Bestseller Richard North Patterson has moved houses, signing a two-book deal with Scribner. Susan Moldow, executive v-p and publisher of the Simon & Schuster imprint inked the deal for North American rights with Patterson's agent, Frederick Hill. Patterson was at Holt. Colin Harrison will edit the titles and the first book, an international thriller involving Al Qaeda called The Devil's Light, is currently scheduled for May 2011. Pocket will be publishing the paperback editions of the titles.
In another notable deal, New York Magazine contributor Jennifer Senior has signed her first book deal, expanding on her hot-button cover story about parenting, "All Joy and No Fun." Ecco's Lee Boudreaux took North American rights from Janklow & Nesbit's Tina Bennett to All Joy and No Fun: The Parent's Paradox after Senior's article, which ran on July 4 and was subtitled "Why Parents Hate Parenting," created something of an uproar. Ecco said the piece drew over 1.5 million hits online. The HarperCollins imprint said the book will "focus on the deep and complex conflict between the incontrovertible data about happiness and the equally incontestable feeling that having children is perhaps the most meaningful and joyful thing that a human can do."The title is scheduled for fall 2013.
