GCP Re-Ups Grahame-Smith
Seth Grahame-Smith, author of the bestselling Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies (Quirk), signed another high-priced book deal with Grand Central Publishing. A rep for GCP would not provide numbers on the deal, calling it "major," but the Hachette division inked the author to a two-book deal in 2009 for a sum rumored to be in the neighborhood of just over $500,000. The new deal, which senior editor Ben Greenberg again closed, is for U.S. rights to two books, with the first title a follow-up to Graham Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, focusing on the Henry character. (GCP published ALVH in March, and a film adaptation of the title is currently in production at 20th Century Fox.) Claudia Ballard at William Morris Endeavor represented Grahame-Smith.

Greenwillow Gets Gill's Next
Virginia Duncan at HarperCollins's Greenwillow Books children's imprint took North American rights to Invisible Sun, David Macinnis Gill's sequel to his YA novel, Black Hole Sun. (Greenwillow published Black Hole Sun in August.) In the sequel, the author continues the adventures of hero Jake "Durango" Stringfellow in the dystopian series set on Mars. Agent Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary brokered the two-book, six-figure deal, and Invisible Sun is scheduled for winter 2012. Film rights for the book are being packaged by producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Karp Nabs Hartman's 'Story'
Jonathan Karp at Simon & Schuster bought world rights to a memoir by CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman. The book, Everybody Has a Story, takes its name from a popular CBS Evening News series Hartman hosted, in which he would toss a dart at a map of the world and then pick a local subject to interview from the area's phone book. (The series debuted in 1998, and Hartman did more than 100 episodes.) In the book, Hartman will recount stories and lessons from the road to show that, as S&S put it "no matter where you go, everyone has a story to tell." Agent Jenny Bent, of the Bent Agency, brokered the deal for Hartman, and the book is currently slated for 2012. Hartman was a columnist for 60 Minutes II before joining CBS news in 1998.

Hruska Sells Debut
Soho Press cofounder Alan Hruska sold his first mystery to Edwin Buckhalter at Severn House. Amy Rennert, of the Amy Rennert Agency, brokered the world English rights deal. In the book, Wrong Man Running, a Manhattan prosecutor takes a case involving a series of brutal rapes, only to be fingered by the victims as the assailant. The lawyer then launches a desperate search to find the man impersonating him. Hruska, a former trial lawyer, directed the 2002 film Nola, which played at the Tribeca Film Festival. Hruska also wrote the play Ring Twice for Miranda, which is being produced in London.

Dunne Gets 'Artificial'
Thomas Dunne and Peter Joseph, at Thomas Dunne Books, pre-empted U.S. and Canadian rights to James Barrat's Our Final Invention. Agent William Clark represented Barrat, a documentary filmmaker (The Gospel of Judas), who writes about various experts' theories on artificial intelligence; the book is subtitled Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era. According to Clark, Barrat will show "how the convergence of current developments in technology may lead to a catastrophic outcome—human annihilation."

Correction
In last week's column, Fletcher Wortmann, author of the memoir Trigger, was incorrectly referred to as Trevor Wortmann.