Bloomsbury's Archer imprint, which launched in March as a home for science fiction and fantasy, has announced its first three titles: Callum Broadway-Bennett’s Duskborn, Maren Chase’s We Have Hours Left Til Morning, and Laura Gubata’s A Divine Inheritance. The inaugural lineup is slated for 2027.
“We're thrilled that the Bloomsbury Archer list is beginning to take shape," said Archer publishing director Noa Wheeler. "These are three very different books with some important things in common: great writing, compelling hooks, and a creative mastery of genre that exemplifies the kind of books we aim to publish."
Wheeler acquired world English rights to A Divine Inheritance and an untitled sequel from Sarah Landis at Sterling Lord Literistic. The book is "an eerie, evocative fantasy which a renowned occult expert and a recent divorcée must seek out and silence the twisted god who lurks in the labyrinthine depths of a cursed estate," per the publisher.
North American rights to Duskborn and two additional books in an epic fantasy series from Broadway-Bennett were acquired by Archer senior editor Rebecca Brewer from Ariana Philips at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency on behalf of Judith Murray of Greene & Heaton in the U.K. The series will follow "a holy warrior battling the vampiric empire, who must become the thing he hates most in order to save humanity," per the publisher. Vicky Leech Mateos acquired U.K. and Commonwealth rights to Duskborn on behalf of Archer's U.K. division, which she leads as publishing director.
Brewer also acquired North American rights to We Have Hours Left Til Morning in a deal with Melanie Figueroa at Root Literary. Chase's book is a "devastatingly romantic speculative novel about two time travel agents who meet—and fall in love—out of order," per the publisher. Like Wheeler, Brewer emphasized the unputdownable nature of both titles in an announcement of the deals.
Wheeler co-leads Archer with Erica Barmash, the imprint's VP of marketing and publicity; the pair previously led editorial and marketing for Bloomsbury's Sarah J. Maas Group, respectively. Sales of Maas's fantasy and romantasy novels, which include the blockbuster A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City series, have helped the U.K.–based Bloomsbury Publishing notch record sales over the last few years.
