Media Contact:

Shanon Stowe, Director of Publicity

615-371-7784; shanon.stowe@hbgusa.com

NASHVILLE, TENN – At a recent gathering of over four hundred fans, Ted Dekker, New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books, announced something so unexpected it drew a collective gasp from the room. He is writing a new series, The Forbidden, to rival the scope and impact of his beloved Circle Series, and he is collaborating with award-winning novelist Tosca Lee.

“I write for the same reason my readers pick up these stories: to discover,” Dekker told the crowd. “I want to explore the themes common in all of my books—redemption, love, hope—in a completely different way. But, this story is so far-reaching that it needs two imaginations to fuel it.”

This story would require a unique blend of Dekker-style thrills and grit wrapped in masterful prose like he has never delivered before. It would require joining forces with someone able to help elevate the story and make it larger than life. It seemed like an order too big to fill until he discovered Tosca Lee.

"Our goal is simple: to combine what Ted does best, that his readers know and love him for, with what I do best–all to deliver the reader more powerful story than either of us could have done alone," Tosca Lee said.

Forbidden, the first novel in The Forbidden series, will release in September 2011 from Center Street (Hachette Book Group). Described by the authors as “a thriller for tomorrow”, the world as we know it is unrecognizable. Four hundred eighty years have passed since civilization’s brush with extinction. Perfect order reigns and humanity’s greatest threats have all been silenced under the rule of a totalitarian government. There is no disease, no malice, no hate, and no war. There is only peace until the day one man discovers the truth: Every single soul walking the earth is actually dead and the human heart has been stripped of all that makes it human. Now only he is alive and has the knowledge that can once again awaken humanity.

Dekker is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books, including The Bride Collector, BoneMan’s Daughters, Adam, Thr3e, and The Circle Series. His novels Thr3e and House have been adapted as feature films. Visit www.teddekker.com for more information.

Lee is the critically acclaimed author of Demon: A Memoir—Christy Award finalist and ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Silver Award sinner—and Havah: The Story of Eve, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Visit www.toscalee.com for more information.

About Center Street:

Center Street publishes for the general market in a number of categories including Fiction, Self-Help, Motivation, Health & Fitness, and Memoirs. Center Street has published a number of bestselling titles including books by Ted Dekker, Karen Kingsbury, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and John Maxwell.

About Hachette Book Group:

Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the second-largest publisher in the world. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, and Hachette Digital.