Bloomsbury pre-empts LaCroix’s ‘soaring’ speculative literary debut

Bloomsbury has landed Shipworld, Hal LaCroix’s "soaring" speculative literary debut.

Publisher Alexis Kirschbaum and associate editor Stephanie Rathbone pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights, including audio, from Sara O’Keeffe at Aevitas Creative Management, and the book is scheduled for publication in 2025. 

The book is set on a spacecraft "bound for a new world" and the synopsis says: "Told across these generations, each with their own vivid characters, triumphs and challenges, Shipworld is an imaginative exploration of the arc of human evolution and endeavour. This is a tale about the individual and collective lives of a species quite alone in the universe, what we want to remember of the human story, and what we want to be remembered of us."

Rathbone commented: "Hal LaCroix’s magnificent inquiry into the fate of humankind is as entertaining as the best space opera, but moving and profound in equal measure. Shipworld asks, and I’d dare say answers: "What is the point of living, if not for a future?’ I could not be more excited to see this soaring story land with readers everywhere."

LaCroix said: "I’m incredibly happy to be working with Alexis Kirschbaum, Stephanie Rathbone and the excellent team at Bloomsbury. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to bring my vision of the future to readers. Special thanks to my wonderful agent, Sara!"

O’Keeffe added: "The story of Shipworld comments powerfully on the story of Earth. It is a novel of great invention, grounded in wonderful characters and plaited with ideas of such force and originality that it left me marvelling as I turned each page. Hal LaCroix is a brilliant, original, vital new voice in literary fiction and I’m thrilled that his debut has found such wonderful champions in Alexis and Stephanie."