Solaris snares Jarod K Anderson’s fantasy debut, Strange Animals
Solaris has acquired Strange Animals by Jarod K Anderson, creator of The CryptoNaturalist podcast.
UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, were acquired by Amy Borsuk from Kate Johnson, on behalf of Rach Crawford, at Wolf Literary Services, with publication scheduled for spring 2027.
The blurb reads: "After a near death experience, perfectly ordinary Green finds himself trapped and terrified in the Appalachian mountains with the sudden ability to see impossible creatures.
"Then he meets Valentina, a cryptonaturalist like himself, who can guide him through his new powers – but something undiscovered is hunting for him, and people across the mountains are being killed in inexplicable ways. Green must master his skills and confront the threat to the place, people and creatures he has come to love before it’s too late."
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Anderson said: "Strange Animals arose from my love of nature coupled with my love of the fantastical (and how often those passions seem to overlap). A few years ago, my three-year-old son asked me if electric eels are real and I thought: ‘What a very reasonable question and what a very surprising answer I have for you.’ I constantly find myself ambushed by a sense of wonder when I really consider even the most commonplace nature; it’s like finding magic hiding in plain sight.
"In my novel I decided to literalise this idea, following the journey of a man who is suddenly immersed in a very new, wondrous and sometimes terrifying kind of nature that few can perceive. I am truly delighted that my work has found a home with Solaris and I’m thrilled to connect with new readers in the UK."
Borsuk commented: "I am so delighted to be the UK publisher for Strange Animals. Jarod is a poetic, incandescent writer who effortlessly balances darkness and joy through the world of strange monsters and cryptids. I have been wanting a cryptid story for a long time and this one, with both familiar and entirely unfamiliar creatures, character growth, struggles with grief and human connection sets the bar for all cryptid books that walk in its footsteps."
