No sign of the publishing world shutting up shop for the holidays at the Science Factory, which has recently concluded deals for Dan Clery's A PIECE OF THE SUN (the first popular account of fusion research and its hopes for the future – Overlook/Duckworth), Vaughan Bell's THE ENCHANTED WINDOW (on how hallucinations reveal the hidden workings of the mind and brain – Penguin), Simon Ings's eagerly awaited new novel DEAD WATER (set among the tramp lines and pirate syndicates operating on the Indian Ocean – Atlantic) and Matthew Cobb's ELEVEN DAYS IN AUGUST (the gripping story of the liberation of Paris in 1944 – Simon & Schuster). Further details will be posted on the Science Factory's website soon. Meantime, watch this space for imminent news of two other exciting deals: Lone Frank's MY BEAUTIFUL GENOME: Self-Discovery in a Brave New World and Jesse Bering's PERV: The Surprising Science of Sexual Deviance – proposals out with publishers this week.

Anil Ananthaswamy recently visited Google's San Francisco office to present his book THE EDGE OF PHYSICS. The event took place on 12 March 2010 as part of the Authors@Google series, and is now available online in this YouTube clip.

Neville Moir at Polygon has acquired world rights in a trilogy of novels dramatizing the three wholescale revolutions in astronomical thought that have punctuated human history. The author is the acclaimed astronomy writer Stuart Clark, senior editor for space science at the European Space Agency and former editor of the UK's best-selling popular astronomy magazine Astronomy Now. The trilogy has already been sold to publishers in Greece, Korea and Japan, in deals totalling more than $100,000.

Collectively known as the COSMO-THRILLER trilogy, the novels tell the story of Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, who in the sixteenth century precipitated the modern study of the universe; Newton, who in the seventeenth century performed his great synthesis of earthly and heavenly motion; and Albert Einstein, who in the twentieth century finally revealed the nature of space and time.

'Wars, persecution, religious belief, political instability, sexual scandal and royal readjustments all had their role to play in shaping the breakthroughs that transformed our perception of the universe', says Stuart Clark. 'By allowing these brilliant men to be painted in their true colours, I hope to spark the public's imagination as never before.'

Neville Moir says: 'We are thrilled to have the opportunity to publish this exciting and imaginative trilogy'. Polygon plans to publish the first book, 'The Sky's Dark Labyrinth', in Spring 2011, with subsequent instalments following a year apart.

Nicholas Dunbar appeared on BBC Radio 4’s 'Today' programme on Monday, talking about Greece concealing its debt using derivatives. This was a story that Nick broke about six years ago on the same programme, and features in his forthcoming book, THE DEVIL'S DERIVATIVES – and has now become very topical. If you missed the Radio 4 interview, you can listen again below.

Three new authors join the Science Factory at the start of 2010, with new deals for Michael Nielsen (REINVENTING DISCOVERY: How Open Science is Making Us Smarter, Princeton University Press), Georgina Ferry (ROUGH MAGIC: Shakespeare's World of Science; Bloomsbury) and Angela Saini (GEEK NATION: How Indian Citizens are Creating the World’s Next Science Superpower; Hodder).