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Scholastic UK has struck a three-book deal with Vashti Hardy, the author of Brightstorm.
Senior commissioning editor Linas Alsenas acquired world rights from The Viney Shaw Agency and will publish Wildspark, a standalone novel, in May this year. She will release a sequel to Brightstorm in early 2020 and a new MG fantasy novel in 2021.
“Fans of Brightstorm are going to go nuts for Vashti’s new book; it’s a dazzling, mind-ploughing adventure that features bold characters in a totally riveting mystery,” said Alesenas. “The world also raises fascinating questions about invention, politics – even life itself. I’m really looking forward to seeing Wildspark set readers’ imaginations alight, and to return to the world of Brightstorm thereafter.”
Wildspark is set in a city called Medlock, where a secretive guild of inventors have brought spirits of the dead back into the world. Young apprentice Prue is on a mission to bring her brother back to life but to find him she needs the ghost machines to remember the people they used to be. And if she succeeds, she puts all of society at risk.
“Wildspark combines two of my lifelong interests of scientific invention and ghosts, then asks a huge 'what if?',” says Vashti Hardy. “I can't wait for readers to meet Prue and friends (and foes), and for them to dive headfirst into this whole new world of invention.”