SIMON & SCHUSTER ACQUIRES THREE ‘BLOCKBUSTER’ ADULT FANTASY NOVELS BY BESTSELLING CHILDREN’S AUTHOR A.F. STEADMAN
Simon & Schuster UK has acquired three adult fantasy novels by A.F. Steadman, author of the phenomenally bestselling middle-grade series Skandar.
Ian Chapman, CEO and Publisher, UK and International, and Charlotte Trumble, Commissioning Editor, Adult Fiction, bought world all language rights, in partnership with S&S colleagues at Saga Press US and S&S Australia. The three-book deal was struck after an exclusive submission from Sam Copeland at Rogers, Coleridge & White. The series will be a simultaneous global publication across the UK, North America and Australia.
A.F. Steadman is the author of the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling and award-winning Skandar series, which was acquired by S&S Children’s in a momentous deal in 2020. It has since gone on to sell 145,000 copies through the TCM, becoming the biggest children's fiction debut launch in 20 years in the UK. Globally, the first two books in the Skandar series in the English language have sold over 500,000 copies across all formats. Rights were sold in 45 territories pre-publication and the series has since been translated into 47 languages.
There has been an unprecedented response to the sample material from foreign publishers within a week, with auctions already underway in 11 territories: Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Romanian rights sold in a three-book pre-empt.
TimeLess, the first in the planned series, will be published in hardback in the UK in Autumn 2026. The novel is set in an alternate version of Cambridge, frozen outside of linear time. Twenty-year-old Artemis is a time-travelling assassin who has just completed her training. She joins the army of the Faculty, an organisation dedicated to protecting the future from time vandals intent on destroying it. Artemis and her crew must travel in and out of linear time doing whatever it takes — including killing— to stop them. Their assignments have them dancing through the ballrooms of Regency Bath, climbing the barricades of 1830s Paris and frequenting Space Age speakeasies. But when Artemis meets one of the original time vandals, she inexplicably breaks all the rules and lets him live, and they begin a game of cat and mouse across time and space.
With elements of dark academia, time travel and romance, TimeLess is like ‘the darkest episode of Doctor Who… but make it sexy’. It will be a major lead title for Simon & Schuster UK in 2026 with the aim of launching the adult arm of Steadman’s writing career, working closely with the S&S Children’s teams globally to build on and complement her immense success in middle-grade.
Ian Chapman said: ‘Annabel is an extraordinary talent: an exceptional writer with an exceptional imagination. The TimeLess series promises yet more success in a booming area of the adult fiction market. We are very proud to be Annabel’s publisher. This is such an exciting opportunity.’
Charlotte Trumble said: ‘I’m ecstatic to be publishing TimeLess on my new SFF list at S&S! Annabel is an incredible writer: she is so committed to her worldbuilding and characters that you feel immediately immersed. This series is genuinely fresh and original whilst sitting perfectly alongside the big hitters in the genre. I’m already obsessed with the assassin Artemis and can’t wait to introduce her to SFF readers everywhere. Get ready to meet your new favourite heroine.’
Annabel Steadman said: ‘I didn’t go looking for TimeLess—these time travelling assassins grabbed hold of my heart and simply wouldn’t let go. I haven’t been this excited to share a new world with readers since I first had the idea for the Skandar series, and I am overjoyed that Ian, Charlotte and the whole adult publishing team share that enthusiasm for TimeLess. Their passion and ambition for this new series shines so bright, my characters would surely spot it across all of time and space. I feel so lucky to call Simon & Schuster my publishing home.’
Sam Copeland said: ‘The moment I start reading this I got the tingle – that rare feeling you get when you are reading something very special indeed. I’m so excited for this, and the reaction from Simon & Schuster has matched my excitement.’