(Nashville, TN) As reported by the June 2 Publishers Weekly Religion Update, young adult literature is all the rage. Thomas Nelson Fiction is substantially increasing commitments to publishing high-quality, entertaining YA titles. With the great success of The Lost Books from bestselling Ted Dekker—more than 100,000 copies of the thrilling YA series have sold since January with two more (Lunatic and Elyon) and graphic novel editions of these books that will begin releasing November 2008—the road is paved for more series launches.

Like Dekker, Robert Liparulo has also had success writing thrillers for adults, and now has introduced titles especially for his younger fans. The Dreamhouse Kings series, beginning with House of Dark Shadows and Watcher in the Woods (May 2008), is developing a great following of readers hooked on the time-traveling adventures of Liparulo’s young heroes and heroine. Educators, too, are enjoying the books and signing up their classes to participate in a Dream the Scene contest set to begin in the fall. The third book in the series—Gatekeepers—releases January 2009.

Andrew Klavan is the New York Times bestselling author and winner of two Edgar Awards. His bestsellers Don’t Say A Word and True Crime were made into films staring Michael Douglas and Clint Eastwood respectively. He was hailed by Stephen King as “the most original American novelist of crime and suspense since Cornell Woolrich.” Klavan’s YA Action and Adventure series with Thomas Nelson launches in April 2009 with The Last Thing I Remember.

May 2009 will mark the release of three Young Adult novels from female authors:

Cindy Martinusen is the author of several novels including Eventide and Winter Passing, a Christy Award Finalist. Her novel The Salt Garden was heralded by Library Journal as one of the five best Christian fiction books of 2004. Ruby Unscripted will be her first YA title, chronicling the adventures of a teen girl who finds more challenges than she expected after moving to an affluent and exciting new town.

Hayley DiMarco is no stranger to YA readers, having written bestselling nonfiction like Mean Girls, Technical Virgin, and Dateable. She and husband Michael are now collaborating on a new series of YA novels from their Hungry Planet brand starring Tia Selliot.

Jenny B. Jones has a following of teen fiction readers already, girls who love her Katie Parker Production series. As a teacher, she’s very in touch with the trauma, drama, and humor of teen life. So Not Happening follows Isabella Kirkwood as she finds empowerment in seeing herself as God created her.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Fiction, Press Release, Young Adult. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.