Prepub Alert

Fiction
Boyden, Amanda. Babylon Rolling. Pantheon. Aug. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-0-375-42533-2. $23.95.
Boyden follows up a successful debut, Pretty Little Dirty, with the story of five families—black, white, and Asian—who live on the same street in New Orleans, their interactions revealing much about racism in America. With a ten-city tour; reading group guide.
Brown, Sandra. Smoke Screen. S. & S. Aug. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4165-6306-8. $26.95. CD: S. & S. Audio.
Brown tries for a 57th New York Times best seller with a story about good guys who become bad guys—and vice versa. Apparently, she gets her best starts in August. With a four-city tour.
Clark, Mary Jane. It Only Takes a Moment. Morrow. Aug. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-0-06-128609-4. $24.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
TV morning show host Eliza Blake usually reports the news, but she becomes the news when her daughter is abducted. With a one-day laydown on August 5.
Coonts, Stephen. The Assassin. St. Martin's. Aug. 2008. 352p. ISBN 978-0-312-32357-8. $26.95. CD: Macmillan Audio.
Industry and political leaders in the West decide to go after the al Quaeda minion who nearly blew up the Group of 7 in Coonts's The Traitor. Now they're being picked off one by one. With a one-day laydown on August 5; national tour.
Edgerton, Clyde. The Bible Salesman. Little, Brown. Aug. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-0-316-11751-7. $23.99.
Sly thief Preston Clearwater convinces innocent, young Bible salesman Henry that he's an FBI agent in need of a helper.
Feist, Raymond E. & S.M. Stirling. Jimmy the Hand. Eos: HarperCollins. (Legends of the Riftwar, Bk. 3). Aug. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-06-079294-7. pap. $13.95.
After Jimmy the Hand helps Prince Arutha rescue Princess Anita, he's got to lie low, but Land's End doesn't provide the sanctuary he was expecting. The third volume in the “Legends of the Riftwar” series, available here for the first time. With a reading group guide.
Frey, Stephen. Forced Out. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-1-4165-4963-5. $24.95.
A former Yankees scout thinks that the prodigiously talented young player he's just spotted will rehabilitate his career—if only the player didn't have such a dangerous secret.
Gutcheon, Beth. Good-Bye and Amen. Morrow. Aug. 2008. 240p. ISBN 978-0-06-053907-8. $24.95.
Will three siblings sorting through family heirlooms at the summer cottage they've inherited stay as close as ever or end up falling out? With a seven-city tour; reading group guide.
Kellerman, Faye. The Mercedes Coffin. Morrow. Aug. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-06-122733-2. $25.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
When a Hollywood murder echoes the execution-style killing of one of her favorite teachers 15 years earlier, heiress Genoa Greeves convinces LAPD Lt. Peter Decker to start looking for clues. With a one-day laydown on August 12.
Kenyon, Sherrilyn. Acheron: A Dark-Hunter® Novel. St. Martin's. Aug. 2008. 544p. ISBN 978-0-312-36215-7. $24.95. CD: Macmillan Audio.
Acheron, leader of the Dark-Hunters, is used to having things his way. But then a mysterious woman barges in on an equally mysterious quest, and they must band together or get slaughtered. With a one-day laydown on August 5; national tour.
McGraw, Erin. The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard. Houghton. Aug. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-618-38628-4. $24.
Modeled on McGraw's grandmother, young Nell Plat flees husband, babes, and crushing boredom in early 1900s Kansas to become a costumer to the stars in newly flourishing Hollywood. But the past won't stay put. With a regional tour; reading group guide.
Martín, Esteban & Andreu Carranza. The Gaudi Key. Morrow. Aug. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-0-06-143491-4. $24.95.
Ah, those Spaniards—they're taking over the literary thriller market. Anthropologist Martín joins with awarding-winning novelist/poet Carranza to craft the tale of a secret brotherhood that entrusts famed Barcelona architect Gaudí with a precious relic. With a reading group guide; rights sold to 18 countries.
Peebles, Frances de Pontes. The Seamstress. Harper: HarperCollins. Aug. 2008. 656p. ISBN 978-0-06-073887-7. $25.95. lrg. prnt.
The diverging paths and abiding love of two sisters in 1930s Brazil; an anticipated debut from a Michener-Copernicus and O. Henry award winner. With a reading group guide. (See review, p. 74.)
Pelecanos, George. The Turnaround. Little, Brown. Aug. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-0-316-15647-9. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
Summer 1972. Three teenagers find themselves in an unfamiliar neighborhood, and the repercussions are felt decades later.
Rhode, Jewell Parker. Yellow Moon. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4165-3710-6. $24.
Voodoo Dreams, indeed. When Marie Levant, granddaughter of famed New Orleans voodoo queen Marie Laveau, has blood-drenched nightmares, she realizes that a wamimomo—an African vampire—is on the loose.
Shakur, Sanyika. T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. Grove. Aug. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1871-4. $24.
Lapeace, leader of the Eight Tray Crips, must go into hiding. A first novel from the author of Monster, an authentic memoir of gang life. With a reading group guide.
Thompson, Eldon. The Divine Talisman. Eos: HarperCollins. (Legend of Asahiel, Bk. 3). Aug. 2008. 480p. ISBN 978-0-06-074154-9. $25.95.
As Thompson wraps up the “Legend of Asahiel” series, the king of Alson gives his life to save his people—and is resurrected as their enemy. With a reading group guide.
Tremain, Rose. The Road Home. Little, Brown. Aug. 2008. 368p. ISBN 978-0-316-00261-5. $24.99.
Whitbread award winner Tremain recounts the story of Lev, who, like many of his compatriots (in fact, 16,000 a month on average since 2004), flees Eastern Europe for London.
Wittenborn, Dirk. Pharmakon. Viking. Aug. 2008. 416p. ISBN 978-0-670-01942-7. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
In 1952, a bright-eyed Yale psychology professor thinks he's found a drug that can deliver happiness. Then one of his experimental subjects commits murder. From an author (Fierce People) and Emmy-nominated producer; nine-city tour and reading group guide.

Nonfiction
Anderson, Douglas A. & Marjorie J. Burns, eds. On Tolkien: Interviews, Reminiscences, and Other Essays. Houghton. Aug. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-0-618-44516-5. $26.
Tolkien specialist Anderson and British lit professor Burns gather recollections about the man who gave us Middle-earth.
Bayoumi, Moustafa. How Does It Feel To Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-1-59420-176-9. $24.95.
Journalist and English professor Bayoumi shows us what it's like to be Arab American by profiling seven young men and women and the troubles they've seen. With a four-city tour.
Carlin, John. The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-1-59420-174-5. $24.95.
How newly elected president Nelson Mandela helped unite South Africa by getting behind the national rugby team, a former symbol of apartheid that faced an uphill battle when the country hosted the World Cup in 1995. Guess who won the championship?
Friedman, Thomas L. Green Is the New Red, White, and Blue. Farrar. Aug. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-0-374-16685-4. $24. CD: Macmillan Audio.
The World Is Green? That's Friedman's wish and not just to save the environment; it's also better business. With a national tour.
Kerouac, Jack. Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha. Viking. Aug. 2008. 160p. ISBN 978-0-670-01957-1. $24.95.
When he wasn't writing landmark novels, the Catholic-born Kerouac was studying up on Buddhism. His retelling of the Buddha's life appears in book form for the first time.
LeBlanc, Phyllis Montana. Not Just the Levees Broke: Living Through Hurricane Katrina. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2008. 176p. ISBN 978-1-4165-6346-4. $20.
You saw her in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke. Now LeBlanc, still stuck in a FEMA trailer, speaks for herself about her memories of Katrina. With a three-city tour.
Lessing, Doris. Alfred and Emily. HarperCollins. Aug. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-0-06-083488-3. $25.95.
Nobel prize winner Lessing tells the story of her parents, whose lives were blighted by the Great War; fictional passages imagine how things might have been.
Mahler, Jonathan. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: A Historic Challenge to the President. Farrar. Aug. 2008. 368p. ISBN 978-0-374-22320-5. $25.
Appointed to defend Salim Ahmed Hamdan, confessed driver of Osama bin Laden and a Guantánamo Bay detainee scheduled to appear before a special military tribunal, navy lieutenant commander Charles Swift challenged the tribunal's legality before the Supreme Court—and won. With a national tour.
Peterson, Roger Tory. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America. Houghton. Aug. 2008. 528p. ISBN 978-0-618-96614-1. flexi. $26.
New paintings. New maps. Digital updates. A revised text. A larger trim size. And a URL for accessing video podcasts. Combining the Peterson field guides to Eastern and Western birds of the United States, this book celebrates the centennial of the famed birder's birth. With a 200,000-copy first printing; national tour with Lee Peterson, the author's son.
Theroux, Paul. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar. Houghton. Aug. 2008. 464p. ISBN 978-0-618-41887-9. $28.
Remember The Great Railway Bazaar? Join Theroux as he repeats his journey of 30 years ago through Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Pacific Rim nations. With a (strictly American) ten-city tour.
Trudeau, Noah Andre. Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea. Harper: HarperCollins. Aug. 2008. 592p. ISBN 978-0-06-059867-9. $29.95.
Why the name Sherman still makes Southerners shiver; from an award-winning author (Gettysburg).