ALLEN & UNWIN
(dist. by IDG)
Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus: Confessions of a Tour Leader (Apr., $11.95) by Brian Thacker reveals the naked truth about traveling through Europe with a batch of tourists.
ALYSON
Going Down: Instinct's Guide to Oral Sex (May, $13.95) by Instinct magazine editors is a thorough and humor-filled guide.
AMACOM
The New New Economy: Yet Another Clueless Manifesto for the Post-Digital Age (Apr., $17.95) by Tim McEachern and Chris O'Brien. The cohosts of the popular radio program Geek Nation poke fun at paradigms, buzzwords and slogans from the "New Economy."
ANDREWS MCMEEL
His Code Name Was the Fox (Mar., $8.95) by Bill Amend is the latest from the chaotic Fox family. 100,000 first printing.
In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream (Mar., $10.95) by Scott Adams is the 19th Dilbert and Dogbert collection. 200,000 first printing.
Sign Language (Mar., $8.95) by Amy Horowitz features funny road signs due to slightly altered text. 25,000 first printing.
When You're Hot, You're Hot (Mar., $10.95) by Jan King takes a humorous look at menopause. 50,000 first printing.
Fuzzy Logic (Apr., $10.95) by Darby Conley is a wry portrait of single life with pets, featuring ad exec Rob Wilco, his cat Bucky and pooch Satchel. 100,000 first printing.
AUGUST HOUSE
Real Country Humor: Jokes from Country Music Celebrities (Apr., $6.95), collected and edited by Billy Edd Wheeler, gathers jokes, stories, funny songs and humorous anecdotes.
BALLANTINE
Garfield: Bigger Than Life (Mar., $9.95) by Jim Davis. The bon vivant of cats is back.
Garfield Weighs In: His 4th Book (July, $9.95) by Jim Davis is the fat cat's only biography of his creator.
BETHANY HOUSE
Stark Raving Mad (May, $9.99) by Dave Meurer looks at the highs and lows of fatherhood.
BROADWAY BOOKS
Economy of Errors: SatireWire Gives Business the Business (June, $14.95), edited by Andrew Marlatt. The editors of the humor site SatireWire.com present a satirical look at the way we do business.
Reprint: Fraud (Apr., $12.95) by David Rakoff.
Long Live the King Elvis Presley? Just a voice with hips who joined the heavenly chorus 25 years ago? Certainly not, claim the authors of two forthcoming titles on Presleyana. About The Tao of Elvis (Harcourt/Harvest, June), editor Kati Hesford says, "It's a serious book--although it is open to interpretation. After all, it is Elvis, so how serious can you be?" Author David Rosen, M.D., is a Jungian psychiatrist who employs 42 reflections to explore Elvis's lifelong quest for spiritual knowledge. Elvis's favorite book provides evidence, Hesford points out. It was Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. In April, ECW Press offers Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley's Jewish Roots by Max Wallace and Jonathan Goldstein. Editor Francesca LoDico says, "Schmelvis is a kind of scrapbook on the making of a documentary [of the same name] looking at the issue of Elvis's Jewish roots." In real life, so to speak, Schmelvis is a Jewish Elvis impersonator who gained fame performing for senior citizens in Montreal. He and filmmakers Wallace and Goldstein visited Graceland to say Kaddish and Israel to plant a tree in Elvis's memory. "The book has a Woody Allen or Seinfeld humor," says LoDico. Plus, it contains a PI's report that Elvis's great-great-great-grandmother was, indeed, Jewish. |
CCC PUBLICATIONS
Men Are Experts! (Yeah, Right!) (Mar., $6.99) by Scott Wilson looks at what men think vs. the reality of their actions. 30,000 first printing.
So You're Having a Baby (Apr., $6.99) by Fred Sahner takes a wry look at impending motherhood. 20,000 first printing.
CHRONICLE
Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Golf (June, $14.95) by Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht and James Grace is a guide to the perils lurking on the fairways. 300,000 first printing. Advertising. TV satellite tour.
The Bad Girl's Guide to the Party Life (Aug., $14.95) by Cameron Tuttle. The third book in the Bad Girl series features new games, party themes, drink recipes and more. 100,000 first printing. Advertising. TV satellite tour.
CITADEL PRESS
Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook (Mar., $15.95) by Ruby Ann Boxcar. Residents of the High Chaparral Trailer Park of Pangborn, Ark., offer up personal stories and special recipes from Spam rolls to mayonnaise cake.
ECW PRESS
(dist. by IPG)
Bad Fads (Apr., $23.95) by Mark A. Long looks at short-lived popular trends.
Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley's Jewish Roots (Apr., $17.95) by Max Wallace and Jonathan Goldstein claims that the most Christian of pop icons was really Jewish.
