STERLING LORD LITERISTIC, INC. FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE
FALL 2012
From ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac, Signet 1958
CONTENTS FICTION RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES PANIC IN A SUITCASE by Yelena Akhtiorskaya................................ 2 BEING ESTHER by Miriam Karmel................................................... 2 LET’S PRETEND IT’S JUST A ROSE by Carolyn Parkhurst................. 2 AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERYTHING by Ben Dolnick...................... 3 THE MORELS by Christopher Hacker.............................................. 4 THE VIOLET HOUR by Katherine Hill............................................... 5 THE LOVE SONG OF JONNY VALENTINE by Teddy Wayne.............. 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF A.J FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin............... 7
WOMEN’S FICTION THE WEIGHT OF SMALL THINGS by Sherri Wood Emmons......14 THE CROOKED BRANCH by Jeanine Cummins..........................14 THE ELEMENTALS by Francesca Lia Block.................................15 GRACE GROWS by Shelle Sumners...........................................16
GENERAL FICTION CHINESE WHISKERS by Pallavi Aiyar............................................... 8 THE MIDDLESTEINS by Jami Attenberg........................................... 9 BEST OF YOUTH by Michael Dahlie............................................... 10 FAMILIAR by J. Robert Lennon...................................................... 11 THE SHELTER CYCLE by Peter Rock............................................... 12 TWO-PART INVENTIONS by Lynne Sharon Schwartz.................... 13
BACKLIST - RECENT FICTION HIGHLIGHTS THE MILL RIVER RECLUSE by Darcie Chan................................18 THE WALK SERIES by Richard Paul Evans..................................19 THE NINTH STEP by Grant Jerkins.............................................20 HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? by Sheila Heti............................21 THE DEAD DO NOT IMPROVE by Jay Caspian Kang..................22 THE CALL by Yannick Murphy...................................................23 THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK by Matthew Quick.................24
COMMERCIAL FICTION A WINTER DREAM by Richard Paul Evans.................................17 THE 13TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS by Jason F. Wright....................17
NONFICTION RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES PREDISPOSED by Alford, Smith & Hibbing.................................... 25 THE DISASTER ARTIST by Tom Bissell & Greg Sestero................... 25 THE MOMENTS by Alan Burdick................................................... 25 LETTERS TO YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS by Annie Choi............. 25 FURIOUSLY HAPPY by Jenny Lawson............................................ 26 LISTENING FOR MADELEINE by Leonard S. Marcus...................... 26 YOUR HANDS ARE KISSED MANY TIMES by Marianne Maszak..... 26 ORGANIZATION WITH HEART by Kip Tindell................................. 26
BACKLIST - RECENT NONFICTION HIGHLIGHTS THE SCIENCE OF YOGA by William Broad.................................34 ALL WE KNOW by Lisa Cohen...................................................35 THE BALL by John Fox...............................................................36 PRIVACY by Garret Keizer.........................................................37 DRIFT by Rachel Maddow.........................................................38 LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED by Jenny Lawson.......39
NONFICTION THE MERCILESS BOOK OF METAL by Abrams & Jenkins............... 27 HUNGRY GIRL TO THE MAX by Lisa Lillien.................................... 27 DETROIT CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE by Mark Binelli....................... 28 REAL MAN ADVENTURES by T Cooper.......................................... 29 THE FURIES UNLEASHED by Steven M. Miner.............................. 30 STRINGER - A YEAR IN THE CONGO by Anjan Sundaram.............. 31 AN ENLARGED HEART by Cynthia Zarin........................................ 32 PHOTOJOURNALISTS ON WAR by Michael Kamber...................... 33
VINTAGE STERLING LORD LITERISTIC, INC. FICTION & NONFICTION Dee Brown....................................................................................40 John Clellon Holmes.....................................................................41 Jack Kerouac.................................................................................42 Ken Kesey.....................................................................................43 Barry Lopez...................................................................................44 Malcolm Lowry.............................................................................45 Hubert Selby, Jr.............................................................................46 Anne Sexton.................................................................................47 Jacqueline Susann........................................................................48
FALL 2012
GENERAL FIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Yelena Akhtiorskaya
PANIC IN A SUITCASE PUBLICATION PUBLISHER
Submission forthcoming
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Miriam Karmel
BEING ESTHER PUBLICATION
March 2013, MS available
PUBLISHER
Milkweed (US & Can)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Daniel Slager
RIGHTS SOLD
POLAND (WELTBILD)
Carolyn Parkhurst
LET’S PRETEND IT’S JUST A ROSE PUBLICATION
June 2013, MS: Nov 2012
PUBLISHER
Doubleday (US)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Alison Callahan
RIGHTS SOLD
UK (SCEPTRE)
Uncle Pasha, a sickly and superior poet, arrives in Brighton Beach from Odessa, Ukraine to visit his family: his imperious mother, meek doctor father, sister, brother-in-law, and awkwardly observant niece. They have just settled in America and hope that Pasha will overcome his habitual passivity and move to the US. Beginning in the early 1990s and spanning over the next twenty years, there is illness, uncomfortable aging, and additional visits for Pasha. In rich, lyrical prose, Yelena Akhtiorskaya explores the shifting perspectives on what it means to be in the US, forever new and unsettled. This is Yelena Akhtiorskaya’s first novel.
Esther Lustig is old and is growing older every day. Having lost her husband and the majority of her friends, Esther lives on her memories and does her best to avoid her daughter’s “implications” to move into a retirement community. Through her adventures and her devilishly delightful outlooks Esther attempts to come to terms with the meaning of a modest life. In spare and refreshingly unsentimental prose, Miriam Karmel has written a profound debut novel that portraits the last days of a woman’s life.
This is the story of the Hammond family members before and after they join a new-age cult run by the charismatic, self-styled parenting guru named Scott Bean. Told from three perspectives, the narrative traces the events that led the family to abruptly change their lifestyle. At the center of the story is 13-year-old Tilly, who occupies space somewhere on the autism spectrum and functions as a destabilizing force within the family while the group tries to handle her behavioral peculiarities. This is a novel of family identity, domestic apocalypse and the hope we all harbor that if we make the right choices, maybe we will be able to make things better.
FALL 2012
2
GENERAL FIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Ben Dolnick
AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERYTHING PUBLICATION
Fall 2013, Edited manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Pantheon (US)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Jenny Jackson
In this heartbreaking and loving story, the friendship between two boys comes to a sudden halt when a terrible accident leads to the death of a stranger. After years of keeping their involvement a secret, Adam is approached by Thomas’s parents who are in dire need of help; Thomas has run away to India and his mental state is rapidly deteriorating. Since Adam’s own life has stagnated, he agrees to help rescue his old friend. The adventure that begins to unfold brings the young men to examine the guilt, torment, and sorrow they have been carrying since their childhood. Ben Dolnick has a rare gift for portraying adolescence with a directness and sincerity that leaves no one untouched.
“Ben Dolnick is a writer of incredible sensitivity.” —Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything Is Illuminated
Ben Dolnick was born and raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University. He has worked as a bookseller, a tutor, a research assistant in an immunology lab, and as a zookeeper at the Central Park Zoo. Dolnick made his debut in 2007 with ZOOLOGY, a coming of age novel mostly set in New York. He is also the author of the novel YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE which was published in 2011. He currently lives in Brooklyn.
www.bendolnick.com
FALL 2012
3
GENERAL FIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Christopher Hacker
THE MORELS PUBLICATION
April 2013, Manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Soho Press (World English)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Mark Doten
The Morels are a happy family of three living in New York City. So why does Arthur publish an autobiographical novel that rips his tightly knit family apart at the seams? Arthur’s old schoolmate Chris is fascinated with this very question as he becomes reacquainted with the family man. As a single, aspiring filmmaker, Chris envies everything Arthur has: from his beautiful wife to his charming son to his seemingly effortless creativity. But things are never what they seem. Written in a style that is both lucid and emotional, THE MORELS takes a unique look at the power of family and art. This modern novel challenges us to think about questions to which there are never any easy answers.
Christopher Hacker received a BA in Music Composition from the University of Michigan and an MFA from Columbia University. His stories have appeared in Quarterly West and The Rake, and he was a finalist for a Pushcart Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife. THE MORELS is his first novel.
FALL 2012
4
GENERAL FIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Katherine Hill
THE VIOLET HOUR PUBLICATION
Summer 2013, Edited manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Scribner (US & Canada)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Nan Graham
Once blissfully in love, now complacent and unfaithful in marriage, Cassandra has been with Abe for more than twenty years. On a pleasant summer afternoon they embark with their precocious college-bound daughter, Elizabeth, on a short sailing trip that will rupture the family’s apparently thriving, enviable orderliness. THE VIOLET HOUR is a family love story that spans decades and coasts, starting in the foggy waters of the San Francisco Bay and moving to a funeral home in Washington D.C., with an important stop at a fishing village in turnof-the-century Finland. A novel of death and desire, confounded hopes and expectations and the emotional inheritances we accept or deny from our parents, it is a meditation both on the ways in which we hurt those closest to us and on the quiet harshness of modern American life. This is Katherine Hill’s first novel.
RIGHTS SOLD GERMANY (ULLSTEIN) UK (VIKING)
Katherine Hill’s short fiction has appeared in n+1, AGNI, Colorado Review, The Common, Philadelphia Stories, and Word Riot. She is the recipient of the Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction, the Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction, and has received fellowship support from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Bookforum, Poets & Writers, The Believer, and Philadelphia City Paper, among other publications. She is an assistant editor at Barrelhouse. She lives and writes in Cambridge, MA.
www.katherine-hill.com
FALL 2012
5
GENERAL FIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Teddy Wayne
THE LOVE SONG OF JONNY VALENTINE PUBLICATION
February 2013, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Free Press (US & Canada)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Millicent Bennett
A twisted bildungsroman set inside the concert venues and tour buses of rock star Jonny Valentine’s “Valentine Days Tour,” this novel, told from the perspective of the titular eleven-year-old pop star, follows the young star’s cross-country tour. During his journey, Jonny confronts the gilded tribulations of bubblegum-pop-stardom while chasing the specter of his absent father among his countless, faceless fans. Jonny speaks and thinks with a perverse hybrid of tween naïveté. The marketing-savvy lingo he has picked up comes from his hard-partying manager/mother and entourage of proxy friends: a distracted bodyguard, an aging choreographer, an overeducated private tutor. Teddy Wayne chronicles a child’s narcissism writ large and the result is a darkly humorous, thoroughly gripping portrait of the artist as an all-too-young man.
