Prepub Exploded

Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 09/30/2008

An LJ staple for nearly 20 years, Prepub Alert has been exploded! The online version will include more book and author details, expanded tour and promotional coverage, and useful hyperlinks, plus all the information offered in the print version. In this column: Boyle, Chopra, and Gooch.

Fiction | Nonfiction

Fiction

Bass, Jefferson. Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-06-128474-8. $24.95.
The elderly man whose body was yanked from a swimming pool and sent to the Body Farm obviously died of…radiation poisoning? Soon Body Farm director Bill Brockton discovers that his newest case was a famed physicist once involved with the Manhattan Project. Fourth in a best-selling series; with regional appearances in the authors’ home state, Tennessee.

Berry, Jedediah. The Manual of Detection. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Feb. 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-1-59420-211-7. $25.95.
An untested clerk takes over when his agency’s lead detective is knocked off, and as all the city’s alarm clocks go missing, he must enter a dead man’s dreams to thwart an evil genius. Some debut. Berry is an assistant editor at Small Beer Press; look for a virtual regional media tour out of Boston and promotion on both mystery and sf web sites.

Boyle, T.C. The Women. Viking. Feb. 2009. c.464p. ISBN 978-0-670-02041-6. $27.95.
Nancy Horan fictionalized Frank Lloyd Wright’s romance with Mamah Cheney in Loving Frank, but Boyle goes whole hog, reimagining Wright’s life in the context of four women he loved: Cheney, Montenegrin Olgivanna Milanoff; Southern belle Maud Miriam Noel; and tragically deceased first wife Kitty Tobin. The author currently lives in the George C. Stewart house, Wright’s first California structure. With a readers’ guide and multi-city tour tentatively scheduled for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Menlo Park, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), Princeton, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Seattle, Sonoma, and Washington.

Cleave, Chris. Little Bee. S. & S. Feb. 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-1-4165-8963-1. $24.
Since Cleave’s Incendiary, which envisioned a London Tube bombing, was published on the day the actual bombing occurred, one wonders what secrets lie coiled within this portrait of an illegal Nigerian immigrant and the English housewife she once met on an African beach. With a reading group guide; Incendiary was a Somerset Maugham Award winner and was made into a film that played the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Dorsey, Tim. Nuclear Jellyfish. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-06-143266-8. $24.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
This jellyfish is an ex-con leader of some very bad men whom Serge Storms would have to encounter while motoring around Florida trying to launch a travel site. With a nine-city tour to Austin, Chicago, Columbus, Houston, Madison, Milwaukee, Portland (OR), Seattle, and one New England location; Florida appearances as well, plus direct marketing to colleges. Check out both the author’s web site and his MySpace page.

Hannah, Kristin. True Colors. St. Martin’s. Feb. 2009. c.416p. ISBN 978-0-312-36410-6. $25.95.
All three Grey sisters long for their father’s approval, but only talented and vervy Vivi Anne gets it—until she decides to follow her own dreams. With a national tour. Expect library marketing for this latest from Hannah.

Harwood, John. The Séance. Houghton. Feb. 2009. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-15-101203-9. $25.
Constance’s mother incessantly mourns the loss of her younger daughter, so desperate Constance takes her to a séance. Bad idea. And it gets worse when Constance inherits a house with a dark secret. Harwood’s first, The Ghost Writer, won the 2004 International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel.

Lashner, William. Blood and Bone. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-06-114348-9. $24.95. lrg. prnt.
A college athlete who blew his chances to turn pro, gone-to-seed Kyle Byrne is suspected of murdering his father’s former law partner. Now he’s got the impetus to investigate his father’s death 12 years ago. A standalone from New York Times best-selling author Lashner.

Moore, Christopher. Fool. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.336p. ISBN 978-0-06-059031-4. $25.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
This fool serves King Lear and has something to say about an oft-told story. In fact, says Moore, his is “a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank.” With a one-day laydown on February 10; 14-city tour to Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Palmer, Michael. The Second Opinion. St. Martin’s. Feb. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-312-34355-2. $25.95.
Dr. Thea Sperelakis may have Asperger’s, but she’s the one who realizes that the hit-and-run that has left her father near death was no accident. More medical suspense from Palmer; with a one-day laydown on February 17.

