Orbit pre-empts time-travel conspiracy thriller

In a six-figure pre-empt, Orbit publisher Tim Holman has acquired world English language rights to a time-travel conspiracy thriller by Robert Dickinson from Oli Munson at A M Heath.

The Tourist by Robert Dickinson will receive a "major" worldwide launch with simultaneous publication in the UK and US later this year, publishing with Orbit, the SF and fantasy imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, in the UK, and in the US with Redhook, the commercial fiction imprint of the Orbit division at Hachette Book Group.

Acquiring editor Holman said he was confident it would be "one of the most exciting and original thrillers published this year", as a novel that would appeal to any publisher or reader "excited by brilliant plotting, brilliant writing, and brilliant ideas".

Anne Clarke, deputy publisher of Orbit and Redhook in the US, who will be editing, added: “Right from the start you are plunged into a unique mystery that quickly becomes a superbly drawn conspiracy, where every page brings another glimpse into the world of the book, and raises more questions. You just have to keep turning the pages as you try to figure out the puzzle. I love this sort of book – mindbending and compelling, like The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes or The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. I know that fans of this sort of standout speculative fiction will adore it as much as we do.”

Dickinson has previously had two novels in different genres published by Brighton-based independent press Myriad Editions, as well as two volumes of poetry, a comedy drama and a choral libretto. The Tourist is his first work to be published worldwide by a major publishing house. It is scheduled for release in October 2016.