Two Susquehanna University creative writing alumni have had their novels acquired for publication by two Big 5 publishing houses.
Nick Martell’s ’16 latest novel Termina Station will be published by Saga Press Books, an imprint Simon & Schuster, in spring 2027. Salvatore Pane’s ’07 Away Message will be published by Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, in fall 2027.
Termina Station is a work of literary horror that has drawn early comparisons to the work of celebrated science fiction author Ray Bradbury.
The novel follows middle-aged father Roger Summers who becomes trapped in a realm called Knowhere after falling asleep on the train on his way home from work. Returning to Earth requires Roger to make his way through Knowhere’s five “ringdoms” and face the shadows of his past — all while staying one step ahead of the demonic Mister Teeth.
Martell said he is excited to see how readers react to the way he plays with tense and style in the book.
“Termina Station is primarily written in third-person past tense, though one section shifts into second person,” he explained. “I hadn’t planned for the book to experiment with style and tense the way it does, but it happened naturally, worked well and kept evolving from there. I see style, tense and format the way a film director sees different camera shots — they’re all tools to bring out the strongest parts of the story.”
Pane’s Away Message follows a reluctant podcaster and his ragtag crew as they travel across the country to untangle the mysterious disappearance of an enigmatic video game designer.
Pane earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Pittsburgh after graduating from Susquehanna. He currently works as an associate professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in Michigan.
“Most of my ideas arise naturally from my obsessions, and Away Message pairs two: podcasts and video games,” Pane said.
Hooked on podcasts for the past 20 years and growing up in a generation that had easy access to video games informed Pane’s interests when it came to writing his novel.
“Was this a positive development for society?” Pane asked himself. “Negative? Neutral? So, I really wanted to explore that milieu and all the ramifications that come with it.”
The writing process
Pane began jotting down notes for Away Message two years ago. During the drafting process he writes five days a week – Monday through Friday from 7 to 10:30 a.m. – followed by teaching in the afternoon.
“While writing, I have agency,” Pane said. “I can make big sweeping changes, and I can almost feel the book improving and growing towards its final form. When the book’s out on submission, I’m mostly twiddling my thumbs and staring at my email inbox, trying to manifest good news.”
Martell, who writes full-time, said one of the greatest lessons he learned as a student was not to overcomplicate his stories.
“It’s easy to lose sight of how readers with no context will interpret your work,” Martell said. “What felt clear and layered to me came across as an unfocused plot weighed down by unnecessary details and slow pacing. That lesson stuck with me, and now I make sure readers understand the story’s direction from the very first page. With my newest novel, it’s simple: the protagonist wants to go home, and the entire book is built around that idea.”
Martell’s first trilogy, The Legend of the Mercenary King, was published through Saga in a multi-book deal that included foreign distribution rights.
Pane has also published five other books: The Neorealist in Winter: Stories (2023), Story Mode: The Creative Writer’s Guide to Narrative Video Game Design (2023), The Theory of Almost Everything (2018), Mega Man 3 (2016), and Last Call in the City of Bridges (2012).