HARPERENTERTAINMENT
Mike Nelson's Mind Over Matters (Mar., $14.95) by Michael J. Nelson gathers essays on modern life's absurdities including the state of men's fashion and angst-filled visits to a health spa.
Why We Rule!: 101 Great Reasons to Love Our Country (May, $13.95) by Rob Cohen and David Wollock mixes irreverent humor with real history.
NBM
Out of the Box (Aug., $12), edited by Ted Rall, collects the work of more than 20 new-generation alternative political cartoonists.
PERENNIAL
Simpsons Comics Unchained (Mar., $14.95) by Matt Groening highlights more antics of the Simpson family.
Big Book of Bart Simpson (July, $11.95) by Matt Groening is devoted to the raucous adventures of bad boy Simpson.
PERIGEE
In Our Humble Opinion: Car Talk's Click and Clack Rant and Rave (May, $13.95) by Tom and Ray Magliozzi. The hosts of NPR's Car Talk cover topics from politics and computer addiction to Hollywood and the coffee culture.
PLUME
Reprint: The Darwin Awards (May, $10) by Wendy Northcutt.
Move Over, Dr. Spock Once upon a time, it was enough to change diapers, mix up some formula, help the kids with their math and perform a few other assorted basics. But in the last decade or so the rules have been enhanced to a fare-thee-well, as any yuppie parent can tell you--and as Ralph Schoenstein makes hilariously clear in Toilet-Trained for Yale: Adventures in 21st-Century Parenting (Perseus, May). To achieve a competitive edge for their kids, says the author, today's parents will go to such lengths as enrolling their tykes in Yoga-for-Toddlers classes and submitting them to preschool IQ admissions testing; while expectant moms, in a sort of Pre-Natal U., play Bach and Beethoven to their bellies. Says the book's editor, Marnie Cochran, "I read the proposal for Toilet-Trained when my son was about a year old, and it relieved my guilty conscience as much as it made me laugh out loud. Here was a successful and loving parent making wonderful fun of all those 'expert-recommended' activities that I myself hadn't yet found time to give my child and that, let's face it, most of us worry we ought to be giving them!" Truly memorable moments in those youngsters' lives, meanwhile, can be documented in Baby's First Tattoo: A Memory Book for Modern Parents (Simon & Schuster, May), a sort of "alternative scrapbook" by Jim Mullen, author of It Takes a Village Idiot and writer for the past 10 years of Entertainment Weekly's popular "Hot Sheet" column. What parenting experience could be complete without notating such lists and milestones as Restaurants We Never Go to Anymore, First Irreplaceable Heirloom You Broke, Good Career I Gave Up to Have You, and many more. |
PROMETHEUS
A Paranoid's Ultimate Survival Guide (Mar., $18) by Patricia Barnes-Svarney and Thomas Eugene Svarney explores the dangers of our world from what's lurking on your kitchen sponge to volcanoes in your backyard.
RIVER OAK
Life's Too Short to Fold Your Underwear (Mar., $12.99) by Patricia Lorenz uses humor to help women prioritize what matters most.
SEAL PRESS
The Moment of Truth: Women's Funniest Romantic Catastrophes (Mar., $14.95) by Kristin Back takes a darkly humorous look at how relationships end. Advertising.
SIMON & SCHUSTER
Reprint: Great Presidential Wit (June, $12) by Bob Dole.
THREE RIVERS PRESS
Holy Mother!: Seriously Weird Sightings of the Virgin Mary (Apr., $9.95) by Danny Piccolo features "real life" photos in this compilation of Virgin Mary sightings from around the world.
The Best of the Best of American Humor (July, $15) by the Funny Times editors collects cartoons and columns from newspapers and magazines around the country.
UNIVERSE
Feng Sh*t: The Art of Domestic Disorder (May, $8.95) by Anna Crosbie is a guide to the ancient art of cluttering your home.
The Clitourist: A Guide to One of the Hottest Spots on Earth (June, $15.95) by Karen Salmansohn celebrates the "hot spot" with fun facts, historical tidbits and more.
Found on eBay (July, $16.95) by Marc Hartzman lists some of the most bizarre objects posted for sale... and bought.
UNIV. OF IOWA PRESS
Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color (Apr., $19.95), edited by John McNally, is a compendium of humor by multicultural authors.
UNIV. OF NORTH TEXAS PRESS
Friends: Cowboys, Cattle, Horses, Dogs, Cats, and 'Coons (Mar., $TBA) by John R. Erickson collects writings by the creator of the Hank the Cowdog series.
VILLARD
The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club (July, $13.95) by Laurie Notaro. The author fearlessly rises each day to defeat the evil machinations of dolts, dimwits and boobs. 5-city author tour.
