Good reads a'comin'...

From Publishers Lunch...always on Thursdays:

Sci-Fi/Fantasy:
Michael Scott's THE ALCHEMYST, in which a bookstore worker and his sister discover that his boss, Nick Fleming, is actually Nicholas Flamel - the Alchemyst who lived 600 years ago - and a book stolen from the store is the Book of Abraham - the book that holds the secret to eternal life, which they set off to retrieve, crossing boundaries of time and space, to Krista Marino at Delacorte Press, by Frank Weimann at The Literary Group (world).kristamarino@randomhouse.com

[Here, I'm compelled to admit that I know and am very fond of Frank Weimann. The man is a fine agent, an honest agent, and a great guy. His writers are lucky to have him. He, of course would see it the other way round.]

History/Politics/Current Affairs:
Fox News war correspondent Patrick O'Donnell's GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: The Marines who Captured Fallujah, a first-hand account of the fierce battle for Fallujah in November 2004, a story of brotherhood and sacrifice within a small Marine platoon, to Robert Pigeon at Da Capo, for publication in fall 2006, by Andrew Zack at The Zack Company (world English).
Professor of Political Science and political writer/talk radio host Thomas F. Schaller's

WHISTLING PAST DIXIE: The Democrats' Path to a Non-Southern Majority, arguing that the Democrats should forget the South in the near-term and begin building a national majority in parts of the country where demographics and political attitudes favor their message, while isolating the Republicans as a regional party that owns the South but little else, to Alice Mayhew at Simon & Schuster, by Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (NA).kate@limqlit.com

Hans Halberstadt's SNIPERS AT WAR, an anthology of first-person war stories from Marines and other soldiers on sniping, along with other information about this deadly art, to Marc Resnick at St. Martin's, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA).

[Note: St. Martin's was my publisher, so I feel I can say something about them. They are terrific. I'm told St Martin's publishes more first-time authors than any other publisher. Their editors are not only good, they care. And if a writer is fortunate enough to be awarded Joe Renaldi as their publicist, that writer should bow down to the ground and be thankful and joyous. There is no better. He will do everything he possibly can to ease your way with author signings at bookstores. He will advise. You can trust Joe totally.]

Memoir:
Dr. Renee Richards' NO WAY RENEE, how she has spent the last 31 years -- since her sex change operation and transformation from Richard Raskind, given national prominence when she fought a legal battle to be allowed to compete on the women's tennis circuit -- finding out what it means to be a woman and providing some surprising insights and honest appraisals of the choices she made along the way, to Sydney Miner at Simon & Schuster, by Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (world).

[Note: Been a very long time since Dr. Renee Richards has been heard of. She's in safe hands with Jane Dystel, with whom I once shared a cabin while at a writers' conference in W VA. Even there, she was on the phone working for her clients. Another very fine agent.]

Steve Ostrow's SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE BATHS, from the founder of the Continental Baths in the Ansonia Hotel, who helped repeal New York's laws against homosexuality and turned a gay bathhouse into one of the hot nightspots of the 70s, and was "instrumental in discovering Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, and a host of others," to Jessica Callahan at Chamberlain Bros., by Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (world).jmccarthy@dystel.com

UKBritish circus entrepreneur Gerry Cottle with Helen Batten's CONFESSIONS OF A SHOWMAN: MY LIFE IN THE CIRCUS, a warts-and-all autobiography of an outlandish entrepreneur whose rise to success has been unparalleled since Philip Astley gave circus to the world in London in 1768, including introducing the West to the Moscow and Chinese state circuses, to Charlotte Cole at Vision Paperbacks, in a nice deal, by Peter Tallack at Conville & Walsh (world).charlottecole@visionpaperbacks.co.ukpeter@convilleandwalsh.com
Wrap...