The latest edition of Prepub Exploded, an expanded edition of Prepub Alert, features December titles, including hot fiction authors from Tom Clancy to Anne Rice, plus a Lawrence of Arabia bio in nonfiction.

Fiction

Clancy, Tom with Grant Blackwood. Dead or Alive. Putnam. Dec. 2010. 848p. ISBN 978-0-399-15723-3. $28.95.
The publication of Clancy's first novel since 1994 was big news back in April and was featured in this column's "Coming Attractions" section in April 15, 2010. Here's a don't-miss-this reminder for anyone who wants to see top Clancy characters from the last quarter century (e.g., Jack Ryan, Jack Ryan, Jr., John Clark, Ding Chavez, Dominick and Brian Caruso, and Mary Pat Foley) battle the evil Emir, who's plotting the demise of the West. With a 1.75 million-copy first printing.

Demming, Troy. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi. LucasBooks: Del Rey. Dec. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-345-50920-8. $27.
In this sixth in the nine-book "Fate of the Jedi" series, the Skywalkers and their not-to-be-trusted Sith buddies are up against a Force-entity called the Abeloth. All the books in the series have been New York Times best sellers, so this will likely be, too.

Doetcsh, Richard. Half-Past Dawn. Atria. Dec. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-1-4391-8397-7. $25.99.
As Doetcsh proved with his breakout The 13th Hour, he can cook up a mean premise when asked. Here, district attorney Harper Keller peers in the mirror upon awakening and discovers a partly healed gash over his eye and a stitched-up wound in his shoulder that appears to have come from gunshot. Then he sees that the newspaper is reporting his murder. Oh, and his wife and daughters are missing. But don't let this go missing from your shelves.

Gallaway, Matthew. The Metropolis Case. Crown. Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-0-307-46342-5. $25.|
Whether visiting 1860s Paris or contemporary New York, which is peopled by characters like disappointed lawyer Martin and breakout opera star Anna, this novel is grounded in Richard Wagner's lusciously over-the-edge opera Tristan and Isolde. Debut novelist Gallaway, whose partner is a stage director at the Metropolitan Opera, was introduced to librarians at the Random House breakfast that preceded the opening of BEA. Fun and Michael Cunningham-ish for the literary crowd.

Haig, Matt. The Radleys. Free Pr. Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4391-9401-0. $25.
Harassed doctor Peter lives in a picturesque little English village with wife Helen and their children, put-upon Rowan and newly vegan Clara. Your average slightly messed-up family-except that Peter and Helen are vampires who have forsworn the chase for blood and are trying to give their kids a normal life. It doesn't quite work. British author Haig goes for the appealingly offbeat (The Dead Fathers Club starred Hamlet as an 11-year old), and there must be hopes for his new one-it was one of the publisher's few galley giveaways at BEA and has a reading group guide as well.

Harris, E. Lynn & RM Johnson. No One in the World. S. & S. Dec. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-1-4391-7809-6. $25.
Harris's swan song (he died in July 2009), completed by Johnson (e.g., The Million Dollar Demise), features brothers Cobi Winslow, rich, gay, and aspiring to political office, and Eric Reed, raised in foster care and a criminal whose former cell mate plans to hit up Cobi for cash. Oh, and Cobi has to marry soon to inherit from his dad. Yes, it's complicated. Get wherever Harris has been popular.

Moore, Graham. The Sherlockian. Twelve: Hachette. Dec. 2010. 368p. ISBN 978-0-446-57259-0 . $24.99.
Debut author Moore evidently read his first Agatha Christie in second grade and has been a mystery nut ever since. (He's now an earnest-looking young Columbia grad.) Here, he harks back to the redoubtable Sherlock Holmes with a setting that veers between present and past. After joining a contemporary Holmes society, literary researcher Harold White finds himself hunting for the murderer of a Doyle scholar-and the journal that went missing upon Arthur Conan Doyle's death. In a parallel mystery, Doyle himself joins with Bram Stoker to track a serial killer. Interest is really building on this title.

Oden, Scott. The Lion of Cairo. (Emir of the Knife, Bk. 1). Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. Dec. 2010. 336p. ISBN 978-0-312-37293-4. $24.99.
Oden is not yet among the biggest names in historical thrillers, but he did well enough with his small-press debut, Men of Bronze (starred in PW), and its follow-up, Memnon, that a New York house came calling. Here, an inexperienced young caliph ruling a corrupt and unstable Egypt gets help from the legendary Old Man of the Mountain, who sends him an assassin called the Emir of the Knife. There are lots of thrillers set in the ancient world or medieval Europe, but, interestingly, I'm not coming up with another set in exactly this time and era. With a reading group guide; consider when your Conn Igguldens and Steven Pressfields are out.

