A short selection of books...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

Malaysian writer and recent Michigan MFA grad Preeta Samarasan's EVENING IS THE WHOLE DAY, set in post-colonial Malaysia, the story of an upper-class Malaysian-Indian family, with a mystery at its heart (and winner of two prizes at Michigan, to Anjali Singh at Houghton Mifflin, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2008, by Ayesha Pande at Lyons & Pande (NA).lori_glazer@hmco.com

THRILLER:

Chicago Tribune editor/reporter Gerry Doyle's speculative thriller, DRAGON, pitting a CIA forensic scientist with a Navy SEAL team investigating deaths aboard a North Korean submarine defecting to the US, to Jackie Swift of McBooks Press, for publication in November 2007, by Lois Bennett at Bennett & West Literary Agency (US).belois@comcast.net

WOMENS'/ROMANCE:

Annie Windsor's BLOODLINE, the first in a paranormal trilogy, the story of a warrior-witch, a NYPD detective and the terrible murder that brings them together, to Charlotte Herscher at Ballantine, in a very nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Nancy Yost of Lowenstein-Yost (World).

GENERAL/OTHER:

Swedish writer Klas Ostergren's GENTLEMEN, celebrating jazz music, hidden treasures, and espionage in post-WWII Stockholm, and GANGSTERS, its sequel, to Karan Mahajan at MacAdam/Cage, by Niclas Salomonsson at the Salomonsson Agency.

CHILDRENS'/FANTASY:

Vanity Fair's UK editor and Ian Fleming Award-winner Henry Porter's HOUSE OF SKIRL trilogy, about a 13-year-old boy living in a grand old house, home of an ancient family, who is drawn by a mysterious visitor into a ghost story inscribed into the very heart of the house, centered around a highly unusual painting, beginning with THE MASTER OF THE FALLEN CHAIRS for publication in fall 2007, to Ann-Janine Murtagh at Orchard, by Tif Loehnis at Janklow & Nesbit (world).jmcveigh@janklow.co.uk

UK:

Linwood Barclay's thriller NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, and a second thriller, to Bill Massey at Orion, by Helen Heller at the Helen Heller Agency (UK/Commonwealth, excl. Canada).helen@helenhelleragency.com

Anonymous's UNZIPPED!, written by a senior British politician, an exploration of the sleazy world of power politics and the people who govern us -- a "Belle de Jour" for politicos, to Natalie Jerome at Virgin, by Peter Cox at Redhammer (World).peter@redhammer.info

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Slate "War Stories" columnist Fred Kaplan's DAYDREAM BELIEVERS: THE FOREIGN POLICY FANTASIES OF THE BUSH ERA AND BEYOND, arguing that a defense strategy gone awry is far from the only cause of the disasters in Iraq and elsewhere, to Eric Nelson at Wiley, by Rafe Sagalyn at The Sagalyn Agency (World).
Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson's THE RISE AND FALL OF ANCIENT EGYPT, the whole story, warts and all, of one of the world's greatest civilizations, from the pharaohs at the apex to the slaves at the base of the pyramids they built, to John Flicker at Bantam Dell, by Emma Parry at Fletcher-Parry, and to Bill Swainson at Bloomsbury UK, by Peter Robinson of the Robinson Literary Agency

NARRATIVE:

NYT reporter Lily Koppel's THE RED LEATHER DIARY, based on her recent piece in the Times, about her discovery of a 1930s teenager's diary in a dumpster and subsequent solving of the mystery of its owner's identity, Florence Wolfson, now 90, once an aspiring artist who loved Balzac, Central Park and male and female lovers with equal abandon, to Claire Wachtel at Harper, by Kate Lee at ICM (world).

Wrap...