RIGHTS SOLD SPAIN (BLACKIE BOOKS)
“THE LOVE SONG OF JONNY VALENTINE takes us deep into the dark arts and even darker heart of mass market celebrity, 21st-century version. In the near-pubescent hitmaker of the title, Teddy Wayne delivers a wild ride through the upper echelons of the entertainment machine as it ingests human beings at one end and spews out dollars at the other. Jonny’s like all the rest of us, he wants to love and be loved, and as this brilliant novel shows, that’s a dangerous way to be when you’re inside the machine.” —Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Teddy Wayne is the recipient of the 2011 Whiting Writers’ Award, the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, as well as the 2011 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize runner-up. He is a finalist for the 2011 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He is a graduate of both Harvard University and Washington University in St. Louis, where he taught fiction and creative nonfiction writing. His debut novel, KAPITOIL, was published in 2010 to much critical acclaim. His work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time, Esquire, McSweeney’s, and The Wall Street Journal. Teddy Wayne lives in New York. www.teddywayne.com
FALL 2012
6
GENERAL FIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Gabrielle Zevin
THE COLLECTED WORKS OF A.J FIKRY PUBLICATION
Spring 2014, Unedited manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster (US)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Anjali Singh
A.J. Fikry is the disillusioned and persnickety owner of the local bookstore on Alice Island. A.J.’s business is slowing, he has lost his wife to a tragic car accident, and his most prized possession has just been stolen under embarrassing circumstances. What could possibly happen to rekindle A.J.’s love of life and literature? One day A.J. finds a baby girl alone in the children’s section, and this starts a new beginning as well as a burgeoning love affair with a sales rep from a small publisher. In this polished gem of a novel, readers will be delighted by the quirky cast of characters and the tight, fast-moving story. Gabrielle Zevin’s ability to tug at our heartstrings is on full display as she teaches us that we are all much more than one novel or one short story; we are all our collected works.
RIGHTS SOLD GERMANY (BLESSING)
Gabrielle Zevin is the author of THE HOLE WE’RE IN, MARGARETTOWN, ELSEWHERE, and the hugely successful young adult series: BIRTHRIGHT. She has also written screenplays and criticism. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of the cult hit, CONVERSATIONS WITH WOMEN. In 2000, she graduated from Harvard with a degree in English and American Literature.
www.gabriellezevin.com
FALL 2012
7
GENERAL FIC TION
Pallavi Aiyar
CHINESE WHISKERS PUBLICATION
December 2012, Galleys available
PUBLISHER
St. Martin’s Press (US & Canada)
AGENT
Robert Guinsler
EDITOR DETAILS
Daniela Rapp Includes 10 b&w illustrations throughout
A modern fable and a window into the rhythm and texture of life in the neighborhoods of imperial Beijing told through the eyes of two cats: Soybean and Tofu. This story interweaves real episodes in recent Chinese history such as the Olympic Games, the SARS virus and tainted pet food scandals with a richly imagined world. This heartwarming story of cats and humans will make you laugh, tear up and happily dwell on the universal battle between the corrupt nature of modern life and the ideals of a traditional one.
RIGHTS SOLD INDIA (HARPERCOLLINS) ITALY (FELTRINELLI)
“CHINESE WHISKERS is an endearing story of how a dynamic China is affecting the lives of its people and animals. Interspersed with illustrations by Gerolf Van de Perre, the story of the two cats deals with a serious subject in a manner that even a 10-year-old can enjoy it.” —The Business Standard “A lovely novel...with a lightness of touch that is sustained from beginning to end.” —The Sunday Guardian
Award winning journalist and author, Pallavi Aiyar, spent six years living in a hutong home in the heart of the old imperial city of Beijing. She is the winner of the 2007 Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for excellence in political reporting and analysis for her dispatches from China. Her book SMOKE AND MIRRORS: AN EXPERIENCE OF CHINA won the Vodafone-Crossword Popular Book Award in 2008. She currently lives in Brussels with her husband, two sons, and two Chinese cats.
www.pallaviaiyar.com
FALL 2012
8
GENERAL FIC TION
Jami Attenberg
THE MIDDLESTEINS PUBLICATION
October 2012, Galleys available
PUBLISHER
Grand Central (US & Canada)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Helen Atsma
A funny and moving novel about the loves, obsessions, and foibles of a Midwestern family on the brink of tremendous change. This multigenerational family saga deals with the difficulties in life that lead people to let themselves go and how the repercussions affect those who still care. Critically acclaimed author Jami Attenberg has written a pitchperfect novel that is filled with sly humor and immense compassion.
“Attenberg makes her characters’ thoughts — Richard and Benny in particular — seem utterly real, and her wry, observational humor often hits sideways rather than head-on.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
RIGHTS SOLD
“From Attenberg, the deeply satisfying story of a Chicago family coming apart at the seams and weaving together at the same time. /.../ A sharp-tongued, sweet-natured masterpiece of Jewish family life.” —Kirkus (Starred Review)
UK (SERPENT’S TAIL)
RUSSIA (EKSMO) TAIWAN (AMYGDALA)
“Kinetic with hilarity and anguish, romance and fury, Attenberg’s rapidly consumed yet nourishing novel anatomizes our insatiable hunger for love, meaning, and hope.” —Booklist
Jami Attenberg has written for The New York Times, New York, Salon, Nylon, Nerve, and other publications. Her debut collection of stories, INSTANT LOVE, was published in June 2006. She has since then written three novels: THE KEPT MAN, THE MELTING SEASON, and THE MIDDLESTEINS. A Chicago native, she currently lives in Brooklyn.
www.jamiattenberg.com
FALL 2012
9
GENERAL FIC TION
Michael Dahlie
THE BEST OF YOUTH PUBLICATION
January 2013, Unedited manuscript available
PUBLISHER
W.W. Norton (US)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Jill Bialosky
Harvard graduate Henry Lang is the awkward but charming type. When his parents die in a sailing accident, the 24-year-old is suddenly left with an inheritance of fifteen million dollars. Henry moves to Brooklyn in the hope of embracing a perhaps slightly naïve vision of contemporary youth culture. Instead, he stumbles into a series of troubling situations and disheartening romantic adventures, putting his identity and integrity to the test in this affable modern comedy.
RIGHTS SOLD
“Michael Dahlie writes the way Cary Grant used to act, that is, with a seeming effortlessness and grace that is truly maddening to those of us who know how difficult it is. THE BEST OF YOUTH, his fine new novel, is another infuriating case in point.” —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls
ITALY (NUTRIMENTI)
“Can a person be too good-natured for his own good? This is the question Michael Dahlie asks in THE BEST OF YOUTH, his sly, thoroughly engaging novel about love, literature, and the strange ways of Brooklyn hipsters. Dahlie is a wonderful writer, with a keen eye for the ridiculous, and a deep affection for his well-intentioned but sometimes clueless protagonist.” —Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers
Michael Dahlie won the 2009 PEN/Hemingway award for his novel, A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO GRACEFUL LIVING, and received a Whiting Writer’s Award in 2010. He is currently the Booth Tarkington Writer-in-Residence at Butler University in Indianapolis.
www.michaeldahlie.com
FALL 2012
10
GENERAL FIC TION
J. Robert Lennon
FAMILIAR PUBLICATION
October 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Graywolf Press (World English)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Fiona McCrae
One hot July morning, Elisa Brown is driving home from visiting her son Silas’ grave when something changes. Somewhere between the town where Silas is buried and the town where her husband and living son expect her arrival, Elisa enters a familiar and yet different life. She finds herself in a sturdier marriage with a new chance to repair her strained relationships with her children, because in this new world in which Elisa finds herself, Silas is no longer dead. In this unsettling, yet heartfelt novel, J. Robert Lennon explores the surreal undercurrents of contemporary American life.
“A woman falls into an alternate version of her life but fails to convince anyone that her life was ever different in this stealthy and thought-provoking literary thriller. /.../ Lennon succeeds by setting his odd, uncommon narrative in intimate terms that delve into Elisa’s sense of confusion.” —Publishers Weekly “Over the last decade, J. Robert Lennon’s literary imagination has grown increasingly morbid, convoluted and peculiar — just as his books have grown commensurately more surprising, rigorous and fun.” —The New York Times Book Review
J. Robert Lennon is the author of six novels including CASTLE, MAILMAN and THE LIGHT OF FALLING STARS which was the winner of Barnes & Noble’s 1997 Discover Great New Writers Award. His stories have appeared in the Paris Review, Granta, Harper’s Magazine, Playboy, and The New Yorker. His short story, “The Remember,” is the basis for the CBS primetime hit drama Unforgettable. The author lives in Ithaca, New York, where he is head of Creative Writing at Cornell University.
www.jrobertlennon.com
FALL 2012
11
GENERAL FIC TION
Peter Rock
THE SHELTER CYCLE PUBLICATION
April 2013, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (US & Canada)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Adrienne Brodeur
THE SHELTER CYCLE is an eerie and tender tale, which fictionalizes the experience of a small group of people who join and then leave a cult, only to attempt to reintegrate themselves back into a completely different world. Occasionally delving into magical realism, THE SHELTER CYCLE humanizes and empathizes with what, at least to an outsider, seems to be an extreme collection of beliefs, offering a thoughtful portrait of an unfamiliar view of the world.
“THE SHELTER CYCLE is a stunning novel about faith and disillusionment and the lingering power of the past. In spare, lyrical prose, and with immense compassion, Peter Rock illuminates a strange and little-known chapter in American religious history. At times, Rock’s uncanny ability to combine mysticism with blunt realism is reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor.” —Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers
Peter Rock’s previous novel MY ABANDONMENT won the Alex Award and the Utah Book Award. He has written four other novels and one short story collection. Rock has taught fiction at the University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Deep Springs College, and in the MFA program at San Francisco State University. He is a Professor of Creative Writing in the English Department at Reed College. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and two fierce young daughters.
www.peterrockproject.com
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12
GENERAL FIC TION
Lynne Sharon Schwartz
TWO-PART INVENTIONS PUBLICATION
November 2012, Galleys available
PUBLISHER
Counterpoint Press (World English)
AGENT
Peter Matson
EDITOR
Jack Shoemaker
Suzanne, a concert pianist, dies suddenly of a stroke in the New York City apartment she shares with her producer husband Philip. Her death opens a discussion on her life work and an article exposes a fraud behind her acclaimed music. Suzanne’s beloved husband had built her music career by seamlessly altering and stealing recordings from other pianists while claiming sole credit. In this engaging psychological novel, Lynne Sharon Schwartz guides the reader through a flawed marriage and a calculated career. Beginning with Suzanne’s death and moving backwards in time, Schwartz examines the couple’s life together and a career filled with promise, while contemplating the nature of truth, marriage, and the pursuit of perfection.
