Hardcovers: Fiction/First Novels & Collections
Edited by Dick Donahue and Skip Skwarek. Compiled by Alia Akkam, Natalie Danford, Diane Patrick, Sarah Robbins, Judith Rosen and Michelle Wildgen. -- Publishers Weekly, 6/29/2009
ANOVA/PORTICO
(dist. by Trafalgar Square/IPG)
Punk Fiction: A Collection of Short Stories, Poems and Illustrations Inspired by Punk Rock (Sept., $15.95) by Johnny Marr. Each author of these stories is at the forefront of the punk scene.
JOHN F. BLAIR
The Middle of the Air (Oct., $22.95) by Ken Butcher. A truck carrying nuclear material goes missing in the North Carolina mountains.
DIAL PRESS
The Imperfectionists (Jan., $25) by Tom Rachman. An ailing newspaper's staffers face assorted tribulations as the paper's predicament worsens and characters begin to collide.
DOUBLEDAY/NAN A. TALESE
Union Atlantic (Jan., $25) by Adam Haslett portrays the gilded age of the first decade of the 21st century and its many life-shaping conflicts. 100,000 first printing.
ELEVATOR GROUP
(dist. bt Atlas Books)
Heads Deacon, Tails Devil (Oct., $27.95) by P.J. McCalla concerns an early 1900s Baptist deacon who puts on a good face in public but acts like the devil at home.
FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX
Mathilda Savitch (Sept., $24) by Victor Lodato. A girl seeks the truth behind the death of her sister, who was pushed in front of a train. 50,000 first printing. Author tour.
HENRY HOLT
The Calligrapher's Daughter (Sept., $26) by Eugenia Kim concerns a young woman who dares to fight for a brighter future in occupied Korea.
NOVELLO FESTIVAL PRESS
(dist. by John F. Blair)
Cow Across America (Oct., $21.95) by Dale Neal. Two young men set out to walk to California with nothing but their wits and a milk cow named Ivy.
PLEXUS PUBLISHING
A Boardwalk Story (Oct., $24.95) by J. Louis Yampolsky. A 15-year-old boy comes of age in Atlantic City in 1939—the 10th anniversary of the Great Depression.
PUTNAM/AMY EINHORN BOOKS
The Kingdom of Ohio (Sept., $24.95) by Matthew Flaming. A New York City couple struggles with the nature of history, technology and time at the dawn of the mechanical age.
SOHO PRESS
Alcestis (Feb., $23) by Katharine Beutner gives voice to the mythological “good wife,” who loved her husband so much that she died to save his life.
ST. MARTIN'S/THOMAS DUNNE
Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter (Oct., $23.99) by Lisa Patton. A Southern belle follows her husband's pipe dream to manage a quaint Vermont inn. 75,000 first printing.
UNIV. OF GEORGIA PRESS
The Bigness of the World (Oct., $24.95) by Lori Ostlund. The characters in this story collection, attempting to leave their homes behind, find a wider world as troubled as the one they left.
UNIV. OF WISCONSIN/TERRACE BOOKS
Sugarless: A Novel (Oct., $24.95) by James Magruder. In this coming-of-age, coming-out story, a high school sophomore finds his voice on the interscholastic forensics circuit.
VANGUARD PRESS
The Twelve (Sept., $19.95) by William Gladstone tracks one man's journey as he discovers the secret behind the age-old Mayan “end of time” prophecy. 75,000 first printing. $250,000 ad/promo budget.
