E.L. James’ Husband To Publish YA Novel

Could the next bestselling author be the husband of E.L. James, who wrote the international bestselling series Fifty Shades of Grey? Possibly.

According to Entertainment Weekly, James’ husband Niall Leonard is writing a “gritty” young adult fiction novel for Random House Children’s Publishing. The novel, called Crusher, is about a teenager accused of murdering his stepfather, something that Leonard says he’s been wanting to publish for quite some time.

[…] it finally all came together last November when my wife encouraged me to take part in the Nanowrimo novel-writing event.

The novel will be released by Doubleday in September.

I’ve got to wonder how easily Leonard will be able to ride the coattails of his wife’s success. Fifty Shades of Grey is popular because it took an underground, not-so-popular type of fiction and made it more accessible. A fantasy thriller for teens is something we’ve seen before. Also, since Leonard and his wife do not share the same last name, people generally won’t put two and two together; I don’t think her success will necessarily rub off on him. What do you guys think?