Praise for DISTURBANCES IN THE FIELD: “A quiet masterwork of late-20th-century American realism.” —Kirkus “A wonder to read. /.../ I can think of no other contemporary writer who writes so well, with such rich sensuality.” —Alice Adams, Los Angeles Times Book Review
Lynne Sharon Schwartz is the author of nineteen books which include fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry, and translations. Her first novel, ROUGH STRIFE, was nominated for a National Book Award and her wide-ranging work includes the comingof-age novel LEAVING BROOKLYN, nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction; the poetry collection IN SOLITARY; and the memoir NOT NOW, VOYAGER. Schwartz translates from Italian and is on the faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars. She lives in Manhattan.
www.lynnesharonschwartz.com
FALL 2012
13
WOMEN’S FIC TION
Sherri Wood Emmons
THE WEIGHT OF SMALL THINGS PUBLICATION
April 2013, Unedited manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Kensington Books (US & Canada)
AGENT
Judy Heiblum
EDITOR
John Scognamiglio
Corrie Phillips has an enviable life, even if it’s not quite the one she wanted. She enjoys working at her university alumni magazine, her house is beautiful and her husband, Mark, is attentive, handsome, and wealthy. Still, after years of frustration and failed attempts, Corrie is desperate for a child and haunted by the choices of her past. When an old boyfriend returns, Corrie’s new feelings put her marriage and stable life at risk. Faced with an unexpected choice, Corrie must now weigh what she needs most against what her heart has always desired. Sherri Wood Emmons has written two previous novels: PRAYERS AND LIES and THE SOMETIMES DAUGHTER, both published by Kensington Books.
Jeanine Cummins
THE CROOKED BRANCH PUBLICATION
March 2013, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
New American Library (US & Canada)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Claire Zion
After the birth of her daughter, the resilient Majella finds herself feeling isolated and exhausted as a mother in modern-day New York. At her childhood home in Queens, Majella discovers the diary of her maternal ancestor, the tough but equally terrified Ginny Doyle. The new mother is shocked to read a story of murder in her family history during Ireland’s Great Famine. Determined to uncover the truth of her heritage, Majella sets out to explore Ginny’s past, discovering surprising truths about her family and ultimately, herself.
FALL 2012
14
WOMEN’S FIC TION
Francesca Lia Block
THE ELEMENTALS PUBLICATION
October 2012, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
St. Martin’s Press (World English)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Michael Homler
Young Ariel Silverman moves to California in order to uncover the disappearance of her best friend Jeni who vanished a year ago in a college scouting trip. During her freshman year at U.C. Berkeley, Ariel meets three beautiful and seductive young people who entice her into a circle of sex, drugs, and lure her with some serious talk of magic. Ariel quickly falls in love with her new-found friends, but they could have ties to Jeni’s tragic fate. As the mystery begins to unravel, Ariel is faced with a chilling choice and a decision that could cost her everything, including her own life.
“Block skillfully weaves an occult thread throughout her thrilling new bildungsroman. /…/ [Her] fresh take on the coming-of-age story is a compelling and quick read, and her dark renderings of familiar college types will keep readers engaged and guessing as the pages fly by.” —Publishers Weekly “Few novelists mix reality and magic better than Block, though the magic here is very dark, and the atmosphere she creates with her richly ornamental language is sometimes as purposely oppressive as a greenhouse on a hot summer day. /.../ Block has nevertheless fashioned a novel that is both familiar and original and represents a new and salutary maturity in her evolving work.” —Booklist
Francesca Lia Block is the bestselling author of the WEETZIE BAT series. She has received numerous honors, including the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award and the Phoenix Award, as well as citations from the American Library Association, The New York Times Book Review, and the School Library Journal. Her books have sold over 500,000 copies in the US.
www.francescaliablock.com
FALL 2012
15
WOMEN’S FIC TION
Shelle Sumners
GRACE GROWS PUBLICATION
October 2012, Galleys available
PUBLISHER
St. Martin’s Press (US)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Brenda Copeland
GRACE GROWS is narrated by the witty, sometimes angry, always self-deprecating Grace Barnum, a New York textbook editor. The man in, out and back in her life is Tyler Wilkie, a simple dog walker who captures her heart. They immediately connect over a mutual passion for music, but when their budding relationship becomes fraught with complications, Tyler relocates to LA to pursue a music career and becomes an overnight success. His life becomes public fodder and Grace assumes she is no longer worthy of his affections. Luckily fate has other plans for these two. With wit, charm and humor, Shelle Sumners has captured the perfect city-life love story.
RIGHTS SOLD GERMANY (FISCHER/KRUGER)
“The story’s focus on its frustratingly stubborn heroine, her well-developed family ties and the confusing dance between longing heart and shuttered psyche creates a slow yet satisfying, engaging quality that keeps the pages turning.” —Publishers Weekly “This out-of-the-ordinary romance novel is peppered with lyrics to Tyler’s original songs, which were written by Sumners’ songwriter husband. Readers will fall for the swoonworthy hero and root for the couple to overcome each obstacle.” —Booklist
A transplanted native Southerner, Shelle Sumners has held many jobs, among them waitress, actress, administrative assistant, copy editor, educational writer, bookseller, and wedding chapel receptionist, all while furtively scribbling notes for screenplays and novels. Shelle lives with her husband and daughter in eastern Pennsylvania. GRACE GROWS is her debut novel.
www.shellesumners.com
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16
COMMERCIAL FIC TION
Richard Paul Evans
A WINTER DREAM PUBLICATION
October 2012, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster (US & Canada)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Trish Todd
Forced out of the family business by his jealous siblings, Joe relocates to another company where his career quickly flourishes. Suddenly, Joe’s siblings now need his help again to save the family business. Based on the Old Testament story about Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors, with the addition of a tender love story, A WINTER DREAM embraces the message of forgiveness by believers and nonbelievers alike.
Jason F. Wright
THE 13TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS PUBLICATION
October 2012, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Deseret Book Company (World English)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Chris Schoebinger
When nine-year-old Charlee moves into a new neighborhood, she quickly befriends eighty-one-year-old Marva Ferguson. They plan to share the merriest Christmas together, but when Charlee falls ill, nothing goes according to plan. A mysterious note delivered on December 12th promises twelve days of gifts and stories that will reveal the true story behind the beloved Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” but who is sending the packages? Filled with laughter, tenderness and hope, this novel turns an old Christmas favorite into a true Christmas miracle.
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17
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Darcie Chan
THE MILL RIVER RECLUSE PUBLICATION
December 2012, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Little, Brown / Sphere (UK)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Manpreet Grewal
Haunted by an abusive husband and suffering from a social anxiety disorder, widow Mary McAllister is a guarded loner, keeping to herself in her marble mansion overlooking the town of Mill River, Vermont. Having little contact with the outside world, she is considered a mystery by the longtime residents of Mill River. But when newcomers — a police officer and his daughter — ask around for Mary McAllister, it becomes obvious that the widow has a secret that, once revealed, will forever change the lives of the residents. Originally a self-published US ebook sensation, Darcie Chan’s page-turning debut novel has sold over 670,000 copies.
RIGHTS SOLD DENMARK (PUNKTUM) FRANCE (MA EDITIONS)
“Chan’s sweet novel displays her talent. /.../ A comforting book about the random acts of kindness that hold communities together.” —Kirkus
GERMANY (ULLSTEIN) ITALY (NORD) SPAIN (EDICIONES B)
Darcie Chan grew up in various small towns in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Indiana with her parents and two sisters. She now lives north of New York City with her husband and son. She is at work on a second novel set in Mill River, Vermont.
www.darciechan.com
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18
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Richard Paul Evans
THE WALK, MILES TO GO & THE ROAD TO GRACE
RIGHTS SOLD
RIGHTS SOLD
RIGHTS SOLD
BRAZIL (LEYA)
BRAZIL (LEYA)
BRAZIL (LEYA)
CHINA (CITIC)
CHINA (CITIC)
GERMANY (LUBBE)
GERMANY (LUBBE)
GERMANY (LUBBE)
ITALY (BALDINI & CASTOLDI)
ITALY (BALDINI & CASTOLDI)
ITALY (BALDINI & CASTOLDI)
POLAND (ZNAK)
KOREA (MUNHAK)
KOREA (MUNHAK)
MEXICO (LAROUSSE)
POLAND (ZNAK)
PORTUGAL (SAIDA)
RUSSIA (EXMO)
POLAND (ZNAK)
THAILAND (AMARIN)
RUSSIA (EXMO)
TURKEY (DOGAN)
THAILAND (AMARIN)
UK (TRANSWORLD)
TURKEY (DOGAN) UK (TRANSWORLD)
PUBLICATION 2010, 2011, May 2012 PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster (US)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Trish Todd
THE WALK SERIES by Richard Paul Evans tells the story of Alan Christofferson who has lost everything, but gains invaluable experience as he decides to embark on a life-changing journey that will take him to unexpected places. This is an unforgettable and inspirational series of books that provides hope and spirit in these modern times. Richard Paul Evans is the author of eighteen novels, all of which are New York Times best sellers. There are more than 14 million copies of his books in print worldwide. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and several have become international best sellers. www.richardpaulevans.com
FALL 2012
19
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Grant Jerkins
A VERY SIMPLE CRIME, AT THE END OF THE ROAD & THE NINTH STEP
PUBLICATION
November 2010, November 2011, September 2012
PUBLISHER
Penguin / Berkley Books (US)
AGENT
Robert Guinsler
EDITOR
Natalee Rosenstein
RIGHTS SOLD
CHINA (GLOBAL), JAPAN (SHINCHOSA)
In A VERY SIMPLE CRIME, Leo Hewitt, an Assistant DA once blamed for setting free a notorious child-killer, wishes to redeem himself. As he digs below the surface of a new crime, Leo discovers an emotionally disturbed wife, a husband seeking to escape his disastrous marriage, and an accused young man with no means of defense. Leo is led deeper and deeper into the darkness, into an inescapable trap of blood bonds and twisted family secrets... In AT THE END OF THE ROAD, ten-year-old Kyle’s world is all about secrets hidden in cornfield mazes, behind creaking doors, and down dark basement stairs. One day, a policewoman shows up at the front door while a suspicious neighbor watches Kyle from his porch — no place seems safe anymore... In THE NINTH STEP, Helen, a recovering alcoholic, tries to make amends for killing a schoolteacher’s wife. In the ninth step of her program, Helen courageously meets the victim’s husband, but is unable to face the harsh reality of her crime and thus begins their relationship with a lie. As her relationship with the grieving husband deepens, lies harden into truth. Until a threatening note from an anonymous source arrives...
