Hot Key Books pre-empts 'much-anticipated' vampire romantasy from Patrice Caldwell

Hot Key Books, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired Where Shadows Meet, a vampire romantasy from debut novelist Patrice Caldwell, a former children’s book editor turned literary agent and author.

Hot Key Books pre-empted UK and Commonwealth English language rights to two books from Sara Megibow at KT Literary.

The publisher describes Where Shadows Meet as a "devastatingly romantic fantasy story" of two sapphic love affairs one thousand years apart, told from multiple points of view.

Caldwell said: “Where Shadows Meet is my love letter to the genres that raised me: fantasy and romance. I’ve been obsessed with vampires and myths and folklore and fairytales since I was a little girl. My parents introduced me to Underworld, Anne Rice, and Blade, and wove me bedtime stories of gods and tricksters, warrior queens and the magic our people passed down. It was so much fun to get to know these characters and build this world—to create my own tales about how vampires and humans and gods came to be, stories that are the backbone of their world, stories that have been warped and twisted by those in power. But, as my characters discover, all stories have some truth. I loved working with Hot Key on my anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn: 16 Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance and Hope—a book I would’ve loved to hand my younger self—and so it feels so wonderful to be working with them again on my first novel, this book of my heart.”

Ella Whiddett, commissioning editor at Hot Key Books, said: “No one knows vampires better than Patrice, and so of course Where Shadows Meet is the most deliciously dark and original take on vampire lore, asking the question: ’What does it truly mean to sacrifice for love?’ We can’t wait to publish this stunning debut!”