OT: Publishing Deal for Barque Cats

Regular readers will know my obsession with cats, so this book is of particular interest to me. From Publishers Lunch:

Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's BARQUE CATS, like sailing ships of old, spaceships have cats but in space they are rare and valuable; what humans do not know is that the cats are plotting to take over the universe, to Sue Moe at Del Rey, in a two-book deal, by Donald Maass at Donald Maass Literary Agency, in association with Diana Tyler at MBA Literary Agents in London (NA).