A memoir about journalist Koren Zalickas's life as a binge drinker, beginning at the age of 14, was bought by Viking Penguin senior editor Molly Stern, who believes it is the first book to examine the phenomenon as it affects young women. It's called Smashed, and Stern preempted world rights from Erin Hosier at the Gernert Company. Zalickas, who studied under Mary Karr at Syracuse and whose story has some of that author's hard-hitting quality, says the problem, normally thought of as involving young college men, has become increasingly common in women. Stern aims to publish in early 2005.