On Their Way...A Selection of New Books....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

Chloe Palov's STONES OF FIRE, a thriller in which a museum photographer witnesses a brutal murder and the theft of an ancient Hebrew artifact, and she must team up with an ex-MI5 agent to stop a mercenary army from obtaining the ultimate weapon of destruction, to Natalee Rosenstein at Berkley, plus a sequel, by Steve Kasdin at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (NA).

GENERAL/OTHER:

William Styron's short fiction collection, including the first part of an unfinished novel found in his papers and prepared for publication by Styron biographer James West, again to Bob Loomis at Random House, by Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management.

Jonathan Ames' THE DOUBLE LIFE IS TWICE AS GOOD, a humorous, risque, and lovable collection of articles, essays, and the novella Bored to Death, which originally appeared in McSweeney's and has just been green lit by HBO for a pilot episode starring Jason Schwartzman, to Brant Rumble at Scribner, by Rosalie Siegel (NA).

Author of The Wind Done Gone and Pushkin and the Queen of Spades Alice Randall's REBEL YELL, investigating this unique political moment as the ex-wife of the black Counsel General of the Army under George W. Bush comes to a richer understanding of the man she once loved after he collapses (with his white second wife at his side), to Anton Mueller at Bloomsbury, for publication in Fall 2009, by Amy Williams at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency (world English).

NON-FICTION/BIOGRAPHY:

Author of JOHN JAY: Founding Father Walter Stahr's NOBLE PURPOSES: The Life of William Henry Seward, a biography of Lincoln's most trusted advisor, considered among the most significant Secretaries of State in American history and responsible for the acquisition of Alaska, drawing on long-neglected sources, to Roger Labrie at Simon & Schuster, at auction, by Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency.

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Investigative journalist Tom Bower's OIL, a comprehensive, narrative look at the politics, economics, and science of oil, including an examination of the world's biggest mega-oil corporations, the science and technology of oil exploration, extraction, and refinement, and the factors behind the increase of oil prices over the last 20 years, to Mitch Hoffman at Grand Central, for publication in fall 2009, by Jonathon Lloyd at Curtis Brown UK.Journalist and magazine editor Richard L. Brandt's INSIDE LARRY'S AND SERGEY'S BRAINS, a look at the rise of Google with a focus on the its founders' unique business philosophy and methods, to Jeffrey Krames at Portfolio, by Al Zuckerman at Writers House (world).

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

LA Times journalist Jill Leovy's THE HOMICIDE REPORT: Black Men, Murder and America's Unseen Catastrophe - based in part on her groundbreaking "Homicide Report" project, reporting all 845 LA County murders last year - weavig together a kaleidoscopic narrative about a murder-wracked community in South Los Angeles with a new theory about race and America's homicide epidemic, to Chris Jackson at Spiegel & Grau, at auction, by Farley Chase at the Waxman Literary Agency.

MEMOIR:

Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Charles Dutton's memoir about growing up in the East Baltimore projects, spending much of his young life incarcerated, and turning his life around through the transformative power of the theater, to Rachel Klayman at Crown, by Lydia Wills at Paradigm and Sherry Marsh at Marsh Entertainment.Actress Isabel Gillies' HAPPENS EVERY DAY: AN ALL-TOO-TRUE STORY OF LOVE, MARRIAGE, FAMILY and BREATHTAKING ABANDONMENT, a memoir about how she left New York to follow her first husband to a small Midwestern college town, only to see her "perfect" marriage suddenly crumble before her eyes, to Nan Graham at Scribner, by Bill Clegg at the William Morris Agency (NA).

SCIENCE:

National Geographic and Science magazine correspondent Virginia Morell's HOW WE KNOW ANIMALS THINK: Adventures with Smart Animals and the Scientists Who Study Them, a tour of what we know about animal cognition and how we know it, in which we learn that moths remember, dolphins are self-aware, rats love to be tickled, chimps grieve, voles love, and more, to Rachel Klayman at Crown, at auction, by Gillian MacKenzie of the Gillian MacKenzie Agency (world).

TRUE CRIME:

Philip Carlo's GRAVESEND: ANATOMY OF A MAFIA PSYCHOPATH, a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the DEA's four-year hunt to bring down Tommy "Karate" Pitera, alleged to be a drug-dealing, murderous capo in the Bonanno crime family who dismembered his victims with amazing expertise (known within La Cosa Nostra as "Dahmer"), to Sarah Durand at William Morrow, by Matt Bialer at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates (NA).

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