Hollow City, (Quirk Books), the sequel to Ransom Riggs’ unlikely best seller, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, based on eerie found photographs, arrives in January. The cover has just been revealed.

There’s not much news on it yet, beyond the publishers description:

“This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.

Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages.”

Love the line about London being “the peculiar capital of the world.”

Harry Potter producer David Heyman is reteaming with Emma Watson for an adaptation of a debut novel Queen of the Tearling, Variety reports. The first in a projected trilogy, it is described as a “female-oriented Game of Thrones.”

If that sounds familiar, another production company made a similar comparison when they bought the rights to Kristin Cashore’s Graceling, in April.

HarperCollins announced in February that they had acquired the novel from 35-year-old Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate, Erika Johansen, for publication in 2014. The press release describes the plot,

Set three centuries after a small portion of the human race has populated a landmass that mysteriously emerged in the wake of an environmental catastrophe, the series follows nineteen-year-old princess Kelsea Glynn, who must reclaim her deceased mother’s throne and redeem her kingdom, the Tearling, from forces of corruption and dark magic of The Red Queen, the sorceress-tyrant of the neighboring country, Mortmesne.

Publication information is not available yet.

Diana Gabaldon revealed during a talk at the recently-concluded Book Expo that she had just signed the final contract with the Starz network for the long-gestating project to bring her Outlander series (RH/Delacorte) to the TV screen. Shooting will begin in September, she said, and if all goes well, it will begin airing in spring of 2014.

This is probably the reason that the publishing date for the next title in the series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, has been moved from a December publication date to March 25, when it will tie in to the publicity for the STARZ series.

Below is a video of the BEA Book and Author Breakfast during which Gabaldon revealed the news. She is featured along with Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, RH/Knopf, 10/29), Congressman John Lewis (March: Book One, a graphic novel from Top Shelf Productions, 8/13) and Chris Matthews (Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked, Simon & Schuster, 11/12). Gabaldon’s segment  begins just after the 52:00 time stamp.

Gabaldon spoke about the challenge of writing books in series and her goal to treat each new title as a standalone in a BEA interview:

The hottest spring teen dystopian title, one that our YA GalleyChat group has been buzzing about for months, The Testing (HMH) hit shelves on Tuesday, with this terrific tagline, “Its not enough to pass the test, you have to survive it.”

Days before, at Book Expo America, booksellers and librarians not only met the author in the HMH booth, but grabbed copies of the sequel, Independent Study, arriving in January.

UPDATE: Deadline announces that Paramount has bought the film rights

The trailer gives a good sense of the story:

The sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books) arrives this coming January. Entertainment Weekly reveals the title, Hollow City, (Quirk Books, 9781594746123, pbk, $17.99; AudioGo) along with a preview (no photos and no cover, however).

As to Miss Peregrine, the movie, a  screenwriter was assigned in December of 2011. Tim Burton was rumored to be interested in directing it, but there’s been no recent news and Burton is now at work on a biopic about painter Margaret Keane, whose kitschy portraits of kids with enormous eyes were popular in the ’60’s. It’s being called, of course, Big Eyes.

On his Web site, Riggs announces that he is going on tour in June for the paperback of Miss Peregrine, which will also include some extra photos and the first chapter of Hollow City.

Below is the book trailer for Miss Peregrine.