Grant Jerkins is the author of THE NINTH STEP, AT THE END OF THE ROAD and A VERY SIMPLE CRIME. Barbet Schroeder (Barfly, Reversal of Fortune) will direct the film version of A VERY SIMPLE CRIME which will be adapted for the screen by Oscarnominated screenwriter Nicholas Kazan (At Close Range, Reversal of Fortune) and O’Neill Fellowship playwright Terry Curtis Fox (Cops, The Pornographer’s Daughter). The film is currently in pre-production.
www.grantjerkins.com
FALL 2012
20
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Sheila Heti
HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? PUBLICATION
June 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Henry Holt (US)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Sara Bowlin
A semi-autobiographical account of the protagonist’s inability to finish a play she has been commissioned to write, all while trying to answer this unanswerable question that she hopes will break her writer’s block and demystify her love life. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, this novel is a fearless exploration into the way we live now by one of the most creative young writers working today.
“Sheila Heti [knows] something about how many of us, right now, experience the world and she has gotten that knowledge down on paper, in a form unlike any other novel I can think of.” —The New York Times Book Review
RIGHTS SOLD
“Original, contemplative and often tangential, this is an unorthodox compilation of colorful characters, friendship, and sex that provides an unusual answer to Heti’s [titular] question.” —Publishers Weekly
GERMANY (ROWOHLT)
CANADA (ANANSI) ITALY (SELLERIO)
SPAIN (ALPHA DECAY) UK (HARVILL SECKER)
“[Sheila Heti] has an appealing restlessness, a curiosity about new forms and an attractive freedom from pretentiousness or cant. /.../ This talented writer may well have identified a central dialectic of twenty-first-century postmodern being.” —The New Yorker
Sheila Heti works as the Interviews Editor at The Believer and is the author of five books: the story collection, THE MIDDLE STORIES; the novel, TICKNOR; HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE?; and an illustrated book for children, WE NEED A HORSE, featuring art by Clare Rojas. With Misha Glouberman, she wrote a book of “conversational philosophy” called THE CHAIRS ARE WHERE THE PEOPLE GO, which The New Yorker chose as one of its Best Books of 2011. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, n+1, McSweeney’s, Bookforum, and other publications. She currently lives in Toronto. www.sheilaheti.net
FALL 2012
21
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Jay Caspian Kang
THE DEAD DO NOT IMPROVE PUBLICATION
August 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Crown / Hogarth (US & Canada)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Lindsay Sagnette
Set in a menacing San Francisco, this debut is an ultramodern crime novel narrated by the frank and listless Philip Kim. The young KoreanAmerican channels his frustration into a social networking site for the deserted called GetOverIt.com. But when his next door neighbor is murdered, Kim believes that he may be at the focal point of a violent scheme to either propagate or protect against a new, pervasive form of crime.
“Kang has a gift for snide zingers, and his un-PC digressions on race and ‘Koreanness’ are among the book’s freshest and most absorbing aspects.” —Publishers Weekly “THE DEAD DO NOT IMPROVE is the most thrilling novel I’ve read in ages.” —Francisco Goldman, author of Say Her Name “THE DEAD DO NOT IMPROVE is basically the best thing I’ve read in a very, very long time. —Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances
Jay Caspian Kang was born in 1980 to Korean immigrants and grew up in Boston and Chapel Hill. He attended Bowdoin College where he was awarded the prestigious 2003 Sinkinson Prize for Best Short Story. He has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Awl, and The Morning News. Kang is also an editor at Grantland. He currently lives in San Francisco.
FALL 2012
22
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Yannick Murphy
THE CALL PUBLICATION
August 2011, Books available
PUBLISHER
HarperPerennial (World English)
AGENT
Judy Heiblum
EDITOR
Maya Ziv
Author of SIGNED, MATA HARI offers a layered narrative about a veterinarian whose life holds secrets unknown even to him. After his son goes into a coma after a hunting accident, a different son that he didn’t know he had materializes and turns his world on its head. A richly-layered narrative that is all at once compulsively readable and highly original. The New York Times Book Review calls Murphy “an extraordinarily gifted fabulist.”
“[THE CALL] gets under your skin... Murphy is cunning and thoughtful enough to give her story some unexpected curves, and as it unfolds, it gradually accrues substantial emotional depth. What resonates even more deeply than the novel’s unusual form is Murphy’s ability to invoke some very big themes — responsibility, guilt, revenge, the moral order of community — without tipping over into the heavy-handed or obvious. All told, THE CALL is definitely worth answering.” —The Washington Post “A triumph of quiet humor and understated beauty... Murphy’s subtle, wry wit and an appealing sense for the surreal leaven moments of anger and bleakness, and elevate moments of kindness, whimsy, and, ultimately, grace.” —Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review) “A marvelous book: sweet and poignant without ever succumbing to easy sentiment, formally inventive and dexterous without ever seeming showy. A triumph.” —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Yannick Murphy is the author of the novels, THE CALL, SIGNED, MATA HARI, HERE THEY COME, and THE SEA OF TREES. Her story collections include STORIES IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE and IN A BEAR’S EYES. Her children’s books include THE COLD WATER WITCH, BABY POLAR BEAR, and AWHOOOOOOO!. She is the recipient of various awards including a Whiting Writer’s Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, a Chesterfield Screenwriting Award and her story IN A BEAR’S EYES was published in the 2007 O’Henry Prize Stories. In 2012, Murphy was awarded the PEN New English Winship Award. www.yannickmurphy.com
FALL 2012
23
BACKLIST - RECENT FIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Matthew Quick
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK PUBLICATION
September 2008, Books available
PUBLISHER
Sarah Crichton Books (US & Canada)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Sarah Crichton
Pat Peoples lives in a mental health facility, but he has a theory about silver linings: he believes his life is like a movie produced by God, that his mission is to become physically fit and emotionally supportive, and that his happy ending will be the return of Nikki, his estranged wife. When Pat leaves the institution to live with his parents, everything is different. No one will talk to him about his wife who won’t speak to him and his psychiatrist seems to be recommending adultery as a form of therapy. As Pat searches for his silver lining, a riotous and poignant story unfolds of a man regaining his memory and coming to terms with the magnitude of his wife’s betrayal.
RIGHTS SOLD BRAZIL (EDITORA INTRINSECA) CHINA (THIANJIN)
“Mr. Quick tenderly portrays Pat’s small ambitions and the great obstacles he faces as he tries to keep his faith in silver linings. /…/ Mr. Quick guides the reader through the mounting tension — a braiding of hope, illusion, befuddlement, and newly discovered truths. Not every cloud has a silver lining in THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, but it is hard not to be moved by the fate of a man who, despite many ordeals, tries to believe in hope and fidelity, not to mention getting through another day with his sanity intact.” —The Wall Street Journal
HUNGARY (KONYVMOLYKEPZO) ITALY (SALANI) PORTUGAL (PRESENCA) RUSSIA (AZBOOKA) SPAIN (DEBOSILLO) TAIWAN (MARCO POLO) TURKEY (FENIKS) UK (MACMILLAN)
Matthew Quick is the author of the THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK and two young adult novels, SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR and BOY21. His work received the 2009 PEN/ Hemingway Award Honorable Mention, was named an Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction Finalist, won the Michigan Library Association’s Thumbs Up! Award, made the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2011 list and was selected by Amanda Ross for The TV Book Club in the UK. The Weinstein Company is behind the film adaptation of THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, starring Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence, with a release date in November 2012. www.matthewquickwriter.com
FALL 2012
24
NONFIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
John R. Alford, Kevin B. Smith & John R. Hibbing
PREDISPOSED
THE BIOLOGY BEHIND POLARIZED POLITICS PUBLICATION
Fall 2013, Proposal
PUBLISHER
Routledge (World English)
AGENT
Judy Heiblum
EDITOR
Michael Kerns
Tom Bissell & Greg Sestero
THE DISASTER ARTIST PUBLICATION
May 2013, MS available
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster (US & Can)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Molly Lindley
Alan Burdick
THE MOMENTS
Three long-time political scientists push to unite biology with politics by presenting astonishing evidence of how people differ politically not just because they grew up in different cultures or on different sides of the track, but because there is an embedded biological machinery that predisposes people to see and understand the world in different ways. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the variation that produces the political conflict that marks human history.
The Room is Tommy Wiseau’s monumentally abysmal, instantly addictive, and weirdly inspiring act of cinematic hubris from 2003, or simply: “the best worst movie ever made” (Alec Baldwin). With devotees in America and throughout Europe, the only other man to have personally participated in this blessed debacle is co-star, casting director, and friend, Greg Sestero. With Tom Bissell, one of America’s finest prose writers, the two reveal in THE DISASTER ARTIST how and why The Room has become the incomparable, baffling treasure that it is.
A 2005 National Book Award finalist, Alan Burdick now delves into the notion of “time,” presenting fascinating scientific studies and hilarious psychological misperceptions of this universal preoccupation. THE MOMENTS is a mixture of scientific reportage, essay, and cultural critique, but it is also a personal exploration: a subjective journey through the world of time as it presents itself to each of us.
PUBLICATION
May 2013, MS: Nov 2012
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster (US & Can)
AGENT
Philippa Brophy
EDITOR
Alice Mayhew
RIGHTS SOLD
BRAZIL (EDIOURO), GERMANY (BERTELSMANN), ISRAEL (MODAN), JAPAN (KOBUNSHA)
Annie Choi
LETTERS TO YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS PUBLICATION
Aug 2013, MS: Sep 2012
PUBLISHER
Touchstone (World English)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Heather Lazare
The comic writer, Annie Choi has written a series of open letters and deeply moving essays on subjects close to her heart. From revealing her family’s experience during the Northridge earthquake to sharing exhaustive observations of her always naked neighbor, this collection brilliantly demonstrates an unique, intelligent, witty, and thoughtful voice from one of America’s most talented female comic writers.
