Ron Does Stuff

Vibal and Blush Books acquisitions, Erin Entrada Kelly, the Ateneo Press Review Crew, Arundhati Roy and more in this week’s edition.

Vibal acquires Mina Esguerra’s Interim Goddess of Love

Vibal Publishing has acquired the Philippine print edition rights to Mina V. Esguerra’s Interim Goddess of Love trilogy. As explained in the Romanceclass Books blog, the all-new edition will be launched on March at the Philippine Book Festival and will be available as individual books and as a set. The books will launch Vibal’s new-adult fiction imprint, which will also have Mina as it’s editor-at-large.

Jeremy Allen White to star in Enigma Variations adaptation

We’re getting yet another André Aciman adaptation as Netflix has announced it will adapt the novelist’s Enigma Variations into a limited series. Jeremy Allen White will star and executive produce the show. Jeremy Allen White will star as Paul, a bisexual man who has an “enduring passion” for one girl but who has “anonymous encounters with men”. Important to note that the show is only in development and it’s quite possible that it won’t even happen if Netflix decides to drop it.

Blush Books acquires H. Bentham’s Kiss Away the Goodbye

The Philippine print edition for H. Bentham’s Kiss Away the Goodbye has been acquired by Komiket’s Blush Books, an imprint co-founded by Mina V. Esguerra and Paolo Herras. Just like previous Blush Books, Kiss Away the Goodbye will feature illustrations, with the artist for this book being Rye Quizon. The book will be launched this March at the Philippine Book Festival. Check out Romanceclass Books blog for more details about the book!

Erin Entrada Kelly awarded the Newbery Medal

The American Library Association has announced that Filipino-American author Erin Entrada Kelly has been awarded the Newbery Medal for her book, The First State of Being. The Newbery Medal recognized the year’s most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.

Publishers Weekly talked to Erin about when she got the call about the win, sharing that she was at a “generative writing workshop with Nova Ren Suma”.

I was working on my prompt at about nine o’clock when the phone rang. I thought, ‘There’s no way this is going to be the call,’ but I answered it, and sure enough, it was the committee.

According to the HarperCollins website, The First State of Being is about 12-year-old Michael Rosario, who meets a mysterious boy from the future that changes his life forever.

Ateneo Press Review Crew application deadline

The deadline of applications for the Ateneo Press Review Crew is tomorrow, February 3, according to the publishing house’s Facebook post. As described in the post, a member of the Review Crew is “passionate about reading widely and avidly, and writing about the adventures books take them on.”

Accepted applicants will read and review backlist titles from the Ateneo de Manila University Press. Check out the link in the Facebook post for more details!

Judy Blume’s Forever gets Netflix adaptation

Netflix released a teaser for its series adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel, Forever…, although it hasn’t given a release date for it. This is going to be the third adaptation of the book, after the 1978 TV movie and the 2004 theater adaptation.

Netflix cancels The Sandman after two seasons

Variety reports that The Sandman‘s second season on Netflix will also be its final one, with a statement from showrunner Allan Heinberg explaining the decision. In the statement, Allan explained that the show has always been focused on Dream’s story and that the remaining Dream material they had was only enough for one more season.

Of course, the cancellation comes after Dark Horse Comics announced that it will no longer be publishing Neil Gaiman’s after allegations of sexual abuse leveled against him in a New York magazine story. Dark Horse Comics also announced that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have also been cancelled.

Filipino komiks at the Angoulême International Comics Festival

The National Book Development Board first called for titles for the Angoulême International Comics Festival back in November last year and now they’re at the festival with these creators! If you’re attending, check out the schedule in the Facebook post above to get a chance to meet creators like Arnold Arre, Renren Galeno, and Arli Pagaduan.

Human Authored Certification from The Authors Guild

The Authors Guild, the United States’ “oldest and largest professional organization for published writers”, has announced its Human Authored Certification Program, which will certify that “the text of the book was written by a human and not generated by AI, with the exception of minimal, trivial uses, such as AI applications that check spelling and grammar or for brainstorming or research.”

Currently, the program is only available to Authors Guild members but will eventually expand to non-Guild members.

The Girl with Ice in Her Veins cover reveal

I’ll be honest, I haven’t kept up with the Lisbeth Salander books after Stieg Larsson died. So it’s a surprise to me that the books have still been coming out since then, first from David Lagercrantz and now from Karin Smirnoff, who also happens to be the first female author to do so.

People has more on the new book, including a synopsis and exclusive excerpt.

Dan Brown’s new Robert Langdon novel

The Associated Press reports that Dan Brown’s latest Robert Langdon novel, The Secret of Secrets, will come out on September 9, 2025 in “at least a dozen countries” that include the Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, and Finland. It’s Dan Brown’s first Robert Langdon novel since 2017’s Origin.

Now this is just me, but I noped out of the whole Robert Langdon series after The Lost Symbol in 2009. I literally gave away that book to a commanding officer in Sulu when I was there because I was so over it. But maybe there’s still Robert Langdon fans out there that’ll be excited for this book!

Arundhati Roy’s memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me cover reveal

People has an exclusive reveal of Arundhati Roy’s first memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, which is about her relationship with her mother, educator Mary Roy.

The book will come out on September 2 and is described in the synopsis as “a soaring account, both intimate and inspirational, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her complex relationship to the extraordinary, singular mother”.