RE: New acquisition 

 

Hello,

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Ace of Spades by Sadie McLean is Alice Through the Looking Glass meeting The Hunger Games. These books are both dystopic and utopic at the same time, their different worlds each a negative of the other. Ace of Spades skillfully merges Alice’s fantasy with Hunger Games’ darkness.

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It is the coming-of-age story of Rosie, a sardonic and satirical college student. Leaving her mundane and pointless diner job one evening, Rosie encounters a portal, seemingly planned specifically for her. She is invited to enter. Her curiosity drives her in, but she also feels powerless to decline. Inside, a gladiatorial arena awaits, the spectators and her opponent expecting her. Nothing in her ‘real life’ has prepared her for this, but this new world has provided her with a way of defending herself.

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A great responsibility has been thrust upon Rosie, just as it has been thrust upon our youth. Ace of Spades creates the space to question and critique society from within, it exposes the hypocrisy of modern life, modern ethics, and the failures of past generations. This is a commentary on the world faced by youths today, showing how ill-prepared they are for it, how alone they feel, how society has let them down. 

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Rosie’s blank, dead-pan, matter of fact first person voice is the perfect lens through which to hear this tale of magic realism. This juxtaposition presents her as an unreliable narrator, posing the question, what is real and what isn’t. For when compared to each other, Rosie’s everyday life and her magical life are equally plausible, equally absurd and equally pointless. The unknown is normalized, as indeed must the future be for new generations.

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A new twist on an antithetical future will always have a place on bookshelves. If Rosie must fight her way to her own future to change her inane and inadequate present, the magic realism genre provides an ideal vehicle for this and for the analysis and criticism of society. The readership for Ace of Spades will be pulled from readers of YA and YA fantasy, adult fantasy, and literary fiction. The blasé and satirical narrative voice telling us this story through magic realism is unique in this genre. Forthcoming catalogues from other publishers embrace neither fiction nor fantasy or magic realism to any significant degree, giving us a command over this market and taking advantage of the success of Waubgeshig Rice’s dystopic novels of 2022 and 2023 to satisfy this niche audience.  

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McLean’s novel is an excellent choice for our Fall 2024 catalogue. It reflects the taste of our established readership and fits our mandate of supporting and advocating for the literary value of magic realism to Canlit. This book speaks to our commitment to innovation, to presenting and promoting new ways of thinking, new ideas and perspectives.

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Unafraid of creative risk, Sadie McLean is an emerging author whose potential for significant contribution to Canlit comes from her fearlessness of creative risk, her unique and boundary pushing stories, and her resistance to conformity. This novel, and this author, will not be on the market for long, and my recommendation is to contact Ms. McLean immediately by telephone to start the initial process of contract negotiations and to draw up a contract as soon as possible. The edits will not be heavy; however, we should forward the manuscript to the editing and marketing departments as soon as commitment is confirmed.

I look forward to speaking with you and hearing your thoughts on this manuscript.

 

Best regards,

Kate Judge