FALL 2012
25
NONFIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Jenny Lawson
FURIOUSLY HAPPY
In a format similar to her bestselling memoir LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, come stories about finding an unapologetic and ridiculous happiness while suffering from depression. In the last two decades, Lawson has been diagnosed with a grab bag of mental disorders but she has also created a satisfying life perfectly designed for her lunacy. With boundless humor, courage, and honesty, FURIOUSLY HAPPY is about finding the strength to live with depression and about the advantages of being “a little crazy.”
PUBLICATION
2014, Proposal, MS: 2013
PUBLISHER
Amy Einhorn Books (US)
AGENT
Neeti Madan
EDITOR
Amy Einhorn
OPTION
AUSTRALIA (HARPERCOLLINS), BRAZIL (AUTENTICA), GERMANY (METROLIT), ITALY (BALDINI & CASTOLDI), TURKEY (ITHAKI YAYINLARI), UK (PICADOR)
Leonard S. Marcus
LISTENING FOR MADELEINE PUBLICATION
Nov 2012, Galleys
PUBLISHER
FSG (US & Can)
AGENT
George Nicholson
EDITOR
Margaret Ferguson
Marianne Szegedy-Maszak
YOUR HANDS ARE KISSED MANY TIMES PUBLICATION
June 2013, MS: Nov 2012
PUBLISHER
Spiegal & Grau (US & Can)
AGENT
Philippa Brophy
EDITOR
Julie Grau
Kip Tindell
ORGANIZATION WITH HEART PUBLICATION
Fall 2013, Proposal
PUBLISHER
Grand Central (US & Can)
AGENT
Neeti Madan
EDITOR
Rick Wolff
Madeleine L’Engle is best known for A WRINKLE IN TIME, the enduring milestone work of fantasy fiction that has enthralled millions of readers for the past fifty years. Renowned literary historian and biographer Leonard S. Marcus reveals L’Engle in all her complexity through a series of interviews with the people who knew her most intimately, creating a kaleidoscope of insights and snapshot moments that help readers understand the many angles of this unique and fascinating woman.
A multigenerational family memoir chronicling the highs and lows of industrialists, fascists, and political figures, many of whom converted to Judaism in an attempt to avoid Nazi capture. YOUR HANDS ARE KISSED MANY TIMES also covers the changing borders of the Austro-Hungarian empire during World War I, II, and through the 1960s. Written in gorgeous prose, renowned journalist Marianne Szegedy-Maszak tells the story of her family and so many others during this tumultuous time in world history.
ORGANIZATION WITH HEART is about the journey of The Container Store, and how the U.S.-based company turned a crazy idea about selling empty boxes into a beloved brand with thousands of loyal employees and millions of raving fans. Through a set of seven founding principles that can be applied to a wide variety of situations — from the business world to academia, from the professional to the personal — the company’s insiders reveal how it was able to thrive, in good times and bad.
FALL 2012
26
NONFIC TION - RECENT SALES AND DELIVERIES
Howard Abrams & Sasha Jenkins
THE MERCILESS BOOK OF METAL LISTS PUBLICATION
May 2013, Unedited manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Abrams (US)
AGENT
Robert Guinsler
EDITOR
David Cashion
DETAILS
Will be heavily illustrated
THE MERCILESS BOOK OF METAL LISTS is the ultimate collection of the most glorious and ludicrous exploration of the heaviest, most uncompromising, piss-off-your-parents, Satanic, small animal slaughtering music known to man. Spanning over 40 years of heavy metal glory, this book will contain lists, interviews, essays supported by iconic photography, illustrations, and personal artifacts from band members to entice lovers of metal from around world.
Lisa Lillien
HUNGRY GIRL TO THE MAX! PUBLICATION
October 2012, Galleys available
PUBLISHER
St. Martin’s Press (US & Canada)
AGENT
Neeti Madan
EDITOR
Jennifer Enderlin
DETAILS
Illustrations throughout
The self-proclaimed “mad scientist” in the kitchen and New York Times best seller, Lisa Lillien dishes out guilt-free recipes (easy and delicious ones!), tips and tricks, supermarket finds, and survival guides for realworld eating situations. Go to the max with the BIGGEST and BEST Hungry Girl cookbook ever with 650 recipes from the guru of guilt-free eating.
FALL 2012
27
NONFIC TION
Mark Binelli
DETROIT CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE
THE AFTERLIFE OF AN AMERICAN METROPOLIS PUBLICATION
November 2012, Galleys available
PUBLISHER
Metropolitan Books (US)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Riva Hocherman
DETAILS
Includes 15 b&w illustrations throughout
Once America’s capitalist dream town, Detroit is now its greatest urban failure. Nonetheless, the decaying surroundings of the city have drawn urban planners and utopian environmentalists to do the unthinkable: to turn the American Metropolis into a less segregated, greener, economically diverse, and viable place to live and work. Mark Binelli, a Detroit native, intertwines personal history with literary journalism to explore a place — that for most of the world — has become shorthand for grim and dangerous failure.
RIGHTS SOLD UK (RANDOM HOUSE)
“With the acuity of Joan Didion and the controlled hilarity of Ian Frazier, Mark Binelli investigates the portents and absurdities of America’s most infamous urban calamity. Exhilarating in scope, irresistible for its intricate, scrupulous portraiture, DETROIT CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE is the masterful performance of one of our generation’s most humane and brilliant writers.” —Wells Tower, author of Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned “DETROIT CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE is a brilliant kaleidoscope of everything that is great, broken, inspiring, heart-breaking, and ultimately remarkable about Detroit. This is a portrait of a city unlike anything you’ve read. /.../ Mark Binelli has turned the story of Detroit, and by extension America, into a glorious, unforgettable work of art.” —Dinaw Mengestu, author of How to Read the Air Mark Binelli is the author of the novel SACCO AND VANZETTI MUST DIE! He is also a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal. Born and raised in the Detroit area, he now lives in New York City.
FALL 2012
28
NONFIC TION
T Cooper
REAL MAN ADVENTURES PUBLICATION
November 2012, Galleys available (Illustrated)
PUBLISHER
McSweeney’s (World English)
AGENT
Doug Stewart
EDITOR
Ethan Nosowsky
DETAILS
Includes 50 illustrations throughout
An episodic memoir about the most complicated and intimate of transitions, REAL MAN ADVENTURES is T Cooper’s brave story of his evolution from renegade New York City female writer to a married family man living upstate. Cooper’s honesty about his gender identity and society’s often searing reception of his progress offers entry into a world clouded by taboo and confusion, diffusing much of the mythology around being transgendered. This book will forever change your idea of what it means to be a man.
“In this mind-bendingly good memoir, T Cooper gets to the heart of what it is to be human, by circling around questions most of us don’t ever know to ask. Subtle, engaging, righteously furious and often brilliant, this book radiates infinite possibility.” —Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
RIGHTS SOLD GERMANY (ARCHE/ATRIUM)
“With lively writing throughout, Cooper presents haiku pieces, childhood memories and the “sitting down to urinate” debate creatively interwoven with frank discussions of transgender violence, poignant commentary from his wife, who constantly fears for her husband’s safety, and the author’s innermost fears. /.../ Extended interviews with “seasoned tranny” Kate Bornstein, Cooper’s brother (a member of the LAPD) and the parents of other transgendered acquaintances are probing, entertaining and revealing. /.../ A memoir infused with personality and the ballsy honesty of someone for whom becoming a man was “the most natural thing in the world.” —Kirkus T Cooper is the author of three novels and has earned an MFA from Columbia University. T’s work has appeared in a variety of publications and anthologies, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Believer, One Story, and many others. His short story “Swimming” was one of “100 Distinguished Stories of 2007″ in The Best American Short Stories 2008 (ed. Salman Rushdie). T has been awarded residencies to The MacDowell Colony, Ledig House International, and The Millay Colony (where he was The New York Times Foundation Fellow). He has taught at the Writers Institute of Miami Dade College and The Bronx Academy of Letters, and most recently, was a visiting faculty member at Middlebury College. T lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. www.t-cooper.com
FALL 2012
29
NONFIC TION
Steven M. Miner
THE FURIES UNLEASHED
THE SOVIET PEOPLE AT WAR, 1941-1945 PUBLICATION
Fall 2015, Proposal available, Full MS: August 2014
PUBLISHER
Free Press (US)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
Webster Younce
The 14th Century Asian despot and Middle Ages conqueror, was buried in a sarcophagus covered by the world’s largest single piece of jade. The legend said that if the cover would be disturbed, the greatest conflict would be unleashed on the world. In THE FURIES UNLEASHED: THE SOVIET PEOPLE AT WAR 1941-1945, historian Steven Merritt Miner attempts to do no less than recontextualize the details and impact of the Soviet-German War. In this comprehensive examination, Professor Miner will recast the military, diplomatic, and social history of the USSR during the war in a way never before presented. Making use of collections of previously top-secret documents released in post-Soviet Russia — and consulting a mass of new memoirs published after the collapse of the USSR — Miner will assemble an updated narrative of this monumental clash, taking into account tangled ethnic, national, and regional realities, while blending the cultural, social, and economic factors that both devastated and made possible the bloody triumph of the Russian people. No English language book has done this before.
RIGHTS SOLD UK (HARPER PRESS)
Steven M. Miner, Professor of History and Director of the Contemporary History Institute, is a specialist in recent Russian/Soviet and East European history. His first book, BETWEEN CHURCHILL AND STALIN: THE SOVIET UNION, GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE ORIGINS OF THE GRAND ALLIANCE (1988) won the American Historical Association’s 1991 George Louis Beer prize for the Best Book of the Year in European history. He is also the author of STALIN’S ‘HOLY WAR’: RELIGION, NATIONALISM, AND ALLIANCE POLITICS, 1941-1945 (2003).