Patterson, James & Michael Ledwidge. Run for Your Life: A Michael Bennett Novel. Little, Brown. Feb. 2009. c.400p. ISBN 978-0-316-01874-6. $27.99. lrg. prnt. $29.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
The Teacher is a serial killer who gives deadly lessons to New York’s rich and arrogant, and only Det. Mike Bennett can erase his chalkboard. A sequel to the best-selling Step on a Crack, which introduced Bennett and has sold nearly a million copies.

Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. What I Did for Love. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.400p. ISBN 978-0-06-135150-1. $24.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
With her career in ruins and her husband off with a young beauty, why shouldn’t movie star Georgie York head for Vegas with an old flame. But marriage? No tour for Phillips, but there will be a 25-city radio campaign. With a one-day laydown on February 3.

Robinson, Peter. All the Colors of Darkness. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-06-136293-4. $24.95. lrg. prnt.
In his 18th outing, Inspector Alan Banks deals with a not-so-open-and-shut murder-suicide on the Yorkshire Dales. With an 11-city tour to Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), San Francisco, and Seattle.

Roby, Kimberla Lawson. The Best of Everything. Morrow. Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-06-144306-0. $23.95.
And you thought Curtis Black was naughty. Watch out for daughter Alicia. With a one-day laydown on January 27; a ten-city tour to Augusta, Baltimore, Charleston, Chicago/Rockford, Cleveland, Columbus, Kansas, Mobile, Philadelphia, and San Francisco/Oakland. Reading group guide.

Simmons, Dan. Drood. Little, Brown. Feb. 2009. c.784p. ISBN 978-0-316-00702-3. $26.99. lrg. print. CD: Hachette Audio.
Did Dickens’s obsession in his later years with corpses, crypts, and lime pits in the worst slums of London hide a nasty secret? Ask Wilkie Collins, narrator of this fact-based thriller by Simmons. With a four-city tour; radio advertising in New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

Nonfiction

Asim, Jabari. What Obama Means...For Our Culture, Our Politics, and Our Future. Morrow.Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-06-171133-6. $25.95.
Not Obama as candidate but Obama as a phenomenon that has changed the face of America; from cultural critic and Crisis editor-in-chief Asim.

Benedict, Jeff. Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage. Grand Central. Jan. 2009. c.356p. ISBN 978-0-446-50862-9. $26.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
Susette Kelo fixed up a little waterfront cottage in New London, CT—and then had to fight the town, which wanted to knock down her entire block to build a cozy home for Pfizer. Lots of buzz; Kelo v. City of New London was heard by the Supreme Court, whose ruling against Kelo prompted a huge outcry from the public. Look for a possible ABC news special.

Bobrick, Benson. Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas. S. & S.Feb. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-7432-9025-8. $28.
By Bobrick, winner of a Literature Award from the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters: the biography of a Union general who should be better known. Unlike Grant, however, he didn’t bother to write his memoirs. Author events in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Chopra, Deepak. Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How To Create a New You. Harmony: Crown. Feb. 2009. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-307-45233-7. $24.95. CD: Random Audio.
Your body mirrors your mind, proclaims Chopra, so watch those thoughts. With a 12-city tour to Asheville, Boston, Boulder, Denver, Madison (CT), Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, DC.

Conley, Dalton. Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety. Pantheon. Jan. 2009. c.240p. ISBN 978-0-375-42290-4. $24.
We know the rap: we’re run by work and technology. A timely work by NYU sociology professor Conley, with a six-city tour to Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Daalder, Ivo H. & I.M. Destler. In the Shadow of the Oval Office: From John F. Kennedy to Bush II; The President’s National Security Advisors. S. & S. Feb. 2009. c.336p. ISBN 978-1-4165-5319-9. $26.
National security advisers are powerfully influential—and accountable to no one but the President. A report from former national security council staffer Daalder and Destler, professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.