McCullough, Colleen. Sex, Greed, and Murder. S. & S. Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4391-7831-7. $26.
Capt. Carmine Delmonico is back in his third outing (following Too Many Murders), and he's got not one but two murders to solve. McCullough doesn't seem to do quite as well with her mysteries as she does with her historical, but the timeframe here is interesting: it's 1968. Buy where the first two were popular.

O'Hagan, Andrew. The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe. Houghton Harcourt. Dec. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-15-101372-2. $24.
Scottish author O'Hagan is a multiple award winner (Los Angeles Times Book Prize, James Tait Black Memorial Prize, E.M. Forster Award), and I fell mightily for his most recent novel, Be Near Me, an LJ Best Book for 2006. So I'm intrigued to read his latest, narrated by a dog named Maf (short for Mafia Honey) given by Frank Sinatra to Marilyn Monroe in November 1960. Does Maf manage to tell a good tale? Reviewing the U.K. edition, Peter Bogdanovich says "there is not one scene that doesn't work," though he wanted more insight into Monroe's end; James Shilling saw it as "a marvellously imaginative, clever, entertaining and profoundly melancholy novel...[that] offers a startling insight into Hollywood, psychotherapy, politics and literary in-fighting, as well as a private portrait of one of the world's most famous and troubled women." It sounds like a book that could expand the estimable O'Hagan's audience. Watch this!

Rice, Anne. Of Love and Evil. Knopf. Dec. 2010. 192p. ISBN-13: 978-1-4000-4354-5. $24.95.lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
In this second addition to her "Songs of the Seraphim" series, the fiery angel Malchiah compels former assassin Toby O'Dare to continue atoning for his sins by sending him back to Michelangelo's Rome, where he must solve a heinous poisoning and track down a marauding spirit. And what guise does Toby take on to accomplish his assignment? He's a lutenist, which makes me want to read this book (I do love Renaissance music). Critics generally applauded the series opener, though some Lestat fans wanted more tension. Your take? With a 200,000-copy first printing.

Nonfiction
Angelou, Maya. Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart. Random. Dec. 2010. 192p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6844-9. $30.
Here's a tip from the poet who read at Bill Clinton's inauguration: if you want to lose weight, eat small portions of really yummy food through the day. She dropped 35 pounds that way. Angelou includes both recipes and reminiscences. Wow, everyone's getting in to the food act.

Brown, Mike. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. Spiegel & Grau. Dec. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-385-53108-5. $25.
In 2005, Brown discovered a tenth planet, dubbed Eris, that was 27 percent more massive than Pluto. The resulting controversy in the scientific community (some colleagues even tried to claim Brown's discovery for their own) led to the eventual demotion of both as planets. Do folks care? You bet; kids wrote protest letters when Pluto lost its status, and the Facebook group "When I was your age, Pluto was a planet" has almost two million members. Brown has the inside track here; he was even proclaimed one of Time's "100 Most Influential People" in 2006 for his part in this brouhaha. What's more, he has been named one of Wired.com's "Top Ten Sexiest Geeks"-check this out if you live in New York, Washington, DC, where the author is touring.

Bach, David. Debt Free For Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Independence. Broadway. Dec. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-7679-2986-8. $19.99.
He's a top-selling personal finance guru, and he wants to get you out of debt. That seems worth 20 bucks. With a 150,000 first printing.

Beattie, Melody. Make Miracles in Forty Days: Turning What You Have into What You Want. S. & S. Dec. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-1-4391-0215-2. $23.
Beattie, a leader in inspirational self-help for 25 years, sums it all up in a compact little book that offers a six-week plan for getting those miracles to happen. Part of the deal? You've got to make a gratitude list every day. You'll know if this is for you.

Cloud, Henry. Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have To Give Up in Order to Move Forward. HarperBusiness: HarperCollins. Dec. 2010. 288p. 978-0-06-177712-7. $25.99.
The man who gave us the best-selling Integrity here tells us how to cope successfully when things go bad in work, life, and love. I always worry about these crossovers, but the 75,000-copy first printing suggests that the publishers does not.

Korda, Michael. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. Harper: HarperCollins. Dec. 2010. 768p. 978-0-06-171261-6. $34.99.
Lawrence of Arabia-he really is bigger than life, and one can expect Korda, best-selling author and editor in chief emeritus of Simon & Schuster, to give him the full treatment. Korda's aim is to dig beneath the legend and chat with the man himself. Can't wait for this one; my nonfiction favorite here. With a one-day laydown on November 11 (despite the official December pub date) and a 150,000-copy first printing.