FALL 2012
30
NONFIC TION
Anjan Sundaram
STRINGER
A YEAR IN THE CONGO PUBLICATION
February 2013, Final manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Penguin (India)
AGENT
Robert Guinsler
EDITOR
Somak Ghoshal
Anjan Sundaram, a fresh Yale graduate, turns down attractive offers from Wall Street and decides to plunge into Congo’s chaos as a journalist. The young author befriends feral street children, journeys into the forest in search of radioactive ore, and lives with a sex-obsessed arms dealer in a war zone. As the tension in Congo grows, the story also gives way to an unusual love affair with the woman that Sundaram will marry. Written in an intimate, confessional tone, STRINGER: A YEAR IN THE CONGO recounts Sundaram’s remarkable journey as he seeks to explore his own internal conflicts in a country at war. There are those who believe the world may one day — of certain crises, or wars — resemble a place like the Congo, but this extraordinary place may also present to us an idea of our own future. By turns sensitive and violent, Anjan Sundaram paints a portrait of what ordinary people can become in extraordinary conditions.
Anjan Sundaram is an award-winning journalist who has reported from Africa for The Associated Press and The New York Times. His writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, Fortune, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Telegraph and The Guardian. He received a Reuters award for his environmental reporting on Pygmy tribes in the Congolese rainforest. Sundaram has worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, San Francisco. He graduated from Yale with a degree in mathematics.
FALL 2012
31
NONFIC TION
Cynthia Zarin
AN ENLARGED HEART
A PERSONAL HISTORY PUBLICATION
February 2013, Manuscript available
PUBLISHER
Knopf (US & Canada)
AGENT
Peter Matson
EDITOR
Deb Garrison
An intertwining round of episodes in the life of New York writer Cynthia Zarin, this heartfelt memoir describes the parameters of love, life, and family in prose that feels nearly fictional in its richness of scene, dialogue, and mood. Whether writing about the coats she has worn over the years, vanished loved ones, the surprising outcomes of a journey, the magical landscape of Cape Cod, or the inner musings of a true New Yorker, Zarin shows us how persistently the past offers new lessons as layers of experience are added. Zarin herself is the marvelous and rueful character at the center of each tale, yearning to live in the old New York even though that world is rapidly fading. The pretty and love-struck young woman, bewildered as she sets out, learns that there are some truths in life that no tailor can alter.
Cynthia Zarin was born in New York City and is the author of three previous books of poetry — THE WATERCOURSE, FIRE LYRIC, and THE SWORDFISH TOOTH — and several books for children. She is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker. She is also the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. She is the winner of the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She teaches at Yale and lives in New York City.
FALL 2012
32
NONFIC TION
Michael Kamber
PHOTOJOURNALISTS ON WAR
THE UNTOLD STORIES FROM IRAQ Introduction by Dexter Filkins PUBLICATION
Spring 2013, Material available
PUBLISHER
Texas University Press (US & Canada)
AGENT
Judy Heiblum
EDITOR
David Hamrick
DETAILS
320 pp. 120 Color and B&W Illustrations
“Except for the most famous conflict photographers, such as W. Eugene Smith and David Douglas Duncan, there are few interviews published that offer an extended view of the craft of conflict photography. /.../ Nothing approaches the depth of Kamber’s book.”
—Anne Wilkes Tucker, Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
RIGHTS SOLD GERMANY (ANKERHERZ)
With previously unpublished photographs by an incredibly diverse group of the world’s top news photographers, PHOTOJOURNALISTS ON WAR is a groundbreaking new visual and oral history of America’s nine-year conflict in the Middle East. Michael Kamber interviewed photojournalists from many leading news organizations, including Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, The Guardian, The New York Times, Reuters, and The Times of London, to create the most comprehensive collection of eyewitness accounts of the Iraq War yet published. The in-depth interviews offer firstperson, frontline reports of the war and include key moments such as the battle for Fallujah, the toppling of Saddam’s statue and the Haditha massacre. The powerful photographers also show the role of the media and issues of censorship.
Michael Kamber has worked as a photojournalist for more than twenty-five years. He covered the war in Iraq as a writer and photographer for The New York Times between 2003 and 2012. Kamber was The Times’s principal photographer in Baghdad in 2007, the bloodiest year of the war. He is the recipient of a World Press Photo Award. He has also been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize — twice for photography and once for reporting.
www.kamberphoto.com
FALL 2012
33
BACKLIST - RECENT NONFIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
William Broad
THE SCIENCE OF YOGA
THE RISKS AND THE REWARDS PUBLICATION
February 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster (US & Canada)
AGENT
Peter Matson
EDITOR DETAILS
Alice Mayhew Includes b&w illustrations of yoga positions
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist William Broad explores how the medical establishment, despite long-held skepticism, is slowly adopting yoga as a treatment for everything from insomnia and back pain, to diabetes and multiple sclerosis. But are all of the health benefits touted by its practitioners equally supported by scientists and medical professionals? This ground-breaking book, and New York Times best seller, pulls back the curtain on yoga to determine the difference between myth and fact.
“A fascinating, persuasive case for demythologizing yoga and recognizing its true value to mind and body.”
—Kirkus
“With dramatic writing and a flair for provocation — e.g., he states that hatha yoga began as a sex cult and that yoga has many ‘dirty little secrets’ — Broad takes readers through a whirlwind tour of yoga’s high and low points, declaring with examples of recent research its ability to calm the nerves, tone the body, revitalize sex, spark creativity, and heal injuries, as well as cause strokes and maim.”
—Publishers Weekly
RIGHTS SOLD BRAZIL (EDITORA VALENTINA) CHINA (CHINA TIMES) CZECH REPUBLIC (EUROMEDIA) ESTONIA (TANAPAEV) GERMANY (HERDER VERLAG) ITALY (BALDINI & CASTOLDI) JAPAN (SHOBUN-SHA) LITHUANIA (MEDIA INCOGNITO) RUSSIA (RIPOL) SPAIN (DESTINO)
William J. Broad has practiced yoga since 1970. As a bestselling author and senior writer at The New York Times, he has won every major award in print and television during more than thirty years as a science journalist. With New York Times colleagues, William Broad has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as an Emmy Award and a DuPont. He is the author or coauthor of seven books, including the #1 New York Times best seller GERMS: BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS and AMERICA’S SECRET WAR.
www.williamjbroad.com
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BACKLIST - RECENT NONFIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Lisa Cohen
ALL WE KNOW PUBLICATION
June 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Farrar, Straus & Giroux (US & Canada)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR DETAILS
Courtney Hodell Includes b&w photographs throughout
Three separate biographies of well-educated women in the early twentieth century: Esther Murphy, a conversationalist who was obsessed with history and politics, Mercedes de Acosta, a seductress known for her love of — and relationships with — the stars of her day and Madge Garland, fashion editor of British Vogue and culture icon. Their overlapping social circles and private lives allow Cohen to describe these women’s glamorous choices, heartrending failures, and controversial lives that are almost entirely overlooked by history.
“Provocative and beautifully paced. /.../ [A] superbly satisfying book. /.../ By bringing these three footnotes into the spotlight, Ms. Cohen allows us to look deeper into our definitions of failure, identity and modernity, while also reappraising the stature of artfulness as opposed to art.” —The Wall Street Journal “This well-researched, gossipy, informative, and entertaining biographical triptych is also a thoughtful, three-part inquiry into the meaning of failure, style, and sexual identity. /.../ Cohen secures a definitive place for [Esther Murphy, Mercedes de Acosta, and Madge Garland] in the socio-cultural history of the period.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Lisa Cohen’s writing has appeared in Fashion Theory, Bookforum, GLQ, Ploughshares, and other journals and anthologies. She teaches at Wesleyan University.
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BACKLIST - RECENT NONFIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
John Fox
THE BALL
DISCOVERING THE OBJECT OF THE GAME PUBLICATION
June 2012, Books available (Illustrated)
PUBLISHER
Harper Perennial (US)
AGENT
Robert Guinsler
EDITOR DETAILS
Barry Harbaugh Includes 27 b&w illustrations throughout
John Fox, a MacDowell Fellow and Harvard Ph.D in anthropology, takes readers to the far reaches of the globe and the deep recesses of our ancient past to answer one question: why do we play ball? This is the untold history of our favorite ball games, their origin and evolutions, and how a simple invention like the ball has come to stake a claim in our passions, our finances and our lives.
“An anthropologist and freelance journalist debuts with a peripatetic analysis of our ball games — where they came from, how they evolved, and why we love them. Fox darts around the globe to show us the origins of our games. /.../ Crackerjack reporting crackles throughout.” —Kirkus “By chronicling games with an exuberant, encyclopedic scholarship worthy of Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, Mr. Fox defamiliarizes our view of sport through the sheer dint of exotic detail. A realm of behavior that we take for granted is seen anew in all of its original strangeness. The ball itself is depicted freshly as an extraordinary invention of human happiness.” —The Wall Street Journal
John Fox has excavated ancient ball courts in Central America, traced Marco Polo’s route across China, and bicycled Africa’s Rift Valley in search of human origins. He has contributed commentary to Vermont Public Radio as well as Smithsonian, Outside, and Salon, among other publications. He lives in Boston.
www.johnfoxauthor.com
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BACKLIST - RECENT NONFIC TION HIGHLIGHTS
Garret Keizer
PRIVACY PUBLICATION
August 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Picador (World English)
AGENT
Jim Rutman
EDITOR
David Rogers
Today we have an audience for all of the extraordinary and banal events of our lives — body scans at airports, candid pictures on Facebook, stray thoughts on Twitter — making the threshold between privacy and exposure more permeable by the minute. But what happens to our private selves when we cannot escape scrutiny? What happens to our public personas when they pass from our control? In his own unique voice, American essayist Garret Keizer offers a brilliant, well-read look at our strip-searched, over-shared, viral-videoed existence. He fleshes out the meaning of privacy by locating its base in the bodily integrity of human beings, in their spiritual needs, and daringly suggests that privacy is kept more often than we know.
“Critically acclaimed author Keizer writes elegantly about the devastating effect the electronic, post-9/11 age has had on the concept of privacy. Keizer’s commentary reaches deeply into the fabric of post 9/11 America and finds a landscape that has compromised the fundamental human need for privacy, and argues passionately for the value of privacy in a democratic society.” —Publishers Weekly
Garret Keizer is the author of six books, mostly recently of PRIVACY. He is a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine, a contributing writer to Mother Jones, and a recent Guggenheim Fellow.
www.garretkeizer.com
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Rachel Maddow
DRIFT PUBLICATION
March 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Crown (US & Canada)
AGENT
Laurie Liss
EDITOR
Rachel Klayman
DRIFT, a #1 New York Times best seller, argues that Americans have drifted away from the country’s original values and become a nation strangely acceptant of a perpetual war, despite the financial and human costs that it involves. To understand how this thinking evolved, Rachel Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today’s war in Afghanistan, revealing disturbing factors along the way. Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, writes: “With her savage wit, dazzling command of facts, and eye for the absurd, Maddow tells the epic story of how American warfare came to be both never-ending and practically invisible.”
