PW: Hot Deals

Esquivel Back to Family for Crown

Esquivel: Father as peacemaker.

Laura Esquivel, whose Like Water for Chocolate was such a huge hit for Doubleday, is returning to family lore for her next novel, on which Crown has picked up its option in what editorial director Steve Ross described as "a very big deal for us." The book will be called As Swift as Desire, and it will be, said Ross, based on Esquivel's father, who acted as a mediator between her Spanish-speaking mother and Mayan-speaking grandmother. In the novel, he will be seen as a telegraph operator who puts his own spin on the messages passing between people, a man with "a gift of reconciliation." Ross bought the book, along with Doug Pepper, who will edit it, from agent Thomas Colchie, acting on behalf of Barcelona agent Mercedes Casanovas. They bought world English rights, as well as Spanish-language in the U.S. and Canada; Spanish rights for the rest of the world have already been sold to Plaza y Janes.

On the Kimes Beat
It was inevitable that the story of convicted murderers Sante Kimes and her youngest son, Kenny,would find its way between covers, but HarperCollins's Trena Keating has signed an account of the deadly pair by none other than Kimes's first-born son (and Kenny's stepbrother), Kent Walker. Writing with veteran investigative reporter Mark Schone, he will tell the story of his own upbringing, in which Mom taught him how to shoplift, forge checks, steal cars, break into homes and commit arson; he will also wonder in print whether he could have done more to halt his young stepbrother's downward spiral, which led ultimately to murder. The book, to be called Sante's Other Son, was sold for world rights for a solid six figures, by Peter Steinberg at Donadio & Olson. Meanwhile, both CBS and ABC are said to be developing made-for-TV movies on the story, and Ken Atchity and Ch-Li Wong at AEI in Beverly Hills have sold a property called Dead End by Jean King to Dara Cohen at USA Network, also for a TV movie. Dead End, based on interviews with the convicted Kimeses, as well as correspondence between them, is being offered as a book by the Marianne Strong agency.

Big Sports Book for Small Press
Little Seven Stories Press in New York has landed a property any big house could be jealous of: a book called More Than a Game, which will be jointly written by Phil Jackson, legendary coach of the new NBA champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, and noted basketball novelist Charley Rosen (The House of Moses All-Stars and Barney Polan's Game). The two men have known each other for more than 25 years, and found they shared a philosophy of the game, even worked together as coaches for the Albany Patroons for a time in the '80s. While Jackson, absorbing Tex Winter's approach, led the Chicago Bulls to six championships, Rosen began writing a series of basketball novels for Seven Stories. Then the two got together in Los Angeles to chronicle the reshaping of the team, with Jackson (who already had a 1996 Hyperion bestseller, Sacred Hoops, behind him) penning his day-by-day feelings about the Lakers and the NBA in general, and Rosen contributing his novelistic impressions. More Than a Game will be released next March. Seven Stories has world rights, including serial rights and film, with Agnes Krup handling foreign and Michelle Rubin at Writers House handling serial. Jackson was represented in the deal by Todd Musburger;Rosen represented himself.

Hollywood Coach Is Bantam Buy

Moss: Man behind Oscar performances.

Larry Moss is an esteemed Hollywood acting coach who, taught by such luminaries as Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner, has passed along his wisdom to the likes of recent Academy Award-winning actresses Hilary Swank and Helen Hunt.When he spoke about his methods on National Public Radio not long before this spring's Oscar ceremonies, it struck several publishers that he might have a book in him. When it turned out that he did, a small but fierce bidding war erupted, won by Bantam's Toni Burbank, who offered a "healthy" six figures for North American rights. Burbank bought the book, she said, because it was clear that Moss's philosophy required his acting students to know themselves thoroughly first, and his approach could also be applied to a wide range of people in their everyday lives. The untitled book was sold by Ellen Geiger at Curtis Brown, on whose roster Moss is one of the talents; this is his first literary effort, scheduled for publication in 2002.

Short Takes
A forthcoming Bantam title from Harlan Coben, a thriller called Big Tears Fall, has been optioned by Studio Canal for seven figures after a studio bidding battle; the deal was made jointly by J l Gotler at AMG and Coben's literary agent, Lisa Erbach Vance at Aaron Priest.... The new novel by Philip Roth,The Human Stain, has been bought for the movies by Lakeshore Entertainment, by Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi for producer Scott Steindorff of Village Stone; the deal was made by Andrew Wylie and Jeffrey Posternak of the Wylie Agency and Michael Siegel of his own firm.

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