JABberwocky's History and Employee Information
Joshua Bilmes is the Proprietor of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which he founded in 1994.
His path to owning his own literary agency started in high school, when he sent monthly letters to the editor of Analog, the leading science fiction magazine, critiquing each issue. These letters impressed the magazine's associate editor so much that she offered Bilmes the chance to do freelance readers reports and other work when she left Analog to join new start-up SF publisher Baen Books. Joshua Bilmes and the publishing industry took an immediate liking to one another, he landed a job at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency after graduating from college (University of Michigan, BA in History), and started his agenting career in February 1986.
While his path to becoming an agent went through the science fiction genre, his interests were and are far broader. In the mystery genre, the Hardy Boys led to the Three Investigators, and from there to Agatha Christie, Perry Mason, the 87th Precinct and John LeCarre. He became a "Variety" junkie during high school, hasn't missed an issue in 20 years, and still has a fascination with the entertainment business. His college degree in history introduced him to The New Republic, though he now reads The New Yorker. He keeps up on pop culture with Rolling Stone and spends fifteen hours a week reading newspapers. There's always time for a good movie, and baseball and tennis are often his background music.
It was in fact a debut mystery novel, MARY'S GRAVE by Malcolm McClintick, which became Bilmes' first sale in the summer of 1986. It was also in the summer of 1986 that he reached out to Elizabeth Moon and discovered the extremely popular "Deed of Paksenarrion" trilogy, helping to launch the career of an award-winning and bestselling author. By the end of the 1980s he had commenced work with Charlaine Harris, Simon Green, Tanya Huff and other mainstays of the JABberwocky list.
But it wasn't just about building his own list at the Scott Meredith agency. Carl Sagan, Harry Kemelman, P.G. Wodehouse, Ellery Queen, these are just a few of the longstanding Meredith clients whom Bilmes worked with. After Meredith's passing, Bilmes was promoted to VP and got invaluable managerial experience holding the company together for several months pending the arrival of new ownership.
In 1994, Bilmes struck out on his own to establish JABberwocky Literary Agency. After ten years of growth, many milestones were reached in his 10th anniversary year. Among them: taking on Steve Mancino as the agency's first full-time employee to help handle the demands of a growing business and increasingly successful client roster; seeing one of his earliest clients, Elizabeth Moon, win the Nebula Award for Best Novel for THE SPEED OF DARK; watching Charlaine Harris climb to #22 on the NY Times hardcover fiction bestseller list with DEAD TO THE WORLD; going to the Chelsea Cinemas on a Friday night to see TESTOSTERONE, based on the novel by James Robert Baker and the first theatrical release based on a JABberwocky title, with a large and appreciative audience; topping 100 foreign rights sales for the first time.
Some second decade highlights so far: Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) shooting the pilot for an HBO series based on the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, while a series based on Tanya Huff's "Blood" books aired on Lifetime;, the agency's first 7-figure deal for the 8th thru 10th Sookie novels; Simon Green's "Nightside" series becoming the author's most successful in an already successful career ... launching Brandon Sanderson, first with his Tor fantasy ELANTRIS and now with a major middle-grade series launch from Scholasatic, then following that up with his best-ever first novel sale for Peter Brett's PAINTED MAN ... Tobias Buckell becoming the youngest-yet JABberwocky discovery when CRYSTAL RAIN appeared for his 27th birthday ... watching as Steve Mancino's first two discoveries are published to good results, and exceptionally so for Kat Richardson ... watching Ohio State students pour into the Union Ballroom to hear Elizabeth Moon speak on THE SPEED OF DARK
Other relevant links: Bookstore Splog (1/07), Oscar Splog (2/07), Joshua's Real Blog
I'm excluding work by my own clients here, but...
Favorite fantasy: LITTLE BIG by John Crowley
Favorite sf novel: HYPERION by Dan Simmons
Favorite mystery: THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL by Franklin W. Dixon, because it was the first
Favorite director: Stanley Kubrick
Favorite movie not directed by Kubrick: Superman, The Movie
Other Favorites: Goodfellas, lots of Tom Cruise, Bull Durham, The Empire Strikes Back
Favorite movie theatre: Loews Astor Plaza (1974-2004) Obituary
Favorite film composer: John Williams
Favorite football team: Michigan Wolverines, and the Pats for as long as Tom Brady is QBing
Favorite NL team: NY Mets
Favorite AL team: Toronto Blue Jays
Current Tennis Player to Watch: Richard Gasquet
Favorite Metropolitan Area to Visit Bookstores: Washington, DC
Borders Visited: 183
Favorite bookstore hang-up: Snooty indies with crappy sf sections
Favorite Song: Hotel California
Favorite Ringtone: What's a "Ringtone"?
Favorite Groceries: Whole Foods Markets
Favorite Whole Foods: Bellevue, WA and Austin, TX
Favorite College Thing I Can't Stop Doing: Eating at Uno's
Favorite Drake's Cakes: Yodels
Originally from Philadelphia, Steve Mancino moved to New York in 1999 and quickly took a position at Barnes and Noble's midtown flagship store. In 2001, he resumed his college studies full-time while continuing to work full-time. In 2004 he earned his B.A. in English from St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn. His specialties include Classical and Medieval literature, especially Chaucer, and Milton. Outside of his degree, Steve has an interest in Philosophy, having studied the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, and philosophies on "The Self." He loves to sit and read fantasy novels with the occassional literary novel or academic non-fiction book thrown into the mix. In June 2004, Joshua was gracious enough to pick him up as a permanent member of his expansive staff after Steve had worked a year-long internship.
Steve celebrated his first sale in April 2005 with Kat Richardson's paranormal mystery, GREYWALKER, in a three book deal to Ace/Roc. He followed that up with Jim C. Hines' funny fantasy, GOBLIN QUEST, in a two-book deal to DAW after finalizing multiple foreign deals for the book.
Other relevant links: Farewell to B&N #1003 (2/07)
Favorite Fantasy: GAME OF THRONES by George RR Martin; FIRST KING OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks
Favorite Science Fiction: CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ by Walter Miller (only because it took me 10 years to finish)
Fantasy or Science Fiction?: Fantasy, definitely Fantasy
Favorite Classical Work: Anything Homer, or Plato's SYMPOSIUM
Favorite Medieval Work: ALL OF IT, with a particular love for everything Chaucer
Favorite movie: 300, Transformers
Favorite Actor: Chris Walken
Favorite Actor to impersonate: See above (and Sean Connery)
Favorite Teams: Anything Philly (Go IGGLES!)
Favorite Sports: Free style wrestling, and Ultimate Frisbee (I've got a real crazy overhand throw)
Favorite Band: Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Avenged Sevenfold
Favorite Song: Currently: Critical Acclaim, Scream, Gunslinger (Avenged Sevenfold [their new album is hot!]); Revelations (Audioslave); Cisco Kid (War)
Favorite food to cook: Mexican, Fusion
Favorite food to eat: Someone else's cooking. I don't feel like eating after I cook :(
Favorite bookstore hang-up: Working at one
Favorite College Thing I Can't Stop Doing: No comment...
Favorite Drake's Cakes: Devil Dogs!
Phobias (Added by request): Spiders, Needles, Heights, Knee and Eye surgical proceedures/injuries
This area was last updated 3/4/08
© 2008, JABberwocky Literary Agency