Samantha Sotto Yambao Is Releasing an Asian Fantasy Novel in 2024
Filipino author Samantha Sotto Yambao’s next book, Water Moon, is arriving on shelves in the fall of 2024 or spring of 2025. According to Publishers Weekly, Yambao signed a six-figure deal with Del Rey Books for the English rights to her fifth novel, which was pitched as “Erin Morgenstern meets Studio Ghibli.”
Yambao’s latest novel follows “a woman who inherits a pawnshop in Tokyo where you can sell your regrets.” Water Moon will be published under Del Rey Books, an imprint under Ballantine Books, Random House, and Penguin Random House. Yambao published her first two novels, Love and Gravity and Before Ever After, with Random House.
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Yambao now joins a host of prolific sci-fi and fantasy authors under Del Rey Books’ roster, such as Isaac Asimov, Naomi Novik, Pierce Brown, and Kiersten White. Founded in 1977, Del Rey is one of the biggest sci-fi and fantasy imprints in the world.
The Manila-based author released her first novel, Before Ever After, in 2011, followed by Love and Gravity in 2017. Her independent novels A Dream of Trees and The Beginning of Always were published in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Like all of her books, Water Moon will explore magical realism in modern times.
Yambao is represented by Amy Bishop of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
