HarperCollins has acquired the rights to a completed manuscript from late “Jurassic Park” author Michael Crichton.
A brand-new novel titled “Dragon Teeth” has been unearthed from the beloved writer’s archive, and the publisher will release the work in May 2017 in several English-speaking territories around the world.
“Dragon Teeth” follows the fictional apprentice to two rivals and real-life paleontologists, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, during a period of wide fossil discovery (and forgery) in the late 1800s.
Harper Publisher Jonathan Burnham and Executive Editor Jennifer Barth negotiated the deal with CrichtonSun, which is headed by Michael’s widow, Sherri Crichton, who is represented by Sloan Harris and Jennifer Joel of ICM Partners.
“When I came across the ‘Dragon Teeth’ manuscript in the files, I was immediately captivated. It has Michael’s voice, his love of history, research and science all dynamically woven into an epic tale,” Sherri Crichton said in statement.
Mrs. Crichton said she traced the genesis of the book back to correspondence between Crichton and Prof. Edwin H. Colbert, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History.
“[This] was clearly a very important book for Michael. I’m so pleased to continue the long relationship that he shared with HarperCollins with its publication.”
Burnham added that the work was “pure Crichton, the work of an exuberant imagination operating at full blast, taking readers on a ride into a world of wild adventure.”
Film rights are still the property of CricthonSun. Harper took world English language rights for the project and will roll out the title in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India.