Hodderscape signs three-book deal for Jamie Cass’ debut
Hodderscape has signed a three-book deal for Jamie Cass’ “richly written and gritty dark academia” debut Starfall.
Commissioning editor Calah Singleton acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from John Baker and Julie Gourinchas at Bell Lomax Moreton in a three-book deal.
US rights were sold to Podium press at auction. World Spanish rights were sold to Gribaudo, via Katherine West at ILA. Senior commissioning editor Delayna Spencer will publish.
Starfall, the first book in the Oxford Book of Magick trilogy, will publish in the UK in hardback, export trade paperback, e-book and audiobook in January 2027.
The book is set in an alternate 19th-century Britain in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, where London is a smoking ruin, and Oxford is the new capital of the empire.
The synopsis continues: “The flames of Industrial Revolution have driven the Seelie and Unseelie Courts from their forests into the cities. Over Oxford a red star hangs over the rooftops, ready to fall at any moment. Amid all this, the insatiably curious Aria Shaw arrives in Oxford to study at the Department of Magick under the enigmatic war hero, Professor Ashcroft. When a series of lethal attacks slash through the city, the fragile peace between humans and fae is threatened, and Aria and Ashcroft find themselves in the middle of a treacherous plot stretching far beyond the city.”
Starfall will be published in hardback, export trade paperback, e-book and audiobook in spring 2027.
Cass said: “Starfall grew out of my enduring obsession with dark academia and history. Beneath the faded spires of Regency Oxford, magic lurks down dark alleyways and faeries offer twisted deals by candlelight. Death stalks the streets, romance and betrayal go hand in hand, and Aria Shaw will do whatever it takes to survive. It’s been fantastic to work with Delayna, Molly and the brilliant team at Hodderscape. I owe them all, along with my agents John Baker and Julie Gourinchas, so much for their belief in me.”
Cass currently teaches history in a secondary school outside Oxford. Before that, he worked as a bookseller in Waterstones, living out of the SFF section.
Spencer said: “I fell in love with this book immediately. Starfall is everything you want from a fantasy – a richly imagined world, with a complex and gutsy protagonist and a fantastically paced mystery. Deftly combining dark academia with a dark alternate history, Jamie’s Oxford is beautiful and scarred, haunted by war and caught in rising tensions between the human and fae courts. This is a world you’ll be drawn into and will loathe to leave. We are so happy Jamie has joined the Hodderscape family and can’t wait to publish Starfall.”
