Fantasy fiction writer signs book deal, joins Goldsmiths to write sequel

A novelist whose debut book has been bought by a major publishing house for a six-figure sum has joined Goldsmiths, University of London to write the sequel.

Publisher of the Year Pan Macmillan announced in August that it has acquired the Slavedays trilogy by Dr Vic James, “an Orwellian page-turner” that will appeal to readers of all ages “with its compulsive personal and dynastic power struggles”.

This month the North American rights to the Slavedays trilogy were also acquired by the Del Rey imprint at PenguinRandomHouse - home to George R. R. Martin, Diana Gabaldon, Pierce Brown and other globally recognised authors.

In 2014 Vic published a first draft of Slavedays on Wattpad, a writing community website that exposes new writing to a massive audience. In a year it was read more than a quarter of a million times and won a Wattpad prize for most talked about fantasy novel, before attracting the attention of Pan Macmillan for publication.

Set in a dystopian Britain, in the Slavedays world citizens must endure ten years of servitude to a magically gifted aristocracy. A teenage boy dreams of rebellion, his older sister yearns for love and knowledge, and as political machinations clash with family intrigues a dangerous young aristocrat remakes the world with his dark gifts.

In September 2015 Vic joined our Department of English and Comparative Literature to study for her PhD.

Under the supervision of Francis Spufford, her PhD will explore the editing process in fiction, researching where writers look for advice, input and guidance on their work, and how they choose what to incorporate and what to discard. As part of the project, she will also be writing the second novel in the Slavedays trilogy.

Vic James is a current affairs TV director and has twice judged the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and produced investigations for Channel 4 News, including the film that put foodbanks on the political agenda. She recently produced The Superrich and Us and Britain’s Biggest Heist? (BBC2, 2015) and directed Britain’s Trillion Pound Island (BBC2, 2016). Vic studied History and English at Oxford, where she completed her first PhD on 17th century religious and political literature.

“I chose to do a PhD at Goldsmiths to complement my writing - to allow me to reflect critically on the creative process, with the hope of being able to share what I've learned with other aspiring writers and readers,” she explains. “From the minute I decided to do another PhD, I knew that Goldsmiths and Francis were the only options for me!”

Follow Vic's publishing journey and her Goldsmiths experience on Twitter @DrVictoriaJames and Facebook