Jones has been named executive editor at Henry Holt & Company. She will report to editor-in-chief Gillian Blake.

Here’s more from the release: “[Jones] was most recently editorial director of Hyperion Books and Voice, where she acquired Jane Lynch‘s Happy Accidents and edited the forthcoming novels Arcadia by Lauren Groff and The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan, as well as the city of Houston’s current selection for the ‘One City, One Book’ program, One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni.”

Jones (pictured) will acquire fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction projects. She began her career in magazine publishing with editorial positions at Rodale, Inc. and Meredith Corporation. She started working in book publishing at Disney’s publishing division.

White House videographer Arun Chaudhary has landed a book deal with Henry Holt & Company’s Times Books division. The book is slated for a summer 2012 release.

Chaudhary will tell the story of how he went from teaching at New York University professor to documenting Barack Obama‘s presidency. Editor Serena Jones negotiated the deal with Zachary Shuster Harmsworth literary agent Bridget Wagner.

In the announcement, Chaudhary said the book will focus on “the interplay of art, media, and politics through the prism of the historic Obama campaign and presidency … You won’t learn what the President eats for breakfast, but you will find out what makes space hero Buzz Aldrin mad in a staff van at 8 a.m.”

Tor.com and Barnes & Noble will create a monthly list of recommendations for science fiction and fantasy readers.

Barnes & Noble buyer Jim Killen will curate the list. The inaugural edition will focus on the opening volumes of popular fantasy series. Some of the titles that will be spotlighted include The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson and Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie.

What would you like to see on this list? Tor.com’s Irene Gallo had this statement in the announcement: “We are very excited about this new series. We’re constantly reminded of how engaged our readers are, and we can’t wait to see the conversations sparked by these knowledgeably-curated lists from our colleagues at B&N.”

Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group will publish a biographical picture book profiling rock legend Robbie Robertson. Aimed at 6 to 9 year old readers, The book will be written by Robertson’s son, Sebastian Robertson (pictured with his father).

The book will include photographs and other material from Robertson’s personal collection. Editorial director Christy Ottaviano negotiated the deal with literary agent Ryan Harbage at the Fischer-Harbage Agency.

Here’s more from the release: “The book will focus on Robbie Robertson‘s early years growing up in Canada and, later, living and working in America. The son of a Native American mother and Jewish father, Robbie Robertson spent time as a child at Six Nation Indian Reservation where he received guitar lessons and excelled quickly. By the time he was sixteen, he was offered a guitarist spot with Ronnie Hawkins’s band, and then went on to become the lead guitarist and chief songwriter for the acclaimed music group, The Band.”

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Politician Mark K. Shriver has signed a deal with Henry Holt & Company to pen a tome about his father, sargent Robert “Sarge” Shriver. The book will be titled A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sarge Shriver.

Publisher Stephen Rubin acquired North American and audio rights in the deal. Executive editor Gillian Blake will edit the book.

Here’s more from the press release: “After he eulogized him in January, Mark wanted to know what made his father ‘tick.’ He found the answers in the simple and poignant gestures over a lifetime – in the frequent notes and daily talks, trips and prayers together – all based in Sarge’s unwavering devotion to his family (he and Eunice were married for 56 years); his devout Catholicism, which included attending daily Mass; his innate sense of duty and service to his country.” (Photo Credit: (C) 2003 Susan Warner)

Osama Bin Laden‘s death was carried out by a group of United States Navy SEALs called Team Six. Past member, Howard E. Wasdin, signed a book deal with St. Martin’s Press one year ago. In light of current events, the publisher is preparing for wide spread interest in the title.

On May 24th Wasdin’s memoir, SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper, will be released. Publishers Weekly reports that the memoir will have full national distribution by the middle of next week.

The book was co-authored by Meio University professor Stephen Templin. According to the description, the book talks about Wasdin’s entrance into military service and a past mission concerning Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

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Macmillan has created a new online community for crime fiction and nonfiction readers, CriminalElement.com.

Here’s more from the press release: “At launch there will be excerpts, original fiction and articles by authors Joseph Finder, Steve Hamilton, Rosemary Harris, Charles Ardai, Luis Alberto Urrea and more…CriminalElement.com is ‘publisher neutral,’ meaning that it will include author participation from all publishers and other content creators, and is not exclusive to Macmillan authors.”

Crime writers from any publisher can submit original short stories and pre-release excerpts to senior manager Liz Edelstein. This site will also have a Facebook page and Twitter page.

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Graphic designer Rodrigo Corral (pictured, via) has been named creative director at Macmillan’s Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG). According to Unbeige, Corral actually worked at FSG from 1996 to 2000 following his graduation from the School of Visual Arts.

Here’s more from Unbeige: “He begins in his new post early next month and will continue to run Rodrigo Corral Design, the nine-year-old studio behind such memorable book covers as those for James Frey‘s A Million Little Pieces, a shelf of Chuck Palahniuk novels, Debbie Millman‘s smashing How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer, and Jay-Z‘s recent memoir-cum-lyrical codex, Decoded.”

Rodrigo’s work has appeared in New York Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Book Review. His art has also been seen on books published by Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group (USA), and W.W. Norton.

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