Magpie launches new romantasy list, the Midnight Collection

Magpie, the YA imprint of HarperFiction, has launched the Midnight Collection, a list of "irresistible" new adult books focusing on romantasy. 

The Midnight Collection is a response to demand for "spicy" books, a euphemism used to refer to books with a strong focus on sex and romance. The list will target older readers and launch with the "viral TikTok hit" Lore of the Wilds, a fae romantasy with an all Black cast, by Analeigh Sbrana and the self-published "sensation" Bonded by Thorns, a Beauty and the Beast retelling and the first in the Beasts of the Briar series, by Elizabeth Helen.  

Ajebowale Roberts, editor for HarperVoyager and Magpie, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights for the first four books in Helen’s originally self-published Beasts of the Briar series. Rights were acquired from Stevie Finegan at the Zeno Agency. At the time of writing #bondedbythorns has received 16.1million views on TikTok. 

Roberts also acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for the Lore of the Wilds duology from Thao Le at the Sandra Dijkstra Agency. Lore of the Wilds will be a global publication between HarperVoyager US and UK. Sbrana’s cover reveal video on TikTok received over 35,000 views. 

Magpie is led by publisher Natasha Bardon and run by HarperVoyager as a parallel imprint. 

Bardon commented: "True to its name, Magpie is the home of books of the moment, covetable in their design and completely irresistible in their content. With the launch of the Midnight Collection, it’s now a place for voracious readers of all ages to discover their next moreish spicy SFF read."