Unusual Selection of Coming Books....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

LAT Cairo Bureau Chief Jeffrey Fleishman's PROMISED VIRGINS, a novel ofjihad, set in the Kosovo conflict, to Cal Barksdale at Arcade, for publication in Spring 2009, by Sorche Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation (World English).

Sang Pak's debut fiction KID TWILIGHT, a creepy coming-of-age story set in a small Southern town, where the protagonist must confront both theviolence around him and the monster within himself, to Sarah Durand at William Morrow, by Yfat Reiss Gendell at Foundry Literary + Media.yrgendell@foundrymedia.comRights: sabou@foundrymedia.com

NON-FICTION/BIOGRAPHY:

Wired contributing editor Mathew Honan's BARACK OBAMA IS YOUR NEW BICYCLE, based on the website of the same name, to Patrick Mulligan atGotham, by Joy Tutela at the David Black Literary Agency.

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Blogger Jeff Jarvis's WWGD?: What Would Google Do?, examining what any organization or industry, be it a cable company, airlines, or even book publishing, can learn from the fastest-growing company in history, to Ben Loehnen at Collins, by Kate Lee at ICM (world).

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Advisor to the last six secretaries of state and author of the The Much Too Promised Land, Aaron David Miller's next work, a road-trip with the reader along the anti-American highway of the Middle East, usinginterviews, anecdote, and analysis to provide an intimate look at four of our biggest challenges in the Arab/Muslim world -- Hamas, Hezbollah,Iran, and Syria -- exploring who they are, what they think, and what they really want, to John Flicker at Bantam Dell, byDeborah Grosvenor at Kneerim & Williams (World).

Journalist Shane Harris's THE WATCHMAN, which chronicles the rise of the American surveillance state over the last twenty-five years, to Eamon Dolan at Penguin Press, by Tina Bennett of Janklow & Nesbit (NA).

MEMOIR:

Colin Broderick's ORANGUTAN, a memoir of the nineteen years that the author (who studied with Billy Collins and worked in theater with Malachay McCourt) was an alcoholic working construction and trying to forge a life as a writer, to Carrie Thornton at Three Rivers Press, for publication in Summer 2009, by Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich LiteraryManagement (World).

Natalie McLennan's THE PRICE: My Life as"Natalia," New York's $2,000 An Hour Escort, the rise, fall, and redemption of a promising youngactress who falls in love with a man with ambitions of building the most exclusive brothel in New York and markets her as the "$2,000 An Hour Woman," to Michael Viner at Phoenix, by Jason Anthony at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency (World).

NARRATIVE:

Steve Eubanks's THE GREATEST OF US ALL: The Birth of the Modern Golf Swing and the Death of Its Legendary Inventor, the story of champion golfer J. Douglas Edgar and his brutal murder in 1921, as well as the brave Atlanta Constitution reporter who battled a subsequent cover-up by city officials, to Mark Tavani at Ballantine, by Dan Ambrosio at Vigliano Associates (World).

REFERENCE:

Susanna Carson's anthology WHY WE READ JANE AUSTEN about the enduring fascination with the author and her novels, including pieces by MartinAmis, Virginia Wolf, C.S Lewis, and Eudora Welty, plus original essays by popular contemporary writers, with an introduction by Harold Bloom, to Jill Schwartzman at Random House, at auction, by Bonnie Nadell at Frederick Hill Bonnie Nadell Agency (NA).

Wrap...