RIGHTS SOLD AUSTRALIA (SCRIBE)
“DRIFT is a thought-provoking and timely book. And many readers, conservative and liberal alike, will embrace one of Maddow’s practical prescriptions: that taxes should be raised or war bonds sold to pay for any conflict, since ‘going to war, being at war, should be painful for the entire country, from the start.’” —The New York Times “An insightful look at the cost of military vigilance to ideals of democracy.” —Booklist (Starred Review)
Rachel Maddow hosts MSNBC’s primetime hit, the critically acclaimed “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Maddow was honored by the Interfaith Alliance with the 2010 Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom award, and her MSNBC documentary “The Assassination of Dr. Tiller” won a Gracie Award in 2011. Maddow received her bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University. She earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. She divides her time between New York City and Massachusetts.
www.rachelmaddow.com
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Jenny Lawson
LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED: A MOSTLY TRUE MEMOIR PUBLICATION
April 2012, Books available
PUBLISHER
Amy Einhorn Books (US & Canada)
AGENT
Neeti Madan
EDITOR DETAILS
Amy Einhorn Includes around 50 b&w illustrations
From talking dead squirrels to dumpster-diving for dirty magazines in rural Texas, this bestselling, sidesplitting memoir will make even the most dysfunctional family seem strangely normal. Jenny Lawson has an astonishing comedic talent that pushes everything a little bit further and reveals not only life’s hilarious absurdities, but also the simple things that matter the most.
“[In] the memoir, she blends surprising honesty with acerbic wit.” —The New York Times
RIGHTS SOLD
“[Lawson] creates a comic character that readers will engage with in shocked dismay as they gratefully turn the pages.” —Kirkus
BRAZIL (AUTENTICA)
“She writes with a rambling irreverence that makes you wish she were your best friend.” —Entertainment Weekly
AUSTRALIA (HARPERCOLLINS)
GERMANY (METROLIT) ITALY (BALDINI & CASTOLDI) TURKEY (ITHAKI YAYINLARI) UK (PICADOR)
“[Lawson’s] MOSTLY TRUE MEMOIR is funny, raunchy and unexpectedly uplifting. /…/ LET’S PRETEND will leave you hoping Lawson’s next book happens and soon.” —People
Jenny Lawson is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED: A MOSTLY TRUE MEMOIR. She is a columnist and blogger whose personal blog is extremely popular, averaging two million page views a month and continuing to grow. She has 55,000 Facebook friends and fans, 48,000 followers on Pinterest, and 275,000 Twitter followers including such notables as Ellen DeGeneres, The Today Show, Huffington Post, Style Magazine, and many more. She was recognized by the Nielsen ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers and Forbes listed thebloggess.com as one of their Top 100 Websites for Women. She has been featured on Gawker and Salon, and MSNBC calls her an “internet rockstar.” www.thebloggess.com
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BACKLIST - VINTAGE STERLING LORD, INC.
Dee Brown BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE is Dee Brown’s classic, panoramic account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian over the second half of the 19th century. Using council records, autobiographies and firsthand descriptions, Brown allowed great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne and other tribes to tell us in their own words of the battles, massacres and broken treaties — of the losses that they suffered as the American West was “won.” Since its original publication in 1971, BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE has sold nearly five million copies.
RIGHTS SOLD BRAZIL (L&PM EDITORES) FINLAND (OTAVA) FRANCE (ALBIN MICHEL) GERMANY (ANACONDA) GREECE (APOPEIRA EDITIONS) HUNGARY (CARTAPHILUS) ITALY (MONDADORI) JAPAN (SOSHISHA) KOREA (HANKYOREH) NORWAY (SPARTACUS FORLAG) PORTUGAL (PADROES CULTURAIS) SERBIA (OTVRENA) SWEDEN (KARNEVAL FORLAG)
CREEK MARY’S BLOOD
UK (ARROW BOOKS)
Proud and beautiful, CREEK MARY’S BLOOD is a saga that spans the years from the American Revolution to the pre-World War I era and portrays characters such as Tecumseh, Andrew Jackson, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Teddy Roosevelt.
Dee Brown was born in a logging camp in Alberta, Louisiana in 1908. During the 1950s and 1960s, Brown wrote many Westerns, a humorous novel, and many books for young adults. In the late 1960s, Brown began writing his ground breaking book, BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE, which has sold more than five million copies around the world. Brown died in 2002 at the age of ninety-four in his home in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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BACKLIST - VINTAGE STERLING LORD, INC.
John Clellon Holmes
GO The novel that launched the Beat Generation’s literary legacy describes the world of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Neil Cassady. Drafted two months before Kerouac began ON THE ROAD, GO is the first and most accurate chronicle of the private lives the Beats lived before they became public figures. In honest, lucid fictional prose designed to capture the events, emotions, and essence of his experience, Holmes describes an individualistic post-World War II New York where crime is celebrated, writing is revered, and parties, booze, discussions, drugs, and sex punctuate life. The most tentative and conservative of the Beats, Holmes’ intelligent and sensitive voice also details the pressures and regrets that his lifestyle gave birth to. GO is a peek into what it meant to be a Beat before the term had ever been used.
“Now I want to write to you about the Beat Generation or simply the Beat Ones — your book. You did the honest thing, the big thing, the good thing.” —Jack Kerouac
John Clellon Holmes, born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, was an author, poet, professor, and best known for his 1952 novel GO. GO is considered the first “Beat” novel, and depicts events in his life with friends Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and the hidden world and unspoken truths of their literary society. Holmes was often referred to as the “quiet Beat” and was one of Kerouac’s closest friends. After several more works, including THE HORN, a novel on the history of jazz, and a book of poetry entitled DIRE COASTS, Holmes went on to teach at the University of Arkansas. John Clellon Holmes died of cancer in 1988.
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Jack Kerouac
ON THE ROAD “It changed my life like it changed everyone else’s.” —Bob Dylan “A historic occasion. /…/ the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as ‘beat.’” —The New York Times
ON THE ROAD has been published in over 38 languages including Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwanese, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922 as the youngest of three children in a Franco-American family. He won a football scholarship to Columbia University in New York City, where he first met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. His first novel, THE TOWN AND THE CITY, appeared in 1950, but it was ON THE ROAD, published in 1957 and memorializing his adventures with Neal Cassady, that epitomized to the world that became known as “the Beat generation,” making Kerouac one of the most controversial and best-known writers of his time.
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BACKLIST - VINTAGE STERLING LORD, INC.
Ken Kesey SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION is a wild-spirited and hugely powerful tale of an Oregon logging clan. A bitter strike is raging in a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers: Henry, the fiercely vital and overpowering patriarch; Hank, the son who has spent his life trying to live up to his father; and Viv, who fell in love with Hank’s exuberant machismo but now finds it wearing thin. And then there is Leland, Henry’s bookish younger son, who returns to his family on a mission of vengeance — and finds himself fulfilling it in ways he never imagined. Out of the Stamped family’s rivalries and betrayals, Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of a Greek tragedy.
“A contemporary classic…This book and its creator have become a part of our consciousness and memory.” —Chicago Tribune
SAILOR SONG This epic tale of the North is a vibrant moral fable for our time. Set in the near future in the fishing village of Kuinak, Alaska, a remnant outpost of the American frontier not yet completely overcome by environmental havoc and mad-dog development, SAILOR SONG is a wild, rollicking novel, a dark and cosmic romp. The town and its denizens — colorful refugees from the Lower Forty-Eight and DEAPs (Descendants of Early Aboriginal Peoples) — are seduced and besieged by a Hollywood crew who come to film a classic children’s book. The ensuing turf war escalates into a struggle for the soul of the town as the novel spins and swirls toward a harrowing climax. Written with a spectacular range of language and style, Kesey has given us a unique and powerful novel about America.
“A genuine companion piece to ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST and SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION… Retaining his trademark voice of mutiny, Kesey makes SAILOR SONG a marvelous gift: a sharp and dark and finely tuned song of ourselves.” —San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
Ken Kesey was born in 1935 and grew up in Oregon. He graduated from the University of Oregon and later studied at Stanford with Wallace Stegner, Malcolm Cowley, Richard Scowcroft, and Frank O’Connor. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, his first novel, was published in 1962. His second novel, SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, followed in 1964. His other books include Kesey’s GARAGE SALE, DEMON BOX, CAVERNS, THE FURTHER INQUIRY, SAILOR SONG, and LAST GO AROUND (with Ken Babbs). His two children’s books are LITTLE TRICKER THE SQUIRREL MEETS BIG DOUBLE BEAR and THE SEA LION. Ken Kesey died on November 10, 2001.
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BACKLIST - VINTAGE STERLING LORD, INC.
Barry Lopez FIELD NOTES & WINTER COUNT In these two collections of stories, Barry Lopez evokes the longing we feel for beauty in our relationships with one another, with the past, and with nature. Combining the real with the wondrous, he offers us a pure vision of people alive to the immediacy and spiritual truth of nature. In simple, crystalline prose, Lopez evokes a sense of the magic and marvelous strangeness, proving that he is one of the most important and original writers at work in America today. FICTION
ARCTIC DREAMS & OF WOLVES AND MEN ARCTIC DREAMS is a National Book Award-winning classic study of the Far North. It offers a thorough examination of this obscure world — its terrain, its wildlife and its history of Eskimo natives and intrepid explorers. OF WOLVES AND MEN celebrates scientific fieldwork, dispels folklore that has enabled the Western mind to demonize wolves, explains myths, and honors indigenous traditions, allowing us to understand how wolves have come to live so strongly in the human heart. NONFICTION
ABOUT THIS LIFE ABOUT THIS LIFE reveals a wise and sensitive mind as it probes the mysterious connections among landscape, memory and imagination. In this collection of seventeen spellbinding essays, Lopez travels from Hokkaido to the Galapagos, from Bonaire to Antarctica. He explores, too, his own youth: his peaceful childhood in rural California and his family’s move to the contrasting world of New York City. Hauntingly lyrical, strikingly unsentimental, these pieces represent Barry Lopez’s most personal — and some of his most moving — work to date.
