‘Jaws at 35,000 feet’: the flight attendant whose thriller debut sold for seven figures

TJ Newman dreamt up her terror-in-the-skies novel Falling while guarding the cockpit as the pilots took a toilet break. She reveals how she kept going through furlough and 41 rejectionsFlight attendant Torri Newman was working on the red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York when the idea for her debut novel came to her. To be precise, she was blocking access to the cockpit, a security procedure required when pilots take a toilet break. “I was standing at the front of the airplane,” she says, “looking out at the passengers. It was dark and they were all asleep. And I had this thought, ‘All of their lives, our lives, are in the hands of the pilots.’ That’s not exactly new – but the flipside of that also came to mind. With that much power and responsibility, how vulnerable does that make a commercial pilot?”Newman, speaking via Zoom from her home in Phoenix, Arizona, was rattled. “I just couldn’t shake the thought. A few days later, I was working a different trip with a different set of pilots, and I said to the captain, ‘Hey, what would you do if your family was taken, and you were told that if you didn’t crash the plane, they would be killed?” What was his reaction? “He had no clue what he would do – the thought terrified him.”I almost gave up. But seeing two authors at a Q&A reminded my why I had to keep going Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-05-04 05:00:21 UTC ]
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Dark Horse Finally Debuts on Comixology

Dark Horse, the last major comics house to withhold its titles from Comixology--the dominant digital comics marketplace--has signed an agreement to start selling its list via the platform. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Z2 Comics Debuts Shadmi’s ‘Abaddon,’ in Fall 2015

New York indie comics publisher Z2 Comics is publishing Koren Shadmi's surreal web comic turned graphic novel in the fall, along with a new edition of 'Harvey Pekar's Cleveland', the posthumously released 2012 graphic memoir, and a new line of periodical comics Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Boys' basketball: Long Beach Poly wins double overtime thriller over Fairfax

A semifinal game of the Maranatha tournament on Friday night between Long Beach Poly and Fairfax produced a summer basketball game to remember. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Zuckerberg donates $5 million to help undocumented immigrants attend college

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have donated $5 million to help undocumented immigrants attend college, Zuckerberg said in a post on his Facebook page. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oyster Debuts Lumin to Ease E-Reading Eyestrain

E-book subscription service Oyster has developed Lumin, a new feature available via its app that automatically adjusts the light emitted from mobile screens to ease eyestrain and prevent sleep disruption. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mantle debut optioned for TV

A debut novel published by Mantle, Ray Celestin’s The Axeman’s Jazz, has been optioned for television by independent film production company See-Saw Films.  See-Saw Films, which produced “The King’s Speech” and “Shame”, optioned the rights from Lucinda Prain at Casarotto, Ramsay &... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three debuts on Theakstons crime novel of the year shortlist

Three debuts have made the shortlist for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2015. Antonia Hodgson’s debut The Devil in the Marshalsea (Hodder & Stoughton), a murder mystery set in the Marshalsea prison in 1727, is shortlisted alongside Hachette stablemate Sarah... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Picador signs Adams debut

Picador has bought a debut novel described as “One Day meets 'This Life'”. Editorial director Francesca Main acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Invincible Summer by Alice Adams from Kerry Glencorse at Susanna Lea Associates.  Invincible Summer follows four friends... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fragment of Gutenberg Bible expected to top $500,000 at auction

Eight-page section containing the Book of Esther was part of 15th-century edition cut up and sold in pieces by New York book dealer in 1920sAn eight-page fragment from the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book to be printed using Johann Gutenberg’s printing press in 15th-century Germany, will go... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Special Edition: NYC Attendance Up 40%

Despite taking place at a new venue with some quirks, attendance for ReedPOP’s Special Edition: NYC was up 40% from 2014, its inaugural year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Arcadia signs Vintcent thriller

Arcadia Books has bought a thriller set in the world of Formula 1 racing, originally published by The Hanbury Agency’s White Glove programme Moreton Street Books. Driven by Toby Vintcent was the only work of fiction on the shortlist of the New Writer Award at the Cross British Sports Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Psychological thriller to Avon

Avon Books will publish a debut psychological thriller about a woman whose baby is taken. Senior commissioning editor Helen Huthwaite acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Little Girl Gone by Alexandra Burt from Laura Longrigg at MBA Literary Agents in a one-book deal, with an option of a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AOL Debuts Makeover That's All About Mobile Video and Social-Friendly Content

AOL is unveiling a data-driven site overhaul today that should give marketers a sense of how it will zero in on mobile video and branded content as it plots its future. The revamp comes less than a month after Verizon's $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL and is based on a load of the publisher's... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BookCon 2015: Attendance Up, But Concern Lingers Over 2016 Locale

In its sophomore year, the consumer show drew 18,000 fans over its two-day run at the Javits Center. Show organizer ReedPop said the statistic represents an 80% increase over last year's attendance. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2015 LéaLA Draws More than 86,000

With more than 200 literary and cultural activities in the span of three days, LéaLA, the Los Angeles Spanish-Language Book Fair, demonstrated American Hispanics’ desire to connect with books that reflect their culture in their language. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2015: Amy Stewart - Gardening Expert to Debut Novelist

When gardening writer Amy Stewart was researching The Drunken Botanist (Algonquin, 2013), about the intersection of botany and booze, she came across Henry Kaufman, a gin smuggler from a hundred years ago. Although she hasn't been able to verify that he's the same Kaufman who ran a silk-dyeing... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lodi News-Sentinel Sold to Central Valley News-Sentinel Inc.

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2015: Boudreaux’s New Eponymous Imprint Set For Early Debut

Less than a year after she moved from HarperCollins’s Ecco imprint to Little, Brown to head her own imprint, Lee Boudreaux is putting the finishing touches on her first list of eight books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2015: Challenges, Triumph, and Big Debuts at the Adult Buzz Panel

This year, editors presented an even split of noteworthy, forthcoming fiction and nonfiction titles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2015: Buzzing Debut YA Titles

Here’s an advance peek at why the editors participating in today’s Young Adult Editors’ Buzz Panel are especially enthusiastic about the novels they will spotlight, as well as their observations on the value of this forum for generating early book buzz. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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