Tor Publishing Group is thrilled to announce the acquisition of The Red Winter by debut author Cameron Sullivan, to be published in Summer 2025 in a global publishing event.
In the tradition of the meticulously researched Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and featuring an irresistibly charming monster-hunting protagonist in the vein of a queer Witcher, Sullivan’s spectacular debut is a sweeping historical epic that is by turns both funny and tender. Drawing on the original but little known werewolf origin story of The Beast of Gevaudan, it seamlessly blends fantasy with folktale and will appeal to fans of retellings of myths and legends.
Debut author Cameron Sullivan says:
“I’m so thrilled to be working with Ali Fisher at Tor Publishing Group on bringing The Red Winter into the world. I’ve poured all my passions (good and bad) into this big, romantic, occulted slice of history and I can’t wait to share it. Its characters and their exploits have lived in my head and heart for a few years now and I can’t imagine a better home for them. I’m incredibly excited that we’ll also get to give them life again in a whole new story beyond The Red Winter.”
Executive Editor Ali Fisher notes:
“Extraordinary is an understatement. This story will rip your heart out and eat it right in front of you, but with a story this inventive and this genuinely epic, you’ll be happy to lose your heart to it. Cameron Sullivan is a new force in adventure fantasy and with this book he joins the literary tradition of game-changing historical fantasists Susanna Clarke, R.F. Kuang, and V.E. Schwab and I’m thrilled and honored to get to work with him on his debut!”
Christabel McKinley, literary agent at David Higham Associates praises:
“From the first few pages of The Red Winter, I knew this was going to be an exceptional piece of writing. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Cam is a once-in-a-decade talent, and The Red Winter is certain to be a future classic. Its epic scope, its wry humour and the fiercely beating heart at its centre will without doubt make an impact on all who read it – and then, ravenously, devour it again.”
World English rights were pre-empted in a major two-book deal by Tor Publishing Group’s Executive Editor Ali Fisher, along with Tor UK’s Editorial Director Sophie Robinson and Pan Macmillan Australia’s Deputy Publishing Director Claire Craig, sold by agent Christabel McKinley at David Higham Associates. The Red Winter will publish simultaneously across the world in 2025 by Forge Books in the US, Tor UK in the UK and Pan Macmillan in Australia, as well as FISCHER Tor in Germany.
Cameron Sullivan was born in Perth, Western Australia. He grew up with the dark fantasy and horror icons of the 80s and went on to study classics, languages and creative writing at the University of Western Australia. After working and studying in Italy and the UK, he returned to Australia and settled in Melbourne. He works as a copywriter and will easily lose a weekend to a good book, a new recipe or games of any kind. His debut novel is The Red Winter.
