Thursday, October 19, 2006

From Immigrants to stones...Film, TV, Books...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

Porochista Khakpour's SONS AND OTHER FLAMMABLE OBJECTS, about a prominent, wildly dysfunctional Iranian family who land in Pasadena with a four year old son in the early seventies after the fall of the Shah, and focusing on the unraveling of the father/son bond in an alien environment of loss and exile, to Amy Hundley at Grove/Atlantic, for publication in September 2007, by Rosalie Siegel at International Literary Agent (world).Film: rsiegel@ix.netcom.com

GENERAL/OTHER:

David J. Schwartz's SUPERPOWERS, dubbed "The Incredibles" meets THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY, in which after a night of heavy drinking, five friends wake up to discover they have superhuman abilities, but lacking super-villains they find that the ramifications of their new powers are more complicated than they anticipated, to Jason Pinter at Three Rivers Press, by Shana Cohen at the Stuart Krichevsky Agency (NA).

FILM:

Eileen Cook's IN THE STARS (formerly titled Sophie's Predictions), a comedy in which a woman poses as a psychic to win back her ex and ends up with fame and success if she can keep the ruse going, optioned to Bender Spink, producing at New Line, by Sarah Self at the Gersh Agency, on behalf of Rachel Vater at Lowenstein-Yost Associates.
German rights to Goldmann, in a very nice deal, by Tom Schleuck on behalf of Lowenstein Yost Associates.

TV:

Rights to Ken Follett's novels, to Reinhold Elschot and Peter Nadermann at Germany's Network Movies, for development as a series of English-language TV movies, beginning with THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, in partnership with Kerstin Schmidbauer and Robin von der Leyen at Constantin Television and ZDF.

PAPERBACK:

Journalist and author of The Russian Word for Snow Janis Cooke Newman's October Book Sense pick MARY, a portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, one of the most misunderstood women in American history; a story of love, delusion, grief and history, to Tina Pohlman at Harcourt, by Amy Rennert at the Amy Rennert Agency, on behalf of MacAdam/Cage.Foreign: Chandler CrawfordFilm: Brian Lipson at Endeavoramy@amyrennert.com

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

WSJ reporter Lee Hawkins's AMERICA'S NEW BLACK OVERCLASS, a look at The New Black Overclass or "Newbos," a term Hawkins coined, made up of the entrepreneurial rappers, athletes, managers, producers, and creative entrepreneurs from the last decade who have created the largest population of black millionaires yet, showing how they are different from both white entrepreneurs and the traditional black elite, to Brett Valley at Gotham, in a pre-empt, by Gary Morris at David Black Literary Agency

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

O. Henry Award-winning professor of English at the US Naval Academy and Military.com columnist Bruce Fleming's MILITARY AND MARTIAL MISCELLANY, a Schott's Miscellany-like compilation of facts, figures, trivia, and stories from the history of warfare, from the most ancient people to the 21st century, and including material from every corner of the globe, to Marc Resnick at St. Martin's, by Scott Mendel at Mendel Media Group (NA).UK and Translation: scott@mendelmedia.com

HUMOR:

New Yorker cartoonist Mort Gerberg's LAST LAUGHS: Cartoons on Retirement ... and the Great Beyond, a new cartoon collection which grew out of Gerberg's observation that our cultural understanding of and attitudes toward end of life, retirement, and death are changing, and for which a majority of the cartoons will be created especially for the book by a group of approximately twenty prominent cartoonists, many of them Gerberg's fellow New Yorker contributors, to Nan Graham at Scribner, at auction, by David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects (World).paul.ohalloran@simonandschuster.com

MEMOIR:

College senior Ashley Rhodes-Courter's THREE LITTLE WORDS, about a childhood spent in 14 foster homes, her adoption by a loving family at age 12, and her subsequent crusade on behalf of the rights of foster children in which she successfully sued abusive caretakers and continues to try to change the system for the better, to Elizabeth Law at Simon & Schuster Children's, by Joelle Delbourgo at Joelle Delbourgo Associates (NA).

The Man From U.N.C.L.E actor Robert Vaughn's FLYING SOLO: A Fortunate Life in TV, Pictures and Politics, about the author's fifty-year career, including stories about almost every notable figure in movies, television, and the theatre, from Sir John Gielgud, Steve McQueen, and Jason Robards to Paul Newman, William Holden, and Fred Astaire, to Thomas Dunne at Thomas Dunne Books, by Lynne Rabinoff Agency (world). Lynne@lynnerabinoff.com

NARRATIVE:

Geologist David Williams' STORIES IN STONE, blending earth science with architectural and cultural history to trace the origins of the rocks that were used to construct a dozen iconic buildings across America, to George Gibson at Walker, by Brettne Bloom at Kneerim & Williams (NA).

UK:

Author of Fermat's Last Theorem, The Code Book and Big Bang Simon Singh and complementary medicine professor at the University of Exeter Edzard Ernst's THE TRUTH ABOUT COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE FOR INTELLIGENT AND OPEN-MINDED PEOPLE, arguing that there is no such thing as alternative medicine--there is simply medicine that works, and false beliefs that can be proven not to, to Sally Gaminara at Bantam UK, for publication in the spring of 2008, by Patrick Walsh at Conville & Walsh (UK/Commonwealth, excl. Canada).Translation: Patrick@convilleandwalsh.comUS: Christy@fletcherparry.com

Wrap...

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