ESSAYS
Barry Lopez was born in 1945 in New York. He is an essayist, author, short-story writer, and has traveled extensively in remote and populated parts of the world. In his nonfiction, Mr. Lopez writes often about the relationship between the physical landscape and human culture. In his fiction, he frequently addresses issues of intimacy, ethics, and identity. Mr. Lopez is a recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the John Hay Medal, Guggenheim, Lannan, and National Science Foundation fellowships, Pushcart Prizes in fiction and nonfiction, among other honors. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of The Explorers Club. www.barrylopez.com
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Malcolm Lowry “Lowry is, needless to say, a one-of-a-kind writer: not prolific, decreasingly celebrated, enigmatic, tormented to the point of being tormenting and, as it happens, brilliant and essential to any calculation of twentieth-century fiction.” —Richard Ford In Malcolm Lowry’s most famous work, UNDER THE VOLCANO, which is told in one significant day, events unfold against an unforgettable backdrop of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical. This masterpiece of Lowry’s career remains one of literature’s most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition, and a brilliant portrayal of one man’s constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him. ULTRAMARINE, Lowry’s first novel, is the story of Dana Hilliot’s first voyage as a mess-boy on the freighter Oedipus Tyrannus bound for Bombay and Singapore. Revealing early flaws as well as tremendous promise, it is full of themes Lowry developed more profoundly in his later works, and shows how at a young age he was already in control of a distinct and evident style. LUNAR CAUSTIC is a stark, compelling and greatly autobiographical novella in which Lowry tells — with eloquent ferocity on the delusions of madness — the story of a piano player and ex-sailor who has lost his band and his mind drinking in New York. HEAR US O LORD FROM HEAVEN IS THY DWELLING PLACE is often considered the finest work Lowry wrote after UNDER THE VOLCANO, and is a remarkable record of the development of a mind and a writer. Finally, OCTOBER FERRY TO GABRIOLA is an existential love story — an account of marriage — evoked by the speeding images Ethan Llewellyn sees from the window of a bus. The book was assembled and edited by the author’s widow, Margerie Lowry, and bears the marks of greatness in disclosing new and unsuspected aspects of Lowry’s genius and personality.
Malcolm Lowry was born in England in 1909 and was in his time a China-bound cabin boy, Cambridge scholar, rebellious bourgeois son, novelist, writer of short stories, poet, and destructive alcoholic. Today, he is most well-known for his formidable novel UNDER THE VOLCANO (1947). ULTRAMARINE (1933) was the only other work published in his lifetime, but Lowry left a plethora of unpublished writing behind after his sudden death in 1957, at the age of forty-seven. His widow and long-time editor, Margerie Bonner Lowry, completed and published two of his unfinished manuscripts posthumously: DARK AS THE GRAVE WHEREIN MY FRIEND IS LAID (1968) and OCTOBER FERRY TO GABRIOLA (1970). The tragedy of Lowry’s life and death haunts his work, delving into the depths of the human condition and man’s struggle against fatality.
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Hubert Selby, Jr. LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN Few novels have caused as much controversy as Hubert Selby, Jr.’s notorious masterpiece. It tells the stories of New Yorkers who at every turn confront the worst excesses in human nature. Yet there are moments of exquisite tenderness in these troubled lives. Georgette, the transvestite who falls in love with a callous hoodlum; Tralala, the conniving prostitute who plumbs the depths of sexual degradation; and Harry, the strike leader who hides his true desires behind a boorish masculinity, are unforgettable creations. Selby brings out the dope addicts, hoodlums, prostitutes, workers, and thieves brawling in the back alleys of Brooklyn. This is the first novel to articulate the rage and pain of life in “the other America.” LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN is a classic of postwar American writing.
“LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN should explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years.” —Allen Ginsberg
THE ROOM In THE ROOM, Hubert Selby, Jr. imaginatively and convincingly explores the inconceivable depths of madness. A small-time criminal sits alone in his cell, his mind radiating with sadistic thoughts of retribution against his captors and those who have failed him during his life. What follows is a deeply disturbing exploration into one of the darkest minds in American fiction — made all the more terrifying by the narrator’s flashes of humanity. This follow-up to Selby’s best selling cult classic, LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN, offers a bleakly claustrophobic descent into the mind of a man trapped inside a pitiless world, cut off from all love and compassion. Violent, sickening, and disturbed, THE ROOM is an unforgettable and deeply shocking novel by one of America’s most visionary writers.
“Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists ... to understand his work is to understand the anguish of America.” —New York Times Book Review
Hubert Selby, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. After suffering from a series of severe health problems that nearly resulted in his death, Selby began writing short stories while he was in between jobs and bedridden. Many of his works have been adapted to film and have received world-wide recognition. He has changed the lives of his readers and influenced countless generations of authors, artists, and musicians. He died in Los Angeles in 2004.
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Anne Sexton “I asked a poet friend one time what it was that poets did, and he thought awhile and then he told me, ‘They extend the language.’ Anne Sexton does a deeper favor for me; she domesticates my terror, examines it, and describes it, teaches it some tricks which will amuse me, then lets it gallop into my forest once more.” —Kurt Vonnegut
In COMPLETE POEMS, from the joy and anguish of her own experience, Sexton fashioned poems that told truths about the inner lives of men and women. This book comprises Sexton’s ten volumes of verse, including the Pulitzer Prize-winner “Live or Die,” as well as seven poems from her last years. In TRANSFORMATIONS, the poem-stories are a strange retelling of seventeen Grimms fairy tales, including “Snow White,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Rapunzel,” and others. Astonishingly, they are as wholly personal as Anne Sexton’s most intimate poems. SELECTED POEMS is a selection drawn from Anne Sexton’s ten published volumes of poems and is an ideal introduction to a great American poet. A SELF PORTRAIT IN LETTERS is the expression of Anne Sexton’s life story in her own words. This book shows how Sexton really was in private as she wrote about herself to family, friends, fellow poets, and students. Illustrated throughout with candid photographs and memorabilia, the letters — brilliant, lyrical, caustic, passionate, angry — are a consistently revealing index to Anne Sexton’s quixotic and exuberant personality. Finally, LOVE POEMS is a collection of twenty-five poems celebrating the sensual frontiers of Sexton’s time.
Anne Sexton (née Gray Harvey) was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1928. She attended Garland Junior College for one year and married Alfred Muller Sexton II at age nineteen. In 1954 she was diagnosed with postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter and was admitted to a neuropsychiatric hospital that she would repeatedly return to. In 1955, following the birth of her second daughter, Sexton suffered another breakdown and was hospitalized again; that same year, on her birthday, she attempted suicide. Encouraged by her doctor to write, Sexton went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for “Live or Die.” In 1974, at the age of forty-six and despite a successful writing career, Sexton lost her battle with mental illness and committed suicide.
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Jacqueline Susann
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
Dolls: red or black; capsules or tablets; washed down with vodka or swallowed straight — for Anne, Neely, and Jennifer, it doesn’t matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. These three women become best friends when they are young and struggling in New York City, and then climb to the top of the entertainment industry — only to find that there’s no place left to go but down — into the VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.
THE LOVE MACHINE
In a time when steak, vodka, and Benzedrine were the three main staples of a healthy diet, when high-powered executives called each other “baby,” and movie stars wore wigs to bed, network tycoons had a name for the TV set: they called it “the love machine.” But to supermodel Amanda, socialite Judith, and journalist Maggie, “the love machine” meant something else: Robin Stone, a TV-network titan around whom women flutter like so many moths. The novel deals with his rise and fall as he makes the international sex scene (orgying in London, transvestiting in Hamburg), drinks unlimited quantities and checks out the latest Nielsens.
ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH
Once upon a time, the entertainment industry was a world that never slept. Magazine editors, models, pop stars, and all the rest visited “vitamin doctors” to get the shots that would allow them to stay up all night and then work all day — in offices decorated with beanbag chairs and Calderesque mobiles. In this world, January Wayne goes from poor-littlerich-girl to grown-up swinger, as she searches New York and Los Angeles for a guy just like Mike Wayne, the glamorous movie producer who also happens to be her father…
Jacqueline Susann left her hometown of Philadelphia at eighteen after announcing that she wanted to become an actress. Susann moved to New York where she acted extensively and won the Best Dressed Woman in Television award four times. But it was the success of her three blockbuster novels — VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, THE LOVE MACHINE and ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH — that transformed her into the media superstar we remember today. Jacqueline Susann was married to producer Irving Mansfield. Before she died in 1974, Jacqueline Susann became one of the bestselling authors in publishing history. She was the first author to have three #1 New York Times best sellers simultaneously on the list.
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CO-AGENTS WESTERN EUROPE
RUSSIA: ANDREW NURNBERG ASSOCIATES MOSCOW
FRANCE: AGENCE ELIANE BENISTI Eliane Benisti, eliane@elianebenisti.com
Ludmilla Sushkova, sushkova@awax.ru TURKEY: ANATOLIA LIT AGENCY
GERMANY: PAUL AND PETER FRITZ AGENCY
Amy Spangler, amy@anatolialit.com
Antonia Fritz, afritz@fritzagency.com Christian Dittus, cdittus@fritz.com
ASIA
GREECE: JLM LITERARY AGENCY
Jackie Huang, jhuang@nurnberg.com.cn
CHINA: ANDREW NURNBERG ASSOCIATES BEIJING John Moukakos, jlm@jlm.gr INDONESIA, THAILAND, VIETNAM: TUTTLE MORI ITALY: LUIGI BERNABO AGENCY
THAILAND
Luigi Bernabo, agency@bernabo.it
Thananchai Pandey, thananchai@tuttlemori.co.th
THE NETHERLANDS: MARIANNE SHÖNBACH AGENCY
JAPAN: TUTTLE MORI AGENCY
Marianne Schönbach, m.schonbach@schonbach.nl
Ken Mori, ken@tuttlemori.com
SCANDINAVIA: LICHT & BURR AGENCY
KOREA: KOREA COPYRIGHT CENTER, INC.
Trine Licht, tl@lichtburr.dk
Jieun Jong, jejeong@kccseoul.com
SPAIN, PORTUGAL, CATALAN: MB AGENCIA
TAIWAN: ANDREW NURNBERG ASSOCIATES TAIWAN
Mònica Martín, monica@mbagencialiteraria.es
Whitney Hsu, whsu@nurnberg.com.tw
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