Lions in the Mist

John Glusman at Harmony bought U.S. and open market rights to Tony Fitzjohn's Lion. Fitzjohn is a British conservationist who's dedicated his life to reintroducing animals to the wild and is best known for his work with George Adamson (star of the 1966 film Born Free). Fitzjohn will discuss his various adventures in the East African bush, including surviving a lion attack. Glusman, who acquired rights from Grainne Fox at Fletcher & Company (working with Caroline Michel at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop in the U.K.), is planning a February 2011 pub date; Viking is publishing in the U.K.

Alexander to Kensington

Bestselling historical romance novelist Victoria Alexander (The Perfect Wife) has signed a five-book deal—for U.S., Canadian and open market rights—with Kensington, leaving her longtime publisher, Avon. Editor-in-chief John Scognamiglio inked the deal with Meg Ruley, of the Jane Rotrosen Agency; Kensington plans to publish the first of Alexander's novels in winter 2011 with three of the books being paperback originals and two Christmas hardcovers. Alexander, who published her first book in 1995, has written 23 novels and six novellas; she's been nominated twice for the RWA's RITA award.

'Rumour' Mill

Peter McGuigan, of Foundry Literary + Media, sold, at auction, Fleetwood Mac producer Ken Caillat's Starting Rumours. Kate Hamill at It Books took world English rights to the Grammy winner's behind-the-scenes take on the making of the band's seminal album, Rumours. According to McGuigan, the book, which he called an “oral biography,” includes Caillat's firsthand experiences as well as interviews with a wide swath of people, from band members and roadies to studio execs.

MacAdam/Cage Goes 'Lunar'

Pat Walsh, editor-in-chief of MacAdam/Cage, took world rights to a new trilogy by Stephen Tunney, the first book of which is called One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy. In the series, set in a dystopian society on the moon, a teenage boy with special powers falls in love with an Earth girl and, as a result, gets on the wrong side of powerful government authorities. Walsh, who said the book is the first title he's seen since The Time Traveler's Wife (which the press published in 2003) “that is as literary as it is commercial,” is planning to publish Lunar Boy in spring or fall 2010. Agent Amy Rennert brokered the deal, and Rich Green at CAA is currently shopping the film rights.

The Romantics in YA... and Present-Day

Michelle Poploff at Delacorte pre-empted world rights, as part of a two-book deal, to high school teacher Ty Roth's debut, So Shelly. The novel transposes Romantic poets Keats, Byron and Shelley into present-day Ohio high school students, working in historical details about the poets themselves, with a sickly Keats, politically active Shelley and a lothario-like Byron. Katherine Boyle, of the Veritas Agency, represented Roth in the deal.

Briefs

Courtney Hodell at Farrar, Straus & Giroux pre-empted world rights to Margaux Fragoso's memoir, Tiger, Tiger. A “nonfiction Lolita from Lolita's point of view,” per agent Terra Chalberg, of the Susan Golomb Agency, the book chronicles Fragoso's “disturbing” affair with a man she met at a local New Jersey pool when she was seven and stretched until he took his life, when the author was 22. Fragoso, who Chalberg said has provided “proof of her story,” has a Ph.D. in English from SUNY Binghamton. FSG is planning to pub in winter 2011; foreign deals have closed in Italy and Spain.