Reardon, Joan, ed. As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto. Houghton Harcourt. Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-0-547-41771-4. $26.
As you'll remember from the film Julie & Julia, Avis DeVoto helped Julia Child come into her own. Here, noted culinary historian Reardon presents 200 letters they exchanged from 1952 to 1965, a crucial time in Child's life dating from her initial move to Paris with her husband. Gems among these letters: Child says that she finds the French "cosy" and wants to make French cooking "understandable to the novice and interesting to the practiced cook." The Julia wave is not subsiding

Rohde, David & Kristen Mulvihill. A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides. Viking. Dec. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-670-02223-6. $25.95. CD/Downloadable: Penguin Audio.
In November 2008, New York Times reporter Rohde went to interview a Taliban commander-and was kidnapped along with two Afghan colleagues. The story of his detention mostly in the remote reaches of Pakistan, where the military ignored Taliban activity, was later told in a five-part Times series. Yes, Rohde escaped-a stolen bit of rope helped-even as the Times and Mulvihill, whom he had married just two months before his capture, struggled to negotiate his release. Interesting addendum: to assure Rohde's safety, the Times was able to effect a news blackout regarding the kidnapping, at least among Western and English-language papers, which caused some controversy after the fact. With a six-city tour.

Sullivan, Randall. Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson. Atlantic Monthly. Dec. 2010. 208p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1962-9. $24.
Sullivan, a Rolling Stone contributing editor, actually focuses on Michael Jackson's final four years, when he was planning a comeback album and 50-concert series in London and Paris. Interviews with numerous friends and associates help shed light on Jackson as both iconic pop star and troubled "untouchable." Just the beginning of the Jackson publishing boom.

My Pick
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker . Farrar. Dec. 2010. NAp. ISBN 978-0-374-53287-1. pap. $16.
In case you missed it, The New Yorker just got everyone tweeting frantically by announcing its latest "20 Under 40" list-a list of young fiction writers already blowing our minds. (It's the first list in more than a decade.) Look for their works in the magazine throughout the summer (publication started with the June 14/21 double issue) and then look for the complete collection this December from Farrar, which happens to publish five of the 20: Chris Adrian (I've been on to him since Gob's Grief); David Bezmozgis, author of the utterly affecting Natasha and Other Stories; the sharp and elegant Rivka Galchen (Atmospheric Disturbances); C.E. Morgan, whose All the Living was one of my favorites last year; and Wells Tower, who also just won the NYPL Young Lions Award for his uncompromising Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Other remarkable authors (and personal loves) range from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi and Daniel Alarc? to Nicole Krauss and Dinaw Mengestu. As with any list, one might quarrel about inclusions and exclusions, but why bother? It's a terrific guide to good reading today. Get the book, even if you subscribe to The New Yorker; great for reading groups, hungry literati, students, and naysayers who must be shown that fiction is not dead.

This Just In

Caine, Sir Michael. The Elephant to Hollywood. Holt. Nov. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-0-8050-9390-2. $20.
Little Maurice Micklewhite, born with rickets in London's dirt-poor Elephant & Castle area, grew up to be the famed, knighted, dual Oscar Award winner Caine. Here, in this follow-up to his 1991 memoir, What's It All About?, he recalls a low time in his career and then his fabulous rebound, starting with the film Blood and Wine. Of his life, Caine says it best: "There aren't many actors whose career has spanned nearly fifty years of movie-making-from Zulu to The Dark Knight-and there aren't many actors who have had Happy Birthday sun huskily and Marilyn-like into their ear by both Carly Simon and Scarlett Johansson, twenty years apart." Kudos, Sir Michael.

Bernard Cornwell, The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War. Harper: HarperCollins. Dec. 2010. 480p. ISBN 978-0-06-196963-8. $25.99. lrg. prnt.
Cornwell takes a break from his "Saxon Tales," "Sharpe Books" and more to visit Revolutionary America, recounting what happened when Massachusetts sends 40 ships to counter 1000 Scottish troops at Penobscot Bay. It's an actual if little-known event considered the worst naval disaster in American history until Pearl Harbor. For one thing, Paul Revere got court-martialed for cowardice. Get multiples. With a one-day laydown on September 28 and a 200,000-copy first printing.

Daschle, Tom. Getting It Done: How Obama and Congress Finally Broke the Stalemate To Make Way for Health Care Reform. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. Oct. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-312-64378-2. $25.99.
The former U.S. senator and Senate majority leader, currently a member of the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at the Harvard School of Public Health and of Global Policy Advisory Council for the Health Worker Migration Initiative, here explains how the current health-care bill came together and what it means. Off obvious interest, as the 75,000-copy first printing attests.

Feldman, Noah. Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices. Twelve: Hachette. Nov. 2010. ISBN 978-0-446-58057-1. $29.99.
A self-educated lawyer who became a prosecutor at Nuremburg. A former Klansman who spoke up for economic reform. A poor boy who rose to help form the Securities and Exchange Commission. And the Viennese immigrant who really helped seal the New Deal. They are Robert Jackson, Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and Felix Frankfurter, all Supreme Court justices chosen by Roosevelt, and Harvard Law School professor Feldman tells their joint story. Perfect timing; essential wherever history and current events are in big play.