Davis, Michael. Street Gang: A Complete History of Sesame Street. Viking. Jan. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-670-01996-0. $27.95. CD: Listen & Live Audio.
If Sesame Street is 40 years old, how old are you? A former TV Guide family television columnist chronicles a show now airing in 120 countries. With author events in New York, Boston, and Washington, DC.

Dobyns, Jay & Nils Johnson-Shelton. No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels. Crown.Feb. 2009. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-307-40585-2. $25.95.
For Dobyns, leading a double life as an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and a member of Hells Angels was 21 months of pure hell. Now he’s a motivational speaker. Film rights to 20th Century Fox.

Escobar, Roberto with David Fisher. The Accountant’s Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel. Grand Central. Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-446-17892-1. $26.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
The brother of Medellín drug cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar gives us an insider’s look at the folks who once sent the United States 15 tons of cocaine a day and spent $1000 a week just for rubber bands to bundle the cash. Soon to be a major motion picture, Escobar, produced by Oliver Stone and directed by Antoine Fuqua; expect Joe Carnahan’s Killing Pablo at the same time.

Esselstyn, Rip. The Engine 2 Diet: The Lean, Green, 6-Week Plan for Outrageously Good Health and Effortless Weight Loss. Wellness Central. Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-446-50669-4. $24.99.
Great-grandson of the founder of the Cleveland Clinic, triathlete-turned-firefighter Esselstyn devised a successful health and weight-loss plan for a colleague that could help you, too. Check out the book video.

Flood, Charles Bracelen. 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History. S. & S. Feb. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-1-4165-5228-4. $28.
Revisit a year that began with Northern uncertainty about the war’s outcome and ended with John Wilkes Booth on the hunt for a President. From the author of Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War.

Gooch, Brad. Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor. Little, Brown.Feb. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-316-00066-6. $30.
From the man who re-created Frank O’Hara in City Poet.

Gwartney, Debra. Live Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love. Houghton. Feb. 2009. c.240p. ISBN 978-0-547-05447-6. $24.
A writing instructor and former Oregon correspondent for Newsweek, Gwartney fled cross-country with her four daughters after a failed marriage—and then watched mid-teens Amanda and Stephanie walk out. Eventually, the family stitched itself together again; a joint appearance on Oprah in 2002 inspired enthusiastic viewer response. With a four-city tour to Portland (OR), Eugene, Seattle, and San Francisco.

Jal, Emmanuel. War Child: A Child Soldier’s Story; A Memoir. St. Martin’s. Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-312-38322-0. $24.95. CD: Macmillan Audio.
His mother killed and his father a commander in the Christian Sudanese Liberation Army, Jal became a child soldier. Now he is a musician—his first U.S. album was released last spring—and an Oxfam and Amnesty International spokesman; a documentary of his life (also called War Child) won the Cadillac Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. With a national tour; reading group guide.

Lehrer, Jonah. How We Decide. Houghton. Feb. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-618-62011-1. $25.
Analyze your options, or follow your instincts? Actually, says Lehrer (Proust Was a Neuroscientist), contemporary neuroscience shows that for most decisions we do both. Check out his blog, The Frontal Cortex. With a national tour to New York, Boston, Portland (OR), Seattle, and Sam Francisco.

Schofield, Brian. Selling Your Father’s Bones: America’s 140 Year Destruction of the Nez Perce Tribe. S. & S. Feb. 2009. c.400p. ISBN 978-1-4165-3993-3. $26.
Triple-threat Schofield—environmentalist, triathlete, and acclaimed travel writer—follows the 1700-mile track laid down by 700 members of the Nez Perce tribe and their 3000 horses as they fled the U.S. Army in 1877. Check out the author’s blog, Brian Schofield’s Place.

Xinran. China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation. Pantheon. Feb. 2009. c.448p. ISBN 978-0-375-42547-9. $27.95.
Founder of The Mothers’ Bridge of Love, which helps disadvantaged Chinese children, the Chinese-born author of Sky Burial gathers oral histories from folks there at the creation of modern China. With a six-city tour to Chicago, New York, Portland (OR), San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis.