Can June Hear Me?
Mario Puzo meets Walter Mosley. Sound the siren. Gatekeepers are back (but are they?). Row, row row your summer, sloppily down the stream. And so much more.
Your Inside Voice is a curated cultural newsletter brought to you by Pragmatic, the IP/literary scouting advisory that helps film & tv producers find, acquire, and develop material for the screen.
THE MAIN COURSE
KING OF ASHES by S.A. Cosby | Pine & Cedar Books | June 10, 2025
There may be no American author writing today who delivers page-turning, character-rich prose more consistently—or more enjoyably—than S.A. Cosby. Reading his work feels like riding shotgun in a sleek, high-speed thriller while also wanting to hit the brakes just to admire the craftsmanship of a single sentence. His prose is clear, cutting, and bursting with meaning—and it’s all delivered against an expertly rendered milieu of the complicated, soulful American South.
King of Ashes is classic Cosby: gritty, propulsive, and deeply transportive. The novel follows Roman Montgomery, a sharp big-city financial advisor who returns to his rural hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia, to protect his family from a brutal gang. With his father's legacy hanging in the balance, Roman must navigate a gauntlet of betrayal, violence, and ghosts from his past—using both his street smarts and his Wall Street instincts to survive.
At once a rich family drama and an absolutely gripping thriller, it’s The Godfather, but make it Southern. And it’s impossible to put down.
YOUR SOMMELIER’S PAIRING
WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart | Delacorte Press
You’ve torn through the five episodes of Netflix’s Sirens and wondering where to go to get your fix of rich people behaving badly on the dreamscaped grounds of very expensive coastal real estate. Wherever does one get a fix of untimely death, uncommon hobbies, and a co-dependent boss-assistant relationship rooted in learned helplessness worthy of Miranda Priestly?
Worry not! We can‘t do much on the Devil Wears Prada beat (don’t worry, a sequel is coming to scratch that itch). But the other stuff? Check out E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars. Published way back in 2014 (the year that brought us the original Ice Bucket Challenge), it’s a moody mystery that’ll wreck you emotionally (in the best possible way) amidst breathtaking scenery, with a twist you won’t see coming.
And to top it off, reading the book will whet the ole’ appetite just in time for the series adaptation (finally!), out on June 18 on Amazon Prime Video.
THE CHEESE COURSE
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Yes, and…
DESSERT
2024’s Romantasy is 2025’s Weird Girl Fiction.
Author and Substacker Karin Gillespie does the Lord’s work, analyzing debut novel sales reported in Publishers’ Marketplace. It’s nice to see in print (in pixel?) what our own scouting work has suggested in these past months: offbeat protagonists are in. For publishers, at least.
Is the Next Great American Novel Being Published on Substack?
Sure, why not!
‘Sinners’ Is Resurrecting the Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
There’s lots to be learned from the laughably parochial (the most charitable word that comes to mind) collective freak out over the success of Sinners. Many of these lessons won’t be learned if past is, as they say, prologue. But both book publishers and film studios would do well to lean into word-of-mouth marketing in a world where there’s very little opportunity to capture the collective attention of readers and audiences. Good, surprising stories, well told will do the trick every time.
Chicago Sun-Times prints summer reading list full of fake books
It’s going to be a long, hot, sloppy summer.
Pragmatic works with a select list of American and international film & television clients scouting IP to help them find, acquire, and develop books and other intellectual property—articles, life rights, podcasts, video games, theater…and so much more—for the screen. If you’re interested in working with us and being plugged into a global IP platform with expertise at your side, we’d love to hear from you! Send us an email.