Here are some Non-Fiction ones
British singer and songwriter Donovan's
memoir THE HURDY GURDY MAN, to Mark Booth at
Random House UK, in a very good deal, for publication
in 2005, by Sarah Lazin at Sarah Lazin Books.
.
Esquire columnist, Oprah magazine contributor,
and Daily Show correspondent Stacey Grenrock-Woods
I, CALIFORNIA, a memoir of being born and raised on
the left coast which tackles, among others, the
titillating power of Peter Frampton's bare chest,
how posing for Playboy makes you hungry, and the
shame you feel when a loved one unearths your old
Sting tee-shirt, to Rob Weisbach at Simon &
Schuster, at auction, by Daniel Greenberg at
Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (world).
Jeremy Mercer's TIME WAS SOFT THERE, a "down and
out in Paris" memoir of living and working in
Paris's famed Shakespeare and Co. bookshop, to Michael
Flamini at St. Martin's, in a nice deal, by
Kristin Lindstrom at Lindstrom Literary Group
(world).
Business/Investing/Finance
Patagonia founder and owner Yvon
Chouinard's memoir, showing how in a world where our
institutions have fallen short of the social
contract, business not only can make an excellent
profit but be a force for social good, to Scott
Moyers at the Penguin Press, in a significant
deal, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Literary
Agency (NA).
Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor
Chip Heath's MAKING IDEAS STICK, based on his
research and coursework on "stickiness" in the
marketplace of ideas, describing six principles found
in naturally sticky ideas (e.g. rumors, factoids,
urban legends) and in carefully designed messages
(product slogans, political campaigns, etc.), and
demonstrating how anyone can harness the power of
these principles to create their own messages, to
Ben Loehnen, in his first acquisition at Random
House, by Christy Fletcher and Donald Lamm at Fletcher
& Parry (world English).
Managing director of the Vancouver Board of Trade
Darcy Rezac, with Judy Thomas and Gayle Halgren's
THE FROG AND THE PRINCE: Secrets of Positive
Networking, showing how to create a strong and
positive social network for business and personal
success by discovering what you can do for someone
else -- not what others can do for you, to Michelle
Howry at Prentice-Hall/Penguin, by Joelle
Delbourgo at Joelle Delbourgo Associates (US).
Advice/Relationships
Debra Fine's THE FINE ART OF SMALL TALK:
How to Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build
Rapport -- and Leave a Positive Impression, providing
readers with the skills and confidence to carry
on Small Talk, to Kelly Notaras at Hyperion, in a
significant deal, by Penny Nelson at Manus &
Associates (NA).
Co-author of Quarterlife Crisis Abby Wilner and
Cathy Stocker's QUARTERLIFER'S COMPANION, a book
of fun and interactive exercises, advice, and
practical tips that addresses the challenges of
being twentysomething, recognizing the
anxiety-inducing uncertainty about career and finances
and showing how to cope with the resulting
dilemmas, to Mary Glenn and Melissa Scuereb at
McGraw-Hill, by Dan Mandel at Sanford J.
Greenburger Associates.
Laura Schaefer's ADVERTISING FOR LOVE: The Best
and Worst Personal Ads of All Time, compiling
three centuries of the best and worst personal ads
written by royalty, literati, and everyday
people, to John Oakes at Thunder's Mouth, by
Scott Hoffman at PMA Literary & Film Management
(NA).
Jamie Callan's DRIVE MEN CRAZY, a satirical
reaction to well-intentioned prescriptive relationship
books, that nonetheless gives serious advice, to
Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks, by Julia Lord at
Julia Lord Literary Management (world).
Narrative
Outdoor writer Bob Madgic's SHATTERED AIR,
an account of the horrific 1985 lightning strike
on Yosemite's Half Dome that left two climbers dead
and three gravely injured, their subsequent
harrowing rescue, and the aftermath of this
ordeal on the participants, to Peter Burford at
Burford Books, in a nice deal, for publication in
June, 2005.
Stegner Fellowship recipient and sailor David
Vann's BIRD OF PARADISE: A Sailor's Disastrous
Career at Sea, the harrowing (and humorous) true story
of one ordinary man's misadventures after
deciding to build a 90-foot sailboat in Turkey
and start a chartering business, to Jofie
Ferrari-Adler at Thunder's Mouth, by Noah Lukeman at
Lukeman Literary Management (NA).
Journalist Shana Alexander's VERY MUCH A LADY,
looking at the dark truth behind the killing of
Scarsdale Diet Doctor Herman Tarnower, the high drama
of a sensational trial, and the fate of Jean
Harris, a complex woman doomed by love and her
own desire, to Jennifer Heddle at Pocket, in a
pre-empt, by Joe Veltre at Artists Literary Group, in
affiliation with Levine Plotkin & Menin (NA). A
film version, starring Annette Bening, Ben
Kingsley and Chloe Sevigny, is already in
produc
Praised by Britain's Sunday Telegraph as
'Geography's answer to Indiana Jones," Oxford don
Nick Middleton's EXTREMES ALONG THE SILK ROAD:
Adventures Off the World's Oldest Superhighway,
following the fabled route traversed by the likes
of Alexander the Great and Marco Polo, an account
of surviving the life-sapping Gobi desert, the icy
passes of Tibet and the great Steppes of Kazakhstan,
weaving together personal experience of almost
ridiculous endurance - sleeping on steaming rocks
in the middle of a sub-zero desert, courting
altitude sickness in the otherwise meditative
Himalayas, risking the anthrax spores of
Vozrozhdeniye Island's post-Stalinist wasteland -
with the bigger picture of our planet's new 'lost
worlds' and their peoples, to Gordon Wise at John
Murray, for publication in spring 2005, by Doreen
Montgomery at Rupert Crew (world).
Author of THE LAST RIVER and THE DARKEST JUNGLE
Todd Balf's COMET: The True Story of Major
Taylor, America's Original Sporting Hero, a biography
of the world's fastest bicycle racer in the
1900's, and the first African-American to become
a world famous sports celebrity, by the New York Times
bestselling, to Kristin Kiser at Crown, by Esmond
Harmsworth at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary
Agency (NA).
