Matthew Hughes sold an untitled trilogy to Angry Robot via agent John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency.
Angry Robot’s Marc Gascoigne describes the books as “a trio of novels featuring mild-mannered actuary Chesney Anstruther. After he accidentally summons a demon (as you do), the canny Anstruther refuses to go ahead with any soul-selling, which leads through various confusions to, well, Hell going on strike. Which means that nothing bad ever happens in the world… with disastrous consequences. When Satan offers him his heart’s desire to sort the whole mess out, our hero seizes his chance, and becomes a caped crimefighter, with a very unwilling demon for a sidekick.”
Gascoigne expects to publish the first book in August 2010, with the next two following at six-month intervals.
The British-born Canadian Hughes has “made my living as a writer all of my adult life, first as a journalist, then as a staff speechwriter to the Canadian Ministers of Justice and Environment, and as a freelance corporate and political speechwriter in British Columbia.” His first novel, Fool’s Errant, was published in 1994, and is part of his Archonate Universe.