Sceptre snares Tolz's 'virtuoso' novel

Sceptre has signed Here Goes Nothing, the “virtuoso” new novel by Man Booker-shortlisted author Steve Toltz. 

Publishing director Carole Welch acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada and Australia and New Zealand from Elizabeth Sheinkman at PFD to Toltz’s third novel, which follows his Man Booker-shortlisted debut A Fraction of the Whole (Penguin) and Quicksand (Sceptre).

Sceptre will publish Here Goes Nothing on 3rd May 2022, coinciding with publication in Australia, New Zealand and the US, where Sheinkman has sold rights respectively to publisher Nikki Christer at Penguin Random House for the Hamish Hamilton list and to executive editor Carl Bromley at Melville House.  

“Here Goes Nothing is a novel of exhilarating originality and scope about birth, death and everything in between," the synopsis reads. "Narrated from the afterlife, this is Angus Mooney’s story before and after his untimely exit from the world. Murdered in his prime, Angus Mooney finds himself in a dimension he never believed existed, furious at his fate and confused by the many questions death has raised.

"He also desperately misses his wife as well as life on planet earth, despite its ever-mounting environmental catastrophes. Until he discovers a way to see how his wife is faring. The downside: he can also see what his murderer is up to and that an escalating pandemic means the afterlife will soon get very crowded.”  

Welch said: “I was bowled over by Here Goes Nothing. It’s scathingly funny, fiercely intelligent and deeply affecting, and tells an engrossing story while posing fundamental questions about life and love, immortality and faith, the human condition and our age of crises. All delivered in Steve Toltz’s unique and vigorous style, which fizzes with one-liners. He’s been remarkably prescient too, writing about a global pandemic before Covid-19 struck. This is an outstanding novel, which I am very proud and excited to be publishing in Sceptre.”  

Toltz was born in Sydney, Australia, and currently lives in Los Angeles.