Upcoming: Films, TV, and books....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

Joe McGinniss Jr.'s first novel THE DELIVERY MAN, a portrait of today's lost generation, set in Las Vegas and involving a teenage-girl escort ring, with an unlikely love story at its heart, to Morgan Entrekin at Grove/Atlantic, for publication as an original trade paperback for Black Cat in winter 2008, by Katharine Cluverius at ICM (world).
(Recommended to the house by Bret Easton Ellis, it completes a circle that began when FATAL VISION author Joe McGinniss recommended to his former editor Entrekin the manuscript that became Ellis's Less Than Zero in 1982.)

SCI-FI/ FANTASY:

Taylor Anderson's THE DESTROYERMEN TRILOGY, about a battered American naval destroyer swept into an alternate world, where its World War II-era technology changes the balance of power in a genocidal world war, to Ginjer Buchanan at Roc, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (NA). Danny Baror handles foreign rights.barorint@aol.com

THRILLER:

THE BOOK OF NAMES (sold in 16 countries) authors Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori's THE ILLUMINATION, a secret history thriller based on the ancient mythology, history, and mysticism of the Evil Eye, again to Nichole Argyres at St. Martin's, by Ellen Levine at Trident Media Group, and Sally Wofford-Girand at Brick House.Nichole.Argyres@stmartins.com

GENERAL/OTHER:

Author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist THE BRIGHT FOREVER Lee Martin's RIVER OF HEAVEN, to Sally Kim at Shaye Areheart Books, by Phyllis Wender at Rosenstone/Wender Associates.
FILM:

Film rights to Roy Freirich's debut novel WINGED CREATURES, about the emotional aftershocks experienced by the survivors of a random fast-food restaurant shooting, to Bob Salerno at Unruly Films (21 Grams), for a March production, directed by Rowan Woods, with Forest Whitaker, Jackie Earle Haley, Dakota Fanning, Kate Beckinsale and Guy Pearce starring. The book is currently on submission to publishers, by Svetlana Katz at Janklow & Nesbit.

Film rights to Kurt Eichenwald's CONSPIRACY OF FOOLS, to Warner Bros., in a major deal, for seven figures, for Leonardo DiCaprio at Appian Way to produce and star, with Sheldon Turner adapting.

NON-FICTION/BIOGRAPHY:

Author of the forthcoming SIN IN THE SECOND CITY Karen Abbott's untitled book on the life of legendary Gypsy Rose Lee and the Depression-era New York that made her a star, with a cast of characters that includes H.L. Mencken, Condé Nast, Lucky Luciano, Abbott and Costello, Fanny Brice, and Fiorello La Guardia, again to Julia Cheiffetz at Random House, by Simon Lipskar at Writers House (world).Foreign rights: ctisne@randomhouse.com

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Amit Chatwani's DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A BANKER: A Fact-Based Approach to the World of Finance, a guide to the world of Wall Street in the voice of the "consummate banker caricature" that the author, labeled the "Borat of Wall Street" by BusinessWeek, popularized on his website LeveragedSellout.com, to Brendan Duffy at Hyperion, at auction, by Byrd Leavell at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).UK rights are with Jim Gill at PFD.jgill@pfd.co.uk

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Rocky Mountain News reporter Jim Sheeler's book, building on his Pulitzer-winning story about year in the life of a Marine Major who calls on the families of soldiers who died in battle in Iraq, for a broader narrative about those who gave their lives in this war and the families who mourn them, to Jane Fleming at Penguin Press, at auction, by Simon Lipskar at Writers House.

NARRATIVE:

Donovan Hohn's MOBY-DUCK: Or, the Synthetic Wilderness of Childhood, describing how a Chinese cargo ship spilled a container full of 28,800 plastic bathtub toys -- including 7,200 yellow plastic ducks -- into the Pacific Ocean, and following the toys wherever they lead, to Gillian Blake at Bloomsbury, by Heather Schroder at ICM (world).

CANADA:

Richard Heinzl's CAMBODIA CALLING, a coming-of-age memoir about a young doctor who travels to a remote Cambodian war-ravaged village to operate a hospital in his eye-opening first step in realizing his dream of starting the first chapter of Doctors Without Borders in North America, to Don Loney at Wiley Canada, by Sam Hiyate at The Rights Factory (world English).sam@therightsfactory.com

UK:

Observer columnist Lucy Siegle's TO DIE FOR, about "the environmentally devastating and inhumanely shocking story behind the clothes we so casually buy and wear," to Louise Haines at Fourth Estate, at auction, for publication in February 2008, by Araminta Whitley at Lucas Alexander Whitley (UK/Commonwealth).

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