Interesting Books,Films coming...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION:

PEN Center West Award of Honor winner, co-founder of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and author of The Downhill Racers, Oakley Hall's THE GATES OF BONE, his fifteenth novel, about war and the life of a California boy over the last sixty years, from the promise of Southern California (with appearances by Errol Flynn) through Red Baiting, Pearl Harbor and WWII, and back to California, where early love affairs never die, to John Parsley at Thomas Dunne Books, by Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management (NA).

DEBUT:

Renee Dodd's A CABINET OF WONDERS, taking place in the Freak Show of a carvival as it travels through the rural South in 1927, focusing on the chosen family of the scholarly dwarf bossman who does everything he can to keep them together, to Matthew Miller at The Toby Press, by Bill Contardi at Brandt & Hochman (world).bill@billcontardi.com

MYSTERY/CRIME:

Journalist Sean Chercover's debut BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD, featuring a Chicago PI who takes a bodyguard gig for a Hollywood location manager who sees a crime he shouldn't have witnessed, to Lyssa Keusch at Avon, in a two-book deal, by Denise Marcil at Denise Marcil Literary Agency.Denise@DeniseMarcilAgency.com

THRILLER:

Pseudonymous UK journalist who worked for The Washington Post during the Clinton era Sam Bourne's THE RIGHTEOUS MEN, a thriller that goes inside the secret worlds of fundamentalist religion, kabballah and biblical prophecies, which contain a legend that says that in every generation, there are thirty-six Righteous Men who keep the world going, to to Claire Wachtel at William Morrow, by Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider, on behalf of Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown UK, following sales in 20 countries (US).

BIOGRAPHY:

Former CBS 60 Minutes Producer and CBS News employee Alan Weisman's LONE STAR: The Long Goodbye of Dan Rather, to Tom Miller at Wiley, at auction, for publication in May 2006, by Sharlene Martin at Martin Literary Management (world).Sharlene@MartinLiteraryManagement.com

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Bestselling author of THE SOCIOPATH NEXT DOOR Martha Stout PhD's THE PARANOIA SWITCH: The Psychology of Trauma and The Politics of Fear, on what terror and fear politics have done to our minds, and to the very biology of our brains, to Sarah Crichton at Sarah Crichton Books, in a pre-empt, by Susan Lee Cohen at Riverside Literary Agency (world English).roselm@fsgbooks.com

Security expert and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Stephen E. Flynn's, THE EDGE OF DISASTER, about all the ways in which America has become vulnerable to terror and catastrophe -- both man-made and natural -- the role of our own ongoing negligence in contributing to the danger, and what we can do to protect ourselves most effectively, to Susan Mercandetti at Random House, by Mort Janklow (world).ctisne@randomhouse.com

HUMOR:

Security expert and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Stephen E. Flynn's, THE EDGE OF DISASTER, about all the ways in which America has become vulnerable to terror and catastrophe -- both man-made and natural -- the role of our own ongoing negligence in contributing to the danger, and what we can do to protect ourselves most effectively, to Susan Mercandetti at Random House, by Mort Janklow (world).ctisne@randomhouse.com

MEMOIR:

The guitarist for The Police Andy Summers' ONE TRAIN LATER, about his life in music, including his first guitar; his earlier bands; his relationships and encounters with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burden, John Belushi and, of course, The Police, to John Parsley at Thomas Dunne Books, by Susan Schulman at Susan Schulman Literary Agency (NA).Schulman@aol.comforeign: EleanoraTevis@aol.com john.parsley@stmartins.com

NARRATIVE:

Journalist David Lida's FIRST STOP IN THE NEW WORLD, an insider's account of the thriving, paradoxical megametropolis Mexico City -- from the high arts to the sex industry, to Sean McDonald at Riverhead, by Jennifer Carlson at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner (NA).mail@dclagency.com

RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY:

Christopher Hitchens' GOD IS NOT GREAT: The Case Against Religion, asserting that religion does more harm than good in the world, and aiming to show how society would benefit if faith remained personal rather than public, to Jonathan Karp at Warner Twelve, in a pre-empt, by Steve Wasserman at Kneerim & Williams (world English).

SCIENCE:

University of Washington paleontologist and astrobiologist Peter D. Ward's THE GLOBAL WARMING EXTINCTIONS: The Once and Potentially Future Greenhouse Gas Catastrophes, arguing that rising levels of carbon dioxide were responsible for most of the world's great extinctions, and considers what that means for our warming future, to T.J. Kelleher at Smithsonian Books, by Samuel Fleishman at Literary Artists Representation (world).kellehert@si.edu

TRUE CRIME:

Attorney Matt Dalton with Bonnie Hearn Hill's PRESUMED GUILTY: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson's Murder, and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row, to Peter Borland at Atria, for publication in December 2005, in a very nice deal, by Laura Dail of the Laura Dail Literary Agency (world).

UK:

Norah Vincent's SELF-MADE MAN: My Year Disguised as a Man, to Clara Farmer at Atlantic Books, in a nice deal, by Hal Fessenden at Penguin Putnam (UK and Commonwealth excluding Canada). louisebrice@groveatlantic.co.uk

FILM:

Vicki Constantine Croke's THE LADY AND THE PANDA, the true story of Ruth Harkness, the Manhattan bohemian socialite who trekked to Tibet in 1936 to capture the most mysterious animal of the day: an aged bear that had lived in the labyrinth of cold mountains, to David Gerson at Focus Features, by Ron Bernstein at ICM.gerson@focusfeatures.com

Wrap...