Riggs Checks ‘Body’ for Angry Robot
Sold in what agent Kelly Sonnack at Andrea Brown called a “competitive bidding situation,” Angry Robot’s Amanda Rutter bought world English rights to Carol Riggs’s debut YA novel, The Body Institute. The book follows a 17-year-old recruited by a weight-loss company to train its clients by having her brain waves downloaded into their bodies so she can exercise for them. Sonnack said the novel “explores the meaning of self in a brave new world.” Rutter bought the book for Angry Robot’s YA imprint, Strange Chemistry.

Stanton Captures More ‘Humans’ for SMP
Brandon Stanton, the author/shutterbug behind the bestselling photo book Humans of New York (Oct. 2013), sold a currently untitled follow-up, again to Yaniv Soha at St. Martin’s Press. SMP, which published Stanton’s first book, said this title will, like Humans, be a “collection of striking photographs and heartfelt, funny, and inspiring stories.” Agent Brian DeFiore at DeFiore and Co. represented Stanton, selling North American rights. Stanton also has another Humans book forthcoming—FSG Books for Young Readers will release Little Humans in October. SMP’s new Stanton book is currently set for fall 2015. Humans of New York grew out of Stanton’s popular, same-titled, Tumblr; on Facebook, SMP said, he has over 3.7 million “likes,” and Time.com named him one of “30 People Under 30 Changing the World.”

Pulitzer Finalist to SMP
New St. Martin’s Press executive editor Tim Bartlett, in his first acquisition at the imprint, took North American rights to Gina Kolata’s Disrupting Destiny: Love, Science, and the GSS Gene. Kolata, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, is expanding her New York Times story (“Gene Tests, Healthy Children and Ethical Doubt,” Feb. 4) in the book. SMP said the work will explore “a dramatic narrative” of a woman trying to have children who discovers she carries the hereditary gene for a devastating disorder. Through her story, the book will touch on “new breakthroughs in the science of pre-implantation and embryonic testing as well as human and ethical questions.” Disrupting Destiny, which agent Katinka Matson at Brockman Inc. sold, is scheduled for 2015.

Briefs
At Bloomsbury, Jacqueline Johnson took world rights to James Valcourt’s Systematic: Tales of a Scientific Revolution from the Front Lines at auction. Rachel Vogel at Waxman Leavell handled the sale. Bloomsbury said the book will offer a layman’s glimpse into “systems biology and its impact on major advances in health and pharmaceutical research.”

For Da Capo, Dan Ambrosio acquired world rights to James Guiliani’s memoir, which he is writing with Charlie Stella, Dogfella. Guiliani is a former enforcer for the Gambino crime family who now stars in the OWN Network’s reality show, The Diamond Collar. Da Capo said the book will tell Guiliani’s story of escaping his life of crime after rescuing a Shih Tzu and how he now devotes himself to animal rescue work. Agent Erin Niumata at Folio Literary Management represented Guiliani.